Chapter 2266 Side Story 1: Luo Xuanqing

“We’re finally out of there!”

Together with Yu Fei-er and Hu Yaoyao, an unkempt Luo Xuanqing looked at the Grand Spirit Mountain behind him with a fatigued yet relieved look on his face.

Even though he had managed to become a G.o.d, and his zhenqi and soul had been nourished greatly by Zhang Xuan’s blood, he was still among the weakest in the Firmament.

Thinking about all the suffering he had gone through, he felt both helpless and stifled.

“So, this is the Firmament…” Luo Xuanqing sighed deeply as he shook his head.

Be it the Azure or the Master Teacher Continent, he was a top-notch genius respected by his peers. Even though he was not as radiant as that man, there was no doubt that his name would go down in history.

Despite only having cultivated for a few decades, he had risen from an ordinary human to become a G.o.d. This was a feat that had almost never been accomplished in the history of the Azure. Not even the talented Sect Leader Han Jianqiu of the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion had managed to do it.

Despite that, after reaching the Firmament, he had still ended up being chased by a rabbit for three days straight for digging up its carrot. There were also incidents such as the ones where he was a.s.saulted by a caterpillar, when a flying ant nearly slit his throat with its wings, when a green blade of gra.s.s pierced his skin and caused him to bleed profusely…

This was really a freaking land of frights!

Even the gentlest animal in the Azure could turn out to be a deadly beast there!

He could not even begin to explain how thankful he was to have been able to walk out of the Grand Spirit Mountain alive!

“Even though the three of us have become G.o.ds, we still nearly lost our lives in the mountain. Back then, Zhang Xuan was the only one who managed to make a breakthrough to G.o.dhood, and he was carrying a huge bunch of Semi-Divinities with him. How in the world did he manage to survive on the Grand Spirit Mountain?” Hu Yaoyao exclaimed in disbelief.

Luo Xuanqing and Yu Fei-er looked at one another before falling silent.

In terms of the time of the Firmament, it was roughly a month ago that Zhang Xuan had headed over with his eleven direct disciples, his parents, and Sun Qiang. Back then, those fourteen people had not managed to reach G.o.dhood yet, meaning that not only would they be of no help in surviving on the Grand Spirit Mountain, Zhang Xuan even had to scour for food to feed them as well!

Without a doubt, the danger he faced must have been far greater.

Even an ant or a mosquito, insects that they had been able to kill with just a clap of their hands before, could easily kill a Semi-Divinity in the Firmament!

“He must have gone through a lot on the Grand Spirit Mountain… It took us five days to find a way out of that darned place. It would have definitely taken him even longer than that,” Luo Xuanqing remarked.

Then, his eyes suddenly lit up as he said, “He might have just left the mountain range and be residing in a nearby town right now. Let’s search around the area then. We might just be able to find him! This time, I’ll make sure to keep up with his pace… I don’t believe that he’ll still be able to defeat me now that we are in a brand-new environment!”

He had deeply conflicted feelings toward this old friend of his.

He hated him for making his younger sister suffer, but at the same time, he was impressed by the latter’s talents and decisiveness.

If not for Zhang Xuan paving the way forward, it was likely that he would still have been on the Master Teacher Continent at this moment, unable to even become an Ancient Sage.

It was such conflicted feelings that fueled his desire to overcome Zhang Xuan. He wanted to teach that young man a lesson for having let his younger sister down!

But it was a pity that such emotions of his had never been fulfilled on the Master Teacher Continent nor in the Azure. It was likely that the Firmament was his last chance to do so.

Yu Fei-er suddenly pointed to the area ahead of them and exclaimed, “Look, there’s a group of people up ahead!”

Luo Xuanqing looked over and saw a couple of people dressed like students walking toward a nearby mountain forest. Their cultivation was only at the Semi-Divinity realm, and it looked like they were still a way off from becoming G.o.ds.

“They aren’t even G.o.ds yet, but they still dared to enter the mountain forest? Are they courting death?” Luo Xuanqing was baffled.

So, he began walking toward them to advise them against that.

Initially, the students were a little guarded against Luo Xuanqing, but after chatting for a while, they slowly lowered their guard.

Hearing that the three of them had grown up near the mountains and had never been to a city before, a good-hearted student advised them kindly.

“There’s a city nearby called Twilight City. City Lord Wu Fangqing is a Celestial G.o.d, possessing strength unrivaled in the vicinity. So, you must make sure to tread carefully once you are in the city, or else you’ll be tried and punished for flouting any rules!”

Ever since the receding of spiritual energy, rules had been of the utmost importance in the cities of the Firmament. The authority of a city lord was greater than ever, and only a fool would challenge that.

He was worried that the ‘pa.s.sionate caveman’ Luo Xuanqing would step out of line and be punished for that.

“Celestial G.o.d?” Luo Xuanqing widened his eyes.

Thinking that Luo Xuanqing might not even know about the cultivation realms, the good-hearted student began explaining, “Yes, Celestial G.o.ds are incredibly powerful experts. As you might know, G.o.ds are cla.s.sified into low-tier, middle-tier, and high-tier, and only a person who has made a breakthrough from high-tier G.o.d can become a Celestial G.o.d. Every single cultivator who is able to become a Celestial G.o.d is incredibly talented, and they are respected in the Firmament no matter where they are!”

The eyes of the kind student were s.h.i.+ning in reverence as he spoke. “Putting aside Celestial G.o.ds, even high-tier G.o.ds are already qualified to start their own clan and become a powerhouse in Twilight City!”

“High-tier G.o.ds? Celestial G.o.ds?” Luo Xuanqing clenched his fists tightly as he swore to himself that he would one day reach the same level.

It had not been long since he arrived in the Firmament, but he realized that there was a huge gap between every single cultivation realm beyond G.o.dhood. Putting everything aside, even if he had ample cultivation resources, it would likely take several years of hard work for him to advance from low-tier G.o.d to middle-tier G.o.d.

“Indeed. I dare not even dream of becoming a Celestial G.o.d or high-tier G.o.d… My greatest wish in life is to become a real G.o.d, and once I graduate from school, I’ll find a good job in a prestigious clan or become the guard of the City Lord Manor. With the wages I earn, I shall get myself a pretty wife and climb to the top of the world!” The kind student smiled sweetly as he thought about the bright future he had planned for himself.

Not everyone could become a Celestial G.o.d, and he knew that his talent was only slightly above average among his peers. He dared not dream that ambitiously, and all he hoped for was to successfully graduate from the academy and find a high-paying job.

His life would have no regrets if he could just do that.

Being a guard is not too bad. I’ll become a guard after I enter the city too. I’ll earn a decent wage and continue cultivating hard, Luo Xuanqing thought in determination.

The starting phase would always be the most difficult. They were completely broke in the Firmament, so there was an urgent need for them to improve their finances. As long as they were able to find a job and worked hard at it, they should be able to earn enough to raise their cultivation fast enough.

With luck, he might be able to become a middle-tier G.o.d or even a high-tier G.o.d within the next decade. By then, what would Zhang Xuan mean to him?

Besides, given that nasty temper that Zhang Xuan had and his compulsive desire to humblebrag, even if he applied for the position of a guard, no one would want to take him in… So, Luo Xuanqing still had quite an advantage, right?

“May I ask you something? We have a friend whom we parted ways with on the mountain roughly a month ago. If I’m not mistaken, he should have headed over to Twilight City. So, I was wondering if you might have heard of him,” Yu Fei-er suddenly said.

The kind student shook his head and said, “I don’t think it’s likely that I would have heard of your friend. Twilight City is quite big, and there are millions of people entering and leaving the city everyday…”

“I know, but this friend of ours is quite talented and haughty. He likes to cause trouble no matter where he goes, so I was thinking that he might have done something that would make him quite known around the area…” Yu Fei-er pressed on.

Zhang Xuan had only arrived in the Firmament a month earlier than them, so the chances of others knowing about him were quite slim. Nevertheless, she was still holding onto a ray of hope.

She simply had not seen the young man for too long, and her yearning had only continued to grow deeper with time. She was anxious to obtain any news about him, even if it was just the word that he was doing fine.

“Cause trouble? I think you might be overestimating your friend a little too much… Even a lofty dragon has to make sure to stand in line in Twilight City, or else City Lord Wu will make him dearly regret his actions!” the student scoffed.

A bunch of cavemen who had never ventured out of their mountain that only managed to become G.o.ds by some stroke of luck. They were thinking too highly of themselves if they thought that they could get away with causing trouble in the city!

Ignorance sure was scary!

“Enough, Yu Fei-er. I can understand your feelings. That fellow did cause quite the commotion on the Master Teacher Continent and in the Azure, but we are currently in the Firmament now. It’s a place filled with the most formidable experts in the myriad worlds! He might be talented, but it would be hard for him to stand out amid so many experts…” Luo Xuanqing harrumphed.

To be honest, he felt that this was really unfair.

How in the world could that dense braggart have people who fancied him?

On the other hand, he was so kind and handsome, yet there was no one interested in him at all…

What was this world coming to? Were terrible men the trend?

“I know…” Yu Fei-er’s body slumped a little as she shook her head bitterly.

Even with Zhang s.h.i.+’s talent, it was indeed impossible for him to achieve anything incredible in one short month.

“Alright, let’s stop thinking about, alright? That fellow, Zhang Xuan, has always been a restless fellow. Even if there are no signs of him now, it’s only a matter of time before we catch wind of him. What we have to do now is focus on our cultivation so that we can wow him when we finally meet him once more…” Hu Yaoyao comforted Yu Fei-er.

Yu Fei-er nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”

Just as they were about to bid the students farewell, they suddenly noticed that the students were staring at them with widened eyes. The teeth of the kind student whom they had been talking to were even clattering together.

“Who did you just mention? Z-Zhang Xuan? A young man roughly twenty years of age who suddenly appeared in the Firmament a month ago, Elder Zhang Xuan?”

“Elder Zhang Xuan?”

The three of them glanced at one another in bewilderment. Luo Xuanqing asked with a frown, “Yes, indeed. But… how did you hear about that name?”

“Of course I have heard of that name…” the student exclaimed as his body trembled in agitation. “Elder Zhang Xuan is my idol, you know, my idol! He appeared from the mountain a month ago, and it was there that he met Mo Yun laos.h.i.+, Senior Wu Xiaoxiao, and the others. After entering Twilight City, within just a few days, he actually managed to overcome his bottleneck to become a Celestial G.o.d! You can’t imagine just how huge a commotion it caused in our city!

“And just recently, I heard that he has managed to reach the G.o.d King realm, and there are rumors that he has even killed a Conferred G.o.d King all on his own…”

Due to the vast popularity of the Beauty Pill and Breakthrough Pill, Zhang Xuan was renowned throughout the entire Firmament. As a result, bits and pieces of news regarding him began floating around, and as word spread from person to person, it eventually forged a legend.

“He managed to become a Celestial G.o.d in just a few days?” Luo Xuanqing was stunned. “He has already become a G.o.d King and even slain a Conferred G.o.d King at that?”

Thinking that a caveman like Luo Xuanqing might have no concept of what G.o.d Kings and Conferred G.o.d Kings were, the good-hearted student began to explain, “Well, G.o.d Kings are cultivators even stronger than Celestial G.o.ds, and they can be considered the top experts of the Firmament. As for Conferred G.o.d Kings, they are G.o.d Kings who have been personally conferred by a G.o.d Monarch, and they possess strength only second to the Nine G.o.d Monarchs!”

When news that Zhang Xuan had managed to kill Baiye Qinghong spread across the Firmament, he had immediately become the idol of all the youths in the Sky of Drifting Specter.

“I-Is that so? You mentioned the Nine G.o.d Monarchs earlier—who are they?” Luo Xuanqing asked with trembling cheeks.

“They are the true rulers of our Firmament. There have only been Nine G.o.d Monarchs ever since the founding of the Firmament, and it’ll remain that way until the end of time! It’s a realm that you can’t reach no matter how hard you cultivate. It’s simply that awesome and incredible…” the student explained.

But before he could finish those words, the ground suddenly trembled, and a voice echoed in their heads.

“Today, I shall become a G.o.d Monarch.”

As those words sounded, a silhouette standing proudly in the sky appeared in everyone’s minds. He gazed upon everyone with eyes filled with authority.

“Zhang Xuan…”

“Wait a moment, he has managed to become a G.o.d Monarch? Didn’t you mention that they are the greatest existence in the world and that it’s impossible for anyone to reach it no matter how hard they cultivate?” Luo Xuanqing nearly fainted on the spot.

What the heck is this?

I gritted my teeth to survive that darned rabbit and freaking ant nest all in the hope of catching up with you one day… And yet, you have already become a G.o.d Monarch?

You are toying with me!

My heart hurts…

Why does it feel like I suddenly can’t breathe anymore?

Yu Fei-er and Hu Yaoyao also widened their eyes in disbelief.

They knew that Zhang Xuan was a restless fellow who would cause a commotion wherever he went. Yet, they did not think that it would be a commotion of this proportion.

In just a month after coming to the Firmament, he had already become a G.o.d Monarch.

The other students also did not expect such a situation to occur, and all of them fell dazed in shock.

But not too long later, yet another figure appeared in their heads. “To think that you managed to make a breakthrough before me… How am I to show off like that? I am a G.o.d Monarch like this d.a.m.ned a.s.s!”

“…”

Everyone looked at one another in shock.

Hu Yaoyao and Yu Fei-er had their mouths opened so wide that an egg could slip right through.

This meant that…

Not only did he manage to become a G.o.d Monarch, even his clone had become a G.o.d Monarch as well!

Even more shockingly, when they turned their heads around, they saw Luo Xuanqing bawling with snot dripping down his nose…

The h.e.l.l… Even if you don’t want me to trouble you, you don’t need to cultivate that fast to traumatize me, right?

You are already a G.o.d Monarch, but I still can’t even hunt down a rabbit at all… How am I supposed to win against you like that?

d.a.m.n it!