Chapter 180: The Interrogation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“My lord, if you would only make an attack, the Primal Core essence that Zhou Donghuang now holds, will be yours.”
Lu Yuanshan also smiled at Su Mo as he said, “That Zhou Donghuang, is just a brat from a tiny village way out of town, and he could enter the Connate level at 20 years of age with the essence left behind by the Primal Core adept… If you, my lord, were to take hold of this same essence, you could hope to enter the Primal Core stage and fulfill your greatest potential!
In the history of the Valley of Medicine Masters, there had never been a Primal Core adept, and Lu Yuan Shan knew of this.
“Indeed.”
Shi Yu smiled and echoed. “My lord, that village boy, Zhou Donghuang is not worthy of having that essence from the Primal Core adept!
“Only you, the best amongst them, the Head of the Valley of Medicine Masters and lord of the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley, should be worthy of owning the essence left behind by the Primal Core adept.”
After he said this, Shi Yu continued to pour praise and fawn over Su Mo, but this instead made Su Mo nervous and break out in a cold sweat.
How dare he mention that his master was not worthy and that he was?
At once, Su Mo’s face was grave, and he was about to blow up when—
Creeeaaaaak
The room door behind Su Mo opened, and a figure cloaked in snow-white robes slowly sauntered out, saying, “And I was just thinking, who is it that thinks so lowly of me.
“So it is you, Shi Yu.”
Zhou Donghuang looked at Shi Yu, a look of calm in his eyes, his face completely cool and unfettered.
“Zhou… Zhou Donghuang?!”
It was only when Shi Yu stared hard at the young man in white that he recognized that this person was indeed Zhou Donghuang. It had been a while since they last saw each other, but the child-like features had gone away and were completely replaced by those of a maturing youth.
“Zhou Donghuang?”
At Shi Yu’s gasp of surprise, Lu Yuanshan was at first completely shocked, but this quickly turned into a look of complete fear as he thought, “This Zhou Donghuang, how is it that he is here? Furthermore, why was he stepping out of the Head of the Valley of Medicine Master’s personal abode?”
At this moment, Lu Yuanshan felt a bad premonition.
Though Lu Yuanshan had never seen Zhou Donghuang before, it did not affect his impression of Zhou Donghuang’s character. He knew that he was dressed in snow-white clothes all year round, had handsome features, and had an extraordinary aura about him.
The young man dressed in white that was before him ticked off on all these criteria.
Coupled with Shi Yu’s exclamation of surprise, he was more than certain that the young man in white was the very same Zhou Donghuang who came into possession of the Primal Core essence from the Western Chu Ridge in Yunyang!
“Zhou Donghuang, why are you here?”
Now, Shi Yu was also starting to understand that something was in fact amiss, and all the color in his face was starting to drain.
Judging from their current stance, this Zhou Donghuang did not seem to be held captive by any means by the Head of the Valley of Medicine Masters Su Mo.
“Master, how do you intend to deal with these two men?”
And while Shi Yu and Lu Yuanshan were frightened to their core, their faces having turned white with the look of fear in their eyes, Su Mo bowed to ask Zhou Donghuang this question.
As Su Mo’s words got across to Shi Yu and Lu Yuanshan, their faces instantly changed once more, and all that was left in their eyes was a look of complete hopelessness.
Mas… Master?!
The Head of the Valley of Medicine Masters and lord of the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley, whom they so revered, was now calling Zhou Donghuang his master?
At this instant, the both of them believed that they were in a dream.
Shi Yu immediately pinched his face, and Lu Yuanshan pinched himself in the thigh, and as they felt the pain, reality hit them and they understood that they were not at all dreaming.
Everything unfolding before their eyes was indeed real!
“I… impossible! This cannot be possible!”
Shi Yu was confused and panicked, his eyes filled with despair. As he took a step back, he kept shaking his head like he had been stricken with madness.
He could not, for a moment, accept the truth before him.
Plop!!
As Shi Yu seemed to be losing his sanity, at the same time, Lu Yuanshan had knelt down on the ground and was repeatedly kowtowing before Zhou Donghuang. “Young Master Donghuang, I am the Lu Yuanshan, head of the Lu family from the Chu royal city. We have no quarrel with each other, and I had no intention of hurting you! I swear I had no intention of hurting you!”
“With your reputation, you must not be bothered at all about little old me, you can’t be that bothered… am I right?”
Lu Yuanshan was absolutely scared out of his own wits. This young man, reputed to be the Chu royal city’s Connate-level teenager, was in fact now the master of the Head of the Valley of Medicine Master, the same man whose rule covered the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley?
If he had not seen this with his own eyes, he would never believe that this was real, even if his own life was at stake.
Now, upon hearing Lu Yuanshan’s cries for mercy before Zhou Donghuang, Shi Yu seemed to suddenly come to his senses from his moment of insanity, and with a plop, he went down on his knees before Zhou Donghuang.
On top of that, Shi Yu seemed to kowtow with a lot more force than Lu Yuanshan. “Young Master Donghuang, I was wrong! I was wrong!
“With your esteemed position, I must be worth less than an ant in your eyes. My lord would not bother with such a small iniquity and take it as if I had just let off some hot air!
“I, Shi Yu, swear that I would never again try to go against Young Master Donghuang! I swear! I swear!”
In the face of death, all Shi Yu had on his mind was a determination to preserve his life.
Swoosh!
After casting a sweeping glance at the two men, Zhou Donghuang’s figure seemed to flash, and he leaped into the air, only leaving a simple command as he flew into the distance. “I’ll leave you to deal with this on your own.”
“Yes, Master,” Su Mo responded obediently.
When Zhou Donghuang leaped into the air, both Shi Yu and Lu Yuanshan were shocked and dumbfounded. “A Primal… Primal Core adept?!”
The ability to tread the air like this, as legend had it, was the mark of a Primal Core adept.
It was at this moment that they realized that Connate-level teenager they once knew was already miles ahead of the Connate stage and had entered the Primal Core stage, becoming a legendary Primal Core adept!
“It is no wonder that even the Head of the Valley of Medicine Masters would acknowledge him as ‘master.’”
The two men instinctively thought of the same thing at the same time.
“Since you had dared think of sabotaging my master, you are only looking for death!”
Su Mo leapt into the air, regarded Shi Yu and Lu Yuanshan with a look of nonchalance, then raised his hands and pressed them down in one quick move.
Instantly, a shard of pale while light formed into a palm print and fell from the sky.
Crash!
Following the loud noise, Shi Yu and Lu Yuanshan did not even have a chance to react, and just like that, they had been crushed into a pool of blood by the giant palm print.
The very same spot where they had knelt was now a pit in the shape of a palm print filled with blood, an unsightly scene to behold.
Crash!
Crash, crash!!
…
At the wave of a hand, the faint white light wrapped around all the dirt and mud that had been strewn about by the impact and filled the palm-shaped pit once again.
In the blink of an eye, everything was restored to normal, and the peace of the place returned as if nothing had ever happened there.
At the same time, Su Mo seemed to sense something and quickly lifted his head to the sky.
Swoosh!!
In the distance was a giant, golden-crowned, black eagle flying from the Valley of the Medicine Master in the direction of Yunyang, one of the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley.
And standing erect on the giant eagle’s back, was a young man clothed in snow-white robes, looking like the vision of a deity.
…
The country of Yunyang.
The Western Chu Ridge, Yunfeng prefecture.
“Tell me, that son of yours, Zhou Donghuang, what miracle was it that he had taken hold of that has helped him become the legend he is today?”
In Qingshan town, in a large compound behind the Yunxuan Inn was a middle-aged man floating above a messy front yard, addressing a sole woman standing there.
This woman, a lady of great beauty, was Lin Lan.
“Who are you?”
Lin Lan looked grimly at the middle-aged man in black robes, her eyes full of fear.
To be able to be airborne was, as the legends had it, a mark of a Primal Core adept.
Of this, she knew for certain.
And today, this Primal Core adept had appeared out of nowhere on a giant eagle, trespassing into their home, wreaking major destruction upon their buildings and structures, even hurting everyone that was in it at that time.
If the Primal Core adept had not intended to show her mercy, she would not even be standing there.
Now, aside from Lin Lan who was still standing, the others, such as Yun Lu, Yang Zixi, Fu, Leng Hanfeng, Granny Lian and the rest, were bleeding from the corners of their mouths or sitting or lying on the ground with no strength left within them to stand up.
The golden-crowned eagle Little Gold was lying in the distance, barely breathing.
At this moment, Yun Lu and the others were looking at this man in black robes with eyes equally full of fear and trepidation.
The man before them had caused so much damage to their group with just the slightest wave of a hand.
If not for the protection of the golden-crowned eagle Little Gold, who had only recently entered the Connate stage and was able to fend off a large portion of the black-robed man’s attack, they would have most certainly have died horribly!
“The ability to float on air… he is a Primal Core adept,” Yun Lu muttered under his breath bitterly.
Clap!
Under the gaze of the crowd, the man in black robes lifted his arms, and in a flash of white light, he caused Lin Lan’s head to swing. At the same time, he left a painful, red palm print on her face.
“Now, it is I who should be asking the questions, and not you,” the black-robed man took a cold glance at Lin Lan as he said harshly.
“My lord.”
Now, standing behind the black-robed man and on top of the giant eagle’s back was another middle-aged man, who smiled as he said, “If you were to threaten her, to kill everyone if she did not co-operate… then, surely she would not dare to oppose you.”
“Yang Yunji!”
Yang Zixi lifted her heard toward the man standing on the giant eagle’s back, her eyes cold as she spat, “I should have let Brother Zhou kill you in revenge for my third uncle when I had the chance!”
“Yang Zixi, when you chose to follow that unfortunate man Zhou Donghuang, it was destined that you would too end up with the same misfortune… Perhaps, today is the day that you will die.”
Yang Yunji glanced at Yang Zixi with a disdainful smile, and his smile was so wide that he looked like a villain.
“Sounds like a good idea.”
The man in black robes laughed unfeelingly as he raised his hands into the air.
Suddenly, a giant hand formed and appeared by Yun Lu’s side, grabbed Yun Lu in one swift move, and threw her up meters into the air.
“Little Lu!”
Lin Lan’s face changed drastically, and Yang Zixi, Fu, Leng Hanfeng and others also reacted as one by one, their eyes started to fill with anger.
However, even if they were angry, they couldn’t do anything and had to helplessly watch Yun Lu be taken up into the sky.
If this man were to let go, and she were to fall from such a height, Yun Lu would surely die!
As she was taken up into the air, Yun Lu’s eyes were full of panic, but her expression was extraordinarily stubborn as she yelled at Lin Lan, “Mother, don’t worry about him! Little Lu is not afraid!”
“Not afraid, are you?”
The middle-aged man in the black robe smiled and immediately took hold of the giant hand holding Yun Lu, and slowly opened it.
“No!”
At this, Lin Lan changed her mind as she begged, “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”