A.N: Please support me on my Patre0n if you like this novel by searching my name there! Thank you! :)...
"There are naturally, reasons as to why I am fetching the monster cores in large quant.i.ty. Besides, every cultivator needed a few of them, and I have my own responsibility to mend through the needs of my people, so you can"t blame me on this, old man Dugu." Duan Li said as he swiftly crafted an excuse that was not necessarily a lie.
Needs of his people?
Dugu Liubai raised his eyebrows in suspicion.
He was naturally skeptical of this. After all, if it were the words coming from someone of the Nascent Soul realm level, he would be more inclined to pa.s.s the matter as the truth.
He did remember though, that back when he listened to their conversation inside that cave, he picked up a pair of words that seemed to indicate the latter"s status, which was..
Imperial Overseer!
Judging from that t.i.tle alone, it sounded extremely mighty and domineering, and most likely, its the t.i.tle used for an overlord of a royal family!
But the fellow in front of him was clearly not only young, seemingly to be only in the 20s, and the latter"s realm was also quite shallow! Thus, how could he possibly believe that Duan Li was whom he claimed to be?
However at the same time, he couldn"t casually dismiss the other party"s bold claim either, because the fellow was far too bizarre, unlike anyone he had ever met before!
Therefore, in order to verify this information, he used a special method to detect lies by extending his Heavenly Sense onto Duan Li, should the latter were to fabricate the truth, he would instantly know just by hearing the heartbeat alone!
But then again, the more he observed, the more uncertain he became!
"Weird.. this fellow seemed to be telling me the truth.. but how can that be? A person of such lowly realm was able to lead so many people? Is he the overlord of a small kingdom comprised of mortals? But that can"t be right, mortals don"t need monster cores.." Dugu Liubai pondered upon the matter carefully.
He then stared at Duan Li before replying the latter.
"Based on what I have observed, you don"t seem to be telling me lies. But, it could also be that.. you are a really talented liar!" Dugu Liubai shook his head, and then continued, "Take out your follower, while you may be able to lie through your teeth, I don"t believe that she would also be able to elude me as you did. And if I were to detect any incongruency, you had better prepared yourself!" he said with a harrumphed in the end.
Hearing this, Duan Li was a little bit taken aback.
Take out my follower? Did he meant Di Rou?
Puu!
Duan Li almost bursted out in laughter! If there was anyone whom this Guardian should pick on to prove his words, then Di Rou was probably the worst choice for that.
After all, Di Rou was a.s.signed by the Emperor to serve him as the Imperial Overlord, someone whose status even higher than the Emperor himself!
Di Rou knew and respected this strict hierarchy better than anyone else being the shadow of the Emperor for a very long time before, thus, Duan Li waved his hand for Di Rou to come out while shaking his head helplessly, appearing to be wronged by the Guardian for not trusting him somehow.
Obviously, Dugu Liubai was watching Duan Li"s every move, and such display of confidence had him second-guess his judgement for a second.
Could he truly be the ruler of an Empire? someone of his age?
Ssuuu!!
Di Rou surfaced from Duan Li"s shadow as she single-kneeled before her Master.
"Di Rou, the Guardian wanted to ask you something. I command you to only speak of nothing but the truth as the answer!" Duan Li instructed with a serious expression on his face.
"Your words are my command master!" Di Rou swiftly replied, showing utmost loyalty which had Dugu Liubai nodded in approval.
What a fine follower!
"Tell me, what is the status of your Master here in the Tian continent?" Dugu Liubai began his interrogation, his voice carried an air of absolute authority, reminiscent of a judge that will decide the fate of them both depending on the honesty of Di Rou"s answer.
Without even a hint of hesitation, Di Rou immediately replied, "In the Tian continent, we hailed from one of the nine empires called the Jiu Empire. While the strength of our empire could not be considered as the top, our population numbered in the several millions and our empire is prospering without any sorts civil war or unrest when compared to the others."
After that brief introduction, Di Rou then continued, "Currently, the Emperor of the Jiu Empire is Jiu Xian Ping whom is also an unparalleled expert at the pinnacle stage of the Nascent Soul realm. The Emperor is a man with great wisdom, prospect and foresight. I have been the shadow protector of the Emperor since the moment I was adopted. In every empire, there exist a special status that was even higher than the Emperor, and this t.i.tle was known as the Imperial Overseer."
She then stopped for a while as if she was trying to recall something, "As far as the intelligence reports that we have gathered throughout the years, there are no other Imperial Overseer in the other eight empires other than our Jiu Empire to date, and this Imperial Overseer of us, is none other than my master here, Duan Li."
Such a detailed answer had Dugu Liubai feeling very impressed. In addition, he also found out that the young lady"s heartbeat were consistent throughout her speech.
What this means was that, the fellow in front of him was truly someone with such a fearsome background!
To be the overlord of an empire, even above that of the authority of the Emperor himself, not to mention the Emperor was of the pinnacle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, just how did this fellow managed to make such a figure practically his underling?
The more he thought of the reasons behind this, the more scared he became.
"I cannot gauge the depths of this fellow!" he thought to himself while feeling wary.
"Very well, at least that you had proven yourself to be true. You may collect the monster cores of the dead monsters, but that is as much as the leeway that I am willing to give you, don"t cross the line!" he said with a warning.
Inwardly however, he felt a little bit scared if the fellow became displeased and started to cause another scene.
However, as the Guardian of the Second region, he had no choice but to act this way. Otherwise, others might start to get ideas that Guardians weren"t that omnipotent at all!
"Thank you Old man Dugu for your understanding!" Duan Li"s eyes flashed in excitement once more. He then turned towards Zolak and Bulu.
"You guys heard the Guardian, so unfortunately, our battle will not be able to proceed as planned. Therefore, the rest of you can stop fightning now. However, the outcome shall be decided by your chief and champion. They shall battle to the death and those that remained standing by the end shall be the winner!" Duan Li said casually as he then left the scene to continue fetching monster cores.
"..." Komodos and Iguanas.
"..." Dugu Liubai.
Am I the one in charge here or you are?
Dugu Liubai gritted his teeth feeling resentful. Staring at the chiefs and champions of both sides that were still idling like a bunch of fools, he bellowed out, "What the h.e.l.l are you guys waiting for? Don"t you hear him? Go and fight to the death!"
"R-Roar!"
...
"Nuhulak! Our grievances shall be addressed today! Prepare to die!" Zolak roared out and charged through.
"Prepare to die your mother! You should say that to yourself! Don"t think that you have already won now!" Nuhulak swiped his tail.
BOOMM!! BOOMM!!
"Hmph, come on, let"s end this battle! I will avenge my wife and daughter"s death by taking your life!" Bulu went into an offensive posture, seeming ready to end it once and for all.
"Fine by me! You think I"m scared of death? Come!" Valak bellowed out in response as he infused all of his remaining spiritual Qi into his monster core.
BOOMM!! BOOMM!!
The scene of these four creatures fighting each other to the death would eventually turn to become legends for both species as it was nothing short of amazing from the eyes of the monsters from both sides.
However, to the eyes of human cultivators, all these four creatures were just fighting like any other monsters, except Bulu of course, whom was humanoid and his fighting style was leaning towards human rather than monsters.
With no less than 10 breaths, Bulu had finally managed to decapitate the head of Valak off from its shoulder, while Nuhulak right now was panting heavily as one of his limb including his tail was severed from his body, laying a few distance away. This situation was eerily similar to Zolak"s 3 years ago, the only difference was that, their roles was reversed!
"d.a.m.n you Zolak! This battle is unfair! You have the help of that human you shameless scoundrel! I refuse to admit defeat!" Nuhulak vented out in rage as blood filled his body.
He finally realized how the latter managed to recover their lost limb and tail! It was that human all along giving Zolak some sort of artifact that can shape-shift into any form the host wanted in a single thought!
Against that type of weapon, there was no way he could overcome it!
"HAHAHA! Now you have the guts to say that this was unfair! But when you ambushed us that night three years ago, and broke the tradition between monsters to first declare a war before an attack, do you not feel your own shamelessness? I could only say this to you in consolation to your feelings; what comes around, goes around! Now DIE!" Zolak eyes glinted as he delivered the final blow!
PSHH!!!
And with that, the long years of enmity between the two species has finally ended with the battle won by the Komodo!
...