Chapter 353: Four Sovereigns of High Heavens
Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem
"Let him come up," Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor said indifferently.
Khan Ruandi was tightly wound in chains while a few soldiers followed behind him, pushing him forward.
"Criminal Ruandi…"
Khan Ruandi was about to kneel down when Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor held him up. With a smile that was not a smile, he said, "Senior Brother Ruandi wants to frame me for being corrupt?"
Khan Ruandi took the chance to get up and smiled. "If I could spoil the friendship between you and Emperor Yanfeng, I might get a chance for a comeback."
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor shook his head. "You can't spoil it. Even if you pay your respects to me in front of the whole army, the emperor will still not suspect me. It's just that the contrarians will make my head ache. If I can have one less trouble, it's better. Senior Brother Ruandi, take off the chains, I won't accept your surrender. You shall surrender yourself to the emperor personally when we come back to the capital."
Khan Ruandi shook himself, and the chains on his body broke off inch by inch. The soldiers were all astonished and took a step forward. However, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor raised his hand to have them fall back. "There's no need to be on guard."
Khan Ruandi's gaze flickered. "I've heard that Imperial Preceptor had fought with a god and suffered heavy injuries. Even though you had Little Poison King and Little Divine Physician healing you, your current cultivation is still yet to recover to its peak. Aren't you afraid of me suddenly springing into action and killing you?"
"I'm not," said Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor. "I might have been a month ago, but since I comprehended the sword path, there's no need for me to be scared even with my injuries. If you attack, you will die."
Khan Ruandi was terrified.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor raised his head to look at Rolan's Golden Palace that was in front of them while saying leisurely, "Senior Brother Ruandi, please take a look. Rolan's Golden Palace is well fortified, with great shamans and shaman kings guarding it. It's easy to defend and hard to invade, so if I force this invasion, my army will definitely suffer heavy casualties. I can even feel terrifying auras hidden inside the palace which must come from the previous bodies of Grandmaster. I can feel eighteen auras that are like gods, and that's why I'm still stationed here and am yet to make a move."
"These eighteen corporeal bodies that are like gods, devils, and buddhas are the corporeal bodies of Grandmaster's past eighteen lifetimes. They are extremely terrifying and are the strongest power that guards Rolan's Golden Palace. Other than Grandmaster's eighteen bodies, there are also twelve cult master level existences which had cultivated to Divine Bridge Realm. The strongest one is none other than Grandmaster himself. His ability is no inferior to mine," said Khan Ruandi.
"How many experts on Life and Death Realm are there?" asked Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor.
Khan Ruandi smiled and said, "How would I know?"
"You are imitating Emperor Yanfeng so you should know." Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor took a look at him and said softly, "For example, the names, abilities, and spirit weapons of all the experts in Heavenly Saint Cult, Dao Sect, and Great Thunderclap Monastery are all in my hands. The empire is above and no sacred ground is allowed to ride roughshod over people. You are the emperor of the prairie, so you should naturally not let Rolan's Golden Palace ride on your head. You have to know it."
"I can't win against Emperor Yanfeng because he has Imperial Preceptor assisting him. If I had a helper such as you, how would I need to surrender? I have already prepared a name list of the strong practitioners of Celestial Being Realm and Life and Death Realm. This is an offer to Imperial Preceptor," Khan Ruandi said. When he finished speaking, he took out a booklet.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor handed the name list to Duke Wei who was behind him and said, "Let the soldiers browse through it and search for their opponents, prepare to kill the enemies."
Duke Wei summoned all the famed generals in the army of Celestial Being Realm and Life and Death Realm and gathered everyone to study the name list.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor then said, "Rolan's Golden Palace has formations to protect it, both restricting and killing ones which had been placed by the previous grandmasters and grand shamans. Now, every single one of them has been activated to defend against my army. If Khan Ruandi has the heart to overthrow Rolan's Golden Palace, you must have a plan, a method to take down this stronghold."
Khan Ruandi didn't reply but asked back instead, "Why won't Imperial Preceptor ask me why I surrender? You have seen me come to surrender yet you still trust me as such without putting up any guard. You even ask me how to take down Rolan's Golden Palace. Aren't you afraid I'm just acting and will provide you with faulty information which will wipe out your entire army?"
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor shook his head and said, "You surrendered because of the shaman poison."
Khan Ruandi fell silent.
"Grandmaster ordered all the great shamans and shaman kings to poison the water, which resulted in nine out of ten houses in the prairie becoming deserted. The tribesmen are only left with ten percent of their population, with only the people in your big cities yet to die.
"You are the emperor of the prairie, but so many of your people were slaughtered. Who are you supposed to take revenge at? It can only be at Rolan's Golden Palace. Therefore I believe you, there's no need to doubt your words."
Khan Ruandi was silent for a time, then let out a shaky breath. "Civilians shouldn't be killed in the war between two empires. If I were to invade Eternal Peace Empire, the civilians of Eternal Peace Empire would become my people, so I wouldn't hurt them. If Emperor Yanfeng invaded the prairie, the people of the prairie would become Emperor Yanfeng's people, so he wouldn't hurt them. Yet Rolan's Golden Palace eradicated my people; I can't take that lying down. Imperial Preceptor, I will tell you all of Rolan's Golden Palace's weaknesses, not hiding the smallest detail."
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor revealed a smile. "Do you know how long I have been waiting for you here? Now that you have come, there will be one less sacred ground in this world!"
Khan Ruandi was completely won over. "As long as Imperial Preceptor is around, Ruandi will never rebel! If I break my oath, my eyes should be pecked away by gyrfalcons and my heart dug out by eagles! And all my descendants will become slaves!"
The capital was the place where the nine dragons gathered. Nine mountain ranges that were like dragons converged there and gathered the qi, making that place the imperial capital.
"Only by coming down to the mortal world this time and seeing Eternal Peace Empire invading the prairie could we find out that the army of Eternal Peace Empire is looking more and more like the heavenly army. They are starting to resemble the army of gods and devils from Founding Emperor Era."
In the sky above the capital, a roughly built shelter which was about six ares wide floated in the sky. On the cloud under it, a couple extraordinary looking men and women were sitting at the top of the cloud. With the shelter covering the sun above, they looked below at the destiny of Eternal Peace Empire.
Those men and women were all very handsome and pretty, and none of them look old, but their cultivations were terrifyingly high, like those of gods and buddhas.
One of them was Star Sovereign Qiao who had Yu Liu and the rest of the girls serving him at the side. Xu Shenghua was also around, but he was standing beside another young man who was his master, Jade Sovereign.
They were not the only ones that had come out. There were four leaders in High Heavens and other than Star Sovereign Qiao and Jade Sovereign, there was also Flower Sovereign and Star Sovereign Yan.
Because Village Chief had left Great Ruins, the four leaders of High Heavens had actually all went out.
The four of them were looking down with startled expressions.
"I didn't examine them in detail when I came to send disaster the previous time," Jade Sovereign mumbled. "Back then I only roughly looked at the nine dragon veins of the capital and which had allowed Eternal Peace Empire to become a major power."
Flower Sovereign was a beautiful woman and her voice was as melodious as the chirping of the yellow oriole. She said, "These nine dragon veins are the Yellow Dragon Mountain Range, but besides them, there are also four river dragon veins—Mud River, Gold River, Surging River, and Li River."
Her palm gently stroked the air, and her vital qi transformed into a mirror which revealed the underground layer of Eternal Peace Empire.
That mirror could actually penetrate to the depth of over ten miles and show three huge dragons. They were the magma rivers beneath the city.
"Including these three fire dragon veins that are hidden underground, there are already sixteen dragon veins in Eternal Peace Empire," said Jade Sovereign.
Star Sovereign Qiao shook his head. "Not only that. Look at the shore of Eternal Peace Empire. The mountain ranges near there are going up and down irregularly, like two dragons coiling around each other—they're two more dragon veins, even if I'm not sure what they're called. With eighteen dragon veins, it's no wonder Eternal Peace Empire is full of talents and achieving meteoric success."
"The prairie being annexed by Eternal Peace is just a matter of time. Imperial Preceptor should already have reached Rolan's Golden Palace by now. How many dragon veins are on the prairie?" Star Sovereign Qiao asked solemnly.
The other three sovereigns' hearts trembled slightly.
"And also the snow plains in the north, in Wolf Store Country, how many dragon veins are there?"
"The number of Eternal Peace Empire's dragon veins surpasses my expectations. It would be fine if it was just one dragon vein, it would be hard to change the situation then. However, if all the dragons are to ascend to heaven, this would be stealing the fate of heaven and earth! I feel that killing Old Human Emperor is a small matter when compared to finding the main dragon vein in Eternal Peace Empire and taking it away or changing it. We have to make the other dragons lose their leader," said Star Sovereign Qiao.
Jade Sovereign mumbled to himself for a bit, then said, "If the main dragon vein is gone, the dragons will have no leader and the fate will fall apart. All the heroes in the world will rise and shatter Eternal Peace Empire. This is indeed a good idea. Which dragon vein is then the main in Eternal Peace Empire?"
Everyone looked around and searched for a moment, but they still couldn't see which was the main vein.
"In that case, let's invite Dragon Rearing Sovereign to look for the main vein. He rears the dragon race so he should be able to differentiate the different types of dragon. He's also good at working with the terrain."
"Qing Ying, Yao Hua, go back to High Heavens and invite Dragon Rearing Sovereign down to examine the dragon veins of Eternal Peace Empire to locate the main vein," said Star Sovereign Qiao.
Qing Ying and Yao Hua acknowledged before leaving in a hurry.
Jade Sovereign smiled. "For Sword God to not appear until now, what a downer. I thought he would come straight away when we released our aura, but he's actually acting scared. This had never happened before, so it looks like Sword God has truly grown old."
"This is the sorrow of a mortal body." Flower Sovereign smiled and said, "No matter how strong they are in their prime, their qi and blood will still wither and fail when reaching old age. Calculating it, his time is up in two years from now. To live out these two years, he had chosen to avoid the battle, how pathetic. Xu Shenghua, have you found the new human emperor?"
"Disciple had met the person by chance but did not recognize him so missed the chance. However, I gave him a bag of tea and he invited me to the capital of Eternal Peace Empire for a drink. I think I can meet him again if I go there."
Jade Sovereign was interested. "How are the abilities of this new human emperor?"
"Very high." Xu Shenghua recalled when he had clashed with Qin Mu and said, "His magic power at that time was extremely dense, and his vital qi cultivation was even denser than mine. However, his moves and divine arts were inferior to mine, and his comprehension of divine art was also weaker than mine."
"Cultivation even denser than yours?"
The four sovereigns of High Heavens revealed expressions of astonishment. Xu Shenghua's cultivation overwhelmed the entire High Heavens, and even the cultivations of the four sovereigns were inferior to his. Yet there was actually someone whose cultivation actually surpassed his!
"However, I have gone to Little Jade Capital and patched up the shortcomings in my cultivation," Xu Shenghua said. "If he didn't receive the same opportunity, my cultivation will be stronger than his."
Jade Sovereign revealed a smile and said, "Go to the capital, kill him, and return to High Heavens as soon as possible. The human world is a tainted place, so it isn't good to stay here for long. We shall find a place to wait for Dragon Rearing Sovereign and check the dragon veins. It would naturally be good if Sword God dared to accept the challenge, but if he doesn't, we will return after taking away the main vein."
Xu Shenghua acknowledged his words.
"I shall let Jing Yan and Yu Liu follow you so that other rats won't lay their hands on you," said Star Sovereign Qiao.
Yu Liu and Jing Yan were secretly delighted. Yu Liu carried a jade vase while Jing Yan hugged a pipa in her arms as they followed Xu Shenghua to the capital.
The four sovereigns of High Heavens saw that the sky was becoming dark, so they lowered the cloud. They came to a serene place, and the shelter landed on the ground.
This place had verdant hills and limpid water, with no villages in the surroundings, yet there was a house in front of them. When the door to the house opened, an elegant woman walked out. She carried a small and delicate wooden bucket to fetch water. The four sovereigns of High Heavens blushed at the sight of her, and their hearts pounded violently.
Even Flower Sovereign, the most beautiful goddess in High Heavens, became slightly ashamed of herself and felt inferior. Yet at the same time, she was infatuated with this woman.
"This is a true beauty that makes even gods envious!"
While the four sovereigns stabilized their hearts, the woman noticed the shelter that had appeared out of nowhere. She looked at the group and greeted the four of them. "Four esteemed guests, the sky is turning dark, and you should not go out at night."
Adoration was born in Jade Sovereign's heart and he smiled. "Fairy, this place isn't Great Ruins so why can't we go out at night? Even if it were Great Ruins, we could do as we will."
Adoration was also born in the hearts of Star Sovereign Qiao and Star Sovereign Yan. They wanted to get closer to the woman, so they smiled from ear to ear. "Charming time, beautiful scenery, and a beauty for a neighbor—this is truly a sacred ground."
Flower Sovereign felt a pang of sourness and jealousy, but when she saw the beauty of the woman again, her jealousy vanished without a trace.
The woman revealed a look of astonishment and said, "So the four of you are all immortal-like people that are able to go in and out of the darkness of Great Ruins. Sorry, it's me who seems to have overthought the matter." When she finished speaking, she went to fetch the water for which she had come out.
When night came, the three sovereigns of High Heavens looked at the house in front of them. Flower Sovereign was also full of anticipation. She smiled. "Since your hearts are moved, why not invite her over to take a seat?"
As she was saying that, the door of the house opened. A laugh that could make a person's blood boil and run quicker sounded out. "Four esteemed guests have come from afar yet as the owner of this place, I have come late."
The four sovereigns of High Heavens looked over under the hazy moonlight, and they all exclaimed in unison, "This is truly a peerless beauty for which even immortals will fall!"