Chapter 253: Born Human, and Proud of It!

Ashido's words struck Ming Hong and the others like a thunderclap detonating inside their skulls.

It was as if a Higashio Dashan had slammed into them, body and soul shaken, their very souls knocked loose.

In their eyes, even though Ashido and Ashhi were servants, they were still Saints in the end, and such strength within a single clan should be formidable, belonging to the strongest of servants.

But reality gave their faces a vicious slap.

Saints aren't the strongest servants?? Meaning there are those even stronger than Saints? Great Saints? Sage?!

The mere thought of a Sage serving as a servant made Ming Hong and the others feel as if their minds no longer belonged to them; whatever composure they had crumbled to pieces. If Ashido and Ashhi weren't here, give them a well-soundproofed room right now and they could roar in there for days and nights on end.

Saints serving as servants, yet they're not even the strongest — then what on earth is the strongest in this clan? If even the servants are this monstrous, what about the clan's formal members? And what level would the very topmost existence be at?

"The Twenty-Eight Mansions… i-is, is it referring to twenty-eight my lords…"

Someone caught the phrase "one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions" from Ashido.

Seeing Ashido and Ashhi neither confirm nor deny, merely nodding, no one could hold it in any longer.

"Twenty-eight? ！！！！"

Regardless of age or sex, all of them swayed like old folk in their final years; this was no longer mere dizziness of the mind — every inch of skin, every single hair on their bodies felt as if it were spinning in rapture.

At this moment, they had only one thought.

Does the Ashido clan mass-produce Saints?

Not eight, not ten, but twenty-eight! What kind of concept is that — a single clan dispatching twenty-eight servants could outshine the foundations of every major race in the Myriad Wastes Realm.

Although the foundations of the top ten races of the Myriad Wastes Realm had never been publicly disclosed, and they certainly still had hidden reserves, Ming Hong and the others believed that surveying every major race in the Myriad Wastes Realm, even the foremost race probably didn't have twenty-eight Saints — at most, roughly that number.

But that was only after gathering an entire major race to reach the count of twenty-eight, whereas your single clan has twenty-eight Saints, and the key point is they're merely servants — the clan's core personnel haven't even been counted yet.

It could be certain that, apart from servants, the weakest of the Ashido clan's core personnel must surely be Saints; otherwise, how could one have Saints serving as servants? The Ashido clan's upper echelons must certainly have existences even more powerful than Saints — Great Saints, for instance, and most likely Sages!

Calculated this way, the Ashido clan has at minimum more than twenty-eight existences above the Saint level.

Unimaginable — just how terrifying a clan is the Ashido clan?

Saints mass-produced as servants, Great Saints possibly numbering several, Sages definitely present, and there might even be existences beyond Sages that defy imagination.

The blow was too great.

The perceptions Ming Hong and the others had built up over a century were all shattered — perhaps to soothe the blow to their hearts, they picked up their worldview that had scattered across the floor.

Someone spoke up.

"I imagine that even as servants, my lord must absolutely be among the most talented batch in the clan — otherwise, how could you qualify as one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions? On this point, I think my lord, I am not wrong…"

In his view, the life auras of Ashido and Ashhi were very young, probably under a few hundred years old; reaching Saint at such an age would be top-tier even in the Myriad Wastes Realm, and Saints serving as the Twenty-Eight Mansions also demonstrated Ashido and the other's talent.

There was every reason to believe that even if Ashido and Ashhi's talent wasn't the ceiling of the Ashido clan, it was at least the next tier down.

Then he saw Ashido and Ashhi gently shake their heads.

Every person's heart gave an involuntary lurch.

Immediately after.

"Compared to your world, Wei and I would be considered top-tier, but in the Ashido clan, we are not. The most talented in the Ashido clan is the Young Master."

In Ashido's words, without concealing that fervor and reverence for the Young Master, his stern face showed emotion for the first time, revealing agitation:

"The Young Master reached the Third Step of Divinity before he was even twenty — that is, the Sage level you speak of. As for me, at twenty I was nowhere near a Saint, let alone a Sage — I was worlds away from it. Compared to the Young Master, Wei and I are nothing, so how could we be among the most talented batch of the Ashido clan?"

Silence, as if the air itself had dropped dead.

Everyone's eyes were wide open, each one unmistakably conveying the same unspoken look.

My lord, are you sure you didn't misspeak?!!!!!

Sage and Saint — the two differ by a single character; they couldn't possibly have misheard. For a moment, they were all dumbfounded.

A Sage before the age of twenty? Then what level would he reach once past a hundred…

The crowd fell silent.

They looked at Ashido and Ashhi.

Their gazes were filled with disbelief, desperately wanting to ask: my lord, what did your clan's adults eat to grow up?

This isn't a Saint — it's a Sage, a realm even more powerful than a Saint. How on earth did he cultivate? Was he born a Saint? Raised drinking Sage blood, fed on Sage flesh? Even so, there's no way he could reach Great Saint before twenty.

Slap!

The person who had spoken earlier slapped himself across the face.

Damn it, I never should've asked — screw that question.

Not to mention him, everyone present felt the same — their worldview shattered beyond recovery, feeling that from now on, no matter what genius they saw, they would no longer be surprised, only thinking them all garbage.

Involuntarily, they recalled the earth-shattering news from the Myriad Wastes Realm they had heard before.

They heard the strongest prodigy of the Ghost Horn Race took two hundred years to reach Half-Step Saint.

How impressive — the Three-Headed Lion Race produced the strongest Three-Headed Lion bloodline, expected to reach Saint within three hundred and fifty years.

All such news, at this moment, felt like nothing.

What strongest bloodline, what strongest prodigy — all garbage. Compared to the Ashido clan's Young Master, they're all a pile of shit, useless mud that can't be propped up on a wall.

A sudden realization!

Everyone finally understood why Ashido and Ashhi were merely servants.

Compared to a figure like the Ashido clan's Young Master, they could indeed only be servants. With that kind of talent, probably within a hundred years he could reach a level far beyond Sage. With such a Young Master, no wonder he could command existences numbering at minimum twenty-eight Saints.

The Ashido clan.

Ming Hong and the others etched this clan name deep into their memories, unable to forget it — as if branded into their very souls.

At the same time, a surge of intense pride welled up in them, an urge to roar toward the heavens, to shout it out loud.

The Ashido clan — with at minimum twenty-eight Saints, with a heaven-defying monster-level existence who reached Sage before the age of twenty — they are of our Human race!!!

At this moment.

The words spoken by Ashido and Ashhi echoed through their minds.

Humans are not weak — they are among the most ancient beings, noble and powerful!

At this moment.

They were immensely proud.

Born as human, I am proud of it!

With this surging heart and their newly rebuilt three views, they set off toward the lands of the human race.

……