The young man was tall and handsome, his whole body a perfect explanation of masculine beauty.

A dense earth power was surrounding the young man"s body. When he stood in front of Ji Hao, he could clearly sense the strange fluctuation of gravity.

The air surrounding the young man seemed to be divided into countless tiny parts, and the gravity affected every tiny part, fluctuating rapidly. The gravity in every tiny part varied from great to small, from up to down, left to right. Because of the strange fluctuation of gravity, the light around the young man was even twisted a bit, making his figure hazy and hard to be caught by eyes clearly.

The earth power was heavy and dense, and added with the tall and muscular body of this young man, it made people feel like this young man was a giant mountain rooted deeply in the ground, rough and indestructible, and could stand still till eternity.

However, the rapidly changing gravity around the young man added an immeasurable weirdness to the mountain-like feeling, just like a mirage that one would never know whether it was real or imaginary.

He was especially powerful, a Divine-Magus-level powerful man.

Besides, this young man seemed to be around thirty-year-old tops. Based on the fact that he could attain such a great power at such a young age, he was definitely from some top-grade clan or family, and was raised and educated with limitless resources as a future backbone of the family or clan.

"Earl Yao, this is the first time seeing you in person. Please accept my, Gong Sun Yuan"s best wishes," said the young man while holding the wine cup slightly up, "The new year is coming, and I wish you, Earl Yao, a good weather for the crops, a good life for your people, and a thriving future for your territory."

Ji Hao silently wondered about the background of this Gong Sun Yuan, that series of good wishes sounded quite smooth!

Picking up the jade wine up and pouring himself a cup of wine, Ji Hao stood up, gave a complicated glance at Gong Sung Yuan, then smilingly held the wine cup up and said, "Thank you, thank you…Forgive me for my ignorance, how should I call you?"

Gong Sun Yuan smiled, clinked his cup with Ji Hao"s cup and responded in a gentle voice, "I am Earl Ao, a prince of You Xiong Family, nice to meet you. We should meet more, my brother."

Ji Hao"s pupils suddenly shrunk to the size of the needlepoint. He clinked his cup again with Gong Sun Yuan, then emptied the cup, calming himself down with alcohol.

You Xiong Family? Emperor Xuan Yuan"s family? Gong Sun, Gong Sun, this was Emperor Xuan Yuan"s last name. Gong Sun Yuan was a prince of You Xiong Family? And he possessed the t.i.tle of Earl Ao?

Ji Hao had read about Ao Mountain in a book back in the Magi Palace. It was a great mountain range near Shouyang Mountain, rich in divine metal minerals. Even since the era of the three legendary human emperors, seventy percent of the divine metal materials that were used make top-grade magic weapons in the Magi Palace, such as blades, spears, and swords, all came from the Ao Mountain.

The mines in Ao Mountain had been exploited for countless years, but the mineral resources in that area still seemed to be inexhaustible. Ao Mountain territory covered seventy percent of the Magi Palace"s supply of high-grade divine metal materials. This clearly showed how rich Ao Mountain territory was.

Gong Sun Yuan inherited the t.i.tle of Earl Ao, so it was not hard to imagine how rich he was now. In addition to being rich, the armament supply of Ao Mountain territory was abundant as well. Consequently, the military force of Ao Mountain territory was a well-known elite force.

As for You Xiong Family, since Emperor Xuan Yuan abdicated the throne, You Xiong Family people had been hiding their capacities and biding their time, barely attaching themselves to political affairs. However, as Ji Hao was pretty close to Si Xi and his son, Si Wen Ming, Ji Hao heard them talk about all strong forces among the humankind during the few banquets, and learned some secrets that ordinary human beings couldn"t know.

After Emperor Xuan Yuan abdicated the throne, You Xiong Family and the other few top-grade large clans and families were actually hidden behind the scenes by the human government as strategic reserve forces of the entire humankind and had been silently acc.u.mulating their powers. In the meanwhile, these few large clans and families were guarding several holy lands of the humankind.

Since the era of the three legendary human emperors, You Xiong Family never took part in any war between the humankind and the non-humankind. It had been countless years, and no one could tell for sure exactly how much power had You Xiong Family acc.u.mulated during all these years, or how many Magus Kings, Divine Magi, even Supreme Magi did they have in the family. Regarding this, even Emperor Shun probably only had a vague number in his mind.

Only their own Master Elder, who was holding the real power, knew exactly how powerful You Xiong Family was now.

Therefore, when facing Gong Sun Yuan, Ji Hao dared not to show any disrespect. He said to Gong Sun Yuan seriously, "You"re absolutely right, Earl Ao, we should definitely meet more in the future."

Gong Sun Yuan smilingly nodded, glanced at Bo Qiujia, who was sitting beside Ji Hao, and said blandly, "Then I shall leave you with your friend here. Someday, I will certainly visit you in your territory. Please don"t blame me for disturbing you at that time."

The two of them smiled and bowed slightly to each other, then Gong Sun Yuan held his wine cup and walked to a long table next to Ji Hao"s. Ji Hao sat back down, narrowed his eyes, looking at Gong Sun Yuan constantly talking and cottoning up with all those earls and marquis, except for those clan leaders that came from Southern Wasteland.

"We have accurate intelligence." Bo Qiujia abruptly said to Ji Hao, "Gong Gong Wuyou is very close to Gong Sun Yuan. Gong Gong Wuyou is a descendant of a G.o.d, so he can"t be the human emperor. But Gong Sun Yuan is a descendant of one of the three legendary human emperors, that makes him the strongest opponent of Prince Tianming."

"Eh? He wants to be the human emperor as well?" Ji Hao shrugged and laughed relaxedly, "But what have I got to do with it? Bo Qiujia, so many earls and marquis have seen with their own eyes that I beat Zhu Rong Tianming in public. I will never get myself involved in this."

"You won"t help him, will you?" Bo Qiujia asked straightforwardly, "You have personal issues with Wuzhi Qi, and back then, when you were new to Pu Ban city, you and Gong Gong Wuyou were enemies. You won"t be silly enough to betray Southern Wasteland and help your enemies, will you?"

Ji Hao fiddled with his wine cup and said blandly, "Gong Gong Wuyou can"t be the human emperor, but Zhu Rong Tianming can?"

Bo Qiujia smiled and said proudly, "Half of Prince Tianming"s bloodline came from the humankind. His mother was a human being. Therefore, he surely can be the human emperor…Earl Yao, you won"t truly help Gong Sun Yuan, will you?"

Ji Hao smiled and shook his head.

"This Bo Qiujia is even more disgusting than a hundred buzzing flies. Why does he stay in here and keep talking all that nonsense over and over again?" complained Ji Hao silently in his head.

"I am nothing but a small Earl. How much could I possibly help Zhu Rong Tianming in the compet.i.tion for the throne of the human emperor? And Emperor Shun is perfectly healthy, sitting right there. How come Zhu Rong Tianming and Gong Sunyuan have started wanting his throne already?;

"Think about my suggestion." Bo Qiujia looked honestly at Ji Hao and said, "If you are willing to help us, in the future…"

"Stop the big talk." Ji Hao interrupted Bo Qiujia again and said, "Even if Zhu Rong Tianming attained the throne, what could he decide? To term our sect into the biggest religion of the humankind? Hehe, are you joking? Is that something that could be up to us?"

Bo Qiujia remained silent for a while, attempting to make some further efforts to persuade Ji Hao. But suddenly, a six-meter tall strong man stood up from behind Wuzhi Qi, who was sitting in front of Ji Hao, laughed out loud and said, "Lords, these small shows are boring, why don"t we have some real things?"

The muscular man walked to the middle of the hall, yelled away the two performers who were playing catching fireb.a.l.l.s, then drummed his own chest heavily.

"Who wants to wrestle me to entertain our lords? Is there a strong man from Southern Wasteland who can win me in wrestling?"

The noisy hall instantly quieted down. Emperor Shun, who was smilingly chatting with a few elderly earls and marquis, cast a complicated glance at the man.