Chapter 1428: Earth Realm (4): A Vain Death Prompted by an Unchangeable Nature and an Unquenchable Thirst for Power
“A divine stone?” Tang Xiu was curious and asked. “What’s special about that stone? Why do you call it a divine stone? Also, how did Duanmu Lin learn that you had the divine stone so quickly?”
“Around twenty years ago, our Great Tang Empire came across a trove of treasures. It seemed to be a mansion that belonged to a Perfected Golden Immortal. We found many precious things there, and among them, three medicinal pills were taken by Miao Wentang, Shao Mingzhen, and Long Zhengyu. Besides the medicinal pills, we also found some cultivation techniques, immortal artifacts, and a personal letter.
“After we distributed all the treasures, we didn’t think that the personal letters were worth investigating, so we just left it aside. However, I feel that the things that were noted by a Perfected Golden Immortal would definitely mean something, so I requested for the personal letter to investigate it. Inside the letter, the Perfected Golden Immortal mentioned the World Core. He also mentioned that the reason he had broken through the barrier between the Immortal World and Earth was to search for the World Core. Unfortunately, he suffered serious injuries when he pa.s.sed through the barrier and that limited his mobility greatly.
“After I told Long Zhengyu of what I gathered from the letter about the World Core, the Great Tang Empire immediately deployed men to search for it with the clues that the Perfected Golden Immortal left behind. However, that never came to fruition. Long Zhengyu felt that if even the Perfected Golden Immortal couldn’t find it, us mere mortals would never have a chance at finding it. The search gradually crawled to an end, but I never gave up.
“Because of the things that happened to my family, the people from the Great Tang Empire thought I went insane, and so did the Special Abilities Bureau. However, what I didn’t expect was that the people from the Special Abilities Bureau did not stop monitoring and following me…”
After seeing that Tang Xiu showed interest in the divine stone, Ji Mu suddenly became energized, so he narrated all the events surrounding the divine stone.
After hearing what Ji Mu had to say, Tang Xiu could pretty much confirm that the divine stone that Ji Mu was talking about was the Immortal World’s number one Supreme Divine Item, the World Core.
The World Core was the Immortal World’s core, which was located in the most mysterious place, the Phantasm Oblivion Domain. Several eras ago, a powerful expert was able to shuttle back and forth from the G.o.d Realm and he had used the power of the World Core to expand the size of the Immortal World by several millions of times. In the end, the World Core just simply vanished. Tang Xiu did not expect to hear that the World Core was now on Earth.
However, after knowing that Earth was once the old G.o.d Realm, Tang Xiu made sense of it.
“The World Core isn’t something that a mere mortal can refine. Normal humans can only use it to increase their cultivation rate. If you want to refine the World Core, you will need to be a deity and use divine force to refine it.” Tang Xiu looked at the dissatisfied Ji Mu and patiently explained, “You should be grateful that Duanmu Lin was unable to refine the World Core. Otherwise, you would have already been killed because there would be no reason to leave you alive.”
“Ah, only deities can refine the World Core. What’s the use of the World Core then?” Ji Mu was overwhelmed with shock. At the same time, he was also afraid.
“The World Core is the Immortal World’s core. If someone obtained the World Core, they would become the Lord of the Immortal World and gain the power to determine the life and death of the Immortal World,” Tang Xiu replied.
“Ah.” After knowing this about the World Core, Ji Mu was speechless. Even though he knew that the World Core was a special item, he never thought that it would be this powerful.
“Ji Mu, you should have already realized that you have reached a new level of strength. Now, go and do what you want to do. I only have one wish. Do not harm the innocent. Also, tell me your wife and daughter’s birth dates.” Tang Xiu was deep in thought for a while, then said these things to Ji Mu.
“Thank you for your blessings, Master. I will only kill the ones who deserve to be killed. I will definitely not harm the innocent.” Upon hearing that Tang Xiu approved of his thirst for revenge, Ji Mu’s eyes lit up. Then, he told Tang Xiu of his wife and daughter’s birth dates and hurriedly left.
Tang Xiu muttered their birth dates under his breath. In an instant, he appeared on the west side of the Longquan Mountain. Then, he silently entered the pocket world.
There were hundreds of disciples from the Tang Sect patrolling outside the pocket world. However, none of them could detect Tang Xiu’s arrival.
After entering the pocket world, Tang Xiu’s facial expression changed. This was because he sensed the faint smell of blood and he also heard the sounds of fierce battles that raged on within the depths of the pocket world.
“Are Long Zhengyu and the rest just hunting the monster beasts in the pocket world to train? Or did something else happen?” Tang Xiu moved immediately towards the source of the sounds.
In the depths of the pocket world, Long Zhengyu was covered in blood and was heavily wounded. He was filled with rage, sorrow, and ultimately, regret.
Long Zhengyu and the others were surrounded by five Great Ascension Stage monster beasts. He turned his head and saw that one of the disciples of the Tang Clan was crushed to death in the mouth of one of the monster beasts. Long Zhengyu had to expend his own life force greatly to kill the other monster beasts besides the Great Ascension Stage monster beasts.
“Pfft. Long Zhengyu. Your selflessness is really quite moving! However, now even your own life is in danger. Do you think that you can keep protecting all of these disciples?” Duanmu Lin taunted. Duanmu Lin was a few hundred meters away from where Long Zhengyu was and drove the monster beasts that approached him away with ease.
“Leave!” Long Zhengyu yelled in rage.
“Long Zhengyu. You’re already on the brink of death. Why don’t you give me all those medicinal pills, array books, alchemy books, and artifact refinement books that Tang Xiu gave to you before he left? At the same time, why don’t you also give me all the shares of the Magnificent Tang Corporation, the pocket world in Longquan Mountain, and the control of the Nine Dragons Island as well? If you do this, then I will spare your lives.
“Otherwise, after I kill you, I will kill every single disciple of the Tang Sect. In the end, all of those things will be mine either way.”
Duanmu Lin remained calm and advised Long Zhengyu even though he had spat on his face.
“Duanmu Lin, it’s clear that I have been blind. I can’t believe that I brought you into the pocket world. If you can, kill me! Kill all the disciples of the Tang Sect! I want to see how you can control this pocket world.” Long Zhengyu looked at Duanmu Lin with pure rage after killing a monster beast.
After seeing Long Zhengyu’s unwavering persistence, Duanmu Lin lost his patience.
Duanmu Lin had always coveted power. When he knew that the pocket world in Longquan Mountain had a seemingly never-ending pool of cultivation resources, he began to scheme to take it over.
However, he couldn’t do anything about it when Tang Xiu was present. This was because Tang Xiu was much more powerful than he ever expected, and he was always cautious around him.
This changed when Tang Xiu ascended to the Immortal World. Duanmu Lin began scheming once again. He was a cunning man and did not attack the Tang Sect’s disciples right away. Instead, he paid a great price to invite other powerful forces to attack the Tang Sect’s disciples.
Just as the pocket world was about to be in his hands, Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen dropped from the sky and easily defeated all of Duanmu Lin’s forces. In the end, these two people remained in Tang Sect, which struck fear into Duanmu Lin’s heart. From then on, he did not dare to use force to take over the pocket world.
After pondering for a while, Duanmu Lin declared that he had left the Special Abilities Bureau and helped the Magnificent Tang Corporation and the Tang Sect many times to slowly win their trust.
Even though Tang Xiu had warned Long Zhengyu about being on guard against Duanmu Lin before he ascended, Duanmu Lin still ended up gaining the trust of Long Zhengyu after a couple of decades. As a result, Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen did not have any objections to that either.
This was how Duanmu Lin slowly entered the Tang Sect’s core administration group. He began to enjoy more and more cultivation resources. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t interfere with how the distribution of resources worked, as well as the level of control that he could have over the pocket world. This caused him great dissatisfaction.
However, with Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen in the pocket world, Duanmu Lin didn’t dare to do anything. This was because these two people were extremely powerful and could wipe the floor with the whole earth if they wanted to. Furthermore, they were both wise and experienced, so they were wary of every abnormality that happened. Duanmu Lin did not act any differently to gain suspicion, but Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen were still suspicious of him.
When Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen ascended, Duanmu Lin got his plan into action. He began to buy and gain the trust of the people in Tang Sect, then slowly made Long Zhengyu into a mere figurehead. Half a month ago, he used a newly concocted biological potion that was made in the Taklamakan Desert secret base and added that into Long Zhengyu’s food.
This potion was not poisonous and was both odorless and tasteless. The only use for it was that it attracted the aggression of monster beasts. The more powerful the beast, the stronger the attraction. Therefore, the moment Long Zhengyu brought the Tang Sect disciples into the depths of the pocket world to train, their tragic fates had been sealed already.
“Long Zhengyu, is it not better to live than to die? Even if you are not afraid of death, you should think of your family! If you are willing to give me the authority and full control of the pocket world, then I will guarantee that the Long family will continue to prosper for as long as I live! How does that sound?” Duanmu Lin looked at Long Zhengyu, who was struggling to hold himself up. Then, he said, “If you don’t recognize the opportunity that’s presented in front of you, then don’t blame me for killing you and the Tang Sect’s disciples! Once I do that, I will kill every single one of your family members under the accusation of betraying the country!”
“You shameless man!” After hearing the words that came out of Duanmu Lin’s mouth, Long Zhengyu collapsed to the ground and could not get up. All of his energy was already spent. He could only look at Duanmu Lin with pure rage and said, “Duanmu Lin, you will pay for what you have done! You will die painfully, and no one will care.”
“Is that right? I’m not the one who’s going to die. You are!” Upon seeing the despair in Long Zhengyu’s eyes, a sinister look flashed across Duanmu Lin’s face. Then, he said, “I will give you ten more breaths to reconsider. If you are still as stubborn then, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
“He doesn’t need to reconsider. Instead, you are the one who will need to think. Think about how you are going to preserve your worthless little life!” Just when Duanmu Lin’s eyes were fixated on Long Zhengyu, ready to kill him, a voice akin to thunder rang next to his ears and almost caused his soul to scatter.
On the contrary, this voice was like an angel’s voice to Long Zhengyu’s ears. He looked at the person behind Duanmu Lin and then fainted directly.