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Chapter 348: Awing the World Yet Again
🕑 Added 2024-01-11 17:36:01 +0000 UTCRank 675… Jack Rust!
Everyone was stunned. They forgot to react. It took a few moments for these C-Grade cultivators to believe what they were seeing, and then the entire crowd erupted as one!
675! What sort of concept was that?
D-Grades shouldn’t even be able to enter the Globe. If they did, achieving a rank in the mid nine hundreds was an excellent achievement. That’s what everyone believed, that’s what they were used to.
But now, Jack Rust had completely wiped his butt with their preconceptions and rose to 675, leaving most early C-Grades in the dust!
And these weren’t normal C-Grades. The Cathedral only accepted the most talented, most promising cultivators in the universe. Everyone here was the star disciple of some B or A-Grade faction, people who could jump ranks to fight.
Jack was just too abnormal!
The upheaval persisted for several minutes. Everyone spoke between themselves, then looked at Jack like he was a monster. All the while, he simply stood there, absorbing the ambient Dao and slowly recovering his strength.
That he possessed a body-enhancing Life Artifact was not a secret. By now, all the smart ones had figured it out. However, that didn’t diminish his achievements at all.
Who here didn’t have their own lucky secrets? Everyone did, but nobody could recreate Jack’s feat! There were many Life Artifacts in the universe—if it was so easy, anyone could do it.
In the cultivation world, lucky chances were aplenty. Many people found one. However, grasping it required competence and courage. In the million years of Trial Planet’s existence in the Milky Way galaxy, the Ancient Trial had been discovered by thousands of aspiring cultivators, but all of them had failed and died. It was only Jack who succeeded and reaped the benefits.
Even if an inferior cultivator could acquire the Life Drop, they couldn’t endure the torturous pain of body tempering for weeks in a row. Even if they could, it would only increase their strength by a bit. The only reasons the effect was so pronounced on Jack were his solid foundation, his alignment with his Dao, his battle experience, and his great titles. Even without the Life Drop, he would still be formidable—this was just a tiger given wings.
Everyone staring at Jack understood these things. In their eyes, he was simply a monster! These galaxy-level geniuses didn’t even have the qualifications to be jealous.
A few people shook their heads and left dejected, while others had eyes filled with excitement. If this overwhelming power belonged to someone else, they might not be so happy…but Jack was awesome! He was a hero! He had dared to kill Cranxiao and oppose Baron Longform. Even on his first day here, he had insulted the wife of the 181st ranked Marcus William.
If he could rise meteorically and break through all those illustrious opponents, how amazing a sight would that be?
The gazes that fell on Jack were warm, excited. The Cathedral had been infused with life. This was the start of a legend.
“That’s a real big bro,” a voice said from somewhere in the crowd, discreetly reaching the ears of everyone. It was like the spark that set aflame their inner thoughts.
Indeed! If proud people like them admired someone as their big bro, that person could only be Jack!
As for Jack himself, he had no idea about the bro army swiftly forming around him. He stayed here not to enjoy everyone’s admiring gazes, but to recover some of his strength. As soon as he felt somewhat okay, he opened his eyes.
“Congratulations!” Dorman said as he approached. “That’s extremely good!”
“Thank you,” Jack replied calmly.
“Good job, bro.”
“Thanks, Brock. I tried my best.”
Jack wasn’t too excited. He had been aware of his own strength since before he fought Cranxiao. Plus, the Globe greatly favored cultivators with high endurance and regeneration—it played to his strengths, which was part of the reason why he achieved such a good ranking.
But, still, the hint of pride in his chest was hard to extinguish.
“That was really great!” Esmeralda said, approaching as well and ignoring Dorman’s fiery stare. “I don’t even know if Min could do this at the D-Grade.”
Jack raised a brow. “Min?”
“Nevermind about that. You’re as great as Brock told me. I’ll be sure to pass this message along.”
“To whom?” Jack asked, but the blue-ponytail girl had already walked away. He turned to the brorilla. “Brock?”
“No bother, big bro. You get strong. I handle the rest.”
“Okay…”
“Excuse me,” a voice interrupted them. To his surprise, Jack saw the Envoy himself approaching—a man with red skin and four fingers on each hand. The entire crowd quietened.
Envoys were on a completely different level than outer disciples, both in strength and in status.
“I would like to congratulate you on your stellar result,” the Envoy said.
“Thank you, Envoy.”
“Mm. Now that you have reached the ranking of 675, you have unlocked extra privileges. Your Heavy Pagoda time allotment had increased from one to eight hours per month. Additionally, you can use the teleporters to freely leave the Cathedral, and you can also access the Dao Chamber.”
“Dao Chamber? What’s that?”
The Envoy smiled. “The Dao Chamber contains resources that can enhance or deepen a cultivator’s Dao. A-Grade Dao Visions are only the appetizers. With your ranking, you can use the Fallen Genius Mirror, an ancient artifact with wondrous effects on one’s Dao.”
“Oh!” Jack exclaimed. “That sounds great.”
“It is. Would you like me to guide you over now?”
The surrounding cultivators had wide eyes. The hell? This Envoy was responsible for operating the Ceaseless Murder Globe. If he abandoned his post to show Jack around, would the Globe go out of order?
Many sighed in their hearts. Different people got different treatment. This Envoy saw Jack’s potential and wanted to befriend him, even going to the extent of bending the rules to do it.
Since the crowd could understand this, so could Jack. Unfortunately, he had different plans. “I am honored, Envoy, but I must do something else first. I appreciate the offer.”
“No problem at all.” The Envoy gave an easy-going smile. “If you need anything in the future, come find me. My name is Borkuren Madiba.”
“If anything comes up, I absolutely will.”
Borkuren said nothing more. He nodded and returned to his post. Dorman turned to Jack, a hint of envy in his gaze. “Are you going back to Earth?” he asked.
“Now that I’ve reached the ranking of eight hundred, I can return whenever I want to…but I will not go immediately. Another thing comes first.”
“And what is that?”
Jack grinned. “Break through to the C-Grade.”
***
On a different part of the Cathedral, an Asian-looking young woman sat cross-legged on a hard bed. Her raven black hair cascaded over her shoulders, and the air she exuded was one of pride and arrogance backed by absolute confidence.
This was the number one outer disciple of the Black Hole Church—Min Ling!
“675?” she asked, raising a slender brow.
“Exactly!” Emeralda replied excitedly. “I saw it with my own eyes. A peak D-Grade reaching the six hundreds…he’s a peak talent!”
“He’s decent,” Min replied calmly. She was by far the strongest C-Grade on the Cathedral. At Jack’s cultivation, she probably couldn’t have reached that rank…but it mattered little. The C-Grade was very long. From the first to the ninth fruit, one had to cross many chasms and tribulations.
No matter how talented a D-Grade was, there were high chances their path would be severed somewhere in the C-Grade.
“So, what do you think?” Esmeralda asked with a sly smile. “His brorilla already indicated that Jack Rust is interested. You are both extreme talents. On the Cathedral, who else is more suitable for you?”
Min Ling frowned. “I don’t have time for those things. Even if I did, I wouldn’t choose someone just because they’re strong.”
“He’s decently handsome, too.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Esmeralda laughed, her peal gentle like crystal water. “Come on, Min. Don’t be so stuck-up. Since he’s expressing the interest to know you, why not have some tea? You never know what could happen.”
“I said no.”
“Fine… Be boring.”
Min Ling sighed. “He’s only a child, Esmeralda, not even at the C-Grade. We’re worlds apart. Even if I was interested in finding someone, which I’m not, I would never look at someone like him.”
“Oh yeah? And who would you look at? The Spacewind Sovereign?”
Min’s face darkened with disgust. “That’s enough, Es. If there’s nothing else, can you let me cultivate at peace?”
“Suit yourself. Tea in three months?”
“Sure.”
“Great! See you then!”
***
The Heavenly Spoon Sovereign stared at a chessboard. Opposite him, an old woman had a glowing smile on her face as she moved a piece. He sighed. “I lose again.”
“But you’re making progress! Don’t worry, you’re still too young. In twenty thousand years, I’m sure you’ll be my match.”
“I don’t know. If I fill my mind with chess, where will I fit cultivation?”
The old woman laughed. “Correct, correct. Then you can just lose for eternity.”
“Yeah, I guess I will.”
The sovereign did not take her words to heart. Chess was a fun way to reset his mind after intense bouts of cultivation—despite its seeming simplicity, even B-Grades couldn’t completely solve it.
“Did you hear?” the woman said, gathering up the chessboard as she prepared to leave. “That new protege of yours achieved a ranking of 675.”
“Oh yeah? That’s decent, I guess.”
“Before reaching the C-Grade.”
The sovereign looked up. Faint amusement played on his lips. “Would you look at that. Impressive. But wasn’t there someone who did even better six millennia ago?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Don’t play with me, Head Envoy. You’re just too good. Anyone even remotely similar is a great asset to the Church.”
“Naturally. What can I say? My vision is just that good.”
“So now you’ll leave him alone?”
“Oh, on the contrary. The more pressure he can take, the more I’ll push. Let’s see how high he can reach.”
She frowned. “You’re too cruel.”
“I’ve met that boy—he is the type who thrives in adversity. If I don’t create some enemies for him, he might stall, and how will he reach the peak then?”
“By taking his time. That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Taking his time? What time?” The Head Envoy laughed. “The Hand of God is moving on us everywhere. Two Elders clashed in the Serpent’s Fang galaxy. Our leaders are pushing for war, and so are the Immortals. Don’t tell me you can’t see the signs. We need to push the disciples harder, both the inner and outer ones, to squeeze them dry of potential as soon as possible. Otherwise, I’m afraid the crusade will eat them whole.”
The Head Envoy took out a silver teaspoon from inside his robes, inspecting its head. His voice turned serious.
“Heed my words, Morgana. Slow accumulation is over. Now, we rush—and if we don’t, we die.”
***
Jack sat alone in his cabin. Brock and Dorman had temporarily left. He’d locked the door and closed the curtains, discovering they possessed Dao limiting properties. Until he opened the cabin again, nobody could spy on him.
Jack was now cross-legged on the magical meditation mat. Twenty-two Dao stones were arranged in a circle around him—twenty came from his bet against Cranxiao, and the other two also came from the same bet. Apparently, the bag that Baron Longform tossed over contained two extra stones, but he was too angry to count them out and humiliate himself further.
Before now, Jack had spent an hour at the third level of the Heavy Pagoda, enduring eight thousand gravities to compress his Dao to the maximum. Then, he rushed back home before the compressed Dao could escape, using it and these Dao stones to break through. According to his calculations, he would only need thirteen, but he’d laid down all of them. He only had one shot at this breakthrough—being greedy would be completely idiotic.
He sat in meditation and took a deep breath. His perception sank into his soul, finding the Dao Tree bursting with energy. It was mostly focused on the branches and leaves, ready to bloom to life, barely held back by Jack’s will.
He touched his hand on the Dao Tree and released the pent-up energy. The Dao Blooming began.
He was breaking through to the C-Grade.
Comments
Yeetis
Nah, letter go up.
Seth
I'm gonna be pissed if Envoy Spoonface doesn't let him visit home.
Knight Rhoden
A part of me hopes he doesn't break through just yet... just to see how far he can really push himself within the bounds of the D-Grade itself. I wonder if at some point in the far future of the story Jack will do the impossible and beat an opponent two Grades above? If anyone can do such a thing it's Jack Rust. So to that end I kinda wish he wouldn't breakthrough just yet, so he can squeeze every last iota out in the D-Grade and maybe even discover secret methods of advancement by getting abnormally strong in the D-Grade. Given the kinds of opponents he'll be up against, Jack can't afford to do things the normal way anymore.
