The hall was deployed with many restrictive spells, efficiently isolating any probing with the divine will. But Wu Qi"s divine will was slightly different than ordinary cultivators due to being nourished by innate energies of five elements, and being born with the power of Thunder Tribulation. Thus, it had all sorts of magical abilities by nature. These restrictive spells could not isolate his probing. Nevertheless, the large number of restrictive spells still gave him some trouble, as in order to send his divine will through so many restrictive spells and eavesdropping on someone"s conversion, it was still very strenuous for him.
After all, Wu Qi only had one single thread of divine will, and had not transformed his entire soul into a Nascent Divinity which could leave his corporeal body and wander around freely.
Also, there was a layer of restrictive spell vaguely lingering around Yu Wende and Yu Qianqian. They should be carrying some treasures that could isolate any probing from divine will. Under such situation, it would be very difficult to eavesdrop on their conversion through divine will.
Fortunately, Wu Qi had another skill in his bag - lipreading. He bowed his head, then peeked at them from the corner of his eyes, who were speaking softly in the far distance, and carefully read the movement of their lips. By also observing the slightest changes in their expression and the movement of their eyes, Wu Qi could read and understand every single word they said.
The father and daughter were now looking at the throne on the dais together. Wearing a surprised look, Yu Qianqian murmured under her breath, "This is strange. Apart from Yan Qijun and Yan Zi Xuan, who else can sit right next to Yan Dan? I thought only Mo Di and Su Qin have the rights to do that?"
Yu Wende narrowed his eyes and looked thoughtfully at the dais. "We"ll see. Haha, this is interesting, really interesting. The reaction of both Yan Dan and Lao Ai had gone out of my expectation. What will they do next? Will they pour in all their effort and fight with the people of Great Qin Dynasty?" Shaking his head, Yu Wende said in a low voice.
Wu Qi took up a wine gla.s.s and took a sip soundlessly. The words used by this father and daughter were rather strange to Wu Qi, as they mentioned Yan Dan and the other people by their name. He could tell that both of them did not look too highly on the emperor, the crown prince, the princess and some other important people of Great Yan Dynasty. It seemed they were very confident, but what gave them the confidence? Yu Clan merely a.s.sumed the office of Chief Editor of Great Yan Dynasty. Although they were considered influential, they did not have any real power in hand.
Wu Qi raised his head up and ran his eyes over at Yu Wende and Yu Qianqian. The father and daughter had a very sensitive sense, as they immediately noticed that Wu Qi was looking at them. Yu Qianqian put on a straight face, tilted her head up proudly and looking at the gold inlaid carving on the ceiling. As for Yu Wende, he was seen smilingly raising his wine gla.s.s up, proposing a toast to Wu Qi. Wu Qi raised his emptied wine gla.s.s up as well and returned the toast, then performed a drinking gesture.
Suddenly the ringing of gold and jade bells arose as the musicians sitting on both sides of the hall began playing the music. Amidst the powerful and vigorous palace music, Yan Dan brought a group of people out from behind the hall, escorted by many imperial eunuchs and maids. All the members of influential and ministers immediately dropped to their knees and bowed, filling the entire hall with the cheers of "Long live His Majesty!". Yan Dan was wearing a radiant face and looked to be in the best of spirits. He raised both hands in the air, smiled and said, "Raise, my loyal ministers. Save the courtesy."
Wu Qi rose to his feet with many others, then sat on his knees on the floor mat and threw a curious look over at the many people following behind Yan Dan.
He saw Princess Zhang Le, with the five colored divine rays whirling behind her back. She was winking and making signs at Wu Qi, doing all sorts of little gestures such as baring her teeth and waving her hands in the air. She looked like she was tempted to sprung over at Wu Qi so she could play with him. She was the happiest person after Wu Qi won the duel on the drill ground today. By forcibly forming his Gold Core with the mystic technique, having his cultivation base catching up with Princess Zhang Le, it simply gave her an unspeakable delight.
Wu Qi gave her a smile and nodded his head, then turned his glance over at the other people behind Yan Dan.
There he saw the crown prince of Great Yan, Yan Qijun, the Internal Prime Minister Ma Yi, and twelve Imperial Eunuchs who were clad in bright red eunuch outfits. Apart from these men, there were also four men and a lady, who were dressed up completely different than of those from Great Yan Dynasty. They looked perfectly calm and composed, their aura fully concealed within their bodies and not leaking out even a tiny bit. Yet, they were giving off a feeling like some nuclear warheads which could explode at any time with a very frightening offensive power.
Out of the four men, there was a burly middle-aged man who stood about fifteen feet tall, at least half a body taller than the rest around him. He had a dark skin complexion, a face fully grown with thick, dark hair, and made the entire hall shook when he walked. His eyes took the bizarre hue of gold, looking ruthless yet s.h.i.+ning with wild pa.s.sion. It seemed that a vast energy was stored in his huge body, as by just looking at his body, Wu Qi felt that this man could easily lift up a huge mountain.
Standing beside this burly man was an old man with a head of gray hair, standing firmly like an ancient pine tree. The eyes of this old man looked like two large supreme-grade emeralds. He had a huge bone structure, but was fairly skinny. A white cloak was loosely draped over his shoulder, which made him look even skinnier, as if a strong wind could blow him away. The old man walked with firm and steady steps, yet was nimble and agile as if he was drifting through the air.
Behind the old man was another old man with a very strange appearance. He had a very long neck and a very fat body; it was so plump it made him looked like a meatball. However, his four limbs were thin and long, as if four matchsticks were poking out from a meatball; a very queer look. The round and fat body of this old man kept expanding and shrinking, ceaselessly inhaling the surrounding air into his body, then shooting out again with faint whistling noises.
The last man stood about eight feet tall. He was skinnier than Qin Qingshui, and simply looked like a human-shaped pole. His skin complexion was purple-gold, and layers of scales could be vaguely seen underneath his skin. His eyes looked like a pair of cat"s eyes. Under the bright light of the hall the pupils contracted into two straight lines, while gleaming with a cruel coldness that was unique to cold-blooded animals. His glance never stopped on any people in the hall, but instead, he kept glancing at all the instruments and culinary that was made from gold and silver. A covetous look filled his eyes.
Apart from these four men with strange appearances, the last lady looked rather ordinary. She was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor skinny. Adding a little bit more weight to her would make her look fat, and by taking a little bit more weight off her would make her look skinny. She moved like the willow swaying in the breeze, and sent off a flowery fragrance wherever she went. She did not say anything, but her face was filled with an enchanting smile. She was beautiful like the girl that one would dream in his wet dreams. However, it was not appropriate to call her a girl, as although her figure and her face looked like an unrivaled teen beauty, the flirtatious expression on her could not be rivaled even by one thousand veteran prost.i.tutes in a brothel.
The lady walked out from behind Ma Yi, gracefully gazing over the crowd with her pair of pinkish eyes, which looked as deep as two ponds. In an instant, over 99% of Great Yan Dynasty top influential members and ministers in the hall lost themselves, their knees bending and dropping down to the floor. They were all looking at the lady with a l.u.s.tful expression on their faces while drooling uncontrollably. Some of them even had their little brothers erected, fixing their eyes right on her face and body. They looked like they would leap onto her at any moment and fu*k her on the spot.
The lady suddenly chuckled and said, "Hey everyone, is Su Mei"er pretty?"
Wu Qi"s heart raced, and a flame of evil suddenly arose from his lower abdomen. However, before the evil flame could cause further trouble, the Seven Holy Deities and Devils had immediately thrust out from his Spiritual Ocean and swallowed it. With that, the shape of these Seven Holy Deities and Devils became much clearer, and they began dancing and roaring joyfully in Wu Qi"s body. Wu Qi then stretched his arm and placed his palm on Lu Chengfeng"s back, absorbing the fire of desire that suddenly emerged in Lu Chengfeng"s body, feeding it to the Seven Holy Deities and Devils.
Unfortunately, no other influential members in the hall possessed the skill of protecting their minds like Wu Qi. Except for Yan Xianchen and a few men who had a profound cultivation base and could still calm their mind down, all the other people had their faces turned red and groaned at the same time. There were even a few hundred n.o.blemen and ministers who sprung up with their waist bent, hastily rus.h.i.+ng out from the hall to change their clothes. With just a single affectionately sweet call of the lady, these group of n.o.blemen and ministers had e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed on the spot and made a fool of themselves.
Yan Dan gave the lady a helpless look, smiled wryly and said, "Fox King, please spare Yan Dan"s ministers. How could they withstand your charm?"
Su Mei"er smiled again, then retracted her enchanting look and replaced it with a serious expression, while emanated an intense cold air that enshrouding her body. In just a split second, she underwent an abrupt change from an infatuating demoness to becoming a holy maiden, pure, n.o.ble, and inviolable. She threw her cold and dignified glance over at the crowd, and as if a bucket of icy water was pouring down from their head, it caused all these members of influential who had evil thoughts brewing in their minds to tremble. Their bodies were s.h.i.+vering from head to toe, and the fire of desire that burned ragingly in their bodies was put out instantly.
Amidst the sounds of footsteps, Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, Qin Wuyang, and Tian Guang led a group of about thirty men and women with different heights and looks, walking into the hall and sitting down on the second layer of the dais. Meanwhile, Yan Dan and the other people had also sat down on the highest level of the dais.
After the frightened and trembling influential members and ministers bowed and greeted Yan Dan again, only then he began introducing the five strange men and lady with a smile on his face.
The first dark, burly man was Xiong Wanling, the lord of Black Wind Mountain, the demon king who ruled the mountains and woods thirty million miles in circ.u.mference around the Black Wind Mountain in Meng Mountains. He was a mighty cultivator who had formed his Nascent Divinity, currently at the middle-stage of Nascent Divinity realm, and almost breaking into late-stage. Xiong Jin and Xiong Yin were Xiong Wanling"s grandsons, while the twelve brothers of Xiong Qing were the sons of his grandson, many generations down from him.
Currently, there were at least over three thousand demon bears from the clan of Black Wind Mountain secretly providing their service in various official departments of Great Yan Dynasty, most of them working in the Swallows and Imperial Guards. Among the many powers in Meng Mountain demon beasts, Xiong Wanling was the demon king who worked closest with Great Yan Dynasty.
The skinny old man was He Qianqiu, the lord of Evergreen Cliff in Meng Mountains. Although he only ruled five millions miles of land, as the demons in Evergreen Cliff were mainly flying beasts, half of the territorial sky in Meng Mountains was controlled by his disciples and apprentices. He had just made a breakthrough into the middle-stage of Nascent Divinity realm, and his cultivation base was weaker than Xiong Wanling. However, as a crane[1] could fly in the sky, if they were to fight each other, the two of them would come to a draw.
The short and fat old man was Huo Wuyu. He possessed the bloodline of an ancient fierce bird, the Tailless Owlet, and his cultivation base was at peak-stage of Nascent Divinity realm, just slightly weaker than Wanying Dragon King in Longyuan River. Although he was short, fat, and ugly, his cultivation base was amazing. However, as it was very difficult for the bloodline of Tailless Owlet to mix with other flying beasts, Huo Wuyu was a loner and was not accompanied by any offspring. Nevertheless, he had recruited many fierce birds and established the clan of Thousand Bones Cave, occupying the other half of the territorial sky in Meng Mountains.
The fourth man, which was the skinniest among them all, was named Jin Jia, a man transformed from an ancient beast - the Gold Eating Armadillo. It was a beast that liked to eat all kinds of metals and devouring the Gold element energies in them. His body was extremely tough. Although he had just formed his Nascent Divinity for about 1300 years, the strength of his body and all other formidable abilities of his allowed him to fight equally with Wanying Dragon King, who was at the peak-stage of Nascent Divinity realm. He ruled fifty million miles of land in Meng Mountains, and had created a ma.s.sive base that was occupied by countless of demon beasts in the Bottomless Abyss.
The last one was Su Mei"er. Needless to say, she was actually the direct descendant of the ancient Nine-tailed Fox, possessing the cultivation base of middle-stage Nascent Divinity, and had grown six long tails. Under her were countless fox demons, fairies and tree spirits. As a matter of fact, many of the demonesses from the Enchantment Palace, the power created by Su Mei"er, were found cultivating in about 70% of the brothels in Great Yan Dynasty. Thus, for many men who went patronizing prost.i.tutes in those brothels, not only all their gold and silver coins would be taken away, even their Yang energies would become the greatest contribution to the progress of these demoness" cultivation.
After introducing the five powerful demons who ruled the Meng Mountains, Yan Dan said smilingly, "Three days ago, Yan Dan had burned the Imperial Decree and informed the Heaven that I will confer these five demon kings as the Imperial Advisors of Great Yan. From now onwards, the fate of these five demon kings will be bound together with us, the Great Yan, for better or worse!"
Right after Yan Dan finished his words, everyone in the hall became restless immediately.
[1] The true form of He Qianqiu is a crane. "He" in Chinese means "crane".