Huang Xiaolong did not expect that Wang Biaoyuan was lucky enough to come across a piece of pure metal essence, but despite knowing that, Huang Xiaolong threw the matter to the back of his mind.

Institute Principal Feng Yang went on, “The twenty thousand Black Warrior Greater Strength Pellets I gave you are enough to last you one year, when you’ve finished them, Master will give you more.”

Huang Xiaolong nodded yes, the image of obedience.

Following that, Feng Yang imparted some cultivation knowledge to Huang Xiaolong. By the time Huang Xiaolong returned to his yard, one hour had passed.

Watching Huang Xiaolong’s leaving silhouette, Feng Yang smiled shaking his head, he was aware that this disciple of his put neither Gudu Leng nor Wang Biaoyuan in his eyes. Then again, given his disciple’s monstrous talent, this much arrogance was nothing.

Back in his yard, Huang Xiaolong opened the seal on the spatial ring containing today’s congratulatory gifts. Looking into the spatial ring, Huang Xiaolong was instantly dumbfounded. Every inch inside the ring was stuff to the brim with precious treasures, lustrous precious divine pellets, shining elixirs that were hundreds of thousands of years old!

Huang Xiaolong was bedazzled at the sight, gulping nervously.

If the items inside the spatial ring were taken out to auction, it’d be like striking it filthy rich overnight, becoming the galaxy’s wealthiest nouveau riche.

His spiritual sense swept inside the space, a small cluster of golden pellets in a corner caught his interest. Taking out one of the golden pellets, a bright aureate light glowed from the golden pellet as it sat quietly in his palm.

“This is an ancient Grandmist Desire Golden Pill!” Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi exclaimed in astonishment. “It’s good stuff ah! Even during the ancient times, this Grandmist Desire Golden Pill was hard to come by, one of these is several times better than refining a God Realm beast core. I didn’t expect there to be people who would be willing to take this out!”

Grandmist Desire Golden Pill! Huang Xiaolong’s eyes instantly brightened. He had heard of this Grandmist Desire Golden Pills, where Gods of ancient times gathered hundreds of one hundred thousand years old medicinal herbs and refined them using innate fire.

He immediately entered the Xumi Temple, sitting in a cross-legged position. His mouth opened and inhaled ten golden pellets into his body. Muffled popping sounds could be heard coming from the insides of Huang Xiaolong’s body.

A few hours later, Huang Xiaolong finally refined all ten Grandmist Desire Golden Pills. His body felt lighter and comfortable, something he did not feel when refining the Black Warrior Greater Strength Pellets.

Inside the spatial ring, there was a little over thirty Grandmist Desire Golden Pills. In one sitting, Huang Xiaolong had refined thirty pellets, keeping the remaining few for his family.

He spent the next one month inside the Xumi Temple, either refining divine pellets or one hundred thousand years old elixirs received from the congratulatory gifts. Although not all the divine pellets were on par with the Grandmist Desire Golden Pills, they were still rare and precious medicinal pellets in the galaxy. In this one month, his strength rose steadily, bringing him infinitely closer to peak half-step God Realm. Signs of an imminent breakthrough became more apparent as time passed.

In the course of one month, eldest Senior-Apprentice Brother Liu Yun and Third-Apprentice Sister Qi Wen had visited him a few times, and he was able to get along amiably with both of them.

His Eldest Senior-Apprentice Brother Liu Yun had a gentle personality, whereas Third Senior-Apprentice Sister was generous and considerate, they both looked after this Junior Apprentice-Brother in their own way. They appeared at his doorstep every other week, offering cultivation advice to Huang Xiaolong.

Both of them had been disciples of the Institute Principal for more than twenty thousand years and were high experts of Tenth Order God Realm and above. Thus, Huang Xiaolong greatly benefited from their guidance.

However, never once did his Second Senior-Apprentice Brother appeared.

On this day, Dragon Emperor Ao Taiyi was talking to Huang Xiaolong, “Two months after passing the new disciple selection assessment, there will be an outdoor task delegated to all new disciples, and that’s tomorrow. You should join together with the other new disciples.”

Huang Xiaolong nodded. As the Institute Principal’s personal disciple, he could decline to participate in this new disciple outdoor task, however, he preferred not to stand out due to special treatment. Other than that, participating in the new disciple task would be beneficial to his cultivation.

From his understanding, most new disciple tasks were hunting demonic beasts, bandits, or ghostly creatures. Making a short calculation in his head, Huang Xiaolong estimated that he’d be able to advance to peak half-step God Realm with another one hundred First Order God Realm beast cores or a hundred souls of First Order God Realm ghost creatures.

The night passed.

On the next morning, Huang Xiaolong went to inform the Institute Principal before making his way out from the manor, arriving at the Supreme Harmony Hall a short while later.

By the time Huang Xiaolong arrived, most of the new disciples were already assembled at the square. With a quick scan around, he quickly spotted both Gudu Leng and Jiang Shaoze. Honestly, he was surprised seeing them both here, for he never expected they too would participate in this new disciple task. Based on these two people’s identities, they needn’t participate if they weren’t interested.

As time passed, more and more new disciples arrived at the square.

“It’s Wang Biaoyuan!”

Someone suddenly shouted.

Huang Xiaolong’s gaze trailed behind the crowd’s, falling onto a figure flying at breakneck speed from afar, whistling through the wind, leaving a tail of golden flames behind him. This person was none other than Wang Biaoyuan.

In seconds, Wang Biaoyuan already arrived in front of the crowd of new disciples as he descended to the square. When his feet touched the pavement, it felt like a thousand catties of heavy metal falling down, one could feel the ground shaking underneath their feet. As his feet touched the ground, Wang Biaoyuan shot a cold gaze in Huang Xiaolong’s direction before looking away without a word.

Huang Xiaolong noticed that Wang Biaoyuan’s temperament could barely be considered as having grown more steady, with his aura better controlled, different from the arrogant tyrant exuding a sharp aura two months ago. It seems like the other side’s strength had enhanced a large degree from refining the pure metal essence.

This was also another person Huang Xiaolong did not expect to show up and participate in the new disciple task.

In general, refining treasures such as the pure metal essence was better done without interruptions in between until it was fully refined. Stopping in between could greatly reduce its benefits.

It didn’t take long for all the one hundred new disciples to assemble. When all were present, Elder Zhang Tianchuan finally appeared in front of them. He was overseeing this round of new disciples tasks.

Standing at the front of the square, Zhang Tianchuan’s eyes swept over these new faces, stopping a second longer on Huang Xiaolong with a slight nod and faint smile.

“I’ll be overseeing this round’s new disciple task. Later on, we’ll be heading to the Undead World to hunt ghost creatures.” Zhang Tianchuan continued, “After we arrive in the Undead World, everyone should pay attention to their safety, the ghost creatures there are not the same as the ones on the Deepwood Star. These ghost creatures in the Undead World possess tremendous recovery power, making it that much harder to kill them.”

Zhang Tianchuan reminded everyone things they needed to pay attention to during the task. Of course, there were rewards for any tasks taken, including this one. However, only for the top three places.

Huang Xiaolong memorized everything Zhang Tianchuan reminded them to take note of. Since Zhang Tianchuan took the trouble to remind them, remembering it was better than not knowing.

A short while later, Zhang Tianchuan led the group to the transmission array on the North Star Square and started it up. A flash of light appeared, and after feeling as if the universe flipped upside down, they arrived at a bleak and barren desert.

Surveying their surroundings, the barren desert seemed to have no edge, dry sand skittered across the dunes. Above the veil of sand, high in the sky, were pools of black energy that emitted a foul rancid stench and death aura.

“This is the Undead World.” Zhang Tianchuan’s voice sounded in everyone’s ears, “I hope all of you have remembered what I’ve said. We’ll assemble at this transmission array in one month’s time. Now, go and perform your task accordingly!”

Just as Zhang Tianchuan’s voice fell, Gudu Leng, Wang Biaoyuan, Jiang Shaoze, Xu Shaoqing, and the rest disappeared from the scene in a flicker.