Chapter 96 - An Annoying Old Man

The gigantic hand emerged from the heavy, dark, and extensive lightning clouds as it aimed its grappling fingers on the mansion; the hand was so gigantic that the clouds only stopped at its elbows. The overwhelming descending force of the gigantic hand caused the space around it to generate multiple space cracks. The gigantic arm stretched its fingers in an opening manner as it aimed to crush the mansion with but a grasp.

Noticing the gigantic descending arm, Patrick didn't even bother as he ignored it; he sat on his luxurious chair as he stared far in the distance, oblivious to the chaotic situation happening. Like his master, Raleigh also stood oblivious to the descending arm, but he had an expressionless yet irritated countenance, as if annoyed that Patrick was being disturbed. The next second, his system sounded.

[Passive Skill: Space-Void Manipulator; Can control space and void as the user pleases]

The next instant, the grappling fingers of the gigantic descending arm reached the mansion as it aimed to crush the building with but an instant grasp; but instead of touching the mansion, the space-void around the gigantic arm folded as if it was a black hole, the next instant, the gigantic arm got sucked into the folded space-void as it instantly disappeared from the scene. Since the arm emerged and vanished, it took only five seconds.

Knowing the disappearance of the gigantic arm, Raleigh clapped as the extensive dark and revolving lightning clouds above the mansion instantly cleared, revealing the shining sun. But just when everything was back to tranquil, an old man with long white hair and beard, wearing a long and luxurious white cultivation robe, appeared before the mansion. The old man floated with hands behind his back as he stared at Patrick's group occupying the balcony of the fifth floor; landing his focusing eyes on Patrick, the old man spoke as his heavy old voice reverberated in the surroundings, 

"This Celestial wondered who was capable of forcing a descendant from an ancient family such as Gong Tieshan to ask for this Celestial's help. With him disregarding his arrogance and resources, this Celestial expected some old fogie bullying the younger generations, but it seems this Celestial had underestimated his expectations of you."

Listening to the casual words of this stranger, Patrick stared at the floating old man with a lazy and unimpressed expression; he didn't bother with the stranger's arrogant demeanour or haughty entrance the least; instead, he allowed the man to finish his sentence unlike his previous self of interrupting. Raleigh stood behind his master while waiting for the slightest hint from him, whether to pulverize the old man or not. Both the master and servant duo didn't bother replying to the old man; they merely stared at him with their unimpressed countenances.

The old man floated before the mansion with a carefree expression as he stared at Patrick's group. Seeing that neither both men replied to his statement, the old man ignored it as he spoke.

"It's normal for younglings such as yourselves to act arrogantly; after all, a newborn calf isn't afraid of a full-grown tiger. But lecturing you isn't why I'm here. First, I want to compliment your bravery; you dared to attack and kill a member of an ancient family; not even some of the other ancient families have such balls.

Tracking you wasn't something this Celestial thought would be hard, but you are one peculiar fellow; if it weren't for the Spiral Sword Celestials' information of seeing the lass from the Jun family with you, and some elders using their strongest Daos only to discover a whiff of your breath from the hidden Jun residence, this Celestial would have never found you, sigh! What a hassle. It makes this Celestial want to give you some beating before taking you, but this Celestial is only here to capture you.

Now, if you surrender and come with this Celestial, perhaps you won't have to suffer any thrashings-- the giant hand from before was just a test to see if you were qualified of being an enemy of Gong Tieshan, but it seems you are indeed qualified, you servant isn't half-bad either. Now, will you willingly come with this Celestial, or should this Celestial make things hard for you?"

The old man finished his sentence as he remained hovering before the mansion, hands behind him while portraying an elderly superior attitude. He could see the unimpressed faces of the two beings sitting on the balcony, especially the silver-haired Patrick.

'What a chatty old man; his archaic manner of speaking in third person alone exhibits how old he is. So the brat Gong Tieshan has lost his patience and had sent a seventh-stage Star Celestial, huh? It looks like I will have to visit the deeper regions sooner.

I initially wanted to use the Jun family as a pawn to take over this Immortal Realm, but that would be a waste of time now; as for those who surrendered to my decree, I will increase their fortunes and use them at a later date. Besides, the outer region was starting to get boring anyway.

But truly, I'm disappointed in this Gong family and their twelfth prince; even after I intentionally left my breath Qi in the hidden Jun residence and disclosed my presence, it took them three weeks to know my location. And if they were going to annoy me, the least they could have done was send at least a few thousand ninth-stage Star Celestials; this one won't even be entertaining-- sigh!'

Patrick instantly thought as he stared at the old man; he rested his head on his right fist while he sighed boringly.

"Tell me, how is it like, obeying every command of a brat such as Gong Tieshan like a dog, for an old frog like you, shouldn't the ordering be vice versa?"

"...!"

"And also, instead of questioning whether you will make things hard for me, you should question whether you can even make things hard for me."

"...!"

Silence permeated the surroundings as Patrick's words left the old man speechless for a while; the old man intensely gazed at Patrick's group as if prying for their cultivation bases, but then, he slightly frowned as his forehead creased together. Like the many before him, he couldn't perceive anything from these two men. Realizing the unnatural situation, the hovering old man changed his expression from carefree to serious as he steadily unfolded his arms from behind his back; he was now hovering in a serious and cautious stance.

'I am a seventh-stage Star Celestial, only three stages from reaching the Saint realm. With my Dao of 'Heavenly Eyes,' nothing can escape my sight; I can see the truth and origin of both the living and the dead below the Saint realm, but why do my eyes see nothing when I look at these two? What's worse is that I can't even tell if they are there or not. , They can't Saints as Saints can only live in the antiquity realm-- could they be soul clones of Saints? Not possible, could it be-?.'

"Not bad; for someone who isn't from a powerful lineage or has an influential background, your arrogant words and mannerism do quite resemble one. I have seen many younglings who acted arrogant and egoistic like you, but it only led them to one path, their inevitable demise!... I'm chatty with you because the order was to capture you, or else I would have killed you a million times already. But it seems I would have to break some rules."

'He's getting boring--.'

"Osborn, I couldn't see your performance with the sect elders earlier. Show me now."

Patrick thought and spoke after, his facial expression becoming even duller as if bored to death; he then heard Raleigh's voice behind him.

"As Master pleases."

Raleigh slightly bowed as he spoke; instantly after, his open-buttoned T-shirt began dissipating into black energy essence as his large white ancient dragon tattoo got revealed. With his T-shirt dissipated, Raleigh now stood with his dragon tattoo magnificently outlined on his pale skin as it only contributed to his godly appearance. Then, Raleigh wasn't behind Patrick anymore.

The old man floated before the mansion with a serious expression as he stared at Patrick; seeing that Patrick was the leader, he was more focused now on him. But in the next uncalculatable instant, the red-haired man was hovering before him; the old man frowned as he scrutinizingly gazed at Raleigh, not understanding what just happened the least.

'..., It looks like this person cultivates the space Dao; I couldn't even feel the slightest movement in the space-void; it's as if he is the space itself. From the report given by that Spiral Sword commoner, the silver-haired one is the level ten array master, and this red-haired one was seen coming out of the Infinite Treasures Mountain with him. So the question is, who is this man? Maybe he is that lad's protector? It can only mean that; this person's eyes shows how in-depth his knowledge is; he must be an ancient cultivator in youthful skin.'

The old man thought in a matter of seconds as he stared at the red-haired Raleigh hovering before him. Then, the old man watched as Raleigh began running his left hand through his hair, steadily from the front to the back as he stared at him with his cold and expressionless eyes, asking after.

"The more there is, the less you see. What am I?"

"...?--"

BOOM...! CRACK..! POOSH...!

Before the old man could even receive and comprehend the question, a kick landed on his right face as it sent him flying far in the distance, causing a loud resonating boom after. The space-void where the man hovered previously had multiple space cracks as they mended themselves seconds after.

Raleigh had asked his question while simultaneously throwing a kick at the old man's face. He didn't bother chasing the old man; he instead hovered at his spot as he watched the old man flying far into the distance and even crashing into a mountain after.

The white-robed wearing old man's body flew in the distance as he crashed into a mountain, with loud booming sound reverberating after. The old man crashed into the mountain with the face first as his crashing impact instantly shattered the gigantic stone mountain. But just when his body was about to continue flying into the distance, the old man expressed an angry yet maniacal grin as he smiled psychopathically; he clasped his right fist as his body instantly stopped in mid-air. The old man maintained his maniacal expression as he stared far into the distance, his gaze landing on Raleigh after.

"How long has it been since I last received a hit? But when was the last time I truly had a proper battle either? The order was to bring the silver-haired one, which means this red-haired one will be my plaything. After two hundred thousand years, this Celestial shall finally engage in a serious fight. Grin! My blood boils from merely thinking about it-- Dao essence."

The old man spoke, as the next instant; three white lights appeared from thin air as they circled the old man's head; a few seconds later, the lights calmed as they hovered over the man's head, forming a triangle after. With the three lights assembling into a triangle, a portal appeared from the centre as it showered the old man with white godly energy. After another few seconds, the white light vanished as it left the old man more majestic and domineering than his previous self.

The old man hovered over the destroyed mountain as his body began exuding overwhelming pressure, causing everything within a hundred million mile circumference to assume cracks; the space-void constantly shattered as they continuously mended themselves after. The man hadn't even released any serious pressure yet; this was just from the unconscious release of his essence, and it had caused this much destruction.

The old man closed his eyes as if in a meditation state; he then stretched his two arms as he uttered after.

"Heavenly Eyes Dao.... Dao of prediction."