Chapter Ninety-Eight: Intercepted

When Wuyun departed, the Imperial Artifact resisted with all its might, but due to the loss of the True Fire and other factors, it ultimately failed. Once they were outside, the Emperor Snake clone, having made prior preparations, tore open space and made a clean getaway with Wuyun and the Array Diagram in tow.

Left behind were the Seven Seas Castle’s artifact spirit—its power halved—and a dumbfounded Lan Chulian, the two staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Senior, how do I shake off the Seven Seas Castle that is tracking me?" Antuo sought advice earnestly. With this senior by his side, his ambitions had grown, but Wuyun offered no reply.

The Seven Seas Castle was connected to his spirit; as long as his soul remained, he could sense his Imperial Artifact.

"Young sister, I foresee that this journey is fraught with danger for you. You should manifest your true form and invite me to accompany you!" Wuyun clasped his hands together, looking very much like a fortune-telling Taoist. Within the aura, the Emperor Snake clone, who was enveloping Wuyun, frowned slightly.

She used her hands to open a small passage within the spatial tunnel, sealing the God-Startling Blade inside an Immortal Artifact before sending it away. The next moment, everyone—along with the sent-away blade—was suddenly swallowed by a massive entity from the external space, including the pursuing Imperial Artifact, all drawn into an unfathomably deep maw.

"Who dares to leak my whereabouts!" the Emperor Snake clone roared in fury. Clutching a first-grade Immortal Fork, second only to an Imperial Artifact, she charged forward to strike, but before she could break through the endless waves, she was seized by a ghostly claw.

It was a multicolored, diamond-scaled claw. It did not merely grab the Emperor Snake clone; it seized the space around her as well, leaving her no time to react, trapping her in a spatial stasis where time itself stood still.

"The Space-Time Dragon Clan!" Long Yi’s face lit up with joy. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the claw reach toward the God-Startling Blade.

At the moment the blade was seized, Wuyun pointed at the Fear-Hate Immortal Sword held by Long Yi. The Six-Talent Ancestral Dragon emerged, and the God-Startling Blade vanished into the belly of the Six-Talent, falling silent.

The multicolored claw searched around, and finally reached toward Wuyun. Ignoring Long Yi’s shouting, the claw continued its advance, enveloped the Array Diagram, and snatched it toward Wuyun.

Just as Wuyun was being grasped, Imperial might erupted in a grand display. Under Antuo’s control, the Seven Seas Castle broke through the encirclement, tore open a path, and fled frantically.

However, once they escaped into a patch of light, two eyes as large as satellites were watching them. Then, a dragon’s roar echoed: "Hand over the Divine Realm items, and I shall spare your lives!"

The speaker was a true Dragon-form Immortal Emperor. Just as Wuyun was about to open negotiations, his mount, the little bug Green Leaf, blurted out: "Hey, isn't this the Space Dragon that the Emperor Snake killed? How is it alive again?"

That an Imperial Dragon previously slain by the Emperor Snake would return as a corpse to attack her clone was a mystery; Wuyun had pondered it for a long time but dared not gamble. Together with the Rainbow Deer Imperial Artifact, with whom he had just reached an agreement, he continued to tear through layers of spatial rifts, fleeing relentlessly.

"You promised me you would break away from my master. If you renege, I would rather self-destruct than let you live!" the Rainbow Deer artifact spirit pressed aggressively. Great Emperor Antuo looked grim, unsure of Wuyun’s true intentions.

With his own life on the line, Wuyun had no reason to hide anything. He naturally agreed to help the Rainbow Deer sever its connection with its master to avoid being erased.

Antuo, for his part, was promised that he would not need to descend to the lower realms; by cultivating anew and gathering his soul fragments, he could return to his peak state.

Thus, their recent strike—a collaboration of former enemies—truly unleashed the power of an Immortal Emperor, shattering the cage and allowing them to escape.

"It’s just a pity for Lan Chulian!" Wuyun stared at the lost, foolishly cute figure within the Imperial Artifact, feeling a pang of emotion. Sometimes, fate was just like that: he had intended to trip someone up, but ended up giving them an entire shoe store.

As he sighed, even though they were constantly weaving through space, the pursuers behind them drew closer. To escape safely, they would need to use moves that could shake and disrupt space. Yet, with Antuo and the Rainbow Deer present, Wuyun fought calmly, keeping his methods to himself.

Until the Array Diagram had been grabbed three times and the Seven Seas Castle had taken seven hits, Long Yi asked loudly: "Senior, why don't you use that spatial technique you have to shake off enemies?"

Wuyun looked at the Rainbow Deer and replied, "That is my capital. You know the saying: teach the apprentice, kill the master. Do you not understand?"

They held out until the very end, when the Seven Seas Castle could no longer endure. After Wuyun imparted the secret technique, one of its citadels exploded at a point in space-time, vanishing without a trace.

As the spatial turbulence intensified, Wuyun raised the Array Diagram, and the Six Heavens and Eight Lands disappeared within the explosion. Only the pursuing Dragon corpse, ignoring the destructive force, paused to verify the situation before quietly departing.

As it left, the Emperor Snake broke through the stasis, drawing upon the power of her true self. For a long time, the sound of a shrew’s cursing echoed through the air.

Subsequently, the Ten-Fox Immortal King appeared, kneeling before the Emperor Snake clone, not daring to speak.

"Did this item from the Divine Realm fall into the hands of the mastermind behind the Imperial Dragon, or where? That God-Blade must not be abandoned! Pass down the order: find the Imperial Dragon’s corpse first. Whoever is manipulating this to ruin my grand plan, I shall execute without mercy!"

"Yes!" The Ten-Fox Immortal King bowed his head respectfully, not daring to lift it for a long time.

After the Emperor Snake vanished, so did the Ten-Fox. And what of Wuyun?

The Array Diagram, slashed by the Dragon Emperor’s three claws, had lost two lands, reverting to Six Heavens and Six Lands, though with Antuo’s materials, it still possessed the function of self-repair.

When Wuyun tore through space and drifted into the cosmos, he looked out to see a scene of wreckage; countless metal fragments collided and ground against each other.

"What region is this!" Antuo closed his eyes, trying to recall their previous route. Because the explosion had been too violent, the spatial tunnel had deviated, and even he was at a loss as to their current location.

As they searched for their bearings, a rift suddenly opened nearby. A portion of the Seven Seas Castle appeared, but as soon as it emerged into the void, it disintegrated, adding to the surrounding debris.

Antuo felt a heart-wrenching pain; what they had seen before was also a part of the Seven Seas Castle. For every moment they had spent in the spatial tunnel, much had transpired outside.

Who could shatter an Imperial Artifact like the Seven Seas Castle? No one could do it, save for an Emperor-level expert.

Wuyun was secretly astonished. As the fragments spread outward, his eyes brightened; he swept up a creature among them—one of them was surprisingly the Myriad-Feather Peacock.

Because of Wuyun’s instructions, the artifact spirit had not erased it, but it was reduced to mere broken soul fragments, slowly fading into the void.

Once Wuyun drew it into the Array Diagram, just as its last true spirit was about to vanish, he muttered incantations and unleashed various techniques, even using the black energy and Imperial might within his own body to reshape its remnant spirit.

When the remnant spirit was restored, the Myriad-Feather Peacock assumed it had been resurrected and was overjoyed, praising Wuyun profusely. The latter, however, kept a straight face and asked for the sequence of events.

The Myriad-Feather Peacock had no say within the Imperial Artifact and had no idea what had happened. It only felt danger descend, and then everything went blank.

Wuyun shook his head, sighing: "Reversing time is a bit too advanced!"

As he spoke, he cast another spell. The temporarily restored Myriad-Feather Peacock’s soul shattered once more, returning to the moment of its destruction. From the reflection of its soul, Wuyun and Antuo clearly saw a palm easily crush the Seven Seas Castle. A total of six strikes were dealt; the artifact spirit dodged the final strike, and along with Lan Chulian, was forced to flee into the lower realms, returning to a mundane mortal world.

It could only be blamed on the fact that after the artifact spirit self-detonated one citadel and lost the Nine-Mystic True Fire, it lacked the capacity for vigorous recovery, causing its performance to plummet and leading to its destruction by an Emperor-level attack.

"At the very least, an Immortal Emperor who has survived two tribulations!" Antuo was about to analyze further when the Myriad-Feather Peacock faded away in terror, as if an invisible hand were pinching it and dragging it back into the dark side.

Wuyun clasped his hands and recited a few scriptures, then shook his head. Seeing it was to no avail, he simply gave up and sighed: "It’s no use. If I don't change this physical vessel, it will continue to leak my trajectory."

Antuo nodded in agreement: "Senior is right. You haven't reached the Emperor level yet. Only when you reach that tier can you sense when someone is calculating against you and mount an effective counterattack."

As the two discussed the divination and calculation methods of the Immortal Realm, Feng Qianyu suddenly clamored to leave, along with Wu Hao and Gao Le. Even Jin Bu, who had grown four limbs, prepared to leave Wuyun and flee the source of disaster!

Wuyun did not stop them; he gave each of the four a few pieces of supreme-grade Immortal Stones and let them go their own way. Jin Bu and Wu Hao left together after expressing their thanks, while Feng Qianyu and Gao Le lingered for a long time—one wanting to beg for favors, the other seeking a cultivation technique.

After Wuyun pointed out the flaws in Gao Le’s cultivation system and was about to address Feng Qianyu’s shortcomings, a sound of fighting erupted in the distance. Moments later, the corpses of Jin Bu and Wu Hao were tossed near the Array Diagram.

A wave of anger and cold shivers rose among the group. Before they could check the state of Wu Hao and the others, Wuyun stopped them and shouted at the ox-faced, human-bodied creature slowly approaching: "You killed them—what is the meaning of this?"

"Haha, so you still recognize me. Not only must they die, but everyone present here must also die. The Seven Seas Castle has already disintegrated and plummeted into the mortal world. Look..."

Wuyun and Antuo merged, borrowing the power of the Dream-Haunting Evil Ghost to suddenly reach the Emperor level. With a single strike, he tore open space and banished the ox-faced creature into the void.

"This is the son of Niu Ding, one of the beloved children of the Niu family of the Mirror-Above Heaven: Niu Chongxing!" Wuyun said with a grave face. He gestured to inspect Wu Hao’s body, but the moment the figure formed by his spell approached, Wu Hao and Jin Bu exploded, the force akin to the self-detonation of a fourth-grade Immortal Artifact, leveling the surrounding space.

"By the urgent order of the law! Wu Hao, Jin Bu!"

Wuyun chanted, and the Array Diagram suddenly expanded. Two wisps of obsession drifted out from the explosion, entering the diagram and manifesting as two remnant soul shadows. They knelt before Wuyun, pleading: "We only ask that Senior help us settle the obsessions in our hearts!"

Before Wuyun could answer, the two remnant souls shattered, forming a force of obsession that coalesced into a formation floating within the Array Diagram. Wuyun waved his hand, and the reasons for their undying obsessions were revealed.

Jin Bu’s obsession was simple: he wanted to become the sect leader of the Dragon Tower Gate, so he had come to the Seven Seas Castle to seek fortune, never expecting to lose his life here.

Wuyun chanted, and in the illusion of Jin Bu’s obsession, he broke through to the Immortal King level, fulfilled his long-cherished wish, and dissipated into nothingness.

Wu Hao’s case was more difficult. The female cultivator he loved was a disciple of a Great Elder in a star system of the Rogue Immortal Alliance and had been kept imprisoned. He had wanted to break through to the Immortal King level, and upon success, go to propose marriage.

He even knew that success was impossible, as the Great Elders of the Rogue Immortal Alliance were almost all existences at the late Immortal King stage, managing all affairs within their jurisdiction and not inferior to the masters of medium-sized sects.

With a sigh, Wuyun cast a spell to gather Wu Hao’s three souls and infused them into his obsession. Immediately, a vengeful spirit appeared, taking on the likeness of Wu Hao, determined to obtain everything he loved.