Chapter 00300: Gathering of the Strong
# Gathering of the Strong
Chapter 300
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 300: Gathering of the Strong
Teng Jilou looked at Lan Xiaobu with a smile and said, "Not bad. At such a young age, you're already a great alchemist. Truly impressive."
"Thank you for your encouragement, Your Majesty," Lan Xiaobu replied humbly.
Teng Jilou then asked, "Xiaobu, do you know who this person is?" As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Zhi Qianshan.
Lan Xiaobu looked at Zhi Qianshan with a puzzled expression for a while before turning back to Teng Jilou and saying, "Your Majesty, I don't know this person. Who is he?"
Teng Jilou burst into laughter, finding Lan Xiaobu even more amusing.
"This is Zhi Qianshan, from the prestigious Zhi family of the Moon Mirror Immortal Court. Many people wish to befriend the Zhi family but never get the chance."
Although Teng Jilou knew Lan Xiaobu was lying, he still explained.
On the surface, Zhi Qianshan remained calm, but inwardly, he was cursing. *We just met last year, and you, a Great Immortal, claim you don't know me? I have a few choice words for you, but I'm not sure if I should say them.*
"Oh, how impressive! So he's from a great immortal family," Lan Xiaobu said with a look of realization, his eyes filled with awe.
Seeing Lan Xiaobu's expression, Zhi Qianshan cursed even more in his heart. *This little brat is really good at acting.
Wasn't it you who told me to get lost last time?*
Teng Mo, on the other hand, was trembling with fear.
He thought, *Lan Xiaobu's courage knows no bounds.
We're in front of the Immortal Court King! Doesn't he know that one word from the king could end his life?*
"Your Majesty, because Lan Xiaobu took away Bian Yufeng, an enemy of my Zhi family, from the Forbidden Immortal Bureau, he ended up letting Bian Yufeng escape..."
Zhi Qianshan began, but before he could finish, Teng Jilou interrupted, his tone stern as he addressed Lan Xiaobu.
"Lan Xiaobu, you're a minor officer in the Forbidden Immortal Bureau. How could you break the law and let a prisoner escape?"
Lan Xiaobu replied with a look of fear and respect, "Your Majesty, I was too eager to make a contribution. I thought I could use Bian Yufeng to capture his accomplices. But I overestimated my abilities, and the cunning Bian Yufeng managed to escape. I take full responsibility for this."
Lan Xiaobu knew better than to try to deny that he had let Bian Yufeng go.
In front of a powerful figure like the Immortal Court King, the best way to defend himself was to admit his mistake.
He didn't believe Teng Jilou was truly angry—he sensed no real fury in the king's demeanor.
Teng Jilou was merely putting on a show for the Zhi family.
Zhi Qianshan, a mere Immortal King, wasn't important enough for Teng Jilou to take such a stance.
The king's attitude was meant to appease the Zhi family and send Zhi Qianshan back with a message.
Teng Jilou snorted coldly.
"Bian Yufeng is a bandit who attacked members of the Zhi family. Our Forbidden Immortal Bureau was supposed to hand him over to the Zhi family, but you acted on your own and let him escape. How do you plan to explain this to Zhi Qianshan?"
Lan Xiaobu quickly turned to Zhi Qianshan, his voice trembling.
"Family Head Zhi..."
"I'm not the family head," Zhi Qianshan snapped.
Lan Xiaobu looked surprised for a moment, then his tone returned to normal.
"Oh, Fellow Daoist Zhi Qianshan. How about this? I'll do my best to capture Bian Yufeng and deliver him to your family. If I can't catch him, I'll at least find out where he's hiding and let you know."
"Good. Since you've made this promise, you must keep it. The Forbidden Immortal Bureau of the Star Ascension Immortal Court cannot allow such incidents to happen again. Since this is your first offense and you've recently made contributions, I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself," Teng Jilou said, his tone growing even more severe.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. I will fulfill my promise," Lan Xiaobu said, thumping his chest confidently.
Teng Jilou smiled at Zhi Qianshan.
"Don't worry. As a minor officer in the Forbidden Immortal Bureau, Lan Xiaobu will do as he promised. We'll make sure the Zhi family is satisfied as soon as possible."
Zhi Qianshan knew that this was as far as his complaint would go.
Lan Xiaobu was a minor officer in the Forbidden Immortal Bureau, and Teng Jilou wasn't going to hand him over to the Zhi family.
If he wanted to deal with Lan Xiaobu, he'd have to do it secretly.
As for Lan Xiaobu's promise, it was as good as air.
Capture Bian Yufeng? Ha! No deadline, no oath—such words were meant to fool children.
He also realized that while Teng Jilou had given the Zhi family some face, the king wasn't afraid of them.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I take my leave," Zhi Qianshan said with a bow.
He had two options now: either secretly take Lan Xiaobu away or report the matter to the family head.
After Zhi Qianshan left, Teng Jilou turned to Lan Xiaobu and Teng Mo.
"You two may leave as well. Whether or not you participate in the alchemy competition isn't important."
"Yes, Father," Teng Mo said with a bow, then quickly pulled Lan Xiaobu away.
Once Zhi Qianshan was gone, Teng Jilou didn't mention Bian Yufeng or the Zhi family again.
Lan Xiaobu understood that Zhi Qianshan had overestimated the importance of his family in the eyes of the Immortal Court King.
As for whether Teng Jilou suspected that Lan Xiaobu had taken the top-grade wood-attribute immortal spirit vein, Lan Xiaobu wasn't worried.
In Teng Jilou's eyes, even Gu Yue hadn't been able to extract information about the vein, so how could a mere Great Immortal like Lan Xiaobu have done so?
...
After parting ways with Teng Mo and returning to his residence, Lan Xiaobu immediately took out the five spatial rings he had obtained from the Black Hammer Immortal Squad.
While a high-level immortal might not care about these rings, Lan Xiaobu certainly did.
This squad had been influential in the Black Pottery Forest Range, and it was hard to believe they didn't have some valuable treasures.
The first ring he opened belonged to the squad's leader, Ji Qianshan.
To his delight, Lan Xiaobu found a genuine top-grade immortal spirit vein inside, along with millions of top-grade immortal crystals.
As for the immortal herbs, materials, techniques, and pills, Lan Xiaobu didn't pay much attention to them.
He quickly opened the other rings as well.
Aside from a King Dao Immortal Fruit in Lu Zhenmu's ring, which pleased Lan Xiaobu, the rest contained mostly immortal crystals, materials, and herbs.
Lan Xiaobu called out Ju Xiuruo and Cheng Yinyao and gave each of them a ring.
Cheng Yinyao was overjoyed—she hadn't owned a spatial ring before, so receiving one from Lan Xiaobu made her ecstatic.
Ju Xiuruo hesitated at first, but seeing Cheng Yinyao accept hers, she felt she had no choice but to take the ring as well.
However, when she returned to her room and saw that her ring contained even a Supreme Radiance Pill, she realized she owed Lan Xiaobu more and more.
Lan Xiaobu didn't mind.
After all, these items had been obtained because of Ju Xiuruo and Cheng Yinyao.
Aside from the various immortal pills, he left each of them with one million top-grade immortal crystals.
As for the offensive, defensive, and flying artifacts, he didn't care much for them and picked out a few to give to the two women.
...
The Xingdao Plaza, the largest square in the center of the Mo Xuan Xingdao Immortal City, was packed to the brim.
From the ground to the sky, people filled every available space.
Everyone had come to witness who would become the future's greatest alchemist and which alchemists they should befriend early on.
Building a relationship with an alchemist wasn't just about expanding one's network—it was also an investment in one's own cultivation.
Many Great Luo Golden Immortals had been stuck at the peak of their cultivation for years, unable to advance further.
Why? Because they lacked King Dao Immortal Pills.
Even if they had King Dao Immortal Fruits, without a King Dao Alchemist, they couldn't turn those fruits into pills.
King Dao Immortal Pills rarely appeared at auctions, and when they did, they were quickly snatched up by major immortal sects.
Amid the noisy crowd, a platform over ten zhang tall suddenly rose in the center of the square.
At the top of the platform were nine jade chairs.
In front of the platform was the alchemy competition square, large enough to accommodate thousands of alchemists simultaneously.
As the platform rose, the noise died down, and nine figures descended from the sky, each taking a seat.
A tall man dressed in a simple hemp robe stepped forward.
Lan Xiaobu had a vague feeling that this man's strength might surpass even Teng Jilou's.
"Is that Liu Ming, the city lord of Mo Xuan Xingdao Immortal City?" someone nearby whispered.
"Don't speak. In front of an Immortal Emperor, even breathing too loudly is unacceptable," another person quickly scolded.
Lan Xiaobu thought to himself, *So this is the city lord of Xingdao Immortal City.
He really is an Immortal Emperor.
But this emperor is different—he's wearing a simple hemp robe and doesn't even have an imperial crown.
Instead, he's tied his hair in a simple immortal's knot, something usually reserved for low-level cultivators.
This shows how little he cares for appearances.*
The man in hemp smiled and said, "Someone just mentioned my name. I am indeed Liu Ming, the city lord of Xingdao Immortal City."
Hearing this, the man who had spoken Liu Ming's name turned pale with fear.
Fortunately, Liu Ming didn't seem to mind.
He continued, "This alchemy competition in the Mo Xuan Immortal Domain is of great importance. The four Immortal Court Kings of our domain have all come to witness it. Let me introduce them to you: Xi Shengyin, the Immortal Emperor of the Luo Yun Immortal Court; Mi Youlan, the Immortal Emperor of the Jade Toad Immortal Court; Teng Jilou, the Immortal Emperor of the Star Ascension Immortal Court; and Sang Buxia, the Immortal Emperor of the Moon Mirror Immortal Court."
After Liu Ming introduced the four emperors, they all stood up and acknowledged the crowd before sitting back down.
Liu Ming continued, "In addition to these four emperors presiding over the Mo Xuan Immortal Court's alchemy competition, the event will be judged by four of the most renowned alchemy experts in our domain. They are Mu Zifeng, a ninth-grade Immortal Alchemy Emperor from the Mo Xuan Alchemy Alliance..."
About half the crowd erupted in excited chatter.
While Immortal Emperors and Immortal Court Kings were impressive, Immortal Alchemy Emperors were even rarer and more sought after by cultivators.
"I heard that Senior Mu Zifeng is the only ninth-grade Immortal Alchemy Emperor in our Mo Xuan Immortal Domain. I never thought I'd get to see him in person," one alchemy enthusiast said, barely able to contain his excitement.
Once the square quieted down, Liu Ming continued, "Appearing next is Murong Haobo, an eighth-grade Immortal Alchemy Sovereign from the Mo Xuan Alchemy Alliance; Zeng Leqian, another eighth-grade Immortal Alchemy Sovereign; and Xianyu Wei, a top-tier seventh-grade Immortal Alchemy King..."
The four judges stood up, with Zeng Leqian being the only woman among them.
Lan Xiaobu noted that all four were from the Mo Xuan Alchemy Alliance, indicating that the strongest alchemists in the Mo Xuan Immortal Domain were all part of this organization.
(That's all for today's update.
Goodnight, friends!)
(End of Chapter)