“Do I… have a feud with you?” Azureclad frowned at the red-haired youth.
“What right does a piece of a trash have to form a feud with me?” The youth snorted with laughter and turned around, ignoring Azureclad.
“Ignore him, he’s not right in the head.” Purpleclad pointed at his brain with a shake of his head.
“What’s going on and why are you guys here?” Crimsonclad asked after scanning the surroundings.
“The Dragonling Ranking.” Bloodclad walked over, as expressionless as always. Instead of its previous black, his hair was now red. He was thoroughly personifying the “blood” portion of his title.
“Those of Dragonhollow Mountain think that we are the strongest one hundred half step kings of the realm. They summoned us here to prepare for the ranking battles to come,” Bloodclad explained.
He swept a glance at a young man in white standing not far from them—the venerated enforcer of the Enforcer Alliance. The venerated enforcer had been absent from the battle of Cloudexit City, yet here he was now. Thus, Bloodclad’s explanation seemed to be more correct than not.
Azureclad nodded gently; there was no trace of dissatisfaction on his face. If he’d been who he was before, he would’ve thrown a tantrum on the spot to learn that he and Crimsonclad hadn’t been invited to this elite gathering. But from Dragonsea City to the rainbow bridge, Lu Yun and Qing Ting had repeatedly schooled him and taught him the true limits of his strength and status.
Top one hundred of the Dragonling Ranking? Was that supposed to be very important?
They’d all be robbed again and again by the Champion Duke and his own sister.
“Eh?” Bloodclad and Purpleclad started when they saw Azureclad and Crimsonclad’s reaction. In their eyes, the two should’ve been highly displeased to have been omitted from the top one hundred. The four of them were of similar strength, after all.
However, it seemed that they were completely accepting of the result.
“Are you… not unhappy or anything?” Purpleclad asked with surprise.
“What’s there to be unhappy about? The ranking battles have yet to begin,” sighed Crimsonclad. She continued evenly, “Since we’re here, that probably means that we have the right to compete with you. We won’t know who’s actually strong or weak before we fight it out.”
“Trash is trash. It’s still trash even after making it through the dragon gate,” sneered the red-haired youth. “Two pieces of trash want to challenge us? The ranking battles will show no mercy.”
“What’s with him?” Azureclad frowned.
“He’s a disciple of Ingress Blood Island, don’t get on his bad side,” muttered Bloodclad.
“Ingress Blood Island… one of the Ten Valleys of Evil?” Azureclad jumped with shock.
The ten valleys were well known throughout the Hongmeng, but no one usually dared mention them. The stories spoke of all of the realm’s strongest villains gathered in the valleys, and that there was no evil they wouldn’t commit.
Although most knew that this was just rumor, hearsay, and slander, the valleys’ horrific reputation was well engraved in their hearts.
“Azureclad, Crimsonclad, I would butcher you right here if it wasn’t for the fact that we can’t kill in this zone. How dare trash presume to be a banner for half step kings of the Hongmeng? You don’t know the meaning of death!” sneered the red-haired youth.
Plainly, he rankled at the dukes’ titles. Since Purpleclad and Bloodclad had received the dragon ancestor’s acknowledgement, he didn’t have anything against them. The other two? Pah!
Azureclad and Crimsonclad were unmoved by the provocation. They looked at each other, then ignored the red-haired youth.
“Ah, since this is a ranking of all cultivators beneath titled kinghood… then how about the Immortal King? Is he here?” Crimsonclad suddenly asked with agitation. “Who’s the Immortal King?”
Azureclad scowled to hear Crimsonclad mention that king. Though they’d moved beyond the unpleasantry caused by the Immortal King and Qing Yu, he still didn’t feel completely at ease when he heard the king’s name.
“The Immortal King isn’t here,” someone responded. “It’s a contest of cultivation, power, and battle strength for the Dragonling Assembly, not supplemental dao. The Immortal King may have reached kinghood through supplemental dao, but he’s just an ordinary superior realm cultivator without it. In fact, he’s one who reached his height through popping pills, so he has no right to occupy the same stage as us.”
The speaker was a tall and limber man dressed in jade robes. He appeared gallant with an uncommon bearing.
“Li Yiran, you’re really too full of it. Even your master, the Runaway King, doesn’t dare talk about the Immortal King like this. Do you think you actually have the right to say stuff like that?” Bloodclad couldn’t help but speak up in criticism.
LI Yiran was Shenyu’s disciple and here on behalf of Haotian Tower.
“Hmph,” Li Yiran snorted and didn’t say a word. His master’s title was too damaging and he couldn’t think of a proper rebuttal either.
“The Immortal King?” sneered the red-haired youth from Ingress Blood Island. “Li Yiran’s right, the Immortal King is a piece of trash. I admit his grasp of supplemental dao is strong, but if he doesn’t use that, Li Yiran would be able to beat him to death using just one hand.”
No one else said anything. The Immortal King wasn’t here and he would never avoid using supplemental dao since he was a supplemental king. The red-haired youth could run his mouth however he’d like.
The herd of arcane beasts watched coolly from the side, refraining from getting involved in the squabbles of cultivators.
“Ah, why are there only two of you?” Purpleclad asked. “Where are the others? Why aren’t they here yet?”
Based on what they’d learned before, there should be three thousand beings passing through the dragon gate. Only after this hurdle was cleared did they have the right to participate in the Dragonling Assembly.
Three thousand cultivators… it couldn’t be that Azureclad and Crimsonclad were the only ones with the right to pass, could it? According to previous intelligence, there were many secluded geniuses attending this assembly that were stronger than the two dukes. There should be some from Azure Dragon City and Exalted Firmament Domain, at the very least.
“They…” A strange expression crossed Azureclad’s face as he thought of something. “They should be here in a moment.”
……
Lu Yun was recommencing his grand robbery operation on the remaining one thousand and six arcane beasts.
Hand over your storage seed and treasures before attempting the dragon gate, or you can stay here forever!
He’d wanted to send through the cultivators behind him at first, but they insisted on staying for the show and refused to pass.
“This is too much, Champion Duke!” Golden Armor roared at the human. “Do you want to be enemies with all arcane beasts?!”
It was highly aggrieved; they’d already submitted once! But now this Champion Duke wanted to rob them??
It was the first to step forward in protest. Its storage seed contained all of its possessions!
“You should just accept your fate!” Qing Di persuaded sincerely. “It’s just being robbed, you will still have your life.”
“Just being robbed?! All of my personal wealth is in my storage seed! What would you do if it was you??” Golden Armor howled with indignation.
“Me?” Qing Di struck a tragic pose with his hands behind his back and tilted his head forty-five degrees to the sky. “Those two devils took all of my possessions a long time ago.”
Everyone here had been robbed by Lu Yun and Qing Ting, so it was no shame to speak of it.
I think I just flew past Alaska, so it’s the regular release time in one of the timezones I just crossed…? XD
