âSupplemental dao is not forbidden in the Dragonling Assembly.â The Dragonsea city lord shook her head.
The Azure Scaled-Dragon King opened and shut his mouth, not knowing what to say to that.
âSupplemental dao is supplemental. It is an aid to cultivation, not some deviated, unnatural way,â Miao chuckled. âIf just using treasures goes against oneâs original cultivation intent, then all of the half step kings on the bridge below should throw away their flying swords and fight using only their fists.â
Azure Scaled-Dragon flushed, but continued doggedly, âThat Stellar Sword is refined from Stellar Stone Magneticusâthe light within is one of the sharpest in the realm. Even you and I would have to treat it with caution. Him wielding that kind of weapon is a bit unfair to the other half step kings, no?
âIâm afraid that much of the credit for him using only three strokes to kill a thousand arcane beasts goes to the keen edge of the Stellar Sword.â
âHow do you still not understand?â sighed the little fox. âThe Stellar Sword is just a king grade treasure at the end of the day and it contains only one dao rule. In terms of ranking, itâs on par with Qing Tingâs Azuresky Sword.
âDo you think that just any random person in the Hongmeng can wield Stellar Light Magneticus? If youâd dared touch it when you were a half step king, the first thing itâd cleave into two would be yourself instead of the enemy!â
Azure Scaled-Dragon opened and shut his mouth once more; Crippled Dragon patted his shoulder and shook his head. He knew what his peer was thinking. Azure Scaled-Dragon nursed enormous enmity toward the Immortal Pagoda and Coiling Dragon City after Qing Diâs loss had lost an ultimate and half step Hongmeng treasure for Azure Dragon City. This was a very bad turn of events.
Itâd be one thing if it was just Coiling Dragon Cityâthe city lord there was the Azure Dragon city lordâs younger brother. The two were competitors, but would never be enemies.
The Immortal Pagoda, however, was different. With its current level of influence, it was far too easy for it to handle a mere Azure Dragon City. It didnât even need to do anything as there were plenty of high level kings in the realm who wanted to curry favor with the pagoda. If the Immortal King was willing to personally refine a king grade treasure for them, their strength would grow by leaps and bounds.
Pills of Creation were also highly coveted by all kings.
Be enemies with the Immortal Pagoda?
The Supplemental Dao Alliance could do so, the Immortal Region could do so. Even Dragonhollow Mountain or the Enforcer Alliance could afford to do so. But if a tiny Azure Dragon City dared entertain the thought, it would be exterminated in the next second.
Azure Scaled-Dragon came to his senses with a violent shake and realized that his mentality had shifted off balance. If things continued in the same vein, he would start to oppose the Immortal Pagoda and cause trouble for the Trueriver Sect. Once everything ballooned out of control, it would drag down his entire city into the mess.
Everyone understood the potential chain reaction if they dared seek revenge for their juniors being robbed in Dragonsea City. They were the seniors of the half step kings on the rainbow bridge and had taken out a massive amount of purple crystals after their factionâs juniors lost all of their possessions. Despite that, no one flew into a rage at the humiliationânot even when they had to buy back their own identity tokens.
Though they coveted the purple crystals currently on Lu Yun, they would never show it.
None of the arcane beasts dared draw near after Lu Yun and Qing Ting slew more than a thousand of them. Instead, they turned to attack the other cultivators on the bridge.
Many grievously injured cultivators filtered back, requesting shelter. The rainbow bridge was a place where life and death were decided at every second; their decision was the correct one. There was nothing more to consider if one died, everything would be over. Only in staying alive was their hope and the possibility of realizing their grand ambitions.
Lu Yun naturally didnât turn them down. He drew a circle that was one kilometer across with his Stellar Sword. Anyone who entered it would be under his and Qing Tingâs protectionâno one else could pursue them.
Otherwise, Lu Yun and Qing Ting would commence a massacre of the arcane beasts.
Struggles of life and death continued on the rainbow bridge. Arcane beasts died, cultivators died.
A bedraggled Azureclad, Crimsonclad, and Leng Che fled back to safety. You Cang was dead. An arcane beast had swallowed him alive.
Soon after, desperate Blackclad, Seven Slaughters, and the other titled dukes whoâd founded the Robber Slayers came sprinting into the circle. Of the twelve titled dukes whoâd established the alliance, only six survived.
It was easy enough to imagine the grisly struggles on the bridge.
Qing Di returned as well in the end. Heâd kept a rather open mind about things as he fought when he could and ran when he couldnât. The arcane beasts couldnât do anything to him, but they were starting to coordinate their attacks. If he was surrounded by a herd of them, there could be no other end for him but death.
âThat little girl was something⌠she suppressed a group of Terra Bears by herself!â he recounted, still shaking when he thought of the scene. âShe appeared when they almost surrounded me and charged right into them with nothing but her fists!â
âSo you left your savior behind and ran back here yourself?â Qing Ting frowned and questioned him pointedly.
âIâŚâ Qing Diâs jaw dropped and he didnât know what to say.â âNo, sheâs not one of us. Iâve never seen her beforeâsheâs probably an arcane beast!â he said hesitantly after some thought. âAn arcane beast in human form thatâs not yet a titled king!â
âThe little girl is the three thousandth person,â Lu Yun suddenly said. âQing Ting and I took two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine identity tokens in the city. Excluding the two of us and the one that Ghost Dragon destroyed, that leaves one that we didnât take.
âThe little girl should be the three thousandth person⌠with the last identity token. Donât worry, she should be quite strong if she could protect her token and hide from me and Qing Ting.â
âWhoâs worried about her?â Qing Di mumbled. âShe laughed at me for being a weaklingâŚâ
âItâs the truth,â Qing Ting agreed with all seriousness. âYou are a weakling.â
Qing Diâs eyes reddened, but he didnât say anything. Qing Ting had violent tendencies and he wasnât stronger than her. If he continued to argue, sheâd probably beat him black and blue again.
âAhem, sister, thatâs not nice to say about Qing Di,â Azureclad coughed awkwardly. This was their relative, after all, and they were all in the same boat at the moment.
âYouâre a weakling too.â She glared at brother. âAll of you are weaklings!â
Some shame and humiliation appeared on the faces of the cultivators around them.
âThereâs too many arcane beasts and theyâre traveling in packs⌠We canât withstand them all,â Blackclad huffed helplessly.
âIf the beasts are traveling in packs, why donât you? You were real tough when you formed up into the Robber Slayers to take down me and the Champion Duke!â Qing Ting scoffed.
One thousand out of twenty-five hundred cultivators had been eaten in less than a day!
âThe arcane beasts arenât having an easy time either, apparently they ran into some trouble too. Someone killed fifteen hundred of them in one goâI wonder who?â Seven Slaughters grabbed a piece of meat on bone and started gnawing. âHavenât you guys encountered any arcane beasts in staying here? And where did all this meat come from?â