Duobao Goes Berserk

A hundred years flew by in the blink of an eye. Duobao rubbed his cheeks and handed his answer sheet, filled to the brim with answers, to Guang Chengzi.

Guang Chengzi skimmed through it at a glance, ten lines at a time. A smile appeared on his face.

"Passed."

At once, tears of excitement streamed down Duobao's face. No one knew how he had spent those hundred years to finish these several thousand questions.

He let out a breath of stale air and looked up at the sky, feeling that everything before his eyes was incomparably pleasing.

Then he looked at Huanglong, who was still gnawing on his pen and shooting him pleading, envious looks. Duobao shrugged, wearing an expression that said he was helpless to do anything.

It was no wonder Huanglong envied him. These several thousand questions were not as simple as merely filling in answers.

They also had to be demonstrated on the spot and mastered completely.

Fortunately, his comprehension was decent, and he had completely mastered them in just a hundred years.

But Huanglong, whose comprehension was just a notch below his, was not so fortunate.

Still, when he thought of how Bai Ze would have to go through this same process after entering the mountain gates—

For some reason, he felt a little gleeful at another's misfortune, wanting to see little brother Bai Ze's defeated expression.

Thinking of Bai Ze, Duobao greeted Guang Chengzi and walked toward the mirror.

He saw Bai Ze sitting cross-legged within the formation. Yet his body was half-illusory and half-real.

Duobao's brows rose at the sight. He was all too familiar with this thing.

Was this not his innate divine ability?

Seeing Bai Ze immersed in cultivation, Duobao could not help but wonder:

"Little brother Bai Ze, why have you suddenly started cultivating your divine ability?

Hurry up and comprehend the formation!"

After watching for a while, Duobao shook his head. Though puzzled, he was not flustered in the slightest. There was plenty of time.

In any case, with two thousand years, Bai Ze's talent was enough to comprehend it fully!

Another five hundred years passed. Huanglong had long since finished answering the questions. Duobao emerged from seclusion and frowned as he looked at Bai Ze in the formation.

"Why is he still comprehending his divine ability?!"

At this moment, Bai Ze sat cross-legged, with a stretch of void behind him. He seemed to be within the formation, yet he was actually in a different space from it.

Duobao scratched his head, his heart full of doubts, but he said nothing.

After all, only six hundred years had passed. There were still fourteen hundred years left. He could afford to wait!

A thousand years slipped away silently. Looking at the mere four hundred years remaining, Duobao's eyes widened.

He anxiously scratched at his ears and cheeks. "Little brother Bai Ze, what are you doing? Comprehend the formation! Don't just keep comprehending your divine ability!"

Thus, in a fit of anger, Duobao sat before the formation spirit. Watching Bai Ze continue to comprehend his divine ability, he suddenly felt as though life held no meaning.

He stared hollow-eyed at the heavens and roared unwillingly:

"Two thousand years! A full two thousand years! All of it spent comprehending a divine ability! Little brother Bai Ze, you've utterly led your big brother into a pit!"

Guang Chengzi, who had emerged from seclusion nearby, saw Duobao in this state. He patted Duobao on the shoulder, struggling to suppress his laughter.

"Junior brother, a wager is a wager. It is not that your senior brother refused to go easy on you—it is simply that your luck is far too terrible!"

Duobao slapped Guang Chengzi's hand away and said with a dark expression, "Don't get smug. He has yet to break through to the mid stage of True Form. Have you prepared that True Phoenix Blood Essence?"

Seeing Duobao like this, Guang Chengzi chuckled. "It is merely a matter of stepping outside. But junior brother, have you prepared the Acquired Spirit Treasure?"

Duobao's breath caught, his heart aching so badly that he could barely breathe.

Only after a long while did he say, "Hasn't he failed yet? Once he succeeds, I will naturally present it with both hands."

Watching Duobao remain stubborn as a dead duck with a hard beak, Guang Chengzi laughed inwardly. "Very well, then I shall wait quietly for the Lingbao you forge, junior brother."

Duobao snorted and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Guang Chengzi hurriedly asked, "Where are you going, junior brother?"

Without looking back, Duobao replied, "Out to find materials! My master is too stingy. If I do not go out and find materials, where am I supposed to get the means to forge an Acquired Spirit Treasure?"

Guang Chengzi covered his mouth and laughed. Seeing Duobao suffer a loss, though it differed somewhat from what he had expected, the result was the same. Looking at Duobao's wilted appearance, he knew this lesson had been well worth the price!

Still, joking was joking. Duobao was his junior brother, after all, so he could not go too far.

"Wait, junior brother. I happen to have some materials. They are just sitting around anyway, so I will give them to you."

Duobao looked at the Cosmos Bag floating toward him, and a smile immediately spread across his face. "Senior brother, what are you doing? How could I possibly take your things?"

As he spoke, he swiftly opened the storage bag to inspect it. Upon seeing what was inside, the smile on his face deepened even further.

Without another word, he quickly stowed it away in his own treasure cave.

Guang Chengzi shook his head and laughed at the sight. "You, honestly. If I say I am giving it to you, then it is yours. I will not ask for it back.

But do not rush back just yet."

Hearing this, Duobao immediately set his mind at ease and asked, "Does senior brother have some other matter?"

Guang Chengzi pointed at Bai Ze within the formation and said thoughtfully, "Junior brother, do you not find Bai Ze's divine ability rather familiar?"

Duobao was unconcerned. "You mean that? Bai Ze is cultivating my innate divine ability right now.

But this was a fair exchange between us. Senior brother, do you think there is some problem?"

Guang Chengzi immediately understood why Duobao cared so much about Bai Ze, though he did not make much of it.

Shaking his head, he said, "I have seen your innate divine ability before. But what Bai Ze displays is vastly different from what you use."

"Is that so?" Duobao scratched his head, then began to display his divine ability. In an instant, a crude space appeared behind him.

Compared with the vast and magnificent space behind Bai Ze, it seemed as though Bai Ze's was the true innate divine ability.

Duobao's, on the other hand, resembled a clumsy imitation.

"Have you discovered the problem?"

Duobao watched for a while, then nodded. The difference was far too obvious!

It was no wonder he had only realized it now. Over these past two thousand years, the wager had weighed constantly on his mind, causing him to overlook the divine ability Bai Ze displayed.

Now that Guang Chengzi had pointed it out, he immediately came to his senses.

"So that is why this brat has spent the past two thousand years comprehending a spatial divine ability every day! This divine ability can actually be used like this!"

Guang Chengzi was rendered speechless. "I pointed it out so that you would not marvel at it."

Duobao gave a chuckle. "I understand what you mean, senior brother. But Bai Ze spent two thousand years comprehending this. If I secretly learned it without his consent, would that not be far too shameless?"

Guang Chengzi looked at Bai Ze in the formation. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Junior brother, do you think Bai Ze knows that we can see him?"

"Hm?" Duobao's eyes immediately widened. He had also comprehended formations, so he naturally understood this formation extremely well.

Especially since Bai Ze had already mastered nine hundred zhang of it—how could he possibly not know the formation's functions?

"Senior brother, you mean... he deliberately let me see it?"

Guang Chengzi nodded slightly. "You and I have both comprehended this formation. Once one controls nine hundred zhang of it, apart from the final hundred zhang concerning the formation spirit, how could one fail to know that this formation possesses the ability to spy?"

Upon hearing this, Duobao's feelings immediately became incredibly complicated. The way he looked at Bai Ze was filled with self-reproach and gratitude.

After a long while, he sighed and smiled bitterly.

"Little brother Bai Ze really is something else. To spare my pride, he actually chose such a tactful way to remind me.

Why not simply tell me? It is not as though I would care."

"Ah! Now I owe little brother Bai Ze another enormous favor!"

Guang Chengzi looked at Bai Ze, who was cultivating, then at Duobao, who was drowning in self-reproach and gratitude. His gaze was profound, and an imperceptible smile curled at his lips.

"This Bai Ze is quite an interesting fellow."

Hearing Guang Chengzi mutter, Duobao raised his head in confusion. "Senior brother, what did you say?"

Guang Chengzi shook his head. "Nothing. Go comprehend it properly!"