The Strongest Talent Tree

After Jing Lou left, the atmosphere on the training grounds eased considerably, but Feng Hao’s mind was filled with questions.

"Master, are there other races in the universe?" Feng Hao asked curiously.

"Of course," Thief Master chuckled and nodded. "The universe is vast and boundless, and other races are innumerable. The Human Race is merely one among hundreds of millions of races, and even within the Human Race, there are all kinds of different ethnic groups."

"What do those other races look like? Are they the kind with huge eyes and lots of legs?" Feng Hao couldn’t help but be reminded of the movies and TV shows about aliens from Earth.

Thief Master didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "They’re not that strange. Most other races look pretty similar to us, with some minor differences in the details at most."

"Oh, I see," Feng Hao said, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

The four of them, including Lin Luo, chuckled in amusement. Lin Luo then asked, "By the way, Fifth Brother, how are the preliminaries going?"

"I just beat my biggest rival today, so the championship is pretty much in the bag," Feng Hao replied.

"Haha..." Lin Luo laughed, satisfied. "I knew Fifth Brother wouldn’t let us down."

Kang Shuai and Wang Tongqian also nodded in satisfaction. However, Wang Tongqian’s gaze soon locked onto Mei Meimei, and he exclaimed in shock, "What the hell? What’s going on? How is Sanmei Level 65?"

"Hmph, you’re only noticing now?" Mei Meimei immediately grew smug. With her hands on her hips, she boasted, "How about that? Stunned, aren’t you? From now on, I’m not the one at the bottom of the pack anymore!"

Lin Luo and Kang Shuai instinctively glanced at Mei Meimei. Lin Luo didn’t seem too surprised, merely giving Feng Hao a strange look. Kang Shuai, however, lost his cool. ’This has to be a joke! Mei Meimei was only Level 58 when we left. It hasn’t even been a month, so how did she shoot up to Level 65?’

"Thief Master, what... what’s going on?" Wang Tongqian asked, rubbing his eyes.

Thief Master shook his head, shot Lin Luo an annoyed glare, and huffed, "You’ll have to ask Xiaolin about that. Didn’t he also have a huge, inexplicable jump in strength back then?"

Wang Tongqian and Kang Shuai exchanged a bewildered look. "Uh, didn’t our boss say he ate some kind of strange fruit?"

"Fruit, my ass! I’ve never heard of any fruit that can drastically raise a person’s gene level," Thief Master scoffed.

Upon hearing this, both of their gazes fell on Lin Luo.

Lin Luo shot Feng Hao an awkward glance. He had a pretty good idea of what had happened, so he decided to come clean and explained, "Actually, it’s related to Fifth Brother. Back then..."

After listening to Lin Luo’s explanation, Wang Tongqian and Kang Shuai were both dumbfounded. They stared at Feng Hao in shocked disbelief, unable to compose themselves for a long time.

"So it was you, Fifth Brother! How could you have something so good and not share it? Are we two worth less to you than that girl Sanmei?" Wang Tongqian complained with a jealous pout.

Feng Hao was exasperated. "Second Brother, Brother San, please calm down. It was only because you weren’t here at the time. Don’t worry. As long as you get the materials ready, I’ll refine the pills for you right away."

"Haha, now that’s what I’m talking about!" Wang Tongqian beamed.

Kang Shuai rushed right up in front of Feng Hao, his eyes gleaming. "What materials do you need, exactly? We’ll go get them right now."

Feng Hao couldn’t help but chuckle. He listed the materials needed for the Life Creation Pill, and the two of them immediately ran off to the Main Peak Hall to trade for them. Although the ingredients for the Life Creation Pill weren’t particularly rare, Level 6 and Level 7 Magic Crystals were not so easy to come by.

After the two left, Mei Meimei started to sulk. "Why are you refining pills for them? Great. I only got to be smug for a little while, and now I’m going to be at the bottom of the ranks again."

"Uh, you still have me, don’t you?" Feng Hao teased with a grin.

"Oh, right." At that thought, Mei Meimei immediately stopped worrying about it and skipped over to a corner to continue whatever she was studying.

Seeing everyone talking and laughing, Thief Master looked on with a gratified expression. He chuckled, getting to his feet. "All right, you kids keep chatting. I still have a lot to do."

"Take care, Thief Master," Feng Hao and Lin Luo said, standing up to see him off.

Now that Feng Hao had broken through to Tier Four and defeated Fang Jie, there was naturally no need for Thief Master to stay and supervise his training as he had before.

After seeing Thief Master off, Feng Hao and Lin Luo started chatting idly. Having not seen each other for a month, they had plenty to talk about. Lin Luo shared many details about his recent mission, and Feng Hao recounted the highlights of the competition.

All in all, they had a great time catching up.

Before long, Kang Shuai and Wang Tongqian came rushing back. They dumped a huge pile of materials on the ground—wow, a dozen or so full sets of ingredients for the Life Creation Pill, including materials for both Tier Six and Tier Seven versions.

After all, at their current levels, taking a Tier Six Life Creation Pill would certainly allow them to break through to Tier Seven, at which point they would need a Tier Seven Life Creation Pill.

Feng Hao didn’t waste any time, immediately setting up his Alchemy Equipment and starting the refining process for them.

Soon, both the Tier Six Life Creation Pill and the Tier Seven Life Creation Pill were successfully refined. Naturally, Kang Shuai and Wang Tongqian couldn’t wait to take them.

And so, one after the other, they both broke through to Tier Seven. They also took Feng Hao’s advice, saving the Tier Seven Life Creation Pill to use when they reached Late Tier Seven in order to maximize its effects.

"Haha, being Tier Seven feels incredible!" Wang Tongqian brandished his long saber, beside himself with excitement.

Kang Shuai, on the other hand, felt a bit resigned. Before taking the Life Creation Pill, he had been Level 68 while Wang Tongqian was Level 65. But after taking the pill, they were now on the same starting line.

Fortunately, they were all brothers, so Kang Shuai didn’t really mind. He simply sat down elegantly to the side to stabilize his cultivation base.

The night deepened as they joked and talked. The group set up a table on the training grounds for drinks, and they ate and drank until the next morning.

Mei Meimei’s alcohol tolerance was as terrifying as ever. After a full night of drinking, she wasn’t the least bit tipsy. In contrast, Lin Luo and the other two were sprawled on the ground in disarray.

Feng Hao was quite drunk himself, but because of the competition, he had no choice but to circulate his Magic Power and purge the alcohol from his system.

...

For the next few days, Feng Hao’s routine was simple: compete, then study forging. He would occasionally visit the secret underground base to consult Elder Jiang on some mechanical problems. Life was incredibly relaxed. As for the point-based matches, there wasn’t much to say—nearly all of his opponents chose to forfeit.

Just like that, Feng Hao smoothly secured ninety-nine points, becoming the champion of this year’s preliminaries.

Additionally, Fang Jie and Ming Xin Yan took second and third place, respectively. According to the rules, they would join Feng Hao in the Thief Disciple Tournament a year from now.

As for that kid Lu Linfei, he leveraged his advantages in level and speed to secure a respectable twelfth place.

For him, twelfth place was a result beyond his wildest dreams. If nothing else, upon his return to Snow Cloud City, he was guaranteed to be held in high regard by the Snow Cloud City Branch Hall. His future was bright!

As the preliminaries concluded, the Overlapping Shadow Mountain headquarters began to return to its usual tranquility. The countless thieves who had gathered from all over departed one after another.

In the contestants’ residential area on the main peak, Feng Hao and the young couple, Lu Linfei and Xiaoxue, saw Ming Xin Yan off. Gazing at the now-deserted residential area, he couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy.

"Aren’t you leaving with us, Brother Feng?" Lu Linfei asked, a hint of regret in his voice.

Feng Hao shook his head with a smile. "No, I’m leaving tomorrow."

"That’s a shame," Lu Linfei sighed. "Xiaoxue and I were hoping to drag you along to the Sword Language Coast for a few days."

"Uh, why go to the Sword Language Coast?" Feng Hao asked, surprised.