Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

Ya Qinqan was his first love. Someone he wished to see succeed in life and initially felt extremely conflicted about. However, that was until recently. Not only was he more aware of the schemes in the cultivation world, its cruelty, but he also came to terms with her actions from before. Initially, he wanted to ride on her fame, talent and wealth to enjoy his own life.

This was a fundamentally flawed idealism in the cultivation world.

To enjoy life, one must rely on themselves. To gain power and status, the most stable is your own. If you don't wish your life and death to be controlled by others, you need the power to exceed them!

The last time they met he was talentless, had pathetic cultivation base, no wealth, disregarded by his clan, and had no future. Why would she choose him? All he'd done is give her resources that he didn't even obtain himself, but resources he'd received from another party.

Did he expect her to give everything up to him, her virginity, her love, and her loyalty? Yes, at the time.

Now?

No. It wasn't realistic. He knew that.

His idiocy and willingness at the time obligated her to nothing, and sure, she could've rejected his resources, but who would? Especially in this world where any leg up over the competition was fought for with teeth and blows! If he was in a similar situation, how could he refuse? It may sound despicable, but it was also the truth.

He always imagined how he would react if he met Ya Qinqan. At the time she chose Yan Jinzen, he felt enraged and wanted nothing more than to get revenge on Yan Jinzen for taking what was his.

In the Deep Mines, he imagined that he would talk to her directly. He would inform her he held no anger and had moved on peacefully in understanding. When Pinaka discussed the concept of being a cultivator, he had no intentions to speak to her any longer. He was moving to the myriad realms to explore it! How could he care? Why should he?

Her life no longer had any relation to his own. If it wasn't for this coincidence, it's unlikely Yan Zaizen and Ya Qinqan would've ever met again. However, the heavens worked in mysterious ways, and karma must be closed off.

Regardless of any rationalization, Yan Zaizen would always have his thoughts trace back to his childhood, to Ya Qinqan, and it could impact his future cultivation.

Surrounded by odd gazes, Yan Zaizen closed his eyes and eased his mind. At the moment, acting irrationally was inappropriate. Should he kill her? For what reason? For him willingly giving her resources? That's like killing a homeless guy because you gave him a quarter and he spent it. Who would do such a thing?

He wasn't one to kill at the slightest of slights nor did he have any intentions to become someone who does.

At the moment, Ya Qinqan was a fly to him. She was like an insignificant flower that lingered in the background of his mind, a flower he could annihilate with a single blow of his lungs. Was she worthy of any emotional response from him?

He opened his eyes slowly, his gaze filled with unyielding confidence and warmth. A soft, brilliant smile tugged at his lips, "Greetings!"

With his change in demeanor, all of them didn't know how to react. The women felt their hearts race slightly at this smile, feeling odd in their hearts, while the men felt unusual as well.

However, Hei's pupils constricted to a needlepoint in disbelief. He belonged to the Dark Mist Palace. The Dark Mist Palace wasn't overly strong like the rest of the respective grand-tier forces, but their leader had been bestowed a Dao by the Xiantu Emperor. He recognized that feeling instantly, the aura of a dao.

The others, however, weren't frequently in contact with this aura so they didn't know. In truth, about 99.9% of the people on this planet, including True Essence Cultivators, wouldn't immediately recognize the aura of a dao. Only scholars who've read about it extensively or those who've personally experienced it before.

"This guy is…" Hei's expression turned solemn, and there was a hint of fear in his heart. In the Xiantu Realm, only a few people that didn't number more than a hundred had the dao of the Xiantu Emperor. This meant the trillions of people of this realm was vastly ignorant. However, this aura of the dao didn't coincide with that dao. This was an entirely different dao!

In that case, who the hell was this person?

"He'll be eating with us, I'm sure you all won't mind. Let's sit." Sun Huan acted domineeringly, lazily declaring before taking his seat. The waiter stayed silent throughout and only approached when Sun Huan sat, giving him many golden menus filled with all sorts of dishes and wines.

Yan Zaizen slightly smiled, looking at the waiter in patience. The waiter wasn't inexperienced, the moment he acted and placed the menus in front of Sun Huan, he immediately produced a chair near Sun Huan and placed it appropriately, politely gesturing for Yan Zaizen to take his seat.

Yan Zaizen accepted. A set of menus were also placed in front of him. The rest was just curious about who this was, but no one took the initiative.

Seeing the situation, Sun Huan explained, "He's someone who helped me out of a bind. I'll only be treating him to a meal, you all can talk as freely as before." Directly ignoring their discontented gazes, he placed his feet lazily on the table and proceeded to read the menus.

Li Ruogang couldn't hold in her curiosity any longer, "Who are you?" She didn't wish to dine with any unimportant person from the streets; she felt it was beneath her.

"Yeah, who are you?" Ke Zedong echoed, his eyes filled with irritation at everything.

Yan Zaizen chuckled lightly, glancing across the room with a trace of interest in his eyes. If he had taken the proper route, cultivated slowly with a high status, would he have been like the youths here? Gathering together with similarly aged cultivators with fairly even potential?

With his current cultivation, the difference in status that would be produced by it, these youths should be happy to even receive a glance from him, including Ya Qinqan, and yet, they're so impatient and aggressive.

It was truly funny.

Rely on your daddy's wealth? Rely on your mama's name? What good does that do for you? Real power that could send a decree that all on the continent must follow was greater than anything they possessed or likely ever would.

His gaze, for the very first time, held a trace of potent disdain. This trace of disdain caused all those present to feel uncomfortable, as if they were being looked down upon from up high.

He decided to simply not respond.

They weren't at a level where he needed to.

He signaled the waiter, causing him to arrive swiftly beside him with a look of calm, "What's your order, Young Lord?"

"Everything." He responded.

"Everything?" They all thought in surprise, including the waiter.

"Young Lord, do you-"

"Everything on the menu, that's my order. Is that a problem?" Yan Zaizen smiled softly, his amber-gold eyes shone a brilliant light. The waiter was shocked, looking at Sun Huan, who also had eyes as wide as a full moon.

"Wha...what do you mean by everything?" Sun Huan's couldn't help but say carefully, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"You said you would give me a meal for my help. Well, I want everything. I thank you in advance." Yan Zaizen said, chuckling with a satisfied tone. "Unless...you aren't a man of your word?"

"Urgh!" This obviously hit a nerve on Sun Huan's pride. Yan Zaizen heard about those swordsmen of the Solitary Sword Sect, they were essentially those who always looked forward, fought to the very end with unyielding confidence, and never went back on their word or conscious. Typically, the Solitary Sword Sect practices conceptual laws that coincide with those specific paths.

The waiter, obviously in the tough spot, looked at Sun Huan who looked like he was about to spit out a mouthful of blood. His eyes were filled with reluctance, and he could feel the intense pain of his wallet. Tian may be a prestigious restaurant, but it wasn't incredibly expensive to the point where you'd go broke so easily. After all, it was only food.

A majority of cultivators can go without eating for months, years, or even decades. They rely on their essence to sustain themselves, and unless they were body cultivators, they would sometimes not touch food for centuries, only having wines of varied types.

"Young Lord...Do yo-" The waiter was about to say something to ease the situation, but Sun Huan rose his palm up to gesture him to cease. With gritted teeth, he looked at Yan Zaizen and shouted, "EVERYTHING!"