Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Yin Tiger Deity Hall, the Heavenly Demon Holy Land, the nether realm:

Bai Zizai returned with the Divine Scorpion Heavenly Demon and the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon.

There were two others at the side, one dressed in white robes and the other in black robes.

“Number One, Number Two, Number Three fell for Ming’s curse and is blind now. His arm is also broken, and we cannot fix it. Quickly, take a look!” the Divine Scorpion Heavenly Demon said anxiously.

At the side, Bai Zizai showed a sullen expression. Clearly, he had suffered a setback during the United Rule Meet and was upset over it. Furthermore, he could not undo the curse on the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon.

The black-robed man and white-robed man were the first-ranked and the second-ranked peak masters of the Heavenly Demon Holy Land. Although they had not headed into the land of the living, they knew what had happened there.

These two seemed to have some accomplishments in the curse Dao. They continuously chanted something, sending out beams of black light and white light into the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon’s body.

However, the two showed dismayed looks after a while.

“Number One, Number Two, will I be blind forever?” the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon asked with some fear.

The white-robed first-ranked peak master and the black-robed second-ranked peak master remained silent for a while.

“Milord, this curse is truly strange. We can be considered to have some accomplishments in curses, but we cannot find the source at all,” the White Soul Reaper replied with a frown.

“Indeed. This curse is simply too powerful, breaking bones with just words. We clearly reconnected the bones, but the broken halves strangely reject each other, akin to two magnets of the same polarity. It’s like there’s a strange magnetic field we cannot overcome,” the Black Soul Reaper added, appearing depressed.

“Then what if we break off his arm, then regrow it?” Bai Zizai suggested with a frown.

“That won’t work. That’s where this curse is strange. It is not something that can be solved by forsaking the arm. The curse will relentlessly follow Bellowing Griever until death.” The White Soul Reaper shook his head.

“No! I have to give it a try! I am a centipede spirit with no lack of arms or legs. Losing one or two does not matter! Break!” the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon shouted fearfully.

Boom!

The Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon ripped out his right arm with a loud report. Then, he quickly executed a technique, making a new right arm regrow from the stump.

Crack!

After the right arm regrew, it strangely broke in the same location.

The Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon: “…”

“Just as I said!” the White Soul Reaper reproved.

“What should I do, then? Number One, Number Two, a broken arm is one thing, but I’m blind too! Although I have other sensory organs, I still cannot see. How about…I reincarnate?” the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon said worriedly.

“Reincarnating is also useless. You can try if you don’t believe me,” the White Soul Reaper retorted.

The Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon: “…”

“Is there any way to undo the curse?” Bai Zizai asked.

“There are ways…,” the Black Soul Reaper replied while frowning.

“How?” the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon asked anxiously.

“One, seek out Ming and beg for his forgiveness, then get him to undo the curse. Or, kill Ming. His curse should automatically unravel after some time,” the Black Soul Reaper said.

Kill Ming?

At the thought of Ming, the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon trembled. Kill him? That’s impossible. He could sit on equal status with Jiangchen. Even Milord might fail.

“Next?” Bai Zizai asked.

“Next, Underground Blood City. Seek out the Nine Cauldrons and break the curse,” the White Soul Reaper explained.

“Underground Blood City?” Bai Zizai frowned heavily.

“Indeed. Only my brother and I know the location of this place. It is in an extremely secretive place of this world, the lair of the Blood Shaman’s line of inheritance. They specialize in cultivating the curses of the Blood Shaman’s line of inheritance. The Nine Cauldrons anchor the space there. Although it does not contain peak experts, peak experts can die there. Curses are formless and traceless. Back then, the shaman race geniuses gathered all the curse techniques in the world to study them. Unfortunately, curses were too hard to consolidate into a complete system. That’s why it did not rise to one of the five main lines of inheritance back then,” the Black Soul Reaper explained.

“That’s not right. You are wrong there. Actually, the curse techniques the blood shamans studied had reached the level of the five main lines of inheritance—because divine blood replication is a branch of it. Just a branch formed the divine blood replication. The blood shamans’ curse techniques have probably advanced further over millions of years, so they should be extremely strong now,” the White Soul Reaper said.

“However, aren’t the people of Underground Blood City the descendants of the shaman race? Will they discriminate against us?” the Bellowing Griever Heavenly Demon asked worriedly.

“The shamans discriminating against us? Hah! You are wrong. Actually, the remnants of the shaman race no longer hate the animal spirits after the war between the shamans and the animal spirits. The one they hate is Jiangchen. Back then, the shamans were on the verge of victory, but Jiangchen destroyed their chances.” The Black Soul Reaper shook his head.

“The shamans don’t hate us?” The Divine Scorpion Heavenly Demon frowned slightly.

“Why would the shaman race hate a defeated enemy? It is just our animal spirit races hating the shamans. The one the shamans hate is the one who drove them to destruction: Jiangchen!” the White Soul Reaper explained.

“Now, you have two choices: either beg Ming or head to Underground Blood City to break the curse using the Nine Cauldrons,” the Black Soul Reaper said.

Bai Zizai silently contemplated this for a while.

“Go to Underground Blood City. Black Soul Reaper, since you had been there before, you shall bring Bellowing Griever there. Undo the curse on Bellowing Griever as soon as possible,” Bai Zizai said seriously.

“Yes! Milord, we might have to prepare some valuable gifts for this trip there.” The Black Soul Reaper looked at Bai Zizai.

“You may take whatever you need from my treasury,” Bai Zizai said.

“Yes!”

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The emperor’s study, Everlasting Nether Capital, the nether realm:

Mo Yike frowned as he reported, “Your Holy Eminence, according to the information from our men in the nether realm’s southern region, the Nine Yin Sect does not exist.”

“The Nine Yin Sect does not exist?” The skeleton Gu Hai frowned slightly.

“Yes. We have been continuously searching the nether realm and even checking the ancient records. There is still no information on the Nine Yin Sect until now. None of the souls have ever heard of Ming. He seems to have appeared out of nowhere,” Mo Yike said, his brows knitted.

The skeleton Gu Hai gently knocked on the table, showing a grave look.

There is no Nine Yin Sect? Then who is the Ming my true body saw in Essence Genesis Hall’s plaza?

Gu Hai believed that with Ming’s means, Ming did not have to falsify an identity. Why hide when he was that strong?

“Send people to continue investigating. Do not let any clues slip by!” Gu Hai instructed.

“Yes!” Mo Yike answered.

“Your Holy Eminence, Essence Genesis used his incarnation to inform all the royal dynasties and lower-tier sects just earlier. All the significant factions of the world should be aware by now,” Mo Yike reported solemnly.

Gu Hai nodded. “Essence Genesis is not good at governance. That’s why he asked us for help. Furthermore, he needs time to cultivate. This way, he can set things right once and for all. This is a great opportunity for our few factions. At the same time, it is also grave danger.”

“Indeed. Once we embark on this path, we will have to walk it to the end. Next, we will have to face the most intense storm.” Mo Yike nodded in agreement.

“In the land of the living, Jiangchen has no intention of taking more territory. That leaves the Han Nation and the Yan Nation. We will focus on the divine continent’s northern and western regions,” Gu Hai said.

“Yes. What about the nether realm?”

“The nether realm has Ming, Bai Zizai, and our factions. The Han Nation will focus on the northern and eastern regions,” Gu Hai instructed.

“The northern region should be easy. We already have some momentum from our previous activities. Furthermore, Ancestor Mang Shan and others are cooperating with us. The northern region is practically in the bag. However, there is the East Spiritual Fire Sea in the east. The four remaining Vermilion Bird Primes are there. Will they…,” Mo Yike trailed off worriedly.

“There’s no need to worry. The Vermilion Bird Primes are already scared witless from events at Essence Genesis Hall; they will not interfere. Just go around the East Spiritual Fire Sea and deploy our troops,” Gu Hai instructed.

“Yes!”

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The land of the living:

The entire world went into shock when they saw the sun rise from the west. Gu Hai immediately guessed this to be Ming’s doing, as he was currently a guest in the Yan Heavenly Dynasty.

Gu Hai was curious about Ming, as Ming’s arrival was too mysterious.

The emperor’s study, the Han Heavenly Dynasty:

Gu Hai’s true body sat behind the desk, with Meng Tai standing in front.

“Your Holy Eminence, word just arrived from Xuanyuan City. The Embroidered Uniform Guards spotted Jiangchen at Cangjie’s residence,” Meng Tai reported respectfully.

“Jiangchen?” Gu Hai’s pupils constricted.

“Yes. A centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard discovered him by accident while delivering some materials to Mister Cangjie. The two sat on the stargazing deck and drank tea. He did not hear what they spoke about, but Jiangchen seemed to be on good terms with Mister Cangjie, like they were old friends who had not met for many years,” Meng Tai said respectfully.

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling shocked in his heart. Isn’t Cangjie a lifespan cultivator? How is he involved with Jiangchen? Old friends?

Right now, Meng Tai felt stupefied. The Han Heavenly Dynasty has already reached the peak of the world, and I have seen many talents. In fact, there are many talented strategists working under me who are no inferior to Cangjie in intelligence.

His Holy Eminence has only just recruited Cangjie, but Cangjie dares to abandon his duties and leave. What is going on? I have seen many arrogant people like you. You are simply a defeated opponent; what is there to be cocky about? If not for His Holy Eminence valuing you, what are you?

However, when Meng Tai’s subordinates sent word of this, he did not know what to say.

Like old friends? That is Jiangchen, one of the few people in the world whom the Han Nation takes seriously. No matter when, he is someone who can sit on par with His Holy Eminence, yet he is old friends with Cangjie?

Meng Tai’s previous disdain for Cangjie instantly vanished.

“Send word that this matter is to be kept secret. We do not want news of Jiangchen’s meeting with Cangjie to spread,” Gu Hai said seriously.

“Yes! Your Holy Eminence, rest assured. This official will impose restrictions on my subordinates!” Meng Tai said solemnly.

“Also, cooperate with Cangjie to the fullest extent. As long as Cangjie asks, support him fully as long as it does not negatively affect the Han Nation’s foundations,” Gu Hai instructed.

“Yes!” Meng Tai answered.

As Gu Hai and Meng Tai talked, Gu Qin’s voice came from outside the study.

“Eminent Father, there’s good news. Two sect masters and two imperial emperors carrying surrender letters are seeking an audience with Eminent Father!”

“Oh? It has begun?” Gu Hai’s eyes lit up.

Although the experts of the nether realm knew what had happened at Essence Genesis Hall, they still held hope in their hearts. However, it was different for those in the land of the living. They had experienced it for themselves and knew they faced grave danger. The decisive faction leaders immediately wrote official letters and came to pledge their loyalty.