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Chapter 118: Thousand Source Bug Metamorphosis
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The handsome young man named Duan Xuefeng sneered when he heard the words. “Gu Qinghe, if you really think my Duan family arranged for someone to assassinate you, then you should show some evidence. Otherwise, I won’t let you spout this nonsense.”
“Now that I have arrived at the Yuelan Sect, your family members can’t clean up your mess anymore.”
After Duan Xuefeng spoke, he took a long look at Xu Ning before turning around and leaving.
Gu Qinghe clenched his fists. It was obvious that he had a long history with Duan Xuefeng.
Xu Ning patted Gu Qinghe on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Xu Ning could basically guess what the two were fighting over.
Gu Qinghe, who ran for his life just before arriving at the Yuelan Sect, thought the killer who pursued him was this man named Duan Xuefeng.
“Brother Xu, thank you very much.”
Gu Qinghe forcibly calmed his mood.
Gu Qinghe had always suspected that the killer was a member of the Duan family, and now that he saw Duan Xuefeng and was provoked by him in every possible way, Gu Qinghe couldn’t hold back and almost started fighting him.
If Xu Ning hadn’t appeared, maybe Gu Qinghe would have thrown hands.
“The great families in our Gushan Canton are not in harmony.”
Gu Qinghe took the initiative to explain to Xu Ning, “Our Gu family and their Duan family have been in conflict. If it weren’t for the warnings and rules of the faction, our two families might have already started fighting.”
Xu Ning didn’t have too many comments to make about this matter. After all, this was a dispute between other people’s families.
“Now that we’re at the Yuelan Sect, let’s concentrate on practicing.”
Xu Ning said, “If you can successfully train and gain the status of a deacon in the faction, wouldn’t it be easy for you to clean him up then?”
“So, relax, wait for the assessment to come, maintain a good state, and strive to be selected as a core disciple first.”
Xu Ning’s words made Gu Qinghe feel relieved.
“What you said is extremely true.”
Gu Qinghe responded.
…
Ten days went by.
A leading disciple came and called out all the disciples in the residential area before gathering them in an open space.
“Brothers and sisters.”
The leading disciple looked at the crowd. “Today is the day for the selection of core disciples. Please be prepared.”
After the leading disciple spoke, everyone in the crowd looked full of expectations.
Everyone was well aware of the difference between a core disciple and an inner disciple.
A core disciple had a special mentor, and if one had any doubts, one could personally ask their mentor.
Moreover, the mentors of core disciples were all elders in the faction.
Disciples of faction elders not only had a high status, but they also had easier access to resources.
But inner disciples were different.
The training resources provided to inner disciples were nothing more than a Pure Source Pill every month.
If one wanted to obtain more resources, one could only earn contribution points by completing faction missions.
Moreover, if they had any questions about their martial arts practice, they could only ask the deacons for help once a month, and the effectiveness of doing that was far worse than asking elders.
“Brother Xu, do you think we can become core disciples?”
Gu Qinghe was a little nervous.
“I don’t know. Let’s just go with whatever happens.”
Xu Ning said.
“Brothers and sisters, come with me.”
The leading disciple walked out of the residential area with more than 30 people behind him.
After walking for around 15 minutes, they were taken to a garden.
There were pavilions, terraces and gardens everywhere, filled with birds and flowers.
“This is the venue of the assessment?”
Gu Qinghe looked puzzled as he mumbled, “Are we here to enjoy the scenery?”
Xu Ning didn’t speak, he instead just looked around.
Suddenly, Xu Ning saw a pool of water not far away from the garden.
And in that pond, there were colorful fish swimming everywhere.
Xu Ning suddenly realized something.
‘This… this shouldn’t be the spirit fish for testing aptitude, right?’
Xu Ning suddenly remembered that when he first saw Liu Yijian, a martial artist in the void realm, he had seen a similar pond in his yard.
And the fish in his pond seemed to be the same species as the fish in this pond.
‘We might be in trouble…’
Xu Ning thought, ‘If they are using spirit fish to test our aptitude, my results will be horrible.’
Xu Ning hoped that the colorful swimming fish in the pond were just ordinary fish.
However, the next words from the leading disciple made Xu Ning feel hopeless.
“Brothers and sisters, please stand near the pond.”
‘I knew it.’
Xu Ning felt regretful.
Xu Ning had concluded that he might not have a chance to be a core disciple anymore.
As the crowd surrounded the pond, the spirit fish seemed to have sensed something. They scattered and swam in the direction of certain disciples.
A few people were bombarded with fish, while most of the crowd had no fish in front of them.
This made Xu Ning breathe a sigh of relief.
Since most people didn’t have any spirit fish in front of them, the fact that his own talents were extremely poor would not be noticed.
Otherwise, it didn’t make sense how he was so strong with such a poor aptitude.
While the crowd gathered around the pond, several people were watching from the garden loft.
These people were the high-ranking elders in the Yuelan Sect.
“There are very few talents in this year’s batch of newcomers.”
One of the gray-haired old men expressed his disappointment.
“Actually…”
A beautiful woman also said, “Aptitude is the most important thing in martial arts practice, and this batch of newcomers are indeed very talented. Although there were spirit fish that swam towards some disciples, they are in the minority. Most of the spirit fish are still lazy and don’t wish to swim up at all.”
“Since you are not satisfied, all of these disciples who are recognized by the spirit fish will belong to me.”
A sloppy-looking man suddenly spoke.
“No way!”
The beautiful woman then pointed to a girl in a yellow shirt. “I will accept her as my apprentice, and no one will snatch her from me.”
“You stole the most talented one.”
The sloppy man said, “Then that person belongs to me.”
The rest of the elders also finished selecting their disciples.
In front of the pond.
“Brothers and sisters.”
Soon after, someone gave a piece of paper to the leading disciple.
The leading disciple glanced at it before pointing out a few people.
“You have been selected as core disciples!”
‘I knew it.’
These words were not directed to Xu Ning nor Gu Qinghe.
But Duan Xuefeng, Gu Qinghe’s former rival, was selected.
Xu Ning felt a little unfortunate.
There were too many benefits for being a core disciple. Xu Ning felt rather unfortunate that he lost the selection just like this.
“What?”
As soon as the leading disciple finished talking, people began to discuss.
“Isn’t it an assessment? The assessment hasn’t even started yet, but it’s already over?”
Most of them didn’t know that this type of spirit fish could assess their aptitude.
The leading disciple was very patient. It was obvious that this was not the first time this situation had happened.
“Everyone, please stay calm.”
The leading disciple said, “In this pond, there are spirit fish that can assess aptitude. Just now when you surrounded the pond, your aptitude was tested.”
“Does it just test aptitude?”
One of the disciples that wasn’t chosen asked.
“Yes, there is only one test.”
The leading disciple said, “If you think this is unfair, you can go to the loft.”
The leading disciple pointed in a direction. “The elders are all gathered there at this moment. If you are not satisfied, you can ask the elders. After all, every selected person was picked by the elders personally.”
As soon as this remark came out, the scene suddenly became quiet.
Everyone looked at the loft, but no one dared to complain.
The leading disciple said, “If you are not selected as core disciples, please leave. Someone will arrange for you to enter the inner sect.”
“For everyone who has been selected, please follow me. I will take you to see the elders.”
“Brother Xu…”
Gu Qinghe had a terrible look on his face.
Neither he nor Xu Ning was chosen as core disciples, but the guy he hated the most was chosen.
Gu Qinghe spoke in a hoarse voice.
“It’s fine, just accept reality.”
Xu Ning could only comfort him.
“Gu Qinghe.”
Duan Xuefeng stepped forward and said with a grin, “Back in Gushan Canton, you were always fighting with me. Now you know the gap between our strengths, right?”
“You!”
Gu Qinghe’s teeth rattled.
“When you see me next time, remember to call me Senior Brother.”
Afterwards, Duan Xuefeng laughed out loudly and followed the leading disciple to the garden loft.
Gu Qinghe’s face was pale. He felt helpless.
The 30 people who were not selected as core disciples all returned to their rooms in low spirits.
Xu Ning and Gu Qinghe walked behind the group.
“Brother Gu.”
Xu Ning took the initiative to speak.
Xu Ning wanted to clarify a problem.
“Apparently, core disciples are able to obtain superior-grade void realm secret scrolls, but we inner disciples can only get middle-grade void realm secret scrolls. What is the difference between the two?”
In fact, Xu Ning was most concerned about the quality difference between void realm secret scrolls.
Xu Ning was not jealous of the status of a core disciple. Even though more resources were allocated to them, Xu Ning could obtain resources through other means.
The only thing that worried him was the difference in the quality of void realm secret scrolls.
After being questioned by Xu Ning, Gu Qinghe switched his attention to him.
“Superior-grade void realm secret scrolls and middle-grade void realm secret scrolls are the same for the first six stages.”
Gu Qinghe seemed to be knowledgeable about this. He explained, “But starting from the void realm seventh stage, the advancement speed of a middle-grade void realm secret scroll will be significantly slower than a superior-grade void realm secret scroll.”
“It’s just the advancement speed?”
Xu Ning looked surprised. “The strength and foundation isn’t different?”
He remembered that Feng Chengyu said that the difference in quality between void realm secret scrolls would cause a significant difference in the strength of the practitioners.
“Only an inferior-grade void realm secret scroll would cause a practitioner to be weaker than their peers.”
Gu Qinghe explained, “It is because inferior-grade void realm secret scrolls have flaws.”
“On the other hand, middle-grade and superior-grade void realm secret scrolls are able to construct a complete void realm martial arts system, but a superior-grade void realm secret scroll is much more sophisticated, so in the later stages, its advancement speed will be much faster.”
“I see.”
Xu Ning’s eyes showed a relaxed look.
‘So it turns out that the difference between a middle-grade and a superior-grade void realm secret scroll only lies in the speed of advancement.’
The last thing Xu Ning worried about was the speed of advancement!
As long as he had the Martial Arts Panel, whether it was a difficult or a simple advancement, all Xu Ning needed to do was to click the “+” sign.
As long as a middle-grade void realm secret scroll didn’t have any disadvantages when fighting against their peers, then Xu Ning did not care.
After clarifying the problem, Xu Ning no longer felt unfortunate that he wasn’t selected as a core disciple.
Gu Qinghe saw Xu Ning’s relaxed expression and asked, “Brother Xu, don’t you feel unfortunate that you weren’t selected?”
“Of course I feel unfortunate.”
Xu Ning smiled. “On the bright side, at least we are still inner disciples. Compared to those outer disciples, we are much better.”
“True…”
Gu Qinghe was affected by Xu Ning’s optimism, so he felt much better as well.
…
Because the person responsible for taking the crowd to the inner sect had not yet arrived yet, the inner disciples who failed to be selected as core disciples were still in their previous residences.
At night.
Before Xu Ning was about to go to bed, he heard a slight gurgling sound in his belt.
Xu Ning suddenly remembered his Thousand Source Bug was in the process of metamorphosis.
He quickly took it and opened the belt compartment.
Inside the hidden compartment, the Thousand Source Bug was no longer curled up into a ball. It had completely stretched out its body.
Compared to the past, the Thousand Source Bug had undergone tremendous changes.
The previous Thousand Source Bug was white and the size of a rice grain. Other than when it was swallowing ores, one couldn’t tell its head from its tail.
But now, the Thousand Source Bug was a size bigger, growing into the size of a cabbage caterpillar.
Not only that, but under its fleshy, fat body, there were two rows of barbed legs, and its eyes and mouth could also now be distinguished.
“Has the metamorphosis been completed?”
Xu Ning took a closer look.
Suddenly, he noticed that the Thousand Source Bug’s mouth seemed to be wriggling.
Its fleshy stomach also seemed to have suddenly shrunk.
“Is it about to expel Aura Crystals?”
Sure enough, the Thousand Source Bug opened its mouth and a transparent aura crystal was spat out.
Before the metamorphosis, the Thousand Source Bug had stopped eating ores, so this Aura Crystal was formed from the pure natural aura absorption of the air.
Soon after, a transparent Aura Crystal was spat out.
The size of this Aura Crystal was at least twice as large than before.
Xu Ning couldn’t wait to see how much energy units this Aura Crystal contained.
—
Discovered energy 10 units, absorb?
Yes/No
—
“10 units of energy!”
Xu Ning smiled. ‘So every time the Thousand Source Bug undergoes a metamorphosis, the quality of Aura Crystals will be greatly improved!”
“I just don’t know how long it takes to expel Aura Crystals.”