Chapter 2560 - 2558: Heavenly Court’s Open Scheme
After Long Fei finished his sermon, he dismissed the disciples and the others.
Taibai Venus, riding the mood, stepped forward without bothering with formalities, clasped his hands and smiled lightly at Long Fei, "Congratulations, Emperor. The Jade Emperor’s decree has arrived."
The cultivators present who had been listening did not leave; all of them quietly fixed their eyes on the two of them.
Taibai Venus took out the Imperial Decree, opened it together with Long Fei and read aloud, "Long Fei, Lord of Liangshan Island, responds to the mandate of Heaven above and follows the hearts of the people below. His fortune is extraordinary, unmatched in the Three Realms. Today he is specially conferred as the Eastern Emperor of the Heavenly Court, in charge of the Demon Clan of the Three Realms. This is hereby proclaimed to the world, to show My love of talent."
His voice was loud and clear, spreading throughout the entire venue.
In that instant, it was like a thunderclap out of a clear sky exploding on the spot.
The crowd first fell into a brief silence, then all of them burst into excited shouts.
Especially the disciples of Liangshan Island—each and every one of them was wildly excited, feeling as if their lives had suddenly reached the peak.
Long Fei calmly put away the decree and had Wang Xiaoya take it, then invited Taibai Venus together to the main hall for guests.
Chu Feng, still on the grounds, greeted everyone excitedly, "Anyone who’s here today stays—every last one of you—stay on my Liangshan Island to drink and feast. Our Liangshan Island will keep it coming."
"Long live the Eastern Emperor!"
"Long live the Eastern Emperor!"
"Long live the Eastern Emperor!"
"..."
The loose cultivators from the outer sect all waved their arms and shouted; they hadn’t expected the rumors to be true.
The Heavenly Court had really granted Long Fei the title of Eastern Emperor. This was the head of the Demon Clan—the greatest honor among the Demon Clan of the Three Realms.
The island was in an uproar of celebration, and only when night fell did Taibai Venus, still not quite drunk, finally take his angels and bid farewell to Long Fei.
Little Kirin and Zixuan still hadn’t said a single word, standing awkwardly at Wang Xiaoya’s side.
Wang Xiaoya glanced at the two of them and smiled faintly. She took out a pile of boxes from her Storage Ring and handed them to Little Kirin, deliberately raising her voice as she instructed, "Kirin, these fairies are about to leave. Aren’t you going to see them off?"
"Alright then!"
Little Kirin flushed with embarrassment, but braced himself and went over, delivering the sandalwood boxes one by one to the female immortals present.
These female immortals thanked him happily. When they opened the boxes, each one immediately cried out in delight, "Heavens, such huge pearls!"
Inside the boxes were all thousand-year pearls.
Wang Xiaoya deliberately left one slightly larger box at the end. After Little Kirin finished handing out the others, he indeed left that slightly larger box for Zixuan, thrust it into the girl’s hands, and turned around and left.
The fairies made a racket, teasing Zixuan with laughter, "Why is Sister Zixuan’s box so big?"
"This box looks like it’s made from phoenix wood, doesn’t it?"
"Sister Zixuan, hurry and open it, let’s see!"
One of the female immortals took Zixuan’s box and opened it at once.
A burst of bright light shone out from within—it was a pearl the size of a fist.
The female immortals on the field burst into giggles, "Heavens, this pearl must be ten thousand years old, right?"
"Sister Zixuan’s treatment really isn’t the same as ours."
"..."
Zixuan took the box back and immediately closed it, her small face flushed as she bowed slightly toward Wang Xiaoya in thanks. She didn’t spare Little Kirin a single glance and left accompanied by a group of female immortals.
Little Bai and the others stood behind Little Kirin, urging him on, "Boss, go confess to her already!"
"Yeah, our mom even used so many pearls for your sake; you absolutely can’t let them go to waste!"
Little Qing and Vermilion Bird snickered in the back.
Little Kirin rapped each of them on the head, then hurriedly bade farewell to Wang Xiaoya and Long Fei before rushing off to take care of other matters.
Long Fei and Wang Xiaoya exchanged a smile, then were dragged off by Chu Feng to drink.
Torches flared all over the island, and everywhere were Demon Clan officers rejoicing and jubilant.
They drank until they were dead drunk, each one hugging a wine jar and shouting, "If you’re not careful, I’ve already become a great general under the Eastern Emperor."
"I’m sure there’s green smoke rising from my ancestors’ grave now."
Song Zuying spread his wings and lay on the ground, staring up at the starry sky.
One Demon King laughed loudly, "You, a scruffy vulture from some barren mountain—your family even has ancestors’ graves?"
"Screw your sister, you’re the scruffy vulture, your whole family are scruffy vultures!"
Song Zuying cursed back; he also knew perfectly well what that insult meant.
The Demon Kings on the field roared with laughter, one after another drunk to the point of rolling on the ground, panting heavily toward the sky.
Long Fei and Chu Feng sat together in a circle with the others. Ever since coming to this world, it had been a long time since they’d drunk like this again.
The Bald Dog gnashed his teeth and shouted, "Never thought that old codger the Jade Emperor would be this easy to talk to. If I’d known, I’d have asked for a post as Roaring Celestial Great General too."
The Ground Rat Demon King mocked him with a grin, "Aren’t you afraid that Er Lang the Divine Lord’s Roaring Celestial Dog will bite you?"
"What I’m afraid of is that it’s female. If she takes a fancy to me, I won’t be able to shake her off!"
Everyone burst into laughter, raising their bowls and flinging them at that bald head.
Only Murong Chong frowned tightly and said, "I just feel like something’s off."
Wang Jie chimed in, "Yeah, the Heavenly Court is full of experts. We only won one battle; there’s no reason they’d agree to this so easily, right?"
Chu Feng smiled lightly, "It’s easy to understand. This is a minor imperial tactic, called ’raise up then smash down’!"
Everyone raised their eyebrows, looking at him curiously, "What do you mean?"
Chu Feng said, "It means to first lift Brother Long up high, then smash him down, using a title as the weapon—killing with reputation. This method can surpass the Heavenly Court’s thousands of troops and horses; without mobilizing the army, they can kill without form."
Wang Jie slapped his forehead, "No wonder Taibai Venus insisted on reading the decree in public today. So that was the purpose."
Murong Chong analyzed, "We only asked for a title before, but now the Jade Emperor added an extra clause—putting us in charge of the Demon Clan of the Three Realms. Among the Demon Clan of the Three Realms, how many experts are there? How could they possibly submit to us so easily?"
Long Fei drank his wine and smiled faintly, "There’s no such thing as a free bargain in this world. What they’re using is an open conspiracy—you have to accept it even if you don’t want to."
Wang Xiaoya sighed, "Looks like we won’t have many peaceful days ahead."
Chu Feng laughed boldly, "When water comes, we use earth to block; when soldiers come, we send generals to meet them. I’m just afraid they won’t dare to come!"
"Well said!"
Everyone raised their bowls and clinked them with his.
The Bald Dog wiped his mouth and asked Long Fei curiously, "These past days, there’ve been quite a few experts coming to our island to listen to your sermons. I watched carefully—many of them are at the True Immortal Realm. Why doesn’t Master recruit some of them for our use?"
Long Fei told him, "I preach only to deliver all beings, not to win them over. Besides, those who come for profit will eventually leave for profit. Back then, when the Sect of Severance welcomed ten thousand immortals to its doors, what was the result? They scattered like birds and beasts in the end. For every person you recruit, you recruit another thread of karmic entanglement. People like that—we’re better off without them!"
Wang Xiaoya lowered her head, feeling rather sad as she said, "Exactly. Back then, our master made no distinction between good and bad, and with the idea of ’education without discrimination’ he widely accepted disciples into the sect. In the end, who knows how many disasters these disciples brought upon the sect. It roused the wrath of Heaven and man, and for nothing invited a massacre. Our Liangshan Island must never follow in the footsteps of the Sect of Severance."
The Bald Dog rubbed his head, "Recruiting is bad, not recruiting is also bad. Relying on our strength alone, there’s no way we can contend against all the demons under Heaven, right?"
Long Fei raised his wine bowl and smiled faintly, "I’ve already made my decision on this. Everyone just drink—no need to trouble yourselves over it."
Chu Feng lifted his bowl and laughed, "Right, tonight we don’t stop till we’re drunk!"
Everyone smiled and one after another lifted their big bowls.
The Bald Dog stuffed a wine jar into Da Heiniu’s hands, worried that this big black fellow wouldn’t be easy to drink under the table.
Da Heiniu just drank without talking, utterly delighted. While others used bowls, this bull hugged a whole jar to drink from, and caroused with everyone the whole night through.