Chapter 480: Presumptuos
Chapter 480: Presumptuos
Translator: Radiant Editor: Radiant
Looking at the formation array in front of him ripple, Xue Ying's expression became somewhat solemn. "If I'm to kill this prisoner, I'll have to pull out all the stops."
He turned around and, with a sou, quickly departed.
Back in the Xia Clan World, in a still room within Crimson Rock Mountain.
A white-clothed Xue Ying was sitting cross-legged. He softly muttered to himself, "I've got to increase the time acceleration to a hundred times. At that speed, I might not be able to comprehend the Laws of the World, but I can still study secret techniques and secret skills without issue." The time within that room immediately accelerated, and although the Laws of the World began to feel somewhat distorted, they remained within tolerable margins. Any environment with faster acceleration would not be suitable for cultivation.
"I've got to raise my strength as high as it can go!"
Under the hundredfold increase in time acceleration, the white-clothed Xue Ying began to calm his heart and focus all his effort on comprehension and pondering. He first turned to the "Time Immemorial Body" and the "Great Chaotic True Force", since they were relatively easier to improve in a short time. He would then place his attention on the Sealed World Pagoda techniques to create secret skills, which was quite harder to accomplish. Even so, unless he improved significantly in every aspect, he would never reach the necessary confidence to kill the prisoner.
******
The plain and unadorned Xue Ying flew back from the mountain range and walked into Crimson Stone Courtyard through the back door.
"Senior Disciple Dong Bo."
"Greetings to Senior Disciple Dong Bo."
There, he found a crowd of inner disciples and honorary disciples who had come to greet him. Most were stage one or two World Deities, and they were headed by three different stage three World Deities! Even those three group leaders, as stage three World Deities, would still refer to Xue Ying respectfully as 'Senior Disciple.' They were very clear that, seeing how he only cultivated for five thousand years to become a stage two World Deity, Xue Ying would soon catch up to them and even surpass them.
Furthermore, the personal disciples of His Majesty were known to have grasped absolute arts, so they could not be looked at as ordinary World Deities.
"Why is everyone over here?" Xue Ying spoke.
"Senior Disciple, upon hearing that you've become a personal disciple, we junior disciples naturally had to come over and congratulate you," a slim man in golden robes smiled. "We've prepared a banquet, and Senior Disciple's relatives and friends have already taken their seats."
The other disciples were also cordially talking amongst themselves.
However, there were also a few people in this group who were feeling silently regretful. I didn't think Dong Bo would so unexpectedly become this formidable, this fast. An exceptional Transcendent like him who is one of the top talents throughout the entire history of the Deity world will have boundless prospects for his future. We've been acting cold toward him in the past, so there's always the chance he might hold a grudge.
Xue Ying nodded at once. "Lead the way."
A while ago, he was forced to endure silently and not expose his strength as some of his fellow disciples were talking behind his back and acting coldly toward him. Xue Ying had taken note of who had been good to him, so he naturally chose to become close to them! He didn't care much about the grudges, however, since of his fellow disciples, it was only Gong Feng who had berated and cursed him several times in the past. The rest of the disciples had been much more tame.
Within the Palace Hall.
Escorted by a crowd of fellow disciples, Xue Ying naturally sat at the seat of honor. To his side was his wife, Jing Qiu.
Once the two took their seats, the rest of the disciples also took their seats one by one.
"Senior Disciple."
"Senior Disciple Dong Bo."
A large group of disciples rushed in from outside the palace, each of them greeting him as they entered. This group was headed by Gong Feng. She was full of smiles as she said, "Senior Disciple Dong Bo, we'd been waiting at the front door all this time, but we didn't even consider that you would come in through the back door, missing us in the process. We are all truly ashamed for having been unable to properly greet Senior Disciple." A few of the at her side were muttering to themselves as they listened to her speak.
Such a scene of Gong Feng flattering and fawning over someone in this manner was truly a rare sight!
"You all can take your seats," Xue Ying said.
"We thank Senior Disciple." Each of these disciples found a seat for themselves.
"Senior Disciple Dong Bo is now a personal disciple, and you have high hopes to become a powerful existence in the future. This Junior Disciple of yours is less fortunate, so I can only give you a meager gift as a means of congratulation, Senior Disciple. Your Junior Disciple has incidentally received these two precious stones, and they have some wonderful uses in regards to the True Deity Heart." A stage two World Deity, from the ranks of the honorary disciples sitting in the back, stood up, and a plate appeared on his palm with two peculiar yellow stones placed atop it. He handed this plate over to a maid behind him, who took it and briskly walked over to Xue Ying's table.
Xue Ying raised an eyebrow.
These two lumps, known as Yellow Ocean Deity Stones, were worth five million Deity crystals! Such a gift was truly generous. He remembered that the honorary disciple he received them from was named World Deity Vast Benevolence.
"This Junior Disciple also has some meager gifts to offer." Some other honorary disciples quickly followed up with more presents.
If they thought their presents valuable enough, they would usually follow up with a small introduction, but the strength of any honorary disciples was generally weak, especially when it came to the stage one World Deities. They were either unable or unwilling to hand over a valuable gift.
More and more gifts came in.
"Xue Ying, these gifts from your Junior Disciple Sisters and Brothers are all quite expensive," Jing Qiu transmitted with a smile. "With their status as your fellow disciples in addition to these valuable gifts they've given you just now, I'm afraid you won't be able to decline if they were to ever plead at your door for some small favors."
"If it's just small matters, I see no issue with giving my fellow disciples a hand. If they come with larger problems, I'd have to carefully consider it," Xue Ying sent back.
These fellow disciples estimated that, considering Xue Ying's cultivation speed, he would likely become a stage four World Deity within a million years! In the eyes of a World Deity, such an amount of time wasn't even worth mentioning. On top of that, as a stage four World Deity and a personal disciple of His Majesty, with the heaven-defying strength of an absolute art and his status as a Realm Lord, Xue Ying's status would definitely surpass even those of people like Monarch Mo Xue, the Calm Sea Prefecture Lord, and many more.
This was the time for these disciples to grasp the opportunity by giving some gifts to create a friendly relationship with such an overlord, since in the future, Xue Ying wouldn't even look upon such meager gifts.
More gifts came in, one after another. After the honorary disciples finished with their gifts, the inner disciples stepped in. First were the stage two World Deities, followed by the stage three World Deities.
Gong Feng waited until the very end, when she finally got up with a smile and even displayed some feminine qualities that she usually kept hidden. She even kept her posture lowered. "Senior Disciple Dong Bo, this Junior Disciple has also prepared some gifts." As she said that, a long plate appeared on her left hand, upon which no fewer than five treasures were arranged.
"This is a treasure originating from the Moon World, a Cold Star Rock." Gong Feng began to summarily describe this truly uncommon treasure which had come directly from the Moon World. "This is a demon heart from the Dark Abyss. It was left behind by a Demon Monarch after his death. This is…"
They were just five treasures, but their summed up value was close to a hundred million Deity crystals!
The total value of all the previous gifts from the other disciples was only roughly equivalent to a single gift of hers! She could only do so because of her high position, which meant that the amount of treasures she accumulated over many years was large enough. On top of that, she truly was that scared of being chased out of Crimson Stone Courtyard.
Hua.
Without warning, a black-robed old man walked in from outside the palace, followed closely behind by two stage three World Deity guards.
As soon as the old man entered, he coldly said, "Gong Feng, as per His Majesty orders, from this day forward, you will no longer serve as the overseer of Crimson Stone Courtyard."
"Ah." Gong Feng fell into a daze.
Without her status as supervisor, she would no longer have any opportunity to meet the Bloodshed God Emperor, so her status would be about the same as that of the other inner disciples.
"It's you!" Gong Feng turned abruptly to look at Xue Ying, her complexion warped and somewhat sinister. "Dong Bo Xue Ying, you've complained before master, did you not?"
Xue Ying frowned.
"What, did I really offend you that badly? To think you would actually be this ruthless. It was you who was hiding your strength. If you had shown your talent from the start, would I have acted that way toward you?" Gong Feng was unmistakably angry. She forgot, however, that if Xue Ying had publicly exposed his strength, he would surely have been killed in a thought by Sacred Master Crimson Dust's enemy, Forefather Black Devil. Could she have paid for his life then?
"So what if you're a personal disciple? For better or worse, I'm still a stage three World Deity, and I have a fourth step entry rank in the Bloodshed God Palace." Gong Feng flipped her hand, and the plate she was holding disappeared. "You're not qualified to receive my treasures."
Indeed, Gong Feng's status within the Bloodshed God Palace was still rather high. Even stage four World Deities would not be qualified to just kill her as they wished, and Xue Ying had no way to deal with her either.
After all, he had received gifts from everyone due to their anticipation that he would become an overlord of the Deity world in not too long a time, not from recognition of his current strength.
"What you said isn't wrong."
Xue Ying looked down toward the unbridled Gong Feng from atop his seat of honor and nodded. "I was, indeed, the one who asked teacher to strip you of your position as overseer."
"So it was you! Of course it was!" Her expression turned malevolent.
"With how insolently you've been acting, it can be said that you've offended me, doesn't it?" Xue Ying coldly said.
Gong Feng froze.
From nearby, the black-robed old man nodded. "Any inner disciple who offends a personal disciple will be punished severely."
His teacher's sect only had three positions: personal, inner, and honorary disciples. These positions, however, were extremely rigid and enforced.
"Just give her a hundred lashes of the whip," Xue Ying coldly said.
**