The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron

“Junior Brother Qian, stop your nonsense!” Lü Chuyi turned her head and glowered at the red-faced guy in the black shirt.

In fact, she was doubtful as well. There were so many people who wanted to curry favor with her that she could no longer distinguish between who did and who didn’t!

Junior Brother Qian pouted, while casting a scornful glance at Su Yu. He then kept his hands encased within his sleeves and shut his mouth.

Lü Chuyi stared at Su Yu for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, “Thanks a lot Shopkeeper Su. If you run into any trouble in the future, feel free to look for me at the Purple Cloud Palace.”

Su Yu just stood there motionless, as if he had entered a meditative state.

“Alright, let’s pick up where we left off. For the past 10 years, I’ve been studying uncommon Mu words from the sacrificial offering, and I am sure many of you have been studying as well. So… Let’s all share our experiences, as it will then be more convenient for everyone to master more Mu words.” Junior Brother Qian waved his hand, then took out a jade drawing board.

There were numerous uncommon Mu words on it. The words were all shrouded in Vital Energy, making it hard to understand to understand them.

“I’ll display one first, then all of us will take turns doing so. That way, no one will be at a disadvantage.” With a wave of his palm, Junior Brother Qian removed a whiff of Vital Energy, just enough to reveal one word and no more.

The word seemed to be very valuable to its owner. It was a word that was similar to a heart shape, and there was a dot in the center of the heart.

These words had all appeared in the sacrificial offerings before. Although Su Yu was confident, he dared not be careless or hasty in recognizing them. From the looks of it, he recognized this particular word as being “tunnel” in the human language. As such, it wasn’t really considered to be uncommon.

“What a coincidence! I’ve spent a long time studying this Mu word too,” a martial artist said. A few others nodded, indicating that they had all studied it as well. Among them were Lü Chuyi and Master Gao.

Junior Brother Qian smiled. “That’s even better, everyone can voice their opinions, then we can make a comparison of them all.”

“I’ve thoroughly checked many ancient books. I think that Mu words are all derived from images, and their meanings have to be speculated from the postures of the words. This heart shape should be speculated this way. See… Look… It has a heart-shaped appearance with a dot in the center, like an eye. I guess the meaning should be intention! Also, we need to sacrifice lots of living things. So… This word could mean that we need to sacrifice the hearts and eyes of living things!”

Upon hearing that, many nodded, as it sounded reasonable to them.

“What does Junior Sister Lü think?” Junior Brother Qian asked. It was clear that he was feeling rather proud.

Lü Chuyi shook her head calmly. “I think it looks like a padlock, with the dot in the center being like the keyhole.” This statement was rather unconvincing.

“What about Master Gao?” Junior Brother Qian asked. He had heard about Master Gao’s reputation before, so he knew that he was not one whose opinion could be underestimated.

Master Gao concentrated on the word, then shook his head lightly and said, “I am not sure about it. Hence, I can’t make a judgment.”

Junior Brother Qian was disappointed, but he quickly moved on, asking those gathered the same thing, one by one. At last, the majority agreed with Qian’s statement that intention was the most appropriate explanation.

“Maybe Junior Brother Qian really got it right this time. If this appears at the sacrificial offering, sacrificing the hearts and eyes of living things makes sense,” an expert said.

In this way, it was agreed upon by all present. Even Lü Chuyi nodded her head.

“If everyone agrees, then whoever encounters this word during the sacrificial offering will know what to do, right?” Junior Brother Qian asked, feeling complacent.

Master Gao looked at Su Yu and asked, “Shopkeeper Su hasn’t voiced his opinion yet, has he?”

It was unknown if Junior Brother Qian missed asking Su Yu intentionally. Qian cast a sideways glance at Su Yu, his eyes full of contempt and disdain.

He was apparently displeased with all of his past deeds. However, those who careful paid attention would know that it was actually jealousy disguised as contempt.

But, among all of those present, besides Lü Chuyi, practically everyone was jealous of Su Yu. After all, he was always raising storms in Tianya City and gaining immense honor. Such valuable honor could not be bought with money!

Due to the presence of several seniors, he could not afford to engage in a conflict with Su Yu, so he just shrugged and said, “Haha, I almost forgot about Shopkeeper Su. Do voice out your opinion, Su Yu, I’m listening.”

Su Yu frowned slightly. He really did not want to respond to this provocation.

However, everyone seemed to be misled by this guy, and Su Yu was afraid that it might lead to problems occurred during the sacrificial offering. So, Su Yu felt obligated to give a straightforward answer.

“Well… Forgive me for disagreeing, but I don’t think that means intention or padlock. It means a passageway,” Su Yu’s answer was simple and direct. “The majority of Mu words have been transformed from hieroglyphs, but the minority are assimilated from the essence of other races. This word is pronounced as ‘lao’ in Mu, which means passage. Thus, it could foreshadow the appearance of a passageway during the sacrificial offering.”

The experts were startled, as Su Yu had delivered the meaning of the word with such confidence and accuracy. He even knew the proper pronunciation. They could not bring themselves to mock him now as they had wanted to!

Junior Brother Qian was also startled, but he certainly would not admit his mistake, especially not in front of all these Mu words experts! So, he sneered and asked, “‘Well… Did you invent all of this? Ha, up till the present, no one has translated the pronunciation of Mu words in any human books, but you’ve suddenly become the pioneer in this?”

Su Yu replied calmly, “You don’t know about such things because you have a limited outlook and have had limited exposure. I’m not the pioneer, and you certainly don’t have to be so sarcastic.”

Once he was done talking, Su Yu closed his eyes, not wanting to explain any further. He had said what needed to be said, and if they chose not to listen to him and made mistakes during the offering because of it, he could not be blamed.

Master Gao spent a long time pondering Su Yu’s speech, then nodded and said, “Yes, ‘passageway’ makes more sense indeed. I think that it shouldn’t be ‘intention’ either.”

Lü Chuyi looked at Su Yu with curiosity, while thinking to herself… This old man is really weird!

Besides being indifferent to her, there were a lot more strange things about him that she could not quite put into words. After staring at the word for a long while, Lü Chuyi nodded, then said, “Right! I see it now. The dot in the center doesn’t signify an eye, but some kind of space instead. I recognized it as keyhole, but he took it for a passageway.”

After her contemplation, Lü Chuyi believed more in Su Yu’s opinion. Everyone present had studied Mu words, and it was clear who made more sense.

“If we encounter this word, it would be most appropriate to recognize it as ‘passageway,’” she then added, while everyone nodded.

Seeing that everyone had changed their original views to align with Su Yu’s, Junior Brother Qian was angered. His years of hard work had just been ruthlessly denied by Su Yuxian, who showed no respect for him.

He was truly ashamed at this moment. He hadn’t thought about how his sarcastic remarks and insults had been disrespectful toward Su Yu.

“Fine, you discuss this. I’ll go take a rest.” Qian put away his jade drawing board and shut his eyes at once.

The language experts exchanged glances with each other, then one of them advised, “Junior Brother Qian, you’re a prominent scholar and have a great amount of experience with the Mu words of our generation. Now that the enemy is close, there’s no need to throw tantrums!”

Qian snorted. “Su Yuxian is enough for all of you.”

The experts heaved out several sighs. Everything about Junior Brother Qian from the Purple Cloud Palace was fine, except that he was too arrogant and opinionated for his own good!

Once things went against his desires, he became emotional. As tomorrow would be the day of the sacrificial offering, the fact that he was throwing tantrums right before such an important event was truly frustrating!

However, Qian just so happened to have the most outstanding performance in the previous years. In fact, his mastery of Mu words only fell below the two experts Qin and Lin from the Central Prefecture.

They had competed with each other several times in the past years, and even Qin and Lin had to admit that Qian was a strong opponent. It could even be said that if it was not for Qian, they might’ve lost to him!

The Deputy General Manager, who was watching from the side, furrowed his brows as he said, “Monk Zou, this Junior Brother Qian of yours has become more and more rebellious. Ten years ago, he was only an unheard-of, weak little guard. Now, he has developed such a big temper, behaving willfully even when the enemy is so close!”

Monk Zou sighed. “What can I do? He’s the only presentable Mu words expert in the Purple Cloud Palace. Everyone in the faction, except for the elders, won’t even dare to lay a finger on him! So… How could he not have a big temper?”

Everyone felt at ease after hearing this. Owing to Qian’s distinguished position, they dared not voice their anger, as they feared that he would walk off if he continued being offended. If that happened, the Blessed and Heavenly Lands would be finished in the upcoming sacrificial offering, as no one else could rival Qin and Lin, the two great experts!

“Alright, at such a juncture, we should set aside our differences and discuss this as a whole, learning from each other,” Monk Zou tried to console the group, despite his reluctance.

Qian opened his eyes and stared coldly at Su Yu. “We can discuss as a whole, only if the irritating flies are cleared out first! Otherwise, we can’t calm down and will be unable to discuss anything!”

Monk Zou looked over to the Deputy General Manager helplessly. He was reluctant to do as suggested, as he was the one who brought Su Yu here in the first place. If he wronged him, he felt that Su Yu would surely feel disappointed in him!

Monk Zou sent a message by telepathy, saying, “Old Monster Wu, now that the big day is close, just bear with this and let Junior Brother Qian be the priority. If he’s really offended and barges out, who’s going to represent us in tomorrow’s offering? The two experts you found are far less ideal than Qian, right? Isn’t it impossible to find someone else like Qian in such a short time?”

This was what bothered the Deputy General Manager. Master Gao had not studied Mu words before that, as he only began studying in the past few years when he was appointed by the faction. Hence, he definitely lacked a sturdy foundation and was far less experienced than Qian, who could rival the top-notch experts Qin and Lin!

As for Su Yu, although he had passed the assessment and had a certain degree of fundamental knowledge, no one could really guarantee that his foundation was strong enough. So, if they angered Qian, there would be a great deal of trouble for them during the offering this time.

“Old Monster Wu, simply give him some benefits. He’s just a student from the outside sanctum, so why bother with him so much?” Monk Zou advised.

The Deputy General Manager weighed the benefits and drawbacks in his heart, and in the end, he had no choice but to hold back his annoyance and flash a warm smile at Su Yu. “Yuxian, come out with me for a while… I need to discuss some details of the sacrificial offering with you.”

Su Yu silently sighed as he thought… Not even the Deputy General Manager could save me?

He was clear about the difficult position that he had been placed in, but Su Yu still felt very disappointed. After all, Su Yu had taken the risk of exposing his skills in Mu words and risking the danger of being hunted down by the influences of the Central Prefecture by choosing to unconditionally help the faction. But, in the end, an expert from the other party threw tantrums and had gotten rid of Su Yu so easily, just like that!

Master Gao cast a side glance at Qian, then stood up and said, “I’ll go out too, as it’s better for the people from the Red Blood Palace to stay together.”