Star Odyssey

Chapter 1409: Mr. Zui

Apart from Hope Restaurant, the rest of the Island of Hope was covered in forest growth. There were not that many beasts in the forest, and since many people did not like how crowded Hope Restaurant was, they preferred to wait in the forest until the best time to enter a Junior Progenitor Planet arrived.

As more cultivators came to the Island of Hope, more and more conflicts and fights broke out.

One day, a strange looking creature that resembled a piece of paper arrived on the Island of Hope and headed towards Hope Restaurant. There was one elder and one youth on the back of this paper creature.

As the old man looked at the enormous building in front of him, he lifted a hand. The paper creature then folded itself into a piece of paper that fell into the old man’s palm. “This is Hope Restaurant, and it only opens once an era. The Island of Hope only appears once the Junior Progenitors are determined, and your current goal is to build up your reputation inside Hope Restaurant until you are invited to a Junior Progenitor Planet. Are you confident?”

“I’m confident that I can do that. Don’t worry, senior,” the young man replied.

The elder looked at the youth in a kindly manner. “You came from my Nest, and I don’t care about what you may have done in the past. As long as you successfully enter a Junior Progenitor Planet and travel to the Dominion Realm with a Junior Progenitor, all of your past crimes will be erased. Let’s go—Shang Qing’s story will begin here at Hope Restaurant.”

“Alright, Mr. Zui.”

Each of the building’s seven floors were very crowded. Anyone who was able to come here was either an elite or led by a powerhouse. Additionally, the higher the floor level, the more confident the occupants were of their own strength, as there were a fixed number of tables inside Hope Restaurant, and that number would never increase.

Nobody would willingly allow someone to step on their heads.

Everyone wanted to sit at the top floor of Hope Restaurant, but there was an unspoken rule in the restaurant: only Envoys and the people they brought were allowed on the top floor. Everyone else had to remain on the lower six floors.

Mr. Zui led Shang Qing to the first floor, and he had no intention of moving onto a higher floor.

Nest was the Middle Realm’s largest prison, so given their status, they had to keep a low profile.

Most of the people on the first floor were young elites who had come on their own. People who had arrived with a senior would usually continue on to the higher floors. Still, the people on the first floor would not have been considered very powerful even if they had arrived with a senior.

The first floor of Hope Restaurant also had the most empty seats.

The two people sat down at a random table.

Delicious dishes and alcohol soon appeared on the table.

Mr. Zui took a deep breath and smiled happily. “This is the smell that I remember! The alcohol here is the best.”

He took a large gulp of the wine.

Shang Qing was not interested in food or alcohol. Ever since he arrived in the Perennial World, he had kept his three streams of qi gathered at his waist as letting them swirl about his body would have attracted too much attention. Arch-Elder Zen had also advised everyone to keep a low profile before sending them to the Perennial World.

After spending an hour drinking, Mr. Zui let out a burp. He had clearly drunk far too much, and he muttered to himself, “The Island of Hope only appears once every era, and there are just too few people who can live for more than an era. Even most of those Envoys have to go into cryostasis to allow themselves to see the next era. Meanwhile, any random asteroid in a galaxy can last longer than us humans.”

However, it did not matter how long a random asteroid could exist for; any random Explorer could easily destroy a planet that had existed for multiple eras while a Limiteer could easily destroy an asteroid. It did not even matter if the asteroid had witnessed the birth of humanity or any other species that might have existed before humans.

“Wisdom is the root of humankind.”

Shang Qing felt confused. It seemed strange to hear such a thing from a criminal from Nest.

Mr. Zui took another sip from his glass and sighed. “Some people are just too smart, and their intelligence exceeds human limitations. Because of this, their ideas, plans, and schemes are able to change history.” He continued drinking as he rambled on. “Those people are able to change history within just a few decades, and it’s way, way too scary.”

Shang Qing could not understand what Mr. Zui was talking about, and he was actually uninterested in listening to the older man’s thoughts. Shang Qing was more interested in listening into the conversation at the table next to them.

There was a rather large gap between the two tables, but as long as the cultivators did not intentionally stop others from listening in, it was rather easy to overhear conversations.

“Did you hear about the fight that just happened up on the sixth floor? I heard that quite a few families got involved.”

“Yeah, I heard about it too. Families from the Middle Realm who support Shenwu’s Sky and the Celestial Frost Sect started fighting against each other when the families supporting the Wang family and the White Dragon Clan suddenly joined in.”

“I heard that it all started because of the Liu family and Seed Garden. Miss Yu Chen, the maid of the Celestial Frost Sect’s Junior Progenitor, personally went to invite Liu Hao, but he chose to support Shenwu’s Sky instead. Meanwhile, Seed Garden’s Nong Sanniang chose to support the Wang family. Both of those outcomes upset the people from the Celestial Frost Sect. Yu Chen is many people’s idol, so a lot of people are happy to start a fight for her since she was rejected.”

“Hmm, those people are idiots. None of that is any of their business. No matter how intense the battle might get, Miss Yu Chen would still never take a look at any of them.”

At another table, other people were talking as well. “I heard that Wan Wu went to the White Dragon Clan’s Junior Progenitor Planet, right?”

“You’re right. He was sent by the Adventure King.”

“I didn’t expect the Adventure King to come to the Middle Realm. He’s the most important person in Root, and he is devoted to cleaning up the Lower Realm. He’s the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the Lower Realm.”

“The Adventure King is truly a respectable man, which is why Wan Wu was accepted to the White Dragon Clan Junior Progenitor Planet.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Wan Wu didn’t go to the White Dragon Clan’s Junior Progenitor Planet because of the Adventure King. Wan Wu is already an Enlighter, and he’s been training in the Lower Realm. Thus, Junior Progenitor Long Tian will need to rely on him during his trip to the Dominion Realm.”

“That’s true.”

Shang Qing paused; Wan Wu was a disciple of the Adventure King who had been in the Lower Realm.

“Oh, someone from Root went up again. Those people are hard to deal with. They’re always down in the Lower Realm, so all of them have a strong killing aura.”

“Hmph, so what if they have a killing aura? The elites of our Middle Realm are all from the four ruling powers or their subordinate powers. If they were from anywhere else, they would have already been removed.”

“Shh! Don’t talk about that! Don’t you want to stay alive?”

“Did I say something wrong? The Star Alliance is-”

A stick of bamboo suddenly flew towards the speaker from a distance and pierced through his neck, spilling his blood on the ground.

The man collapsed to the ground, dead.

Most people turned towards the entrance as an old man walked in. His eyes were vicious, and golden flames covered his body that burned the sky and distorted space. He was clearly an Envoy.

“He deserved to die for spouting such nonsense.” The old man continued on his way to a higher floor without even glancing at anyone on the first floor.

The people on the first floor all fell silent as they stared at the dead man.

Everyone knew what they could and could not say if they wanted to survive in the Perennial World. This person must have had a grudge against the four ruling powers. Otherwise, he would have never said something so extreme.

“That senior is from the Purple-Gold Family, right?”

“Right. The people from the Purple-Gold Family are easily recognized. In that case, Jin Feiyuan should arrive soon.”

“Jin Feiyuan has already been confirmed to be going to the Dominion Realm with the team from Shenwu’s Sky. We’ll be able to see the Purple-Gold Family’s young master.”

Mr. Zui was very drunk at this time, and even the man’s death a moment ago had not drawn a bit of his attention. He finally set his glass down after hearing Jin Feiyuan’s name. “Are you confident that you can defeat him?”

Shang Qing calmly replied, “I’m not sure about his strength, but I’m pretty confident.”

“If you lose, you’ll be killed,” Mr. Zui calmly stated.

Shang Qing kept quiet.

In the distance, a purple-gold Undying Bird descended.

Many people in Hope Restaurant looked over with envious expressions. Those flames were from Jin Feiyuan, a powerhouse who would soon be going to the Dominion Realm with Shenwu’s Sky’s Junior Progenitor.

There were four unique bridges in front of Hope Restaurant, and the bridge that looked like a chain led to Shenwu’s Sky’s Junior Progenitor Planet. A young girl, Xia Taili, was standing on that bridge as she looked up. “You’re here! How dare you defy me? I’m going to teach you a lesson.”

The purple-gold Undying Bird flew towards the bridge leading to Shenwu’s Sky’s Junior Progenitor Planet, but suddenly, it felt an attack approach. The bird looked down and saw Shang Qing, who had walked out of Hope Restaurant. The bird was furious and it dived down.

Shang Qing looked up. This would be his first battle since coming to the Perennial World, so he knew that he should not use his Tri-Yang Ancestral Qi Technique here.

Nobody had expected Jin Feiyuan to be attacked. Although the Purple-Gold Family was not as well known as the Liu family or Seed Garden, they were still considered one of the more powerful families in the Middle Realm. They were Shenwu’s Sky’s subordinates, and Jin Feiyuan had even been confirmed as one of the powerhouses who would be going to the Dominion Realm. Thus, nobody had expected anyone to attack him.

…

Half an hour later, countless people, including Xia Taili, were staring at the scene before them in a daze.

Jin Feiyuan had been defeated while the man who had attacked him had not been injured at all. No matter how Jin Feiyuan had attacked, he had not been able to cause the slightest injury to the man.

“How dare you!” the old man who had killed someone with a bamboo stick roared from within Hope Restaurant. He stepped forward and tried to grab Shang Qing. Mr. Zui watched, but he did nothing to help, and Shang Qing remained perfectly calm as well.

Just as the elder was about to grab hold of Shang Qing, an indescribable force swept towards the older man and forced him a thousand meters back.

“Since when were you allowed to be so rude on the Island of Hope!” a booming voice echoed through the area. It clearly belonged to a top powerhouse.

Each Junior Progenitor Planet was protected by a top powerhouse, as each planet held the resources given to a future Progenitor by the Perennial World. The people protecting these planets always included a powerhouse with a power level exceeding a million, two Envoys, and at least ten Enlighters. These people were not forced to protect the planet, but were rather actually all volunteers.

They had all either reached their limits regarding cultivation or were reaching the end of their life. Thus, these people’s only choice was to follow a Junior Progenitor in hopes of gaining a new lease on life after the Junior Progenitor became a Progenitor. Therefore, they were extremely loyal to their chosen Junior Progenitors, and they already treated the youths as Progenitors.

The person who had attacked was the top powerhouse from Shenwu’s Sky’s Junior Progenitor Planet. He had a power level of more than a million, and he had passed through six tribulations.

The elder from the Purple-Gold Family trembled. “Forgive me, senior! I was too brash. Please forgive me, Junior Progenitor.”