So far, the younger generation of the Tianwu Domain did not think that Xiao Chen surpassed the three Holy Scions by much. However, once Xiao Chen was conferred King and took the title Azure Dragon King, the situation would be different.
To the competitive Xia Houjue, who wanted to rule the Tianwu Domain’s younger generation, Xiao Chen was a major threat.
Thus, it was normal for him to make a move himself to test Xiao Chen’s strength.
However, Xia Houjue was currently in a crucial period for accumulating military merits. If half a year passed and he still did not have a million military merits, he would be in an unfavorable situation where he could not be conferred King.
This was also why Xia Houjue’s appearance had also been something of a surprise to Xiao Chen.
On the Dragon’s Gate warship, Jin Dabao and Lord Jiu heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Xiao Chen rush back.
Jin Dabao fanned himself as he said, “Old Brother Xiao Chen, exactly how many people have you offended? You just stepped out of your place, and you already met with such a horrifying person.”
Xiao Chen smiled. Even he himself could not count the number of people bearing grudges against him.
“Who was that?” Lord Jiu asked curiously.
“The White Emperor City’s Holy Scion, Xia Houjue.”
Lord Jiu sighed and said, “Young Master Xiao, the people that you offended and showed up are becoming increasingly incredible. The White Emperor City’s Holy Master is part of the peak batch of the entire Kunlun Realm.”
A thought occurred to Xiao Chen, so he said, “Old Jiu, you have lived for more than two hundred years. Do you know how many people in the entire Kunlun Continent truly reached the peak?”
Although it had been about six years already since Xiao Chen had first come to the Kunlun Realm, he immersed himself in cultivation, so he did not know much about such matters.
Jin Dabao looked at Lord Jiu with interest as well. Clearly, everyone would be curious about such legendary characters.
With a pleased smile, Lord Jiu said, “It is impossible for you youths to know much about such matters in the first place. This Lord Jiu is not too familiar with the situation in the Heavenly Starry Ocean, so I will not speak much about that. I’ll talk about the five strongest people of the Kunlun Continent’s five Domains belonging to the major races: the Tianwu Domain’s Thunder Sovereign, the Fiend Race’s Spirit Fox King, the Ghost Race’s East Mountain Ghost Monarch, the Corpse Race’s Heaven Punishing Corpse God, and the Deity Race’s Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign.
“These five people are the strongest of the Kunlun Continent today. As for the other Domains, there are the Profound Domain’s Saber Sword Two Sovereigns and the top loose cultivator of the Primal Chaos Domain, the Heavenly Evil Sovereign. However, they are slightly weaker.”
Lord Jiu spoke at length, happily relating the legends of these people to the two. Xiao Chen listened very carefully, boundless anticipation blooming in his heart.
After Lord Jiu finished his storytelling, he added, “There are also some people who can rival these five people in the distant Heavenly Starry Ocean. This Lord Jiu only knows of a Myriad-Law Fiend Master from the Myriad Fiend Palace. I’m not too clear on the others, so I can’t tell you about them.”
The Heavenly Starry Ocean did indeed have people who could rival the five strongest experts of the Tianwu Continent. As far as Xiao Chen knew, the Cyclic Astral Palace’s Palace Master should not be weaker than these five people.
The Thunder Sovereign, the Spirit Fox King, the East Mountain Ghost Monarch, the Heaven Punishing Corpse God, and the Heaven Abandoning Deity Sovereign…I wonder how strong these five are. As I am now, I’m probably not even qualified to meet them.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen recalled that the last time he met Xiao Bai, he had heard that the Spirit Fox King had adopted her.
At that time, he had not known how strong the Spirit Fox King was. Now that he learned from Lord Jiu that the Spirit Fox King was equal to the Thunder Sovereign and the others, he appreciated what a stroke of fortune Xiao Bai had obtained.
Cultivate! Cultivate!
Otherwise, the next time I meet Xiao Bai, I might not even be able to compare with her. That would be a great failure.
The Dragon’s Gate’s warship continued to travel forward. Forgoing idle chatter, Xiao Chen sat at the bow of the warship, prepared to use this time to perfect the Spring Saber of the Flawless Four Seasons.
Xiao Chen had already experienced the increased might of the perfected Winter Saber. If he could perfect the Flawless Four Seasons, it might not be weaker than the Subduing Dragon Profound Slash.
For some reason, Jin Dabao fixated on the spoils on Lord Jiu and was pestering him to let Jin Dabao handle the resources obtained after Lord Jiu converted the spoils, guaranteeing him that he could provide a tenfold return.
Jin Dabao kept bragging about all his glorious deeds in the Sky Dome Realm and unexpectedly managed to excite Lord Jiu.
Half a month later, a crack of spring thunder resounded in the sky above the Dragon’s Gate’s warship, shaking the vessel and preventing it from advancing.
Jin Dabao and Lord Jiu were discussing their grand business plan within the ship’s hold, speaking about important matters and appearing very pleased. When they heard the spring thunder, they quickly rushed out.
When the two got on deck, they smelled the fragrance of flowers. The two were bewildered to find that the surroundings had turned into a forest of peach trees. Peach blossoms filled their vision.
When the spring wind blew, the countless peach blossoms transformed the area into a wonderland.
Xiao Chen sat cross-legged in the depths of the peach forest. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and the crisp sound of a saber rang out. The peach forest disappeared, leaving only a bare branch with peach blossoms in his palm.
Using spring thunder as the primer, he had made peach trees flower for five kilometers around. After half a month, he finally figured out the final hurdle, perfecting the Spring Saber.
He stood up and looked at the branch in his hand. Then, he smiled faintly and tossed it toward the sky.
“Keng Qiang!”
The peach branch half the length of Xiao Chen’s arm suddenly shattered. Countless peach blossoms carrying boundless saber intent flew about in the air, every petal a lethal weapon.
With a thought, Xiao Chen withdrew his Martial Technique with satisfaction. Even after the peach blossoms faded away, their fragrance still lingered in the air. Compared to the biting cold of the Winter Saber, the Spring Saber was much warmer.
However, the might and scope of this move—with five kilometers of peach trees all around—materialized a power no weaker than the Winter Saber’s.
Xiao Chen turned around and asked the two, “Have we arrived at the Profound Domain?” Given the speed of the Dragon’s Gate’s warship, they should have arrived already.
“We arrived three days ago,” Lord Jiu replied.
Xiao Chen took out a letter and handed it to Lord Jiu. “This is a letter I wrote. Bring it to the Ying Clan and look for Ying Qiong. You should not have any problems dealing with that batch of spoils.”
To Ying Qiong, this would be a small matter. She did not even need to make a personal appearance to settle it.
Xiao Chen had more important things to do and did not want to waste any time on this.
“Young Master Xiao, you are not going to come with us?” Lord Jiu asked, finding his instructions strange.
Xiao Chen prodded Jin Dabao’s forehead and left a mark on it. He said, “I still have some things to do. I’ll lend this warship to you first. After I’ve finished with my matters, I will rejoin you.”
After Xiao Chen finished speaking, he jumped off the warship.
Jin Dabao found that he could control this Dragon’s Gate’s warship. Since he could more or less guess what Xiao Chen was going to do, he could understand Xiao Chen’s urgency.
He chuckled, and while Lord Jiu was not paying attention, he grabbed the letter from Xiao Chen. He said, “Remember to follow my instructions when we go to the Ying Clan. This Fat Lord is an expert in this aspect. You will pretend to be this Fat Lord’s manservant to avoid giving the game away and getting the price pushed down.”
Lord Jiu was somewhat confused. Who was the one selling the goods, him or the fatty? How did he end up becoming a manservant?
—
Situ Leihong was the most famous master forger for swords in the Profound Domain. He was a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage that could forge a Sub-Divine Weapon.
Following the address that his First Senior Sister gave him, Xiao Chen unfurled the Freedom Wings and passed over mountains, rivers, and cities. When he arrived before a mountain manor built on the summit of a tall mountain, he landed and put away the Freedom Wings.
The mountain manor was not large, nor was the signboard clear. However, there was a long queue at the entrance, appearing endless and snaking to the bottom of the mountain, consisting of cultivators here to ask the forger to make them a sword.
Xiao Chen landed at the side and held the Lunar Shadow Saber in his hand. He was flabbergasted to find many extraordinary grandmaster-level Martial Sages in the mix.
There were even great grandmaster-level Martial Sages. He saw two or three of them behaving themselves and joining the queue at the back without any complaints.
Such a crowd completely exceeded Xiao Chen’s expectations. He could not help but wonder to himself, Is what First Senior Sister said reliable or not? Can I really enter just by relying on my identity token?
The main gates were tightly shut; only a wicket door at the side was open. The cultivators who were queueing started from this small door and extended all the way down to the foot of the mountain.
These cultivators maintained a certain distance from each other as they waited anxiously.
This is strange. There is the main gate right here, so why is no one knocking on it?
“Where did this fellow come from? He is carrying a saber and coming to a place that forges swords. Is he here to cause trouble?”
Xiao Chen, who was holding the Lunar Shadow Saber and standing out of the line, attracted a lot of attention from the large group of swordsmen. Not long after he landed, someone yelled out.
Since ancient times, the conflict between swords and sabers had never ended.
These two weapons were different from the others. The saber came from the sword. However, there were both swords and sabers in the world—a very direct relationship. Avoiding comparisons between the two was hard.
Out of respect for the forging master, Xiao Chen did not want to cause any commotion here. Reviving Ao Jiao was his highest priority.
He looked at that person who spoke. That person carried a two-meter-long sword and wore purple robes. He also had two strips of purple cloth tied to his hair, fluttering in the wind and appearing free and unfettered.
This person was no more than forty, an outstanding talent of the younger generation. His sharp eyebrows and sparkling eyes gave an impression of strong determination.
Xiao Chen said calmly, “I may be a bladesman, but I do not have any intention to compete against swords. I’m just here to ask Master Situ about some matters with no disrespect meant.”
However, the purple-robed swordsman smiled coldly. He said, “Look at all the swordsmen here. They all arrived here on foot to seek the Master to forge a sword. No one said anything or made any noise; no one dared to fly down from the sky.
“Even the great grandmaster-level Martial Sage experts are respectfully queueing at the bottom of the mountain. You, a bladesman, descended from the sky, coming in might. If this is not disrespect, then what is it?”
The other swordsmen were all glaring at Xiao Chen. They were already very upset that he had flown over. Finding out that he was a bladesman only added fuel to the flames.
Xiao Chen held his Lunar Shadow Saber as he performed a cupped-fist salute. Then he said, “I’m sorry. I was not aware of such a rule. I will go to the bottom of the mountain and join the queue. After I enter, I will personally apologize to Master Situ.”
“The Master only meets with five people a day and forges one sword a month. Why are you, a bladesman, here to join the excitement? Are you trying to take our spots? Scram!” The purple-robed swordsman ignored Xiao Chen’s concession, tyrannically trying to chase him away.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I am not here to forge a sword.”
The hand that Xiao Chen held the Lunar Shadow Saber with trembled slightly. However, he did not lose his temper in the end. After replying softly, he turned around and headed down the mountain.
He did not want to lose the hope that he had come by after so much difficulty.
“How stubborn! I told you to scram, not to walk down!” the purple-robed swordsman shouted coldly. Light flickered under his feet, and a majestic sword formation appeared. Hundreds of purple sword Qi flew out of the formation, flying all around him. The crisp sound of swords buzzed.
A sharp sword intent instantly spread throughout the mountain. The grass bent over, not daring to rise.
