Those at the banquet all discovered something unexpected had happened. These returning geniuses, not only were their auras fluctuating, their expressions were all extremely unsightly. Within them, Jiang Yan and Nion seemed affected the most. Jiang Yan’s face was contorted, his expression as cold as a ten thousand year old piece of ice and it seemed he would erupt forth with anger and killing intent at the slightest provocation now.
Nion’s expression resembled Jiang Yan, it seemed like she was humiliated by someone. Her beautiful features were marred by an ashen look and for those who didn’t know what happened, they might even think that this beautiful and prideful heaven chosen was just tainted by someone.
"What happened?" The hearts of everyone were filled with curiosity.
"Could it be that they failed to kill that young man?" Somebody speculated.
However, the possibility of this was extremely minute. With so many experts, how could they fail to kill a mere third-level ascendant? Even with the aid of Cheron and Mu Yan, the strength of all these experts should be able to restrict them both and successfully kill the young man. They didn’t doubt this point at all.
And just when they were contemplating, the returnees descended toward the ground. Their countenances were ashamed and all of them seemed unwilling to comment, directly returning to their earlier seats. They didn’t even bother to speak to the Jiangling King, Pei Tianyun and this made those present feel a sense that something had really gone wrong.
"Pei Xiao." Pei Tianyuan’s eyes landed onto Pei Xiao. After all, these people were all disciples from major powers, it wasn’t appropriate for Pei Tianyuan to force them to speak. Pei Xiao naturally was the prime target to seek answers from, given that he was a descendant of the Pei Clan.
Pei Xiao inclined his head and stared at Pei Tianyuan, as an awkward look painted his face. Opening his mouth, he closed it again not knowing how to tell the tale. If he reported things truthfully, it would undoubtedly toss coal into the fire and make the expressions on these chosen’s faces turn even more unsightly but on the other hand, he didn’t dare lie to Pei Tianyuan.
"My King." Pei Xiao bowed before he spoke, "That fellow could borrow power from the runic inscriptions for combat."
"Borrow power from the inscriptions?" Pei Tianyuan’s expression stiffened. Although Pei Xiao only said a single sentence, he instantly understood the story behind it. This meant that the young man had surpa.s.sed everyone’s imaginations. Hence, Pei Xiao was in a difficult position and it wasn’t too good for him to say too much.
"So what if he was able to borrow the power of runic inscriptions for combat? With the joint forces of all the geniuses who went, killing him should be as easy as flipping a palm, right?" Some in the crowd who couldn’t see the larger picture, plowed ahead and directly asked, causing Nion to coldly glance at the speaker. After which, she replied, "In any case, there’s nothing we can’t speak of. That brat’s attainment in divine inscriptions are exceedingly high. Although his combat prowess was nothing much, he’s very crafty and lured all of us to the location of the Nine Immortality Bell. After that, he borrowed power from the bell, controlling the boundless runic inscriptions radiating from it for defense and attack. We have no way to kill him."
As the sound of her voice faded, everyone started. From the fluctuation of Nion’s aura, it was evident that she was heavily injured. Also, she seemed to have changed into a new robe and now after hearing this, the crowd finally understood why.
No way to kill him? More likely, these geniuses have suffered the short end of the stick. If not, why would they return in such miserable states?
This made things even more interesting then. These geniuses all headed out in high spirits to hunt their target only to return defeated, abused by their supposed ‘prey.’
Nion didn’t try to hide this matter, many had seen her combat and most probably, the news of this matter would soon spread swiftly through the Driftsnow City and the remaining partic.i.p.ants of the banquet would soon know of it. She might as well tell everyone earlier and it wouldn’t be so shameful compared to the alternative.
"My King, come let’s drink up." A person suddenly spoke, attempting to diffuse the chilly atmosphere. Pei Tianyuan instantly responded with a smile, "Come everyone, let’s drink up. Today is a happy day, please enjoy yourselves to the fullest."
The crowd respectively raised their wine cups, toasting the Jiangling King. Although attempts were made to liven things up, the atmosphere remained stone heavy. These geniuses had no mood for enjoyment at all. They merely stayed for awhile longer before departing. They came here only to give face to the Jiangling King but now, the atmosphere here made them very uncomfortable.
This debt of revenge, they definitely have to go back and make that fellow pay for it.
On the other hand, Pei Yu felt much happier than the rest, she didn’t expect Qin Wentian to be so powerful. Naturally, she had guessed correctly that these people suffered a disadvantage in the hands of Qin Wentian.
The banquet ended soon after as the experts from major powers departed one after another. Very swiftly, only a few people were at the banquet.
The Jiangling King, Pei Tianyuan. The tower lord of Cloud Towers, Ji Kong and the city lord of Driftsnow City, as well as their subordinates.
Right now, Pei Tianyuan lifted his wine cup and sipped his wine before turning to Pei Xiao as he asked, "Explain everything in detail."
"Mhm," Pei Xiao nodded. After which, he regurgitated everything that had happened before, the story causing Pei Tianyuan to frown occasionally as gleams of sharpness flashed within his eyes.
After Pei Xiao finished, Pei Tianyuan was silent for a long moment. After which, he shook his head and sighed, "We’ve misjudged. No wonder Cheron was so close to that young man. So it turned out that the resonance of the Nine Immortality Bell earlier was caused by him. Who would have thought that the man with the deepest comprehension of the Nine Immortality Bell was offended by us first. In addition, he also formed grudges with the experts of the major powers. This is a truly depressing matter."
This time around, the experts from the various major powers visited the Driftsnow City purely because of the secret hidden in the Nine Immortality Bell. Sadly, Qin Wentian who was the man that caused the bell to chime the loudest, the man with the highest probability of unravelling the secret, was humiliated at the banquet repeatedly before departing in anger. How funny was this? Most likely when the news of this circulated, Pei Tianyuan’s name would be criticized by many in the Driftsnow City.
However what sort of character was Pei Tianyuan, he wouldn’t be bothered about such comments.
"My King, since we know that Tianwen has such high attainments in the dao of divine inscriptions and has the possibility of unravelling the Nine Immortality Bell’s secret, how about we try to smoothen things between us?" Pei Yu interjected. Pei Tianyuan glanced at her as he smiled, "Naive. He has cultivate all the way to the Celestial Phenomenon Realm and although to me, he is still an ant-like existence, he isn’t a fool. If we try to smooth things and build up our relation now, at most he would only feign civility with us but our relations will never be better."
"Also, so what even if his attainments in divine inscriptions are very high? His cultivation base is still weak. And should we really offend the chosen other major powers of the Cloud Prefecture for the sake of a single person? Pei Yu you are simply too naive. And if we take ten thousand steps back and a.s.sume that he could really crack the secret behind the Nine Immortality Bells, so what of it? Would the benefit ultimately still belong to him?"
Pei Tianyuan spoke casually, his words causing Pei Yu to turn pale. Pei Tianyuan’s words made her feel a chill in her heart.
"Pei Xiao, continue to maintain your good relations with those chosen. Pei Yu, you can leave for now, do the same as Pei Xiao.. You are still too tender and don’t know the ways of the world." Pei Tianyuan spoke. Pei Yu nodded and departed immediately, seeming in a hurry.
"My King, since you told Pei Yu all of this, why do you still let her leave?" Pei Xiao, after a moment, asked in confusion.
Pei Tianyuan glanced at Pei Xiao but didn’t reply. Ji Kong who was by his side smiled, "Pei Xiao, the Jiangling King is doing so intentionally. Pei Yu is ultimately still someone from the King’s Manor. But she, Cheron, Mu Yan and that Tianwen still maintained quite a good relations.h.i.+p, sincerely treating each other. Isn’t it good that you have a connection with Jiang Yan and the rest while she maintains the connection with Cheron and the others?" No matter which side the King is truly on, as long as he doesn’t initiate a provocation everything would be fine. Just let them fight among themselves."
Pei Xiao saw the light, he respectfully replied, "Many thanks to Tower Lord Ji for the enlightenment."
"Learn well." Ji Kong patted Pei Xiao on his shoulder before he stood up and departed. This banquet could be considered a failure but Pei Tianyuan didn’t seem to mind.
In the following days, news of Qin Wentian’s battle with the various chosen began to circulate. Instantly, the name Tianwen became exceedingly dazzling. Many people eventually knew that the young man who sat unmoving below the ancient bell a few days ago, wasn’t pretending to be mysterious but was rather in a deep state of comprehension.
As for Jiang Yan, every time he appeared, people would look at him with strange expressions that caused him to feel very uncomfortable. He felt as though he was on the verge of breaking down.
As more time pa.s.sed, more and more experts arrived at the Driftsnow City. These experts that numbered as many as the clouds sat around the locations of the Nine Immortality Bells as they quietly contemplated the immortality bells.
In fact, there were experts hailing from every major power of the Cloud Prefecture. There were even many that radiated a corona of immortal light arriving here.
At this moment, heavy snowflakes suddenly drifted throughout Driftsnow City. However, these snowflakes weren’t cold, they danced in the wind and fall unceasingly from the clouds but soon melted into a puddle when they touched the ground, only existing for that instant when they danced about on the wind.
Snow drifting in Driftsnow City, the scenery was even more beautiful than usual. In front of a certain immortality bell, Pei Yu was dressed in white, standing there with her hand outstretched, allowing the snowflakes to land inside her palm. She turned her beautiful eyes to the sky and mumbled, "Each and every snowflake that falls in the Driftsnow City, are these ‘your’ tears?"
The ‘your’ in Pei Yu’s words were naturally referring to the Driftsnow Master. According to the legends, the Driftsnow Master used his own flesh and blood to construct the city, and infused his soul into Nine Immortality Bells. Whenever the bells chimed, it was him missing Immortal Jade, and whenever snow drifted, that was his tears for their love story.
"You are too besotted." Cheron walked to the side of Pei Yu as he smiled. Although he believed that the legends were true, he didn’t believe that the drifting snow were tears of the Driftsnow Master.
Pei Yu stared at Cheron as she smiled sweetly, "Anything is possible, the secret within the bells aren’t unravelled yet and Tianwen also said that he had seen the Driftsnow Master in a vision before. What other things aren’t possible?"
"That fellow is simply too monstrous, although I could form a connection with the bells as well, and cause them to resonate, I’ve never seen any such scene when I sank my perception within. That fellow actually said that he saw the Driftsnow Master, this is simply incredible. How high are his attainments exactly in the dao of divine inscriptions?"
Cheron’s mouth twitched a little as he glanced at Qin Wentian. This is already the fifth of the Nine Immortality Bells Qin Wentian connected with. He had to comprehend the runic inscriptions and form a connection with all nine of the ancient bells before he would have a chance to unravel the secret within.
At this moment, Qin Wentian sat in front of the towering bell with his perception deeply immersed within the bell. Or maybe it would be better to say that his perception was currently immersed inside a scene.
In this scene, snowflakes unceasingly danced in the air. In front of a beautiful, enormous fortress, a gigantic figure quietly sat there. This gigantic figure had a height of over 33,333 meters and it seemed as though his head could touch the sky. It was simply terrifying to see such a giant.
However for this terrifying giant, it was only that his body was large. His features were handsome, and there was an expression of gentleness and calmness on his face. His eyes were staring at the horizon, filled with a heavy sense of longing, and he stretched his hand out allowing the snowflakes to fall unceasingly within, melting inside his palm. However, it seemed he couldn’t sense the coldness. He simply sat there like that, forever and ever, as though he was planning to do so until he dies. For some reason, he gave off the feeling that he had already experienced the pa.s.sing of countless years!