Book 6: Chapter 50 – The Truth of Arianna’s Qingya

  Usually, the outskirts of the mountain range of magical beasts were filled with mortal beasts and the odd mortal human who entered for the purposes of training or hunting, but today was different.

  Today, there were barely any mortals present, and none of them were magical beasts. Instead, they were humans, and all of them were brought along by a saint.

  At that moment, there were over a hundred saint-level experts. Each was a being that would usually be treated as a king or emperor wherever they went, but at that moment, they had been reduced to mere ordinairy spectators as they circled around a rge clearing, waiting for today’s festivities to begin.

  Still, none was arrogant or foolish enough to demaer treatment, namely because of those few individuals in the tre.

  In the tre of the clearing was a group of around 50 people. Ae this group being filled with primarily mortals, it was them who everyone appeared to be focused on.

  Still, even with everyone fog ohe members of the pavilion seemed to be wholly unphased by their presence. Or at least half of them did.

  The other half were the 28 children who had been accepted into the Pavilion two years ago, and as talented as they were, they couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous.

  Although they had performed in front of a much bigger audience during the Pavilion’s trials, that was the first and st time any of them had done so, and once definitely wasn’t enough to get used to it, but more importantly, the vast majority of those watg back then had been mortals, whereas this time, almost everyoo spectate was a saint…

  Still, it was made bearable by the calm and protective auras of Julius and the other more senior members of the Pavilion.

  “Ahh, Fatty, I’ve really missed your cooking!” Ace uttered iasy; his mouth filled to the brim with various bits of his food as his hands tinued reag for more. “It’s been way too long!”

  “Are you saying my cooking’s not good enough?” Milianna asked gently, her voice sounding like a spring breeze.

  “Of course not,” Ace hurriedly gulped down his food as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on edge. “Your food is still the best, mom!”

  Ace’s rea created a wave of ughter among the others as they all tio eat.

  To the audiehis was the st thing they expected to witness, sidering one of their own was about to take part in such a moal battle. Still, Ad the others didn’t care; they simply tinued eating and ughing merrily between themselves as if the rest of the world did.

  Still, that all ged at the appearance of the arrival.

  Cesar and Aidehe first to react, both sending a casual go the distance befoing back to their respective drinks as though they hadn’t sensed anything. But seds ter, one by one, Arianna, followed by her saint-level disciples, and the other saints in the audieurheir heads to the east as an undisguised ale yet oddly oppressive aura moved towards them at incredible speeds.

  Before the figure even appeared i, her soft and almost ethereal voitered the ears of those present, causing the souls of many to stir untrolbly. “I hope I’m not te.”

  It was then that the enting figure of Catherihe High Priest, appeared before them all.

  She didn’t appear to do anything in particur, but the souls of those weaker experts – he mortals – weren’t able to withstand her ‘gentle’ presence. Many of whom began colpsing untrolbly. Even the weaker saints in the audience began to sway, struggling to stay awake.

  “Annoying!” Aiden snorted as he calmly tinued drinking whilst ing his spiritual essence around the young Pavilion disciples, preventing his group from falling prey to the High Priest’s subtle methods.

  Catherine’s beautiful jade-green eyes fell on Aiden. Though they appeared tranquil as ever, that was only because she was hiding her shock.

  She had already heard the reports of Aiden’s heaven-defying power. Still, there was nothing that could’ve prepared her for the shock of witnessing Aiden’s prowess in person.

  Because she hadn’t actually taken a and simply allowed her powerful soul to i with the world around her, it wasn’t surprising for so many to withstand her preseill, there was a differeween proteg your soul and using your soul to protect those of other people.

  The moment Aiden allowed his soul te forth, Catherine clearly sehat Aiden’s soul had somehow reached the level of a Demi-God, making it not much weaker than her own.

  “Catherine,” Mathias uttered with a calm indifference. “Your as, should I take them as a provocation against my Yin-Yang Pavilion?”

  Although his voice couldn’t be described as cold, there was a certain edge to it that made those onlookers hold their breaths.

  The temper of the high priest was much better than her new ally – O’Brien – still, even she had her pride. As a genuiy, how could she be okay with being spoken down to in such a manner by a saint, no less? His prehension may have reached the deity level, but until he broke through, in her eyes, he would tio be nothing but a slightly rger ant.

  Still, just before she could respond, she felt the eyes of both Cesar and Arianna fall on her. Cesar was now an expert on her level, and even though she had the fideo fight and even suppress him – seeing as he had only broken through retly – he still couldn’t be ignored.

  As for Arianna, she was a different matter altogether. Catherine was just about to look down on Mathias because he was still only a saint, but Arianna was the exception to that rule. Her power didn’t allow others to look down on her; she was effectively a deity in saint’s skin. And acc to O’Brien, Arianna was likely strohan her.

  As such, Catherine could only swallow her rese and force a smile as she replied. “Of course not. I merely fot, there were mortals present. Five my rudeness.”

  As she said that, she pletely retracted her presence, making her seem more like a mortal who’d never cultivated a day in her life than a supreme expert who stood atop this ti’s hierarchy.

  It was then that she locked eyes with one of the two young men of the hour, causio, once again, forcibly hide her disbelief.

  It had to be uood that not only was Catherine a deity, but she was focused on the Edict of Life, a that focused heavily on the soul. Even though she had pletely retracted her aura, if oo lock eyes with her, even for the briefest of moments, they’d still suffer from a spiritual shock that would affect most saints. Only those at the peak of the saint realm would be able to ignore such a shock.

  With that being said, the fact that Ace, a young man who was merely at the te stages of the sixth rank as both a mage and warrior, was able to calmly meet her gaze without being affected was incredible.

  After taking a moment to study the world-renowned High Priest of the Yun Empire, Ace went back to ughing and joking with his friends and family. It wasn’t just him; even Mathias and the other elders proceeded to ignore her. As long as she wasn’t here to cause trouble, they were too zy to pay her any attention.

  Catherine had never been put in su awkward situation, at least not since being a deity. Still, she couldn’t allow others to see that she was bothered. As such, she proceeded to sit cross-legged mid-air, pretending as though she was above all worldly affairs, whilst iy, she was doing everything in her power to hide her embarrassment.

  The air for all those, minus the members of the pavilion and Gol , became particurly awkward and tense. Luckily, it didn’t st long, as the expert arrived, and this was someone unignorable even by those of the Pavilion.

  “And here I thought that I’d be the st to arrive,” Beirut chuckled as he silently appeared in the sky above Catherihout her or any of the other experts with access to a Divine Sense being any the wiser.

  “Lord Beirut,” Catherine hurriedly stood to her feet to pay her respects. “I wasn’t aware you would be attending as well.”

  Beirut merely grunted as he sent the High Priest a passing gnce before fog his eyes on the group on the ground below.

  Most had never seen the mysterious ruler of the Forest of Darkness before, but they had all heard his he moment the High Priest bowed to him, the others all followed suit. That included Ace, Arianna and the other members of the Pavilion.

  They may not hold the other experts of their ti in any regard, but Beirut was different. Acc to Arianna and her family’s records, Beirut has always been one of, if not the most powerful expert to e from their Yun Pne.

  Even her aors, some of whom had reached the six and seven-star fiend level of power, said themselves they were wholly inferior to Beirut. Had he wao repce them as ruler of their material pne, he could’ve done so with ease. Luckily, he had no i in vying for power and resources, always choosing to remain in the fines of his own domain.

  “Haha, no need for sualities,” Beirut chortled, fshing a rare look of appreciation as he looked at the group below before fog on Arianna. “It’s a shame the founder of your Qingya departed for the Divine Wind Pne. Had he still been around, how could your family have fallen on such hard times?”

  “Milord?” Arianna asked, faintly surprised. “You knew my Aor?”

  “Knew him?” Beirut chuckled as he began to reminisce. “He could be sidered a rival of mine back then. Still, because of the ck of challenges here, he quickly departed for the Divine Realms seeking new challenges.

  When you get the the future, you should think about heading to the Divine Wind Realm – he recreated your Qingya there. Last I heard, they’re quite a big deal there as well.”

  Arm bells rang incessantly in Arianna’s head, hearing that. For the loime, she genuinely believed that she was the st Qingya desda, but now… “I’m not alone?”

  “Alone?” Beirut ughed. “Of course not, child. There should be billions of Qingya desdants running around the Divine Wind Pne. Plus, you still have an aor here on the Yun Pne.”

  Arianna’s eyes widened in astou. Usually, she was the very picture of tranquillity and serenity, but every time Beirut opened his mouth, he seemed insistent on knog her off her feet.

  She didn’t dare to believe it. She didn’t believe that a member of her family could remain on the Yun Pne for all this time without her knowing. Still, she uood that Beirut would never be so bored as to lie to her just for the sake of getting her hopes up.

  “Are you curious as to where she’s been and why she never made an appearah your fag otal annihition?” Beirut asked with a knowing and mysterious smile. “It’s because she’s not on this half of the Pne.”

  Others may not have uood what Beirut meant, but her family were ohe overlords of the entire ti. How could it be possible for her not to uand? Unfortunately, before Arianna could give voice to the myriad of questions pguing her, Beirut quickly ged the subject.

  “Anyway, now’s not the time to speak on such matters, especially when you still have guests to greet,” Beirut said, gng over at a devilishly handsome young man wearing a dim gold robe with a strange slit-like scar on his forehead.

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