Gan Xuehua took out the Xiyi Talisman and fiddled with it. After the War of Heaven and Earth, as it was now deemed, the Buzhou Immortal Sect propagated the use of Xiyi Talismans, which also increased the Nine Heaven Emperor’s fame.
The Buzhou Immortal Sect distributed five types of Xiyi Talisman according to one’s status.
Only members of the Buzhou Immortal Sect could hold Violet-Gold, Black-Gold, and Gold Xiyi Talismans. Members of vassal sects and the Cultivator Alliance, which had transformed into a mercenary organization for the Buzhou Immortal Sect, could receive Silver Xiyi Talisman. As for everyone else, they would have to purchase Bronze Xiyi Talisman for a much higher price.
The different colors on the Xiyi Talisman weren’t just for aesthetics, but denoted the amount of authority the user could access.
Gan Xuehua fingers tapped the screen twice on her silver-rimmed Xiyi Talisman, bringing it to life. With her deft fingers, she found a livestream from a disciple of the Buzhou Immortal Sect livestreaming the many forces arriving for the grand ceremony. She took a glance at her fellow siblings, and saw that they had also opened up their Xiyi Talisman—with the exception of Gan Linyou, who was taking selfies and posting them on his blog.
The only one to show worry was the Gan Emperor, and rightfully so. Gan Xuehua had no doubt that the Buzhou Immortal Sect could easily monitor all the information and even spread misinformation. In this world where might makes right, controlling information did not automatically equate to control, but it still influenced many things.
Without even issuing a decree, the Buzhou Immortal Sect could turn one force or one person into the enemy of the world. As long as enough people believe it, even if the matter was false, lies would turn to truth. It was an invisible sword that hung over everyone’s head.
The worst part was the ease of use of the Xiyi Talisman. It may not be the best at everything, but it could almost do everything. More important, was the Xiyinet that linked everything. Anyone who experienced the world of interconnected information would find it hard to extradite themselves from it. Gan Xuehua couldn’t do it either, despite knowing the danger.
In fact, she knew that the Gan Emperor had attempted to create his own version of the Xiyi Talisman named the Gan Talisman. Gan Xuehua rolled her eyes upon hearing the name, but that wasn’t the critical issue. The user interface of the Gan Talisman was clunky and couldn’t compare to the Xiyi Talisman. The biggest issue was the connection and storage.
The Gan Emperor couldn’t replicate the Xiyinet, nor could the Gan Talisman leave the capital without losing function. The Xiyi Talisman could be used anywhere except for a few secret realms or immortal grottos, while the Gan Talisman could not. Rather than using something that only worked in one place, more people would rather use something that worked everywhere.
He didn’t dare to ask the Buzhou Immortal Sect for advice. Strictly speaking, attempting to replicate the Xiyinet was going against the sole hegemonic sect’s interest. However, as long as he didn’t bring it up, they would ignore his small movements. More importantly, the Gan Dynasty was just a small third-rate force. The Buzhou Immortal Sect could wipe them out with a wave of their hands.
The Gan Emperor could still recall the day the sun descended. According to legend, the Nine Heavens Emperor had unleashed a forbidden technique that annihilated the headquarters of the former hegemon of the Earth Continent. Unknowing of the Gan Emperor’s thoughts, Gan Xuehua continued to fiddle with the Xiyi Talisman, but her gaze was unfocused.
According to rumors, three people produced the Xiyi Talisman: Xi Tianyi, Jiang Daoyi, and Xi Ri. Again, according to rumors, the one to come up with the initial idea was Xi Ri. Xi Tianyi perfected, while Jiang Daoyi only played a minor role in its creation. However, no matter how she searched, she could only find basic information on Xi Ri, unlike the many rumors concerning the former two.
In Gan Xuehua’s view, Xi Ri deliberately erased traces of himself.
Many of the legends and tales of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System were familiar to her, but she also had knowledge not in line with the system. In that case, it would not be wrong to judge that the denizens of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms would be xenophobic to an outsider like her.
What Xi Tianyi, what Jiang Daoyi? Xi Ri must have used both of them as shields. If it was her, she would have done the same thing.
Still, her view of Xi Tianyi plummeted. Although Xi Ri used Xi Tianyi as a front, Xi Tianyi still took Xi Ri’s credit. Hmpf, she had already seen many people like him in the Gan Dynasty. In fact, she experienced it herself with the original thirteenth princess. These people take other people’s credit as theirs, bolstering their fame while burying the real contributors.
Gan Xuehua formulated a plan to meet Xi Ri. As fellow reincarnators, Xi Ri should not reject her. If anything, there should be some intimacy because of their past. As a survivor of the apocalypse, Xi Ri should know the value of connections. Even if she was weak now, she did not believe she would be weak forever. Plus, wasn’t Xi Ri also still mortal?
‘Unless he secretly transcended his Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation to keep a low profile,’ Gan Xuehua thought.
“We’ve arrived, let’s go,” the Gan Emperor said.
Gan Xuehua broke out of her thoughts and blinked. She glanced at her Silver Xiyi Talisman and turned it off before storing it in her spatial ring. She trailed after Gan Linyou, who followed behind the Gan Emperor. The rest of her siblings followed behind her.
There was nothing out of the norm until they prepared to disembark. Instead of walking down, the Gan Emperor flew, or rather, tried to fly down. But to his shock, he couldn’t fly at all despite his Pathfinding Immortal Realm cultivation base. Gan Linyou also attempted to fly, but he, and the rest of the siblings, discovered that they were grounded.
“Strange, why can’t I fly?” one of the emperor’s children asked.
“Perhaps someone made it so that only those with a certain amount of strength can fly?” Gan Xuehua suggested.
“No, no, Thirteenth Sister, you are wrong,” Gan Linyou said. “It’s obvious that if that was the case, I, the Esteemed Sage Ascendant Soul Venerable sent by the Wise Nascent Trigram Immortal of the Nine Great Heavens, would obviously be able to fly!”
No one answered Gan Linyou’s words. In the end, the Gan Emperor sighed and walked down the bridge. There, an immortal elder greeted him.
“Welcome to the Buzhou Immortal Sect, fellow Daoist Gan,” the immortal elder said.
“The pleasure is all mine,” the Gan Emperor cupped his hand in response. “I have a question. I found that my ability to fly has disappeared. Is there a reason?”
The immortal elder smiled. “It’s a rule established by Grand Elder Nine Heavens. As long as you have not mastered a worldly law, you will be forever grounded.”
The Gan Emperor sighed at the Nine Heavens Emperor’s supreme might. What mastery did he have to reach to lay down such a rule? Just as he was about to ask how they would travel—the Buzhou Immortal Sect didn’t expect them to walk all the way, did they?—Gan Linyou said, “Hmpf, on the basis that we’re of the same generation, I’ll let that Xi Tianyi off the hook this time.”
“Quiet, Linyou!” The Gan Emperor’s face paled, and he quickly gave an apologetic smile. “Please forgive my son. Since young, he’s always been like this, not knowing what to say or not to say.”
The immortal elder’s originally smiling face turned cold. “I just hope he won’t run his mouth in front of an important personage. If he offends them, then don’t blame the Buzhou Immortal Sect for teaching him a lesson.”
Without waiting for the Gan Emperor’s reply, he turned around with a flick of his sleeve. The Gan Emperor’s expression turned ugly as he glared at his son. He pointed at him and cast a silence seal on him, preventing him from speaking. Then, he and the Gan Dynasty entourage quickly followed the immortal elder.
The immortal elder led them toward a small, but still roomy, immortal boat. Once everyone had boarded, the immortal boat floated to the air and flew off toward Rites Peak. The immortal elder turned toward the Gan Emperor. “There’s still some time before the ceremony begins. Until then, obediently stay in the mansion allotted to you.”
Gan Xuehua imperceptibly frowned as the Gan Emperor did his best to appear friendly despite the immortal elder’s haughty demeanor. ‘The Buzhou Immortal Sect is pretty petty. Maybe Xi Ri was forced by Xi Tianyi to cede his contributions.’ She shook her head. ‘Maybe it’s just this elder.’
Different from her thoughts on the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s conduct, she couldn’t help but look down on the Gan Emperor. Back in the Gan Dynasty, he always seemed so lofty, but when push came to shove, he bent his back faster than anyone else. In this aspect, he was far from Gan Linyou.
That said, Gan Linyou was still an idiot. ‘At this rate, he really might offend someone he can’t afford to offend. Honestly, how did he live for three hundred years? Should I escape before he brings a calamity that kills me, too?’
“What’s wrong?” Daoyi asked upon seeing Tianyi facepalm. The two were currently drinking tea in the garden of Jade Peak Palace. Although he officially assumed the identity as Peak Master of Nine Heavens Peak, he still resided mostly on Jade Peak.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The body having tea time with Daoyi was his alternate conduit. His main and strongest body was still above the Huang Realm.
“It’s another old acquaintance that arrived at the sect that I don’t want to see,” Tianyi grumbled. With his powerful immortal sense, few things could be hidden from him in the Buzhou Immortal Sect, much less the arriving guests.
“Nanfang Wubai?” Daoyi asked.
“Well, it’s not as bad as him,” Tianyi said. He couldn’t help but shiver upon remembering their “reunion.” That guy was even worse than he remembered. “I said another old acquaintance.”
“Who?”
Tianyi opened his mouth, but no words came out. Finally, he managed to croak out, “I don’t know. He has a self-inflated sense of self-esteem and likes overly long titles. I can’t remember that long string of words. I pretty much just refer to him as the crown prince of the Gan Dynasty.”
“First time I’ve heard of this,” Daoyi said.
“Really, didn’t I tell you about all the weirdos I met at the Three Heavens Connection Gathering?”
Daoyi shook her head. “If you did, I forgot.”
“Forget about this. Didn’t you say you were going to tell Mother about your origin after the war?” Daoyi asked.
Tianyi averted his eyes. “Well, technically, the war hasn’t ended yet. It will end after the ceremony and after I upgrade the Huang Realm.”
Daoyi said nothing and continued to stare at Tianyi. Although he wasn’t looking at her, he felt her gaze penetrating his soul.
“Alright already!” Tianyi finally said, staring straight into Daoyi’s eyes. “I’ll tell her after the ceremony. After that, I’ll accompany you through the other sub realms for our honeymoon.”
Daoyi raised an eyebrow. “You sure you aren’t using our honeymoon as an excuse to avoid Mother?”
Tianyi averted his eyes once again and mumbled something.
Daoyi sighed. “Just tell her. With how much she cares for you, nothing will happen.”
“That’s easy to say, but every time I try, I just clam up!”
“If you can’t, how about I tell her for you?”
“Really?” Tianyi asked. Millions of stars shimmered in his eyes as he looked at Daoyi.
“No,” Daoyi coldly rejected. “Mother would prefer it if you tell her yourself.”
Tianyi sighed. “I know.”
