Under the incredulous gaze of countless people, the golden divine patterns on the surface of the stone tablet for Heaven Rankings List began to move in a strange rhythm like a large school of golden koi competing for food. Finally, they converged and formed two big words—
Li Mu!
Golden light burst forth from these two words as soon as they were formed.
A few moments ago, Yu Jingfeng, the successor of the Wind Clan, punched the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, producing twenty golden divine patterns. In comparison, Li Mu produced no less than 100 golden divine patterns when he struck the same stone tablet with his fist. The golden patterns produced by him finally turned into two words emitting thin golden rays of light like golden needles. The golden rays were so strong that the practitioners of immortal sects around the stone platform could barely keep their eyes open.
These two words were shining like two small suns.
Most importantly, the two words floated on the surface of the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, rose up, and finally overtook the three words “Yu Jingfeng” that had been displayed on the stone tablet.
Li Mu caught up with Yu Jingfeng and overtook the latter.
He successfully got on the Heaven Rankings List.
He slowly withdrew his hand.
“It’s just as I expected.”
He felt surprised and delighted.
He thought he had figured out some secrets about the stone tablets for the three lists.
All the people in the inner square suddenly broke into an uproar.
A hubbub of exclamation rose, sounding like floodwater rushing down the distant mountains. At first, the volume of the hubbub was low, but later, it sounded like roars and rushing torrents from distant mountains and became the loudest sound that had been heard during today’s Immortal-Devil Assembly.
Some held their heads in their hands.
Some rubbed their eyes.
Others pinched their thighs.
Still, others stood there in a daze.
The people in the inner square reacted in different ways, but there was only one word to describe their feelings.
That word was “unbelievable”.
When Li Mu walked towards the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, all of them thought that what he was doing was just an impulsive act that would bring shame upon himself. They believed that the glory that he had won by ranking first on two lists would go to waste due to his impulsive act, and when people talked about this session of Immortal-Devil Assembly in the future, they would only remember the shame he brought upon himself in front of the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List instead of his glory of ranking first on two lists.
All the people believed that there was only one person destined to be the hero today.
They believed that person was Yu Jingfeng, the successor of the Wind Clan.
After all, how could mortals be comparable to the gods of the Celestial Court?
But now…
Everything had been overturned.
Yu Jingfeng’s disbelief was written all over his beautiful young face.
The two words “Li Mu” were high up on the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List, emitting thousands of dazzling golden rays. In contrast, the “Yu Jingfeng” below these two words seemed dim and insignificant. If one did not look carefully, he would probably fail to see the name “Yu Jingfeng”.
“Why did things… turn out this way?”
Yu Jingfeng was completely stupefied, as if he had been drenched in ice-cold water.
“That’s impossible. That is impossible…” “Ghost” muttered to himself. His voice sounded like two rusty iron pads rubbing against each other, making people feel bothered by it.
Lei Cang gnashed his teeth as he managed to fight back the urge to scream out.
With a look of surprise on her sweet and innocent face, Fairy Shuiyue stared at Li Mu as if it were the first time that she saw him, her eyes sparkling in a strange way.
She had been watching very carefully and attentively. Now, she suddenly remembered that behind the Gate of the Ancestors, Li Mu risked his life to protect the girl from the Green Fox Tribe and help her to escape… “That fox girl is really lucky.”
“How could that mortal’s power rise so fast in such a short time?”
They did not dare to believe it, nor did they want to believe it.
On the stone platform, Li Mu slowly turned around.
He was like a king who ascended the throne after crossing mountains of corpses and seas of blood and looked down at his subjects prostrating themselves in worship.
As soon as he turned around, he glanced at Yu Jingfeng, the successor of the Wind Clan, and said, “Did you see that?”
The corners of Yu Jingfeng’s mouth twitched.
Li Mu said, “Is it that difficult to get on the Heaven Rankings List?”
The corners of Yu Jingfeng’s eyes twitched.
Li Mu continued. “I wanted to let the six major Divine Clans of the Celestial Court save face at first, but you insisted on showing off in my presence. You made me do that.”
Yu Jingfeng’s heart twitched violently.
Li Mu’s words were like three tight slaps on the face of Yu Jingfeng—a Heavenly Legend of the Wind Clan.
“How can I refute him?
“How should I refute him?”
Yu Jingfeng felt like his honor and dignity had been trampled on by Li Mu’s words.
No matter what he would say to refute Li Mu, his words would be meaningless and as feeble as the last leaves falling from a tree in autumn in front of the two shining words on the stone tablet for the Heaven Rankings List.
“Bear in mind that mortals can be very powerful too,” Li Mu said.
He said those words in such a manner that didn’t seem to go well with the occasion. However, the practitioners in the inner square had to recognize and accept what he said even though ninety-nine percent of them were from immortal sects.
After all, facts spoke louder than words.
Li Mu looked at the Cloud Light Saintess and said in a sympathetic tone, “Ways are just what they are, and they should not be labeled as noble or lowly. People have their own ways. Some walk on normal roads, while others walk on log bridges. As long as they can reach their destinations on the other side, the ways that they have taken are the Great Way. You’ve just found your own way to cultivate a Taoist mindset, but someone has crushed your confidence by saying just a few words of rebuke, and you have started doubting yourself. He-he, in this way, how can you cultivate a Taoist mindset and become an immortal? Probably you should go home early to raise pigs and have a child.”
The Cloud Light Saintess ground her teeth as she stared at Li Mu, but she didn’t say anything in the end.
Yu Jingfeng and Li Mu were both Heavenly Legends who had gotten on the Heaven Rankings List. Both of them said similar harsh words to the Cloud Light Saintess in the same mean manner, but for some reason, their words influenced her in completely different ways.
Every word that Yu Jingfeng, the successor of the Wind Clan, said was like a knife stabbed into her heart, making her feel sharp pain, anger, and confusion, while Li Mu’s words were like thunders clearing up the mist and confusion in her mind and made her calm down gradually.
Standing on the stone platform, Li Mu thought that he had probably fulfilled his goal today.
He ranked first on two lists.
He got on three lists.
He felt proud. He glanced at Yu Jingfeng again and said, “Remember not to show off for nothing in my presence. I hate seeing others do that in front of me.”
Yu Jingfeng wobbled.
“Good, very good… I’ll remember… not… to do that!” He said slowly.
A jet of blood surged up to his throat, but he forcefully suppressed it.
He was so enraged that he almost spat blood. That was a strange feeling that he had never had in the nineteen years he had lived.
“There’s one more thing. I remember that you said you wanted to erase me from the world. Did you say that?” Li Mu asked.
Yu Jingfeng blushed crimson with embarrassment.
“You’d better not go too far and be lenient wherever you can,” he said through gritted teeth. “The dignity of the Wind Clan is not to be trampled upon.”
“Do you think you’re the only one with dignity?” Li Mu sneered.
He despised the kind of people who would do their best to humiliate others when they gained the upper hand and talk about dignity and reason when they were at a disadvantage.
“What do you want?” Yu Jingfeng asked, his face slightly distorted.
“Tsk-tsk-tsk, you’re really…” Li Mu shrugged his shoulders and gave a mocking smile. “How could you lose control of yourself so quickly? He-he, I thought you would be greatly different from the common run of people because you showed up in a grand way, but now, it seems that you’re just a pretender. Well, what do I want? Will you do it if I want you to get down on your knees and call me father?”
Yu Jingfeng was known as a calm person. However, for some unknown reason, he just felt that every word of the damned mortal in front of him carried special weight. Anger began to well up in him.
“You would be wrong if you wanted to crush my confidence by saying those words,” Yu Jingfeng took a deep breath and said in a seemingly calm manner. “Both of us are on the Heaven Rankings List. Even though your ranking is higher than mine, you may not necessarily defeat me in a real fight. Don’t forget the background of a Divine Clan.”
“Do you think everyone likes to crush other people’s confidence as you do?” Li Mu said, “You’re really someone who measures the stature of great men by the yardstick of small men… It’s all right that you rank below me, and you just need to stand firm after being beaten. Why did you mention the background of some divine clan? That’s just ridiculous!”
“You… Well, I will surely repay you for what you have done to me today. Li Mu, from now on, you can consider yourself my opponent. I haven’t finished practicing my cultivation method yet, so you got the upper hand today. I have nothing to say about that. However, you have always wanted to prove that mortals can be on a par with the gods of the Celestial Court, haven’t you? Well, let’s fight a duel on behalf of mortals and immortals in this Jintai Temple after three years. Dare you do it?”
Yu Jingfeng stared fixedly at Li Mu, his eyes flashing with a fierce light.
“Three years later?” Li Mu laughed and shrugged, saying, “Ah, it seems that you won’t cry until you see your coffin. I am afraid you won’t even be qualified to be my errand boy at that time. However, since you are not convinced, I decide to give you a chance. I accept your challenge. If you were to lose the duel, you would have to get down on your knees and call me father three times. Dare you accept that?”
The practitioners around them were rendered speechless by what Li Mu said.
“How could he ask his opponent to call him father?
“I’ve never heard of such a demand for a duel.”
Yu Jingfeng was boiling with rage.
Just when he was about to say something, a majestic voice suddenly came from the distant pavilion.
“Humph! You’re so young, yet you talk big. Who knows what you will become in the future? You have insulted the Divine Clans of the Celestial Court and violated the heavenly rules time and time again, so you deserve ten thousand deaths. I’ve got to punish you in order to defend the dignity of the Celestial Court!”
An “old monster” in the distant pavilion took action.
A giant green hand broke through the void and came from the sky.
The giant hand was composed of pure runes, energy, and laws that were almost tangible. As the runes swirled, there came the terrifying, tremendous power of a master in the Deity Realm. Nobody would believe that there was actually such a power in the world. With the five fingers spread out, the giant hand came at Li Mu with strong killing intent, as if it were going to crush a little bug.
Locked by some kind of irresistible overwhelming Qi, all the practitioners in the inner square seemed to be frozen to the spot, unable to move.
Li Mu felt a surge of inexplicable terrifying Qi pressing down, as if it were going to crush him into powder. Given his current strength, he could not resist at all. Even if he went all out, it would still be futile.
“Is this the power of someone in the Deity Realm?
“It’s so terrifying.
“All struggles will be futile in the face of such power.”
When Li Mu was about to be crushed to death, something unexpected happened.
A beam of sword light came from the southeast, cutting through the sky.
With a flash, it pierced through the giant green hand.
The giant hand broke into pieces like a punctured balloon in an instant.
“Damn it. Do you think that I, the Inspiration King, am too old to raise my broadsword? Is it that you people of the Wind Clan have forgotten who you are? How dare you attack my successor?”
The old faker’s raw and ungraceful voice rang out in the sky above the inner square, as if he were here in person.
