Thinking to this point, their lips twitched. How fiery did your temper have to be to take such a clearly innocent statement so far out of context?! Chrysanthemum was obviously referring to Madeleine, what did that have to do with you?!
Fuck, they had seen arrogant characters before. How could there be a shortage of them among such geniuses? However, this was the first time they had seen arrogance to this extent. He would definitely suffer for this.
"What did you say?" Chrysanthemum's delicate features darkened. Even if Anak was her husband, it was her who had chosen him! If she didn't want him as a husband, even 1000 of him wouldn't have been enough to force another result. What right did this no-name, who even had the audacity to stand above her in the skies, have to say that he should control her?!
Chrysanthemum had no intention of waiting for a response, nor was Anak going to stop her. He didn't choose his wives based on beauty, he chose them based on power! If they weren't strong enough, they couldn't be his dual cultivation partner, and thus what use did their beauty have to him? All that was important in this world was power!
She pressed down on Anak's shoulder, catapulting forward with blinding speeds, brandishing her palms as she allowed the cold winter winds to accumulate along her delicate hands.
Everyone sucked in a breath. Chrysanthemum's speed definitely exceeded the realms of a normal saint, but what was truly impressive was that Anak stood completely still, not even the ground beneath his feet moved! As though a peak saint level character didn't just push off of him with their full power. His body's strength… It made next to no sense!
Seeing Chrysanthemum act, Ri frowned with displeasure. She was 100% on Dyon's side. Madeleine was her big sister, their souls were even linked. Aside from Dyon himself, she was likely the most aware of how much love Madeleine had for their husband. Yet someone wanted to so casually speak about taking her for themselves? How could she tolerate something like this?!
Ri's personality had always been fiery, however after years of seclusion and constant reflection of the docile water and ice arts, she had almost forgotten that she still had this spark within her, and clearly those around her had forgotten as well. It seemed she would have to remind them!
Dyon's arms opened up as he allowed Ri to stand up and out of his hold. The fury in his eyes hadn't lessened even a small bit, but since Ri wanted to act, he would allow her to.
Ri's graceful figured lightly fluttered in the air. While Chrysanthemum's fury was wild and uncontrolled, hers was refined and as calm as the surface of a lake. All of her rage concentrated onto her own palm, accumulating a violent ice will.
"Hmph, to use water-based abilities against me? Courting death!" Chrysanthemum raged.
In the next instant, their palms collided. However, against all expectations, there wasn't a single sound.
Chrysanthemum looked into Ri's calm silver-blue eyes, complete astonishment written all over her features. She was in the 12th stage of sainthood, but Ri was clearly still at the 11th layer! Why was the difference so large?!
"You're not worthy." Ri spoke indifferently.
A drop of blood trickled from Chrysanthemum's delicate lips as she was forced backward three steps.
Astonishment took a hold over the crowd. They had all been prepared for a long battle that would have likely resulted in Ri's loss, but this was completely outside their expectations!
It wasn't that they looked down on Ri, because Ri's rankings made it quite clear that she was more talented that Chrysanthemum across the board. Whether it be the Duke trials, the King trials or the Emperor trials, Ri ranked much higher than Chrysanthemum on them all. The problem was that Chrysanthemum was already almost 80 years old by now while Ri was still barely 30!
That was when they suddenly realized something. If Ri was so far and away more talented than an Empress on Chrysanthemum's level, didn't that mean that the only holding her back from the Goddess title was the lack of a key?!
No matter how surprised the crowd was, Chrysanthemum was even more so.
From the beginning, she had disregarded Ri. Her attack was originally meant for Dyon who had the audacity to publicly reprimand her for her speech, who did he think he was?
It wasn't her looking down on Ri because she was a woman, but rather that she recognized those white tails and immediately categorized her as a member of the Snow Clan. Since Ri was a member of such a weak clan, especially compared to her sect, how could her legacies match up? Not only did Chrysanthemum have more time to study her own techniques, the core teachings of the Water Mist Sect should have far surpassed that of the Snow Clan. It was common sense.
Yet, Ri had actually dissolved her attack so easily! And although Chrysanthemum hadn't used any particular technique, only relying on her comprehension of ice will and the environment around them, Ri had actually proven that the laws of water and ice were more willing to follow her than they were willing to follow Chrysanthemum!
It was at that moment that everyone remembered… Ri was a beast! The embodiment of what it meant to be a beast depended upon what the heavens blessed you with. Dragon were the representation of sovereignty. Celestial Deer were the representation of purity. Celestial Hamster were the embodiment of time will and history. Then what about the Kitsune of the Snow Clan?
They were currently in a land of ice and snow, while Chrysanthemum was a human. Yet, she wanted to fight a beast that embodied these very elements? Wasn't she asking to make a fool of herself?
Chrysanthemum's chest heaved with anger. She had just been haughty enough to imply that since Anak could win her heart, he could win the heart of any woman. And yet, mere moments later, she had lost an exchange with none other than another woman.
To top it all off, Ri's beauty was her complete match. In fact, her pure white tails gave her a particular pull that Chrysanthemum couldn't match.
Chrysanthemum glared at Ri before shifting her gaze toward Dyon, "A man who hides behind his woman is no man at all!"
These weren't empty words. Everyone had been speculating on Dyon's identity for months and they had all concluded that he was a weapon's master. In fact, Dyon still had that massive, white-bandaged package on his back as she spoke. Such a man didn't have any combat prowess. Who didn't know that soul cultivators had an inability to translate soul strength into battle power?
However, when Chrysanthemum's eyes landed on Dyon, she was shocked to see that this supposedly weak young man was still staring at her husband. Even Anak's usual disdain for the world attitude was washed over as he too stared back at Dyon.
There were only nine other individuals who Anak deemed worthy of his gaze. However, seven of them were no longer on the saint floors, having long since stepped onto the celestial and dao floors.
As it was, of the ten outstanding geniuses of this generation, three were still on the saint floor, five had already moved to the celestial floor, while two, despite still being youths in their prime had long since stepped onto the dao floors!
Anak was obviously one of the three of the saint floors, as for the other two, in all likelihood, they wouldn't even bother to come to this event. Their clans were ranked much higher than Anak's and as such had legacies that could completely ignore what the Valley of Geniuses on the saint floor could provide to them.
Despite all of this, Anak felt like he was facing one of them right now! He couldn't help but inwardly frown. He wanted to use his senses to probe Dyon, but something was telling him that if he did so forcefully, that mask on his face would retaliate.
To make matters worse, there was a deep rage boiling inside of Anak. Although others couldn't feel it, he could. There was something about the masked men standing in the skies that made him feel suppressed, as though he should be a loyal subject and never think of disobeying this man.
The more he looked at Dyon's black wings, the more his heart trembled. The more Dyon looked into his eyes, the more he felt that he should avert his gaze. Even his clansmen behind him were effected, many of them had begun to tremble, gritting their teeth and clenching their fists to the point were droplets of blood fell onto the pure white snow.
Suddenly, Anak's pupils narrowed into pinholes, 'Bloodline suppression! That's impossible!'
