Chapter 831: Reverse Scale
“If you want to talk reason, I can talk reason with you. If you want to fight, I am willing to accompany you. Others may fear you, Di Wuque, but I do not.”
Xiao Chen casually flung his hand out and tossed aside his cloak. His white robes fluttered in the wind as he looked calmly at Di Wuque.
“It is the White Robed Bladesman Xiao Chen. He advanced to Martial Sage!”
Having revealed his ident.i.ty, Xiao Chen immediately attracted everyone’s attention. The news of the Azure Emperor’s descendant turning up had spread from the Tianwu Domain to the entire Kunlun Realm.
When the Sage Mark Monument appeared, many people wondered whether Xiao Chen would be able to make it in time. After all, even if he was the Azure Emperor’s descendant, he had only been a half-Sage for a short time.
Not many people believed that Xiao Chen would be able to advance to Martial Sage so soon. His partic.i.p.ation here today was a great surprise.
“No wonder he flared up. Di Wuque’s earlier words really touched his reverse scale.”
[TL Note: To most readers, this term would be familiar already. However, just in case, it is said that every dragon has a reverse scale. This is the dragon’s weak spot. If anyone touched it, the dragon would get extremely angry.]
“Those two Deity Race cultivators’ deaths cannot wipe out that crime. Charging over when he is riled up is simply asking to die.”
“However, mocking Di Wuque at this moment is not too wise. Di Wuque has been a Martial Sage for a year already. Furthermore, no one has seen his full power before. Xiao Chen just advanced to Martial Sage; he is probably not a match for Di Wuque.”
All sorts of discussion broke out. No one expected such a twist to the matter of inscribing one’s name on the stele.
When Di Wuque saw Xiao Chen’s face, he relaxed his expression, as though he had been waiting for him. He smiled and said, “As I expected, you have advanced to Martial Sage. However, do you dare to go and carve your name? Show me the strength of the Azure Emperor’s descendant.
“Show me who can truly continue the Azure Emperor’s legend.”
Xiao Chen’s heart remained very calm. Even when Di Wuque persisted in trying to provoke him, Xiao Chen did not get angry. It was just as he thought to himself before: After ten thousand years, the later generations will be the ones to judge whose light s.h.i.+nes brighter.
Xiao Chen had stood out only to express his stance. Indeed, it was not up to Di Wuque to continue the legend of the Azure Emperor.
Di Wuque felt extremely confident as he stood on the multicolored bridge. So long as Xiao Chen attempted to carve his name on the stele, Di Wuque’s stratagem would ensure that Xiao Chen would fail in front of everyone. Then, Xiao Chen’s reputation would take a significant hit.
When that happened, not only would Di Wuque be able to suppress Xiao Chen’s sharpness, but he could also make him fall, never to rise again. The story of the Azure Emperor would then end there, and he would take over the Azure Emperor’s legend.
Having managed to lure Xiao Chen out with his words, Di Wuque had already accomplished half his plan. As for the other half, he was waiting for Xiao Chen to fall into his trap.
“Di Wuque, it really is not up to you to carry on my ancestor’s legend and glory. No matter how high you carve your name, it still has nothing to do with the Azure Emperor and nothing to do with this Xiao. I am not the Azure Emperor. I am Xiao Chen.
“However, since you want to compete, I shall play along.”
Xiao Chen said this softly and leaped up. Soon, he arrived before the Sage Mark Monument. The lowest ten meters of the Sage Mark Monument were completely blank.
No one would inscribe their names here. Even if there was a lot of s.p.a.ce, everyone would fly at least thirty to forty meters up before carving their names.
However, these people did not realize that time was merciless. Their names on the stele would vanish, and after they vanished, another person would carve their name there.
After ten thousand years, no matter how high one carved his name, when the name was no longer being there, who would remember you? Even if you managed to become a Sovereign Martial Emperor, with your dim light in contrast to those rows of dazzling golden words, who would take you seriously?
Xiao Chen stood in front of this Sage Mark Monument and before everyone’s incredulous gazes, he carved his name at the very bottom.
He carved every stroke with extreme seriousness. He was Xiao Chen. Not the Thunder Emperor nor the Azure Emperor.
“You only seek to fight for this moment; I will fight with you for life. Let’s see whose light will be brighter after ten thousand years, whose name will be remembered then.”
One Sage Mark Monument, one Kunlun Realm.
Since the Ancient Era, there had been many Sages, as many as the waves on the sea. Countless heroes and outstanding talents had come before this Sage Mark Monument. However, who would carve their name at the very bottom on their own initiative?
Even cultivators who became Martial Sages after a hundred years would scorn this spot.
All the cultivators around goggled at him. The densely packed crowds on the surrounding peaks were also dumbfounded.
Some people could not understand what had gone on. Others smiled coldly, thinking that Xiao Chen knew that he could not defeat his enemy and was just being pretentious.
There were those who entered deep thought and carefully considered Xiao Chen’s words. It seemed like they both understood and could not understand at the same time.
Xiao Chen’s First Senior Sister, Shui Lingling, who was in the human race’s group, smiled faintly. Her soft, pretty face looked very beautiful. She said, “It looks like Junior Brother Xiao Chen is truly wise. As long as one reaches Sovereign Martial Emperor, one’s name will never disappear. The stronger one is, the brighter the light is. It has no relation to where it is carved.”
Under a black hooded cloak, Ying Qiong was stunned by Xiao Chen’s shocking actions. Only after a while did she smile bitterly and comment, “This is his style, I suppose. There is indeed no point in competing over this.”
The white-haired Divine Daughter, Tian Youxi, looked away from the highest place of the Sage Mark Monument and towards where Xiao Chen inscribed his name. Then, she revealed a contemplative look.
As for the most interesting expression, naturally, that belonged to Di Wuque. As he watched Xiao Chen place his name below, Di Wuque was flabbergasted.
Why did he leave his name below? This means that I prepared that plan for nothing.
Di Wuque’s stratagem was to get Xiao Chen to carve his name at a high place. Di Wuque was confident that he could use his secret technique on Xiao Chen while Xiao Chen was inscribing the stele to make him fall from the sky.
The other Deity Race cultivators might fear the will of thunder, but Di Wuque did not. His cultivation technique was the Supreme Deity Canon, the oldest Cultivation Technique of the Deity Race.
Naturally, when Xiao Chen carved his name below, Di Wuque’s machinations came to naught. Di Wuque’s plot to miserably deprive Xiao Chen of the qualification to enter the Sage Mark Monument failed instantly as well.
In Di Wuque’s opinion, Xiao Chen posed a burgeoning danger. Even though the current Xiao Chen had already advanced to Martial Sage, to him, Xiao Chen was still not strong enough. If they fought, he believed he would still be able to defeat Xiao Chen after putting in all his effort.
What Di Wuque feared was Xiao Chen’s potential and rapid growth. If one day, Xiao Chen managed to become the second Azure Emperor, then he would thwart the Deity Race’s plan to conquer the entire Kunlun Realm.
If Di Wuque’s plan succeeded, he would be able to deal Xiao Chen a ma.s.sive blow right when Xiao Chen was at his most confident. He would trample on him in front of everyone in the world.
Doing so would surely leave a great shadow in Xiao Chen’s heart, which would definitely hinder his cultivation.
Unfortunately, Xiao Chen’s nature foiled Di Wuque’s plan. If Di Wuque had to wait for another similar opportunity, who knew when it would come?
Di Wuque quickly recovered his wits and smiled faintly. Then he started to mock Xiao Chen coldly.
“Xiao Chen, I have really overestimated you. This is all that your courage amounts to? I rank together with your ancestor; I have suppressed all the outstanding talents below me.
“You are at the very bottom. What qualification do you have to compete with me for life? As the descendant, you look down on your ancestor too much.”
The expressions of many people present changed. They had not realized that this Di Wuque had such a poisonous tongue. He used the fact that he ranked together with the Azure Emperor to mock Xiao Chen.
The Deity Race cultivators all started laughing together.
“As a descendant, you are already very famous. Some White Robed Bladesman and a bulls.h.i.+t Azure Emperor descendant. You are merely so-so.”
“You are just pretentious and trying to make this unnecessarily complicated. If you are really capable, then go and surpa.s.s our Divine Son now.”
Xiao Chen’s lips curled up as he looked at Di Wuque. He said, “Di Wuque, I really overestimated you as well. Even if you are stronger than me now, it is just a matter of time before I surpa.s.s you.”
After that, Xiao Chen pushed off the ground gently and shot up like an arrow, soaring upwards. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the two-kilometer height without feeling any pressure.
He continued to rocket upwards at a shocking speed. Two thousand five hundred meters…two thousand eight hundred meters…two thousand nine hundred meters…
Before Di Wuque could even react, Xiao Chen had already pa.s.sed his name, transcending the height of three kilometers.
The Sage Mark Monument had two kinds of pressure. One was a formless pressure on the cultivator’s mind, and the other was a pressure acting on the cultivator’s physical body.
After observing all this time, Xiao Chen had figured out the tricks behind this. His Mental Energy was weaker than Di Wuque’s while his physical body was weaker than that of the Iron Hand Sovereign’s descendant, Kui Dou.
However, of the many people here, only Xiao Chen could merge these two aspects seamlessly.
Since ancient times, only Xiao Chen managed to cultivate both the physical body and Mental Energy to this level simultaneously while at Inferior Grade Martial Sage.
Limited by his physical body, Di Wuque could not pa.s.s the threshold of three kilometers. Xiao Chen, however, had no such constraints.
“Whoos.h.!.+” Xiao Chen gritted his teeth and charged up the final three hundred meters. Then he landed firmly and stood atop the Sage Mark Monument.
From there, he looked down at the Deity Race cultivators, who all immediately shut up, appearing stunned.
The basis of the Deity Race cultivators’ mockery was that Di Wuque’s name was carved higher than his. However, Xiao Chen now stood three hundred meters higher than where Di Wuque put his name.
According to their logic, the one deserving of mockery was clearly Di Wuque.
The sight of Xiao Chen standing on top of the Sage Mark Monument caused a commotion among all the cultivators and the spectators in the surrounding mountain peaks. Their eyes filled with disbelief.
“This… d.a.m.n! What is happening? Did the pressure of the Sage Mark Monument lose its effectiveness?”
“Am I seeing things? Don’t tell me this is real. Xiao Chen is actually standing at the very top of the Sage Mark Monument?”
All the older-generation Martial Sages could no longer sit still. All of them flew over, wanting to see what exactly had happened.
Di Wuque’s expression changed. Earlier, he had gotten on his high horse and forced Xiao Chen to take action. Unexpectedly, he received immediate retribution for that. Xiao Chen quickly moved to the top of the Sage Mark Monument, essentially slapping Di Wuque’s face. Now, Di Wuque could not even take back his words.
Xiao Chen took out a bottle of wine from the Universe Ring and sat down on the Sage Mark Monument as he watched Di Wuque below.
He poured himself a cup and smiled faintly. “Di Wuque, all the Ancient Era Sages are below me. Your ancestor’s grandfather is probably included among them. You are further down from him. Does this mean that you don’t even qualify to be a weakling?”
When it came to poisonous tongues, Xiao Chen would not lose to anyone. Since the other party spoke that way, he did not need to be polite.