Chapter 289: Poaching

A guess was one thing.

The truth was something else entirely.

Upon seeing Zhou Donghuang reply to the old man’s question, not only did the old man’s eyes widen in shock, but the other people present also drew in a sharp breath. At that moment, it seemed as if time had slowed to a pause.

“In the history of the Hengliu galaxy, even for those two Transcendental Forces, I don’t think there has been any Dharma adept who has mastered Dharma Power Control.

“As far as I know, there were many Dharma adepts in the Hengliu galaxy that desperately tried to perfect their Dharma Power and worked hard to master the technique of Dharma Power Control… However, until the end of their lives, they were still unable to master the technique and could only progress to the Primordial Soul stage even after they had suppressed their progress for so many years. Otherwise, their lives would surely have ended!”

“I heard about that too, in fact, in the history of our Qingyun Guild, there were two ancestors who did precisely that… one of them was unlucky and only tried to advance to the Primordial Soul stage one year before his life was due to end, but in the end, he failed to reach the Primordial Soul stage and passed away.

“I thought that it was only in those galaxies that were filled with resources for training that a Dharma adept could master Dharma Power Control… I never would have thought that someone like that would appear in our Hengliu galaxy!”

“Zhou Donghuang, the Lightning Sword Sect disciple, has indeed made history in our Hengliu galaxy!”

…

At that point, the different disciples of the many Alliance sects were all amazed and excited that they were able to witness a piece of history.

Of course, there were also many disciples who sighed silently to themselves, as they felt that it was a real shame to be born into the same generation as Zhou Donghuang. They would surely find themselves inferior to Zhou Donghuang.

“This Zhou Donghuang… he really managed to master the technique of Dharma Power Control!”

In the far distance, Zhong Chengcai, a disciple of the Yuanyin Order, narrowed his eyes. He had never expected that Zhou Donghuang would be able to master Dharma Power Control.

However, after thinking about it again, as he thought about how Zhou Donghuang quickly and easily killed two ultimate Dharma demons that day, perhaps that was no coincidence?

Zhong Chengcai had always thought that those two demons had suffered from some disease that cropped up suddenly, and that allowed Zhou Donghuang to take advantage of their momentary weakness… but now, it looked like Zhou Donghuang had in fact managed to kill the two ultimate Dharma demons using his own strength.

“Is the Dharma Power Control technique really so powerful?”

Zhong Chengcai glared at Zhou Donghuang in a state of shock. He was already regretting having offended Zhou Donghuang.

“What should I do? I’ve already offended him twice… even if he did not take offense the first time, but from how I looked at him just now, he will definitely bear a grudge against me.

“In the future, when he gets even stronger, he will definitely kill me when he thinks of what happened.

“No way! I can’t just do nothing and wait for my death!

“When I get back, I must get Father to think of a way to kill him before he gets even stronger than now… once he gains even more power, even Father, or even the entire Yuanyin Order, will not be able to contain him!”

At that moment, Zhong Chengcai made a determined decision.

If Zhou Donghuang knew what Zhong Chengcai was thinking, he would have thought that he was in a state of paranoia, worrying about nothing.

“He… has he really mastered Dharma Power Control?”

Luo Qinghan stood among the group of disciples from the Jihan Sect. In that instant, she could sense the looks of envy from many other Jihan Sect disciples. It was not hard to guess why they were looking at her with such envy; they were definitely jealous that she had a man like Zhou Donghuang.

Faced with this, she felt both helpless and bitter. “I… when can I catch up to you?”

When Luo Qinghan had received the Deity-level “Thousand-Star Sword Technique,” she thought that she would finally have a chance to catch up to Zhou Donghuang… but now, she could not help but doubt that. Did she really have the opportunity to catch up to someone like Zhou Donghuang?

Zhou Donghuang was clearly no less capable than that Zhuge Haotian.

Although she still did not know who that Zhuge Haotian was, through the last words that he had left her, it was not hard to guess that he was from a strong, prominent family that was most probably among the premiere star clans in the entire universe.

Otherwise, how could he just produce a Deity-level technique to give to her for her practice?

“Zhou Donghuang was sent to that lousy Ziyun planet by his birth father… my father guessed before that his biological father must have been someone of some background. However, now that I look at it, his real background would surely be no less than Zhuge Haotian. Otherwise, how could he reach such a level at such a young age and even master Dharma Power Control?”

Now, in the eyes of Luo Qinghan, Zhou Donghuang was already on the same level as Zhuge Haotian.

And Zhuge Haotian was someone that she would most likely be unable to catch up to in terms of skill, even if she converted to practicing the Deity-level, Thousand-Star Sword Technique.

“Maybe… it will never be meant to be between him and me…” sighed Luo Qinghan quietly.

“Zhou Donghuang.”

As the crowd watched on, the Deputy Alliance Leader, a mid Primordial Soul elder, looked at Zhou Donghuang and said in a friendly manner, “Besides being the Deputy Alliance Leader, I am also the Distinguished Elder of the Guiyuan sect, He Qingshan.”

As he spoke, his eyes flashed as he got straight to the point. “Zhou Donghuang, I know that you are currently a disciple of the Lightning Sword Sect. But as the saying goes, water flows downwards, while men will always climb higher. If you agree to join our Guiyuan Sect, I will surely take you as my own disciple, and I can promise you that the whole Guiyuan Sect and I will surely do all we can to groom you!”

When the leader of the Lightning Sword Sect, Yu Yucheng, saw He Qingshan introduce himself eagerly to Zhou Donghuang, he had already known that something was not right.

Before he could react, He Qingshan had already tried to poach Zhou Donghuang from his sect.

Instantly, his expression darkened as he looked at He Qingshan with disapproval. “Brother He, what you are doing? Zhou Donghuang is a disciple of the Lightning Sword Sect and a member of the Alliance… what you are doing surely goes against the rules of the Alliance, does it not?”

The Alliance of the Hengliu galaxy was made up of the 52 top sects of the Hengliu galaxy, and the Alliance had its own internal rules to allow the various sects to remain on good terms with each other. In order to achieve that, sects were not allowed to poach disciples from other sects

But now, He Qingshan, the Deputy Alliance Leader, was breaking this rule!

Faced with the disapproval of Yu Yucheng, He Qingshan was calm as he replied flatly, “Leader Yu, in normal circumstances, poaching disciples would surely harm the relationship between different sects of the Alliance… but in special situations, there is no need to heed such rules that limit us.

“Zhou Donghuang is just twenty-six years old, but he is already a late Dharma adept and has even perfected his Dharma Power to such an extent that he has mastered the technique of Dharma Power Control… based on his current level of achievement, there is nobody else in the entire history of Hengliu galaxy that can compare to him now.

“Someone like this, even the Qi Dynasty of the Guangling Academy would want to have him.

“Today, I made this promise to him to ensure that he remains with us in the Alliance… otherwise, would you want to lose him to the Qi Dynasty or the Guangling Academy?”

Seeing Yu Yucheng open his mouth as if he was about to respond, He Qingshan quickly continued and said, “I know that you want to say that your Lightning Sword Sect can also provide anything that the Guiyuan Sect can give… But don’t forget that your Lightning Sword Sect has only been around for so many years; your history can hardly be considered half of ours in the Guiyuan Sect.

“If we were to talk about history, the Lightning Sword Sect surely can’t compare to the Guiyuan Sect, would you disagree with that?

“Furthermore, what the Guiyuan Sect can provide to Zhou Donghuang, your Lightning Sword Sect may not be able to do the same.”

He Qingshan’s words left Yu Yucheng speechless, as he could not respond. What He Qingshan said was indeed the truth.

The Guiyuan Sect was one of the oldest sects that were still surviving in the Hengliu galaxy to date. They had a long and illustrious history, almost comparable to the Transcendental Forces of the Qi Dynasty and the Guangling Academy in the Hengliu galaxy.

The Lightning Sword Sect was only established sometime after.

If one were to compare history, the Lightning Sword Sect was definitely nothing compared to the Guiyuan Sect.

Seeing Yu Yucheng unable to respond, He Qingshan then looked at Zhou Donghuang again and wanted to continue his pitch to convince him…

However, before he could speak again, the leader of the Yunyue Sect had already spoken up. “Zhou Donghuang, based on history, our Yunyue Sect is comparable to the Guiyuan Sect… as long as you agree to become a disciple of our Yunyue Sect, whatever the Guiyuan Sect can give you, our Yunyue Sect can also give to you and more!”

Once the Yunyue Sect Leader had said this, there were immediately other Sect Leaders who also chimed in, each trying to poach Zhou Donghuang from the Lightning Sword Sect, trying to convince him to join their respective sects instead.

These sects were all as old as the Guiyuan sect and had long histories.

When the Yunyue Sect Leader had spoken, He Qingshan’s expression had already turned sour. Now that so many other Sect Leaders had also started speaking, his expression turned sour… however, he could not say anything to refute them, because these sects were indeed as established as his Guiyuan Sect.

In fact, some of them had even longer histories than the Guiyuan Sect.

“Zhou Donghuang!”

Then, even the leader of the Jihan Sect, Meng Yuping, also stood up to join in the fun. She looked at Zhou Donghuang with a warm smile on her face and said, “Our Jihan Sect has a long history as well and is as established as any other sect… if you join our Jihan Sect, we can give you anything that any other sect can offer you.

“On top of that, you can even be together with Luo Qinghan here and be a couple.”

As Meng Yuping spoke, the Yunyue Sect Leader had a bitter smile on his face. Hearing Meng Yuping’s words, he could not help but give her a thumbs up. “Leader Meng, you’re really something else! Looks like nobody else here can compete with you today.”

When He Qingshan and the rest of the Sect Leaders, who had tried to recruit Zhou Donghuang, looked on with confusion, the Yunyue Sect Leader quickly explained the relationship between Zhou Donghuang and Luo Qinghan, and their expressions changed totally immediately.

They would never have expected that the Jihan Sect would have an advantage like this!

Hearing the words of Meng Yuping, Zhou Donghuang looked at Luo Qinghan, but saw that she was also looking at him and shaking her head slightly.

“Luo Qinghan!”

When Meng Yuping saw Luo Qinghan’s little action, her face darkened immediately as her gaze turned serious.