Volume 4, Chapter 88 – Heaven’s Pride

The framework of this void-faring vessel was a little primitive, but some of its equipment clearly contained elements that could be called “cultivation technology.”

Perhaps for many low-end Illusory Realms like Shenwu Heaven, or even for still lower minor worlds, their technological component was closer to the ancient world. But as long as the passages reconnecting them to the main world reopened, the technology over there, along with all its various conveniences, would definitely spread into the Void Realm by one means or another, where countless cultivators would study it under a magnifying glass.

That explained the enormous difference in style between the vessel itself and some of its external fittings. Presumably, all those crystal-and-rune-driven technical attachments had been added later. They could be regarded as the influence of the main world.

Before even arriving at the main cabin, Bai Xiang had already sensed that the situation outside was rather delicate.

In her perception, there seemed to be some things of immense mass and density moving nearby, yet their trajectories were unlike those of living creatures.

After thinking about it, she sketched out a mental image: several flying vessels even larger than this one sailing alongside them, and her own ship having inadvertently been swept into their midst, making it look like a “baby ship.”

“Exalted One!” He Xian was clutching the formation plate, sweating profusely. The moment he saw Bai Xiang arrive, he looked as though he had finally found a backbone. “Take a look, Exalted One. We accidentally blundered into a fleet just now! This is the invitation signal they sent over!”

After entering, Bai Xiang swept her gaze around the room. She did not see Zhuye or Zhu Canghai, so she guessed the two had gone off to rest.

Only then did she walk over to the formation and lower her head to inspect it. Sure enough, she saw a formal invitation translated out from the signal code.

[Since you come this way, you are our guests. And since you are heading in the same direction, I assume we share the same destination. Why not come aboard the Silver Eagle for a look? If anyone blocks you, just give them my name.]

Signed below: Meng Qiaosheng.

She turned to He Xian and asked, “Who is this?”

He Xian was wound so tightly he looked ready to snap. He clearly did not look like someone who knew nothing about this person.

Or rather, to put it another way, the reason he was so nervous might very well have been because he saw the signature “Meng Qiaosheng.”

Bai Xiang could not help growing curious. He Xian was hardly a good man himself, so for him to be this tense and frightened, could this group be some particularly famous void pirate band?

Rеαd οո ΚatRеadіոɡСαfe

“It’s—”

“I’ll answer the Exalted One’s question.”

He Xian had just started stammering when the rear hatch opened again and in walked Monk Zhuye.

He really was clever.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes at the bald monk.

In private, he kept calling me Your Highness and refused to stop no matter what I said. But the moment he’s in public, he suddenly knows to call me Exalted One.

…How crafty.

“Meng Qiaosheng is the son of Meng Wanyu, the guild master of the Silver Sea Merchant Guild,” Monk Zhuye continued. “The Silver Sea Merchant Guild is a major merchant guild not inferior to Cloud Tower. Even in the Void Realm, it counts as one of the great powers. There are rumors that Meng Wanyu has a Saint-level great power behind her as a backer, though for the moment there is no real evidence to confirm it.”

Bai Xiang asked again, “And Meng Wanyu’s own cultivation?”

“She entered the Venerable ranks long ago, naturally.”

When he said the words “Venerable ranks,” Monk Zhuye clasped his hands and gave Bai Xiang a small bow, making it clear that in his mind, Meng Wanyu’s Venerable rank and Bai Xiang’s Venerable rank were entirely different things. He really was very particular that way.

“Meng Wanyu is not famous for martial strength,” he went on. “What makes her formidable is her skill in management.”

“The Silver Sea Merchant Guild was handed over to her after her father, Meng Fuzhou, died. Before that, the guild was already not small, but because of several poor decisions Meng Fuzhou made, it had accumulated enormous debts. At the time, many people thought that once Meng Wanyu took over, she would probably have to liquidate assets immediately, perhaps even sell off the guild itself just to get free. No one expected her to rebuild both the business and its reputation, and on that basis expand the Silver Sea Merchant Guild still further, until it became a true giant power.”

Then the rumors about a strong backer behind her were probably true.

Reαԁ οո ΚаtRеαⅾіngСafe

That was Bai Xiang’s view.

The reason was simple. No matter that everyone had something like the Demon Court hanging over their heads, the Demon Court did not actually do the work of an ordinary mortal government.

The Demon Court only sent people after you when you violated certain core principles. Petty theft and minor schemes, on the other hand, were things it generally ignored, so long as you were not too blatant and did not make such a mess that multiple powers rose together to besiege you.

Take Shenwu Heaven. The Demon Court would definitely send Heaven-Patrol forces to investigate in the future. But why were they investigating? Was it because too many people had ganged up to carve up Shenwu Heaven and taken it too far?

Not at all. It was only because Blood Soul Heaven had gotten involved.

So in an environment like this, it would inevitably be a nightmare for honest merchants and a paradise for unlawful ones. In such circumstances, talking about business skill or commercial talent alone was meaningless, because the first requirement was having the power to protect your own property.

Whether her backer was truly a great power remained uncertain, but that Meng Wanyu had been able to display her business talent at all, and had built the guild to this scale without anyone daring to make a move against her, meant that a powerful protector behind her was all but certain.

“The Meng family’s territory is in the Cangyin Sea,” Monk Zhuye began describing further details. “And across the more than four thousand years of recorded history of the Cangyin Sea, only one person like Meng Qiaosheng has ever appeared: a true heavenly pride among the younger generation.”

“Heavenly pride” referred to the younger generation of genius cultivators who had made names for themselves in the Void Realm.

Of course, because the Void Realm was so vast, and because many fragments of minor worlds lay hidden in darkness without ever being discovered, people’s understanding of what counted as the “new generation” varied enormously.

The commonly accepted standard was entry into the Venerable ranks before the age of thirty. Otherwise, one could only be called a “seed of heavenly pride,” with no qualification to be ranked on the Venerable List.

They really did have a lot of rules.

Bai Xiang was not surprised that the Void Realm also had all kinds of bizarre ranking lists. Wherever there were people, things like that were unavoidable.

For example, in the world she had lived in during her previous life, even without extraordinary power there had still been wealth rankings, revenue rankings, and the like. The pursuit of fame and prestige was fundamentally the same.

Rеаⅾ оn KаtRеαԁіոgCаfе

She only cared about one question: why would someone like Meng Qiaosheng send an invitation, and why did he say that her side and theirs shared the same destination?

“I know!” He Xian blurted out the answer, while shooting Monk Zhuye a warning glare. “It has to be because of the Dao-Void Martial Tournament… Meng Qiaosheng is going to take part in the Dao-Void Martial Tournament! And he’s mistaken us for fellow travelers heading the same way!”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “Dao-Void Martial Tournament?”

“The Exalted One doesn’t know?” He Xian looked shocked. “The grand tournament jointly organized by the Demon Court and the current imperial dynasty of the main world, the Dao-Void Martial Tournament. Shouldn’t that news have spread everywhere by now through all sorts of channels?”

So he means the Nine Prefectures Sword Meet?

At last, Bai Xiang understood what he was talking about.

The original Nine Prefectures Sword Meet had only been an internal competition among the nine Mountains-and-Rivers-ranked dojos of Great Yu. But after all, the principles of Sword Dao were held tightly in the hands of the Court and Suzhen Dao, who helped prop it up. In that sort of contest, it was one thing for Suzhen Dao and Qingping Dao to always take first place, but even if some other dojo upset expectations and won, it would still be fundamentally meaningless.

Because they still could not break free from Sword Dao’s control. Seen from today’s perspective, those contests amounted to little more than small-scale squabbling.

But upgrading it into the Dao-Void Martial Tournament was something else entirely.

The Demon Court was guaranteeing it, and the imperial dynasty of the main world was hosting it.

That already faintly carried the nature of a dragon-throne struggle. It might very well be that the Demon Court and the Court had reached some agreement to establish a “new Nine Daos” through this event, then use those new Nine Daos to redraw the division of the mountains, rivers, and nine provinces.

Bai Xiang searched through Shen Quan’s memories and quickly found the relevant portion on the Dao-Void Martial Tournament. Just as He Xian said, the news had already been spread widely under the Demon Court’s hand. Every merchant guild, large or small, had been assigned the task of disseminating it.

So Shen Quan had known about it too.

It was just that Bai Xiang had never previously connected the Dao-Void Martial Tournament with the Nine Prefectures Sword Meet. She had seen the term before and simply let her awareness pass over it without paying any attention.

Read οո KαtRеаdіոɡСafе

If even people from the Cangyin Sea were coming to take part, then it really had spread incredibly far. One could imagine that countless heavenly prides, and even veteran Immortal Venerables, would personally enter the arena.

At that thought, Bai Xiang frowned.

She naturally had confidence that Maozhou would come through this competition unharmed under her protection. But other places…

Liangzhou, where Red Dust Dao held sway.

Luezhou, of Hantian Sword Dao.

Zezhou, of Shangqing Sword Dao.

Qizhou, of Benling Sword Dao.

Territories like those would most likely be very hard to hold on to.

“Since they were kind enough to invite us, we may as well go aboard and see for ourselves.”

Bai Xiang wanted more information, so she accepted the invitation at once. She had He Xian send back a signal in reply first, while she herself returned to the training room to change clothes.

The plain white training robe she was currently wearing was perfectly respectable in an ordinary setting.

But if she was going to appear as the master of a Dao lineage, it was rather not enough.