Chapter 1238: Houston Becomes a Saint Emperor
“What? The hall master of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall has sent an emissary?” Jian Chen was stunned by the guard’s report. The hall master of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall was one of the three rulers of the sea realm. He was a Saint Emperor, so why would someone as great as him send an emissary to the Turtle clan as well as say that he wanted to see him. Jian Chen did not have any connections with the hall master.
“Invite the emissary into the the guest room,” Jian Chen said to the guard after thinking a little.
The guard left as ordered while Jian Chen put his meeting with the elders on hold. He then made his way to the guest room.
The emissary was already waiting in the guest room. There were a total of three people, and the leading person was an ordinary-looking old man. He was dressed in a simple fashion while his eyes shone with gleams of light from time to time.
Two extremely burly men in tight robes stood behind the old man. Their uncovered, thick arms would flicker with weak, blue light from time to time. Both of them possessed deep-blue skin.
Jian Chen was slightly surprised when he glanced over the three of them. He could tell with a single glance that the seated old man was a Third Heavenly Layer Saint King while the two middle-aged men behind him were Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Rulers.
“The emissary sent by the Heaven’s Spirit Hall is a Saint King and his followers are Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Rulers. What extravagance,” Jian Chen thought inside.
The emissary immediately stood from his seat when he saw Jian Chen. He clasped his hands at Jian Chen with a smile, “I am Hu Bai, and I greet the ruler of the Turtle clan!”
“You are far too polite, emissary Hu Bai. Please sit,” Jian Chen politely replied with a smile before sitting opposite of Hu Bai. He asked for his well being out of politeness before approaching the main topic, “May I ask why you’ve come from so far away to my Turtle clan?”
The Sea Goddess Hall, Heaven’s Spirit Hall, and Serpent God Hall had an agreement. All members of the halls were not allowed to trespass each other’s territory without explicit permission. Although Hu Bai belonged to the Heaven’s Spirit Hall, he had come to the territory of the Sea Goddess Hall as an emissary. As long as he did not cause trouble here, he would obviously be able to pass through smoothly.
“Ruler, I’ve come under the orders of the great hall master to pass on a message. The great hall master has personally invited the ruler to our Heaven’s Spirit Hall as a guest. Ruler, so…” Hu Bai said amicably as gave a positive smile. He was very polite.
Jian Chen frowned slightly. He had no ties with the hall master of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall. He had even visited the Heaven’s Spirit Hall to cause trouble once, but it was resolved when a hall elder of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall told Lan Jing, Xin Pian, and Mochas to follow him. He could not agree no matter what if the hall master of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall wanted him to visit. This was because he was only safe in the Sea Goddess Hall among the three territories.
Jian Chen immediately displayed a slightly troubled expression when he thought up to there. He said, “Emissary Hu Bai, please help me bring back a message to your esteemed hall master. My clan has undergone conflict with the Tao family recently and we are suffering from significant losses, so I still have many matters to deal with. I really can’t make the time, but if I really am able in the future, I will definitely pay a visit to the Heaven’s Spirit Hall.” Jian Chen really meant it when he said he would pay a visit, but that would only be once he was powerful enough to deal with Saint Emperors. At that time, he would definitely pay a visit to the Heaven’s Spirit Hall and the Serpent God Hall, the Serpent God Hall in particular. He had yet to clear his debt from back then with them.
The emissary had obviously heard of the news between the Turtle clan and the Tao family’s alliance, so he did not doubt what Jian Chen had said. Also, he was unsure what the connection between the hall master and Jian Chen was, so he dared not to do anything that could offend Jian Chen. As a result, he stood up with a smile and clasped his hands, “Sure, sure. The Turtle clan has just gone through a battle, so there are obviously countless miscellaneous matters to deal with. Ruler, I’ve already delivered the message, so my mission is complete. I should return, so I’ll stop wasting the ruler’s precious time. Farewell!”
“Farewell!” Jian Chen also stood up and saw Hu Bai off personally. He then continues the meeting with the Turtle clan discussing the future developments.
After the meeting, Jian Chen went nowhere. He passed down images of the materials needed for the Azulet swords to people so they could search the entire sea realm before entering seclusion himself. He continued to work hard on absorbing the almost-invalid monster cores to increase his strength while he waited for the arrival of the worldly ebb.
Two days later, Hu Bai reported what Jian Chen had said to the hall master without missing a single detail in the gigantic divine hall of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall.
The hall master remained as a projection of the soul. After listening to Hu Bai’s report, he frowned slightly and dismissed Hu Bai with a wave of his hand. He mumbled to himself, “The ruler of the Turtle clan has actually made up an excuse against me. Looks like inviting him over really will be quite difficult. Do I have to visit him personally?”
With that, the hall master sank deep into thought. He remained silent for quite some time.
An old man in hemp clothing currently sat in a cave within a mountain in a huge, desolate mountain range on the Tian Yuan Continent. A dense red mist permeated his surroundings, and it was sticky like blood. It would pulse from time to time like a heart, churning violently at other times as if a dragon was stirring.
The old man was Houston. After obtaining the Empyrean Demon Orb from Jian Chen, he had left Longevity Valley and found a desolate mountain range with scarce energy of the world to enter seclusion. He was trying to break through to Saint Emperor.
At this moment, the red mist around Houston came to a sudden stop, as if the beating heart had come to a halt. It all stopped moving.
However, this only lasted for several seconds. Suddenly, a terrifying presence that seemed to be enough to destroy the surroundings began to radiate from him. The presence was extremely powerful and destroyed the cave. The entire mountain cracked open as countless pieces of rock flew in all directions.
Houston felt nothing. He sat unmoving like a mountain, floating in the air unaffected by gravity. Wild wind whistled past, but it could not blow him away. Meanwhile, his terrifying presence engulfed the entire mountain range.
An even stickier blood-red mist radiated form Houston’s body before turning into a tornado that quickly revolved around him. As it spun, the dense and sticky mist would rapidly grow deeper in color and became more consolidated. It was taking a qualitative leap bit by bit at a visible rate.
A mass of colorful clouds had already appeared in the sky that was originally a deep blue. The clouds actually contained nine colors. They were the nine-colored rainbow clouds that rarely ever appeared on the Tian Yuan Continent.
With the mountain range as its center, the clouds expanded silently in all directions at an unbelievable rate. In just half a minute, the clouds enveloped the entire continent.
At that moment, everyone across the continent stopped what they were doing. They looked at the sky in curiosity, staring at the silent, colorful clouds in the sky. Very few people knew what was happening.
In the various cities on the Tian Yuan Continent, both the hurried or feasting mercenaries and merchants were standing on the street without any exceptions. They all pointed at the nine-colored rainbow clouds and discussed them. No one knew what was happening.
However, different rumors appeared in every place very soon.
Some people said that the nine-colored clouds were an omen of great fortune. The continent was about to change and be united by a powerful empire or organization, creating a whole new empire…
There were some other people who said that a spiritual item of the world or some great treasure was about to come into existence with the nine-colored clouds…
There were even others who said that the clouds were an omen of disaster, that an unprecedented calamity was about to happen to the Tian Yuan Continent, bad enough to destroy the world.
All the Saint Rulers and Saint Kings who stayed in the miniature world within Mercenary City received the news. They made their way out as soon as possible and raised their heads at the sky, staring blankly.
The people with the lowest standings on the continent had no idea what the rainbow clouds meant. However, the meaning behind the clouds was no secret to a few Saint Rulers and knowledgeable Heaven Saint Masters.
On the Tian Yuan Continent, all the Heaven Saint Masters who broke through to Saint Ruler would produce rainbow clouds. However, the area covered would be tiny and there would only be five colors.
Rainbow clouds would also appear when reaching Saint King. The colors would increase to seven and cover an even larger area.
If a Saint King broke through to Saint Emperor, nine-colored lights on clouds would descend from the sky, enveloping the entire continent.
The Saint Rulers and Saint Kings in Mercenary City all knew from the nine-colored clouds that a second Saint Emperor would be appearing after the path lord of carnal desires on the Tian Yuan Continent.
“Who is it? Just who has become a Saint Emperor?” A Saint King elder hovered above Mercenary City and wondered in excitement while staring at the nine-colored clouds. His voice trembled and contained unhideable envy and yearning.
“Someone has actually broken through the last step to become a Saint Emperor in this age that lacks Saint Emperors. He must be someone extremely outstanding. I just wonder who he is. Is he great elder Tian Jian or a member of the protector clans?” Another Saint King asked with mixed emotions in Mercenary City.