Chapter 2989: Substantial Rewards

“It’s a first-form Profound Divine Metal!” The Chaos Divine Earth’s childish voice rang in Duan Ling Tian’s mind before Duan Ling Tian could tell Hu Lin Yi, the Emperor of the Supporting Fall Nation, that he wanted the red vest, a defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon.

“T-that… That’s a first-form Profound Divine Metal?” Duan Ling Tian asked the Chaos Divine Earth. His heart thumped wildly in his chest as he looked at the unremarkable iron bead with dents in Hu Lin Yi’s right hand.

“Yes. As one of the Five Divine Elements, it’s only natural that I’m able to recognize a first-form Profound Divine Metal. That fellow is extremely lucky. Even when he’s sleeping, you managed to come across a first-form Profound Divine Metal. Boy, if you choose the first-form Profound Divine Metal, the Profound Divine Metal in your body will be able to evolve into its third form after absorbing it. You’ll benefit more from that than the defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon!” the Chaos Divine Earth replied. It emphasized on the benefits of obtaining the first-form Profound Divine Metal since it could tell Duan Ling Tian wanted the defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon.

The Chaos Divine Earth did not wait for Duan Ling Tian’s reply. As though it was worried Duan Ling Tian would choose the defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon despite his advice, it hastily added, “As for that purely defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon, with your innate talent, it’d be easy for you to obtain another one after you join the Three Sects and Two Clans.”

The Chaos Divine Earth was unaware that its words were not necessary. Since Duan Ling Tian found out the bead was a first-form Profound Divine Metal, he had decisively made up his mind to choose the iron bead. The defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon was great, but it was no match for the value of the first-form Profound Divine Metal.

Duan Ling Tian took a final glance at the red vest with a slightly heavy heart. He was about to reach out for the first-form Profound Divine Metal when a burst of laughter rang in the air. He instinctively turned to look at the source of the laughter and saw Xue Ming Cai, the Emperor of the Southern Qi Nation.

“Why are you laughing?!” Hu Lin Yi asked, displeased. An ominous feeling rose in his heart at this moment.

When Xue Ming Cai stopped laughing, he looked at Hu Lin Yi knowingly and said, “Emperor Hu, if I’m not mistaken, you obtained this bead 200 years ago during the Black Mountain Nation’s Imperial auction, right? I remember it cost you 20,000 prominent Celestial Crystals?” He did not wait for Hu Lin Yi’s reply and turned to Duan Ling Tian and bluntly said, “Duan Ling Tian, it seems like Emperor Hu is reluctant to give his defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon to you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought this broken bead out and asked you to choose from the two. In my opinion, he’s only trying to distract you with this broken bead in hopes of keeping the defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon to himself. Why don’t you join our Southern Qi Nation? At the very least, I’m not as stingy as Emperor Hu.” After he finished speaking, he looked at Hu Lin Yi contemptuously.

Hu Ling Yi’s expression changed drastically when Xue Ming Cai mentioned the Black Mountain Nation’s Imperial Auction. He did not expect Xue Ming Cai to be privy to that matter and openly exposed his thoughts! Indeed, he had deliberately brought the bead out in hopes of distracting Duan Ling Tian. He had lied about its value and price because he was reluctant to part with his defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon.

Upon seeing Hu Lin Yi’s reaction to Xue Ming Cai’s words, the crowd was convinced Xue Ming Cai had spoken the truth.

“It seems like Emperor Xue is telling the truth; Emperor Hu wants to mislead Duan Ling Tian!”

“This Emperor Hu is dishonest… How insincere of him…”

“I actually thought the bead was something special. As it turns out, it’s just something he obtained for 20,000 prominent Celestial Crystals during the Black Mountain Nation’s Imperial auction 200 years ago.”

“It’s only worth 20,000 prominent Celestial Crystals! How stingy!”

“That’s right. A new ordinary King Grade Celestial Weapon is worth, at least, 100,000 prominent Celestial Crystals, let alone a purely defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon…”

“Xue Ming Cai, how dare you slander me!” Hu Lin Yi barked in anger.

“You’re accusing me of slandering you? Why don’t we speak to the Emperor of the Black Mountain and ask him about it?” Xue Ming Cai chuckled.

Naturally, it was impossible for Hu Lin Yi to agree to that. After all, he had, indeed, obtained the bead from the Black Mountain Nation’s Imperial auction for 200,000 prominent Celestial Crystals.

“Xue Ming Cai, are you certain this bead is worthless? Why don’t you try and destroy it? No, just try to leave a mark on it… It doesn’t matter even if the mark is just a few millimeters long.” Hu Lin Yi glared at Xue Ming Cai.

“Emperor Hu, I didn’t say anything about being able to leave a mark on the iron bead. Our strength is about the same. If you can’t leave a mark on it, naturally, it’d be the same for me as well,” Xue Ming Cai said in a leisurely manner.

“Then why did you say it’s useless?” Hu Lin Yi asked in a low voice.

“Am I wrong?” Xue Ming Cai smiled. “This bead cost you 20,000 prominent Celestial Crystals, and yet, you can’t make heads or tails out of it after so many years… What use does it have? Why don’t you tell us?” He was grinning at the end of his sentence.

On the other hand, Hu Lin Yi looked as though he had swallowed a fly.

Xue Ming Cai continued adding fuel to fire. “Emperor Hu, if I were in your shoes, I’d give Duan Ling Tian these two items to prove my sincerity.”

For the umpteenth time today, Hu Lin Yi was angered by Xue Ming Cai’s words. He said icily, “I don’t need you to teach me what to do; I already planned to do that anyway.” Then, he passed the two items in his hands to Duan Ling Tian.

Duan Ling Tian did not hesitate to accept the two items. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” He truly did not expect he would obtain both the first-form Profound Divine Metal and the purely defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon due to Xue Ming Cai intentionally giving Hu Lin Yi a hard time.

“Boy, the Emperor of the Southern Qi Nation seems like a pretty decent character.” Even the Chaos Divine Earth was surprised at how lucky Duan Ling Tian was. “With this defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon, your defenses will be much stronger, especially if I infuse my power into it!”

Duan Ling Tian knew how formidable the Chaos Divine Earth was. If it were not for the Chaos Divine Earth helping him to nullify Xue Jing Yu’s attack, he would have been severely injured.

“Emperor Hu is generous indeed!” Xue Ming Cai laughed heartily before he gestured to his people and left. Although he had lost the bet, he felt like the victor at this moment.

Even the crowd who were watching felt Xue Ming Cai seemed to have come out on top despite losing the bet.

After the people from the Southern Qi Nation left, Hu Lin Yi turned to look at Duan Ling Tian immediately.

Upon seeing this, Duan Ling Tian’s heart skipped a beat. ‘This Emperor Hu… I hope he’s not thinking about asking me to return his items… I don’t mind returning the defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon… However, if he wants me to return the first-form Profound Divine Metal, I have no choice but to threaten to represent the Southern Qi Nation to enter the lower realm of the Southern Heaven Ancient Realm…’

Duan Ling Tian remained resolutely silent, waiting for Hu Lin Yi to speak. However, as it turned out, he had overthought things.

Hu Lin Yi was the Emperor of the Supporting Fall Nation, it was impossible for him to ask Duan Ling Tian to return the items he had given in front of so many people. It was a foolish thing to do. Not only would he come across as stingy, but he would offend and alienate Duan Ling Tian as well. At that time, Duan Ling Tian would surely join the Southern Qi Nation instead.

Hu Lin Yi asked with a smile, “Are you confident about ranking in the top 10?”

Duan Ling Tian sighed in relief inwardly when he realized Hu Lin Yi was not asking for the items back. Then, he replied, “I’ll try my best!”

With that, Hu Lin Yi motioned to his people before he led them to the center of the Scaling Cloud Lake.

At the same time, Huang Jia Long sent a Voice Transmission to Duan Ling Tian. Based on the tone of his voice, he was genuinely happy for Duan Ling Tian. “Congratulations, Brother Duan! The Emperor of the Southern Qi Nation has indirectly helped you to gain these things!”

The rest of the people from the Supporting Fall Nation, especially Hu Jin Yong, looked at Duan Ling Tian enviously.

Hu Jin Yong was unaware that his father possessed a purely defensive King Grade Celestial Weapon. As soon as he learned about its existence, it was given to Duan Ling Tian!

As the people from the Supporting Fall Nation drew close to the center of Scaling Cloud Lake, they saw more than 10,000 people gathered there. Moreover, the numbers were increasing as time passed…