Chapter 6 – Transcendent Expert, Chi Qiu Bai
A seemingly ordinary-looking carriage was advancing at a slow pace on the streets of Azure River County
Inside the carriage, a black-robed Cui Jin Peng had a cold expression on his face, his eyes full of ferocious intent.
“With such a great reputation, the Bloodshed Tavern couldn’t even keep their promise!” Cui Jin Peng gritted his teeth. “It‘s fine that the mission wasn’t completed. But wanting to ask for a second bounty from me for killing Dong Bo Qing Shi?”
He had gone to the Bloodshed Tavern right at dawn, waiting to obtain the results of the mission.
As for the reply by Bloodshed Tavern –
“Dong Bo Xue Ying’s combat power was far beyond our expectations. The assassins we sent out suffered a huge loss, thus, this mission will be relinquished.”
“Relinquished? What about the bounty?”
“No refunds!”
“I…” Cui Jin Peng was angered beyond reason by now.
How could he know that, in fact, Bloodshed Tavern was actually extremely dissatisfied? This mission had brought them huge losses. The deaths of the three Silver Moon assassins could have been overlooked, but not the death of the Wind Devil! Even Xiang Pang Yun had died! As a beast disguised as a human, Xiang Pang Yun’s death was not as important. The most crucial point was that Xue Ying had become such a frightening character at only 22 years of age!
Such a talent would definitely have a great chance of becoming a Transcendent! For the life of such a talented evil-doer, Bloodshed Tavern would never accept gold pieces as bounty. Instead, they would only accept precious Transcendents’ treasures!
This mission had seriously been much, much too disadvantageous!
“How much would it cost if I were to offer another bounty?” Cui Jin Peng asked.
Bloodshed Tavern replied, “For a while, Snowrock Castle will have Transcendents paying close attention to it. The bounty for killing Dong Bo Qing Shi within a month would be a million gold pieces. After a month, it would be 500,000 gold pieces.”
Cui Jin Peng walked off after hearing that!
……
“A bounty of 500,000 gold pieces for assassinating Dong Bo Qing Shi after a month?” Cui Jin Peng was back in the carriage, angered to the point of madness, “Bloodshed Tavern only has a greed for money. They only know how to ask for money.”
The previous debacle had almost exhausted all of his savings already.
“He is just a weak little mage. Since things have already progressed up to this stage, it seems I will have to kill him myself.” Cui Jin Peng gritted his teeth. Being the chief of the entire county underworld, he had with him a group of assassins as well, but just to test it out, he had decided to request for assassination from Bloodshed Tavern! Who would have thought that it would turn out this way… But in fact, he had already learned quite a lot from this request of his.
Because of these one million gold pieces of his, characters such as Wind Devil and Xiang Pang Yun had died. Dong Bo Xue Ying had fallen into the Black-Wind Abyss. Even Transcendents were startled by this incident!
Lu lu lu ~~~
The carriage suddenly stopped, causing Cui Jin Peng’s expression to change. “Why did we stop?” he asked.
“Mad Dog Cui!” A hoarse voice called. “Get out!”
Cui Jin Peng’s expression changed as he immediately opened the carriage door. With a single gaze, he could see three black-robed figures waiting for him, the leading figure being a black-robed old man with a gold tooth in his mouth and gray hair. His eyes were unfeeling.
“Ah, Housekeeper Liu.” Cui Jin Peng unhesitantly came down from the carriage, in adulation.
The grey-haired old man observed him with a cold gaze, “Arrest him.”
“Housekeeper Liu, what is this?” Cui Jin Peng felt ignorant and at a loss, yet he did not dare resist. The other two black-robed men cuffed his hands with shackles. Cui Jin Peng was quite clear that this Housekeeper Liu… was in fact the housekeeper for the old ancestor ‘Si Liang Hong’ of the Si Clan, with an extremely high position. It was he who had allowed Cui Jin Peng to become the chief of the entire county’s underworld.
“The Lord wants to see you,” Housekeeper Liu stated with a single sentence, not saying anything else afterwards.
“Old ancestor?” Cui Jin Peng turned pale.
A short moment later.
Within a garden, Cui Jin Peng saw the old ancestor of Si Clan.
“Old ancestor.” Cui Jin Peng timidly kneeled.
Even though Si Liang Hong had lived for countless of years, her appearance was still relatively beautiful, as if she was an enchanting woman. Garbed in blood-red, her hair was blood in colour and her skin was white. Whenever one saw her, they would inevitably feel an impulsive desire. After all, she had the body of a ‘Blood Demon’, bringing with her a captivating charm.
“Because of you?” Si Liang Hong looked at Cui Jin Peng. “It is because of you, this mess that resulted in the death of Xiang Pang Yun, the expert dispatched by the Sorcerer’s Palace, and in the person who would certainly become a Transcendent in a few years, the monster of a genius, Dong Bo Xue Ying, falling into the Black-Wind Abyss to his death?”
“Things are unpredictable. This mess actually caused the end of two experts in this world,” Si Liang Hong lamented.
Her Si Clan was the absolute overlord in Azure River County, ruling over the entire place with a single action of theirs. Even if it was in some dirty underworld, her clan’s spies would be present. This Cui Jin Peng was actually Si Clan’s loyal dog! Even in his areas of control, Si Clan would have spies placed within, with him not being able to resist against such an order. Thus, when his child ‘Cui Hui’ died, Si Clan had known about it in a matter of moments, along with even the fact that Cui Jin Peng had visited the Bloodshed Tavern!
“Many heroic characters fell because of some nobodies.” Si Liang Hong sighed. “Alright, old Liu. I’ve seen him already. Take him away and settle it cleanly.”
“Yes,” housekeeper Liu said respectfully.
“Old ancestor, old ancestor, I’m entirely faithful to the Si Clan!” Cui Jin Peng immediately shouted out in fright.
Si Liang Hong did not even give him a second glance.
She knew that this time, there would certainly be Transcendents coming! Thus, the reasons for this incident would definitely be investigated by these Transcendents. Being the cause of the event ‘Cui Jin Peng’, she decided to prevent Cui Jin Peng from spouting out inappropriate things. Hence, the earlier she dealt with the matter, the better. After all, the truth was that the matter had nothing to do with her Si Clan, and it had entirely been Cui Jin Peng’s idea.
“A genius evil-doer who would almost certainly become a Transcendent died in such a pitiful way! Even though Sorcerer’s Palace lost a latent chess-piece, they still gained quite a lot from this.” Si Liang Hong was nervous, “The Transcendents coming this time will certainly be furious! My Si Clan is in charge of Azure River County. Hopefully, this will not affect us.”
Si Clan was the number one overlord amongst mortals.
But in front of Transcendents? They could easily be annihilated.
……
That day, Si Liang Hong rushed towards the Black-Wind Cliff within the Azure River County, waiting by herself.
Unexpectedly, only after she waited for three days did a Transcendent finally come.
“Si La—”
Within the skies of Black-Wind Cliff, the sun was shining brightly. Suddenly, a crack appeared within the space, and a figure came forth from within.
Si Liang Hong had been sitting cross-legged on the cliff. There were some arrays around her to cut away the fierce wind. Having felt the tremors in the space, she raised her head to look upwards, before having a shocking expression as she hailed respectfully, “Greetings, Lord Eternal Wind.”
The Transcendent who had come was actually the number one strongest expert in the entire Tranquil Sun Province — Eternal Wind Knight Chi Qiu Bai!
Si Liang Hong was extremely nervous, “I had thought that some other Transcendent would come. Never would I have expected it would actually be Eternal Wind Knight! This incident was so shocking that even such a terrifying existence had come!”
“I heard you have already executed Cui Jin Peng?” Chi Qiu Bai was quite handsome, his white hair swaying in the wind. Garbed in green robes, he stood on air.
“Yes,” Si Liang Hong respectfully replied. “This incident was indeed started by this Cui Jin Peng, who set down a bounty.”
“I know of the context already.” A single step brought Chi Qiu Bai above the Black-Wind Abyss. The initial fierce and furious black wind was suppressed until it dissipated. He looked below. There were some sort of frightening energies operating in the abyss, blocking off his vision and hiding from him the sight below the abyss.
“Ai, My Tranquil Sun Province would have finally had a new Transcendent and yet, he was killed in the debacle from Sorcerer’s Palace. This is not worth it.” Chi Qiu Bai nodded lightly, “You may leave first.”
“Yes.” Si Liang Hong knew that she had passed through this level, and that Chi Qiu Bai would not follow up on what she’d done. Without waiting, she backed away from the Black-Wind Cliff.
Chi Qiu Bai stood above the middle of the Black-Wind Abyss.
The unseen forces were oppressing everything below.
“Chi Qiu Bai!” Below, an enormous energy surged, making a faint huge figure to suddenly appear. Following that, a black dragon head appeared. This enormous black dragon head looked towards Chi Qiu Bai above him, “Why? Were you not satisfied with the previous battle and wanted to come and fight again? I’ve long said before, if you want to conquer this place, your combat power is still quite far off from what is needed. It’s better for you to go back and cultivate.”
“Is the mortal who fell still alive?” Chi Qiu Bai asked.
“Oh, There is indeed a mortal teen who fell down. Maybe he got splattered to death,” the black dragon head said. “I’m just merely the first guardian! At My Lord’s cavern palace, there are, naturally, even stronger guardians in that location. Can I control what happens below at the cavern palace?”
Chi Qiu Bai looked below, sighing imperceptibly.
This time, the matter concerning Dong Bo Xue Ying had actually been directed to the upper echelons of the Transcendents, for them to solve it. But, because of the location ‘Black-Wind Abyss’, a place that would even cause Transcendents themselves headaches, the final matter had been passed on until it had finally reached Chi Qiu Bai! This was why it had taken two to three days before he’d finally come over.
“If he is still alive and asking for help, send him out,” Chi Qiu Bai said.
“How polite.” The black dragon head laughed. “If I see him, I’ll definitely help him out! After all, he is still a mortal. The orders given by the Lord are after all, only for Transcendents.”
Chi Qiu Bai nodded silently.
Black-Wind Abyss was a very mysterious place in the past. Many ten thousands years ago, an expert of humankind had actually successfully stepped into godhood, then stepped into the Black-Wind Abyss to investigate… only then did the Transcendents of humankind know that this Black-Wind Abyss was actually a cavern palace left behind by an extremely powerful expert. Only when one won against all the Transcendent-ranked protectors could they obtain the treasures left behind.
Even though that deity, including the Dragon Mountain emperor who came afterwards, had entered the location, none of them had ever forcibly taken away the treasures.
Firstly, forcibly taking away the palace would cause it to self-destruct ! Secondly, for those who had already become deities, they had built a united empire in the previous ages, and were the top peerless experts in the entire mortal world. Thus, they did not feel much avarice towards these treasures.
“Pity.” Chi Qiu Bai lightly shook his head. He felt that Dong Bo Xue Ying was quite fierce and quite lucky. “If he were to survive, my Tranquil Sun Province would have one more Transcendent. Furthermore, looking at his heavenly-graded talent, within the entire world one would only find a single existence within a hundred years. Even amongst the Transcendents, he could advance quite far ahead. Such a pity, such a pity.”
“Chi Qiu Bai, you better go and cultivate. After all, I have high expectations of you. Maybe in the near future, you might have hope of attaining the treasures left behind by my Lord. But looking at you right now, you are still quite some distance away” the black dragon head below bellowed out.
“Farewell.” Chi Qiu Bai turned away and immediately went off.
Si La.
A crack appeared within the space, and Chi Qiu Bai immediately lept out through it, disappearing into nothingness.