58: Chapter 58 Conversation

Chen Yi tossed the ancient coins in his hand, the copper clinking crisply. He didn’t look at Xia Ruotian; instead, his gaze fell upon the half-dried Dragon Transformation Pool, and he shook his head.

Ye Guyun, holding that ordinary iron sword, took a step forward.

Xia Ruotian swallowed the metallic taste of blood in his throat and pushed the kongtong seal fragment to its limit. The Human Emperor's Qi transformed into a tangible golden barrier, shielding him. As the strongest Human Emperor in the history of Great Xia, even when facing two Middle Stage Saints, he had no intention of surrendering without a fight.

Ye Guyun raised the shoulder on the side of his severed arm and thrust the iron sword in his right hand straight out.

There was no grand Sword Qi, nor any brilliant light and shadow. The tip of the iron sword simply touched the golden barrier.

"Crack."

The kongtong seal fragment let out a mournful wail. A crack split down the middle of the golden barrier before the entire thing shattered. The Sword Intent drove straight through, piercing Xia Ruotian's right shoulder.

Xia Ruotian was sent flying backward, crashing through three ruined palaces in succession before being buried under a pile of rubble.

With a flick of his finger, Chen Yi sent three ancient coins flying into the air. Formation patterns spread out from the coins, completely sealing off the entire Secret Realm space. The connection between the Great Xia Ancestral Land and the Secret Realm was forcibly severed.

The rubble exploded as Xia Ruotian rushed out with disheveled hair. A transparent sword hole was left in his right shoulder, and blood stained his dragon robe. He stared at Ye Guyun, his eyes filled with indignation.

"Fellow Daoists, please stop."

An aged voice echoed above the Secret Realm once more. This time, the voice lacked the previous authority of Will Manifests as Law, leaving only deep exhaustion. Although the connection to the Great Xia Ancestral Land was isolated by Chen Yi's Formation, that Saint King Old Ancestor still relied on his extremely profound Foundation to forcibly transmit his Divine Thought.

Hearing this voice, Xia Ruotian gritted his teeth and lowered his hand holding the Kongtong seal.

Ye Guyun stopped in his tracks, his iron sword pointing diagonally toward the ground. Chen Yi retrieved his ancient coins and looked up at the void.

"My Great Xia admits defeat," the Great Xia Old Ancestor's voice sounded helpless. "The Gu Family may take half of the Dragon Transformation Pool's Opportunity. Consider it a gesture of friendship between Great Xia and the Gu Family. Fellow Daoists, I wonder if you could let your master come and speak with this old man? I wish to meet him."

The top floor of the Star-Plucking Tower.

Gu Sheng leaned back in his armchair, watching the images transmitted back through the System's light screen.

"Half," Gu Sheng tapped his finger on the armrest. "This old thing is trying to dismiss me like a beggar."

[Host, he’s testing the waters. The Great Xia Dynasty has stood in the Middle Province for tens of thousands of years; their Foundation is more than just a single Saint King. If you truly drive them to a dead end, the price of a desperate struggle would be immense.] The System’s mechanical voice sounded at the right moment. [He proposed to meet you just to see what the Everlasting Gu Family is truly made of.]

Gu Sheng picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Then let him test."

The Great Xia Old Ancestor. An old monster who had lived for over ten thousand years, an old relic at the Saint King level.

Gu Sheng held his teacup. The old thing wouldn't dare to truly fight. The Great Xia Dynasty's Foundation of tens of thousands of years was a complex web where a single move could affect everything. If they really threw all their trump cards out, even if they could keep Ye Guyun and Chen Yi there, Great Xia would be shaken to its core. Those wolf-like Holy Lands and Hidden Families in the Middle Province were just waiting for Great Xia to show signs of exhaustion so they could pounce and tear its throat out.

[Host, he's inviting you for tea. Are you going?] The System's mechanical voice carried a hint of mocking amusement. [A Saint King's domain—it's easy to get trapped like a rat if you go. Do you want the System to give you a discount on a Revival Coin?]

"Do you think this is a game?" Gu Sheng swallowed the tea. "He can't figure out the Gu Family's depths, so he won't dare to act rashly. The Golden Great Era hasn't fully unfolded yet, and the Heavenly Dao Laws are suppressing him, so he can't display his full strength. Going now is actually the safest."

[Directional Teleportation Talisman, three hundred thousand exchange points for a one-way trip. No credit.]

Ripples like water appeared in the void. Gu Sheng stepped through.

The Great Xia Ancestral Land. An independent space buried ten thousand feet beneath the Imperial City.

There was no sun, moon, or stars here; only fist-sized night pearls embedded in the stone walls, emitting a faint, cold light. The air was thick with the smell of decaying earth, mixed with Spiritual Qi so dense it was almost tangible.

In the very center of the space was a Spiritual Spring that had dried up by nearly half. Beside the Spiritual Spring sat a withered, skeletal old man sitting cross-legged.

The old man wore coarse grey hemp clothes; his hair was sparse, and his face was covered in age spots. Even his breathing was extremely faint, his chest rising only once in a long while. Were it not for that terrifying pressure, anyone would have mistaken him for an ordinary old man about to enter the grave.

The true stabilizing force of the Great Xia Dynasty, the Saint King, Xia Cangyuan.

A rift opened in the space above. Gu Sheng dropped out from within, landing steadily on the bluestone slab by the Spiritual Spring.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet Ancestral Land.

Xia Cangyuan slowly opened his eyes. They were cloudy eyes with yellowing whites, yet the moment he saw Gu Sheng clearly, they shot out two tangible beams of brilliant light.

The light swept over Gu Sheng's entire body.

Bone age: early twenties. No traces of any youth-retaining Medicinal Pills.

Cultivation: Golden Core Great Perfection. A solid Foundation with restrained spiritual power.

Xia Cangyuan's shriveled lips moved, his voice as raspy as two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. "Does the Everlasting Gu Family only send a wet-behind-the-ears brat to meet this old man?"

He had lived for too long and seen geniuses as numerous as the grains of sand in a river. But for a Junior at the Golden Core Stage to dare step alone into a Saint King's domain—this kind of courage was something he couldn't understand.

Gu Sheng didn't answer. He looked around the area, walked to the edge of the Spiritual Spring, and glanced with disdain at the thick layer of dust on the ground. He pulled a Huanghuali Wood armchair from his Storage Ring, placed it opposite Xia Cangyuan, and sat down grandly.

"Being old doesn't mean you're useful. Old man, this place of yours is quite shabby," Gu Sheng said, leaning back and crossing his legs.

Xia Cangyuan's eyelid twitched. This kid was too arrogant.

"Young man, you seem to have no fear because of what's backing you," Xia Cangyuan withdrew his aura. "Are those two Saints outside your Dao Protectors?"

"You could say that," Gu Sheng casually toyed with a jade pendant. "The old men at home were worried about me coming out for experience, so they just threw in a few thugs. Don't mind them."

Casually throwing in a few Saints as thugs. Those words were more ear-piercing than a thunderclap to Xia Cangyuan.

The number of Saints on the surface of the Middle Province could be counted on one's fingers, each a titan ruling over a region. For the Gu Family to casually send out two Middle Stage Saints, and even a Creation Realm Peak Sword Cultivator who could hold his own against a Saint—this kind of Foundation had already exceeded the limits of the Great Xia's intelligence network.

"Just what kind of power is the Gu Family?" Xia Cangyuan stared at Gu Sheng. "In the ancient era, this old man never heard of any Everlasting Family with the surname Gu."

Gu Sheng smiled.

"There are many things you haven't heard of." Gu Sheng leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "The ancient era cut off the path to Immortal Ascension, and you remnant forces think yourselves the Dominators of the Middle Province. Yet you do not know that these myriad worlds are far larger than you imagine. The Gu Family did not enter the world because this heaven and earth were too small to hold the Gu Family's True Dragons. Now that the Golden Great Era is approaching and the Heavenly Dao is mending, the Gu Family has finally come out for some fresh air."

Boasting cost nothing. Gu Sheng was well-versed in this. With the System as his backup, the more outrageous the background he fabricated, the more wary the opponent became.

Xia Cangyuan fell silent. He couldn't distinguish truth from lies. But those two Saints outside were the real deal.

"The Great Era is coming, and heroes are rising together," Xia Cangyuan sighed. "Since the Gu Family has emerged, why target Great Xia? The Dragon Qi of the Dragon Transformation Pool is the Foundation of Great Xia. You want to extract the Dragon Vein—this is digging up Great Xia's ancestral graves."

"Don't make it sound so unpleasant," Gu Sheng waved his hand. "This is called resource integration. Great Xia is just occupying the spot without doing anything; keeping the Dragon Qi here will, at most, cultivate a few Soul Transformation or Dao Integration experts. It would be of much greater use in my hands."

"Presumptuous!" Xia Cangyuan roared.

The Saint King's pressure suddenly erupted, causing the entire underground space to shake violently. The night pearls on the stone walls shattered one after another as the immense pressure bore down on Gu Sheng.