Chapter 509: The Jade Emperor Is Stunned!
There was a special spot in Primeval.
It was not within the Four Divine States of Primeval, but above its Thirty-Three Skies, which was shrouded in thick white immortal mists.
It was the Celestial Court, which had thirty-six palaces, seventy-two halls, and many other buildings. Innumerable immortal islands floated in the air, surrounded by ten thousand veins of golden radiances and a thousand streaks of blessed qi. All the buildings and immortal paths stood between nine tiers of clouds, and it appeared very vast from afar.
Inside the Clear Jade Palace...
The Jade Emperor, dressed in elaborately embroidered clothes, was sitting with the Queen Mother and having small talk over tea.
A fairy maiden then entered and respectfully said, “Your Majesty, Your Highness, the Duke of Dong Mu requests your audience.”
“Oh?”
The Jade Emperor appeared delighted and smiled. “It had been some time since he returned from the homeworld, and he finally comes to me now? Hurry on, let him in!”
The fairy maiden left the palace, and soon, Lü Dongbin entered with a kowtow.
Behind his table, the Jade Emperor feigned a scowl on purpose. “It has been half a month since you returned. Why were you reluctant to see me?”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty!”
Lü Dongbin quickly said, “My set of mystic treasures have been upgraded to acquired soul treasures, and when I meditated with them on the way back, I gained some enlightenment, which was why I immediately secluded myself right after I returned... I managed to ascend just a while ago, and quick came to see you, Your Majesty.”
“Oh?”
The Jade Emperor’s eyes shifted, only noticing Lü Dongbin’s cultivation then and exclaiming in delight, “You have risen to Grand Luo, Duke?”
“Impressive, impressive!”
Even the Queen Mother praised. “Duke of Dong Mu, even if you had abandoned all you’ve learned in your last life to reincarnate and recultivate the way of the sword, it is simply evident that you are a prodigy, as you rose to Grand Luo in just around 2,000 years.”
As a fairy maiden brought in some snacks and immortal wine, Lü Dongbin took his seat and spoke about everything he had seen in the homeworld.
In truth, most details had been reported to the Jade Emperor by the people Lü Dongbin had sent to return to the celestial battlefield, but the Jade Emperor remained stunned by Lü Dongbin’s personal description, and exclaimed in shock, “A man alone has overwhelmed the Hundred Races Alliance and routed them... there actually is a Golden Immortal who is this powerful?”
“If he was under the celestial court’s command, would we not win every single battle that does not involve Grand Luo?”
“That would be difficult!”
Lü Dongbin smiled. “Jiang He probably would not join any faction. Yu Yuan of the Jie Sect had tried to recruit him in the homeworld, only to end up quarrelling with Jiang He... moreover, Jiang He is already a Grand Luo.”
What a shame.
The Jade Emperor sighed.
There was no use since Jiang He had ascended.
The Celestial Court had no lack of Grand Luo, and there was no lack of old monsters among them who had lived for endless eons. They were the actual top fighting forces of the Grand Luo, and how powerful could a cultivator who recently ascended to Grand Luo be anyway?
He would have been more useful as a Golden Immortal.
After all, his combat ability would be unmatched given how he could overwhelm the legion of the Alliance. In the battle between realms where Grand Luo were prohibited from fighting, the threat that an unmatched Golden Immortal poses would most certainly be frightening.
Take the Alliance for example. After their legion was routed, they had never reorganized another legion to attack Earth.
One reason was that both the G.o.d and Demon races were aware that the last attempt inflicted severe casualties upon the lesser legions. Moreover, with only the Golden Immortals of two races escaping, the lesser races would not agree to rea.s.sembling the legion.
Secondly, the Primeval and the Three Realms faction would now have time to react, and it would be immensely difficult to attempt another invasion on Earth.
Thirdly, Jiang He existed.
Who would dare to invade when a peerless Golden Immortal like him guarded Earth?
Realizing that the Jade Emperor was underestimating Jiang He upon learning that he had ascended, Lü Dongbin promptly said, “You may not know this, Your Majesty, but Jiang He is less than thirty, and it is said that he has cultivated for less than two years.”
The Jade Emperor was surprised, but soon regained his calm and smiled. “That would probably be thanks to his providence of obtaining some time acceleration array which was left by one of my senior brothers, and had the chance to cultivate inside one.”
Naturally, the ‘senior brothers’ whom the Jade Emperor spoke of referred to the Saints.
His status was certainly special given that he was Lord of the Three Realms. Being a ward of Taishang Laojun, he could borrow the power of Heavenly Dao when he was in the Thirty-Three Skies and could be a match against Saints.
“Your Majesty, Jiang He was already Grand Luo-pinnacle by the time I left the homeworld, and he ascended with me as well as the other immortals beside him, reaching pinnacle instantly once he ascended.”
“What?”
The Jade Emperor could no longer keep calm, and even the Queen Mother appeared perplexed.
“That’s impossible. To ascend, a Grand Luo needs to continuously deepen their enlightenment toward Dao. After just two years of cultivation, he should not have gained such profound depth even if he had been cultivating in a location with accelerated time.”
“Yes, but he is also adept at item refinement, and his item refinement method is unheard of. Any item superior-grade immortal item could be strengthened to a premium-grade immortal item in an hour, and likewise, a premium-grade immortal item could also be upgraded to the grade of acquired soul treasure in an hour...”
Lü Dongbin’s aura stirred and thirty-six flying swords floated over his head. They emanated a sharp aura and Sword Qi swirled around them, brightening the chamber just then.
“Your Majesty, Jiang He had upgraded this set of mystic weapons I had to inferior-grade acquired soul treasure...”
Lü Dongbin paused just then before saying, “Moreover, he was not the one doing the work. He had a dog at the level of Heavenly Daemon, and it was said to have been personally instructed in Jiang He’s item refinement method, and that dog was the one who refined my mystic weapons.”
The Jade Emperor was left speechless.
His mouth hung open, his tone rather parched and hoa.r.s.e just then. “A Heavenly Daemon... dog?”
Disbelief was written all over his face.
Heavenly Daemons were equal to Heavenly Immortals.
Even so, no matter how impressive the item refinist was, a Heavenly Immortal was not supposed to refine acquired soul treasure, was he?
Putting away the set of flying swords, Lü Dongbin continued, “Aside from item refinement, Jiang He is also adept at arrays. I heard that the arrays he casts are unique and profound... and he is also a grandmaster at pellet refinement...”
The Jade Emperor was already numbed and muttered, “No way. No one could ever be so accomplished even if they cultivated for tens of thousands of years in an accelerated zone, let alone two years.”
That was when another fairy maiden entered the palace and said, “Your Majesty, Erlang Shen requests your audience.”
Soon, the handsome and burly Erlang Shen entered the palace. After bowing to the Jade Emperor, he turned toward the Lü Dongbin and said, “Duke of Dong Mu, my master has just sent word that Jiang He wants to meet you.”
“Jiang He?”
Both the Jade Emperor and Lü Dongbin were stunned, while Erlang Shen added in surprise, “Are you acquainted with Jiang He as well, Your Majesty? He really is something, I heard he even demonstrated his pellet refinement skills at the Hollow Jade Temple...”
Yang Jian, or Erlang Shen, then told them about how Jiang He had improved the Body Honing Pellet with an unheard of pellet refinement method, easily cultivating a truckload of those pellets...
The palace became silent right then.
It was after a long time that the Jade Emperor spoke with much difficulty, “I’ll come with you, Duke.”