I Am Supreme

Still, I was the one who lost the bet…

The words had already left his lips, and it was far too late to retract them. Alas, all is lost!

If the opponent extended his invitation once, one that was simply a formal courtesy, or perhaps a prompt … However, he had straight up requested me to fulfill the terms of the gamble… how will I still maintain my dignity if I were to reject him?

Shi Wuchen wore a resigned look on his face, finally accepting his fate. “A gentleman’s word is as good as gold. Since I’ve personally admitted defeat, I will not go back on my word. However, sect leader, what kind of duties will you have me perform if I join the sect? You wouldn’t simply be making me a sect elder for no apparent reason, would you?”

Yun Yang coughed. “The Residence of Nine Supremes wasn’t named just for the sound of it — its name suggests exactly what it means. Nine shall take the positions, so how does Supreme One sound?”

Shi Wuchen rolled it around his tongue. “That… that’s alright… what Supreme are you addressed as?”

“My surname is Yun, so naturally I’m called Supreme Cloud (Yun).”

Shi Wuchen gushed enthusiastically, “That’s eloquent indeed! So, from today, I’ll be called Supreme History (Shi)?”

“Supreme History (Shi)…”

Yun Yang spluttered. He choked for real and started coughing uncontrollably, his face and ears turning a fiery red.

Shi Wuchen paused and was hit with a sudden realization. “This doesn’t sound good… it’s a little inappropriate. This will be easily misunderstood when heard…” He grimaced.

“Cough…” Yun Yang had a difficult time stopping his hacking. This wouldn’t be easily misunderstood; this would definitely be misunderstood!

Supreme Shit (Shi)!

Brother, you’re honestly not trying your hardest to disgust me, are you? If there’s really going to be a Supreme Shit amongst the Nine Supremes, I rather you did not join us; that would be taking things too far!

“You’re a renowned swordsman. Let’s call you Supreme Sword,” suggested Yun Yang enthusiastically, casually ignoring his nagging suspicion that he was plagiarizing it off a member of the Four Seasons Tower.

“This doesn’t sound great either…” Shi Wuchen protested in a conflicted tone.

He was against it. “Supreme Despicable (Jian) you mean… that’s not too far off from Supreme Shit…”

Yun Yang was at a loss for words. ” Then, what kind of Supreme do you think you should be addressed as? Your surname is Shi, but that wouldn’t do; you wield a sword, but that also wouldn’t do. What else do you know? A name should bear its actual meaning — it should be defined in a relevant manner, don’t you think?”

Shi Wuchen explored his options. “Perhaps… since I’m the second and below you, you’ll be Supreme First, and I’ll be Supreme Two?”

Yun Yang rolled his eyes. “Supreme First? Supreme Two? Do you really think that Supreme Two sounds better than Supreme Sword?”

Shi Wuchen was out of ideas. “But…”

“Let’s just stick to Supreme Sword! You have been called a swordsman before this, and now you shall be known as Supreme Despicable — those who have heard of it would think that it’s an improvement. That’s pretty alright for now, if you get too demanding about it, it would seem even more unrelated, so what else are you even thinking of?” cried Yun Yang.

Shi Wuchen’s face was one of helplessness. “Fine, fine, Supreme Sword it is…”

He heaved a breath suddenly. “If reincarnation is a technique… tell me, would we even have this argument if I was born with a different surname?”

Yun Yang snorted. “Isn’t Supreme Sword better than Supreme Shit?! Well if it affects you that much, just slide your blade against your throat and you’ll have the opportunity to do so. I can gladly reserve this title granted upon you for an additional eighteen years.”

Shi Wuchen’s eyes rolled wildly to the back of his head.

He was truly speechless in light of the mouth of this new leader of his.

Immediately, Shi Wuchen took an oath towards the heavens, pledging his utmost loyalty as he joined the Residence of Nine Supremes. The silhouette of a white banner promptly made a complete circle around him before returning to Yun Yang. The ceremony was thus completed.

The sky was already dark.

“Sect leader, where are we resting for the night?”

“Over there… it seems like there’s a cave, let’s take a rest there temporarily.”

Yun Yang was astounded when he glanced at Shi Wuchen, who looked clean and tidy after washing his face.

“Well, seems like your looks are pretty passable.”

Shi Wuchen could only remain speechless.

How’s it only ‘passable’?

Shi Wuchen — Great Swordmaster Shi — was most certainly a show-stopping heartthrob.

At twenty-seven or eight years of age, he had a square face, high nose bridge, and full, thick lips. His single eyelids seemed to render him with a cold, sharp gaze. He had a tall, lean physique, and he was only slightly shorter than Yun Yang by a hair’s breadth.

The fitting green robes he wore on his body set off nicely against his physique, making him appear to radiate masculinity and looking more distinguished than ever.

As for style and demeanor, those two aspects of his were levels beyond Yun Xiaoyao and Bai Yixue’s… His cultivation base was not even in the question — his levels could easily conquer theirs!

After all, Shi Wuchen’s actual level of cultivation was so formidable to the point where it could actually beat Yun Yang’s!

In the cave, Shi Wuchen was still sighing and lamenting endlessly, feeling as if his hopes and dreams had been entirely crushed to dust. It felt as if he had boarded the wrong ship and had his future royally doomed in the process.

However, all his negative emotions promptly vanished after he personally witnessed the way Yun Yang cast the defensive formation around the mountains.

Before his very eyes, Yun Yang scattered a few purple crystalline entities onto the ground. Next, he started to put up the formation banners — a hundred and eight formation banners started to fall onto the ground in a consecutive manner.

The last formation banner, accompanied by the last piece of the purple crystalline entity, landed on the middlemost square.

However, those special purple crystalline entities vanished; not a single trace of them was left upon the completion of the formation banner.

Following the completion of the formation’s foundation, the entire mountain felt as if it was overwhelmed by quivers that resembled contractions, all at the same time. The power from countless ground meridians started to accumulate beneath their feet from all directions.

The sky full of stars throbbed and shimmered brightly. They shone simultaneously, and suddenly, the brilliance from the entire sea of stars showered downwards. Within seconds, the peak where the Residence of Nine Supremes was located lapsed into a fog-like state of total whiteness. Everything was visually indiscernible — even one’s deific consciousness could not extend beyond it.

Spiritual Qi from all over the realm came swarming and spilling into the land ringed by the nine peaks.

This phenomenon of converging spiritual Qi lasted for the whole night.

The next morning, Yun Yang heaved a breath of relief.

“It’s done. The foundation of this formation is done — it’s good enough for starters.”

“Is this the rumored Heavenly Stellar Formation, lost in the passages of history?” Shi Wuchen asked with a face full of deep respect.

“Your expectation of me is too high, Supreme Sword. This formation might be formed by extracting energy accumulated from the starlight of the entire sky, but it is still largely different from the real Heavenly Stellar Formation — you can’t compare them side by side,” Yun Yang smiled. “I shall call this the Yin Yang Starlight Formation of the Five Elements!”

“This formation was gathered from the five elements and transmuted through yin and yang energies. It required the power of stars from the entire night sky and sourced Qi from the ground meridians of all eight directions, causing the spiritual energy to come towards this land — only then could this formation be formed. This formation is the foundation of the Residence of Nine Supremes — it should not be destroyed!”

Yun Yang continued calmly, “With the energy provided by a hundred and eight pieces of crystals as the underlying support, merging together with it as one, the self-defense mechanism will function without the slightest doubt. Although our Hill Defense Formation isn’t as invincible as the Heavenly Stellar Formation, it can probably still defend us from the attacks of Saint Emperor without breaking.”

“Saint Emperor!”

Shi Wuchen’s widened his eyes. “What did you use to cast this formation? How could its power be so unbelievably strong — I need proof!”

Shi Wuchen couldn’t deny that he had encountered many Hill Protective Formations before, but one that functioned as how Yun Yang said it would be was the first he ever heard of.

“It was nothing but just a few rare crystalized energy actually — I brought them with me from where I’ve ascended from.” Yun Yang replied in a vague manner.

In his heart, he thought, if I told the truth and let him know that it was cast with a hundred and eight pieces of Ethereal Amethysts… would this fellow faint?

“If you don’t want to go into details, then I won’t question you any further, but the spiritual Qi within these gates… is a little too dense, don’t you think?” Shi Wuchen wrinkled his nose. “The other sects probably can’t even beat us even if they have low-grade Celestial Luck Banners; furthermore, we are just newly established. When the formation stabilizes after a few days, the spiritual energy here would probably get even better…”

“The formation I cast was meant to have this effect. It’s still far off from its maximum potential.” Yun Yang said simply.

“I’m just letting you have a taste of it. In a while, I’ll stop the spiritual Qi-gathering function here later while we wait for that fatty to bring the men back — the construction of the school’s main hall is the next step, after all. After that, we’ll have to cast the formation to lock down the gates to the mountain.”

“Today, the Residence of Nine Supreme has finally established its roots in the Bound of Universe.” Yun Yang’s heart was rippling with emotion.

He would never have known that the Bound of Universe would be such a hard place to get around if he had not gotten himself here. However, today, this at least, was a first step forward.

“What’re we going to do in the future?” Shi Wuchen asked.

“Hmm, rob.”

“Rob?” Shi Wuchen echoed, his voice going off-tune.

“You heard me correctly, rob,” said Yun Yang. “In the Bound of Universe, robbing is a legal profession. What a useful, convenient way to go about it — why not put it to use? We’ll rob whoever who passes this territory of ours. If they have something we want, we’ll take it. If there’s nothing we want here, we’ll pillage somewhere else. If there’s nothing to rob elsewhere, we’ll come up with our own terms — we’ll still rob all we can!”

Now, he was finally certain without a hint of doubt; he had really truly embarked on the wrong boat!

Looting… although it was legal, one would have to ultimately bear the consequences. Once the wheels started rolling, how many people would they manage to offend in the future?

Shi Wuchen’s legs started to tremble at the thought of powerful enemies flocking and swarming towards the Residence of Nine Supremes.

“If I pull out now, will it be too late?” Shi Wuchen asked weakly.

“What do you think?”

Yun Yang gave him a sidelong glance. “If you’re not afraid of heaven’s wrath, go ahead and leave. As for me, you’re free to come and go.”

Shi Wuchen’s head drooped as he took in breaths full of regret. His voice even seemed to be lined with a little sob. “It’s a shame that my personal vendetta has yet to be fulfilled…”

Yun Yang rolled his eyes and walked away.

“In the next three days, I will help you heal your injuries. Then, we’ll get into action immediately! You’re a Saint Level practitioner and also the best expert in our sect, so for our first ever mission, you’ll naturally take the lead!”

At this very moment, Shi Wuchen was already out of tears.

As it turns out, I’m the first scapegoat after all…