Chapter 809: Gathering At The Palace
“…” The cold Tie Lan turned red after hearing this. Li Qiye’s words were too hurtful towards her self-esteem.
Li Qiye didn’t bother looking at her and went inside the mansion. The furious Tie Lan coldly uttered: “If you are helping the Tie Clan, then clearly tell me the reason why!”
Li Qiye continued to ignore her. If it wasn’t because of the Heavenly Flame Goddess, he wouldn’t have wasted time on this matter.
“Miss, please calm down, calm down.” The old turtle quickly consoled her after seeing her angry appearance. He could only play the mediator at this moment.
He was actually quite talented in this regard. After his continuous persuasion, Tie Lan finally calmed down and only glared at Li Qiye. She still scowled and thought that Li Qiye had bad intentions toward her clan.
Although Li Qiye didn’t pay any special attention to her, he still occasionally felt that she was praiseworthy in some ways.
On one day, Li Qiye woke up quite early, but shouts could already be heard within the ruins. Tie Lan had woken up even earlier than him and was practicing her spear techniques.
She was shrouded in a cold aura and appeared to have countless hands as she controlled dozens of spears. All of them flew around in the sky. Some appeared to be flood dragons while others were phoenixes. These spears were like an overbearing rain that flew down like flower petals.
Eventually, with another cry, these dozens of spears came together to form a single attack. The explosive force was quite powerful and created a loud detonation. It was apparent that this was the most powerful attack of the Tie Clan’s spear techniques.
After Tie Lan put away her spears, Li Qiye who had been watching at the side nodded approvingly: “This Storm Petal Spear technique might not be an unbeatable technique or anything, but it is quite remarkable and stately. To be able to bring martial arts to this level really shows that you have trained quite hard.”
Li Qiye’s evaluation was quite high. However, Tie Lan didn’t acknowledge his comment and only snorted!
Her talents weren’t bad and she was very hardworking as well. Some even called her passion for martial arts an obsession since she trained single-mindedly! Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to reach this level of mastery with the spear without a good teacher at such a young age!
Li Qiye looked at her and eventually said: “If you want to cultivate, then I can teach you.”
Li Qiye had no feelings for Tie Lan. He simply wanted to lead her to the path due to her own talents and the Heavenly Flame Goddess. He hoped that the goddess’ legacy could continue on.
Tie Lan coldly peered at him and said: “There is no free meal in this world. What is your goal?” She was very cautious of him!
Li Qiye met her gaze and retorted: “What do you have for me to bother scheming for? Talent-wise, you are only mediocre. When it comes to beauty, I guess you can say that you aren’t ugly; I can just wave my hand and plenty of beauties will show up!”
“You…” A girl was very sensitive to others calling them ugly. Li Qiye was simply putting her down!
Li Qiye raised his brow and dismissively said: “Okay, don’t be so cautious towards me. If I really wanted something from you, then it would be too easy.” He paused for a bit before continuing: “For someone of your age, it could be said that you have missed the best time for cultivation. If you don’t start now, I’m afraid your hair will already be white by the time you change your mind.”
Tie Lan took a deep breath then gazed at Li Qiye before answering in her usual cold tone: “I will not join any sects, I will always be a member of the Tie Clan!”
She was very stubborn in this regard. Because of her prodigal father, she grew to view everything about the Tie Clan as a treasure. She was determined to protect the clan unlike her father who wasted everything!
In fact, her talents were not bad. Some sects had wanted to recruit her, but she continued to cling onto the clan and didn’t want to join any sect.
“You are not qualified to become my disciple.” Li Qiye lazily looked at her and said: “I will teach you an incantation. Whether you learn it or not is up to you.”
Li Qiye chanted this incantation three times then left, not caring whether she memorized it or not.
Once Li Qiye went back to the stone tablet, the old turtle immediately stood up and shamelessly asked: “Great immortal yahh… Will you also teach this lowly one a little bit? My cultivation is shallow since I am stupid and know nothing about the art of the grand dao. Great immortal is a true celestial from the heavens; a single incantation from you could shock the entire world…”
The old turtle saw Li Qiye purposely teaching Tie Lan cultivation, so he also shamelessly asked for help. A sectless cultivator like him would never let go of any good opportunities.
Li Qiye slowly looked at him and leisurely replied: “Oh? Haven’t you been wanting to go back to your Quicksand River this entire time? Why are you asking me for help now?”
The turtle coughed and immediately swore: “Great immortal is misunderstanding me. My respect for you is like an endlessly surging river. With your command, I would dive into a sea of flames or a mountain of blades—”
“Okay, stop sucking up.” Li Qiye interrupted the turtle: “If you are willing to stay, then I can think about it.”
The old turtle smiled awkwardly but didn’t dare to bring it up again.
“In two days, we will go to the Ox-Herder capital. We’ll bring the little girl as well.” Li Qiye commanded.
The turtle shuddered after hearing this. He had always been alone and spent the majority of his time hiding at the bottom of the river. But now, the thought of facing so many experts and cultivators made him quite anxious.
“What if, what if Miss Tie doesn’t want to go?” The old turtle tried to come up with an excuse.
Li Qiye leered at him: “Then you go convince her for me!” Li Qiye appreciated the turtle’s skills of persuasion a little bit. This cowardly turtle was not so useless after all.
“If she really doesn’t want to go, then tie her up and bring her there.” Li Qiye grew tired of talking and said: “She won’t have her way when I’m around.”
The old turtle didn’t dare to say anything back as his head shrunk back into the shell. He knew that Li Qiye was already annoyed.
The Ox-Herder Country barely scraped by as a second-rate sect in the southern Beast Realm. At the same time, it was a tributary state under the Heavenhoof Ravine.
The ravine controlled the fifteen strongest sects in the region, so a small country like Ox-Herder was not anything to them since there were so many similar ones under their banner.
This small banquet held by Su Mingchen had many participating royal lords and sect masters from the lineages nearby. Among them, the Sacred Demon Tribe and the Tombskull Sect were the strongest as first-rate powers.
Although this meeting on paper was for the leaders to talk about recent events, the most important reason was the fact that the real organizer was the Bird King! Otherwise, Su Mingchen alone wouldn’t have been able to invite the leaders from the two strongest sects.
The Bird King recently came to the Ox-Herder Country, so many sect masters wanted to get close to him and build social ties. Because of this, Su Mingchen decided to host this banquet for the various leaders.
All the sect masters and royal lords were present at the start of the banquet, but the Bird King had yet to arrive.
In fact, someone as young as the Bird King was not entitled to such grand treatment from the Sacred Demon Tribe and the Tombskull Sect. The Bird King came from the Feather Country and recently became its royal lord. He had yet to reach the Heavenly King realm, so in terms of cultivation, he could only be considered to stand out in talent among the younger generation.
However, this was not the focus for outsiders. The most important thing was that he was the second brother of the ravine as well as the Golden Crow Prince’s junior. He was also held in high regard by the elders, so his status in the southern Beast Realm was especially prestigious.
Time went by, but Sheng Fei hadn’t arrived and neither did Li Qiye. As the host, Su Mingchen grew a bit worried. He hoped that these two could talk without causing trouble. If a fight broke out in his small country, then his tiny land wouldn’t be able to withstand the repercussions from these behemoths.
Li Qiye eventually appeared as Su Mingchen was standing there, waiting. He was sitting on a turtle with Tie Lan walking next to him.
Su Mingchen heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Li Qiye arriving just as promised and quickly went to greet him.
The other guests grimaced after seeing Li Qiye’s group. All the leaders here were acquaintances, so they found it strange that Li Qiye’s group was here. Plus, Tie Lan was a mortal no matter how you looked at her.
Mortals were not qualified to appear at this banquet. The three of them formed quite a strange group, so the guests were puzzled at their arrival.
What made them even more discontent was that after Li Qiye came in, he didn’t greet any of the royal lords or sect masters. Instead, he sat in the master seat as if he was in charge. This annoyed them greatly!
These leaders were in charge of this region. It could even be said that they were the masters of others’ life and death. However, this young man didn’t bother bowing to greet them at all and even took the master seat.
One of the royal lords was obviously unhappy and drily asked: “Ox King, you invited other people as well?”
The Ox King felt troubled. He couldn’t offend Li Qiye or the others, but Li Qiye had no such constraints. A brute like Li Qiye would cause rivers to run with blood at the first sign of discord. This guy dared to massacre the Xian Clan and even attacked the kingdom! His little country was simply nothing in comparison.
“Young Noble Li is here to discuss some business with the Bird King.” Su Mingchen quickly responded with a smile.
The guests took another look at Li Qiye. In their minds, someone like Li Qiye wasn’t worthy of talking with the Bird King. However, if this turned out to be true, then it was better for them to suppress their annoyance.
As time passed, the Bird King still didn’t show up, so the leaders continued to wait! This period wasn’t easy for Su Mingchen. He was hoping that time would fly by faster as this was a type of torture for him.
On the other hand, Li Qiye was as calm as ever while quietly sitting there.