Transcending the Nine Heavens

The troops of the Dark Bamboo left Mt. Dingjun immediately after. In fact, they didn't even greet anyone before he left.

"Little Yu, how was our profit this time?" Jun Xi Zhu insipidly asked.

"Very good! We have harvested a total income of more than three billions. Also, we have recruited 11 King Level Experts, and 45 Revered Martial Experts." Young Master Yu faintly smiled and added, "A few Emperor Level Experts also came. However, all of them were from great clans. So, this Young Master has no interest in making use of them."

Jun Xi Zhu nodded as she smiled. She said, "It's great! This harvest was beyond my expectations." She muttered something to herself at first. Then, she changed the topic, "You have known that King of Hell Chu for quite some time. And, this King of Hell Chu must've played a major role in this event if my guess is to be correct. What do you think?"

Young Master Yu knitted his brows and replied, "Right. Others didn't see it. But, King of Hell Chu's grasp of human nature is extremely precise! Moreover… King of Hell Chu is the kind of man who believes in his own strength. So, there's not much possibility that he would accept external help."

Jun Xi Zhu uttered an 'oh', and started to contemplate. A long while passed before she said, "We must investigate. All men have a weak point. And, they also need some help once in a while. But, it's far better to inform them about such matters before the situation occurs instead of helping them when they are in need after that event has already happened. Otherwise, we won't be able to have friendly relations with him."

Young Master Yu sighed and said, "It's not possible to do that anymore. He's my creditor now."

"Creditor…?" Jun Xi Zhu twitched her eyebrows and asked, "You lost to him?"

Young Master Yu spread out his hands, "Did you feel that Gao Sheng would lose that fight to Ji Mo?"

Jun Xi Zhu smiled, "I see." She pondered for a while, and recalled the battle-scenario between Gao Sheng and Ji Mo. She sighed after a long while, "No."

Young Master Yu sighed, "I also thought the same. So, I lost to Chu Yang… but, what's more aggrieving is… that bastard Gao Sheng had a killer technique to beat his opponent. But, he got defeated because of the excess of his anger before he could even use his killer technique! And, this makes me fu*king depressed!"

"Are you talking about that mysterious technique of the Gao Clan that Gao Sheng has practiced?" Jun Xi Zhu had an incisive expression in her eyes.

"He hasn't mastered it yet. But, he has practiced it!" Young Master Yu replied, "In fact, he could've beaten Ji Mo with ease even if he had only reached the threshold of that technique! But, this technique needed him to be in a cool mood. Only then could he have displayed its formidable power. But, he became an angry like a pig, and blew his top in the arena. How could he use the technique in that state? It makes me very furious, very furious…"

He recalled that he could've obtained those two jade at minimum price. But, he had to pay a very high price at the end. And, this had happened because Gao Sheng could've won… but didn't…! Young Master Yu was about to vomit blood. Moreover, he had learned that he must hold his sharp and reckless tongue in front of Chu Yang if he wanted to save himself from getting plundered again during his journey to the north. However, he had learnt this lesson the hard way…

He felt wronged when he thought that his wealth would shrink substantially. In fact, Young Master Yu wanted to tear Gao Sheng to shreds…

Jun Xi Zhu said 'oh', and sunk into her thoughts once again. She was seemingly pondering something, but it was hard to tell as to what was going through her mind…

Young Master Yu looked at her complexion. He observed it for a while and said, "How is your health these days?"

Jun Xi Zhu wrinkled her brows in a weary manner, and replied, "I'm good. But, I feel anxious about this whole ninth-grade spirit beast situation."

Young Master Yu exposed a pensive expression in his eyes and said, "The ninth-grade spirit beasts have appeared in the extreme north this time… Perhaps there's something fishy going on. So, you must make safety preparations."

Jun Xi Zhu closed her eyes and said, "Which matter isn't strange? We all have emerged from strange origins. You take good care of Ah Lu when the time comes. I may move into action, and I may fail to succeed. So, you will have to move into action if that happens…"

Young Master Yu exposed a warm smile on his face and said, "I'm going over to Ah Lu's side."

Jun Xi Zhu didn't speak anything. And, Young Master Yu quietly disappeared.

...

Chu Yang quickly created six masks at midnight. They were neither made of gold, nor silver. But, they were still extremely exquisite. They covered one's face in such a way that the person wouldn't feel any sense of suffocation. In fact, he would feel comfortable instead…

It was the Heavenly Armament Pavilion! So, it was rather obvious that the preparation of Heavenly Armaments would be on the roster. Therefore, Chu Yang manufactured a pile of short knives and daggers. They were short… and, not just in the name alone. In fact, they were pocket-sized at the most. The longest ones were as long as the palm of a hand, and the shortest ones were as long as a finger.

Finally, Chu Yang also manufactured a few tokens. Cloud and mist were curling-up on the surface of the tokens. A dazzling golden sword was looming inside the clouds. In fact, it was flaring-up in the cloud and mist. It was only faintly visible, yet it had a dominant presence. It looked flashy!

'Heavenly Armament Pavilion'- these three words had been carved in flamboyant and boldly cursive calligraphy on the tokens! There was a circle on the lower-left of the token, and '1' was carved inside this circle. Similarly, numbers successive till '6' had been carved on the other tokens…

Chu Yang had decided to keep them to six for the time being because they didn't have many elite soldiers in their group. In fact, they only had these brothers. However, these six brothers would be unstoppable when they'd advance hand-in-hand!

Chu Yang handed-over these tokens to everyone the next morning. Number 2 for Gu Du Xing, number 3 for Ji Mo, number 4 for Dong Wu Shang, number 5 for Luo Ke Di, and number 6 for Rui Bu Tong…

Rui Bu Tong obviously wasn't present there at this time. So, Chu Yang kept his token for the time being.

"You guys must remember one thing." Chu Yang solemnly said, "There's a purple crystal space in this token. And, you can open it if you want to. I have put some life-saving pills in there. Pop the pill if you encounter any bad situation by chance, and run away to save your life!"

He then said in a heavy voice, "Heavenly Armament Pavilion is ours. But, I don't want any of you to receive any harm! You must remember that life is the most precious thing… no matter what the circumstances would be! Missions and organizations… are merely transient! I want my brothers to move unhindered through the Nine Heavens. But, I don't want to mourn over the corpses of my brothers and fall into the whirlpool of revenge thereafter! Do you understand?"

"Understood!" the four of them replied in unison. Their eyes were sparkling at this moment since they could clearly perceive Chu Yang's feelings from these words.

Then, everyone held the short-knifes and the daggers. These were small, but they could cut iron like it was mud. In fact, they were even sharper than their own swords. Luo Ke Di and Ji Mo were tossing and turning them. Whereas, Dong Wu Shang and Gu Du Xing merely looked at them once, and kept them aside.

After that, Chu Yang provided them with the masks. The six masks had nothing in common.

The masks of Dong Wu Shang and Gu Du Xing were stern and ruthlessly ominous looking. The ones for Luo Ke Di and Ji Mo had a smiling expression, and their mouths were grinning. Chu Yang's mask was a dull and expressionless face.

Everyone liked their masks very much.

"Big Brother, what's the purpose of establishing our Heavenly Armament Pavilion?" Ji Mo asked.

Obviously, this was the most concerning issue for all of them. So, they started to look at Chu Yang for an answer.

"Our present purpose is to expand and grow stronger, and attract other experts to join us. But, our ultimate purpose is to conquer the Middle Three Heavens!" Chu Yang insipidly replied, "This should be very easy for us as long as our cultivation levels enhance at a rapid pace."

[It should be very easy…] The four of them looked at Chu Yang. They had been dumbstruck by this reply. [Elder Brother Chu, what you're saying… sounds kind of weightless, ah! We may be considered to be outstanding in the younger generation. But, we six people are nothing when one takes a broader view of the Middle Three Heavens… ah…]

"The Heavenly Armament Pavilion must be successful, and must gain a reputation." Chu Yang cautiously reminded, "So, we mustn't expose our real identity before our strength reaches a certain level."

Everyone would've understood this even if he hadn't said so…

"The Heavenly Armament Pavilion will start its operation from today. After that, I will make use of every means and give you special training to help you progress!" Chu Yang's eyes brightened, "The progress-speed of your cultivation is extremely slow…"

The four of them were left speechless once again.

[Everyone in the Middle Three Heaves is already terrified of our present progress speed. And, you say it's still slow…? However, it's certainly somewhat slower than Big Brother's…]

"You must advance to the Emperor level in half-a-year… or a year at most! After that, you must continue to advance to the Monarch level!" A lightning like expression flashed in Chu Yang, "I will train you. The one who wouldn't be able to cultivate to the Emperor level in one year's time would automatically become a lower-rank member of the Heavenly Armament Pavilion. Consequently, he would have to serve the other brothers. Also, it can be any service…"

"Eh?" This goal was too much… even for Gu Du Xing and Dong Wu Shang. In fact, this was an unrealistic goal.

Gu Du Xing and Dong Wu Shang had a personal goal that they would advance to the Emperor level within ten years. And, they were very confident about it! [It would be incredible if we could advance to it in ten years. But, Big Brother has asked us to advance to it in one year…]

[Isn't this too farfetched?]

"Believe me! I can accomplish this. I can make you achieve the target." Chu Yang looked at the four of them, "Did you think that you could accomplish your current achievements in such a short period of time before you met me?"

The four of them lowered their heads, and pondered. [Indeed! Who could've imagined that we would dramatically advance from Martial Great Master to a King level Expert in one-and-a-half years? We could never have imagined that in our dreams before we had met Elder Brother Chu!]

Chu Yang mischievously laughed, "You will see when the facts will prove it to you. So, speaking about it is useless at this time… You still remember my training method, right? Half of the men will go out, and half of you will train. This will happen every day. And, this will go-on in rotation."

This matter had been decided.

Their journey started from this day. The Gu Clan had already gone ahead of the other clans. What was worth noting was… Chu Yang made five chunks of star steel, and each of them was 500kg in weight. After that, everyone carried one chunk each, and hastened-on with their journey.

They weren't allowed to ride horses. They could only walk. Anyway, the horses would've become extremely slow if so much weight had been put on them…

Dong Wu Shang was the most miserable because he also had his 285-kg black saber on his back.

In addition, Chu Yang had strictly stipulated - you can die of exhaustion! But, your breaths must remain steady throughout…

Chu Yang also had a chunk on his back. Mo Qing Wu was following Chu Yang through the entire journey. And, she was cheerfully smiling in a lighthearted manner. In fact, she accompanied him as he led the way. And, the cute little girl would hurriedly take out her handkerchief the moment she'd see sweat on Chu Yang's forehead. After that, she would carefully help him wipe the sweat…

Chu Yang had thought that he would make this cute little girl to sit in a carriage. But, the Sword Spirit had resolutely stopped him - [Make her run! Her physical strength and martial power would be used up slowly. So, we must push her to her current limits. Her meridians must be brought to the volatility they had when they had been damaged. We would be able to unblock her meridians ahead of time by doing so…]

They ran madly in the morning. Then, they had a lunch break. Gu Du Xing was the kind of man who wouldn't break a sweat that easily. But, he used his spiritual power until it got completely exhausted. Then, he used his physical strength… and it also got exhausted. Consequently, he reached his limits…

This was similar to a session of morning jogging. But, Gu Du Xing felt that he was already past the limits of his body…

Dong Wu Shang was even more miserable. In fact, his legs had started to shake by the time they sat down to eat. And, he drank half-a-jar of water in one breath…

Ji Mo and Luo Ke Di nearly dozed-off from exhaustion. In fact, they were about to put off the chunk from their backs and lie down. But, they were strictly stopped by Chu Yang - [Eating, drinking water, and taking rest… but, you aren't allowed to sleep!]

These words left Ji Mo and Luo Ke Di to whine in grief.