Chapter 402: A Complete Star
Yun Yang was utterly vicious, saying that it was sufficient to take only a tenth, but actually taking all of it instead!
No one realized what was happening right away.
That was how the saying went; it was never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, while a despicable man would take all day to exact revenge!
Unfortunately, Yun Yang was not a gentleman - he was a truly despicable ma!
If he wanted revenge, then he would do it properly.
Since he left Tiantang City and had trekked thousands of miles to attend to this conspiracy, he had already decided on that.
Under the crowd's gaze, Yun Yang looked solemn as he extended his hands to place them atop the jade seal. A ball of intense green ascended. The green light expanded while a reinvigorating sense arose within the ranks.
People who fell under the green beam felt replenished; even Chancellor Lan. standing by the door had taken a step in with a burning gaze. The nourishment of such refined energy of vitality had reinvigorated everyone; even the miniscule illnesses and problems that were hidden within them were all gone.
Chancellor Lan, who suffered the worst physical state among them, felt himself perking up unprecedentedly.
On one side, Sun Chengfeng's lips quivered from heartache. That was his Old Forefather's life force! How could his heart not ache when the precious energy was being shared by others?
Yet this had to happen in order for him to absorb the people's volition. Oh, how tangled his emotions were.
Sun Chengfeng could not help but put the blame on the crown prince. He had already lent out the imperial jade seal, why was he being fickle and concerned about returning it just a little later? The Old Forefather now had to perform this in front of everyone and waste so much life force unnecessarily. Sun Chengfeng could only hope that it ended quickly and the globule was obtained soon, so his Old Forefather would suffer less loss.
The bizarre green radiance lasted a long time, long enough to burn incense, benefitting everyone in the room greatly. Even the crown prince felt that his body, divine sense, and spirit had been renewed.
He could not help feeling that it was not unfair to give the core of siderite to this Old Forefather just for what he had gotten from it. It was a worthy trade!
The poor Highness did not know that the thousand years of luck his nation had enjoyed was being stolen right before his eyes, passed onto others with his own hands, and yet he still felt that it was worth it!
This world was indeed filled with unexplainable peculiarities! There was no understanding the tricks that destiny played upon us!
After a period of time, Yun Yang retracted his hands and picked himself up. There was a lush green bead in his palm that was the size of a pigeon's egg.
The emerald globule was surrounded by violet air that seemed almost tangible; it actually looked wondrously ethereal.
Yun Yang inhaled. The globule flew up at once, gleaming with a divine glow, and entered Yun Yang's mouth slowly.
It then disappeared.
Yun Yang, who swallowed the emerald bead in the violet air, looked paler than before. He looked like he had lost too much air of vitality. Without saying anything, he closed his eyes to adjust his internal state.
The crown prince was reluctant to move, relishing the strength of the green vitality force. He wanted to bid farewell to Elder Yun, but the latter was already seated in meditation. His mouth could only remain slack as he carried the imperial jade seal and bid farewell to Chancellor Lan, returning to the palace with his guards.
Chancellor Lan and the others exited the room as well, leaving Yun Yang alone with Sun Chengfeng.
Yun Yang was still meditating with his eyes shut; Sun Chengfeng did not dare disturb him and waited aside almost with bated breath.
After a long, long time, Yun Yang opened his eyes. He looked slightly better, but still spoke in a weak voice, "Has everyone left?"
Sun Chengfeng replied respectfully, "They've left. There's only the two of us here now."
Yun Yang sucked in a deep breath and said, "Alright, let's go to the next step. Let's see if this old man can defy fate and solve this incurable condition!"
He stood up right after speaking, calming himself down before he produced a beautiful, long saber. He unsheathed it like an art piece in front of Sun Chengfeng's eyes.
Once the saber appeared, a spiritual light glowed and lit up the entire room.
Yun Yang touched the piece of siderite with the tip of his saber carefully and gradually exerted force. When he had used almost all of his energy, the steel began to show cracks that appeared under the pressure.
"This is harder than I expected it to be." Yun Yang was inwardly baffled.
The long saber Yun Yang was using now was his Divine Edge; it should have been a piece of cake for the Divine Edge to cut through jade and steel. Even the mystical Qi of a heaven realm ace expert could not block its slash. Now, the siderite had taken up almost all of Yun Yang's strength before it cracked - and Yun Yang was already a second heaven intermediate cultivator!
The amount of strength that was used was akin to the full exertion of a first heaven expert's maximum cultivation base.
Such a force could flatten a small mountain.
Moreover, he had used Divine Edge, a unique godsent weapon, and had only managed to make one tiny crack.
The hardness of this rock was mysteriously alarming.
Yun Yang sucked in a deep breath, his eyes glowing sharply as he said in a low tone, "I'm going to give it my all. Be careful."
Sun Chengfeng replied obediently, "I'll stay further away. Old Forefather, feel free to do what you will. There's no need to be concerned about this grandchild."
He then left the inner hall.
Yun Yang nodded and was about to hack down in one smooth motion to see if the siderite could withstand his maximum power. To his surprise, there was a turbulence in his deific consciousness and Emmie's unprecedented excitement came from within.
"Ayaya!"
Yun Yang was startled, immediately diving in for a look.
Emmie's emerald green tendrils were waving in a frenzy, its small physique almost turned into a braid from the excited movements.
"Ayaya... Ayaya-yaya..."
Why was it so agitated?
Yun Yang was subconsciously startled.
"Is this of value?" Yun Yang asked.
"Ayaya-yaya!"
Emmie's soft voice ended on a tender note, two of its fine tendrils coming to wrap around Yun Yang's calf.
Yun Yang was taken aback; Emmie had never reacted this way before.
Was it acting soft and spoilt or was it pandering to him?
It had shown desperate need before but it had never been in this manner. Was this something good that was never before seen? Something even better than the nation's destiny in the jade seal?
"What is this, actually?" Yun Yang's mind suddenly spun about in wonder.
If it was truly something valuable, he had to save some for himself; he could not let Emmie consume all of it!
"Ayaya..."
Emmie was exceptionally reluctant - a very obvious sign that it did not want to share.
It wanted to have it all to itself! It was evident that this item was indeed a rare treasure.
Emmie should be managing Ziyou's thousand years of fortune right now and that should already be a gem in itself. However, it had actually come over and acted like this. It was simply proof that the siderite must be a dream more outstanding and wonderful than anything that he had encountered before!
"Stingy brat!" Yun Yang muttered, "Can't you give me a little treat? How can you be so stingy with your own master? Don't you know that you'll only be great if I'm good; don't you want to be great?"
Emmie did not look as thrilled as its leaves curled in on themselves, looking at fault but also listless.
Under Yun Yang's constant interrogation and threats, Emmie finally began her reluctant explanation.
"You mean this is a complete star? You must be joking." Yun Yang was truly dumbfounded. "It somehow just fell from the sky? There's a complete force of a star inside it?"
"Ayaya..." Emmie was disappointed in his lack of knowledge and exaggerated reaction.
"That's not all?" Yun Yang's eyes were falling out from his sockets.
"Ayaya..."
"This is the soul of a star?" Yun Yang's eyes were practically glowing.
Emmie waved its tendrils about speechlessly, the air in Yun Yang's deific consciousness crackling from its actions.
"Only the outermost layer was burned off by the heat? The core wasn't touched at all? Not that nobody wants it, but nobody can make use of it?" Yun Yang gulped loudly.
Seeing Emmie's acknowledgment, Yun Yang finally understood that the importance of the treasure that lay before him.
This was not something he could readily digest - it was a complete star!
The Empire of Ziyou's founding emperor was called Zi Yunlong.
Yun Yang knew this person well.
This person was peerless when compared to everyone in the world when he first built the empire - he was the Tianxuan Continent's recognized Unrivaled Expert!
When the man attacked, the flame within his techniques could scorch his opponents to charred remains. It was savage! If he had attacked with all his might, it would be a simple task to incinerate his opponents into mere wisps of smoke!
He was titled the 'Flame Emperor' back then, formidable and second to none in the entire world.
According to Emmie though, this Flame Emperor had only taken the star's outermost energy; he had not enjoyed the dormant energy that lay deeper within.
It also seemed that the outermost layer energy of flame was too powerful; so much so that this emperor had lost control of his flame power during his declining years and went through a power surge that had caused his death. He did not manage to continue the legend of being unrivaled, thus had the Empire of Ziyou's halted its territory expansion at the current area.
From what Emmie had said, this unmatched Flame Emperor had not absorbed even one percent of the star's force!
No, Emmie corrected Yun Yang's thoughts - the Flame Emperor did not even take one-tenth of a thousandth of this star's force. He had only scraped, at most, the surface, the protective energy of this star.
The true gem was all contained inside this siderite, and not a single drop of it was extracted yet!