Soaring the Heavens

The python that was sent flying backward began to glow red, then transformed into a big, muscular man. He cast a furious gaze at his assailant.

The one that attacked him was none other than Tang Jun.

’Yan Beihong’ had just done a great deed for the Realm Beyond Heaven. Even if Tang Jun wasn’t going to reward him for it, he couldn’t possibly allow him to suffer. If he’d really just stood by and watched, who would be willing to serve the Realm Beyond Heaven in the future? And even if he could ignore that possibility, he still couldn’t avoid the ridicule of others. Hence, as the one in-charge on this expedition, Tang Jun couldn’t just turn a blind eye at seeing ’Yan Beihong’ in trouble.

With his hands behind his back, Tang Jun glanced at that python spirit, and said, "I believe there is a valid reason for this. Clearly, he wasn’t intentionally hiding it. We all saw what just happened. I don’t think I need to say much about this."

Ji Meimei suddenly chimed in and scoffed, "This man is clearly an unscrupulous individual. If we hadn’t discovered him, he would have surely tried to smuggle the Geotranscendence Bangle away."

There was a fleeting resentment in her eyes as she looked at Miao Yi—she had just found out from Lan Susu that the reason her son had been so unsuccessful on this expedition was precisely because of this ’Yan Beihong’ person. Ji Meimei wanted nothing more than to cut Miao Yi into tiny little pieces, so she would obviously use this opportunity to take advantage of his slip-up.

As soon as the words left Ji Meimei’s mouth, Zhao Fei and the others started to worry about Miao Yi. In contrast, the person in question appeared untroubled, standing in place like he just didn’t care.

"Ji Meimei, don’t take it out on my Celestial Nation members just because your son is incompetent!" Tang Jun abruptly turned around, a piercing gaze in his eyes as he bluntly retorted. He wasn’t showing the other party any face at all.

Although Ji Meimei had Yao Sage Ji Huan standing behind her, Tang Jun too had Celestial Sage Mu Fanjun standing behind him. He had no reason to be afraid of the other party, so how could he possibly step back at a time like this? If he really allowed someone else to kill ’Yan Beihong’, he would be losing face first and foremost.

"Tang Jun!" His words struck a nerve, and Ji Meimei angrily barked, "I’m merely stating the facts here! Don’t go spouting off something that’s completely irrelevant!"

"I’m spouting off?" Tang Jun scoffed, "There is no grievance between you two, so why do you wish to sentence him to death for such a minor incident?"

Ji Meimei snapped back aggressively, "I’m merely speaking the truth. If we hadn’t discovered him, he would’ve surely smuggled that Geotranscendence Bangle away. Tang Jun, the Western Constellations Palace is no place for you to act as you please!"

"Senior Ji, I can be a witness. One of Bai Ziliang’s top-tier artifacts was indeed destroyed by ’Yan Beihong’. Otherwise, Bai Ziliang wouldn’t have fallen as far behind as he did."

From the Devil Nation’s side, Yun Feiyang had suddenly raised his hand and voiced out in a meek tone.

Everyone looked over curiously, wondering why this brat was suddenly chiming in as well. His words were clearly proving that Ji Meimei was indeed trying to make things worse for ’Yan Beihong’ to sate her hatred.

Bai Ziliang threw Yun Feiyang a furious glare, to which the latter responded with a simple snicker, as though saying, ’I’m not afraid of you’.

Ji Meimei turned around and snarled, "Yun Guang, keep an eye on your son’s dirty mouth!"

Yun Guang shot a couple glances at her voluptuous figure, then— ’Pa!’ —he slapped the back of Yun Feiyang’s head. What a show of respect indeed. Yun Feiyang staggered forward, almost falling down even, as Yun Guang said, "Brat, don’t be so disrespectful. The adults are talking here. Do you think a brat like you has the right to say anything?"

Yun Feiyang turned his head around resentfully, telling Yun Guang via voice transmission, "At the end of the Subjugation Crusade, Hei Wuya and I started to battle. In that crucial moment, the only reason why our Devil Nation didn’t suffer any casualties was because this ’Yan Beihong’ helped us. Everyone saw this. Don’t tell me you want me to pretend like nothing happened and just hide here in my corner? How will I ever show my face in public then?"

’Oh, I see!’ Yun Guang was momentarily taken aback. He coughed drily, then pointed at Ji Meimei as he corrected his previous statement and told Yun Feiyang, "There’s a good chance that your old man will be taking that woman as my mistress in the future. We’ll all be a family soon enough. This is no place for you to spout off nonsense. Hurry up and call her Aunt Ji!"

How was this even related? Many in the crowd were lost for words. Yun Feiyang was a little dumbfounded, asking, "Are you serious?"

"Pfft!" Hei Yun couldn’t help himself from laughing. However, realizing his son was just beside him, he figured he shouldn’t look too undignified, and hurriedly held back the lecherous smile on his face.

Ji Meimei’s body was quaking with anger. This Yun Guang was simply too arrogant! It was bad enough that he spouted this kind of nonsense on a regular basis, but now he was even making fun of her in front of her son. How could the two of them possibly endure such humiliation!

And as Ji Meimei expected, Bai Ziliang was absolutely furious. His face completely flushed, he charged over with reckless abandon, shouting, "I’ll fucking kill you!"

Yun Guang narrowed his eyes at Bai Ziliang. Waving an arm, he formed a claw with his hand, stopping Bai Ziliang in mid-air as the latter jumped towards him. They weren’t on the same level at all.

As Yun Guang clenched down slightly on his hand, Bai Ziliang’s expression immediately contorted in pain. Yun Guang scoffed, "Impudent brat. You dare try to fight me? You must be tired of living!"

"Yun Guang, don’t you dare!" Anxious and afraid that Yun Guang would kill her son, Ji Meimei immediately rushed over and attacked him furiously.

Yun Guang looked at her actions with contempt. With one hand still holding Bai Ziliang in mid-air, the other moved like a shadow, swiftly clashing with Ji Meimei’s attack. In an instant, violent winds began surging around the entire manor, and terrifying booms resounded.

"Mmm..."

Suddenly, a cold, questioning voice echoed across the entire Western Constellations Palace. While there was no anger reflected in that voice, it commanded an authority that overlooked no transgressions. The sheer intensity of that voice caused everyone to feel pain in their eardrums, and their very souls trembled in awe.

Yun Guang’s expression finally changed. He quickly withdrew his hand and released Bai Ziliang. Ji Meimei didn’t dare act rashly as well, and she quickly rushed over to help Bai Ziliang up.

"Yun Guang, you old fart! I’ll have your life one day!" Bai Ziliang pointed at Yun Guang and shouted menacingly. He could tolerate losing in the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade, but he could never endure his mother being humiliated in public. Bai Ziliang could only blame himself for being powerless.

Ji Meimei hurriedly pulled her son aside and asked him to keep quiet. Even with both their cultivations stacked together, they were no match for Yun Guang. So why make things more difficult for themselves? Not to mention, the master of the Western Constellations Palace himself had spoken up. This was no place for them to act out of turn.

Back then, Ji Meimei had disobeyed the words of her father, Yao Sage Ji Huan, and insisted on marrying Bai Ziliang’s father. At the time, Ji Huan warned her: ’You’d better not regret it!’

Ji Meimei could still remember how she replied to her father. She loudly replied: ’I will never regret it!’

Her father scoffed: ’How impudent. It looks like I really have spoiled you too much. Whether it be demonic spirit or man, one must always pay the price for one’s wilfulness. Don’t come to hate me, because this is the path you chose for yourself. I can only care for those who walk the same path as me!’

Ever since ancient times, single mothers had always been an easy target to push around. After enduring years of humiliation, Ji Meimei would be lying if she said she didn’t regret her choice at all.

From a highly respected princess to a widowed, single mother. Ji Meimei had lost much of her authority as well as her cultivation resources. This was the price she paid for disobeying her father. However, what has happened has already happened. It didn’t matter if she regretted it or not. All she could do was put up a facade and show that she was alright.

That being said, oftentimes certain consequences were simply a result of one’s own actions. If Ji Meimei hadn’t voiced out and tried to make things worse for Miao Yi, the situation wouldn’t have escalated thus far. If she hadn’t forced her son to participate in the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade altogether, then nothing would have happened at all.

"You’ll have to get past me first!" Yun Feiyang said to Bai Ziliang.

Yun Guang quickly pulled his son back. He too didn’t wish to offend the master of the Western Constellations Palace. As though in mockery, he said, "Your old man has heard even worse things before. There are plenty of people in this world who can make exaggerated promises, but how many of those actually follow through? Don’t mind him!"

The person-in-charge of the side manor suddenly spoke, "Are you all done fooling around?"

Both parties immediately quieted down.

The normal participants couldn’t help secretly exchanging glances. They finally caught a glimpse of how these high-ranking people normally behaved.

The person-in-charge then walked over to Miao Yi’s side and gripped the Geotranscendence Bangle on Qi Xiuhong’s wrist. The Geotranscendence Bangle was instantly bathed in a golden light and began to expand. It was then easily removed from Qi Xiuhong’s wrist. The person casually tossed it aside to one of the committee members, nodding to Miao Yi as he said, "Add this Geotranscendence Bangle to his name."

Thus, the argument was finished with a single statement. ’Yan Beihong’ then became the only person in thirteenth place, knocking all the other participants down to fourteenth place.

Zhao Fei and the others were secretly relieved for Miao Yi’s sake. At the same time, they watched as Miao Yi stored Qi Xiuhong’s body away, sighing inwardly in sorrow.

Meanwhile, the committee members from the Western Constellations Palace were quite frustrated. They had absolutely no idea how to divide those 600,000 Orbs of Will according to the original arrangements!

Eventually, after a discussion with Yun Guang and the others, it was decided that the Orbs of Will would be divided accordingly for the first thirteen placements, and the remainder of which would be equally shared between the other eighty-six participants.

"First place, Yue Yao!" The Western Constellations Palace committee began calling up the names of the participants to receive their prizes.

Yue Yao stepped forward and received one-fifth of the prize pot worth 600,000 Orbs of Will, taking a total of 120,000 orbs for herself.

The next person in line would get one-fifth of the remaining pot, and so on and so forth.

Thinking that her son would be too ashamed to go up and claim his prize, Ji Meimei was prepared to step forward on his behalf. However, when Bai Ziliang’s name was called, he still walked forward and accepted his prize on his own, albeit with a darkened face.

Ji Meimei was rather puzzled by his actions. But then, carrying his prize over, Bai Ziliang flashed it in front of his mother, and said via voice transmission, "Mother, this is the prize we earned by humbling ourselves. We deserve every single piece! I swear that from this day on, I will work hard to become stronger, and you won’t have to push me any longer. When the day comes, I will wash away this shame with the blood of our enemies! I will make all those who humiliated us pay the price!"

Ji Meimei was on the verge of tears. With reddened eyes, she turned away from the crowd and replied to Bai Ziliang in kind, "Mother is useless for making you suffer!"

"It’s not your fault, Mother. I was the one who was too naive all this while!" Bai Ziliang said painfully.

"Tenth place, Miao Yi!"

Yue Yao was in the middle of talking to her senior sister via voice transmission when this particular name was announced. Her body suddenly trembled, and she hurriedly swept a gaze across the participants in search of a certain someone.

Dressed in monk’s robes as white as snow, and with a benevolent-looking countenance on his face, Ba Jie was standing beside Kong Zhi when he heard the announcement. He too was instantly thunderstruck, and he abruptly lifted his head and madly swept a look across the crowd. Even his breathing had become a little ragged.

Grandmaster Qi Jie’s white eyebrows were furrowed as well, and he surveyed the crowd with a watchful gaze.

’Don’t tell me that Miao Yi from the Red Scarves Alliance is actually still alive? But then why did Junior Sister not realize this when she was leading the remaining Celestial Nation cultivators on the nameless island? Could that person have figured something out and is intentionally hiding his identity?’ Fairy Hong Chen also had an expression of shock on her face, and she quickly scanned the crowd.

Miao Yi secretly cast a quick look at Yue Yao’s reaction. He clenched his fists tightly within his sleeves, but still acted like he was unperturbed.

Aii! Sighing inwardly, Yan Beihong gritted his teeth and stepped out of the crowd to accept his prize.

Fairy Hong Chen didn’t remember what Miao Yi looked like. When she saw that he was this burly, bearded man, she quickly turned to her junior sister. However, all Hong Chen saw was confusion on her junior sister’s face as she stared intently at ’Miao Yi’.

On the other side, Ba Jie was equally perplexed as well. At the same time, he was a little suspicious about the situation, as though feeling something was amiss.

Although a person’s face normally changed as they grow older, they didn’t usually change this much. This was nothing like that person’s face at all. Even the shape of their heads was completely different. Did they just share the same name?

Yue Yao and Ba Jie watched as ’Miao Yi’ went back to stand by ’Yan Beihong’s’ side. If they really had to choose, the two of them felt that ’Yan Beihong’ looked more similar to that person in their memory instead.