Chapter 113 – Compromise
Xiao Chen did not hide anything, he had already told Lawrence and Yizhen everything.
“You have to come back as soon as possible. Otherwise when everyone knew that we have already gathered nine Dragon Kings, they might summon the divine ship immediately.”
“That’s right. Xiao Chen, you must not forget, I had already trained this kind of peerless beauty into a wonderful slave ⌈1⌋, if you don’t come back at once, you will regret it in the future.” The extraordinarily beautiful Rowena laughed softly.
Yan Qing Cheng was a beauty that could captivate even the birds and beasts, her appearance could even hide the moon and shame the flowers. She just turned her head to the other side, her beautiful face didn’t have a trace of emotion. Since her power had been sealed, she didn’t want to say any useless words.
“It doesn’t matter, even if Xiao Chen didn’t want to give the sacred tree to me, I won’t mistreat him either. How about letting this woman stay behind to accompany him.” The demon showed up in the mountain woods along with the cloudy fog.
This was the first time Lawrence and the others saw the demon. Rowena’s complexion changed on the spot and she quickly retreated. The other people’s face also changed abruptly.
“It’s the last day already, have you not come to a decision yet?” The demon looked at Xiao Chen.
And on the other side, Xiao Chen looked at Keke who was fast asleep. Looking at its peaceful appearance, Xiao Chen heaved a sigh. This was the snow-white little critter’s ration, and he was about to leave the dragon island, if they borrowed the sacred tree to the demon, then how about Keke, should he take it with him? Xiao Chen was really in a difficult position.
“Seems like you still have a hard time making a decision.” The demon retreated.
Everyone got through this night peacefully, but just when the first glimmer of light shone upon the horizon, a chilly wind blew past violently. The demon paid a visit at the crack of dawn, without making any sound, he wrapped Xiao Chen and the three skeletons, as well as Yan Qing Cheng in the cloudy fog, all of them disappeared in a moment.
It was impossible for Lawrence and Buddhist Yizhen to stop it, the gaps between them were too big. They believed the demon was not simply at the demiG.o.d level, he couldn’t have spent these countless years in vain!
The frosty wind was biting cold, Xiao Chen’s party had been brought to the snowy mountain by the demon. The sun had already rose at this moment, the brilliant white snow covered the entire mountain peak, the morning sun made this place more beautiful in contrast to the surroundings.
Keke, the snow-white little critter, had already woke up from the daze, it took off the treasured tree hat sadly and pa.s.sed it to Xiao Chen while feeling a bit sorrowful. He could tell the little critter was very disappointed, Xiao Chen really did not have the heart to do it, but he really did not want to spend the rest of his life on this island.
“You made Keke really sad.” Xiao Chen said these as he looked at the demon calmly. The underlying meaning was that you have already offended the snow-white little critter, it might come and take revenge on you in the future.
“I just want to borrow it for one year at most, it has a very long life ahead, I will definitely repay you with a generous reward, it will inevitably be more lavish than this favor.”
“But the nine Dragon Kings already gathered together, the divine ship will be summoned soon, we will leave this island, how will you give it back to us?”
“That is indeed problematic, it is definitely impossible for me to board the divine ship and leave the dragon island as I am now.” The demon contemplated for a moment and said, “Then I will have everyone stay behind, I will make them unable to leave until one year later.”
“Do you want me and Keke to make an enemy out of everyone on the island? Once they know the truth, they will definitely resent us.”
“How about I just kill everyone else.” The demon said very cruelly.
This made Yan Qing Cheng at the side felt a little ice-cold, she didn’t say a word since coming to this snowy mountain, but she still felt a bit of fear in her heart. After all, this is the legendary demon that had lived for countless years!
“Didn’t you promise to be a good guy, why must you continue to slaughter?” Xiao Chen really didn’t want the demon to go crazy like this.
“Let me think……” The demon became quiet for a moment, then he said, “How about I give you some present for now.” Speaking until here he waved his hand with sudden force, the cloudy fog wrapped them and brought them to the foot of a snowy mountain.
The demon opened a hole in ice, there was actually an imposing ice palace within. It was hidden in the core of the snowy mountain.
The ice palace halls in the core of the snowy mountain were embedded with many jewels, which made this place as bright as daytime. After pa.s.sing through seven ice palace halls, they arrived at the main hall filled with weapons.
The demon faced Xiao Chen’s party and said, “Take any weapons of your liking. Although I can’t guarantee that they are rare treasures, there might be some weapons used by ancient immortals among them. I gathered these from the ancient battlefield on the dragon island.”
The radiance in the ice palace hall was bright, every weapons seemed to be uncommon, but there was a common ground, all of them were damaged, they were just some defective goods.
Keke casted a few glance listlessly, it didn’t have the mood to pick any. It was not really interested in weapons, it only cared about that golden divine halberd from before because it liked the aura emitted by that divine artifact.
The three skeletons did not hold back, they quickly picked a long sword respectively. It seemed like an antique that had been through the vicissitudes of time, but there was still a dazzling radiance circulating on the weapons. Although it was lacking of sharp end, if they could repolish the swords, they might become exceptionally good weapons. And if what the demon said was true, they were weapons used by ancient immortals, then there was no need to polish them again, they were already rare killing tools by themselves.
Yan Qing Cheng also did not hold back, she carefully picked a pair of daggers. One was as red as blood, the other was as green as jadeite. They were forged with unknown materials, the divine radiance was resplendent, and they were extremely sharp. The two daggers seemed like they were originally a pair, they were very compatible when put together. Everything was fine except for one small defect, the sharp end was also missing, a tiny section was missing.
Xiao Chen also selected a weapon in the end, even though he believed the body was the best weapon, but since the demon was so “generous”, he might as well take some. What he chose was a black short sword. The jet-black sword did not have any sharp edge, there was also no radiance circulating on the sword, it looked very old and simple. It felt very heavy after he lifted the sword, it was only half a meter long, and yet it weighed several hundred kilogram. It was obviously not a common object.
Since it was a broken sword, it seemed more like an epee ⌈2⌋ now. Whether he used it as a blade to slash or brandish it like a sword, it was fine either way.
“Good eyesight, you guys had chosen the best among these weapons. Especially that black broken sword I am particularly interested in. Frankly, I feel that it is not as ordinary as it look. If it was not for repaying you, I definitely won’t give this broken sword to anyone no matter what.” ⌈3⌋
They could tell the demon was being serious. In regards to the jet-black sword in Xiao Chen’s hand, they could see the demon was a bit reluctant to part with it.
Seeing Keke’s listless expression, the demon said, “I have a special gift for you.” After saying these, the demon brought the few people to the next ice palace hall.
The temperature rapidly decreased the moment they entered the palace hall, even pract.i.tioners on the level of Xiao Chen felt a little unbearable. And Yan Qing Cheng who had her power sealed immediately retreated, she was unable to bear the temperature in the ice palace hall.
This ice palace hall was very s.p.a.cious and empty, on the ice platform at the center of this hall, only a single divine object was there, it was flickering with multi-colored radiance. That was a crystal clear milky white divine jade about the size of a human head. The ice-cold aura was precisely emitted by it.
After the listless Keke looked at it, its glittering big eyes immediately lit up. It flew over there with a swish and hugged that divine jade tightly. It wasn’t afraid of the coldness at all.
The demon explained, “This is the legendary Ice Divine Jade, it was formed naturally by condensing the essence of the ice vein, it is a rarely seen spiritual item. Compared to that Snow Lotus Core you guys obtained before, this is much stronger. However, it is unfortunate that average people won’t be able to enjoy it. After all, it is too cold……”
Before he could finish his sentence, Keke already took the treasured tree from Xiao Chen and placed it on top of the Ice Divine Jade. With a “cracking” sound, the small sacred tree had rooted itself on the Ice Divine Jade, causing it to crack at high-speed.
The demon felt his heart ache. In his imagination, no matter how mystical was Keke, it also wouldn’t be able to completely digest such a huge Ice Divine Jade. He thought there would still be at least more than half of it left. After he shook off the breath of death from his body, he could slowly absorb the essence of the Ice Divine Jade, that’s what he thought. But Keke had given it to the sacred tree instead, the demon knew just one Ice Divine Jade was not enough. Even a few more wouldn’t be enough for the sacred tree to absorb.
“Squeak! Squeak……!” The snow-white little critter was muttering to the sacred tree unceasingly, it seemed to be bidding farewell the sacred tree. This made Xiao Chen felt even more ashamed.
Multicolored light flickered, white mist drifted, the cracking noise resounded unceasingly, the brilliance of the Ice Divine Jade flowed towards the small sacred tree like ripples of water.
Leaving Keke to look after the small sacred tree, the demon brought Xiao Chen to another ice palace hall to discuss with him.
“I originally didn’t want to say it, but since you guys mentioned the divine ship will take off soon, I can tell you this secret. There is another ship, the Sovereign King Ship. It can steer away from the dragon island, and break through the Taboo Ocean. I will board the Sovereign King Ship in the future and leave the dragon island. I will go to the immortal’s mainland to return the sacred tree to you. I swear in the name of the ancient sovereign king, if I do not return the sacred tree, my body and soul shall perish.”
Sovereign King Ship!
Xiao Chen heard this secret for the first time, but he was not fully convinced.
“I am not trying to deceive you, think about it carefully, how could I willingly stay here? The power of G.o.d is suppressed at this place, if I am to stay here, I wouldn’t be able to make the most important breakthrough. I can ignore the Ancestral Dragon Divine Ship from leaving, only because I know of another method to leave this place. Otherwise how would I be willing to cut off my way out. As long as the sacred tree can help me transform the breath of death within my body into the breath of life, I can definitely find a way to summon the Sovereign King Ship to leave this place.”
Thinking about it carefully, the demon does have a reasonable argument.
It had already been ten days since the sacred tree was given to the demon. From then on, the demon never shown itself again, he shut himself in the snowy mountain’s core.
And during these ten days, the snow-white little critter was unlike itself, it appeared listless all day long. This made Xiao Chen felt extremely ashamed, how he wished he could go back to the snowy mountain to take the sacred tree back by force, but he didn’t have that kind of ability.
On that day, Keke seriously caused a havoc at the snowy mountain, but the strength displayed by the demon was really too deep. It seemed like he was far beyond the demiG.o.d level. He didn’t return a single attack, he allowed Keke to attack him from start to finish, and yet he was able to dodge every attacks with absolute speed. The confinement technique was unable to envelop him.
Xiao Chen was trying hard to think of a way, he felt that Keke couldn’t move on without the sacred tree.
“Squeak……!” Keke looked at the direction of the dragon’s sacred mountain. It had a very sad expression, it seemed to be because it lost the sacred tree its parents left for it.
“Keke, why don’t we go take a look at your little beast nest? We will leave this place in a few more days, and go to an even bigger world.” Seeing the little critter like this, Xiao Chen tried to lighten it up as much as possible. He wanted to make the little critter happy.
Keke nodded its head strongly, it was originally a lively little beast, and yet it was so quiet now. This sense of loss might stick around for very long.
At present, all the young pract.i.tioners already knew nine Dragon Kings had been subdued, they were trying to get in touch with those older generation experts.
The little fatty Oxman’s elder had already got in touch with those people, if it was not because they were keeping the Ancestral Dragon in their mind constantly, they might have already summoned the divine ship.
However, the date of departure was getting closer, those people decided to try one more time, if they still couldn’t find any trace of the Ancestral Dragon within half a month, they will leave this dragon island.
Many young pract.i.tioners cursed them for being greedy, but there were also a lot that joined the search. After all, that was the legendary Ancestral Dragon, it was the genuine king of dragons.
The little Ancestral Dragon’s strength would probably be unimaginable once it grew up. Nine Dragon Kings were required to summon the divine ship, and yet it was able to summon divine ship by itself. Just looking from this point of view, it was enough to explain its position as the king of dragons.
And in order to find the Ancestral Dragon, the older generations had paid a great price. Almost half of them were killed because they accidentally intruded the dragon’s territory.
However, everyone also discovered an astonishing fact, the dragons didn’t seem to be against the idea of the young Syndicate Dragon King accompanying the humans. It seemed like they knew the Dragon Kings would eventually leave the dragon island. All kind of signs had verified this, in order to break free from the seal of the dragon island, it seemed like they really needed the Ancestral Dragon and Syndicate Dragon Kings to leave this place.
Xiao Chen bid farewell to Lawrence and Buddhist Yizhen, he didn’t even let the three skeletons to follow them. He arrived at the vicinity of the dragon’s sacred mountain again and paid a visit to the Heavenly Tree’s stump. The snow-white little critter seemed especially sad, it was dithering at the place it was born unceasingly. It was poles apart from its mischievous self in the past.