Knight Holy Mountain (3)

"Hm?" So cautious? Ye Hua looked at Long Haochen in puzzlement. Long Haochen's voice rang out at that moment.

"Teacher, my Innate Internal Spiritual Power is ninety-seven."

"Mm." Ye Hua answered absentmindedly. He was still immersed in Long Haochen's words—like a teacher, like a father—and a warm, indescribable comfort filled his heart. He had never married in his life. Having such a sensible, precious disciple, it was only natural to regard him as a son.

"Ninety-seven. Ah? What did you say?" Ye Hua whipped his head around so sharply that even the glistening tears in his eyes flew out. His voice had changed; even "what" came out as "what the hell."

Long Haochen smiled faintly. "See? I told you I shouldn't tell you. I knew this would be the result."

Ye Hua's body visibly twitched. He swallowed hard, then abruptly waved a hand. A Spiritual Light Shield far more powerful than Long Haochen's spread from his body, enclosing master and disciple once more.

"Y-you said your Internal Spiritual Power is ninety-seven?" Ye Hua's eyes were practically bulging from their sockets.

Long Haochen nodded.

"No, that's impossible." Ye Hua said decisively, "When you first arrived at the branch temple, that dead fatso Nalan Shu tested your spiritual power. The result was two hundred sixty-eight. Since you underwent Sacred Awakening, that means your External Spiritual Power was at the maximum of two hundred. So no matter how talented you are, your Innate Internal Spiritual Power could not have exceeded sixty-eight!"

Long Haochen scratched his head. "At the time, my Internal Spiritual Power had actually already reached over a hundred. It was only because I fused with a spirit furnace that it temporarily dropped. Didn't you notice that after I had studied with you for about a month, my Internal Spiritual Power rose dramatically? That was because the spiritual power consumed by fusing with the spirit furnace had recovered."

"A spirit furnace... Y-you even have a spirit furnace..." Ye Hua nearly tore out a feather from the Mountain Shaking Eagle, staring at Long Haochen with a crazed expression.

"You brat, do you know what I want to do right now?" A vicious gleam flashed in Ye Hua's eyes.

Long Haochen froze. "Teacher, what are you going to do?"

Ye Hua felt an urge to burst into tears. "I want to kick you off. Damn it, why did you tell me?! I'm a complete lunatic—why did I even ask?! Asking for humiliation, this is simply asking for humiliation!"

It took a full two hours before Ye Hua gradually recovered from his unstable emotional state. Yet every time he turned back and saw Long Haochen's gentle, jade-like face, he seemed to see a nine written on his left cheek, a seven on his right, and a spirit furnace perched atop his nose...

"Teacher, what kind of magic beast do you think would be suitable for me to form a contract partnership with?" Only after another two hours, when Ye Hua's emotions had finally stabilized completely, did Long Haochen cautiously ask.

Ye Hua glanced at him. "Naturally, the higher the Cultivation Level, the better. With your potential, those level-seven and level-eight magic beasts would probably feel ashamed before you and lack the confidence to form a partnership with you at all. The best outcome would be finding a level-nine magic beast in its Infant Stage. Oh, right, what kind of spirit furnace do you have?" As he spoke, he took the waterskin from his waist and drank from it.

"The Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace."

"Pfft—" Ye Hua sprayed out all the water he had just swallowed. "Y-you, you, do you have no humanity at all?! Can't you stop being so brutal?!" His face was filled with grief and indignation.

Long Haochen asked in confusion, "Teacher, are you all right? Among the spirit furnaces that knights can fuse with, the Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace seems to rank near the bottom."

Ye Hua panted heavily. "If I keep talking to you, I'm going to have a heart attack. What the hell do you know? Yes, the Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace ranks low. But do you know that among the Knight Temple's current three Divine Seal Knights, the two old men who came from Guardian Knight backgrounds both possess Holy Guiding Spirit Furnaces?"

"I didn't know," Long Haochen answered honestly.

Ye Hua said resentfully, "The Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace can be said to be the best spirit furnace for a knight working with a team. With a knight fused with a Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace, any team exploring ancient ruins can increase its safety by at least thirty percent. Good thing you told me now. Once we return from Knight Holy Mountain, I'll properly teach you how to use this Holy Guiding Spirit Furnace."

The Mountain Shaking Eagle continued flying north. Though its flight speed was considered rather weak among all level-six flying magic beasts, it was still much faster than traveling over land.

Knight Holy Mountain was located in the northeastern corner of the Holy Temple Alliance, adjacent to the Knight Temple. It was extremely far from Bright Moon City, which lay in the south of the Holy Temple Alliance. One practically had to cross the entire territory of the Holy Temple Alliance to reach it.

Within the Holy Temple Alliance, the Six Great Temples were all located along the borders, forming a ring that protected the alliance's territory within. The Holy Temple Alliance headquarters, meanwhile, stood at the center of the territory, at roughly equal distances from each of the Six Great Temples. It was precisely because of the protection and deterrence of the Six Great Temples that the Devil Race had been unable to continue encroaching upon human lands over all these years.

Among the Six Great Temples, the Knight Temple was the strongest, the Warrior Temple had the greatest number of members, and the Mage Temple was the wealthiest.

The influence of both the Knight Temple and Warrior Temple extended into nearly every village and town. The Mage Temple, on the other hand, at least covered every city above the level of a small city.

Because of their sparse memberships, the Assassin Temple, Priest Temple, and Soul Temple only had branch temples in major cities. Even a mid-sized city like Bright Moon City only had a Priest Temple branch; the most mysterious Assassin Temple and Soul Temple had not established branches there.

However, that did not mean the three temples with fewer members were weak. Each possessed its own formidable abilities and was an indispensable part of the Holy Temple Alliance.

The Mountain Shaking Eagle possessed exceptional endurance in flight and only needed to land once a day to rest. Long Haochen had already told his teacher his most important secret, so each day he cultivated his Internal Spiritual Power atop the Mountain Shaking Eagle's back. From only a stone's throw away, Ye Hua could clearly sense his spiritual power steadily rising.

Fifteen days later.

"We're finally here. Old friend, descend." Ye Hua said happily.

Long Haochen gazed into the distance and was astonished to find that the horizon was filled with hazy golden radiance. Yet it was shrouded in mist, making the scene impossible to see clearly.

The range enveloped by that pale golden glow was immensely vast. Faintly, it seemed that ranges of mountains lay within the radiance.

The Mountain Shaking Eagle slowly descended to the ground. Its enormous wings stirred fierce currents of air, pressing the weeds below flat against the earth.

Long Haochen followed his teacher and jumped down. The fifteen-day journey had not made him feel tired in the slightest. Cultivating every day, his spiritual power had risen by more than fifty points.

"Old friend, go back first."

The Mountain Shaking Eagle lowered its head and nuzzled Ye Hua reluctantly before walking into the reverse summoning array Ye Hua had released.

"Teacher, does Knight Holy Mountain have an air-restriction array? Why don't we fly directly over? It seems there are still more than a hundred li to go," Long Haochen asked.

"There is no air-restriction array, but don't forget how many powerful magic beasts dwell in Knight Holy Mountain. These magic beasts will not actively attack humans, but if an outside magic beast flies over their heads, it will anger them. Unless your mount has the strength to suppress every magic beast here, never attempt to cross it by air. Let's go."

Just as master and disciple were about to head toward Knight Holy Mountain, a fierce wind suddenly rose in the sky again, and an enormous figure descended from above.