Chapter 270: Chapter 269: The 8 Great Clans

A flicker of surprise passed through Fang Yao’s eyes. "Jing Yueling, you’re also here at the Ascension Pool to advance to the Spirit Sect Realm?"

"Fang Yao, my foundation is already sufficient. I came specifically to the Ascension Pool to advance to the Spirit Sect Realm."

Jing Yueling smiled faintly. Her gaze fell upon Shu Feng, and her beautiful eyes lit up. "Hello, Shu Feng. I’m your senior, Jing Yueling. I’m also from Shuijing High School."

The middle-aged man in black smiled faintly. "Patriarch Shu, our Young Miss is the legitimate daughter of the Jing Clan, the second daughter of Flame Master Jing Chen. She has come this time to advance to the Spirit Sect Realm so she can enter the Void Demon Battlefield to fight. Please do us a favor and let us use the Super-grade Ascension Pool first."

The Qianyuan Republic had Eight Great Clans: the Fang Clan, the Ding Clan, the Jing Clan, the Wu Clan, the Shangguan Clan, the Jiang Clan, the Zhu Clan, and the Dugu Clan.

Those Eight Great Clans were each protected by Half-Saint or Spirit Saint Level powerhouses, and their foundations ran incredibly deep. They were the eight most powerful factions, second only to the Royal Luo Family.

The Guardian Flame was the sphere of influence for the Jing and Fang Clans, containing many powerhouses from, or allied with, these two great clans.

Once the middle-aged man in black revealed Jing Yueling’s identity, Shu Feng lost any intention of opposing them. Advancing to the Spirit Sect Realm would only take a few days. It would be utterly foolish to offend a behemoth like the Jing Clan over a petty dispute of ego.

Fang Yao’s brows shot up as she retorted confrontationally, "Jing Yueling, we were here first. Shouldn’t things be first come, first served?"

"Shu Feng..."

Unwilling to speak with Fang Yao, the middle-aged man in black locked his gaze on Shu Feng and began to speak.

Jing Yueling waved her hand, cutting off the middle-aged man’s threat. She smiled beautifully and said, "Uncle Jing Sheng, Fang Yao is right! Things should be handled reasonably! Shu Feng, my junior, please, go ahead."

A sinister glint flashed in Jing Sheng’s eyes, and he fell silent. In his view, Shu Feng was merely the patriarch of a paltry Ninth-Grade Noble Family. Daring to advance before the Jing Clan’s young miss was an unforgivable crime. However, since Jing Yueling had spoken, he could only remain silent.

Fang Yao raised a delicate eyebrow. "Shu Feng, get in there!"

Although Shu Feng didn’t want to offend Jing Yueling, he was even more unwilling to offend his own master, who came from an extraordinary family. He took out a token and handed it to Song Nanxin.

After verifying the token, Song Nanxin hurriedly said, "The token is valid! Go on in!"

Both Fang Yao and Jing Yueling had backgrounds that were too powerful, and Song Nanxin was caught in the middle, finding it hard to please either side. Now that the two beauties had settled the matter, Song Nanxin was naturally eager to get this hot potato off his hands.

Following Song Nanxin’s directions, Shu Feng walked into a white circle.

A vine immediately extended from the peak of Heaven-Ascending Mountain, wrapped around Shu Feng, and pulled him directly into the mountain wall.

After walking a hundred meters into the mountain wall, a spacious area a thousand meters in diameter suddenly appeared. The interior of the cavern was inscribed with countless profound and mysterious Curse Seals.

In the center of the space was a hundred-meter-wide Spirit Pool, filled with a viscous, blackish-green Spiritual Liquid that radiated countless waves of Spiritual Power.

That Spirit Pool was the Super-grade Ascension Pool, an essential item for a peerless genius of the Great Spirit Master Level to transform into a Spirit Sect Realm powerhouse.

As soon as Shu Feng stepped into the Super-grade Ascension Pool, countless streams of Spiritual Liquid surged toward him like a tide, frantically pouring into his body.

Shu Feng sat down cross-legged and activated the Sun and Moon Scripture. He began to madly absorb the Spiritual Liquid from the Ascension Pool, quietly cultivating the power for his transformation.

Watching Shu Feng’s back, Jing Sheng snorted in disdain. "This mere Shu Feng is just from the Lower Class. He got a lucky break and barely managed to join the ranks of the Noble Families. Advancing so many times in such a short period is a real waste of opportunity. With his foundation, the most he’ll manifest is a Black Profound Light Phenomenon. Why bother coming to the Super-grade Ascension Pool to waste this chance?"

Jing Yueling raised a delicate eyebrow slightly but said nothing.

Jing Sheng was a Spirit Venerable Realm Level powerhouse and a Tributor of extremely high status within the Jing Family. Even though Jing Yueling was the legitimate daughter of the Jing Clan, she still had to respect Jing Sheng.

Moreover, Jing Yueling somewhat agreed with Jing Sheng’s words. Shu Feng’s rise had been too fast. Even if he possessed a Heavenly-level Spiritual Ability and could summon incredibly powerful Summoned Beasts, his own evolution was too rapid. With an insufficient foundation, it would be easy for him to hit a bottleneck later on.

Geniuses like Li Xuan Yi, Zhao Zixing, Ning Bufan, and Jiang Chao, with their strength and the power of the families behind them, could have easily advanced to the Spirit Sect Realm in high school. However, doing so would have exhausted their evolutionary potential.

That was why most of the heaven-defying geniuses from the various Extraordinary High Schools only began their breakthroughs to the Spirit Sect Realm after entering university.

Fang Yao suddenly smiled. "How about this? Why don’t we make a bet? If Shu Feng fails to manifest a Phenomenon greater than Black Profound Light, I’ll lose ten Top-grade Spirit Stones to you. If he does manifest one greater than Black Profound Light, you’ll lose ten Top-grade Spirit Stones to me."

Jing Sheng pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "No bet. The stakes are too high."

Although Jing Sheng was very tempted by Fang Yao’s proposal, he didn’t have absolute confidence, so naturally, he didn’t dare to take the bet.

Fang Yao chuckled lightly. "Then I’ll relax the terms a bit! If Shu Feng fails to manifest the Black Water Profound Serpent Phenomenon or anything greater, I lose ten Top-grade Spirit Stones to you. Otherwise, you lose ten Top-grade Spirit Stones to me. How about it?"

Once a breakthrough resulted in the Black Water Profound Serpent Phenomenon, that Spirit Sect would possess the potential to strive for the Spirit Venerable Realm. Even among the Major Noble Families, not even one in a hundred Spirit Sects could necessarily conjure the Black Water Profound Serpent Phenomenon upon their advancement.

Jing Sheng gave a cunning smile. "Flood Dragon Pearl!! I’ll only bet with you if the condition is that Shu Feng must manifest the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon or something greater!"

Fang Yao’s delicate brows furrowed slightly as she fell into deep thought. ’Flood Dragon Pearl?’

Once a Spirit Sect Realm powerhouse conjured the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon, they would possess the potential to strive for the Spirit Saint Realm. Back then, both Fang Yao and Shui Lingyan were recognized as super-geniuses, and both had conjured the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon when they advanced to the Spirit Sect Realm.

Among the Qianyuan Republic’s Five Great Spirit Saints, three of them—Luo Tiangang, Fang Yichen, and Shangguan Tianhe—had only managed to conjure the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon when they advanced to the Spirit Sect Realm.

Only Spirit Saint Wu Zhongchao and Ji Yuanshi of the Primordial Daoist Cult had conjured the Black Dragon Soaring in Mist Phenomenon when they advanced to the Spirit Sect Realm.

’That guy Shu Feng is brimming with confidence, and his Spiritual Pressure is intense. I can feel that his Spiritual Power fluctuations are even stronger than mine were back then. The guy’s physical constitution is abnormally strong, too. He should be able to conjure the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon.’

’If that little scoundrel can’t conjure the Flood Dragon Pearl Phenomenon, I’ll blame the ten Top-grade Spirit Stones I lose on him. It’ll be his fault for making me lose.’