Chapter 1755: A tale of two cities
『 Soul Return Dispersal! 』Li An loudly declared.
All the b.l.o.o.d.y mist was then scattered by the wind.
Over a dozen terrifying severed heads of wraiths laid motionlessly on the ground, all of which were gradually turning pale white as they lost any signs of vitality they had within them.
“I’ve troubled you” Gu Qing Shan said.
『 It’s indeed difficult to control several souls to such a precise degree——- but as long as it’s for the sake of fighting the Heaven realm, we Tianma are always willing to give it a try 』Li An replied.
She then said with a bit of worry in her voice: 『 They said that the Samsara is nearly unable to suppress the Apocalypses, what does that mean? 』
Gu Qing Shan replied: “I suspect that it is because the Samsara had just been reset and it is currently at its weakest that this place exists”
『 What do you mean? 』
“—–This place is the underside of the Human realm, separated from it by the ground itself, a place specifically created to fight against the Apocalypse and maintain peace within the Human realm” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Li An muttered: 『 How strange, even if the Samsara had only just been reset, it shouldn’t be so acting so cautiously… Are there perhaps some particularly powerful Apocalypses among them? 』
Gu Qing Shan sighed and nodded.
He couldn’t help but think back to one particular Apocalypse he witnessed when he used [Night Cruiser] to travel along the river within the great tomb.
——-a thin elongated skull manifested from water vapor.
Any ent.i.ties that came into contact with it would be stripped of their Time and s.p.a.ce, falling into endless nothingness without being able to escape, with death being their only form of release.
It was practically impossible to attack it as well, since it didn’t exist within s.p.a.ce-Time.
An unresolvable Apocalypse.
And it wasn’t the only Apocalypse that existed within the great tomb.
So it was natural for the Samsara to deal with them cautiously.
—–not to mention how there are still Apocalyptic Envoys lying in wait.
The only good news is that the Samsara had already escaped from the previous Reality Gate and has now entered a completely new reality.
It’s possible that the Apocalyptic Envoys might have lost some sort of ability due to this, which explains why they haven’t been able to summon the Apocalypses from outside the previous Reality Gate.
“Let’s go, we’re heading back” Gu Qing Shan said.
『 Back to the Green Building? 』 Li An asked.
“No, back to the warehouse, our business here had only just begun, it’s not yet time to return” Gu Qing Shan replied.
As the two of them were about to set out, the severed heads on the ground suddenly took flight in unison.
They flew into the sky and exploded into a pale yellow circle in the air.
『 That’s the seal of a Reversal-type Immortal Craft! 』Li An’s expression changed.
“What does it do?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
『 It records light and images—– the events that transpired here have already been exposed! 』Li An explained.
Exposed?
In other words, the Heavenly Emperor already knows what happened here?
In an instant, lines of b.l.o.o.d.y red text quickly appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan:
[Attention, a certain Phase Realm is attempting to intersect with the present world]
[It is about to manifest in front of you]
Gu Qing Shan quickly skimmed through it and shouted: “Ye Ru Xi——”
In an instant, a woman dressed in simple military clothing appeared.
It was Ye Ru Xi.
“What’s the matter?” she cautiously asked.
Gu Qing Shan replied: “Someone is coming”
As soon as he said that, an illusory image of a gigantic city began to manifest on top of the vast barren wasteland.
It was a dream-like city glowing in colorful divine light, despite how large it was, it was stably hovering in the middle of the air.
Numerous supernatural phenomena representing good luck were hovering around the gigantic city, accompanied by a wondrous heavenly aria and layers upon layers of s.h.i.+fting clouds. It appeared to be some sort of eternal city, or a city of Heaven that one could only dream of.
A solemn voice called out from the gigantic city:
「 Gu Qing Shan, being able to discover my plan, you can be considered quite a character indeed, but your loss is already determined 」
The Heavenly Emperor!
This was his voice!
Without waiting for Gu Qing Shan to answer, a dazzling heavenly light was shot out from the city, which instantly traversed the lengthy distance to reach Gu Qing Shan.
How fast!
Right as Gu Qing Shan was about to react, Ye Ru Xi had already stood in front of him.
She grumbled: “Shelter!”
Bam———
A bronze wall that was hundreds of meters in length suddenly manifested on the ground in front of the three, perfectly s.h.i.+elding them.
The heavenly light violently struck the bronze wall, which caused a deafening thunderous echo.
Heaven and earth almost appeared to dim from the impact.
Everything became a blur.
It wasn’t only until a while later that the aftermath of the impact had subsided.
“This level of power… should be one full-power strike from that city, it’s a bit troublesome” Ye Ru Xi commented.
Her hand that was placed against the giant bronze wall was trembling a little.
Li An couldn’t help but click her tongue when she saw that.
——this girl has retained her full strength!
Where did Gu Qing Shan find such a ferocious person, not only is her strength not sealed at all, she also managed to block an attack from the Heavenly Emperor that was meant to kill!
“Troublesome?” Gu Qing Shan snapped out of his shock and asked.
“If this continues, I won’t be able to defend you” Ye Ru Xi replied.
『 Then we need to hurry up and flee 』saying that, Li An held onto Gu Qing Shan’s sleeve.
“Wait a moment, let’s not go just yet” Gu Qing Shan stopped her.
At this point, the Heavenly Emperor’s voice reverberated again:
「 Being able to stop that attack, it seems you aren’t fated to die today, very well, I shall let you go for now 」
Gu Qing Shan’s expression appeared strange.
“Let me… go?”
He mumbled to himself, then took a deep breath and suddenly shouted: “Heavenly Emperor, you shameless son of a b.i.t.c.h! Come and fight me to the death if you dare!”
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His voice reverberated throughout the empty, silent world.
Li An was almost scared stiff by his actions and hurriedly grabbed his hand, already rapidly chanting an incantation to flee.
Gu Qing Shan quickly covered her mouth.
“Wait a moment” he whispered.
The silence persisted for a short moment.
The Heavenly Emperor’s chuckle was then heard: 「 What an impudent lone wraith without even a place to belong, this emperor shall tell you the harsh truth: an insect like you isn’t worth the time of this emperor or the heavenly retainers as we are busy fighting the Apocalypse 」
「 Gu Qing Shan, you haven’t even gone through the Elements Purgatory, but this emperor had already established an Immortal City, being bestowed unparalleled Merit and the favor of the Samsara. This emperor is already an Immortal City Ruler who had obtained an unrivaled Divine Skill 」
「 Once this emperor finishes fighting the Apocalypse off, this emperor shall lead the myriad heavenly beings back to the Human realm to search for you. Your body shall be flayed and butchered, your bones broken down and grinded, your soul will be banished into the Nine Serenities of Huang Quan, never to escape from infinite torture! 」
The Heavenly Emperor’s voice was filled with his fury and killing intent, once again reverberating throughout the entire world.
Li An’s expression became completely pale, her heart dropping all the way down.
Who could have imagined that everything the Heavenly Emperor had done up to this point had been a smokescreen?
His true goal was always to establish an Immortal City!
Possessing such an Immortal City, he had gone extremely far ahead compared to any other Chosen Saints!
It’s nothing but a pipe dream for those behind to try and catch up to him now!
Li An’s muttered with a completely stunned expression on her face: 『 …What now… the difference is too great… 』
Gu Qing Shan, on the other hand, immediately turned to Ye Ru Xi: “Ye Ru Xi, don’t worry about my safety, go ahead and destroy that Immortal City”
Ye Ru Xi was surprised and said: “I don’t think I can take down that city by myself”
“Then just attack it, destroy as much as you can—— they’re in the middle of fighting against the Heavenly Emperor, not having the manpower to even deal with me. Your job is just to disrupt them and further divide their attention, ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to interfere with me” Gu Qing Shan explained.
“Hm” Ye Ru Xi replied.
“And also, I’ve given you the authority for [Moon Invitation], so if you think that your life might be in danger, you can dispel the summoning and return at any moment you wish” Gu Qing Shan added.
“Got it” Ye Ru Xi said.
She then leapt into the air and flew away.
From the void of s.p.a.ce behind her, two gigantic bronze arms then manifested.
From the distance, the Heavenly Emperor spoke up again: 「 Who are you? 」
Ye Ru Xi began to emanate a sense of utter vicissitudes and raised her voice: “You don’t need to know who I am, I just want to see how strong you bunch from the Heaven realm actually are!”
「 There is no need for such a thing, join my Heaven realm and I will grant you a main Deity position within Heaven! 」
“Main Deity? I am the Deity of [Chaos], I don’t need your lousy main Deity position” Ye Ru Xi scoffed and thrust her hand forward.
The two bronze arms flew straight towards the Immortal City, completely eclipsing the world below along their path.
Right as the earth-shattering battle was about to begin, Gu Qing Shan turned to Li An and said: “Now, let’s go!”
『 Where to? 』
“Where can you take me?”
『 As I came here in response to your Wind Tribulation, I can only return to the Green Building 』
“Then let’s return there!”
As Li An finished her hand seal, their figures disappeared.
…
Back in the Green Building.
Xie Dao Ling was sitting at the host seat to silently listen to Gu Qing Shan’s report and asked: “If that’s true, then the Heavenly Emperor has already surpa.s.sed all other Chosen Saints and established an Immortal City before anyone could?”
“That is the case” Gu Qing Shan affirmed.
Xie Dao Ling sighed: “He really has a huge advantage over everyone else—– as far as I understand, the Samsara Divine Skill obtained by an Immortal City Ruler is stronger than anyone else’s, this is considered a type of recognition by the Samsara”
“s.h.i.+fu knows about that as well? Then it seems when I slandered the Heavenly Emperor, his pride made it so that he didn’t lie—– with his position, it would certainly have damaged his reputation if he lied at such a public occasion…” Gu Qing Shan muses.
Xie Dao Ling asked: “You need to first go through the Elements Purgatory, then establish a city to fight the Heavenly Emperor. It isn’t feasible to establish an Immortal City in a short period of time either—— this is so-called ‘being one step behind means being every step behind’, a difference that practically cannot be overcame, do you have any ideas what you should do now?”
Gu Qing Shan asked: “There’s just have one thing I’m unclear about”
“What’s that?” Xie Dao Ling asked.
“If a city… doesn’t have only one owner, how would the Samsara see it?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Xie Dao Ling understood what he meant right away.
She then grinned: “If there are several owners, then the city would be equally divided between every owner. The Samsara would also take one’s contributions in the fight against the Heavenly Emperor into account as well, the more contribution one makes, the more powerful their Samsara Divine Skill would evolve to be”
Gu Qing Shan nodded and turned to Li An: “We have an emergency on our hands. I remember that the Tianma race has relations with all the evil creature clans, is it possible for you to invite the leaders of the evil creature clans to the Green Building for a discussion?”
『 With my reputation and your name, it would naturally be possible to invite them 』Li An answered.
“Then please invite them right away!” Gu Qing Shan said.
…
Not too long after that.
The Green Building was completely filled with guests.
Evil creatures from every race had gathered under one roof, each of them having a t.i.tle of Demonic Saint, Demon Beast Lord, Devil King, and so on and so forth.
Seeing so many monsters gathered here, Qin Xiao Lou appeared a bit surprised and silently asked Gu Qing Shan: “These guys have some level of strength, but they pale in comparison to the Heavenly Emperor, what do you intend to do with them?”
“I’ll be using them” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“What?” Qin Xiao Lou didn’t quite understand.
“I’m going to use the power of the ma.s.ses” Gu Qing Shan explained.
At this point, Li An approached and invited him to come up to speak.
Gu Qing Shan walked up to the center stage and cleared his throat: “Everyone”
“I have a huge opportunity here that I’d like to discuss with you all”
“It’s like this, I have an Immortal City, but I’m still missing a few Merit Stones to complete…”
“…That’s right, my city would be able to help you all evolve your Samsara Divine Skills…”
He slowly explained the details, occasionally answering some questions from the group below.
“Indeed, this Demon King is correct… this would be an extremely profitable venture…”
“Of course I’m not trying to deceive you all, I can make a Samsara vow to that… I can draft up a doc.u.ment as well, this is everyone’s profit after all…”
Some fluctuations could be felt from the world around them.
A Samsara vow had been made.
The atmosphere of the Green Building gradually became heated from excitement.
Gu Qing Shan continued to answer a few questions and finally concluded:
“That’s right, of course we aren’t going to be under the Heaven realm’s control, we’d be completely unrelated to any Samsara realms”
“…This will be a city of none other than ourselves”
“A city of us evil creatures!”
“Alright, now I’ve told you everything—– who wants in?”
He finally finished.
Silence filled the room.
Followed by—–
Resounding and chaotic shouts of unanimous agreement.
A few moments later.
Gu Qing Shan took out a white cloth to wipe his sweat as he walked down the stage.
Pulling Li An aside, he whispered and asked: “Can you find the humans of the Tomb of Myriad Beasts?”
Li An was a bit surprised, but answered: 『 As long as they are living beings with emotions and desires, we Tianma would be able to find them, but why do you need them? 』
“Invite them during the next session—– they know me, so contact them as soon as you can”
『 That soon? 』
“Ye Ru Xi is currently stalling the Heavenly Emperor’s Immortal City, we need to seize every moment”
…
A while later.
Gu Qing Shan was standing on the stage as he spoke to Shan Hai Qi Xia and the others who accompany her: “Everyone, considering our close relations.h.i.+p, I will skip the formalities”
“It’s like this, I have an Immortal City, but I’m still missing a few Merit Stones to complete…”
He slowly explained.
Backstage, Li An took out a small piece of paper.
It reads:
[When this session is about to end, I want you to contact the beings of Huang Quan, telling them that the Devil King of Huang Quan has a great opportunity he’d like to discuss with them. You should search for the ferrywoman of the Forgetting River, she’s one of the people in power who has relations with both me and my s.h.i.+fu, so it’ll be easy to convince her]
Reading the message on the paper, Li An then glanced back at Gu Qing Shan and sighed: 『 You… are you really a human? 』
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