Heavenly Dao Patterns
With the Miniature World dispelled, Gu Ding and Angorde reappeared on the arena stage.
"I lost." Angorde turned to the referee and said this, then walked straight off the ring.
Gu Ding didn't explain anything; according to Angorde, it was only natural for the older brother to let the younger brother win.
But Gu Ding remained on the ring, preoccupied with his own past.
Although Angorde told Gu Ding about his father, he did not tell Gu Ding that his father had been imprisoned on the Eighteenth Level the Gate of Purgatory, and he did not even reveal his name to Gu Ding.
Gu Ding thought that the Gate of Purgatory, which Angorde could sneak in and leave at will, was unlikely to be able to suppress his father, and he did not think in that direction.
When Angorde appeared at the Gate of Purgatory, he assumed it was because Angeld had seen the news of his imprisonment and had entered the Gate of Purgatory to find him, creating false memories for others to avoid being discovered.
Angorde stepped off the ring and left the arena immediately.
Some people below the ring noticed that both Gu Ding and Angorde's clothes were intact, without a single tear, and their condition didn't seem to indicate they had just been in a major battle. Before they could raise any questions, Angorde, one of the parties involved, had already vanished.
The most surprised were the warden and the three Order Keeper Leader. They knew of Angorde's strength, yet he had chosen to concede defeat before Gu Ding. The three Order Keeper Leader were somewhat better off; they knew Gu Ding was that man's son, and that Angorde might have some connection with that man, which was why he conceded defeat.
But the warden became increasingly curious about Gu Ding's identity.
"Gu Ding, you've achieved a thousand consecutive wins. Since no one in the Gate of Purgatory has reached this level yet, we need to refine the subsequent rules. Besides, it's getting late, so let's end the challenge here. You can rest tomorrow, and we'll start again the day after." The referee, having received the warden's signal, shamelessly spoke to Gu Ding.
"Alright." Gu Ding did not object to this, because this was already within his expectations, or more accurately, within the Sea Emperor's expectations.
Many spectators below booed in dissatisfaction. The rule of doubling points for a hundred consecutive wins was established by the Order Keeper of the Gate of Purgatory themselves. Now that Gu Ding streak, his attempt to renege on the rule naturally provoked discontent among the crowd.
Everyone knows that according to the current rules, a winning streak of 1300 matches will bring the total points to over one million, and Gu Ding is not far from achieving that. The Order Keeper of the Gate of Purgatory have proposed changing the rules, partly out of fear that Gu Ding will accumulate too many points.
On the stage, the referee's face was somewhat grim. He was only a reserve Order Keeper and knew that changing the rules at the last minute would definitely cause dissatisfaction among the prisoners, but he had to obey the warden's orders.
Gu Ding quietly stepped off the stage, while the Sea Emperor calculated the points in his ear.
"You've achieved a winning streak of 1000 matches. The total winning streak points are 204,600. Adding the more than 120,000 people who forfeited, you've accumulated more than 330,000 points in just three days. Adding the more than 30,000 points you had in the Outer Domain Battlefield, your total points are more than 368,000."
Seeing that Gu Ding did not respond, the Sea Emperor remained silent for a while before suddenly bringing up a new topic, "Angorde's aura has disappeared from the First Level of the Gate of Purgatory."
"He should have left." Gu Ding finally spoke. "Having seen me, he has achieved his goal and has no need to stay at the Gate of Purgatory any longer."
"Oh, right, Lily and the others messaged me. They said they've split into five groups and are already on their own." The message the Sea Emperor mentioned was actually from over ten days ago; he'd received several more messages from everyone afterward. He hadn't told Gu Ding because he didn't want to affect Gu Ding's mood. He was telling him now to get Gu Ding's attention and break him out of his silence.
"Are they alright?" Upon hearing everyone's news, Gu Ding composed himself slightly.
"They've all been assigned tasks. Lily and Elsa went to find the ruins left by Medusa, Fa Te took Miko back to his family headquarters, and there's Bigge, Hake..." Sea Emperor relayed everyone's recent situation.
Hearing news about the other members of the Pirate Crew, Gu Ding felt a little better.
"It's not hard to tell from Angorde's words that your father must be an even stronger being than him. If such a powerful being can't solve this, then worrying about it now will only cause you more trouble. Your father has already been suppressed for hundreds of epochs, and he can wait a few more years. Improving your strength is what you should be doing."
"Don't forget, you're currently imprisoned as well. Angorde just confirmed that as long as you obtain the item in the Eighth Level of the Gate of Purgatory, you can successfully leave. If he says so with his strength, it's definitely true. So, for at least the next three years, you should aim to enter the Eighth Level and seize that treasure."
Upon hearing the Sea Emperor's words, Gu Ding nodded. "I understand. I said I would successfully escape from prison within three years, and I will definitely do it."
"Big Brother Ango said that my Miniature World is still incomplete and will only be complete when stars are condensed. Do you have any ideas?" Gu Ding had no clue about this and could only ask the Sea Emperor.
"Actually, I've wanted to tell you this for a long time. But since you obtained the Miniature World, all sorts of things have happened, and I haven't had a chance to say it." The Sea Emperor had clearly planned this for a long time. "Transferring stars directly from the Universe Sea into the Miniature World is something only a true god can do, and you can't do it yet. So, you can Smelting Star yourself."
"Smelting Star yourself? But aren't stars supposed to be chosen from celestial bodies that already have their own rules? If it's refined by humans, there are no rules at all, so it probably won't even be able to harm a Peak-rank God, right?" Gu Ding had also heard about some methods of selecting stars from Angorde.
"That's right. Generally speaking, people prefer to choose celestial bodies with strong self-rules as the World Star, such as stars, White Dwarf Star, neutron stars, pulsars, and Black Hole. But for stars without rules, there is another way to refine them, which is to add rules by relying on Dao patterns."
"Dao patterns?" Gu Ding heard a new term again. He immediately focused his attention on listening to the Sea Emperor's explanation.
"Dao patterns are short for Heavenly Dao Patterns. In reality, only true powerhouses can master this. But you can learn and use some of the basics now," the Sea Emperor laughed. "I originally planned to teach this to Miko sometime, but I'll teach it to you first."
"There are 10,800 basic Dao patterns, and I will now engrave them all into your mind. If you learn them slowly, it may take tens of thousands of years. But you still have eight Cosmic Fruits. If you have an epiphany like when you took the first one, you will learn much faster. Besides, you don't need to learn all the basic Dao patterns to Smelting Star."
"Let's go to the top floor of the Cultivation Tower. The 500x time acceleration will allow me to master these Dao patterns faster." Gu Ding originally planned to return to his prison cell, but after having those Dao patterns in his mind, he turned and walked towards the Cultivation Tower.
"You really are impatient," the Sea Emperor teased with a smile. "The Ninth Layer the Cultivation Tower, with its 500x time acceleration, costs 1,000 points a day, which is quite a drain on your points. However, with your current 300,000 points, it's enough for you to stay in the Ninth Layer of the Cultivation Tower for a year."
Upon entering the Cultivation Tower, Gu Ding walked to the front desk and asked the Black-Armored Man on duty that day, "Is it possible to choose automatic renewal in the Cultivation Tower?"
"Yes, that's possible. However, if you don't have enough points, you can only borrow for a maximum of three days. After three days, you will be automatically teleported out of the room, and the negative score will be reported to the system. If the score is still negative after the fourth day, you will be penalized," the Black-Armored Man explained.
"I understand. Then I will enter the Ninth Layer and use the automatic renewal method." Gu Ding was not worried about running out of points. Just as the Sea Emperor said, he had enough points to cultivate on the Ninth Layer for a year.
"Are you sure you want to go to the Ninth Layer? If you owe three days' worth of points, that's three thousand points. It's probably not so easy to earn three thousand points back in one day, is it?" The Black-Armored Man looked at Gu Ding with some suspicion. He had been on duty in the Cultivation Tower for the past few days and hadn't checked on Gu Ding's performance in the arena, so he didn't know that Gu Ding had already made a fortune.
"Yes, please register me." Gu Ding nodded.
Seeing that Gu Ding wasn't joking, the Black-Armored Man completed the registration for Gu Ding. "Ninth Layer, room number three, payment method is automatic renewal."
After registering, Gu Ding took the elevator to the Ninth Layer and quickly arrived at room number three.
After scanning his wristwatch at the door, Gu Ding pushed the door open and went inside.
This room on the Ninth Layer isn't much different from the one on the First Level, except it has an extra bed and is slightly larger. Since those who enter the Cultivation Tower seek solitary cultivation and seclusion, there's no need to make this room fancy like a hotel.
Gu Ding sat down cross-legged and began to organize the memories in his mind.
"Of the 10,800 Dao patterns, 3,600 are offensive, 3,600 are defensive, and the remaining 3,600 are of other categories. However, most artifact crafting only requires offensive and defensive Dao patterns. The same principle applies to your Smelting Star. Adding basic special Dao patterns generally won't be stronger than the celestial body's inherent rules, so directly adding offensive and defensive Dao patterns is the simplest approach," Sea Emperor explained to Gu Ding as he examined the Dao patterns in his mind.
" In the Universe Sea, only products made of extremely strong metal or stone materials can bear Dao patterns. Since you're only in the practice stage, there's no need to waste materials. Just inscribe them directly onto the Origin Stone. A single Origin Stone has six sides, allowing for six inscriptions. As long as it doesn't bear conflicting Dao patterns, it won't shatter..."
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[Happy New Year everyone on the last day of 2014! I need to pick someone up from the station around 11 AM. The third update is expected around 2 AM, so don't wait up...] (To be continued~^~)