What about the second question?
Xu Cheng froze for a moment.
But he clearly had no intention of asking something so disappointing.
He bowed deeply instead.
"Teacher!"
"Hahahaha..."
Seeing how readily Xu Cheng accepted him, the old man laughed heartily.
Only after a long while did he look at Xu Cheng with considerable satisfaction.
He brushed a finger over his diamond ring, and a dark red skull appeared in his hand.
"Here. This is a sixty-thousand-year skull I bought at auction. It's also of the spiritual attribute, so it should be extremely useful to you..."
Xu Cheng's pupils contracted.
He stared at the dark red skull floating above Elder Cheng's hand, slowly dipping downward.
Wasn't this precisely the sixty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant Soul Bone he had missed out on at the Mingdu auction house a few days ago?
He had never imagined...
After all its twists and turns, it had still found its way into his hands.
"What, is it not to your liking? Your teacher has other welcoming gifts."
Seeing Xu Cheng stare blankly, Elder Cheng thought he disliked the treasure and was about to dig into his reserves again.
Xu Cheng hurriedly stopped him.
"Teacher, I was there when this sixty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant skull was auctioned..."
Xu Cheng gave a wry smile.
"At the time, my pockets were empty, and I couldn't produce the Gold Soul Coins, so I could only watch helplessly as someone else... as you bought this Soul Bone. Who would have thought that, after all those twists and turns, it would end up in my hands again? It really is..."
"I see. Then we truly were destined to become teacher and disciple. Hehehe."
Elder Cheng laughed heartily.
Clearly, taking Xu Cheng as his final disciple had put him in an excellent mood.
He did not fear the Imperial Family's struggle for succession, and he was confident that even if Xu Cheng failed when the time came, he could ensure that Xu Cheng emerged unscathed...
Besides, would Xu Cheng really fail?
Becoming an emperor's teacher was another way of placing a bet.
"As for the Holy Spirit Cult..."
Elder Cheng hesitated.
His status
Although Xu Cheng also had the Holy Spirit Cult's backing, which would greatly improve his chances in the future struggle for the throne, the cult's members each harbored their own designs. This sword was sharp, and if wielded poorly, it could very well turn around and injure its wielder...
"Please rest assured, Teacher. I have the Holy Spirit Cult matter under control."
Hearing this, Xu Cheng hurriedly stated his position.
"The Holy Spirit Cult is indeed a double-edged sword, but I have ways to keep it in check going forward. Even now, I've been trying..."
Elder Cheng nodded slightly.
He naturally knew what Xu Cheng meant.
Xu Cheng had promoted charitable practices within the Holy Spirit Cult-and had actually succeeded.
When he received the news from Jing Hongchen, he had been utterly astonished as well. A child who had been six then and was only eleven now must have gone through a great deal to achieve what he had...
It also offered a glimpse of Xu Cheng's methods.
He had quite the bearing of an emperor commanding his subjects.
"Good. Your teacher trusts you. Just remember, if anything happens, come to me. I, Cheng Baiqing, still command a little respect throughout the Sun Moon Empire..."
Elder Cheng said no more, offering only a few reminders.
"Mm..."
Xu Cheng nodded solemnly.
The heavy stone weighing on his heart slowly settled to the ground.
Although his earlier goal of finding a powerful backer had been rather calculating,
Once they truly established a teacher-disciple relationship, its nature changed.
This world placed immense importance on the passing of teachings from master to disciple, truly living by the principle that a teacher for a day was a father for life.
In other words, from the moment he entered this room,
Crown Prince Xu Tianran and His Highness the Fourth Prince would immediately abandon their attempts to win Cheng Baiqing over, because they both understood that Cheng Baiqing had now stood firmly and completely on Xu Cheng's side. There was no possibility of swaying him...
"All right, absorb it first."
Elder Cheng smiled and waved a hand. "Right here. I'll personally stand guard for you."
"Yes!"
Xu Cheng smiled as well.
He glanced at the skull glowing with dark red light, feeling deeply moved.
He remembered that in the original story,
Zhou Yi had given Huo Gua a secret-method Soul Bone. Only by slaughtering a hundred soul beasts of the same species within half an hour was there even a tiny chance of obtaining such a Soul Bone.
But the method was exceedingly cruel, and the odds were extremely low.
To be honest, he had hardly ever seen such Soul Bones even within the Holy Spirit Cult.
Yet Shrek openly handed them to its students...
Evil Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng would probably cry himself unconscious in the bathroom. He had merely drunk the blood of a few soul beasts, only to be branded an Evil Soul Master, hauled in and taught a lesson by Mu En, and made to swear never to appear on the continent again.
Who the hell was the real Evil Soul Master here?!
Xu Cheng shook his head, sat cross-legged on the floor, and began cultivating.
As time passed,
Ripples began to spread around him.
Dark red waves pulsed around his body, and a phantom Evil Eye Tyrant manifested over him, roaring and flailing furiously.
It refused to accept becoming a human's Soul Bone!
Elder Cheng's expression gradually grew worried.
A sixty-thousand-year soul beast like this was immensely powerful. Thanks to its bloodline, it could even rival ordinary eighty- or ninety-thousand-year soul beasts, or even those nearing a hundred thousand years.
The resistance within its Soul Bone was all the fiercer as a result.
This child was indeed a genius, but could he withstand it...?
If necessary, I'll forcibly pull it out, Elder Cheng thought. Little Cheng's body might still struggle to absorb a soul beast of this level...
Xu Cheng's eyes were tightly closed.
He stood in a pitch-black world.
In the sky,
An enormous creature glared at him in fury, its countless tentacles whipping through the air with thunderous force before smashing down toward him.
After the thunderous crash,
He still stood in the same place.
His expression was calm.
We both wield spiritual power, and you want to destroy my Sea of Consciousness and drive me insane?
If you were at your peak, I'd turn and run.
But now you're nothing more than a skull, and you still dare act so arrogantly before me?
Xu Cheng raised his head, his crimson eyes utterly unruffled.
"Crimson Moon Eye!"
As his voice fell,
Crimson flames seemed to ignite across the pitch-black sky, roaring as they engulfed the entire world.
An enormous blood-red eye slowly opened, blotting out the sky and sun as though it spanned heaven and earth.
Its gaze fell upon the Evil Eye Tyrant, and a vivid trace of fear appeared in the creature's eye.
"Roar!"
Its body twisted in agony as it let out shrill, miserable howls.
Searing flames ignited across its body, swiftly spreading over its entire form.
Xu Cheng quietly tilted his head back, watching the Evil Eye Tyrant's remnant soul writhe and roll across the "ground," while more and more crimson flames coiled around its body.
Soon, the remnant soul was reduced to ashes.
It vanished from Xu Cheng's Sea of Consciousness.
The darkness receded.
Xu Cheng stood lightly upon his Sea of Consciousness, an identical reflection mirrored beneath his feet.
He gently stepped forward, and ripples instantly spread across the Sea of Consciousness.
The next instant,
The entire ocean visibly expanded outward in every direction.
In the sky, the enormous blood-red eye slowly closed as well.
It worked!
Xu Cheng slowly opened his eyes.
He withdrew from his spiritual world.
He let out a long breath of stale air.
At the same time, a trail of bloody tears slipped from the corner of his eye, complementing his crimson pupils and making him look even more eerie...
He actually did it?!!
Elder Cheng's pupils contracted sharply.
The Evil Eye Tyrant's remnant soul, which had been flailing so furiously moments before, suddenly wilted, letting out wretched howls as though scorched by blazing fire...
Clearly, this child had held the upper hand from beginning to end!
Before you continue