“Azure Dragon, there’s no need to explain why I won’t kill you, right? The dragon clan lets you stay in the Northern Territory so it must consider you important. If I killed you, it would casually send an old monster over here and then even the inner ruler wouldn’t be able to protect me.”
As a member of the dragon clan, Yan Mo naturally knows how powerful it is.
“As for the Stellar Tower, I heard it has the backing of a loose immortal who is tower master Qin Yu’s uncle, right? Azure Dragon, tell me, what’s the level of that loose immortal?” Yan Mo says smilingly to Azure Dragon in a seemingly very enthusiastic manner.
Azure Dragon looks frowningly at him: “Yan Mo, at that time you were very grim and arrogant. Since when have you become so oily?”
Yan Mo is startled.
Grim and arrogant?
When he was still in the Yan family in the past, he was indeed grim and arrogant and different from his peers. However … after so many years of struggling for survival in the Wilderness, he has changed a lot.
Remembering his days in the dragon clan and his experiences in so many years, Yan Mo falls into a trance, but he wakes up immediately then says smilingly to Azure Dragon: “I asked you but you replied with a question. Just tell me what loose immortal level tower master Qin Yu’s uncle has actually reached.”
“I don’t know for sure.”
Azure Dragon’s eyes have a tinge of doubt: “Yan Mo, Qin Yu’s Uncle Lan is extremely strong. I feel that he’s even more formidable than the strongest experts I’ve seen in the dragon clan, which means he’s … at least a 6th tribulation loose immortal.”
“At least a 6th tribulation loose immortal?” Yan Mo falls silent.
“I once saw that Uncle Lan teleport both Qin Yu and Hou Fei directly with him. Teleportation is a magic power only 4th tribulation loose immortals and above can use. Qin Yu’s Uncle Lan can even teleport 2 others with him. This power level …” Azure Dragon shakes his head with a forced smile.
Yan Mo’s expression becomes solemn: “He may not only be a 6th tribulation loose immortal.”
At this moment, after hearing what Yan Mo and Azure Dragon just said to each other, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng look coldly at Reverend Yan Xu. This is because in the past Reverend Yan Xu told them that Uncle Lan was merely a common loose immortal and did not deserve attention.
However, now, judging from what they just heard, it seems that Uncle Lan is awfully powerful.
They must treat any loose immortal who has overcome the 4th tribulation carefully, not to mention a 6th tribulation loose immortal. Even the headmasters of their schools on the Teng Long continent will have to treat such a super expert with caution too.
“Ha-ha, brother Qin Yu.” Yan Mo embraces Qin Yu’s shoulders.
Qin Yu cannot help getting frightened inwardly, but he still suppresses the thought of attacking Yan Mo. Even though he is worried by Yan Mo embracing his shoulders, he believes that Yan Mo will not attack him.
While hugging Qin Yu’s shoulders, Yan Mo says enthusiastically: “Brother Qin Yu, you don’t have to worry. Even if I’m bold, I don’t have a death wish. Your Uncle Lan can probably destroy me with just a finger. Dacheng stage divine beasts will be no match for him either. So … do you think I’ll dare to kill you?”
Qin Yu says nothing.
Everybody understands this reason, but there is no need to say it out. This Yan Mo fellow … is really strange.
Qin Yu also feels that after knowing about Uncle Lan’s power, Yan Mo treats him very differently.
“So everybody has understood, right? In spite of my background, if I die, the dragon clan probably won’t care about me. Azure Dragon, you should know that I’m not lying, right?” There is a faint forced smile on the corners of Yan Mo’s mouth.
Azure Dragon slightly nods his head.
When Yan Mo was young, he was frivolous and ignorant so he left the dragon clan. Losing the strong backing of the clan was not a blessing to him. Under the wing of the dragon clan, he would not necessarily have been unable to really mature.
Yan Mo glances at everybody and says with a smile: “See, I’m at least not stupid enough to provoke you. As for why I killed the 3 Di brothers, humph, they were merely 3 Purple Demon aquatic dragons with no backing. I’m even doubtful about … why you let the Nine Demons Hall become a major power in the overseas Xiuzhen world.”
There is incomprehension in his eyes: “The Nine Demons Hall doesn’t have experts, nor does it have any backing.”
“Even so, they still wanted to go to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion to contend for treasures. Weren’t they afraid that immortal-class weapons would be too hot for them to handle?” The look in Yan Mo’s eyes is disdainful. Obviously, among the 6 major powers of the overseas Xiuzhen world, he looks down on the Nine Demons Hall the most. This is also the reason why he got into action.
Yan Mo looks at everybody, saying: “They’re a power with no experts or backing, I’m curious to know why you didn’t kill them to take their jade sword, which in the end suited my convenience?”
After everybody heard Yan Mo say these words, their hostility decreases.
Azure Dragon says smilingly: “Yan Mo, when I and Three-Eyed were fighting each other fiercely in the past, these 9 little worms appeared. By relying on formations and joining forces, they could greatly improve their power. Even I found it a little troublesome to deal with them so we simply let them become the 3rd major power in the underwater Xiuyao world, which is located between me and Three-Eyed, to make it more stable.”
“Oh, I see.” Yan Mo understands.
The Nine Demons Hall is just a balancing element. The Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion were about equally powerful and had been fighting so fiercely that they did not want to fight anymore, so they have been allowing the Nine Demons Hall to exist as a buffer zone between them. In fact, both the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion have never thought highly of the Nine Demons Hall.
……
In the place where the soul jade slips of the Nine Demons Hall are kept,
Every day, someone comes to check this place once. Today, the time for checking has come again. The guard squad leader lazily opens the gate of the place with drooping eyes and takes a glance at the counter.
There should be only 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf because, after all, the other 5 majesties are already dead.
“Ah!” That squad leader’s eyes pop out of his head. His jaw drops. He seems to be saying something, but no sounds are coming out. At the moment, he is totally scared stiff, as if he has been struck by lightning.
The 2 most powerful majesties of the Nine Demons Hall are Di Long and Di Jian. Even though 5 other majesties already died, as long as these 2 are around, the Nine Demons Hall will be fairly stable.
However --
Now only 1 among the 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf is intact. The 3 soul jade slips of Di Long, Di Jian and Di Xu have shattered completely. The squad leader of course understands the meaning of this.
He swallows hard with his dry throat. Knowing that this is a serious matter, he does not even dare to shout and tries to calm his fear. He then executes the hand sign for closing the gate and rushes towards Di Nai’s palace.
“9th majesty, the squad leader of the soul jade slips’ keeping place requests an audience.”
“Let him come in.”
Di Nai’s expression is somewhat unsightly. The squad leader in charge of the soul jade slips is the one he does not want to see the most because when this guy comes, that means at least a relatively important member of the Nine Demons Hall has died.
The squad leader suddenly kneels down upon his entrance.
When Di Nai sees the squad leader’s behavior, his heart immediately skips a beat.
At the moment, the squad leader’s eyes are slightly red, there is terror deep in his pupils and his lips are white. Even though he is trying to suppress his fear, his expression says it all. W
hat can actually terrify the squad leader like this?
“Say it. What happened?” Di Nai shouts coldly. His breathing becomes heavy.
“9th, 9th majesty.” The squad leader’s throat is very dry like that of a traveller who has not drunk water for a very long time. “9th majesty, great majesty and the other majesties, they … they …”
Hearing this, Di Nai only feels his head spinning. But there is still a glimmer of hope left in him. He continues to ask: “Tell me clearly. What happened to them? If you lie, I’ll destroy your soul.”
There is only a glimmer of hope.
“They are dead. All of them are already dead.” Right after saying this, the squad leader sits down in paralysis. Even so, he feels much less worried now. A moment ago, he was under very great pressure because he was suppressing such a big matter in his heart.
“I got it. You can go, but don’t tell anybody about this.” Di Nai says calmly as if nothing has happened.
“Yes.” That squad leader hurriedly goes backwards.
Di Nai then keeps sitting in his chair, looking very collected. However, he does not notice that his face has turned dreadfully pale.
A blank, his mind is a blank.
Di Nai remains seated in this way. He appears to be not thinking, but in fact his mind is thinking about many things. Now time is basically meaningless to him. Only when a long time has passed does he feel that his heart is in … great pain.
The ladies-in-waiting of the palace simply do not dare to approach him. He has been sitting in such an apathetic manner for 3 whole days, but the ladies-in-waiting do not know that, to him, these 3 days seemed endless and also seemed instantaneous.
“Phew, phew, phew …” Di Nai breathes heavily like a pair of bellows. His mind is dizzy. After an indeterminate period of time, he begins to feel rotten. With a purple expression, he grabs the part of his chest near the heart with his right hand. His heart is in a lot of pain, a tearing pain.
“Big brother, 2nd brother, 3rd brother, 4th brother …” One after another, images of the 9 brothers roaming the underwater Xiuyao world in the past emerge in his eyes.
“No, my brothers aren’t necessarily dead. They may be living. Right, that squad leader must’ve lied to me. He lied to me.” Di Nai says in a low voice. His eyes then turn crimson, making him look like a psycho. In an instant, he goes out of the main hall and rushes straight towards the keeping place of the soul jade slips.
Chapter 4: Crisis
Slowly --
The gate opens.
Di Nai sees that 3 of the 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf of the counter have already shattered, which means his last 3 brothers are already dead. He falls silent at this moment then slowly enters the room and performs the hand sign for shutting the gate.
He stands alone in front of the old-wood counter, looking at the 3 shattered soul jade slips.
When the 9 Purple Demon aquatic dragons were young, they had to run from place to place unceasingly in the dangerous underwater Xiuyao world. Whether in killing, robbing or fleeing, the 9 brothers always stuck together. Their brotherhood was even more important than their lives.
However, now, 8 of the 9 brothers have died and only one of them remains.
“Ha-ha …” Di Nai laughs in a very low voice. His laughter is very soft. Afterwards, he is unexpectedly all smiles: “Brothers, at that time the 9 of us were roaming the underwater Xiuyao world in such a wild, glorious manner, but now all of you are already gone. The only one of us left in this world is me, your 9th brother.”
Di Nai sits down at will. A bottle of wine appears in his hand out of thin air. He then drinks a mouthful and says slowly to the shattered soul jade slips: “Brothers, we didn’t suffer any big losses for so many years, but several years ago, 8th brother died.”
Di Nai frowns because it is exactly Di Tong’s death that led to a train of events which successively caused the deaths of his brothers.
“After 8th brother died, 2nd brother also died. Then 3 of you died continuously on that black rock island. In just a short time, 5 of you died successively. But even though we knew the killers were Hou Fei and Qin Yu, we feared that loose immortal and didn’t dare to kill them to avenge our brothers’ deaths. Every time I think about this, I feel like a knife is piercing my heart.”
Di Nai’s breathing starts to quiver. He then takes another mouthful of wine.
“But today … the last 3 of you have died as well. Dead, all of you are already dead … I can still vaguely see the images of the 9 of us before my eyes, but now there’s only me left. I … would still have no brothers even if I searched the entire world.”
After saying so, Di Nai slowly drinks wine in silence. There is unexpectedly a hint of relaxation on his face as he enjoys the fine wine, an expression of complete disregard and unconcern. Now he is totally different from he was before.
To each of the Di brothers, his brothers are his greatest constraint.
Now all of Di Nai’s brothers are already dead, what else can possibly restrict him?
A barefooted man does not have to worry about shoes, as the saying goes. Di Nai’s 8 brothers are dead so he is like a barefooted man.
Di Nai stands up and looks at the shattered soul jade slips with a brilliant smile!
“Brothers, since all of you are dead, I won’t care anymore. In the past I didn’t dare to deal with Qin Yu for fear that I would embroil the living among you. But now with only me left in the world, I don’t need to worry about anything. From today onwards, I’ll definitely live well. Don’t worry, brothers. Those killers … none of them will be able to feel safe.”
The coldness in his eyes looks like it comes from the 9th level of Hell.
Afterwards, he leaves the keeping place of the soul jade slips.
What are the most fearsome enemies? They are not the crazed, bloodthirsty people, but the cool-headed people with nothing to lose whose only goal is to seek revenge. This is the most fearsome kind of enemy.
In the past, the Nine Demons Hall had to restrain itself because several of the Di brothers were still living. However, now that 8 of them have died, as the only survivor, Di Nai no longer fears anything. The most dangerous thing is, after experiencing such a drastic change and suffering such a blow, Di Nai does not go mad. On the contrary, he has become more clear-headed than ever.
Or perhaps, it can be said that he has become cold and cruel.
……
At the moment, in the Wilderness on the Qian Long continent,
“My fellow Xiuzhenists, now we already know where the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is, then when are we going to go open it?” Reverend Yan Xu looks at everybody and asks.
Yan Mo says frowningly: “When are we going to open it? The Qian Long continent is about 200 million li away from that Golden Tree Island. It will take an early Kongming stage expert almost a year to reach that island using his normal speed. But I don’t know about the power levels of the individuals sent by each side so I can’t fix a time either …”
Yi Da says with a cold smile: “My Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon’s men will definitely arrive on the Golden Tree Island in one and a half year.”
“I will need 3 years to reach the Golden Tree Island.” Yan Mo’s words make everybody jump.
“Yan Mo, given your speed, perhaps it’ll take you just a month or two to arrive. Why do you still need 3 years?” Azure Dragon asks. He certainly can guess how fast Yan Mo is. If Yan Mo flies at top speed, even a month will be enough.
Yan Mo says with a nod: “Hong Luan is going to undergo the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation in a while. Dragon Rocky’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation may also come anytime. So, we better take time a bit.”
“3 years, then so be it.” Qin Yu says with a nod.
Hou Fei has already passed the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation but Xiao Hei is going to undergo this tribulation in a half year so Qin Yu is not worried about opening the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion right away.
“Good, that settles it. 3 ye
ars later, we’re going to gather on the Golden Tree Island then go into the Chaotic Astral Ocean together to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. Is this okay?” Yan Mo looks at everybody and says.
Having been waiting for many years, who would mind waiting for 3 more years? In addition, it requires all the 9 jade swords to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. The mansion cannot be opened if any of the jade swords is missing, and each side has at least a jade sword so naturally nobody worries that someone will open the mansion in advance.
Immediately, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Qin Yu, Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed agree with this plan. Afterwards, they all prepare to return.
Stellar Transformations Page 156
