Rubbing his nose, Chu Yang nodded. For some reason, there was a strange feeling in his heart. Not only did Tan Tan tell them about him, he had actually even given him the title of ‘Divine King’ too.Minister Chu was rather happy and comforted. This junior brother disciple ultimately didn’t disappoint him. Looking at how the aura around Gu Yigu aura had mellowed so instantly, Chu Yang’s heart also settled completely — It could be said that Tan Tan still had all the power, prestige and authority which the King of the Three Stars Divine Clan held in the Divine Clan.

As expected of my junior brother disciple!

Chu Yang was rather smug.

“Divine King Chu…” Gu Yigu was rather abashed. Scratching his squarish head, he said, “The King had once instructed us that Divine King Chu’s status is venerable and majestic, and that he is the person whom the King values the most in his life. Should anyone of the Divine Clan see him, then he is to be treated the same way as how one treats the Divine King! Should Divine King Chu visit, I am to welcome him earnestly and serve him well, and also report the news of Divine King Chu’s whereabouts at once. I didn’t expect that I would still end up affronting Divine King Chu after meeting you in person today.”

Nodding, a smiling Chu Yang replied amicably, “It’s fine. Elder Gu is too courteous.” Tan Tan had indeed done a lot for him…

Chu Yang was rather comforted, much like a senior’s ‘sense of pride’ in his junior’s accomplishments. However, a strange feeling then welled up within him. He hadn’t realized it earlier but now that he thought about it, why was the term of address, ‘Divine King Chu’, sounding more and more wrong?

It was alright to address Tan Tan as the Divine King, but why did this term of address seem so weird when used on him?

Chu Yang thought about it for really long before he finally figured it out. Right away, he pulled a terribly long face.

Divine King Chu? King of Beasts[1]?

Chu Yang had the urge to throw up blood!

“Divine King Chu?” Gu Yigu was rather perplexed. Why did this fellow’s expression turn so awful all of a sudden? He couldn’t help but ask, “Is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing!” Chu Yang suppressed the urge to charge over immediately to the Three Stars Divine Clan to chop Tan Tan into pieces, breathing in and out heavily as he did so.

After their conversation, the tense atmosphere from both sides relaxed at once.

With the exception of Gu Yigu on the opposite, everyone else, including Gu Duxing and Dong Wushang, released a long pent-up breath!

This brief confrontation felt extremely long to all of them, as if a whole year had passed.

The moment they released the breath of pent-up air, perspiration drenched Gu Duxing and Dong Wushang from head to toe immediately. They couldn’t stop the perspiration from forming even if they wanted to. They actually felt like all their strength had left them.

The combat power of these two were the highest but the pressure they were under was also the heaviest!

While they could sustain a combat-ready status, the moment they relaxed, they felt no different from having just gone through a huge battle!

Gu Duxing and Dong Wushang exchanged a look, horror-stricken!

Now that he knew that they weren’t outsiders, Gu Yigu’s expression became much more pleasant and he even adopted a friendly attitude towards them. “Divine King Chu, how about you and your friends come in for a visit? This old man has something that he would like to ask… Of course, I’m sure Divine King Chu also has instructions that he would like to leave…”

Smiling, Chu Yang replied, “I’m more than happy to.”

With a laugh, Gu Yigu led his guests in.

Chu Yang, Mo Tianji and the others followed after Gu Yigu.

Behind a huge rock was actually a large compound, which was wide and empty inside.

Gu Yigu smiled apologetically and went to brew some tea.

Ji Mo asked in surprise, “This… Elder Gu, you actually don’t have servants here to wait upon you?”

All of them were rather surprised. Considering Gu Yigu’s status and how he was ‘doing business’ here, could it be that he was actually a commander of just one? Even the brewing of tea had to be done personally by him?

Smiling, Gu Yigu replied, “Of course… I don’t even have one, much less a few! My identity is sensitive. Having more people around means a higher chance of my identity being exposed and leaked. How can I possibly risk that?”

Mo Tianji blurted out in admiration, “Elder’s prudence truly fills us with admiration!”

These were Mo Tianji’s heartfelt words. When one was weak and powerless, nobody would say anything if he was careful in whatever he did. People would only feel that that was the way it should be. But when one was still this prudent after reaching a cultivation level as high as Gu Yigu’s where he could already rank among the top experts, people would then find it something that was hard to come by.

Because in this world, the people who could harm Gu Yigu now were already far and few. Yet he retained such a sense of prudence nonetheless. This made Mo Tianji feel that his attitude was… rare and commendable.

Gu Yigu smiled. “The older one in the martial world gets, the more cowardly he becomes. Besides, I’m the only one from the Divine Clan outside. You can say that I’m the center of all communications. If something were to happen to me… What is the Divine Clan to do?”

He let out a wry laugh. “Besides… My cultivation level can be said to be pretty high in your eyes but in this continent, there are still people who can easily crush me with just a finger… How would this old man not dare to be careful?”

The brothers were flabbergasted. “With your ninth-grade peak-level Supreme Martial Artist cultivation, there are actually people who could… with just one finger…”

At once, they felt like this was practically a myth.

With a wry laugh, Gu Yigu pointed at Chu Yang. “He knows that person!”

Right away, several bright and curious gazes were directed at Chu Yang.

Chu Yang coughed dryly, secretly amused. He knew that the person whom he was referring to was Zi Xieqing but he chose not to reveal it. Instead, he affirmed his words. “This person indeed exists.”

A look of horror appeared in the eyes of Gu Duxing and the others.

Among them, only Dong Wushang, Mo Lei’er, Rui Butong and Mo Qingwu weren’t surprised, because they had already met Zi Xieqing a long time ago and also understood her strength. As such, they naturally knew that what Gu Yigu was saying now was definitely the absolute truth.

The tea was done. Gu Yigu was obviously also a lazy fellow. Rather than using a teapot, he gave everyone a huge teacup that could hold half a liter of water each. Each teacup was half-filled with tea leaves.

“Divine King Chu… There’s something I wish to ask you.” Gu Yigu lifted his teacup.

“Cough, cough… Elder Gu can just call me Chu Yang or Brother Chu. Please don’t call me Divine King Chu, I feel rather awkward about it.” Chu Yang hastily declined his term of address.

“What’s there to be awkward about?” Gu Yigu was astonished. This name was the most venerable term of address.

All of a sudden ——”Pfft… Hahahahaha…” Ji Mo spat his tea onto Luo Kedi’s face, holding his stomach as he burst into laughter.

Obviously, this fellow had already figured out the intricacies of this name.

“F*ck!” Caught off-guard, Luo Kedi fell victim right away, his face covered in the fragrance of tea. He jumped to his feet and hastily wiped himself off, wishing he could drag Ji Mo out and give him a good thrashing.

All the brothers looked at Ji Mo in mystification. They didn’t understand why this fellow had suddenly gone off in hysterics…

Chu Yang looked at Ji Mo with eyes that could kill. In a very dangerous tone of voice, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I didn’t hear anything…” Coming into contact with Chu Yang’s gaze that could reduce a person to dust, Ji Mo immediately held his hands up and surrendered. But right after, he simply couldn’t hold back the laughter in him, convulsing on the chair again while holding his stomach.

Then, something seemed to click in Mo Tianji’s mind. In the midst of sipping tea, he suddenly also went ‘pffft’ and choked, going into a coughing fit.

Before he even spoke, Chu Yang’s murderous gaze had also flicked over to him.

Mo Tianji grunted as he continued to choke. At last, he suppressed the laughter.

Fuming, Chu Yang turned back. Gnashing his teeth, he asked with a friendly countenance, “What does Elder Gu wish to ask me about?”

Gu Yigu blinked a few times before he said, “That venerable person back then… Is he…”

Chu Yang nodded. “Yes, he’s fine.”

Gu Yigu released a breath and said repeatedly, “That’s great, that’s great.” Then, he asked gingerly, “Brother Chu, you and him are…” With a slight smile, Chu Yang replied, “Thanks to that venerable person’s magnanimity, we associate with each other on equal grounds.”

“Associate on equal grounds?” Gu Yigu’s round eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

Chu Yang nodded calmly and with good bearing. Then, he casually brought out Zi Xieqing’s token and placed it on the table. The moment he activated it with his internal energy, a vast and overwhelming aura appeared.

As though sensing that there was a skilled expert present, the wave of vast and overwhelming aura actually surged straight towards Gu Yigu.

Gu Yigu cried out in shock and fell backwards vehemently. With a loud bam, the firm and sturdy pinewood chair broke into pieces as he landed on it. With another thud, he landed squarely on his buttocks onto the ground, smashing out a large square pithole. He said in a panic, “Hurry… Hurry and put it away…”

Gu Yigu could be said to be once bitten, twice shy. The lesson he had received back then was etched firmly in his mind. It had also let him truly realize that even if he were to cultivate for another hundred thousand years, he still wouldn’t be that person’s match for sure.

Now that he had seen Zi Xieqing’s token, he immediately dispelled all his suspicions and took on an attitude full of fear and trepidation.

Chu Yang smiled and put the token away.

The reason why he didn’t reveal the truth and had held back some details, as well as the reason for bringing out the token, was precisely for this effect. Should Gu Yigu realize that Zi Xieqing was no longer in this world, how exactly he would react was something that none of them could be sure of.

Chu Yang didn’t dare to risk it.

After all, should this man in front of him really turn against them, how many people out of the eleven of them could survive… was something that couldn’t be determined.

In that case, he might as well do this and settle everything by scaring him!

After seeing the token, even if Gu Yigu were given all the guts by the heavens, he would definitely not dare to behave audaciously.

“Alright, everything’s fine now.” Chu Yang put the token away and asked rather curiously, “How did Elder Gu get to… know that big brother of mine?”

The moment the question left his lips, Gu Yigu’s expression immediately turned into one that looked as if he was laughing but also as if he was crying. It was extremely exciting.

After a long while, he finally replied bleakly, “This is a rather embarrassing history…”

Inwardly, he thought to himself that whether or not it was embarrassing, since they had ties to that person, they would get to know sooner or later anyway. Being evasive about it now would instead make him look petty.

With a wry laugh, he said, “Back then, I was entrusted with a mission by a few elders. Several elders expended their life force to let me breach the barrier and leave the Three Stars Divine Clan imprisonment and come to this world…”

“After several thousand years of cultivation, I had already become a skilled expert in the world! As I traversed the martial world, there was practically no one who could rival me in this world. I became more and more arrogant and full of myself… At last, one day, after exchanging blows with the high priest of the law-enforcement officers, I fell victim to the Heartless Soul Destruction Palm… This injury could only be healed by the Black Blood Rose. And so, I went deep into Black Blood Forest immediately to look for the Black Blood Rose…”

As he spoke, the details of what had happened back then were slowly revealed to Chu Yang.

The look in Chu Yang’s eyes was rather dazed, as if he was seeing that mighty stance of Zi Xieqing’s as she stood in her fluttering white robes, looking down upon the world. He couldn’t help but heave a light sigh in his heart.

[1] The phonetics are similar