Chapter 611: A Banquet of Welcome
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
"How could it be an insult? It is a compliment, a sincere compliment!"
Laughing and waving his hands, Liu Bang said, "You are a beautiful lady, and I am an Immortal King. We are a perfect match! I am rich, powerful, and have a strong backing. The strategic land to the west of the Heaven is my territory, and I have millions of formidable soldiers, thirty-six Celestial Lords, six hundred Heaven Lords, and three thousand Immortal Monarchs. You can't find any man better than me, so why are you hesitating?"
Clapping his hands excitedly, he said, "We'll consummate tonight! Xiao He, draw up an imperial edict immediately and send it to the Great Celestial Emperor. Mention that Hua Qingfeng, the Fairy Phoenix, is my new concubine, and her title is... Consort Phoenix!"
Behind Liu Bang, one of the middle-aged scholars who looked particularly queer with three pupils in each of the eyes, their colors green, gold, and red respectively, nodded slowly and responded in a deep voice. Gleefully, Liu Bang turned to Fan Kuai and said, "Bring that beauty to my chariot. Mm, birds of a feather flock together, and a beauty is always surrounded by beauties… Bring her maids as well!"
Fan Kuai answered thunderously, leaping into the sky like a flea. Not allowing Fairy Phoenix to fight back, he threw both halberds out, which smashed into the underground energy veins beneath Blue Phoenix Rock along with raging thunder-flame and completely cut off the two energy veins. Immediately, the last defensive barrier on Blue Phoenix Rock lost its energy supply, its faint colorful glow suddenly crumbling and turning into countless bright specks that dissipated in the air.
Surprisingly, there were actually two Gold Immortals on Blue Phoenix Rock. Upon seeing that Fan Kuai was rushing towards Hua Qingfeng, both of them roared furiously and unleashed two beams of light to intercept him: a Dragon and Phoenix Bangle and a White Jade Sword. Both were Gold Immortal items, and each had a vague figure standing on top, their item spirits who had cultivated human forms and obtained powerful divine abilities.
Fan Kuai grinned hideously and snapped, "I am Fan Kuai, the vanguard General of King of Han, the Gold Dragon and Tiger General of the Heaven! Are you, some lesser itinerant Immortals, really going to get in my way? Attacking me is no different than disrespecting the Heaven! Do you want to have your entire clan exterminated?"
Both weapons slowed down suddenly. While the two Gold Immortals were still hesitating, Fan Kuai had rushed in front of Hua Qingfeng, punched her in the head, and knocked her out. Seeing that their master was knocked out by Fan Kuai, the four little maids standing by her side, who were only Gold Core cultivators, reproached furiously and shot out four beams of green light at him.
Grinning coldly, Fan Kuai opened his mouth to spray out a purple-and-gold stream. The next moment, the four beams of green light were shattered to pieces, turning into dust that scattered and drifted in the air as if made of flour. The four maids cried out in shock. As they were about to flee, a dragon-shaped golden light flew out of Fan Kuai's waist and wheeled around them for a while before tying them up like dumplings. Laughing wildly, Fan Kuai picked them up and took them to Liu Bang's chariot.
After throwing the five beauties into the chariot, Fan Kuai beckoned over his shoulder, and before long the two halberds flew back to him from under the ground. With his halberds, he strode to Liu Bang's side and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I've brought Consort Phoenix to you!"
Liu Bang held his head high and said with a faint smile, "Well done!"
Then, he turned to look at Bo Yunting, whose face was unsightly, and said, "Third Young Master, I am here on behalf of the Heaven. Are you not going to invite me into your tent? Although you may not be ready to treat me with tasty wine and delicious dishes, a cup of refreshing tea should be available, right? I know Great Yu's nobles are very rich, so don't tell me that you are not willing to serve me even a cup of tea, are you?"
Bo Yunting had never met a scoundrel such as this man, Liu Bang. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Somebody, prepare a banquet! We shall welcome the Celestial Ambassador with the finest wine and dishes!" Glaring fiercely at Liu Bang, he said with a cold grin, "The army has only the strongest wine, one that's mixed with the Flaming Grass which we call 'Soul Burning Blood.' Is that fine with you, Celestial Ambassador?"
Putting his hands on the jade belt at his waist, Liu Bang strode into the tent in a carefree manner. "I'm fine with anything! If truth be told, there is no wine under the heaven that I cannot drink... Soul Burning Blood? That's a strong name. I wonder if it will taste as strong as the name! Aye, Third Young Master, you can't be so stingy. Now that we have delicious wines and dishes, don't you think we should be entertained by some beautiful girls? How about three hundred singers and dancers? You are the third son of the Prefecture Overseer of Zhong Province!"
The youth in black armor, who had exchanged a gaze with Wu Qi just now, slowly rose to his feet and fiercely pointed his right index finger at the latter. His eyes were a strange color of gold mixed with red. Apparently, the exchange of gaze had burst the fine blood vessels in his eyes, thus smearing them with such a strange color.
Wu Qi also stood up. He gave his head a shake and found his eyes to be unharmed. The Chaotic Divine Eyes had more power than he reckoned. The impact, however, had cracked the corners or his eyes, causing two faint traces of blood to run down his cheeks, which made him look more hurt than the youth in black armor. Seeing the provocative gesture, he smiled gloomily and cried out, "I am the Military Minister of Hai Province, Tan Lang! What's your name?"
The youth blinked at Wu Qi, then turned to follow Liu Bang into the tent. "I'm Han Xin!" He said as he walked away. "Remember my name, Tan Lang… Your head is mine!"
Xiao He, with three pupils in his eyes, squinted at Wu Qi for a brief while before placing both hands behind his back indifferently and walking towards the tent. Another scholar, who was walking alongside him, gave Wu Qi a curious look and shook his head disapprovingly. "Marquis of Huaiyin has not met a worthy opponent for a long time," Wu Qi heard them whispering. "He must be itchy to display his skill. Otherwise, how would he pick a junior as the target?"
'So, he is taking me as a prey?'
Wu Qi smiled. He gave the back of Xiao He, Han Xin, and the others a glance, and then followed all the military officers into the tent. Some very interesting thoughts were tumbling in his mind. He wished he could find Xiang Yu as soon as possible and bring that man to Pangu Continent, even if that would cost him some troubles!
Liu Bang, Xiao He, Han Xin, Fan Kuai, and the tall, stately, and handsome middle-aged scholar who did not say his name, who Wu Qi believed was Zhang Liang, the most famous man among the 'Three Heroes of the early Han dynasty'… Wu Qi had begun to fantasize about what would happen when they met with Xiang Yu, his mighty soldiers, and the elites of Great Chu!
'Not just Xiang Yu, but Ying Zheng as well... I must get Ying Zheng to Pangu Continent as well! Although it was Xiang Yu who brought down the Qin Dynasty, it was Liu Bang and his companions who inherited the domination of the Qin Dynasty and founded the Han Dynasty after that! I don't believe that Ying Zheng and Liu Bang won't try to kill each other when they meet!
'Interesting, how interesting!' Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and almost laughed out loud. Having been on Pangu Continent for some time, he was now well ready to bring Yan Dan and the others here. After the war ended, he decided to return to Dong Hai City immediately to deal with the matter. He must let these old enemies gather on Pangu Continent!
At the thought of this, Wu Qi could not help but murmur in a low voice, "The wheel of fate is about to start spinning! Hahahaha!" The hair on his body bristled, and he himself shuddered due to the evil remark he had just made. Nevertheless, having been able to hide in the background, manipulating something that eventually brought the old enemies together made him feel really, really good!
Once inside, Wu Qi found that the interior of the tent had been enlarged about ten times, and the soldiers from the logistic department had placed more than one thousand tables inside. The aroma of wine and cooked meat filled the air as countless fine wines and delicacies were being served endlessly. He could also smell a burning heat from the aroma of the wine. Sure enough. It was the Soul Burning Blood which was blended with the Flaming Grass. He had heard of its name before; it was more of a poison than a fine wine, and a single mouthful could burn a great bull alive. For those who did not have sufficient cultivation base and were not strong enough physically, drinking this wine was no different from suicide.
After sitting down and giving the red like blood, sticky like glue wine in his glass a glance, Wu Qi could not help but turn to look at Bo Yunting, who was sitting at the far end of the tent while facing Liu Bang. 'This Bo Yunting is really not a man to be trifled with... Clearly, he is trying to cow Liu Bang into submission!'
The military officers of the human race were strong in flesh and blood, capable of fighting against Immortals' powerful spells solely with their physical strength. In fact, the fleshly body of those who had attained notable cultivation base was tens of millions of times stronger than that of the Immortals of the same level. Relatively speaking, unless it was an Immortal who specialized in cultivating the body, the fleshly body of an ordinary Immortal was generally much weaker than that of a human military officer.
If taken in a large amount, the Soul Burning Blood could stimulate the blood circulation of a human military officer and help to further refine his fleshly body. But, if an Immortal consumed it and could not dissolve the essence of Flaming Grass in it, it would be equal to a mortal taking a lot of arsenic.
It was a plain crack of whip, a blunt slap in the face!
Wu Qi sniffed the wine once again, and then swore in his heart – it did not taste right, and the essence of Flaming Grass in it was at least ten times stronger than normal! Bo Yunting was not cracking the whip, he was murdering!
Looking at Bo Yunting who sat there motionlessly, Wu Qi suddenly smiled. 'Interesting… That makes it even more interesting!'
As the chime of a bell rang, three hundred young girls from the Feathermen tribe, all clad in fine leather armors and with short swords on their waists, marched into the tent. It was impossible to find a singer or dancer in the army, so the officers in charge of the logistics simply summoned three hundred young girls from the Feathermen tribe to perform a sword dance. The girls saluted the military officers present with cupped fists, then drew their short swords and began to dance lightly in the tent.
The girls were dancing gracefully; their short swords waved in the air and filled the tent with bright flashes. Sitting next to Liu Bang, Fan Kuai's expression turned a little bit unsightly, and suddenly, he got up and stood behind Liu Bang, staring fixedly at the girls with wide eyes.
Bo Yunting guffawed. He picked up a specially made bronze wine vessel on the table that could hold about half a liter of wine and said aloud, "My comrades, a toast to the King of Han! Haha, King of Han is the Celestial Ambassador sent by the Heaven, and in order to mediate the conflict, he had specially selected Zhong Province for his first stop! It's our pleasure, for the Celestial Ambassador wouldn't have made Zhong Province his first stop if we hadn't given those Immortals a good beating!"
All the military officers present burst into laughter.
Lifting up the wine vessel and staring into Liu Bang's eyes, Bo Yunting said with a cold grin, "Come, Your Excellency, let's drink together!"
In front of Liu Bang's distasteful glance, Bo Yunting gulped down half a liter of Soul Burning Blood.