Chapter 910 – Winner and Loser
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
Ever since Tang Tian had returned, Melissa felt that everything was developing strangely, and everything had become bizarre, causing her to feel lost and helpless.
She watched as the two men in front of her faced each other with hostility, they spoke without holding back, causing her to have the impulse to ask if they were toying with her…..
Regardless if it was Huo Li Ruo or Clan Elder Seuss, both of them were existences that Melissa admired in the past. The Huo Family had never interacted with her before, as the Huo Family was a family that was way beyond theirs. She knew of Clan Elder Seuss, Mace Field Tradings had spent immense effort to form a relationship with Clan Elder Bianchi, who was close to Clan Elder Seuss.
But the difference between their positions were like heaven and earth, Bianchi was at the end rankings of the Clan Elders in Temple, while Seuss was one of the top five, a Clan Elder with true authority. Mace Field Tradings strength held no qualifications to form a relation with Clan Elder Seuss.
But the two of them were squabbling in front of Melissa, causing Melissa to be unable to react.
~Alright, they are not here for me…..~
~But who is this Senior Xin? Eh?~ She suddenly recalled that there was a man called Ah Xin under Qian Hui, ~Could it be him?~
Melissa had subconsciously rejected her thought, she was extremely respectful towards Qian Hui, but did not have any positive emotions towards the person called Ah Xin. He was sloppy and skived all day, and enjoyed bragging along with JI Ze, but was constantly kicked into place by Xiao Man.
This caused her to revere General Xiao Man, who wielded the large blade and gave off a heroic vibe, she was extremely envious of Xiao Man.
~It shouldn't be, but who else was there?~
After thinking for a long time, Melissa could not find a second probable target.
~Could it really be that Ah Xin?~ She was skeptical.
"Please wait a minute." Melissa had no choice but to interrupt the heated argument: "Can I ask for both Masters to describe to me how this Senior Xin looks like?"
Huo Li Ruo and Seuss immediately stopped quarreling.
"He isn't tall and have an extremely ordinary look, but he is very young." Seuss spoke out.
"He is a Spirit General." Huo Li Ruo pointed out the obvious.
Melissa was stunned, when she heard their descriptions, she had already confirmed it to be Ah Xin. ~Alright, today is truly a bizarre day,~ She consoled herself.
"I think I know who you two Masters are talking about, I will request Ah Xin…. Senior to come out." Melissa spoke straightforwardly. ~It is just too confusing today, I should let Master Tang Tian be the one deciding everything.~
Huo Li Ruo and Seuss instantly became alert, they were most afraid that Mace Field Tradings would hide their strength, as that would be the most troublesome. They were also worried that Mace Field Tradings would be mistaken that they had the intention of suppressing them, then they would be at a loss to what to do. If they provoked Senior Xin, it would be fine if they were to receive direct punishment, but if it ruined the plans of their higher ups, that would leave them no leeway of redeeming themselves.
That was why the two men were extremely careful right from the start, afraid that their attitude would accidentally provoke Melissa.
Tang Tian and Qian Hui never thought that Huo Li Ruo and Temple would actually appear to find them, and the two formed a discussion. When Ah Xin heard them call him "Senior Xin", he instantly became elated, and ran to Xiao Man to boast, but the result was him being beaten up.
Thus, Ah Xin appeared in front of Huo Li Ruo and Seuss with a swollen face.
He ignored the mark on his face and swaggered in front of the two men before sitting down, and asked: "You were looking for me?
"Senior Xin!"
The two of them greeted at the same time, but instantly reacted and glared at each other. But this time, they did not dare to quarrel, and sat down in well behaved manners. A powerful man that had tore space was seated in front of them, and even
if he was a spirit general, he had obtained their respect.
Although there were some bruises on his face, the two men treated it as if they saw nothing.
"The reason for my visit today is because, for the longest time, this junior has treated himself as one of the strongest military general in the world, but after witnessing Senior's battle, I realized that I was just a frog in a well, the world is much bigger than I thought, and there are still powerful beings like Senior in this big world. It is truly possible to tear space. It has caused me to feel that I had been a joke the entire time." Huo Li Ruo could not resist but to speak up first, he was truly filled with awe.
He had always viewed himself highly and had an arrogant temperament, but when he encountered a man truly worthy of his respect, he would wholeheartedly respect that man.
Ah Xin could hear the genuine respect Huo Li Ruo held for him, and was inwardly pleased.
Seuss could not resist as well: "Yes, this junior had been in Temple for so many years, and have seen countless of geniuses and powerful beings, but to be as powerful as Senior, this is the first. Senior's life must have shook the world and is invincible, Senior's troops must also be as powerful, I wonder what is the name of your troops? To have such an invincible army, how can it be that no one has heard of you all before!"
Seuss was an elder with experience, he looked as if he was flattering Ah Xin, but in truth was trying to dig up Ah Xin's background. How could it be that history had ignored the existence of such an invincible being?
But no matter how he racked his brains, he could not find any trace of information that linked to the man called Senior Xin and his army. The Sacred Saint Galaxy's energy concentration was too high, and it was extremely difficult to produce a spirit general. The stronger the martial artist, the higher the probability of producing a spirit general upon death. All of the peak grade martial artists had gone through countless of improvements and tempering of their willpower when they were alive, their willpower had long become as tough as steel, as long as they had the obsession, and when the obsession was strong enough, even the energy could not corrode them.
Such spirit generals would usually be extremely powerful, and out of these few martial artists of the apex, some would gradually regain the memories of their past life, and they would gain consciousness to train, and become even stronger.
In Temple's history, they had such Spirit Generals. But it was extremely difficult to force these Spirit Generals to yield, and although they would not be corroded by the energy, they would be corroded by time.
After becoming a Spirit General, the amount of memories they could have would decrease sharply, because the memories would merge into their bodies. As time passes, it would give these spirit generals new memories, and once it exceeds the space they have, the Spirit General's body would slowly melt, this process was defined as the corrosion by time.
To withstand the corrosion of time, the majority of Spirit Generals would choose to wipe out the majority of their past memories, and leave only the one obsession deep within their hearts, as it was the one memory they were never willing to forgo.
Seuss believed that he would be able to trace Senior Xin's history and background as long as Senior Xin revealed a bit of information.
Temple viewed history extremely heavily, in Temple's eyes, loyalty was far more important than ability. Of course, Seuss did not hold any hopes that Senior Xin would be loyal to Temple, but to know his background would put others at ease.
Ah Xin was an extremely cunning man himself, upon hearing Seuss words, he immediately understood, and sneered: "Are you probing into my life? Hehe, we are not familiar with each other, why should I tell you?"
He had never planned to give Seuss face, Temple was their main target, although he had a restraining fear towards them, he was not afraid of them. Even that bit of fear was just because he did not want to undermine the entire situation.
Huo Li Ruo was extremely eager for Seuss to offend Senior Xin, he immediately added fuel to the flames: "Hehe,
"Hehe, Senior Xin, calm yourself, you cannot blame Clan Elder Seuss, you can only blame that it is the style of Temple, they are used to controlling other people's lives, it is difficult for them to remove it from their tone of speech, Clan Elder Seuss did not mean it."
Upon hearing Huo Li Ruo's words, Seuss wanted to strangle him to death, but he knew he could not act up, and maintained a smile on his face: "Senior has misunderstood, it is a misunderstanding, this junior has an inquisitive heart, that's all. I didn't mean it that way. To Senior, this junior is full of revere, and will never dare to hold any other thoughts."
Melissa stood by the side and watched the bizarre change of events occur in front of her, her mind still at a loss.
~What is exactly going on here?~
Previously when Clan Elder Seuss was being cordial with her, she felt that it was already strange. But when she saw Clan Elder Seuss' warm smile, she felt that she was no longer blind, it was truly him bowing and bending his knee, as though he so badly wanted to pounce onto Ah Xin's feet to lick his toes.
~Is he truly a Clan Elder from Temple? Even more, one of the top five Clan Elders that holds real power?~
~Huo Li Ruo as well, from the start, ever since he saw Ah Xin, he keeps on bootlicking him. Hey, You are Huo Li Ruo, you have prestige and reputation to keep! Where is the unbridled and arrogance that everyone says that you have? Where is the disdain that you have when you look at others? Where is the unfriendliness and unwillingness to come to terms with others that you have?~
She then looked at Ah Xin, who had a bruised face and the appearance of a person with low status that had his dreams come true, he was not even seated properly.
~What has the world come to?~
~Didn't the plan fail? If it failed, then why do they look even more victorious than the victors?~
~Is Master Tang Tian so strong to this extent? That they can even portray themselves like this even after they lost?~ Melissa's view on Master Tang TIan became even more unfathomable.
Upon hearing the bootlicks, Ah Xin satisfied his "small" ego, then started to become impatient. ~At such a time, if the Duo Explosive Woman is here, she can give them a good spanking!~
He interrupted the two men, and said: "Alright, stop with all the nonsense, speak, what you want to tell me, don't waste my time chasing gi-…..my time to chase my thoughts."
Huo Li Ruo had been waiting for that, he was not someone who could bootlick others like Seuss, the longer they bootlick, the harder it became for him. When he heard Ah Xin's words, he became straightforward: "I wish to pay my respects to Senior, and hope that Senior will take me in as your student."
Ah Xin did not express anything, his gaze turned to Seuss.
Seuss became solemn: "I represent Temple, and humbly invites Senior Xin and Mace Field Tradings to join Temple."
Huo Li Ruo became anxious, it was not that he did not want to invite Ah Xin, but he rushed over in a hurry, and did not gain the approval of the higher ups, and thus did not dare to make empty promises.
He wanted to speak, but Ah Xin waved his hand and interrupted him and spoke: "I understand your intentions. But I am a person who values benefits, I too know that both of you have limited authorities, you can go back first to settle on the conditions, then come and find me again. It all boils down to who can provide me the better advantages. Alright, we will leave it as that, I am very busy."
When Melissa heard Ah Xin's last sentence, she instantly rolled her eyes, ~He doesn't do anything all day and always skive around, since when is he busy?~
Huo Li Ruo and Seuss were completely stunned by Ah Xin's blatant words. They were all Aristocratic Families and the people they interacted with were the upper class society, so when had they ever heard of such blatant words asking for benefits?
Ah Xin did not even care about the two men who were in shock, and walked off.
This was just the first ripple that dissipated from the
from the first battle.
The Armies in the Saint Continent that had gathered like clouds included the famous armies of Honorable Martial Continent. The stir from Qiu Offense Institute was unconcealable.
Qiu Tian Qing's exceptional Killing Technique, Senior Xin's ability to tear through space, spread through the entire Saint Continent. Everyone started to take turns guessing the Invincible Senior Xin's background. They were even more envious of the Mace Field Tradings Family, guessing that their ancestors had done some virtuous deeds to be able to gain the good graces of such an exceptional Spirit General.
People started to guess the relationship between Senior Xin and the Mace Field Tradings' Ancestors, and aside from that, no one could think of any other logical reasons as to why Mace Field Tradings was so fortunate.
Even more families were jealous, they believed that Mace Field Tradings wanted to bring about a change in their own fortunes by relying on the battle to reveal themselves as something new.
No one saw Mace Field Tradings as a low tier Prestigious Family anymore.
No one saw General Huo Li Ruo and Temple's Clan Elder Seuss moving towards Snow City at the same time to visit Senior Xin, if anyone did, they would had instantly known their intentions.
The victors would always be in the limelight, while the losers would always be ignored.
The battle at the Qiu Offense Institute caused the Mace Field Tradings Family's name to soar, and overnight, they had stepped into the ranks of the top families of Saint Continent, and received the most enthusiastic and warm pursuits.
As for the losing Qiu Family, overnight, they dropped from being a first rate Prestigious Family, and they were completed deserted. Qiu Tian Qing's strength surprised everyone, but so what? He was dead. Qiu Xu Hua was a genius, but so what? His whereabouts were unknown.
What was the Qiu Family left with?
In the eyes of the predators standing at the top of the food chain of Saint Continent, the Qiu Family had become a sumptuous lump of meat. They had no power to protect themselves, or the abundant wealth and reserves that everyone were salivating for. If they were in a peaceful state, everyone would still have restraining fears, but in a time of turmoil, being able to obtain even a bit more power would increase their certainty of winning in the future. Countless people started to plot covertly.
As an old tyrant Family, the Qiu Family knew what they were in for, and were not willing to stretch their necks out to be cut.
The massacre at the Qiu Offense Institute was a tragic loss for the Qiu Family. They knew that if they did not retaliate with power immediately, they would soon be combed by the hungry jackals and hyenas who would bare their fangs at them.
Qiu Yu looked out of the window, and saw Mace Field Tradings doors that were about to be trampled by the overflowing number of people, all of them whom he was familiar with, causing him to be filled with anger. "Those ingrates! They usually come to our Qiu Family with their tails wagging for food, now they have all ran over to Mace Field Tradings, a group of spiteful men!"
The Qiu Family were abandoned by their allies, and no other families were willing to speak up for the Qiu Family. Even their subordinate, Elizabeth Tradings, were hiding and avoiding the Qiu Family.
"Isn't the world like this? The winners will gain approval while the losers lose everything." Behind him, a man laid on the bed and spoke up.
"We have not lost!" Qiu Yu spoke solemnly.
"We have lost since the battle of Qiu Offense Institute." The man on the bed said lazily.
"Our Qiu Family has not lost." Qiu Yu spoke, then continued excitedly: "We still have Xu Hua, and we still have you!"
"You shouldn't have such high expectations for me." The man on the bed sat upright and spoke with a look of helplessness: "If you're like that, I will feel pressured. We still have Xu Hua, he isn't dead, no one will dare to lay their hands on the Qiu Family."
"We are already in this state, but Ah Ning, you still talk like this!" Qiu Yu was extremely unhappy, Qiu Xu Hua's whereabouts were unknown, and the Qiu Family was in their most difficult times.
"Alright alright, I will do my best." Qiu
my best." Qiu Ning sighed, but his eyes revealed a trace of light which quickly disappeared: "You should start planning, your brains are better than mine."
When Qiu Yu heard Ah Ning's assurance, he calmed down. He was extremely confident in Qiu Ning, but he was worried that Qiu Ning would not be earnest, as most of the time, the Qiu Family never paid much attention to Qiu Ning.
They could not be blamed, Qiu Ning walked on a completely different path.
In the past, the Qiu Family and Temple had a good relationship, and when Qiu Xu Hua became one of the Great Generals, they obtained a few unique goods from Temple, for example martial techniques and spirit techniques.
Temple's martial and spirit techniques came from the Temple in Heaven's Road. As Martial Techniques were of a lower grade, Temple released more of them, but as for spirit techniques, Temple had always kept them a secret. But all of the martial techniques from Heaven's Road did not form a huge wave or influence in the Honorable Martial Continent. Occasionally, there would be people who learned a thing or two of martial techniques and used them to aid in their everyday lives.
The Heaven's Road martial techniques were an extremely large system with its high and low levels with differing grades. To truly choose martial techniques meant parting ways with the Sacred Saint Galaxy's army system, and it was something the majority was unwilling to accept.
The power of martial techniques had its limitations, and was not attractive towards the citizens of the Honorable Martial Continent.
Compared to martial techniques, the power of spirit techniques were much larger. In Heaven's Road, it was a system that only Saints could utilize. But spirit techniques were not spread much in the Sacred Saint Galaxy. The main reason as to why Temple withheld it was because spirit techniques were extremely complicated.
Spirit Techniques originated from martial techniques, it was a result from Heaven's Road Martial artists that had stepped into the realm of Saints, and became even more powerful. Heaven's Road Saints and the Sacred Saint Galaxy Saints, aside from having the power of directly mobilizing energy, they had too many differences. For example, Spirit Domain, Spirit Values, or even products such as spirit technique cards etc that Sacred Saint Galaxy had difficult understanding.
That was the reason why spirit techniques never became a big thing in Sacred Saint Galaxy, although there were more saints in Sacred Saint Galaxy.
Qiu Ning was an exception.
From young, he had always been extremely interested in martial techniques, he ignored the advice of his seniors and immersed himself in martial techniques. That was the reason why he was never viewed importantly by the family, but he did not care much and was extremely solitary.
Qiu Xu Hua and him were similar in age and grew up together, and after becoming a Great General, he specially obtained countless of spirit techniques from Temple for Qiu Ning. All of these spirit techniques was confidential information, but as a Great General, he had extremely high authority and was completely given free reign.
In truth, Temple did not care much about the spirit techniques, aside from being information piled up on bookshelves, these things that could not be trained in did not serve any purpose.
No one expected for Qiu Ning to walk this path, and became the strongest martial artist of the Qiu Family.
But it did not change his situation. In a generation where Armies held dominance, the Qiu Family was an old school family. Qiu Xu Hua and Qiu Tian Qing, who were both peak military generals whose talents intimidated everyone, held the most influence in the Qiu Family.
No matter how strong a person was individually, the most he could be used for was being an assassin.
But did the Qiu Family need an assassin?
In the entire Qiu Family, no one would had thought that there would be a day that the Qiu Family would need an assassin to reclaim their honor.
Even Qiu Ning himself never thought that the fate of the Qiu Family would fall into his hands. He was in a daze, and completely disregarded Qiu Yu's words.
"We shall wait, isn't Temple and its alliance trying to rope Mace Field Tradings in? They will definitely appear, and in their faces, we will kill the Spirit General that they so badly want to rope in, I can imagine how wonderful their expressions would be…."