Chapter 499: Chapter 323: The Confrontation of Refusal to Give Up
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After a slash followed by a fierce strike, and thrust after thrust, the two cultivators remained locked in a stalemate, unable to win yet unwilling to give up.
Wang Julong was faring worse than Yan Xiaobao. Although she had learned how to control the staff’s consumption of spiritual energy, she couldn’t continue battling for long. Her beautiful face began to pale, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Seeing this, Yan Xiaobao withdrew once again, simultaneously halting the staff and stepping out of range. "I give up," he said with a gentle smile as he looked at the panting woman before him, his face showing a tender expression.
Meeting Yan Xiaobao’s gaze, Wang Julong clutched her staff tightly, held her breath, then nodded toward the white-haired youth.
"I lost," she said quietly, and then sat down to begin cultivating. It seemed she was having a breakthrough.
Her breakthrough did not appear to have elevated her level. However, her body emitted a green glow, indicating she had gained insight into the Wood Elemental affinity.
Seeing this, a sense of happiness welled up in Yan Xiaobao’s heart. The more insights and breakthroughs they achieved, the stronger their team became. Even though he had been training diligently, he still felt far from strong enough to protect his friends. For this reason, he hoped they could improve, so that even upon reaching the Dragon Core, they wouldn’t easily succumb to challengers.
Sha Yun had been making constant progress, even without doing anything, as she naturally matured as a magical beast with age. This put Yan Xiaobao’s worries about her to rest.
After Deng Wu spent time browsing through the wealth of newly acquired inscriptions, he quickly realized that they possessed high-level abilities, with some even utilizing martial power instead of spiritual energy.
Inscriptions work by etching abilities onto parchment, and with the aid of spiritual energy fused with metal, individuals can unleash attacks stored within the parchment.
Each inscription contains various runes. Studying these runes is the method to determine the type of attack they hold. The color of the runes indicates the nature of the elemental attack. A white rune signifies a martial attack crafted by Qi, a silver rune indicates a spiritual art attack with no elemental affinity, while a golden rune denotes an attack utilizing martial power.
Attacks utilizing martial power are exceedingly rare, as they require a King-level expert or someone of higher rank to write and seal the attack within the parchment.
Upon discovering fourteen such inscriptions, Deng Wu displayed immense excitement. The only uncertainty he had was what type of attack these martial power scrolls contained—he wouldn’t know until he used them. As such, they carried an element of risk but simultaneously offered a sense of security.
Apart from the fourteen martial power scrolls, they had also obtained one hundred thirty-four random elemental affinity attack scrolls and fifty scrolls containing martial arts techniques. Overall, Deng Wu’s strength increased significantly, far more than he had anticipated.
Deng Wu wasn’t the only one who gained something valuable from the storage stone. Every member of the group now possessed numerous luminous stones, as well as food and drinks. Sha Yun received several melee weapons since she had only used a halberd thus far. Xie Lan was gifted a beautiful inscribed armor piece when her defensive power was lacking. Wang Julong was given flower seeds, which had been taken from a man slain in battle—someone who specialized in using plants, much like her. Unfortunately, that man hadn’t had the chance to demonstrate his skills before his head was engulfed by the beast transformation of the white-haired youth.
No longer in a rush to reach the Dragon Core, the group remained in the cave for several days, allowing Wang Julong to fully immerse herself in her breakthrough experience.
The insights she gained inspired the others to focus even more deeply on their own training. Soon, all the young members of the group were seated in profound meditation, refining the essence of heaven and earth into Qi, and further refining that Qi Spirit into spiritual energy.
While deeply immersed in meditation, the green aura surrounding Wang Julong grew increasingly intense. Eventually, it became so powerful that everyone in the cave could feel it. The energy she emitted was filled with life and vitality. It was evident that her insights were related to healing.
After seven days of meditation, Wang Julong finally opened her eyes. Her face showed a deep expression, and her lips curled into a faint smile. When she saw that everyone around her—except the two kings—was completely engrossed in cultivation, she couldn’t help but smile slightly.
"Julong," Xie Lan called out, and Wang Julong immediately walked toward the woman she still considered her teacher. Unlike Yan Xiaobao, none of the other three friends had ever doubted the loyalty of these two individuals. After all, Yan Xiaobao had never told them that they worked for Zhou Long.
"What did you learn?" Xie Lan asked curiously. As a King-level expert who had previously managed to cultivate to Duke-level, it was clear that she had already grasped much of the deeper secrets surrounding the Wood Element.
"Healing isn’t just about mending injuries," Wang Julong began, her voice somewhat hesitant, as if still processing her enlightenment. "Healing is tied to the passage of time. To mend wounds, we’re not simply repairing a specific spot; we’re manipulating the time required for healing and forcing it into compression. That’s why some injuries can’t be easily repaired—why some wounds are truly incurable."