Chapter 3048 - Meeting a Nemesis
The six manna that Tianming had claimed were marked, and couldn"t be used until those marks were removed. He soon returned to the entrance, where Heavensource Hall was located. Quite a few other inner valley disciples were lined up and waiting for their turn to make their claim.
Even standing in line was different for black and gold ring holders. Black ring holders would maintain some distance from the gold ring holders so that they didn"t cause any trouble. Since Tianming was a black ring holder and he proudly wore it outside, he got cut off by a gold ring holder.
"Whatever!" Tianming took a step back, since he wasn"t in a rush. However, he didn"t think that it would keep happening. Not to mention, he wasn"t the only one who got cut off; black ring holders could seemingly never progress in the line. The gold ring holders merely ignored them and kept getting in line behind the last gold ring holder. It was as if the rest didn"t exist at all.
With the gold ring holders cutting the line nonstop, the black ring holders could barely make any headway. However, they seemed used to it. They all had time and patiently waited. Eventually, the gold ring holders would run out. Only then did Tianming manage to advance a few times.
"I"m truly speechless. What a rubbish place. It"s almost like they"re intentionally condoning this." Myriadpath Valley seemed to rely on petty and disgusting acts to maintain an air of superiority toward the people from the Million Mundi. They had it down to a fine art. If he hadn’t barely managed to cling to reason, he would have drawn the Grand-Orient Sword and cut them down on the spot.
When I conquer this place, I"ll get rid of the rings and everyone will have to wear pink ones! Tianming thought that cutting in line was the worst of it, but he saw something worse in Heavensource Hall. There were a few people he recognized there, happily chatting away—namely Huang Daoxiong, Chu Tianyu, Qiu Ciling, and some others. They were all people that he had defeated.
This time around, they were serving as the staff of Heavensource Hall and in charge of processing the manna claims. Some distance behind them was a green throne surrounded by green mist, upon which a veiled girl was cultivating. Tianming had heard from the others in line that she was Reverend Qingyuan; lately, she had been appointed to take charge of Heavensource Hall.
Seeing Chu Tianyu, he recalled that the reverend happened to be his master, the one who had brought him to Myriadpath Valley during his childhood and raised him like a son! It was no wonder that particular group of gold-ring holders would be working in the hall.
The instant Tianming spotted them, they also spotted him. All of a sudden, they quieted down and glared daggers at him. However, Tianming wasn"t afraid. While Myriadpath Valley didn"t explicitly forbid people from killing one another, Heavensource Hall wasn"t a place where people could mess around. As long as Reverend Qingyuan cared about her reputation, he had nothing to worry about Huang Daoxiong and the others.
I"m claiming these manna according to the rules. It states as much in my myriadpath ring. They have no choice but to do things by the books. Tianming smiled as he approached Huang Daoxiong, who joined the other dozen gold ring holders and glared at him. They were all disciples or children of reverends, so they didn"t fear Tianming"s status as a reverend"s disciple.
The tension was high, but no fight would be breaking out. Normally, one wouldn"t expect Reverend Qingyuan to interfere in the squabble between Reverend Lan Yun and Reverend Daolie, either.
"I"m claiming these manna as my reward for getting first place. Please take a look." Tianming intentionally emphasized the words "first place" and handed out the six manna he had picked. The hall glowed from the radiance of the 300-aperture manna. There were many foundationeers who wouldn"t be able to obtain manna of that caliber, so they drew quite a bit of attention.
Apart from Huang Daoxiong, the other youths enviously watched the sight. They themselves were second- and third-generation inner valley disciples—and even some from the purest bloodlines that spanned countless generations—yet not even they had access to that. However, Tianming, a lower-cla.s.s outer mundi disciple, had them, stolen from right under their noses, in fact! Their hatred wasn"t veiled in the slightest. If it weren’t for the fact that they had been given a beating by Tianming before, they would definitely be losing it.
"Inspect them!" Tianming said.
"Fine." Huang Daoxiong stood tall and looked down on Tianming before heading toward the manna. He did things as the rules stipulated. Then he looked up all of a sudden with an expression of contempt. "You took six ordered manna?"
"That"s right. A whole set," Tianming said.
"Do you have six lifebound beasts?" Huang Daoxiong raised his eyebrows.
"Yes." Tianming nodded.
"Your situation is a bit special... tainted, so to speak. We don’t believe it. Show us your lifebound beasts. Others have to do it as well. We aren’t making an unfair request of you," Huang Daoxiong said with a smirk.
Tianming narrowed his eyes in realization. They were trying to reinforce his status as a tainted beastmaster. However, he didn"t care and immediately stripped down before their eyes, showing them the Primordial Chaos Beasts on his body. "Do you see these four?"
While the youths there had been beaten before, they hadn"t gotten a good look at the beasts back then. They were rather surprised to find that not only did Tianming not look horrendously ugly, he even seemed rather fierce, awe inspiring, and domineering. The beasts were harmoniously integrated into his body.
But their deeply ingrained prejudice against tainted beastmasters wouldn"t be easily changed. No matter how pleasing he was to the eye, they would still insist on their belief that his fusion was a sign of a tainted, impure bloodline. Before Tianming even showed them Yin Chen and Ji Ji, all the youths save for Huang Daoxiong broke out laughing.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Man and beast... how illuminating...."
"I"ve seen enough.... No more...."
"What an experience. The world truly has countless unspeakable wonders."
"It"s so disgusting...."
A few women couldn"t even bear to look and closed their eyes with contempt.
Tianming was rather speechless. He looked at Huang Daoxiong and said, "What"s so surprising? Your head looks like a lion"s. At least my head"s more handsome and humanlike than yours."
"I"m a specter. You"re a mixed-blood taint," Huang Daoxiong said, then lost his cool and broke out in laughter.
"You double-standard piece of s.h.i.+t," Tianming said with a smile.