Dragon's Soul
Chapter 196
o_o A chapter for today? :D and maybe tomorrow ($50 or 100 commets between the two sites i post on >:D and i"ll make sure there is one tomrrow lol)
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Within a large hall located in a secluded area within the Blood Coral Castle, a group consisting of roughly twenty-five saints and two hundred level ten cultivators could be seen seated at dozens of tables scattered throughout the hall.
Despite so many people present, there was an utter silence and not a single sound was made.
With a heavy atmosphere that caused many to feel suffocated, everyone simply sat at their respective tables and waited patiently for Zhang"s arrival while eyeing the other people present.
Although most of the people that had gathered here had lived relatively secluded lives and focused the majority of their attention towards cultivation, after news of Zhang’s fight with Lord Long Feng had spread, they had flocked to the Blood Coral Castle with their disciples in tow.
“When is he arriving? Is this the proper way for a host to treat his guests? How long must I wait here!” An impatient saint complained with a haughty tone after waiting roughly an hour for Zhang.
“Shut up! Weaklings like you have no right to act so haughtily here!” A voice rang out from a far corner of the hall.
“Who the f.u.c.k dare to say that!?” The impatient saint roared as he turned his head and glared at the direction where the voice came from.
“A mere rabbit that doesn"t know his own limits and dares to act so unruly in a den full of lions.” Another voice rang into everyone"s ear from another corner of the room.
Before long a barrage of ridicule had been directed at the impatient saint causing his veins to bulge and his face to turn crimson.
“You bunch of fools want a piece of me?!” The impatient saint roared as the pressure of a full Saint enveloped the entire hall.
“Do you think you"re the only full saint here?” One of the people who rebuked the impatient Saint earlier said as a pressure of another full saint enveloped the room.
With a snort, the impatient saint smashed his hand into the table that he was seated causing the four st.u.r.dy table legs to shatter. Then with a kick, he sent the marble table top soaring through the air forcing a large portion of the people within the hall to avoid being hit.
As the crowd parted, a small hand stretched out and caught the heavy table top out from the air and smashed it onto the ground.
Soon enough all eyes were focused on the impatient saint and a child-sized saint who had caught the table top moments ago.
“Let me show you the true power of a full saint!” The child sized saint roared as he charged through the crowd with a dozen level ten cultivators following closely behind him.
“Let me, your daddy, teach this brat, who looks like should be at home being breastfed, a lesson.” The impatient Saint said haughtily as he charged forward with a group of level ten cultivators in tow.
Before long, the two full saints and their disciples clashed in the center of the hall, smashing tables, destroying floor tiles and causing a mess of things. But of course they were not alone, moments after the two groups began fighting, many of the other people present began joining in due to one reason or the other.
“Darling, shouldn’t we stop them?” Lingqi asked Zhang.
“Brother! Let me join in too! Let me join in too! I"ll show those people a thing or two.” Ai said energetically as she proceeded to playfully jab at the air with one hand.
“Shhhhh, remember you have to stay extra quiet or else they"ll know we are up here.” Yuying said as she pressed her finger onto Ai’s lips before peering back down through a small hole where one of the roof tiles had been.
“Let"s watch the show for a bit longer since the main event had just started.” Zhang said with a laugh.
Roughly half an hour earlier, Zhang and the beauties had actually arrived at the gathering hall unnoticed and sneaked to the roof where they proceeded to snoop on the people waiting inside.
If you would consider their personalities, it wouldn’t seem strange that Zhang and the beauties decided to snoop around and watch their guests from the roof instead.
Due to a mixture of cautiousness, childishness and inquisitiveness, Zhang and the beauties wanted to watch their guests for a moment to see what the purpose of their visit was.
“Sis, which one of those two do you think will win?” Ai asked pointing at a pair of lesser saints who were locked in a battle of blades. It was obvious from their movements that these two lesser saints had spent the majority of their lives honing their sword skills. Every swing and every slash they performed was well planned and had a meaning behind it.
“Although the slimmer one wielding two longswords appears to be faster than the muscular one with the scimitar, I think that the muscular man will win.” Yuying replied.
“Really? Isn"t the muscular man already covered in wounds?” Ling asked, with an interested look on her face.
“If you look closer, all of his wounds are shallow. Which means that despite landing many blows, the lesser saint wielding the dual swords isn"t dealing any serious damage at all. So it would only be a matter of time before the muscular man lands an attack, and the tides of battle will shift in his favor.” Yuying explained.
“You forgot to take regard of their stamina. It"s obvious that the muscular man is expending more stamina and essence in his attacks than the slimmer one. So it"ll only be a matter of time before he tired himself out and fall to the mercy of his opponent. Also, I can tell that the two swords that he uses are actually coated with a slow acting poison that will significantly slow its victim’s movements.” Lingqi remarked.
“You"re both wrong.” Zhang intervened with a chuckle.
“Both of us?” Yuying and Lingqi said at the same time.
“Although both of your observations are correct, you forgot that this isn"t a one on one match. So regardless of which one of them is left standing, in the end, once they have both used up their tricks and their strength, they"ll both lose.” Zhang said with a laugh.
“Brother, if you say it that way, then who do you think will be the winner?” Ai asked.
“No need to ask brother because it"s obvious that she will be the winner.” Ling said as she pointed toward a beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties.
“I agree, of all the people present, if we go by darling’s definition of victory then she would be the one to win obviously.” Lingqi said with a chuckle.
“Incorrect also.” Zhang said with a silly grin plastered across his face that was soon returned by Ai as she realized what he was thinking.
In an instant, all of the other beauties also figured out their husband’s thoughts, and they all broke out into laughter.
“Sweetheart, it"s obvious that none of them is a match for you.” Yuying said while wiping the tear that had formed in the corner of her eye and while restraining the urge to laugh.
From Zhang’s words, it was obvious to his wives that he meant that: in the end, he would be the one to be on top. This thought alone wouldn"t have prompted so much laughter from the beauties, but when paired with the silly look he was making; they couldn"t hold themselves burst into laughter.
“Look at that guy, he"s using five bows at the same time.” Ai said as she pointed toward a lesser saint with eight tentacles sticking out of his back like Chu Shou. Amazingly enough, besides holding a bow and an arrow in his hands, he used his tentacles to wield the four other bows as well.
As the battle in the hall grew more intense, a variety of skills, techniques and abilities were put on display for Zhang and the beauties to watch. For them, the show happening before their eyes was invaluable because of all the insight they were gaining.
Besides Yuying who already was already knowledgeble regarding cultivation arts and the like, Zhang, Ling, Lingqi and Ai were rather lacking.
Grew up in a small city where the strongest cultivator was a mere level six warrior, Zhang’s knowledge regarding cultivation was as shallow as could be. Due to his lack of proper guidance and education, even with the time he had spent with Xin Tao during their stay in the depths of h.e.l.l, Zhang still didn’t acquire proper training and schooling.
In Ling’s case, despite being admitted into the Heilong Kingdom’s Royal Academy, she only received book smarts. Although learning from the Royal Academy would set her ahead of Zhang, Ling only possessed superficial or basic knowledge regarding cultivation, compared to a disciple of a sect which has a master to impart his personal experience she obtained her knowledge from an academy ran by continent’s weakest kingdom with a little more than a thousand year"s worth of history. Despite having many books, the Royal Academy severely lacked proper teachers.
As for Lingqi’s case, she hadn’t even focused on cultivation at all rather, she used all of her free time to learn about poisons and medical techniques. This, of course, wasn’t a bad thing, but in terms of knowledge regarding cultivation, she was even more lacking than Zhang.
Lastly, there was Ai, who possesses the least amount of knowledge with regards to techniques, cultivation arts and other essentials that a cultivator should be well versed in. Since most of her life was a lost memory, Ai had to learn everything from the beginning. But due to her personality and free spirit, she wouldn’t be caught dead with a book hence the reason why she solely relies on her otherworldly brute strength.
Some may wonder why can’t Zhang, Ai, Ling and Lingqi simply learn from Yuying? The answer to that question would be simple, learning from Yuying would do the group no good. Although she could and would be more than happy to teach them, what would be the use of having five people with similar skillsets forming a group? Since Yuying’s knowledge was mostly based on inscriptions, necromancery, and the occult there wasn’t much she could teach Zhang and the other beauties. She simply didn’t have knowledge regarding their skillsets.
So with everything aside, the fight occurring in the hall was a perfect opportunity for Zhang, Ling, Ai and Lingqi to learn from other cultivators. Although these bits and pieces of knowledge they got from watching these cultivators in action wouldn’t have any major effects individually, a knowledge that was collected would obviously become useful in the long run.
“I think it’s time to go stop them or else we might have to deal with a few corpses.” Zhang said with a laugh as he pushed himself up.
“Yea that guy over there is trying to off that other guy’s finger…” Ai said as she cringed a bit imagining how it would feel if someone bit off her own finger. It was one thing to be killed, or injured by a technique or cut by a sword, but to have your fingers bit off by someone was a tad extreme.
“Alright let"s go in.” Ling said as she hopped off the roof of the gathering hall alongside Zhang.
Following suit, Lingqi, Yuying, and Ai also hopped off the hall’s roof.
An instant later an oppressive pressure that caused everyone in the gathering hall to cease all of their activities.
As everyone held their breaths the gates leading into the gathering hall emitted a loud banging sound and swung open, smashing into the walls they were hinged to before crashing down into the ground.
“Who dares to act unruly in my castle!” Ai’s voice echoed throughout the hall, while the pressure that had previously swept into the hall increased exponentially, causing a shiver to run down everyone’s spine.
Thanks to the light flooding in from the outside, no one was able to see how the struggle currently happening on Ai’s face as she tried to prevent herself from breaking out in laughter.
“You’re doing good just a few more lines.” Yuying said to Ai through her divine sense.
“What are you all doing? Is this how you greet your hosts? By wrecking their furniture? Kneel!” Ai said in a haughty tone.
“You heard my sister! Kneel!” Lingqi said in a loud tone while adding her pressure to Ai’s, prompting a majority of the level ten cultivators and a number of lesser saints to begin to bend their knees.
“Now now, no need to be so rude to our guests.” Zhang said as his arms reached out toward Ai.
Seeing that Ai was moments away from bursting out in laughter, Zhang"s arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her in and snuggled her, providing her with the perfect opportunity to release the laughter that she was trying to hold in.
Soon enough Ai and Lingqi’s pressure disappeared without a trace while their laughter filled the hall.
Although the overbearing pressure that suppressed everyone in the hall had completely disappeared, but the fear that crept into their minds was intensified greatly.
“Master, how is it possible that someone could tame two lionesses like those.” A level ten cultivators asked his master.
“One could only imagine how powerful a man would need to be to stand above women like them.” The level ten cultivators master replied in a low tone since it was the norm for most men to be
stronger than their wives.
Although it wasn’t rare for there to be couples who were equal in terms of power on land, in the sea where power meant everything and love and compa.s.sion had lesser meaning, the husband was often much stronger than his spouse.
So if Zhang followed the norm, then he would have had to be vastly stronger than a full saint, since his wives who are thought to be weaker than their husband, are all full saints. How else would he be able to control the beauties?