189: Chapter 189: A Change of Face

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Sensing the aura of the several Divine Beasts surrounding the other party, Xiao Yu immediately felt that things were bad. His scalp tingled, feeling as if thousands of steel needles were pricking him.

And that divine pressure, which stood above all living beings like a tangible Supreme Heavenly Dao, was now locked tightly onto him like iron chains.

He felt as if his limbs had been filled with a thousand catties of lead; every inch of his muscle screamed with fear. His body could not move an inch, and even breathing became heavy and difficult.

The high spirits and the pleasure of commanding the world from just a moment ago vanished without a trace. His mind went blank, leaving only cold sweat and despair.

Xiao Yu stiffly turned his neck, struggling to cast his gaze toward the members of the Gu Clan nearby.

To his surprise, as soon as he turned his head, he met a group of eyes that were "ready to die" yet extremely evasive. He saw Clan Chief Gu Cangxiao and the various Elders all turning their heads to the other side; some even subconsciously took half a step back, wishing they could shrink into ants and curl into a crack in the ground. They were terrified of having even the slightest eye contact with this troublemaker, fearing they would be implicated by the wrath of this God of Sky Patrol.

That scene was practically a textbook example of "everyone clearing their names."

Xiao Yu's heart instantly sank to the bottom, into an icy abyss that even his Divine Yuan could not warm.

It's over... I've kicked a steel plate! And it's a red-hot, ten-thousand-catty super steel plate!

To make the Gu Clan—who usually looked at people with their nostrils on their foreheads and whose pride could pierce a hole in the sky—and the most notoriously unruly Moon God in the entire Star Domain, Xuan Feng, show such a look of facing a formidable enemy... in the entire Star Domain's Moon Gods in Charge of the Divine Territories, only that terrifying existence from the Taiwei Divine Territory who already stood at the Peak of Moon Radiance could achieve this...

And with such a young Face before him, able to make eight terrifying Mythical Grade Spirit Beasts bow their heads and obey him, treating him as their Dominator...

Could it be... he's a Divine Official from another Star Domain again?

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently. His originally tense Face twisted with extreme terror for a moment, and then, he forced out a smile that was uglier than crying and more fawning than a funeral mourner's.

That smile hung on his Face, switching as rapidly as a chameleon. The previous arrogance and cold hardness completely melted away, leaving only total flattery and humility, even carrying a hint of a pitiful desire to survive.

"That... may the High God appease his anger! May the High God appease his anger!" Xiao Yu smiled until his facial muscles were cramping and his features were almost squeezed together. His voice became shrill and soft, completely losing the majesty and dominance of a Moon God from before, looking exactly like a frightened quail.

He forcibly suppressed the trembling in his body and moved his heavy footsteps, walking toward Chu Ran with an almost apologetic air. His legs felt like they were filled with lead, and every step was heart-pounding.

When he reached him, he didn't care about Face anymore. He clapped his hands together and stepped forward decisively, firmly and respectfully pressing Chu Ran—who hadn't fully stood up yet—back into that central Supreme seat with great care.

The moment his fingers touched Chu Ran's robes, he didn't even dare to use force, fearing he would disturb this great Buddha.

After pressing him down, he even considerately tugged at the corners of Chu Ran's clothes and bent over to brush away non-existent dust from the chair's surface. That posture was as if he were serving some Supreme Elder of the Immortal Realm, humble to the point of being in the dust.

"My Lord, no, no, no, Lord Divine Official!" Xiao Yu's Face was piled with mountains of smiles, his waist bent at nearly a ninety-degree angle, and his head nodding like a chicken pecking at grain, his neck almost aching from the movement. "Just now was purely a misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding! I just rushed here from the Chenji Divine Territory, traveling all the way, and my Divine Thought hadn't quite adjusted yet! This time, I..."

He turned his head and saw that none of the Gu Clan members dared to come forward to exonerate him, not even a cough to break the tension. He gritted his teeth as if making a tragic and heroic decision and said, "This time... I came specifically to bring you a congratulatory gift!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled countless rare treasures out of his Void Realm storage ring.

Radiant Heaven And Earth Treasures shone in the void, mountains of Spirit Stone veins almost buried him, and mysterious Magical Artifacts engraved with ancient runes were piled onto the table in front of Chu Ran all at once, as if they cost nothing.

The golden light was dazzling, and the crisp sound of Spirit Stones clashing was incessant, nearly collapsing the central table.

"Look! This is the 'Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Marrow' I risked my life to gather from the Far North Ice Cave; its Ice Soul is naturally formed and can help My Lord's spirit beasts through a Breakthrough or a Bottleneck. This is the 'Void Ancestral Dragon Scale,' an ancient treasure for My Lord's Divine Armor or for Spirit Refining the divine body. And this 'Soul-Fixing Pearl' calms the spirit with deep-sea energy, specifically to protect My Lord's mind from being disturbed by evil spirits!" Xiao Yu introduced them with spit flying, his Face full of urgency and heartache, completely forgetting how he was just commanding the world and talking big. "What I said just now was... was a joke! Seeing how young and extraordinary Lord Divine Official is, I thought he was a Genius held in the palm of the Gu Clan... I truly had eyes but failed to see Mt. Tai, I deserve ten thousand deaths!"

The Gu Clan members, watching this sudden change in style, were collectively dumbfounded, their jaws nearly dropping in shock.

Xiao Yu, who was just overbearing, wanting to strip someone of their divine robes and lecturing the entire Gu Clan into submission, had now completely changed his Face...

A sense of astonishment welled up in their hearts...

Was this person with the extremely fawning posture truly the same person as that overbearing Chenji Moon God?

"Lord Divine Official, you are a great man with a generous heart; please do not lower yourself to my level." Xiao Yu leaned in even closer, almost sticking to Chu Ran's feet, the smile on his Face practically overflowing with honey. He carefully observed Chu Ran's expression with sidelong glances, fearing that a single wrong word would lead to his execution. "Since you've crossed Star Domains to come here, you must have a major announcement, right? For example... inspecting the borders? Or perhaps providing guidance for our Cangtian Star Domain?"

Before he could finish, Chu Ran slowly raised his eyes, his gaze faintly sweeping over him.

There were no ripples in those eyes, no anger, not even a hint of emotion—only a bottomless coolness, as if a Supreme deity looking down on all living beings was indifferently watching a struggling ant.

Xiao Yu's heart skipped a beat, as if an invisible hand had seized it. The flattery at the tip of his tongue instantly got stuck in his throat; it couldn't go up or down, choking him until he nearly suffocated.

He steeled himself and forcibly swallowed the second half of his sentence, instead squeezing out an even more sycophantic and fawning expression. Lowering his voice until it was almost a whisper, he leaned mysteriously toward Chu Ran's ear and said at a volume only the two of them could hear:

"Lord Divine Official, to tell you the truth, our Cangtian Star Domain has always been willing to communicate and exchange with the outside Star Domains! The previous border blockade was only because the Ninth Divine Territory of the Cangtian Star Domain had yet to appear, and we were afraid of rashly contacting other Star Domains and causing unnecessary conflicts... That was a helpless move to protect the Star Domain!"

"But it won't be like that now! Our Cangtian Star Domain's Ninth Divine Territory has appeared! I am preparing to bring generous gifts to visit that newly ascended Moon God and give him some good advice! I plan to appeal to his reason and emotions to persuade him to open the domain gates wide with us, welcome envoys from other Star Domains, and jointly promote the prosperity of the Star Domain!" Xiao Yu said with a forced smile, trying his best to look confident on his Face while his heart was already in a panic.

After three seconds of silence throughout the hall, the Gu Clan members collectively sucked in a breath of cold air. Then they all lowered their heads, their shoulders twitching uncontrollably—some were suppressing laughter, while others were fighting back tremors. The scene was simply too impactful; one couldn't help but want to laugh, yet they didn't dare make a sound, fearing they would draw the wrath of the High God.

As Chu Ran looked at this Moon God who was so overbearing just a moment ago but had now completely "broken down" and gone "mad," a very faint, quick, and fleeting hint of a smile finally flashed across his clear, innocent eyes—so fast it seemed like an illusion.

He spoke leisurely, his voice as clear as a spring, yet carrying a weight that made one's scalp tingle:

"Then how do you plan to persuade the Moon God in Charge of that new Divine Territory to open the domain gates?"

"Hah... it would definitely be with kind words!" Xiao Yu patted his chest, trying to regain some confidence, but found his voice was still trembling. "To this day, our Cangtian Star Domain hasn't even seen a single Divine Lord of the Sun-Day Realm. This is enough to show that we are far behind other Star Domains in many aspects! To have a prestigious Divine Official like yourself visit our Cangtian Star Domain is our blessing and our honor!"

As he spoke, a hint of what he thought was clever shrewdness appeared on Xiao Yu's Face as he tried to use it to bridge the gap. "Besides, for our other Eight Great Divine Territories, more than half have already agreed to this! If that newly ascended Moon God of the new Divine Territory doesn't agree, what can he do? Can he really, by his own strength, change the collective decision made by the many Moon Gods of our Eight Great Divine Territories? That would be far too antisocial!"

"If Divine Lord Heavenly Edict hadn't stepped in last time to help us resist that Demon Race invasion, our Star Domain might have lost more than just Meng Chen! We were only able to continue thanks to the protection of Divine Lord Heavenly Edict during that catastrophe," Xiao Yu said, his tone becoming much more sincere.

When mentioning Meng Chen, the flippancy and slipperiness from before were gone from his Face, replaced by a heartfelt respect and solemnity. That was the hero of the entire Cangtian Star Domain, a monument carved into the bones of every citizen of the Star Domain.

Hearing this, the levity on the Faces of the Gu Clan members also completely vanished, and their expressions became solemn.

Meng Chen was the hero of the entire Star Domain; there was no doubt about that.

It was precisely because of Meng Chen's sacrifice back then that the other Divine Territories could later turn a blind eye to the things Meng CiYao did, and maintain a sliver of life for the Star Domain amidst the turmoil.

Chu Ran nodded thoughtfully, and then a helpless yet somewhat playful smile appeared on his Face. His clear eyes blinked slightly, like a spring breeze blowing over an icy lake. "There's nothing wrong with your attitude, and you indeed don't have any stains on you, but you seem to have... mistaken the person."

He paused, his gaze slowly sweeping across the hall before finally landing back on Xiao Yu. Each word was as clear as thunder, shaking Xiao Yu's Divine Soul:

"I am not a Divine Official from another Star Domain. I am the Moon God in Charge of that newly ascended Divine Territory."

"So, how do you plan to persuade me with kind words?"

Xiao Yu felt a sudden chill down his spine. A piercing coldness rushed from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head, instantly making his hair stand on end and soaking his divine robes in cold sweat.

It was as if... he had accurately jumped out of one minefield, only to glide through the air for a long time and then "plop," accurately jump into another deeper, more dangerous, and directly exploding minefield!

The air instantly solidified, leaving only Xiao Yu's momentary silence and daze.

He froze in place, his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn't make a sound. The smile on his Face completely froze into a bitter, distorted, and even somewhat desperate expression.

At this moment, he felt like his entire being was unwell.

"Can... you... let me... explain again?"

After a long time, he finally squeezed these broken words from deep in his throat, looking at Chu Ran blankly. The corners of his mouth curled into an extremely bitter smile that was uglier than crying, even carrying a hint of being tired of life...

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