Chapter 1616: Everyone’s Here

The trio’s conversation looked like it took some time, and it wasn’t like they were holding back their voices. However, no one around them seemed to notice a thing. In fact, from the outsiders’ perspective, the Old Heavenly Master had only briefly glanced in their direction. Absolutely nothing had happened during this time.

Perhaps only a handful of people on the sacrificial altar such as the Chief Libationist and the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master noticed the anomaly.

After the Old Heavenly Master had landed on the sacrificial altar, everyone rose to their feet and saluted him.

“It’s too much, too much. Apologies for making you all wait.”

The Old Heavenly Master returned the salute smilingly before looking at the Chief Libationist. “Long time no see, Yinghu.” Yinghu was the Chief Libationist’s true name.

“Yes. It’s been over five years.”

The Chief Libationist asked smilingly, “How have you been, Old Heavenly Master?” It was clear that they were quite familiar with each other.

“I’m doing well. I bet I can live for another decade or so!”

The Old Heavenly Master replied smilingly, “Well, I shan’t keep you from your duties any longer. I’ll head over to my seat by myself.”

“Old Heavenly Master...”

“Old Heavenly Master...” Everyone he passed by saluted him respectfully. When the Old Heavenly Master sat down next to the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master, he asked, “I stole your thunder almost as soon as you made an appearance. You don’t mind, right old monk?” The Dragon Subjugating Zen Master replied, “Not at all. It’s not like you have many years left.”

The Old Heavenly Master shook his head. “You are as terrible at talking as ever, old monk.”

“Monks do not lie. I am simply speaking the truth,” the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master replied expressionlessly.

A moment of silence later, the old monk suddenly spoke up, “You shouldn’t have come.”

“The safety of Chu is at stake. The people’s lives are at stake. How can I not show up?” The Old Heavenly Master looked at the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master and countered, “You came too, didn’t you?”

“Who will go to hell if not me?”

The Dragon Subjugating Zen Master nodded smilingly.

“Heh! Don’t get it wrong, old monk! We are paying hell a visit not to stay there, but to turn it upside down!”

The Old Heavenly Master clapped the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master on the shoulder with a chuckle. Clearly, they both guessed the true reason the Chief Libationist had invited them to this ceremony. Or perhaps the Chief Libationist had informed them beforehand.

The duo fell silent and looked at the Chief Libationist after that.

The appearance of the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master of the White Horse Temple and the Old Heavenly Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain had undoubtedly pushed this coronation ceremony to a new height. Although more famous warriors such as Longevity Old Man of Longevity Mountain, Master Guan of Mountain Sea Academy, Moon Observer of the Fate Knowing Palace and more showed up, they were all outshone by the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master and the Old Heavenly Master.

It was worth noting that the True Martial Sect, one of the Three Temples of Dao, had dispatched someone as well. However, it was the mountain lord of Morning Sun Peak, the Pure Yang Trueman who showed up. Although he was also a Sage on the Heaven Champions Ranking, he was far less famous than his sect master, the Heaven Cutting True Sovereign. That was a man whose power, fame and influence was on the same level as the Chief Libationist and the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master.

Strangely, East Kunlun hadn’t dispatched anyone despite being one of the Three Temples of Dao. This was probably Ye Qing’s fault. Some time ago, the Cyan Celestial Superior Celestial of the Shang Qing Temple and the Supreme Origin Profound Sovereign of the Yu Qing Temple had been threatened by Ancestor Black Robe, lord of the Demonic Mountain and forced to supervise the Kunlun Ruins and prevent its Nine Nethers Demonic Qi from leaking into the human world. This meant that two of the three lords of the San Qing Temple were occupied, and only the lord of the Taiqing Temple was free. If he showed up as well, then East Kunlun would have to operate without any leadership. Naturally, that was unacceptable.

But why were the attendees all famous factions of the orthodox way such as the Two Temples of Buddha, the Three Temples of Dao, the Five Profound Sects and more? Because the Chief Libationist did not invite anyone from the Nine Dark Ways or the thirty six orthodox sects, of course. The Chief Libationist was the leader of this plan. It didn’t make sense for him to invite heretics and villains that would most likely be incompatible with his Dao.

Of course, this didn’t mean that there were no righteous people among the warriors of the Dark Ways. At the very least, many of them would rather kill a ghost and god than serve them. However, it was undeniable that there were far more villains in the Dark Ways than the orthodox way; crazies who got drunk on slaughter and chaos and would rather destroy humanity than save them. Obviously, the Chief Libationist wanted to recruit allies who would definitely assist his efforts to kill King Taishan, not enemies who might backstab them and even support King Taishan.

Besides, gathering the orthodox and the unorthodox in the same hall was like keeping chickens and ducks in the same pen. They would probably fight among themselves before they even got to King Taishan.

Naturally, the wise and intelligent Chief Libationist wouldn’t make such a stupid mistake.

Of course, just because the Chief Libationist did not extend an invitation to the warriors of the Dark Ways did not mean that they hadn’t shown up themselves.

After all, everyone in the

jianghu

, no, the entire world wanted to know what the Chief Libationist was planning. The heretics and villains were no exceptions. Naturally, they dispatched their men to attend the event and gather information.

There were also people who came out of pure curiosity, of course.

In fact, there were many elites of the Dark Ways hiding among the crowd in the outer ring. Ye Qing’s own senses told him that at least dozens of warriors hiding demonic intent or violent auras were hiding in the midst. It was obvious that they were not good people.

Of course, not everyone possessed senses as strong as his. Most of these people were at least Truemen or Grandmasters as well, which made it impossible for the ordinary people to notice anything amiss.

This was just a small portion as well. If he looked at the entire imperial capital, he reckoned that hundreds, even thousands of warriors of the Dark Ways had shown up.

In other words, both the good and the bad were gathered in the imperial capital right now.

If this was any other time and place, then it was very likely that these people would cause some sort of trouble. Right now though, they were all acting as meek as obedient as livestocks. They were all keeping their tail tucked inside their pants and playing the part of a good and honest human being.

The reason was obvious. The Chief Libationist, the Old Heavenly Master, the Dragon Subjugating Zen Master and more were sitting right above their heads. A sneeze from these legendary figures could probably turn them into dust, so why on earth would they act out and draw attention to themselves?

Finally, the Auspicious Deer was done introducing the

jianghu

warriors, but its duty wasn’t over yet. Next, it began introducing envoys who were allies with Chu or countries whose interests were aligned with them. There were Snowa and Beirong from the northernmost lands; Ruoqiang, Yanqi, Qiemo from the westernmost lands; Xuanshui, Chonggui, Wuying from the eastern sea or the southern sea, and more.

Frankly, the large majority of these names came up as a blank in Ye Qing’s head. The envoys they dispatched opened his eyes though.

For example, Snowa was a country located in the Great Snow Mountain in the northernmost lands. According to Feng Qingyou, it was constantly beset by storms and snow and extremely inhospitable to humankind. In fact, the people living there weren’t strictly humans. They were all Strangerkins.

Even better, there were only female citizens in Snowa. If a woman a Snowa wished to reproduce, all they needed to do was drink the mountain spring of their divine mountain. They would become pregnant and give birth to the next generation.

Besides that, the women of Snowa were said to be beautiful beyond measure. They looked young and beautiful even when they had reached the end of their lifespan. Because of this, someone was always trying to infiltrate the Great Snow Mountain, kidnap their citizens, and sell them to the highest bidder.

Of course, the people of Snowa didn’t take this lightly. Not only that, they were naturally powerful because they were Strangerkins born with the power to control wind and snow. The snowy terrain multiplied their power as well.

The envoy Snowa dispatched to attend this coronation ceremony was their Left Counselor. She was very beautiful and quite powerful. She was a Great Trueman.

Yanqi of the westernmost lands was pretty interesting as well. It was said that the country was located deep within the desert where there was no water, rain, ice or snow. There was only the eternal sun, wind and sand. Because of this, every man and woman in Yanqi looked withered and dry like a dried corpse. Appearance wise, they looked absolutely terrifying. However, they were one hundred percent human.