Gu Hai looked into the distance.
The Mosquito Daoist, Long Shenying, and the Unborn Man followed Gu Hai’s gaze. They vaguely made out a storm brewing in the far distance, murky with rolling debris and soil.
“Is there a battle over there?” Long Shenying’s face turned grave.
Gu Hai’s heavenly eye had already picked up Ensnaring Performance’s voice, so he naturally would not leave.
“The Bone Deity is over there. It just so happens that I have some personal grievances to settle with him!” Gu Hai said in a deep voice.
“Huh? Your Reverence, when did you have a grudge against the Bone Deity?” the Unborn Man exclaimed in surprise.
Does Gu Hai have enemies all over the world?
“The Bone Deity? Your Reverence, the Bone Deity is in the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm. We…,” the Mosquito Daoist said uneasily.
“Consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm? Humph! This isn’t the Six Paths Immortal Firmament!” Gu Hai revealed a cold smile.
“Oh?”
“This is a flawed immortal firmament, a replica of the Six Paths Immortal Firmament. So, there are…,” Gu Hai said as he gently waved his hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A gust of wind rolled up out of nowhere. Gu Hai seemed to gently flick apart transparent threads, instantly enveloping himself and his party in a thick fog.
“The Go Dao laws?” The Mosquito Daoist exclaimed in delight.
There are Go Dao laws here? Then we don’t need to worry too much about a consummate Upper Heavenly Palace Realm opponent. The Mosquito Daoist immediately laid down his worries.
“Huh?” Gu Hai’s brows furrowed suddenly.
“What’s wrong?” the Unborn Man asked in confusion.
“The Go Dao laws here are somewhat strange, as if something is missing.” Gu Hai frowned.
“That’s the flaw. According to Wanyu, most of the three thousand Great Dao here are flawed. Only three hundred are complete. Back then, Heaven Cang was deceived into coming here to help perfect the Great Dao, as she possessed a complete diagram of the three thousand Great Dao’s laws. Unfortunately, she didn’t finish filling the deficiencies in this realm. Apparently, the Six Paths Veritable Lord had anticipated and set up an ambush for Heaven Cang!” the Unborn Man explained.
“Three hundred complete Dao?” Gu Hai’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Your Reverence, since these Go Dao laws are flawed, will…” the Mosquito Daoist trailed off.
If they were not perfect Go Dao laws, the strength of Gu Hai’s ritual arrays would definitely be significantly weakened.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll try to avoid heavy reliance on my ritual array. This place is still better than the Divine Continent!” Gu Hai smiled.
“Yes!” Everyone nodded solemnly.
“When we go over later, try to cover your ears; no, that won’t work. Let’s set up a sound isolation barrier!” Gu Hai suggested.
“Huh?” The three of them were a bit puzzled.
Gu Hai did not explain further. He quickly flew with the three towards the battlefield where the Bone Deity was.
An open battlefield:
On one side of the battlefield was a vast army of skeletons, all peerless experts of the skeleton race, crowding around a massive throne at the center.
Sitting on the throne was the Bone Deity, dressed in a black robe. Blue light came from beneath his hood, and overwhelming black energy radiated from his body, exuding an extremely formidable aura.
On the other side were the powerhouses of this world’s major sects.
The leaders of the sects gathered on a high platform, surrounded by disciples wielding swords and sabers and preparing to fight the army of skeletons.
Ten statues stood on the high platform, all sharing the appearance of Six Paths Veritable Lord. These ten statues shone with a dazzling white light, gathering an immense power of faith.
The ten sect masters paid homage to the statues, and white holy light radiated from the ten statues, pouring into the bodies of the sect disciples. The disciples felt like they had received divine assistance, and their strength immediately increased.
However, the skeletal army on the opposite side was incredibly powerful. Even without the Bone Deity’s intervention, they could still suppress the disciples of the ten major sects.
Although the ten sect masters were anxious, they did not panic because there was another group of reinforcements: two humans and a cat.
Houqing, Ensnaring Performance, and Mao Tianyun.
Houqing was Lady Houtu’s younger brother. Previously, he guarded the entrance to the Asura Path Secret Realm in the nether realm, and he was one of the four zombie ancestors. Later, Long Zhanguo nearly killed him with a palm strike because he accidentally injured Long Wanyu in Borderless Heavenly Capital. He was then detained and made to bring Long Wanyu to Lady Houtu.
Ensnaring Performance was a heavenly-grade zither transformed into a person and infamous for his outrageously unpleasant singing. He had once acknowledged Gu Hai as his master. In his past life, he was the Metal Divine Envoy, one of the five divine envoys under Heaven Cang.
Mao Tianyun was the Fire Divine Envoy, one of the five divine envoys under Heaven Cang, and had opposed Six Paths Veritable Lord eight hundred thousand years ago. Later, Gu Hai inadvertently released it.
The ten sect masters anxiously watched the disciples being suppressed in the distance. A sect master in a red Daoist robe turned to these three.
“Three divine envoys, it has been eight hundred thousand years since we lost contact with the Vast Sky Immortal Firmament. Someone has finally come from the Vast Sky Immortal Firmament. However, why is it this group of hostile people? The three of you are the Vast Sky Immortal Firmament’s divine envoys, and our Six Paths Holy Lord and the Vast Sky Immortal have had good relations. After the Six Paths Holy Lord established our immortal firmament, he must have exhausted himself and fallen into a deep sleep. Now, hostile guests have arrived from the Vast Sky Immortal Firmament. We ask the three divine envoys for help to overcome this difficulty. When the holy lord awakens, we will inform him!” the leading sect master said respectfully.
[TL Note: The Vast Sky in Vast Sky Immortal Firmament can also be translated to Heaven Cang. Heaven Cang, or Cang specially, sounded better for a name, while Vast Sky worked better for the immortal firmament or the title.]
“Meow!” Mao Tianyun curled up on a throne, looking at the ten sect masters and revealing a wry smile.
These people from the flawed immortal firmament think the Six Paths Veritable Lord has been sleeping in this world all this time? Ridiculous! Ridiculous! They don’t know the Six Paths Veritable Lord has long abandoned them.
Mao Tianyun ignored them. If not for Long Wanyu’s request, it would have been too lazy to care about what was happening here.
Mao Tianyun stretched lazily without saying a word.
Houqing looked into the distance, his feelings quite tangled.
A few years ago, Long Zhanguo nearly killed me. Then I was forced to come here. I had hoped that Elder Sister would help me get revenge. But in the end, when Elder Sister learned of the situation, she immediately lashed out and beat me up. If not for Long Wanqing’s and Long Wanyu’s pleas, Elder Sister might have beaten me to death. Do you realize I’m your younger brother?
Houqing felt depressed. Originally, he harbored resentment, but when he learned of Long Wanyu’s identity, he was dumbfounded. There were even times when Houqing wanted to secretly report to the Six Paths Immortal.
Because once the Six Paths Immortal learned of this, the Six Path Immortal would surely be grateful to him. Then, after eliminating Long Wanyu, he could be absolved of his past mistakes—and so would Jiang Ba. She had offended the Six Paths Immortal because she cultivated the fire-attributed zombie ancestor’s body. The Six Paths Immortal would definitely forgive Jiang Ba’s sins.
But if he reported to the Six Paths Immortal, he might implicate his elder sister.
On one side was his sister, and on the other side was the woman he liked. Houqing had been in a state of turmoil all this time.
When Long Wanyu sent him, Houqing did not feel enthusiastic about it.
Although the ten sect masters repeatedly pleaded with Houqing, what did this have to do with him?
“Ensnaring Performance, why don’t you go?” Houqing suggested indifferently.
“Me? How can I?” Ensnaring Performance replied, thunderstruck.
Ensnaring Performance had reached the Middle Heavenly Palace Realm only recently. Charging in like this would be suicide.
“You can sing. Meow!” Mao Tianyun chuckled.
After eight hundred thousand years of imprisonment, Mao Tianyun was no longer the innocent creature it once was. In the past, it had been teased and ridiculed by the other four divine envoys. Now, teasing these reincarnated divine envoys seemed quite enjoyable.
“I can sing, but what does that have to do with fighting them?” Ensnaring Performance asked reluctantly.
Mao Tianyun turned to the ten sect masters and said, “If you want to defeat this group of skeletons, it’s easy. Just ask Divine Envoy Ensnaring Performance to sing. Those skeletons will collapse on their own!”
After Mao Tianyun spoke, the ten sect masters were puzzled. Is it teasing us? Could victory really be achieved by singing a song? What a joke!
However, since Mao Tianyun had said so, the ten sect masters could only nod in agreement.
“Divine Envoy, please save us!”
“Divine Envoy, please take action!”
“Heaven Cang’s divine envoy, please make a move!”
“Divine Envoy, please sing for us!”
The ten sect masters bowed to Ensnaring Performance.
Ensnaring Performance suddenly felt tempted. Sing? It has been a long time since I sang. Ensnaring Performance was a heavenly-grade zither, innately loving all music. During this time, Houqing, Mao Tianyun, and the others had avoided his singing with looks of disdain. He had not sung to his heart’s content for a long time already despite being a singing addict.
It was just like how many people on Earth could not do without their cell phones. They were addicted to their cell phones. They would feel uncomfortable if they did not play with their cell phones. Even if others kept telling them it was bad, they still wanted to play with their cell phones.
This was the same for Ensnaring Performance and singing. As the incarnation of a heaven-grade zither, he loved singing for others. Even if others said his singing was terrible, it was because they had no taste.
At this moment, with the ten sect masters bowing and requesting him to sing, Ensnaring Performance felt an itch that needed to be scratched. Now, not letting him sing was unacceptable.
When Mao Tianyun saw the ecstatic expression on Ensnaring Performance’s face, its own expression suddenly changed. Its ears immediately folded down, blocking its ear canals.
“Quick! Quickly ask Ensnaring Performance to sing. Once he starts singing, you will win. Ask Ensnaring Performance to sing for everyone. Sing in his loudest voice!” Mao Tianyun shouted with its ears plugged.
Then Mao Tianyun felt its precautions were insufficient, so it even set up a sound isolation barrier around itself.
The ten sect masters looked at Houqing.
Houqing’s face stiffened for a moment, but in the end, he nodded and said, “That’s right!”
As he spoke, Houqing also set up a sound isolation barrier for himself.
Despite their confusion, the ten sect masters bowed to Ensnaring Performance again and said, “Divine Envoy, please save us!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just then, many disciples returned in defeat, spewing blood as they fled. Upon seeing the sect masters desperately begging Ensnaring Performance, they also followed suit, prostrating themselves.
“Divine Envoy, please take action and save our sects!” the ten sect masters and disciples begged Ensnaring Performance.
Ensnaring Performance’s self-confidence swelled, and with a slightly arrogant nod, he coughed lightly and used the music Dao laws to transmit his voice throughout the battlefield.
“Initially, I refused to sing for you skeletons. I won’t sing just because you ask. However, you adore me so much? Since you’re so eager to hear my song, I’ll reluctantly sing one for you. It’s an impromptu creation called Skeleton, You Are Not Cute.”
Ensnaring Performance’s voice echoed throughout the battlefield.
The ten sect masters looked at Ensnaring Performance in confusion. You are really going to sing?
“Ah!”
“Sect Master, help me!”
“I can’t bear this. Ah!”
…
The cries of the defeated disciples resounded, marking this moment of tragedy. Can you believe that he wants to sing a song right now? Was this Divine Envoy Ensnaring Performance sent by the enemy?
The skeletons in the distance looked down upon him, continuing their ruthless onslaught.
No one had any faith in Ensnaring Performance’s singing. They all thought it was a joke orchestrated by the Vast Sky Immortal.
Only Houqing and Mao Tianyun immediately added an extra layer to their sound isolation barriers.
They witnessed Ensnaring Performance immerse himself in the song. His face beamed with delight as he began to sing with heartfelt passion.
“Oh, adorable little skeletons, I am your daddy. Come into my arms and let me braid your hair….” Ensnaring Performance’s voice resounded throughout the battlefield.
In that fleeting moment when the song began, the once tumultuous battlefield abruptly stilled. Silence prevailed, and profound tranquility settled upon everyone. Goosebumps erupted on their bodies, and they shuddered, feeling like their souls had frozen in an icy wasteland.
