Chapter 436: Lie Huan’s Wrath
Translator: SoupHunter Editor: Milkbiscuit
Seeing the lofty Skyfire Mountain in the distance, Hu Fei sighed, "We're finally home. This damned Subjugation Crusade is finally over."
"Aii! Lord Fu Qing didn't have a choice. If he could, he wouldn't let these people mess around in his own territory either. Just bear with it. They only hold it once every three hundred years. And with the four sides taking turns, the next time the Western Star Sea hosts it will be 1,200 years from now. It's only for ten years—that will pass by in the blink of an eye." Lie Huan smiled and said comfortingly.
"They can do their Subjugation Crusade however they want. Why do they have to force people away from their homes? I can't help but feel vexed," Hu Fei grumbled.
Lie Huan sighed. "Things are no longer as they used to be! Back then, this world was still under the control of our lords. But ever since the Boundless Secular World appeared, and the Six Sages got their hands on the mighty cultivation arts hidden inside, they rose up in force and changed the laws of this world!"
As he said this, the giant crimson bird had reached the top of the mighty Skyfire Mountain. It circled around the sky, then dove down straight into the mouth of the volcano. The mysterious, swirling blazes underneath immediately opened up a path through the flames, allowing the giant crimson bird passage.
Once they exited the tunnel of fire, Lie Huan and the others leaped off and landed onto the crystal plate that resembled the ornamental tip of a Ruyi scepter. Meanwhile, the giant crimson bird continued downwards into the sea of fire.
"Ouch!" Hu Fei suddenly exclaimed. She lifted up her dress with both hands, revealing a pair of flawless, jade-like feet. As it turned out, she had been going around barefooted all this while.
Startled, Lie Huan and the others looked down while Hu Fei stood on tiptoe and lifted up her feet. As it turned out, she'd just been pricked by a piece of broken crystal underneath. And here they thought it was something major.
Why were there broken crystals? Everyone exchanged glances, then turned to look at the Supreme Fire Palace, and were instantly stupefied.
Everyone was no longer concerned that the mistress's feet were pricked. Lie Huan immediately rushed to the plaza. Even Hu Fei herself was no longer bothered by the state of her feet and hurried straight to the plaza as well. Once there, her alluring eyes immediately widened in shock and disbelief.
"Why is my wash basin here?!" Hu Fei suddenly exclaimed again, pointing at an intricately designed wash basin carved from jade.
There was more to the plaza than just an out-of-place washbasin. There were decaying bones, fruit cores, broken wine flasks and burnt pieces of wood as well. Even the statue at the edge of the plaza was broken. One of the two Inferno Qilin statues guarding the main entrance of the Supreme Fire Palace was actually missing a head. This was simply too mind-boggling!
To think that the beautiful, illusory Supreme Fire Palace that hovered in the middle of a sea of flames was actually reduced to such a state. Hu Fei was utterly speechless, her mouth agape, her eyes widened in consternation.
The dozen or so handmaidens also looked at one another speechlessly. They were all wondering the same thing— 'Who did this?'
Lie Huan's eyes were as wide as the mouth of a bell, and his expression was as dark as the bottom of a pot. As his face twisted in dismay, he rushed inside the Supreme Fire Palace.
The dozen or so handmaidens followed behind Hu Fei to examine the rest of the place. Hu Fei lifted up her dress, afraid that she would step on the ashes of the burnt wood. It would be too disgusting if she ended up stepping on the leftover bones and fruit cores of someone's meal with her bare feet.
Compared to the outside, it was the inside of the Supreme Fire Palace that actually looked ransacked. At least the outside still had some signs of life, whereas the inside was a complete mess, with all their things lying on the ground.
Lie Huan stood before his throne, staring at the twelve newly opened holes on the wall behind it. As he looked fixedly at the broken wall, his lips couldn't help fiercely quivering from time to time.
"My lord!" Hu Fei cried as she rushed over to the front of the hall from the back, carrying several torn dresses with her. She raised her ripped clothes up to Lie Huan's face, and said, "Not only was my washbasin used, but even my clothes were also torn apart. What kind of pervert could have done such a thing? My skin is crawling just thinking about it. This is simply too horrifying! My lord! Don't tell me this is the work of one of those skanks you fooled around with on the outside? Is she deliberately trying to gross me out? There's no way something like this could have been done by a man!"
Staring at the ripped up dresses in her hands, Lie Huan clenched his fists tightly in anger. And as he listened to Hu Fei's words, he curled his lips furiously. His house was already wrecked to such a state, and this woman still had the cheek to be jealous and spout such drivel at a time like this. He roared furiously, "Shut your mouth!"
Hu Fei was startled and was about to employ the 'throwing a tantrum when things don't go your way' method on Lie Huan. However, she soon noticed he was trembling in anger as he stared at the broken up wall.
'There are twelve holes on the wall?' Hu Fei dropped the clothes she was holding onto the ground and raised her hand to cover her gaping mouth.
Other people might not know what was hidden behind this wall, but as the mistress of the house, Hu Fei was perfectly aware. Inside this wall were twelve 'Fire Spirits' that her husband had painstakingly spent over 20,000 years to capture. It was something that Lie Huan was saving for future use. But now they were completely gone. How could this have happened?!
Compared to these twelve 'Fire Spirits', her issue wasn't even a minor problem. Utterly stupefied, Hu Fei decided to shut her mouth.
"Who is responsible for this?!" Lie Huan roared furiously.
Hu Fei and the others quickly covered their ears from the sound. Even the entire Supreme Fire Palace was trembling, and the fiery blazes that surrounded it quaked vigorously. Flames were soaring furiously.
With a wave of his fiery red cape, Lie Huan turned around and walked out the palace. Hu Fei hastily chased after him and grabbed his arm, asking, "My lord, where are you going?"
Lie Huan swung his arm and shoved her away. As she fell to the ground, Hu Fei continued to shout, "My lord, where are you going?"
With a furious look in his eyes, Lie Huan gnashed his teeth in hatred and said, "I'm going to settle the score!"
'Whoosh!' Before he even finished his sentence, Lie Huan was already gone. As the sound of rushing wind came from the exit of the fire array, a human figure had already shot out like lightning.
Two handmaidens hurriedly rushed to help Hu Fei up from the ground. However, the latter didn't appreciate their concern and swept the two handmaidens aside. Hu Fei's voice cracked as she yelled at the dozen or so handmaidens, "What are you all looking at? What happened to those lustful eyes you usually have when you're trying to seduce my lord? What are you still standing there for? Hurry and clean this place up. If my feet are stained by even the tiniest speck of dust, you'll all be in deep trouble!"
Terrified, the handmaidens immediately went to work...
"This is truly a good place to cultivate! It's a pity we can't stay for too long and have to go back tomorrow. Little Brother, have you thought about where among the Fifth Earthly Branch you'd like to be Manor Head in? Let me know if you've already made up your mind. That way, it'll be easier for us to communicate in the future."
Overseeing a tranquil garden, was a lavish house, complete with intricately designed furnishings. Leaning against the window, Yan Beihong cast a sideways glance at Miao Yi and posed a question.
Walking up to the window, Miao Yi cast a quiet look at the assortment of rare flowers in the garden. He shook his head, asking, "You've already made up your mind?"
"Of course. I'm going to pick a place with an abundance of resources. I've never thought about this before, so once I get back, I'll find out which place is the most lucrative, and choose to go there." As he said this, Yan Beihong couldn't help laughing to himself. Having learned his lesson after being overheard by Fairy Hong Chen, he switched to voice transmission and continued, "Your Fifth Earthly Branch is going to be famous now. After all, within the Celestial Nation, the Fifth Earthly Branch alone has taken up six out of the total twenty-one spots. Even though I received the tenth place reward on your behalf, the ranking still belongs to you. If we follow the placement order, then in the Fifth Earthly Branch, you should be fourth in line to pick your new territory, since Gu Sanzheng, Tan Lao and Ye Xin are placed in front of you. For me, since everyone else from the First Earthly Branch is already dead, I'm now the only one to return alive. So even though I'm in thirteenth place, once I'm back, I'll be allowed to freely pick my new territory. Thus, even though my placement is lower than yours, I'm actually getting more benefits than you are."
Miao Yi laughed bitterly as he listened to Yan Beihong. Speaking of this matter, he felt quite sorry for Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei, as he had also given away their Geotranscendence Bangles to help Yue Yao. He didn't ask the Gu Sanzheng trio as they still needed to fulfill their responsibilities to their respective schools, and Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun needed to answer to the Yao Nation as well.
At first, Zhao Fei, Sikong Wuwei and him had all promised to take last place together. However, as Miao Yi had completely forgotten about Qi Xiuhong's Geotranscendence Bangle, he ended up placing just slightly higher than the other two and thus would be taking his pick of the new territory before them as well. Miao Yi was ridden with guilt over the two of them.
'Whoosh!' A golden light streaked across the sky and landed just outside the Western Constellations Palace.
It was so fast that Miao Yi and Yan Beihong would not have noticed it if they weren't looking out the window at the time! Standing by the window, the two of them exchanged glances as a shocking thought flashed through their minds—a Golden Lotus cultivator!
Landing outside the main entrance of the Western Constellations Palace, Lie Huan swept a watchful gaze across his surroundings. With a wave of his red cape, he then strode in through the entrance. Perhaps if this were anywhere else, he wouldn't think twice about barging inside. But as it was the Western Constellations Palace, even Lie Huan had to follow the rules. He was still Fu Qing's direct subordinate after all. Lie Huan didn't dare to fly straight in and instead chose to walk in on his own two feet. That said, he was still walking in unannounced.
Of the two guards standing by the main entrance, one immediately approached Lie Huan and asked, "My lord, how may we be of assistance?"
Lie Huan said furiously, "Report to the Constellations Master. Say that Lie Huan requests an audience!"
"Understood!" The guard immediately rushed in to make his report.
Perhaps they were startled by the presence of a Golden Lotus cultivator, but as Lie Huan walked in, Tang Jun, Hei Yun, Grandmaster Qi Jie, Hua Yu, Yun Guang, Ji Meimei, and even people like Fairy Hong Chen and Zuo Nanchun all came to see who had arrived.
As for the rest, they didn't notice Lie Huan's arrival because their cultivations were too low. Miao Yi and Yan Beihong had only seen him by coincidence, but they weren't as confident as Yun Guang and the others and didn't dare stick their heads out so easily and risk offending a Golden Lotus cultivator.
"Lie Huan!" When Yun Guang saw that it was Lie Huan, he raised his hand in greeting.
"Hmph!" Lie Huan huffed coldly and ignored him.
Yun Guang then chuckled and said, "It looks like this old demon woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!"
As Lie Huan passed by Ji Meimei, the latter approached with smiles and asked, "What brings Big Brother Lie here?"
"Piss off!" Lie Huan barked with no regard to Ji Meimei, causing her to be stunned in place, as an awkward expression hung across her face.
With a darkened expression, Lie Huan strode forward, his fiery red cape fluttering behind him. There was a domineering aura about him. He didn't care if they were sent over by the Six Sages. He didn't show face to almost everyone in his path. However, when he saw Grandmaster Qi Jie, even he couldn't help being slightly surprised.
Even though Grandmaster Qi Jie had only smiled at him in gesture, Lie Huan immediately walked up to him. Clapping his hands in prayer, Lie Huan even politely made a Buddhist greeting, and the tension on his face relaxed as he asked curiously, "How could they trouble the Grandmaster to come personally to a mere Subjugation Crusade? That Cang Lei is simply too overbearing!"
Grandmaster Qi Jie smiled, clapping his hands in prayer as he said, "It seems like the Supreme Yao Lord has some matters to attend to. I shall not get in your way then."
"Very well. After this, I shall find Grandmaster to reminisce about old times!" Lie Huan clapped his hands in prayer again and nodded before bidding farewell and continuing on his path.
As he made his way to the plaza of the main manor, the massive doors of an ancient, yet grand palace lay before him, standing outside of which was a man garbed in blue robes. Lie Huan cupped his fists in greeting to the man from a distance.
"Brother Lie, you've come." Standing at the top of a flight of tall steps, the blue-robed man returned the gesture. He then turned his body to the side, and extended his arm and said, "The Constellations Master is waiting for you within the manor."
Having been granted entry, Lie Huan immediately rushed up the tall flight of steps.
The blue-robed man walked up to the enormous, ancient doors that stood five feet tall, and had various depictions of demonic creatures carved upon it. He reached out and gently pushed open a tiny gap on the door. The door creaked heavily as it opened, the sound of which was enough to fill one's heart with great solemnity.
Even though it was said to be a tiny gap, that description was only apt when referring to the massive door. In truth, the opening was wide enough for two people to walk in side-by-side.