Ou Yangming stopped channeling his mental power and went to the hall.
Wu Yuanwei was seen smiling as he sat on a chair in the hall. Ou Yangming could tell at once that the elder brought good news.
The elder stood up right away when he saw Ou Yangming, and he said with a smile, “Master Ou, I accomplished my task.”
Ou Yangming grinned. “Senior, you were the one that suggested everything, so you should be credited for everything.”
Wu Yuanwei shook his head and waved his hand. “Master Ou, I only proposed the idea. Without your support, the suggestion couldn’t have worked regardless of the timing.”
If Ou Yangming, who was an additional condition, was removed from this realm, Wu Yuanwei would only have a Spirit Great powerhouse and would not be able to gather 1,000 Supreme Great Ancestors.
Hence, even though Wu Yuanwei should be credited for putting forward the idea, he could not be compared with Ou Yangming.
When Ou Yangming turned to look, Hong Feiyu, who was next to him, instantly understood him. The man asked, “Brother Wu, what’s their response?”
“The bosses in the upper realm have communicated and unanimously decided to build the passage first. Each clan will receive their share according to their contributions through the process,” Wu Yuanwei answered sternly and continued after a pause, “They promised to give Master Ou a century; if Master Ou becomes a Venerable One within a century, he’ll receive a tenth of the bonus for this realm. Before that, he’ll only be given a 0.2% share.”
“0.2%?” Hong Feiyu pondered for a while and turned to nod at Ou Yangming.
In actual fact, the condition was much better than he imagined. He wondered what Wu Yuanwei told the upper realm such that they agreed with it.
Hong Feiyu was simply being unreasonable when he previously requested a 10% share; he only did it for a huge room for negotiation. They were in a realm, after all, thus a 0.2% share would be relatively generous. At the very least, it would be enough to make over 10 Spirit Grade powerhouses risk their lives.
As for becoming a Venerable One within a century, Hong Feiyu only regarded it as a plain statement because he was not really optimistic about it.
“Okay, I agree with that.” Ou Yangming nodded and asked after a pause, “What should we do now?”
Wu Yuanwei’s eyes lit up, and he questioned with a smile, “Master Ou, are you sure your 3 spirit beasts will join in?”
“It won’t be a problem,” Ou Yangming answered without any hesitation. He glanced half-intentionally at the little red bird and thought, ‘There are actually 4 powerful spirit beasts here, and this fourth one is much more fearsome than the others.’
“How will we assemble 1,000 Supreme Great Ancestors?” Hong Feiyu asked after some thought and frowned. “Brother Ou, since you can subdue spirit beasts, can you conquer half-spirit beasts too?”
Ou Yangming was struck dumb, and he had a strange look on his face. “Are you hoping that I’ll use half-spirit beasts to replace Supreme Great Ancestors?”
“Yes,” Hong Feiyu responded seriously, “I can’t think of any other way.”
He had not been in this realm for a long time, but he had also been here for some time. Besides, while he had not traveled to every corner of the world, he more or less understood the strength of this realm.
Among the Humans’ capital and the 8 counties, even if Supreme Great Ancestors in rogue cultivation were gathered, they could not find 1,000 such powerhouses.
The little red bird’s eyes gleamed. It stuck out its chest and thought, ‘Beg me, beg me, quickly beg me!’
With the help of the Phoenixes’ secret technique, not to mention 1,000 Supreme Great Ancestors, even if more powerhouses were needed, it could offer a corresponding secret technique.
Nevertheless, neither Ou Yangming, Wu Yuanwei, nor Hong Feiyu looked at it.
Wu Yuanwei laughed out loud. “Brother Hong, don’t worry, Master Ou and I already have a solution for that.”
Hong Feiyu was startled. “I’d like to hear about it.”
“The Wu family has a secret technique—the Simulated Spiritual Fist. The fist technique can yield unusually brilliant results when it’s used by Master Ou, by which he can help cultivators at the peak of Yang Grade break through their limits to enter Extreme Grade,” Wu Yuanwei explained proudly.
“What? That’s too good to be true…” Hong Feiyu was in disbelief.
It was a hot topic in the capital, so everyone had heard about it. However, the Humans’ disaster happened, thus the news remained in the capital without being spread to the other counties.
Ou Yangming smiled. “It’s just a small deceptive trick. I made myself a laughing stock, Brother Hong.”
Hong Feiyu was stupefied, and he screamed internally, ‘Is that even a small trick?’
At this point, he finally understood why Wu Yuanwei made the promise that would last a century. Perhaps a miracle would really happen to the young man.
Chapter 533 - Danzhou In The Spiritual Realm
The Spiritual Realm was the upper realm known by countless people in the lower realm.
Spiritualists were not innumerable in this realm, but they were not rare at all. This was because the universe’s spiritual power was incredibly rich in this realm, and it could not be imagined by the people from the lower realm at all.
One could certainly yield twice the result by doing half the work if one cultivated in the Spiritual Realm. Most importantly, due to the difference in the richness of the universe’s spiritual power, powerhouses that enter the Spirit Grade in this realm would not be tested by the Heavenly Thunderbolts.
The Heavenly Punishment would only be a concern for the Venerable Ones.
Danzhou.
This was a plot of land in the Spiritual Realm, and the Humans and the Demons there were well-matched in strength. They had been fighting each other for years and had their fair shares of wins and losses.
Among the Humans, 9 great sects or inherited aristocratic families had been dominating Danzhou for the past century, and they were the pillar of the people. On this day, the top-notch powerhouses from the 9 sects gathered at the peak of Mount Wuzhi.
The peak had been flattened by an unknown powerhouse long ago, where big buildings and pavilions were even built. It became a luxurious place.
Inside the biggest tall building, 9 Venerable Ones sat on the ground.
The best dishes in the Spiritual Realm were laid out in front of them, by which innate spiritual Qi could be found in them. It was worth noting that the dishes were extremely rare even in this realm, but the powerhouses did not pay attention to them at all.
At the center of the group was Lingfeng the Venerable One, which was also the lord of Mount Wuzhi. He was a thin man, and faint lights could be seen in his eyes when he blinked.
Lingfeng the Venerable One sighed when he looked at the people who were either meditating or wandering in outer space in front of him. “Fellow friends, my disciple has offered the salutation, and you’ve all voted in favor of it. Now, let’s discuss how we should treat Ou Yangming from the lower realm.”
A cold voice was suddenly heard after a brief moment. “What do you think, fellow Lingfeng?”
The person that spoke was Hualing the Venerable One from the Huafeng Pavilion. He was not superb as compared to the other Venerable Ones, but he had exceptional personal connections, hence nobody dared to offend him easily.
Lingfeng the Venerable One pondered and answered, “From my perspective, since that young fella can help us from the lower realm, we don’t need to be too stingy, so I think we can offer him 0.2% of our profit.”
“Heh, isn’t 0.2% too much?” Hualing the Venerable One smiled faintly. “How dare a mere Spirit Grade cultivator threaten us? He doesn’t know his place.”
He spoke casually, but he did not hide his strong killing intent at all.
Given their identities, it was difficult for ordinary Spirit Grade cultivators to meet them, so how could a fe
llow that advanced to Spirit Grade by luck in the lower realm have the guts to make a request? If the fellow was right beside him at the moment, he would have slapped him to death right away.
“Fellow Hualing, without their cooperation in the lower realm, we might not be able to build the passage at all.” Lingfeng the Venerable One furrowed his eyebrows and added after a pause, “Anything can happen in the vast and endless space. Without absolute confidence, I’m sure you won’t risk it, right?”
As mentioned by him, if they wanted to build the passage but only searched from one side, not only would it waste time and energy, but there would not be a high success rate. If both sides worked together, the situation would be entirely different.
“Fellow Lingfeng, rewards and punishments must be given where they’re due—this is what we base ourselves on.” Hualing the Venerable One grinned. “Since that young fellow from the lower realm can help us build the passage, it’ll be fine for us to reward him, but he also needs to be punished because he offended us. How do you think he should be punished, my fellow friends?” He glanced at the others with a smile.
“Haha.” An elder with a gorgeous tall crown laughed. “Since that fella’s so impolite, let’s just turn him into ashes.”
The other people did not bat an eyelid as though they were indifferent toward the matter.
In actuality, why would they care about a Spiritualist from the lower realm?
Lingfeng the Venerable One’s face darkened. “Fellow Taihe, it doesn’t seem appropriate for us to act in bad faith.”
Taihe the Venerable One expressed, “Who does the fella think he is? How can he negotiate with us? Since he’s courting death, why don’t we just fulfill his wish?”
The Venerable One was from the Sword Sect. He was one of the best powerhouses among them, so much so that even Lingfeng the Venerable One dared not say he could defeat him.
Lingfeng the Venerable One looked around and sighed. He initially wanted to keep it a secret but judging from the situation, it seemed like he could not hide it anymore.
“Fellow Lingfeng, I’m quite curious about the reason you’re treating that fellow differently. Why did you suggest that we offer him such a big portion of our profit?” Hualing the Venerable One blurted. He raised his eyebrows and questioned, “Could it be that the fella has another deal with Mount Wuzhi?”
“You’re going overboard, Fellow Hualing. Don’t you know the kind of person fellow Lingfeng is?” A grim-looking man suddenly opened his eyes and remarked. He scoffed and added, “In my opinion, we should keep our word. Hmph, if someone isn’t sincere and anyhow breaks promises, I can’t be bothered to work with that person.”
Everyone else including Lingfeng the Venerable One was stunned, and they looked at him in disbelief.
After some time, Hualing the Venerable One asked, “Zhiming the Venerable One, what do you mean?”
Zhiming the Venerable One did not show a weak impression at all. He responded coldly, “I made it quite clear. Did you not understand what I said?”
“Uhm, you don’t have to do this. Isn’t it just a Spirit Grade cultivator? He’s not worth us getting angry over, but…” Another person spoke. He smiled faintly as he asked, “I think Zhiming the Venerable One has a point. If we openly break our promise, how can we gain the trust of others in the future?”
The person that spoke had a friendly face. He was Yuqi the Venerable One from the Beast King Sect.
Everyone fell silent after he supported Zhiming the Venerable Out. They seemed to be finally considering the problem seriously.
In actual fact, so-called promises had different importances to powerhouses of their level.
If both sides involved were evenly matched, the promise would be unbreakable; if there was a huge disparity between both parties, the situation would be completely different.
Hualing the Venerable One initially thought that apart from the Venerable One from Mount Wuzhi, the ones from the other sects would agree with him. Even if the Beast King Sect’s inheritance in the lower realm was good friends with the young fellow, their Venerable One would not openly oppose the idea.
Who knew, before the Beast King Sect even expressed their opinion, Zhiming the Venerable One stood out and openly objected to the idea. The change truly caught Hualing the Venerable One off guard.
The other people fell silent and pondered what was at stake, and they also secretly guessed why Zhiming the Venerable One acted out of character.
Zhiming the Venerable One had always been a stubborn person and was not on good terms with Mount Wuzhi, so the others figured that there must be a special reason he turned his coat this time.
Lingfeng the Venerable One suddenly laughed after a long time. “Frankly speaking, Ou Yangming’s cultivation base isn’t high, but he has quite a high level of attainment in the path of space; he can refine interspatial bags.”
“What?”
Everyone else was dumbfounded, and they began to look fervent.
The imperial family was the only one that knew Ou Yangming could refine interspatial bags; the Ni family was also clueless.
After hearing about the news, the Venerable Ones that disapproved of the condition earlier began to change their minds.
“I see. Okay, I agree with your condition, fellow Lingfeng.” Hualing the Venerable One laughed out loud. He turned to say to Zhiming the Venerable One, “You received the news quite fast, fellow Zhiming.”
Zhiming the Venerable One curled his lips as though he was smiling, but he thought, ‘Given that he’s with a powerhouse from the Phoenixes, it’ll be impossible even if he didn’t want to grasp interspatial power…’
Lingfeng the Venerable One chuckled. “Since we’ve decided, let’s start preparing. Hehe, with the lower realm’s support, our strength will definitely improve.” Following that, he glanced half-intentionally at Zhiming the Venerable One and wondered, ‘How was the news leaked? Is there a traitor in our sect…’
※※※※
Inside a massive cave, a black eight-legged lizard the length of several hundred meters crouched quietly. It looked like a giant statue as it had not moved an inch for a few hours.
All of a sudden, black smoke arose slowly in front of it.
The black smoke appeared quite strangely as if it appeared out of thin air. It spiraled and rose to the height of the eight-legged lizard’s head.
Eventually, the black smoke agglomerated and turned into the form of a human.
“Ghost-clawed Venerable One, it has been a long time.”
The humongous eight-legged lizard slowly opened its eyes. It was not surprised by the black figure, which showed up without warning.
“Hmph, Blood Devil, how dare you show up in front of me?” The eight-legged lizard uttered coldly. Its voice was filled with threat.
The black figure laughed and responded, “Honorable Ghost-clawed Venerable One, we provided you with intelligence and the Inescapable Trap, so why aren’t you pleased?”
“Blood Devils like you only please that being.” The eight-legged lizard moved a little, and the aura around it seemed to have been activated. “What intelligence do you have for me this time? I hope you won’t disappoint me.”
“Ghost-clawed Venerable One, we won’t let you down for sure.” The black figure bowed and continued, “We received news that the Humans from Danzhou are going to pay an enormous price to connect the lower realm. At the same time, they’ll also send that person into the Spiritual Realm.”
“What? That person.” Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s eyes gleamed. Deep inside its bright eyes, a greedy look could be seen.
“Yes, that person.” The black figure smirked. “We have a way to…” He eventually spoke softer, but Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s eyes shone brighter.
Chapter 534 - The Great Assembly Of The Yang Grades
Outside the capital, crude buildings were built.
Although plenty of resources were provided by the imperial family, some time was needed to turn
those resources into premises. Besides, given that they had to be completed within a fixed time frame, they could not be perfect.
One after another, various masters from the Humans’ 8 counties arrived.
They were served by dedicated servants, and each of them was at the peak of Yang Grade.
The powerhouses were of different ages, by which some already had white hair while some were in the prime of their lives. Nonetheless, without any exception, they were all joyful.
Some time ago, the imperial family and the inherited aristocratic families from the 8 counties were acting abnormally as they were at swords’ points and were giving each other tit for tat. In particular, the inherited aristocratic families from the 8 counties had constrained their respective governor and commanding general. It was as though an opportunity was all it would take for the world to end up in havoc.
The Humans’ disaster had just ended, but there were already signs of a civil war.
Ordinary people might not be so sharp, but the powerhouses at the peak of Yang Grade could not stay out of the matter.
Faced with the internal strife, which was bound to involve the entire human race, they had no choice but to pick a side.
The imperial family and the inherited aristocratic families did everything they could to rope in these cultivators at the peak of Yang Grade for this. Even so, apart from the deeply-imprinted powerhouses from those clans, very few people made their decisions.
Nevertheless, everyone knew the breakout of the civil war would be their last chance to make a choice.
Just as everyone thought the war would be inevitable, there was a sudden change.
Without warning, the initial confrontation between both sides disappeared, and the cultivators at the peak of Yang Grade received a notice.
The imperial family and the inherited aristocratic families joined hands and ordered all powerhouses at the peak of Yang Grade to head to an appointed place in the capital. Master Ou Yangming—the greatest hero that resolved the Humans’ disaster—would perform the Simulated Spiritual Fist to help the powerhouses break through their limits to enter Extreme Grade.
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