Imperial Saga (3)

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Except for the Emperor's personal guards, nobody could be seen in the training grounds within the palace built to keep the well-trained soldiers and guards ready. The barracks weren't located within the palace itself.

Right now, every faction stood with a little gap between them. Dai Mu would glance towards Tang Hao's side but would only end up feeling bitter since the man's gaze was focused on two individuals standing five meters apart in the dusty ground.

After hearing Tang Yuehua's account, everyone knew that the white flash of light, most probably, was Ja Sun's third and final spirit skill or a spirit bone. The latter felt more probable. Meanwhile, the account of Yong suddenly collapsing, everyone understood it to be a mental attack.

By now, Taiyin was extremely prepared. He glanced at the two gauntlets with a hint of caution. In the way, Dai Mu explained the origins of such an artifact and it even made Taiyin envious.

Still, with his lower face exposed, Ja Sun gave a peaceful smile. Even if others understand his abilities, so what? That just removes the element of surprise. Even Ja Sun was aware that the White Tiger Clansmen will have the same first three spirit skills.

None of them moved. Even if Ja Sun acted without care, his heart was filled with caution. Why wouldn't it? The spirit bone skills and the remaining three skills of the opponent will be greatly damaging. So, even now, to have a higher chance at victory, he needed to rely on surprises.

Out of the many spirit skills he had shown, there were a few things that could definitely rattle the opponent.

However, Ja Sun wasn't going to expend his mental energy until he was absolutely sure that Taiyin did not have skull bone. After all, a white tiger spirit is naturally resistant to mental energy.

Back then, Ja Sun relied on his Fiery Golden Pupils to raise the level of his mental attack and make it comparable to a Spirit Sage's. This was one of the traits of the S-ranked skill. At completion, this skill could raise mental attacks by three levels!

However, the last attack expended thirty percent instead of ten percent of his mental energy and that was with Bright Goddess' support.

"Lost your nerve?" Taiyin smiled, provoking the unknown. Couldn't he see that even the Emperor didn't act impetuously and kill Ja Sun right then and there even with Yue Guan present? His father was stronger than Yue Guan and by a large margin at that. This allowed Taiyin to understand that this fellow was in no way simple.

But he poked the hornet's nest as Ja Sun chuckled, "You must have heard it a lot when unable to perform with Crown Princess in bed, right? The mighty tiger losing his nerve and hardness in front of the seductive civet."

Taiyin's expression twitched and his chest heaved.

"Even if my father didn't kill you, I will."

"Now that I think about it..." Ja Sun gave a depraved sneer, "Even his highness lost his nerve. Like father like son. Soft tiger bones through and through."

Bibi Dong closed her eyes. She couldn't bear it. She seemed to be living a trauma. The days where Ja Sun would insult anyone and everyone in their group in the very beginning.

Spirit Rings appeared around Taiyin as he went through the same transformation as Dai Mu. His body swelled slightly, his hair turned white and his palms turned into dagger-like claws. The second spirit ring instantly lit up and Taiyin opened his mouth, letting out a thick ray of golden light from his mouth. His eyes instantly focused and he readied his body to cut off Ja Sun's escape routes when he simply stretched his hand.

The ray of light fell over his gauntlets and pushed Ja Sun back by three steps before disappearing, not even leaving a white mark on the surface of the gauntlet.

Is it easy to hurt Ja Sun?

His body had finally caught up. His gauntlets were no longer ordinary. In fact, they weren't ordinary previously, too, but now, their flexibility and toughness were diabolical. Something praised as artificial external spirit bones, how can they be destroyed easily?

"See? It looks hard at a glance, but truly, it's soft," Ja Sun didn't let it go which simply frustrated Taiyin to no end however, he coldly snorted and reigned in his emotions.

The eyes of the spectators were strict. Faced with such insults, could they remain calm?

Even Laohu admitted his inability internally. But Taiyin could.

Issuing a long howl, his body suddenly inflated and stretched his robes to the extreme. The pitch-black king character on his forehead revealing a faint luster.

Around him, the third spirit ring flared up.

The third ability, and one of the three great enhancement skills of the White Tiger spirit— the White Tiger Vajra Transformation.

'Increases physical strength, attack, and defense by a 100%. His speed shouldn't be too much higher than me,' Ja Sun narrowed his eyes. If Taiyin was willing to enter into a close combat with Ja Sun, it already revealed that he had a way to counter mental skills and it should be a method that activates instantly.'

With a sneer, Ja Sun shot the mental needles at this moment.

If Ja Sun knew that there was a spirit bone, then he would also expose it. After all, the point was that only the spirit bones used will be compensated for.

Instantly, a golden radiance flashed through Taiyin's eyes. He felt a little satisfied at taking care of the mental attack in the form of dangerous needles. Ja Sun didn't say anything and silently retreated. Instead of using another shower of needles, Ja Sun used his agility to keep Taiyin at bay.

In mere breaths, the situation turned into a chase of cat and mouse.

But Taiyin's expression wasn't well. He was expending his spirit energy but Ja Sun hadn't used a single skill. Not only that, despite being an assault-type spirit master, Ja Sun's speed was still greater than his own. This was because of Storm Steps, of course. Every clan has its own self-created spirit skill but Ja Sun is the only one who can have a spirit skill of every kind.

While escaping with ease, dodging each blow nimbly, Ja Sun continued to think about how to reveal other spirit bones. The most direct approach would be tearing the prince's limbs. But that isn't possible, he himself isn't strong enough to accomplish that.

'If he had spirit bones in his legs, then his speed much be must quicker. For the moment, I can narrow it down to two arms and one torso spirit bone. But how to force Taiyin to use those skills, or reveal more of his strength?'

Ja Sun scoffed. Unlike others, he was used to only revealing the spirit ring he was going to use. So, a single purple spirit rings rotated around his right index, flaring up beautifully and Ja Sun jumped instantly but he didn't fall after that.

Instead, a single pair of silver feathers made of spirit energy grew out of his back. He had effectively cut costs by forty percent by not creating the remaining pair of wings.

"Let's see how long can you fly!" Taiyin grew furious.

Given that Ja Sun wasn't losing any more spirit energy, the answer was obviously an indefinite amount of time. But instead, he added another insult.

"Is that also one of the phrases the Crown Princess mocks you with, Prince?

Let's see how long can you fly... the answer for, you should be around 15 thrusts of time, right?"

Vulgar.

Too Vulgar.

Tang Yuehua had her lips pursed. Even Zhu Ning was blushing with anger and shame as she stared at Ja Sun venomously.

Instantly, the fifth black spirit ring flared up and Taiyin sneered.

His hands gave a golden luster and a phantom of a white tiger appeared behind him. Its translucent body was almost four meters in length and three meters high. Opening its mouth, the tiger suddenly sucked in the air and Ja Sun instantly felt himself being pulled.

But with an easygoing smile, his spirit ring flared again, drawing another pair of wings behind his back.

"Devour!" Taiyin growled. Roaring without any sound, the tiger's pull grew even fiercer.

It was at this moment everyone's expression changed. Even Bibi Dong frowned. Ja Sun hadn't revealed his next move in any of the training spars.

'Second Variant Skill: Feathers of Freedom.'

The wings behind Ja Sun's back suddenly dispersed into countless feathers. Silver feathers made of Ja Sun's energy, in this form, followed his will and they whistled towards Taiyin without any additional force but his own devouring.

Meanwhile, two pairs of wings formed behind Ja Sun's back once again.

With a cruel gaze, Ja Sun manipulated the astonishing number of sharp feathers to strike at Taiyin's vital points.

Without revoking the devour, as it continued to slowly pull Ja Sun despite his beating wings, Taiyin's first ring flickered and a golden barrier appeared around him, defending against the assault of the feathers.

"Get down!" Taiyin growled.

"The wish you should have is— Get up!" Ja Sun laughed loudly.

He was completely comfortable in the air. So much so that the moment the second set of Silver Light Wings turned into a reinforcement of torrential feathers, two pairs of wings grew again.

In terms of control of spirit energy, Ja Sun held a massive advantage, and unknowingly, Taiyin had cornered himself.

He cannot easily let go of Ja Sun and remove his fifth skill but it consumed a lot of spirit energy. He couldn't remove the light shield around him, too.

Right now, Taiyin was using three skills that consumed spirit energy without having any time limit. Ordinarily, the three of them are top-tier skills: White Tiger Shield Barrier, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, and White Tiger Unending Devouring.

But the disadvantage of these skills showed instantly. Taiyin was losing too much spirit energy. And since his control was rudimentary, his lower ranking skills consumed a relatively larger portion of energy than normal to match his current strength.

Meanwhile, Ja Sun continued to control the sea of feathers. It didn't take his mental energy because his control had already gained a qualitative trait.

The only way out of this mess—

*Howl*

A savage howl echoed from Taiyin's body and his right arm instantly turned incandescent as he smashed his fist on the ground and a dome of spirit energy instantly rushed out, expanding wildly. Ja Sun instantly realized his own danger and curled himself as the two pairs of wings wrapped ahead of him.

"Die!"

Taiyin smiled madly.

But the harassing feathers, an astonishing number of them reaching the higher end of the hundreds suddenly rushed up and turned into a massive ball of a feather that instantly protected Ja Sun.

*Pop*

*Pop*

Under the overbearing attack, Ja Sun's feathers were destroyed finally. But by the time the dome passed through his location, Ja Sun was still left with several tens of feathers and his wings absolutely intact.

2 Spirit Bones.

By now, Taiyin realized Ja Sun's goal.

He was stacking benefits!

He had already revealed two spirit bones. Ja Sun had also revealed his capabilities and now Taiyin wasn't sure he could take down this freak of nature.

What did it mean?

There was a chance that his father might have to damage the foundation of the palace to cough up the price.

In the viewer's seat, Laohu's and Zhu Yin's expressions couldn't be uglier. They were familiar with Ja Sun's control. Every talent will naturally reach it in the Spirit Sage and Douluo realm. But to achieve this state of control this early.

Graveness flickered in the eyes of the spectators. After all, what Ja Sun had achieved wasn't mere control. He was like a mechanic, no, an admin of his spirit skills. He changed their coding, kept the same foundation, and used it however he wished!

In the continent, the number of such experts doesn't even reach 2 digits for achieving this quality of control wasn't only based on training but innate talent, too.

"Prince, you missed the shot," Ja Sun smiled, "Another thing Princess Zhu must complain about you."

"Aaaghhhhhh!"

Taiyin screamed. Since he had revealed his skull bone before, he threw caution to the wind.

A silver helmet covered his head with two feline yet metal ears poking out from the helmet. Taiyin's face by itself wasn't covered.

Behind him, another phantom of a silver, tiger, the kind with even purer white stripes rather than black, emerged and his sixth spirit skill glowed simultaneously.

Taiyin's spirit energy locked onto Ja Sun as he let out a thick pillar of light from his mouth, pure white this time. Intense fluctuations distorted the area around the ray of light and Ja Sun smirked coldly. Sure enough, insults regarding sex life can destroy rationality.

His golden pupils lit up and another purple ring appeared around Ja Sun instantly followed by everyone's gazes turning blind as Ja Sun's body gave in intense silver light from his body. This was Bright Goddess Butterfly's heaven-defying skill that allowed her to escape her pursuers every time.

3rd Spirit Skill: Bright World.

A two-fold attack. Mental and visual. Those who don't have their eyes protected will be sent into a daze but the condition of this skill is that one must view the light. The attack doesn't consume spirit energy but mental energy. Raised by his Fiery Golden Pupils, Ja Sun expended 30% of his total reserves while Bright Goddess' body was completely glowing within his mental scape, too. The heaven-defying part of this skill isn't the light but the accompanied shocks of mental energy that destroy spirit locks on oneself. With this, the Bright Goddess Butterfly could escape the most dangerous of predators for they cannot lock onto her position.

Ja Sun's view, meanwhile was plain as his body was still lit up.

Flying around the ray of light, Ja Sun gently tapped the furious Prince's cheek. He was grateful for the youth and sent him unconscious instantly without hurting him too much.

The skill lasted for ten seconds. So, Ja Sun moved quickly and stripped the Prince off of his belongings so he cannot smuggle them away later on.

Titled Douluos, meanwhile, still weren't sent into shock and they protected others. But in the source of white light, even they couldn't lock onto any figures, revealing how much cautious they grew of Ja Sun. This was one of the most dangerous abilities they have come across. Bibi Dong, meanwhile, was calm. She faced a terrible loss to the skill the first time but by now, she and Ah Yin could counter it somewhat.

Dai Mu was thoroughly devoid of energy. A moment of arrogance. Just a moment of arrogance. This is what she thought while unable to realize that Ja Sun was practically inciting her from the moment he opened his mouth.

The light faded and everyone's view turned clear. Standing silently in his original position was Ja Sun who had only reached half of his mental reserved but he still held mighty reserves of spirit energy.

Quite far away was a thoroughly stripped prince Taiyin in his lavish inner garments.

Bowing slightly towards the Imperial Family, Ja Sun no longer revealed any sense of vulgarness but gave a suave feeling.

"His highness, the Prince let me win. Please excuse any comment made during the battle. For me, my words are as much of a weapon as my fists."

His soothing words echoed and Laohu's body trembled. A Spirit Sage, if confronted with such a skill, wouldn't go unconscious. It is what Ja Sun did while hiding under the guise of light that is truly terrifying. Not only that, being a Spirit Elder and holding 2 purple rings meant that he has jumped to a higher level to absorb his spirit ring. Or at least, that's what everyone thought.

"A 20000-year-old dagger made from the bite of Jinx Serpent, an apology from Princess Dai Mu with a bow, an 8000-year-old spirit bone, a 27000-year-old Purple Purple Demon Illusion Wolf Left Arm Spirit Bone. As for the skull bone and the right arm spirit bone, evaluation of which I will leave to the promising hands of Elder Yue and my Teacher. I have kept my part of the bet and aside from taking the prince's personal belonging, I have touched not a hair on him."

Meeting Laohu's eyes, Ja Sun uttered, "Now, please."

Yie Guan's expression changed and he looked towards Laohu before giving a short bow.

"If my eyes aren't wrong, that skull bone's quality isn't lower than 30,000-year-old, and that right arm bone is at least 40,000-year-old."

While speaking, Yue Guan's eyes revealed intense greed. Everyone except for the imperial family was the same. Even Ning Fengzhi felt a hint of envy despite being the richest one present and Chen Xin closed his eyes momentarily.

Four spirit bones. Such a bet was too lavish. One needs to realize that even in his own bet against the continent, Qian Xunji revealed two Spirit Bones even if they are of better quality.

This transaction can be called unprecedented in a way.

*Putong*

Dai Mu collapsed on the floor weakly, tears streaming down her face as Tang Hao finally looked towards Dai Mu. For a moment, his heart did urge him to help the girl up.

"Don't think about it," Tang Xiao's words were demanding but without a care, Tang Hao walked towards Dai Mu who had lost the support of her mother and helped her up.

"Everything will be alright," Tang Hao consoled with a calm expression. Tactless he may be, but he did understand how Dai Mu was moving around him. It may because of politics, or her true feelings. He didn't care about any of these. He simply felt the urge to help her up and he did. As he said to Tang Xiao way back, what is the point of being a spirit master if one cannot follow selfish wills?

Dai Laohu glanced at the sobbing Mu, and then at the worried expression of his wife.

In reality, the Star Luo Empire is built on familial slaughter and intense internal competition. However, despite all the threats, how can Dai Laohu kill his own son. Even the one who lost to Dai Taiyin, Dai Laohu had him arranged in a rising town with bountiful economic support.

Taiyin was his best successor. To fulfill a mere bet, he wouldn't kill his son and leave him with an incomplete corpse for spirit bones. In fact, this is what Zhu Yin feared Dai Laohu would do.

Gently looking at his wife, Laohu shook his head and exhaled deeply.

"Ka-ul, this bet is lost by the Imperial Family," Laohu gently nudged Zhu Yin away. Even Zhu Ning had a pale expression as of this moment.

"Thank you for not killing my son in this state of weakness. Mu'er, hand me the dagger."

The sobbing Dai Mu took out the dark green dagger in a daze and Dai Laohu stepped down onto the training ground.

Yue Guan was about to move but he stopped once again. His expression revealing an internal conflict. Even he wasn't willing to risk the life of such an outstanding youth.

Laohu walked towards Ja Sun slowly and finally stood in front of him.

Silently, he handed the knife to Ja Sun and he stored it after a momentary inspection.

Then, Dai Laohu's lips moved but his voice was compressed and he handed Ja Sun a small token.

"I have shown sincerity by not revealing the effects or information of the spirit bones. This is because of a selfish wish of mine. The bet will be completed, but instead of Mu, let this old man take her place."

Dai Laohu smiled peacefully.

"Father!" Dai Mu cried out in shock, leaving Tang Hao's comfortable hold and rushing towards the training ground when a dark shadow held her and the warm embrace broke Dai Mu's heart. Who else could it be aside from her mother? However, her mother's body was trembling, too.

Ja Sun gazed at Laohu. The difference in height wasn't great at all and both of them were almost of the same height.

"If you're talking to me as a father, then let me address you as Senior.

Senior Dai, I cannot accept your apology. But I won't bring this matter up either. Call me greedy and selfish, but my heart is already more than compensated. The bet about apology was my useless pride talking and not me."

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