66 LU FANGS REVENGE (1/2)
Despite being a little skeptical about the whole thing, the indescribably tall Lu Fang still thoughtfully knelt for Cheng Hao to reach his head.
As soon as the old man had gotten on his knees, Cheng Hao put a hand on the older man's cultivation base: he was going to undo the seal that was binding it down!
Indeed: back then, the Zi family hadn't actually destroyed old man Fang's Sea of Consciousness. Rather, they had only sealed it away. It was as if they had tied a knot onto the intangible thread connecting together the mind and the sea of consciousness!
The reason wasn't all too clear.
Maybe, it was because they thought that that would be amusing, leaving him with an escape route just a little bit too high to reach.
Or even, they might have been thinking of somehow controlling him and his powerful cultivation base in the case of an accident, using him as a last resort.
Either way, this seal originally shouldn't have been detectable. However, with countless beings across the Nine Heavens and the countless Earthly Planes, how could one say with absolute confidence that one's methods were unbreakable; with his vast experience in terms of cultivation bases, Cheng Hao had noticed this small detail as soon as he had first laid eyes upon the man.
Cheng Hao chuckled and, as soon as his hand touched the man's forehead, he poured wave after wave of his own cultivation base's pressure.
At first it had little effect and the hope in the eyes of the old man was slowly but surely beginning to fade away.
As time passed and nothing happened, he was feeling more and more betrayed. Eventually, even his expression grew from amiable to scary, with veins bulging all over his forehead.
Just as he was on the verge of speaking up however, his red eyes cleared up and his mouth opened wide, an unspeakable excitement drowning everything else: he could actually feel a hint of the connection with his Sea of Consciousness again!
After ten more breaths Cheng Hao removed his hand: intertwining mesmerizingly as they hovered just above his palm were a golden mass of geometrical shapes.
Now, every day ever since old man Fang's cultivation had been sealed, he had been constantly trying to cultivate by meditating. Of course, all that had turned out to be useless, as the Qi Strands would be left outside of his Sea of Consciousness, without a chance for him to refine it.
However, now that his cultivation base was slowly being unsealed, all that unrefined Qi that had been gathering around him all along actually begun to pour into him!
In turn, this caused his cultivation slowly rise again… Or rather, it skyrocketed! The progress of countless moons was unleashed right there and then!
From middle Sung stage, to high Sung stage, and even to the peak Sung stage!
That was not all however, because with one final, big, push…
Whoosh!
”OOOOHHH!” Lu Fang's whole body shone so brightly it dyed the morning skies white: unexpectedly, he had actually reached a state very much similar to low level Reverend stage!
That was Cheng Hao's gift, guiding Lu Fang's cultivation to reach a precarious, quasi-Reverend Stage! It was not stable and would need a lot of work to fix whatever small flaws were left behind.
That would require years. Even still, until then, most under Reverend Stage would either have to flee or pay the price!
And eventually, the quasi-Reverend Stage would truly turn into Reverend Stage, invincible in the Mortal Realm!
”UuuuoooOHHH!!!” the old man's body lit up with blinding light and the air trembled, as if to recognize the power of a man that would be revered by mortals and cultivators alike! And with that, the powerful physique that had once shriveled up showed signs of recovery!
To Lu Fang, so many dreamy things happening at once was such a pleasant feeling, as if he had gone to sleep as a beggar and had woken up as the Emperor of a country!
After all, even in the current Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect, powerhouses of the whole five Continents, the strongest individuals except for the head were around the mid level Reverend Stage!
This cultivation base that the old man was holding now was such that virtually any power would try to lure him in… and all of this was thanks to the young man before him!
While tears streamed down the old man's cheeks, Cheng Hao pat his back as a smug expression appeared on his face. Seeing the boy's smile clearly saying 'I told you, didn't I?' Lu Fang trembled and kowtowed on the ground.
In His heart, the burly elderly secretly promised himself, ”From now on, once I manage to figure things out with my daughter, I will only live for the sake of helping this youth!”
Out aloud, he bowed deeply, ”Cheng Hao… you have my deepest gratitude! Whatever it is, this old man will not hesitate to risk his life to help you! Ask away… and I shall follow!”
The golden-eyed child chuckled and beckoned with his hand: the Heaven Devouring Dragon, now almost Superior Stage after its feast, was indescribably long, and its coiled up body alone filled up the entrance to the vast hall. At the youth's motion, the gargantuan beast took to the sky.
”Well, in that case, here's my first request then…” Cheng Hao smirked with a knowing smile, ”How about you help me tidy things up here? The big fish is still out there after all…”
Lu Fang's eyes narrowed as he spat out hatefully, ”Zi! Luo!”
”Ahahah, it seems we have similar thoughts on the matter. Let's go then! My guys might just be a tad too emotional and act out of script, so we have to hurry!” Cheng Hao jumped on the back of Blindlight, inviting the quasi-Reverend Stage elderly to follow him.
Two hands firmly grasped each other: one small, smooth, yet unimaginably scarred for one just eight years of age; one big, rough and experienced. As the two gripped tightly together, the dragon took to the sky. By the time it had left, not even the foundations of the massive mansion were left, as Cheng Hao had somehow taken it all away as 'payment for his actions': only the residue aura of the Immortal Ascension Tower hinting as to how the unimaginable feat could have been accomplished exactly…