AGM 513 – Escalation of Conflict
Qin Wentian’s tyrannical voice brought silence down on this entire space. Not only did he say such arrogant words, he even pointed the tip of his halberd straight as the Eye King. His actions were as though he was saying that if you, Shang Tong, came up here on the battle stage, I wouldn’t show any mercy and would chop you into pieces as well.
The six major powers from the Xuan King City were all stunned into shock by Qin Wentian’s audaciousness. The killing intent in their hearts soared to the heavens, this Qin Wentian had actually dared to publicly challenge the prestige of the Eye King? He was surely dead now.
What status did the Eye King have? How could he allow someone with no status to challenge his authority like that? Even though Qin Wentian had terrifying combat prowess, so what of it? He was the Eye King, one of the beloved princes of the Emperor of Grand Shang. In the future, he would be a chosen of the Royal Sacred Sect and had an extremely high probability of becoming someone who controlled the fate of Grand Shang in the future. With such an existence, nobody had ever dared to defy him before, let alone provoking and challenging his authority.
There was once a mighty power in Grand Shang who was extremely arrogant. The young master of that sect was also a chosen-level character who had thought that his status didn’t lose out to the Eye King in the slightest. After he contended against the Eye King for a particular treasure, that young master was killed with his corpse publicly left hanging on the streets. That major sect reported this incident to the royal clan hoping to get justice but soon after, everything that had the slightest connection to the major sect had been completely annihilated and from them on, they disappeared from the face of Grand Shang.
From then on, everyone in the royal capital as well as the Seven King Cities all knew that the young Eye King was an existence they could never afford to antagonise.
Let alone now, the Eye King was already on his way of rising up. His cultivation base was at the peak of the sixth level, his combat strength could even shake the heavens. Even leaving aside all his hidden trump cards, he himself possessed outstanding power and an undoubtedly high degree of talent.
Right now, his eyes were shifted onto Qin Wentian. Those golden eyes of his were as though he could absorb Qin Wentian within. That terrifying glow emitted from his eyes seemed to contain terrifying fluctuations of a will of Mandate. And right now, Qin Wentian was actually sensing a yellow golden beast ferociously lunging his way, incomparably ferocious, wanting to sever his will into two.
Qin Wentian didn’t shy away. With the scarlet demon halberd in his hands, he didn’t fear Shang Tong’s attack. His eyes gleamed with the power of his own Mandate as he stared right at Shang Tong. Similarly, a terrifying Mandate energy gushed right towards Shang Tong, this was a battle between wills of Mandate.
“Do you know who are you talking to?” That old man beside Shang Tong icily stated, as his killing intent blasted out.
Qin Wentian glanced at the elder as a look of contempt flashed past his face. Shang Tong already commanded his men to step on the battle stage to kill him but now, he had also even revealed his background, wanting to threaten him? What’s the point of doing so?
Since they were both mortal enemies, only one shall survive while the other dies. Why was there even a need to bother about what status you had?
“I should personally kill you for your crime of killing my subordinates. But if I personally make a move, I would only disparage my own status.” Shang Tong disdainfully spoke, as though he was trying to tell Qin Wentian that he could be killed effortlessly, but because of his noble status, he deigned it a shame to personally deal with Qin Wentian.
“Come up if you dare, if not, shut the fuck up. Who doesn’t know how to speak words of bravado?” Qin Wentian icily replied.
“Indeed, who doesn’t know how to speak words of bravado? I once slaughtered my way out of a battlefield after being besieged by a million enemies. Every moment I spent there felt like a moment in hell, and for those I killed, all their cultivation bases were higher than my own. If you can survive today, you may qualify to become my opponent. I will kill you then.” Shang Tong stated. He was the Eye King, a chosen of the Shang Royal Clan, one of the most brilliant existences in the younger generation in the entire Grand Shang.
Although Qin Wentian had challenged his authority, considering his exalted status and advantage in cultivation base, it was naturally a simple thing for him to personally strike out, suppressing Qin Wentian. Yet, his actions would undoubtedly earn the castigation of others, demeaning his own status.
However, he obviously wouldn’t spare Qin Wentian so easily. This was why he said if Qin Wentian could survive today, he would earn the qualifications to become his opponent.
“Sorry, I’ve never once seen you as my opponent before. If you are at the fourth level of Heavenly Dipper, I can trample you to death with a single stomp.” Qin Wentian softly replied, his words extremely brazen. Yet the crowd couldn’t help but nod silently in their hearts. Qin Wentian had shown that he was powerful enough to end fifth-level Sovereigns with a single spear strike, not only that, even the sixth-level Sovereigns from the War King Palace were no match for him. If the Eye King was at the fourth-level of Heavenly Dipper, Qin Wentian would undoubtedly crush him.
If the Eye King was similarly at the fourth level of Heavenly Dipper, who would be the victor if the two of them fought? Nobody could say for sure. But ignoring that, considering the present circumstances, the Eye King at the peak of the sixth level was evidently stronger compared to Qin Wentian. This was an undoubtable fact.
“Very well, I want to see how you can survive today.” Shang Tong’s voice was as calm as ever, projecting a bearing as expected of one born to look down on the heavens. He turned his gaze onto the crowd as he offered, “This King shall bestow upon the person who is able to kill him, a Heaven Mending Pill.”
Shang Tong’s words caused a flurry of commotion to rise up among the crowd. In fact, several people all had expressions of greed upon their faces.
The Heaven Mending Pill was able to strengthen one’s an astral nova. It could allow one’s astral nova to absorb higher grade astral energy which in turns enables the power as well as attacks of that particular astral nova to increase compared to before. Of course, it’s impossible to defy the heavens, the strength of an astral soul was set the instant it condenses. Although the Heaven Mending Pill could enable an astral nova to strengthened itself to the peak, there would still be a boundary that it wouldn’t be able to cross. Also, this was an advantage only applicable in the Heavenly Dipper Realm. In the future, if one steps into Celestial Phenomenon, their strengthened nova after being transformed into a constellation would still lose out to a constellation condensed from a higher-tier astral soul.
But no matter what, this Heaven Mending Pill was too great a temptation to Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns. This pill was extremely rare and was a fifth-ranked medicine. Even if one had shocking amounts of wealth, they might still not be able to purchase it.
Shang Tong could take this out and even bestow it to people purely because he was one of the Kings in Grand Shang. With his extraordinary status, it wasn’t surprising for him to have a few fifth-ranked pills like this. The Royal Shang Clan naturally had their own alchemy hall. With the best alchemists working for them, they wouldn’t be lacking good quality pills.
Especially now, several outstanding cultivators of the younger generations in the crowd were all preparing to participate in the test set by the Royal Sacred Sect. What kind of concept is this? With the elites of the younger generation all gathered in a single place, they naturally had to ensure that they were fully prepared. Accepting challenges from others in their strongest state, fighting for the chance to enter the Royal Sacred Sect, ascending the heavens with a single step!
The Heaven Mending Pill was too great of a temptation, too many experts wanted it. If they couldn’t kill Qin Wentian alone, they would simply group together. No matter how strong Qin Wentian was then, he would still die when fighting against so many others simultaneously.
Qin Wentian glanced at the crowd, he discovered that even some disciples of the nine great sects were evidently moved by the offer, as thoughts of killing him surfaced in their minds.
Right now, his perception had told him that an expert from the Great Earth Sect actually stepped outwards amidst the crowd, the purpose of his action was clear even without words.
After that, he also discovered another expert from the Violet Thunder Sect mirroring the same action.
Those from the Sky Poison Valley and Blood Devil Sect acted in a similar manner as well. They all converged before the Violet Thunder Sword-Drum Formation pathway, planning to storm the formation and step up on the battle stage. Their actions were undoubtedly already silently approved by their elders. Qin Wentian’s combat strength was tyrannical and his talent was heaven-defying but who told him to offend so many people? Since they couldn’t get him to join their sects, they might as well destroy him totally so none of the other great sects could obtain him.
Of course, there were also some powers among the nine great sects that didn’t make a move. They could only sigh in silence, initially they wanted to recruit him yet now, it was almost definite that Qin Wentian couldn’t escape death. It was precisely because of this that some of the other great sects acted. Since Qin Wentian will die today, why shouldn’t they be the ones to kill him in order to acquire the Heaven Mending Pill?
In the direction of the Battle Sword Sect, Lin Shuai laughed coldly in his heart when he witnessed what was happening. These great sects were all two-faced bastards, their choices were nothing surprising to him. Since they couldn’t get such a talented individual to join them, they might as well destroy him to gain the chance to get a treasure.
“Your actions are truly disappointing, even I’m ashamed to share fame with all of you, having the name of the nine great sects. If the members from the other eight sects act, go try your skill against them.” Lin Shuai spoke to the people standing behind him, his words causing the crowd to be taken aback. The Battle Sword Sect wasn’t even bothering to hide their intents to aid Qin Wentian? If things continued, the disciple recruitment event today might very well be blown up to the scale of a war amongst the nine great sects.
Qin Wentian watched as the scenes played out before him silently considering himself lucky for not making a hasty choice earlier. During Grand Xia, he had already experienced how the transcendent powers would only act for profit. In this world, the vast majority of people were pragmatic, only acting in a way that benefit themselves. If you are one of the unlucky ones standing in the way, you would just be sacrificed.
If he really were to join one of the nine great sects, he naturally had to find one that was the most suitable for him.
“The Battle Sword Sect always does things according to their own desires. But this time around, are you sure you want to ally yourself with him to oppose me? Don’t forget, I will be participating in the test set by the Royal Sacred Sect this time. And then, if I see people from your Battle Sword Sect participating too, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.” Shang Tong snorted coldly, he had actually threatened the Battle Sword Sect.
“You still don’t have the qualifications to speak to me this way.” Lin Shuai shifted his eyes in the direction of Shang Tong. Instantly, numerous sharp swords flew towards Shang Tong causing him to retreat with explosive speed. At the same time, the experts from the royal clan all reacted, protectively rushing in front of him only to see the sharp swords of Lin Shuai whistled, veering away at the last moment, shooting up the skies.
Lin Shuai shifted his glance away, no longer looking at Shang Tong. “Next time when you talk to your elders, remember to be more polite.”
“The Battle Sword Sect is truly the Battle Sword Sect. Domineering, acting without worries.” The spectators didn’t expect the Battle Sword Sect would directly clash against Shang Tong. This event today was getting more and more interesting, there were rumors long ago saying that the royal clan always had disputes with the Battle Sword Sect. This was the case for their members in the Royal Sacred Sect as well. It seems that today, the rumors were all proven true.
Shang Tong’s countenance was incredibly unsightly, had Lin Shuai actually acted against him? His eyes radiated coldness as he spoke icily, “I shall remember what you’ve done today. During the test to enter the Royal Sacred Sect, I will definitely make all members of the Battle Sword Sect regret.”
“If this place isn’t the territory of your Grand Shang, just on account of the threat you just made, I would have directly executed you for it.” Lin Shuai’s eyes had no emotion, he couldn’t even be bothered to look at Shang Tong again. His actions have always been free-spirited, how could he allow a junior to threaten him?
As the crowd heard Lin Shuai’s words, none of them doubted him. If this place wasn’t a fiefdom of Grand Shang, Lin Shuai might very well do as he said, committing an act of madness and slaughter the Eye King.
Shang Tong coldly snorted once more, but he didn’t reply. He returned to his original location and sat down.
Qin Wentian had witnessed everything. He came here today to kill the chosen of the six major powers, yet he didn’t expect his identity to be exposed and that this matter would actually be blown up to such a great magnitude that even the nine great sects would be embroiled within it.
However this storm of commotion caused him to see the nine great sects clearer. His understanding of them was no longer subjected by the rumors he heard earlier.
“If I want to join a sect, I might as well go all out, doing things as dazzling as possible to tell them that their judgement in wanting me was right.” Qin Wentian mumbled abruptly, his words causing those who heard them to once again shift their attentions onto him.
Qin Wentian slowly stepped out, moving in the direction of the Qinghua Mountains. After which, the crowd was only able to see him wrapping his hands around the heavy mountain as his perception drifted into it. An instant later, rumbling sounds thundered out, and the mountain used for the test was directly lifted up by three feet, resulting in him passing the Qinghua Mountain’s test effortlessly.
Next, he drew out his long spear and walked in the direction of the Great Earth Sect. Staring at the gigantic earth puppet, his silhouette flickered as he dashed ahead, stabbing forth with his spear. The might of his strike even caused space to tremble, and the instant his spear landed on the body of the earth puppet, the vibrational pulsation effect from his attack gushed into the interior of his target, ravaging and completely devastating every part of the giant, turning it completely into dust via implosion!
The test designed by the Great Earth Sect, was passed with ease!