Chapter 298 - The Wasteland Prison
s.h.i.+ Hao looked at her askance. What did the fairy Yue Chan have in mind? Was she trying to get involved as well? Had the battle a while ago brought her to some sort of decision?
He glanced at her and saw that she was as calm as ever. s.h.i.+ Hao was not afraid either, for even though he was still young, he had been through all kinds of turbulences and storms. He had even fought with supreme experts, so not even great sects beyond the wastelands could intimidate him now.
Hearing this, a smile swept across s.h.i.+ Ziteng’s face. Even though he had reached middle-age, he remained handsome and looked more like a talented young man. He said, “Yi’er will probably return.”
The crowd was greatly impressed by the announcement. Was s.h.i.+ Yi really coming back? In that case, the Capital would surely see some noise and excitement.
The fairy Yue Chan gave a little smile and nodded. She then said, “How about we forget what happened today once and for all? I’ve witnessed the whole incident just now. The people from the Demonic Spirit Lake were indeed in the wrong.”
The claim astonished many people. She had just approached s.h.i.+ Ziteng and showed interest towards s.h.i.+ Yi, yet now her att.i.tude had took such a turn. Exactly whose side was she on?
s.h.i.+ Ziteng’s countenance remained the same and did not react to those words right away. However, simply retreating like this would be too shameful. What would others think of him if could not even save his own martial nephew?
“My fairy, those people are from the Demonic Spirit Lake. Don’t you think your suggestion was a bit premature?” A middle-aged man beside s.h.i.+ Ziteng challenged.
“Exactly what’s so special about the Demonic Spirit Lake? It’s all in your heads. You’ve wors.h.i.+pped it, willingly became their slaves and abandoned all dignity.” s.h.i.+ Hao criticized harshly without any hesitation.
“You are too arrogant!” said the middle-aged man in a chilly tone. The hostility in his voice was apparent.
“Fairy Yue Chan, this is a life we are talking about here. My martial nephew may have made a mistake, but he shouldn’t be treated and punished in such a manner, right?” s.h.i.+ Ziteng wouldn’t give in easily.
The fairy Yue Chan turned to s.h.i.+ Hao and said, “Young brother, there’s no need to be so ruthless. Let him live.”
s.h.i.+ Hao pondered for a while. Since fairy Yue Chan had mediated the dispute for him just then and was no longer opposing him, he did not want to make the relations.h.i.+p difficult again. He nodded and said, “Fine. For the sake of the fairy, I won’t kill him.”
The crowd knew that the conflict was very likely to end this way and the battle they were expecting was not going to happen.
Beside s.h.i.+ Ziteng were his cousins and nephews. One of them said with a sneer, “Then please release him.”
“Who told you I was going to let him go? Why should I?” There was nothing but coldness on s.h.i.+ Hao’s face.
“But you said just now…” The middle-aged man then realised that s.h.i.+ Hao indeed did not promise to release the spider, only that he was going to let him live. The man said with a resentful voice, “You misled us. What are you going to do to him?”
s.h.i.+ Hao replied in an indifferent tone. “Nothing. Teach him a lesson, that’s all. If I can’t even deal with a little spider myself, what should I do when wolves and tigers show up at my doorstep in the future? Letting it live does not mean I’ll release it right away. It needs to stay here and repent.”
Such words astounded nearly everyone. The crowd was utterly amazed to hear that the mighty experts from the imposing Demonic Spirit Lake were only referred to as a “little spider”. The young man acted with such a dominating manner.
“That will do. Even princes should be punished by the same law as the common people. The Demonic Spirit Lake is an outstanding place, but they should know where their limit is. The spider should learn some discipline while being suppressed here,” said the Heavenly Fox fairy.
Since both fairies from beyond the wastelands had agreed on the point, the crowd could only express their amazement inwardly. The teenager’s background must be so great that both of them would try to have him on their side.
People of the Martial Imperial Manor were discontented at the result, and s.h.i.+ Ziteng was the only one who remained calm. He nodded and said, “All right. My martial nephew will be disciplined here for a few days before we have him back. I think the ancestors of the Demonic Spirit Lake would also like to teach him a lesson through this incident.”
Those words came out in a tranquil and otherworldly manner, but was alerting at the same time. Had an old pure-blood creature arrived at the Capital? Such news would definitely create quite a bit of pressure for everyone. People would think twice before they did anything in the future.
To some extent, it was another way of putting forward a serious warning. Whoever inflicts harm on the Demonic Spider would be asking for formidable revenge from that sect ancestor.
s.h.i.+ Hao smiled at his words. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach it a good lesson. The finest diamond must be cut. Disciples with such a ma.s.sive ego need some ruthless tidying up.”
“You…” Rage almost erupted from the eyes of those beside s.h.i.+ Ziteng. They clenched their fists so tight that the knuckles all turned green.
s.h.i.+ Ziteng took a long look at s.h.i.+ Hao and turned to leave. As he got on the bronze chariot, vicious beasts roared and the chariot rumbled away. Their party soon disappeared into the distance.
Two men remained behind, who seemed to be ordered to stay here and watch s.h.i.+ Hao’s every move. They were obviously still holding grudges towards s.h.i.+ Hao.
“Don’t forget what family you belong to. You are not servants of the Demonic Spirit Lake, but have the same ancestors as the royal family. If you are conscientious of yourself, don’t make the Martial Imperial Manor go through the humiliation with you.”
The words of s.h.i.+ Hao expressed his stark contempt. He might as well have slapped those men in public. The two men’s faces were dark with anger, and they finally turned around to leave as well.
“I’d never thought you could be so cynical.” The witch laughed.
“I’ll show more respect to those who respect me. They’ve brought the war to my doorstep, how could I not fight back?” said s.h.i.+ Hao.
“I think you’ll find dealing with the spider alone a troublesome matter. Why don’t you hand it to me? If I manage to refine a divine medicine in the future, I’ll surely repay you for this.” The Heavenly Fox fairy said with a chuckle.
Hearing this, the crowd were all fretting at the request. That foxy fairy was incredibly audacious!
s.h.i.+ Hao only smiled. Needless to say, he would not agree to her request. Since he had already offended the Demonic Spirit Lake, giving some major medicine to others would make no difference to his situation. He’d rather keep it for himself. The feud was long established, and there was no way to resolve it.
Only the most talented people were invited to this gathering, but the atmosphere was no longer what it was now. After the disturbance caused by s.h.i.+ Hao, many wild souls had now restrained themselves.
For that teenager had taken all the spotlight away. He was even bold enough to capture and kill pure-blood creatures, which made other people want to keep a low profile in this gathering.
Pure-blood creatures like the Horned Dragon and Bifang were also invited. Their eyes were glistening, and no one knew what they were thinking. It appeared that they had realised something.
s.h.i.+ Hao then began his treasure-hunting. He explored carefully with the dual-pupil and had managed to find a few materials. He then purchased two of them.
In the distance, those with old feuds began to fight. Seizing the opportunity, some disciples from famous sects and aristocratic descendants finally started fighting, attracting a large audience.
These scenes were no longer appealing to s.h.i.+ Hao, however. He was focused on picking treasured artifacts and finding valuables among piles of ordinary items.
A white-clothed figure moved near, filling the air with a delicate fragrance. Fairy Yue Chan approached s.h.i.+ Hao with her graceful gait and tried to start a conversation, which raised many eyebrows.
s.h.i.+ Hao found to his surprise that the fairy did not attempt to draw him over to her side, but only made some small talk, which involved nothing surprising.
“Fairy Yue Chan is getting smarter. She obviously wants to wheedle you in, but she’s not doing it explicitly. Instead, she only chatted with you to leave a good impression, leaving everything else to the future.” Not far away, the little fox beside the Heavenly Fox fairy grumbled.
“Sometimes, there’s nothing to choose from. We can only wait and see if the dual-pupiled person will come back. If he really is as powerful as the rumors say, and is comparable to the ancient deity, then things will get very interesting.” The witch chuckled.
s.h.i.+ Hao wandered around the place and managed to satisfy his enormous appet.i.te. He picked some treasured artifacts and materials, drank his last gla.s.s of fine wine and turned to leave.
It was because by then, the gathering was drawing to its end and many had already left. In other words, the gathering was no longer useful to him.
He was in deep thought his entire way back, and was even looking forward to the world beyond the wastelands.
“Do you know why the wastelands fell into chaos?” The witch approached him and walked out together. Her flawless features, paired with her perfectly curvaceous body, had made many young talented men drool over. They were all grumbling in secret, wondering what exactly was so fantastic about this teenager that made both fairies talk to him. It did not make sense at all.
“I do not know. Could you tell me about it?” s.h.i.+ Hao was eager to find out.
“Eons ago, this region used to be a prison, and many great vicious beings were locked up within.” The most startling fact came out of the witch’s mouth.
Even someone as steady and calm as s.h.i.+ Hao was dumbstruck by the words. He raised his head abruptly and looked into the Heavenly Fox fairy’s eyes. He then stared at her in a daze.
The witch’s unsurpa.s.sed beauty could charm anyone’s souls from their bodies. She was indeed a beautiful woman hard to come by in the mortal world. In Stone Country, the fairy Yue Chan was probably the only beauty comparable to her. She blew lightly at s.h.i.+ Hao in a somewhat provocative manner and rolled her eyes with a smile. “Scared?”
“No, just surprised.” s.h.i.+ Hao gave his honest answer.
“It had something to do with the Great Chaos.” The Heavenly Fox fairy told him directly.
The statement was obviously a startling one, and countless ideas came into s.h.i.+ Hao’s head in that moment. His past speculations were all overturned now, for what had happened seemed much more severe than he had imagined.
“Of course, the great vicious beings of the archaic time have long died away. However, some creatures managed to take refuge in the wastelands later on their own. Moreover, with so many sinful descendants left behind, attention would inevitably be drawn from the outside world.”
The witch was very candid and offered s.h.i.+ Hao incredibly valuable information from their casual conversation.
“I can see that you all care about the wastelands very much, or you wouldn’t have entered here. What are you trying to do here?” Asked s.h.i.+ Hao.
Everything was driven by profit, or the Sky Severing Sect and the supreme sect behind fairy Yue Chan would not have competed against each other. There must be a reason behind this.
“Of course, there are no permanent enemies, only perpetual temptation and benefits. The great battle this time will bring out the true deities.” The witch said frankly.
“The true deities?” s.h.i.+ Hao was bewildered and surprised by such an expression. He felt like there was an extremely unordinary implication behind her words, as if a monstrous storm was going to engulf the wastelands and send everything into complete chaos.
She emphasized the word ‘true’, as if there it made a different. Could it be that the deity she mentioned was not the same as the one he perceived?
“Xixi...” The witch laughed and said, “It is definitely not the deities you normally refer to. I’m not talking about those who ignite divine flame and eventually die.”
s.h.i.+ Hao was greatly shaken by her words. It seemed that the witch did recognize the deities of the wastelands. What could that mean?
“When they become deities and have the divine flame ignited, why would the fire extinguish? It is because their cultivation hadn’t reach a certain level.” Such was the comment of the witch.
Starting from the wastelands, the true deities were going to be created. The impact of such events would be incredible!
“How will the true deities be created?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked. Naturally, he would like to know the answer. As a resident of this region, even if he couldn’t hope for such a thing, he still wanted to be informed at the very least.
“That would be a secret. If you really want to know, you’ll have to pay extra attention in the future. Maybe you’ll learn some great abilities if you are willing to join the Sky Severing Sect.” The witch did not go into details, but only tempted him with such words.
“Can you really not tell me a bit more?” s.h.i.+ Hao asked.
“Although this region used to be a prison, something unusual was here as well, which is where the Great Chaos stems from. Even the supreme sect wants to obtain something from this place.”