Chapter 444 - 444: Settling Scores
"Xia? Isn't that the name of that girl?" Xun asked Long Chen. She remembered the name of the girl that Long Chen had met before.
"Yeah, it's the name I still remember from my first trial. It is her name," Long Chen said as he reminisced about a girl that he had left behind. The girl from the world that he still considered a dream world, unaware of the reality and the mystery surrounding it.
"So you still haven't forgotten her," Xun muttered.
"I haven't forgotten anyone from that dream world; why would I forget her? I remember every moment I spent in that dream world," Long Chen responded.
"Dream World..." Xun muttered as she shook her head, but she didn't bother explaining.
"Oh, Right. Can I keep her in my storage ring since she isn't alive? I should be able to, right?" Long Chen asked Xun.
"Yeah, you can keep her in your storage ring. She will just be frozen in time inside your storage ring until you bring her out," Xun answered him as she nodded.
"Good."
Long Chen looked towards Xia, who was still waiting for her orders.
"Xia, I'm going to be putting you in a place that you won't even remember. We are not in the real world, so I can only take you out of this place by keeping you in a different space. Alright?" Long Chen asked Xia.
"Xia understands master," Xia replied like a real girl. Her expressions were also like a real person. One could seriously not guess that she was not a real girl unless they were observing her exceptionally carefully.
Long Chen sent Xia in his storage ring. He looked towards Xun.
"You know, I must say, Xia, is the best reward that I've gotten this time. She is like a real person that can protect me when needed, and I can also talk to her when I'm getting bored. I like the rewards of this time more than the last time," He said to Xun.
"Of course you would like the girl more. I'm sure you wouldn't like it as much if it was an old man's puppet that you would have received," Xun said as she chuckled. "Then you would be complaining about not getting a choice."
"You can think that if you want. I don't think anything I say will make you think otherwise," Long Chen let out with a wry smile on his face.
He walked towards the door and stopped near it.
"Anyway, There's no other treasure here, right? Can I leave this place?" He asked Xun before opening the door.
Xun shook her head as she denied that there was another treasure here.
"You can open the door and move over to the next room through this door," Xun answered him.
Long Chen pushed the door open and stepped out of the room and into the new room.
The new room was something that Long Chen had been to before. He recognized the room as the same room where he received the Alchemist Knowledge after he finished his first trial.
"I remember this place," Long Chen muttered.
The entire room was empty, but there were various patterns carved on the walls. There was a carving that seemed like a plant. One that seemed like a sword. There was a carving that somewhat looked like the sun. There was a horse, a throne, a hammer, a flute, and many more.
There were hundreds of patterns that seemed like random strokes and felt like words, but he didn't recognize any of them.
"I need to choose one of them like last time to gain the knowledge of a profession?" he asked Xun.
"Yes, it's similar to last time. Choose a pattern and touch it. You will gain the knowledge of it," Xun told him.
"Can you help me choose? I don't know what most of them mean," Long Chen asked her.
"I can't help you with anything. I can't tell you more than what I am allowed to," Xun replied.
"The only other thing I can tell you is that it's slightly different than last time. Even if you knew what the symbols meant, you wouldn't achieve what you want. Last time the symbols were related to the knowledge they gave, but this time, the knowledge behind them is different. Some of the symbols have the same professional knowledge as last time, while others have switched the knowledge they give with another pattern," She further explained.
Long Chen looked around the room at all the symbols with a wry smile on his face.
"So, the plant symbol that had the knowledge of alchemy might not have that this time? What if I touched the symbol that has knowledge of alchemy? Won't I receive the Knowledge that I already have, wasting this opportunity? At Least tell me which one has Alchemy?" Long Chen asked Xun.
"Don't worry about choosing alchemy; in fact, it wouldn't be bad if you choose alchemy. You would only get the second level of a Great Way of Alchemy," Xun replied.
"Alright. I'll choose one then," Long Chen said to her.
He walked towards the symbol of the plant.
He reached out his hand and touched the plant symbol on the wall. Since the symbols didn't matter anymore, he decided to choose the one he chose last time.
The symbol started shining brightly. Long Chen could feel the flow of information to his mind. He let the information be imprinted entirely to his mind without taking his hand off of the symbol.
The transfer of the information was completed. Last time, Long Chen had lost his consciousness after he received the knowledge, but this time, he was completely fine.
He was only suffering through a headache, but he was still conscious.
"What did you get?" Xun asked Long Chen.
"Formation Master," Long Chen let out with a wry smile on his face.
"I guess it's not the worse I would have received," he let out as he glanced back at her.
"True, there was also the knowledge of cleaning in one of these symbols. I'm really glad that you didn't receive that, or I would have to suffer through your cursing for years to come," Xun chuckled as she pointed towards the symbol of the sword that was right beside the symbol of the plant.
"The sword symbol had the knowledge of cleaning? Are you serious, or are you calling killing as cleaning?" he asked her.
"No, I literally mean cleaning. If you had touched the sword symbol, you would've received the knowledge of the world's best cleaner," Xun said as she chuckled.
"I escaped the biggest opportunity waste ever," he told her.
Long Chen could feel the tension as he watched the sword symbol. He breathed in relief at not choosing the sword symbol. He had seriously considered choosing the sword symbol at first before Xun had told him about the exchanged symbols.
"Let's leave this place since I received my reward. What's next?" Long Chen asked her.
"What's next? You've already received so many things, and you still want a next? Leave some for the next trial," Xun said as she smiled.
The room started twisting and turning as if it was an illusion that was being distorted.
"Those are all the rewards from the trial this time. It's time to leave," Xun said.
Long Chen woke up in the real world, in his bed.
He looked in his storage ring and saw the Scabbard, 11 Origin Crystals, and Xia.
He also felt like a restriction had been lifted. He could feel his body coursing with power without any limitation.
Previously close to 70 percent of his strength was restricted, but now that it was released after he increased his cultivation by leaps and bounds, he felt as if his blood was a beast filled with incredible power that he hadn't felt before.
He was the strongest he had ever been.
"This feels good. I guess I can leave this place now. But before that, there is one thing that I need to do. If I leave like this, people would definitely be suspicious of me. Chu Miao might also suffer the blame.
He didn't want to leave Chu Miao behind like that as he didn't want her to suffer for lying because of him.
He stepped out of the courtyard. It was still the night. It seemed as if not a single minute had passed in the real world even though he spent so much time in the Bloodline Temple.
"Are we leaving this place?" Xun asked him.
"Now, right now. There is still one more thing that I need to do before I leave," Long Chen muttered.
He brought out his spirit sword and stood on it.
The sword started flying in a particular direction.
Long Chen looked really determined at what he wanted to do now. All to safeguard a girl and settle some of his scores, so that he could bury this chapter of his story the best he could.