“What do you think the Immortal King will do once he finds out we’re calling ourselves his disciples?” Qing Di rubbed his nose.
“You guys, not me!” Long Batian protested. “If I use my full strength, I might be able to kill him with a single punch.”
“Sure sure, we all know you’re super strong.” Qing Di flicked a sideways glance at the little girl and couldn’t be bothered to argue with her.
“I’m the senior sister, you’re all junior brothers and sisters!” Qing Ting laid down the law. “The Immortal King’s disciples… doesn’t actually mean his disciples. It’s just… um… people wanting to cultivate with him. He won’t refuse that, will he?
“There’s two thousand and nine hundred ninety-eight of you guys. We’re two short of being a full three thousand… One of the spots should be Li Zhen’s. He’s absolutely obsessed with the Immortal King. As for the last…” Qing Ting stroked her chin thoughtfully.
“Let’s leave it empty. There are three thousand great daos in the Hongmeng. If the Immortal King has three thousand disciples, there’s nowhere to go but down after achieving perfection. The moon waxes only to wane. Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine is perfect.” Azureclad shook his head. “The little donkey eaten by the black dragon king also had that written into its destiny.”
Golden Armor fidgeted uncomfortably.
While the battle between the venerated enforcer and Jade Dragon Duke continued, anyone could see that the venerated enforcer was having an easier time the longer the fight went on. He comfortably held the upper hand.
Bam!
The venerated enforcer directed his sword qi into a massive dragon. One instance of Dragonrise swung down on Jade Dragon.
Color drained from her face and she vomited a mouthful of blood. She was incapacitated from fighting further, but her eyes remained fixed on the venerated enforcer. She’d never imagined that she’d lose to an outsider, and lose so thoroughly at that. She’d lost before she had a chance to deploy her strongest moves!
The venerated enforcer lifted his head after defeating the Jade Dragon Duke and looked toward the mountain’s peak, where there was a sparkling name written in gold on the ranking—the Champion Duke.
A slightly complicated expression crossed his face. He’d always thought that he was the strongest in the Hongmeng beneath titled kings. Even Hua Fengwen of a hundred thousand years ago was firmly beneath his foot.
But now, the first name on the Dragonling Ranking was set in stone and confirmed to be… the Champion Duke.
“Forget it, he’s my martial grandfather after all. It’s not humiliating to lose to my martial grandfather. If I take him out, master will beat me,” grumbled the venerated enforcer. There were certain notes of reluctance and indignation in his voice. In his eyes, the Immortal King was no match for him. He was number one only because he was the Purple King’s father, which prohibited the venerated enforcer from challenging him.
“Number two will do. It’s not that embarrassing to be listed beneath my martial grandfather.” Having already put the fight out of his mind, the venerated enforcer took to the air and headed for the peak of the mountain.
Whoosh!
An azure figure suddenly appeared before him. Qing Ting stood with her sword upraised, planted in the middle of where the venerated enforcer needed to pass through.
“You… want to challenge me?” The venerated enforcer blinked. “You’re on par with the Jade Dragon Duke at most. You’re no match for me.”
Resting on the ground to recover from her wounds, Jade Dragon looked up at Qing Ting.
“I know that.” The girl nodded. “I’m not challenging you.”
“Then what are you doing blocking my way?” frowned the venerated enforcer.
“There can only be one name on the ranking.” Qing Di approached from another side of the void and stood next to Qing Ting. Seven Slaughters, Azureclad, Crimsonclad, Seven Slaughters, and Blackclad also materialized, surrounding the venerated enforcer.
“What do all of you mean by this?” The venerated enforcer started, his tone turning unfriendly.
“It’s simple.” Golden Dragon appeared and announced, “There can only be one person at the peak of the mountain, and that person is no one climbing it!”
Hummm!
Sword qi intersected in the air as two thousand nine hundred ninety-nine titled duke half step kings released their strongest power at the same time.
Dragonhollow Mountain quaked. So many half step kings deploying their strength at the same time shook the rules at play and affected the rules with their own will.
The previous dragon lord’s jaw dropped at this development.
“Madness, this is madness. What do these children want?!” He suddenly regretted bringing Lu Yun here so early. If the young man was still below and keeping his people in line, none of these so-called Immortal King disciples would be so out of control.
Lu Yun shrugged; he was finally seeing what he wanted to see. Dragonhollow Mountain had dug a huge pit, only to bury themselves in it.
His newfound disciples forbade other half step kings from scaling the mountain. This was interesting, as the other half step kings, whether it was the top one hundred outsiders or the thirty-one hundred of Dragonhollow’s geniuses, would never work together.
They regarded each other with hostility even now. While they might team up, they would never be a match for the legion of Immortal King’s disciples. Those were all titled dukes!
“You go too far, Azureclad and Crimsonclad!” Purpleclad and Bloodclad stepped forward to censure them.
“Too far? You want to see what’s really too far?” Out of concern that her brother and his dao partner would turn nostalgic about their old friendships, Qing Di didn’t let them speak. “Minions, get these dukes and strip them naked. We’re going to hang them up!!”
“Understood!” Hardly concerned with the amount of trouble they were creating, the rest of the legion roared in understanding and charged the two dukes.
Bloodclad and Purpleclad froze with shock, then turned around and ran off with alarm.
“Let’s rush them together! They can’t hold all of us off!” cried out someone on the other side. Though there was some shuffling in the crowd, no one shifted into action.
One needed sufficient power of creation from vicious beasts and ghosts before they could make it to the top. Therefore, not all of them would succeed even if they rushed forward together. Most of them hadn’t collected sufficient creation. They would just be doing work on behalf of others if they attacked.
Apart from the Immortal King’s disciples, half of the other cultivators were busy collecting creation and not gathered here.
“You’re the one who said that just now, didn’t you?” Qing Di leered at a strong man dressed in black. “You have enough creation to make it to the top, but it’s all mine now!”
He rushed the man, but the venerated enforcer moved when he moved as well. His target was Qing Di!
