Amidst the all-encompa.s.sing purple-qi, the handsome features of the Brocade Emperor, Fu Yunchi, were indistinctly visible.
As he executed the Grand Beginning Bright Emptiness Form, seeming illusory whilst also real, s.h.i.+fting s.p.a.ce was incomparably easy for him.
Seeing this, Meng Wan instead grew calm, continuing to speak as she looked at Yan Zhaoge, “With my understanding of senior apprentice-sister Feng, while she loves to act spontaneously without prior discussion, she would definitely not like you taking on any unnecessary risks for her sake.”
“While I do like to take risks, I never act in a suicidal manner. Since I have committed myself to something, I would definitely have some level of confidence in it. It is the same this time too…” Gazing at the Brocade Emperor who was visible within that purple sea of clouds, Yan Zhaoge wondered aloud, “…Probably, I guess?”
He looked at the Brocade Emperor before gazing again at the distant battlefield, “Being able to survive a major calamity and see the Brocade Emperor again, this Yan really is lucky. I just wonder how the Encompa.s.sing Emperor is?”
While the Brocade Emperor’s aura was slightly weak at this moment, his expression was as per usual and even with a bit of geniality as it was like he had never experienced that earlier great battle at all.
Seeing Yan Zhaoge and Meng Wan, he smiled, “With the situation chaotic and all sides tied up, crisis instead lessens. Since you have already escaped, Fellow Daoist Li has no need to stay there and fight with the ones from the Immortal Court. So long as he is careful, he can surely still extricate himself.”
Yan Zhaoge raised his brows, “It is Mars Halberd who is in a difficult situation?”
Though he was asking a question, Yan Zhaoge seemed certain of this.
From the words of that Sovereign of the Immortal Court in the form of an ice phoenix, the Immortal Court seemed to have Mars Halberd as a wanted fugitive too.
While the reason was unclear, Yan Zhaoge guessed that it was most likely related to the Exalted Fire Luminary.
Now that Yan Zhaoge and the Dim Radiant Wheel were gone, they would naturally focus completely on Mars Halberd.
The Encompa.s.sing Emperor would instead be ignored somewhat as they primarily stayed cautious of the numerous devils of the Nine Underworlds.
Now that Mars Halberd was the target of the two Sovereigns of the Immortal Court while also being hara.s.sed by great Devils of the Nine Underworlds whose motives were fickle, it was not just trouble that had befallen him. If he was even the least bit careless, he would be doomed to fall in the Nine Underworlds.
“Mars Halberd and I had arranged for another battle. I was originally going to battle against him after we had finished looking for Little Friend Feng and exited the Nine Underworlds.”
The Brocade Emperor said mildly, “Who would have thought that the Immortal Court might interfere, resulting in such a situation.”
Yan Zhaoge said after a while, “Previously, Mars Halberd’s attack sent me and your daughter, Fu Ting, to the Immortal Court, causing your daughter difficulties. That should have been unintentional on his part, though.”
The Brocade Emperor smiled, “I understand. It is just that I am inevitably unhappy with him. Even so, I still hope that nothing will happen to him. Regardless of whatever enmity exists between us, we are all of orthodox Daoism at the end of the day.”
Yan Zhaoge watched him calmly, not saying anything.
A chill rose in Meng Wan’s heart as her father whom she was already unfamiliar with in the first place felt even more foreign to her now.
She was not clear on the enmity between the Brocade Emperor and Mars Halberd, only knowing some parts of it from the earlier conversations between the Brocade Emperor, the Encompa.s.sing Emperor and Yan Zhaoge.
Still, with her intelligence and what Yan Zhaoge had told her earlier about the state the Brocade Emperor was currently in, it was not difficult for her to realise the truth of this matter.
In today’s battle, the first victim to the Brocade Emperor’s schemes was neither Yan Zhaoge nor her as it was instead Mars Halberd!
If in his normal state of mind, the Brocade Emperor would naturally not have done this kind of thing.
Yet, he was extremely unstable mentally right now as even his style of handling affairs diverged from his usual way.
The current Brocade Emperor had his mind split in two.
His feeling side hated and raged against Mars Halberd over what had happened to Fu Ting back then.
Still, his feeling side had its pride and arrogance as he would only engage in a proper battle to the death with Mars Halberd to decide a victor between them.
His unfeeling side saw Mars Halberd as a threat that it would be best to exterminate for good.
Still, as the whereabouts of the Exalted Fire Luminary were unknown, whether he failed or succeeded in exterminating him, it could ultimately lead to situations detrimental to him.
Therefore, the best method was to kill with a borrowed blade rather than acting himself.
Both these versions of him desired to kill Mars Halberd, just that their methods differed.
Meng Wan’s heart grew extremely cold at the thought of what had just transpired.
Yan Zhaoge’s guesses were gradually coming to fruition and being actualised.
In the inner struggle of the Brocade Emperor, it was indeed his unfeeling side that was gradually gaining the upper hand!
“Do not be panicked, Wan’er,” The Brocade Emperor seemed to see through Meng Wan’s thoughts as he suddenly smiled, “From the way you seem now, Little Friend Yan must have said much to you.”
“A venomous tiger does not devour its offspring. The situation is still not as bad as you believe. Your father is unceasingly searching for a better method of resolving it.”
The Brocade Emperor sighed, “It is just a pity that after having finally been able to reunite not long ago with much difficulty, our hearts have grown yet further apart.”
“I do not blame you for this. This is from a problem with I, your father. It is just that some matters within this world really leave one feeling regretful yet helpless.”
Meng Wan was startled, “Father…”
The Brocade Emperor smiled, raising a hand to stop her, “Relax, Wan’er. It’s okay.”
He gazed in Yan Zhaoge’s direction, “I would instead ask-Why did you have to expose this matter, Little Friend Yan?”
“What difference does it make?” Yan Zhaoge spread his hands apart, “Even as you kill two birds with one stone, dealing with Mars Halberd while shaking off the Encompa.s.sing Emperor, your next target can only be either me or your daughter.”
“If your daughter is your target, you yourself would expose things. If it is me, whether I wreck your happiness or not, won’t you still be wanting to kill me anyway?”
The Brocade Emperor was momentarily silent before he smiled widely, “Yes, I have been too full of myself. You lecture me rightly, Little Friend Yan.”
As he lowered himself from his lofty pedestal and spoke earnestly and politely, a strong premonition arose in Yan Zhaoge’s mind!
Indeed, the very next moment, the Brocade Emperor raised a hand before bringing it straight down towards him!
His upraised palm contained the combined qis of yin and yang.
Through his palm, he sent Meng Wan away while getting rid of the devilish qi around Yan Zhaoge’s body. Time became blurry with s.p.a.ce no longer existing as all things returned to the primordial qis, yin and yang.
A ma.s.sive Taiji diagram appeared between the heavens and earth of the dark devilish domain as it enveloped Yan Zhaoge.
Yan Zhaoge felt as if his body was spinning alongside this as even if he had myriad transformations, being infinitely capable, it seemed that it would still be difficult for him to escape this Taiji diagram.
This was the might of a True Immortal.
Yan Zhaoge had once personally experienced the Heaven Emperor in action in the Royal Reed Sea.
Still, as he had been protected by the Earth Mother Dao Ritual and the Later Earth Text back then, only now with that layer stripped away did he truly comprehend what the divide between mortal and Immortal was. It was like the difference between the heavens and earth as even he was hard pressed to surpa.s.s it right now.
Still, Yan Zhaoge did not grow panicked.
He roared, resembling the enraged howls of countless devils of the deep abyss and also the chanting of numerous Buddhas of the blessed lands.
An ancient green Buddha with four faces and eight arms appeared above Yan Zhaoge’s head once more.
It was just that this time, Yan Zhaoge’s body was completely integrated within this Buddha idol.
The next moment, boundless devilish qi converged to coil around that ancient Buddha before congregating to form an even more gigantic black Buddha!
The ma.s.sive black Buddha had the ‘卍’ symbol that was circulating in reverse on its foreheads, chests and palms.
“Your action proves my guess,” Yan Zhaoge’s voice resounded from the mouth of that gigantic Buddha, “If you cultivate in the unfeeling dao, Brocade Emperor, to completely rid yourself of all future complications and reach a higher level, you will have to cultivate my father’s Grand Simplicity Splendour Cloud as expected.”