Citadel City of the Lofty Sky Reaches, inside the Inner Citadel Hall;
Tonight was the golden banquet that was personally hosted by the Great Saint Gao Tianshou.
Lu Qingyun, Qian Jingjing and Tang Xuefeng were among the some one hundred odd celestials that were presented.
This was an only 'golden celestials' banquet, meaning that all the guests presented were all celestials that were at least a fifth realm cultivator.
Lu Qingyun was now staring at Saint Gao Tianshou. "So this is how he looks like."
Saint Gao Tianshou was as tall as Lu Qingyun and he had a heroic aura emanating around him. He was indeed a heroic figure as he was rumored to be.
On his left and right side were his two sons, Gao Tianyou and Gao Xianyou.
It was during a casual conversation that Lu Qingyun had overheard that Gao Xianyou was actually a sixth realm golden supremacy while Gao Tianyou was only a fifth realm golden celestial. It was no wonder why Gao Xianyou appeared to look down on his eldest brother and was even unafraid of him. It was because he had the superior cultivation level.
Sitting on the high seats were also three more groups of golden celestials from the three divine realms that were assisting Saint Gao Tianshou in his fight against the three dark divine realms.
Lu Qingyun was gasping now.
They were Saint Yuan Chenggong from the Divine Sovereign Clan, Saint Linghu Fei from the Supreme Truth Sect and Saintess Su Rushuang from the Divine Monarch Pavilion.
Among the four patriarch clans that had gathered, the Divine Sovereign Clan was actually the most powerful and could be considered to be a major patriarch clan. The Divine Sovereign Realm was actually one of the three top divine realms in the Nine Celestial Fraternity. The other two were the Celestial Sword Realm and the Holy Ascension Realm.
All of a sudden Lu Qingyun was frowning. It was because he seemed to have recognized someone that was with Saint Yuan Chenggong. He was none other than Old Saint Wen or rather he was better known as Zhou Hai.
He was suddenly excited. It was because this Zhou Hai was a friend of Keqin. Maybe he could ask him on her whereabouts?
Zhou Hai saw that Lu Qingyun was looking at him too but he pretended to look the other way.
Lu Qingyun: …
"Maybe it isn't convenient for us to talk? I must find an opportunity to ask him if he has seen Keqin…" He sighed.
By secretly listening to some of the conversations, he realized that Saint Zhou Hai was actually a senior elder of the Divine Sovereign Clan.
Saint Gao Tianshou had now raised his cup as he gave everyone a toast, "May the victory belongs to us and the righteous wins every battle!"
Then he smiled, "For the past several months, we have been winning battles after battles against the dark celestials. It is all thanks to the combined efforts of all of you here. For this, I am extremely grateful. I cannot have done this without the assistance of the other three divine realms."
Saint Yuan Chenggong laughed, "It is our great honor to fight to be fighting on your side."
Saint Linghu Fei nodded and said, "We are all from the righteous celestial clans. Moreover we all share the same goals together and that is to get rid of the dark terror of the Devil Goddess."
"We have even captured this Citadel City of the Lofty Sky Reaches from the dark celestials. With this citadel, we can now make inroads against the Divine Moon Realm where the Devil Goddess is said to be." Saintess Su Rushuang said.
"Indeed!" Saint Gao Tianshou smiled toward Saintess Su Rushuang. "Rather than spreading our forces against the three dark divine realms, we just have to attack the Divine Moon Realm. Once the Divine Moon Realm falls, the other two divine realms will soon follow quickly."
Saint Gao Tianshou then turned to everyone and shouted. "We will march against the Divine Moon Realm in a week time. The ultimate victory shall be ours!"
Gao Xianyou had suddenly stood up and said, "Patriarch Father, I am afraid we may need a little more time now."
Saint Gao Tianshou frowned, "Why so?"
Gao Xianyou pretended to sigh heavily, "I'm afraid that several of our supply caravans had been raided recently and we have lost tens of thousands of spirit stones. Among the raided caravans, was one caravan of high grade spirit stones that was being escorted by my brother Celestial Gao Tianyou."
Saint Gao Tianshou was staring angrily at Gao Tianyou. "How is it possible for your caravan to be raided and you can even come back in one piece?! Isn't Saint Wu Lei in your company? And Supremacies Liang Tiege and Hai Zhongtian as well?"
Gao Tianyou, Saint Wu Lei, Liang Tiege and Hai Zhongtian were now looking sheepish at one another. They could not tell Saint Gao that they were on an assassination plan and they had lured themselves out of the camp when the raiders attacked.
This was like shooting themselves on the foot!
Therefore they did not know how to explain.
But eventually there must be an explanation.
Gao Tianyou smiled weakly as he explained. "We are attacked by a golden shadow of the Devil Goddess and were lured by her out of the camp. By the time we rushed back to the camp, half of the precious high grade spirit stones were already taken away. We are too careless."
Saint Yuan Chenggong said, "We should not blame him for the failures. It is obvious that the enemy is too cunning. Moreover they were being attacked by the golden shadow of the Devil Goddess."
Gao Tianyou nodded and said weakly, "We are only too eager to capture a golden shadow of the Devil Goddess to boost the morale of our fighters. That is why we have fallen into her trap."
Then he was smiling in the direction of Lu Qingyun, Tang Xuefeng and Qian Jingjing. "Although I have partially failed to protect the cargo but I have recruited three golden celestials to our cause. I hope that Patriarch Father will give me a chance to prove myself."
Saint Gao Tianshou asked, "Who are they?"
"They are Celestial Lu Yun, Celestial Tang Feng and Celestial Qian Qian." Gao Tianyou introduced.
"What can three fifth realm golden celestials do?" Gao Xianyou scoffed coldly. "It seems that they did not help you to protect the cargo at all."
Saint Gao Tianshou said coldly to Gao Tianyou, "I'll let this pass for the time being. You have better proved yourself next time."
Then he turned to everyone and sighed softly, "We shall delay our march for a little while."
"Hold on for a minute!" Tang Xuefeng had suddenly stepped forward as she said aloud.
Lu Qingyun was startled and so was Gao Tianyou.
It was because no one really know what Tang Xuefeng was intending to do or say.
Tang Xuefeng smiled, "I've something to say first."
Gao Xianyou frowned lightly, "Learn your manners first. You're just a mere fifth realm cultivator and you've dared to interrupt my Patriarch Father?"
Tang Xuefeng chuckled softly, "So what if I did?"
Many of the golden celestials presented were startled by 'his' proclamation. And some were even coldly staring at this 'Tang Feng' now.
Tang Xuefeng smiled coldly, "Our Saint Gao Tianshou here is a great hero. He won't be angry with a little fry like me. Am I right to say so?"
Saint Gao Tianshou frowned lightly, "What is it that you want to say?"
Tang Xuefeng chuckled softly, "Don't you find that Young Master Gao Tianyou story to be a little weird? There are seven golden celestials, including us of course and we have all failed to capture or kill this golden shadow? Or rather, we have all gone after this golden shadow at the same time."
Gao Tianyou panicky interrupted, "That is because we are all too eager to capture the intruder. That's why."
Saint Wu Lei immediately rose to speak on behalf of Gao Tianyou, "That is true. We're all so eager, that's why."
Saint Wu Lei, Liang Tiege and Hai Zhongtian were now all staring coldly at Tang Xuefeng and were now warning her with their eyes not to say or do anything funny.
But Tang Xuefeng had to pretend not to see them and she continued to chuckle, much to the fierce annoyance of Gao Tianyou and his inner circle.
Even Lu Qingyun was whispering to her, "Maybe we should keep this matter under wraps. Our main objective is just to fight against the dark celestials and not get involve into their politics."
Tang Xuefeng chuckled softly as she smiled at Lu Qingyun. Her primary intention was not to fight against the dark celestials and instead, she just wanted to mess up the side of the Valiant Arms Divine Realm as much as possible to buy valuable time for her own divine realm just in case Saint Gao Tianshou had become too ambitious.
Her action delighted the Gao Xianyou and he was now saying out loud, "Please pardon me for my rudeness earlier. I see that young hero is a person with righteousness in your heart and that's why you are willing to tell us more about the bad actions of my brother. For this, we're grateful."
Tang Xuefeng chuckled, "Not at all. I can tell you more…"
All of a sudden Saint Gao Tianshou laughed jovially. "No need. The enemy is too cunning. This matter should be put to a rest. Tianyou, please remember that you have failed in your mission and I want you to use your life to protect everyone the next time. This is your chance to do something for the four divine realms!"
Then he added, "Today is a happy occasion for all of us so let's not ruin it. On account of your past merits, I will give you your precious second chance."
Gao Tianyou was smiling as he inhaled a soft sign of relief, "Yes, yes." His eyes were suddenly staring coldly at Tang Xuefeng as he said silently. "My cold heart beauty, since you want to play me in this manner then don't blame me for being ruthless with you later."
As for Tang Xuefeng and Gao Tian Xianyou, they were slightly startled that Saint Gao Tianshou did not appear to be interested to hear the future accounts.
Tang Xuefeng cursed silently, "So this is the heroic spirit of the Great Hero Gao Tianshou. He is just covering the misdeeds of his own son."
All of a sudden a protégé rushed into the hall and he was shouting panicky, "All the Great Celestials! The dark celestials are attacking the citadel city from all sides!"
Everyone was startled.
Saint Yuan Chenggong immediately said, "I shall lead my fighters to put down the dark celestials immediately."
Saintess Su Rushuang laughed coldly, "These dark celestials are courting their own deaths by attacking the camp of our Saint Gao Tianshou here. It seems that they are now so desperate to make a last ditch fight."
Saint Linghu Fei hummed coldly, "Do they even have any idea that there are more than a hundred powerful golden celestials that have gathered in this place? We shall see to their deaths immediately."
Saint Gao Tianshou had suddenly unsheathed his heaven-step divine sword and he was saying coldly. "Everyone, calm down first and stay in this place. We have some uninvited guests soon."
By now, several of the high level golden celestial cultivators had also picked up the intruders with their divine senses.
All of a sudden from all the entrances of the hall, several masked assailants with golden eyes were seen charging inside and all the guards were quickly put down to the sword.
Several of the golden celestials that were sitting near the entrance were now fighting against the intruders that numbered some twenty and from the look of it they were all golden celestial level cultivators!
Gao Xianyou immediately shouted, "Guards! Summon the guards! They are assassins that are sent by the Devil Goddess to assassinate the four divine rulers!"
Saint Yuan Chenggong gave the assassins a lazy look as he watched them fight their way into the hall. "I've never thought that the Devil Goddess will be so desperate to send her precious golden celestials to their deaths."
None of the four divine rulers were showing any sign of panic or fear. It was because they were all seven realm experts and moreover, they were being surrounded by many seven realm and six realm cultivators as well.
In short, the assassins would never have the chance to even touch them before they would all be put down to the sword.
All of a sudden a mesmerizing voice laughed coldly. "Who says they are assassins that are sent by the Devil Goddess? "
A mesmerizing maiden wearing a golden mask with a lofty aura had suddenly walked into the hall and she seemed to be laughing jovially. "They are merely my personal guards."
Following her were three other equally mesmerizing maidens with golden masks and they were the golden shadows of the Devil Goddess.
"The Devil Goddess is here?!"
"She is actually here?"
"This…is impossible right?"
"Is she delivering herself to us?"
All of a sudden the fighting in the hall had ceased and everyone was staring at the beautiful form of the Devil Goddess.
For most of the cultivators presented in the hall, this was their very first time seeing the Devil Goddess who was the divine ruler of the three dark divine realms.
Even Saint Yuan Chenggong, Saint Linghu Fei and Saintess Su Rushuang were looking a little panicky. One to one, they knew that they were not the Devil Goddess' match. After all she was rumored to be a Great Saintess, a peak seventh realm expert.
The only upper tier seventh realm sacred saint in their midst was Saint Gao Tianshou. He had become a Great Saint not too long ago.
But no matter what, all the divine rulers would not give the Devil Goddess her chance of fighting them one to one. They were not foolish enough to engage her in any honor duel.
Lu Qingyun was trembling when he saw the beautiful form of the Devil Goddess. He did not know why and thought that he was only being nervous.
He did not know that the Devil Goddess was actually his master Qin Keqin because she had the ability to change her divine profound aura and even the way she carried herself as the Devil Goddess was an act of disguise.
The Devil Goddess had coolly scanned her eyes at all the golden celestials presented in the hall and when she saw Lu Qingyun, she began to tremble lightly.
"Why is he here?"