Chapter 1470: Do You Like It?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Give you a little to play with?"
Everyone started to look nervous as they heard what Xu Que had said.
"What does this guy mean?"
"That's the Starry Sky Flaming Blossom. Does he think he can just casually give it away for people to play with?"
"How much is a little?"
SWISH!
The next moment, everyone present was dumbstruck, glued to where they'd been standing, looking stupefied.
Xu Que had taken something that was glowing from his pocket and actually turned it into a bunch of Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms. At a quick glance, there appeared to be at least a dozen blossoms, which he casually clutched in his hands, some of which had been squeezed into a ball.
"Stop it, you animal!" The crowd was so angry that they started to shout out.
The Starry Sky Flaming Blossom was so rare and precious. Each blossom was valuable enough to make all the major forces fight to the death for it. "And you actually clutch them in your hands like you're grappling at weeds?"
"How is that possible? Where'd he get so many Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms?" Someone asked in a shocked voice. They all found it unbelievable.
The Divine Being of Taoist Fetus, Ming Yixuan, was even more appalled than anyone else and extremely angry. He felt completely insulted.
His Sage Sect had only collected two Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms. He'd taken one out to give to Jiang Hongyan this time and thought that he'd already done her a huge favor. But at the same time, he'd also wanted to impress the whole of the Heaven Continent and show off the Sage Sect's might.
But now, Xu Que had nonchalantly taken out more than a dozen Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms. The overall value was more than a dozen times what his gift had been worth.
The point was that these dozen Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms were a small gift for Jiang Hongyan. When both sides were contrasted, the Sage Sect was obviously completely defeated. It was an absolute loss of face.
At the same time, the looks that many people were giving Xu Que also were changing. As well as shock, there was also greed.
The eyes of the Heaven Palace Academy's Dean Li and the others shone as they fixed their eyes on the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms in Xu Que's hands.
The reason that a Starry Sky Flaming Blossom was so precious was because it could be refined into a Star Elixir, in addition to the fact that it was rare because of the low quantity available.
It was a kind of medicinal item that could attract the power of the stars into boundless Celestial Core Power once it was taken. If someone at the Golden Celestial Stage took it, that person could instantaneously break through to the Taiyi Celestial Stage. If someone at the Taiyi Celestial Stage took two doses, that person would immediately step into the Celestial Stage of the Great All-Embracing Heaven.
But once that person reached the Celestial Stage of the Great All-Embracing Heaven, the additional effects on the Celestial Core Power from this kind of elixir would be greatly reduced. The power it brought could be used to temper the physical body, as long as it wasn't converted into Celestial Core Power.
So right now, the emergence of a dozen Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms had made everyone present feel very tempted.
In particular, Dean Li's hands were already trembling uncontrollably in his sleeves, and he was finding it very hard to control.
If he could get these Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms and find someone to refine them into Star Elixirs to be distributed to and taken by the Taiyi Celestials at the Heaven Palace Academy, the Heaven Palace Academy could produce at least a few more Celestials of the Great All-Embracing Heaven and its overall strength would be substantially upgraded.
Even if they weren't given to the Taiyi Celestials, he could swallow them himself and temper his physical body. Then he could become a famous figure among the Celestials of the Great All-Embracing Heaven. He could even become first among his peers!
Who wouldn't be enticed by such a great temptation in front of their eyes?
"Where did you manage to get these?" Jiang Hongyan didn't know whether to cry or laugh as she looked at Xu Que.
Although she'd already guessed that Xu Que would have these things, she didn't expect him to take out a dozen Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms. He'd really surprised her.
"Ah, what are you talking about? Each blossom has been very carefully selected and plucked by me to bring here to you. A few of them didn't look very good, so I threw them right away." Xu Que said with a face full of pride, like a little devil getting ready to take credit for his achievement and be commended for it.
The crowd at the scene almost went crazy.
"Son of a b*tch, what did this guy say?"
"A few Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms didn't look too good, so he threw them away?"
"D*mn, where did the b*stard throw them away?"
"Are these all for me?" Jiang Hongyan was still smiling calmly as she looked at Xu Que.
"Why, of course." Xu Que smiled, walked toward the front, and handed the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms to her.
Jiang Hongyan took the pile of Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms and briefly admired them with a hint of little-girl-like curiosity in her eyes as she picked out one blossom from among them.
WHOOSH!
Soon after, her delicate hand gave a wave and a spark of eerie blue flame materialized. She leaned toward that particular Starry Sky Flaming Blossom.
"What does she want to do?"
"Is it necessary to refine that Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms in such a hurry?"
"That's not right. Now is not the time to refine the elixir. Even though the Starry Sky Flaming Blossom is the main material of the Star Elixir, the other materials are also not so easy to find. Don't tell me she already has the other materials on her?"
"No, that's incorrect. The heat control from the flame is too big. It can easily burn the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms to ashes!"
"Stop right away!" Immediately, a lot of people with experience in refining elixirs started shouting out.
However, the eerie blue flame that Jiang Hongyan had created had already engulfed the entire Starry Sky Flaming Blossom. The blazing hot temperature instantly melted the Starry Sky Flaming Blossom, which burned into a cloud of ash in the blink of an eye.
SWISH!
A beam of light rushed forth from the ashes the next moment and directly streamed into the air. It created a plate-sized Starry Sky tableau. Several stars were shining brightly with a resplendent glow, flowing with power.
"Is this…a Starry Star Vision?" Someone looked at the plate-sized Starry Sky tableau in the air and asked in astonishment.
"Just as expected, these are really Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms. Only after a Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms is burned can it manifest into a Starry Star Vision," some wise man said.
But many people looked agonized.
Such a precious Starry Sky Flaming Blossom had actually been wasted just like that and burned into a cloud of ash.
"What a beautiful Starry Sky," Jiang Hongyan said in a whisper with a smile on her face.
It was as if she'd done this simply to relive the scene of Xu Que burning the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms when they'd been together in the past.
"Do you like it?" Xu Que asked with a smile.
"Yes." Jiang Hongyan nodded.
"Then shall I give you another piece?"
"Really?"
"Of course, how can such a small starry sky be enough to look at? You must see a big one if you want to see more."
"Great."
Xu Que's conversation with Jiang Hongyan made the hearts of everyone present seize up with shock. They had a bad feeling about it.
"What is this kid going to do?"
WHOOSH!
The next moment, Xu Que gave another wave of his hand and pulled out another glowing piece that was bigger than the previous one.
As soon as the crowd saw what he had, their faces changed dramatically.
He was holding more than 100 Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms!
"How…how can this be?"
"How could he have so many Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms? Even if all the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms in the Heaven Continent were gathered together, they wouldn't be as many as he has."
"Hang on a second, what's this guy going to do?" Someone screamed with his face full of horror.
Xu Que took out more than 100 Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms and actually gathered them into a ball. Next, a blue flame sprang up from the palm of his hand and instantly engulfed more than 100 Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms.
"No!"
"Stop, you animal!" Someone yelled at the top of his lungs.
Dean Li of the Heaven Palace Academy and the others also rushed forward, wanting to stop Xu Que and save those more than 100 Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms.
However, they were ultimately too late. The blue flame that Xu Que had released was unusually powerful. It completely devoured all the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms and completely burned them up in the blink of an eye.
Immediately after, hundreds of tiny beams of light refracted from the ashes of the Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms and shone up into the air as many pieces of the Starry Sky Vision all came together.
What had originally been a clear sky suddenly darkened at this moment, as if night had fallen. And the individual huge stars glittered and shone. The power of the stars had formed a river of light up in the sky.
It could be said that this was a perfect picture of a starry sky. At night in the Heaven Continent, one could never see such a bright starry sky, not to mention such a spectacular river of stars.
All the people present watched in a daze. It was the first time they had ever seen such a staggering Starry Star Vision.
But what followed closely was a violent convulsion of their hearts, as if their hearts were bleeding.
Although these Starry Sky Flaming Blossom sparks didn't belong to any of them, in the minds of Dean Li and the others, they should have been fully capable of snatching these things from Xu Que's hands, which meant that sooner or later these things would have belonged to them.
But now, they were all gone.
Just to see this tableau of a Starry Star Vision, this guy had actually burned more than 100 Starry Sky Flaming Blossoms.
"B*stard, I am going to kill you." Dean Li became furious and roared at Xu Que. He made a move to kill Xu Que to vent his anger.
"An announcement!" Suddenly, an ear-piercing cry came from far away.
The person hadn't yet arrived, but the voice had already been transmitted to everyone in the Heaven Palace Academy. He said, "An urgent announcement to report to the dean. Your disciple has rushed back from Tian Sha City to bring the latest news…"
…..
Chapter 1471: Are You Qualified to Do So?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
SWISH!
Everyone looked over toward where they heard the sound coming from. A disciple of the Academy clad in a white long gown hurriedly flew across the sky with a face full of urgency.
Soon, he'd rushed to the front of the crowd and instantly found Dean Li and the others. He shouted, "Dean, a major event has happened. There were major occurrences in the battle in Tian Sha City. That boy, Xu Que…ah…"
Without finishing talking, the disciple suddenly saw Xu Que standing next to Dean Li and the others and gave a startled little scream on the spot.
BANG!
The next moment, the Academy disciple lost control of himself and ended up on the ground. His face was drained of blood. He scrambled to his knees.
"Faction Leader Xu…Xu Que!" He looked as if he was in pain and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His eyes were full of fear, and he tried desperately to squeeze out a smile to greet Xu Que.
"Faction Leader? Hey, aren't you that kid?" Xu Que looked at him with a smile and asked.
The disciple immediately hit his head on the ground and shouted, "Faction Leader Xu Que, ah please spare my life. Forgive me for my transgressions for I must be blind, and I've said the wrong things. Please, Faction Leader Xu, you're mighty and magnanimous."
The crowd watching this display were struck dumb and had stupefied looks on their faces.
"Isn't…isn't that Zhang Zhangshui, the elite disciple of our Academy?"
"What is he doing? He's actually bent his knee to Xu Que?"
"He's gone crazy, hasn't he?"
Many people were baffled and looked at the white-clad disciple in puzzlement.
"Preposterous!" Almost at the same time, Deputy Dean Li started angrily scolding him. "Zhang Zhangshui, what are you doing? How dare you shame the Heaven Palace Academy!"
"Deputy Dean Li, your disciple…your disciple misspoke just a moment ago. I spoke disrespectfully to Faction Leader Xu Que, so I should be asking him for forgiveness." The disciple looked agonized and didn't dare stand up.
Everyone present heard his words, and all of a sudden their faces changed color.
"What was going on?"
Zhang Zhangshui was acting extremely daring to have actually disregarded Deputy Dean Li's words.
"What did that mean?"
"Was Xu Que even more terrifying than Deputy Dean Li in Zhang Zhangshui's eyes?"
"You…you've got some nerve. I now want you to stand up. Otherwise…you'll be expelled from the Academy at once." Deputy Dean Li felt a big loss of face and angrily bellowed because of the humiliation.
He had already been infuriated by Xu Que. And now, he felt his rage rising even more till he was about to explode.
"Well, Deputy Dean Li…this…" Zhang Zhangshui became anxious immediately, but did not ask for mercy from Deputy Dean Li. Instead, he looked to Xu Que with a face of helplessness and distress and respectfully asked, "Faction Leader Xu Que, can I…can I get up?"
Holy sh*t!
As soon as the people present saw this scene, they couldn't hold themselves back any longer.
"What the h*ll was going on here?"
"Had Zhang Zhangshui gone crazy?"
"This insult to Deputy Dean Li was a little too much wasn't it?"
Many people couldn't help but look at Deputy Dean Li. At this moment, he was so angry that his body was trembling all over. His murderous aura had become boundless, and his whole face looked extremely malevolent.
"Get up? Of course you can!" At this point, Xu Que grinned and responded.
"Many thanks to Faction Leader Xu Que for your kindness!" Zhang Zhangshui instantly looked as if he'd been relieved from a burden. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up nervously.
Before he'd had time to beg for forgiveness from Deputy Dean Li and the others, Xu Que languidly added another remark, "But, unfortunately, if you'd continued to kneel, perhaps I could even have let you join the Exploding Heavens Faction."
BANG!
In an instant, the sound of a thud could be heard.
Zhang Zhangshui had just stood up a moment ago and now his two knees had suddenly hit the ground again. He excitedly shouted with a determined face, "Faction Leader Xu, I want to join the Exploding Heavens Faction."
"Unfortunately, you've been rejected." Xu Que spread his hands and said with a despicable smile.
"….." Zhang Zhangshui was upset, but he didn't dare to show the slightest anger.
The entire crowd had now fallen into a dead silence. Everyone was stunned.
"What…what the hell was going on here?"
"What had just happened?"
The moment Zhang Zhangshui heard that he could join the Exploding Heavens Faction, he'd actually become so excited and he hadn't hesitated to withdraw from the Heaven Palace Academy?
"Something is not right with this situation." Dean Li turned his head to look the Deputy Dean beside him and whispered to him in a low voice.
Deputy Dean Li also slowly calmed down. Although the anger had nearly overwhelmed him, Zhang Zhangshui's series of abnormal actions had put him on guard.
Even if Xu Que was a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven, this was no reason to cause a disciple of the Heaven Palace Academy to be in so much awe of him.
There must have been some shocking developments in Tian Sha City.
"Zhang Zhangshui, you stand up. I, the Dean, can let bygones be bygones. But you must explain clearly. What happened in Tian Sha City?" Dean Li finally spoke up and asked sternly.
"Yes, Dean!"
Zhang Zhangshui also quickly stood up and bowed to Xu Que as well as to Dean Li.
Everyone present watched that and already had solemn looks across their faces.
Zhang Zhangshui's actions were enough to show that he placed Xu Que and Dean Li in the same status. He even bowed to Xu Que first, indicating that Zhang Zhangshui revered Xu Que more than Dean Li.
"The thing is this: your disciple happened to be near Tian Sha City one day and heard the news that Faction Leader Xu and his group had arrived in Tian Sha City. So I rushed over. After which, the Divine Farmer Clan's Drug God also appeared in Tian Sha City. Your disciple had a sense that something major was about to happen in Tian Sha City. However, I didn't expect that the next day I would see the Divine Farmer Clan's Drug God tied to the city wall. Later, several Ancestral Celestial Kings of the Divine Farmer Clan, as well as the Celestial Kings of other forces, all rushed over there…"
Soon, Zhang Zhangshui had recounted all that had taken place in Tian Sha City from the beginning to the end.
The crowd was dumbstruck throughout the recitation, and their hearts beat increasingly more wildly. From the moment that they heard that the Drug God had been tied to the city wall and had feces thrown at him, the crowd was greatly alarmed.
Even the eyelids of Deputy Dean Li and the other leaders twitched.
After all, in terms of the status of the Drug God in the Heaven Continent, it was similar to their statuses, and yet he had been tied to the city wall with feces thrown at him by Xu Que and the others. What would happened if this news were to spread?
But when they got to the end and heard that the Drug God had been killed by a knife thrown by Xu Que, followed by the appearance of the ten Celestial Kings who were repeatedly trapped by the trio of Que, De, and Dog, and then the ten Celestial Kings were dragged by Xu Que through the crossing of Tribulations, to be annihilated and killed, as well as Xu Que forcing the Heaven to take back one of the Heavenly Tribulations, so much so that he even frightened the two Celestial Primes who'd come from outside the realm into retreating.
Everything that had happened caused everyone's hearts to temporarily stop beating, and they all felt as if they'd almost suffocated to death.
Everyone's first reaction was…this was not possible.
"It was absolutely impossible."
No matter how powerful a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven was, how could he have suppressed and killed ten Celestial Kings and also scared off two Celestial Primes?
The most important point was that he'd even forced Heaven to take back a Heavenly Tribulations!
"Is he messing with us?"
"Oh, this is ridiculous, really ridiculous. How can you speak of such ridiculous things?" At this time, the Divine Being of Taoist Fetus, Ming Yixuan, shook his head and laughed, with a face full of mockery and sarcasm.
He glanced over at Zhang Zhangshui and Xu Que as he sneered, "You, with the surname Xu, if you want to make a splash, there was no need to bribe a Heaven Palace Academy disciple to come up with such outrageous lies? Even if you wanted to deceive people, you could have come up with a reasonable story."
In his opinion, Zhang Zhangshui had been bought off by Xu Que and was working with Xu Que to put on this show.
As for the matter of killing the Celestial Kings, frightening away the Celestial Primes, and scaring off the Heavenly Tribulations, he didn't believe a single word of it.
As the Divine Being of Taoist Fetus, he was already the most qualified existence in the Heaven Continent and a true genius. He was very confident of his own strength.
In other words, the things he couldn't do, no one else could do them either.
All of this must be false!
"Zhang Zhangshui, you are pretty bold to dare to deceive me and the others with such absurd lies." Deputy Dean Li was also furious and rebuked him.
He also didn't believe what Zhang Zhangshui had said, because it was all too ridiculous.
"Sirs, I'm really not lying. If you…if you don't believe me, you can go to the Dark Shadow Pagoda Sect for proof or you will see for yourselves in a few days. I believe that in no more than three days, this incident at Tian Sha City will spread throughout the entire Heaven Continent. When that time comes…" Zhang Zhangshui firmly said.
"There's no need!" Deputy Dean Li directly interrupted Zhang Zhangshui's words. A chill flashed through his eyes and he sneered. "Whether it's true or false, I will know with one test."
BOOM!
His voice had just faded when Deputy Dean Li's figure instantly flashed and vanished from its original spot. He charged directly head-to-head toward Xu Que.
With a calm expression on his face, the corners of Xu Que's lips curled up into a smile of disdain and he said, "You want to test me? Are you even qualified to do so? My surname will not be Xu if I don't beat you to death in three moves!"
…..
Chapter 1472: Unbelievable
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Beat Deputy Dean Li to death in three moves?"
Xu Que's words immediately startled everyone, and they stood open-mouthed looking at him.
Even if a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven was without rival in his rank, he would at least have to fight hundreds of rounds to be able to subdue and kill his opponent when he encountered an opponent of the same cultivation stage.
Deputy Dean Li was now at the cultivation stage of a True Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven, while Xu Que was a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven. His cultivation stage was actually one level lower than that of Deputy Dean Li. And he'd dared to threaten to kill him in three moves.
It was outrageous. It was simply vulgar claptrap and braggadocio that he was using to impress the crowd of male and female cultivators.
People laughed out loud and shook their heads in disbelief.
BOOM!
Deputy Dean Li already held a Jade Ruler in his hands, and it filled the tense atmosphere with a spell that transformed into an Array. It brought with it a harsh, strong energy that flew straight at Xu Que.
Xu Que still looked extremely calm and languidly took out a cigarette, which he put in the corner of his mouth in an insouciant fashion. He beamed and said boldly, "My first move is, light a cigarette."
POP!
He snapped his fingers loudly and the force of his Celestial Core Power instantly turned into a spark of tiny flame and lit the cigarette.
"???"
Everyone stared blankly with their mouths open.
"Tell me this isn't really his first move?"
"My second move is to smoke the cigarette." Xu Que inhaled deeply and narrowed his eyes. He looked like he was really enjoying smoking this cigarette. His mouth slightly parted to allow a wisp of white smoke to slowly stream out.
"???"
The entire crowd was struck dumb.
"Is this really his second move?"
"You son of a b*tch, get ready to die!"
Deputy Dean Li charged in front of Xu Que, his face full of anger and ferocity. He waved the Jade Ruler in his hand and the resplendent Array suspended above his head instantly turned into a pack of densely packed swords, which were as brilliant as a meteor shower, aiming as many as possible to strike at Xu Que.
"The third move…"
Xu Que abruptly lifted his eyes and stared directly at Deputy Dean Li , who now stood right in front of him. The corners of his mouth held a hint of a chilly smile.
SWISH!
The next moment, Xu Que's figure suddenly flashed so fast that it became blurry. He actually tore straight toward those densely packed brilliant swords.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Dozens of these sharp brilliant swords smashed into Xu Que's blurry figure, but, before they could do any harm, all of them exploded in the air and turned into broken stars.
And not only did Xu Que's speed not weaken, but instead he suddenly flashed even faster and immediately appeared at the side of Deputy Dean Li.
"Oh no!" Deputy Dean Li's face immediately changed, and a chilliness abruptly welled up in his back, which cut and pierced straight through his heart.
"The third move, and you're dead!"
Xu Que with an extremely despicable smile on his face was less than a foot away from Deputy Dean Li.
He raised his arm slowly, and his whole palm blossomed with a beautiful golden light.
Deputy Dean Li just couldn't react in time and was soon struck with extreme force on the back of his neck by a chop of Xu Que's hand.
CRACK! CRACK, CRACK, CRACK…
In an instant, Deputy Dean Li's body stopped and stood rigidly in the place where he'd been attacked. A concentrated sound of crisp, shattering bones breaking rang out from his body.
The bones in Deputy Dean Li's body actually broke down and collapsed from the neck downward in unbroken succession.
AHHH!!
His face had a terrified, pained expression. He wanted to shout out in disbelief, but, due to the immense pain felt by his physical body, it became a heart-wrenching and blood-curdling screech.
He knew clearly that the shattering bones in his body were all deeply embedded in his Meridians and Dantian area. It would cut off his vitality and obliterate his cultivation.
"Stop it!"
Dean Li didn't know what to do to help Deputy Dean Li . He yelled out and rushed forward to try to protect Deputy Dean Li.
However, Xu Que basically didn't intend to allow him to carry out his move. He stood, with his hands clasped behind him, and beamed at both the Dean and the Deputy Dean.
PLOP!
Suddenly, Deputy Dean Li opened his mouth and threw up a big mouthful of blood. The pupils of his eyes gradually enlarged and slowly lost their luster. His entire vitality had scattered and been hollowed out.
BANG!
Deputy Dean Li fell heavily to the ground, took his last breath, and died.
Right up until his death, his face had maintained a kind of terrified, pained expression. He even looked somewhat confused, as if he basically couldn't understand why he'd been so weak and lost to a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven.
Unfortunately, he died too fast, and he'd never figured it out in the end. He only cried out with a bloodcurdling screech and then bid farewell to the world. Even his soul didn't survive.
"..…"
There was dead silence. Not a single voice could be heard. It would have been possible to have heard a pin drop.
All the disciples of the Heaven Palace Academy were dumbstruck, and they felt as if they had lost their souls.
Dean Li stared wide-eyed at Deputy Dean Li on the ground and looked aghast.
The Divine Being of Taoist Fetus, Ming Yixuan, also stood without moving, his mouth open wide, his face full of shock.
Even Jiang Hongyan looked started, and she looked at Xu Que with surprise.
No one had thought that Xu Que was actually this powerful.
He didn't use three moves to kill Deputy Dean Li. He only used one.
The most important point about the whole incident was that he hadn't used any Magic Art, nor a Celestial Artifact. He'd only relied on one chop of his hand and intense frightening power to easily kill Deputy Dean Li in a flash.
Such a clean and effective, but also incomparably fierce, method, was simply hair-raising.
"Brother Que, you're awesome, 666!"
"Master Buttface, calm yourself. This was just a basic operation for the Exploding Heavens Faction. No need to shout 666."
At this time, Buttface and Duan Jiude were chortling loudly, frantically clapping their hands and shouting.
They had stayed on the sidelines to watch the show and had never had any plans to help. Instead, they'd kept moving closer to the betrothal gift that Ming Yixuan had brought.
Everyone present also eventually emerged from their stupors, but the fear on their faces didn't abate at all.
Everyone's gazes turned to look at Zhang Zhangshui and then again at Xu Que, greatly shaken to their cores.
"Could it be…could it be that everything Zhang Zhangshui had stated was true?"
"Was it possible that this guy's power was in defiance of the natural order at such an unimaginable level: where Celestial Kings could be trapped and killed, a Heavenly Tribulation could be commanded to retreat, and Celestial Primes were scared away.
In that case, it seemed very normal and reasonable that he could kill Deputy Dean Li with one move.
"But why did it still seem so unreal?"
A Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven with a bone age of less than 200 years old was already a very unreal existence in itself. Moreover, he was also powerful to this unimaginable degree, which was hard for people to accept.
"Xu Que, you've got some nerve. How dare you kill my Heaven Palace Academy's Deputy Dean." At this time, Dean Li's stern voice roared.
His face was full of fury and malevolence. He stared hard at Xu Que as if he wanted to swallow him whole.
"Oh, what's going on? Do you want to practice with me too? Come on, I'll let you have the first move. Same rules as before, my surname will not be Xu if I don't kill you within three moves," Xu Que rolled up his sleeves and said with a nasty smile.
But Dean Li did not move to strike. With a cold glint in his eyes, he said seriously, "Xu Que, I, the Dean, admit that your strength exceeds my expectations, but…"
At which point, Dean Li suddenly took out a thumb-sized Jade Bamboo and sneered, "But I simply don't believe that you really have the power to fight against an Ancestral Celestial King."
WHOOSH!
As his voice faded away, that piece of Jade Bamboo in Dean Li's hands suddenly was swept up into the air, where it exploded and cracked open. The scattered glow was made up of dark green inscriptions that formed a spell in the air.
"A teleportation spell?" Buttface was immediately surprised.
"D*mn, this is terrible. It looks like that old woman wants to teleport those Celestial Kings over," Duan Jiude yelled.
Chapter 1473: I Have Another Way
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"F*ck, you actually shouted. Don't you have any shame?" Buttface glared at Duan Jiude and scolded him.
Duan Jiude looked serious and said, "This isn't any good. No wonder that on our way here the result of the hexagram that I divined didn't prove to be very auspicious."
"What exactly did you divine from the hexagram?" Buttface asked.
"Alas…" Duan Jiude sighed and shook his head sadly as he said, "It was only slightly favorable."
"F*ck, slightly favorable is just fine. You gave Your Holiness a scare." Buttface immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, Master Buttface, you think wrong. That hexagram might've just been about the matter of killing the Deputy Dean. Reasonably, this kind of situation would have generated a very favorable prediction. However, a slightly favorable one appeared instead, indicating that the later results may not be so good for us. So the results of the hexagram shouldn't be discounted," Duan Jiude said with a warning tone in his voice.
Buttface was taken aback and asked, "What does that mean?"
"It means that I, the old man, will have to divine another hexagram now." Once Duan Jiude had finished speaking, he'd already taken out the ancient turtle shell, gathered his Celestial Core Power, and engulfed the turtle shell to start the divination.
"Don't get busy for nothing. Does the ending really need to be divined if the Dean has really summoned a Celestial King?" Xu Que asked abruptly.
In the eyes of the other people who were looking on, he seemed full of confidence.
But from what Buttface and Duan Jiude inferred, Xu Que's words obviously meant something else. He clearly already knew that the hexagram would be extremely inauspicious.
The onlookers didn't know his real powers, but Buttface and Duan Jiude were all too well aware of Xu Que's limits. When he'd been able to slaughter all those Celestial Kings previously, he'd completely relied on the Heavenly Tribulations to kill them.
Now even though Xu Que had stepped up to the level of Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven and also had a second-rate Holy body, his odds were still not good to win if he had to face the existence of a being at the Celestial King cultivation stage.
Unless he asked Jiang Hongyan or Zixia Fairy for help, the battle could be very dangerous for all of them.
But what really made them uneasy was that they didn't know how many Celestial Kings Dean Li had summoned.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a thunderous noise sounded up in the sky.
As soon as Dean Li's Jade Bamboo bolted up to the clouds, the entire teleportation device was activated and was irreversible. The vast amount of Celestial Core Power within it started to shake the void, and soon it became warped.
Everyone present raised their heads and looked up at the teleportation device. The expressions on their faces were grim.
Xu Que gave Jiang Hongyan's small hand a squeeze and soundlessly communicated with her without batting an eyelid, "If there are more than two Celestial Kings, we will immediately run."
Jiang Hongyan blinked her eyes and couldn't help laughing as she shook her head wistfully.
"This little guy still hasn't changed. He looks so confident, and yet he's still thinking about running if he's not sure he can beat them."
"So naughty!"
"Brother Que, let us call for help too," Buttface said anxiously as he turned to look at Xu Que.
He was hinting to Xu Que that he should call Zixia Fairy to come help.
"No need, I can handle it alone." Xu Que was full of confidence.
"D*mn if you can handle it alone." Buttface and Duan Jiude were worried and their eyes got wide.
These two guys were smarter than anyone else when it came to Xu Que, and they had already understood what Xu Que had in mind. He basically didn't want to fight this war. If the Celestial Kings that Dean Li had summoned were too numerous, they would definitely run.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, a blast sounded from behind them.
Several figures flew across the sky, attracting the attention of everyone present.
"Who are they?"
"What? That seems to be Xu Que's father's daughter-in-law, Liu Jingning."
"And there's also the Guardian named Mo Junchen who hangs out with Buttface and Duan Jiude."
"Why have they come? Don't tell me that Xu Que's father is coming too, is he?"
Many of the disciples of the Heaven Palace Academy started discussing what was going on among themselves.
Xu Que and his group were also startled and somewhat baffled when they saw who was coming.
Originally, they'd thought that the Heaven Palace Academy didn't have any Celestial Kings, so they'd be able to do whatever they wanted. For this reason, they'd let Zixia Fairy and the others wait outside.
But it wasn't long before Zixia Fairy and the others appeared.
"Grand master, why are you here?" Duan Jiude took the lead in speaking and asked Zixia Fairy, who seemed to be leading the group.
"There are two Celestial Kings on their way." Zixia Fairy exclaimed as her eyebrows rose slightly.
"What?" Duan Jiude was instantly startled.
"F*ck, we have to run away," Buttface shouted and turned around, ready to slip away.
The two Celestial Kings had arrived just outside the Heaven Palace Academy at the same time as the teleportation device was just about to teleport other Celestial Kings. It looked as if they couldn't wage this war any further.
"Run? Hee, hee, hee, this place has been already sealed. Where do you think you'll be able to run to?"
At this time, a voice full of vigor could be heard, which seemed to have traveled some distance. It rang out everywhere.
BOOM!
The next moment, the void of the Heaven Palace Academy was torn fiercely apart, and two dark shadows flew out from within it. They were two white-haired old people, a man and a woman.
"These two…are the Ancestral Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect." A person immediately exclaimed in surprise as she recognized the two old people.
Ming Yixuan was also astonished, and his face looked completely surprised. He stepped forward and bowed deeply. He was in awe. He shouted, "Your junior disciple from the Sage Sect, Ming Yixuan. I pay my respects to two of my ancestors."
"Get up!" One of them, the old woman, smiled, revealing ugly black teeth.
"Thank you, my ancestor." Ming Yixuan immediately stood up.
Not waiting for him to speak, the two old people's gazes focused on Xu Que.
"Ha, ha, ha, I really didn't expect that, when we set out a bit late and didn't get to Tian Sha City on time to save our people, this golden opportunity would fall into our laps.
"This is very good news. Since you've come to our door on your own, it also saves us from having made a trip in vain." The two old people stared at Xu Que and laughed coldly.
The chilly, terrifying Spiritual Qi coming from them made many people tremble with fear.
Xu Que couldn't help frowning. These two Celestial Kings seemed a little strange.
OWWW!! At almost the same time, Buttface screamed miserably. "Damn it, this place is really sealed. The Celestial Grade Escape Emblem is useless."
Having said that, he dropped a pile of ash from his paws. Apparently he had sneakily groped for the Celestial Grade Escape Emblem, wanting to slip away, but he'd failed in this attempt.
Mocking smiles could be seen on both of the old people's faces. The old woman shook her head and said, "In the middle of our journey, we heard about your deeds in Tian Sha City. You actually killed ten Celestial Kings. But then we realized that you had done it with the help of the Heavenly Tribulations. Without the Heavenly Tribulations, you would have long ago been dead."
"Unfortunately, you can fool others, but you can't fool us. Since you've come to the Ziwei Celestial Realm, you must've been successful in traversing those Heavenly Tribulations. So I guess that means that it's impossible for you to summon another Heavenly Tribulation." After he'd finished speaking, the old man smiled in an extremely sinister manner.
When everyone present had heard all these words, the realization suddenly dawned on them that it turned out that the ten Celestial Kings had been killed by the Heavenly Tribulations, and it had not been Xu Que's strength that had slaughtered them.
All of a sudden, it seemed as if Xu Que was not so powerful after all.
Xu Que's expression had turned a little ugly. These two old guys from the Sage Sect had clearly come prepared and had also sealed the void of the Heaven Palace Academy in advance, to prevent them from escaping.
This time…it was really big trouble.
BOOM!
A loud noise sounded in the air.
Immediately after the noise had stopped ringing out, an old man with white hair and a ruddy complexion stepped out of the teleportation device. He was the Heaven Palace Academy's old ancestor, Li Xuanqi.
Everyone lifted their heads and looked up. All their faces changed, including Dean Li's. Many of the disciples of the Heaven Palace Academy cried out in unison, "We pay our respects to our old ancestor."
Li Xuanqi had only left his ancestral tomb several weeks ago.
As the old ancestor of the Li family, he'd founded the Heaven Palace Academy all by himself. His portraits and statues could be seen everywhere in the Heaven Palace Academy. Almost everyone knew who he was.
As soon as he appeared, everyone felt awe-struck.
"Oh, sh*t! We're dead." Duan Jiude and Buttface suddenly wailed in terror.
Three Celestial Kings had appeared at the same time. They were really done for this time.
"Give me a little time!" At this time, a voice suddenly sounded in Xu Que's mind.
Xu Que was startled and looked toward Zixia Fairy.
"I need time to summon my Taoist Body, which will be enough to kill them." Zixia Fairy's red lips slightly moved as she continued to communicate soundlessly.
"Wait." Xu Que immediately shouted to stop Zixia Fairy. He shook his head as he answered her, also soundlessly. "Don't act rashly. You must have had your own reasons for not letting your Taoist Body integrate for so many years. If I haven't guessed wrong, it would be so that you could step into the level of a Celestial Emperor. If you integrate now, won't you fail to do that through lack of a final effort?"
"I don't care!" Zixia Fairy shook her head. She was determined.
"I care!" Xu Que's eyes got wide and he let out a deep breath as he said, "Let's wait a bit, perhaps…I have another way!"
With that, he called out the System.
On the System interface, a line of small words was displayed: System upgrade in progress, the current progress is at 98.9 percent.
Chapter 1474: Get Him!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"At this rate, I only need another hour, and I can upgrade successfully."
Xu Que's heartbeat sped up.
He was looking forward to what kind of transformations there would be when the System was upgraded to version 11.0.
Overall, everything before version 10.0 was considered a first-generation System. But once he entered version 11.0, the System would enter second-generation mode.
There would be many different kinds of changes. Xu Que was not exactly clear about what they would be, but he was very much looking forward to it.
Thinking of the beginning of this journey, before he'd entered the Half-Celestial Stage, the benefits that the System had brought him were so great that he'd emerged victorious all the time.
But later, as the speed of his cultivation stage upgrades accelerated, the System's functions had actually begun to fail to keep up. Coupled with Xu Que's pursuit of strengthening his body, he'd gradually left the System behind. Then, however, he'd realized that he was lacking in strength in the face of many strong opponents with high cultivation stages.
In fact, his choices hadn't been wrong. If he hadn't encountered the Celestial Kings who were born in the era of the Patriarchs, he would have thought that it was enough to aspire to the throne of the entire Heaven Continent by virtue of his own strengths.
But now he could not. Countless Ancestral Celestial Kings had entered the world. Also, there was the Celestial Cloud Continent outside the Heaven Continent where powerful beings were very prevalent. Knowing about the existence of valiant Celestial Primes and Celestial Emperors, Xu Que felt really powerless.
Therefore, he had to turn on the System again and let the System upgrade to version 11.0, so he could enter the second phase of his journey.
Now, in the face of the threat of three Celestial Kings, Xu Que was left with only two options. Either he could allow Zixia Fairy to summon her Taoist Body and let her make a move to resolve this crisis, or he could make a bet relying on fate, and hope that this version 11.0 of the System would lead to a powerful counterattack.
If he were being reasonable, the former option was the safest.
But Xu Que didn't want to take the safe option, partly because he never liked to take the safe option, but also because the existence of the System made him feel that he wasn't at the end of his rope.
Duan Jiude had disclosed to him that Zixia Fairy was not at her true strength right now, and that she hadn't been included in the migration that the Celestial Sect had undertaken that year. Zixia Fairy was also left behind because of her Taoist Body. She'd spent long years alone in the ruins of the Celestial Sect and had endured endless cycles of loneliness for countless years. And yet she was always unwilling to merge her Taoist Body.
Obviously, the path that she'd cultivated was different from other people's. She'd let her Taoist Body grow strong, and she'd also strengthened her own body so that when the Taoist Body and her own body had fully completed the cultivation, the two would become one and merge together sucessfully. When the conditions were right, success would follow naturally. She would be able to attain her goal in one go and achieve the Celestial Emperor stage.
If she'd tried to complete the integration ahead of time, all of her previous efforts would go down the drain. Based on Zixia Fairy's current strength, a merger with the Taoist Body would only allow her to become a Celestial Prime at the most, which was a far distance from becoming a Celestial Emperor.
Was it necessary to make such a big sacrifice in order to deal with the three Celestial Kings?
It wasn't worth it!
Xu Que would rather take the risk and stake it all on the System than to see Zixia Fairy's countless years of hard work to have been all in vain. Even if Zixia Fairy was very firm in showing that she didn't care, Xu Que was not willing to have her make that sacrifice.
"Xuan'er, you find a way to break the seal. I have to take of this war myself," Xu Que said, as he looked at Zixia Fairy with a calm expression.
"Why?" Zixia Fairy frowned a little bit, not really able to understand.
In her view, she had made a decision and was willing to make such a sacrifice. A Celestial Emperor cultivation stage could not be compared to the one joker who was always on her mind, namely Xu Que.
She didn't understand why Xu Que was unwilling to accept her sacrifice.
"Okay, if I tell you why, will you be good and do what you're told? Will you listen to me?" Xu Que's face revealed his trademark smirk as he asked her this question.
"Yes." Zixia Fairy nodded imperceptibly.
"Well then, be good and listen. Don't ask so many questions and do as I say." Xu Que patted her on the head and said with a smile. Then he walked forward.
Zixia Fairy was suddenly stumped. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she had no idea what to say.
Then, Xu Que used soundless communication and spoke next to her ear again, "Believe me, Xuan'er. It's not worth it for you to make such a huge sacrifice. Otherwise, even if I had won, I'd also feel very upset. I, Xu Que, would never do anything where I would take such a loss. Even if it's a gamble with my life, I also want to fight."
When Zixia Fairy heard his words, she had to take back those words that she hadn't said.
Looking at Xu Que's figure marching forward, she nodded slightly and chose to listen to him.
Mysteriously, Xu Que's heart was filled with self-confidence.
This self-confidence came from his trust in the System.
He'd always felt that the second stage of the System would be different. It would bring him more extraordinary power, and he believed in that instinct.
"System, ah System, don't let me down. Although I made the gamble randomly this time and am not certain, you've given everything to me from the beginning. Now I will put all my faith in you."
Xu Que looked at the System interface in front of him, watched the slow advancement of the upgrade progress bar, and sighed to himself.
But very soon, the corners of his mouth slightly raised to reveal a smile as he said, "But well, well, hee, hee, hee, even if I'd made the wrong bet, I wouldn't lose everything. After all, I still have a enormous killing device that I haven't let out yet. These people better not provoke me, and that includes you, System."
At the thought of this, Xu Que suddenly raised his head. His eyes shone with a ferocity and the corners of his mouth revealed a cold smile.
He raised his hand as he faced the three Celestial Kings from the Sage Sect and Heaven Palace Academy. He hooked his pinky finger at them and said, "Come, I, the Act-Tough Saint will play with you three today and see who will manage to live in the end!"
CRASH!
There was an instant uproar among the onlookers. Everyone stared and looked stunned.
"Xu Que was so brash that he'd even dared to be so provocative in the face of three Celestial Kings and wouldn't let the Celestial King woman make a move?"
"What was he going to do?"
"With the strength of a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven, was he able to fight three Celestial Kings alone?
"He can't still summon a Heavenly Tribulation, can he?"
"That's impossible. Didn't the Patriarchs of the Sage Sect say that? He'd already crossed the Tribulations in Tian Sha City. There can't be any reason that he can continue to cross the Tribulations so soon again."
"I don't think it's possible either."
"So where did his confidence come from? How dare he declare war on the three Celestial Kings?"
Many people frowned and looked confused.
Even Jiang Hongyan, Liu Jingning, Mo Junchen, and the others looked grim at the moment.
Xu Que didn't say anything, but his actions had already made everything clear.
This guy wanted to resolve this matter by himself, and he didn't want them to step in. Even if they had gotten involved, it probably wouldn't help.
"It looks like Brother Que is going to make a move for real," Buttface muttered.
"Hey, rest assured, this boy wouldn't dare to act like this if he didn't have something in his back pocket. I, the old man, made a divination just now, and the hexagram's results were odd. All the copper money stood up, d*mn!" Duan Jiude scratched his head and said.
"F*ck, that means it can't be divined." Buttface stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed.
"You know sh*t. It wouldn't be like this if it couldn't be divined. Instead, this symbolizes that whatever happens next is between inauspicious and auspicious. It's best that we don't intervene. We just need to observe for the timing." Duan Jiude tried to explain.
BANG!
Li Xuanqi had already taken a step and descended from the air. He fixed his eyes coldly on Xu Que.
"Xu Que, your father deceived my Heaven Palace Academy and killed countless of my Academy's teachers and students as well. You should pay this debt on his behalf," Li Xuanqi said in a loud voice.
"Oh, I'm not paying you sh*t." Xu Que sneered at him.
"You're asking for death!" Li Xuanqi immediately snorted and directly charged forward at Xu Que.
Without any more nonsense, he chose to strike right away and wanted to kill Xu Que.
With sinister smiles on their faces, the two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect coolly watched from the sidelines.
Even if they'd already heard the story of what Xu Que had done in Tian Sha City, they were still full of confidence and didn't think that there would be any miracles happening for Xu Que since he didn't have any Heavenly Tribulations.
In fact, that was exactly what happened.
When Li Xuanqi appeared in front of Xu Que, Xu Que was unable to even react in time.
In terms of strength, he was really not as good as a Celestial King.
Whether it was speed or strength, the gap between them was just too great.
Between the Golden Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven to the Celestial King, there was an insurmountable gap, not to mention that Xu Que was only a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven.
BOOM!
Following a loud noise, Li Xuanqi had not yet fully moved to strike Xu Que. By relying only on a powerful pressure of overwhelming anger, he smacked down heavily on Xu Que's body like a huge mountain.
Xu Que's entire person fell back several times from the shock, and he looked a little pale.
"So, it's true! If you hadn't been helped by a Heavenly Tribulation, you would've already died in Tian Sha City." Li Xuanqi regarded the scene and smiled coldly.
The two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect looked as if they'd expected this, and the smirks on their faces became more intense.
"Are you sure?" Xu Que slightly narrowed his eyes and laughed as he raised his hand.
In the sunlight, there seemed to be a few small strands of silk threads within his five fingers which were crystal clear and actually connected with a few storage rings.
The arrangement of those storage rings was rather clever. Every single one of them had fallen on the side of Li Xuanqi, forming a simple, small Kill Array.
"Oh no!" Li Xuanqi seemed to realize something. His face immediately changed, and he tried to withdraw from his original place.
However, those fine strands of silk thread in Xu Que's hand suddenly burned brightly and gave off a brilliant glow.
BOOM!!
Amid a deafening noise, the storage rings on the side of Li Xuanqi's body instantly exploded.
A burst of dazzling Fiery Lotuses surged out of the storage rings.
Three-Color Fiery Lotus, Six-Color Fiery Lotus, and finally a Nine-Color Fiery Lotus, one blossom after another was detonated!
With the sky in a sea of flames, the brilliant glow and flaming hot temperatures engulfed Li Xuanqi completely in an instant.
"Buttface, Duan Jiude, get him, beat him to death without mercy!"
Almost at the same time, Xu Que growled and directly rushed up with the Tough-Acting King's Purple-Gold Rod held in his hand!
Chapter 1475: You're on Your Own!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Oh, Your Holiness is coming!"
"Hee, hee, hee, I, the old man, will totally annihilate you. Take that!"
SWISH!
Buttface and Duan Jiude went instantly into motion and became two beams of streaking light. They rushed toward the sea of flames in the sky along with Xu Que.
The two men and one dog branched off in three directions, each showing off his remarkable abilities and attacking the central figure amid the sea of flames.
Buttface sprinkled a special type of lime powder and enveloped it with his Celestial Core Power to be able to run through the sea of flames toward Li Xuanqi.
Xu Que followed closely behind him, throwing out chili oil.
Duan Jiude raised his hand to throw out dozens of brilliantly colored bottles, which contained all kinds of different amazing venoms.
AAAHHH!!
At the center of the sea of flames, Li Xuanqi let out a loud howl in a violent rage.
No matter how many Fiery Lotuses Xu Que had used to attack him, he could only restrain Li Xuanqi in place for the time being and make him suffer mostly just superficial wounds.
But when the trio followed up with the lime powder and chili oil under the cover of the sea of flames, these nasty products fell straight into Li Xuanqi's eyes. In addition, the venoms that Duan Jiude had provided afterward were of such corrosive and paralyzing natures and were so powerful that Li Xuanqi had effectively been trapped.
Hence, Li Xuanqi's howl not only carried with it anger, but also severe pain. A battle taking place at the Celestial King level had never f*cking seen anyone use such despicable moves.
All the onlookers were completely stupefied by what they were seeing.
They had initially thought that the sea of flames that Xu Que had detonated would at least inflict serious damage on Li Xuanqi. But then, as they'd realized that Li Xuanqi had the existence of a Celestial King, could this type of explosion really hurt him badly?
Who would've ever thought that Xu Que would deploy such underhanded methods or shout for Buttface and Duan Jiude to join in his sinister maneuvers?
The most striking point was that the cooperation between the two men and one dog was so perfect. The sprinkling of lime powder, the tossing of chili oil, and the casting of venom all at the same time were a completely seamless and unbroken operation. Even Li Xuanqi didn't have time to react and was hit by all of them.
"This is definitely not the first time they've done this."
"Wow, look at this combination. Does this look like the first time they've done this? I'm sure they've done this hundreds of times."
"It's utterly despicable. How can they be so shameless as to use such base and dirty moves?"
"These two men and one dog really live up to their name of the Trio of Que, De, and Dog!"
Many of the disciples of the Heaven Palace Academy spoke out to denounce this despicable method.
But at the same time all the onlookers had to admit to themselves that this method really had had its desired effect. After all, it was completely unexpected that a powerful Celestial King such as Li Xuanqi could had fallen into their trap.
"D*mn, my bad, Your Holiness threw out the wrong powder," Buttface said, looking chagrined.
"What kind of powder did you throw out?" Duan Jiude asked.
"By mistake, I threw out the ashes I stole from the ancestral tomb of the Heaven Palace Academy." Buttface smacked his lips and looked really desolate.
When many of the Heaven Palace Academy's disciples heard this, they almost blew their tops.
"This dog stole our ancestors' ashes?"
"You animal! All you callous animals, you're asking for death!" At the same time, Li Xuanqi in the sea of flames let out another roar.
He had already gotten rid of the effects of the venom. His eyes had also cleared up from the sprinkling of lime powder and chili oil. He rushed over to where Buttface and Duan Jiude were in a rage.
"F*ck!" Duan Jiude was startled.
"F*ck, you're crazy. Your opponent is not us, it's Xu Que!" Buttface yelled at the top of his lungs to remind Li Xuanqi.
Li Xuanqi was struck dumb by their yelling. It sobered him up, and an idea flashed across his mind.
"Yes, what about Xu Que?"
In an instant, there came a strong sense of an ominous premonition that surged through Li Xuanqi's heart and body. He stopped.
Xu Que, who had originally been standing next to Buttface and Duan Jiude, was nowhere to be found at this moment.
BOOM!
All of a sudden, Li Xuanqi started shaking all over, and his Celestial Core Power gushed out immediately and transformed into a blazing glow, which interwove to create an Ice Armor to swathe his body.
This time, he had to be on his guard and reassess his opponent, even though Xu Que was only a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven and not worth mentioning and completely beneath him.
But sometimes one had to be on guard against this kind of man who made moves without reason, had no limits, and was completely shameless, because it was difficult to figure out what Xu Que was going to do. Not being able to work out what was going through an opponent's mind was the most worrying part of this whole encounter.
Although Li Xuanqi wasn't afraid of Xu Que being able to seriously hurt him, he couldn't tolerate being repeatedly humiliated like this. As a majestic Celestial King and the Patriarch of the Academy of his generation, how could he be repeatedly made fun of by these despicable methods? How scandalous it would become if it were to be widely known?
"Well, you little animal, come out and be prepared to die. Even if you have more despicable methods on your mind, they will be ineffective against me." Li Xuanqi gave a snort. His cold eyes glanced around, trying to capture traces of Xu Que.
My Vital Celestial Armor has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. It was drawn from the essence of the Sun Moon Star Galaxy. Even a Celestial King of the same level as I am couldn't break it, you…"
BANG!
Li Xuanqi hadn't finished speaking when a loud noise suddenly sounded from under his feet. A huge golden fist rushed straight up at the soles of his feet. His entire person immediately flew up in the air from its impact.
"Idiot, what's the use of you protecting your body? Can you protect the soles of your feet?"
Almost at the same time, Xu Qu unexpectedly showed himself with a mocking smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He held the Tough-Acting King's Purple-Gold Rod in his hand and gave chase to Li Xuanqi. He rushed at his head and hit down hard at it with the rod.
"You really want to die!" Li Xuanqi's legs had become numb from the shock of the Tough-Acting Fist. But his mind reacted quickly, and he immediately soared far away from Xu Que. He easily avoided Xu Que's strike.
Then he waved his hand, and a huge mountain-sized palm instantly appeared in the air. It swiped down toward Xu Que, whistling frenziedly through the air.
BOOM!
With an earth-shattering sound, Xu Que's entire person scattered from the impact, turned into white smoke, and disappeared without a trace.
"Was this an illusion?" Li Xuanqi's face suddenly changed.
The next moment, another spasm of pain came from under his feet.
BANG!
Li Xuanqi once again flew from the impact of the huge golden fist. The soles of his feet cracked. Intense stinging pain followed and spread throughout his body.
HISS!
Everyone gasped.
"What the hell was that move? To specifically target the soles of one's opponent's feet?
The Ancestral Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect looked at each other with shock, and their faces became solemn.
"There's something bizarre about this kid."
"He can actually disappear from right underneath our noses without making a sound, and even his illusion is so real that we didn't even notice it. It seems…"
"Can it be a Deity Artifact?"
While these two people spoke in low voices, a brilliant ray of light suddenly illuminated their eyes.
They hadn't seen Xu Que's war with the ten Celestial Kings in Tian Sha City. But, at this moment, they'd seen Xu Que used a wierd kind of technique to mess with Li Xuanqi, and they immediately speculated that Xu Que had a Deity Artifact on him.
Because only with the possession of a Deity Artifact was it possible to carry on to this degree and achieve one's aims by such underhanded means that even superiors in cultivation stages couldn't discern them.
"Enough! Stop your despicable methods, which you use to play to the audience."
"Fellow Celestial Li, we'll lend you a helping hand."
Immediately, the other two Celestial Kings from the Sage Sect growled and moved to strike together.
Li Xuanqi saw this and immediately became anxious. He shouted, "No need, I can handle this alone."
The two Ancestral Celestial Kings from the Sage Sect could see that there was something bizarre about Xu Que. How could he, Li Xuanqi, not see it? In case Xu Que really did have a Deity Artifact on him, then once these two people made their move, he would probably have to share some of it.
"No, you can't handle it!" The female Celestial King of the Sage Sect sneered and pressed on her palm. Immediately, a crack appeared in the void and forcibly separated Xu Que and Li Xuanqi.
"Hee, hee, hee, my shot was off. Fellow Celestial Li, you don't mind, do you?" The old woman gave Li Xuanqi a sinister look as she asked with a smile.
Li Xuanqi's entire face darkened, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Since the two of you have kindly offered to lend a hand to help, how can I, Li, mind?"
"Ha, ha, ha, that's good. Let's dispose of this little animal first and then we can slowly negotiate the rest." The old man from the Sage Sect said and laughed. The meaning implied by his words was obvious. They would kill Xu Que first, and then have a good discussion on how best to divide up the treasure that Xu Que had on him.
The three people did not speak any further and immediately fixed their eyes on Xu Que.
"Crap, time to run away!" Buttface realized what was going on, and all the hairs on its body stood up.
"Boy, you're on your own." Duan Jiude also shouted at Xu Que and immediately stole away with Buttface. He didn't dare to stay in the battle anymore.
Xu Que frowned. He was vexed.
If he'd only had to deal with Li Xuanqi, he could keep on fighting and drag it out. But if he had to face three Celestial Kings at the same time, and try to drag it out, he could be completely annihilated at any time.
"Ah, System, can't you upgrade a little faster? I'm waiting for you to save me." Xu Que shouted to himself, at the System.
At this time, the progress bar on the System interface had already reached 99.6 percent.
…..
Chapter 1476: Let's Collaborate
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Only 0.4 percent to go!"
Xu Que's eyes instantly brightened.
During the battle with Li Xuanqi, the progress of the System upgrade had already reached 99.6 percent. And now, with only 0.4 percent to go, he was going to be able to complete the upgrade very shortly.
According to the average speed that the upgrade had been moving, 0.4 percent was estimated to take another 10 to 20 minutes.
It was not going to be an easy thing to do to try to brace himself to last for more than 10 to 20 minutes under the deadly moves of three Celestial Kings, but he couldn't figure out any other way.
Common sense dictated that the key to being able to get through this was to endure as best he could and avoid all kinds of deadly moves until he could successfully upgrade at the last moment and then complete the reversal of fortunes.
But smart people such as Xu Que didn't always do it in that way.
"Wait a minute, I have something important to say." Xu Que suddenly raised his hand in an effort to stop the three Celestial Kings who were getting ready to strike.
He decided to try to use his bullsh*t tactics to casually drag out more than 10 or 20 minutes, which was not that difficult for him at all.
Xu Que realized that rationally there was no need to risk such a ridiculous battle. "Why should he let himself be beaten half to death only to counterattack at the last crucial moment?"
"No, I won't do that," he thought to himself.
He sneered, with an indifferent and self-confident look on his face, as he shook his head saying, "You three Celestial Kings have joined forces together to bully me, a Disbanded Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven. What's the fun in this?"
"Hee, hee, hee, don't you worry about that. We just want to kill you is all." The old woman of the Sage Sect scoffed at him, looking incredibly menacing.
Immediately after she finished speaking, she snapped her fingers, and the void in front of Xu Que abruptly became warped.
"F*ck!" Xu Que's face immediately changed. His feet stepped into the void straightaway, and he soared up into the sky.
BANG!
At almost exactly the same time, the place where he had been standing ruptured and broke open into several void cracks.
Xu Que's forehead suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Luckily, he had been able to move fast. Otherwise, he might've been cut up into pieces just like the void.
D*mn, this old woman sure does have the ability to strike extremely viciously!
Xu Que looked grim as he glared at the old woman Celestial Venerable of the Sage Sect.
"Hee, hee, hee, your speed is pretty good. That's not something that an average Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven can achieve." The old woman Celestial Venerable of the Sage Sect smiled coldly.
Even if she'd verbally paid a compliment concerning Xu Que's speed, her tone was also contemptuous and disdainful, as if to let Xu Que know that even if he could achieve a speed that an average Celestial of the Great All-Embracing Heaven couldn't, it would still be easy for her to kill Xu Que.
"Oh, you all are in such a hurry to kill me. Isn't that precisely because you think I have some kind of Deity Artifact on me? In fact, I can tell you how I was able to just disappear from right under your noses, and how I was able to conjure an illusion that even you couldn't distinguish whether it was real or fake…"
Xu Que crossed his arms in front of his chest and spoke with a chuckle.
Once he'd thrown out the topic, it had apparently piqued the interest of all three Celestial Kings.
"What Deity Artifact are you talking about? You merely used some underhanded tricks, that's all. What else is there to say?" Li Xuanqi looked at Xu Que with scorn on his cold face. After all, he was also embarrassed to tell the truth, and didn't want to ask Xu Que how he did what he did in front of so many Heaven Palace Academy disciples.
"Hee, hee, hee, you just don't get it. What I used was a treasure that has been handed down from generation to generation in my family. It was something that my father gave to me before I left the Heaven Continent to protect me. This object is an unparalleled glory. Once it unleashes all its power, even if the Celestial Emperor came, he would also have to give it a wide berth."
Xu Que started to talk nonsense and all kinds of rubbish the moment he opened his mouth. He was playing for time.
All three of the Celestial Kings were paying a lot of attention. Obviously, they'd been somewhat stirred up by and were curious about Xu Que's words.
"What was this object,and could it really be so powerful?"
They were uncertain as to whether it was true that the Celestial Emperor would give it a wide berth, but Xu Que had disappeared from right under their noses using this particular object, and he'd also created a realistic illusion of his figure with it. Indeed, they had witnessed all this themselves, and so they knew it wasn't false.
It was enough to demonstrate the power of this particular object.
"But even if I take out this object and you three kill me for it, I'm afraid it's not enough for you to split," Xu Que said, all smiles.
The three Celestial Kings suddenly smiled contemptuously. Li Xuanqi calmly shook his head and said, "Our generation of people only pursue things to strengthen themselves. We couldn't possibly be interested in your heretical ways and things. If you think that you can cause the three of us to fight among ourselves over this thing, then you're really barking up the wrong tree."
With that, he waved his sleeves and made it clear that he didn't want to talk any more nonsense with Xu Que.
The three of them must have been very concerned about what object Xu Que had on him. But it was their own business as to how to divide it. They couldn't let any conflict be evident in front of everyone.
"Wait!" Xu Que's lips immediately moved and switched to soundless communication to shout at the three Celestial Kings. "In fact, I still have more Divine Items. I happen to have two such objects, enough for the three of you to divide equally."
Li Xuanqi immediately stopped any attack once he'd heard this soundless transmission.
The other two Celestial Kings from the Sage Sect also raised their eyebrows slightly, looked at each other, and then glanced at Xu Que.
Xu Que smiled a little and then communicated soundlessly again, "You three, every one of us comes out to hustle, only for reputation if for nothing else. The reason you want to kill me is for your reputation. I don't want to be killed by you, also to guard my reputation. Since that's the case, why don't we collaborate and create a win-win situation?"
Li Xuanqi and the other two Celestial Kings fell silent and continued to look at Xu Que.
Their intentions were obvious. They'd wanted to listen to Xu Que's idea and see if Xu Que could really take out something that would tempt them. They didn't mind letting Xu Que live for a few more days.
"How about this? I'll stay in the Heaven Palace Academy, and you can give me one day's time. At that time, someone will come to your door with the two Divine Items, and I will publicly apologize. Then this feud between us will be written off at one stroke. What do you say?" Xu Que offered them a proposal.
The three Celestial Kings looked at each other again and communicated with each other using only eye contact.
"Do we let this guy live for another day and then kill him once we've each received a Divine Item?"
"Or do we kill him now, and then the three of us can discuss how to divide the Deity Artifact?"
These were the only choices that these three people had been able to come up with.
"How about the two of you? What do you think of this?" Li Xuanqi was the first to open his mouth and ask the two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect to consider his proposition through soundless communication.
The old woman Celestial King of the Sage Sect frowned and replied, "Something is wrong with this scenario. This little animal is sinister and cunning. I don't trust him. He has no reason to know that even if he really takes out the Divine Items, he can ensure that we won't kill him anyway."
"That's right, and he may ask us to swear an oath on our Inner Demons that we won't kill him when we obtain the Divine Items. But I agree I still feel that there is something wrong with this." The white-haired old man Celestial King of the Sage Sect also looked suspicious.
They felt that Xu Que had changed a little too quickly, and he'd become so cooperative that he'd actually wanted to take out the pieces of Divine Items in exchange for his life. Was this the same person as the Xu Que who had just killed ten Celestial Kings a few days ago in Tian Sha City?
All three Celestial Kings were hesitating and confused.. After all, it was hard for them not to be tempted by the possibility of having two more Divine Items given to them by Xu Que.
While all this thinking and myriad discussions were going on, the many disciples of the Heaven Palace Academy below began to become restless.
"What's going on?"
"Why have they stopped fighting?"
"It seems that they are soundlessly communicating about something. Don't tell me that Xu Que has offered them some conditions to try to bribe these three Celestial Kings?"
"That's pretty unlikely. Patriarch Li has said that he basically doesn't care about the heretical ways and objects that Xu Que possesses."
"Hee, hee, hee, I'm afraid you're the only one who believes that."
All the many people who were gathered below continued discussing all these many possibilities among themselves in low voices.
Buttface suddenly jumped up out of the crowd and shouted, "Are you still going to fight or not? Your Holiness is very busy. Uh, can you please not dillydally?"
"That's right! Hurry up and start fighting." Duan Jiude also urged.
"Come on, can you two just shut up, please." Xu Que immediately glared down and them and shouted back, his face full of anger.
"Why are these two fools such ninnies? I, the Act-Tough Saint, am trying all the ways I can figure out to delay and buy time. Why the h*ll are you rushing me?"
"Xu Que!" At almost the exact same time, Li Xuanqi suddenly growled.
The three Celestial Kings seemed to have deliberated and arrived at a common conclusion. Li Xuanqi gave a big wave of his hand and an ink-black sword flew out of the sleeves of his robe. It divided into five in the air and landed beside Xu Que to form a Five Elements Imprisonment Ring.
"You deserve to die 1,000 deaths. But, in order for the departed soul who died unjustly to be able to rest in peace, I cannot let you die so easily. So, from this moment on, you have to face the punishment of being hacked into 1,000 pieces and having your soul set on fire to burn to death."
Li Xuanqi's voice had just started to fade when his five fingers suddenly formed a fist. The five ink-black swords instantly gathered together and formed into one enormous sword, which was hanging over Xu Que's head.
Xu Que's entire person was instantly suppressed and sealed in place, unable to move at all.
"D*mn, these three old immortals actually came up with this kind of vicious move." Xu Que's face fell.
Apparently these three people still didn't trust him, but couldn't forgo the two Divine Items that he'd mentioned. Thus, they wanted to sentence him to death by 1,000 cuts at a later time, so that it would leave them time to force Xu Que to send the two Divine Items to them.
However, this seemed to Xu Que to be a rather good outcome. At least he didn't have to face a joint attack from the three Celestial Kings right at this juncture.
It was better to suffer a little, than to be hunted down and killed.
Xu Que looked very unhappy. When he looked at the progress of the upgrade on the System interface, a cold glint flashed in his eyes however.
99.8 percent!
Waiting for the last 0.2 percent wouldn't take more than ten minutes. I will make all three of you Celestial Kings weep!
…..
Chapter 1477: You'd Better Cry for Me
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
BANG!
Xu Que felt an invisible, colossal force coming at him from all directions. This force hit his body in an overwhelming manner and then imprisoned it.
He felt as if he'd been zipped up into a sack. All parts of him, the front, back, and sides, were closed in by barriers, which were keeping him imprisoned and also squeezing him hard from all sides.
"Xu Que, with regard to your proposal, the three of us have accepted it. However…" Li Xuanqi's voice rang out very close to Xu Que's ears.
Xu Que glanced over at Li Xuanqi, who was looking at him without any expression. His lips moved, however, as he soundlessly communicated, "…there is a condition. You have to issue your apology in advance. Moreover, you have to suffer through this kind of punishment as a form of apology. Otherwise, how could my Heaven Palace Academy and the Sage Sect convince the crowds that you were being punished?"
"Oh, you…" Xu Que answered with a grin.
But he wasn't allowed to finish his words. Li Xuanqi cut him off and said without emotion, "You have no choice. From now on, you will have to face our punishment, which is called death by a thousand cuts. Until tomorrow… Once we see your two Divine Artifacts, we will naturally let you go. But if the Divine Artifacts don't show up, then at least you will realize what will happen to you."
After saying that, Li Xuanqi waved his hand.
SWISH!
He shook the roomy sleeves of his robe through the air. The boundless Qi suddenly amassed from all directions and quickly turned into a huge blade that was flashing with cold, metallic sparkles and pointing toward Xu Que's chest.
WHOOSH!
With a deafening sound, the blade cut through the void and landed on Xu Que's body. Xu Que's clothes were shredded into millions of pieces on the spot, but when the blade hit the surface of his skin, a series of sparks could be seen floating in the air, as if someone had been welding.
"Dang!"
The scratching of metal on stone could be heard. The blade that Li Xuanqi had somehow caused to materialize had failed to cut through Xu Que's flesh. Instead, after raising a shower of sparks, it had flown away and been broken up into Qi in the air and then been dispersed by the wind.
"Huh?���
Li Xuanqi and the two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect were blown away and completely flummoxed.
"How is his physical body…this strong?"
All the people who were present and watching this whole performance were also dumbfounded to a man. They looked in astonishment at Xu Que's body. The surface of his fair skin seemed to be shining with specks of gold in the sun.
"What a powerful physical body."
"Wow, even a blade formed by a Celestial King can't wound his body?"
"The strength of his physical body must be even stronger than the Divine Being of Taoist Fetus's."
Everyone was yelling about their opinions.
The Divine Being of Taoist Fetus, Ming Yixuan, was also astonished at this moment. He found the whole thing incredible, and he stared at Xu Que's body with clenched fists.
He had resigned himself to the fact that even if he entered the Celestial Stage of the Great All-Embracing Heaven and cultivated the Divine Being of Taoist Fetus to its peak cultivation stage, he wouldn't be able to achieve what Xu Que had: i.e., holding up against a Celestial King's blow and remaining unscathed.
"No way, this is absolutely impossible. How can there be a physical body stronger than my Divine Being of Taoist Fetus in the world?" Ming Yixuan's expression was changing, gradually becoming more and more sinister.
The Divine Being of Taoist Fetus had always given him a superior quality that he was intensely proud of. He had been better than everyone during his entire lifetime, and only now he was being forced to discover that he wasn't as good as this nobody. How could he ever accept this?
"I haven't seen him in years, and he's developed to such an extent." Jiang Hongyan also watched Xu Que with bright eyes, which were actually glistening with tears of joy. She was happily surprised by Xu Que's strength developing so fast.
"Holy Senior, ah, you are unaware to a large extent. It is not known how many benefits this boy has reaped over these years. However, Your Holiness and Master Duan have not even gotten a taste of it. Your Holiness is so mad that I've even lost weight." Buttface puffed out his cheeks and grumbled, even sighing and shedding a tear or two. However, Jiang Hongyan knew him well enough not to take anything he said very seriously.
"Well, well, what Master Buttface says is correct." Duan Jiude also sighed and lamented, as if he too had unspeakable grievances.
The next moment, a pair of cold eyes fell on Duan Jiude.
Duan Jiude started shaking on the spot and quickly shut his mouth. He beamed as he looked at Zixia Fairy and said, "Grand master, I'm an old man and I may have misspoken. I momentarily misspoke. What Buttface said was simply inhuman."
"Damn, Old Man Duan, have you no sense of shame?" Buttface was instantly annoyed.
Mo Junchen couldn't stand it any longer and communicated soundlessly, "You two, stop it and just shut up. Hurry up and figure out a way to save the Faction Leader. The sooner it's accomplished, the better."
"Save him?" Buttface and Duan Jiude spoke at the same time, asking in puzzlement, "Why do we have to save him? Is he in some danger?"
Jiang Hongyan and Liu Jingning also looked curiously at Mo Junchen.
Mo Junchen was suddenly struck completely dumb.
"What the h*ll? How can you look at me, a Guardian, with this kind of expression in your eyes?"
"Don't tell me that I, a Guardian, has said something wrong?"
"Can't you see the Faction Leader was imprisoned and is about to suffer their punishment of death by a thousand cuts?"
"Well, Holy Senior, I hope you don't take any offense at what Mo Junchen is saying. This fool is a newbie, a Guardian that our Exploding Heavens Faction has just recruited. He doesn't understand the rules yet." Buttface reacted to what Mo Junchen had said and explained the situation to Jiang Hongyan.
Jiang Hongyan shook her head in understanding, and then she turned her head and continued to look at Xu Que.
"Was Xu Que in danger?"
"No."
The followers who'd been with Xu Que for the longest amount of time definitely understood him very well. If he had been in any danger, this fool would definitely not be putting on such a performance.
In all these years that they'd known him, when had this guy ever consented to getting the worst of any situation?
Just based on how he'd used an illusion to achieve his aim with underhanded means, they realized that he was deliberately wasting time and getting ready to enact some kind of devious scheme.
In particular, the three Celestial Kings had also suddenly changed their minds, from not being able to wait to kill Xu Que immediately to slowly torturing him to death. It made Buttface, Duan Jiude, and the others understand that Xu Que had absolutely said something to the three Celestial Kings through soundless communication that had influenced them.
No matter what he had communicated to them, they all knew that the three Celestial Kings had been duped.
Moreover, after the appearance of the three Celestial Kings, Xu Que hadn't said anything to any of them through soundless communication. This was enough to demonstrate to them that their boy had figured out how to obtain the victory in this battle, and furthermore it was well within his grasp. Most likely, he still had a hidden trump card somewhere which he was keeping as a backup. Anything else, it wouldn't have been in keeping with what they knew about his character.
"Grand master, you mustn't merge your Taoist Body by any means. This boy is extremely devious…ahem, I mean that this boy is resourceful. Don't look at him suffering tight now. The three Celestial Kings are going to be the ones who will be most likely going to cry in a very short while." Duan Jiude also didn't forget to remind Zixia Fairy about what Xu Que had told her, since he was afraid that his grand master didn't understand the situation, and might merge her Taoist Body to save Xu Que.
"I'm aware!" Zixia Fairy calmly nodded.
"How could she not know what kind of person Xu Que was?"
SWISH!
At that moment, another blast rang out through the air again.
This time, Li Xuanqi brought out a Celestial Artifact, which was a white sword. It looked exactly the same as the ink-black sword that was suppressing Xu Que from overhead, and it had been produced in the same way. A pair of swords, one black and one white.
The ink-black sword continued to suppress Xu Que while the white sword showed off its capability. The white sword had just been brought out and it had already left a faint mark from its edge on the void.
"F*ck, are you trying to kill me? Don't you want those two Divine Artifacts?"
Xu Que took a look at the situation and got a little nervous. He angrily shouted at Li Xuanqi through soundless communication.
It could be said that he wasn't afraid to suffer death by a thousand cuts because there was an automatic recovery ability in the System. He only had to suffer a little and not die.
But the white sword that Li Xuanqi had now introduced was rather ferocious. It had only stayed in the air for a second, and yet it was actually able to leave a mark in the void with a single cut. Would it be disastrous if it were to fall on his own body?
If this were to be played out here by any chance, would he have to pay with his life?
"Oh, so you can actually show fear also? Don't worry, even if you want to die now, it's impossible. If you don't hand over the Divine Artifacts, however, you will discover whether you qualify for death." Li Xuanqi sneered. His voice communicated clearly in Xu Que's mind.
The two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect were also full of shady smiles and sized up Xu Que's physical body with ill intentions.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, the white sword that Li Xuanqi was holding started moving.
It transformed into a streaking light and flew directly toward Xu Que. It flashed and faded in front of his chest, leaving only a shadow.
At first, Xu Que only felt a chill at the front of his chest, but immediately after it was followed by a sharp pain.
A wound had opened up on his chest. A second-rate Holy Body couldn't endure a High-Grade Celestial Artifact wielded by a Celestial King.
No, this might not be something that a High-Grade Celestial Artifact could do. The ink-black sword overhead and the white sword complemented each other in order to produce such enormous power.
Soon, a trickle of blood flowed out of the wound on Xu Que's chest, and it was suffused with a golden sheen.
"Golden blood?"
"My God, how can his blood be golden?"
"It's…unheard of!"
"Can it be possible that this guy is not a human being?"
Almost at the same time, everyone present started exclaiming in shock, one by one, and looking astonished.
The three Celestial Kings' faces also abruptly changed, as if they had just discovered a startling major event.
"Such a physical body as well as golden blood. Could it be…" The three Celestial Kings all looked at each other at the same time and said in unison, "A Holy Body?"
"Even though the so-called Holy Body in the records of ancient books is only a conjecture, the deductions of the Divine King and Hades have also been recorded, that if anyone has successfully achieved the Holy Body, he was no longer mortal. Even the blood will transform and become golden."
When Li Xuanqi realized this point, he glanced at Xu Que again and said, "What exactly is this boy's background?"
"Hee, hee, hee, no matter what his background is, regardless of whether he has a Holy Body or not, we are the ones who are going to profit today. Quickly, draw this boy's blood out. We can also have the bloodline of a Holy Body." The old woman Celestial King of the Sage Sect said excitedly.
"That's right. Even if it's not the Holy Body, once we absorb the golden blood, our physical bodies can rise to countless stages. If my Sage Sect's Divine Being of Taoist Fetus were to absorb this blood, he could possibly be promoted directly to the true Divine Being." The white-haired old man Celestial King of the Sage Sect was also excited.
At this moment, the Divine Artifacts that Xu Que had mentioned previously couldn't be compared to the temptation of the golden blood that was sitting right there, in front of them!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
In an instant, Li Xuanqi moved his mind, and the white sword instantly transformed into a streaking light in the air, which then interspersed in the void to interweave a concentration of swords rushing at Xu Que.
"D*mn, these three old things…"
Xu Que immediately got angry and berated these Celestial Kings to himself. But almost at the same time, his mind suddenly exploded.
DING! "Congratulations to the Host. The System upgrade has been completed. Your current version is now version 11.0. This system will navigate and protect you again."
DING! "The System has detected that the Host has cultivated a variety of Magic Arts. Would you like to use the optimization mechanism to merge and upgrade the Magic Arts? The best optimization solutions have been filtered for the Host, please make your choice."
DING! "The System has detected that the Host's life is currently in danger. Would you like to enable the System's defense mechanisms?"
DING! "An attacker has been detected. Would you like to enable the retaliatory mechanism?"
A series of familiar System beeps sounded in Xu Que's mind.
The entire System interface had also changed, from a small window in the beginning to the current comprehensive surround-sound three-dimensional light projection in front of him.
Just looking at the new functions and capabilities spread out and displayed on it stunned Xu Que.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…"
The next moment, Xu Que suddenly started laughing out loud. He swept his gaze toward Li Xuanqi and the Sage Sect's two Celestial Kings. He shouted, "You three old b*stards, you'd better cry for me if you don't want to die!"
…..
Chapter 1478: The Retaliatory Mechanism
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xu Que's unexpected laugh instantly astonished everyone present.
His whole body's vigor suddenly surged as if there had been an invisible force that had exploded from inside his body. He let out a speech of stuff and nonsense to insult the three Celestial Kings, demanding that they must cry!
DING! "It has been detected that the host's life is currently in danger. Would you like to enable the System defense mechanism?"
At this time, the System's beep rang out again in Xu Que's mind.
Xu Que's lips curled up at the corners into a big smile as he said, "Enable. No matter what mechanisms there are, enable them all for me."
BOOM!
The next moment, a storm suddenly swirled up, surrounding Xu Que's whole body.
The shine from the approaching swords was instantly destroyed by the storm and Qi abruptly gathered from all directions, swarming toward Xu Que.
"What?"
Li Xuanqi's face immediately changed. He found this completely inconceivable. The Sword Act that he'd unleashed had actually been so easily defused.
"What was that power that arrived like a sudden storm?"
The two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect, along with all the people who were present and watching, were stunned one and all.
DING! "The System's primary defense mechanism has been activated!"
DING! "The System's optimization mechanism has been activated!"
"It has been detected that the host has mastered many kinds of Flame Magic, their optimization has been carried out for you!"
DING! "All the different kinds of Flame Magic have been merged. Congratulations! The host has now obtained the Yin and Yang Kylin Flame!"
"It has been detected that the host has mastered many kinds of Magic Arts with similar attributes and their optimization has been carried out for you!"
DING! "All the many kinds of Magic Arts have been classified and merged successfully. Can the host please assign a name to these Magic Arts?"
During all this time, a series of System beeps kept ringing out in Xu Que's mind.
He instantly found that he had cultivated a variety of Magic Arts in the past, whether it was during the earliest stage of the Soaring Dragon's Nine Transformations or the Three Thousand Volts Lightning, which he'd used for a long time. All the Magic Arts that he'd gotten from the System in the past, including the ones that he'd cultivated on his own later, had almost all disappeared and been forgotten.
And the ones that had now been substituted in his mind were a few strange Magic Arts, which were seemingly unfamiliar, but which immediately gave rise to a sense of innate familiarity deep within his bones.
"This optimization mechanism seems rather interesting." The smile on Xu Que's lips was getting bigger and bigger.
The level of these newly merged Magic Arts surpassed the Moon Rank and could be included on the level of the Celestial Arts, which were equivalent to the Celestial Arts used by the Celestial Kings and Celestial Primes.
But in these new Magic Arts, Xu Que also felt some shadow of his old Magic Arts that he'd felt such affection for.
For example, the Bodily Movement Celestial Art, which he'd discovered after the System optimization, obviously contained shades of his once-beloved Three Thousand Volts Lightning, Providence Seclusion Escape, and other Bodily Movement Magic Arts. After the merging of several Bodily Movement Magic Arts, this function had obviously become more mysterious and extraordinary.
Also, his favorites, such as the Buddha's Fiery Lotus, the Hades Nine Nether Slash, and so on, had all completely disappeared, forming a set of unusual Celestial Arts. The power of the Attack Art visibly outstripped the Magic Art that he had had before.
Other Magic Arts that combined with the physical body had been retained, such as the Occult & Ghostly Ice Fog Hand, which was specially used as a method to restrain a Celestial Artifact.
There was also the Tough-Acting Fist and the Act-Tough King's Leg, which had been attained through his Taoist Connotation. They had still been retained, thank goodness.
"Hee, hee, hee, with these Magic Arts, I shall step into the Celestial King cultivation stage, and I can aspire to the same level as these guys." Xu Que couldn't help but feel restless inside. He'd very much like to try these new Celestial Arts derived from the new version of the System and see what the power would be like.
At least in terms of the levels, none of these Celestial Arts were below the level of Nishang Fairy from the Celestial Cloud Continent.
And at the moment, all of these existed in a nameless state. Xu Que wanted to give them a try before naming them.
But before he could put them to use, the System beep rang out again in his mind.
DING! "The initial optimization mechanism has been completed. The retaliatory mechanism is about to be enabled also. Please note that during the retaliation state, the host will consume ten Acting Tough Points per second. Is the activation confirmed?"
"Ten Acting Tough Points per second?"
"That didn't seem too expensive. It was much cheaper than the Lucky Aura. Why wouldn't he activate it?"
"Activate!" Xu Que shouted immediately.
He was really interested in the System's retaliatory mechanism. No matter what kind of functions emerged from it, Xu Que especially liked at least these two words: retaliatory mechanism.
DING! "The retaliatory mechanism is activated, 3, 2, 1…"
BOOM!
Along with the sound of the System beeps and the counting down of the seconds that had appeared for the first time, a sound of an explosion rumbled in Xu Que's mind.
Immediately after, he felt as if something had rushed out of his physical body, as if blood had been coming out of all the pores in his body.
Xu Que was completely astounded. He looked down. Suddenly, there was a large amount of liquid metal gushing out of his body and coagulating in front of his body.
"My God, all of you, look, what is that?"
"Metal?"
"How does this kid's physical body contain so much metal, all of it molten liquid metal?"
"His physical body can't be a smelting furnace, can it?"
At this time, the many disciples of the Heavenly Palace who were present exclaimed in shock.
Li Xuanqi and the two Celestial Kings of the Sage Sect also looked at Xu Que in horror.
Jiang Hongyan and the others also revealed surprised looks. It was really the first time that they had seen Xu Que in such a situation, and it was also the first time they had seen a cultivator's physical body gushing out so much liquid metal.
"D*mn, Your Holiness just knew it. This boy has held back a trick or two!" Buttface shouted at once.
"F*ck, how many secrets does this boy really have that we don't know of?" Duan Jiude also swore as he spoke.
Every time Xu Que brought out something new, it would make them marvel and be amazed.
"Can it be that he wants to forge a magical weapon?" Mo Junchen looked confused. Even if he was good at forging equipment, he'd never seen anything like this.
The liquid metal that had gushed out from Xu Que's body was suspended in front of him and quickly coagulated to transform into a metal ball.
"Eh, what is this?" Xu Que was a little baffled and asked aloud.
Everyone present's mouths suddenly fell open. "How can you not know what the thing is that is coming out from your own body?"
"Is this some parts and components that have been pulled out of the System?" At this time, Xu Que was struck dumb when he saw the metal ball in front of the introduction in the System window.
This was the first time he had seen the materialization of the System. Although it was obviously made up of parts and components, he'd never thought that the System itself could be materialized.
SWISH!
At the same time, while Xu Que was still in a kind of daze, the metal ball suddenly glided toward him. Its speed was extremely rapid and started to directly attach to him.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The next moment, the metal ball instantly unfolded into countless pieces of metal, as if an item of machinery was being assembled, producing heavy metallic collision sounds.
All the pieces of metal followed Xu Que's body and launched frantically to cover it. Even a helmet was installed around his head area, and the Tough-Acting King's Purple-Gold Rod that was clenched in his hand was also covered with metal.
In an instant, Xu Que was transformed into a metallic man. Only his face was still exposed.
"F*ck, what the h*ll is this? A high-performance suit of armor?" Xu Que's eyes widened. He was very shocked.
DING! "The retaliatory mechanism has been activated. The host has entered into a unified human-machine state. The plan of retaliation against the enemies had begun!"