Qin Wentian’s voice was like thunder breaking the silence. His voice wasn’t loud, yet it caused the hearts of everyone who heard it to tremble as an expression of disbelief appeared on their faces. Not only that, shock could also be seen in their eyes.
Time stopped once again. Even the slightest sounds of breathing ceased. Everyone was holding onto their breaths as the eyes of countless people landed on Qin Wentian and Jun Mengchen, not daring to believe what they heard.
This grand event that occurs once per hundred years...At the very end when the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor made his majestic appearance wanting to accept the three top rankers as his disciples, it was originally a matter of celebration. But, at this final moment prior to the perfect ending of this grand event, the originally extremely touching moment became an extremely shocking one, even the immortal kings felt something akin to panic stirring their hearts.
What sort of characters were immortal kings? Even when seeing absolute geniuses who were at the Celestial Phenomenon Realm, their hearts wouldn’t be moved at all. But now, they were actually all feeling traces of panic?
Because at this moment, after the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor’s personally arrived. At this moment, which was supposed to be the moment prior to the perfect conclusion of the immortal banquet, two out of the top three rankers rejected to take on the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor as their master.
Although Jun Mengchen and Qin Wentian’s rejection was done using tactful words, their tones and their expressions were one of indifference and resoluteness. It was as though they had already planned the rejection right from the start.
No one among the supreme experts here were fools. Which one of them didn’t have countless years of experiences and had seen all kinds of things? Right now, how could they fail to see that both Jun Mengchen and Qin Wentian had both never intended to accept the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor as their master right from the start?
The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor was like a G.o.d of the thirteen prefectures. He appeared personally in the most dazzling manner to conclude this once-per-hundred year event, causing the attention of everyone to land on him only to be rejected by two juniors. Wasn’t this equal to a harsh slap to his face?
In the thirteen prefectures, there were actually people who dared to do this? And...these people were merely two juniors at the Celestial Phenomenon Realm.
In the air, the silence continued on for a long time. Even the supreme immortal kings didn’t dare to say a thing, as though they have not digested Qin Wentian and Jun Mengchen’s words fully yet.
The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor’s offer to take them as his disciples was actually rejected. The strongest two partic.i.p.ants who intentionally came to partic.i.p.ate in this event directly rejected him. In countless years, this was unprecedented.
Even Princess Glaze was stunned. Her beautiful eyes flickered, even she had not predicted such a shocking thing would happen. When her eyes swept over them, she only saw a resolute determination on Qin Wentian and Jun Mengchen’s countenances. While everyone else didn’t even dare to talk, they were all waiting for the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor to say something.
Over at the location of the Cloud Prefecture, the Idlecloud Immortal King was in a state of total panic, no traces of his earlier joy could be seen at all. He stared at the two youngsters in shock, wondering if they had gone crazy.
"INSOLENCE!"
Finally, a word shattered the silence, filled with an intense coldness and killing intent.
The person who spoke was Dongsheng Ting. He had once considered this possibility. But, it was instantly pushed out of his mind the moment he thought of it. Right now, that possibility with the slightest probability of occuring had actually happen and this couldn’t help but to cause an intense chill to bloom in his heart.
Was Qin Wentian here for revenge?
He actually dared to reject the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor in front of all the spectators and the prefecture lords of the Thirteen Prefectures?
"Jun Mengchen do you know what you are doing? You actually want to give up the opportunity I gave you?" Dongsheng Ting stared at Jun Mengchen. As for Qin Wentian, Dongsheng Ting had already sentenced him to death in his heart. But with regards to Jun Mengchen, he believed that it was because of Qin Wentian’s influence. He still had a slight hope that Jun Mengchen would wake up from this foolishness, hence he wanted to give him another chance.
"My royal father is the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor and the governor of the thirteen prefectures. With your outstanding talent, if my father accepts you as a disciple, your name would s.h.i.+ne more brilliantly than any other among the younger generation. If you take back your words earlier, I’m willing to beg for mercy on behalf of you from my royal father."
Dongsheng Ting stared at Jun Mengchen.
Jun Mengchen also turned his gaze over. Although he was impulsive and frivolous, his heart was clearer than anyone when it came to matters of principle.
He was a disciple of the Heavenly Talisman Realm and was brought by a senior brother to there. For him, this was simply a mission to temper himself, nothing more than that.
There was no way he, Jun Mengchen, would become the disciple of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor.
"The reason why I partic.i.p.ated in this grand event of the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect all the way from the preliminaries in Cloud Prefecture until here, is only to temper myself and improve my strength. I have no intentions to take on anyone as a master." Jun Mengchen stared at Dongsheng Ting as he spoke resolutely. He then continued, "In addition, although the top three rankers have the privilege to become disciples of the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect, this is ultimately still a choice for the partic.i.p.ants to make. I’ve never heard that being part of the top three means that you definitely have to take on the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect as a master. If not, there’s no way I would even be here."
Upon listening to Jun Mengchen’s words, everyone was speechless. This grand event, that occurs once every hundred years were hidebound by convention, where the top three rankers would definitely become the disciples of the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor. This was already something proper and to be expected as a matter of course. But today, there were actually two who rejected.
Rejecting the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor under such an occasion, wasn’t this purposely trying to make things ugly for the immortal emperor?
n.o.body had dared to do this before ever. n.o.body! This was the first time.
Dongsheng Ting still wanted to say something, yet the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor suddenly spoke, "Shut up."
Dongsheng Ting instantly fell silent. He glanced at his father only to see his father was still as calm as ever. There seemed to be no emotions in those deep eyes of his royal father but the faint smile on his face had already faded away, replaced by a heavy solemness.
Undoubtedly, the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor was truly angered at this moment. He was a lofty and high up existence, someone at the immortal emperor level. Yet his face was smacked by two juniors in such a public occasion. How could he not be angry?
"Everyone take your seats." The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor faintly spoke. What status did he have? Even if he was angered, the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor wouldn’t allow it to show on his face. After everyone sat back down, the atmosphere was still oppressively heavy and no one dared to talk.
"You guys are fellow sect members, but what is the name of your sect? And who is your master?" The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor sat there staring at Qin Wentian. His eyes felt like they could see right through Qin Wentian and just a glance gave off a terrifying pressure. The sound of his voice was like the sound of the Great Dao, rumbling in Qin Wentian’s mind, pressing down on his nerves, forcing him to tell the truth.
A powerful aura gushed forth from Qin Wentian as the power in his bloodline thrummed. He stared straight back at the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor. Although the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor hadn’t released any power, just a look from him alone was sufficient to almost crush him. The distance between them in terms of cultivation levels was simply inconceivable.
"There’s no need for your Majesty to worry about it." Qin Wentian’s words were as polite as ever. No matter what he thought in his heart, before he had enough strength, there was still a need to maintain politeness when facing experts on the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor’s level. Naturally, this couldn’t be considered grovelling, it was just respect for the strong. He still had his own determination and his spirit.
"Are you intentionally rejecting me because of what happened in the past?" The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor emotionlessly asked, as though he was talking of an extremely ordinary matter. His control of his emotions couldn’t help but make Qin Wentian feel impressed.
"In the past, I by right should have taken on your Majesty as my master. Later on, because of that condition - a period of free time once-per-thousand years, this junior could only choose to let down senior’s kind intentions. My actions labelled me as someone with an inferior and arrogant character, causing your Majesty to forsake me in the end. Maybe, this is something insignificant to your majesty because I’m merely an insignificant being in your eyes. Even if you trampled my pride, so what of it? I’m too inconsequential and your Majesty would forget about me instantly just after a short moment."
Qin Wentian smiled faintly. "The things that happened in the past, in addition to his highness Dongsheng Ting’s words, as well as the fact that the disciple you took to in place of me, Que Tianyi, not being bound by the same arduous conditions caused junior to have a clear guess in my heart. The things that happened back then aren’t as simple as I once imagined. Maybe, your Majesty is purposely making things difficult for me."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Dongsheng Ting stepped out, his killing intent gus.h.i.+ng forth.
"Let him continue to speak." The Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor commanded. Dongsheng Ting could only halt his step and glared icily at Qin Wentian.
"For this disciple recruitment event, his highness Dongsheng Ting intentionally targeted me unfairly in the first two rounds. For the first round, the Dream Devil King wanted to pry into my memories..how could I not struggle to free myself and exit his dreamscape? Eventually, I was ranked last because of that. For the second round, the devil statue had a will of its own, directly abusing and tormenting my will, crus.h.i.+ng it as soon as I entered it. But no matter, I still depended on my own strength to walk to this point and obtained the top ranking of this event."
Qin Wentian stared at the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor and continued, "Under such circ.u.mstances, does your Majesty really think that I will still join the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect? I wonder what sort of treatment would I get the moment I joined. At that time, his highness Dongsheng Ting only needs to find any random excuses and I would be consigned to eternal d.a.m.nation with no hope of a reprieve.
"I came here firstly to temper myself, and secondly, to tell your majesty that not everyone would want to take you on as a master. Even without entering your tutelage, I still can sweep the geniuses of the thirteen prefectures under my feet, as well as members of your Eastern Sage Immortal Sect in the same generation as me. Small characters have their own spirit, and their pride isn’t something you can trample on as you wish."
Qin Wentian finished speaking. His gaze then turned to the Deepflame Immortal King as he added, "Didn’t you hint to me earlier that some things are already destined? However, my reply to you was that some things, until the very end, you would never know what the ending was. Right now, have you understood this ending yet?"
The Deepflame Immortal King had a sinister expression on his face, yet he only heard the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor remarking in an indifferent voice, "Fascinating."
Qin Wentian turned his gaze back onto the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor only to see the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor calmly looking at him. His eyes still contained a boundless majesticness as he continued, "Fascinating and very amazing. However, are you not afraid that I will kill you?"
As the sound of his voice faded, a heavier and much more stifling pressure completely enveloped Qin Wentian. It felt like the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor could take his life away with just a thought.
"Back then, your Majesty was asked by the Evergreen Immortal Emperor to head to a particle world and accept a disciple. I naturally understood that it was Qing`er giving me a chance. However, your Majesty deliberately made things difficult for me, betraying the intentions of the Evergreen Immortal Emperor. Right now, I’m merely rejecting the offer to take you on as my master, yet your Majesty wants to kill me? Are you not afraid of the ridicule by the immortal realms?"
Qin Wentian spoke with cold arrogance. Princess Glaze’s beautiful eyes flickered, she suddenly understood the words Qin Wentian said to her earlier. This was probably what Qin Wentian wanted to tell her!