Chapter 748: Coming out of Seclusion
Two days later, in a room within the Radiant Saint Master Union headquarters, Jian Chen who sat on a cushion slowly opened his eyes. That very moment, a visible spark literally flashed across his eyes, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Shortly afterwards, Jian Chen eyes which were bright like lanterns gradually dimmed, and recovered to how they were before.
“After two days of recovery, I’ve finally completely recovered from casting God’s Descent. And I seem to feel that my soul has become stronger. Even my presence has increased from the original fifteen kilometers to twenty kilometers.” Jian Chen mumbled to himself on the cushion.
Shortly afterwards, everything that had happened two days ago on the ferry flashed past his eyes. It caused Jian Chen’s neutral expression to become rather cold, and he tightly clenched his two hands that were placed on his knees. A vicious sliver of light flashed across his eyes and he growled, “Eight clans, I remember what you did that night. I will come looking for you to pay back several fold one day. It won’t be far away.”
No matter if it was Jian Chen or the president of the union, they all knew very well that the black-clothed assassins were people of the eight clans when around thirty of them attacked the ferry.
Jian Chen knew even better that it was only the eight clans attempting to test him, to find out his true strength. Originally, they did not intend to kill him, but when the strength Jian Chen demonstrated became stronger and stronger, the people of the eight clans also felt more and more threatened. This was why they ended up wanting to kill Jian Chen.
The anger in Jian Chen’s mind lasted for a while, before finally calming down. He muttered, “After that battle two days ago, my understanding of Radiant Artes has increased, especially towards Judgement’s Sword and God’s Descent. Although it’s not the true thing, I can now cast them with much greater ease. It’s the same with the other artes, and their strength have also increased by quite a bit.”
“I’ve already grasped the method of casting the Radiant Saint Shield very well. Speaking of which, although the defence of the shield I cast that night was quite strong, the Radiant Saint Force within did not seem to be able to perfectly meld together. If I can do that, the strength of the shields should increase even more.”
Although Jian Chen was a Class 6 Radiant Saint Master, his talent in Radiant Artes directly approached Class 7. As a result, he possessed great talent in practising the artes. With just his own understanding of the artes, he found many problems and shortcomings very quickly.
“The day of the competition is getting closer and closer by the day. Although I’m extremely confident that I can defeat all the Class 6 Radiant Saint Masters, it’ll still be quite troublesome for me to fight several dozen Class 6 Radiant Saint Masters working together, unless I expose my strength as a fighter. There’s no need for me to get out so quickly, so I’ll just continue my seclusion and do some comprehension. When I fix all the problems I’ve found, my strength as a Radiant Saint Master will definitely improve by quite a lot.”
Making up his decision, Jian Chen immediately closed his eyes and continued his comprehension of Radiant Artes.
In the blink of an eye, a dozen or so days had passed. Currently, there was only half a month left before the competition, and an increase in Radiant Saint Masters in the City of God had appeared. They could be seen almost everywhere, with no lack of azure or blue badged Radiant Saint Masters.
Currently, almost all the high class Radiant Saint Masters scattered across the Holy Empire and those from the other two capital cities had gathered in one area. It brought a high to the union, which happened once every fifty years.
Today, the room in which Jian Chen had gone into seclusion slowly opened. The white-robed Jian Chen slowly walked out from inside and compared to a dozen or so years ago, Jian Chen seemed even more ordinary, though he seemed to possess a special air about him. Combined with his snow-white robes, Jian Chen carried a sage-like bearing.
Just as Jian Chen exited the room, a series of soft steps sounded in the distance. It was the white-robed ninth elder, who walked towards Jian Chen with a smile. His gaze towards Jian Chen carried unconcealed admiration.
“Yang Yutian, you’ve finally come out! Come with me quickly to go see the president. The president has waited for you for several days already.” The ninth elder said warmly.
“Yes, ninth elder!” Jian Chen replied and glanced at Xiao Bai who lay on his shoulder, before quickly following behind the ninth elder.
In the period of seclusion, Jian Chen never forgot to feed the white tiger. However, after feeding Xiao Bai a ten-thousand-year-old heavenly resource two days ago, the tiger had fallen asleep.
Jian Chen understood slightly that perhaps the tiger was about to break through to Class 6. After all, the tiger had stopped at the peak of Class 5 for quite a while already.
“Yang Yutian, other than seeing the president, there is also the grand elder of the union. Although you’re the disciple of the president, you must be respectful in front of the grand elder.” On the way, the ninth elder said sternly to Jian Chen.
“Yang Yutian understand!” Jian Chen replied with a soft voice.
The ninth elder continued, “The grand elder is the pillar of support for the union. He possesses strength only second to the president. Even the vice-president is not as strong as the grand elder!”
“Ninth elder, just how strong is the grand elder? And how strong is master?” Jian Chen experienced a wave of curiosity. This question had already dwelled in his mind for a very long time, because he discovered that even though all the elders of the union were Class 7, there was a great disparity between them.
The ninth elder looked at Jian Chen and said, “Yang Yutian, we primarily use Radiant Artes to distinguish the strength of Class 7 Radiant Saint Masters. Do you still remember the place where you took the second test? That place is where we accurately test the strength of Radiant Saint Master. You drew over forty percent of the Radiant Saint Force from the barrier, approaching fifty percent, so your talent for Radiant Artes was approaching Class 7. You were also much more powerful than regular Class 6 Radiant Saint Masters, because if you want to draw out fifty percent of the Radiant Saint Force in the seal, only Class 7 Radiant Saint Masters with a sliver of origin energy can do that.”
“As for the fourteenth elder and me, we can only draw out fifty percent, so our strength is still at the fifth level. The fifth elder that you’ve seen is much stronger than the fourteenth elder and me. He can draw out sixty percent, and has already reached the sixth level.”
“Then what level has master reached?” Jian Chen stared at the ninth elder in interest.
A sliver of admiration appeared in the ninth elder’s eyes, “The president is the most powerful person in the entire union. He has already reached the tenth level, and if not for the untraversable ditch to reaching Class 8, perhaps the president would’ve reached Class 8 long ago.”
“As for the grand elder, he is the second strongest in the union, only second to the president. He has already reached the ninth level.”
“Below the grand elder, there is the vice-president, the second, third and fourth elders. They’ve all reached the seventh level. Though, I heard that the vice-president has almost broken through the seventh level. As for the remaining elders, they are all at the fifth or sixth level.”
With that, the ninth elder looked towards Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, do you understand how strength is distinguished between Radiant Saint Masters now?”
Jian Chen nodded his head, “Then that means that I am currently at the peak of the fourth level, only a step away from the fifth level?”
“Correct. In the competition half a month away, you have to obtain a place in the top ten no matter what, Yang Yutian, and then enter the saint artifact to obtain a sliver of origin energy. Only with that origin energy can you reach Class 7 successfully. As for this energy, it disperses naturally in the world, so it can only be obtained in the saint artifact. This is the only way to reach Class 7, but it’s not easy to obtain the origin energy. Alright, we’re here. Yang Yutian, you should go in. The president and the grand elder are currently waiting for you inside.” The ninth elder stopped before the door and did not enter.
Jian Chen walked in and arrived in a room that was extravagantly decorated. In the centre, there was a tea table, and two white-robed old men currently sat facing each other, conversing with a smile. One of them was the president of the union, to no surprise.
Jian Chen’s arrival naturally attracted their attention. The president said to the old man next to him, “Grand elder, this is the genius who’s recently appeared, as well as the third disciple I’ve taken, Yang Yutian. Yang Yutian, this is the grand elder of the union. Why don’t you quickly greet the grand elder?”
“Yang Yutian greets the grand elder!” Jian Chen immediately bowed towards the old man. After understanding the grand elder’s strength from the ninth elder, Jian Chen no longer dared to link the old man to regular Class 7 Radiant Saint Masters. This was because there were also huge disparities between Radiant Saint Masters, similar to First Heaven Layer and Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Rulers. The difference was extremely huge.”
The grand elder’s gaze landed on Jian Chen, and he examined him. Shortly afterwards, his expression froze and a certain light flashed across his eyes. He laughed, “Not bad, not bad at all. He really is a dragon among men!”
The president chuckled aloud, “My disciple’s talent is absolutely extraordinary. Not only has he obtained the three great Radiant Artes, he even cast Judgement’s Sword and God’s Descent. Although the power of the two artes was greatly reduced due to the lack of origin energy, he still discovered a method. This is extremely rare.”
A sliver of shock immediately flashed across the grand elder’s eyes. He could not help but closely examine Jian Chen, while the light in his eyes constantly flickered. This was because on Jian Chen, he could feel an extremely weak sliver of the origin energy of Radiant Saint Force. Other than him, even the president was unable to sense it, because the sliver of origin energy belonged to him.