Chapter 291: 291
Xue Wei snickered when he felt a distortion in the air ripples appearing around him and the three experts, and crackling sounds reverberating around the room .
Although he was eager to see whether or not the golden dragon was capable of consuming this much energy, he was also slightly apprehensive when he saw just how overwhelming it was .
Well, he had aggravated the guards, so there was no turning back now . Instead of being nervous, he felt it was much better to be filled with self-confidence and trust in his golden dragon spirit .
Xue Wei felt the big wave crashing down upon him, and its energy pouring into his entire body . It made him feel as if his meridians were being ripped apart .
Although the golden dragon spirit was capable of absorbing an enormous amount of energy, there was a limit to how much energy it could absorb at once, and now the rest of the attack was wreaking havoc in his body .
Xue Wei grit his teeth as he felt the energy surging through every pore and cell, bringing with it a destructive force . Fortunately, this energy was aimed at his soul, and thus his body—which had reached the rank of an Earth Knight in Qi levels—was more or less unharmed but still left behind a scorching pain .
When the energy entered his body, Xue Wei had considered the option of forcing it out with his Qi dragons, but he felt that it would be a waste of energy—the energy that had been so kindly gifted to him .
The golden dragon spirit was eager to consume all the energy that was pulsating through his body, and although its speed of absorption was rather slow compared to the previous times, he could feel that the refinement had picked up .
The bottleneck towards the fourth layer of the Earth Knight rank was becoming looser and looser, so much so that he could feel it trembling . Then suddenly, Xue Wei felt as though something within his body had broken free, and as if a stone on his shoulder had been removed, he could breathe freely .
He had finally broken through to the fourth layer of the Earth Knight rank for his spiritual energy . The boundless energy was now pulsating through his body with a much more pleasant effect, and it made him curious about just how much difference there was between his current and past abilities .
Unfortunately, there was no place for him to test his breakthrough . Although he had three experts in front of him, all of them were Sky Knights, and a mere fourth layered Earth Knight would not even begin to match up to them .
Xue Wei’s advantage over these experts existed in his Azure Dragon spirit, his golden dragon spirit, and his high Qi levels .
Noticing that his scrunched up expression had eased a lot, the three experts became very uncomfortable . They had exhausted all the spiritual energy within their soul palace; they were at the current point rather useless as they would not be able even to kill a chicken .
Even worse was when they sensed that Xue Wei had a breakthrough in the midst of the chaotic energy that they had summoned forth . This sudden discovery left them with a mental scar for life; their minds were reeling in shock .
Who would be able to change the situation like this? Instead of being crippled, he had advanced, what kind of absurdity was this?
Xue Wei could see the sudden despair in the guards’ many eyes, and he could not help but chuckle slightly .
“Thank you for your assistance,” he said cheekily . “I could not have had such a rapid breakthrough if it was not for your assistance, make sure to send some more people my way later . ”
The more he spoke, the more infuriated and confused the guards became . Their eyes were filled with bewilderment, and their bodies trembled; one of them even coughed up blood in agitation .
They were already incredibly weak due to having used up their entire body’s reservoir of spiritual energy and being angered like this, it was natural that their bodies were incapable of handling it .
Although Xue Wei was rather rude and did what he could to agitate the guards, he also remained alert . The last attack had made him realize that, although he had the protection of the golden dragon spirit, there was still a limit to how much it could protect him against .
When the three experts made an all-out attack, they had indeed caused him pain, so he reckoned that if there was a Heavenly Knight, then he would be incapable of withstanding the combined attack .
Fortunately, Heavenly Knights were relatively rare; only a few could be found amongst the guards, while every single elder of the Baili family were Heavenly Knights, and the Grand Elder was an Earth Saint .
Saint-ranked experts were incredibly rare on Yan Dalu . Spiritual energy became more and more difficult to cultivate, the stronger one became, and one needed lucky chances to have breakthroughs .
Because of this, the continent was somewhat weak compared to other continents, but even so, a few crouching tigers and hidden dragons existed in the continent—with the Grand Elder being one of them .
Xue Wei had gained much information about Yan Dalu and its citizens from the exchange that Lin Xiao and Hei Gou had initiated some time ago . He knew that the strongest expert in the entire continent was the Royal Tutor, a higher layered Earth Saint who was at a rather old age already .
The Royal Tutor and the Baili grand elder were the only Earth Saint on the entire continent . All the others were Ordinary Saints and below—even the principal of the Garden of Shadows was not an Earth Saint .
Knowing that there was an Earth Saint in the Baili family, Xue Wei was incapable of fully relaxing . He had already acknowledged that he would be incapable of withstanding a Heavenly Knight, so an Earth Saint was a heaven-defying threat .
Figuring that the guards were incapable of handling him, Xue Wei was betting on the fact that the Grand Elder would not lower himself to deal with him, but it was obvious that a Heavenly Knight would be sent his way soon, so he had to find a way to increase his cultivation base rapidly .
At least the trick today had made him rise a layer, not to mention that he had bought some time and drained three Sky Knights—which was no small feat for an Earth Knight .
Realizing that they been left with a scar in their minds from Xue Wei, he could not help but snicker . They deserved it .
Another two days went by as the three guards went to report the information to the higher-ups and waited for them to find another person to take charge of the ‘convincing’ of Xue Wei .
Xue Wei was correct . The next person that appeared was a Heavenly Knight . Unlike the previous three guards, this man was not arrogant, neither was he looking down on Xue Wei .
The guard did not belittle him . He looked at him with a grave expression on his face, as if he was threatened by the existence of this creature known as Xue Wei .
Knowing that this person could be a serious danger, Xue Wei furrowed his brows . He was slightly worried that things would not go as easily as he had hoped, his eyes never once leaving the man .
Like the three previous guards, this man also sat down in front of the cell, but he did not instantly close his eyes; instead, he continued to observe Xue Wei .
After contemplating, Xue Wei also sat down, placing his hands in his lap and looked back at the man on the other side of the door .
The two looked into the eyes of one another, and mutual respect began to grow between them . It was clear that the person each of them faced was not to be underestimated .
While the Heavenly Knight was certain that Xue Wei was a monster after what he’d been told before entering, he was shocked to see that it was, in fact, a mere youngster . His eyes were clear, bright, and filled with intelligence, and a smile hung on his lips, making him seem carefree, even when facing a Heavenly Knight .
Xue Wei was pleasantly surprised with this man as well . He was calm, collected, and his bearing was neither hurried nor slow when moving . He’d sat down with an elegance you rarely found amongst servants, but he was clearly someone bound to the Baili family by an oath of loyalty .
The two were quiet for a long time, before the Heavenly Knight finally opened his mouth, “I am sorry for what I am about to do,” he uttered with a deep voice, devoid of all emotions .
“I am bound to the Baili family . Any order they give me, I am to succeed to the best of my ability, or I will lose my life,” he continued to explain .
“I do not wish to harm you, so I suggest that you pledge your allegiance to the Baili family . Although they are rather pushy and do things in questionable ways, they are not too bad . ”
“They threatened my dear ones,” Xue Wei answered, coldly . “They have been trying to use coercion to force me into working with them . The more they do this, the more I will fight back . ”
“It seems that we will be incapable of reaching an agreement,” the Heavenly Knight resigned with a sigh, small needle-like shapes appearing in the air at the same moment .
These needles were made purely out of spiritual energy, and they were fluctuating with a power that Xue Wei had not experienced before . His eyes turned solemn, and his smile slowly vanished .
When he had met the guards earlier, they had been assaulting him with all their might, but the only way they could send out their energy was in waves that came crashing down upon him and were spread over his entire body .
This Heavenly Knight was clearly in a higher position of wealth or power than the Sky Knights . He had some techniques and methods that others did not, and they were clearly able to cause some severe injury to Xue Wei, should these needle-like threads of energy hit him .
Xue Wei was uncomfortable, but he was the one who had decided to follow the Baili family and fight them head-on rather than run and hide as he usually did .
Since he had made this decision, then he was to stick to it till the end . Xue Wei was the kind of person who would never regret a decision he made, and he would forever be loyal to his choices .
Since he had made this decision, he would not change course, and he would meet every hardship straight on .
There was respect in the eyes of the Heavenly Knight, alongside a bit of pity . He too had experienced the pain of being impaled by a soul needle, and he knew that it could leave a lasting impact on one’s soul .
Still, he had been given his orders, so there was nothing to do other than follow those orders, and thus he unleashed a torrent of soul needles that rained down upon Xue Wei .
Xue Wei closed his eyes the moment he felt the needles approaching him, and he urged the golden dragon to leave his soul palace to face them head-on .
A golden light shrouded Xue Wei as the dragon materialized outside of his body as it had done back in the Soul Tower . It grew in size and shrouded him from the needles, but the moment they came into contact with the golden scales on the body, the needles melted into puddles of energy that the dragon quickly absorbed .
A loud screech reverberated through the entire dungeon . It spread through the building on top of the dungeons, and even the elders in the main building heard the screech that made the very soul of each member of the Baili family tremble in fright .
The golden dragon spirit was not active for long; in fact, it was only a second from materializing until it vanished again, but during this second, the Heavenly Knight felt a pressure unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and he swore that he had seen a golden dragon shrouding the youngster protectively within .