Chapter 419: Earth Dragon Head
He looked up at the white haired elder bearing a twisted smile and a violent aura around him. He was the second Venerable under Huangpu Fenglei.
With Huangpu Fenglei around, he was in fact speaking his boss' thoughts.
Huangpu Fenglei looked coldly at the show.
"Second Venerable, what did you say? I couldn't quite hear you from way over there." Huangpu Tianyuan's face fell, dragging his beaten body to the old man and leaning his ear over.
Second Venerable only got more cocky at his feeble look, raising his head to declare in pride, "Like I said, I..."
Roar!
A bellow like a caged dragon came, shaking the hearts of all.
Even High Venerable tensed.
And second Venerable, the target of that howl, had his eardrums punctured and started bleeding from his ears.
With a puff, his entire head vanished in a black and reeking mouth.
Sss~
The rest recoiled.
They watched the second Venerable just standing there, headless, with blood sprinkling from his neck.
In place of his head, there was now a beast's. Triangular eyes, rough scales and the size, all pointed at it being a dragon head.
But the owner of the head was human in body, Huangpu Tianyuan.
In a blink, his head had turned into a dragon's, ripping off grand peak Radiant Stage's head clean off.
The hearts of the rest shuddered as blood seeped from that maw, any complaints lodged in their throats.
Huangpu Fenglei was bug-eyed, "Nine Dragons Diamond Body, Dragon Head Transformation?"
This transformation boosted invincible defense and sharp fangs to tear into even a Radiant Stage body cultivator.
Huangpu Tianyuan took three months to step into Zhuo Fan and Gu Santong's level of freakishness. To everyone here, he might have even surpassed Zhuo Fan.
Zhuo Fan relied on his two fists, while he had the Nine Dragons Diamond Body, leaving no part untransformed, becoming truly invincible.
Cold eyes glanced around the rest. Huangpu Tianyuan's head regained its normal form, though the blood still leaked from his mouth, amplifying the dread.
"Regent Estate's rule is to listen to the Estate Lord. I hope Venerables will remember that, for your sake..." Huangpu Tianyuan snickered a threat.
It was about time he felt like a true Estate Lord.
Power demanded authority, demanded the respect and obedience of the world.
The Venerables lowered their heads, "We obey Estate Lord!"
Huangpu Fenglei sighed, parroting the others. He knew his chance would never come.
In the Regent Estate, he was no longer the grand poobah, but a mere thug to send on errands.
Glancing over at the second Venerable's body, it just stood there headless, with blood bubbling non stop; a swift and pointless death.
Sighing, everyone turned morose.
Their endless glory era as Venerables in the Regent Estate had come to pass...
"Congratulations, Estate Lord. We now have the power to fight this war!" Leng Wuchang laughed.
Huangpu Tianyuan nodded, "Zhuo Fan, Gu Santong, we will be seeing each other soon enough, ha-ha-ha..."
"Estate Lord, the emperor's men..." Leng Wuchang spoke of the details.
Huangpu Tianyuan nodded and showed a cold smile, "Humph, just some Divine Dragons and a shadow captain to monitor me? Naive!"
Huangpu Fenglei rolled his eyes.
[Just?]
[Presumptuous much? To look down on even the likes of Divine Dragons. Then again, it does make sense. Even united, those three can't do anything to him.]
[Mocking them is only natural!]
Huangpu Fenglei's envy grew with each thought, his drool leaking. [It would've been so nice if it were me instead.]
[Alas, it's wasted on an average person like him when it would've shined in the hands of a High Venerable.] Like yours truly!
[A darn shame...]
High Venerable shook his head which Huangpu Tianyuan ignored, saying to Leng Wuchang, "But since they're here to 'assist', we'd do well to use them. No matter what insidious plot they have, my strength will trump it."
"Estate Lord is brilliant. This is what I've been waiting for! With Estate Lord's unstoppable power, anything can be settled. Even a fight with Zhuo Fan or the imperial family!" Leng Wuchang bowed, excited that his long cherished ambitions were about to come true.
Huangpu Tianyuan laughed, strutting, "Come, let us meet these experts, ha-ha-ha..."
The others bowed and followed...
They soon arrived in a lounge, where the Divine Dragons waited.
But the relaxed look on Huangpu Tianyuan had them all tense.
[Peak Radiant Stage?]
The trio exchanged shocked looks. They all knew Huangpu Tianyuan was a peak Profound Heaven cultivator, yet he had now shown up, three months later at the same level as them?
His speed was more freakish than Zhuo Fan's!
They could feel the threat coming from his blood-reeking figure.
It only put the three on guard. Huangpu Tianyuan's sudden transformation had them on edge.
"Estate Lord Huangpu, it's been ages. I am impressed. I wonder what miracle art the Estate Lord used to undergo such an amazing transformation." Fang Qiubai probed.
Sima Hui and Shadow King paid their respects as well, tense and eager for the answer.
Huangpu Tianyuan grew bolder at their reactions but dodged the question, "Please, sit. You have come by the order of the emperor to help Regent Estate capture that traitor. I am truly grateful. Let us discuss our plan of action."
The three glossed over Huangpu Tianyuan's obvious secretive nature and said, "How should we proceed, Estate Lord?"
"Ha-ha-ha, I and Sir Leng have already discussed it."
He and Leng Wuchang showed a vague smile, before the first continued, "To kill the rider, you first need to remove his horse. We will first clip Zhuo Fan's wings. As you all know, Drifting Flowers Edifices, Veiled Dragon Pavilion and Sword Marquise Abode are on Zhuo Fan's side. Before we move against Zhuo Fan, we need to cut him off, beginning with his allies..."
[You just want the houses!]
Fang Qiubai squinted.
Huangpu Tianyuan's wild ambitions were already an open secret.
But it all fell under His Majesty's plan anyway, and the three nodded.
"Then let us begin according to Estate Lord Huangpu's plan!" Sima Hui nodded.
Huangpu Tianyuan was giddy inside. That line was the same as having the imperial family validate his thirst for power, that they wouldn't interfere in his campaign.
[This is the best chance in history!]
Though clear that the imperial family wouldn't butt in because it had its own hands full. He had to move faster, before the imperial family finished settling up its affairs and the situation would enter a deadlock again.
Huangpu Tianyuan thus put in action the plan of attack on the three houses and notified Hell Valley and Pill King Hall to coordinate.
What neither side knew was that in the middle of their talks, subtle signals kept pouring out from their location.
They spread to the tree outside, then to the stone table.
And they kept going further beyond, going from one location to another.
It went on for miles.
A dozen miles out of Caged Dragon City, in a forest, a figure in black leaned on a huge tree in meditation.
When the tree let out a signal as well, the figure opened his eyes and used a sending jade. It flew high in the sky, gone in a blink...