Chapter 860: The Martial Arts Stage Officially Begins Before Gao Feng could ponder more on it, Li Xuan said, “From the icon on the girl’s clothes, she should be from the veteran faction Heal Spirit Treatment. Heal Spirit Treatment’s road will be smooth-sailing from now on.” Heal Spirit Treatment was a veteran faction that had a Creation Master role, but they did not do business related to nurturing feys. They mainly focused on healing feys that had injured roots. Their decision on what direction of Creation Master role to take was wise as it had immense potential. But since Heal Spirit Treatment did not have any pinnacle Class 4 Creation Masters, they lacked the power of strong Creation Masters that other veteran factions had. Thus, Heal Spirit Treatment had not expanded or improved themselves in almost 20 years. It had already been more than 10 years since Dark Clouds Bird Shrine became a top faction. Ever since Dark Clouds Bird Shrine was promoted to a top faction, they had been working with Coiling Dragon’s Valley in equal capacities where neither had to depend on each other. As such, Coiling Dragon’s Valley could choose another veteran faction to support. Given this girl’s Creation Master powers, Long Tao had acknowledged Heal Spirit Treatment’s potential. Just like Li Xuan had predicted, Long Tao issued an invitation to the girl. “On behalf of Coiling Dragon’s Valley, I would like to officially invite Heal Spirit Treatment to come under our wing because I would like to work together to help Heal Spirit Treatment expand as quickly as possible.” Long Tao had not spoken softly to ensure that the girl would be able to hear him clearly. Even most of the young disciples outside the Midnight Palace had heard everything that Long Tao had said. The disciples looked at the girl with average features with jealousy. Long Tao had done so to assert his authority and officially declare that Coiling Dragon’s Valley wanted to support Heal Spirit Treatment. The girl’s eyes lit up when she heard what Long Tao said, but she remembered that she did not have the authority to agree to Long Tao’s invitation. She knew who Long Tao was. Although he was not the Young Leader of Coiling Dragon’s Valley, he was Sequence #3 of the Radiance Hundred Sequence. As the only young direct descendent of Coiling Dragon’s Valley, he had the authority to represent Coiling Dragon’s Valley. However, the girl had many siblings back at Heal Spirit Treatment, and her elders had only selected her to participate in the Guard Ye Banquet because of her exceptional Creation Master skills. She had only been hoping to catch the eye of a pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master that would accept her as their disciple. But now, her talent had attracted the support of Coiling Dragon’s Valley for her family. This was definitely better than if she had just found a pinnacle Class 4 Creation Master to be her Master. Unadulterated excitement bloomed on her face, making her average features seem almost charming. “I will need to inform the elders in my family of this. They are all inside the Midnight Palace. Is it possible to arrange a meeting between them and you after the Guard Ye Banquet to discuss your proposal?” Long Tao smiled and replied, “Then let’s exchange contact details. My father is the one leading Coiling Dragon’s Valley at the Guard Ye Banquet. I will contact you after the banquet.” After exchanging contact details with the girl, Long Tao walked toward Lin Yuan. Long Tao had used the Dragon Gall Three-Leafed Insect during the Arts Stage which he had instructed to consume the secretions of a fey with the main dragon-species fey bloodline. This allowed him to reach his maximum efficiency. Although everyone had chosen a different topic, Long Tao had been second to step out of the breeding room after completing his concoctions at maximum efficiency. Immediately after, he saw the girl follow right behind him. No matter what secret weapons the girl had, she had proven her talent as a Creation Master. It was natural for Long Tao to want her on his side with such talent. Supporting her veteran faction would also help Coiling Dragon’s Valley increase its overall power. Long Tao arrived next to Lin Yuan and anxiously asked, “Brother, how long did that person take to complete the Arts Stage?” Lin Yuan knew why Long Tao would ask this question. Hence, he had taken note of the time that Gu Lang had returned to the area outside the palace. “Gu Lang finished the Arts Stage in 24 minutes and 36 seconds.” Long Tao looked utterly dumbfounded by Lin Yuan’s response. At his maximum efficiency, he had taken 47 minutes and 2 seconds. Moreover, he had used half the heart of a fey with main dragon-species fey bloodline. Gu Lang had taken about half the time that Long Tao had taken. This was a huge blow to Long Tao. Although he was happy that he had achieved second place in the Arts Stage, he was leagues away from first place. Long Tao did not know how strong Lin Yuan was as a Creation Master, but he did know that Lin Yuan was the Moon Empress’ disciple. There was no way that Lin Yuan would have weak Creation Master powers, and he had to have his own secret weapons. As he thought about how Lin Yuan was going to participate in the Martial Arts Stage soon, Long Tao said in a low voice, “Brother, the topics for the Arts Stage were drawn from the bronze beast head in front of the breeding room. Lord Zuo Ming checked through all the topics, and all spirit fluids in the participants’ fey storage boxes had to be handed to Lord Zuo Ming before we were allowed to enter the breeding rooms to look at our own topics. Next, we informed the Spirit Guard outside the breeding room of what our topic entailed and told him what materials we needed. My topic was to evolve three Gold X Freezing Water White Crocodiles to Platinum grade.” After listening to Long Tao’s recounting, Lin Yuan immediately realized how difficult the Arts Stage’s topics were. It was not difficult for Class 3 Creation Masters to evolve Gold feys to Platinum. The issue was with the short time limit. If Lin Yuan had chosen that topic and instructed Genius to concoct the spirit fluids, it would only need one Grade 3 Freezing Lake Potion to evolve three pinnacle Gold Freezing Water White Crocodiles to Platinum. However, it would take Golden Lotus Brocade Pearls at least two hours to concoct one bottle of Freezing Lake Potion, even if it used Golden Lotus Brocade Pearls. If Lin Yuan used spirit qi crystals to evolve one of the Gold X Freezing Water White Crocodiles to Platinum grade, he would need to use 10 of them. If he only used spirit qi crystals, he would require 30, and he did not have so many on hand. Thus, Lin Yuan would have to give up if he chose such a topic. At that moment, You Zhe announced, “Since both the Arts Stage and Martial Stage have officially come to an end, the Martial Arts Stage shall begin now.”