Chapter 714 - Black Demon Pool
Ye Qingyun paid no further attention to Huang Tayun after taking a look at him.
The Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps was ready to set out after Ye Qingyu briefly conversed with Shangguan Wu, who personally escorted them until they were outside of Sunrise City.
Ye Qingyu expressed his gratitude once more and waved goodbye to the latter.
With time pressing, the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps got on the Road of Chaos and advanced to the next test city.
As for [Refine Armor] which now belonged to their domain, Yu Xiaoxing had already assigned a few willing and dependable men to manage it. She believed that it would become an extremely important station of the Heaven Wasteland Domain in the future.
Shangguan Wu watched the envoy mission leave and only turned to return to the city when they had completely disappeared from sight.
At the same time.
After the envoy mission was gone.
Huang Tayun remained standing on the plaza, his body trembling faintly and his pupils overflowing with murderous spirit.
"Supervisor Huang, try to limit your grief and accept your losses." To one side, a Violet Gold Divine Guard consoled.
From what others could see, Supervisor Huang was devastated by Huang Lin's death, being his uncle.
However, only Huang Tayun himself knew exactly what his current mood was.
He was actually not too concerned about the death, and, on the contrary, was a little grateful that Ye Qingyu performed the deed swiftly. There was a chance that his death-fearing nephew would have dragged him down with himself had Ye Qingyu tortured for a little longer.
The main reason why he was trembling with anger was Ye Qingyu's last sentence that said the latter could not spare Huang Lin precisely because he was the former's nephew. This was a painful slap in the face for the highly-reputed Violet Gold Divine Office front court supervisor, especially when it was said in front of Shangguan Wu and so many Violet Gold Divine Guards.
Moreover, he failed to accomplish his mission of preventing the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps from passing the test, and thereby reneged on his promise to the person behind the scenes. The consequences of this would be serious, and it would greatly affect the benefits he obtained.
More importantly, what most worried him was that the master had obtained a wisp of the forest-green mist. If the latter found out something from within and managed to trace the culprit, then this front court supervisor would probably soon find himself in hell.
Huang Tayun only left the plaza after a long time, when everyone else was already gone.
Concealing his tracks with extreme caution, he cut through the streets and alleys and finally arrived in a quiet room of a restaurant at the end of a street.
A woman with a slim figure, enchanting beauty, and extremely seductive eyes had been waiting here for a long time.
"Supervisor Huang, you're late. Have things been settled?" The woman's voice contained a terribly uncanny charm. It was Jiang Xiaohan's unique tone.
"No."
"What!? You..." The complexion of her charming face changed slightly, and her expression abruptly turned ice-cold. "Hoho, Supervisor Huang. Don't forget that you obtained a lot of benefits from my master, yet you can't even complete a simple task like this in the end. Are you doing this on purpose?"
"Miss Jiang, you think too much. A couple of accidents happened. That Ye fellow is scary..." Huang Tayun seemed to recall something and his eyes became gloomy like no other. "It seems now that it'll be very difficult to prevent the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps from passing the trial as long as Ye Qingyu is around."
"Hoho, Supervisor Huang. This wasn't what you said when you accepted those lavish gifts and made your promise, patting your chest." Jiang Xiaohan glanced grimly at Huang Tayun before continuing, "You know the consequences of failing your tasks. I'm afraid it's gonna be difficult accounting to Master!"
"Don't worry, I'll certainly account to your master. I'll soon be heading to the Black Demon Pool to thwart the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps’ next test. I, Huang Tayun, always fulfill my promises when I've accepted gifts." The latter revealed a tinge of murderous spirit in his frosty eyes.
"That would naturally be best, otherwise, you should know the outcome of displeasing my master." There was a hint of undisguised threat in Jiang Xiaohan's sweet voice.
"Ah, you don't have to worry about these kinds of things, Miss Jiang." As Huang Tayun spoke, his countenance changed and his right hand naturally slipped around Jiang Xiaohan's waist, revealing a lustful smile at the corners of his lips. "Let's talk about something else. I have a piece of news concerning the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps which would shock the myriad domains, and would be extremely important to your master. I believe he'll be very interested..."
"What's it?" A little disgust showed on Jiang Xiaohan's face as she recoiled her body.
Huang Tayun held out a finger and shook it in front of Jiang Xiaohan, smiling even wider and saying, "Five hundred kilograms of top-quality divine-level origin crystals."
"What? Five hundred kilograms of... divine-level origin crystals? Supervisor Huang, you're kidding, right?" Snorting, Jiang Xiaohan turned her hips and broke away from Huang Tayun's bent arm.
The latter was slightly astounded by the strength which the former exerted in this moment.
This woman was stronger than he had expected.
"Heh heh, I'm already giving you all a huge discount, out of our intimate relationship!" Smiling somewhat awkwardly, he dared not belittle her anymore. "Your master will feel that it's good value for money after hearing the news..."
She looked at him and hesitated before replying, "Alright, I can help you to convey the news, but you must know the consequences of deceiving and teasing my master."
Putting a hold on his teasing demeanor, Huang Tayun nodded cautiously.
An hour later.
After walking out of the restaurant, Jiang Xiaohan disappeared from the street end in a flash.
Huang Tayun silently sat alone in the quiet room.
The expression on his face was hideous like no other.
"I can no longer remain in Sunrise City. Even though I wasn't exposed today, the master will eventually dig out clues using his supernatural powers, and I'll then be a dead man. Might as well think ahead... Heh heh, if I divulge the news of topping the Storm List, it would certainly rock the universe, particularly to those with huge ambitions. But at the same time, I cannot divulge it so easily. Heh heh, let's use this news to try my luck first. If I can obtain enough cultivation resources and find a deserted place to hide for a few hundred years in..."
Huang Tayun muttered below his breath.
His expression was like that of a ferocious evil spirit.
"Of course, before this, heh heh, Ye Qingyu, I'll make you beg for death. Offending me will be the greatest nightmare of your life, and it won't be just you but the Heaven Wasteland Domain which I'll completely bury. That adorable empress you're protecting, hahaha, I'll turn her into a whore f*cked by tens of millions of men in the cheapest brothel in the Black Demon Pool, hahahaha!"
The quiet room reverberated with Huang Tayun's deep and vicious laughter.
He left the room two hours later.
That day, the front court of the Violet Gold Divine Office announced that Supervisor Huang Tayun had been greatly devastated and saddened by his nephew Huang Lin's death, and so had decided to go into self-isolation for a month after the burial to get his mental state back together.
...
After leaving Sunrise City, the Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps’ next stop was the second of the nineteen cities of chaos - Black Demon Pool.
This city was established by a bygone martial emperor of the Black Demon Race.
On the way to the Black Demon Pool, Ye Qingyu, Yu Xiaoxing, and the others were given a broad understanding of the city by the two reception elders, particularly Shuang Wuyan.
Completely unlike Sunrise City, it was actually a giant sinkhole pervaded by an extremely spooky black demon qi despite being a city.
Legend had it that this sinkhole, which resembled a bottomless underground abyss, was pervaded by all kinds of strange Demon Race auras, while the shrilling and dreadful noises which reverberated within were tormenting to experts below the Heaven Ascension realm and would cause them to die from depletion of inner yuan. It was divided into eighteen zones, with every eight kilometers down constituting one zone. The deeper one went, the more terrifying and hazardous it became.
Extremely brutal, tough, and evil demonic forces resided in the underground city, which was known as the lair of all sorts of demonic-level ghosts and monsters.
The Black Demon Pool was more like an underground adventure park where demons of absolute strength gathered. It was chaotic and gruesome like no other, such that every step within constituted a risk and was filled with a naturally-forming and insidious danger.
Four hours later.
The Heaven Wasteland diplomatic corps passed through the chaotic portal and finally arrived within the Black Demon Pool.
"Is this the Black Demon Pool? No wonder it's called 'Black Demon'..." Ye Qingyu sighed.
A labyrinthine realm pervaded by a black mist appeared in front of his eyes.
Curious black vine plants and towering trees gave off an extremely unusual aroma over an area of several hundred kilometers in perimeter.
In the middle, surrounded by these giant vines and trees, was a huge abyss of a thousand meters in diameter within which demon qi surged endlessly. It resembled a volcanic vent which was on the verge of spewing lava.
Covering an area of several hundred kilometers in perimeter, the Black Demon Pool was a small world created in the chaotic void by the Black Demon Emperor using his best magical powers. Boundless black demon qi pervaded the void, obstructing the entry of chaotic windstorms and star fragments in the sky dozens of kilometers above, and thereby guarding the Black Demon Pool like the wind layer of laws in the sky above Sunrise City.
Like a bottomless pit, the black abyss was unfathomably deep. One's heart would begin to palpitate just by standing at one side and casually looking down.
After arriving within the boundary of the Black Demon Pool, both reception elders looked solemn and unusually cautious, while the atmosphere was also a lot more serious than when they were in Sunrise City.
Evidently, even these two enigmatic experts had some fear for this city.
"This place is interesting..."
Standing on the edge of the Black Demon Pool, Old Fish chortled as if he had thought of something.
The envoy mission followed the two reception elders to the abyss' entrance, where the yuan qi of several experts were instantly roused by the furiously surging demon qi, as though they were confronted by a formidable enemy.
Looking down along the cliffs, the contingent saw an ancient flight of spiraling stone steps which was made using an unknown type of black rock. It appeared to be very crudely done, as if the steps were casually hewed using an unsharpened ax.
These stone steps, which followed along the cliffs of the abyss in a spiral, bore an uncanny resemblance to the road of death that led to Asura's battlefield in hell.