Devouring The Heavens

“What?” Surprised, the Emperor exclaimed. “The stone contains an energy source!”

Luo Fengxiao was no less surprised as he commented, “That’s right, the stone surprisingly contains an energy source.”

Xuanyuan continued to reduce the fighting stone, until nothing but the energy source was left. A twelve pound piece of pure energy source, the size of a fist, lay on the ground.

In the matter of an hour, Xuanyuan had managed to garner a profit of forty two million king coins, accounting for the cost of the stones as well. Xuanyuan realised that the only way he would be able to win a large amount of pure energy source was by gambling at the large gambling houses at the capital. The twelve pounds he had just gained was nothing compared to his winnings at the List of Dragons. If he continued to partake in such small scale betting, it would take forever to gain the same amount of wealth.

He also realised why those who lost the bets looked as if they lost everything. They had indeed lost everything they possessed by betting on the matches. Xuanyuan had received the entire life savings of over half the disciples of the sect, thus amassing such a massive fortune.

Since all the pure energy source he ever possessed was due to him looting others after defeating them, he never knew the value of what he had gained. Now that he realised how precious it was, Xuanyuan realised that the only way to satisfy the demands of the pig was by gambling in the Imperial Capital.

He laughed and put away the piece of pure energy source. Looking at Fengxiao, he lighty replied, “Winning such an amount was pure luck. It’s good to gamble in small amounts. Gmabling mindlessly will bring nothing but misfortune.”

Understanding that Xuanyuan was done for now, Fengxiao smiled and put away the remaining stones. He knew that Xuanyuan was just experimenting right now. Taibai Trading didn’t open their own gambling houses for one reason; it was far more profitable to sell these fighting stones at auctions and make large winnings for a smaller investment. The source stones he had with him were those he bought for fun, and he expected nothing from them.

To put it bluntly, the stone masters in Taibai Trading thought these were all duds, and that they would be able to make a profit by selling these off to fools. Unexpectedly, one of them actually contained a pure energy source. Even experienced stone masters were unaware of this, showing how esoteric an art stone refining was.

“Brother Ji, you are wise. Since you don’t wish to gamble anymore, let’s resume drinking. We can depart tomorrow morning.”

Amidst the blowing snow, Luo Fengxiao, the Emperor of Mount Tai and Xuanyuan sat and drank, happily chatting each other up.

Despite not knowing either of them, Xuanyuan felt at ease, sensing that the two of them were of a similar nature as him.

By morning, the Emperor’s face was as red as a tomato as he staggered. Xuanyuan was no better, his head was muddled and he was dizzy.

Xian class liquor was no joke. Ordinary emperor realm fighters would get drunk and get knocked out by it. Luckily, Xuanyuan possessed the Five Elements that would cleanse his body of the alcohol, else he’d pass out for days.

Luo Fengxiao had returned to Taibai Trading a while back. Xuanyuan followed the Emperor out of the camp. As they walked, all the soldiers saluted the Emperor, a look of respect evident on their faces.

As they stepped out of the camp, a gate appeared in front of them. The pig stepped out of the gate, a wide grin on his face. Seeing this, Xuanyuan realised that the pig must have gained a lot last night, but he didn’t pry into it.

“Haha, Brother Ji’s mount is exceptional. Despite being a beast, it can even converse in our language, something which not all xian realm beasts can do. Ignoring that, its even proficient in dispositions. Seeing that you have such an amazing beast as your mount at such a young age, I know that you will become someone extraordinary in the future.” The Emperor laughed as he clad himself in his armour.

Xuanyuan sensed an overwhelming power from the armour. It oppressed those with evil intentions, revealing them. Apart from that, the Emperor’s body was filled with a strong Qi. He had the power to toss mountains like stones, and every step of his was like that of a mountain moving. It was no wonder that Shi Ba and Shi Da did not dare to invade Tianshuang city carelessly.

“Men, listen to my order! I am departing for the Northern Capital for a while. Do not take this as an excuse to slack off. Those who slack off will be punished according to martial law.” The Emperor roared, his voice liek thunder, as it spread all through the city.

“We obey!” The entire army roared as one, voices rising from every corner of Tianshuang city.

Xuanyuan looked at him, a smile on his lips, “Emperor, leaving the city without the permission of the Northern Emperor is a crime, is it not? Especially considering that you are the general of the garrison city.”

“Regardless of my crime, it is still lesser than that of his son. I have no qualms with him killing the mo clan. That is to be expected of the crown prince, weeding out the spies within his lands. What I don’t agree with is his treatment of Princess Shiguan. She is a kind-hearted woman who has shown no hostility to humans. Needlessly luring her, and then almost killing her is unacceptable. He brought the entire wrath of the Mo clan onto the Northern Dynasty. Furthermore, his Northern Army continued to instigate the Mo clan into prolonging the full-scale war between the Mo lands and the Northern Dynasty. His actions resulted in the needless deaths of countless civilians.”

His words were firm. Each syllable dripped with power, his Qi able to cause those of lesser realms to faint with just his voice.

“The Northern Dynasty is not weak. There’s no way they are afraid of the Mo clan. Emperor, why do you seek to punish the eldest prince just for an outsider?” Xuanyuan continued to prod.

“You’re right, the Northern Dynasty is not afraid of the Mo clan. While it may have looked like they had the advantage, all they did thus far was kill those spineless soldiers, and strengthened the true men of the army. It was a vital experience for the men. However, the innocent people who died did not deserve their fates, and neither did Shiguan. While the Mo army continued to lay waste to the cities, it was Shiguan who went around and defused the situation. If this had continued, no matter how inconsequential it seemed, our foundation would have been weakened. Her kindness to our men puts even our finest men to shame. If only there were good men in the Northern Dynasty, fit to marry her. Alas, unfortunately we have an abundance of bastards. I heard that she was taken by a man named Xuanyuan, the disciple of the Fighting Dragons Sect in the Eastern Dynasty. She was lured by Chengyin as she was looking for a cure to the Heart-Devouring Bug that plagued him…”

As the Emperor went on, he had nothing but praise for Shiguan. Irrespective of race, he would not look down on an outstanding individual. Brains over brain; this sentence seemed tailor-made for Shiguan. Even Xuanyuan felt that if he had a wife like her, he would have nothing else to ask for. But since he was still plagued by the Heart-Devouring Bug, it was too early to start thinking about the matters of the heart.

As they spoke, the Emperor led them to a teleportation array. The ground was paved by jade, and several teleportation marks were interwoven on it, forming the massive array.

Stepping onto the array, the Emperor said, “Let’s go.”

“Hold on.” The pig began inspecting the array, analysing the patterns and the energy source powering it. Frowning, he said, “Who designed the array? It’s so inefficient. Using this array, it will take a whole two days to reach the capital.” Clearly he was unimpressed by the teleportation array.

The Emperor was stunned for a minute. He slowly smiled and said, “That’s right, it will take two days. I don’t think this speed is slow, is it?”

“Let me make a few changes. I can reduce the time taken to a mere two hours.” The pig arrogantly declared. Stepping onto the array, he began to fix the flaws in the patterns, slowly refining it to its very best.

The Emperor knew a little about dispositions. He could sense that the pig had casually modified the markings, making the entire flow of energy much more fluid and efficient, and that the array had become stronger.

Amazed, he replied, “Master, your control over dispositions is extremely impressive. Thank you for your assistance.”

“It’s nothing. Consider this my payment for using the teleportation array.” The pig said dismissively.

“Oh, the cost? Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing but a trifle.”

Xuanyuan had a funny expression on his face as he struggled to stifle a laugh. Because of their unique constitutions, it would consume a large amount of pure energy source. To travel a distance of thirty million miles to the capital, Xuanyuan estimated that it would consume around one million pounds of pure energy sources. He didn’t know how the Emperor would react when he found out.

Laughing, the pig saidm “Let’s go, I’m activating it.”

As they all stepped onto the array, the energy began to flow, sending them in the direction of the capital. Unconsciously, the Hundred Spirits Source began to circulate through the pig, reducing the resistance that Xuanyuan and the pig faced from the heavens and the earth, reducing the total consumption of pure energy sources.