92 Meeting the elders. (1/2)
Li Yang stepped out of his room and walked past a worried-looking Blackstone, opening the door and leaving the house. Standing a few feet away from the door was a man who looked to be in his early forties, brown hair slicked back and a slight gray stubble decorating his chin. The moment Li Yang saw him, the man's weight caught his attention.
The man was incredibly fat, so fat that Li Yang wouldn't be surprised if someone told him that he weighed at least 250 kilos. The man in front of him had reached the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, so if he wanted to he could easily lose most of that weight. This could only mean that the man deliberately chose to keep his weight as it was, a rather strange choice to make. Seeing Li Yang step out of the house, the man politely cupped his hands in a greeting.
”Good morning, Junior Brother Yang. I am Song Jiahao, a disciple of Tenth Elder Gengxin. Forgive me for disturbing you while you are focusing on recuperating, but my teacher and a few of the other elders wish to meet with you. So please, follow me.”
Li Yang returned the greeting by cupping his hands, beckoning for Song Jiahao to lead the way. Song Jiahao nodded his head and turned around, heading towards the tall mountain that was the center of the Yuan clan. He purposefully slowed his walking speed, seemingly worried that Li Yang's wounds would prevent him from moving too fast.
The two started to ascend the mountain, following the Ascending Carp Staircase up to about the halfway point of the mountain. The spot where they left the staircase was clearly a bit different from the lower parts of the mountain. There were fewer buildings here, with most of them being palaces that Li Yang found to be a tad too decadent, decorated with statues of either jade or rare metals, with exquisite carvings decorating the sides of the palaces.
Song Jiahao led Li Yang past a few of the palaces, allowing him to notice that each of the palaces was surrounded by both a defensive formation and a formation that drew in the surrounding Qi to make cultivation easier. After they walked past four different palaces, they arrived at a palace that resembled a gothic castle built using deep crimson stone. The castle was surrounded by six large golden pillars, each pillar carved with the image of a different Divine Beast that looked exceedingly lifelike.
Song Jiahao opened the large wooden gate and had Li Yang follow him inside, entering a large hall where the entire floor was covered in a carpet made from a type of white fur. The inside of the hall was mostly empty, save for a few marble statues depicting human cultivators posing proudly, their weapons raised towards the skies in an act of defiance.
Song Jiahao didn't let Li Yang linger in the hall for long, leading him down a spacious arching hallway located at the right side of the room, stopping in front of two large wooden doors. Song Jiahao kneeled down in front of the door, announcing his arrival in a loud voice.
”Teacher, I have brought over Junior Brother Yang.”
Shortly after Song Jiahao announced his presence, Li Yang could feel several gazes land on him, inspecting him. This was something that most cultivators could do once they reached the late stage of the Immortal Rebirth realm, sending out a part of their mind so that they could keep an eye on their surroundings.
Li Yang was capable of doing something similar thanks to his law of lightning, but this way of sending out one's mind gave far more visual information, it also used less energy so it was better if one had to keep it active for longer periods of time.
Normally one would not be able to tell when someone with a higher strength was inspecting you like this, but not only was Li Yang very sensitive to foreign types of energy, but he also had exceptionally sharp instincts, so he was able to notice the gazes despite the difference in strength. After the various gazes finished inspecting Li Yang, a soft voice came from the other side of the doors.
”He may enter, prepare some tea for us.”
Song Jiahao was a bit curious why he had to prepare tea for this meeting, but he didn't show it on his face, swiftly nodding his head and leaving after pushing open the doors for Li Yang. With Song Jiahao leaving, Li Yang stepped into the room, which seemed to have been built specially for meetings.
There were very few decorations in the room, only a few paintings on the walls, a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a few potted plants lined along the walls. The only furniture in the room was an oval marble table that was so long that there was space for 9 chairs on each side of the table.
Of the 18 chairs, nine were currently taken up, five on the left side of the table and four on the right side. Of the nine people that were sitting there, Li Yang was only able to see the appearances of three of them, the other six using their own Qi to obscure their bodies. This was a thing some mighty cultivators liked doing, acting like they were too good for other people to lay their eyes on. Li Yang found it laughable, but there was no way he would show any sign of it here.
He couldn't even tell what cultivation any of the nine people in front of him had, which meant that they had at least reached the late stage of the Primordial Rune realm, some had probably reached the Celestial Immortal realm. It seemed like some of the big shots of the clan had taken an interest in him, surprising him somewhat.
His performance was excellent, but he knew that it wasn't enough to draw the attention of someone at the Celestial Immortal realm. If he could replicate this cultivation and strength disparity when he reached the Immortal Rebirth realm or the Primordial Rune realm, then he would certainly be able to draw their attention. But now, when he was only at the Ascending Heaven realm?
His thoughts were racing, but his expression stayed perfectly calm as he politely cupped his hands, swiftly sweeping his gaze over everyone in the room.
”This Junior Disciple has arrived to answer your summons.”
He wasn't able to see the appearances of everyone in the room, but he was able to just barely sense their intentions, what they felt towards him. From what he sensed, one among the nine was hostile, three of them were kindly disposed towards him, and the rest were inspecting him with either curiosity or indifference.
The first one to speak up after Li Yang broke the silence was the one who seemed hostile towards him. He was one of the three who Li Yang could properly see, a man in his late fifties who had brown eyes and the same light-green hair as Yuan Yijun. His face carried a disgruntled expression as he looked Li Yang up and down.
”So you're the beast who savaged my grand-daughter? Who do you think you are, what right do you have to beat my grand-daughter like that, even going as far as almost cheating by using a strengthening technique to boost your own strength? Do you get off on beating defenseless women?”
Li Yang felt like sneering at the man, Yuan Lim. This was a pattern he had seen plenty of times amongst the arrogant clans and sects in his previous life. The moment you beat one of the younger generation, someone from the older generation came to reclaim the face that had been lost. He didn't really mind it too much, he too would be mad if someone beat his children or grand-children after all.What irked him was that they always came up with some stupid excuses as to why they were in the right. If they would just be honest and state their intentions, he would respect them a bit more.
And just what sort of bullshit was this man spewing? Almost cheating by using a strengthening technique? Didn't Yuan Yijun activate one of her own? And was he supposed to fight someone two cultivation stages above him without using all the strength he could? It was clear that Yuan Lim was so incensed at having his grand-daughter beaten that he was grasping at straws to justify himself and protect the face of Yuan Yijun. Li Yang could only put on a calm smile and respond, acting as if he wasn't bothered while simultaneously testing out something.
”What right do I have to beat your grand-daughter? What right did she have to send people to beat up the provisional disciples provided to me by the clan? Had she just left me alone like I asked, none of this would have happened.”
Li Yang didn't even bother to mention the point where Yuan Lim said that his strengthening technique was practically cheating, after all, almost everything was legal in the arena. Yuan Lim seemed adamant to shift the blame away from Yuan Yijun, letting out a cold snort that caused the room to tremble slightly.
”Humph, it's just a couple of provisional disciples, so what if she beats them? It's their fault for being too weak to resist.”
Hearing the response of Yuan Lim, Li Yang had to resist the urge to smile, he had taken the bait. Li Yang shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant manner, stretching out his arms by controlling them using his law of lightning.
”Since that is how you feel, then I can only return those words to you. Your grand-daughter was too weak to resist me, so what if I beat her?”