Chapter 37

The Fang Clan juniors were excited to be flying over the city.

It was a new experience for them, but it also frightened them.

They could feel the wind pushing against them and were afraid of falling off.

Hei noticed this, so he rooted their feet to the dragons allowing them to feel more secure. They could now fully enjoy the experience.

This mode of travel served two purposes for Hei. One, he wanted to make a cool entrance into the 5-sect summit, and two, he wanted to plant some gratitude in the matriarch.

On that note, he sent some chains to carry the matriarch from the dragon she was on and brought her the lead dragon, where he and his siblings were.

He then stepped away from the head, allowing the matriarch to take the front spot.

The matriarch tried to refuse, but Hei told her to make a big entrance. Today was the day to display the Fang Clan's strength to the people of the city, as well as the 5 sects.

Sure, he could take the lead, and come in super flashy, but that wouldn't benefit him as much. Earning some points with the matriarch was a better use of his effort.

Soon, the group could see a large space that had five large square platforms. The largest of them was in the centre, and the other four were to each of its sides.

Surrounding the platforms were stands that were already packed with excited spectators.

Naturally, Hei chose the centre stage to land his dragons.

As they beat their wings to slow their descent, they kicked up a cloud of dust that obstructed vision.

While it was convenient, Hei set up a barrier to prevent spiritual perception from peaking inside, as he used his Qi to move the dust, creating a tornado.

After the dragons landed, he brought them back into his storage space letting out roars as they returned.

With the earth-shaking roars as adornment, he dissipated the dust tornado, revealing the people within.

The audience could now see the Fang Clan Matriarch standing proudly, with four children standing in a horizontal line behind her, followed by the Fang Clan members in a neat formation.

"Were those dragons?"

"How could that be? I've never even heard of so much as a dragon sighting, much less seen one myself."

"But they looked like dragons."

"Forget about that. When did the Fang Clan become so overbearing?"

"That's right. They even skipped the registration line."

"That entrance was really something though."

"Mm. I wonder how the 5-sects will respond."

The audience started discussing what they had just seen, and how impressive the Fang Clan had become when someone spoke.

"So, it was the Fang Clan. Your entrance was slightly disrespectful to the 5-sect summit, don't you think?"

Everyone turned over to the voice.

It was a middle-aged man, sitting in a special section of the stands.

In that section, there were five pairs of seats. Beneath them, five banners and writing which displayed which sect they were representing.

This person was one of the two representatives of the Blazing Flame Sect. The other was a young man.

Similar pairs could be seen for the other sects.

Remembering Hei's words, the matriarch turned to the middle-aged man and cupped her fist as she released some of her aura.

"Pardon us. The juniors were quite excited for the 5-sect summit."

Upon feeling her aura, the middle-aged man's face paled.

Usually, the representatives of the 5 sects would be the most powerful cultivators where ever they went. But this time was very different.

The matriarch had revealed just enough of her strength to show him that his words alone, didn't have any weight here. He could only act as a representative of the Blazing Flame Sect.

"Cough. Be that is it may, registration is on the way in. There are no exceptions."

Hearing this, the matriarch smiled.

"Of course."

She led the people who weren't participating, to the Fang Clan's usual section in the stands.

The participants were led by an elder to the registration area.

As they approached, the other cultivators at the registration area stepped away voluntarily.

They had also seen the dragons, and none of them wanted to be the fool that got in the Fang Clan's way.

Seeing this, the Fang Clan juniors cupped their fists to the other contestants before registering.

"Mm. The juniors have shaped up well."

Hei was admiring his work as he went to register.

"Eh? The childish sages are also participating?"

"Are they messing around? They will get stopped at the bone age measurement."

The Fang Clan's juniors wondered what the childish sages were doing. Did they decide to join in on the fun?

Hearing this, Fang Ren felt pity for them. They would soon experience the shock of their lives.

Thanks to the other participants, who allowed them to pass, the registration proceeded quickly.

The Fang Clan's own juniors and the external representatives such as the childish sages and the Ji Dian, all signed up and were written into the system.

After taking their seats in the Fang Clan's section, they waited for the 5-sect summit to begin.

While they were waiting, Hei took a moment to locate Xiulan and Shao Chen in the audience. They didn't seem interested in the summit at all.

The maid, Shui, was also there.

She had a basket of bread that she would give to Xiulan and Shao Chen when they wanted some.

The registration of the rest of the participants took a while, and after some time, the line was empty.

Seeing this, Hei was surprised.

"Eh? Where's the Wu Clan?"

'I didn't make all of these preparations for nothing did I?'

He turned to the matriarch with a questioning look, but before she could answer, there were loud bird cries in the distance.

Everyone turned to see several large birds, carrying people on their backs.

'The same idea, huh?'

Hei could see that it was the Wu Clan.

Before long, the birds landed on the centre stage.

The audience started discussing what they just saw.

"It's the Wu Clan."

"I was wondering where they were. It looks like they wanted to make a big entrance."

"Yeah. But when you compare it to the Fang Clan's entrance, doesn't it seem a little…"

"Lacklustre?"

"That's the word. I mean, how are these pigeons supposed to compete with dragons?"

"Mm. There wasn't even a dust tornado or anything."

"That's right. They just flew in and landed. Not impressive in the slightest."

"I think it would have worked out better, had they come before the Fang Clan."

"Mm. They tried to do too much. That's why they can only be the second clan."

Back in the 5 sects' section, the young man in the Blazing Flame Sect's area saw that this was similar to the previous situation, so he decided to handle it.

The middle-aged man tried to stop him, but he was too late.

"So, it was the Wu Clan. Your entrance was slightly disrespectful to the 5-sect summit, don't you think?"

Wu Dong already wasn't in the best of moods after hearing the audience's discussions, so when he heard the young man, he turned a sharp gaze towards him.

The young man flinched and sat back down.

The middle-aged man next to him sighed as he looked at the young man. He then stood up and spoke.

"As expected from a strong clan like the Wu Clan. However, registration is on the way in. There are no exceptions."

'They're in cahoots?'

Hei was suspicious of the middle-aged man's behaviour. He thought it was strange that the Wu Clan had risen up in the past few years after hearing about how the resources weren't obtained on their own.

He was now thinking that the Blazing Flame Sect or at least this middle-aged man was collaborating with the Wu Clan.

Wu Dong nodded his head in response to the middle-aged man's words and was just about to take the Wu Clan to their usual section when he heard a slow clapping.

The clapping sounds drowned out all the other sounds in the venue, such that they were clearly heard by everyone.

"We meet again, Scumbag Wu Dong."

Hearing these words, the audience was stunned into silence.

The Wu Clan may only be the second clan, but Wu Dong was the second strongest in Spring Leaf City.

No one other than the matriarch of the Fang Clan would be able to say these words, and even she wouldn't do so lightly.

Instead of being shocked, the Fang Clan was pitying the Wu Clan. Who told them to offend the childish sages? Sigh.

Hearing Hei's words, Mei was curious.

"Darling, who is this Wu Dong?"

Over the past year, Mei had been trying to get Hei to accept the title 'Darling'. It wasn't working very well though.

"It's Hei. And unlike your father who was an honourable and respectable man, your father-in-law is what we like to call a scumbag."

Tianlan jumped in.

"I like shameless scoundrel myself."

He still wasn't willing to let it go.

At this time, the Wu Clan responded to Hei's words.

"So, they really did join the Fang Clan."

"Those traitorous trashes."

"Wait until they see how weak they are compared to us now."

"Mm. Even the Fang Clan can only step down."

The Wu Clan had a massive boost in confidence after receiving the resources from the young mistress of the Merchant Guild.

They now believed themselves to be the number one clan of Spring Leaf City.

After the various inputs from the people behind him, Wu Dong spoke:

"You think the Fang Clan can protect you?"

He had been infuriated when Hei had spoken those words a few years ago but was unable to act in fear of the retaliation of the Fang Clan.

They tried to maintain a righteous image in front of the 5-sects, and after the events of nearly 20 years ago, the Fang Clan's matriarch became hypersensitive to the older generation attacking the younger generation.

But now that he had broken through to the transcendent realm, and even risen a few layers, along with the fact that he was in possession of the Mountain Splitting Sword, he didn't believe there was anyone who could restrain him in Spring Leaf City.

Hearing his words, Hei chuckled.

"Who said I need protection?"

He created a pathway of chains that lead to the centre stage, a few meters away from Wu Dong.

He stood up and started leisurely walking down the path as he continued to speak.

"I have already told you of the deep grievance between my Shao Clan and your Wu Clan."

Hearing these words, the audience was stunned.

"Shao Clan?"

"Wasn't Shao the family name of the childish sages?"

"Now that you mention it, he has very dark skin. Could that be Sage Hei?"

The Fang Clan's juniors had been bragging about their childish sages all over the city, such that most people knew about them.

Unlike the audience, the Fang Clan placed their hands on their faces.

Not only had these Wu Clan idiots offended the childish sages, but they even allowed a deep grievance to form? Were they trying to curse their grandsons?

Hei continued:

"At that time, I gave you the chance to apologise of your own free will. But you refused."

As he reached the end of his path, he was standing a few meters away, directly in front of Wu Dong, looking up to his face.

"The gates to the heavens were wide open, but you chose instead to barge your way into Hell."

Hearing this, the juniors became enraged, especially the half-siblings, excluding Wu Ning, who surrounded Hei.

"Things are not the same as they used to be, Trash."

Wu Lixue was the one who spoke.

In the past, she had grown to fear Hei, but things were different now. She had improved dramatically over the past few years.

The siblings were about to go in for the attack, but before they could do anything, they found themselves flying through the air and crashing into the Wu Clan's section of the stands.

What's worse, they landed on top of each other.

When they looked back to the stage, they could see Bai and Tianlan standing on either side of Hei.

The audience was shocked silly. Most of them hadn't even seen what had just happened.

The Wu Clan's elders, seeing that the juniors were unable to handle the situation, took matters into their own hands.

Unfortunately for them, the result was no different.

One by one, the elders would be launched into the stands, crashing into the people who were already there.

After seeing that it was useless, the other elders stopped trying. They could only stand there awkwardly as Tianlan and Bai acted as an impenetrable shield, protecting Hei.

At this time, the same middle-aged man from the Blazing Flame Sect shouted:

"Enough! This is the 5-sect summit. You will show some respect!"

It wasn't just him. The other representatives of the 5 sects weren't too pleased with this display. This was supposed to be the 5-sect summit, not some circus.

They were about to speak, but they stopped themselves when they saw Hei raise his arm in the middle-aged man's direction.

Hei hadn't turned his gaze away from Wu Dong since he reached the stage and that still hadn't changed.

From the sleeves of his robe, came multiple chains, which wrapped the middle-aged man faster than he could react.

The chains then pulled him towards Hei, and no matter how he struggled, he was unable to free himself.

He only stopped once Hei had grabbed his neck.

This was because he could feel that even the slightest movement of Hei's hand could break his neck.

Instead of turning to look at the man, Hei dragged him to his front, and asked in an icy tone:

"Who are you?"

The middle-aged man was petrified. He could hear the end of his life within Hei's words. If he didn't speak carefully, he would die today. That was what he knew to be true.

"I-I am a representative of the Blazing Sword Sect."

He tried to use his status as a shield, but it didn't seem to do him any good, as Hei sharpened his eyes and spoke again.

"So, you thought it was a good idea to poke your nose into this?"

Hearing the words laced with murderous intent, the middle-aged man's body jolted violently. He quickly responded:

"N-no. It's just-"

He was cut off.

"Then go back to whatever hole you crawled out from."

Hei casually tossed the man into the air, retracting his chains, before speaking.

"Mei."

This was all he had said, but it was all he needed to say.

Hearing him, Mei understood what he wanted.

She jumped from her position in the stands and as she approached the middle-aged man, she activated her Berserk Aura and wrapped it around her leg, which she used to kick the man back into his seat.

She then 'conveniently' landed beside Hei.

The audience turned to the middle-aged man's seat, where they saw him struggling to get up.

The young man next to him hurriedly pulled out some healing pills from his storage space and gave them to him.

The audience's attention was then taken back to the centre stage.

Having seen what just happened, Wu Dong was now concerned. Even he would not be able to handle the middle-aged man with such ease.

Hei spoke.

"Welcome to Hell."