Chapter 457 - Those “Fireworks”

These qi clouds lasted as long as two hours before slowly dissipating. During this time, forty Tianlong Guards advanced to the Immortal Realm.

After these qi clouds dissipated, another qi cloud suddenly emerged high in the sky. Closely following it was a second and third one. Unexpectedly, forty qi clouds appeared again!

Likewise, they lasted for two hours.

Gu Zuo watched that place with a bit of shock: “A second batch of Tianlong Guards have also…” He couldn’t help speaking with emotion, “This is probably the result of accumulated knowledge and good preparation?”

Gongyi Tianheng smiled, but didn’t say anything.

It had already been a month since they returned to the Central Continent. It was only natural that the Tianlong Guards ought to have breakthroughs.

It was also only after they broke through that they could become his helpers.

These forty qi clouds eventually vanished. Soon after, yet another forty clouds appeared, which lasted for another two hours… Over and over again, this phenomenon of forty qi clouds simultaneously appearing occurred a total of five times. In addition, the length that each instance lasted was exactly the same. It was incredibly unusual.

Such a peculiar scene naturally attracted the attentions of many people.

Tianheng ruffled Gu Zuo’s hair: “Ah Zuo, let’s go and take a look.”

Gu Zuo raised his head, and smiled: “Okay!”

When all was said and done, this place was still too far away. They wanted to get a closer look and find out what kind of imposing aura those Tianlong Guards could manifest after breaking through!

Soon after, the figures of two people flashed out. Without touching the ground, they had already travelled quite the distance.

As they were about to set foot upon the base of the mountain, Tianheng gathered Gu Zuo into his embrace, and swept him away like a gust of wind…

The location where the battle slaves trained together.

At the huge, open space up ahead, dozens of Tianlong Guards sat cross-legged. Blood-red qi emissions rose up from their bodies, and their forms seemed to be cloaked in a dense, bloody mist. It exuded an extremely strange and blood-drenched hidden meaning.

Just recently, they were clearly training under the guidance of Ao Min. Yet, for whatever reason, several Tianlong Guards underwent astonishing changes all of a sudden. Then, many more Tianlong Guards appeared to have some kind of chain reaction. Right away, similar changes occurred.

The next moment, these Tianlong Guards were all about to have breakthroughs.

Although the battle slaves had witnessed several people make breakthroughs together, they had never seen dozens of people do it simultaneously. In addition, even the changes during the breakthroughs were so similar!

For a period of time, the interests of these battle slaves were greatly piqued.

Ao Min folded his arms, and stood on the side. While he protected the Tianlong Guards, he revealed a ponderous look.

Next to Ao Min, several non-human races appeared. They included members of the shadow cat race as well as the other two hound races, the wild dogs and sighthounds. Within these racial groups were Ascendent Realm powerhouses and Atomic Realm upper echelons. All of them cast their attentions to this side.

A woman from the sighthound race spoke with gentle and soft words: “Ao Min, what have you discovered?”

Ao Min faintly shook his head: “What I’m pondering really isn’t what you’re thinking.”

The sighthound woman faintly startled: “Then, what is it?”

Ao Min furrowed his brows: “We battle slaves were allocated to the young master by the sect. And the young master’s place was indeed an excellent destination for us.”

The sighthound woman lightly nodded her beautiful head: “That’s correct.”

This was everyone’s consensus. Otherwise, their five major tribes wouldn’t have taken the initiative to cast their support before Gongyi Tianheng fully matured.

Wasn’t the most important thing Tianheng’s potential and his magnanimity?

However, what was the meaning of Ao Min’s words now?

Ao Min said: “Although our slave brands rest entirely in the young master’s hands, and the young master could immediately take control of our very life and death, there’s no ambiguity that we started following the younger master due to the instructions of the sect. It also can’t be guaranteed that there aren’t any influences from the sect behind us.”

Speaking up to here, his gaze focused: “As for these Tianlong Guards, they’ve been following the young master since childhood. They’re faithful and true subordinates.”

The sighthound woman somewhat understood, and her complexion sank: “What do you mean?”

Ao Min replied: “In terms of a spotless family background, the Tianlong Guards are above us. In terms of loyalty, they’re also above us. In terms of strength, although they were just like ants and mole crickets previously, the various displays when they broke through to the Immortal Realm are proof that each of them will become incomparably formidable powerhouses in the future. At that time, what advantages will we have to speak of?”

Compared to ordinary servile races, the biggest advantage of battle slaves lied in their loyalty and strong tenacity after intensive training. However, while the battle slaves didn’t possess the qualities of the Tianlong Guards, the Tianlong Guards were gradually catching up to the battle slaves. As such, this signified that the position of the battle slaves would quickly be replaced by the Tianlong Guards…

If it was only withdrawing to the second line of duty, it wouldn’t be a problem. But if they were gradually marginalized like this, that would be the most terrifying outcome.

The sighthound woman finished listening, and her expression was solemn and respectful: “I have to say that your words are reasonable. But Ao Min, this isn’t something that can be hindered.”

Could it be that he wanted them to become enemies with the Tianlong Guards? They couldn’t be this foolish!

Ao Min’s gaze didn’t move away from the Tianlong Guards: “No hindering. That the young master has such devoted and powerful subordinates is the young master’s fortune. What we need to do is to rope in these Tianlong Guards, work together with them in good faith, and become inseparable.”

The sighthound woman also thought of something: “Your idea is…”

Ao Min said: “The young master allowed us to provide guidance to the Tianlong Guards. This should have the intention of letting us deepen our friendly relations. We have many people, but the Tianlong Guards are few in number. If the relationships between us and the Tianlong Guards are good enough, then we can actually develop along different routes and strengthen these routes separately. If these two routes are combined to complete a mission together, the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts, and the better we’ll be able to handle things for the young master…

“If it’s like this, then we definitely won’t be in a relationship that’s purely replacing and being replaced. Instead, we might be able to draw support from the Tianlong Guards, which will allow the young master to increase his trust in us.”

At this point, the sighthound woman already completely understood: “What you say makes sense. Moreover, this could be precisely the young master’s way of thinking. I’ll go back and explain this to the battle slaves under my command. Although the young master’s subordinates need healthy competition, we still have to stay connected with one another. If we aren’t able to do this, while various parts have their own excellent capabilities, we’ll only become a pile of loose sand.”

Ao Min nodded his head: “My thoughts exactly.”

After they finished speaking, the two didn’t say much else. They just watched those Tianlong Guards swiftly breaking through.

Subsequently, one batch followed the next. With forty people making up every batch, all of the two hundred Tianlong Guards had breakthroughs one after another in a single day.

Whenever a Tianlong Guard was breaking through, in addition to the emergence of qi clouds, their qi oceans would also produce a manifestation. However, these qi ocean manifestations were relatively obscured. Under the cover of the concentrated qi clouds, this only vaguely allowed spectators to sense some qi emissions, but they weren’t able to detect the true forms.

It was just that the qi emissions of the forty people from each group resembled this type of phenomenon. This further shocked the people watching.

When the final batch of Tianlong Guards were in the middle of their breakthroughs, the figures of two people appeared in front of everyone.

Tianheng let Gu Zuo down from his arms, and his gaze fell onto the Tianlong Guards who were still consolidating their strength on the side.

Sure enough, they were worthy of being related to the Tiandu Body. At a glance, Tianheng saw through everything. Like Tianheng in the beginning, the two sets of bone pearls within the Tianlong Guards had transformed into two qi oceans. But what was even more astonishing was that Tianheng could pass through their dantians, and “look” at the scenes within their qi oceans!

For example, Dragon One had an affinity for the earth attribute, and what he studied was the path of the underworld. Though, because Tianheng hadn’t practiced this type of power yet, the qi ocean that belonged to the path of the underworld within Dragon One’s dantian still mostly had the same form as the main qi ocean.

However, Dragon Two was different. His constitution had an affinity for water, so what he studied was the path of the asura. In his dantian, there was a qi ocean that turned a reddish-black color, which was clearly carrying blood poison. Traces of blood mist rose up, and continuously gathered over the qi ocean. It probably wouldn’t take much time to form an upside-down river of blood, which was extremely similar to the corresponding qi ocean within Tianheng’s body!

Furthermore, there were several Tianlong Guards whose other qi oceans had marvelous usages. So long as Tianheng used special powers to develop those qi oceans, they would form similar manifestations that weren’t entirely complete. One only had to wait for them to be perfected in the future.

After catching sight of Tianheng, all of the Tianlong Guards swiftly reacted. Regardless of whether they were in the middle of cultivating or consolidating their strength, they uniformly stood up, and kneeled on one knee: “The Tianlong Guards greet the young master!”

This kind of devotion was seen by the numerous battle slaves, and the pupils of their eyes shrank.

Indeed. No matter how respectful and obedient they presently were to Tianheng, they couldn’t match the Tianlong Guards, whose reverence was like a form of religious fervor.

Tianheng brushed his sleeves, and allowed them to rise: “Very good. From now on, it will be feasible to send all of you to do missions again.” After finishing this sentence, his voice became gentle, “However, you guys can’t slack off. You must continue to work hard.”

The Tianlong Guards naturally answered positively. Their imposing auras were upright and unafraid.

After looking at the Tianlong Guards and finding that each of their strengths seemed better than his own expectations, Tianheng didn’t linger in this place any longer.

On the contrary, before Gu Zuo departed, he gave each Tianlong Guard a bottle of medicinal pills. Of course, those people who were protecting the Tianlong Guards also received a medicinal pill. As for what the pills were, that depended entirely on each person’s luck. Everyone obtained medicinal pills, so it was only natural that they were happy. Even if the pills weren’t suitable for themselves, they could exchange the pills for resources with other people. This was truly profitable and worthwhile.

T/N: Thanks for the correction, Charysa.

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