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Chapter 456: Doubts
🕑 Added 2024-01-17 14:00:12 +0000 UTCTianyi focused his attention on the corpse. Although it still radiated the aura of divine essence, there were no life or soul fluctuations emanating from it. By all accounts, it was ruined. Even if Tianyi broke it down into atoms, there would be no point. That was how destroyed and lifeless it was. Even in the void, with no external interference, it would shatter and dissolve into sand soon enough.
Logically, Tianyi should have no worries, but his intuition told him that he missed something. But no matter how Tianyi scanned the corpse, he couldn’t detect anything out of the norm. Even if there was something wrong, shouldn’t it have appeared by now?
The entire Nine Heavens Universe was his body, and no one should be able to sense him. They would not be able to tell whether or not he was paying attention to them.
Just to be safe, the spacetime around the corpse began to fluctuate. An aura of destruction descended and started to decompose the corpse into pure energy. Tianyi focused all his attention on said corpse, intent on not letting any details escape his eyes.
Although the corpse seemed incredibly brittle, the divine dragon scale had come into contact with it, after all. It became stronger, yet simultaneously brittle, akin to a diamond. Diamonds were the hardest object on the Mohs Hardness Scale on Earth. It didn’t mean diamonds were indestructible. As long as sufficient pressure was applied at the appropriate location, even a diamond would split in half.
With Tianyi’s observation abilities in the Nine Heavens Universe, it was easy to find many points on the corpse. As for the energy needed? That was even more simple. The only troublesome thing was the time needed.
The Dragon Emperor’s corpse split into six parts: the head, torso, two arms, and two legs. From there, Tianyi simply needed more time to grind the parts into energy. The arms were the first to disintegrate completely, followed by the legs and then the torso. It was the head that took the longest, despite being the smallest part.
It was both unexpected and expected. Since the divine dragon scale had been integrated on the forehead, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if it received the most alterations. Still, it gave birth to suspicion in Tianyi. He quickened the decomposition of the corpse's head.
When the corpse’s head dwindled till only half of it was left, it started to twitch. Two glowing orbs appeared in the empty sockets, and a golden light encased it and it shot away like a comet.
From out of nowhere, a voice echoed. “I knew it.”
The voice contained no hint of emotion, but the disembodied head’s two eyes flickered upon hearing it. He had already flown over a hundred thousand kilometers, yet the voice seemed to whisper into his ears. “Damn it, how could he know?”
The Dragon Emperor had hidden a fragment of his soul in the head, where the divine dragon scale had affected the most. The reason Tianyi couldn’t sense anything aside from the Dragon Emperor’s concealment technique was because of how fragile and weak the fragment of his soul had become. If it was any stronger, the remaining divine essence in the corpse could not hide the tell tale signs.
It was nothing more than a last ditch attempt at survival. Although the divine essence hid him, it also injured the soul fragment. Even if he successfully escaped Tianyi’s pursuit—minuscule as that chance was—the fragment of his soul would not remain for long. His only hope of survival was to parasitize a fetus, one that had not yet formed a soul.
Yes, he had become so weak that even an unborn infant could destroy it.
Only through the nurturing process of birth would his soul have a chance to grow and become complete once more. Even if that did happen, the Dragon Emperor would no longer be the Dragon Emperor, but a completely new individual. His memories would become fragmented. At most, the new existence would inherit his emotions and enmity.
The Dragon Emperor would become even less like a Dragon Emperor than his so-called clones.
Still, the Dragon Emperor did not give up. Even if his existence changed, he swore to return everything he experienced back to Tianyi or whoever plotted against him tenfold. No, tenfold wasn’t enough. He would pay them back a thousandfold.
During the Dragon Emperor’s rise and fall and rise again, he experienced many setbacks and even life-threatening situations. Each time, he would survive by the skin of his teeth. In his early years, it was by luck, but as he grew stronger, he survived thanks to his own ingenuity and power. Alas, his ingenuity and power were helpless in front of Tianyi. The moment he entered the Nine Heavens Universe, all his luck disappeared, so how could he survive?
Spacetime froze around the fleeing head. Even the golden light trailing behind like a comet froze. The remnant Dragon Emperor became like an insect trapped in amber. Only, it was worse. The insect already died, while he could still think. His fragmented soul could feel his container slowly disintegrate. Even the divine essence could not resist the erosion.
The Dragon Emperor wanted to scream, to shout, and scold Tianyi. He had no thoughts of pleading, because he knew that Tianyi would never let him go. Not to mention that even on the brink of death, he had his pride as a peerless expert. Even if Tianyi surpassed him, he would not bend his knee.
And so, under the infinite might of the universe, the Dragon Emperor’s head disintegrated into pure energy. The divine dissipated and his remnant soul collapsed into nothingness, never to be reborn.
In the Vast Void, Tianyi’s expression didn’t change. He scanned and double scanned the area where the Dragon Emperor once appeared in his inner universe, making sure there were no backups he planted ahead of time. The Dragon Emperor’s seemingly infinite ability to survive had deeply engraved itself into Tianyi’s mind. Rather than a dragon, he was closer to a cockroach.
Even now, he couldn’t be sure if the Dragon Emperor left a backup plan in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. It would be better if he had none or left some backups in the Nine Heavens Universe. Still, the second possibility was only marginally better.
Although Tianyi could know everything inside the Nine Heavens Universe, he had to focus on it. If the Dragon Emperor revived, as long as he didn’t attract Tianyi’s attention, he could continue to hide forever. Not that Tianyi would be worried. It was destined that he wouldn’t be able to make any waves once trapped in the Nine Heavens Universe.
The only difference was that Tianyi would feel uncomfortable. It would be akin to a parasite living inside his body.
Tianyi sighed when he could find nothing. He ordered his Heavenly Dao clone to pay attention and gazed at the Tieniu Realm. Just in case, he would scan the entire realm for any possible backup plans left by the Dragon Emperor.
Because of his actions, he discovered that the Dragon Emperor had a connection with the Buddhist Pure Lands. Of course, it could be just that the Dragon Emperor was borrowing the banner of Buddhism and deceiving the yokels of the Tieniu Realm. However, Tianyi didn’t believe the Dragon Emperor would act this way, especially with his pride.
Had Tianyi not had Donghai Longzi infiltrate the Divine Beast Pseudo System, he would have thought the Demon Clan and the Buddhists would have teamed up. Still, Tianyi immediately reported the news to the Immortal Court after making sure the Dragon Emperor hadn’t left anything.
Upon returning to the Primordial Realm, Tianyi appeared in the Jade Heaven Palace. Tianyi had actually visited Jade Heaven Palace before he became an immortal. It was the divine palace inside Broken Heaven Valley, the forbidden grounds of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Currently, a whole range of immortals were inside. His mother was present, so were Xia Meng and Grand Elder Zhang. Not only them, but the immortal ministers were also present, and Minister Everpast, an immortal sovereign, headed the meeting.
“What? Several months ago, all the Dragon Emperor clones suddenly died?” Tianyi asked with wide eyes. If he compared the time all the Dragon Emperor clones died, it would match perfectly with the time he killed the Dragon Emperor.
Still, a part of him couldn’t help but think that it was part of the Dragon Emperor’s scheme to get him to lower his guard and no longer pay attention to the matter. Once bitten, twice shy. For fear of overlooking something, Tianyi voiced his concerns.
“Grand Elder Nine Heavens, aren’t you worried too much?” Xia Meng asked. Tianyi had already explained how the Dragon Emperor used Lovespot’s body to sneak into the Immortal Court. Upon learning this, Xia Meng could only lament, already expecting the dejection on Redseal’s face.
“No matter how many techniques or secrets the Dragon Emperor has, he should definitely be dead this time,” Grand Elder Zhang added.
“Don’t worry,” Mengfei said. She stared straight at Tianyi. “If he comes, I’ll just kill him.”
“Grand Elder Nine Heavens, you shouldn’t worry about him too much. The reason why the Dragon Emperor was such a threat back then was not only because of his personality and ability to cause trouble, but because we couldn’t reveal too much of our strength. At this current time, even ten Dragon Emperors can’t change anything,” Minister Everpast said. “I’m more worried about his connection to the Buddhists.”
At this, none of the immortals present showed an easy expression. Finally, Minister Primewood opened his mouth. “Should we contact them and test them?”
Minster Vastlight shook his head. “No. Doing so now might arouse their suspicion. If what Grand Elder Nine Heavens said was correct, that Dragon Emperor should have joined Buddhism. He might have contacted them already and learned that the Demon Clan are planning something. With those guys’ personalities, who knows they might help? Don’t forget, Buddhism doesn’t distinguish between humans or demons.”
“But we can’t stand by and do nothing?” another minister said.
While these ministers talked, Tianyi, Mengfei, Zhang Cuiying, and Xia Meng stayed silent. Compared to these ministers, all of them were juniors. Even if Mengfei’s strength exceeded all of them but Minister Everpast, she had neither the experience nor the will to manage a force.
Finally, it was Minister Everpast who ended the discussion. “With Grand Elder Nine Heaven’s unique characteristic, it’s safe to say that neither the Buddhists nor the Demon Clan knows of what he did. In that case, we do nothing and act as if we don’t know about the Demon Clan’s actions. Only when we reveal nothing can we catch the Demon Clan and Buddhists off guard.”
Tianyi felt his lips twitch. According to what Minister Everpast said, if the Buddhists detected anything, would the fault fall on top of his head? That was a lot of pressure, okay?
Still, he said nothing, and the meeting ended.
***
On one of the many abodes on Mount Meru in the Pure Lands Pseudo System, a boddhisatva in the Sotapanna Realm stood with his eyes wide and mouth agape. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
The boddhisatva across from him clapped his hands together and recited some sutras. “Brother Zi, the Dragon Boddhisattva has fallen.”
“Impossible,” the Opener Boddhisattva said. Like the Dragon Emperor, he had come to the Pure Lands Pseudo System from the Primordial Realm. He was Zi Zun, one of the geniuses of the Immortal Court. However, over the years, his relationship with the Dragon Emperor had exceeded all ties he had with the Immortal Court, even his master was not an exception.
Through the subtle manipulation of the Dragon Emperor, Zi Zun actually felt very negative about the Immortal Court. Even after the Dragon Emperor came clean about his true identity, Zi Zun only felt that it was the Immortal Court’s fault, and not the Dragon Emperor.
“Do you know who did it?” Zi Zun asked.
The boddhisattva shook his head. “There are no clues.”
“It must be the Immortal Court!” Zi Zun said, his eyes exuding a terrifying and dangerous light. “They must have discovered Brother Long’s traces and killed him. Immortal Court, I will make you pay!”
Although Zi Zun’s logic had some problems, he came to the correct conclusion.
Comments
John
I was wrong... So far!
Captdeth
1m
