Sheng Wang Chapter 24

After coming back from his trip to the Dark Corpse Mountains, Yang Qi rested for a few days. He stopped just in time to attend the Banquet which the Mayor’s Mansion was hosting.

For this banquet Mayor Yan had invited all of the unmarried talents of each and every aristocratic and wealthy family. It was clear that he was looking for an ideal son in law or his daughter, Yan Feixia.

The Yan Family’s influence was enormous; they controlled all regions within 500 km of Yan City. This sphere of control included millions of townsfolk. If one became the Mayor’s son in law, they would be able to enjoy all the power of the mayor. Moreover, since Yan Feixia studied at the Zhen Long Academy, marrying her allow one to have a connection to the academy, so advancing one’s QiGong cultivation would be incomparably simple.

The invitations had been sent out a mere half a month ago, but yet all the talented youths of the city had gone wild. Each one of them had make preparations to attend the banquet, wis.h.i.+ng to obtain authority and power in one fell swoop.

However Yang Qi wasn’t very interested in the status or power that would be achieved in this marriage. Ever since he had been deceived by the ‘honored’ daughter of Yun Hai City’s Mayor, Yun Hai Lan, he had developed a distrust of woman. His only mission was to become strong, and then even stronger to restore the glory of the Yang family. He would then take revenge on Yun Hai Lan and Song Hai Shan for deceiving him!

But this time one of the invitations had been addressed to the Yang family. Yang Qi had no choice but to go to the banquet.

For the sake of their own survival, the Yang family couldn’t risk offending the Yan family again.

Yang Qi didn’t slack off during his two days of rest. He recalled every battle he had in the Dark Corpse Mountains, especially his battle with the white ape. He a.n.a.lyzed and reflected on each individual battle, improving his battle prowess and cultivation at the same time.

The [Power of the Divine Elephant that Suppresses h.e.l.l] was unique. For example, it had three great abilities: [Spear of the Dark G.o.d], [Protection of the Dark G.o.d] and [Devil’s Wings]. But these abilities could also be used to help circulate Zhen Qi and consolidate QiGong. After his seclusion, Yang Qi knew these three abilities like the back of his hand. When he used these divine techniques, it was as if a Divine Elephant had awakened; engulfing everything even the sun and moon with its long trunk. However, if he concealed his QiGong cultivation, it was as if the Divine Elephant hibernated in the endless darkness of the abyss. Like this, not even Qi Lords could identify his cultivation.

Yang Qi had also trained in the six great attacks of the [Undefeatable King Fist] and the various QiGong cultivation techniques of the Yang Family to prepare for this banquet.

Naturally, there would be a compet.i.tion between the various QiGong talents at the banquet.

In the Feng Rao continent, strength is respected above all. Commoners, n.o.bles, wealthy families, and even feudal officials would partic.i.p.ate in compet.i.tions and exchange pointers to compare their QiGong cultivation. Festivals and gatherings would even hold martial tournaments for children, allowing them to compare their strengths. The families with the strongest children would gain glory.

In some families, the position of patriarch is not only determined by the family member’s strength but also the strength of his or her children.

During this banquet, Yang QI couldn’t exhibit the power of the [Power of the Divine Elephant suppresses h.e.l.l], he could only use his Yang family’s techniques. However cultivating in the [Power of the Divine Elephant suppresses h.e.l.l] had made his QiGong deep and profound. He could easily handle any QiGong technique.

For example, Yang Qi was able to use [The Great Golden Bell s.h.i.+eld], a qigong technique that would condense his qi into a bell-shaped s.h.i.+eld. This s.h.i.+eld would be multiple steps above the s.h.i.+eld used by the leader of the Shadow Poison Sect.

By reaching the 7th tier, Yang Qi’s comprehension and cultivation had once again improved by a lot. Yang Qi could fight against even those at the peak of the eighth tier, now the only beings he had to be careful around were those who reached the ninth tier. Even against these ninth tier experts, Yang Qi could use the [Devil’s Wings] technique to get away.

Yang Qi had experienced a dream-like transformation. Just a few dozen days ago, Yang Qi’s cultivation had been destroyed, but now he was able to contend against Qi Lords, this change in power was simply dazzling.

All these things, were brought about by that Golden Fairy who was located deep within his consciousness.

The golden fairy was always motionless— it was either recuperating or hibernating. But Yang Qi was very patient, every time after circulating his QiGong, he would try to communicate with the fairy.

Unfortunately, ever since that first time he had communicated with the golden fairy and received the method of cultivating the [Power of Divine Elephant that suppresses h.e.l.l], the golden fairy had remained silent and inactive.

Hu. . . . (sound of exhale)

The day dawned.

Sitting upright on his bed, Yang Qi opened his eyes. After completing his morning ablutions (TL Note: morning ablutions = brus.h.i.+ng teeth, rinsing mouth, was.h.i.+ng face, p.o.o.ping, shower etc), wearing good clothes and holding the invitation in his hand, he made a beeline for the Mayor’s Mansion.

For the big Yan Capital City, today was a day of jubilation. All the talented disciples of aristocratic and wealthy families came to the Mayor’s Mansion, with their servants by riding on their gorgeous palanquins.

But Yang Qi went with neither servants nor sitting on a palanquin; he came on foot in a carefree manner. And soon, he reached the Mayor’s Mansion.

The Mayor’s Mansion was enormous— it occupied several thousands of acres. It was like a city within a city. Surrounding it was a moat, which was drawn from the Yan river; faint waves of the blue water could be seen and traps were faintly visible beneath the water surface.

In short, it was just a delusional thought to believe that one could enter the Mayor’s Mansion through water.

In addition to this, there were the city walls that were several score feet tall, appearing lofty and grand. On top of it were a collection of battlements, each and every one appearing formidable and mighty. There were officers with profound QiGong guarding the area, their sights covered the sky and the ground. They would be alerted if even a bird flew across.

In addition to this, there were hive-like crossbow machines on the city walls. They were the terror-striking [Armour-Breaking Fire Crossbows]. The tens of thousands of arrows were activated by explosives, and would be fired continuously. Even Qi Lord experts would be stricken with fear under its fire.

It could even be said that the entire mansion was like a place filled with hidden experts. It was simply not possible to burst in.

Yang Qi faced the Mayor’s mansion and looking at the guards’ stern front, he mentally shook his head. He knew that there was actually a secret path from outside the Yan River that led to the inside of the Mayor’s Mansion. It was an escape route. He had secretly entered via that path when he stole the [Hidden Dragon Pill].

It was Yun Hailan who had told him about this secret path.

At that time, he had wholly believed that he and Yun Hailan would go far away and live together happily ever after. Thinking about it now, it all sounded rather childish and pathetic.
Anyway, by now the secret must have been discovered. Therefore, it would no longer be an easy task to enter the Mayor’s Mansion.

Just as he reached the gate, many disciples of the aristocrats had also reached there. The palanquins halted, many servants proclaimed their master’s arrival, the clash between weapons and armor of the guards also echoed about. And in the midst of all this there were also many discussions among them.

Soon, Yang Qi could feel the sight of many dozen pairs of eyes on him.

His mind radiated the splendor of QiGong, like a deep pond reflecting the starry sky. He could feel each and every one of the people’s gazes. Without turning around, he could already identify whose eyes were on him and what kind of character those people had.

This is possible when QiGong cultivation has become very profound, it was a personal feature.

A QiGong expert is not a person one can sneak an attack on, because he would know if someone looked at him and would immediately react.

For example, that white ape in the Dark Corpse Mountains, not only could it react to sight, but it had also reached the state of [Distant Soul Lockdown].

Although Yang Qi himself hadn’t reached this state, regardless of how profound his QiGong was, one tier is different from another. Only after he advances to the 8th tier ‘Qi Transformation’ will it be possible for him to attain this [Long-distance Soul Lock-down], otherwise, no matter how much he cultivates, it would be of no use.

“Do you see? That is the Yang Family’s degenerate child, Yang Qi. How dare he came to the Mayor’s Mansion?”

“Was his martial arts not crippled?” “I heard that he seems to have recovered because his aunt who is cultivating at Tian Wei Academy sent him an elixir that only barely repaired his meridians. Not only that, I also heard another rumor— when he got struck by lightning, his body underwent a variation and his power was restored. I do not know which news is authentic.”

“Pooh! How can being struck by lightning reinstate martial arts? A more reasonable explanation would be if his paternal aunt, who is studying at Tian Wei Academy, sent over an elixir which healed most of it. And after this time’s incident, the Yang family and the Mayor’s Mansion have become enemies. Now, having dared to come here, is he a toad wanting to eat swan meat?”

“Him? After regaining his power it didn’t seem like much. To think he wants to get Miss Yan Feixia’s favor, he is simply infatuated and delusional.”

Without missing out on anything, Yang Qi heard all these comments and he just laughed. Before, when he was not as strong as he was now, upon hearing such comments he would have definitely gotten angry, but now, he did not even take them to heart. This was because he and those people were not on the same level anymore.

“Oh? Is this Yang family’s Yang Qi? I heard that your martial arts got crippled and that it was then recovered. Come, come, come, let me take a look at how strong you are. Don’t you have a single servant with you? It seems that the Yang family has really lost all their family wealth! Never mind, you can come and become a servant of my Chen family. I can still give you food to eat.”

A youth holding a folding fan started to speak.

This was the Chen family’s talented youth — Chen Qing. Before, his cultivation was more or less equal to that of Yang Qi, and both were almost the same age. Now it looked as if his QiGong cultivation had had a breakthrough.

He gently shook his folding fan, and suddenly a whirlwind blew within a hundred paces. It sent sand flying and stones rolling. It was a tornado that could be perceved even by the naked eyes, engulfing the path and heading towards Yang Qi.

This was [Tornado Energy]. He wanted to make Yang Qi fall, and thus lose face.

The Chen Family’s long-lost technique was the [Tornado QiGong]. When activated, it was able to blow up disk-sized stones causing them to roll all over the ground. Originally, Chen Qing’s cultivation was at the 4th tier ‘Qi Refinement’ realm and now it had reached the 5-th tier, ‘Qi Exploding’ realm. Evidently, he had been nurtured by his family in order to partic.i.p.ate in the gathering this time.

Among the wealthy families in Yan Capital City, the Yang family and Chen family had never been on good terms with each other, this was something known by everyone.

An extremely big tornado, much taller than a man, arrived before Yang Qi within the blink of an eye. In the centre of the tornado, pieces of gravel struck each other, which echoed like the clash of metals. If they struck the face of a person, they would certainly penetrate the skin, causing that person’s face to be pockmarked.

All the people were waiting to see Yang Qi make a fool of himself.

But, Yang Qi lifted his hand gently and immediately, Zhen Qi burst out from it and repressed the tornado. Then everything was quiet, and not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

Following that, he waved his hand in the air.

Peng!

A water-jar-sized Zhen Qi hand emerged from his hand, producing rumbling noises, and it seemed to swiftly appear in front of Chen Qing.

The palm flipped, then struck out!

Peng Peng Peng Peng. . . .

There were continuous explosions. Chen Qing still hadn’t reacted— the clothes on his body, the folding fan, the jade pendant he wore, and the body armour he had on under his clothes— all exploded. He was bare-naked and sent flying.

Moreover, the palanquin was behind him and the 7-8 guards did not have enough time to move it out of the way. They, too, were sent flying and blood spurted out from each one’s mouth.