29 **Chapter 29: Ultimatum**

SuperNerd4000 released an RI fanfic called "Reverend Insanity – Jade Light Guardian." He released 5 chapters already, 3 of which are from today.

Kamule released an RI fanfic called "Reverend Insanity – Phantom Spirit."

I highly recommend reading both of them. Go there right now; my novel can wait…

1. How much credit do you think the translator of RI deserves for its success?

2. Do you think two venerables could exist at the same time?

3. What is your favorite thing about the two new novels I shouted out?

......…

The first three to wake up were the strongest clan leaders and a rank 5 Gu Master. The others took not much longer, and after 5 minutes, everyone was awake again.

But the atmosphere was heavy as they all felt two Gu in their Aperture that were not there before.

"Where are we?" asked a random person from the crowd.

And the question was a good one too, as they were attacked in a black and dark room and woke up on a peaceful plain with the sun shining in their faces.

"Maybe I can answer that question?"

"Ahhh, what are you?"

"Monster…"

"We are all going to die!"

Some of the rank 3 Gu Masters with weaker wills did not take the land spirit's appearance too well.

"Silence!" said the being that had the body of a frail-looking woman and the head of the most muscular ox to ever exist.

"I am Dasheng Anjing Immortal, and you lot will help me find my master." was how the Land Spirit introduced itself.

"What does your master look like?" asked another rank 3 who thought he was being smart.

But as a result, he started wailing in pain as he rolled on the ground.

"I said silence, maggot."

"Hmmph, as I was saying, you will help me find a master."

"If you don't, you will end up like this one…" As she said it, she pointed at the rank 3 Gu Master still writhing in pain.

"The first of the two Gu that I put in all of your Apertures lets me do that."

"The second one lets me cause an explosion in your Aperture, instantly killing you. And don't even bother trying to remove them."

"Now for what I want you to do… I want an inheritor with at least B-Grade Talent. And they have to be rank 1."

"You will bring me everyone in your clan that meets these requirements, and in return, I will let you live."

"Do any of you have a question?"

A rank 4 Elder of the Suri Clan carefully raised his hand like a child would in school.

"You there, don't be shy, what is your question?"

"Honorable Immortal, how long do we have to bring our young ones here?"

"Good question, I will give you a week. And don't try to cheat by having these people try to break through to rank 2 in that time…"

Seeing that what they saw as an immortal answered the question without torture, others raised their hands as well to ask their own.

"Well, one after the other… You first…" the one the land spirit pointed to was a rank 3 Gu Master.

"Honorable Immortal, bringing you everyone that is rank 1 and has B-Grade Talent might cripple our clan, can you have mercy on us?"

"No."

This question got the other people in the room looking funny, as none of them even thought about that.

So what if every rank 1 with B-Grade Talent dies? As long as the final inheritor is from their clan, they will rule over the whole Archiapello.

As soon as this inheritance was revealed, one thing was clear to every smart person, which the leaders of the various clans were…

There will be one king, and the rest will be slaves, or dead.

"Next Question!"

"Lord Immortal, what must the rogue cultivators among us do? We don't have a clan to bring you any potential inheritors…."

"Hmmmm…. I have not thought of that…."

"Who of you are rogue cultivators?"

At that question, nobody made a move, as they feared what would happen to the one that sticks out.

"Sort yourselves into groups, each clan into one…. Let's see who is left at the end…"

The Gu Masters shuffled around, pushing and shoving each other to get to their clan leaders the fastest.

And at the end of this, there were 19 groups, 18 clans and one of all the rogue cultivators that were smart enough to make a group on their own.

The rogues consisted of 4 rank 4 Gu Masters and 17 rank 3 Gu Masters. They stuck out because everyone was looking at them, as all clans in the Xuan Feng Bao Archiapello knew each other.

The land spirit seemed to get that as well, so it just looked at them. Then a big grin appeared on its bull head…

*Snap*

They all just disappeared, likely teleported to someplace else in the Immortal Aperture.

"I see that you don't have any more questions…. So get back here in a week."

With that, all the Gu Masters appeared back on the small island they had disappeared from. ............…..

*POV: Fei Yu Lei Gen*

As I sit back in the tent that we set up a week ago and look into my Aperture, I just think.

'Fuck'

"Elders, come here!"

They seemed to be waiting outside, as they entered instantly after I called for them.

"Is not bringing them here an option?" asked Shi Lin.

The others were silent, no doubt waiting for my opinion first.

"This would mean that I, the clan leader, and 4 out of 6 elders, with about 30 rank 3 Gu Masters of our clan would die."

"If only one of the other rank 5 clans brings their young ones here, and their leader and elders survive, the Fei Yu clan will fall."

"The same goes for a situation in which anyone that is not from our clan gets this inheritance."

"So even if all of us wanted to sacrifice our lives for this, we have no choice…"

"Bin Wang, as the military hall elder, you will stay here with the rank 3 elders. The others will come to me and get the rank 1's with B-Grade Talent from the clan."

"Yes, Clan leader!"

"Yes, Clan leader!" ..........

*POV: Zhen Wei - 12 hours later*

I wake up, not even remembering how I fell asleep in the first place. It was the middle of the day, and I was not even remotely tired.

'This has to be a Gu Master's doing, and not some weak ones either, as it happened in the clan…'

Slowly opening my eyes, I don't see much, as the room, or should I say prison cell I woke up in, was quite dark.

My hands are bound by handcuffs, and I am sitting in a small 2 by 2 meter prison cell. The cell had three walls made of wood, with the one in front of me being replaced by sturdy iron bars.

As my eyes get used to the dark, I can see better and look out of my cell. Everything I see is a corridor with more cells. There are five, in which I can make out the people that are restricted in them.

I only recognize one of them, Wei Li, my classmate and an A Grade talent of the clan.

From their outward looks, all of these people could be Gu Masters of the clan, but it was hard to tell.

'Now why am I the only one that is awake?'

My gaze wanders to the handcuffs I am wearing, and I use my left thumb to get between my right wrist and the handcuff. And like I thought, it was slippery.

I took out my thumb and inspected the slippery substance some more.

*Sniff*

*Sniff*

'Electric Jelly Poison, so someone does not want us to wake up…'

'I am only awake because of my poison resistance, as one would have to be rank 3 to have any kind of natural chance to wake up, with that amount of poison…'

'Now what do I know about my situation? Be calm and logical…'

Thinking about it, I knew a lot. First of all, from the movement of the room I was in, I could deduce that I was on a ship.

I was kidnapped from the clan, and I am not the only one.

Next, I can say that we will not be sold as slaves, as they would have taken my Gu if that was the case…

The last thing I noticed is that the sound that came from my Aperture became a lot louder than it was on Fei Yu island.

'Either the situation changed, and that thing became louder as I slept, or we are getting closer…'

'Now what do they want with weaklings such as us?'

'Either this is an inheritance, and being rank 1 is a requirement to get it… Which does not explain why they would kidnap us.'

'Or this is an actual living immortal that needs us for some demonic tomfoolery…'

I was hoping it is the former, but judging by the fact that the only two people I knew here, me and Wei Li, had good talent, I feared it was the latter.

Especially because that explains why we have been kidnapped, as an immortal could just force our clan to hand us over with violence.

But it still could honestly be something entirely different that I did not think of in the moment…

*Thud*

*Thud*

*Thud*

'Well time to go back to 'sleep' again,' I thought as I heard someone, who I could only assume to be a guard, walking down the corridor.

…

…

…

The guards walked through the corridor about every 2 hours. It had been a day since I woke up, and something just happened.

*Tschhh*

That was the first thing I saw. In the next moment, I began coughing violently.

*Cough*

*Cough*

*Cough*

A sharp acrid smell assaulted my nose.

'This is ammonia gas… they are trying to wake the others up!'

'Maybe we are at our destination already? This boat could not have traveled that far….'

*Click*

"Stand up and follow me outside!"

The sound came from my left side, so they will start unloading us here.

That is exactly what they did. One by one, we were taken by the guards and led off the ship.

All this while I attempted to speak to Wei Li and the others to find out a bit more useful information. But it got me nowhere; they were still too confused from being on drugs for so long.

After half an hour, it was finally my turn. The guard unlocked my cell, told me to get up, and led me off the ship.

It was a short journey from the cell, 50 meters down the hall and to the right end of the ship.

The sun hit my face, and I could not see anything for a while, as my eyes had acclimated to seeing in the dark.

"Can you take off my handcuffs? I am not running away."

"No, but my colleagues will take them off you in a while, so be patient."

This was just my attempt to find out what our status was, as them not taking my Gu confused me. If I am honest, I did not expect his answer.

He led me through a busy island, that I had never seen, and that seemed a bit small to be housing so many people, if I am honest.

Our destination? One of three big tents that stood in the middle of the island. That as it turned out had a lot of my classmates in it.

As well as guards, lots of them, on the first look I counted 15 rank 3 elders. And if I am certain about anything, then that there were at least this many still hiding.

The good news was that the guard who brought me here was not lying; there stood a gu master at the entrance of the tent that took off my handcuffs.

"Sit down next to your clan members and don't cause any trouble!" he pointed at the large open space in the tent, in front of a podium, about 50 people already sat there, all of them looking absolutely clueless.

'Let's just wait for now….'

In the next hour, I learned that there were 5 guards, each of them bringing a new person here about every 5 minutes.

After exactly 93 people have been brought here, the last guard that delivered me said something to them at the entrance, and he took out a gu and activated it.

Instantly, a man stepped onto the stage, and my eyes narrowed.

'The clan leader…. What is going on here?'

"Hello young Gu Masters of the Fei Yu clan, you must be curious why you have been brought here…"

2088 words