Provocation

A noisy commotion woke Wutian up the next day.

He got out of bed and put on his clothes, then looked through the window. He saw Shishi, dressed in white with double ponytails, having fun on the back of the Blackiron Alligator. Beside her were many other hideous aqua beasts of enormous size.

Like a princess, she was attracting attention. Men and women of all ages thronged the lakeside, stopping their cultivation practice to watch her curiously. 

"Who is that little girl? She could tame those vicious monster beasts!" Everyone was baffled, finding it incredible.

"Do you see the little white beast beside her? It is the legendary Flying Fox, so she should be a light being." Someone recognized that at first glance and told the truth.

"It is said that light beings possess terrific healing ability, but so-so in attack abilities. But by the looks of things, she is more terrifying than other beings and able to summon a bunch of vicious beasts. Who could have stood that?" Seeing this scene, everyone was deeply affected.

"It is said that the little girl has an elder brother. When the young sister is this vicious, what would her elder brother look like?" Those people's attention shifted to the Ninth Heaven House in curiosity.

Wutian pulled back his vision and went to clean himself up. After that, he went up to the first floor and sat down with his legs crossed. He took out ten Essence elixirs. This time, he wanted to consume ten Essence elixirs at once to see if he could break through to the next level.

He popped those Essence elixirs into his mouth in one go, and they instantly turned into pure and concentrated Essence energy. His Sea of Qi was gushing with energy like a billowing sea.

A group of Essence energy formed inside, concentrating and nurturing a creature. It squirmed non-stop and was about to burst out of his body. Wutian sat calmly on the floor and was shrouded in a glow, looking divine and elusive.

As time ticked by, a drop of water trickle down into his Sea of Qi, producing a crisp sound. Wutian shuddered. He quickly took out another ten Essence elixirs and shoved them all into his mouth.

Boom!

His Sea of Qi went violent as an enormous amount of Essence energy rushed in. The place was surging with mist, with nothing visible inside, as if the initial opening of the void. 

Tic-tac, tic-tac…

Crystal-like droplets appeared in the cloud of Essence energy and dripped down, creating rings of ripple that glowed in incredible beauty.

This was the product of Essence energy being concentrated to the highest level.

Wutian was excited, not expecting that his gamble paid off. Again, he took out another twenty Essence elixirs, and without hesitation, he consumed them at once. The concentrated Essence energy ran wild, his Sea of Qi incredibly painful, as if it was going to burst.

The liquid no longer trickled but formed into columns and flowed into the Sea of Qi.

Half an hour later, the Essence energy in Wutian's Sea of Qi had subsided, leaving behind a mirror-like, smooth lake without a single ripple.

During the Reborn Beta stage, energy was converted into elixirs to refine the flaw and make the body into perfection. Once achieving this stage, the Sea of Qi would no longer be misty but become a pond that held the Essence elixirs. This was a qualitative upgrade where one's physical ability would increase several folds.

Black substance with a pungent smell covered his body. This was the impurity of the body. Once the elixirs formed, it would automatically and continuously refine the body and keep the body clog-free.

He could imagine he had used up forty Essence elixirs to achieve the breakthrough. At first, he thought he would only need ten-twenty at the most. After all, these thousand-year elixirs were highly concentrated. Yet, he had still underestimated the required dosage. If breaking through into the Reborn Beta stage already required such an amount of Essence elixirs, then how many Essence elixirs would he need to attain the Reborn Gamma stage? So Wutian started to eye Little Tian's Essence elixirs.

He fished out the ring he got out from the cave and carefully examined it. An item from a thousand years ago must be something out of this world. There must be some secret hidden inside. He looked at the ring until his eyes were strained, yet he still could not figure out anything.

Wutian shook his head in disappointment and took out the black emblem. Little Tian had absorbed all the chilly energy inside, so the emblem was no longer dangerous.

This emblem had changed his life. If not for it, his grandpa and those villagers would not have died, and he would not have to go to great lengths to come to the Yan Clan. Had Longhe had asked for the emblem, Wutian would have given it to him, and the tragedy would not have happened.

This emblem was mysterious. Wutian had found no clue about it from the parchment. After the prior experience, he would not dare to ask anything about it openly. Now, this was the mystery that he was desperate to resolve.

When he got to his feet, he instantly felt his body several times lighter than before, as if he could walk on air without touching the floor, and his movement faster.

He returned to the ground floor and cleaned his body of the dirt. When he pushed open the door and went out, all eyes were suddenly on him. When those people saw Little Tian on his shoulder, there were strange expressions on their faces.

"What is going on here? The sister has a Flying Fox as a pet, while the brother has a demon toad? Is there something wrong with my vision?" People were astonished, feeling it incredible.

"Caw!" Little Tian was agitated, but Wutian held it down. This was a venue where geniuses gathered. He had to avoid trouble whenever possible. Besides, after last night's investigation, he found that something was mysterious about this place. He had better keep his head low.

He let Yi look after Shishi while he brought Little Tian heading to the outer court. There, he found Zhang Kuang and asked him if there was any library in this place. At last, he was still left disappointed. There was a library with records of various vicious beasts and plants, but there was no information about the emblem.

Could it be that this was a taboo that must not be talked about?

When he came out of the library, Zhao Kuang came up to him, still looking as serious as before. Wutian carefully observed him but could not make out anything unusual about him. Zhang Kuang just looked calm.

"I am sorry for being blunt, Guyu. Shishi is outgoing, adorable, smart, and likable. But you should have not allowed her to become too showy, lest attracting the attention of those with ill intention," said Zhao Kuang.

They sat in a gazebo, savoring tea as they chatted. During the long conversation, Wutian found out something; those who were invited to the Zhao's residence would join the Yan Clan without needing to go through the test. Also, there were some special meanings to the layout of the houses in the back courtyard. The buildings were classified into Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. The Heaven House was ranked the highest while the Yellow House the lowest.

The higher the attainment of cultivation, talent, and strength, the higher the house a person would occupy. Zhao Kuang was frank about it. It was because of Shishi that he had arranged for them to stay in the Ninth Heaven House. Wutian could not have cared less. Titles and names were not important to him. He would not mind staying in the Yellow House if he could enjoy moments of peace and non-interruption. 

Zhang Kuang had even told him that because the test was still over a month away, and to quench the boredom of everyone, those staying in the lower houses could challenge those who stayed in the higher houses. If they won, they would have to exchange places. The venue was at the lakeside.

After a long chat, Wutian excused himself and came back to the back courtyard. Shishi was still full of energy, continuing to have fun. True to what Zhao Kuang said, some people had started to challenge each other at the lakeside.

They were two teenagers, about thirteen to fourteen. Judging by their attires, they must be from well-to-do families. From the dual-exchanges, it showed their high level of strength. Onlookers were nodding in awe.

"Hey, you! I am talking about you! I heard that you stay in the Ninth Heaven House. I am Zhang Ting, from the First Earth House. You and I, one-on-one!"

As someone was challenging Wutian, people started to gather. They all wanted to see if the brother would be as vicious as the sister. But they were all disappointed.

Wutian glanced at the challenger, who was a girl. She was wearing yellow, her attainment in cultivation was at the Reborn Alpha stage, which was nothing special. So he turned to leave. He did not have time for this child's play.

"You are scared, and that is why you don't accept my challenge, right?" The girl goaded him as she did not let him go just yet.

Wutian headed straight to his house and closed the door without looking back. He then came to the balcony where he could have a bird's-eye view of the entire lake and keep an eye on Shishi.

Powerful energy surged all of a sudden. His heart missed a beat. Turning to look on his side, he saw a young man, dressed in purple clothes, sitting with his legs crossed on the terrace on the Eight Heaven House. The energy must have come from him.

This young man was sixteen to seventeen at most, extremely good-looking. His skin was fair, his unkempt black hair cascading down his body like a waterfall, his eyebrows black and neat like a pair of scissors. His slender eyes were looking at the lake as if he was deep in thought.

If not for his Adam's apple, Wutian would have thought this person was a girl.

"Hey, friend, you must have found me handsome, right?" The young man looked over.

Wutian was startled and said nothing. Also sitting with his legs crossed, he took out some Essence elixirs and swallowed them. He had just made a new breakthrough; he needed to strengthen his cultivation.

"I know how you feel. In fact, I can't help it. There used to be many girls too embarrassed to look at me, and so many girls were crazy about my look. Honestly, being too handsome is a burden. Not that it is my choice. Just that my parents have too good of a gene." The young man in purple reached to stroke his face, extremely narcissistic.

Wutian had seen enough people who were unashamed, but no one was as brazen as this guy. As steady as Wutian was, he nearly wanted to pick up a brick and hurl it in his face. Wutian's face twitched, but he forced himself to focus on refining the Essence elixir, not to be distracted.

"Friend, would you like to have a friendly match with me?" One minute the young man was narcissistic and the next he changed to become another person. His eyes were so shiny that they looked like a pair of moons, and no one dared look into them.

"Not interested!" said Wutian coldly without looking at him.

"You must be scared, from the way I look at it! If that girl weren't a light being, you would have the chance to step through the Zhao Family's door," the young man sneered with a penetrating look in his eyes.

But Wutian remained silent.

"Let me see how calm you could remain." The young man in purple lunged up in the air before landing on the ground, then without his legs touching the ground, he ran toward Shishi on the lake.

The sudden situation stunned those people at the lakeside. The fact that this young man could run on the water just showed he must have at least attained the Reborn Gama stage.

The young man in purple was so quick that he came standing on the back of the Blackiron Alligator, holding Shishi in his hand. The alligator was furious and swung its giant tail at him, creating a few-meter-high wave. Its tail was covered in glinting scales, extremely powerful.

"You had better behave!" The young man hissed and tapped lightly with his foot. A golden flash burst out under his feet with powerful energy. The Blackiron Alligator wailed in pain as blood splattered out. It quickly retracted its tail and stayed quietly in the water.

"That's badass!"

Those people at the lakeside sucked through their teeth. Even though the Blackiron Alligator had an impenetrable skin, the young man could hurt it with just a tap of his foot. That was terrific.

"If you still do nothing, I will throw this little girl into the lake and she will drown." The young man burst into laughter.

If that was not provocation, what was?