The Great Saint Hu Yaobang

The powerful profound voice alarmed everyone and the oppressing profound aura had also caused most of the lower level protégés to freeze on the spot.

Some of the protégés were even on their knees!

Celestial Shi Guanyin was stammering, "7th realm great saint! A highest realm cultivator in the entire Nine Celestial Fraternity and even the Celestial Realm is actually in this place. How is it possible... this place is a cultivation backwater…"

Grand Elder Yun Xing and the rest of the grand elders were all trembling with fear as they had not expected for a 7th realm great saint to have turned up today.

A single 7th realm great saint is enough to massacre their entire Heavens Ridge Villa without battling an eyelid!

Even Lu Qingyun was looking panicky; after all, this powerful great saint is looking for him.

The great saint thundered from outside the Heavens Martial Hall and his powerful profound voice rippled like terrifying shockwaves into the ears of everyone, "Who is the one that has made the Great Origin Golden Bell to sound 9 times?! Do I have to repeat myself?"

Qin Keqin was the only person inside the Heavens Martial Hall to look perfectly calm as she chuckled softly, "Since you are already here, why don't you come in to have a talk?"

A sagely old man with long white beard had suddenly stepped through from the entrance of the Heavens Martial Hall and he had homed his divine sense on Qin Keqin.

When he had appeared, Grand Elder Celestial Kong Guxin and Grand Elder Celestial Bai Laoxiong were both startled as they said almost at the same time, "He is the… Great Saint Hu Yaobang!"

Many of the protégés were shocked when they had heard that he was the Great Saint Hu Yaobang; it was because he was the hidden guardian of New Empyrean City but he was always in seclusion. Some had even speculated that he may have already ascended or dead. In recent years or at least for the past 100 years, he had never appeared.

This Great Saint Hu Yaobang was not from any of the four cultivation powerhouses in New Empyrean City and he was also not from any of the cultivation sects in New Empyrean City or elsewhere. It was because he was a solitary cultivator.

It was not easy for a solitary cultivator to have cultivated to such a high level of cultivation especially when he did not have any cultivation sect to back him with any cultivation resources and even protection when he was the most vulnerable during his cultivation breakthrough period.

Great Saint Hu Yaobang was respected because he had saved New Empyrean City numerous times from the past incursions of the desolate beasts.

When he saw the composed look that was being displayed by Qin Keqin, he turned to look at her. "Are you the one that had sounded the Great Origin Golden Bell 9 times?"

Qin Keqin laughed softly as she pointed at Lu Qingyun, "I am not the one. It is my Protégé Lu Qingyun."

Great Saint Hu Yaobang stared at Lu Qingyun, "It is you? A mere first realm?"

Lu Qingyun answered politely, "It is me. What does senior want from me?"

Great Saint Hu Yaobang laughed jovially as he stepped forward Lu Qingyun, "I want you to be my direct disciple of course! From now onward, I am your master and you are my core protégé!"

Lu Qingyun said firmly, "I already have a master and my loyalties lie with the Heavens Ridge Villa. I'm afraid that I am unable to be your disciple."

Great Saint Hu Yaobang raised his fists angrily, "Young man! Do you know who I am? I am a great saint! I can make you into a great saint as well! Even if you follow me today, no one from your puny cultivation sect will dare to question you!"

"Oh yes?" Qin Keqin chuckled softly.

She smiled wryly, "What if I say no to you? After all, I am his master. Also, Protégé Lu Qingyun is now the Shengzi of our Heavens Ridge Villa and in the future, he will also be the sect leader of the Heavens Ridge Villa. Moreover…"

There was a slight flush on her cheeks, "And I am also his dao cultivation partner."

Great Saint Hu Yaobang stomped the ground angrily and the ground below him exploded, sending debris to fly all around him and the shockwaves of his anger sent many of the protégés of the Heavens Ridge Villa to tumble backward.

However, Qin Keqin stepped in front of Lu Qingyun as she gently used her fingers to suppress and neutralize the profound shockwave that had suddenly erupted.

Great Saint Hu Yaobang said angrily, "What?! A mere 5th realm golden celestial like yourself will think of stopping me? And you are taking your protégé as your dao cultivation partner? Are you even an orthodox cultivator?!"

Everyone was fearful for Qin Keqin because she was merely a 5th realm expert while she was facing not an ordinary 7th realm golden saint but a great saint that was at least at the upper 7th realm!

In order to become a great saint, a cultivator must first reach the upper 7th realm cultivation. And in order to reach the upper 7th realm cultivation, a cultivator must first be able to overcome a life and death lightning tribulation which literally can kill off 80% of the 7th realm golden saints!

A great saint is simply twice as powerful as a golden saint due to the lightning tempering of the lightning tribulation.

The 7th realm is actually divided into the saint (lower/initial), golden saint (middle) and great saint (upper) due to the huge disparity in cultivation strength even though it is still considered to be the same 7th realm.

The 8th realm and above have even more disparities and there are no celestial cultivators with the 8th cultivation realm as this realm is cultivated only by the immortals in the immortal realm.

A great saint therefore is a formidable and unimaginable existence!

Great Saint Hu Yaobang stared coldly at Qin Keqin as he continued, "Do you know what you are saying?"

Qin Keqin smiled wryly, "Of course I know what I am saying. But I have already said to my protégés that whoever can sound the Great Origin Golden Bell 8 times can be my dao cultivation partner if he is a male. Therefore I must keep my pledge or else my protégés won't take my words seriously in the future."

Great Saint Hu Yaobang stared coldly at Qin Keqin, "Then you can take back your words. The sooner, the better or else I won't be so kind toward you."

He did not know that Qin Keqin was concealing her cultivation realm as cultivators that have reached the 6th realm cultivation are all able to suppress their cultivation realm.

The 6th realm cultivation is also known as the spirit realm where the cultivators gain mastery over their spirit cultivation. At the 6th realm, a cultivator is able to display a spirit animus if they are lucky enough to obtain a soul core of a profound beast.

Qin Keqin was naturally able to suppress her cultivation realm as she was a peaked great saintess.

Great Saint Hu Yaobang hummed coldly, "I give you face but you don't want face. Today, I am going to take away this Lu Qingyun by force."

Qin Keqin frowned softly, "You want to take away my protégé? Fat chance. If you want a fight then I shall give you a fight!"

As she said that, she was rolling her golden eyes sheepishly and wondered if her two sister saintesses that were outside would step in to help her or they would continue to watch this unexpected drama being unfolded.

She was naturally expecting for them to step in or else her cover would be blown up if she displays her true strength.

And she was cursing them in secret.

Lu Qingyun quickly said to Qin Keqin, "Master, it is not worth to lose your life to fight over me. I… will… go with him."

Qin Keqin smiled gently to him, "Don't worry. As long as I am here, he won't be able to take you away from my Heavens Ridge Villa."

Great Saint Hu Yaobang roared with laughter, "Young lass, you are simply courting your own death! Draw your weapon. I shall give you the benefit of 30 strokes or else the others will think that I am bullying you!"

Many of the onlookers were now smiling bitterly; although 30 strokes sounded like a lot but against a great saint, no number of leeway is able to compensate for the disparity in their cultivation realm.

Qin Keqin had suddenly displayed her long white flute and Lu Qingyun had recognized it as the weapon that she had used when she was battling the 9th rank golden roc.

Then she was smiling, "You can try me."

Lu Qingyun and the others were startled that Qin Keqin did not use the celestial-step divine sword and instead, she had chosen to use an ordinary white flute as her weapon?

But for Great Saint Hu Yaobang, his eyes had widened as he took a step backward.

It was because as a great saint, he could see that her ordinary white flute was actually a saint-step divine weapon. Not only that, it was an immortal weapon that was being disguised as a saint-step divine weapon and it was actually more formidable than it looked.

And Great Saint Hu Yaobang had seen this long white flute in the past and it was the weapon of the Devil Goddess.

And he had remembered she liked to say to her challengers, "You can try me."

He stared with shock at the enticing beautiful Qin Keqin who continued to look at him with a composed look.

Great Saint Hu Yaobang had never seen the real face of the Devil Goddess before as she has always worn a golden mask. Hence, she was also called the Golden Mask Devil Goddess by the cultivators in the Nine Celestial Fraternity.

He had remembered the terrifying presence of the Devil Goddess in the past and how she had forced everyone to attend her ridiculous banquets that were held all over the Nine Celestial Fraternity.

He was old enough to remember those times.

Although the Devil Goddess is now confined to the unorthodox fraternity but the fact that she is still alive still haunts many of the older generation orthodox cultivators with her glooming presence.

Great Saint Hu Yaobang saw that Qin Keqin had the same height as the Devil Goddess and he was instantly suspicious that he was in trouble.

The reason for his caution was because the Devil Goddess was full of wiles and schemes. And no cultivators would predict what the Devil Goddess would do or even planning to do.

Although Qin Keqin did not have the same voice as the Devil Goddess as she had always disguised her real voice when she donned the golden mask of the Devil Goddess but Great Saint Hu Yaobang had always suspected that the Devil Goddess had disguised her voice when she had slipped at one point of time when she was cursing the Great Saintess Xuan Danfeng.

At that time, she had also stripped the Great Saintess Xuan Danfeng almost naked and had hung her to a tree when she was late for the banquet. It so happened that he was nearby.

Also, her small cherry red lips and sharp white chin had the same characteristic of the Devil Goddess as well.

He immediately said, "Actually I am only joking with you. I am an orthodox cultivator and I am just testing your resolve for this Lu Qingyun. In that case, I shall now take my leave."

When he had said that, he had immediately disappeared.

The reason why he was able to live to such a long life to a great saint was because his instinctive caution had saved his life on numerous occasions.

This startled Qin Keqin, Lu Qingyun and the others.

Qin Keqin frowned softly to herself: He knows. I guess that I have to pay him a little visit very soon…

She had thought of beating him off with her white flute while maintaining her 5th realm cultivation but it seemed that this was a mistake.

She began to refresh her memories if she remembered this Hu Yaobang or not.