Chapter 37: Chapter 37
The Fang Clan juniors were excited to be flying over the city.
It was a new experience for them, but it also frightened them.
They could feel the wind pushing against them and were afraid of falling off.
Hei noticed this, so he rooted their feet to the dragons allowing them to feel more secure. They could now fully enjoy the experience.
This mode of travel served two purposes for Hei. One, he wanted to make a cool entrance into the 5-sect summit, and two, he wanted to plant some gratitude in the matriarch.
On that note, he sent some chains to carry the matriarch from the dragon she was on and brought her the lead dragon, where he and his siblings were.
He then stepped away from the head, allowing the matriarch to take the front spot.
The matriarch tried to refuse, but Hei told her to make a big entrance. Today was the day to display the Fang Clan's strength to the people of the city, as well as the 5 sects.
Sure, he could take the lead, and come in super flashy, but that wouldn't benefit him as much. Earning some points with the matriarch was a better use of his effort.
Soon, the group could see a large space that had five large square platforms. The largest of them was in the centre, and the other four were to each of its sides.
Surrounding the platforms were stands that were already packed with excited spectators.
Naturally, Hei chose the centre stage to land his dragons.
As they beat their wings to slow their descent, they kicked up a cloud of dust that obstructed vision.
While it was convenient, Hei set up a barrier to prevent spiritual perception from peaking inside, as he used his Qi to move the dust, creating a tornado.
After the dragons landed, he brought them back into his storage space letting out roars as they returned.
With the earth-shaking roars as adornment, he dissipated the dust tornado, revealing the people within.
The audience could now see the Fang Clan Matriarch standing proudly, with four children standing in a horizontal line behind her, followed by the Fang Clan members in a neat formation.
"Were those dragons?"
"How could that be? I've never even heard of so much as a dragon sighting, much less seen one myself."
"But they looked like dragons."
"Forget about that. When did the Fang Clan become so overbearing?"
"That's right. They even skipped the registration line."
"That entrance was really something though."
"Mm. I wonder how the 5-sects will respond."
The audience started discussing what they had just seen, and how impressive the Fang Clan had become when someone spoke.
"So, it was the Fang Clan. Your entrance was slightly disrespectful to the 5-sect summit, don't you think?"
Everyone turned over to the voice.
It was a middle-aged man, sitting in a special section of the stands.
In that section, there were five pairs of seats. Beneath them, five banners and writing which displayed which sect they were representing.
This person was one of the two representatives of the Blazing Flame Sect. The other was a young man.
Similar pairs could be seen for the other sects.
Remembering Hei's words, the matriarch turned to the middle-aged man and cupped her fist as she released some of her aura.
"Pardon us. The juniors were quite excited for the 5-sect summit."
Upon feeling her aura, the middle-aged man's face paled.
Usually, the representatives of the 5 sects would be the most powerful cultivators where ever they went. But this time was very different.
The matriarch had revealed just enough of her strength to show him that his words alone, didn't have any weight here. He could only act as a representative of the Blazing Flame Sect.
"Cough. Be that is it may, registration is on the way in. There are no exceptions."
Hearing this, the matriarch smiled.
"Of course."
She led the people who weren't participating, to the Fang Clan's usual section in the stands.
The participants were led by an elder to the registration area.
As they approached, the other cultivators at the registration area stepped away voluntarily.
They had also seen the dragons, and none of them wanted to be the fool that got in the Fang Clan's way.
Seeing this, the Fang Clan juniors cupped their fists to the other contestants before registering.
"Mm. The juniors have shaped up well."
Hei was admiring his work as he went to register.
"Eh? The childish sages are also participating?"
"Are they messing around? They will get stopped at the bone age measurement."
The Fang Clan's juniors wondered what the childish sages were doing. Did they decide to join in on the fun?
Hearing this, Fang Ren felt pity for them. They would soon experience the shock of their lives.
Thanks to the other participants, who allowed them to pass, the registration proceeded quickly.
The Fang Clan's own juniors and the external representatives such as the childish sages and the Ji Dian, all signed up and were written into the system.
After taking their seats in the Fang Clan's section, they waited for the 5-sect summit to begin.
While they were waiting, Hei took a moment to locate Xiulan and Shao Chen in the audience. They didn't seem interested in the summit at all.
The maid, Shui, was also there.
She had a basket of bread that she would give to Xiulan and Shao Chen when they wanted some.
The registration of the rest of the participants took a while, and after some time, the line was empty.
Seeing this, Hei was surprised.
"Eh? Where's the Wu Clan?"
'I didn't make all of these preparations for nothing did I?'
He turned to the matriarch with a questioning look, but before she could answer, there were loud bird cries in the distance.
Everyone turned to see several large birds, carrying people on their backs.
'The same idea, huh?'
Hei could see that it was the Wu Clan.
Before long, the birds landed on the centre stage.
The audience started discussing what they just saw.
"It's the Wu Clan."
"I was wondering where they were. It looks like they wanted to make a big entrance."
"Yeah. But when you compare it to the Fang Clan's entrance, doesn't it seem a little…"
"Lacklustre?"
"That's the word. I mean, how are these pigeons supposed to compete with dragons?"
"Mm. There wasn't even a dust tornado or anything."
"That's right. They just flew in and landed. Not impressive in the slightest."
"I think it would have worked out better, had they come before the Fang Clan."
"Mm. They tried to do too much. That's why they can only be the second clan."
Back in the 5 sects' section, the young man in the Blazing Flame Sect's area saw that this was similar to the previous situation, so he decided to handle it.
The middle-aged man tried to stop him, but he was too late.
"So, it was the Wu Clan. Your entrance was slightly disrespectful to the 5-sect summit, don't you think?"
Wu Dong already wasn't in the best of moods after hearing the audience's discussions, so when he heard the young man, he turned a sharp gaze towards him.
The young man flinched and sat back down.
The middle-aged man next to him sighed as he looked at the young man. He then stood up and spoke.
"As expected from a strong clan like the Wu Clan. However, registration is on the way in. There are no exceptions."
'They're in cahoots?'
Hei was suspicious of the middle-aged man's behaviour. He thought it was strange that the Wu Clan had risen up in the past few years after hearing about how the resources weren't obtained on their own.
He was now thinking that the Blazing Flame Sect or at least this middle-aged man was collaborating with the Wu Clan.
Wu Dong nodded his head in response to the middle-aged man's words and was just about to take the Wu Clan to their usual section when he heard a slow clapping.
The clapping sounds drowned out all the other sounds in the venue, such that they were clearly heard by everyone.
"We meet again, Scumbag Wu Dong."
Hearing these words, the audience was stunned into silence.
The Wu Clan may only be the second clan, but Wu Dong was the second strongest in Spring Leaf City.
No one other than the matriarch of the Fang Clan would be able to say these words, and even she wouldn't do so lightly.
Instead of being shocked, the Fang Clan was pitying the Wu Clan. Who told them to offend the childish sages? Sigh.
Hearing Hei's words, Mei was curious.
"Darling, who is this Wu Dong?"
Over the past year, Mei had been trying to get Hei to accept the title 'Darling'. It wasn't working very well though.
"It's Hei. And unlike your father who was an honourable and respectable man, your father-in-law is what we like to call a scumbag."
Tianlan jumped in.
"I like shameless scoundrel myself."
He still wasn't willing to let it go.
At this time, the Wu Clan responded to Hei's words.
"So, they really did join the Fang Clan."
"Those traitorous trashes."
"Wait until they see how weak they are compared to us now."
"Mm. Even the Fang Clan can only step down."
The Wu Clan had a massive boost in confidence after receiving the resources from the young mistress of the Merchant Guild.
They now believed themselves to be the number one clan of Spring Leaf City.
After the various inputs from the people behind him, Wu Dong spoke:
"You think the Fang Clan can protect you?"
He had been infuriated when Hei had spoken those words a few years ago but was unable to act in fear of the retaliation of the Fang Clan.
They tried to maintain a righteous image in front of the 5-sects, and after the events of nearly 20 years ago, the Fang Clan's matriarch became hypersensitive to the older generation attacking the younger generation.
But now that he had broken through to the transcendent realm, and even risen a few layers, along with the fact that he was in possession of the Mountain Splitting Sword, he didn't believe there was anyone who could restrain him in Spring Leaf City.
Hearing his words, Hei chuckled.
"Who said I need protection?"
He created a pathway of chains that lead to the centre stage, a few meters away from Wu Dong.
He stood up and started leisurely walking down the path as he continued to speak.
"I have already told you of the deep grievance between my Shao Clan and your Wu Clan."
Hearing these words, the audience was stunned.
"Shao Clan?"
"Wasn't Shao the family name of the childish sages?"
"Now that you mention it, he has very dark skin. Could that be Sage Hei?"
The Fang Clan's juniors had been bragging about their childish sages all over the city, such that most people knew about them.
Unlike the audience, the Fang Clan placed their hands on their faces.
Not only had these Wu Clan idiots offended the childish sages, but they even allowed a deep grievance to form? Were they trying to curse their grandsons?
Hei continued:
"At that time, I gave you the chance to apologise of your own free will. But you refused."
As he reached the end of his path, he was standing a few meters away, directly in front of Wu Dong, looking up to his face.
"The gates to the heavens were wide open, but you chose instead to barge your way into Hell."
Hearing this, the juniors became enraged, especially the half-siblings, excluding Wu Ning, who surrounded Hei.
"Things are not the same as they used to be, Trash."
Wu Lixue was the one who spoke.
In the past, she had grown to fear Hei, but things were different now. She had improved dramatically over the past few years.
The siblings were about to go in for the attack, but before they could do anything, they found themselves flying through the air and crashing into the Wu Clan's section of the stands.
What's worse, they landed on top of each other.
When they looked back to the stage, they could see Bai and Tianlan standing on either side of Hei.
The audience was shocked silly. Most of them hadn't even seen what had just happened.
The Wu Clan's elders, seeing that the juniors were unable to handle the situation, took matters into their own hands.
Unfortunately for them, the result was no different.
One by one, the elders would be launched into the stands, crashing into the people who were already there.
After seeing that it was useless, the other elders stopped trying. They could only stand there awkwardly as Tianlan and Bai acted as an impenetrable shield, protecting Hei.
At this time, the same middle-aged man from the Blazing Flame Sect shouted:
"Enough! This is the 5-sect summit. You will show some respect!"
It wasn't just him. The other representatives of the 5 sects weren't too pleased with this display. This was supposed to be the 5-sect summit, not some circus.
They were about to speak, but they stopped themselves when they saw Hei raise his arm in the middle-aged man's direction.
Hei hadn't turned his gaze away from Wu Dong since he reached the stage and that still hadn't changed.
From the sleeves of his robe, came multiple chains, which wrapped the middle-aged man faster than he could react.
The chains then pulled him towards Hei, and no matter how he struggled, he was unable to free himself.
He only stopped once Hei had grabbed his neck.
This was because he could feel that even the slightest movement of Hei's hand could break his neck.
Instead of turning to look at the man, Hei dragged him to his front, and asked in an icy tone:
"Who are you?"
The middle-aged man was petrified. He could hear the end of his life within Hei's words. If he didn't speak carefully, he would die today. That was what he knew to be true.
"I-I am a representative of the Blazing Sword Sect."
He tried to use his status as a shield, but it didn't seem to do him any good, as Hei sharpened his eyes and spoke again.
"So, you thought it was a good idea to poke your nose into this?"
Hearing the words laced with murderous intent, the middle-aged man's body jolted violently. He quickly responded:
"N-no. It's just-"
He was cut off.
"Then go back to whatever hole you crawled out from."
Hei casually tossed the man into the air, retracting his chains, before speaking.
"Mei."
This was all he had said, but it was all he needed to say.
Hearing him, Mei understood what he wanted.
She jumped from her position in the stands and as she approached the middle-aged man, she activated her Berserk Aura and wrapped it around her leg, which she used to kick the man back into his seat.
She then 'conveniently' landed beside Hei.
The audience turned to the middle-aged man's seat, where they saw him struggling to get up.
The young man next to him hurriedly pulled out some healing pills from his storage space and gave them to him.
The audience's attention was then taken back to the centre stage.
Having seen what just happened, Wu Dong was now concerned. Even he would not be able to handle the middle-aged man with such ease.
Hei spoke.
"Welcome to Hell."
Chapter 38: Chapter 38
After hearing Hei's words, Wu Dong immediately drew his Mountain Splitting Sword.
He wasted no words as he immediately used his strongest attack, Mountain Splitting.
As his sword moved through the air, it let out a loud screech, as if it would sever anything that stood in its way. And as it hit Hei, a cloud of dust was kicked up.
It obstructed the vision of the audience who were shocked at its power, but they soon saw a familiar scene.
The dust started to swirl around, becoming a tornado, before it was blown away, revealing Wu Dong and Hei, who were standing face to face.
Wu Dong had a sword in his hands, and Hei had a sword resting on his shoulder. It hadn't even damaged his robe.
Hei casually raised his arm to take the sword, and to Wu Dong's horror, he found that he was unable to move a muscle.
This was the result of Bai's Marionet ability, which allowed her to hijack the circulation paths of those weaker than her, leaving their bodies totally under her control.
Having taken a look at the sword, Hei was less than impressed.
He turned over to the matriarch.
"This is the thing that caused all the trouble?"
The matriarch nodded in response.
After seeing Hei's expression, she was wondering whether it was worth all of the sacrifice in trying to obtain the Mountain Splitting Sword Saint's inheritance. Why did it look like a useless chunk of metal when Hei held it?
Hei turned back to the sword in his hand.
"The Mountain Splitting Sword, was it? Could you even split bread with this thing?"
After he said those words, Hei heard Shao Chen's voice.
"Hahaha. Nice one Little Hei! Now you're sounding like part of the family."
Hei decided to ignore his grandfather's praise. He was concerned that he was becoming too much like those two crazy bakers.
He poured his Qi into the sword, causing it to give off a bright and dazzling radiance, before throwing it high into the sky, where it exploded, creating a beautiful scene of dancing colours.
This was an application of Bai's Territory.
After the sword exploded, Wu Dong grunted in anger, but he was unable to speak, due to Bai's control.
Hei turned to look at him and spoke coldly.
"Kneel."
It wasn't Wu Dong's own will, but Bai's control that made him obey Hei's words. But to the audience, he looked like a man overwhelmed by guilt, ready to receive his punishment.
Hei looked down to Wu Dong who was kneeling before him.
'It's time.'
All of Hei's planning hinged on this moment.
He placed his hands behind his back as he closed his eyes and raised his head to the sky.
To everyone in the audience, he seemed to be making a difficult decision. Even his own siblings didn't quite know what he was doing.
"Ah. I just remembered something. A while back, there was news of someone being born with a unique physique in the Wu Clan."
"I heard that too. Innate something or another. It was supposed to be a trash child of the patriarch, who had dark skin."
"You don't mean…"
"Mm. It seems Sage Hei might be that very same child."
"So he is raising his hand against his own father. I can understand the internal conflict."
"Mm. I don't know if I could do it."
While the audience was discussing, Hei was speaking in his mind.
"Heavens, you have given me a mission. Now give me the means to complete it."
He needed a way to take back that which was stolen, and he was fairly confident that it would be useful right now.
And the heavens didn't disappoint.
In response to Hei's thoughts, the entire sky dimmed down, causing the atmosphere to become gloomy. Then, the ground started to shake and rainclouds started to form above the venue. Soon after that, rain began to fall.
But interestingly, the rain only seemed to fall on Hei, who could hear a booming voice coming from the sky.
"THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DEEMED UNWORTHY, HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SUBMIT! HEAVENLY REVOCATION!"
A technique was transmitted into Hei's mind, causing him to feel pain. And in response, he raised his hand to cover his face.
That was the truth of the matter, but the audience saw a very different image.
That was especially true for the matriarch and Mei.
With his sadness, the world dimmed. With his internal conflict, the world shook. To hide his sorrowful tears, he summoned the rain. And to protect his fragile heart, he hid his face from the world.
Oblivious to the misunderstandings that were taking place, Hei was focusing on the technique, and after a short while, he knew how to use it.
With the transfer complete, the rain stopped falling, and the ground stopped shaking. The rainclouds started to slowly dissipate.
Hei dropped his hand back to his side before turning to Bai with a conflicted expression.
"Your brother is going to be cruel this time."
"Mm."
Bai nodded her head, and seeing this, Hei turned back to Wu Dong.
As he looked down at the man who was kneeling with fear in his eyes, he spoke coldly.
"You are unworthy."
This was a strange requirement of the Heavenly Revocation ability. He had to declare that the target was unworthy.
As he said those words, his hand started to glow white with swirling colours, one for each element.
It then became ethereal, and he thrust it into Wu Dong's chest, right where his heart was.
The audience gasped in surprise.
After having grasped Wu Dong's heart, Hei slowly pulled his hand back out.
As he did, the audience could hear loud snapping and tearing sounds, which left them stunned into silence.
As Hei's hand exited his chest, Wu Dong's face turned pale and his eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground, motionless.
There was a long silence before a young lady screamed.
"Ah! H-h-he pulled out his heart!"
"Ruthless."
The audience was horrified. They never expected to witness something so grisly at the 5-sect summit.
"Wait! There's no blood."
"You're right."
"So what did he do then? What were those sounds?"
The audience was unable to see what was in Hei's hand, but Hei and Tianlan could see it clearly.
What Hei had taken from Wu Dong, was not his heart, but instead, it was his spirit roots, the source of his cultivation and pride.
'Hm. Maybe we can use this thing for experiments.'
He popped the spirit roots into his storage space, through his sleeve.
He then turned to Bai.
"Let him go."
Bai nodded her head and disengaged her Marionet ability, allowing Wu Dong to regain control of his body.
Hei then squatted down next to Wu Dong's head and slapped him twice while speaking.
"Wake up Scumbag. It's not over yet."
Due to Hei's slaps, Wu Dong regained consciousness.
He soon realised that he had lost all of his power and was like a regular person again.
"You! What did you-"
His words were cut off by Tianlan, who stomped his head into the ground.
Now that Tianlan was a little older, Hei had told him what Wu Dong had done to their mother, so Tianlan was very enthusiastic.
Hei was a little concerned, but he let it go. Tianlan had been wanting to free his mother for a long time.
Hei spoke:
"No one said you could speak."
He stood up from his squatting position and used his chains to create a giant chain sword, tip pointed to the ground, directly above Wu Dong.
After the sword was formed, he used Tianlan's Sonic Qi and the Fang Clan's Inferno Sword for some extra impact.
Some of the juniors wanted to ask, 'What happened to being low key?'. But they knew that now wasn't the time.
The chain sword was now wrapped in bright crimson flames that shot up into the sky and released tremendous heat.
Even the rainclouds that were still slowly dissipating were forced to leave, causing the scene to brighten once more.
Wu Dong was the one who could feel the heat the most, as Hei had shielded the audience from it.
Hei then created a path of chains leading to Xiulan's seat.
She was casually munching on some bread as if none of this was a concern to her.
After creating the path, Hei looked back to Wu Dong, who was now on all fours after Tianlan had broken his legs from the knees down.
He spoke coldly.
"Your life is now hanging by a thread. I believe you know the method through which you can save it."
Wu Dong looked into Hei's cold and emotionless eyes that held no compassion in the slightest. He understood that being Hei's father was of no significance whatsoever.
He clenched his fists and teeth as he turned to Xiulan.
"X-Xiulan I-"
His words were cut off by a kick to the abdomen.
Tianlan was the one who launched the kick as he spoke:
"Who is Xiulan?"
Wu Dong coughed due to the pain, but he knew that no one would give him sympathy, so he turned back to Xiulan.
"Miss Matriarch. P-please, forgive me. I-"
This time his words were cut off by Shao Chen.
"After what you've done? In your dreams! If we weren't on the eastern continent, I would have already ground you into dust long ago."
Shao Chen had a deep hatred for Wu Dong, but since he had sealed his cultivation, he was unable to do anything about it. Being unable to protect his daughter was the biggest regret of his life.
Now that her children were able to seek justice for her, it wouldn't end so easily.
He wanted to continue, but he was stopped by his daughter.
"Little Xiulan…"
"Don't worry about it, Father."
"But…"
These were the same words she had said before she was taken to the Wu Clan to become Wu Dong's fourth wife.
Xiulan then turned to Hei with a warm smile as she spoke.
"I told you that this wasn't necessary, Little Hei."
Hei retracted his chain sword and also smiled.
"And I told you that I would have him crawling beneath your feet, begging for forgiveness."
This warm moment between a mother and her son was interrupted by the grumbling of a grandfather.
"That's it? Back in my day, he would have died three times already."
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