Chapter 136: A Grasshopper Can Still Jump Out of the Frying Pan
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The Heaven-Piercing Immortal Emperor moved with astonishing speed. The Emperor Serpent, the Dragon Emperor’s corpse, Jingshang, and the shadow upon the divine bow watched anxiously. The bow had even begun to bend, and within it a radiant arrow, bright as a pillar of light, was taking shape.
If Wuyun could not endure it and his spirit were destroyed, that arrow would lock onto the Heaven-Piercing Emperor and stop him.
The trace of Nine Heavens Divine Thunder remaining within Wuyun’s spirit had been left behind by the primordial Chaos Thunder. In the small mortal worlds, such Chaos Thunder was unimaginably powerful; a mere wisp could shake an entire group to death. But after reaching the Immortal Realm, it no longer possessed much power. It could only protect Wuyun’s spirit from invasion.
“You will never obtain the secrets of my spirit. This wisp of thunder energy is a restriction—a restriction that would rather shatter like jade than survive as broken tile!” Wuyun kindly warned him.
The Heaven-Piercing Immortal Emperor extended a hand and slowly dragged Wuyun’s spirit from his body.
He intended to draw it out strand by strand, suppress it with the power of laws, and obtain all of Wuyun’s consciousness in the blink of an eye.
To do that, he first had to extract Wuyun’s spirit and place it within the laws.
As long as the body was not damaged and Wuyun did not resist too fiercely, it ought to be possible.
Zuantian, the Emperor Serpent, and the other Immortal Emperors all understood the principle behind this. They, too, wished to see images of the God Realm. As strands of Wuyun’s spirit were drawn out, image after image flew from within it.
They were the original source of the Soul-Shaking Saber, imprinted in Wuyun’s mind after he had witnessed them.
When the Immortal Emperors saw those images, they were instantly overcome with excitement.
“Certain things from the God Realm cannot appear in the Immortal Realm—not even certain memories. Look. If this place were not sealed by a great formation, it would already have attracted the attention of the heavenly tribulation.”
The Emperor Serpent muttered to himself. Yet the shadow upon the bow showed no sign of attacking.
The Heaven-Piercing Immortal Emperor had handled this extremely well. By revealing the memories within Wuyun’s spirit, he allowed everyone to examine them and understand them together. Under such circumstances, while Wuyun remained alive, who would interrupt him?
As strand after strand of memory was extracted, Wuyun fell peacefully asleep like an infant. Long Yi called out to him several times from the side, only to discover that Wuyun could not even produce a sound.
Under the pressure of an Immortal Emperor, Rong Ya was no more than a wounded crawling insect. He struggled toward Long Yi, inch by inch. He had detonated the power of his spirit and suffered grave injuries. He needed Long Yi to release their contract—or, more precisely, to save Long Yi in this moment of crisis.
High in the sky, Antuo, who had never entered the formation and departed, shook his head repeatedly. Who could know how frantic he truly was inside?
Had Yue Qi not kept calling for them to wait for Master Wuyun, he would have wished to trample the heavens with all four hooves and leave at once.
There were too many Immortal Emperors. Even if all of them gathered their strength, they could not contend with a single one.
“Does Senior have another card up his sleeve?” King Xiong the Third muttered.
Antuo wiped away the sweat on his muzzle with a forehoof, then rubbed it again and whispered, “There must be another card, but I feel Senior has miscalculated. With this many Immortal Emperors, he is doomed. Could it be that, at the most dangerous moment, he will leave us final words and have us flee first?”
Antuo glanced once more at the rift in space. The others could sense nothing, but he knew that the entire sphere surrounding the planet—above and below, left and right, in every dimension—had been sealed by restrictions.
Escape? Difficult. Impossible. Utterly impossible.
The Heaven-Piercing Immortal Emperor continued shaving away strands of spirit, but after a while he discovered that the portion already extracted remained connected to Wuyun’s body by a thread.
No matter how he tried to sever it, he could not break that connection. If the spirit could not be extracted completely and placed within the formation, how could he obtain Wuyun’s consciousness?
The Heaven-Piercing Emperor attacked again and again. In a moment of carelessness, Wuyun’s four limbs were crushed into powder.
Those limbs had been hacked from Jiayouke’s own body and installed upon Wuyun. Their strength was exceedingly weak.
At that moment, the immortal bow burst into brilliant light and launched its attack. The arrow was already nocked; it had no choice but to fly.
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The Heaven-Piercing Emperor raised a hand and halted the approaching radiance. He stared at Wuyun’s chest and head, then at the phantom runes that had appeared where the crushed limbs had been. Involuntarily, he cried out, “Could this be a curse from the God Realm?”
Zuantian, the Emperor Serpent, and the other Immortal Emperors all examined the scene with their spiritual senses. In the end, every one of them was shaken by the method before them.
A mocking voice rang out from within Wuyun’s spirit. “My body is immortal and indestructible. See for yourself!”
As soon as the words fell, the crystal hidden within Wuyun’s chest released a mass of black energy. Passing through the phantom runes, it formed a new pair of limbs. The sight left even the Heaven-Piercing Emperor speechless.
He knew perfectly well what was hidden in Wuyun’s chest: nothing more than a few strands of dark baleful energy. Yet the fact that this baleful energy could be transformed into another form of power exceeded all imagination.
It was as though a door had been opened within the Immortal Realm. Perhaps it was a method of surviving the third imperial tribulation. Perhaps it was a key to passing through the gate to the God Realm.
The back of the Heaven-Piercing Immortal Emperor’s head shone with dazzling, multicolored light. After calculating for a long while, he halted Wuyun’s current state and shouted, “Freeze!”
Wuyun’s entire spirit remained motionless in an utterly incredible posture. From within it came only a contemptuous laugh.
“This body of mine is immortal and indestructible. Countless demons and strange creatures have long coveted it. Possessing my body would even allow one to understand the secrets of the God Realm and obtain the means and power to enter it.”
In the face of Wuyun’s provocation, the Heaven-Piercing Emperor merely shook his head. He pointed toward the ever-revolving, voidlike runes within the places where Wuyun’s limbs had vanished.
“These are projections of the God Realm—or perhaps of some other space. It is difficult to imagine that a projection could actually possess parasitic life. Fellow Daoist with the bow, why not wait a few days? Once we have thoroughly studied it, we will deliver him to you.”
The projection did not answer. Instead, the entire bow and arrowhead shimmered with golden light. An arrow shot forth and pierced space. Then, within that golden radiance, a black passage split open. After a moment, a towering figure stepped out.
He, too, was an Immortal Emperor who had survived two imperial tribulations.
Once he emerged, his identity became clear. Though he was only a clone, he possessed one-tenth of an Immortal Emperor’s power.
“Immortal King Heaven-Piercer, this poor Daoist pays his respects!”
All the Immortal Emperors were astonished. The newcomer was none other than the vice leader of the Loose Immortal Alliance—the Daoist Chenliao, also known as the Dao Emperor.
“Everyone, I have not come this time on behalf of the Loose Immortal Alliance. I represent another organization—an extremely powerful one. It controls the competition for the small worlds, as well as the transportation and trade of certain resources belonging to Immortal Emperors.”
Behind him stood an enormous force. No wonder even Jingshang had been unable to refuse his invitation.
The power to which the Dao Emperor Chenliao referred remained unnamed, but everyone had some vague idea of its origins.
Even the Emperor Serpent shook his head. “Daoist, you would do better not to join that organization. People say I have slain countless dragons, but I still obey the laws of Heaven and Earth. What you do is forbidden even by the Immortal Realm. Once discovered, Heaven and Earth themselves will reject you. You will be forced to hide in another space, and all your gains will be outweighed by the losses.”
“Fellow Daoist Emperor Serpent, my resources can help you rapidly increase your strength.”
“Hmph. Once I exterminate the entire dragon clan, Heaven will bestow immortal grace upon me, and I will pass through the third imperial tribulation directly. I may even become a god.”
The Dao Emperor Chenliao then looked toward Zuantian and the other three Immortal Emperors. Zuantian had just opened his mouth when Chenliao hurriedly interrupted him.
“Since you have a feud with the Elegant Immortal Emperor, our small organization will not interfere in your grudge. However, those below the level of an Immortal King…”
His gaze fell upon Dongyin Gonggong. His meaning was clear: he wished to establish a favorable connection with him as well.
Zuantian agreed at once. With a wave of his hand, Dongyin Gonggong drifted over. After whispering a few words to him, the Dao Emperor Chenliao immediately bestowed upon him a token capable of opening passages and establishing contact.
“Rest assured. We know the tombs of countless Immortal Emperors, Demon Emperors, Beast Emperors, and even Evil Emperors from other domains. So long as you are willing, you may visit any of them.”
Dongyin Gonggong’s expression darkened. He had long since grown tired of excavating corpses. Although he possessed the cultivation of an Immortal King, he could not unleash it freely without paying an enormous price. It was a source of considerable frustration.
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With this thin bond established, Chenliao withdrew the immortal bow and strode toward Wuyun. He also employed a supreme technique to fix space in place, preventing any unforeseen changes.
As the Emperor Serpent, Jingshang, and the others joined them, a group of Immortal Emperors sat down in meditation around Wuyun.
“I have already said that I do not want the saber from the God Realm.” The Dao Emperor Chenliao was the first to state his position. Then he continued, “In any case, our organization has promised someone that we would obtain this young man’s spirit. If you possess the ability, you may divide this strange body among yourselves; I will not interfere. So long as this young man’s spirit does not perish and you allow me to take it away, I, on behalf of the force behind me, acknowledge that I owe every one of you a great favor. Each of your disciples or relatives will receive one place to join our organization, with no restriction on cultivation!”
Anyone capable of becoming an Immortal Emperor possessed extraordinary wisdom. After weighing Chenliao’s arrangement, all the Immortal Emperors quietly calculated their own gains.
Excellent.
“I want the seed of immortal fire within him,” Jingshang declared. Seeing that the Heaven-Piercing Emperor seemed intent on keeping everything for himself, he added slowly, “You have already obtained the inheritance. As for whether there is some supreme immortal physique within him, that is your concern.”
“I want the immortal artifacts and his memories. As for this saber, I am determined to have it. Anyone who contests it should understand that I would rather sacrifice this clone and summon my true body here!”
“I support Sister Bi’s decision!”
Jingshang had spoken, and the Dragon Emperor’s corpse standing beside him could also be counted as a force in its own right. With the offspring of a peak Immortal King at their side, they could at the very least endure until the end.
Jingshang, the Emperor Serpent, the dragon corpse, Chenliao’s faction, and the four Immortal Emperors led by the Heaven-Piercing Emperor were already acting as one. After a brief discussion, the sealed flame within Wuyun began moving toward Jingshang’s spirit.
Yet at that very moment, the perfected Immortal King Luohuawu intervened and blocked the flame’s path. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Have all of you seniors forgotten about your little sister?”
A peak Immortal King could exchange two blows with an Immortal Emperor who had survived one tribulation, but against one who had survived two, they belonged to entirely different levels.
But who was Luohuawu?
She was the master of the planet, capable of controlling the power of its stellar core to resist her enemies.
Moreover, the stellar-core power had chosen a perfected Immortal King as its vessel, thus ensuring that the planet itself would not be pierced through by the predation of an Immortal Emperor.
“I had indeed forgotten you. But the fact that your Hundred Flowers Valley has survived until now is also due to our protection. Since your master is my disciple, you may have half of this true flame.”
The Heaven-Piercing Emperor was generous. After all, he had no intention of taking the flame himself.
Jingshang’s face darkened, and he was just about to erupt in anger when Wuyun’s spirit moved.
A trace of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder burst free from its cocoon, breaking through layer upon layer of restrictions and carrying Wuyun’s spirit out.
But it could do so only once.
The Heaven-Piercing Emperor did not stop it. That single strike from the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder was equivalent to the strongest attack of a first-tribulation Immortal Emperor. Once it vanished, Wuyun would still be meat upon the chopping block.
In the next instant, the power of the entire star suddenly converged upon Wuyun’s spirit and merged with it.
The Heaven-Piercing Emperor and the others frowned.
Could a grasshopper really leap out of a boiling pot?
Seeing this, King Xiong the Third asked Antuo how strong Senior Wuyun truly was.
Antuo shook his head. “A surprise is still a surprise. For him to gain the recognition of the stellar power is nothing short of a miracle. But even if he can obtain the strength of a first-level Immortal Emperor, how long can he endure against so many imperial beings? Look at the way the Heaven-Piercing Emperor regards Wuyun—as though he were already dead. Tsk, tsk. I feel that for us to escape alive, countless more miracles will have to occur.”
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