AGM 162 – Returning politeness for politeness
Chu Tianjiao stood up. Although his side just won a major victory, his countenance remained unchanged, with no hints of complacence. On the contrary, he bowed towards the Elders of the Emperor Star Academy as he stated, “Respected Elders, Chu Tianjiao of the junior generation has some things he wishes to say.”
Old Gu gently let down Xanxus as he glanced at Chu Tianjiao. This person was neither proud nor hot-tempered and had great talent. Indeed, he could be considered a precious gem.
A pity, his ambitions were too wild. He wanted to swallow Chu whole, ridding it of all other powers, allowing the Royal Clan of Chu to cover the skies with one hand.
Without the Emperor Star Academy and the resistance of the Qin Clan, the imperial authority of the Royal Clan was absolute.
“Victory and defeat are common on the cultivation path. As for the battles today, the students of my Emperor Star Academy will bear this in mind and will continue to work even harder in their cultivation.” Regardless of what he thought in his heart, Old Gu wouldn’t allow the academy to appear as a sore loser. At the very least, Chu Tianjiao’s words were beautifully spoken, yet, everyone knew of his rapacious ambitions.
“Chu Tianjiao admires the vision of Elder Gu. But for the matter regarding Qin Yao, I have to stress it again and hope that Elder would reconsider allowing Miss Qin to accompany Crown Prince Xiao Lǜ back to Snowcloud.” Chu Tianjiao’s tone was polite, neither forceful nor overbearing.
“As long as the Elders of the Academy don’t obstruct us of the junior generation, we will take her back with us.” Chu Tianjiao spoke again.
“In this case, do you mean you will resort to force?” A glint of coldness flashed in Old Gu’s eyes.
“We don’t dare to. However, this is originally a matter among the junior generations, so it would be good if we handle it ourselves. Naturally, if the Elders of the Emperor Star Academy shameless make use of their numbers to obstruct the path of the junior generations, I have nothing else to say.” Chu Tianjiao placed an extremely huge hat on the head of the Emperor Star Academy. Everyone on the scene understood his intentions.
it was as though he was intentionally provoking the academy now after the Royal Academy obtained victory in the previous battles. This wasn’t about the matter of the academy blocking his path to Qin Yao, but rather the students of the academy were useless and had to depend on their seniors to bully them, the members of the junior generations.
“The logic of the 3rd Prince really made me unsure of whether should I laugh or cry.” Old Gu remarked sarcastically. “Based on your logic, after you won the battles, this gave you the right to forcibly snatch Qin Yao Away? And if the Emperor Star Academy interferes, this meant that we the Elders are bullying the junior generations? WHAT DO YOU TAKE THE EMPEROR STAR ACADEMY AS?” Old Gu roared.
“If Elder insists on understanding it this way, Chu Tianjiao has nothing more to say. If the Emperor Star Academy still insists on their stance, I can only leave. However, wouldn’t the reputation of your academy be besmirched?” Chu Tianjiao smiled.
“You merely won a few deliberately pre-arranged battles. Why do I feel as though the Royal Academy is already standing on the Emperor Star Academy’s head?” Qin Wentian couldn’t bear it and stepped forth. Chu Tianjiao looked humble on the surface but in reality, each of his words and actions were deliberately forceful and extremely overbearing.
“The Emperor Star Academy wasn’t prepared while you guys somehow gathered a few unknown experts whom nobody has ever heard of and deliberately chose who to challenge. Do you also consider this a victory? Today, the Royal Academy paid a visit that we will return it ‘politely’ sooner or later. And with regards to the Emperor Star Academy, most of our Yuanfu Realm students have already graduated, so battles at the realm of Yuanfu don’t really hold much persuasiveness.”
Qin Wentian slowly spoke, causing the countenance of the crowd to freeze. According to Qin Wentian, it was as though he was preparing to counter with a challenge to the Royal Academy. Even the eyes of Old Gu shone with a luster after he heard Qin Wentian’ words.
“On the contrary, for martial academies in Chu, Arterial Circulation cultivators are the most numerous. Don’t you feel that battle challenges at the Arterial Circulation Realm would be more appropriate? Five days from now, there will be five students at the Arterial Circulation Realm from the Emperor Star Academy paying a visit to the Royal Academy. I can guarantee that these five students are definitely not outsiders we hired from outside and would certainly be people that the Royal Academy knows.”
Qin Wentian was undoubtedly hinting that the Emperor Star Academy wouldn’t be as shameless as Chu Tianjiao, hiring experts from god knows where to fight their battles.
Old Gu casted a glance at Qin Wentian and laughed.Today, the Royal Academy’s visit was to smack their faces and to destroy the reputation of the Emperor Star Academy. Qin Wentian’s suggestion was excellent, provided that they won.
After all, there were bound to be many elites after the merger between the Royal Academy and the Godly General Martial Palace.
“This suggestion is excellent.” Old Gu spoke, “The majority of our Yuanfu students have already graduated and left the academy. Indeed, there isn’t much to compare here. However, I believe that both our academies would have a huge number of those at Arterial Circulation.”
“As for the matter regarding Qin Yao, what is the stance of the Emperor Star Academy?”
“Qin Yao currently is a student of my academy. If 3rd Highness dares to say that if our Emperor Star Academy wins the battles five days from now, we would have the rights to snatch any beautiful female students without us facing interference from the Royal Academy, I have nothing else to add.” Old Gu coldly laughed. Based on Chu Tianjiao’s status, there was no way he would make such a ridiculous decision.
Chu Tianjiao went silent. He knew that he had no hopes of bringing Qin Yao away today. Naturally, he already knew before he came that it would be impossible, but still, some words had to be said on the surface. Not only that, they already achieved their objective to place the Emperor Star Academy in an embarrassing position. News of such matters would surely be spread swiftly to the entire Royal Academy, thus affecting the reputation of the Emperor Star Academy.
However, Chu Tianjiao had never expected that Qin Wentian would actually issue a challenge to the Royal Academy instead.
“Farewell.” Chu Tianjiao bowed once again before he turned and departed. Those around him mirrored his actions and strode away.
“Would the Royal Academy accept our challenge five days from now?” Qin Wentian stared at the departing back view of Chu Tianjiao as he inquired.
“Anytime, whenever you are ready.” The sound of Chu Tianjiao’s voice drifted over. Old Gu’s countenance turned heavy as he spoke to Qin Wentian who was standing beside him, “Wentian, after the merger of the two academies, in addition to them seeking help from external experts, this matter is not going to be so simple to handle.”
“Today, they were the guests, so out of politeness, we followed their rules. Five days from now, we will be the guests instead and will set rules of our own. Why do we need to battle separately?” A sharp glint of light flickered in Qin Wentian’s eyes, causing the countenance of Old Gu to freeze. After which he patted Qin Wentian’s back. The little guy’s pressure was going to be exceptionally great.
The crowd gradually departed. And just as Chu Tianjiao had predicted, news of their Royal Academy’s previous challenge erupted and was swiftly spread to the entire Royal Capital.
The newly emerged Royal Academy wanted to make good use of their limelight after the merger to suppress the Emperor Star Academy, becoming the number one martial academy in the Royal Capital.
Indeed, this caused the hearts of many younger talents to waver. Initially, the majority of them had intended to enroll in the Emperor Star Academy a few days from now. Did they have to change their decisions?
However, there was another piece of news being disseminated. The Emperor Star Academy felt that their losses were unjust and reissued another challenge to the Royal Academy.
And the person who issued the challenge was none other than the champion of the Jun Lin Banquet—Qin Wentian.
With Qin Wentian’s combat prowess, it was indeed tough for him to find a match at Arterial Circulation. However, what about the rest? Would the odds be in the favour of the Emperor Star Academy?
Currently, Qin Wentian was in closed door seclusion again. After Francis received his letter, he followed Qin Wentian’s instructions and handed the Divine Inscription Painting over to the Divine Weapon Pavilion.
The Divine Weapon Pavilion, using it’s fastest speed in addition to paying an astronomical price, put together all the things that Qin Wentian needed and delivered them to the Emperor Star Academy.
Among the items he needed, there were several demonic cores and an immense amount of demonic-yuan energy Yuan Meteor Stones as well as other resources that stored demonic essence. Just this batch of items that were delivered over could be said to be priceless.
However, this was merely sufficient to cultivate the Fiend Transformation Art to the first level.
And not only that, these amount of resources were insufficient for him to reach the pinnacle of the first level. To achieve the complete mastery of the first level required even more resources.
And with regards to Demonic Emergence, the second level of the Fiend Transformation Art, not only would he need astronomical amounts of resources, he would also need to condense powerful Beast-type Astral Souls before he could cultivate it.
But that was something Qin Wentian only needed to worry about after he stepped into Yuanfu, and opened his 3rd Astral Gate. The current him only wanted to focus on cultivating the first level—Demonic Body.
Qin Wentian immersed himself within, completely ignoring the matters of the outside world.
…………
And as for the three greatest companies within Chu, other than the Sky Transport Network and Heaven’s Wonder, the remaining one was the Heavenly Treasure Tower.
The Sky Transport Network was the greatest delivery and transport power of Chu, Heaven’s Wonder was the greatest gambling establishment, while the Heavenly Treasure Tower was the biggest place where precious treasures were transacted.
There were some similarities with the Divine Weapon Pavilion and also some differences. The main component of goods the Divine Weapon Pavilion was in the market for was the sale and buying of Divine Weapons. However, the Heavenly Treasure Tower focused more on transactions of rare oddities and precious treasures.
And thus, the Heavenly Treasure Tower was also Chu’s grandest auction house.
There were three levels in the Crystal Jade Auction House sanctioned by the Heavenly Treasure Tower. The entire building was bathed in resplendent light, emitting a sense of luxuriousness.
Today, regardless of whether was it the first, second or third level of the Crystal Jade Auction House, all of the seats were filled to the brim. Because, earlier, the Heavenly Treasure Tower had release a piece of news that there was going to be an item of extraordinary value up for auction. Such a news inevitability stirred the curiosity of the masses.
For items that were able to be sold in the Crystal Jade Auction Hall, there was no need to doubt their value. And hence, there were many aristocrats here today.
Zuo Yin and Murin was here, and so was Orchon. Ye Zhan also brought Liu Yan here. Autumn Snow and her friends came as well. They wanted to see the treasure that the Heavenly Treasure Tower wanted to auction away today.
Only to see that on the first level of the Crystal Jade Auction Hall, a beautiful maiden clad in transparent robes were standing atop a gigantic crystal lotus. Her beauty could only be described as stunning, and she was a feast for the eyes for the crowd.
The crystal lotus slowly rose into the air and began to hover. The beautiful girl smiled lightly, charisma gushing forth from her. “Today, the item being auctioned is an item that came from one of the most outstanding youths in the history of the Emperor Star Academy. If it were me, however, I’d remove the section ‘one of’ from that youth’s description.”
As the sound of her voice faded, astonishment and awe could be seen on the faces of the crowd. The most outstanding youth in the history of the Emperor Star Academy? Such an introduction really did cause the crowd to be in suspense.
“When he was 16, he hadn’t stepped on the path of cultivation yet. Him at that moment, had his marriage engagement forcibly called off and was humiliated by others. However, he wasn’t dispirited and chose to give up on himself. On the contrary, when he stepped onto the pathway of cultivation, the first Astral Soul he awakened hailed from the 3rd Heavenly Layer, while his 2nd Astral Soul was from the 4th Heavenly Layer. Using only the short span of a year of time, he stepped into Arterial Circulation and even created a miracle by becoming the champion of the Jun Lin Banquet, defeating Luo Qianqiu and Sikong Mingyue.”
The pupils of the crowd widened. By now, they had already guessed the identity of the person the host was describing. The countenance of Autumn Snow went pale white. That sentence, “his marriage engagement forcibly called off”, wasn’t that referring to her? At this moment, she only felt a burning sensation on her face.
“Not only that, he is also one of the most elite Divine Inscriptionist in Chu, creating a Divine Imprint that even caused a Heavenly Dipper Sovereign to hold him in awe. That was a 3rd-level Divine Inscription, and not only that, it was in the form of a Human-Type Divine Inscription Painting, never before seen in Chu.”
The maiden laughed, and the crowd sighed. Qin Wentian was outstanding indeed. Autumn Snow was thinking in her heart, if everything that happened back then didn’t happen, the guileless and pure youth back then would still be together with her.
“As for the Human-Type Divine Inscription Painting earlier, the Heavenly Dipper Sovereign Gongyang Hong spared no efforts to obtain it and even granted a promise to Mu Rou. And today, this is the second Human-Type Divine Inscription Painting created by Grandmaster Qin. The painting in my hands is a masterpiece that is unique and unmatched, even exceeding his apex creation in the past. Perhaps this will obtain the recognition of Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns once again.”
The female host continued smiling as she gazed at the crowd. Just a few words from her had successfully ignited the passion and excitement of the crowd, causing the blood of many to surge. With the tagline of ‘obtaining recognition from Heavenly Dipper Sovereigns’, this was already sufficient to drive many into a frenzy, despite her not mentioning the auction cost of the painting.
Upon seeing the female action host’s performance, An Liuyan, who was in one of the seats, had a smile on her face. It seemed like the decision to auction the painting away in the Heavenly Treasure Tower was the right decision!