Chapter 1455: Head to Head
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Rumble!
As a violent spiritual energy fluctuation wreaked havoc between Heaven and Earth, its mighty spiritual oppression sparked slight changes in the facial expressions of numerous experts. Their eyes turned slightly solemn as they watched the young man, who was descending from the sky.
The figure in the sky was Mu Chen. He had traveled to the Mount Ocean Continent without stopping.
As he descended from the sky and landed on the mountain, he saw the tears on Nine Nether’s face and wasl infuriated. Ever since he had known Nine Nether, she had always put on a brave face.
Her determination and stubbornness had left a deep impression on Mu Chen. However, this strong girl was actually crying now, so it was not difficult to imagine the amount of stress and suffering that she was undergoing.
“Tianhuang Clan Leader, are all of you okay?” Mu Chen asked. He then cupped his fist and said, “I apologize that I’m late.”
Tianhuang Clan Leader and the Elder Lu stared at Mu Chen, as they could not believe that Mu Chen had actually come. They both wondered…
This lad… Does he really dare to offend the Phoenix Clan for the sake of Nine Nether?
“No, you’re not late…” Tianhuang Clan Leader shook his hand. With some bitterness, he continued, “We had no choice but to send Heavenly Sparrow Elder to inform you of this. I hope you don’t mind.”
Upon hearing that, Mu Chen chuckled. Then, with a serious look on his face, he replied, “Tianhuang Clan Leader, you’re too polite. Nine Nether took care of me in the past, and without her, I would have perished by now. As she’s now in trouble, I would rush to her aid, no matter what the circumstance.”
Tianhuang Clan Leader had mixed expressions on his face. He was feeling guilty, yet consoled after hearing Mu Chen’s words. He was guilty of judging Mu Chen’s personality previously, and he was comforted that Nine Nether had such faithful friends.
Mu Chen and Tianhuang Clan Leader exchanged a few words while they were waiting for Nine Nether to calm herself. Mu Chen then looked into her pretty red eyes and laughed softly before he said, “I didn’t know that you would cry.”
Nine Nether wiped the tears off of her face and glared at him with her beautiful eyes. She immediately stretched out her long leg and kicked Mu Chen in the foot. “How dare you make fun of me?”
Soon after this, she said unhappily, “You should not have come.”
Mu Chen shook his head and looked Nine Nether in the eye, then asked in a serious tone, “Who protected and supported me in the Northern Spiritual Realm, then brought me to the Great Thousand World? It was you! You did not complain that I was too young or weak at that time, so why would I give up on you today?”
Back then, he was just a weak youth with insignificant strength. But, thanks to the protection of Nine Nether, he was able to brave through those difficult moments. Without her, Mu Chen would not be who he was today.
After hearing Mu Chen’s words, Nine Nether sniffed her nose, while her pretty eyes welled up with tears once again. However, she blinked back the tears in order to maintain her tough image.
“Who do you think you are? How dare you meddle in the business of our Fowl and Divine Beasts clans?” While they were talking, an honorable yet indifferent voice was heard. The voice belonged to the Phoenix King, Huang Jin, who was staring at Mu Chen with his unwavering eyes.
Mu Chen looked at the Phoenix King and replied calmly, “I’m Mu Chen. The Nine Netherbird Clan invited me here to protect Nine Nether.”
His words immediately drew astonishing exclamations from all around the area. From that moment onward, everyone started carefully observing Mu Chen. Apparently, his name was already known to them, since he had recently gained great fame in the Great Thousand World.
Although Mu Chen’s reply was well within his expectations, the Phoenix King still frowned. If any ordinary human Heavenly Sovereign had wanted to meddle in his business, he would have driven him off on the spot. But, he knew that they could not treat Mu Chen that way, as his mother was the Great Elder of the Budur Ancient Clan.
Moreover, Mu Chen was also on good terms with the Flame Emperor and the Martial Ancestor. The Phoenix King felt that this was a tricky situation, especially since Mu Chen had the backing of a Divine Heavenly Sovereign.
Hence, he knew that he could not exert his mightiness as a Divine Grade over Mu Chen. Otherwise, he could provoke the anger of the Divine Heavenly Sovereign who was backing Mu Chen, and that just might turn the world turn upside down!
“Father, you don’t have to think about it. Why would you be bothered by such a trivial matter?” While the Phoenix King was thinking of how to deal with Mu Chen, Huang Xuanzhi gave a faint smile.
He stared at Mu Chen with his narrow and golden eyes, then said, “I have heard about your mighty achievements in the Budur Ancient Clan. But today, you are not in the Budur Ancient Clan, and you can’t activate the Fortify Clan Grand Array here.”
Upon hearing his words, all of the onlookers nodded in agreement. According to their information, Mu Chen had been able to suppress the various elders in the Budur Ancient Clan simply because of the Fortify Clan Grand Array, as he himself was only at the middle stage of the Spiritual Grade.
However, those who would be entering the Deification Pool today were all the supreme talents from the various Sovereign Divine Beast clans. They all had fearsome combat capabilities, which meant that, without the aid of the array, Mu Chen would surely be no match for them.
Huang Xuanzhi, who had just spoken these words, was the prince below the Phoenix King. Within a few sentences, he had diminished Mu Chen’s impressive achievements, thus minimizing his lofty reputation.
Upon hearing his words, Mu Chen simply nodded with a smile. “Those elders in the Budur Ancient Clan were rather troublesome, so I had no choice but to borrow the Fortify Clan Grand Array to deal with them. But, as it’s such a small show today, why would I need to use such a formidable array?”
“Hehe, the Master of the Mu Estate is really full of heroic spirit!” Huang Xuanzhi chuckled. He then replied, “It looks like you do not take these Sovereign Divine Beast Clans seriously at all.”
As he spoke, his lips were pursed into a contemplative smile, but his words were somewhat evil. Apparently, he wanted to make Mu Chen the target of all of the Sovereign Divine Beast clans.
After Huang Xuanzhi had finished speaking, the supreme talents from the Sovereign Divine Beast clans, who had been observing the duo, looked at Mu Chen with mixed feelings, including curiosity, indifference, and mockery.
“Hehe, how dare a mere middle stage Spiritual Grade Heavenly Sovereign human give such an audacious speech? Isn’t he afraid that his tongue might get twisted?” A burst of cold laughter, which was filled with contempt, rang out at this moment.
Countless gazes followed the direction where the voice had come from, seeing a cold-looking man, who was standing on a mountain not far away. A spiritual light was glowing behind him, and in that light stood a large bird that resembled a phoenix and a condor, which had a full body that was made of gold.
“He’s the supreme talent from the Golden Phoenix Condor Clan, Fang Jing! Their clan shares some blood relations with the Phoenix Clan, and they are quite close to the Phoenix Clan, which means that they are allies!” Tianhuang Clan Leader, who stood beside Mu Chen, spoke with a dark expression when he saw the figure.
“He’s only in the later stage of the Spiritual Grade. So, there’s nothing to worry about.” Mu Chen smiled and ignored Fang Jing’s provocation.
In fact, he did not even look at Fang Jing. In Mu Chen’s eyes, Fang Jing was only a clown that had come here to please Huang Xuanzhi.
“Hehe, imprudent lad!” Upon hearing that, Fang Jing burst out in angry laughter and glared at Mu Chen with a sinister look.
Mu Chen continued to ignore Fang Jing, while he looked at Feng Xuan Zhi with a fixed and serious stare.
Huang Xuan Zhi’s contemplating smile slowly disappeared from his suave face, while his eyes gleamed with coldness. He stared at Mu Chen and said to him with great determination, “I, Huang Xuanzhi, am taking this Undying Bird Bloodline at all costs!”
Mu Chen glared at Huang Xuanzhi and replied, “I have made it clear to you that you’re not fit to do so.”
A cold and still silence filled the surroundings at that moment. The confrontation between the two was like a diamond cutting a diamond, and many people were stunned.
This battle would be a match between two evenly-matched opponents. One was the supreme talent from the Phoenix Clan, while the other was the most outstanding talent in the Great Thousand World. As such, no one knew who would have the last laugh.
Weng!
Just when they were jumping at each other’s throats, the emerald lake, where the mountains intersected, suddenly started to form ripples, some of which had endless spiritual light that spurted upwards from them like a fountain.
Rumble!
Immediately, an indescribable spiritual energy oppression exploded from within the waves. Even Mu Chen slightly narrowed his pupils as he saw many glowing figures forming on the lake after emerging from the spurting spiritual light.
These figures were the shadows of various fowls and divine beasts. Apparently, these glowing figures must be the various Heavenly Sovereigns who had perished within the lake!
“This lake is not as simple as it first seemed,” Mu Chen muttered.
Although the lake was only about a thousand feet wide, at least from what his naked eyes could see, Mu Chen’s intuition told him that this lake was actually endlessly wide, as though it was a world of its own.
“The Deification Pool is about to activate. Everyone, please get ready.” Upon seeing the scene before him, the voice of the Phoenix King echoed out.
Upon hearing his order, everyone tensed up immediately. All of the supreme talents from the Sovereign Divine Beast Clans had fire burning in their eyes.
Weng!
The next moment, even more waves suddenly rose up in the emerald lake. The previous serenity that had filled the lake was no longer there. Instead, it felt like the seal on its surface had suddenly been broken, and the boundless spiritual light started to rampage and shake the entire land.
“Enter!” As Huang Jin cried out, beams of streamers soared towards the sky from each mountain.
Then, they dove down and charged into the emerald lake with loud splashes. When their bodies charged into the lake, they disappeared immediately, as if they had entered into another world.
These supreme talents were alone because only people under the Heavenly Sovereign were allowed to bring a protector along, according to the rules. Clearly, they did not need such protection.
Nine Nether took a deep breath at this time. She then looked at Mu Chen with her pretty eyes and asked him, “Do you really not regret anything? A brutal fight will break out after we enter…”
Mu Chen smiled and stretched out his hand.
“You’ve protected me for so many years. It’s my turn to protect you now.”
A beautiful smile surfaced on Nine Nether’s face at this time, which was extremely bewitching. She then stretched out her slender hand and held Mu Chen’s hand gently.
Subsequently, the two of them beamed into two streamers and charged out. While everyone was watching, they entered the emerald lake with a loud splash as well.