Soon, Old Elder and the others flew to where Hong Dali was. Once they saw Cutie Ke, they were stunned. “Krishnata?”
“Old Elder!” When she saw Old Elder, Cutie Ke felt embarrassed again. “I, I figured something out. And then… then this happened.”
“Hahahaha!” Old Elder was so excited he let out a loud cry. The cry reverberated in the valleys and across the plains. “Good job! Krishnata, I didn’t expect you to figure it out! You now have the potential to become the King of the Fire Dragon Clan. Perhaps now, I should refer to you as Your Royal Highness.”
It was obvious what Cutie Ke’s status was now that Old Elder had referred to her as “Your Royal Highness”.
Princess of the Fire Dragon race!
Although Cutie Ke was still far from the level of the Fire Dragon King, as long as she continued training, she would become a real king. The King of the Fire Dragons!
“Old Elder, I… actually it’s all thanks to Hong Dali.” Cutie Ke was as cute as usual. “Old Elder, you have to reward him!”
“That’s for sure, that’s for sure!” The Fire Dragon race finally had someone with the potential to become King. This made Old Elder happier than anything else. He looked at Hong Dali with a gentle expression. “Dali, thank you for everything you have done for the Fire Dragon race. Now, if you have any requests, you can tell me about it. As long as it does not violate the morals of the Fire Dragon race, I will fulfill it.”
“Ah? Me?” Hong Dali looked at the dragons in the sky and gulped. “I don’t have anything I need. I have money and I don’t lack people…”
“No.” Old Elder was resolute. “You have done so much for our Fire Dragon race. We must do something for you in return. We must reward you. That is only appropriate.”
Damn, this was the first time he heard of people being forced to accept a reward.
But he really did not lack anything. He had people, he had money…
At this time, the Demon King suddenly spoke up. “Fool, even if you don’t want anything else, you could have gotten my head back, right? No matter what, I’m the Demon King of the Demon race, a Heaven’s Chosen One. My head is useless to me now, but the bones, skin, and blood are all good for crafting demon artifacts. If you don’t ask for it now, then when?!”
Eh? Ask for the Demon King’s head back? That was a good suggestion.
Speaking of which, this was the first time Hong Dali heard of someone using his own head to craft demon artifacts. He had learned something new today…
“That, Old Elder.” Hong Dali looked at Old Elder Anubreta who was in the sky. “I thought about it. There’s actually something I would like. Can you give me the head of the Demon King? I want to use it to craft something. I heard it was quite useful…”
Why did that sound so awkward…
“This…” It was the head of the Demon King, after all. The implications were serious and Old Elder hesitated. “Young Master Dali, please wait. We need to discuss this matter.” Saying that Old Elder Anubreta and the other elders descended from the sky and transformed back to their human form. Then, they discussed in low voices. “Would anything happen if we give the Demon King’s head away?”
“I’m not sure.” An elder whispered, “We have suppressed the power of the Demon King’s head for more than ten thousand years and yet we are unable to purify it. If we were to give it away now and his body grows back…”
“It’s possible, but Young Master Dali is a member of the Shenglong Royal Family, after all. It won’t be easy for the Demon King to get the better of him, right?” said another elder.
“Yes, there’s no need to doubt the strength of the Shenglong Royal Family.” The elder muttered to himself for a while, then slowly said, “Since we have promised him, we must not go back on our words. Let’s give it to him. Compared to the Fire Dragon Princess, the Demon King’s head is not really that important.”
“That’s true. Let him have it, then.” All the other elders nodded.
“Young Master Dali.” Now that the decision had been made, Old Elder immediately came to Hong Dali with a smile. “Since Young Master Dali is interested in the Demon King’s head, we will give it to you. It will be a testimony to the close ties between the Fire Dragon race and you, the humans. However, the Demon King is very powerful. It has been ten thousand years and he’s still not completely dead. Young Master Dali must be careful.”
“Yes, yes. No problem, hehe. Thank you, Old Elder.” Hong Dali quickly gave thanks.
Speaking of which, he was not worried at all. Anyway, the soul of the Demon King had been imprisoned in the Great Prodigal System. There would definitely not be any problems, as the Great Prodigal System had been very reliable thus far…
Since they had decided, everyone returned to the Fiery Abyss. Eight dragons pulled the chains to extract the Demon King’s head from the lava pool. They continued flying onwards until they reached a huge open space outside the city.
The appearance of the head of the Demon King had changed. It was not as life-like as when he had seen it the first time. It looked a little decayed, and the hair on the skin surface had been burned off in the lava pool…
“My head…” The Demon King said sadly, “It’s only been a few days since I left, and it has been burnt to this extent…”
“Not just burn. We have to cut it up too,” Hong Dali said with a big grin. “You don’t expect me to bring such a big head back? We have to cut it into small pieces. It will be easier too when we are making demon artifacts…”
The Demon King was even more depressed this time…
Regardless, the head was in their hands. The Demon King’s true purpose in wanting it was definitely not just to craft demon artifacts. “Dali, to tell you the truth, there’s a very important reason why I wanted my head back. My body is gone, but there’s a very important demon core in my skull. You can take it out when you have time. With the demon core, I can bring my body back.”
Was he about to be resurrected?
Hong Dali asked, “Really? How big will your new body be? Will it be as big as it was?”
“It’s about the same size as a human,” said the Demon King. “After coalescing my body, I will have a chance to resurrect. You can rest assured. I will not attack the Devil’s Chosen One. I’m actually quite happy to be in your company, so don’t worry.”
Whether he had to worry or not was something yet to be known. Hong Dali had to observe him for a while first in case he turned on them. Of course, it would be nice if he could take in a Demon King as a lackey…
“Okay. I will think of a way to get the demon core out.” Hong Dali asked the Demon King, “How am I going to move this huge head?”
“With a spacecraft, of course. Did you need me to tell you that?” The Demon King’s response to Hong Dali’s question was incredulity.
“Of course I know that we have to use a spaceship!” Hong Dali stamped his foot angrily. “Forget it. You will not understand. I will call the spacecraft here…”
And so Hong Dali had the spacecraft bring the Demon King’s head back.
This trip to the Fiery Star Planet was supposed to last a week. In the days that followed, Hong Dali asked the Demon King to write down some advanced skill manuals from the Demon Dimension. When he had time, he went to Earth to do the side missions. It felt good to be so carefree.
While Hong Dali was leading a carefree life, one hundred young geniuses from around the universe had gathered at the Divine College.
This year’s large-scale Martial Arts Conference at the Divine College had begun…
…
In the Divine College.
Hundreds of small spaceships from major astrals stopped on the tarmac of the college. Numerous people alighted in a bustle. There were tens of thousands of people.
These people were geniuses selected by the major astral realms. Some of them were students from the Divine Colleges of other major astral realms. Among these people, there were some who were different from the others, cold and unapproachable. These were the Heaven’s Chosen Ones from the various major astral realms.
These Heaven’s Chosen Ones had come to take part in the Heaven’s Chosen Ones’ Competition held at the Martial Arts Conference—as Heaven’s Chosen Ones, they gained powerful skills but needed to complete various difficult tasks. This Martial Arts Conference was one of them.
“Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the Shenglong Royal Family Divine College.” Dean Fergos came forward to welcome them with the three elders and thousands of Divine College students.
This year, the Astral Martial Arts Conference was held in Shenglong Astral. Although there were Divine Colleges all over Shenglong Astral, the largest one was in Tianyuan City. Since there were to be visitors from all the major astral realms, this was the natural choice.
“Hello, Dean Fergos.” The mentor leaders of the various colleges came forward to greet him. “It’s again time for the once every three years Martial Arts Conference. Please forgive us for any intrusions.”
“Hehe, there’s nothing to forgive. This way, please.” After they got off the spacecraft, Fergos and the three elders led the way. As they walked, he said, “Oh, since we parted ways three years ago, everyone has made great advancement in their study of martial arts. Congratulations. There are so many Heaven’s Chosen One’s this time.”
The Martial Arts Conference was held every three years.
In the past, the number of Heaven’s Chosen Ones was considered plenty if there were more than a few. However, their number this time was unprecedented. Hundreds of Astral Realms had come to participate. Fergos glanced casually at the crowd. There were tens of the previously extremely scarce candidates. This was uncommon.
“It’s passable.” The mentor leaders of the divine colleges of various astral realms said modestly, “There are more Heaven’s Chosen Ones this time. It’s really unexpected. Is there a Heaven’s Chosen One from your astral realm?”
“This…” Fergos paused for a moment before shaking his head decisively. “Our astral realm is out of luck this time. He has not appeared yet.”
It was still not confirmed if Hong Dali was Heaven’s Chosen One. Anyway, he was still vacationing outside, they could just ignore him for the time being…
Unexpectedly, as soon as he thought about it, Fergos saw a spacecraft slowly landing on the grass—it was the spacecraft that Hong Dali was on!
