Chapter 43: Offending One's Superiors

A grand banquet for the Emperor's hundredth birthday turned into a living hell in the blink of an eye.

Consequently, everyone lost the heart to continue hosting or attending the celebratory feast.

The crowd of cultivators all took their leave one after another; those capable of flight flew away directly, while the injured were arranged to be sent to Linxian Pavilion for treatment and recovery.

As the culprits behind this great chaos, the Yuqing Hall naturally had to go all out to provide treatment and compensation; therefore, Yulong Zhenren summoned the Emperor Zhao Rui and Deacon Tong of the Treasure Pavilion to distribute a large quantity of Spirit Pills to make up for the losses of all the cultivators.

Of course, for those whose Magic Treasures were destroyed, they naturally had to be compensated as well.

This bit of loss was not a major issue for the Yuqing Hall, but this resentment was not easily dispelled.

Therefore, after washing up, changing clothes, and tidying themselves, Yulong Zhenren invited Xu Chen and the other two to the Yingbin Hall, where he sat high upon a brocade couch, looking down at Xu Chen with a face full of fury and saying:

"Does this little Daoist Friend not owe our Yuqing Hall an explanation?"

Jiu Shixiong stepped forward to block Xu Chen, his expression ugly as he said, "What does this matter have to do with our Taiyuan Sect? I do not know what kind of explanation Yulong Zhenren wants."

Zhao Xuan, with several bloodstains on her face, also stepped in front of Xu Chen, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jiu Shixiong, and said with a face full of anger, "Yulong Zhenren, we are juniors, so we should show you some respect, but you must not act without rhyme or reason and pin the blame on our Taiyuan Sect."

Yulong Zhenren was furious, and an incomparably powerful aura enveloped the three of them. The three could only desperately urge their internal energy to resist, while simultaneously glaring back with faces full of rage. Jiu Shixiong said with a trembling voice, "Yulong Zhenren, if you dare to lay a hand on us, the Taiyuan Sect will certainly not let this rest."

"Hahahaha, ridiculous. Mayflies shaking a tree; a mere Kaiyuan Realm cultivator dares to spout such nonsense in front of me."

Yulong Zhenren laughed instead of getting angry, and his Divine Sense pressure increased by several degrees. Zhao Xuan was the first unable to resist; she let out a muffled groan as a wisp of blood seeped from her nose and mouth, her face pale and swaying as if she might collapse.

Jiu Shixiong was similarly unable to bear it, his whole body trembling as he forced himself to hold on, roaring with a ferocious expression, "Yulong Zhenren, you are provoking a war between two Immortal Sects! Have you thought this through!"

Yulong Zhenren revealed a look of mockery and said, "And so what? The Taiyuan Sect has only a dozen or so people; a trash Immortal Sect, what virtue or ability do you have to sit on equal footing with my Yuqing Hall? Even if Danchenzi has reached Spirit Transformation, so what? Does he dare to provoke a conflict with my Yuqing Hall?"

Xu Chen panted slightly and said, "Yulong Zhenren, do not bully others too far. Today's incident was a disaster caused by your Yuqing Hall's Spirit Beast losing control. Dozens of fellow cultivators from the Immortal World are witnesses. As a Danyuan Realm senior, you frame us three juniors like this—how can you convince the fellow cultivators of the Immortal World? If this matter spreads, the Yuqing Hall will surely be disgraced."

Although Yulong Zhenren's Divine Sense pressure was terrifying, Xu Chen was surprisingly able to hold on. The Blue Jade Bead suspended in his Sea of Consciousness released a faint blue radiance, alleviating more than half of the pressure.

Perhaps because it did not sense a threat from Yulong Zhenren, the Blue Jade Bead did not actively counterattack, which made Xu Chen appear much better off than Jiu Shixiong and Zhao Xuan, giving him an air of composure.

Yulong Zhenren gave a faint 'eh' and looked at Xu Chen, saying, "There is indeed something wrong with you. My Yuqing Hall's Seven-Colored Spirit Sparrow has been raised since it was small and has never been this irritable or out of control. It must be something on you that provoked it, leading to the incident just now. Not only did it cost me a third-tier Magic Treasure array disk, but it also caused so many mortal deaths and injuries and losses for fellow Immortal World Daoists. Shouldn't you give me an explanation, and give the fellow Daoists of the world an explanation?"

Xu Chen laughed in anger and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "To think you are a Danyuan Realm senior, yet you can say such shameless words. What I have on me has nothing to do with your Yuqing Hall. If it weren't for you riding an uncontrollable beast over here, how could this incident have occurred?"

"Presumptuous! You still dare to commit an act of insubordination? Today I will teach you, this thing that knows no hierarchy, a lesson on behalf of Danchenzi!"

Yulong Zhenren was enraged, and at the same time, a terrifying aura descended upon the three of them like Mount Tai.

"Thump—" Zhao Xuan collapsed directly to the ground and lost consciousness. Jiu Shixiong struggled a few times before also thumping to his knees. Xu Chen only felt as if he were being crushed by a great mountain, both body and soul, and his bones, muscles, and flesh began to crack.

"Yulong Zhenren, this is what you forced me to do..."

Blood gushed from Xu Chen's nose and mouth. He roared in a voice only he could hear, and at the same time, he used all his internal energy to drive his Divine Sense to crash into the Blue Jade Bead.

"Boom—"

The violent blue light exploded, sweeping across the pitch-black Sea of Consciousness. A blue spirit light, invisible to the naked eye, shot like an arrow, pouring into the center of Yulong Zhenren's brow along with Xu Chen's Divine Sense.

"Ah—"

Yulong Zhenren let out a miserable scream, blood spraying from his nose and mouth as he fell backward onto the brocade couch. His body twitched violently a few times before falling still.

The terrifying pressure vanished without a trace. Xu Chen's vision went dark, and he staggered, kicking Jiu Shixiong and roaring, "Run!"

Jiu Shixiong suddenly came to his senses, raised his hand to release his Flying Sword, grabbed Xu Chen with one hand and Zhao Xuan with the other. The three of them and the sword broke through the window, turning into a stream of light that flew out of the Imperial Palace in the blink of an eye, heading straight toward the southwest.

"Master!"

After Xu Chen and the others flew away, the two men and one woman from the Yuqing Hall standing nearby finally realized what had happened. They rushed forward to help Yulong Zhenren up, only to find that he was already bleeding from his nose and mouth and unconscious.

The three of them fell into a state of chaos. Some took out Spirit Pills, some shouted for the Emperor Zhao Rui, and others pinched his philtrum and slapped his face. By the time Zhao Rui arrived in a hurry with several Imperial Palace Offerings, he found that Yulong Zhenren's face was as pale as gold paper and his breath was as thin as a thread, nearly on the verge of death.

"This... this... what is going on? He was fine just a moment ago..."

Zhao Rui's soul trembled in terror, and he spoke incoherently.

The fact that a hundredth birthday banquet had turned out like this had already left him terrified and furious to an extreme degree.

At this moment, he was personally comforting the severely injured State Envoy Groups and the Princes and Nobles, as well as the injured cultivators from various large and small Immortal Sects and rogue cultivator families, all of whom he needed to visit and console one by one.

A high and mighty Emperor of the mortal world was now acting like a grandson, lowering his head and acting humble before everyone.

He even complained privately, wondering why the Yuqing Hall had suddenly ridden a fourth-tier Spirit Beast over to show off.

This birthday banquet had been ruined almost entirely by this Spirit Beast.

But he did not dare to say this word aloud.

After all, the Yuqing Hall had indeed given him face by sending such a luxurious delegation to celebrate his birthday.

It was just a pity that before he could enjoy this face, a slap had completely stunned him.

The losses from this were simply immeasurable.

More than ten large and small State Envoy Groups had been almost completely wiped out, and nearly half of the famous Princes and Nobles of the Great Song were dead or injured; the aftermath alone was enough to make him collapse.

Not to mention that the great battle with the Pingxi King Zhao Wuji was imminent.

And this sudden turn of events left him so terrified that his liver and gallbladder were splitting.

Yulong Zhenren was suddenly about to die in the Imperial Palace.

He had no idea what the cause of the matter was.

While the Imperial Palace was in chaos, Jiu Shixiong had already taken Xu Chen and the other two, speeding out of Jingshi and fleeing desperately toward the southwest.

At this moment, he had no heart to ask how Xu Chen had managed to take down Yulong Zhenren.

He only knew that if they didn't run fast, their lives would be over in an instant.

Meanwhile, in Jingshi, panic continued to spread. Seeing countless corpses being hauled out of the Imperial Palace cart by cart, the people of the city were terrified.

The cultivators from various Immortal Sects and families who had come for the birthday celebration were still unaware of the new developments inside the palace. They were still gathered in groups of three or five, discussing the terrifying attack just now by the fourth-tier Spirit Sparrow. When they reached a point of indignation, they gnashed their teeth, wishing they could dig up the ancestors of the Yuqing Hall for eighteen generations and whip their corpses.

However, soon, another earth-shattering piece of news spread: the Seventh Elder of the Yuqing Hall, the Danyuan Realm Yulong Zhenren, had been severely injured by three cultivators from the Taiyuan Sect and was already dying.

This news was like a bolt from the blue, instantly shocking everyone into speechlessness. This was followed by even more lively discussion and clamor, and then a large number of Transmission Jade Talismans were sent out, and cultivators began leaving Jingshi on their swords. Colorful streaks of Escape Light shot out from the Imperial City in all directions like fireworks.

This piece of gossip was worth spreading to the whole world.

Originally, the fact that the fourth-tier Spirit Sparrow had suddenly become agitated and then inexplicably bowed before Xu Chen, causing a great disaster to vanish into thin air, had already left all the cultivators confused, with all sorts of speculations flying everywhere.

And the most common speculation was about the small white mutated fox on Xu Chen.

Some even speculated that this Xiao Huli was an Immortal Beast with extraordinary aptitude, which was why it had caused the agitation of the Fourth-Rank Spirit Sparrow.

However, many cultivators had seen that little fox, so some refuted this, stating that although the fox indeed possessed ancient bloodlines, it had not yet advanced, so how could it make a Fourth-Tier Spirit Beast submit?

Now that Yulong Zhenren had suddenly suffered heavy injuries and was in critical condition, the matter became even more suspicious; linking this to the recent rumors that Danchenzi was about to undergo Spirit Transformation, this incident could potentially trigger an Immortal Sect war between Yuqing Hall and Taiyuan Sect, and suddenly all sorts of gossip flew everywhere, with the situation becoming almost completely out of control.