The little one looked at Wu Tian and said, "He has a point."
The Mantis King snorted, his face full of smugness.
Wu Tian sneered, "A point, my ass. When a subordinate acts like this toward a superior, it’s a clear insult. I won’t deny that."
The Mantis King nodded. "So, you admit that you are insulting the Wudong Immortal Dynasty?"
"However, when a superior does it to a subordinate, there’s no problem at all," Wu Tian said, his tone flat.
A sense of unease washed over the Mantis King. He stammered, "What do you mean by that?"
Wu Tian laughed. "Are you brain-dead? Can’t you understand? I am the superior being. And the Wudong Immortal Dynasty? Compared to me, it is merely the subordinate. So what if I insult it? Even annihilating it would be perfectly justified."
"You... what nonsense are you spouting?" the Mantis King exclaimed in shock.
"Nonsense?" Wu Tian scoffed. "Even the founder of the Wudong Immortal Dynasty, Progenitor Wudong, wouldn’t dare speak to me like that."
Originally, Miaoshan’s avatar had intended to remain silent, but hearing Wu Tian mention Progenitor Wudong made her expression change dramatically. She shot to her feet. "Sir, the name of our Progenitor must not be spoken so casually."
Wu Tian’s expression remained unchanged, completely unfazed by her words.
Progenitor Wudong is Progenitor Wudong. What’s the big deal?
Wu Tian spoke calmly, "Progenitor Wudong’s real name was Huang Tianming. His nickname was A-huang."
At this, Wu Tian smiled. "Is there anything wrong with saying that? People used to call him A-huang. He once introduced himself to someone, saying, ’If you feel my full name is too formal or awkward, you can just call me A-huang.’"
"Now, I ask you, am I the superior, or is the Wudong Immortal Dynasty he founded the superior?"
Wu Tian’s eyes glinted like a starry sky, light streaking through them in a fleeting instant. Yet, the authority they contained was unmistakably clear to everyone present. The Mantis King and Miaoshan were struck with disbelief, finding themselves utterly unwilling to argue the point with him any further.
A-huang...
Hearing Wu Tian’s words, Miaoshan recalled something—a piece of history known only to the royal family of the Wudong Immortal Dynasty.
Legend had it that countless millennia ago, in a time long past, there was an Immortal Emperor hailed as the one closest to the Creation Martial Emperor... the Wutian Celestial Emperor. Before he had achieved his emperor status, he had mentored a young man for a year, a youth who was unknown at the time. Back then, the Wutian Celestial Emperor called him A-huang. He was the only one who ever did. After that great Immortal Emperor departed, the youth grew in power, step by step, until he eventually founded the Wudong Immortal Dynasty.
This was a secret history known only to the Wudong royalty. No one else knew that the founder of the Wudong Immortal Dynasty was once called A-huang.
"How do you know this? Who are you?" Miaoshan asked.
"I cannot say," Wu Tian replied calmly.
Could it be? Miaoshan was filled with doubt, but a voice deep inside told her, Yes. The man standing before me is that figure from history, the supreme existence known to be the closest to the Creation Martial Emperor—the Wutian Celestial Emperor.
With this thought, Miaoshan turned to the Mantis King. "All of you, except for Wu Tian and his daughter, are to leave. I have matters to discuss with them alone, which you are not permitted to hear."
"Yes," Master Li the Fortune Teller nodded. Although he didn’t know what was happening, he saw Miaoshan’s gravity and had no choice but to withdraw.
The Mantis King, however, refused to move. His eyes blazed with anger as he said, "Princess Miaoshan, I cannot leave. I have orders from on high to protect you and remain by your side at all times. Therefore, I cannot step away."
Miaoshan’s expression turned icy. "I highly doubt my royal father ordered you to disobey my direct commands. You need to learn to be flexible."
"No," the Mantis King said, shaking his head. He was acting like a dog backed by its master’s power. He sensed that Wu Tian and Miaoshan were about to discuss a great secret, and he was determined to overhear it, no matter what.
"You..." Miaoshan was seething.
The Mantis King just offered a shameless smile and stood his ground, refusing to budge.
Wu Tian walked toward him.
The Mantis King grew nervous. "What... what are you doing?"
"If you can take one punch from me and live, you can stay," Wu Tian chuckled. His indifferent tone darkened the Mantis King’s face, as if it were a foregone conclusion that he couldn’t even withstand a single blow.
How is that possible? Although Wu Tian was incredibly powerful, the Mantis King was still confident he could handle a single punch.
"I’m throwing my punch now," Wu Tian said simply, wasting no more words. As he spoke, he slowly raised a fist and then launched it toward the Mantis King.
"One punch? I refuse to believe I can’t block it!" the Mantis King roared. He didn’t dodge, instead meeting the attack by slashing upward with his natural mantis-blade arms. He wanted to show Wu Tian that even though he was formidable, defeating him in a single blow would not be so easy.
Suddenly, the air trembled. A berserk force erupted from Wu Tian’s fist. The space around it crackled as the onlookers saw a wave of power surge toward the Mantis King.
The moment the fist drew near, the Mantis King’s expression finally twisted in horror. He felt the suffocating pressure of death from the blow, but it was already too late to retreat.
No! I can’t dodge it! What should I do?
Panic flooded the Mantis King’s mind. But before he could react, before he could even think of a countermeasure, the fist fell.
AH!
The Mantis King felt ferocious waves of power crash into him. And then, his body disintegrated into dust, utterly devoid of life.
It died with its eyes wide open, full of regret. If it had known this would be the outcome, it would have fled immediately instead of daring to linger.
Now, only Miaoshan, Wu Tian, and the little one remained in the room.
Miaoshan was already on her feet. Gazing at Wu Tian with a complex expression, she cupped her hands and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Immortal Emperor."
"Before his passing, the Progenitor left a final testament."
"Should any of his descendants be fortunate enough to meet the Immortal Emperor,"
"they must obey the Immortal Emperor’s commands without question."
"Whether the Immortal Emperor demands their lives or the River and Mountains,"
"they are to comply with all of it."
Her tone was devout and reverent, for the Wutian Celestial Emperor was also the one she admired most.
Of course, she still had her doubts. For instance, is this man truly the Wutian Celestial Emperor? If he is still alive, then why does nobody know?
"You have your doubts, don’t you?" Wu Tian asked with a smile.
"Yes," Miaoshan nodded.
"You are not allowed to ask. Keep them to yourself. Even if you ask, I won’t tell you," Wu Tian said.
Miaoshan was speechless.
"What? Are you still unconvinced?" Wu Tian cast a cold glance at her.
That single look made Miaoshan break out in a cold sweat. Her father was the king of the Wudong Immortal Dynasty, a ruler who looked down upon the world. His aura was, by all rights, at the pinnacle of power. But compared to Wu Tian, she realized the gap was immense. Her father’s presence was nothing next to a single glance from Wu Tian. The difference was like that between heaven and earth.
"I wouldn’t dare," Miaoshan finally managed to say.
"Good. Don’t ask what you shouldn’t," Wu Tian chuckled, retracting his world-defying gaze. Only then could Miaoshan finally breathe a sigh of relief.
At the same time, Wu Tian sensed a disturbance from the Investiture of the Gods within his Heavenly Emperor’s Treasure House.
Name: Miaoshan
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Third Rank
Suitable Inheritance: South Sea Guanyin