Chapter 1290: A Colossal Joke
The Ingenium King was a woman and had established one of Multitude City’s four major dens of crystal consumption—the Ingenium Gazebo—without assistance from any other. She rivaled the Human, Elysium, Finepure, and Fineheart Kings.
The Colosseum, Sublime Pavilion, Elysium Atelier, and Ingenium Gazebo were the four great factions that reaped money in Multitude City and four of its notable heavyweights.
The Colosseum needed no further introduction, and the Sublime Pavilion was the largest brothel of Multitude City. However, the girls of the pavilion trained their hearts in the mundane world and only transacted their skills in the performing arts. Their wares didn’t include their bodies, and it was solely up to their preference when it came to searching for dao partners.
The Elysium Atelier was the largest casino in the city and wagered bets on everything. Smaller tables gambled purple crystals and larger tables hosted bets on contests between the experts of the Hongmeng. Anything that one wished to place a bet on could be found here, and sometimes, patrons even wagered on when a certain powerhouse would break through.
As for the Ingenium Gazebo, it was all things to all people and had eyes everywhere. All sorts of news, intelligence, gossip, and back alley rumors swirled in its records. It was similar to the paparazzi of Earth, and for the right price, they could even find out what color underwear the Finepure King preferred to wear.
The ingenium King had joined the fray; the characters of her title bore down ferociously on the Human and Luminous Kings.
Two characters had appeared over the Human King’s head—Human King. This was the title that the Hongmeng Tower had bestowed upon him.
“Human” was both a specific race and a generic designation for countless living beings. That he’d received this title was testament to his strength and potential.
The Colosseum ranked first among the four not because of the Blood and Beast Kings, but because the Human King alone was enough to keep everything under control.
But the joint efforts of the Elysium, Ingenium, Fineheart, and Finepure Kings formed an immense forcefield that firmly suppressed the Human King and forced his title out of him. Despite that, the Luminous King behind him showed no signs of displaying his own.
"I defeated the four of you back in the day and forced you to give up most of the profits in Multitude City. I could do it then and I can do it again now!” His face twisting with effort, the Human King’s presence showed no signs of weakening as he solidly shouldered the pressure from the four sixth step kings.
The Luminous King had finally realized how serious things were and released his own forcefield, transmuting it to the even more sophisticated influence and bolstering the Human King with it.
The Elysium, Ingenium, Fineheart, and Finepure Kings looked at each other with darkening expressions. This wasn’t an actual fight, just exerting oblique pressure to force the Luminous King into displaying his title. No one had fathomed that the Human King alone would be able to withstand them all!
He was stronger than when he’d first come to Multitude City.
“Heh heh heh, Luminous King!” A sinister voice traveled in on the wind. “I’m also a little curious about what the title of a hypocrite may be. You caused me to be driven out of my home, so I’m unmasking you for the fraudster you are today!”
Boom!
A pillar of blood-red light soared into the skies and resolved itself into two characters, combining with the force of the other four kings.
Butcher King!
Jin Naluo appeared at this critical moment!
When the Butcher King title appeared, the skies turned red like a corner of the Blood Sea was about to appear.
Pff!
The Human King spat out a mouthful of blood and his title instantly dissipated.
“Ahhhhh!!” The Luminous King shrieked as he flew backward. A ball of light burst from his body and formed two characters in the air.
Luminous King!
He really is the Luminous King?
The Elysium and Ingenium Kings looked askance at each other.
“Hmph! How dare you try these petty tricks at this juncture? Break!” A bloody fist appeared in the air and punched the two characters.
Boom!!
The two characters broke apart with a tremble of the void!
A title bestowed by the Hongmeng Tower had been dispersed!
Everyone’s mind spun. Had Butcher King Jin Naluo become so strong after obtaining one of the keys to the tower?
“Look, the title didn’t break apart!”
“Is that.. the Luminous King’s real title?”
“Lu.. Lu.. Lewd King?! The fuck?”
Jaws dropped throughout the crowd. The Luminous King of Virtue and Integrity was.. the.. Lewd King?
Even the Elysium King and others were slack jawed. They’d only guessed that there was some variation to the Luminous King’s title, that instead of the characters for “hidden jade”, maybe the “jade” character would be the homophone character “hell” or something like that. But his real title was the Lewd King??
No wonder he’d snuck into the Sublime Pavilion three years ago to take one of their girls!
“There was once a sex-crazed fiend in the Hongmeng who committed all crimes of rape, plunder, assault, and abduction. Countless numbers of female cultivators fell to his hands and he later disappeared. I’d always thought that he had something to do with the Windcall King’s replica of lust, but to think that it was the Luminous King!”
“That’s right! The lecherous swine was titled the Lewd King!” The Elysium and Ingenium Kings babbled one after another from sheer shock.
The Luminous King’s face was ashen—even his eyes were the same color.
“Hahaha!!” Jin Naluo’s howling laughter ripped through the air. “I, Jin Naluo, was condemned and denounced my entire life because of this animal. I became the devil of the Hongmeng because of this thing! Haha.. HAHAHAHAHA!!”
When Jin Naluo received his title of Butcher King, it had indeed been the character for slaughter and massacre. That had caused the Luminous King to assert that the Butcher King would certainly become a plague upon the realm in the future, an utter demon.
Thus forewarned, Jin Naluo’s master threw him out.
Jin Naluo discarded his title after that and journeyed the land with his real name. He rose to fame after endless gory battles and became a titan of Multitude City, instilling fear in others at the sound of his name.
“All these years.. I was deserted by everyone close to me and left alone because of a single word from this waste of space. I practiced the demonic dao and refined the Blood Sea, becoming a great devil of the Hongmeng all. because. of. this. thing!
“What a joke. What an utter, colossal joke!!”
Rumble.
Blood-red lightning crashed through the hair as the red-haired, red-robed Jin Naluo walked down from the void.
White as a sheet, the Luminous King cowered in a corner. Even the Human King was pale. He hadn’t been a match for Jin Naluo in the past and he certainly wasn’t one now. This was a true peak sixth step king who had the right to own a key to the Hongmeng Tower!
“Human King, are you going to protect him?” Jin Naluo’s eyes were a bright scarlet and his merciless voice like one of the prisoners from the depths of the Hadal Hell.
The Human King trembled, still reeling from the fact that the Luminous King’s real title was this travesty.
The Lewd King? How was this person in any way fit to be the Moral Emperor of the Hongmeng? Jin Naluo was right, this was a colossal joke.historical
He quickly threw himself to the side.
“Heh heh heh, if the Human King doesn’t dare protect him, how about I protect him?” Another voice came from the air before a towering body suddenly appeared in front of the Luminous King.
Lu Yun had seen him before—the sixth step king that’d appeared when Jin Naluo visited the city lord residence of the City of Immortals. His strength was on par with Jin Naluo’s and he’d been vying for the key to the Hongmeng Tower.
He showed himself when Jin Naluo was about to kill the Luminous King not to protect the latter, but to oppose Jin Naluo.
etvolare's Thoughts
Oh my gawd, I can literally hear Jin Naluo's heart break and him lose his mind.
Interesting tidbit behind the scenes: I had a helluva time naming the Luminous King because I knew this reveal was coming down the line. If I'd named him exactly how the Chinese was, it would've been something like Hidden Jade King or Obscured Jade King. The characters for that and "Lewd King" are pronounced the same in Chinese, so the big reveal wouldn't have hit with as much oomph in English because that level of subtlety would've been lost.
I hit upon translating the meaning of his fake title -- being hidden among the masses and lighting the way forward like the true beacon of moral and ethics he is, blahblah, and it worked perfectly because the first syllable of Luminous and Lewd are pronounced the same. I got to translate accurately, keep the Chinese wordplay, and have it be enjoyable to read in English. Win win win!
I'll be posting the raws VS translated text on my Twitter later on, so feel free to follow for more behind the scenes!