Chapter 713: Dog Emperor (1/2)
Bolstered by the Nephrite mandate’s heavenly energies, Zhao Shenguang resonated with the entire major. The other celestial emperors collectively paled, and the monster emperors were sent tumbling to the ground by the shock.
After disappearing for so long, no one had expected the prince to return with so much newfound strength, alongside harbingers of trouble Chen Xiao and Qing Buyi. Right now, he displayed power far greater than Zhao Changkong had ever shown!
During the incident in Azure Province, Zhao Changkong had called upon the Path of Ingress rather than Nephrite Major’s heavenly mandate. By that point, he’d reached peak arcane dao realm. Though he poured everything he had into the treasure, he still had a decent shot at surviving in some form of life—he’d only perished thanks to the misfortune of landing in the celestial master tomb.
On the other hand, if he’d used the heavenly mandate against Goldenlight and Kui, he would’ve been crushed by its backlash—soul, true spirit and all.
That was a far steeper price than using the Path of Ingress. Though Zhao Changkong had chosen death willingly, he had done so with fear in his heart. Without the heavenly mandate’s recognition, he couldn’t comprehend the heart of the world.
In comparison, Zhao Shenguang had done all that and more. After summoning the Path of Ingress to connect Nephrite Major and the central world, he’d also resonated with Nephrite’s heavenly mandate as a mere peerless immortal.
Such a feat would’ve been unimaginable for his brother.
……
“That Zhao Shenguang came out of the Ancient Tree of Life with Chen Xiao and Qing Buyi, didn’t he? Maybe those devils had a miraculous encounter of some sort inside?” The celestial emperors of Primus, Enlightened, Truespirit, Thundergale, and Lazuli Major were uniformly concerned.
That Zhao Shenguang could resonate with his territory made him far ahead of them, making them feel just as self-conscious as the monster and dragon emperors of the ten lands and three immortal seas.
Zhao Shenguang was Chen Xiao and Qing Buyi’s sidekick, and indubitably influenced by those two daredevils. If he crushed them with the power of Nephrite Major in a fit of impulse, they would have all died for nothing.
The new celestial emperor looked more murderous by the minute.
“You’re mistaken, Your Majesty.” The long-absent Qi Hai finally reappeared. “Destiny City is a sacred city for all cultivators, an uncountable number of them have congregated here. Even if we want to kill that fur seal, we must do so somewhere else.
“The fur seal is an underling of the demon lord. If a fight breaks out, the whole of Life Province will be caught up in it, much less than a singular Destiny City. It is our responsibility to make sure he doesn’t try anything drastic, we can figure out where to go from there.”
Qi Hai had a pale, handsome face and a lean figure. As soon as he appeared, Destiny City pulsed with a miraculous force that pushed back on Nephrite’s heavenly mandate. The looming pressure of the Four Guardian heavenly armies was rebuffed as well.
Destiny City had been one of the three hundred and sixty-five main cities during the era of human dao. As one of the wellsprings of human power, it naturally possessed certain extraordinary qualities that couldn’t be denied. Moreover, Qi Hai was the foremost city lord among all three hundred sixty-five cities, with sufficient authority to command all the rest. It was trivial for him to make use of the power within Destiny City.
“You…” Zhao Shenguang’s face colored slightly. “If that’s the case, this emperor shall not pursue the matter further.”
Qi Hai’s mouth twitched at the pompous self-reference. Before Emperors Fall, it had been used by celestial emperors of all races. Nowadays, rulers preferred the royal ‘We’, much like monarchs back on Earth. The difference, and the reappearance of ‘emperors’ and ‘kings’, had been brought about after the severing of the path of cultivation. It seemed to have something to do with humanity’s ancestral planet.
As such, Zhao Shenguang’s continued usage of the term made Qi Hai’s teeth hurt. Not that he could do much about it, alas. If Destiny City were at its peak, he would have thrashed the young man and halted his antics a long time ago.
“However, the fur seals are subordinate to the demon god. They plot to overturn the world of immortals with every breath. Therefore, this emperor believes that there is a great need for us to come together to defeat them.”