Novel Full Chapter 2804 - The Price of a Single Piece of Eternal Essence Gold
Chapter 2804 – The Price of a Single Piece of Eternal Essence Gold
The center of the Ancient Nine Luminaries City.
The Starry Stele was the most eye-catching feature of the landscape. It was visible even from far away.
They called it a stele, but in truth, it was a stone tower so tall that it pierced the clouds. Its surface was covered in gray chaos mist, and it flashed with flickering, intermittent hints of starlight.
From a distance, it looked as if the river of stars were pouring onto the stele.
There were nine lotus platforms at its base, each like a lotus in bloom. All of them were ten feet across, pitch black, and surrounded by layers of petals. Wisps of misty, dreamlike light of the Grand Dao rose around them, then fell like rain.
There was already a figure seated atop each of the nine Divine Contemplation Lotus Platforms. All of them were bathed in a rain of the light of the Grand Dao.
Su Yi, Fu Lingyun, and Mo Lanhe approached from afar.
“Fellow Daoist, are you really going to try to claim a platform?” Mo Lanhe couldn’t help but transmit. He wasn’t worried that Su Yi would fail, but that the attempt would be like poking a hornet’s nest. It might well lead to endless trouble.
Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “The moment I entered the city, it became impossible for me to keep a low profile any longer. Even if I avoid trouble, trouble will come looking for me.”
Mo Lanhe tensed. Don’t tell me that word of Xue Sheng and Wu Xun’s deaths has already spread?
“Don’t overthink it,” said Su Yi. “I just want to confirm something.”
“What do you want to confirm?”
Su Yi said calmly, “I want to see whether they’ve figured out my true identity yet or not.”
Mo Lanhe was flabbergasted. What does that mean? Is Li Muchen saying that he has another identity? And that whatever it is, it’s likely to bring him trouble?
“Come on. No matter the consequences, there’s no need for concern,” said Su Yi. “Even if the worst comes to pass, you and Fu Lingyun have nothing to worry about.”
He wasn’t making idle promises. After all, he knew that Lu Hongpao was watching from the outside world.
Even if something happened to him, Lu Hongpao would be able to save Mo Lanhe and Fu Lingyun.
Mo Lanhe forcefully suppressed his bewilderment, then followed Su Yi and Fu Lingyun forward.
He actually rather envied Fu Lingyun. Whether you call her ‘scatterbrained’ or ‘composed,’ she doesn’t have to worry about all this trouble.
“Oh? If I’m not mistaken, those three are from the Literati Continent. What are they doing here?”
“I suspect they’re here to contemplate the Starry Stele. This is, after all, one of the greatest fortuitous grounds in the Ancient Nine Luminaries City.”
“They can glance at it, sure, but no more. Never mind them; even we cultivators of the Five Great Continents will never get the chance to experience the Divine Contemplation Lotus Platforms’ wonders for ourselves.”
A series of voices rang out as Su Yi and his companions’ arrival drew numerous gazes.
Most of them just glanced over briefly before disregarding them, but a few had predatory gleams in their eyes, as if they’d spotted their favorite prey.
“Wait up, you three!” Suddenly, a silver-robed man blocked their path and laughed. “Don’t be afraid. I’ve got nothing to do, so I thought it’d be nice to make a deal. I’d like to buy all of your Falling Star Stones.”
Whoosh!
Numerous others looked over inquisitively.
The silver-robed man was called Xue Chuang, and he was from a Heavenly Monarch faction of the Five Great Continents, the Blue Deer Dao Sect.
He was in thirty-eighth place on Divine Reverence Pavilion’s Unfettered Ranking.
That morning, he’d claimed a Divine Contemplation Lotus Platform, and he’d been contemplating the mysteries of the Grand Dao displayed on the Starry Stele when someone seized his spot.
He’d been frustrated ever since.
Everyone could tell that Xue Chuang was looking for someone to vent his anger on. These three unfortunate cultivators of the Literati Continent had shown up at just the wrong time.
Xue Chuang might have hesitated before bullying fellow cultivators of the Five Great Continents, but there was no need to worry about bullying people from the Literati Continent.
“Xue Chuang, you call yourself one of the three monsters of the Blue Deer Dao Sect, yet here you are, bullying people from a lesser continent. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” someone said with a derisive laugh.
The speaker obviously wasn’t afraid of Xue Chuang’s background.
Xue Chuang shook his head. “You’re wrong. I just want to do business with our three fellow Daoists. How can you call that bullying? Besides, given my status, what need do I have to bully others just to show off?”
He plastered a kind smile across his face, then looked at Mo Lanhe. “Don’t you think so, Senior Heavenly Monarch?”
He addressed Mo Lanhe as his senior, but his flippant tone and mannerisms made it obvious that he didn’t take Mo Lanhe the least bit seriously.
Mo Lanhe gazed pityingly at him and said nothing. That fool could have provoked anyone in the world, but he just had to go and provoke us. If Xue Sheng and Wu Xun are watching from the next world, I’m sure they’ll see themselves in him!
Fu Lingyun just pursed her lips in silence, but she looked at Xue Chuang with the same pitying gaze as Mo Lanhe.
It was true that over the years, the cultivators of the Literati Continent had been easy pickings for bullies. Even their Dao Protectors, all of them Heavenly Monarchs, had no choice but to swallow their anger. None of them dared to offend the cultivators of the Five Great Continents.
But this time was different. Because Li Muchen was here!
“You want our Falling Star Stones?” asked Su Yi.
Xue Chuang smiled. “Of course. I’ll buy your entire supply!”
He took out a single piece of Eternal Essence Gold, then said with an air of pompous generosity, “This should be enough!”
The onlookers burst into laughter. This was blatant humiliation and ridicule.
This was no “business transaction.” He was obviously just venting his frustrations on the three cultivators of the Literati Continent.
Some of the onlookers furrowed their brows; they thought Xue Chuang was taking this too far. Still, none of them objected.
After all, these were just cultivators of the Literati Continent, and complete strangers at that. Why stick out their necks on their behalf?
A man in brocade said calmly, “Xue Chuang, don’t overdo it. I’d hate for our three friends to think that everyone in the Five Great Continents is like you!”
Xue Chuang laughed. “I look down on them, yes, but I’ve made my disdain readily apparent. I disdain to hide how I really feel. I’m different from you. You obviously look down on them, too, yet you sound so righteous and reserved, you damn hypocrites!”
He tossed the Eternal Essence Gold into the air, caught it, then smiled at Su Yi and his companions. “I’ll be honest with you. There’s no grudge between us, and someone of my status really shouldn’t be bullying the likes of you, but there’s nothing for it. I’ve got a bellyful of pent-up frustration, and I need someone to vent it on. If you’re afraid or aggrieved, well, I’ll just have to apologize in advance.”
He called it an apology, but it was so blatantly flippant and mocking that it clearly didn’t count.
Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he tossed the Eternal Essence Gold at Mo Lanhe’s feet.
Then, he said with a friendly grin, “Senior Heavenly Monarch, I’ll have to trouble you to pick that up for me, then give me every last Falling Star Stone you have on you. Then, our deal will be complete. It’s a fair trade. Trust me, I wouldn’t deceive a soul!”
The crowd whispered amongst themselves. All of them were eager for a spectacle, the bigger the better.
Su Yi stretched out his hand and made a grabbing motion. The Eternal Essence Gold whooshed into his palm.
Xue Chuang grinned. “You’ve accepted my money, so you can’t go back on our deal now.”
Boom!
The crowd saw stars. The area was paved in black stone, and now, every last tile shook.
When the scene cleared up, everyone was stunned.
Xue Chuang had been all smiles just moments prior, but now he was sprawled out on the ground like a dead dog, bleeding from the seven apertures of his face. A foot pinned his head to the ground so firmly that he couldn’t even budge.
The city had stood since the Devastation. The ground was naturally as firm as could be.
Heavenly Monarchs had tested it before. Even when they attacked with all their might, they could only create shallow marks on the ground.
Xue Chuang was now pinned to the ground. One look at the blood gushing from the seven apertures of his face and his limp, battered form, and it was obvious how much that blow had hurt!
Silence descended over the area. Even the birds ceased their song.
The crowd had been eager for a spectacle just moments prior, but now, all of them watched in silence, their expressions shifting.
Some of them looked stricken. One attack! He suppressed Xue Chuang before he even knew what hit him!
This was entirely unexpected.
But Fu Lingyun and Mo Lanhe had grown accustomed to such things.
“Consider this Eternal Essence Gold the price of your life,” said Su Yi. Even as he put the gold away, his foot kept Xue Chuang pinned to the ground.
The onlookers exchanged glances. Who could have failed to realize the implications? He was saying that Xue Chuang, the monstrous genius in thirty-eighth place in the Unfettered Rankings, was only worth a single piece of Eternal Essence Gold.
“Young man, do you have any idea what you’re doing?” A gray-robed, white-haired middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere, his gaze icy.
This was Mu Qu, Xue Chuang’s Dao Protector! His eyes blazed with murderous intent as he locked onto Su Yi.
Su Yi exclaimed, “Isn’t it against the city’s rules for a Heavenly Monarch to intervene in disputes between Unfettered Realm cultivators?”
Mu Qu said coldly, “Rules are dead, but people are alive. Are you sure I wouldn’t dare to step in?”
“Ah, but you wouldn’t dare to try anything,” Su Yi said with a laugh. He flicked his fingers, and a Nine Luminaries Medallion floated into the air. “Without his medallion, there’s no way he can escape. Are you sure I wouldn’t dare to kill him?”
Everyone was flabbergasted. Only now did they realize that Su Yi had seized Xue Chuang’s medallion when he defeated him!
Mu Qu’s expression was instantly ashen as could be. “Let him go, and everything is up for discussion.”
The man in brocade, the one who’d spoken up earlier, chimed in again. “Friend, here in the Ancient Nine Luminaries City, it’s fine to fight and squabble, but it’s best not to kill anyone. If you do, you’ll only bring disaster upon your sect.”
He paused, then said, “Xue Chuang was in the wrong, but he’s already paid for what he’s done. Let’s end this here.”
Earlier, he’d mocked Xue Chuang for overdoing things and said that not all cultivators of the Five Great Continents were like him.
Now, he’d stepped forth to play peacemaker. His words were a reminder, but also a warning.
Su Yi just glanced at him. “Do you want to buy your life with a piece of Eternal Essence Gold, too?”
The man in brocade glowered and was just about to say something when his Dao Protector stopped him.
Su Yi, meanwhile, had already shifted his gaze to Mu Qu. “In your shoes, I’d offer up every treasure I had on me. That is, unless you think this guy’s life isn’t worth it. In that case, we have nothing further to discuss.”
The crowd was at a loss for words.
Xue Chuang had just wanted Falling Star Stones, but this guy was even more ruthless. He wanted everything Xue Chuang and his Dao Protector had on them!