Chapter 545 - Four Directions
Half a month had passed. It was midnight when Ah Lian and her daughter who were settled in the cave heard a gushing sound that was unsettling to their souls.
Her daughter woke up. The little girl's clear eyes shone like the cold stars, curiously looked towards the source of the gush.
Ah Lian was feared something might have happened to the celestial teacher, so she carried her daughter out of the cave, and instantly saw a pair of huge eyeballs. She practiced the incantation which Shen Lian had taught her, which enhanced her sight and eventually saw the tiger, the celestial teacher's mount, only then she felt relieved. After that, she focused on the boulder which celestial teacher was sitting on. The stars and the moon were shining bright like flowing silver, but all these were significantly inferior when compared to the majestic scenery around Shen Lian's body.
Shen Lian's body was surrounded by sparkles, all gathered into a river, as all the stars in the night skies had been compressed to his sides, so mysterious, profound and unfathomable. The gush was projected from Shen Lian's mouth, producing an echo around the mountains, shocking countless creatures, insects and reptiles from the woods to look towards Shen Lian's directions.
Even the ground shook a bit, where a pure and rich spiritual vigor appeared from the mountain peak, shaped like a dragon or a snake, and finally charged towards the purplish starry aura around Shen Lian and eventually merging with it.
Shen Lian's howling stopped, with all his pores shut, leaving the Bai Hui point open. A little mist rushed out from within and formed a greenish-white colored flower, which remained stationary in the night breeze, motionless and beautiful.
Ah Lian never realized the oddity in this sight, but the nearby tribes of Eastern Barbarians noticed this unusual surge, barging into the altar of the tribe. Primarily, the altar of an Eastern Barbarian tribe of a bigger scale would have an ever-burning fire being a symbol of eternal presence of the tribe.
Even though it was merely a normal flame, it was kept burning for a thousand years. It would have gained spiritual awareness from the spiritual presence of the underworld around it. At this moment, the flames in the altar all pointed towards the direction where Shen Lian was, bowing towards it.
All burning flames were now bent, in a shape of a person bending forward to pray and show respect.
Five thousand miles westward of Qing Xuan Cave, there lied a strong tribe called Boyi, named after its ancestor Boyi. Boyi and Yinshang shared the same ancestor, both were the leaders of the Eastern Barbarians tribe who followed after the founding emperor of the Xia Kingdom, Si Wenming. Both of them possessed immense abilities, but when Si Wenming vanished, they disappeared too.
The flame burning in the altars of Boyi tribe was lighted by Boyi himself. The altar fire was fed using the pine resin collected from the cloud pine trees that grew in the clouds, particularly rare.
This spiritual fire would burn eternally like the stars in the skies. Even at night, this spiritual fire prevented them to fall into darkness and fended of the attacks from unknown demon creature.
This night, the spiritual fire actually bowed towards the direction of the Qing Xuan Cave, which shocked the chief of the Boyi tribe. He was also a cultivator, so he instantly moved towards the altar, where there was already a person standing inside, his uncle, the doyen of his tribe.
"What is happening here, old master?"
The altar fire was a spiritual one. It bore a fire spirit. But it made a bowing stance under the influence of this shockwave. Its spirituality was shockingly decreased.
The tribe chief's heart wrenched looking at this sight. He was waiting for the fire spirit to mature, which then he would use secret techniques to reincarnate it into the tribe, and produce a heaven fire's Daoist body with much-cultivating potential. This plan would have to be adjourned because of what just happened.
I heard that there was a demon king named Chong Hou Tiger living eastbound where the family of Wuzhong was. He even received conferment from Young Master Yunyang. However, he was removed by a foreign Qi cultivator, who lived in the mountains after that and never left. This strange shockwave is indeed coming from that direction," the doyen replied in his coarse voice.
"What is the deal with this Qi cultivator, such inconsiderate fella. It doesn't matter what secret technique he is practicing, why can't he issue a restrictive notice beforehand? We are not the only family who got affected tonight. How about I take the lead and reason with this man," the tribe chief could not hold his anger. Boyi tribe was a large tribe of the Eastern Barbarian region, so he could invite a couple or two people of land immortal level to join him.
He expected that no matter how strong this Qi cultivator was, he would not be better than a land immortal. They would need him to surrender something, since Qi cultivators of these sorts had traveled high and low, they must be quite loaded.
The doyen sighed, "This Qi cultivator is no ordinary character. I suggest you forget about it."
Tribe chief asked, "Why do you say so, old master?"
The doyen squinted his eyes and answered, "His is the Xia Kingdom's State Preceptor."
These seven words were enough to dull the chief's facial expression. Recently, the Xia's Emperor attacked the Eastern Barbarians, and no tribe could withhold his attacks for half a day. Moreover, thirty-three tribes of all sizes had presented their offerings to the King as a sign of submission.
If it was not for Yunyang, the son of the White Emperor, a true Eastern Barbarian, coupled with the help of a saint from the demonic class, the expected outcome would be more than half of the Dongyi falling under the Xia Kingdom.
At present, the Emperor was also leading his army in a standoff with Young Master Yunyang at Mount Meng. A battle could unfold any time there. Even the Boyi Tribe had sent a portion of their fierce warriors to support the defence. Ten of them went, none was expected to return.
The tribe chief was well informed and understood clearly that the Xia army had not unleashed their full force yet. It only consisted of the Youhu's, Xin's, Ming's warriors, in whom the strongest would the chief of Youhu's, Lei Hong.
This was why he only sent the brave from his tribe, and retained the elders in hiding here.
If Young Master Yunyang could not defend Mount Meng, he had prepared to surrender to the Xia.
Knowing that the Qi cultivator was Xia's State Preceptor, he could not help but panicked.
The chief tribe then resented, "Looks like we have to suck this in then."
"You should not hide this from the people. Release this news at once tomorrow, so that no fools would march on and get involved with him," the doyen warned.
"Old master, can't we just tell this to only our tribe people?" The chief whispered.
"You are such a small minded man. If you tell only our people, you cannot ensure that our people will not spread this news out anyway," the doyen replied.
The chief sighed, "You are the better thought person, after all, old master."
Not all the tribes in Dongyi were united and harmonious. Boyi could have one of the biggest influence, but its development had stunted for hundreds of years.
Even some fearless fool went head to head with this Xia State Preceptor, one would be in for a good show.
Though feeling like a wasted opportunity, he still obeyed the doyen's orders and spread the news to the tribes to all four directions, which quickly escalated to all those within ten thousand miles.
He did not only announced the news, he also secretly sent extravagant gifts to Qing Xuan Cave, which later other tribes also followed suit.
These gestures eventually reached the ears of the Wuzhong's. When they found out, all of them regretted their own foolishness for missing the grand opportunity to have a good relationship with the State Preceptor of Xia.
These people were the convicts who were evicted by other tribes. Wherever they went, no one would want to see them. If they could be acquainted to the State Preceptor, their status would be up leveled multiple folds. Now, Ah Lian was the only one from their tribe who got hold of this opportunity.
Which was why Ah Lian felt troubled.