Chapter 335: Challenge!

"So these are the Nine Great clans of the Jiu Empire..." Duan Li nodded in approval with his hands still placed behind his back, creating the image of an unperturbed expert in front of what could be considered as apex cultivators of the Tian continent!

After all, when he scanned all the eight figures sitting cross-legged on top of their pillar with his Tetra Soul Sense, he found out that their cultivation realm was far from normal. Although they were all in the Pinnacle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, their aura felt as though they were already on the verge of entering the realms of true immortals, such that they only had to turn the door knob and open the door and poof!

Escaping Mortality realm!

But knowing the restrictions of the world placed upon its inhabitants, Duan Li knew full well that the strength required to push the door was not something that can be done just by one being strong.

They needed to leave the Tian continent to do that, as well as leaving everything behind!

That was what it meant to become immortal, severing ties completely with the mortal realm they were born in!

"Impressive."

The deep voice of an elder that sounded more ancient and majestic at the same time echoed in the spacious chamber.

The voice came from the person sitting atop of the 'Jiu' stone pillar!

"Hmm?" Duan Li's suspicion was confirmed.

Previously, when he felt the aura coming from this elderly man, he thought that it was from the Emperor, Jiu Xian Ping albeit the vast differences in spiritual Qi quality which made him doubt himself. After all, the Jiu Emperor was supposed to be the strongest man in the empire, and should be the one to lead the Jiu clan as well.

In addition, if the clan leader and patriarch were two different people in the Jiu clan and the clan leader was the Emperor, wouldn't that meant that the Emperor would have to answer to the patriarch?

Although this form of hierarchy was indeed correct among the clansmen, an Emperor's status stood above even that of a patriarch!

Therefore, to prevent this contradiction, the patriarch and clan leader of the Jiu clan should be the same person!

However, it was apparent that this does not seem to be the case right now, and whatever the reason was, he would have to ask them about it next time.

"I've heard the rumors but thought it was an exaggeration. Now that I've seen it, that rumor seems to be an understatement instead."

Huu!

As Patriarch Jiu stood up, his bones made some cracking noises, evident that he hadn't moved from his seated position for a very long time.

Following this, the other patriarchs did the same as well. Overwhelming might radiated ceaselessly from their body, once again pressing against Duan Li and caused the rock solid ground below him to tremble.

Still, Duan Li remained unaffected, and because his expression was hidden behind his mask, the patriarchs were not able to discern Duan Li's state of emotions.

"In the entire history of the Jiu Empire since its very first foundation, the title of an Imperial Overseer was never once taken by anyone. It was like the over-reaching sun, always in existence but could never be grasped."

Whoosh!

The patriarchs then disappeared from their pillar like smokes before reappearing instantly in front of Duan Li.

Now, their appearance could be perfectly seen with the naked eyes.

Patriarch Jiu, whose long hair reached down to his back was golden like his saber-shaped brows. His disposition was majestic like the Jiu Emperor, and his facial expression was indiscernible due to his indifferent face.

Patriarch Shen, whose body was akin to the transformed Shen Long and Shen Murong, while the entire being of Patriarch Fei was shrouded in darkness, leaving no apparent features that could be discerned except for his slim stature.

There was also an old man that looked feeble and his face appeared sickly. However, Duan Li had never met an old person that had given him a more dangerous vibe than this old man. He was Patriarch Wei.

Beside him was a curvaceous woman in a green silk robe, looking like a lady in her late 20s. Her facial feature was also gorgeous, such that no one would have thought her to be an old lady whose age had actually went past 300 years old like the rest of the surrounding patriarchs. She was Patriarch Xu.

Patriarch Wang was the biggest in terms of physique with bodily muscles that seemed to be carved from the legends themselves. Every fiber of his body cells seems to be screaming with power, and this was a sign that one had already tempered their physical body to the maximum level.

Meanwhile, Patriarch Shi was donning a Black set of plate armors similar to the one Fei Jin Fang used, with the only difference was that this armor looked quite weathered and old in its design.

Finally, Patriarch Ding reminded Duan Li of Grandma Ying back in the Xuan village with her amiable and gentle smile. Unconsciously, a smile also formed beneath Duan Li's mask.

"Greetings, patriarchs of the Great clan." Duan Li clasped his hands together to show his sign of respect.

Seeing this quality in the newly inaugurated Imperial Overseer, the expression on all the eight patriarchs softened a little, hints that they approve of Duan Li's gesture towards them as his senior, a proper conduct and etiquette fit for someone of his title!

In return, all the eight patriarch clasped their hands together, "Greetings, Imperial Overseer!"

"En!" Duan Li nodded, feeling gratified that the patriarchs were not haughty individuals.

After all, if he could, he didn't want to smack them too much later on.

"A child of destiny... so, they really exist.." Patriarch Ding said as she smiled while looking at Duan Li.

Hearing this, Duan Li was surprised.

"Did you guys perhaps, already knew... about the future?" he asked curiously, not knowing what the latter meant.

She shook her head, "No... we chose to not want to know about the future..."

This answer of her caused Duan Li to become even more dumbstruck.

What is she saying?

Detecting Duan Li's confusion, a chuckle could be heard.

"She has one of the rarest kinds of precognition ability, sensing destiny." this time, it was Patriarch Wei that spoke.

"We were curious of how you were able to become this... unnaturally strong, and planned to inquire you about it in one way or another." he continued, "But this old lady just had to kill our fun by saying that the world might end sooner or something if we were to know about it."

"Hmph! What old man, do you not believe me?" Patriarch Ding snorted, annoyed with Patriarch Wei.

"Ha! Do we even have a choice to not to?" Patriarch Wei harumphed as well, feeling a little indignant.

After all, no matter what, they had always believed in the ability of Patriarch Ding, even if it meant to severe themselves from the rest of the world like this, as it was also done because she said they had to back then.

Seeing that the two began to bicker, Patriarch Fei, while shrouding in darkness from top to bottom, had to step in and made some dry coughs.

"Ahem! She mentioned a long time ago that strong existences like us, who were already close to the ceiling of heavens themselves, would cause severe backlash onto the world upon knowing the secrets of heavens." he said.

Taken aback by this, Duan Li then nodded as that was actually quite accurate now that he thought about it.

Since the cultivation realm of the eight old figures in front of him had already reached the utmost maximum on what this world could offer, constantly knocking on the heaven's door to immortality, the heavens of Tian continent should be deeply aware of them as well.

If it found out that they know about the future, Duan Li couldn't imagine the extent of intervention from time to make things right.

"Heh. You have thoroughly stoked our curiosity you know that?" Patriarch Shen said with a wide grin, reminding Duan Li of the dumb Shen Murong.

"We old men who had already reached the ends of cultivation, could not help but wonder how you, someone that had not yet even reached Nascent Soul realm, would be able to withstand our combined pressure. It was far too unreal!" he sighed.

Just what kinds of existence are they?

Even if just a single one of them were to come out from this mountain cave into the real world to cause chaos, hardly anyone could even hope to stop them, not even people with the same level as their's!

Yet, to think that a day had come where their combined might couldn't even measure to the power of a single boy, had thoroughly astonished and extended their worldly horizons!

"You know, although you had already proven to us how strong you are as a cultivator, to the point where we might as well be just ants in front of you, seeing that you walked past our pressure as if it were a mere sea breeze, couldn't help but to hurt our pride a bit, okay?" said Patriarch Shen, his voice sounded demotivated.

"Therefore!" he exclaimed loudly, causing his voice to echo inside the spacious cave, dropping small debris to the ground.

"We propose that you have a martial art duel with us, no fancy skill arts, but just fists and kicks! How does that sound?!"

...