An explosion echoed through the palace, it was not an attack but someone breaking the sound barrier as they penetrated through the roof of the palace and shot forward.
"I hope she doesn't kill him," Master Rain said as he helped the Wind King to his feet.
"I feel like an incompetent king for suffering at the hands of my wife," the Wind King said in a sigh.
"You're the one who wanted to marry a dragon, you have to take responsibility for it, anyway, she should be coming back shortly," Master Rain said.
'Coming back soon? It didn't take her more than a few seconds to leave the palace while Servant Mao who was fast enough to catch up to my Thunder Bull had left more than an incense stick worth of time ago.'
My thoughts however were soon proven to be very wrong.
Another explosive sound echoed again, and the Queen appeared right in the middle of the hall.
She was standing while in her right hand was the collar of Servant Mao
He was bloodied to a pulp, almost half dead. She then dropped him flat on the ground. On her other hand was a fear-stricken, almost blue-faced Xuan Su she couldn't do anything but stutter and shake as she had already wet herself from utter fright.
Everyone in the room however didn't seem to be bothered by such a sight, some were still unconscious from the prior scream, but the rest who resisted the screech were simply sipping at wine and feasting on their food as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
"That was slightly faster than I expected," Master Rain uttered.
Before anyone could speak though, came the voice of a new person who just entered through the main hall.
"That's because of this great lord here!" the words were robustious and full of vigor.
"Oh, even De Haung is here," Master Rain said.
"Old Blue, you're still alive after coming all the way here!" the man at the door spoke in a grin.
Looking at him, I found it pretty hard to think that this person is a normal person.
He was wearing nothing but a pelt around him, his chest muscles, six pack and all of the muscles on his body looked like living beings. They were so packed full that one would think this person was overdosing on steroids.
Yet, his muscles didn't look deformed or out of shape. The scars on his body were numerous, and one of them was like a giant gash crossing from his left shoulder to the right side of his naval.
His head was crowned by the head of a tiger that had three eyes. While on his back was a giant blade, more like a slab of steel than a blade.
"Hello," spoke a feminine voice.
Looking behind the new person was Lin, the cat girl.
"Daughter, is this your mate?" spoke the old man.
'Mate?' I tilted my head.
The girl nodded up and down like a chicken pecking on grain.
'The hell are they talking about?'
The old man then stomped forward, with every step the pressure in the hall increased.
Looking at him it seemed that he had a feral pressure about him, a pressure like that of a mountain tiger descending upon mortals.
His slit golden eyes were gazing upon me up and down until he reached all the way to my side.
This dude was a giant of a man, simply put he was at least eight feet in height. Shit, I look like a damn dwarf and I really don't like being looked down on.
Once we were face to face, I felt like I was facing a beast instead of a person. Yet for some reason, there was no bloodlust. It was simply like a creature trying to assert dominance.
Yet, everyone in the hall seemed to be worried they had their hands on the pummels of their weapons waiting.
This guy is strong.
One of his crossed arms rose up to his chin, then he smiled as his eyes approached all the way to meet mine.
"I like your gaze, good! GOOD! THIS IS HOW A MAN SHOULD BE HAH!"
'This dude is kinda whack...'
He then patted me on the shoulder, but even if it was a simple pat, I could feel that my bones were about to break from it.
"Fucking hell man!" I cursed.
Everyone gasped at the reaction.
"Oi Old Beast, he just ascended, that pat of yours is enough to cause person internal injuries control you damn strength," Master Rain said as he nodded to the 'Elephant in the room.'
"Wait, wait," the 'Old Beast' turned to Master Rain and then to me and said, "Ascendant? This guy? No way, how can an ascendant even resist my pressure? He is at least a King Class!" spoke the old man.
"No father, he really was just a Soul Transformation cultivator when we last met," spoke Lin.
Apparently, this person is her father.
"Oh, this is even more interesting now, not even a King Class but an ascendant, and able to survive a pat from this old man, now I'm even more interested in this brat. How about it, I'll permit you my daughter's hand if you come under the Earth Realm!" the old king said in a hearty laugh.
"Huh?" I tilted my head, "Why should I?" I replied.
De Huang frowned, "What do you mean why should you? Do you not know who I am?" he said.
"You're the Earth King, but what does me being permitted your hand's daughter or whatever you say is binding me to you or your realm? You come all the way here, apply your pressure on me as to test me, then almost break my shoulder from a pat? You didn't even gauge the other person's abilities or level before you acted, you're strong indeed but I think a bag of rocks has more chances of becoming a scholar than you if you think your actions are going to make me have a favorable impression of you," my words spoken and to everyone in the hall who seemed to have already been stressed out, I probably just signed my death warrant.
The hands that were simply on the pummels of their weapons were now gripping tightly on them.
Master Rain's brow rose then a broad grin rose up his lips.
Another hearty laugh rose from the Old Beast's lips "GOOD GOOD! This is how one should act! Don't ever bow down to power, even if one is stronger, many would think of this as foolish courage or stupidity, but those are nothing but spineless fools! GOOD! You really should come to my Realm!" The Old beast laughed heartily.
'This dude has bipolar disorder I'm sure of it'.
At the same time, the Wind King who was a bystander for a moment now seemed to approach us.
Just as he was about to speak, the woman who was standing still all this time in the hall seemed to take a breath, she then turned and said, "Old beast, he is my protegee, lay your hands off," she said.
He looked at her and then said, "Your protegee? From what my daughter said, and from what I concluded, this person was captured, humiliated, and tortured for five years, and you didn't do anything? How come you're his protector when you weren't able to even help him in his time of need?"
'Alright, if he concluded all of that from just seeing what's going on and words from his daughter then he probably is smarter than a bag of rocks. I take my words back,'
The words he spoke however were heavy, especially for the Queen.
And surprisingly the 'Old Beast' didn't even care for the words I spoke to him as he pointed at me saying, "A man with such caliber, to even dare and call me dumber than a bag of rocks, how many here can even dare and think those words? Not only that, he resisted my Feral Pressure without breaking a sweat, and you didn't even consider putting a guard next to him? protegee you say? You make me sick," the old beast said.
"Watch your words Old Beast!" one of the people in the hall said as he stood up sword in hand, "You're in the Wind Realm, even if you're strong don't think you'll go unpunished for speaking words like those to our Queen!"
The veins on the Earth King seemed to rattle like snakes, he was getting pissed.
"Hold on now," the Wind King said, "Why are we even fighting, don't we have more important things to take care of?" the Wind King said as he pointed at the two in the middle of the room.
"Shen Bao," the Queen said.
Turning to her, I was surprised to see her bowing down.
With her action, however, everyone in the room stood up.
"Your Majesty! Why are you bowing to such a low- such a person!" people began shouting words of disbelief at the sight they were seeing.
More began trying to dissuade the Queen from bowing but she didn't care as she had her head bowed to me.
Usually, I hated the fact that people bowed down to me, but this time I didn't act, because it wasn't right for me to deny her apology.
"I've failed to fulfill my promise to the person who brought my son back,"
Everyone in the room however seemed to have eyes screaming bloody murder as they were looking at me.
"Raise your head," I said to the Queen.
"To be honest, I have no qualms or problems with your inability to aid me in such a situation," I said.
"But!" the Queen interjected.
"No butts, really, don't worry about it, I'm not such a pushover to get scared by these people here, or their words that I'm saying this, I really don't care. As a matter of fact," I said as I approached the Soul Sealing Stakes that were thrown on the floor.
"I could have called your name whenever I wanted, But I didn't, do you know why," I said as I grabbed the stakes by hand, which immediately caused everyone to gasp.
Looking at the reaction of the people around us I said, "What? Y'all seem too surprised?"
"H-how are you able to hold those bear handed?" someone spoke.
And it was soon obvious that I was fully capable of controlling the Stakes, meaning that I had the ability to go beyond the Name Bind and call the Queen's Name Vow for her to appear to my aid whenever I wanted, but why didn't I is what everyone is thinking.
If I was able to control the Soul Sealing Stakes, why suffer such pain for so long?
Looking at the Earth King even he had a disgusted look on his face when looking at the Stakes in my hand.
'Interesting, even that guy doesn't like these toys.'
"Oh, these?" I replied to the question from the audience, "Simple, I just understood them," I said. I then pressed the tip of one of the stakes on my palm, causing it to completely disappear into the small cloud-like symbol that appeared on them.
After doing that for all nine of them I approached the two on the ground, "You did a number on these two," I said to the Queen. "But it's far from paying their debt, how about we have some fun then," I said as I grabbed Servant Mao's hand.
Several hundreds of thousands of symbols spread from my palm all over Servant Mao's body then soon interlocked themselves together.
He looked like he was a sheet of paper full of writings right now. I then held my palm up and one of the stakes emerged from them.
"Time to pay back in full, bitch," then I stabbed the stake right through his abdomen.
A soul-wrenching scream echoed from the old man's mouth, enough to wake him from his unconscious state.
"Well then, shall we begin."