Grand Reunion of Old Friends

The Yecha king was so enraged that smoke seemed to pour from his seven orifices. To be shown up by a junior at the Perfected Man realm in front of all these other kings—it burned his face.

“If it were any other half-ancestor, they would never dare act this way, but against a half-ancestor of the Yecha clan, I have some confidence I can escape with my life.” Those words seemed to echo in his ears. This was no soft slap; it was a solid, resounding blow. How would the other half-ancestors see him now? Could they mock his incompetence? He wished to tear open space and leave at once.

But a further insult was coming. Heaven Beyond Heaven appeared through a spatial rift not far away, wearing his usual shiftless grin and laughing uproariously. “Old Yecha, you truly are kind-hearted! How about seeing me off as well?”

The half-ancestor of the Yecha clan shook with fury, his hair standing on end. He jabbed a finger at Heaven Beyond Heaven, unable to speak. Snorting heavily, he turned without a backward glance and vanished into the distance. The Yecha king had arrived in such grand style, yet now he retreated in utter defeat, having fallen on the Great Snowy Mountain.

Xiao Chen returned to the Death World without incident. He could not help but admire the Divine Tribe’s secret techniques—the ability to disperse all of one’s power in an instant. Of course, he had not learned their ultimate killing arts, which were exclusive to the Divine Tribe.

At the Divine Village, he met the problem-children. Except for Little Tianya, who was still in the Nine Provinces, everyone else had already used their ultimate killing technique once and fled back. Ice Orchid and Snow Dream had only minor injuries, but the others were severely wounded. Qier in particular was in critical condition; if he had returned even a step later, he would surely have died.

“Do you have any idea how high the sky is? You few dared to enter the heart of the hundred races’ divine islands? If you had encountered a half-ancestor, you would have been annihilated, ultimate technique or not,” Elder Li Mu scolded them, though not harshly. In fact, he seemed a little proud. To have breached the divine islands of the hundred races was no easy feat—it spoke volumes about the Divine Tribe’s innate talents.

“Did you hunt down some dragon liver and phoenix marrow?” Xiao Chen teased the troubleseekers. They all rolled their eyes at him in unison, save the massive Han Qier, who grinned foolishly and scratched his head. “I almost caught a heavenly king as a wife!”

Elder Zhao Ying saw his mummy-like bandaged form and smacked him soundly, making him wince. He had nearly captured a heavenly king at the Perfected Man realm? Xiao Chen reconsidered the Divine Tribe’s innate combat prowess. “You fought a Perfected Man heavenly king?” The Divine Tribe giant nodded with honest simplicity.

Ice Orchid pursed her lips. “Twenty moves and he was sent flying, near death. And he still brags about almost catching her.” Snow Dream added with a giggle, “That was a real female Yecha. Even if you could marry her back as our sister-in-law, you’d never hold your head up again.”

“That woman was that ferocious?” Xiao Chen asked, surprised. Female heavenly kings existed? He had never heard of one before. “So provincial,” Ice Orchid shot back, still resentful about being trapped in Paradise Lost. A female Yecha heavenly king? No wonder the term ‘shrew’ was used to describe fierce women; a true female Yecha heavenly king must be terrifying. Having killed one Yecha heavenly king only to have another female one appear—this was going to be a headache.

After a few days of rest in the Death World, Xiao Chen returned to the Nine Provinces, accompanied by Qier and five others.

“If I would compare West Lake to the Beauty of Beauties, lightly adorned or richly painted, each look suits her fine.” It was high summer, so they could not enjoy the ten scenic sights like Broken Bridge and Residual Snow, but walking along Su Causeway lined with flowers and trees—weeping willows like smoke, hibiscus in full bloom, wisteria entwining overhead, birds singing harmoniously under a gentle sun—was deeply moving.

The Divine Tribe youths, Ice Orchid and Snow Dream among them, chattered happily, utterly enchanted by the scenery they could never see in the Death World. Xiao Chen had brought them here to find Keke; he had arranged to meet the little beast at West Lake before leaving. But even after boating across the lake, there was no sign of the little one or Tianya.

“Tianya couldn’t have run into trouble, could he?” Qier asked worriedly. Xiao Chen rubbed his forehead. “For those two little rascals, this beautiful scenery is no different from the wilderness. Their paradise isn’t here.”

Under Xiao Chen’s lead, they headed for Hangzhou’s bustling commercial street, ignoring the antiques lane and making straight for the food street. They found the odd pair without any trouble. Little Tianya was comically carrying a bamboo basket, a steamed crab in one hand and a roast chicken wing in the other, his face flushed and greasy. Keke lay comfortably in the basket, face full of bliss, surrounded by all kinds of snacks, her two little paws barely able to keep up. Neither of them had money; they had been using their divine powers to “borrow” food from every stall. How such tiny stomachs could hold so much was a mystery.

Xiao Chen strode over and rapped each of them on the forehead, making them cry out in pain and glare at him fiercely. “No more thieving. Pay next time,” he said, “borrowing” a silver coin from a fat merchant’s purse and tossing it into the shop they had just raided. Keke waved a paw, and a shower of silver coins rained into the basket, nearly crushing Tianya. “What are you doing, boss?” “Save them. Buy food later and pay like normal people.” Two childish voices left Xiao Chen utterly speechless. The surrounding crowd was patting their belts and glaring angrily. “Give it back. Don’t play that game,” Xiao Chen muttered.

“But isn’t that what you just did?” The two little ones looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. Feeling the murderous glares, Xiao Chen waved his hand, returning all the silver, then grabbed both by the ears and fled with his group of Divine Tribe friends.

They ducked into a teahouse, and Xiao Chen suddenly spotted a familiar face—a handsome blond man being escorted up the stairs. “Others laugh at me for being mad, I laugh at them for not seeing through. But even I cannot see through myself…” the golden-haired pretty man was muttering bitterly. “Jin Sanyi, you bastard! You sealed me and sold me to a coal mine in Jizhou! Twenty-three years of hard labor! How many twentysomethings does a man have? I swear I’ll have you for this!”

“Calm down, boss. You’re rich now. Just hire some experts to kill that Jin Sanyi,” his attendants flattered. Xiao Chen led his Divine Tribe companions up to the teahouse, confirming he had not misrecognized the man—it was Totti, his former “cheap father” from the Sun God’s reincarnation days.

As they sat down, Xiao Chen addressed the Jizhou group. “Totti? Boss of a coal mine?” Totti’s teacup shattered on the floor. Soaked trousers went unnoticed as he tremblingly pointed at Xiao Chen. “Y-you! It’s you! But… you were dead!”

“Shut up, biscuit-head!” the Divine Tribe giant Qier growled at him. “What? Biscuit-head?” Totti was terrified by Xiao Chen’s appearance and completely confused by Qier’s words. “Where I come from, people who talk nonsense are called biscuit-heads,” Qier explained patiently, looking perfectly earnest. The other Divine Tribe troublemakers snickered.

Just then, the door to a private room slid open, and a lecherous-looking man in silks, batting peach-blossom eyes and waving a folding fan as if he were the epitome of elegance, swaggered over to Totti. He began to recite: “Ot-ot-others laugh at me for being too too mad, I-I-I laugh at them for n-not seeing through…” Totti collapsed onto the floor, pointing at the smiling, stuttering man. “Jin-Jin-Jin Sanyi!”

“Fa-fa-fate! After tw-twenty-three years, To-Totti and I-I-I meet again!” Jin Sanyi’s peach-blossom eyes curved into crescents. “H-h-have these y-years been k-kind?” Totti looked on the verge of tears, sitting on the floor staring blankly at the tea table. “Tragedy. Life is like a tea table, covered with cups of sorrow. Why did I have to meet him again?” Jin Sanyi magnanimously patted Totti’s shoulder. “Th-this is fate! Those d-destined to meet will m-meet a thousand l-li away!”

But when Jin Sanyi spotted Xiao Chen’s table, he jerked back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, retreating a dozen meters in a flash. Every hair on his body stood on end. “Gh-gh-ghost!” he stammered.

“Another biscuit-head,” Qier concluded flatly. Xiao Chen raised his cup toward Jin Sanyi with a smile. “Sanyi, long time no see.” “Y-y-you’re really alive?” Jin Sanyi crept closer. “We already met at the ancient ruins, didn’t we?” “S-so that yellow-diamond skeleton really was you! But how could you regrow flesh and blood so quickly?” Jin Sanyi finally relaxed and walked over, calling into the private room, “Hai-hai-brother, come out, we have a guest!”

When the Divine Tribe giant Qier saw Hai Yuntian emerge, his eyes went wide. He clenched his fists. “I have never felt such a pull in my heart. She is the one!” Jin Sanyi followed his gaze and kindly warned him, “Br-brother, th-that’s a man.” “Biscuit-head! Move aside. Do you think I can’t tell when a woman is disguised as a man?” Qier shoved Jin Sanyi aside. “Don’t compete with me.” The Divine Tribe giant began making eyes at the approaching Hai Yuntian.

Jin Sanyi trudged off, depressed, but when he saw Ice Orchid and Snow Dream, his eyes lit up. He chatted with Xiao Chen while sidling toward the girls. “Mi-miss, where do you come from?” Ice Orchid glanced at him. “The prison of death,” she said bluntly. “S-such personality!” Jin Sanyi felt rebuffed but pressed on. “H-h-how old are you, if y-you don’t mind?” “One hundred and nine,” Snow Dream answered carelessly.

Jin Sanyi laughed dryly, realizing he needed a different approach. He turned to Little Tianya with a grin. “L-little brother, h-how old are you?” Tianya tilted his head, counted seriously on his fingers, then announced solemnly, “One hundred and fifteen.” Jin Sanyi spat out his tea. “Whose wh-whose rotten kid is this? So small and a-already lying through his teeth!” “I really am one hundred and fifteen! I slept for a hundred and eight years and grew up for seven. You wouldn’t be a biscuit-head, would you?” Tianya’s face was perfectly earnest.

Jin Sanyi looked at the bizarre group of Divine Tribe men and women, then sidled up to Xiao Chen. “Are they all m-messed in the head?” “Biscuit-head!” the Divine Tribe youths said in unison, rolling their eyes at him. Feeling thoroughly scorned, Jin Sanyi turned to Totti. “To-Totti! Come here and massage your big brother’s back!” At least he had someone to bully.

Totti shuffled over dejectedly, stared at the stunning Hai Yuntian, and asked, “How is your elder sister?” “She’s fine.” Hai Yuntian, cold and proud, found the entire situation unbearable. Qier’s intense gaze was giving him the creeps, making him sit as if on pins and needles. Jin Sanyi finally felt vindicated and muttered, “Wh-what eyesight! Can’t even tell a man from a woman.”

“Biscuit-head! Shut up!” Qier shot back. Another door slid open, and Little Fatty Niu Ren stepped out, shaking his huge ox horns. “Brother, I’m back! What a coincidence to meet you here!” Niu Ren and Liu Mu emerged, followed by another figure like a demon god—tall and burly with piercing eyes and, incongruously, a pair of horse ears.

Xiao Chen was surprised. He recognized that man as Yuwen Feng, once one of the Four Champions of the Southern Wastes. In the old days, Yuwen Feng, Dugu Jianmo, Qilao, and Zhao Zhongyang had been known as the four top young experts of the Southern Wastes, but their fates had diverged. Mighty Dugu Jianmo had vanished, unseen for twenty years. Pitiably, Qilao had lost his edge and become a nobody, killed by the Yecha king in five moves. Zhao Zhongyang had risen unstoppably, standing proud among even the hundred races’ golden age.

As for Yuwen Feng, he was a tragic figure—first soundly defeated by Xiao Chen, then humiliated in Yin Capital, and repeatedly crushed over the following decade. Yet he possessed an unyielding spirit, fighting loss after loss. Five years ago he had disappeared completely, and now he reappeared. Xiao Chen could see at a glance that Yuwen Feng’s cultivation was now terrifying; he must have finally rewritten his losing streak. He had perfectly merged with a powerful Horse King war soul.

“Ox-head and horse-face together!” Jin Sanyi joked, reaching out to touch Niu Ren’s horns. “Biscuit-head!” Little Fatty Niu Ren’s smiling retort made Jin Sanyi’s face turn green. He had been called that so many times today, and he found it thoroughly grating.

Xiao Chen laughed. “So many old friends gathering together!” Just then, more people climbed the stairs. Surprised and delighted, they recognized the Inverse Dragon King, Azure Dragon King, and Black Dragon King—the three dragon clan powerhouses. Behind them came several more familiar faces: Chen Hangjin, Jue Dao, Chu Xingkuang, Huo Niao, the demoness Yaoyao, Ah Shui, Samo, and others—all old acquaintances.

A grand reunion of experts. When they saw Xiao Chen, they all stared in disbelief.