by <unknown>
Right when everybody thought that he was going to step on the plank, Yan Liren suddenly vanished without a sign.
The next second, however, he appeared on the head of Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar who was standing on the top of the crooked tree, with four sharpest edges glittering around him!
Nobody saw how he leapt up and took off his shoes and socks. Nobody could tell where he found the four swords that he was wielding with both hands and both feet!
The four streaks of brilliance instantly multiplied into forty, four hundred, and four thousand streaks when they met the wind, enveloping Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar like crazily dancing snakes!
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar screamed. He jumped backward in a hurry and put the tobacco pipe that was on his back into his mouth. Then, he spurted out a mouthful of smoke, which turned into vivid ermines that seemed to be alive and swallowed all the sword auras!
"What are you doing, Yan Liren?" Ba Xiaoyu craned his neck out of the colorful smoke and shouted angrily, "I was kind enough to invite you to the party. Is this how you reward hospitality?"
"Nothing."
After launching four thousand sword auras instantly, the four swords disappeared without any trace as unpredictably as they appeared.
Yan Liren landed on the plank softly before he spoke to Ba Xiaoyu who was still hiding in the colorful smoke in midair. "I just wanted to tell you that the technique to control four swords with four limbs has been grasped by me. However, it cannot increase the power of a sword by four times as you claimed. The best it can do is double it."
While speaking to him, Yan Liren picked up a barrel of wine without greeting anybody else. He broke the seal and poured half the barrel of wine into his mouth before he smacked his lips and mumbled, "Drunk Sword?"
Deep in thought, he poured the remaining half the barrel into his throat.
"You—"
Shouting angrily, Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar dashed out of the colorful smoke. It was not until then that everybody realized why he was reluctant to get out.
As it turned out, Yan Liren's swords were so fast and sharp that, although he managed to evade the sword auras, his ragged clothes had been ripped apart. They were dangling from his body like broken clothes. He could not have looked more devastated.
"This wine is good. I feel like I'm onto something!" Yan Liren broke the seal of a second barrel of wine and said seriously, "If I grasp the 'Drunk Sword' one day, I will practice with you again, Brother Ba!"
Ba Xiaoyu shrank his neck and stopped talking. He snatched a barrel of wine, widened his eyes, and poured it into his mouth, too.
Yan Liren was still drinking while touching his sword.
Holding the wine barrel angrily, Ba Xiaoyu seemed to be planning to chew the container.
Holding a bailer of wine in his hand, Master Bitter Cicada was not in a hurry to drink it. Instead, he was savoring the thickness of the wine. The pity on his face was more or less dispersed by the fragrance of the wine.
Leaning against the crooked tree, Qi Zhongdao looked rather lonely when he gazed at the lively Roaring Tiger City that was ablaze with lights. Silently, he simply poured the barrels of wine into his mouth. His dark face was slowly glowing red, as if he were an iron block that was being heated from inside to outside.
Li Yao was sipping the wine slowly while he secretly observed the top experts in the world who all looked rather interesting. The depression in his heart was more or less dissolved by them.
The five of them were all super experts close to or beyond the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage. The delicious wine in the mortal world would not have intoxicated them even if there was a whole warehouse of it.
However, the wine that they were drinking was the secret medical wine brewed by Roaring Tiger Hall specifically for the three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Duan family. Besides the bear hearts, the leopard gallbladders, and the tiger bones, almost a hundred incredible Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had been mixed into it, which made the wine nurturing and narcotic even for the powerful Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.
Very soon, the dozens of barrels of wine were split up by the five of them.
Among them, Li Yao and Master Bitter Cicada drank the least. They basically shared only one barrel.
The other three, however, seemed to be having a competition with each other. They each poured more than ten barrels into their mouth.
'Iron Saint' Qi Zhongdao's eyes were completely bloodshot.
Chapter 1440: The Wine Tank Named World! |
Huala!
A wine barrel was smashed into pieces next to the plank. The broken pieces rained upon Iron Saint Qi Zhongdao's face due to the counterforce.
"Why?" Qi Zhongdao sounded like a cluster of cold ice enveloped by scorching fire. He said painfully, "Why do the Cultivators from the main sects not understand the importance of the big picture at all? As long as a sect provides a tiny bit of food, millions of disaster victims will be spared, so they will not cause any trouble or be manipulated by Mother White Lotus!
"This is the best approach to prevent a ghoul army from appearing. It is certainly much better than slaying evil in a hurry after thousands of ghouls have shown up, isn't it?
"But—but I didn't know that their duplicity would be so appalling!
"Thankfully, Fellow Cultivator Ba, you revealed the schemes of Roaring Tiger Hall and the Black Devil Cult in time and gave us a reason to attack Roaring Tiger City. We have fortunately found a large batch of food that is enough for us to pass the crisis!
"What would've happened without Fellow Cultivator Ba's tremendous help today? Would they have felt satisfied when they saw millions of disaster victims die and turn into aggressive ghouls? I really don't know if those people have a heart or a brain!
"Yes. We seem to have resolved the crisis with the assets confiscated from Roaring Tiger City. However, none of the heroes in the world are blind and can see through their blatant petty tricks easily! Through such approaches, they may gain slightly for now, but all the southeastern sects will be disheartened. The reputation of the main sects of central plateaus has been trampled on! How are we going to cooperate with the southeastern sects in the future when there is absolutely no trust between us?
"Shortsighted, penny wise, and pound foolish, yet they are still gloating. That is simply too idiotic!"
Qi Zhongdao cursed aloud with the boost of the wine until he was trembling. His eyes seemed to be on fire, and crimson magma was about to flow out.
He swallowed. His throat uttered a weird sound, as if his vocal cords were burningly hot. His voice shivered as he said, "The Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty seem to be in their heyday, but does anyone here, as a top expert in the world of Cultivators, not know the truth?
"The White Lotus Cult is savaging the southeast, the Heaven Battering Army is stomping on the northwest, and Ghost Qin is coveting from the north. One moment of carelessness, and we will be doomed forever!
"At such a dire time, all the main sects are still profiting at the expense of others, busy in conspiracies and internal conflicts. Even the rules on the surface are now being kicked away and utterly disregarded!
"If things go on like this, the country will no longer be a country! Even if the White Lotus Cult, the Heaven Battering Army, and Ghost Qin were just minor diseases in the beginning, if the Cultivators continue messing around like this, they will escalate into fatal illnesses soon. When the illnesses are too severe to be treated, it will be too late for regrets!
"If the Great Qian Dynasty does fall apart, there will be at least a hundred years of lawless bloody wars. All the sects and Cultivators will be involved in the turbulence. They will either live like a devil or die the most miserable death!
"If the Great Qian Dynasty is a high tower, the Cultivation sects and the Cultivators are already at the highest level of the tower. What benefits can we get by destroying the tower? Why can't those people understand such simple logic?"
Clenching his fists, he was going to pu
nch the crooked tree hard.
However, the half-dead, shaking crooked tree somehow reminded him of something. He simply turned the direction of his fists and slapped his thigh hard.
"Brother Qi, don't be so anxious. What you said is the most correct and sensible logic." Ba Xiaoyu was also half drunk. Belching, he said with a smile, "But correct and sensible as it is, you have been working as the leader of all the Cultivators for too long to understand what is on the mind of those below you.
"Yes. Food is just a minor issue right now. The price of food in other places is still low.
"However, what will happen when the influences of the natural disasters spread and when the harvest season comes without a harvest?
"Then, the food price will soar possibly by ten to twenty times. Famine will doubtlessly spread through the southeast area. The Cultivation sects in the southeast will be willing to pay any price for the precious food to consolidate their forces!
"If the food is delivered here and now to solve the imminent trouble in the southeast, what benefits can you get except for the gratitude of the poor folks?
"However, if you wait until the southeast is short of food in the harvest season, you will be able to sell your food at an astronomical price!
"Don't be so hasty to argue. I'm not done yet. The great profits in the harvest season are just part of the reason. There's another reason that is even more important. You can steal talents here!
"The southeast is a place where the spiritual energy in the world congregates. The ordinary folks here, nurtured by the natural spiritual energy, have a much higher chance of awakening their spiritual roots than the folk elsewhere do. They all make the best apprentices for training!
"Before, this place was dominated by the southeastern sects, and it was difficult for foreign sects to recruit disciples here!
"The natural disasters, however, give the sects from central plateaus a great opportunity to act in collusion and get what they want!
"No one wants to leave their home for an unfamiliar Cultivation sect far away and struggle like a dog for a slim chance of survival unless they absolutely have no choice.
"If you really deliver enough food here, allowing the disaster victims to survive the crisis peacefully, how many of them will willingly be recruited by you? Even if they do want to join a Cultivation sect, they can always choose a local force in the southeast!
"Therefore, even if there is food, it must not be fed to the disaster victims so easily. They must be half-starved first so that they will be fascinated by the thin porridge. Then, after realizing that there is plenty of food in the sects in the central plateaus and it is their only chance of survival, they will participate in the entrance tests hosted by the main sects.
"Only the strong, talented folks will be given enough food after they pass the entrance tests and sign the lifelong indenture!
"In such a way, the Cultivation sects will build up their own force with the elites of the southeast while diminishing the potential of the southeastern sects without offending anyone. Is it not the most ideal plan?"
"This is against the rules!" His eyes bloodshot, Qi Zhongdao declared angrily, "Recruiting disciples in the territory of other sects across the border is very likely to raise large-scale friction and riots. There will be major chaos. I never did such a thing when I was the leader of the Grand Mystery Sect!"
"It's a pity that you are not the leader of the Grand Mystery Sect right now, Brother Qi. Forgive my bluntness, brother, but is there any essential difference between a 'grand leader' and a wife who is divorced from her husband?"
With a sharp tongue, Ba Xiaoyu grimaced. "Brother Qi, do you still think that we are not already in chaos? Rules only make sense if everyone respects them. If I am the only one who respects the rules while the rest don't, won't I be at a huge disadvantage? I'm no fool. Why would I respect the bullsh*t rules at all, even if the rules come from the well-respected leader of all the Cultivators? Such rules are utterly meaningless!"
As if struck by lightning, Qi Zhongdao was dazed for a long time. He suddenly laughed in amusement. "Excellent. Excellent. You couldn't be more right, Fellow Cultivator Ba! I am no leader of all Cultivators at all; I am just a champion at anyone's mercy!
"When the main sects were planning to threaten the emperor together, they remembered me as a 'leader' and respected me as much as they could. After the emperor and Wang Xi fell, did any of them regard me as a leader at all?
"When the main sects went to intimidate the Purple Pole Sword Sect and split its enormous interests, I became a high and mighty 'leader', supported by everyone again, and I had to fight a life-and-death battle with 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren! After the interests were divided and the Dragon Spring Meeting ended, did I matter to any of them at all?
"Because of the natural disasters in the southeast, somebody was required to go through all the trouble summoning the forces in the world and moderating the messy relations among them. So, I became the leader again! Even during the attack on Roaring Tiger City, the 'leader' had to lead the charge. Then, if 'Emperor Phoenix' burst into fury in the future, blaming us for acting without permission, I would certainly be the one guilty of the crime!
"Haha. Leader, leader. Is there such a bullsh*t leader in the world?"
Heartbroken, Qi Zhongdao was roaring toward the sky.
"Fellow Cultivator Qi, you are drunk," Master Bitter Cicada said.
"I am indeed drunk. I've been drunk for so long that I thought that I could change the world and everything by myself!" Qi Zhongdao sat down on the plank and sighed. "But why is this happening? Why can't any of them look ahead into the future and consider the big picture and the interests of all the Cultivators?
"I always had high hopes for Master Dawn Moon and thought that he would be able to lead the world of Cultivators with his charisma as the manager of the largest sect in the world! He never disappointed me in the past. I don't know when he became so unworthy!"
"Perhaps, it is not Fellow Cultivator Dawn Moon who has changed but this world."
Tapping the empty wine barrel with his bailer, Master Bitter Cicada sighed.
"Perhaps, this world has already turned into an impenetrable wine barrel that is filled with the dirty, filthy wine brewed with fame, fortune, and power. Those who fall into the barrel are drifting up and down in the wine. How can they not become intoxicated?"
Chapter 1441: A Road Up Ahead! |
Li Yao could not help but observe, "I'm an uncivilized barbarian, and I don't understand what you are implying. However, I do find your gloom and depression very peculiar. You are mostly at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, and few people in the entire world are a match for you. If this world is truly an impenetrable, filthy wine tank that dissatisfies you, why don't you just smash it into pieces?"
"Smash it into pieces?"
With a bitter smile, Qi Zhongdao mumbled while gazing at the intense darkness far away. "Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, you don't understand. This wine tank is made of the hardest metal and does not have a single gap. It is also filled with the most narcotic and intoxicating liquor. How can you smash it when you are soaked inside the darkness without seeing any light?
"I know that you have come to the central plateaus from the Southland of Sorcerers for the pursuit of invincibility. However, hehe, what can you do even if you are truly invincible? You can only demonstrate your power in the dark, sunless wine tank, and it is going to be arduous to take one step out of the tank!"
"Leaving aside the Four Rapscallions and the emperor, the five of us are basically the five strongest Cultivators in the entire world," Li Yao said solemnly. "Are we not able to carry out our will the way we want?"
Qi Zhongdao shook his hands and pointed his index finger at the lively Roaring Tiger City far away. "If you want fame and fortune and everyone's reverence, or if you want to train in seclusion striving for the ultimate Divinity Transformation Stage, you will of course be able to fulfil your desires. Everybody will respect you
and cater to your every need. You will feel that you are on top of the world!
"However, if you want to change the world, does the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage mean anything at all? You are just another struggling bug inside the giant wine tank!
"It's true that the five of us have the highest Cultivation in the entire world. General Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are absolutely no match for us. But so what? There are dozens of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and hundreds of Core Formation Stage Cultivators inside Roaring Tiger City right now. Even if the five of us join our hands, can we suppress them and force them to listen to our commands obediently and offer all the food and resources?
"Even if the five of us were ten times stronger than we are now and boasted the ability to suppress and crush them, so what? The detailed affairs have to be accomplished by someone specific. So, they will still have a chance to meddle. The substitutes may be dutiful at first, but after three days, they will be as corrupted at their predecessors!
"Besides, who can do such a thing as butcher dozens of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and hundreds of Core Formation Stage Cultivators in a row? Wouldn't they be the greatest evil in the world and an enemy for all the Cultivators in the world? By then, the entire world will be in turbulence. Is it any good?"
Qi Zhongdao's sigh silenced the few top experts.
"I did not know that you had such keen eyes, Fellow Cultivator Qi," Master Bitter Cicada observed.
"My eyes are always keen." Pointing at the front, half drunk, Qi Zhongdao said, "But before, I was always reluctant to look at everything carefully. Today, I have to admit that there is no road ahead of us!"
The few Cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage looked at where he was pointing at.
There was nothing but the mud brought there by the flood between the gloomy sky and earth. It looked like a boundless swamp without any path on it.
Li Yao, Qi Zhongdao, Yan Liren, Master Bitter Cicada, and Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar all stared at the roadless swamp in a daze.
