The emperor’s study, Xuanyuan City:
Ji Dihong’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at the spirit stone sea burgeoning above the Spirit Mountain Holy Land.
The action of drawing out countless spirit stones with a handwave, then sending them to the two thousand cities with another wave was sufficient proof. That was Jiangchen.
Who was Jiangchen? He was the commander of the shaman race during ancient times. During the war between the shamans and the animal spirits, there were many more powerful experts than today. Even so, he was the supreme commander of one side. This showed how formidable he was.
When the officials followed Ji Dihong out of the study and saw his sullen expression, they were shocked.
Cangjie described everything he saw to the rest, and they also felt a chill in their hearts.
“It is that Jiangchen?” Emperor Kong said with an unsightly expression.
Clearly, the people who held high authority here also knew about Jiangchen.
“Using spirit stones to buy people’s hearts, Jiangchen will surely gain the support of the two thousand cities’ citizens, and he has zombie officials to manage the various cities. His grip on these two thousand cities is iron-clad,” Limu said with an unsightly expression.
“The Divine Continent’s cardinal west? There is no way to move into it anymore, Your Holy Eminence,” Cangjie sighed.
Everyone felt startled. Our progress halts here?
Ji Dihong narrowed his eyes for a while before eventually nodding. He would rather face Essence Genesis than Jiangchen.
However, Essence Genesis was not easy to deal with, either; he was a cold-blooded madman.
“Deity Seizing Hall? Why did Jiangchen rename the Hall of Great Strength to the Deity Seizing Hall? Does Mister Cangjie know?” Ji Dihong looked at Cangjie.
Cangjie shook his head gently. “I don’t know. Jiangchen’s origins are mysterious. According to my records, Jiangchen appeared even before the shaman race.”
“Oh?”
“No one knows his purpose. After so long, he has never contested for the world. According to my records, the shaman race could have won the war in ancient times, eradicating all the animal spirits. However, Jiangchen stopped fighting at the last moment. The other shamans refused and continued killing the animal spirits. This resulted in both sides sustaining heavy casualties and going down together. He did not participate in the final battle. Furthermore, he has stayed in the Deity Seizing Hall since the beginning. I don’t know why he named it as such.” Cangjie frowned.
“Deity Seizing Hall? Seizing? This means he intends to obtain something, wanting to seize something. However, if he is not seizing the world, what is he seizing? If he does not care about the world, why did he appear now?” Ji Dihong frowned.
No one understood. However, this was terrible news for the Huang Heavenly Dynasty.
“One needs to seize a cardinal position of the Divine Continent to influence the world, commanding and ruling it. Now, Essence Genesis is in the cardinal south, and Jiangchen is in the cardinal west. Fighting them would result in both sides suffering severe casualties, which goes against my Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s aim. However, the Huang Heavenly Dynasty is in the Divine Continent’s southwest, neither south nor west. We are currently stuck. Mister Cangjie, my Huang Heavenly Dynasty has met a bottleneck. How can we break through it?” Ji Dihong looked at Cangjie.
Cangjie remained silent for a while before saying, “Your Holy Eminence, actually, we have all overlooked a third possibility.”
“Oh?” Ji Dihong said.
“Seize a cardinal position of the Divine Continent. Influence the world to command and rule it. This is a process that should be taken step by step. However, the Divine Continent is not limited to the north, south, east, and west for cardinal positions,” Cangjie said softly.
Ji Dihong’s pupils constricted. “Mister Cangjie is referring to…”
“The Divine Continent’s cardinal center! The greatest cardinal position!” Cangjie said gravely.
[TL Note: Many Asian cultures consider there to be five cardinal positions rather than four. The fifth position is the center.]
Buddhist Energy sea, secret realm immortal firmament, the second layer of hell:
After Gu Hai entered the Buddhist Energy sea, a thick golden fog covered it. However, as time passed, some Buddhist Energy leaked into the fog.
Heavenly Gautama kept his eyes closed as he refined the crimson heavenly eye.
Jiang Gautama and Mortal Gautama recovered slowly from their injuries; they had suffered grievous setbacks in the previous battle. Jiang Gautama’s Nine-Petaled Golden Lotus got destroyed, and he lost the Reincarnation Pool. The Mortal Gautama’s swastika on the forehead also got destroyed. While recovering from their injuries, they worked hard on cultivating.
The three sat quietly at the summits of three mountains, not moving at all, looking like they had turned to stone.
One thousand eight hundred-odd years passed.
The golden-fog-covered Buddhist Energy sea had undergone massive changes.
The entire sea of Buddhist Energy had nearly disappeared; only a tiny portion that maintained the fog outside remained. However, the fog would not last much longer.
Inside a large pit, ninety percent of the divine blood poison ant had turned black, with only a small spot golden from the Buddhist Energy.
The divine blood poison ant did not roar or struggle because its consciousness was fighting Gu Hai.
The poison swamp? Gu Hai had absorbed most of the Poison Energy.
No matter how the divine blood poison ant struggled, it could not overcome the Worldly Sorrowful Endowment’s dominance.
Gu Hai’s cultivation was now at the Upper Heavenly Palace realm’s sixth layer. He had also stored two hundred beams of Divinity Destroying Light in his heavenly eye: fifty made from Poison Energy and one hundred fifty from Buddhist Energy.
As Gu Hai walked in the poison gland, he did not fear the divine blood poison ant’s consciousness at all.
Roar!
A brightly colored ant figure over thirty meters tall spat poison clouds at Gu Hai.
“Poison Energy and poison clouds? They are useless against me,” Gu Hai sneered as he swung his saber.
Boom!
The large ant figure immediately flinched in fear; Gu Hai had used the Life Ender Saber.
When Gu Hai brought out the Life Ender Saber, it released a churning black fog. The tiny skulls in the black fog were quite effective on the ant image.
Eeee! Eeee! Eeee! The ant figure retreated in pain.
“These are your spiritual souls, right? Unfortunately, you cannot control your body, so your attacks are useless,” Gu Hai sneered.
Phish! Phish! Phish! Phish! Phish! Phish! Phish!
Countless spikes suddenly appeared in the poison swamp, aimed at turning Gu Hai into a pincushion.
“Ninth Cycle! Saber Dao domain!” Gu Hai shouted coldly.
Bang!
Countless saber qi appeared, forming a world of saber qi around Gu Hai. The saber qi blocked the surrounding spikes as he quickly chased the ant figure.
“Trying to run? You can’t run. Divine blood poison ant, I know how capable you are; I would not be a match for you outside. However, Jiang Gautama and the others trapped you with Buddhist techniques, stealing control of your body, so you cannot harm me. I have waited patiently for over one thousand years to lure your spiritual souls out of your heavenly palaces. Do you think I will let you return now?” Gu Hai sneered as he chased the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls.
Boom!
Gu Hai swung the Life Ender Saber, filling the surroundings with black fog. The skulls in the Life Ender Saber rushed at the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls and chewed on them.
“Roar!”
The divine blood poison ant roared as it fled towards its heavenly palaces. Gu Hai pursued it.
Gu Hai understood that the Buddhist Energy sea was nearly completely drained. The Buddhist Energy previously controlled the divine blood poison ant, preventing it from controlling its body. However, the Buddhist Energy was now gone. If he let the divine blood poison ant’s souls return to their heavenly palaces, the ant could control its body. If the ant launched a counterattack then, he would die for sure.
Gu Hai gave relentless chase, cutting down or shattering everything in his way.
Gu Hai chased for three days and three nights, wreaking massive destruction in the divine blood poison ant’s body in the process. Of course, the damage was limited. After all, the divine blood poison ant’s physical body was too strong and resilient. Even his Life Executioner Saber could not cut several places.
Finally, Gu Hai reached a large, empty space that looked like a cave.
“Where is this?” Gu Hai said in shock.
Why is there an empty cave in the divine blood poison ant’s body?
Gu Hai saw a huge spherical sack hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the cave. This spherical sack flashed with a faint blue light, looking extremely strange.
Eeee! Eeee! Eeee! The divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls suddenly cried out excitedly as it charged towards that spherical sack.
“Oh no! That’s the location of heavenly palaces? I cannot let it return!” Gu Hai’s expression changed.
Then he stabbed the Life Ender Saber into the ground.
Boom!
Countless bone spikes erupted from the ground, blocking the divine blood poison ant. However, its spiritual souls were not weak, able to shatter the bone spikes. The spikes only slowed it down. It looked like the ant would enter the heavenly palaces’ location soon.
“Life Killer Saber!” Gu Hai shouted, and the Life Killer Saber came out of his palm.
A dazzling red light filled the cave when the Life Killer Saber appeared.
The red light created an illusion of a massacre.
The illusion was unexpectedly effective. The divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls paused, stunned for a moment.
This delay sufficed for Gu Hai to approach.
“Die!” Gu Hai shouted.
He stabbed the Life Ender Saber into the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls.
“Roar!”
The divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls snapped out of their daze at this moment, but it was already too late. After the Life Ender Saber stabbed them, countless tiny skulls started chewing on the spiritual souls from within.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
The divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls struggled in pain for a while but all in vain. Eventually, it initiated a self-detonation, knowing its certain doom.
“Oh no!”
Gu Hai waved his hand and sent the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls into the Gu’s Immortal Firmament.
Boom!
A loud report resounded as the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls exploded.
“How strange of this divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls! If not for the Life Ender Saber pinning them down, they could have climbed out of the Gu’s Immortal Firmament when I sent it in. This time, you are dead for sure.” Gu Hai inwardly released his bated breath.
Outside, the huge spherical sack trembled, apparently in response to the divine blood poison ant’s spiritual souls’ scattering. Then it dimmed, looking like it would be destroyed.
The divine blood poison ant is about to be destroyed?
“This is unfortunate. If only I could obtain this divine blood poison ant. Unfortunately, it is useless without spiritual souls, no matter how strong its lifeforce is. Huh? Wait! Spiritual souls?” Gu Hai’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Whoosh!
Gu Hai took out a jade box and opened it.
“Husband?” Chen Xianer’s voice came from the jade box.
“Xianer, you have all three of your spiritual souls, right? I’ll help you separate from the White Emperor’s other two spiritual souls. Enter the heavenly palaces and control the divine blood poison ant; use it as your body. What do you think? You can take human form after that,” Gu Hai said with some anticipation.
“The White Emperor’s heavenly soul and mortal soul? Husband, I cannot separate from them. They were severely injured to save me. Once I separate from them, her heavenly soul and mortal soul will shatter.” Chen Xianer’s voice rang out.
“Huh?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.
“Husband, you found a body for me? How about this: I’ll return to life with the White Emperor’s two spiritual souls? If we use this body to nourish the soul body, her two spiritual souls can slowly recover. Furthermore, Husband, there’s no need to worry. My Soul Energy is stronger than hers, so she can’t seize control.” Chen Xianer’s voice rang out again.
“Alright. Be careful, then!” Gu Hai nodded.
“Alright!” Chen Xianer answered.
Gu Hai carefully placed the jade box near the spherical sack of the divine blood poison ant’s heavenly palaces.
Chen Xianer’s heavenly soul, earthly soul, and mortal soul and the White Emperor’s heavenly soul and mortal soul came out of the jade box and entered the divine blood poison ant’s heavenly palaces.
Buzz!
The spherical sack turned bright once more.
