Chapter 305: Gathering of Experts
The news of Yi Yun returning to Tai Ah Divine City quickly spread in less than half a day.
Rookies did not have much concept of the name Yi Yun. However, it meant a lot to many of the second year cultivators, especially his enemies.
This name was unforgettable!
“That rascal actually didn’t die!”
A this moment, in a small courtyard, there were a few people gathered with sullen faces.
The three of them, who were sitting on chairs, were Li Hong, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng.
Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were brothers and came from the Chu royal residence. Yang Dingkun had taken the opportunity to gamble against Yi Yun in Yi Yun’s battle with Li Hong and ended up losing greatly. The ‘Truth of the Laws’ was lost, causing him to be punished by his family clan.
As for Yang Yuefeng, who had always been proud of his Desolate Heaven technique, he had his face torn off by Yi Yun.
However, the person who hated Yi Yun the most were not amongst these people. In the corner of this courtyard stood a youth, full of scars and a missing arm.
He was Yang Haoran.
10 months ago, inside Meteorite Abyss’s frost pool, he was suddenly attacked by a school of weird fishes. His body had consequently been horribly mangled by the fish, pieces of flesh had been ripped off his body!
Just recalling the experience gave him nightmares!
With the rage of being unwilling to die, he had then rushed out of the frost lake with great difficulty and managed to eventually survive.
He barely escaped death with his surface flesh and skin of his body gone. All he was left with was bloody remnant muscles. It was horrible!
One of his arms had been ripped straight off by a large fish.
Losing one arm was Yang Haoran’s greatest pain. How could a warrior be left without a limb?
It was not that there were no treasures that could restore a person’s arm, they were just extremely expensive. Even his Yang family could hardly obtain one.
And even if it was obtained, the arm which was regrown, would be a normal human arm. One had to train it from the beginning all over again.
It was easy to imagine what sort of hardship and suffering he had to undergo!
Yang Haoran only felt hate. He hated the strange fish and hated everything!
Originally, when Yang Haoran was bitten horribly and the calamity suddenly befell onto him, the pain prevented him from thinking about why he was suddenly attacked by the strange fishes.
However, after recovering, he recalled the terrifying nightmare. He remembered that back then in the water, he had heard an explosion and then saw a Yuan Qi beam.
Within the beam, there was an arrow flying towards him. On the arrowhead, there was something green. It looked like grass.
The arrow was not aimed at him and passed by him a short distance away from him, but accompanying that arrow was that school of terrifying strange fishes!
As Yang Haoran recalled the scenes back then, he became more and more sure of what had happened. That Yuan Qi fluctuation was definitely from a warrior, not a desolate beast.
Yang Haoran also slowly remembered that the grass on the arrowhead was the Beast Luring Grass he had previously used!
All at once, Yang Haoran figured it out.
The strange fish were deliberately being lured away from something and towards him, to purposely cause him harm. As for that arrow…
Amongst that group, only Yi Yun used a bow and arrow!
Yang Haoran’s anger reached its peak at that time. He wanted Yi Yun’s blood to atone for his!
However, following Yi Yun’s disappearance, the point of him possibly dying in Meteorite Abyss appeased Yang Haoran’s anger slightly.
He considered it as a consequence Yi Yun deserved.
Although he was unable to avenge himself, which made him unable to accept it, he knew that even if Yi Yun were to actually return, he could do nothing to him.
He did not have proof. Even if he had proof, he could not raise a complaint against Yi Yun because he was the person who initially lured that mutated Three Eyed Spider to them.
In fact, because of this event, Yang Haoran had to endure the immense pressure brought forth by Chu Xiaoran’s Defender Duke family clan and Qiuniu’s reclusive family clan.
The Yang family may have the royal bloodline, but it was too much for them to face two large family clans. With Yang Haoran’s physical disability, there was even a chance of his family clan abandoning him.
This placed Yang Haoran into an excruciating position.
Yang Haoran was too busy with his own affairs for the past few months so he had no energy to decide on how to seek revenge on Yi Yun.
Thankfully, as time passed, the possibility of Yi Yun having died became increasingly more likely.
However… today, Yi Yun returned!
And besides looking a bit pathetic, he had no injuries at all!
Looking back at himself, he was like a dog with a broken leg!
This comparison nearly made Yang Haoran go crazy!
“Haoran, do not be rash…”
Yang Yuefeng patted Yang Haoran’s shoulder.
After Yang Haoran became disabled, he became slightly insane and abnormal. Yang Yuefeng was the most senior amongst the group, hence these people all treated him as their leader.
“Everyone, we can all be considered as under one camp. With Yi Yun’s return, we have no idea how strong he has become. If he were to mature in the future, then we will really lose our place in Tai Ah Divine City.”
The Tai Ah Divine City’s genius-rearing strategy was similar to rearing venomous worms. A competition was held to obtain anything here. Many cultivators formed groups and associations to resist the competitive pressure.
They were arch-rivals of Yi Yun, so if Yi Yun were to mature and rank among the top of the Heaven and Earth rolls, their days would no longer be smooth-sailing.
Li Hong said, “Yi Yun has gone to report to the Elders. I heard his description. He had been trapped in a place for ten months, which prevented him from returning…”
“Trapped for ten months? Heh… From his appearance after coming back, he must have experienced some huge disaster. This bastard sure has a strong life. He will definitely challenge the Earth roll. We must first see what rank he is able to achieve before we decide on how to deal with him in the future.”
“Earth roll…” Yang Dingkun gritted his teeth. “If only he challenges me. Such a pity…”
After the last batch of cultivators left, Yang Dingkun’s ranking on the Earth roll had entered the top 40.
This ranking was extremely far off for second year cultivators. For example, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s ranks only ranged from 700-900.
From Yang Dingkun’s point of view, Yi Yun was still far from being able to challenging the top 100 on the Earth roll. This meant he was not fated to exchange blows with Yi Yun.
…
“Rotten kid, where did you go to for the past ten months!?”
In the central divine tower, Cang Yan ruffled Yi Yun’s hair, “Ah! Kid you grew taller.”
Cang Yan was short so now he was shorter than Yi Yun.
Yi Yun felt helpless. He had already listened to old man Cang nag all day.
Regarding the burning hell’s explanation, Yi Yun did not dare to tell him that he had entered the deepest level of the burning hell.
That place’s pure Yang Qi was too rich. He had used the Purple Crystal to split the pure Yang fire in order to enter the depths of the burning hell. Even sages would need to spend a lot of Yuan Qi to enter.
Yi Yun could only say that he had been sucked into an unknown space. As such, he could explain how his identity token had lost its connection.
This sparked the interest of Cang Yan. He had already decided to form a team with Jian Ge to investigate the burning hell again.
This gave Yi Yun a headache. He felt like he was cheating the old man. This so-called “unknown space” was definitely something that Cang Yan could not find.
Cang Yan asked many questions regarding this “unknown space” and Yi Yun only gave some vague descriptions.
These sort of places tended to be vague and insubstantial and with Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it was not something he could understand, so it was normal. Cang Yan would naturally not suspect a thing, nor question him.
“So how about it? When are you challenging the Earth roll? Let’s see the fruits of the past ten months of cultivation.” Cang Yan was looking forward to seeing Yi Yun’s current strength.
“I do not have any plans on challenging the Earth roll for now.”
“Not challenging the Earth roll? What are you doing?” Cang Yan pinched his beard, clearly unhappy.
“I plan on going into the sword tomb.”
“Sword tomb!?” Cang Yan stared. “Aren’t you doing well in the saber tomb? Why are you going to the sword tomb?”
Cang Yan was practically speechless. This Yi Yun really made one worry.
He had not fully understood the saber tomb, yet he kept having his sights on the sword tomb. “Kid, what craziness is this? You cannot be giving up on the saber and picking up the sword, right? Or… do you want to use both saber and sword?”
Thinking of this, Cang Yan really wanted to pry open Yi Yun’s brain to see what messy thoughts this kid had.
Warriors who could thoroughly learn everything about one weapon were already amazing.
To master two weapons was something crazy. It was a task with no returns.
Since ancient times, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s sages had never done such a thing. Of course, it was common for people to pick up bows and concealed weapons as a side weapon. Bows and concealed weapons were ancillary weapons used to attack from a distance and could be put to great use during critical times.
“I’m just thinking of taking a look. Maybe I will get some inspiration from the sword tomb.” Yi Yun equivocated.
Even with such an explanation, Cang Yan’s face turned sullen. “Kid, back then when I let you choose a totem mystic technique, you chose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. Now, without having completed the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, you still aren’t even thinking of switching to a more possible totem mystic technique. And now you are even thinking about the sword tomb. You sure are capable!”
Cang Yan was also worried that Yi Yun would end up wasting his time trying to learn too many things, with all of them being extremely profound.
However, no matter what Cang Yan said, Yi Yun did not budge. He wanted to go into the sword tomb to gain greater experience and inspiration from within.
Finally, Cang Yan gave in. He demanded, “Alright! I will let you enter the sword tomb once! However, I will say the unpleasantries first. Once you exit the sword tomb, you are to challenge the Earth roll and enter the top 500. No! Top 400! No! 300! If you cannot enter the top 300, you are to focus on cultivating your saber skills without any other distractions. You are also to choose another totem mystic technique. And stop thinking of this and that for me in the future!”
Cang Yan indignantly said. He could tell that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still at the peak of Purple Blood, a bit worse than Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s.
Even if Yi Yun’s talent was greater than Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, and had strength that exceeded Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran combined, it would be impossible for him to enter the top 500.
One had to know that all cultivators who ranked in the top 500 of the Earth roll were at the peak of the beginning stages of the Yuan foundation realm. There was a huge gap between the Purple Blood realm and the Yuan foundation realm. It was extremely difficult for a person at the peak of the Purple Blood realm to battle against a person at the peak of the beginning stages of the Yuan foundation realm.
Still, the top 500 was not enough.
Cang Yan was afraid that Yi Yun had some fortuitous opportunities while he was missing, and could now enter the top 400. That would make the kid feel smug once again.
Hence, Cang Yan purposely set the goal to be the top 300. This was to ensure that he could rid Yi Yun of all his unrealistic ideas, preventing him from being overly ambitious.
Cang Yan never expected that Yi Yun would immediately agree with a “Sure!” after setting such a difficult objective.
“Eh?” Cang Yan had expected Yi Yun to go in a rage, he never expected him to immediately agree to it.
He was that confident?
Cang Yan was a bit dumbfounded. He clicked his tongue twice as a malicious smile formed on his lips.
This kid must still not know how strong the top 300 of the Earth roll is. Even plenty of mid-stage Yuan foundation realm cultivators are unable to enter the top 300. Underestimating it will only lead to misery!
Upon thinking of this, Cang Yan felt assured. It was good to let Yi Yun suffer some setbacks, to prevent him from thinking he can do everything everyday.
…
The day of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s birthday banquet was quickly approaching.
That afternoon, a huge airship flew above the Tai Ah Divine City. This airship was about 2000 feet long and was completely covered in black scales. It was like a huge flying monster.
When it passed by Tai Ah Divine City, it cast a huge shadow.
This is…
The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators looked up at the airship and were stunned. This airship was different from the Tai Ah Divine City airships and it was much larger.
Seeing this flying monster, many people could not help but feel a sense of awe and a feeling of being small.
Some people noticed that there was a strange symbol on the side of the huge airship. It was a blob of dark clouds, with a Black Dragon flying within the clouds.
“Yun Long (Cloud Dragon) Divine Kingdom!”
Some more knowledgeable people said after seeing this symbol.
The Yun Long Divine Kingdom shared a border with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was in the east while the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was in the west. To the north of both countries’ northern borders was the vast Divine wilderness.
Be it comparing the countries’ power, their heritage, areas or population, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was almost on par with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.
With two great nations together, there was bound to be some conflict over resources, land and other reasons. However, with the threat of the Divine wilderness, the two countries had to maintain the peace. They could not have any large scale wars or they wouldn’t be able to resist the occasional large-scale beast hordes coming from the Divine wilderness.
Hence the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could be said to coexist in a cooperative and competitive state.
No one expected that the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s large airship would fly to the Tai Ah Divine City.
This airship was definitely a royal airship of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. The appearance of the ambassadors of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom arriving in the Tai Ah Divine City in such an airship was a show of their country’s strength. At the same time, it also meant that whoever was riding the airship was a great figure in the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!
“The distance between the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and Tai Ah Divine City is not short. Why would their ambassadors come to the Tai Ah Divine City?” Someone asked subconsciously.
“Oh? Could it be that they are here for the City Lord’s birthday banquet!?”
Someone had a flash of brilliance. Everyone felt it was possible upon hearing it.
It had to be so. The only big matter in recent times in the Tai Ah Divine City was the City Lord’s birthday banquet.
“Strange, the ties our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom isn’t that great. Why would they especially send an ambassador to send their birthday wishes for our City Lord’s birthday banquet?”
Some more thoughtful people felt something amiss…
At this moment, within the large airship, in a luxurious hall.
A fat man in a yellow clothes was holding a meter-long roasted desolate beast leg. He was tearing off the meat with his mouth. The thin leg was not completely roasted to well-done, so it still contained some blood.
As the fat man in yellow ate the meat, he stood high above, looking condescendingly down at the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators through his airship window.
From his angle, the throngs of people below him were no different from ants that he could crush with his feet.
“These are the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators!? They don’t seem like anything special to me.”
As the fatty in yellow laughed, he licked the desolate beast blood from around his mouth with his excessively long tongue. A sardonic look of contempt flashed in his eyes.
Behind the fatty in yellow was a princess-like girl, dressed in a purple palace gown.
She held a wine glass in her hand as she tasted the red liquid inside it. She emitted a charming smile, “His Highness had previously said that the Tai Ah Divine City’s place in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is equivalent to our Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Yun Long 72 Pagodas. Do not look down on them.”
“Haha, whatever. We are here to give our birthday wishes, not here to fight. Of course, if necessary, it is basic courtesy to see what they are capable of.”
The yellow-robed fatty casually said as the girl in the gown shook her head gently. “It is not an ordinary celebration. This time, Lord Seven Star Pagoda Owner wanted to come personally and discuss something with the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. Reports say that it has something to do with the mysterious person who suddenly appeared…”
“Haha, those are matters for the higher ups. I cannot care less. I’ll just eat all the meat I want at this birthday banquet. Of course, if there’s a fight, call on me!”
As the fatty said that, he tore off another piece of meat the size of a chicken and swallowed it down after a few chews. A meter long beast leg was quickly completely finished. He casually wiped his oily hands on his clothes and glanced at the corner of the hall. “What say you, Bai?”
In the corner of the hall sat a black-clothed youth with a pale face. His legs were opened up with his knees bent. Both his hands were resting on his knees and a black sword leaned diagonally by his legs.
His head was slightly bowed. His hanging hair covering his eyes, preventing others from seeing his face.
In the hall, he was strangely quiet. It was so quiet that it made people oblivious to his existence.
“Uh…” Facing the quiet black-clothed youth, the yellow-robed fatty gulped a mouthful of saliva and nearly choked. It was really asking to be rebuffed trying to speak to this rascal…
At this moment, the door to the hall was pushed open. A stout man walked in with a deadpan expression. He was wearing a thick fur cloak, with the collar standing up. His feet was covered in long rigid boots with desolate bones as their base. His steps emitted the bone ringing sounds of “Pa Da, Pa Da”.
“We are here. Let’s go down!”
Facing this male, the yellow-robed fatty and the girl in the gown became respectful.
“Yes, Lord Pagoda Owner.”
The pale youth sitting by the corner also slowly stood up.
With the airship’s door opened, the four of them flew towards the central divine tower in a light beam.
“Someone flew out!”
Many from the Tai Ah Divine City were straining their eyes, they did not know who the people were, but guessed that they were mighty figures of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom…
With these thoughts in mind, they never expected that a few days later, there would be airships from unknown factions flying to the Tai Ah Divine City. A large number of people disembarked and entered the central divine tower over the passing days.
These factions hung their own symbols, some were easily recognized by others. Other than the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, there was also the Tian Guang Royal Dynasty. It was a country about half the size of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, but it was not to be underestimated.
Besides them, there were also ambassadors from other independent family clans.
These independent family clans did not belong to any country, but they had great heritage. A family clan was able to compare with a country!
The existence of some of these family clans was not shorter than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s. They controlled terrifying powers that could not to be ignored.
There were more and more people coming. It was really like an assembly of heroes!
This made the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators shocked. How resounding was this City Lord birthday banquet?
A day later, another mighty figure appeared. This person’s identity made many of the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators hold their breaths.
He was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Crown Prince!
There were countless numbers of children from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family. Just in the Tai Ah Divine City, there were plenty of cultivators with the surname Yang.
These elites, who had Yang as a surname, would have blood relations with the royal household if their bloodline was traced.
However, compared to the current Crown Prince, they were nothing.
Not only in status and identity, but also in strength!
The Crown Prince was about 3000 years old. He was chosen amongst the thousands of children from the royal household and possessed extraordinary talent. With the royal household’s efforts to nurture him, he was now just a step away from being labeled a human sage.
Once he became a sage, the current Divine Emperor would hand over the throne to him.
Hence, the Crown Prince’s position in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was obvious!
“The Crown Prince is here. This celebration is going to be amazing!”
People knew that this celebration would be the greatest celebration they would ever experience in their lives!