Chapter 43: Completed Phoenix Trials
There wasn't much to do in the capital after checking the Merchant Guild and the Profound Palace.
"My Princess, there are guests from Heavenly Sword Villa waiting for you at the entrance."
Cang Yue who was playing a tabletop game with us nodded.
"Oh, guests. Shall we go and greet them?"
"...No. We should ignore them. I am close to winning!" My wife said with a pout.
"...Yue'er we can replay this at any time," I said with an amused eye roll.
"...I know! But!"
Eventually, she just sighed and looked annoyed.
"Fine… let's deal with this!"
"...Is…she okay?" Cang Yue asked me with concern. After all, my darling wife was [First of Sky Profound]. She could potentially kill someone casually with a little bit of Profound Energy.
"She is fine. Don't worry, my beautiful wife has a competitive spirit."
*Hmph!*
As I said that, Xia Qingyue got up from her seat and plopped down on my lap.
"Yes. I am ready. You can tell whatever they are to come here and see us! We are not going anywhere to greet anyone! THEY will come to see us."
I sighed with resignation when I heard that.
"She is stubborn as well. So just send them in." I said to Cang Yue's servants.
"...Understood, Young Master."
The servants left and Cang Yue looked like someone who doesn't know if she should cry or laugh.
Few minutes later a pair of teens walked over. Well, one was close to being a young adult.
The 'Legendary' sons of the 'Alpha Simp' Ling Yuefeng, the Villa Master of Heavenly Sword Villa.
Also, the youngest Throne! Before I came and knocked his title from him. Though I should not put myself in such a race… as most of the time, I look for ways to accelerate my growth while these people just keep doing the same thing for the past several billion years?
So…I should not bring a jet fighter to a bicycle race. That's just not fair.
"Waaa! Big sis is so pretty!"
"Little Jie, behave yourself! Princess Cang Yue has been given to Young Master Xiao Long!"
The older sibling admonished Ling Jie, before turning towards Xiao Long, "My apologies for my little brother's behaviour. I am Ling Yun and he is Ling Jie. We are from Heavenly Sword Villa. Our objective is to invite the Blue Wind Imperial Family to the Ranking Tournament."
'He talks a lot…'
"Oh, my thanks." The Princess walked over and collected the invitation. It appears it's not the first time Ling Yun is doing this.
'Is Ling Yuefeng treating him like a postboy?'
"Big sis, are you going to participate in the tournament? Your cultivation is pretty high!"
"No. It would not be fair. As the middle stage [Earth Profound], there would not be any sort of competition."
'Oof, that elegant burn… she wasn't even trying.'
"I see… that's quite a leap in cultivation."
"Yes. I have been practising pill making. So it's not that hard to progress in cultivation anymore."
'Some more burns, especially when it comes from a kind-hearted and nice girl.
As a certain fish-eyed protagonist said before… the most dangerous are the nice girls.'
"I see…well, Princess I will see you in the tournament. Young Master Xiao, thank you for your time." After saying that the pair turned around and left.
"...it appears you two have broken their hearts," I said with amusement as I watched the whole thing.
Cang Yue broke Ling Jie's heart and Xia Qingyue broke Ling Yun's heart. I saw how light had been leaving Ling Yun's eyes as he saw my wife's face…
"...Hmm? husband, what do you mean? I haven't even said anything!"
"Exactly and Ling Yun just died inside, when he saw you."
"...Hmm? Who is Ling Yun?"
She wasn't even listening.
"Just random someone. Don't worry we can return to playing the game."
"Yes!"
~~~~~~Later, Back at the Floating Islands~~~~~~
The next day everyone was back on the islands and it started to move towards Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.
The route Xiao Long is going to take is quite simple, they fly to Frozen Cloud they pick the Palace up and then fly to Dragon God's Trial Grounds.
He wants to see how Dragon God's blood work. It's an overpowered Neutral attribute legacy which buffs up the physical body.
With domain being a Spiritual attack at its base.
Besides…two flood dragons…
The Young Master decided to tame those… he will give the female to his wife. So they will have matching pets… like matching clothes or matching rings.
Something like that.
However, it will take quite a bit of time to reach those places. Rough estimation they will be back In the capital around the time of the tournament which is roughly 8 months away.
Once back on the islands, Xiao Long proceeded to return to his work.
The first one was to finish the Phoenix trials.
For the last trial, he went with the soul projection.
For this to work, he placed a stone slab in front of the entrance to the trials.
In other words, there is no entrance anymore. Instead, there is a stone slab on which you have to place your hand and channel Profound Energy into it.
The stone slab will scan the person who is channelling and project the person's soul into the trials. Once inside, he will face the Lava demon and the Arrows.
Lastly, the last array will force one to face a loved one who tries to kill you.
In other words, if you kill this loved one you fail. If you allow the loved one to kill you, you pass… or you can dominate it like Xiao Long did.
For this array to work, Xiao Long spent several days toying with the parameters.
He even allowed his wife to test it…
The girl passed the whole thing in just a few minutes and allowed herself to be killed…by the fake Xiao Long…
The Young Master still tried to process how these traditional women work sometimes.
"...You passed, do you want the Phoenix bloodline?" Xiao Long asked after seeing how leisurely the girl passed the whole thing.
"...No…I am Husband's Fairy Wife. Fire will change it." She said casually as she walked over to his side.
"Right, silly me."
After the trial run, Xiao Long brought over his small army of girls to watch the trials.
The Young Master with his household gathered in front of the restored trial grounds.
There is a majestic-looking Phoenix made from arrays and barriers to look as if it was alive. Phoenix flames are burning brightly at a large pyre.
"Today is the opening day of the Phoenix trials. The ones who can receive Phoenix blood or purify Phoenix blood are the Feng Clan members. However, the other people who partake in this will receive bloodline potency augmentation.
However, the ones who wield ice cannot partake as it would be an easy passage."
"Husband…didn't you finish it with your Ice Arts?" Xia Qingyie pointed that out which made some of the girls almost giggle.
"...Yes, that's why it's easy to pass the trial and I am forbidding it. And I think Ice usage can affect the fire-based arrays inside."
"Oh…okay…"
"I cheated to acquire it for the clan. At the same time, the Phoenix never told us any rules. But I do have rules." He explained to them before pointing at the slab.
"This is the Soul scanner. It will scan one's soul and it will project into the trial grounds. The price to access the trials is 10 thousand Sect contribution points. One can only try this once."
As he said that he looked at his Phoenix Maids.
"I have to spend 100 thousand contribution points so that you ten could try this out and get some benefits from this."
The ten girls gulped down nervously as the pressure of his expectations descended on them.
"W-We understand."
Soon, Xiao Long motioned for one to start.
The first one walked over and placed her hand on the stone slab. The middle of it has an array carved to look like a palm scanner. She placed her hand right on it.
She then channelled her Profound energy into the array and moments later, her soul got projected into the trial grounds.
"Good, she is transported. Let's go watch it."
The Young Master walked to the side and created a barrier wall which was linked to the trial arrays.
Next moment, they got a direct stream to the trials.
"...This is convenient. How does this work?" Cang Yue asked curiously.
"The arrays inside the cavern monitor everything that is happening. They have pressure points. For example, they can detect the use of ice, and at the same time they detect the pressure of the Cultivation base which is how the Lava Demon or -as the Phoenix calls it- the Purgatory Demon is summoned.
There are also Yin-based arrays above and below as they are preparing for the 3rd Trial."
"...Oh…and how does it pick up memories? For the last test?" Xia Qingyue asked him as she recalled how realistic her test run was.
"Same principle with blood array. Profound energy reacts to words. So it's based on their 'Most Precious Person'. When a Yin-based array is used on a soul projected person, it is easy to discover this person and model a trial around it."
"...Big Brother, I lost you at the Profound energy reaction part…" One of the twins said casually as she was watching the maid throwing around fire attacks at the Lava monster.
"...This…how can the array tell the Cultivator's Profound energy is what!?" Chu Yuechan who patiently listened to this asked him as she realised what this means!
"Oh, that. Because people's minds are like open books. How many of you practise any sort of mind or soul-protecting arts?"
*Gulp*
All of them paled and got uncomfortable from hearing this.
"Exactly, dearest over there," He pointed at the Phoenix maid who used a piercing fire attack to kill the Purgatory Demon. "is a Soul projection which inhabits a Profound Construct. She is extremely vulnerable to Yin-based influences like mind reading, emotional manipulation, and other things.
"So when the array sends a request to her profound energy it gets confused with who is who and sends the information back either way."
"...Young Master…this is…terrifying…how did you even come up with this!?" Mu Lingxue asked with a spooked voice.
"Because I promised to the Phoenix that I would recreate the trials. Do you think this is bad? Phoenix could easily read everything and it was a living being, and not an Array."
"..."
"..."
Regardless, they got spooked. They thought the Profound energy they have is absolutely under their control but now… an array can quite easily influence them!?
This is not good at all!
Regardless, they continue to watch. The maid barely survived the flaming arrows. The other maids who watched this started to think about how they would defend themselves from this attack.
Still, she survived this… barely…and finally, it was the dreaded third trial.
Xiao Long hummed to himself as he saw that the most precious person for his Phoenix maid is Xiao Long.
This was a pleasant surprise for him. What was next was what she would do.
Another surprise was that the maid only looked shocked when the 'betrayal' happened. Even then she accepted it as she thought that's just how it is.
"...Wow… that's so scary…" Feng Hanyue gulped down seeing the 'death'.
*Gasp*
The Young Master walked over and saw the maid breathing heavily. She removed her hand from the stone slab.
"Congratulations you have passed. Walk over to the meditation mats."
She nodded and walked over.
"...Does she know what just happened?" Cang Yue asked him with some concern.
"Yes. I have a few pre recorded messages. It was explained why she experienced the last trial."
"Oh okay…"
The pair looked at how the maid walked to a specially prepared cultivation mat.
Once there a circle of profound energy enveloped her. The mat was placed on a stone slab which is laid on the ground horizontally.
It has a fully inscribed array system there.
"Before you ask, the array over there focused on the bloodline of Phoenix. Depending on how potent it is—"
Xiao Long and Cang Yue saw how a drop of blood dropped between Maid's eyebrows.
"-She will either get fresh blood OR empowerment of original blood. It appears the array decided that to conserve profound energy it would be better to give a fresh drop of Phoenix blood."
'This means her bloodline was way too diluted.'
"It follows the same principle, the array locates and focuses on Phoenix's blood according to the recording it has on Phoenix. If it can't pick up then the regular blood will get the potency boost."
"What if someone who doesn't have Phoenix blood wishes to get Phoenix Bloodline?" Cang Yue asked him as she was thinking about getting it.
"There are talismans which you get at the Contribution Palace, just tell what you want and they will give you a corresponding talisman."
"Oh…okay…what about the Fairies? Those who wield ice?"
"That's why we are going to Frozen Cloud. Once we pick up that place, I will add similar trial grounds."
"Good to hear… I thought you started to take favourites." Chu Yuechan said from behind as she walked over to him.
"Everything in due time, Chan'er. We need potent and cold land. This island reeks of Fire."
The Frozen Beauty nodded though her gaze went to Phoenix maid, her cultivation just reached [Third of Emperor Profound] and was still growing.
From what she saw they all are going to be early Thrones. Some of them will be stronger than her. And that's just annoying.
After the first one, the other ones proceeded to try.
"...You said that the array finds ways to conserve energy. Does this mean that the trials have limited Profound energy?" The Frozen Beauty asked him as she wanted to know if all the Feng clan could abuse this place.
"If you are worried that they can run this place non-stop, then you should not worry.
"At this moment the trials have energy for another 8 runs. After that, it will enter hibernation to recover Phoenix blood and Profound energy."
"...Recover…Phoenix blood?"
"Yes. The method is extremely simple but extremely resource-consuming. Blood has its unique signature. Have you already noticed your fellow Fairies and Feng Clan members? They all have similar Profound Energy signatures.
"Fairies have theirs because of Frozen cloud art. It is a bloodline art and the Feng clan has Phoenix blood.
"So what I did was build an array under the trials which gathers profound energy and converts regular profound beast blood into Phoenix."
"...You… that's… absurd… are you mass producing God's blood!?"
He simply shrugged at her disbelief.
"Profound energy has limitless potential, and I am simply abusing its abilities."
"...You don't say…"
'He is breaking the very system of cultivation…'
Chu Yuechan thought to herself as she returned to watch the trails.
Now she can't wait for her turn in ice-style trials.
~~~
The trial's first usage was a success, even if the maids saw this beforehand, a few of them failed the trials. Xiao Long is waiting to see how they are going to try to get PPhoenix'sblood from him.
The thing was that, he made it on purpose that girls forget that they are inside the trials. This means even if they saw them…they can't abuse the previous knowledge they got.
A minor mind manipulation to make the trial fairer.
Regardless, his maids got their power boost and now they are between [First and Fourth of Emperor Profound].
Another thing is that the ones who reached the third trial all had him as their most important person. So, Xiao Long is pleased and when he is pleased he usually pampers his girls.
"You have impressed me enough to make some special pills for you all."
"Oh? What kind of pills Young Master?"
"This one is at a similar level to my purifying pills."
"!!!"
"Instead of purifying Profound entrances and bodies, these pills purify souls."
"!!!"
"What kind of potential does this kind of pill improve!?"
"Comprehension, mental state and mind defences."
*Gasp*
"As expected from our Young Master!"
The maids got quite talkative and excited when they heard that.
The rest… like Xiao Lingxi and Cang Yue were thinking to invade the trial grounds just to finish the trials, while Xia Qingyue is thinking to take her husband away for another week and serve him diligently.
They won't be getting these pills!?
A few minutes later he proceeded to make the pill. What he pulled out were the purifying grass, desert flower, and flaming red flower.
This was the flower he got from Phoenix Empire and he has been growing them in his Fire attribute garden.
This means he can mass-produce this new pill.
On top of that, he pulled out several [True Profound] cores.
Flames erupted from his hands as he proceeded to work. The girls even saw him use runes! This was the first time except for Cang Yue to see him use Profound runes.
Regardless, soon there were 7 new pills which floated down and landed in his hands.
"Now go and consume the pills."
"O-Okay!"
The Phoenix Maids scrambled and collected the pills from him.
After that, they were gone.
"...Husband~"
"Young Master~"
"Master Long~"
~~~
Xiao Long's recent exploits have reached the Divine Phoenix Empire and beyond.
Finding a small village with Phoenix trials has sent shock waves!
In the Supreme Ocean Palace, Qu Fengyi has left another closed door cultivation.
She has been doing it a month-in and month-out. This was because of how busy she has been with the whole political landscape with other Sacred Grounds.
So far she was able to get the other two Sacred Grounds leaning towards her.
Her Grandson's pills are the magic words she needs…
However…his exploits are starting to make her question reality…
"You saying… he recruited a village with Phoenix blood and took whole trial grounds into the air?"
"...and now he contracted Phoenix God as his contracted beast?"
"...Yes this is exactly what I am saying, Sovereign of the Seas."
"...*Sigh*..."
"It only has been a few months…he has already progressed this much…I guess I owe Zi Ji…we did bet on this." The Strongest Woman in the continent mumbled the last part to herself.
"...Prepare my Profound Arc. I am going to see him. Oh…I should get some gifts for him."
~~~
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