Chapter 18: Great Nobility
Sage
Bang!
Gu Feihong rolled on the ground and saw Gu Xinrong as soon as he lifted up his head.
“Fourth Grandmother!” Gu Feihong began to yell. “Fourth Grandmother, save me!”
He had been so scared by Su Chen that his soul had almost left his body, and he instinctively leapt at his clan’s Ancestor.
However, before he could get close, a massive wave of energy surrounded him, preventing him from getting any closer.
Gu Xinrong, who normally gazed at Gu Feihong with affection and kindness, looked like a primal beast that had just wandered out of the wilderness. She stared at him coldly as she asked, “Were you the one who commissioned the Chu Clan? Commissioned them to activate the Swan-Catching Mirror?”
Gu Feihong hadn’t reacted yet. “Fourth Grandmother, that’s not important. I just ran into......”
“ANSWER ME!” Gu Xinrong yelled, her voice booming like thunder in Gu Feihong’s ears.
Gu Feihong was so badly frightened that he fell backwards onto his butt, but he very quickly floated back into the air.
With but a single glance, Gu Xinrong had stripped Gu Feihong of the ability to control his own body.
“Fourth Grandmother, listen to me......” Gu Feihong yelled loudly.
“Answer me!”
The beast-like howl reverberated through Gu Feihong’s heart, utterly stunning him.
Gu Feihong stared at his Ancestor in fear. “It was…… I…… who gave the commission…… I……. wanted to find……”
He hadn’t yet finished his thought, but Gu Xinrong had no heart to continue listening any longer.
A formless hand squeezed Gu Feihong’s neck so hard that his eyes began to roll into the back of his head.
Gu Xinrong, however, staggered back a few steps. “Ah, misfortune for the clan! Misfortune for the clan!”
Gu Qingsong and Gu Qingyang also shook their heads.
Everyone could only sigh and acknowledge their bad luck for having such a useless, unfilial descendant.
Chu Jiangyu chuckled, “Since the misunderstanding has been cleared up, then everything else will be easy to resolve. Oh, right - when I was looking for Miss Qingluo, I accidentally stumbled upon you three……”
He purposefully left his sentence unfinished, and Gu Qingyang understood his intentions. He pulled out an Origin Ring and tossed it over to Chu Yuan. “The Gu Clan has had a number of new members recently, allowing us to increase our production of Lifesource Candles. These are the Lifesource Candles we have created during this period of time. We originally wanted to stockpile a few more before handing them over to the imperial palace, but there’s no time like the present.”
Since the hidden Lifesource Candles had been discovered, they could only hand them over. However, they still at least needed to give a nice-sounding reason for their actions.
The Chu Clan wasn’t aggressively overbearing either and wouldn’t tack on a crime to them.
The two clans had learned the principle of making mutual allowances given how long they had known each other for.
Chu Yuan chuckled as he accepted the Origin Ring and handed it to Chu Jiangyu as a reward for his meritorious service. At the same time, he said, “Since that’s the case, then how do you all feel about increasing the quota? What about adding on twenty more Lifesource Candles every year to the current requirement?”
The three Gu Clan elders glanced at each other and could only nod their heads in agreement.
This failure caused them to lose not only the Lifesource Candles they had secretly stored up but also compromised their ability to produce more in the future.
This loss was really quite a big one.
When he heard this, Gu Feihong realized how badly he had messed up, and he had trouble even standing up straight.
He had known that his actions would put a great burden on the Gu Clan, but he had never imagined it would be so great.
After all, the three Gu Clan Ancestors weren’t always producing Lifesource Candles. Producing these Lifesource Candles greatly exhausted a person’s energy, so they could only create them every so often. Most of the time, they were still cultivating.
It was an unfortunate coincidence that the Swan-Catching Mirror was used just as they were refining these Lifesource Candles.
Actually, this wasn’t really a coincidence.
This was because Chu Jiangyu was the one who chose when the mirror was going to be used. The Chu Clan and the Gu Clan had been engaged in this business for many years, so the Chu Clan was extremely familiar with the Gu Clan’s habits. They were very aware when the Gu Clan’s three Ancestors would be able to refine the Lifesource Candles. Of course, this information was kept a secret - only Chu Yuan and Chu Jiangyu knew. Not even Gu Feihong knew when it would be. This seemingly useless information immediately became of utmost importance at that moment.
So it was a coincidence, yet it was not really a coincidence. It was an outcome of probability influenced by someone’s mental calculations.
Gu Xinrong was able to perceive all these intricacies in an instant. When she thought about the fact that this was all due to Gu Feihong’s idiocy, she felt anger surging from every pore in her body.
When she thought about the fact that this was also related to Gu Qingluo, Gu Xinrong asked, “So where’s Gu Qingluo? Hadn’t you gone to capture her? Why haven’t you brought her back with you?”
Chu Jiangyu said, “Gu Qingluo is still in the forest outside the city.”
This was what he said was so strange earlier.
He originally believed that Gu Qingluo would have been taken back no matter what had happened since Gu Feihong had brought two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators with him. He hadn’t expected that the dot representing Gu Qingluo had remained there, while Gu Feihong had returned alone.
Gu Feihong replied, “I wasn’t able to bring her back with me. Liu’an, Baiye, and the others all died!”
What?
Chu Yuan, Gu Xinrong, and the others were all stunned.
Even Chu Jiangyu couldn’t help but say, “How is that possible? Isn’t Su Chen only at the Light Shaking Realm? You brought two Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and five Light Shaking Realm cultivators with you!”
“Because he knows how to use the Capricorn Curse!” Gu Feihong replied loudly.
That sentence stunned everyone present.
Su Chen returned soon after leaving.
When he returned, all of the corpses in his hands were gone.
Iron Cliff greeted him. “Master, we’ve finished our preparations here. We can go now.”
“We’re in no hurry,” Su Chen replied unexpectedly. “Let’s wait for a bit longer. A new problem is going to arrive soon.”
Gu Qingluo said with agitation, “Su Chen, we don’t need to fight the Gu Clan until the end. You control the curses already, so the Gu Clan is no longer a threat to you.
Su Chen sighed. “The problem I am referring to is not the Gu Clan.”
What?
Gu Qingluo was taken aback.
If it wasn’t the Gu Clan, who could it be?
Gu Qingluo very quickly determined the answer.
Streaks of light arced across the sky like a rainbow, shining brilliantly.
Gu Qingluo was stunned when she saw who had come.
“Your Majesty?”
The person who had arrived was Empty Mountain’s Emperor, Chu Yuan.
Behind him stood Chu Jiangyu and dozens of Empty Mountain experts. There were many Spirit Burning Realm cultivators and even Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators present.
Gu Xinrong, Gu Qingsong, and Gu Qingyang also came from another direction, dragging Gu Feihong along with them.
There weren’t many people from the Gu Clan, but the three Emperor-level Ancestors had all arrived.
All of these experts were all peak existences amongst the human race. Their convergence here obviously had tremendous implications.
Gu Qingluo immediately understood.
She knew she had overlooked something!
The Chu Clan!
Yes, she had overlooked the Chu Clan’s response.
Su Chen had managed to control the three curses, giving him an incredible bargaining chip over the Gu Clan. However, he had also silently created a big problem for himself.
It was the Chu Clan.
The Chu Clan, who had complete control over the three curses, relied on them to control the Gu Clan. It was for this reason that they were the only imperial family amongst the Seven Countries that didn’t have to fight any external enemies. The other six countries were bitterly fighting each other, while the Chu imperial family just needed to perform their surveillance abilities well and distribute Lifesource Candles every year.
Now, an outsider had somehow managed to gain access to the three curses. How could they possibly accept that?
To the Chu Clan, this was even more frightening than Su Chen developing a method for people to reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm without a bloodline.
As such, Chu Yuan felt like he was about to explode when he discovered that Su Chen had managed to control the three curses.
Yes, Su Chen’s control of the three curses had created a loophole. However, this loophole was not on the Gu Clan, but on the Chu imperial family.
To the Gu Clan, both Su Chen and the Chu Clan were their masters, so they would still be under control one way or another. As a result, not much would have changed.
However, to the Chu imperial family, this matter was something that rocked their foundation. How could they not panic?
This was why they had come as well.
As soon as he appeared, Chu Yuan said, “Seize him!”
A Thought Manifestation Realm expert immediately reached out to grab Su Chen.
Su Chen began to chant again.
Gu Xinrong attacked, blocking the claw attack.
“Fourth Aunt!” Chu Yuan yelled
Gu Xinrong yelled, “Capricorn Curse! It really is the Capricorn Curse!”
Chu Yuan’s expression changed. “Stop!”
The Thought-Manifestation Expert withdrew his hand.
Gu Xinrong said with rage, “Brat, you dare use the Capricorn Curse on me?”
She was originally stunned that Su Chen even knew how to use the Capricorn Curse, but her anger flared when Su Chen used it on her. Her rage overpowered her surprise, and so she immediately began to berate Su Chen.
When Su Chen saw that his opponents weren’t attacking anymore, he relinquished his control on Gu Xinrong - her consciousness power was incredibly high, and Su Chen had to place all his focus on controlling her. There was no way he could maintain it for too long, and he was already beginning to feel exhausted. Su Chen also keenly realized his need to greatly increase his consciousness power. In other words, he wasn’t Gu Xinrong’s opponent even with the assistance of the Capricorn Curse.
This was where the Capricorn Chant was weaker than the Capricorn Staff. The Capricorn Staff could control a single target regardless of their cultivation base, even if they were at the Ultimate Emperor Realm.
Su Chen, however, pretended as if nothing had happened. “So can we discuss things now?”
Chu Yuan had ordered his subordinates to attack in order to test Su Chen out. After all, Gu Feihong’s claims were almost inconceivable, so he needed to verify them.
Now that he was able to confirm this claim, the flames of rage surged in his heart, but he still managed to keep them in control for the moment.
Chu Yuan said solemnly, “How did you come about possessing the Capricorn Curse?”
Su Chen replied, “Through my research. All curses are discovered by other people. Since they are discovered by others, then there is no reason that I cannot see through the curse and use it myself. Am I wrong?”
Everyone froze when they heard this.
Chu Jiangyu harrumphed, “If it were that easy, then how come no one has been able to deconstruct the curse even after three thousand years?”
Su Chen chuckled, “Because I am Su Chen. Oh, perhaps you aren’t familiar with that name - you should be familiar with the name ‘Cloud Bat’ though.”
“What?” Everyone was stunned. “So you’re Cloud Bat?”
The name Cloud Bat was like a thunderclap to their ears.
Chu Yuan’s eyes glittered. “So it’s the Worldly Sage Cloud Bat, who developed the bloodline-less techniques for reaching the Blood Boiling and Yang Opening Realms. Forgive me for my disrespect.”
“Worldly Sage?” Su Chen was also taken aback.
He didn’t know when he had obtained the title of “Worldly Sage.”
However, the truth of the matter was that, because of these two techniques, the entire human race’s cultivation baseline had begun to increase.
Su Chen’s actions had basically taken the baseline cultivation level from the Qi Drawing Realm all the way to the Yang Opening Realm.
This was the same as raising the baseline damage a weapon could do threefold. The implications of such an increase were massive and impossible to overstate.
Obtaining the title of “Worldly Sage” was not that strange given how incredible his accomplishments were.
The title of Sage didn’t mean much to Su Chen, but it was a different matter for his enemies.
There were often many things in life that you had to worry about.
Prestige, companionship, love, profits, or life-and-death - no matter which one of them it was, every person worried about at least one of them.
If a person had no apprehension about any of those things, then they wouldn’t be much different than an insane person.
Chu Yuan wasn’t insane.
As such, he had his own misgivings about these things - specifically, his reputation.
To Chu Yuan, having this Worldly Sage die to his hands was a big problem.
Damn! It’s already bad enough that he’s researching the bloodline-less techniques. Why has he come to Empty Mountain to stir up trouble? And why is he so focused on deconstructing the three curses in particular?
Chu Yuan felt a headache coming on as he considered the consequences of having the death of a Worldly Sage be at his hands.
Even so, no matter how much of a headache he felt, the secrets of the three curses could not be spread.
For the sake of the future generations, he could not afford to hesitate.
Chu Yuan stared at Su Chen, killing intent written all over his face.