Old Matters

A batch of these honey dates could be harvested every five hundred years. Even so, the mysteries they contained rivaled those of ordinary ten-thousand-year spiritual medicines, and demand always exceeded supply.

The red date Gu Qingying had tossed out, however, belonged to the former kind.

Ahead, Cang Yuhang, the son of the current Tyrant Body, had been bottling up his frustration with nowhere to vent it. He subconsciously caught the red date and followed the voice to look toward that figure. At that moment, it felt as though his heart had skipped half a beat.

Even though he had spent recent years training in another starfield, he had still heard of the renowned beauty of this divine maiden who oversaw the maps of Spring Autumn Pavilion.

Seeing her today, he silently admitted that the rumors had not been exaggerated. She truly was a peerless fairy capable of turning a man's hundred-refined steel into something soft around her fingers.

"Senior Gu, you are too courteous. The warship can still be used, so this matter is of no consequence. Besides, such minor jolting means nothing to us Immortal Platform cultivators..."

The resentment in his heart seemed to vanish beneath her apology and a single sweet date. A smile spread across his face, and the tyrannical aura around him receded, as though he had become approachable.

Even the culprit, the Cloud Leopard, now seemed somewhat more pleasing to the eye.

As he spoke, he made a show of returning the honey date in his hand.

A female Saint King who could stand shoulder to shoulder with his father's generation had personally come forward and lowered herself to apologize. No matter how furious he had been before, what dissatisfaction could he possibly have now?

"After all, my spirit pet was at fault first. Young friend, do not refuse..."

Goddess Gu stroked the Half-Saint Cloud Leopard, which was now docile as a cat, and smiled lightly.

"Th-this... then I will gratefully accept."

Cang Yuhang first put on a troubled expression, then accepted it openly.

During that time, he only exchanged one glance with Gu Qingying before daring not to look any further.

Her eyes resembled ancient pools reflecting the stars, faintly glimmering with scattered deep-blue light. Looking into them for too long felt as though they could devour one's mind and seize one's soul.

"Since that is settled, young friend, make yourself at home. I shall go reminisce with several old friends from Human Emperor Hall."

Beneath her thin veil, Gu Qingying's jade-like face wore a captivating smile.

With that, she took the Cloud Leopard and drifted toward a corner of the mountain range.

She naturally would not regard a Tyrant Body cultivator in the Immortal Third Realm with impure Tyrant Blood as worthy of her attention. This was merely giving face to the Tyrant Body clan behind him.

Thus, a conflict was resolved without stirring the slightest ripple.

Yet the ripples this incident had already caused could naturally not return to normal. That, however, was Human Emperor Hall's headache to deal with.

Cang Yuhang remained where he was, watching her enchanting figure recede until she vanished from sight.

On the warship, his Dao companion Xin'er was sensitive by nature. Seeing this, her eyes darkened as she looked at his back.

"This woman is not simple..."

Not far away, a Purple Feather cultivator from the Feathered Immortal Dynasty sighed.

Had his cultivation not been comparable to Gu Qingying's, he feared he too would have unknowingly fallen beneath her every smile and frown.

It was difficult to imagine whether she could truly enchant all living beings if she removed her veil.

His thoughts stirred as he shifted his gaze. Looking around, quite a few cultivators had lost themselves after Gu Qingying disappeared.

"But Human Emperor Hall, what exactly are you plotting?"

After a long while, seeing that Goddess Gu had been negotiating with Human Emperor Hall for so long without returning, the Purple Feather cultivator's face darkened like water.

"Hehe, why bother with that? After today, Human Emperor Hall will be like meat roasting over a fire. This situation is no longer theirs to control."

Beside him, an old man in a black-gold robe embroidered with birds, fish, and insects narrowed his eyes and said,

"You spread word of the Human Emperor's Legacy everywhere. It cannot truly be false news, can it? If you make us put on this performance with you and then fail to produce anything worthwhile, Human Emperor Hall can wait for the wrath of the masses..."

If the legacy did not emerge, it would mean they had toyed with everyone in the Big Dipper.

Late autumn had arrived. Deep within the desolate and boundless mountains along Ancient Yan Kingdom's northern border, a place once barren and lonely had already become the center of gathering storms.

The days passed one by one.

There was still no movement from the so-called Human Emperor's Legacy of rumor, making more and more cultivators and factions increasingly restless.

Bloodshed occurred every moment in every corner of the mountain range.

Yet strangely, aside from the small and medium-sized factions, not a single top inheritance that had entered this place left, despite wasting five or six months here.

It seemed they had obtained some information in secret, or perhaps had something to back them up.

In the Central Plains lay the majestic and vast territory governed by Human Emperor Hall.

Divine rainbows streaked through the skies there, profound auras intertwined, and countless palaces stood amid overwhelming grandeur.

At this moment, several Saint Realm authorities sent out to oversee affairs in the Southern Region of Eastern Wasteland over the past few months were crawling on the floor of a central hall like beaten dogs.

The hall was silent as death. The group trembled in silence, waiting for the reaction of the figure seated upon the Dao platform deep within.

And that wait lasted several days.

During that time, several more people returned from Eastern Wasteland and entered the hall uneasily.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the figure hidden behind the screen on the Dao platform finished cultivating and slowly rose.

If anyone could enter the inner chamber separated by that screen, they would surely sense the immense power of Lunar and Solar Holy Emperor energy flowing beneath the Dao platform, allowing that figure to comprehend profound mysteries.

Only, no one knew where its source lay.

"You cannot even withstand this much pressure. What use was there in raising you all for so many years?"

The figure's voice slowly drifted out from behind the screen.

Before the words had faded, an icy wind seemed to sweep through the hall.

"Hall Master, it is not that we are incompetent. There were truly reasons for this!"

Perhaps someone in the hall had sensed his fate. His body shook like a sieve, and his desire to live drove him to suddenly beg for mercy.

The figure turned a deaf ear. He muttered incantations and formed seals with both hands without pause.

"Run!!"

The wind in the hall grew fiercer, accompanied by a spreading, sinister aura. Someone stopped groveling. His previously restrained Saint might burst forth as his figure shot toward the entrance.

"Where do you think you can run? You secretly colluded to release that Human Demon. Did you truly think I did not know?"

The figure chuckled, yet did not immediately give chase. Instead, he bowed deeply toward the depths of the inner chamber's restrictions, then said solemnly,

"I respectfully invite the Human Emperor Banner!!!"

Boom!!!

In an instant, the bone-piercing gale within the hall, dense with threads of Dao marks, completely erupted. Blowing over those authorities, it directly dissolved their Saint bodies and flesh, leaving only their primordial spirits barely clinging to life.

"Hall Master... spare us!!"

"Hall Master, we merely failed in our duties. Why must it come to this?!"

"Releasing the Human Demon was all that bastard Tao Jingyu's idea. It had nothing to do with us... Aah!!!"

"No..."

Boom...

Layer upon layer of restrictions in the rear hall collapsed. The wind in the hall abruptly changed again, at times reaching the extreme of yin, at others becoming like a resplendent divine sun, vast and fiercely masculine.

The remaining golden bones of the seven Saints beneath the Dao platform burst apart, scattering across the ground like shattered glass.

Imperial Dao gales swept blood foam against the four profound jade pillars in the hall, splashing them with scarlet runes. The Saints' wails had abruptly ceased, and even their spoken words were shredded by the wind.

Old Matters

Clang!

Clang... clang...

The figure behind the Dao platform screen changed hand seals in rapid succession. The gale in the hall instantly subsided, instead condensing into chains of Eternal Blue Gold visible to the naked eye.

Almost at the same instant, one chain's runes pierced through the void without warning. After vanishing inside, it emerged from somewhere beyond the hall.

"Hah!! Hah..."

The Immortal Platform in the head of the Saint who had previously escaped the hall was instantly pierced through by the chain. His primordial spirit was wrapped in the solidified chain and ultimately dragged back.

When the chain stretched taut, it faintly erupted with deep-blue divine radiance, like an eternal beam of light.

Boom...

At that moment, the roof of the entire hall exploded. The whole expanse of void above shattered section by section like a mirror.

A massive banner entwined with the laws and runes of the Lunar and Solar Holy Emperors pierced the roof and shot straight into the Ninth Heaven!

The primordial spirits of all eight Saints were locked within the banner. Their eight tiny spirit forms wore twisted expressions and struggled desperately, but it was all futile.

Buzz...

Endless auspicious radiance descended from the Ninth Heaven, bathing the enormous banner that resembled a battle flag. Its pole was forged from Eternal Blue Gold and contained faint Imperial Dao divine might. Within it, a dormant deity seemed to sit in seclusion.

Rustle...

The battle flag snapped violently in the wind. In the unseen distance, the earth-shaking cries of countless Human Race soldiers from the Primordial Era seemed to erupt:

"Victory without end!!!"

"Victory without end..."

How could the fallen heroic spirits gathered into the banner during the Primordial Era number only ten thousand?

All spirits bowed to the banner.

Boom!!!

The enormous banner circled high in the sky several times before crashing down into the Dao platform of the ruined hall.

At this moment.

The countless palaces outside had already begun trembling ceaselessly. The bloodlines of every Human Emperor Hall cultivator boiled, and they uncontrollably knelt in the direction where the banner had fallen, kowtowing in worship.

"If you have anything to say, go tell the 'Human Emperor' within the Human Emperor Banner."

The Hall Master of Human Emperor Hall extended his hand and grasped the enormous banner.

The banner shook, seemingly trying to break free of his grip. Yet several weathered Heaven-Suppressing Runes appeared out of thin air upon its surface, and the banner returned to silence.

Finally, with a crack, the Dao platform beneath the Hall Master's feet split completely apart, faintly exposing a corner of the world below.

Deep underground, an incomparably enormous Divine Source cocoon was firmly sealed by a formation.

Within the brilliant and dazzling Divine Source, nine divine chains bound a disheveled, burly man whose entire body still emanated a powerful, savage aura.

"You call me a traitor, but you do not understand that the way of the world has always been that the victor becomes king and the loser a bandit. Dongfang Taiyi, on this day, who is the prisoner, and who looks more like the traitor?"

The Hall Master of Human Emperor Hall fixed a dim gaze on the Divine Source, snorted coldly, and used a great divine ability to bury the place with a wave of his hand.

"At the end of the Primordial Era, Human Emperor Hall was in grave peril. Did I have a choice?"

He stood silently for a while on the ground above the Divine Source, as though speaking to the man within it, yet also as though talking to himself.

"At first, I understood you all. But when did any of you ever understand me? Even the Human Emperor of old, powerful as he was, died beneath the Undying Heavenly Blade. Why leave such a mess for later generations...

The waters of this universe run far deeper than you imagine..."

As he spoke, the Hall Master's lonely gaze swept over the disciples who had come to clear the ruins, making them too afraid to approach.

"Back then, you admired the Human Emperor's deeds and imitated him by cultivating both Lunar and Solar Holy Emperor power. In the end, you lost your mind and became neither human nor ghost. You should have exiled yourself to the Outer Domain, but after noticing abnormalities within the hall, you returned to purge traitors like me?

Looking back, it was truly laughable..."

His words gradually trailed off.

"If one could live upright like a person, who would want to live like a dog?"

At last, cold indifference returned to his eyes.

Rustle...

He pulled out the banner pole and returned it to its original restrictions.

"If you are not an Ultimate Imperial Weapon, do not act like an Extreme-Path Heavy Weapon. I only continue to keep you because you still have some use..."