NOVPUB
Chapter 521: Chapter 517: Holy Dynasty’s Position
Gu Jinlai immediately started a major rectification operation on Hai Feng City.
Concerning this matter, the Imperial Family had already tacitly agreed at a time when Si Xinghui had been arrested and Duanmu Yufeng among others had not yet established a new City Lord.
They tacitly allowed him to do as he pleased in Hai Feng City.
Even if he plundered all the resources and wealth of Hai Feng City, they deemed it worthwhile.
After all, what Gu Jinlai had done in Wind and Rain City...
Was comparatively more upright.
Next, if they wanted to tarnish his reputation and reduce his influence, it was difficult to find a starting point.
If he really plundered extensively in Hai Feng City, first, it could prove that Gu Jinlai was not a noble person either—everyone was more or less the same.
Second, it would give them grounds to deal with him in the future.
Because of this reasoning, Duanmu Yufeng, Duanmu Yao, and others made no arrangements for Hai Feng City, Liuhuo City, and Purple Thunder City, and went straight back to the Holy Dynasty Capital.
...
At this moment, on Julong Mountain north of the Imperial Capital.
Inside a palace standing two hundred meters tall, dozens of Saints and Void Immortals were repeatedly reviewing the images projected by the Heavenly Shadow Instrument from Hai Feng City.
Among these dozens of Saints and Void Immortals, almost every one of them was a famously distinguished individual in the Holy Dynasty, especially those who were leading; a mere stomp from them could make the land within thousands of miles tremble.
After Duanmu Yufeng and Duanmu Yao arrived, they were initially startled and then quickly stepped forward.
They approached the forefront where only the projections, not the true bodies, of three persons were present and respectfully saluted, "Patriarch Chengyun, Patriarch Piaomiao, Patriarch Wuya."
Duanmu Chengyun, Zhao Piaomiao, and Si Wuya.
These three, remarkably, were the Supreme Void Immortals who held Divine Weapons in Wuji Cave Heaven, Piaomiao Cave Heaven, and Taiao Cave Heaven respectively.
Along with Dong Xuanzi from Taixuan Cave Heaven, Zhang Yingzhen from True Martial Cave Heaven, and Su Xin from Taixu Cave Heaven, they were the six magic stabilizers of the Holy Dynasty.
If employing the power of Cave Heaven Spirit Mechanism, they were so powerful that they could openly combat Demon Gods.
It wasn’t just temporary resistance but outright combat—able even to kill a Demon God.
In some respects, they were no different from those True Immortals who lived among mortals.
It was thanks to these six figures, equivalent to True Immortal level, that the Holy Dynasty could maintain such a scale and prosperity in a demon-swarmed environment.
In this grand hall now, even though Dong Xuanzi, Zhang Yingzhen, and Su Xin, three Supreme Void Immortals, were not present, they had sent either Sect Leaders or direct disciples through projections, or even in person, to the event.
"Yu Feng has arrived? Have you seen that Gu Jinlai? Can he truly wield Great Divine Power?"
"I’m not concerned about his strength, I just want to know if he’s really a True Immortal residing in the world?"
As soon as Duanmu Yufeng arrived, Duanmu Chengyun and Zhao Piaomiao simultaneously spoke up.
Si Wuya was also intently observing this junior Void Immortal.
Seeing this, Duanmu Chengyun asked, "You brought the Spirit God Pearl, did you find out anything?"
From this exchange, it wasn’t hard to discern that Duanmu Chengyun, along with Si Xuanyuan, had headed to Hai Feng City, clearly bearing other duties.
"The Spirit God Pearl showed no anomalies."
Duanmu Yufeng respectfully presented a unique Dao Artifact.
"No anomalies? How is that possible?"
Zhao Piaomiao struggled to accept, "If he really transitioned from a True Immortal, experienced major ups and downs in his spirit, there would surely be fluctuations, it’s impossible for the Spirit God Pearl not to detect them."
"Could the investigation be mistaken? Is Gu Jinlai not a True Immortal but a genius with extraordinary talent?"
Si Tianya suggested.
Gu Jinlai, being a Strongest Void Immortal, known as a Great Divine Power User, was someone they naturally had to pay adequate attention to, especially being second only to these Supreme Void Immortals.
Moreover, Li Yang Cave Heaven was the one that had resisted the longest in the Holy Land years ago, only falling completely thirty-six years earlier.
Before it fell, there were at times as many as four True Immortals residing in Li Yang Cave Heaven.
Such an immense figure among the Supreme Elders, or even the True Immortals that lived there, warranted their caution.
"The Spirit God Pearl indeed did not detect any fluctuations,"
Duanmu Chengyun took the Spirit God Pearl and examined it carefully, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief, "It seems, then, that Gu Jinlai is not someone who has shifted from being a True Immortal."
"If he is not a converted True Immortal, why does he possess such combat capabilities in Martial Arts? And why is he able to demonstrate attacks comparable to those at Great Divine Power Level?"
Zhao Piaomiao said, "I can’t believe anyone’s talent could reach that level."
At this point, the present Holy Master Duanmu Ren suddenly said, "I don’t see any fluctuations detected by the Spirit God Pearl, but doesn’t that in itself represent a significant issue?"
"Hmm?"
With this remark, Zhao Piaomiao, Si Tianya, Duanmu Chengyun, and others simultaneously had a moment of realization.
They took out the Spirit God Pearl once again and examined it carefully.
After a while, Duanmu Chengyun showed a look of surprise. "Is there really no fluctuation?"
"As long as someone is alive, there will be soul fluctuations. Duanmu Ren is right, the lack of soul fluctuations is a significant suspicion in itself."
Zhao Piaomiao said.
"Perhaps he is a Heavenly Monarch, whose soul fluctuations become extremely subtle after condensing the True Spirit, to the extent that even the Spirit God Pearl may not detect it."
Si Tianya speculated.
"If the Spirit God Pearl cannot detect the True Spirit, yet such a Heavenly Monarch is so ostentatious, the Devils would have become restless by now."
Duanmu Chengyun shook his head in denial. "It seems that the reason the Spirit God Pearl couldn’t detect his soul fluctuations might be related to his Dao. Everyone’s Dao is different. It’s possible that Gu Jinlai’s Dao is extremely adept at hiding, or even disguising, enough to convincingly disguise as a Martial Saint."
"Is he truly a True Immortal who switched practices..."
At that moment, Zhao Piaomiao, Si Tianyan, and the others’ expressions all became a bit more solemn.
Even though they possessed combat power comparable to True Immortals, it was because they had harnessed the power of the Cave Heaven Spirit Mechanism.
Without the power of their Cave Heaven...
At best, they could only temporarily contend with a True Immortal. In a life and death struggle, they would definitely be the ones to perish.
"This True Immortal, can we perhaps bring him into our camp..."
Duanmu Ren asked.
But before he could finish, Si Wuya interrupted him, "No, judging by this True Immortal’s actions, he clearly is not on the same path as us. Besides..."
He pointed in a direction. "He is rather close to those people, even openly using Demonic Cultists to handle matters, clearly siding with them."
"Those traitors..."
Si Wuya’s comment made Duanmu Chengyun, Zhao Piaomiao, and the others look a bit grim.
"Then, we can only follow the outcome we discussed earlier, quickly instigating a battle between Star Trace Demon God and Gu Jinlai to clarify the true extent of the Devils’ remaining strength around us."
Duanmu Chengyun instructed, turning to Duanmu Ren, "Keep a close watch, don’t let any mistakes occur."
"I understand. Gu Jinlai is extremely well-hidden, having already manipulated the Saint City Lord of Wind and Rain City once. I won’t make the same mistake twice," Duanmu Ren nodded.
"According to my understanding, the key for Gu Jinlai to recover to the True Immortal Realm should be the Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold and the Five Elements. This can be seen from the fact that his cultivation surged twice due to a large amount of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold. We must find a way to block these resources," Duanmu Yao suggested.
"Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, Five Elements objects..."
Zhao Piaomiao pondered for a moment and said, "A body of Five Elements is crucial for casting a True Immortal Body. The demand is high and the consumption is large, but the output is also significant, especially objects like Immortal Essence Gold, Heavenly Spirit Wood, and Six Yang Flame Crystal, with annual outputs calculated in tens of thousands. It’s impossible to block them completely, the only ones we can block are Floating Water, Black Lustrous Divine Stone, and Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, precisely speaking, we can only really work on Floating Water and Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold."
"Then let’s block the circulation of Floating Water and Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold."
Duanmu Chengyun instructed Duanmu Ren, "You personally take charge of this matter."
"Alright," Duanmu Ren nodded. "However, Gu Jinlai is after all a Supreme Void Immortal comparable to a Great Divine Ability User. If he really sets his mind on collecting these resources, ordinary blocking methods might not stop him."
"No matter, we don’t need to block it for too long. Once the Demon God named Star Trace makes his move, the matter will naturally come to an end," Duanmu Chengyun said.
"Star Trace..."
At that moment, the Sect Leader of Taixu Cave Heaven, Bai Liuli, suddenly said, "My peers, have you ever considered, what if Gu Jinlai’s strength is formidable and even Star Trace Demon God can’t handle him? Then how should we deal with him? Do we deploy multiple people to kill him or... invite him to join our plan?"
Upon hearing this, several Patriarchs exchanged glances, and no one responded for a while.
After a while, Duanmu Chengyun replied, "Our plan can’t accommodate too many people joining... "
"At worst, we could drive him to the Immortal Country and let him fight those people in the Immortal Country," Si Tianya followed.
Zhao Piaomiao also nodded and sneered, "This Gu Jinlai acts in the name of justice, even mingling with those leaning towards the Immortal Country’s Demonic Cultists. Yet, once he gets to the Immortal Country and realizes that they have long been fraternizing with a bunch of outsiders and betrayed our world, I really want to see how he will handle himself at that time."
Upon saying this, everyone nodded in agreement and couldn’t help but think of the strange objects in Heavenly Master Hall with significant uses.
"The Immortal Country and our Holy Dynasty are merely laughing at each other from a distance. Their ability to resist the Devils owes much to external forces. They still want to deceive us into joining them against the Devils, as if we don’t know their true nature."
"What the Immortal Country does is essentially letting our world fall into the hands of other worlds from the Demon Realm, which is fundamentally no different from colluding with Devils."
"Our current situation can be described as surrounded by enemies on all sides. The only thing we can do is to consolidate all major traditions, preserve our Human Clan’s firewood, hide in a safe place to recover and grow stronger, and wait for these outsiders to suffer mutual losses before making a comeback and rising from the ashes."
"Currently, we simply can’t contend with the Devils. Our civilization’s firewood is in grave danger. In such a situation, preserving the firewood of civilization in hiding is the only way out. We of the Holy Dynasty are the last hope of civilization, too bad, they do not understand us," the higher-ups of the Holy Dynasty variously spoke.
Their faces showed expressions of loathing, sighs, emotions, or helplessness.
