Long Wanyu’s residence, Heavenly Yin City:
After Gu Hai’s group left the plaza, it quickly settled down in this place.
“Bing Ji, rest and recuperate from your injuries first. There’s no need to bother with the other things,” Gu Hai said to Bing Ji.
“However, that Yuan Chu…,” Bing Ji said extremely worriedly.
By capturing Yuan Chu, Gu Hai had fallen out with the Huang Heavenly Dynasty.
“It’s fine. I’m here to deal with it. Rest assured,” Gu Hai said.
“Alright.” Bing Ji nodded with a faint, bitter smile.
“Wanyu, do take care of Bing Ji during this time,” Gu Hai said to Long Wanyu.
“Brother-in-Law, don’t worry. I will seek out the best medicine for Elder Sister Bing Ji,” Long Wanyu immediately guaranteed.
Gu Hai nodded. With Long Wanyu taking care of Bing Ji, he felt some assurance for now.
“By the way, get someone to invite Purple Subtlety and Longevity over. The Ten Thousand Sages Convention is starting soon. I need their help,” Gu Hai said.
“I will send someone to call them over tomorrow,” Long Wanyu said.
Gu Hai nodded again and left Bing Ji’s room.
Bing Ji watched him leave, with some reluctance in her eyes.
“Your Majesty!”
“Hall Master!”
“Master!”
Mo Yike, Mu Chenfeng, Ensnaring Performance, and the others waited outside the room.
“Mu Chenfeng, Elite Hall will be responsible for scouting the situation in Heavenly Yin City. Find out as much as you can about all the cultural cultivators,” Gu Hai instructed.
“Yes!” Mu Chenfeng answered.
“Mister Mo!” Gu Hai looked at Mo Yike.
“This official is present!”
“I’ll have to trouble you to interrogate Yuan Chu,” Gu Hai said seriously.
“What does Your Majesty want to know?” Mo Yike asked out of curiosity.
“Everything about Bing Ji and the people from the Huang Heavenly Dynasty,” Gu Hai replied gravely.
“I’ll do my best!” Mo Yike nodded.
“Your best is not enough. You must accomplish it. The Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s people will come to rescue him soon. You don’t have much time,” Gu Hai said, shaking his head.
“However, I don’t know much about Yuan Chu. I don’t know if he will be willing to speak,” Mo Yike said with a bitter smile.
“It does not matter. Ensnaring Performance will assist you.” Gu Hai looked at Ensnaring Performance.
“Oh? Ensnaring Performance?” Mo Yike felt startled. Then, he immediately nodded.
“Master, don’t worry. I will definitely help Mister Mo,” Ensnaring Performance said excitedly.
“That’s right. Where’s Qin Zibai? How did you end up in danger? Isn’t Qin Zibai your bodyguard?” Gu Hai asked with a frown.
Mo Yike was silent for a while before replying, “I let Qin Zibai go into hiding earlier.”
“Oh?” Gu Hai said, feeling confused.
“He said that he wanted to avoid the Future Buddha. Oh, we are in Heavenly Yin City. This official worries that there might be ears everywhere. I’ll explain it to Your Majesty in the future; is that alright?” Mo Yike said seriously.
Gu Hai’s expression changed. The Future Buddha? The World Cleansing Shut Eyes Meditation? Previously, Qin Yun cultivated the World Cleansing Shut Eyes Meditation.
Gu Hai nodded, no longer pursuing this matter.
After making arrangements for everyone, Gu Hai returned to the study that Long Wanyu prepared for him.
When Long Wanyu learned that Gu Hai was coming to the heavenly court’s cities, she had made plenty of preparations.
As Gu Hai sat in the study, he looked at the information passed down in Elite Hall.
Flap! Flap!
The sound of wings flapping came from the door. Gu Hai tossed aside the scroll as he waved.
Bang!
The doors to the study immediately shut. A bat had flown into the room earlier.
Buzz!
That bat wavered and suddenly became a black-clad human that landed before Gu Hai.
“Chang Ming salutes Your Majesty!” the bat-turned-human respectfully saluted Gu Hai.
This was Chang Ming, the envoy commander of the Han Royal Dynasty’s Blood Uniform Guard.
“You can speak. There is a sound barrier in this room,” Gu Hai said.
“Yes, Your Majesty! After Your Majesty left with the remains of Zhengfa Ming’s family, I remained there. Indeed, someone came after that, and I followed him.”
“The second faction that targeted Zhengfa Ming? The first is the Myriad Age Daoist Sect’s group, made up of Feng Tonglao and others. Who is the second faction?” Gu Hai asked.
“This official followed him to a palace hall. Then, that person reported to someone. After seeing that person, this official no longer followed them,” Chang Ming said with a frown.
“Oh?”
“It was Ye Shenzhen,” Chang Ming said.
Previously, they had speculated that it might be the Solar Divine Palace, the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, or even the Azure Emperor’s group. Unexpectedly, it was Ye Shenzhen.
“Ye Shenzhen? The commander of the Qian Heavenly Dynasty’s Divine Night Guards?” Gu Hai’s face sank.
Ye Shenzhen was responsible for the Qian Nation’s intelligence, a position similar to Chang Ming’s. He managed a secret organization of the Qian Nation and was absolutely loyal to the Qian Heavenly Emperor. He had protected Long Wanyu back in Major Metropolitan City.
“To think that the second faction is the Qian Heavenly Dynasty?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes.
Gu Hai had not expected the second faction to be the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, as this did not make sense. This was the Qian Nation’s territory. Why the need to do things so secretively?
“You may withdraw first. We got it,” Gu Hai said.
“Yes!” Chang Ming turned back into a bat, cracked the door open, and flew out.
This left Gu Hai alone in the study, thinking.
A study, Heavenly Court City:
The Qian Heavenly Emperor sat at the desk with ten tokens before him. Each token had one or two characters on them, all apparently family names. The ninth token had Sima on it, and the tenth had Gu.
Curtains divided the study into two.
As the Qian Heavenly Emperor considered the ten tokens, Ye Shenzhen stood on the other side of the curtains.
Ye Shenzhen appeared extremely respectful as he reported to the Qian Heavenly Emperor.
“Alright, continue,” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said.
“Yes. I have already described the first nine candidates. The last one is Gu Hai, the one Your Holy Eminence added recently,” Ye Shenzhen said respectfully.
“Continue.”
“Yes! During this time, I kept setting up situations according to Your Holy Eminence’s request. When Gu Hai first arrived, I arranged for Li Shenji to inform the Solar Divine Palace’s angels. Gu Hai handled that situation very thoroughly, overbearingly using the Heaven Blasting Cannon to shoot the angels before executing the rest of them. Then, he shot the city lord. Even so, he had justification and the right to do it,” Ye Shenzhen said seriously.
“He killed the angels and became enemies with the Solar Divine Palace? Hah!” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said with a faint smile.
“However, this official discovered that Li Shenji seemed to have a deep grudge against Gu Hai already,” Ye Shenzhen said with a frown.
“Continue.”
“Yes. When setting up the next situation, I had to act on it from several directions. I got Prime Ao Tianhuang to call Ao Shun to Heavenly Mao City, so that Ao Shun would discover Ensnaring Performance’s plight. It turned out to be because of Zhengfa Ming, a potential scenario I discovered a long time ago. I had kept it aside, intending to use it for someone else. However, since he got along with Ensnaring Performance, I used this to test Gu Hai. The Spirit Mountain Holy Land was searching for Zhengfa Ming, so we pushed this matter along, ‘accidentally’ leaking news of Zhengfa Ming to those monks and creating conflict. Then, Ao Shun went to bring Gu Hai over. Like before, Gu Hai used the Heaven Blasting Cannon to shoot Bodhisattva Zi Zhu. Then, he severely injured one thousand arhats and broke Bodhisattva Jie Dong’s Unmoving Vow of Silence Meditation, offending the Spirit Mountain Holy Land,” Ye Shenzhen said seriously.
“He fought the monks and made an enemy of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land? Excellent!” The Qian Heavenly Emperor gently tapped the desk with his finger.
“The Myriad Age Daoist Sect’s Feng Tonglao was another party who wanted to obtain Zhengfa Ming. This official used this opportunity to guide him to Gu Hai. Furthermore, Gu Hai had also laid a trap, so I went with the flow. Everything went as we wanted. Gu Hai killed Feng Tonglao, berated Xuan En, and made an enemy of the Myriad Age Daoist Sect,” Ye Shenzhen said.
“He killed Xuan Du’s nephew? Made an enemy of the Myriad Age Daoist Sect? Excellent!” The Qian Heavenly Emperor seemed to become even more satisfied.
“There was news from Silver Moon City that Gu Hai had a grudge against Gong Tian and Seven Kills. This official had arranged for some men to be placed by their sides to stir up anger at Gu Hai. Unfortunately, Seven Kills did not dare to disobey the Azure Emperor’s order. Only Gong Tian went. This official then allowed for Li Shenji to contact the various parties to test Gu Hai further. Although only Gong Tian went, that was already sufficient. Your Holy Eminence knows about Gu Hai killing Gong Tian,” Ye Shenzhen said.
“He made an enemy of the Yan Heavenly Dynasty and refused to submit to the Azure Emperor’s might? Pretty good!” Satisfaction could be heard in the Qian Heavenly Emperor’s tone.
“Your Holy Eminence should remember Bing Ji. This official asked Ninth Young Master to convince Wu Yazi to set up this scenario and wait for Gu Hai to arrive. Then, Your Holy Eminence invited Emperor Kong over, letting Gu Hai face Wu Yazi and Yuan Chu. Wu Yazi had agreed to help us drag the situation out until Gu Hai arrived. Gu Hai did not disappoint us. He used ‘Bodhi’ to cripple Yuan Chu’s heart for Buddhism and even captured him. Wu Yazi had not played with his full strength and managed to leave safely,” Ye Shenzhen said seriously.
“He made an enemy of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty and probed Bing Ji’s identity? Pretty good!” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said, breathing out.
“These are the ten people that Your Holy Eminence chose. Their cultural cultivations are exquisite. During this time, this official created scenarios to incite enmity between them and the three holy lands and the other two heavenly dynasties, as per Your Holy Eminence’s request. Aside from Sima Changkong, who managed to get the various factions to stop because of his father’s identity, the other eight candidates shrank back somewhat from the three holy lands and the two heavenly dynasties. Only Gu Hai faced everything head-on without fear,” Ye Shenzhen said.
“Sima Changkong and Gu Hai?” The Qian Heavenly Emperor looked at the tokens on the desk again.
“However, this official is curious. Is Gu Hai seeking death by offending all the factions? Or perhaps he figured out Your Holy Eminence’s intentions and did it on purpose?” Ye Shenzhen frowned.
“He figured out our intentions and did that on purpose? If he is that capable, there’s no problem. This matter is critical. We do not wish to see our efforts only benefiting someone else at the end of the day,” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said.
“Yes. Gu Hai made enemies of various factions. He is courageous and trustworthy. However, his background is still unclear. Your Holy Eminence, we know everything about the others, all people with a past in my nation. Compared to Gu Hai, they are more…,” Ye Shenzhen said with a frown.
“You know everything about them? That does not mean they are definitely trustworthy.” The Qian Heavenly Emperor shook his head.
“Huh? Yes!” Ye Shenzhen said with a bitter smile.
“Gu Hai?” The Qian Heavenly Emperor looked at Gu Hai’s token once again.
“Your Holy Eminence, aside from Gu Hai, there is still Sima Changkong. His cultural cultivation is extraordinary, pretty good with the music Dao and the calligraphy Dao. Furthermore, this official has been observing him for the longest…,” Ye Shenzhen said gravely.
“He is Sima Zongheng’s son; we absolutely can trust him. However, he is not suitable for this matter.” The Qian Heavenly Emperor shook his head.
“Yes!” Ye Shenzhen answered.
“Just choose Gu Hai, then. Get Sima Changkong to tell Gu Hai about this matter. Nothing must go wrong with the Ten Thousand Sages Convention,” the Qian Heavenly Emperor said.
“Yes!” Ye Shenzhen answered.
