9: Speculation about the gods, let's go back to the village!

"What's going on? Yu Tianheng actually lost? Lost to a six-year-old child? No way, is there some inside story?"

"I think so too, otherwise how could Yu Tianheng lose so absurdly?"

"I feel something's off. That child is too strange..."

"..."

The crowd buzzed with discussion.

Countless pairs of eyes were fixed on Yu Mengzhang.

They couldn't figure him out.

On the ceremonial platform, Yu Luomian raised an eyebrow slightly, a look of surprise on his face.

Even he hadn't noticed how Yu Tianheng lost.

It was too fast, and too bizarre.

"That child's clothes... they don't look like those of a noble..." Xue Qinghe said quietly.

Just moments ago, Yu Luomian had made such an arrogant statement.

He said a child of commoner origin wasn't worth one Yu Tianheng even if you had a million of them.

But now, the result was completely unexpected.

Yu Mengzhang had cleanly and decisively defeated Yu Tianheng.

Yu Luomian's expression darkened slightly. He said in a low voice, "That child should have been a Waste Spirit. Winning now must rely on his own physical strength... or perhaps Yu Tianheng let him win on purpose!"

Yu Luomian was unwilling to acknowledge Yu Mengzhang's victory.

No matter how much he disliked Yu Tianheng, he was still a junior of the same 'class,' while Yu Mengzhang was a commoner he looked down upon the most.

Naturally, he was reluctant to accept this fact.

Xue Qinghe watched Yu Mengzhang receiving his prize. From a distance, she saw a profile with an indifferent expression.

Vaguely, it overlapped somewhat with the young man she had glimpsed briefly.

At that moment, Yu Mengzhang seemed to sense her gaze.

He glanced over in this direction.

His golden eyes, like two divine beams of light, slammed fiercely into her mental World.

Xue Qinghe suddenly remembered what those eyes resembled.

Back when she hadn't yet left the Pope's Mountain, gazing up at the most sacred statue of the Angel God, she seemed to have seen similar eyes.

At this moment, she desperately wanted to figure out Yu Mengzhang's situation.

Why did that child possess such an aura?

Seeing Yu Mengzhang take his prize money and leave immediately, Qian Renxue wanted to step down from the platform to chase after him.

"Your Highness, don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Yu Luomian suddenly spoke.

Xue Qinghe turned to look at him, slightly taken aback.

"What is it?"

"Our First Master, along with several other Lords, are about to arrive," Yu Luomian said.

"This..."

Xue Qinghe hesitated for a moment, then could only sit back down helplessly.

Those few were all important figures. If she left now, it would be a breach of etiquette.

But her mind was now completely filled with... that inexplicably divine youth!

...Not long after.

Yu Yuanzhen and the others arrived at the auditorium.

Yu Luomian and Xue Qinghe both stepped forward to greet them.

"Hmm? Has the clan's Spirit Duel already ended?" Yu Yuanzhen asked, puzzled.

"Yes, eldest brother. It just ended a short while ago."

"Oh? Who won first place this year?"

Yu Yuanzhen asked with a smile, simultaneously inviting the Sword Douluo and the other two to take their seats.

"It was... an outsider child. Probably Tianheng saw his pitiful background and thought to let him have the prize money, so he lost on purpose."

Yu Luomian explained.

Yu Yuanzhen frowned and snorted coldly. "In the Spirit Master World, the strong prey on the weak. What need is there for him to yield? Being indecisive like a woman! Punish him with three days of confinement for reflection!"

"Alright..."

Yu Luomian nodded, unaware of how much grievance his self-appointed explanation would bring upon Yu Tianheng.

"Eldest brother, what was that sound we heard? What was that about?"

Yu Luomian couldn't help but ask curiously.

Originally, Yu Yuanzhen was presiding here, but he left to investigate after faintly hearing the roar of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

Yu Yuanzhen pondered for a moment before recounting what he had seen.

"...That might have been a god. At the very least, the celestial phenomena it caused are something we are incapable of."

"We speculate that perhaps some treasure is about to appear nearby, or a great battle is about to erupt!"

Yu Yuanzhen said with a gloomy expression, voicing his conjecture.

The Sword Douluo and the others nodded slightly, having similar inferences.

Yu Luomian's mouth fell open slightly, finding it hard to believe. A dragon's body flowing through the clouds, stirring up wind and rain, a divine dragon revealing its head but not its tail?

Could such a thing truly be manifested by a mortal being?

But Xue Qinghe thought of that figure and, as if guided by a ghost, asked, "Why couldn't it be that, unable to bear the suffering in the mortal World, it manifested a divine miracle?"

Yu Yuanzhen and the others exchanged glances, a faint smile appearing on their faces.

The "naive" Xue Qinghe reminded them of their former selves.

The Poison Douluo sneered, "In the past hundred years of the Heaven Dou Empire, disasters far more severe than this have occurred everywhere. Why would it descend now? There are no records of such things happening in the previous tens of thousands of years."

The Sword Douluo said calmly, "When a person becomes powerful to a certain level, their emotions become indifferent. And upon becoming a god, with a lifespan of infinite length, we probably appear no different from a nest of ants in the eyes of a deity. Would you care about the life or death of ants under your feet?"

Tang Xiao nodded. "To create such a grand spectacle, there must be some great battle about to happen! It would be best if it's a fight with the Spirit Hall!"

"..."

The corner of Xue Qinghe's mouth twitched slightly.

Are they really that certain?

A god wouldn't care about mortal lives?

If that were truly the case, why did that little girl receive the god's favor?

She refused to believe that gods were truly as these people described.

Listening to Yu Yuanzhen and the others talk at length, her heart had completely flown over to where Yu Mengzhang was.

She absolutely had to figure out what connection he had with that existence!

...Back in the village.

By the time Yu Mengzhang returned, the rain had stopped. The bright sun had emerged again, the thin clouds unable to withstand its light.

After all, it was a year of great drought. The heavy rain just now was something he had drawn from elsewhere.

Walking along the road, he looked at the crops in the fields. They had gained a bit more green, though some hadn't managed to regain their vitality.

As soon as he entered the village, villagers who saw him surrounded him with pleasant surprise.

"Mengzhang is back!"

A loud shout instantly called everyone in the village out.

They didn't become distant because of the divine aura on Yu Mengzhang.

The village chief and others, as if welcoming a hero, clustered around him and escorted him back home, their faces brimming with irrepressible joy.

"Good child, did you see? It rained! The gods have blessed us! Our crops are saved! In the future, when you're in the Family, we can still support you. Don't worry, we have plenty of money!"

The village chief wiped his tears, weeping with joy.

The corner of Yu Mengzhang's mouth lifted slightly. Perhaps the reason he hadn't been completely assimilated by the Azure Dragon's divinity was because of these human bonds.

He shook his head and said, "I didn't join the clan. I only stayed there for one night."

"What?!" The village chief and the others were all stunned.

Yu Mengzhang then placed the bundle he was carrying on the table. Opening it, under the sunlight, five hundred gold coins shimmered with dazzling brilliance.

Instantly, the eyes of everyone present went wide.

They had never seen so much money in their lives!

The village chief's jaw dropped, almost dislocating.

The phrase 'we have plenty of money' echoed in his mind, making his face flush bright red with embarrassment.