Level One Grand Knight

Inside the Spirit-Nurturing Pool, Ling Xiao's sudden booming voice startled Han Qian.

"His teacher only said ninety-nine!"

Han Qian was taken aback too. Had Ye Hua lied?

Ling Xiao nodded. "That explains it. What a pity. Such a rare opportunity, but he was already nearly perfect, so he only gained a little. From now on, it'll be difficult to raise his innate internal spiritual power without the right opportunity!"

He looked at Yang Tian, then smiled.

"This child was born to be a Priest. Old Han, give him to me. I'll waive those two slots. Think how many people we could save with another incredibly powerful Priest!"

Ling Xiao's words made Han Qian's old mustache bristle. He was openly trying to poach the boy.

"Then why don't you think about how many demons an incredibly powerful Divine Seal Knight could kill?"

"With his talent, he might even win the recognition of the first Divine Throne!"

Han Qian made his case as well.

The two were engaged in a subtle contest.

The Knights had divine artifacts like the Divine Thrones, but the Priest Temple had its own reserves.

A perfect innate spiritual power of one hundred!

"Within ten years, our Priest Temple can definitely train him into a Ninth-Order Saint!"

"We'll equip him with two or three pieces of Epic Grade light equipment. The Priest Temple has Spirit Furnaces too!"

Ling Xiao spoke with confidence.

"Have you no shame? Hurry up and continue! If this doesn't succeed, all that talk is bullshit!"

Han Qian angrily cursed at Ling Xiao.

The man was practically driving him, the Holy Knight Commander, into a corner.

Although Priests had little fighting power and nothing like the Divine Thrones, they had plenty of other resources. Their reserves could not be underestimated.

This fellow's grandfather was still hale and hearty despite his age. Priests lived very long lives too.

"Innate spiritual power of a full one hundred!"

Looking at Yang Tian, Han Qian's heart gave a jolt.

It seemed the Knight Temple's time to shine had come.

Han Qian thought, I have to make this fellow give up the idea!

Ling Xiao continued performing the secret art, a form of magic comparable to a Forbidden Spell.

Enveloped in golden light, Yang Tian felt a tingling itch all over, as though silkworms were wriggling across his skin!

His external spiritual power recovered bit by bit, yet his flesh remained just as supple.

This reconstruction had more than doubled his limit of two hundred external spiritual power, bringing it close to five hundred.

His innate internal spiritual power had awakened at ninety-nine, but it could still increase with the right opportunity.

Now it broke past one hundred and finally settled at one hundred and one.

With such a constitution and talent, Yang Tian recovered quickly.

He soon recovered to the level of a level five Knight, but in an environment this favorable, he naturally would not let the opportunity pass.

He continued absorbing, advancing toward level six.

Finally, his total spiritual power reached nearly five hundred, a bottleneck!

The bottleneck between a Level 3 Knight and a Fourth-Order Grand Knight.

"Is he going to break into the Fourth Tier in one go? What incredible talent!"

"If he received our Priests' Holy Baptism and then an Empowerment, I guarantee he'd reach the ninth order within five years!"

The more Ling Xiao watched, the more excited he grew, and the more he liked the boy.

For Yang Tian, reaching the ninth order's one hundred thousand spiritual power was only a matter of time.

A day and a night passed!

Yang Tian broke into the Fourth Tier in one go, reaching nearly six hundred spiritual power and settling at the Grand Knight level.

Feeling that it was over, he sensed that his strength had returned and grown even greater.

The instant he opened his eyes, he failed to contain the pure light element within them.

Golden light shot straight at Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao was a Ninth-Order Saint, after all.

He raised a hand and blocked the golden light that had accumulated for so long.

"Please forgive me, honored Saint!" Realizing his lapse, Yang Tian sincerely apologized.

"Then join our Priest Temple, and I'll forgive your rudeness!"

Ling Xiao smiled kindly as he looked at the little fellow, Yang Tian. A level one Grand Knight-a seven-year-old level one Grand Knight!

What a treasure!

If he brought the boy back, the old man would laugh himself awake from his dreams. Even in his coffin, he would roll over laughing.

Yang Tian froze, then glanced at Han Qian.

"What are you saying, you old bastard!"

Han Qian flew into a rage. The shameless old fellow was at it again.

Ignoring the furious Han Qian, Ling Xiao asked directly, "Your name is Yang Tian, right?"

Yang Tian nodded, unsure what he meant.

"Good boy, join our Priest Temple. We promise to train you into a Ninth-Order Saint within five years. You can choose any Epic Grade equipment you like, and any of the Priest Temple's secret arts..."

Ling Xiao grew more excited as he spoke.

Five years-a Ninth-Order Saint who would not even be fifteen! If the boy then lived for over a hundred years, his strength would surpass the old man's by an enormous margin.

Yang Tian was taken aback too.

The ninth order in five years?

Any Epic Grade equipment I want?

Any secret art I want to learn?

Anyone else would probably have accepted already.

Han Qian had already struck.

Even if Ling Xiao was a Ninth-Order Saint, he was going to hit him. The man was infuriating.

But Ling Xiao raised a hand and blocked Han Qian's attack. Of course, Han Qian had not struck with his full strength either.

"Ha ha, the people of the Priest Temple certainly are confident. Yang Tian, your goal should be to become a Divine Seal Knight and possess a Divine Throne, shouldn't it?"

An old man appeared.

Ling Xiao and Han Qian stopped their scuffling and stood respectfully.

"Yes. With a Divine Throne, I can challenge the Demon Gods!"

Yang Tian nodded and answered earnestly.

"Ahem, Yang Tian, becoming a Priest would let you heal countless people. Wouldn't that be better than fighting and killing?"

Ling Xiao gave a dry cough. Clearly, he still refused to give up, even with this man present.

Yang Haohan was speechless. Even after I, the alliance leader, have shown up, you're still trying to poach my people?

"That would be good, but I'm a Guardian Knight. Our temple also has protective skills. Although the Priest Temple has excellent secret arts that can heal more people, I want the strength to protect more people!"

Yang Tian spoke earnestly, though this was not truly the choice he wanted.

Although the Six Great Temples formed an alliance, they mostly governed themselves, divided by their different professions.

Yang Tian was not opposed to Priests' healing arts. On the contrary, after what had happened with Grandma Weiwei, he had developed a keen interest in their healing.

Yet the Knight Temple had to admit that Priests' healing truly had unique strengths.

Ling Xiao sighed!

Han Qian and Yang Haohan smiled too. It seemed they had worried too much, though the prospect of ninth-order strength was indeed enormously tempting.

Yang Haohan nodded. "Good. Then one day, you will surely sit upon a Divine Throne. Our Knight Temple won't stunt your growth by rushing it. Cultivating one step at a time is the proper path!"

And with that, the matter ended.

Feeling his strength increase after losing and regaining it, Yang Tian cherished it all the more.

He also needed a good weapon, or what had happened last time might happen again.

The Knight Temple had good weapons, such as Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light.

However, that belonged to Long Haochen. Long Haochen was his good friend, and Yang Tian did not want to take his friend's opportunity.

Ling Xiao left.

"Han Qian, bring him to see me later!" The old man also departed, leaving Han Qian with those words before he went.

Han Qian nodded!

Then he turned to Yang Tian and said kindly, "Child, thank you for holding fast to our Knights' faith!"

"All right, go say goodbye to your teacher first. After that, you'll stay at the temple, where we can train you better!"

Thank you to Great China Sixty-Six, Mutual Support, and Perfected Person Chengyang for your tips. I know you want extra updates, and I'd feel bad if I didn't post more. You've given rather a lot. Thank you for your support!

And thank you to Nana and Xi He for your monthly votes, and to all the readers for your many recommendation votes!

Mr. Baogu, Divine Seal Knight of Monthly and Recommendation Votes, offers you his knees...