Chapter 2054 - The Banquet

A palanquin carried Bi Kongliu and Su Yi toward Falling Cloud Lake at top speed.

Bi Kongliu’s Dao Protectors followed from the shadows.

“I just wonder when Su Yi will get here. The longer the situation drags on, the fiercer the competition will be when the Path of the Ancient Gods opens,” Bi Kongliu sighed along the way.

He was from the God Domain, and he knew it far better than most.

Over the past half year, the imminent return of the Path of Ancient Gods had stirred numerous prominent factions into action. They’d sent their experts to escort their divine children to the Kingdom of Lasting Light.

Rumor had it that even a few Heaven’s Chosen of peak factions would participate!

Heaven’s Chosen were the favored sons and daughters of heaven, and they were born blessed with good fortune. Every one of them was an astonishing genius in their pursuit of the Grand Dao, and all of them had unbelievable accumulations in the Grand Dao.

In the face of Heaven’s Chosen, even “unparalleled” divine sons seemed lacking.

The reason was simple. Heaven’s Chosen had the heaven-defying strength to contend with Lesser Gods while still in the Great Realm. They had no need to fear failing to one day reach the Undying Realm and become Master Gods!

“In this regard, I quite envy you,” said Su Yi.

Bi Kongliu was flabbergasted. “Huh? Wait, what exactly is it that you envy?”

“The more competitors you have in your pursuit of the Grand Dao, the more interesting the competition,” said Su Yi, the words coming straight from the heart. “When you look around you and find no one capable of competing with you, it’s hard to avoid tedium.”

“...” Bi Kongliu didn’t know what to say to that.

I didn’t realize I was traveling with such a shameless braggart! No one capable of competing with you? Hard to avoid tedium? Listen to yourself! Is that any way to talk?

Out loud, he said, “Fellow Daoist, surely you aren’t telling me that you no longer have competition?”

“Strictly speaking, at least within the same level of cultivation, I really don’t have any competition,” said Su Yi.

“...” Bi Kongliu resisted the urge to argue. Instead, he laughed. “In that case, I’m looking forward to seeing your 'magnificent invincibility within the same level of cultivation' for myself when the Path of the Ancient Gods opens.”

He spoke flippantly, and he obviously didn’t take Su Yi’s boasts seriously.

Su Yi just laughed and said nothing.

Bi Kongliu couldn’t help but ask, “Fellow Daoist, you really don’t even think of Heaven’s Chosen as worthy opponents?”

Su Yi glanced at him. In the end, he decided to keep a low profile. “There’s no need for me to explain. Should the opportunity arise, you’ll see for yourself.”

He’d only just said this when...

Boom!

A bronze carriage suddenly whooshed over from afar. A tall, gaunt man in imperial robes stood atop it, his long hair fluttering around him. He had an unbridled, tyrannical air about him.

“Bi Kongliu, it really is you!” said the man in imperial robes, his eyes glinting like a saber’s edge as he gazed into the palanquin. “Back in the God Domain, I said that if you dared show your face in the Kingdom of Lasting Light, I’d break your legs and humiliate you in front of a crowd. I wouldn’t have thought you’d dare show up anyway!”

His voice rumbled like thunder, drawing attention from throughout the surrounding area.

They were en route to Falling Cloud Lake, and there were numerous others headed the same way.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

When the others noticed what was happening, a clamor of voices arose as the crowd recognized the man in imperial robes.

“Jin Buyi!”

“He’s an unparalleled divine son near the top of the Great Profound Combat Rankings. He’s here too!?”

In the God Domain, there were six highly influential Master Gods of the Demonist Way. They were known as the Six Great Demon Masters. One of them, Demon Master Lingfeng, was Jin Buyi’s grandfather!

“Ridiculous! If you can participate, why can’t I?” Bi Kongliu emerged from the palanquin, his eyes flashing like cold lightning as he glared at Jin Buyi.

Meanwhile, Bi Kongliu’s two Dao Protectors emerged from the darkness and appeared behind him.

But Jin Buyi wasn’t the least bit concerned about the threat the two of them represented. He laughed hideously and said, “I’m a man of my word. I said I’d break your legs, so I fully intend to do just that!”

Bi Kongliu’s brow furrowed, and he said coldly, “Care to try it?”

Boom!

The crowd was in uproar. None of them had anticipated that these two illustrious experts of the God Domain would stare each other down at a time like this.

But Jin Buyi just threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t be in such a rush. If you’ve got the balls, come to Falling Cloud Lake. I promise that you’ll walk in on your feet and leave sprawled out on your back!”

Kaboom!

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, Jin Buyi set off on his bronze carriage and soared into the distance.

“That bastard!” Bi Kongliu gnashed his teeth, his expression as dark as could be.

Although no battle had taken place, in terms of bluster and momentum, Jin Buyi had come out ahead!

“Young Master, that demon spawn Jin Buyi has always been lawless, and he’s sure to cause a disaster one day. Seems to me that we’d best avoid trouble for now.” The decrepit old man in brocade walked up to him and said in a low voice, “We don’t know when the Path of the Ancient Gods will open. It would be unwise to have a falling out with Jin Buyi before then.”

“If I stayed away from Falling Cloud Lake out of fear, it would leave my reputation in shambles and make me a laughingstock. Worse, it would leave the mirror of my heart covered in dust. I’d never be able to hold my head up high again!” Bi Kongliu said gravely. “We’re going! We must go! When cultivating and pursuing the Dao, you cannot shrink back from conflict!”

His eyes shone with the utmost determination.

The old man in brocade instantly fell silent.

Su Yi, meanwhile, was still drinking inside the palanquin. He couldn’t help but take another look at Bi Kongliu.

Just as I thought. Of course someone that a top faction poured their heart’s blood into training has extraordinary qualities. Bi Kongliu’s courage is admirable.

But Su Yi had no interest whatsoever in Bi Kongliu’s enmity with Jin Buyi.

“Fellow Daoist, I embarrassed myself in front of you,” Bi Kongliu said with a self-deprecating laugh upon returning to the palanquin. “From an outsider’s perspective, we divine children lead glorious lives. We’re born into prominent families with ample accumulations, and we occupy a lofty position. But we too are divided into ranks based on ability, and there’s extraordinarily fierce competition among divine children of the same level of cultivation.”

“A treasure sword requires tempering to grow sharp,” said Su Yi. “Pursuing the Grand Dao isn’t about striving for a moment’s glory. When the day comes that you have few opponents left in this world, you’ll look back at these days of fierce competition with the utmost fondness.”

Bi Kongliu was briefly stunned, but after a moment’s thought, he nodded. “Indeed.”

Rivers and streams didn’t strive to reach their destination first, but rather, an endless flow! Similarly, pursuing the Grand Dao was a matter of persistence, not speed.

Before long, they saw Falling Cloud Lake in the distance. There was a landscape garden built on the island in the lake’s center, and numerous illustrious guests had gathered there already. Most were from the God Domain, and there were divine sons and daughters all over the place.

The men were handsome, and the women were beautiful. All of them had proud, glorious bearings.

This was Longevity Palace’s territory, but tonight, its experts could only welcome their guests and serve as waiters. The level of tonight’s banquet was just too high.

Disregarding the rest, the divine children’s escorts were all gods!

The garden was full of ornate bridges, flowing streams, and pavilions, and it was planted with wondrous and beautiful grasses and flowers.

The banquet had yet to begin, and the guests had yet to take their seats. Instead, they conversed in the garden and sampled the provided immortal brews and refreshments.

Their host was one of the Three Purities Daoist Court’s Four Sons of the Dao, Mi Yeyun. He was dressed in dark Daoist robes, and he had his hair in a Daoist topknot. His face was as smooth as jade.

He was the center of attention at tonight’s banquet. Numerous other divine children were clustered around him, all of them talking about the Path of the Ancient Gods.

Su Yi didn’t have any interest in all the excitement. When they arrived, Bi Kongliu beckoned to some of his friends, while Su Yi sat alone in the shade of an ancient tree, drinking and eavesdropping.

There was no denying that the divine children had numerous worthwhile leads, and they knew many secrets surrounding the Path of the Ancient Gods. They had access to information unavailable in the outside world.

At tonight’s banquet, such information was commonplace, and Su Yi did learn a fair bit.

For example, that the opportunities to achieve divinity in the Path of Ancient Gods were the product of lost epoch civilizations!

And that the so-called “strongest possible path to divinity” they said was only to be found in the Path of the Ancient Gods really did exist!

It was just that despite the passage of countless years, no one had ever managed to acquire it.

Many of the Path of the Ancient Gods’ hidden zones were only accessible to Great Realm cultivators, so deities could not interfere. These were the ones that typically hid Epoch Fragments.

Unfortunately, although these leads were valuable, they didn’t really pique Su Yi’s interest. He most wanted to know just what lay in the abyss at the far end of the Path of the Ancient Gods, whether lost epoch civilizations were really buried there, and whether he could really reach them with the Epoch Spark's help.

Ultimately, the divine children’s conversation was focused on achieving divinity, and it was thus largely irrelevant to Su Yi’s interests.

In the Tower of Ancient Evils, he'd broken the Abundance of Heaven Chessboard and finally found his path to divinity. Why would be concern himself with fighting for the opportunities up for grabs in the Path of the Ancient Gods?

But as Su Yi’s thoughts raced, the sound of combat boomed in the distance, followed by a clamor of startled cries. The banquet guests all looked over.

Su Yi’s brow furrowed, and he rose from the shade of the ancient tree to have a look.

There was a sparring arena built in the northwestern corner of the garden. The battle underway there had only just ended.

Divine Son Jin Buyi stood on stage, his arms crossed as he said with cold indifference, “Bi Kongliu, if you aren’t convinced, crawl back to your feet. I promise to break your other leg, too!”

He’d only just defeated Bi Kongliu, broken his leg, and tossed him out of the arena.

Bi Kongliu sat sprawled in the dirt, his hair disheveled and his face ashen and unsightly. His right leg had snapped, and it was currently gushing blood and smearing the ground red.

Numerous other divine children had rushed over to watch, and when they saw this, their expressions shifted. Many of them started whispering among themselves.

There were gods watching throughout the surrounding area, but none of them intervened.

This was a competition between divine children. In the God Domain, there was an unofficial rule that when divine children fought, gods were not to intervene except in the case of death or mortal danger!

“Young Master!” The old man in brocade robes and the other Dao Protector looked stricken, and they rushed over to help Bi Kongliu to his feet.

“Stop!” shouted Jin Buyi. “He hasn’t admitted defeat yet. If you intervene, you’ll break the rules!”

Bi Kongliu’s guardians stopped in their tracks, their expressions shifting and uncertain.

Jin Buyi, meanwhile, fixed his knifelike gaze on Bi Kongliu and grinned. “I said that if you came to this banquet, I’d publicly humiliate you, but you refused to listen. What is this, if not inviting your own humiliation?”

The crowd chuckled. Many of the onlookers watched with sadistic glee. Others looked on with pity, and still others couldn’t bear to watch.

Either way, Bi Kongliu’s reputation was in shambles. He’d become a laughingstock!

Su Yi silently approached from afar and stood amidst the crowd, hands behind his back as he quietly took it all in.