"Sir Leng, what are you doing here?"
At the super secret huge array thousands of meters under Caged Dragon City, the tough and muscled figure of Huangpu Fenglei walked up from behind Leng Wuchang.
Heart tense, Leng Wuchang replied, "What I must."
"Sir Leng should oversee the situation outside and not keep watch over the Dragon Vein seal. You need to deploy the Venerables!" Huangpu Fenglei's tone was cold, "Information has been received from the imperial capital. The Divine Dragons are on the move and the emperor is alone. You must have an idea about what we need to do next!"
"Wait and see." Leng Wuchang's reply was on point.
Huangpu Fenglei frowned, "Sir Leng, please reconsider before making hasty decisions. This is our best chance."
"Nothing is more important than this moment. Our best choice is to wait and see." Leng Wuchang's eyes never left the array.
Huangpu Fenglei felt something was off. Being around Leng Wuchang for so long, he knew this was not his usual style.
[Wait for what?]
Huangpu Fenglei glanced about, "Sir Leng, how come I haven't seen Estate Lord around? Usually when one of you is around, the other is not far behind. What is he up to being missing for so long?"
"Estate Lord has his own thoughts. It's not something High Venerable needs to worry about." Leng Wuchang tightened his fists, doing his best to maintain calm.
Huangpu Fenglei scanned the trembling face and frowned, his suspicions heightened, "Sir Leng, Estate Lord is the leader of Regent Estate and in these pressing times he needs to be on duty, to look out for the house's interests. What exactly is going on with him? Sir Leng, you are the steward and must tell me as the High Venerable. It is within my right to know."
Leng Wuchang took a deep breath and maintained a straight face.
Huangpu Fenglei grew ashen by the second, his aura flashing stronger.
He didn't get to squeeze harder as dragon roars came from the center of the array.
Roar~!
Wails of agony echoed in between every roar. Huangpu Fenglei could identify that voice from anywhere.
"W-wha-, is Estate Lord inside the seal?"
Huangpu Fenglei watched it stunned, then became shocked as the eight dragon souls inside the seal raved. He snapped a savage look on Leng Wuchang, "Sir Leng, what the hell is going on here? Why did the Estate Lord enter the array?"
Knowing when to quit, Leng Wuchang sighed as he explained the events. High Venerable instantly identified the issue. The two had gone over the gathering of elders and used the Bodhi Root to train the Nine Dragons Diamond Body.
Huangpu Tianyuan was the Estate Lord, but this crucial decision was too important to be left to one man's decision.
"This isn't a game!"
Huangpu Fenglei spat, "Have you two forgotten the rules of Regent Estate? How can the two of you make light of the entire house's future? And that Huangpu Tianyuan's talent is lacking, not reaching the Radiant Stage in decades. He cannot bear the power of the dragon souls!"
"Letting him go in there, you've sent him to his death. No, I have to get him out!"
Huangpu Fenglei made a sign to open the seal.
The question was, did he care so much for that poor man's life? Hell no. If the Estate Lord kicked the bucket, there'd be plenty more candidates where he came from.
What the High Venerable cared about the most was the eight dragon souls getting tamed and by someone other than him.
He was the High Venerable here, the peak of Regent Estate's power. The Nine Dragons Diamond Body should be his. Why waste it on a waste who couldn't even enter the Radiant Stage?
He couldn't and wouldn't accept it!
Leng Wuchang moved faster, grabbing his hands, "High Venerable, don't be rash. With the Estate Lord training in the Nine Dragons Diamond Body, it has incited the dragon souls. Open the array now and the dragons will doom us all! "
Huangpu Fenglei was still considering, but let his hand rest in the end.
Leng Wuchang saw through his desires and advised, "With Estate Lord's talent, achieving it will be for the best, but any mistake is life-threatening. Albeit a tragedy, at least the dragon souls will remain and finding the next candidate will be easy. We won't be losing much at all in this."
The speech hit right where it mattered, making him relax.
[Yeah, once he drops dead, only I'll be worthy of training in Nine Dragons Diamond Body. I can't just risk my future by releasing the dragon souls in the heat of the moment.]
Ah!
A shout of pain came from the center, easing Huangpu Fenglei's worries, [Humph, with the prick's meager talent, he has next to no chance. Waiting will be better.]
Huangpu Fenglei sighed, "If only Estate Lord can come back from the brink. May fortune smile upon him."
Huangpu Fenglei left, just like that, "Sir Leng, I will have ten Venerables watch over the array to prevent any dragon soul from slipping out."
"Thank you so much, High Venerable!" Leng Wuchang bowed.
Huangpu Fenglei was gone.
With a snicker, Leng Wuchang shook his head. Anyone could tell what Huangpu Fenglei wanted, to have someone inform him of the situation.
When there was no more peep coming from Huangpu Tianyuan, he'd strut in, take the Bodhi Root and train himself to glory.
Just that his plan wouldn't be fulfilled any time soon.
Training in Nine Dragons Diamond Body needed the dragon souls to gnaw on the user and refine the dragonic soul, leading to the creation of the diamond body. The body could break any time under the process, but with a little nifty doohickey called Bodhi Root and it's endless vitality to offset this, the chances went through the roof.
All that mattered now was the mind. With a little mettle to push through the pain, success was practically a given.
Huangpu Tianyuan had an average talent, but he was a tough cookie baked through years and years of experience as Estate Lord.
All of these facts led to Leng Wuchang believing that his chances were perfect.
Leng Wuchang mocked, "If there's one word you can use to sum up human nature, it's greed…"
Huangpu Fenglei did send his men to keep an eye on things.
But as months passed, the guards only got to hear wails upon wails, growing louder and louder, with a dragon roar mixed in every now and then. It was mind-boggling how a human being could even make such sounds. But one thing was clear, the man wasn't anywhere near done.
Huangpu Fenglei's mood soured as he counted the days, [What's taking him so long to die?]
[Just croak already so I can have a shot!]
Three months later, Fang Qiubai's group of three came with the Emperor's edict to Caged Dragon City, urging Regent Estate to deal with Zhuo Fan. Huangpu Fenglei had had enough of waiting and came down to the array.
"Sir Leng, the emperor has sent the Divine Dragons saying they'll help us capture Zhuo Fan." Huangpu Fenglei proclaimed his excuse.
Following up with his real intention, "How is Estate Lord fairing?"
It sounded so innocently caring, but reaching anyone's ears was [Is he dead yet?]
Leng Wuchang snickered inside, just as the wails and dragon roars stopped.
"Can it be…" Leng Wuchang whipped his head on the array.
Huangpu Fenglei lit up like a christmas tree.
He rushed to open the array and peer inside.
But the bang halted all movements. The engraved array exploded in a shower of colors, revealing a bloody figure gasping for air crawling out.
Huangpu Tianyuan!
Even his wretched figure couldn't hide the violent power surging out of him. Everyone stood agape and aware of one truth. The man was reborn.
As for the limit to his newfound strength, if it was legend-compliant and Nine Dragons Diamond Body was invincible, they had no way to know.
Only Huangpu Fenglei's eyes went bloodshot, gnashing his teeth in anger. [The punk pulled through? Are the eight dragon souls in him right now?]
"Estate Lord!"
Leng Wuchang shouted in joy, "Congratulations, Estate Lord, upon your success in training the Diamond Body!"
Huangpu Tianyuan nodded weakly, his smile faint.
The Venerables showed no change.
Then a sour and insidious voice came, "Estate Lord, you have gone over the Venerables' counsel, opened the seal and broke the house's rules. What right do you have to remain it's lord?"
The others nodded. Huangpu Tianyuan's eyes, though, shone like a savage…