Chapter 692: Great Demon 55
Of course, the more important reason was that Tan You’s cultivation had only reached the tenth rank, so everyone wanted to wait for her. But no one had expected her to beat them to it and ascend to the Ninth Heaven first.
Peacock lamented dramatically, "I’m a pure-blooded demon now, at the very least. The Ninth Heaven has to have pure-blooded peacocks, so can’t they lend a hand? Just guide me up as well?"
A cold snort echoed from midair. "In your dreams, kid! Always looking for a free ride! You can just obediently pass your tribulation and come up on your own!"
Peacock’s large, almond-shaped eyes widened, and he squawked, "Ancestor?"
"Hmph, it’s me!" the voice replied bluntly. "Stop spending all day being jealous of Little Jinzi. If you had half her insight, I’d guide you up here myself!"
"It’s always the same. All the outstanding juniors belong to other clans! How did my Peacock Clan end up with a shameless brat like you?"
Peacock’s expression changed in a flash, his smile turning exceptionally fawning. "Ancestor, I misspoke. Please don’t hold it against a lowly junior like me. Ancestor, I’ve actually been thinking about facing my tribulation recently. Do you happen to have any Spiritual Artifacts or Arrays? Perhaps you could spare a few for this descendant of yours, for protection?"
"Shameless!" the Peacock Clan’s ancestor snorted, at a loss for how to deal with Peacock’s opportunism. The Golden Ring Snake Emperor’s ascension of Tan You to the Ninth Heaven had caused quite a stir. He and several other Immortal Monarchs of the Demon Clan had come over to watch the spectacle, only to hear this little peacock badmouthing him behind his back.
He simply couldn’t stand hearing the little whelp complain, so he couldn’t resist speaking up to teach him a lesson. And what was the result? The kid had the gall to ask him for gifts to his face? Honestly, that was a first.
Peacock wasn’t about to miss this chance. "Ancestor, look at the Golden Ring Snake’s ancestor! That huge Crown, he gave it away just like that. This descendant wouldn’t dare dream of a Crown, but I should at least get a few Spiritual Artifacts to defend against the Heavenly Thunder, right? It’s truly not easy for us in the Peacock Clan to survive the Heavenly Tribulation."
Old Niu chimed in, "Ancestor..."
With Peacock and Old Niu taking the lead, the Great Demons from the Demon Market started a chain reaction, each one more skilled than the last at asking for gifts. The native Great Demons of the Ten-Direction Mountains could only watch, dumbfounded.
When it came to shamelessness, they were truly no match. No match at all.
Even though these Great Demons from the lower realm were tens of thousands of years old, in the eyes of the Upper Realm’s Immortal Monarchs, that age made them no different from little whelps. In the end, aside from Bai Ze, nearly every Great Demon from the Demon Market received a Spiritual Artifact, most of which were intended to help them with their tribulations.
Bai Ze didn’t need one at all. As a favored child of the Heavenly Dao, it was unheard of for a Bai Ze to perish during a Heavenly Tribulation. They were guaranteed to reach the Ninth Heaven from the moment they were born, as long as they continued to cultivate.
Cang Long, the Nine-tailed Fox, and the others watched with envy. They wanted such generous ancestors too. But their own ancestors were completely silent, as if they didn’t even exist.
’Are our ancestors even watching us?’
Tan You, of course, witnessed this scene through a water mirror. Her expression remained perfectly calm. ’They were Great Demons from the Demon Market, after all. Their integrity was flexible. In front of an ancestor, of course they’d do everything they could to curry favor and get some benefits.’
’Who was she to talk? She was exactly the same.’
The Golden Ring Snake Emperor glanced at Peacock and the other Great Demons, then back at Tan You. "You all really are birds of a feather after spending centuries together. You asked me for a greeting gift the moment you appeared. Those little ones over there are demanding things before we’ve even formally met."
Tan You gave an exceptionally sweet smile. "It’s because I’m still young, and I’ve never met you before, Ancestor. This is the first time we’re meeting, ancestor and descendant. As the elder in this situation, you can’t be too stingy, can you?"
"Don’t you worry. You support me while I’m young, and I’ll support you when you’re old. When I become powerful in the future, I’ll travel everywhere to collect all sorts of rare treasures for you. I’ll make sure you never get the short end of the deal, Ancestor."
The Golden Ring Snake Emperor chuckled in amusement. "Ancestor and descendant? By rights, you should be calling me something like Great-Great-...-Grandfather. Even calling me Grandpa would be a stretch. But Little Jinzi, your skill at making empty promises is truly impressive."
Tan You fawningly began to massage the Golden Ring Snake Emperor’s shoulders. "That’s only because you dote on me, Ancestor. And I’m not making empty promises; this comes from the bottom of my heart. So, Ancestor... where’s that greeting gift?"
The Golden Ring Snake Emperor tapped Tan You on the head. "I already gave you the Crown. What more could you want, you little rascal?"
Tan You giggled, then took the opportunity to transform into a tiny snake, no thicker than a little finger, and coiled herself around the Golden Ring Snake Emperor’s wrist. "I don’t want anything else. How about you just tell me about the Ninth Heaven, Ancestor?"
"Sly creature." He gently tapped the tiny Crown on Tan You’s head, a smile spreading across his face. The more he observed Tan You, the more he liked her. She wasn’t proud, she was remarkably astute, and she wasn’t greedy.
’She always managed to make the right choice at the most opportune moment.’
’And her technique for latching onto a powerful backer was truly first-rate.’
Sitting across from the Golden Ring Snake Emperor were several demon immortals from other clans—the Peacock Clan, the Wild Bull Clan, and so on. Every Clan Leader was looking at the Golden Ring Snake Emperor with undisguised envy.
The Golden Ring Snake Clan’s population may have been sparse, but each member’s combat strength was absurdly high. If they could make a trade, they would gladly offer ten of their own juniors for one Tan You. But, they mused, the Golden Ring Snake Emperor would never agree. After all, she was clearly the apple of his eye.
The Clan Leader of the Treasure-seeking Mouse Clan sighed. "Alas, now my Little Mouse is the only one left in the lower realm to face his tribulation alone."
Tan You didn’t show the slightest hint of guilt. "Bai Ze helped Little Mouse with his later Heavenly Tribulations. I was recuperating from injuries every other day, so I truly didn’t have time to help him. Besides, my ascension to the Ninth Heaven was completely unexpected."
’Besides,’ she thought, ’I never signed a symbiotic contract with Little Mouse. If you ask me, if this Clan Leader of the Treasure-seeking Mouse Clan truly cared about Little Mouse, he should just ascend him, like my ancestor did for me. Why is he getting all sour in front of me?’
The man in the golden robes froze for a second, then burst out laughing. "Old Snake, she’s really something."
The Golden Ring Snake Emperor smiled faintly, rubbing Tan You’s head with the pad of his thumb. "The little one is young and fiery. But our Golden Ring Snake Clan has always had difficulty producing offspring, unlike your Treasure-seeking Mouse Clan, which is blessed with many descendants."
Tan You slowly raised her head. "Ancestor, in our entire Golden Ring Snake Clan... how many of us are there? And how many are at a similar cultivation level to me?"
The man in golden robes chuckled mischievously. "Not a single one. Little Golden Ring, your entire clan, including you, consists of exactly six Golden Ring Snakes. The one before you here, Jin Yao, was the youngest before you came along. He’s currently about three hundred sixty thousand years old."
"In the great inter-clan competitions, the Golden Ring Snake Clan hasn’t participated for many years because you’ve never had a junior of a suitable age. And now, that entire burden falls on you."
The Golden Ring Snake Emperor watched as Tan You’s eyes grew wider and wider, before she finally calmed down and simply said, "Oh."
"Just ’oh’?" the man in golden robes asked, intrigued. "You’re not nervous? Not worried?"
Tan You’s tiny snake body coiled once more around Jin Yao’s wrist. "When two foes meet on a narrow path, the bolder one prevails. If it comes to a fight, I’ll just go all out. We’ll see who comes out on top in the end."