Chiyou was not only a person’s name, but also the name of an ancient clan.

All the people of the clan of Chiyou had the bodies of men and the heads of cows. Their skulls were coppers, their foreheads irons, their tendons steels, and their bones irons. Of all the races in the universe, their fleshly bodies were the strongest, and their fighting strength was one of the most amazing. They consumed sand and ores as food, and they were able to extract and absorb the metal essence from these bizarre foods, using them to forge themselves muscles and bones that were countless times tougher than any metal. The strongest of them could not be injured by any weapons, and had the strength to move mountains. They were the most fearsome warriors on the battlefield.

In ancient times, a chief of this clan had revolted. First, he had defeated the Yan Emperor, Shennong, with a sneak attack, and staged an uprising after that against the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan; fighting for the control over Pangu Continent. The battle had brought the clan its fierce reputation, but at the same time, nearly led to its complete destruction.

Luckily, there were people of Chiyou serving under Xuanyuan all the time. Whenever he was traveling, they were his guard of honor. This group of Chiyou did not betray him even when the clan chief was revolting. As a result, the blood of Chiyou continued to survive, and after so many years of development, they had grown strong and populous in Xuanyuan’s territory, almost back to the height of power and splendor of the past.

This was the first time Wu Qi had met the legendary Chiyou, so he could not help but study them with curiosity. But, that made the two simpleminded guards think that he was provoking them, and nearly gave him a brutal beating with their huge fists. Fortunately, he had an eloquent tongue. Perhaps, eating too many metal ores had given them tough and thick skulls, and left too little room for their brains to grow; hence, these Chiyous seemed to be rather slow-witted. It had taken Wu Qi little to no time to cow them, after which, they had even taken him as their best friend.

Laughing merrily, the two Chiyous led Wu Qi on a mad dash for the top of the mountain. Along the way, they introduced him to the residents of the different mountains near and far while passing through numerous checkpoints guarded by other deities. His guides proved to have big mouths, for they could not wait to tell him all the secrets of these deities, including the colors of the underwear they were wearing.

Wu Qi listened with amazement. No outsiders could have heard of these secrets, that was something he knew for sure.

And so, he was told from the big mouths of the two cow-headed guards that although the great Deities, Zhong and Li ¹ , were tall and mighty, both fearsome warriors on the battlefields, they were actually henpecked. Then, they told him that Deity Yinglong ² , who had assisted the Yellow Emperor during the battle of Chiyou, had just given birth to his 999th son; but, his youngest daughter was a rebellious one. She had fallen in love with a mortal man from Pangu Continent, and was going out with him in her human form now.

The Yellow Emperor had been having a headache about his youngest princess’ marriage, one of the guides told him. It was said that the princess possessed an overall strength that no man could resist, and her only condition for her future husband was to defeat her. However, since she was little, she had defeated all the deities on Xuanyuan Peak, making them flee upon hearing her name. Of all the sons and grandsons of the Yellow Emperor’s subjects who had reached a marriageable age, none dared to provoke this little princess.

How did the two cow-headed guards gather so much gossip, Wu Qi could not tell. All he did was run while listening to them telling him all the secrets of the people living here, his eyes glowing with relish. In the midst of their spittle and stories, the two brought him to the front of Xuanyuan Palace, standing mightily on the top of the mountain.

It was clear that the palace was designed by those ancient immortals. It looked primitive, heavy, dignified, and solemn, yet there was an air of elegance and luxury exuding from all of its details. It was not as extravagant as the buildings built by the immortals of the present time, and did not look as boring as Great Yu’s buildings. Wu Qi had always thought Great Yu’s builders were expert brickmakers, as the palaces they built all looked the same from a distance, a huge square brick.

The entire Xuanyuan Palace took the color of pale gold. Dozens of buildings stood tall and mighty from its front to rear, all shrouded in clouds rich with natural energy. Huge stone pillars loomed from every corner, carved with true dragons, flood dragons, Chi dragons, Qiu dragons, Ying dragons…all the members of the dragon clan. Ancient trees such as Langxuan were planted everywhere. Phoenixes could be seen perched atop the lofty Parasol trees, whileBi Fang ³ were resting amongst the branches of the flaming Iron trees. The presence of countless divine beasts and fowls had further enhanced the magnificence of the palace.

The square in front of the palace was packed with ancient immortals who were either playing chess, creating music with zithers, or practicing calligraphy on large stone tables. There were also some burly deities strolling here and there, mingling with these ancient immortals.

Some deities had purposely maintained their beast forms, walking leisurely among the crowd and filling the air with all kinds of cries, howls, and chirps of beasts and fowls. The square looked more like a noisy market on the Earth, and not a place where the Sacred Emperor of the human race should live.

Wu Qi was almost gaping as the two guides led him through the crowd and came to the main entrance of the palace. There, he saw two guards, each standing over a thousand feet tall, with the big chunks of muscles all over their bodies twitching violently as if countless bombs were constantly exploding beneath them. Leaning lazily against the pair of front doors, both of them were drinking from the wine jars in their hands.

From across the distance, Wu Qi could smell the rich aroma of wine wafting out of the jars. They were drinking some fine wine, not the sour liquid served in the banquet he once tasted in Great Yu’s imperial palace. Wu Qi could not help but curse the damn tradition of Great Yu, ‘Even the guards under the Sacred Emperor are drinking such a fine wine, so why were you serving us that filthy vinegar during the imperial banquet?’

Although standing sixty feet tall, the two Chiyous looked like two little mice in front of the two monster guards, so they did not notice that someone had already come upon them. And obviously, the presence of Wu Qi made no difference, for his height was only that of the average mortals. The giants just kept drinking from their wine jars and gave thunderous belches from time to time.

In Wu Qi’s dull gaze, a Chiyou produced a long-handled axe and flipped it over, then smashed the little toe of the big fellow to the left with the back of the axe head. A loud boom echoed out; Wu Qi reckoned the force of this strike was probably equivalent to the impact of the meteor that had destroyed Ningbo City. The giant, who was drinking to his heart’s content a moment ago, had his face turned purple-black in an instant, and his body stiffened. It was only after a full ten minutes later that he let out a deafening howl.

“Awooooooooooo!” He threw away the wine jar and jumped up with his toes in his hands, then glanced down angrily at the two cow-headed men and growled, “Rascals! I’m gonna strip both of you naked, pluck all your cow hair, and throw you into the Frosty Pond behind the mountain! You are going to stay there for three days and three nights, I swear!”

The Chiyou with the axe looked up, full of mettle, and cried out, “I come with an urgent military intelligence! Prince Chang Qin has sent us a messenger! You better quickly report this to your superior! Your butts are going to suffer should you delay any further!”

The giant, whose little toe was in such intense pain that he wished he could swallow the two Chiyous alive, was taken aback. “Oh!” he answered obsequiously, then turned around and ran into the palace. Wu Qi stared at his back in astonishment. ‘Why do all the people here seem a little retarded?’ he thought. Of course, retarded was a negative word. He could call them simple, honest, kind, and pure. However, when a person was overly simple, honest, kind, and pure, what word was better than retarded to describe him?

As the giant went running into the palace, the other guard continued to drink from his wine jar as if nothing had happened. The two Chiyous happily jumped on the wine jar left behind by the first guard and plunged straight into the pool of wine, drinking to their heart’s content.

The wine jar stood over three hundred feet tall, and when the two sixty-feet-tall Chiyous jumped into it, it seemed like a swimming pool to them. Wu Qi could hear the sound of them drinking the wine, and when he glanced at the inside of the jar with his divine sense, he was shocked to find that in just two or three breaths of time, the two had finished all the wine. They were now sprawled on the bottom of the jar, each with a big belly. Their eyes were rolling, and their faces flushed. It was not hard to tell that both of them were dead drunk.

Wordless, Wu Qi gave them a big thumbs up in his mind. ‘Weirdos… they are truly weirdos…’ He could not find any word to describe the people who lived on Xuanyuan Peak.

Before long, the giant who went inside the palace came running back to them. “Come on in, Prince Chang Qin’s messenger! The Sacred Emperor wants to see you… Ugh, where is he? Where is the messenger?” His eyes grew wide as he looked blankly into the distance. He could not see anyone in front of him.

Wu Qi, whose height was only about eight feet, looked up helplessly at the giant. He reached out one hand and grabbed hold of a hair on the giant’s foot, then gave it a hard pull and yanked it free from its pore. The man cried out in pain and turned his gaze down angrily, only to see Wu Qi standing there. He was shocked, a sign that this was the first time he saw this little man.

Pointing at his own nose, Wu Qi said with a wry smile, “I am Tan Lang, the Marquis of Dong Hai Province. I am the messenger Prince Chang Qin has sent!”

The giant blinked in surprise. While frowning, he said, “Such a tiny messenger? How long did it take you to run here from the Ghost Realm? The long journey must have worn you out, right? Aye, how could Prince Chang Qin be so cruel to you? How could a tiny man like you travel such a long distance?”

Shaking his head, the big fellow reached out his hand and scooped up Wu Qi, then started to run back into the palace.

The giant’s comment rendered Wu Qi speechless once again. What did he mean? A short man could not be a messenger? Or perhaps, he thought the smaller a man was, the slower he ran? If that was his logic, what about those Primordial experts?

With Wu Qi in his hand, the big fellow ran and ran, passing dozens of majestic halls and seeing countless strange things, until they came to a great hall sitting on a huge stone platform, wrapped in purple clouds.

There, he put Wu Qi down and assumed a solemn expression as he walked slowly into the great hall, one step at a time. Wu Qi followed closely after him. However, for every step the big fellow took, he had to trot a dozen steps. He could not help but shake his head, and found that the big fellow’s logic did make sense, especially when one could not use any divine ability or magic.

Following the big fellow, he trotted up the lofty stone platform and entered the majestic great hall.

The inside of the hall was so vast and spacious that it could accommodate tens of thousands of men that were as huge as the big fellow who brought Wu Qi here at the same time. Only a few old men clad in black and white robes stood sparsely in the great hall now; however, an amiable old man could be seen sitting on a throne at the far end of the hall, looking at Wu Qi with a pair of eyes that appeared to be no different than those of any other old man.

Wu Qi’s heart gave a jolt, and he dropped to his knees almost reflexively.

“This subject, Wu Qi, offers greetings, Your Majesty.”