Chapter 345 Mark's Price To Fulfill Lord Yuqiang's Mission
Song Yue had been facing such dreams since she was a child but she never told about them to anyone except for her parents.
After learning that they were called lucid dreams, which are rare but not unheard of, she no longer paid attention to them. However, when Lord Yuqiang questioned her in a way that indicated that he might know the exact details of her dreams, Song Yue fell into deep thoughts. She didn't answer it right away and took her time as she wasn't comfortable for some reason.
Thankfully, before she gave her confirmation, Lord Yuqiang dropped their conversation in a jiffy and rose to his feet, announcing that Mark is out.
Followed by Lord Yuqiang, the others also left the house and started walking toward the beach where the glowing scepter was floating earlier.
After walking for a few steps, Lord Yuqiang halted his footsteps with a look of surprise on his face, "He's accepted by Wang Zuo. Hmm? Supreme realm?"
Everyone saw icy-winged Mark flying toward them with the scepter in his hand.
Soon, he landed before them with a smile on his face. The worried Song Yue sighed in relief upon seeing that he was fine and well. She wanted to rush forward and hug him but controlled her emotions because of the presence of people around.
Meanwhile, Lan Ju also sensed the changes in Mark's cultivation realm. Before anyone pointed it out, he directly spoke of the matter, "Lu Zhen, what in the hell did you face in the trial that you became a Supreme Being?"
As soon as the question escaped from the zheng, the others looked at him in shock, especially Song Yun.
Song Yun, like the rest of the humans, doesn't possess the ability to sense one's real strength. All he could calculate is one's cultivation realm based on the amount of ether energy. So, in his view, Mark was still in the 6-circle realm. This is why Lan Ju's question greatly shocked him. He wondered whether this future son-in-law of his was deliberately hiding his cultivation until now.
Thankfully, his knight's helmet hid his expression and no one else is paying attention to him.
On the other hand, Mark's expression was frozen. His smile was wiped off his face and he looked at the only stranger around before giving a chilling answer, "courtesy of a sea god who had a disregard for people's opinions because they are weaker than him. I was forced to raise my strength."
Lord Yuqiang's expression was also changed by Mark's rude reply. He furrowed his brows for a second but quickly calmed down and spoke in a polite manner, "I apologize if I made you angry with my actions. It's just that I had to be sure that you can handle such situations even when you are unprepared. After all, my mission involves the fate of all the worlds located inside the entire mortal plane."
Mark didn't respond to him right away and instead, he activated his Sage eyes to inspect the god without many expectations. Fortunately, a holographic screen with enough details appeared before his eyes.
Yuqiang
Species: Human/Serpent/Celestial
Status: Humanoid form.
Grade: Ancient
Rank: low-12-circle (real: peak-12-circle)
Description: A descendant of the Yellow Emperor (father's ancestor) and a celestial serpent (mother's ancestor), Yuqiang is the god of Sea and wind.
**
After looking at his details, Mark realized that it is indeed foolish to challenge him as advised by the divine spirit, and with Song Yue and others around, he didn't take the risk and swallowed down all of his anger.
Trying to be as calm as possible, he then said to Lord Yuqiang, "Okay, I'm willing to listen. Tell me. But, before that, I want to inform you that Wang Zuo accepted me as his master. You shouldn't have any problem with it, correct?"
Lord Yuqiang took a glance at the scepter and replied, "Those who weren't acknowledged by Wang Zuo couldn't even touch him, much less carry him. The moment I saw the divine scepter in your hands, I realized it already. But, still, I would like to hear it directly from his mouth."
The sea and wind god closed his eyes and connected his consciousness with the scepter without even grabbing it. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and said, "A contract hasn't been established between you two, nevertheless, he wants to travel alongside you. I will respect his wishes."
"Okay." Mark nodded and finally placed the scepter in his storage card. He then asked Yuqiang to get to the matter, right away.
In response, Lord Yuqiang snapped his fingers and created a noise-canceling barrier. Mark went through a similar experience a while ago. Hence, he wasn't alarmed and calmly stared at the sea god.
"You might have already heard about me from Wang Zuo but let me introduce myself before we get into the matter…" The god of sea and wind explained his back story.
It was the time when mankind hasn't existed on this planet.
He grew up in the celestial plane and always wanted to work for the heavenly palace. Unfortunately for him, when he broke through to the Saint realm, he awakened the bloodline of his maternal ancestor, a celestial serpent. It might be a divine beast but still a beast.
As a result, he failed to get his dream job and was allocated a job in the mortal plane, which was protected by the four holy beasts since the time of its creation. This way, it was never been invaded by the forces of the upper planes.
Roughly about ten million years ago, a great evil force known as the Chaos King somehow resurrected and started invading worlds one after another.
Countless gods fell in front of his strength. Even the holy beasts were no exception either. Lord Yuqiang somehow managed to survive the war and even killed a couple of generals of the Chaos King.
Eventually, the jade emperor vanquished the evil once again but the mortal plane was still vulnerable to the threats. Hence, a large number of minor gods and immortals were deployed to act as the guardians of several habitable worlds.
Impressed by his acts of valor, the jade emperor gave two special missions to him. One of them is to restore the heavenly barrier over the mortal plane. It can only be possible once the four holy beasts will be resurrected and get to their peak strength.
The only problem is that the holy beasts are linked to each other and need the blood of an intelligent mortal species to even be born from their respective eggs. Previously, it was a jade emperor who was their master when he used to be a human.
For years, Lord Yuqiang visited several worlds to encounter mortals with the potential to reach the Saint realm. Along the way, he met the wandering Wang Zuo and became friends. The latter helped him to conduct trials for potential candidates, making his job easier.
And when Mark displayed the power of a Saint for a moment during the battle against the dark elves, Lord Yuqiang's attention fell on him. The sea god then learned that Mark also tamed a 10-circle beast emperor.
Because the system is offline, his real cultivation realm was easily found by the sea god. Obviously, the latter was surprised by his 6-circle realm cultivation. He started doing prophecies regarding Mark.
And when Tishanan evolved into an ancient-grade beast, the sea god finally made his move. He could ask Mark's permission whether he wanted to participate in the trial but Mark's low cultivation level made him act directly.
Never in the world did he expect that not only Mark would clear the tenth level of the trial, which required the demigod realm in his opinion, but he would also tame the divine spirit. What's more, he made a breakthrough three times. It is another mystery to solve.
Lord Yuqiang doesn't want to leave this opportunity at all costs. That explains his polite tone.
"And what's the other mission?" asked Mark in curiosity after listening to the whole story.
Lord Yuqiang shook his head in response, "that's confidential. And it was already completed. So, no need to discuss it. For now, all I need you to do is to form a contract with the four holy beasts and become their guardian until they become demigod realm beasts.
They get stronger by absorbing the natural energy from their surroundings. Hence, there won't be any burden on you either. However, their birth would also trigger an unwanted invasion from the other planes for everyone wanted to claim power for themselves. They cannot fall into wrong hands.
Adding on top of this, the golden furred kitten of yours had now become an ancient grade, which will be sensed by its parent, the Golden Demon Cat. It might send its army to take back its child.
According to the verdict from the heavenly palace, no Saint Realm expert or a beast (12-circle) is allowed to enter the mortal plane and I will ensure that not even immortal realm experts will be able to land on this world. But, the remaining must be handled by yourself. Since you cleared the trial, I believe that you can face them.
Once the holy beasts cross the demigod realm, I will come and collect them in order to create the heavenly barrier.
Anyways, this is everything I had to say.
In compensation for everything that you went through earlier and for everything that was about to happen in the near future, whatever you wish, I will try my best to fulfill it.
Do you desire power? Authority to rule the world? My bloodline? Want to become the wealthiest in the entire mortal plane? You name it."
"All the Adamantium available in the mortal plane," replied Mark, right away as if he had already prepared beforehand. "That's my price."