The two rested in the passage. They could hear if there were any sounds. After about six hours, the two had rested enough. Philip and Hiram got ready to continue. Hiram was a big eater. Three packs of dry food were just his breakfast. His mouth was full of food as he muttered, “It’d be better if there was coffee.” The entire underground was like a huge maze, and one could get lost if one did not leave marks. The two walked through this intricate tunnel for a whole day. During this time, Philip left a mark everywhere he went, but they would still return to the same place. Next to him, Hiram finally noticed something and said to Philip, “You can see some small holes made by fire ants at the bottom of this passage, but there were no such small holes in the passage we were circling before. “Next, let's walk along the passage with small holes like these. That should be it.” Finally, as Hiram predicted, the two passed through a waterfall and came to an underground world. This p
The owner of the voice pushed open the gaping door and walked in. Seeing his appearance, Hiram covered his mouth and laughed in surprise. “A bamboo spirit!” Its appearance was quite strange, its limbs were made up of thin or thick bamboo. Its eyebrows seemed made up of two thin bamboo leaves, and only its facial features appeared human. “Show some respect,” Philip said as he smothered a laugh and smacked Hiram. “We’re Philip Clarke and Hiram Pine. We didn’t mean to trespass in your residence. Please forgive us,” Philip continued. The bamboo spirit waved its hand and said, “It's okay. It's been so many years. I’m glad to see another human.” The bamboo spirit’s words seemed to possess a magical power that touched their souls. “I'm the Bamboo Swordsman's bamboo sword spirit. You may call me Bamboo Shoot if you’d like. That’s what the Bamboo Swordsman used to call me.” Hearing that, the two tried hard to contain their amusement and said, “Sure, Sir Bamboo Shoot.” The swor
On the side, the fat guy finished all the tea without a word. Philip said in exasperation, “You’re too much.” Growl… A loud noise came from Hiram's stomach. He rubbed his stomach and said with an awkward smile, “I'm hungry after drinking so much tea.” “There’s fish in that stream. You can catch some and eat them.” Bamboo Shoot laughed through its tears. The two came to the stream, and Hiram said, “I'll let you taste my special grilled fish later.” After that, he picked up the bamboo spike he had just cut and stabbed at the fish swimming in the water. After a while, smoke rose beside the stone house. Hiram took out some cooking utensils from his space ring and several bottles of secret sauces. Bamboo Shoot picked up a freshly grilled fish and said with a grin, “In the past, I’ve always taken care of myself. I didn’t expect to have someone to share my meals with one day.” Philip took a freshly sauced grilled fish from Hiram. This aroma spread for several miles, and
The two continued to walk into the depths of the passage. “I forgot to ask Bamboo Shoot if it has a map of this place,” Hiram said in annoyance. Philip just thought of it too. If they had a map, it would be much easier to explore. It would be much better than walking around like a headless chicken. “Listen.” After walking for a while, Philip suddenly stopped and said to Hiram. “Listen to what?” Hiram listened for a while before he asked blankly. Philip had forgotten that Hiram was not a wind element practitioner. Philip followed the wind and heard some noisy human voices from one direction. Philip led Hiram to the source of the sound. After passing through several forked intersections, the two finally found the source of the sound. A group of people wearing black hooded trench coats with crescent moon symbols of different colors were standing by a pool and queuing up for something. Philip signaled to Hiram not to alert them and shrouded both of them with his mental
“Let’s line up first.” Philip recalled that these two had not taken their share of the stone fluid yet. Except for the few red crescents talking, the others were quiet. It was finally their turn. Philip wore the blue crescent while Hiram took the white, so Philip took one ladle as he should. Although a naked man was sitting in the middle of the pool, Philip had no complaints about this treasure and drank it in one go. This stone fluid was extremely smooth in the mouth with a sweet fruity taste. However, before the two of them could react, the stone fluid in their stomachs became scorching hot like flames. The skin on Philip's body began to slowly fall off and new skin grew. This process was extremely brutal, and Philip was soon covered in blood. Next to him, Hiram seemed to be in better condition because he only had one small teacup of it. Seeing this, the red crescent man from earlier sneered and said, “You two ignorant fools dare to swallow such a large amount of st
Seeing that the other party's speed could still increase, the two were about to collide again when Philip tossed Hiram from his shoulder. A fight was inevitable. Philip turned around, covered his fists in flames, and punched the man behind him. Philip was blasted backward, while his attack only slowed the other party down a couple of steps. Feeling the pain in his wrist and the numbness in his arm, Philip lamented the guy’s tough hide. He could not conceal his strength any longer. Philip took out the Caelum Sword and the black turtle shell, ready to fight. Seeing the two treasures Philip took out, the other party's eyes lit up. He said, “Those things are not bad. I’ll accept them.” After that, the man raised his hand and rushed toward Philip. Philip raised his shield and withstood the attack from the man, his arm going numb from the impact. After each parrying attack, Philip tried to raise his sword and slash the other party but to no avail because the other party was too
“Greenpeak Sword Formation!” Philip smashed the sword formation down violently and even tossed the Caelum Sword into it. Leroy stood in the middle of the sword formation and resisted the sharp attacks, but these hundred swords left him no room to dodge at all. The green swords formed by the Greenpeak Sword Formation could only cut through his skin while the Caelum Sword concealed within kept attacking Leroy's vital points and weak points, so the Caelum Sword managed to cause some considerable damage. Seeing the increasing wounds on the holy son’s body, the people of the Moon Worship Creed yelled as they rushed toward Philip. “Everyone back down!” With blood trickling from his mouth, Leroy ordered them back, “This fight is between the two of us.” They stopped not far from Philip. Leroy gradually slowed down, and Philip was almost exhausted from supporting the Greenpeak Sword Formation. The strength suppression seal produced by the flying snake suddenly dispersed. Five
The wounds on Philip’s body sizzled with white smoke and disappeared after a while. His sunken chest also puffed up and returned to normal. “What the hell is this?!” Seeing this, Leroy's heart trembled, and he began to panic. He promptly kicked Philip's head, but this time, Philip made a move and raised his hand to grab Leroy's foot. Philip slowly opened his eyes, and his eyeballs turned orange like the sun, scorching people's hearts and souls. “Let go of me!” Leroy’s foot was deformed under Philip’s grab. However, Philip’s change was far from over. His body began to swell and grow bigger, nearly reaching the top of the cave, which was about 40 to 50 meters high. No one had ever seen anything so horrifying, and they fled in all directions. Philip took one step and the earth shook. Almost every one of the Moon Worship Creed died under this attack except for the five red crescents. They still had a little loyalty to the creed and attacked Philip with their individual mo
“Philip's strength mostly comes from his very powerful pet rabbit. Although it's a monster beast, it's a force to be reckoned with. It isn't something anyone can deal with,” Hogster said with lingering fear. He could not forget how Rabbit had beaten Alain to a pulp. “Yes, the rabbit is a force to be reckoned with. You'd better not mess with it for no reason. I really wonder where such a powerful monster beast came from.” Alain seemed very steadfast, but he was already having a mental meltdown. However, he did not want to embarrass himself in public, so he gritted his teeth and hung on. The hooded man looked at Alain and sneered inwardly. He took out a pill from his pocket and handed it to him. “Take this or I’m afraid you’ll collapse soon.” He could notice Alain’s condition at a glance and knew he would not last long. “Forget it. I won’t hide it from you. In fact, the rabbit inflicted all these injuries on me. I wouldn’t be in this miserable state if the rabbit weren’t that
Although the strength of the test subject had increased, he was not highly valued at all because his talent was not affected and did not meet the guild’s requirements. “Okay, you may leave now. Your strength has improved, so make sure to practice hard and don’t let us down,” Alain said grandly, sending the other party away. He knew that this person was nothing but a loser. The guild member who was the test subject had no idea how pathetic he was. Instead, he looked at Alain with excitement and gratitude. Hogster swallowed the potion without hesitation. He quickly felt the changes in his body as if he had become very powerful in just a few seconds. Hogster looked at the hooded man in surprise. He never thought that he could become so strong. “Wow, this is amazing!” Hogster was shocked by this unexpected outcome. His lack of self-esteem was quickly replaced with brimming confidence, and he even had the urge to mess with Philip. In his opinion, Philip was nothing special. Now
“Don’t worry, I mean no harm. That thing is quite good.” The silly member took the potion nervously and looked at Alain expectantly. “Sir, I think I’m getting stronger!” The silly guy showed off his strength excitedly. Alain stepped forward and examined the guild member curiously. Sure enough, his strength had increased. Alain found the increase in strength quite incredible. Moreover, he did not find any side effects on the other party, which was the most surprising. This potion was amazing beyond anyone’s imagination! Alain was very excited and wished he could take it too. “I believe you should know the value of this potion. Just win the competition and stop worrying about the rest.” Alain and the hooded man stepped aside to discuss offering the boys and girls. Hogster was taken aback to hear them. The two quickly reached an agreement as they knew how unethical this transaction was. “Father, you actually agreed to his request! Aren't you afraid that it’ll be expose
By taking the potion, a person could increase their overall strength, and there would be no side effects. It was a miracle potion, indeed. Alain was stunned to hear that. He felt that the hooded man was bragging. How could there be such an amazing potion? “Are you serious? It can’t be that simple.” Alain took the potion from the other party and sized it up, wondering if he should trust this thing. “If you don't believe it, you can give it a try. I don’t mind. You have many people under your command anyway. You can choose to use them as a test subject.” The hooded man was quite cold and aloof in both his actions and speech. Alain nervously clenched the potion tightly. “In that case, I’ll give it a try. Let me find someone.” Alain did not fully trust the hooded man’s words. In his opinion, it was better to play it safe. Who knew if anything would happen? He was nervous about giving something like this to his precious son. At this time, a guild member who was not highly valu
“I won’t be joining your guild, but I don’t mind being a spectator. At least I can watch the fun. I know that you’re quite strong, so you don’t need me. As long as nothing unexpected happens, I don’t think you’ll face a problem.” Philip smiled indifferently, quite confident that nothing much would happen. The overall strength of the Celestial Palace had improved significantly, so they really had nothing to worry about. Jamie was relieved to hear that. In that case, he could rest assured.… The guild competition officially kicked off, and everyone was ready to battle it out. The battles were not something that simply required strength to resolve. Occasionally, the competitors required tactics too. As Alain was feeling anxious, his reinforcement finally arrived at the scene. The hooded man turned up with some potions, ready to carry out his task. “Hey, you’re finally here. I thought I wouldn’t see you again.” Alain was worried. He knew that he was in a precarious situati
“Father, what happened to you? Don’t scare me!” Hogster sat by Alain’s bedside and asked in a panic. Hogster would not have been worried about Alain in the past, but things were different now. They were facing various crises. Without his father to take care of things, they would be doomed. Alain coughed violently and fumbled around for some healing pills before stuffing them into his mouth. The pills were not useful for his injuries but could at least relieve his pain. After Alain took the pills, Hogster hugged him excitedly. “This is great! I thought you were about to drop dead.” Alain almost died in anger over his son’s remark. “Hogster, you have to take part in the competition on behalf of the guild. This is the best chance for you to become stronger. You’ll make a name for yourself if you do this.” Alain held Hogster's hand and placed all his hopes on him. Hearing that, Hogster said awkwardly, “Father, although I’m quite strong, you can’t do this to me! How am I suppose
The rabbit had a very expressive face as if it was watching Alain make a fool of himself. “You’re quite the smooth talker. If you have more words of encouragement, let’s hear them.” Hay dangled from Rabbit's mouth, and he seemed disdainful. Alain seemed conflicted at the sight of Rabbit and felt like he was looking at Philip instead. “Why are you here?” This rabbit was weird, and no one could control it. As far as Alain knew, the rabbit was famous in major cities and good at picking fights. “Of course, I’m here to teach you a lesson. Do you think I traveled this far to buy you a meal?” After saying this, Rabbit jumped up and kicked Alain, who started spitting mouthfuls of blood. Alain was strong in his own right, so there was no way he would be helpless against an attack. However, he simply could not resist Rabbit and could only suffer a beating. The guild members in the surroundings closed their eyes, feeling sorry for their guild leader. No one thought they could win th
It seemed that Alain had overestimated his importance. “Hey, wait a minute. Don't be so hasty. I just want to think about how to make things better. You should know that things are not as simple as you think. If I agree so easily, others might target me.” The hooded man sneered inwardly at Alain’s flattering appearance. He knew that Alain was probably trying to bargain with him. “I thought you wouldn’t consider it, but you seem quite willing to work with us.” The hooded man smiled calmly as if mocking Alain from the bottom of his heart. Although Alain was being ridiculed, he could not say a word. The hooded man held the reins, so Alain had no choice but to obey. “I don’t mind this cooperation, but we need to plan this thoroughly. If you can help my guild to make a comeback in this competition, I can agree to your condition. Since you found me, you should know the trouble my guild is facing right now. Philip and his people are messing with us, and the Celestial Palace is keepi
Alain was a smart man and quickly grasped the key point. It seemed that this man was here to help him. “Tell me what you want. Stop wasting my time. If you’re here to help me, let’s have an open discussion.” Alain was no longer nervous and stared at the other party calmly. Hearing that, the hooded man smiled smugly. “I know that your guild is facing a crisis. I can help you with that. I can get rid of all your problems and also ensure that your guild scores victory. Although I can't guarantee that you’ll win the championship, taking one of the top spots won’t be a problem.” The hooded man spoke calmly as if he was confident that Alain would agree. Sure enough, Alain was expectant to hear this man’s offer to help him. At a moment of crisis, it was every man for himself. Right now, no one was willing to help him or lend a helping hand. Alain thought that this was too much of a coincidence. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want in return?” Alain knew that