Chapter 43: Starlight Unicorn (I)

After listening to Ye Hua’s advice, Long Hao Chen felt a little regretful. However, when he entered the area, he clearly felt in his body that the rotation speed of his internal spiritual energy around his spiritual stove accelerated significantly. Even without meditating to accelerate his cultivation speed, the rotation of his spiritual energy would not be much slower.

“Your name?” asked a deep, hoarse voice.

Long Hao Chen was startled; with the increase of his cultivation speed, his mental capacity also became all more formidable here. At this moment, he did not know that the fact using skills depleted less of his spiritual energy was not only because of his physique as a Scion of Light, but also because of his excellent mental capacity. Despite all of that, he still did not detect this person who was approaching.

“Gui Ying, the Hall Master of Xiu City Hall has brought his son Gui Wu to the Sacred Mountain to choose a companion mount.”

A shadow flashed: Gui Ying and his son, who were behind them all along, came close, standing next to Long Hao Chen and Ye Hua.

The figure of an old man slowly came out in front of them; his body was like a part of the pale golden haze, and his breath was completely overshadowed by the haze.

This elder had a hunchback posture and, inside his armor, he was clad with simple grey-colored clothes. He was mostly bald, but still had a few sparse and fragmentary strands of white hair. A simple wrinkle of his brows was a weapon that could catch mosquitoes and the yellow color of his eyes was very pure. The appearance of the old man is like someone who is in his last days and seemed like a gust of wind could end his life.

“Ye Hua from Hao Yue Branch Hall, I came with my disciple, Long Hao Chen, to the Sacred Mountain to choose his companion mount.” Ye Hua’s voice sounded as cold as ever. Even here, his old habit did not change at all.

The old man slowly approached them. When Long Hao Chen clearly saw his appearance, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat startled.

The old man had a single arm: his left arm was cut off, and he was blind in the right eye. He even had a very large scar on his face, extending from his lower jaw to the top of his head. It was as if his head had been split open.

When he could clearly see the appearance of this old man, Long Hao Chen also discovered that his teacher with a usually ice-cold temperament unexpectedly had a respectful look on his eyes at this moment. He was slowly bowing down before this elder, and Gui Yin was doing the same at the other side.

Long Hao Chen didn’t dare to slack off and hurriedly gave his respects as well.

Although Gui Wu was bowing down like his father, a disapproving look could be seen in his eyes. Since his childhood, he had been the proud son of the Hall Master of Xiu City. Regardless of whether they were people from the Knight Temple or Xiu City, everyone was polite and courteous with him. He was really unwilling to bow down to a disabled old man in his late days.

The gaze of this elderly man swept in front of these four people, before saying in a hoarse voice: “Take out your certificates.”

“Yes.” Gui Ying and Ye Hua answered simultaneously, and Gui Ying, a step faster, handed over a scroll to him. Ye Hua shot him a cold glance before handing over a scroll at his turn.

The elderly man first gave a look to the scroll handed by Gui Ying and nodded. When he next gave a look to the scroll handed by Ye Hua, he couldn’t help but look at Long Hao Chen, analyzing him from top to bottom.

Long Hao Chen vaguely knew already that this scroll recorded everything about the time after he joined Hao Yue Branch Hall, naturally including his age and his cultivation records.

Being stared by this elderly man, he felt a huge pressure in his whole body, as if a formidable power had penetrated his inner being.

The elderly man gave him another look before waving in his direction, “Come.”

Gui Ying pushed his son, giving him a meaningful glance.

Gui Wu quickly took a step forward, showing a respectful expression.

The elder lifted his hand, consciously moving it on Gui Wu’s shoulder. As a reaction, Gui Wu subconsciously shook with his entire body, struggling, but when the dried up and old-looking palm touched his shoulder, he instantly became stiff and completely unable to move.

A drop of sweat flowed from his forehead: he could clearly feel that the palm of this elder was as imposing as a mountain, and he felt as if he was disappearing without hope of returning.

“Hm, 18 years-old. You have my approval. You may enter.” was the next sentence he told to Gui Ying.

Turning his hand, he grabbed a long black colored tile. He handed it to Gui Wu’s hand before telling him: “Upon meeting magical beasts of different levels, this token will take on a different color. In the Knights’ Sacred Mountain, the weakest beasts are at the second rank, corresponding to a red color. In a similar fashion, the others colors are yellow, green, dark green, blue, purple, white, and silver. Ninth is the peak level here. If a shining golden color appears, it means you have encountered an aggressive beast. Unless you feel a compatibility between the both of you, you are to stay as far from it as possible. If you cannot initiate a link among the both of you, keep searching until you find your target. The time limit is 30 days, you have 30 days to look for the suitable magical beast for yourself. Also, you will be transported out of the mountain 20 seconds after this tile shines with a pure gold color. Is everything clear?”

“Yes.” Gui Wu answered.

Then, the scroll that was in the elder’s hand suddenly turned into ashes as a grey colored energy was sent out, covering the black colored tile in Gui Wu’s hand. The tile quickly shone before going back to normal.

“Thank you very much, senior.” Gui Ying respectfully saluted this elder before heading back to the mountain. Gui Wu did not dare be negligent, and shot a glance at the nearby Long Hao Chen before moving forward and stepping in the haze, disappearing inside.

The elder faced Long Hao Chen and beckoned, “Come, little fellow; let this old man take a closer look to you. I want to see if you can really amaze an old man like me.”

“Yes.” Long Hao Chen gave a glance to this teacher before approaching him at a slow pace and respectfully standing in front of him.

Like before, the elder placed his hand on his shoulder, and a warm feeling was instantly transmitted. Long Hao Chen didn’t move the slightest bit, and calmly stood there.

After a short moment, the elder opened his eyes wide, and after withdrawing his hand he stared at Long Hao Chen’s face once more.

“Hao Yue Branch Hall.” the old man murmured in a deep voice.

“This young one is listening.” Ye Hua took two steps forwards, respectfully saluting him.

The old man turned his head, looked at Ye Hua, and said: “Where did you find such a little freak? He is really not 13 yet, but he is already a Grand Knight. Moreover, his spiritual energy is above 1,000, ten years earlier than that little fellow Long Xing Yu, whose innate talent cannot even compare to his. This is a genuine genius! You can report my approval to the executive of the Temple and let him directly pursue his cultivation in the Temple.”

Ye Hua’s complexion faintly changed: he didn’t expect this elder before him to become so fond of Long Hao Chen, and a thought came to him, it seems that even within a century, such a prodigy will not appear for sure.

“Senior, it is not that this young one is unwilling, only, in half a year, there will be the Magical Hunt and Selection, that major competition. And this young one firmly believes that his teachings are definitely not lacking.”

The old man pondered for a little while, before nodding: “Alright. This old one will not meddle in your affairs. He will simply leave you be. Kid, did you clearly hear what I said earlier?”

Long Hao Chen respectfully answered: “I heard clearly.”

The old man nodded, “Then you can go. However, as you broke through the step of Grand Knight before you turned 20, you can have one more privilege. If after 30 days, you haven’t found a fitting mount for yourself, you can enter the Sacred Mountain’s summit to summon a magical beast to serve as your mount from another place. Only, if we have to come to this, it means we are leaving everything to chance: it will be for sure a suitable mount for you, but it is hard to say whether it will be a strong one or a weak one, and it can even be a first step magical beast; hence, you have to make great efforts when searching during these 30 days. Understood?”