Chapter 888: Tian Gu’s Dread
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"He's the Peak Master of Earth Peak, Tian Gu," Chen Wei replied.
The Peak Master of Earth Peak?
Duan Ling Tian raised his brows, "Then, does this mean that he's Tian Zhen's father?"
"Yes," Chen Wei nodded.
"Earth Peak…" Duan Ling Tian was no stranger to Earth Peak.
Before he joined the Five Element Sect and was still in Settlement City, the Earth Peak's disciples who were laying low at the Earth Peak's point of operations had tried to lure him into Earth Peak by using a second-grade spirit weapon and a seventh-level Concept Fragments.
Due to this reason, he had some interactions with Earth Peak before.
After witnessing Tian Gu, the Peak Master of Earth Peak smashed his Illusory Space into pieces and looked over at him promptly, Duan Ling Tian immediately knew that the Peak Master had discovered that he was the owner of the Spiritual Energy that had forged the Illusory Space.
Duan Ling Tian was not bothered by it. Without even an ounce of fear, he looked up to meet his gaze.
However, Duan Ling Tian and Tian Gu quickly looked away from each other and shifted their gazes to another place at the same time.
Nobody knew when, but the old man who was standing beside Tian Gu had vanished from Duan Ling Tian's eyes and re-appeared again beside Hu Fei who was deeply perturbed. He was beaten into becoming pig-face, and he was in a quandary now.
"Hu Fei, what were you doing earlier?" With a solemn face, the old man snapped.
It had never crossed his mind that this disciple whom he was usually proud of would be such a wreck today. Furthermore, it was right in front of the Five Element Sect's senior officials and disciples. It brought disgrace to his name.
"He's Cha Bai, the Peak Master of Fire Peak," Chen Wei's voice resonated in Duan Ling Tian's ears clearly.
Duan Ling Tian nodded his head.
In fact, even if Chen Wei did not inform him, he would also be able to guess the identity of this old man.
That old man was that person who was standing side by side with Tian Gu, the Peak Master of Earth Peak, and their Wood Peak's Peak Master earlier.
There was a total of four people who were standing in a row behind the Sect Leader of the Five Element Sect.
As a result, their identities immediately became apparent. They were obviously the Peak Masters of the other four Peaks other than Gold Peak.
"M-M-Master?" At this moment, Hu Fei finally returned to his senses. When he saw Cha Bai in front of him and noticed the peculiar-looking gazes around him, his eyes were immediately filled with a bloodcurdling and chilling gleam.
"CHEN WEI, I'M GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU!" Without warning, Hu Fei turned to Duan Ling Tian, Huang Daniu and Chen Wei who was standing nearby. The flame that rose up from his body instantly broke loose as he was about to charge towards them.
SLAP!
A crisp sound reverberated in the air. It was Cha Bai who gave him a slap. It was so hard that half of Hu Fei's face became even more swollen than before, "Don't you think you've been disgraceful enough?!" Hints of wrath could be heard in Cha Bai's deep voice.
After Hu Fei received such a slap from Cha Bai, he shuddered involuntarily. Startled, he finally regained his full senses and quickly hung his head down in shame, "M-Master, I'm sorry for being so useless. I'm sorry for embarrassing you!"
"However, if they didn't use external force in the first place, I wouldn't have become such a wreck like this… Please be rest assured, Master. Once the Battle of the Five Peaks starts, I'll let them repent their entire lives if they dare to play such tricks again!"
The moment the words left Hu Fei's mouth, he gritted his teeth. His eyes that were filled with hatred gleamed with iciness as it swept across Duan Ling Tian and the other two.
Upon hearing Hu Fei's words, The Five Element Sect's disciples who were at the surroundings burst into an uproar.
External force?
Hu Fei was reduced to this mess by some external force?
They finally 'understood' the situation immediately.
"No wonder the situation was so bizarre earlier! It turns out that those people from Wood Peak used some external force to make Hu Fei suffer from such a debilitating loss!"
"Hurmph! Nobody's allowed to rely on any external forces in the Battle of the Five Peaks. Otherwise, he would be disqualified! Looks like these three men from Wood Peak men down on their lucks then… if they don't admit defeat."
"Now I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how Senior Brother Hu Fei who has been humiliated like that would retaliate against those three men from Wood Peak."
…
Many of the Five Element Sect disciples buried their heads together in discussions. They thought that Duan Ling Tian and the other two would face their nightmare soon.
Of course, there were a few exceptions as well.
For example, the Nangong Twins, the Peak Master of Earth Peak —Tian Gu — Wood Peak and the two old men standing at the back, Yang Ling, and Ke Zheng.
"Senior Brother Yang, looks like these three little fellows helped avenge you!" Ke Zheng smiled as he told Yang Ling.
Yang Ling nodded his head gently. However, he did not seem to be unnerved at all.
At this moment, his gaze fell on Hu Fei — who was healing the wound on his face speedily with a speed that was visible to the naked eyes after he had taken the Healing Medicinal Pill — with hints of complicated gleams in his eyes.
After ten years, he noticed that he was not as angry as he was anymore when faced with this disciple who had betrayed him in the past again.
Right now, everything did not matter so much to him anymore.
Time really could wash away everything.
"Now, the four other Peak Masters, please meet with your Peak's young representatives, and we'll start the Battle of the Five Peaks in 30 minutes! When that time comes, the Five Peak will rearrange the rank, and we'll set the dividing of the sect resources all Peaks will obtain in the next three years based on this rank," the Sect Leader of the Five Element Sect announced loudly soon after.
The three Peak Masters behind the Sect Leader instantly took their own elders who were standing behind with them and scattered away. They flew across the sky to the side not far away.
Similarly, the Peak Master of Wood Peak brought Yang Ling and Ke Zheng to Duan Ling Tian and the two others.
"Peak Master." After Duan Ling Tian and the two greeted their Peak Master with a smile, they turned to Yang Ling and Ke Zheng and greeted them as well.
At the same time, Duan Ling Tian managed to find out the name of their Peak Master was Qi Yu through a Voice Transmission from Chen Wei.
As for the Sect Leader of the Five Elemental Sect, his name was Guo Chong.
Tian Gu, that Peak Master of Earth Peak, brought along a Wood Peak elder to meet Tian Zhen.
"Father!" Tian Zhen greeted Tian Gu respectfully.
As for the two people beside him, they also followed suit and greeted him, "Peak Master."
"Hmm," Tian Gu smiled and nodded. However, although he had a smile on his face, concern could be seen between his brows. It was as if he was worried about something.
As if he could sense what his father was worried about, Tian Zhen reassured, "Father, don't worry. I'll definitely defeat the two young powerhouses that Wood Peak found. I'll never let the Earth Peak rank last."
When he heard Tian Zhen's reply, Tian Gu shook his head, "No,"
"Huh?" Tian Zhen was puzzled.
"Zhen'er, your opponent this time is not the two men from Wood Peak… but Tan Huan from Water Peak instead," he said as he looked to the distance.
Over there, Tan Huan met with a middle-aged woman. That woman was none other than the Peak Master of Water Peak — Yu Fang.
She was a member of the fairer sex, but she was able to emerge as the Peak Master of one of the Five Peaks in Five Element Sect — Water Sect. This, itself, was more than enough to show that she was not a simple figure. Her cultivation base was definitely not in any way inferior to Cha Bai and Tian Gu.
"Father, if I'm to go against Tan Huan, I might not be able to win against her… After all, she has already made a breakthrough to the Sixth Level Void Interpretation as well," Tian Zhen let out a bitter smile.
In the past, when he and Tan Huan were both still in the Fifth Level Void Interpretation, they had fought against each other once.
That time, he was just a little bit inferior to her.
Originally, he thought that he would be able to defeat Tan Huan now that he had achieved the Sixth Level Void Interpretation, but it had never crossed his mind that Tan Huan managed to do it too.
"WHAT?!" Tian Gu was taken aback. "S-She made a breakthrough as well? Looks like this time, our Earth Peak is in danger… Zhen'er, you must really put out all your efforts to defeat Tan Huan! Otherwise, our Earth Peak would be silenced for the next three years from now on."
"Father, what're you saying? Even if I can't defeat Tan Huan, I can still defeat that Duan Ling Tian and Huang Daniu from Wood Peak! I heard that they're just at the Fifth Level Void Interpretation," Tian Zhen exclaimed.
"Hurmph!" Tian Gu snorted, "Do you really think a person who's able to wreck Hu Fei would only be at the level of Fifth Level Void Interpretation?"
Tian Zhen was stunned before he quickly continued, "Father, didn't Hu Fei say it himself earlier? It's because the three people from Wood Peak relied on some external force that they were able to ruffle him. During the Battle of the Five Peaks, nobody's allowed to use any external force at all." A confident smile flashed across his face when he finished talking. "Once they can no longer rely on their external force, it's not hard for me to defeat them if I want to."
"External force?"
Tian Gu snorted, "When Hu Fei said it's an external force, you really believe that it's an external force? Looks like the name that I gave you that time was really apt! Tian Zhen — NAIVE!" [1]
"Father, what do you mean?" Tian Zhen became more solemn as he could vaguely feel that something was not right.
"You must know that other than a martial artist, I, your father, am also an Inscription Master who has some knowledge in the Inscription field. I can release my Spiritual Energy out of my body… What you should know that it was me who saved Hu Fei earlier," Tian Gu replied.
"Father, I know that you're an Inscription Master, and I also know that an Inscription Master can release his Spiritual Energy out. However, what do you actually mean by you saved Hu Fei?" Perplexed, Tian Zhen asked.
"If I'm correct, Hu Fei was in a place that's similar to an illusion earlier. And that illusion was created from Spiritual Energy." Taking a deep breath, Tian Gu whispered his speculation to his son.
"WHAT?! An illusion? An illusion that was created by Spiritual Energy on top of that?" Panic-stricken, Tian Zhen's eyes narrowed immediately as he exclaimed, "D-Don't tell me that there's a special Demon Beast who's gifted in Soul Brand and could cast the Soul Skill even before it has entered the Emperor Stage beside the three of them?"
"Hurmph! If that really is the power of a Demon Beast, then it'll still be considered as an external force, and it won't affect the Battle of the Five Peaks." After he snorted, Tian Gu continued to say with caution, "BUT, the problem is, after I've used my Spiritual Energy to break open the illusion that was cast from Spiritual Energy, I noticed that the owner of that Spiritual Energy is actually Duan Ling Tian!"
Duan Ling Tian!
The moment these three words entered Tian Zhen's ears, it was like a thunder shocked him to his core. He was so shaken that horror dawned on his face instantly.
"F-Father, y-you mean that… t-that Duan Ling Tian could use Spiritual Energy to create an illusion? D-Don't tell me he's a d-demon?" Tian Zhen gasped, the shock could be seen on his entire face.
Demon!
Even if he was the weakest demon ever, he would still be at least at the First-Level Void Transformation. He would only need one blow to defeat him.
"Of course not! Although his Spiritual Energy is pretty good, it's still far away from the Void Transformation Level. I suspect that he might be a Variant that's born from a human and a demon — the kind of Variant who possesses an innate ability that could defy heaven," Tian Gu voiced out his speculation.
Translator's Note
[1] Some clarification, Tian Zhen means 'naive' in Mandarin.