"Jeje…."
As the focus on Fang Xing and Hahn Longzi's battle began to die down and everyone started to quietly discuss the opportunity about to appear, a terrifying and bizarre laugh came from the western skies.
From the top of the mountain far away was a blood-red cloud, and within it was a hundred or so imps carrying a large palanquin. All the imps carrying the palanquin wore red and green with a thick layer of white powder caked over their faces, as though they were taking part in a wedding. Eight of these imps carried the giant altar-sized black palanquin while a dozen or so others beat various drums, played instruments, and danced with light footsteps at the front. Behind this procession were ten or so disciples clad in white-hemp robes as though at a funeral, who floated forward without setting a foot on the ground.
When the Wanluo disciples heard that laugh, their faces instantly became pale and they looked towards Leng Ziyan in horror. "Shixiong Leng, it's… it's that devil…."
A thin layer of sweat formed over Leng Ziyan's forehead as well as he remembered the battle with the cultivators from the southern borders. During that battle, although he'd still been with the others from the Snowy Mountain, he still hadn't managed to gain the upper hand. By the time the battle finished, both sides had lost around four to five Spirit Stage disciples before everyone retreated, and Leng Ziyan had been injured as well. What made it even more awkward for him was the person who'd injured him wasn't even Ghost Kingdom's prince—Li Ying—but one of his ghost soldiers instead.
Now the prince of Ghost Kingdom had arrived here personally. This damned devil, why wasn't he in the depths of the Mysterious Domain fighting to try to get his name on the list? Why had he come after the opportunity here? Leng Ziyan was already shaken—partially from anger, but mostly from fear.
Fang Xing's brows creased as he looked towards the palanquin. "Oh? Drums and oboes? Someone getting married or something?" He activated Mystic Eye and was soon able to clearly see the appearance of who was inside the carriage, but his brows creased even more out of disgust. "Where did such an ugly bride come from?"
As it so happened, the person sitting inside the palanquin was a youth between thirteen and fourteen years old wearing red silk pants and showing a bare upper body. A circle of thick black ink surrounded his eyes—making him look like a genuine monster—and at the very top of his head was a ponytail sticking straight upward into the air. He held a large black bowl in his hand and was laughing like a fool while being surrounded by seven or eight beautiful women.
The blue-clothed bandit lightly laughed before warning Fang Xing, "This person shouldn't be casually provoked. You'd best be careful with how you behave…."
Fang Xing simply rolled his eyes at this. "What? You think he's so disgusting even provoking him is getting too close?"
The blue-clothed bandit giggled. "I heard this person is extremely difficult to deal with; it's best he doesn't hear what you just said to avoid any trouble. To tell the truth, amongst all the young elites of your Jambu, there's only three or four I'm a little worried about while I'm here, and one of them is named Li Ying. He is the prince of the Ghost Kingdom of the southern borders, and if it's not necessary to cross his path, it's best to stay out of it completely!"
"Ghost Kingdom of the southern borders?" Fang Xing was a bit surprised by this and fell into thought. He'd actually heard of this before. There were four lands in Jambu, separated into Chufung, the western deserts, southern Ghost, and the northern mountains, with each of the four lands maintaining their own history and traditions different from one another. The southern Ghost had followed the path of darkness and poison, which was reflected even in their name—"Ghost Kingdom". However, how difficult this prince of Ghost kingdom was and how he'd compare to that golden turtle egg was unclear.
The blue-clothed bandit seemed to see through his thoughts and began to softly explain, "Before I came here, I read about them in a record. The traditions of Ghost Kingdom have always been very different from anywhere else. They value fate and vicious tendencies, and apparently the method by which the Ghost Kingdom's royal court passes down its throne is particularly vile. Every prince is hand-picked by the Ghost King himself who are eligible based on the nature of their birth. They have to be born on the year, month, date, and hour with utmost Yin and have to have great innate potential. Then, they use a secret skill to kill them and send the child to be reborn in a chosen woman of extreme Yin property. Once they've been reborn and grow to the age of nine years, nine months, and nine days, they are killed again and sent into another cycle of rebirth, for a total of nine times. After the ninth rebirth, they arrive at the womb of the Ghost Queen to finally be reborn as one of the princes of Ghost Kingdom.
"When there are nine such children, they are then required to kill each other until only one remains to become the sole prince of Ghost Kingdom and heir to the throne. Due to their special life cycle, extreme talent, the fact they'd been killed nine times… and the sheer amount of ruthlessness and grief in them, they have a spirit sense many times stronger than an ordinary cultivator and are extremely terrifying…."
Even Fang Xing was left dumbstruck as he heard this and his eyes went wide open. "Killed nine times? Such a poor child…."
"Because of this, they are especially powerful!" The blue-clothed bandit nodded. "But there is also a rumor. Apparently, every Ghost King has been personally killed by their heir. Every generation's prince has hated the Ghost King to the core…."
Chu Ci also listened with wide-open eyes. "But they still use the same method to choose the next prince?" she lightly asked.
The blue-clothed bandit nodded. "Indeed. This process has continued for tens of thousands of years by now!"
"Why don't they end this tradition?" Chu Ci asked with clear discontent in her voice, her face slightly flushed. What the blue-clothed bandit just said about the Ghost Kingdom had been secrets even she hadn't heard until now.
The blue-clothed bandit laughed. "That would be their own problem. Who knows?"
As they spoke, the large palanquin with the countless number of imps drew close and was getting even closer still. The entire display of the imps drumming and playing oboes while wearing all kinds of fluorescent colors as though they were at a wedding party simply became more and more bizarre, and Chu Ci started to feel somewhat terrified. When Fang Xing saw her shrink back, he patted her head and said, "Don't worry. If he dares to provoke us, I'll send him on to his tenth cycle of life!"
"Jeje, it seems there's plenty of people trying to take the opportunity here. They all look rather tasty…." Li Ying finished drinking what was inside the large black bowl and tossed it aside, revealing that the bottom of the bowl was bright red like the color of blood. As his eyes glanced around with curiosity and he let out his strange laugh, the people around him were intimidated enough to leave a large stretch of empty land with no one daring to come near.
By now, the border of the basin had somewhat separated into distinct areas. The northern mountains' three fairies, Fang Xing, and Li Ying all had a sizeable portion where no one dared to draw close. The western deserts' Han had also taken a spot, but he was alone and also had the smallest area. Smaller still, the western deserts' Hahn Longzi, who—despite having his clansmen with him—didn't have a particularly large spot either after being suppressed by a single one of Fang Xing's blows. His status in the hearts of those around him had been diminished and he was considerably less intimidating, after all.
All five of them had each taken the spots closest to the basin, somewhat dividing the area into five. Although Fang Xing, Li Ying, and the three fairies of the northern mountains had individually taken larger areas and the two western deserts' elites had taken comparatively less, the two from the western deserts combined was actually about the same as one of the other three, making it seem as though it had been neatly separated into four powers of influence.
Right now, the clouds had accumulated over the basin as though from a mystical mountain, filling the air above with dense Qi that was difficult to describe. It seemed as though the opportunity was about to arrive, and it was impossible for the cultivators to keep their heartstrings from being tugged in response.
What they were most concerned over was whether this opportunity was meant for Spirit Stage or Foundation Stage. To put it simply, if it was an opportunity for only Spirit Stage, most of the people here had a chance for it, but if it was for Foundation Stage as well, they'd best just give up completely. Who would have the ability to fight against any one of these five groups?
"Things aren't looking good…" Fang Xing muttered to himself while looking towards the giant cloud over the basin. As more of the same clouds gathered and surrounded the basin, he could already feel a faint suppression as though it was trying to repel him. It forced him to activate his Qi to fend it off, but as he looked around at the Spirit Stage cultivators, they didn't seem to be experiencing the effect at all. With this, he guessed the opportunity was likely only for those in Spirit Stage….
If this was the case, it might be problematic for him. Most of the groups here were composed of Foundation Stage cultivators alongside their fellow Spirit Stage disciples, and so no matter what kind of opportunity this was, a portion of their group would still be able to give it a try. He, on the other hand, wouldn't have a chance to fight at all, nor would the young master of the Han clan or the three fairies from the northern mountains who'd also arrived without any Spirit Stage disciples alongside them. That being said, some cultivators from the northern mountains had already started to gather around the three fairies, seemingly in an attempt to form an alliance. Only Fang Xing and the Han clan's young master were left without anyone in their surroundings.
'If there's no other way, I can only take it from others. Now, who to start with?' Fang Xing thought to himself, only to inwardly sneer when his gaze swept across Leng Ziyan. He'd already noticed Leng Ziyan and the rest of the Wanluo disciples when he first arrived thanks to his spirit sense, but they hadn't shown any intention of coming up to or acknowledging him and he was too lazy to bother with it himself.
Of course, it was rather important to note that if they'd greeted and acknowledged him, he would have considered them as allies and friends and would've been a little too embarrassed to actually rob them like he was planning now….
When Leng Ziyan felt the faint pressure, he was overjoyed. "Excellent, this opportunity is for Spirit Stages!" To speak truthfully, with the five groups of power surrounding the basin, he really didn't have the confidence he'd be able to compete against them if it had been an opportunity for Foundation Stage—let alone Fang Xing, even that Ghost prince was enough to have him back away in fear. If it was a Spirit Stage opportunity, however, it could be said he'd narrowly dodged a harsh tribulation.
It was unlikely the Wanluo disciples would wind up empty-handed considering their battle prowess, and all he needed to think about right now was how to avoid being robbed afterwards. If the worst came to pass, there were always teleportation altars. Some of the larger opportunities seemed to have a teleportation altar within, and the opportunity about to show within the basin seemed to be one of the largest so there should be one inside this one as well. As he thought on it, he felt much more reassured and even subconsciously glanced towards Fang Xing with a trace of satisfaction in his gaze.
So what if this lowly servant was vicious and ruthless? He was the one who'd been assigned as one of the five Snowy Mountain Foundation disciples, so this servant best stay docile and watch him take all the fortunes inside!
Literally translates as "severe" and "infant" (厉婴).