Plundering the Heavens - Chapter 374

Yuan Bizhan was relieved after appraising the first two treasures. Although the first two treasures the Dragon King’s daughter had taken out were rare, they were not completely unknown to him, and it hadn’t taken much time before he was able to determine both. This kind of challenge wasn’t difficult at all, to the point he felt perhaps the Dragon King’s daughter was purposely trying to let him win. ‘Maybe she wants to marry into our Yuan clan but feels ashamed of herself, so she intends to intentionally lose to me?’ With such thoughts in mind, Yuan Bizhan became even more relaxed and gently picked up the third treasure—a broken compass.

At a glance, it was the easiest of the three treasures to see through and Yuan Bizhan confidently raised it in front of him. He gave it a look, causing all the cultivators below to stretch their necks out further to better witness this Videha cultivator appraising three treasures at once, yet to everyone’s dismay, no words came from his mouth. He released a soft sound of surprise and creased his brows to once again carefully inspect the item, yet he didn’t say a word even after a long time had passed.

The cultivators below exchanged glances with each other. Some were confused, but others were delighted at such misfortunate, and the most delighted of them all was naturally Fang Xing who was snickering to himself and thinking, ‘Not only is this dragon girl flirtatious, she’s also filled with evil tricks. This Yuan guy is just too young and naive in comparison; looks like he’s going to lose his woman andhis treasure this time….’

As expected, the more Yuan Bizhan looked at this compass, the more his expression darkened. After a long time had passed, he raised his head towards the Dragon King’s daughter with a look of distress and hesitantly said, “Your Majesty the Eldest Princess, this third treasure…. It’s just… it’s just….”

Before he was able to speak his troubled thoughts, the Dragon King’s daughter showed him the hourglass and smiled. “You don’t have much time!”

Yuan Bizhan felt as though he’d walked right into a trap and began to sweat. Although the first two treasures the Dragon King’s daughter brought here were rare, his knowledge was more than enough for him to appraise them. The third one seemed to be the easiest, yet it contained a trap within; he thought he already knew with only an initial glance, but it was completely different after closer inspection, making it so he couldn’t move forward or back.

When he saw there wasn’t much sand left in the hourglass, Yuan Bizhan couldn’t help but look towards the Dragon King’s daughter. “Eldest Princess, this treasure…” he hesitantly replied, “isn’t it just an ordinary compass? Its Qi is completely gone, the formations within are all destroyed, it can’t even be considered a spirit tool….”

The Dragon King’s daughter felt Yuan Bizhan’s words were extremely funny. “These three are my most precious collection of treasures, and this is just some broken compass in your eyes?” she laughed. “Mister Yuan, I just now praised your great degree of knowledge and you’re already trying to joke with me?”

Yuan Bizhan’s back became wet from sweat. “But from what I can see, this isjust an ordinary compass!” he replied with great difficulty.

The Dragon King’s daughter laughed, and when the sand of the hourglass stopped, she picked it up and waved it in front of everyone. “Seems like Mister Yuan must not be at his best this time around. It is my lucky win today, so I shall be keeping this Sword Embryo. I shall thank Mister Yuan for being so generous; I, Yinzhu, cannot even repay you for your generosity, but this spirit wine is rather good so please do drink lots, Mister Yuan!” As she spoke, she waved her sleeves and prepared to order her maids to take all the treasures and Sword Embryo away.

Yuan Bizhan was embarrassed and felt this Dragon King’s daughter was as sly as an old fox without any good intentions, so he bowed slightly towards her with a smile. “It is one of my uncles who asked me to bring this Sword Embryo to you as a betrothal gift, so Miss Yinzhu will naturally need to take it. Aside from the Sword Embryo, I also have some light gifts I already ordered people to send over to your Colored Glass Palace earlier.”

The expression on the Dragon King’s daughter suddenly fell and she began to coldly respond, “Mister Yuan, you should know to choose your words wisely. I won this Sword Embryo from you—it has nothing to do with marriage. Furthermore, if you may excuse me, I have been banished from the Azure Seas and am alone to the point not even the heavens and earth want me. When it comes to marriage, no one’s words can mean anything; no one can force me to do anything!”

……

Yuan Bizhan instantly became ashamed and angry at her words. What was this woman trying to say, that she intended to keep the Sword Embryo without giving him anything in return? This confirmed this bi*ch was scheming to swindle him! “What great plans you have, Dear Eldest Princess,” he coldly spoke with some urgency, “but I also have a question. This bet, I may not necessarily have lost, right? Although I may not recognize that compass, others might not recognize it either; perhaps even you the eldest princess cannot say much about it….”

The implication was the Dragon King’s daughter had cheated, and his words were rather direct and untamed. A chill flashed across the Dragon King daughter’s eyes and she sternly replied, “It is your lack of knowledge, yet you accuse me of cheating? Hmph, just because you don’t recognize it doesn’t mean no one else here can recognize it! Everyone, my Red Order hasn’t yet been issued, so how about my test today be appraising this treasure here? Who has the knowledge and wants to come appraise this third treasure?” Her gaze then swept across everyone present, and no one knew exactly what she was thinking.

Yuan Bizhan had already been filled with anxious anger, but he became even more furious when the Dragon King’s daughter brought up the Red Order. His gaze also swept out as he coldly followed up, “Why not? With the eldest princess inviting an answer, everyone would definitely participate for her sake! I would also like to see who has such great knowledge they’d dare come up to appraise this third treasure….”

The Dragon King’s daughter had asked for those who wanted to come up to appraise the third treasure, whereas Yuan Bizhan had used the word “dare”. With only a single word’s difference, the meaning had changed completely, and Yuan Bizhan hadn’t even bothered covering the murderous intent in his words so everyone could feel the threat contained within. There wasn’t any doubt there would be an enmity between him and anyone who attempted to appraise the compass, regardless of the other person’s success or failure. Since Yuan Bizhan was a cultivator from Videha and the person who’d come along with him was Young Island Master Zhu—the master of one of the most powerful islands in the vicinity—suppressing all the cultivators here wouldn’t require much effort. Who would dare stir trouble for Yuan Bizhan right in front of him?

The hall quickly became silent and no one dared to respond.

The Dragon King’s daughter was upset to see this. “Are the people I’ve invited over so timid?” she slowly asked with a stern expression.

Fang Xing naturally wouldn’t let such a chance slip by him, so he excitedly yelled, “I will!” His clear, crisp voice contrasted sharply with the silence of the hall, and everyone’s gaze focused on him in an instant. After having been wronged so many times, Zhou Luwei beside him reflexively flinched and pointed at Fang Xing while shouting, “Him! Him! It was him!”

Fang Xing directly stood up and looked at Zhou Luwei with disdain. “Of course it’s me, do you have even close to the same guts?”

Being looked down upon in such a manner, Zhou Luwei suddenly couldn’t find any words to reply.

The gazes from the cultivators were all different. Some were shocked, some were peculiar and held surprise, and there were also some filled with admiration.

In truth, the cultivators’ impression of him wasn’t the best. With only a few words earlier, he’d given his maid over so easily to serve another, and then he sold his maid off completely with only the slightest pressure from a Videha cultivator. He was the master, yet he didn’t even dare to fart, giving the impression of being a softie. Then after actually obtaining a Red Order, he returned so soon without doing anything at all, instantly reaffirming the others’ impression of him being “useless trash”.

At a moment like this, however, while everyone else felt fear towards Yuan Bizhan and not a single person dared to come up, this person swaggered out in such a casual manner instead. This changed the impression others had of him, albeit slightly—at the very least his guts weren’t small at all and he had a kind of viciousness that didn’t even factor in his own life. Of course, this impression of “boldness” also included a measure of “foolishness”; did he not know this would bring lots of trouble down upon him?

As Fang Xing swaggered towards the highest area, the sea-snake maid from earlier also looked at Fang Xing in shock. It was so unexpected for this Fang Ritian to stand up at such a moment that she even forgot to get out of his path, so Fang Xing directly slapped his hand on her rear to push her aside before tilting his head. “Are you blind or something? You don’t even know to get out of your grandpa’s way?”

The sea-snake maid was angered and her face flushed red, but she did not dare say anything in such a circumstance.

Yuan Bizhan saw someone had actually dared to come up, and he also noticed it was the same person who’d been shouting random things earlier. He squinted his eyes, and his words that followed were filled with murderous intent so cold it was as though they’d been recovered from the inside of an icy dungeon. “You are very brave, fellow Daoist….”

Fang Xing stared back at him before turning to the Dragon King’s daughter. “Princess, he’s scaring me!”

……

……

Yuan Bizhan’s face immediately flushed, and everyone else was speechless as well. Yuan Bizhan’s threat was so obvious anyone could see it, but who would actually state it so directly?

The Dragon King’s daughter was particularly surprised, but a faint smile actually appeared shortly after. She looked towards Fang Xing, then lightly turned towards Yuan Bizhan and calmly said, “Mister Yuan, I know the Yuan clan of Videha is a large and ancient clan that cannot be looked down upon, but I hadn’t expected you to think so highly of yourself you’d disregard me and act so high and mighty at my Red Convention?”

Yuan Bizhan seemed a bit embarrassed by this and quickly added, “It is this fellow Daoist who misunderstood; I am merely admiring his bravery. This third treasure, even I couldn’t see through it, yet this fellow Daoist dared to come up. It can only mean his knowledge is indeed very broad….” Despite the politeness in his tone, the gaze he shot towards Fang Xing was filled with vile hatred. Everyone in the hall who saw the gaze felt a chill down their spines, as though a sharp blade was aimed directly between their brows.

Fang Xing, however, didn’t seem to notice and even smirked in response. “You being unable to see through it is because you’re a fool. That doesn’t mean your little grandpa here can’t see through it!”

He even dared to call Yuan Bizhan a fool!

Yuan Bizhan’s anger was so heated he began to laugh. He decided in his heart he’d kill this person, so he sat down at his table in a rather relaxed manner and sneered. “Please do so, then!”