"What? You're going to build a Secalming Palace!" Zhou Bao stared blankly at White Tiger, who was smiling, for a moment, then waved his hands, "I will not be paying for it!"
"Money is not an issue!" White Tiger gave Zhou Bao a reproachful look. He did not expect Zhou Bao to talk about money from the very start. Money was an important asset for a mortal, but for them, immortals, money meant nothing. It was only fair to say that after going through three realms, they fairly dripped with gold and silver. Being such a powerful being, the fact that Zhou Bao brought up the subject about money, rendered him speechless.
"By the way, you do know that this is my territory. I don't really care about your intentions, but do you think it's appropriate to build such a large building here?" Zhou Bao queried.
"I think you got me wrong. Erecting a large building here is not for us, but for you. The Secalming Palace is built with you in mind. When it's completed, it's yours!" Seeing that Zhou Bao was becoming more and more amazed, the smile on White Tiger's face grew wider. "So there's nothing inappropriate about it!"
"Building it for me?" Zhou Bao finally asked after a long pause. He blinked and with a serious look asked, "Hey, what the hell are you up to? There is no such thing as a free lunch, so you must definitely be up to something! What do you want out from me?"
"It's not a big deal, we're just trying to get include you in our grand plan!" White Tiger smiled, sipped his tea, then eloquently spelled out to him the discussion that he and Elder Qing had deliberated on.
Zhou Bao remained silent throughout the whole process. It took him a long while to digest the information after White Tiger had ended his speech. "Damn, your idea is really outrageous. You want to get my offspring involved! But don't forget, I currently have no children. If I'm unable to have children in the future, you'll be wasting your time!"
"Puff..." Before Zhou Bao's voice had died away, White Tiger spat out a mouthful of tea, and looked aghast, at the seemingly innocent Zhou Bao.
"You, you, you, it's true that nothing is sacred to you!"
He had only ever heard about one being cursed by another so he would not be able to have a child, but he had never heard a man who supposedly was tempting fate by saying that he himself might be childless.
"Hump, even so, I can't be compared with you guys. You're thinking of my offspring! Human Emperor? Damn it, only a good for nothing would want to be a Human Emperor. I refuse!"
"What? You are refusing to let your son become an Emperor? You're really very hard to please!"
"That is not the point! It's not easy to take on an emperor's role. The Emperor looks awe-inspiring, but in reality, he is very worn out all the time!" Zhou Bao answered, "I don't want my offspring to suffer like that!"
"Don't listen to others' malicious gossip. You haven't been an Emperor before. How would you know what it is like?" White Tiger said with a smiling face.
"Come on, it's true I've never been an Emperor, but I've met the Emperor. Just look at what Yan Yuntian's sons are doing. They all want to kill each other and they are brothers! If I have sons like that, I will strangle them before they grow up!"
His words left White Tiger speechless for a moment.
He was right. It was indeed hard to be a Human Emperor, and the more sons he had, the more trouble he would encounter. With Zhou Bao's present strength, even the Human Emperor had to take him into account, so there was no need for him to disturb his family in the future for the sake of the throne.
"You know, your territory is on a land which contains Nine Strips of Dragon Veins. Even if you don't want your offspring to be emperors, they are already fated to be the future Emperor!"
"Then replace my territory!" Zhou Ba said after pondering for a while.
"Replace your territory?" White Tiger's eyes moved slightly, "No way, boy, it's not doable! The entrance and exit of the Azure Secret Area is here. If you replace it here, it will create a lot of problems!"
"Then don't include me in this!" Zhou Bao replied dryly, "You can build the Secalming Palace if you like, but I'm not interested in your plan. And I have my own plan!"
"You have your own plan? What's it?"
"Letting nature take its course. I'm not all that ambitious. I only want to live in peace in my own territory. As for fighting..." When it came to fighting, Zhou Bao smiled coldly. "Right now, I don't think anyone in the world wants to fight me, right?"
He came to the point right away.
With Zhou Bao's strength and power, as long as he did not stir up trouble, no one or influence in the world dared to provoke him. Of course, he had an enemy, Ye Qingtian. However, since he was currently on the run from the Divine Wind Palace, Ye Qingtian could only compare himself to a wild stray dog. After his first failure, he would never be able to come back so easily. And because Zhou Bao had no fear of his coming back, his worries had lessened considerably now. He was waiting for his refinement to evolve to a certain degree before he could become an Immortal. With his current strength, it was enough to set up a powerful well-known family which could be a match present millennium families and prestigious sects and schools like the Wang family, the Li family, the Tian Long Taoism and the Mingyi School, and also establish a stronghold in the northwest. If he was lucky enough, it could even be a dominant power there for tens of thousands of years. As for the Human Emperor's position, it really held no attraction for him.
Hearing Zhou Bao's candid words, White Tiger felt that he had nothing more to say. If you could be a millennial family with a state or even more territory, it would be insane to want to steal the throne that was coveted by many people.
But before his arrival White Tiger had already expected such a reply, so upon hearing Zhou Bao's refusal he merely smiled, "I hear that you have refined an Air-frozen Bead and plan to enter the Azure Secret Area when the Essential Qi Tide comes back. Is that true?"
"Yes!" Zhou Bao answered with a smile. As his entry into the Azure Secret Area was something he could not hide, he simply took out the newly refined Air-frozen Bead and magnanimously showed it to White Tiger, "How about it? Your Excellency White Tiger, it's good, right?"
"It's a Pure Yang Celestial Device?"
White Tiger was startled, as he stared at the cyan bead which was the size of a pigeon's egg, suspended before Zhou Bao's eyes, strong Pure Yang Qi coming out strongly from it.
The Pure Yang Qi came in waves and was truly overwhelming.
"How were you able get so much Pure Yang Qi?" He asked in surprise.
The powerful Pure Yang Qi emanating from the Air-frozen Bead shocked White Tiger immediately.
"I got from Taiyuan Heaven accidentally. It creates a Pure Yang Celestial Device. With this Pure Yang Celestial Device, I can enter the Azure Secret Area at will from now on!" Zhou Bao answered with a smiling face, "As for that dragon vein, if you're really interested in the throne, find someone to take over here. I'm serious. I'm not demanding as long as I can enter the Azure Secret Area freely!"
"I will tell Old Caterpillar about this!" White Tiger nodded. Having reached this point, it made no sense to prolong the conversation. White Tiger got up to leave, and Zhou Bao sent him to the door.
Watching the light of White Tiger disappearing in the sky, Zhou Bao smiled intensely. "Damn, do they think I can be swayed so easily?"
"Are you sure you want to give up this place of Nine Dragons convergency to someone else?"
"Hum, if they're really going to drag me into this, I'll give it up. It's supposed to be a place that has good fengshui, but I don't think so! It's a territory that will eventually lead to death without descendants! Do you think I want it?"
"The land of Nine Dragons convergency affects not only one's birth destiny, but also impacts one's fate. To build the Secalming Palace to suppress fate and hold on to this fate when the dragon vein opens, is the best choice. A dragon vein is able to protect a thousand year old dynasty. Now, there are Nine Strips of Dragon Veins gathering. It's not just the simple addition of Nine Strips of Dragon Veins. After the dragon vein is open, the fate will be strong enough to stabilize a super dynasty for tens of thousands of years. You know what a super dynasty lasting for tens of thousands of years means?"
"I don't know!" Zhou Bao shook his head. He really had no idea.
"A common dragon vein is only able to protect a millennium dynasty. And generally, a dynasty in the world does not last more than 1,000 years. Because even with the suppression of the Pure Yang Celestial Device, it can last for only 1,000 years, unless the dynasty has more than one dragon vein. With two dragon veins merging, the dynasty can last for 3,000 years. And with three dragon veins, the fortune will be strengthened and the dynasty can even last for 6,000 years, which will make it a great dynasty. If there are four dragon veins converging, the dynasty will last even longer. When a dynasty lasts for 10,000 years, it is then able to gather unimaginable strength. The dynasty that lasts more than 10,000 years is called Divine Dynasty!"
Divine Dynasty?" Zhou Bao was a little surprised. He had never heard of it.
"It's the dynasty from the olden times. These dynasties, like today's secular dynasties, were in conflict, but their struggles were of a different sort. Their emperors had immeasurable levels in cultivation skills. It was totally impossible for a man to become an emperor without undergoing a thorough transformation, and especially where the Qi in his heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys were involved. And with that strength, in general, after the establishment of a dynasty, he would always be the emperor. Therefore, the battle for the throne, like the current dynasty, would not happen!"
"They want my future son to be the Human Emperor, but now you seem to want me to be Human Emperor!"
"What I care about is not the throne, but the fate and resources. Among the 3,000 Great Ways, the Way of the Emperor is the special one which needs more external forces than the Way of the Buddhist do. Once they succeed, their practice becomes easier. Then not only their strength, but also their influence will be huge. Therefore, back in the olden days, a man who is imbued with a certain type of strength would likely try to find a dragon vein, so he can establish a dynasty, and then practice the Way of the Emperor!"
"Not many people have succeeded, right?"
"Emperors in the olden days were the masters of the Way of the Emperor. They might not be the strongest, but they were the most powerful of men. Thus, they were able to have a monopoly of more than half of the 33 Heavens in those olden times. And even people who were more powerful than them were generally unwilling to offend them!"
Are the dynasties they founded all Divine Dynasties?"
"Not really, only one dynasty, which was established by Emperors like the Emperor of Moon Temple who was ranked among the top five in all emperors, can be called Divine Dynasty. Some Emperors had only one dragon vein. They succeeded in practicing the Way of the Emperor within a 1,000 years, and became powerful. By the time the fate was over, they would retire after having left their mark in history!"