Chapter 587: How Very Disappointing Of You
Bai Xiaochun was in a wonderful mood as he sped toward the flame conjuring trial. Quite a few clan members were following along behind him, extremely curious to see what would happen next.
“He’s going toward the flame conjuring trial!”
“He’s already taken 1st place in the Foundation Establishment trials for spirit enhancement and soul medicine. If he does the same with flame conjuring, then Bai Hao... will definitely rise to prominence with incredible speed!”
“Something seems strange about all this, though. Bai Hao always had a low position, and seemed cowardly and weak. Why is he suddenly showing off like this? Furthermore, it’s hard to believe he has such heaven-defying talent in spirit enhancement!”
As the discussions raged, Bai Xiaochun hurried along to the trial for flame conjuring. Upon arriving, he found a stone stele that was clearly much larger than the other stone steles in the other locations.
Three concentric rings of conjuring stations could be seen at the bottom of the stone stele. Furthermore, quite a crowd was present, including many servants. Obviously, people had already heard about Bai Hao’s performances earlier, and had come to watch.
As soon as he appeared, more conversations rose up.
“He’s here! Bai Hao is here!”
“In one day, he’s already taken 1st place in the trials for spirit enhancement and soul medicine. I'm going to bet that he’ll also acquire a shocking rank in the flame conjuring rankings!”
“Nice job, Bai Hao.... Nobody ever noticed you before, but that was because you were keeping your true potential hidden!”
Bai Xiaochun strode forward through the crowd, which parted to make way for him. Inside, he was sighing repeatedly.
“Bai Hao, my apprentice, all of this praise belongs to you. With your talent in flame concocting, I'm sure you would do even better than me.” The more Bai Xiaochun thought about how tragically Bai Hao had died, the more he felt like it was a huge pity.
“The Bai Clan owes you, and as your Master, I’m going to make sure you get what's yours!
“In addition to flushing out your killer, I have another goal. I want to see the reaction of both your father and the clan as a whole when you prove how talented you are!” Eyes sparkling, he headed toward one of the conjuring workstations and then closed himself inside. Outside, the audience looked on in anticipation.
The matter had even drawn the attention of some of the clan elders, many of whom left their mansions to come see what was going on for themselves.
As of this moment, the entire Bai Clan was being shaken by Bai Xiaochun’s shocking performance.
Not too long after he entered the conjuring workstation, eight beams of light appeared off in the distance, in the lead position of which was an eye-catching young man in the great circle of Core Formation.
The group which accompanied him were all chosen of the Bai Clan who followed him blindly wherever he went. The arrival of the group caused another commotion in the crowd.
“Bai Qi!!”
“A chosen from the direct bloodline, officially proclaimed as the qilin son of the Bai Clan... Bai Qi!!”
“Interesting. He and Bai Hao actually have the same father, but different mothers.” The clan members and servants in the area looked on with glittering eyes, and many of them made way for the new arrivals. Some of the clan members gazed upon Bai Qi with zealous passion; to them, he was the number one chosen of his generation, the crown chief of the clan!
Such clan members stepped forward and offered formal greetings. However, there were others in the crowd who gave little more than hostile snorts.
Those people were from other, auxiliary bloodlines. It was only natural for there to be tension between different bloodlines in a clan, especially when it came to competition between the chosen members.
Bai Qi nodded in response to the clan members who were offering formal greetings, then glanced around at the hundreds of people and said, “Quite a little crowd we have here. I heard something’s going on. What could it be?”
Despite the broad smile on his face, he was actually feeling very displeased.
Among the clan members who clearly revered Bai Qi was a young man who stepped forward and respectfully said, “Crown Chief, everybody’s here because Bai Hao took 1st place in the other two trials by fire. Now that he’s come to the trial for flame conjuring, we're all here to see what happens.”
“Oh? Bai Hao, huh? Seems my worthless little brother has attracted quite a bit of attention. Alright, well as his older brother I guess I might as well wait around to congratulate him.” As soon as these words left his mouth, profound gleams could be seen in the eyes of many others in the area.
Obviously, everyone was well aware of the relationship between Bai Qi and Bai Hao
It was in that moment that Bai Hao’s name suddenly lit up on the stone stele, in 1st place, with the words seven-colored flame next to it!
Bai Xiaochun had been careful to limit his success to seven-colored flame; after all, Bai Hao was supposed to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and although he was trying to make a scene, he didn’t want to make things too unrealistic, otherwise it could lead to trouble.
Seven-colored flame was where he chose to limit things, the standard for master necromancers. Master necromancers were rare among Foundation Establishment cultivators, and would cause a stir wherever they appeared, even in Giant Ghost City.
“Seven-colored flame!!”
“This Bai Hao... he’s... he’s actually a master necromancer!!”
“Heavens, how is that possible? Even a lot of the clan elders in the Core Formation stage aren’t master necromancers....”
People in the crowd were starting to go crazy, both direct bloodline descendants and people from the auxiliary bloodlines. As for the clan elders who had come to observe, they were visibly moved.
Bai Qi’s face was expressionless, and yet, inside, he was feeling extremely displeased. It was even possible to see a grim glint in his eyes.
As the crowd clamored, Bai Xiaochun emerged from the conjuring workstation, and was very pleased by what he heard. As of this point, he was fairly certain that he had achieved his goal of establishing a high profile. Now that he had taken 1st place in all of the trials by fire, it was highly likely that whoever was responsible for Bai Hao’s death would accelerate their plans. Furthermore, he would soon see what the clan chief felt about the whole thing.
In almost the exact same instant that he stepped out into the open, numerous gazes fell upon him. There were gazes of jealousy, confusion, shock, and various other emotions.
As for Bai Qi, his eyes were cold and filled with disgust.
Bai Xiaochun quickly noticed Bai Qi, and although it was his first time seeing Bai Hao’s older brother, based on his cultivation base and expression, it was easy to identify him.
“So that’s Bai Qi, huh...?” he thought, standing there staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Everyone could see what was happening, and soon, the crowd quieted down. Many of the people from the auxiliary bloodlines looked over, curious about what exactly would happen between the two brothers.
Bai Qi looked over and coolly said, “Feeling proud of yourself?”
His cultivation base was in the great circle of Core Formation, which caused significant pressure to weigh down on the crowd as his voice echoed out with thunderous might. Quite a few people even backed up a bit.
“Taking 1st place in all three trials is quite an accomplishment,” he continued, “I’ll give you that.” Although Bai Qi appeared to be offering words of congratulation, the coldness in his tone didn’t seem congratulatory at all.
Bai Xiaochun’s eyes sparkled as he continued to stare at Bai Qi and wait for him to make his point. Whatever he said would reveal the true nature of his relationship with Bai Hao.
“Unfortunately,” Bai Qi continued in a cool tone, “you pushed things a bit too far, Bai Hao. Nobody else here knows you very well, but as your older brother, I do. How could you possibly accomplish something like this on your own? Clearly, you used some underhanded method to cheat! How very disappointing of you.” With that, Bai Qi extended his right hand to reveal a command medallion, which he waved at the stone stele.
Instantly, Bai Hao’s name on the ranking list faded away and disappeared. Shockingly, Bai Qi had used his status as crown chief to simply remove Bai Hao’s name!
At first, everyone in the area was shocked, but then, they broke out into a hubbub.
“Cheating?”
“See, I told you so! Bai Hao was always weak and cowardly. How could he suddenly rise to prominence like that? As it turns out, he was cheating....”
“Interesting. Well, nobody will ever be able to say for sure whether he was actually cheating or not....”
Meanwhile, Bai Qi was looking coldly at Bai Xiaochun, doing nothing to conceal the disdain and contempt in his eyes.
It was almost as if he were using his gaze to tell Bai Xiaochun that no matter what he did, he could reduce him to nothing with the single slap of a palm!