'Argh.'

The old man cried out and with the fear of his beard being pulled out, he hadn't realized that one of his feet was already out of the circle.

Zhao Luo who was looking down while pulling the old man's beard while giving it his all noticed that he already forced the old man's foot out of the circle and smiled.

"I did it."

Zhao Luo shouted and rejoiced while anger was burning in his master's eyes.

"Let it go."

The old man order Zhao Luo with a shaky tone which showed how much he cared for his beard.

"Yes, master."

Zhao Luo looked at the old man and shivered while looking at his eyes.

He released his grip over his beard and fell on his back.

'Hah, hah.'

Zhao Luo was breathing heavily while the old man was looking down.

"Hah, your method was despicable..."

He cried out with anger.

"But a win is a win."

Just like how the light turns on with a flick of the switch, the look on the old man's face changed suddenly.

A smile covered his face as he let out his words.

"At least you are better than me in tricking others."

For the first time in his life, the old man was calling someone better and on top of that, it was his student.

"I am better than you."

Zhao Luo whose mind had filtered the word trickery was feeling bliss as he was being praised by his master.

But that didn't last long as Zhao Luo remembered what he was trying so hard for.

"Master, the reward...."

Zhao Luo slowly spoke after all his apparitions had seeped back into his body.

The ghost had disappeared too.

Now it was only the old man and him in the dark space.

"Hmph."

The old man acted as though he wasn't going to give his knowledge to Zhao Luo.

Zhao Luo looked worried as he bowed his head to the old man.

"Master, I am sorry for pulling your beard."

Zhao Luo clasped his hands as he looked at the old man.

"Hahaha."

The old man laughed boisterously.

"Did you think, I, an Empera would go back on his words? Just because you pulled my beard? Just because you tried your best to rip it off? I would love to do that if you weren't disciple."

With a serious expression, he told Zhao Luo.

The old man was going through the biggest mood swings of his life.

If the old man laughed at a moment then Zhao Luo had no idea what would be coming at him after the old man finished his laugh.

Zhao Luo who had used the most extreme measure to achieve his goal was left in a very tense situation.

The old man moved towards Zhao Luo and soon passed him.

"Follow me!"

The old man as said as he walked in the dark space with slow steps.

Zhao Luo nodded and followed him while keeping himself three steps behind the old man.

"Summoning nine apparitions at the same time shows that you have already mastered the first stage to Godhood."

Zhao Luo listened to the old man talking about Naoli and nodded his head.

"The apparitions you summon are always half as strong as you."

"But that is just because you have yet to unlock the true potential of your apparitions."

The old man turned around and told Zhao Luo.

"Summon one of them."

"Summon."

Zhao Luo mumbled and an apparition appeared next to him.

With its ghastly shape, the apparition stood there looking all confused while the old man and Zhao Luo stared at it.

"Right now this apparition holds half of your strength. But if he keeps on training, he will keep on getting stronger that is closing in on to your level."

The old man explained to Zhao Luo which caused Zhao Luo to remember all the times he had trained with his apparitions.

'Whenever I fought them, they would slowly overpower me.'

Zhao Luo stopped here as thinking of how they smashed him after outnumbering him made him tremble in pain.

"There has never been a time when your apparition has surpassed you before you absorb him."

The old man guessed but the stunned look on Zhao Luo's face confirmed it for him.

"Once the apparition surpasses you for the first time, a red dot will appear between its glabella."

The old man touched the middle area between the eyebrows of the apparition.

"The second time the same apparition passes you, another small red dot will appear a finger above the first one."

The old man pointed in the middle of the apparitions forehead.

"The third time will be the last time, the same apparition will need to surpass you."

The old man pointed his finger right below the hair of the apparition.

"What will happen after that?"

Zhao Luo asked the old man while feeling curious about how his apparition surpassing him three times would help him in getting stronger.

"I can't even absorb one of my apparitions so what's the use?"

"After the three dots appear, the next time you summon, one of your apparitions will be as strong as you. If you can achieve this with all nine of your apparitions, then all nine of them will be as strong as you from the moment they are summoned."

The old man told Zhao Luo which left him shocked.

'If all of them are as strong as me from the moment they are summoned, I will get stronger faster than before if I fight an equal.'

Zhao Luo realized that both his strength and his speed of training would increase if he could achieve this with all nine of his apparitions.

"So, master, how can my apparition surpass me?"

Zhao Luo asked while rubbing his hand greedily.

He could hardly wait to know the method to do that.

"Don't absorb your apparitions for a while. Let them train to their best. While you will need to laze around as they get stronger. There will definitely come a moment when a red dot will appear on their glabella."

"Hmm, interesting."

Zhao Luo mumbled while looking at the only apparition he had summoned.

'Summon~'

The other eight apparitions appeared right around them as Zhao Luo summoned them with just a thought.

Zhao Luo closed his eyes and imagined a mirror image himself.

Soon, a new ghost formed in front of him.

'After all of them surpass me three times, they all would be equal to the ghost.'

Zhao Luo was already looking at the result that he would try his best to achieve.

"Go and train."

Zhao Luo told them and all the apparitions started going towards the ghost.

A fight broke out in the dark space while the old man and Zhao Luo spectated it.

"Only a few Emperas know this. So consider yourself lucky."

The old man said to Zhao Luo in case he would be thinking that even if the old man didn't tell him this knowledge he would have stumbled upon it one day.

"Even the luckiest Gods never witnessed a red dot on their apparitions when they were aiming to become a God."

"They never had an amazing master like you, master."

Zhao Luo turned around and respectfully clasped his hands.

"Good."

The old man looked relieved that his student was indeed someone who knew the value of his master's knowledge.

"I will return to my deep slumber. Don't wake me up otherwise..."

The old man warned Zhao Luo without telling him the punishment as though telling him that, "if you want to find out then try waking me up".

Zhao Luo looked at his master who was fading and soon the old man completely disappeared.

"Good riddance."

ZhaobLuo said shamelessly while sighing after the old man's disappearance.

"Ifrit."

"Blackey."

Zhao Luo's swords appeared in his hands and just like old times, he jumped in the fray. 

"Come at me."

While reaching the middle, Zhao Luo shouted at his apparitions and the ghost.

They all looked at Zhao Luo and turned towards him right after his order.

An unfathomable class broke out after even Zhao Luo had joined them.

The dark space rumbled for hours and hours and yet the fighting continued without a break.

Sever hours later.

"Fist of Yin and Yang."

Both Zhao Luo and his ghost clashed with the same technique while the apparitions watched them as they healed.

"Boom."

A blasting sound was followed by Zhao Luo and his ghost's fists striking each other.

Both of them were blown away as the aftereffect of their collision.

Zhao Luo stared at his ghost who was falling apart from many places.

'He is still able to push me back.'

Zhao Luo looked disturbed as his ghost was still coming at him strong even after hours had passed.

"Ah, I just want to rest now."

Zhao Luo complained and right then,

"Little Brother, wake up."

A sound entered his head and Zhao Luo already knew that the voice belonged to Senior Cutie.

Senior Cutie on the other hand was grinning while looking at Zhao Luo who in others' eyes, was sleeping while being in a sitting position.