Chapter 264: Half a Year Later

The use of Divine Will was not solely to identify items that were invisible to the naked eye. Strong Divine Will could affect one’s soul or even destroy one’s soul!

As of now, Zhou Donghuang had managed to cultivate Divine Will as he was now at the Dharma stage. For Dharma adepts who were at the Primordial Soul stage and below and had not yet managed to cultivate their Divine Will, once they used their Divine Will, they would be able to affect the other party’s soul. Even if they were unable to fully destroy the other party’s soul, they could at least impact it.

Once one’s soul was affected, if the person in question were to face something extremely impactful, then their soul would be lost.

Think about this: If two Dharma adepts dueled and either one of them were to utilize their Divine Will, at a key moment should they choose to use the Divine Well to impact the other party’s soul, what would happen?

In the instant where the other party lost their soul, almost immediately, they may even lose their lives!

“However, this Divine Will is too weak… As compared to the Divine Will created at the early Primordial Soul stage by a Primal Core adept, it is much weaker… Other than its use of being able to identify items invisible to the naked eye, it can only be used to bully and harm those Dharma adepts who have not yet cultivated their Divine Will.”

Although Zhou Donghuang was criticizing his own Divine Will, a joyful look appeared in his eyes nevertheless. It was clear to see that he was rather satisfied with the state of his Divine Will.

“Now, the Divine Soul Shaper has been fully refined, and I can fully train without further distractions… I need to make use of the time left before the Alliance Hunt commences and upgrade my third Dharma power to the late Dharma stage!”

With such a goal in mind, Zhou Donghuang began to fully immerse himself in his training and was oblivious to everything else that was taking place in the external world.

Other than Zhou Donghuang, Da Zhuang and He Mengxi also seldom left their rooms in the remaining half of the year.

Da Zhuang and He Mengxi, however, had not isolated themselves merely to train their Dharma powers. After all, their Dharma powers were sufficiently trained.

Even if they continued to train, it was unlikely that their Dharma powers would reach the next stage.

As long as they managed to reach the late Dharma stage in the future, with the new Deity’s Tribulation training style that they had switched to, their Dharma powers would follow suit and be moved to the next stage.

Of course, although they trained hard, there was still a long way to go before they could reach the late Dharma stage. A mere six months would not be enough for them to cross over to the next stage.

…

Time flew by, and the six months went by in a blur.

Very quickly, half a year had pa.s.sed, and the Alliance Hunt, which happened once every ten years in the Hengliu galaxy, was set to begin.

The Alliance Hunt of the Hengliu galaxy was jointly organized by the top 52 sects. The aim of the Alliance Hunt was to resist the two strong Transcendental Forces: the Qi Dynasty and the Guangling Academy.

In the Hengliu galaxy, the best training environment and training resources were all concentrated in the hands of the two Transcendental Forces. Furthermore, only the Transcendental Forces’ training resources could guarantee the training speed of a Divine Transformation adept at the early Divine Transformation stage.

This was why the two Transcendental Forces had the most Divine Transformation adepts.

As for the various top sects in the Alliance Hunt, even if they managed to produce a Divine Transformation adept, unless they were entrusted with the precious and important role of guarding the sect, they would usually choose to leave the Hengliu galaxy.

This was because to the Divine Transformation adepts, training in the Hengliu galaxy would mean that their training speed would be decreased. Due to the waste of time, they may even be unable to enter the Separating Divinity stage and be forced to stay stagnant for the rest of their lives.

Even though Divine Transformation adepts had a slighter longer lifespan, they were also not immortal and had limited years to live.

For all the Divine Transformation adepts, it was natural to seek improvement to become Separating Divinity adepts and increase the lifespan that a Divine Transformation adept normally had.

Because of this, even if the top sects managed to produce a Divine Transformation adept, these adepts would not be willing to waste their time and living years by remaining in the Hengliu galaxy.

Even for those in the two Transcendental Forces, once a Divine Transformation adept had trained to a certain standard, they would choose to leave the Hengliu galaxy as well.

All of these Divine Transformation adepts naturally wanted to expand beyond this world and find a richer galaxy where they could create bright futures for themselves. Who would want to limit themselves and their living years without stepping outside to explore?

One could say that within the Hengliu galaxy, the two Transcendental Forces were able to produce and retain more Divine Transformation adepts as compared to the various top sects only because they had good control over training resources.

Of course, perhaps, some would be doubtful about this.

For the Divine Transformation adepts choosing to leave the various top sects, even if the chances were slim, was it still possible for some to triumph and cross over to the Separating Divinity stage?

The answer was, of course, a resounding yes.

However, for those elites, they continued to desire to improve themselves and eventually reach the Heavenly Stage in order to live an even longer life.

Furthermore, their loved ones would be brought along with them when they chose to leave the Hengliu galaxy. Under such a circ.u.mstance, it was clear that they had no intention to return to the Hengliu galaxy or the sect that they had come from.

Of the past Divine Transformation adepts who had left their sects, there were actually more Divine Transformation adepts who had left the two Transcendental Forces.

There were more Divine Transformation adepts in the two Transcendental Forces in the first place. Their foundation was also more concrete.

Even so, the two Transcendental Forces also seldom saw Divine Transformation adepts returning to them. Even if the Divine Transformation adepts did so, they would also not stay within the Hengliu galaxy for long.

This was similar to the career-minded people back on Earth. If they wanted to rise through the ranks, they would all have to head to the bigger cities as there were more opportunities and better resources there.

“The venue of the Alliance Hunt is a planet within the Hengliu galaxy, the Guiyao planet… That planet got its name due to the fact that it is extremely strange. That planet also only has beasts.”

The Lightning Sword Sect’s team of Dharma disciples were personally led by the Sect Leader, Yu Yucheng, and was accompanied by the four Valley Heads of the respective valleys within the sect.

The one who had spoken was the Spring Valley Head, Liu Fengao, and he was introducing the venue of the Alliance Hunt to the Dharma disciples who were unfamiliar with the Alliance Hunt’s details.

“The Spirit energy of the skies and land there is normal during the day. However, in the later hours of each day, it will become extremely chaotic. This lasts throughout the entire year. Because of that, the venue is normally unsuitable for any human to train.”

As Liu Fengao spoke to this point, Zhou Donghuang furrowed his brows.

Such a strange occurrence definitely had an explanation for it.

The fact that there were turbulent conditions on that planet had to have a scientific reason behind it.

However, it was clear through Liu Fengao’s words that the Guiyao planet’s abnormal Spirit conditions still remained unexplained and was a mystery to all.

“Furthermore, the Spirit energy in the skies and land is not very abundant as well… Only beasts train in the Guiyao planet. Even so, they will mostly train till the Dharma stage, and it is impossible for them to cross over to the Primordial Soul stage at all.

“The Spirit energy in the skies and land of the Guiyao planet has its sources in a rather isolated spirit stone vein mine… However, with the level of Spirit energy in the skies and land, those spirit stone vein mines seem to be rather ordinary, and there’s nothing abnormal to note about them.

“Many people of the Hengliu galaxy have once wanted to dig through the spirit stone vein mines of the Guiyao planet to investigate them further. However, these spirit stone vein mines are hidden well and too deep in for normal people to reach. Furthermore, the land in the mines are very tough, and even a Primordial Soul adept would find it difficult to dig through it. After a while, everyone gave up the idea of exploration over time.

“Afterwards, the various ancestors of the top sects decided to designate the Guiyao planet to be a place where disciples under the Alliance could train and allow them to do so, they installed a few formations there… Afterwards, they renamed this activity the ‘Alliance Hunt."”

As Liu Fengao spoke to this point, he paused for a while before continuing to speak. “The process of the Alliance Hunt is simple: just kill beasts and gain points for them… I’m sure all of you are aware of that.

“However, some of you may be unaware of the fact that for Alliance Hunt Dharma stage disciples who have different styles of training, killing the same type of beast will gain you different levels of points.

“For example, if an early Dharma adept manages to kill a beast of the early Dharma stage, he can gain ten points. If he kills a beast of the mid Dharma stage, he can gain 100 points. If he kills a beast of the late Dharma stage, he can gain 1000 points. If he kills a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage, he can gain 10,000 points.”

As Liu Fengao spoke to this point, a few of the Dharma adepts were shocked. He quickly amended his words. “Of course, for an early Dharma adept to be able to kill a beast of the late Dharma stage, it would require lots of ingenuity and days of planning… As for a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage, it would of course be even harder.

“If any disciple of the early Dharma stage really manages to kill a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage, once they have done so, they can leave the Alliance Hunt immediately as they would definitely be the top scorer of the season.”

As he spoke to this point, Liu Fengao shook his head. “In the last few hundreds of years, there haven’t been any Dharma disciples of the Alliance Hunt who have managed to acc.u.mulate 10,000 points.

“As for mid Dharma adepts, if one kills a beast of the early Dharma stage, it does not earn you any points. If one kills a beast of the mid Dharma stage, they can gain ten points. If they kill a beast of the late Dharma stage, they can gain 100 points. If they kill a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage, they can gain 1000 points.”

“Of course, for a mid Dharma adept to kill a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage, it would also be extremely tough.

“For late Dharma adepts, if one kills a beast of the early Dharma stage or mid Dharma stage, you will not gain any points… Killing a beast of the late Dharma stage earns you ten points, and killing a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage earns you 100 points.

“Disciples of the ultimate Dharma stage will gain ten points from killing a beast of the ultimate Dharma stage. Killing beasts of any lower stage will not earn them any points at all.

“Because of the way the points are structured, for the ultimate Dharma adepts, although they are the strongest amongst all the disciples who attend the Alliance Hunt, they are actually the most disadvantaged. This is because they can only depend on the killing of beasts at the same stage as them to earn points.

“Killing one beast of the ultimate Dharma stage only earns them ten points at a time. If they wish to reach 10000 points, they have to kill 1000 beasts of the ultimate Dharma stage!

“However, the Alliance Hunt only takes place for three months… Within a mere three months, it is impossible for one to meet 1000 beasts of the ultimate Dharma stage, let alone kill them all!

“Because of this, in this history of the Alliance Hunt, no ultimate Dharma adept has managed to enter the top ten scorers.

“Furthermore, because of this, many late Dharma stage disciples taking place in the Alliance Hunt would choose to temporarily delay their crossing over to the ultimate Dharma stage if the Alliance Hunt was coming up. They would instead train up their Dharma powers in antic.i.p.ation of the Alliance Hunt.”

With such a detailed explanation by Liu Fengao, disciples who had previously been unfamiliar with the Alliance Hunt, Zhou Donghuang included, were all now more clear on the details and rules of the Alliance Hunt.

“Mm… Well, the Alliance Hunt allows for allies and cooperation among disciples. However, if you choose to work with others to kill a beast, the feat only awards points to one of you and cannot be shared.

“This is because once the Alliance Hunt ends, in order for your points to be confirmed and awarded, you have to present perfect and undamaged brains of the slain beasts as proof.”