“Jiang Ling, you’re saying that you had no idea that Dongyang Yun cultivated with the Cyclic Mirror?” Bai Mo looked at Jiang Ling.
“Future Hall King, I swear that I don’t. If I knew about it beforehand, let me be destroyed by heaven and earth!” Jiang Ling replied. This incident had a massive impact on him.
“That’s impossible!” Chong Yang from the Ancient Qilin Clan exclaimed in disbelief. Retrieving a miniature map, he continued, “This Cyclic Map was given to me by Autarch Qian himself. It can lock on to the Cyclic Mirror’s location. We tried detecting Li Muyang’s location recently. He’s only been at the Theocracy’s borders, and the Cyclic Mirror must be with him!”
“And you’re so certain that Autarch Qian wasn’t lying?” Bai Mo sneered.
“Let me explain,” Jiang Ling suddenly interrupted. “I have no intention of hiding it from you—the Cyclic Map has no effect. It just happens to share a similar name with the Cyclic Mirror. The reason my father did this was so that he could use the Cyclic Mirror comfortably.”
“What?!” The exalted ones were dumbfounded. So it turned out that the misery the Ancient Qilin Clan had suffered over the past four decades was a joke. They had devoted a lot of time to searching for the Cyclic Mirror, but it turned out that they were just a bunch of fools.
“Then why are we still being punished for it?” Chong Yang questioned.
“That’s because you guys groomed Li Muyang. Since Li Muyang had the intention to rebel, shouldn’t you be punished for it? Furthermore, didn’t I get rid of the lifetime curse for your clan?” Jiang Ling replied.
Jiang Ling was shocked by the news about the Cyclic Mirror, but honestly speaking, he didn’t think there was any mistake in Autarch Qian’s approach. If the Cyclic Mirror was in his hands, he would also do the same. The Decimo Dao Palace had long seen through the Theocrats.
“That makes no sense. We found Li Muyang’s position yesterday, and he’s still moving around! We can see from the map that there’s a woman next to him!” Ling Xing replied.
“Are you able to see his appearance?”
“It should be him from the outline!”
“Cut it out. The Cyclic Map often makes mistakes. Who knows who you guys have been seeing. Let me have the Cyclic Map, I’ll study it when I’m free,” said Jiang Ling.
The exalted ones of the Ancient Qilin Clan were all depressed. What they had believed for the past four decades had turned out to be a joke, and they had been bearing the insults all along. But now that they worked for Jiang Ling, did he give them any face?
Chong Yang closed his eyes. Letting out a sigh, he handed the Cyclic Map to Jiang Ling. Right at that moment, a figure suddenly flashed and took the Cyclic Map from him. Everyone was shocked. It was a stranger. At the very least, no one from Jiang Ling’s faction recognized him!
“Palace Lord, who’s this? Why’d he snatch the Cyclic Map?!” Jiang Ling raged.
“He’s the Grand-Orient Realm’s ruler. His name is Li Wudi. He’s the next palace lord and a descendant of the Li Saint Clan,” Weisheng Yunxi explained.
“Your Highness, I’ll be leading the dao palace to work for you. This is our first meeting, so don’t you think you should give me a meeting gift? Although this thing is a little shabby, it’s still barely acceptable. Since it’s your generosity, I’ll gladly accept it. Anyhow, you’ve only been using it to brush off the Ancient Qilin Clan, right?” Li Wudi smiled.
Jiang Ling squinted his eyes into slits. He could sense the difference between Li Wudi and Weisheng Yunxi. He had long heard of Li Wudi’s name, but when they finally met, Li Wudi made him feel ten times more threatened than Weisheng Yunxi. This was someone who would backstab him with a smile.
“So you’re the next palace lord. I’ve long heard your reputation. But the Cyclic Map is an important treasure of the Theocracy, so please return it. When we take down Dongyang Yun in the future, I’ll reward you greatly,” said Jiang Ling.
“Too late. I don’t have a habit of giving back what I accept. Why don’t you just accept that fact?” Li Wudi arrogantly replied.
“Outrageous!” Everyone around Jiang Ling immediately became furious. Li Wudi’s actions were worse than Tianming, who tortured Jiang Liuting in public. The confrontation between Li Wudi’s shameless smile and Jiang Ling’s cold gaze stretched out.
The atmosphere started growing tense. Right from the beginning, Li Wudi hadn’t taken a step back. He had seen Mu Yang, so he could guess that the Cyclic Mirror has something to do with him. So, since he had the opportunity, he would naturally take it.
“It’s almost time for us to make our move,” Weisheng Yunxi said, breaking the standoff.
“Yeah.” Jiang Ling nodded. Everyone could see that he was furious.
“What the hell? I came over to help, and you’re getting stingy about something like this? Why don’t you look at how many men you have? I’m being considerate, accepting something like this for my help. If you were someone else, I would’ve pulled a layer of skin off you,” Li Wudi cursed.
Bai Mo and Ye Yi exchanged glances. They felt that Li Wudi came too late. This guy was very suitable for the Decimo Dao Palace; he had something that they lacked.
Jiang Ling didn’t continue arguing with Li Wudi. He was thinking about how he could get the Cyclic Mirror back. While he was deep in thought, Li Wudi returned to the dao palace’s staging area.
Shortly after, he came to the Grand Sky Gate while holding a woman drenched in blood. When Jiang Ling took a closer look, he recognized her—she was the Dazzling Pavilion’s pavilion lord, Meng Tingyu!
Meng Tingyu was on Dongyang Yun’s side, and there were many people from the Dazzling Pavilion in the Imperial City. But most of the Dazzling Pavilion’s power was spread throughout the Theocracy. Only a small portion of them were gathered in the Divine Capital, so not even Jiang Ling dared to provoke her.
“What’re you trying to do?” Jiang Ling asked.
Li Wudi ignored Jiang Ling and made Meng Tingyu get down on her knees. He grabbed her hair and let her look at the Imperial City. He said, “Raise your head and let everyone in the Imperial City look at you.”
However, Meng Tingyu only replied with a sneer.
“I’ve been torturing you for half a month, and you’re still so tight-lipped. I have to say that you’re a courageous woman. You should die a miserable death to atone. I’ll give you one final chance: is there anything you’d like to say?” Li Wudi asked.
“You’re letting me speak? Alright then, listen well.” Meng Tingyu raised her head with a fanatical expression. She suddenly thought of someone and roared, “Only the strongest clan and person can survive in this world. Ants are not qualified to live. The lives of the innocent aren’t lives; it’s Dao! Those who’re obsessed with benevolence and morality will eventually be eliminated. If you want to become a god, you have to go against heaven!”
She laughed as tears welled in her eyes. Tightly clenching her fists, she looked at Li Wudi with a hideous expression and raved, “I might not be part of the Ancient Theocrats, but in my opinion, they’ll exist for eternity!”
Li Wudi swung his blade, beheading Meng Tingyu. Grabbing her head, Li Wudi cursed, “Such beauty… it’s too bad that you were brainwashed.”
Holding on to her head by her hair, Li Wudi turned it toward Jiang Ling and grinned, “Your Highness, here’s my gift, since I received one from you. You can make a chamber pot out of her head. It’ll fit your identity as the new Primeval Autarch.”
He tossed the head toward Jiang Ling with force, but before it could even get close, Jiang Ling stretched his hand out and reduced it to ashes. This scene had left the surroundings silent, and only thunder could be heard rumbling.
“Seven Astral Legions!” Ye Yi’s voice echoed out. He was behaving as though nothing had happened. Standing on the Evernight Eagle with a black spear in his hand, Ye Yi pointed the spear at the Imperial City and turned back to look at Jiang Ling.
“Attack,” Jiang Ling said, wiping the ashes from his face. This time, the two armies weren’t split up. They were prepared for a frontal attack on the Grand Sky Gate. Over a million beastmasters and even more lifebound beasts charged into the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation. The earth trembled from the colossal beasts galloping.
“Tianming, come here!” Li Wudi called out.
Tianming immediately handed command of the Dark Astral Battalion’s over to Chen Fang and Liu Yuyi, then went to Li Wudi’s side with Ye Lingfeng and the Soulfiend. Over the past month, Ye Lingfeng had reached the third level of the sky saint stage. Looking at the battlefield, the Soulfiend was beginning to get restless.
“They intend on using the masters from both sides to open a path for them to kill Dongyang Yun. Tianming, you come with us,” said Li Wudi.
“Okay.” Tianming nodded.
Li Wudi took out the Cyclic Map and handed it over to Tianming. “This is for you.”
“Thank you, godfather.” Tianming knew that Li Wudi had snatched the Cyclic Map for him.
“Come, let us godfather and son wreak havoc!” Li Wudi smiled.
“Alright!”
“Follow up!”
The masters from both sides were swiftly gathering together. Jiang Ling’s faction seemed a little shabby.
“Dongyang Yun must die today! Anyone who takes his head will be rewarded ten million saint crystals and conferred with a territory of ten thousand miles!” Jiang Ling shouted.
“Kill!” Jiang Ling was only commanding the battle on the surface, but he was actually following Weisheng Yunxi into the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation. For an instant, Tianming could sense their empyrean beasts around him.
Disregarding Jiang Ling’s faction, Li Wudi’s Ancient Infernalblood Kunpeng had already undergone an evolution. It was now a Primordial Bloodbane Kunpeng, with eighty-six stars. Clearly, it was because of the empyrean manna that Weisheng Yunxi had given him.
Bai Mo’s lifebound beast was an enormous eighty-two-star Astral Emperor Tiger. Even Meow Meow’s Regal Chaosfiend form was tiny compared to it.
However, the most terrifying lifebound beast in the formation belonged to Weisheng Yunxi.