Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Ah!
A giant flying beast like a shaft of fast lightning flew from the surroundings into the skies of the martial arts field. At the same time, it slowed down its speed to a comfortable one and landed on the ground.
This flying beast was no stranger to the people of the Valley of the Medicine Masters. They were, after all, mounted by the head elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters. Presently, this very flying beast was being mounted by two figures. Other than the Valley of the Medicine Masters’s head elder, another person was also standing on its back, even standing before the head elder himself.
A woman with feather-like, snow-white hair and a child-like, ruddy complexion, the Valley of the Medicine Masters’ head elder, Yu Meiqin, was clustered together with a middle-aged man. This middle-aged man had on an elegant grey coat, giving off an aura of grace and calmness just like royalty. His body gave off a unique, charismatic aura characteristic of a mature gentleman.
Upon seeing him, several of the female guest elders and disciples all became starry-eyed.
“All hail Your Highness!”
One of the people raised his voice to call out respectfully. With such a call, the entire practicing field sprung up. All the present guest elders and disciples of the Valley of the Medicine Masters bowed towards the flying beast, which was carrying the middle-aged man, and showed their respect.
“All hail Your Highness!”
“All hail Your Highness!”
…
A chorus of respectful voices filled the air and rang out in the martial arts field. Afterwards, even the entire Valley of the Medicine Masters’s surrounding mountains and valleys echoed the same call as well, forming an impressively thunderous chorus in overall.
“Zhou Donghuang, our Valley of the Medicine Masters’s Your Highness, is here… Today, even if you have a sword pill left behind by that inferior spirit weapon warrior, you will definitely face death!”
Seeing as the faraway flying beast was nearing them while carrying the charismatic, middle-aged man riding on its back, Chen Dandan’s eyes shone while he cast a cold glance across the youth and spoke in a chilling voice.
“Nevertheless, you can all relax… Today, if you fold in the Valley of the Medicine Masters, I will instruct my fellow brothers to take a trip to the country of Yunyang for you to reunite with that bastard, Song Linlan, while traveling on the Huangquan Road…”
Chen Dandan previously had been too scared to speak up. However, now, things were different as she finally saw that their Valley of the Medicine Masters’ ruler had arrived.
While speaking, the corners of Chen Dandan’s mouth turned up, and a vicious smile appeared on her face as an evil look appeared in her eyes. To her, there were only two possible endings of today. She would either die here or be caught by the Valley of the Medicine Masters and be killed after she took on the chance encounter she gained from the inferior spirit weapon warrior..
The Valley of the Medicine Masters could not possibly allow such a large threat to survive.
Yet, reality took Chen Dandan by surprise. Originally, according to him, Zhou Donghuang should have been enraged by her words. Instead, once Zhou Donghuang heard her speak, she was not angered but instead laughed out loud.
“Chen Dandan… Do you know why I haven’t taken any action towards you all this time?” Zhou Donghuang asked cheerily.
“Ah?” Chen Dandan furrowed her brows.
Zhou Donghuang’s words confused Chen Dandan greatly.
Ever since the youth had personally killed her father, the second elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Chen Tianhe, had not taken any further action. It was a little strange as the numbers grew in the Valley of the Medicine Masters, and they had all slowly gathered together.
Not only had he stopped her attacks against the general people, but she had also halted her attacks against Chen Dandan. She had not thought about this point before but now that it dawned upon her, she found it rather strange.
Chen Dandan questioned internally what she would do if she were in the youth’s shoes. If she were to be in his position, she would leave everything behind and run for her life in order to escape death instead of staying put and waiting to be killed!
“Because…”
Just as Chen Dandan’s brows furrowed, the corners of Zhou Donghuang’s mouth turned up into a cocky smile. “I’m prepared for when you’ve lost all hope, for when you hate yourself and everything around you to take action and kill you then!”
Chen Dandan’s face darkened upon hearing Zhou Donghuang’s words. At the same time, Zhou Donghuang glanced at the approaching flying beast, which was nearing the duo from afar. “Now, in your opinion, Su Mo should be the last saving grace and hope of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, am I right?”
Just as he had spoken, the smile on Zhou Donghuang’s face became even wider and brighter.
Upon hearing these words, as well as glancing at the infuriating smile on Zhou Donghuang’s face, Chen Dandan’s own face turned pale and an uneasy feeling crept up into her heart.
“This Zhou Donghuang… Surely he could not have any connection to Your Highness!?”
“Surely Your Highness was not the one who brought him into the Valley of the Medicine Masters!”
Well, it was unsurprising that Chen Dandan felt this way and made such assumptions. In any case, up till the present, the martial arts skills that Zhou Donghuang had demonstrated were extremely admirable and awe-inspiring. His innate talent as a young 19-year-old was enough for him to earn the personal offer to enter the Valley of the Medicine Masters by Your Highness.
Not far from where Chen Dandan was, the two guardians of the Valley of the Medicine Masters overheard the conversation between Chen Dandan and Zhou Donghuang. They could not help but slightly furrow their brows as well. The thoughts running through their head were somewhat similar to that of Chen Dandan’s. It was just that they were still full of anger and resentment towards Zhou Donghuang for killing the Valley of the Medicine Masters’s second elder, Chen Tianhe. After all, Chen Tianhe had been one of the mid Connate adepts. Including Chen Tianhe, there had only been five mid Connate adepts in the entire Valley of the Medicine Masters! Now that Chen Tianhe was dead, there were only four left standing.
“If he was really specifically invited to the Valley by Your Highness… we have to follow the rules of the Valley of the Medicine Masters and punish him severely!” the fat old man, the left guardian, Wan Tao, whispered underneath his breath to his partner.
“Naturally so.” The thin old man, the right guardian, Yu Wei, nodded to show his approval.
Whoo! Whoo!
As the large, flying beast flew by in the sky, two shadows, one in front and one behind, landed neatly in the midst of a crowd of elders in the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
They were the head elder, Yu Meiqin and Your Highness of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Su Mo.
“Your Highness.”
“Your Highness.”
…
The elders that were gathered together all bowed simultaneously to show their respects to Su Mo.
“Your Highness.”
For the two great guardians of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Wan Tao and Yu Wei, they were both elders to Su Mo. However, respect for status did not supersede age in such public settings, and they both bowed towards Su Mo as well.
Under normal circumstances, Su Mo would bow in return to Wang Tao and Yu Wei. However, Su Mo presently stood where he was and did not even cast a glance at Wang Tao and Yu Wei. His gaze was fixated unwaveringly on the young man dressed in white, standing a short distance away.
All along, due to that Mid-Connate elixir, which had shocking, medicinal-like effects, Su Mo’s personal development and training had been accelerated greatly and he was now extremely close to becoming a mid Connate adept. Under normal circumstances, he of course would not have any intention to pause his training mid-way. Even as the Valley of the Medicine Masters’s elders had sought him out, seeing as the latter had not seemed urgent nor anxious, Su Mo had still held on to the idea of continuing his training. It was only when his master, the head elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Yu Meiqin, had come forward and charged through his doorway that he had paused his training efforts.
After understanding the happenings at the martial arts field, Su Mo immediately guessed that the person who had carried out the attacks at the field was definitely this young man… the white shirt, the sword pills… they were all symbols of him.
He did not even have time to explain his predictions to Yu Meiqin. Su Mo immediately got onto the back of Yu Meiqin’s flying beast and headed for the martial arts field.
“Your Highness.”
Chen Dandan took two, three steps forward and knelt before Su Mo, sobbing hysterically with tears running down her cheeks. “My father, Chen Tianhe, as the Valley of the Medicine Masters’s second elder, had made countless contributions and sacrifices for the valley while he was alive.
“In spite of that, today, he was killed by the person who invaded our valley!
“Please bring justice for my father, Your Highness!”
Although Chen Dandan had no confidence that this method was viable, she had little choice. Just as what the young man had said, the Valley Head before her was now the last hope that she could hold onto.
On the other hand, Su Mo ignored Chen Dandan as if she did not exist. He took two steps forward, past Chen Dandan and knelt down towards the young man standing before him. The entire group of people from the Valley of the Medicine Masters looked on in confusion, shock and disbelief.
“I’m Su Mo, Master.”
Su Mo’s voice was extremely courteous and bright. In an instant, his words reverberated around the entire martial arts field and even beyond to the Valley of the Medicine Masters’ hills. With such an echo, all the people present suddenly gained some insight. The entire field went deathly quiet, and one could even hear a pin drop.
This was especially so for the group of elders as well as the Valley of the Medicine Masters head elder, Yu Meiqin, the valley’s left guardian Wang Tao and right guardian Yu Wei. They all let out expressions of disbelief as they glanced at Su Mo, who was still kneeling on the floor. If they did not have a good enough understanding of Su Mo, they would even have suspected that he was a fake and not the real Su Mo!
“Is that… really Your Highness speaking?”
“Your Highness called the young man ‘Master?’ Is this a joke?”
“Is that really Your Highness? Our mighty and glorious Your Highness is kneeling and calling someone else master? Am I dreaming?”
…
Now, everyone present at the field, including the common people, were completely stunned into silence. They could not believe the sight before them nor what they had just heard coming from Su Mo’s mouth.
Was this all a joke?
Su Mo, ruler of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, was the first in status out of the Sixteen Countries of the Eastern Valley. As for this young man, he was merely someone from the country of Yunyang. How could he possibly be the master of Your Highness, Su Mo!?
“This… this is impossible!”
Chen Dandan was shocked into a daze by Su Mo. Now that she had regained her composure, her face had on an expression of full disbelief. “How can this be possible? This is impossible!”
Chen Dandan righted herself, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably. In a fit of delusion and confusion, she reached out a hand and pointed to Su Mo’s back. “You can’t be Your Highness! You’re not him!”
“Chen Dandan, stop being presumptuous!”
Seeing Chen Dandan’s actions, Yu Meiqin’s face changed, and she called out coldly. Although Yu Meiqin herself was still unsure as to why Su Mo, their ruler, had called out to the young man as his master, she would not permit someone of lowly status, such as Disciple Chen Dandan, to call Su Mo out in a rude manner.
Upon hearing Yu Meiqin’s cold voice, Chen Dandan’s final hope in her heart was thoroughly demolished. She collapsed onto the ground in a heap, as if all her energy had been depleted, her face as white as paper.
“Chen Dandan, everyone has to bear the consequences of whatever decisions they make. I only hope you do not regret your choices in the future.”
The words that the young man had uttered to her two years ago when Chen Dandan had left the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce now floated in her mind. At that point, she had ignored the words of this young man and moved on. This was especially after she had entered the Valley of the Medicine Masters and recognized the second elder, Chen Tianhe, as her father. She had then felt even more strongly that the young man was on a different wavelength as her.
“That young man is destined to be crushed under my feet,” she had thought.
As for now…
The young man that she had always looked down on was now standing before her proudly, as arrogant as ever. As for Su Mo, Your Highness of the Valley of the Medicine Masters and someone she both feared and admired was now kneeling before this very young man, calling him “‘Master…”
