On Enlightenment Mountain, He Xian rose and gazed north, toward the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.
The Desolate Heaven Emperor, Desolate, the child of the epoch, Perfect World and Shrouding the Heavens.
He would go see for himself once this gathering ended.
This was his destiny. He could neither avoid it nor escape it, and he had no desire to flee anyway. His life had already been so glorious. He would either advance another step or plunge into a bottomless abyss and be smashed to pieces.
"Wait for me, Desolate!"
Although he had yet to forge a path of his own, he wanted to try.
Would forging a path truly make one that powerful? Transcendent above all, unrivaled wherever I stand, even declaring, "Who is calling himself invincible? Who dares claim he has never been defeated?"
Firmly believing that throughout the endless river of time, he alone reigned supreme, able to suppress his enemies with a turn of his hand.
Now, only three days remained until the end of the month-long deadline He Xian had set. Though the summit of Enlightenment Mountain was vast enough to accommodate a hundred thousand, it seemed terribly crowded.
All were young experts with surging vitality, ranging from several dozen to several hundred years old. With so many beings assembled, it was truly difficult to predict what terrifying heights they might reach in the future. Many Supremes and Undying beings might arise among them. They could be considered the Foreign Realm's reserves for this epoch.
Yet not a single member of an Emperor Clan had appeared so far, which displeased He Xian greatly.
This was also why he had called a gathering of the younger generation. Some still refused to submit, and he would beat them into submission one by one.
Every member of the Foreign Realm's Emperor Clans was wild and arrogant, difficult to tame.
Perhaps it really is time to draw blood and put some of those fellows in their graves for good, He Xian thought.
Suddenly, an aura of peerless ferocity caught his attention. A man in crimson armor arrived at the entrance to Enlightenment Mountain's summit. His savage might overshadowed the world, like an unparalleled vicious beast that could devour the heavens and annihilate the earth. Chi Menghong.
An old acquaintance. This fellow's aura seems to grow fiercer every time he dies! He Xian was surprised. He had never expected him to possess such a talent.
If Shi Hao failed to kill Chi Menghong the second time, would he be even stronger the third time?
"Crane Son!" Chi Menghong roared. The beings around him cleared a path. Blood-red flames surged into the sky, and his gaze alone radiated waves of murderous menace that left others unable to stand steadily, much less fight him. Chi Menghong was now a great cultivator of the escape one realm as well.
"Is this the successor of the Red King Lineage? How terrifying. How did Crane Son defeat him so easily twice?" The prodigies present looked at Chi Menghong, then at He Xian. No matter how they looked at it, Chi Menghong seemed more terrifying!
How had He Xian defeated him?
At that moment, He Xian revealed no imposing aura. He stood casually beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree like an ordinary person, except for a face so handsome it seemed beyond the mortal world.
"You're here." He Xian's pupils shone. A single look was enough to subdue the blustering Chi Menghong.
The other man's aura of world-shaking ferocity gradually died away.
Like a mouse encountering a cat.
He thought that after breaking through to escape one, he could trade a few moves with me again. These Emperor Clan fellows all deserve... He Xian shook his head.
How laughable. The further we go, the wider the gap will become. Don't they know that?
Besides, I slew a great cultivator at the peak of the escape one realm while still in the self-slaying realm. Wasn't that enough to prove something?
He had finally realized it: these Emperor Clan beings possessed a truly baffling confidence.
"What's going on?" The other beings present were bewildered, as clueless as a monk trying to feel the top of a head ten feet above him. How had Chi Menghong, who had been so overbearing a moment ago, suddenly wilted like this?
His arrogance had been snuffed out.
"Hah!" Chi Menghong sucked in a deep breath of cold air. An imperceptible sheen of sweat formed on his forehead. The instant his eyes met He Xian's, every hair on his body stood on end, and he involuntarily reined in his aura. Immense terror, immense intimidation. Otherwise, his head would fall in the very next instant.
There was no doubt about it, for he had seen anger in He Xian's eyes.
For some reason, he actually began to worry for the Emperor Clan members who had yet to arrive, grateful that he himself had come early.
Without question, Chi Menghong had been subdued from the bottom of his heart, just like Gu Rong.
"Since you're here, sit to the side!" He Xian pointed to the first seat on his left, and Chi Menghong obediently sat down cross-legged.
This scene stunned every King Clan expert on Enlightenment Mountain. They were dumbstruck. They had never imagined that this terrifying, ferocious man, whose mere appearance made them feel he was impossible to fight, would be brought so thoroughly to heel by someone else.
They glanced at He Xian in the seat of honor, their eyes filled with fear.
Is this our realm's number one? How terrifying. He has tamed even the Emperor Clans into little kittens.
They no longer dared entertain the slightest contempt. Suddenly, they remembered that He Xian had fought his way, step by step, to his current standing.
How could any of it be false?
Another night passed, and Hao Feng and Heavenly Blade arrived.
Only one day remained before the deadline, yet just three Emperor Clan beings had come. Were they joining forces to pressure him? Did they still refuse to acknowledge his position as number one?
Good. Good. Very good! He Xian sneered.
He looked at Hao Feng and Heavenly Blade beside him. The two were the same as ever.
Hao Feng held a great halberd, his bearing heroic and vigorous, his eyes proud. He looked down on everyone beneath the heavens, as though no one could be his match. Only when his gaze swept across He Xian did a blazing fighting spirit ignite.
Heavenly Blade held his clan's long saber and offered no response. He seemed to have submitted.
"Then forget about them. We'll begin the Enlightenment Gathering early." He Xian abruptly announced the start of this Enlightenment Tea Gathering, one day before the date he had set.
"Since they won't come, they needn't attend this Enlightenment Tea Gathering. They'd better not come tomorrow either."
He Xian's gaze was icy. It seemed he really had never killed an Emperor Clan member-not in the sense of killing one for good. Did they truly think he was weak and easy to bully?
He was enraged, and only blood could appease him.
Cold killing intent churned in He Xian's pupils. Only those who met his eyes could know how furious he was at that moment.
Enlightenment Tea leaves were, in truth, supreme treasures even to the Emperor Clans. One leaf meant one chance at enlightenment. No one could remain unmoved.
No one below the Undying level, that is.
For they were no longer of much use to Undying beings.
Unfortunately, this Enlightenment Tea Tree was not the ancestral root. If it were, even Undying beings would probably lack the qualifications to drink its tea.
The moment He Xian declared that the Enlightenment Tea Gathering would begin early, his words spread.
The entire summit of Enlightenment Mountain erupted into a noisy uproar.
"Ah! Are we really starting early?"
"Why?"
"Aren't we waiting for those young lords of the Emperor Clans?" They voiced all sorts of questions.
He Xian had no intention of explaining. Instead, he signaled with his eyes to the elders guarding the Enlightenment Tea Tree.
The elders exchanged glances and sighed. They could only let He Xian have his way.
They had no authority to decide. They put away the secret treasures each held, and the screen of light over the Enlightenment Tea Tree vanished, revealing it in full.
It was a thick, ancient tree, like a coiled horned dragon lying dormant. It had many branches, all rugged and powerful, but truly not many leaves. At a glance, they were sparse and scattered.
This was not because the gathering had begun early. The Enlightenment Tea Tree had always been like this.