Chapter 1084

Late night.

Wa Island was quite tranquil.

The sea breeze blew gently, and countless giant ships, each thousands of zhang long, rose from Wa Island's jungle.

All the ships were unarmed, all being extra-large transport vessels.

Qing Ning stood on the bow of the first transport ship, a mysterious smile on her lips.

"Ya'er, my good son, as long as you obtain the War Star Core, this bunch of trash-like divine spirit brats will have no power to resist."

"Mother has paved a splendid road to the Human Emperor's throne for you; only this final step remains."

"You go do your best, Mother, and do what I need to do."

Taking a deep breath, Qing Ning extended her arms and forcefully stretched her waist.

Although she had been a mother for many years, Qing Ning's waist remained as slender and supple as a maiden's.

Looking back at those huge transport ships, Qing Ning gave a cold chuckle, then lifted her gaze to the bright moon in the sky.

In a corner of Wa Island, the old Bai, shrunk to the size of a fist, poked his head out from a grass nest, glanced around furtively, then crushed a thumb-sized pearl.

Offshore of Wa Island, on a small island, a teleportation array hidden beneath the sand quietly lit up.

In the faint light, Pei Feng, Blood Prison, Bai Ying, Zhu Ji, and Long Dragon emerged silently.

They happened to see the massive fleet slowly breaking through the clouds, gradually accelerating toward the distance.

Bai Ying took Zhu Ji's hand; a gentle breeze swirled around the two women, then Pei Feng, Blood Prison, and Long Dragon were each enveloped in a faint spiritual light. In the next instant, the five figures vanished.

Shortly thereafter, Pei Feng and the five women entered a transport ship at the rear of the massive fleet.

The fleet's defensive formations were all activated, all early-warning prohibitions were on, and experts wielding tortoise-shell detection treasures roamed about, yet under the joint effort of Bai Ying and Zhu Ji, they silently infiltrated the fleet.

Not even a speck of dust was disturbed.

Inside the transport ship's vast hold, piles of various spirit rice, medicinal herbs, origin crystals, and refined pure metal ingots rose like mountains. Moreover, large quantities of refined pills were neatly stored in exquisite jade bottles.

Besides these, the cabin actually held all kinds of silk and brocade, various exquisite garments and ornaments, even gold-inlaid and jade-embellished boots, hats, belts, saddles, whips, and so on, each piece glittering with jewels, too many to count.

"We're rich!" Zhu Hui and Long Long stared at the countless resources in the cabin, their eyes turning red involuntarily.

Long Long came from a barbarian wilderness tribe, and had been terrified of poverty since childhood.

Zhu Hui... she actually hadn't suffered much since childhood; she was just like a mother tyrannosaurus accustomed to collecting treasure—seeing these things, she found it hard to move her feet.

"Shh!" Bai Hui extended a finger, lightly blowing air in front of her lips, warning the two reckless, savage girls to shut their mouths.

Pei Feng, meanwhile, had wandered around for a while; in a corner of the cabin she actually found a large pile of women's silk and brocade long skirts, gold-embroidered dudou, and various flashy, luxurious, extremely fiery women's clothing.

These items were exquisitely crafted, their cost extremely 'beautiful', and the materials used were of the utmost preciousness.

To put it bluntly, even though Wuguo now possesses vast territories, controls countless subjects, and occupies astronomical amounts of resources, the clothing, accessories, and items worn, used, and employed by Wuguo's high officials and nobles are far inferior to the garments and attire Pei Feng saw.

Pei Feng stared blankly, then walked to the cabin door, carefully pulled it open, and glanced at the doorway.

A white sheet of paper was pasted on the doorway, bearing the two characters 'Xi Fu'.

"I see, these things in the cabins have already been distributed per person." Pei Feng laughed, closed the cabin door, and remarked: "These Elders, they actually live quite... comfortably."

The massive fleet flew away from Wa Island's waters; standing at the bow of the first transport ship, Qing Ning waved her sleeve, and hundreds of slender jade pillars shot out, rapidly expanding in midair.

A space gate slowly opened, and the massive fleet plunged into it without slowing at all.

After a short while, the fleet appeared over the ocean outside Xi Valley; ahead, ten thousand li away, lay Xi Valley shrouded in the chaotic Dao rhyme of the Great Dao.

Rank after rank of warriors from the Xi Huang lineage had already formed arrays in the void, guarding the coordinate point where the fleet emerged.

A burly, heavily armored man nearly three meters tall glanced up and down at Qing Ning, then lightly tapped his chest with his right fist: "Wa Qing Mistress, I never expected you to still manage to deliver the supplies on time this time."

He snorted coldly, then the burly man sneered: "The Elders said Wa Island just suffered a calamity and even gained the support of the so-called Junior Dragon youths; from now on they won't even keep our Xi Huang lineage in mind."

Qing Ning chuckled: "What nonsense? Those Junior Dragon elites are unruly and unreliable... The true foundation of our humanity is still Xi Valley. Without the Elders' support, our humanity would be a ferocious beast without fangs and claws—how could it survive?"

Numerous armored soldiers boarded the transport ships, rudely pushing open cabin after cabin to inspect them.

All told, there were nearly one hundred thousand transport ships, each with only a few hundred crew members operating the ship and patrolling warriors; the total number of soldiers in the entire fleet was no more than one million.

Qing Ning sighed: "You're all being overly cautious; could Wa Island possibly ambush a large army and go to war with Xi Valley?"

The leader of the welcoming soldiers instantly laughed: "What are you saying, Mistress? Hehe, we're just afraid there might be evil cultists hidden aboard... Going to war, haha, we're not afraid of war!"

Qing Ning gave a light laugh and said nothing.

The armored soldiers roughly inspected these transport ships, and upon finding that they were indeed fully loaded with various living supplies and cultivation resources, they all let out sharp whistles. Only then did the massive fleet restart and fly toward Xi Valley.

After a quarter of an hour, Qing Ning stood in a round hall.

The massive round hall had layers of stepped white jade platforms all around, on which nearly a thousand exquisitely carved jade high-backed thrones were arranged in a staggered fashion.

All the Elders of Xi Valley, except those slain by Wu Tie, every other Elder—even those who lived boringly, old antiques who had long been in secluded meditation—today all dressed neatly and gleamed with oil and shine, sitting upon these thrones.

Qing Ning stood at the center of the hall, nearly a thousand Xi Huang lineage Elders seated on the thrones above, looking down upon her like a carrion-eating vulture, greedy and ferocious.

Outside the round hall, the Xi Valley's accumulated Venerable-level powerhouses over the years, each clad in heavy armor, stood in neat ranks, encircling the hall impregnably.

What is shocking is that, on that day, Xi Yi told Wu Tie that the Heavenly Dao Cavern needed to accumulate a million years of 'pure Dao rhyme' before a human elite could break through to the Venerable level.

But today, the Venerable-level powerhouses surrounding the hall exceed two hundred thousand!

It is obvious that Xi Yi lied to Wu Tie.

The Heavenly Dao Cavern does not need a million years to accumulate enough Dao rhyme for a human elite to condense a Dao seal and break through to the Venerable level.

Perhaps, only a hundred years?

In short, the number of Venerable-level powerhouses gathered here in Xi Valley is abnormal.

Either the Heavenly Dao Cavern not destroyed by Wu Tie is strange, or the way these Venerable-level powerhouses broke through is strange.

Qing Ning laughed: "The Xi Huang lineage's military might is indeed overwhelmingly mighty; even if we faced extraterrestrial demons head‑on, we might have a chance to win, right?"

The top-ranked Elder of the Xi Huang lineage, Xi Zun, sighed: "How could that be? Merely Venerable, above Venerable there is Quasi‑Saint, above Quasi‑Saint there is Saint, above Saint there is Immortal... Alas, our humanity's foundation is still far too lacking."

Qing Ning sighed, shook her head, and softly lamented: "No longer lacking, no longer lacking; many Elders are already high‑rank Venerable, great perfection in cultivation, and those heroes outside the hall are all at least third‑ or fourth‑tier Venerable strength... When our human ancestors first faced the onslaught of the extermination war, they didn't even have a single Chonglou Realm."

"It was only in the third year after the first strike of the extermination war that our human ancestors produced the first Chonglou Realm."

Nine years after the first impact, the human race's ancestors finally saw the first Life Pool Realm cultivator.

Twelve years after the first impact, the first Fetal Storage Realm emerged among the human ancestors.

What is shocking is that, twelve years and nine months after the first impact, the first Divine Realm cultivator emerged among the human ancestors.

Qingning sighed: "As for the first Venerable, that is, the first God King Rank existence, it appeared fifteen years after the first impact."

However, only when the extermination war ended, the human race lost all colonial territories, everyone retreated to their homeworld, and at the time when the nine most powerful human Quasi-Sages formulated the Mu Dalu restoration plan, the total number of God King Rank experts the human race had ever possessed was no more than thirty thousand!

Qingning looked at Xizun and laughed: "Actually, the current human race is far, far, far stronger than the defeated human ancestors of back then."

But now, the human race has forgotten too much of that history, fears the unknown enemy too much, builds high walls and stockpiles grain; this mindset has been etched into your bones.

The higher the walls are built and the more grain is hoarded, the more you resemble a ten-thousand-year-old turtle pulling its head in—its shell grows thicker while its courage grows smaller.

Qingning spread his hands and laughed: "Without mentioning how many hidden resources Nuwa Island has, just speaking of Xi Valley, with over two hundred thousand Venerable experts… if they were the leaders of the human race back then, they would have already flipped the table, drawn their swords, and launched into battle without hesitation."

Xizun furrowed his brows: "Waqing, besides bringing supplies this time, do you have anything else to say? We Elders are busy handling myriad affairs; gathering all of us here is certainly not to listen to you talk about these trivial, stale matters."

Qingning lightly patted his forehead, suddenly realizing and laughing: "Oh, right, right, yes… well, this time Nuwa Island suffered a great calamity, the old matriarchs all perished; Nuwa Island needs a new… Grand Matriarch. The entire Nuwa clan needs a new Grand Matriarch."

Qingning lightly laughed: "Do you Elders think it would be better for the Nuwa clan to be jointly ruled by dozens of Grand Matriarchs who are not in sync with you, or to be independently led by a single Grand Matriarch who shares your heart and virtue, working hand in hand with you?"

All the Xi clan Elders laughed together, each showing an expression of 'as I expected'.

Xizun smiled and nodded: "Waqing, we like straightforward people who get straight to the point… this question is exactly what we have been pondering these past days."

Xizun narrowed his eyes, examining Qingning up and down: "You want to support your son… no need to make excuses; we old fogeys aren't stupid either—we can see it clearly."

Nuwa Island was bathed in blood by the extraterrestrial demons, and then those extraterrestrial demons were gathered and annihilated; the truth of this matter… we know it full well… but no one cares.

Those old crones, dead is dead; we… will not pursue the truth.

You may support your son… we agree… we do not oppose… of course, look at those young men outside the hall; if our Xi Valley opposes you and your son, your son will certainly not be able to sit on the Human Emperor's Throne!

Even more, I'll put it bluntly: if we are unhappy, if we are displeased, we can at any moment pinch you and your son to death, pinch the entire Gongsun clan to death!

The problem lies here: since we wield such immense power, capable of dominating everything… we old fogeys have specially waited for you today precisely for this question—if we support your son, what can we gain?

Qingning furrowed his brow slightly, while nearly a thousand Elders of the Xi Imperial line grinned, utterly unashamed of the greed, ferocity, domineering nature, and ruthlessness emanating from their bones.

Xi Valley has always concealed its strength.

Regardless of how those Venerable experts outside the hall came to be.

In any case, Xi Valley possesses such strength… and this strength is enough to overturn anyone within the human race who dares to defy it!

What annoys the Elders of Xi Valley is that their interior is not a monolith; they are divided into dozens of large and small factions, each controlling a portion of the Venerable elites.

If Xi Valley were truly a monolith, where would Qingning get the chance to chatter in front of them today?

What is even more infuriating is that the Elders of Xi Valley suddenly realized that, over these many years, Xi Valley has grown accustomed to Nuwa Island's pig‑like tribute system.

The high echelons of Xi Valley are completely ignorant of the current state of affairs within the human race.

Apart from fighting and killing, they seem to have lost every other ability.

Economy, supplies, intelligence, inheritance… they know almost nothing about the internal situation of the human race.

Therefore, after Nuwa Island's downfall, following several days and nights of internal dispute, they tolerated Qingning's presence today—on the day each year when Nuwa Island sends daily necessities and cultivation resources to Xi Valley—allowing him to stand before them.

Otherwise, Xi Valley could simply select its own direct spokesperson, let him sit on the Human Emperor's Throne—wouldn't that be wonderful?

Of course, if Qingning and Gongsun Yao are sensible, if Qingning is willing to offer sufficient benefits, then regardless, they are merely spokespersons—who sits on the Human Emperor's Throne doesn't matter.

As long as they hold absolute power in their hands, who sits in that seat means nothing to these old fogeys.

They only need decisive authority!

The empty fame of the Human Emperor counts for nothing!

Qingning drew a deep breath, then exhaled heavily: "All I can give you is death!"

Then, inside and outside the circular hall.

Nearly a thousand Elders of the Xi Imperial line, and over two hundred thousand Venerable experts of the Xi Imperial line, simultaneously had faint black blood seeping from their seven apertures.

Qingning laughed happily: "For the past thousand-plus years, every year's daily necessities for Xi Valley have been sent by me, your humble concubine… hehe, such fine grain, such fine wine, so many exquisite pastries and snacks, so many superb elixirs…"

"'I have toiled with heart and strength to serve you for over a thousand years—is my advantage really so easy to take?'"

"'You lot, you know nothing about the ancient times!'"

"'So, your deaths are completely not unjust!'"