"True enough. If there were more people like you, Dao brother, the Assassin Heavenly Court would probably collapse on its own first."
Wushi felt reassured.
For the Assassin Heavenly Court's feng shui to nurture such an absurd immortal flower, he could not tell whether its ancestral graves were giving off auspicious smoke or had simply exploded.
If another one appeared, would there be any justice left in heaven?
He understood the reasoning, but their earlier battle had been so brutal that Feng Jiu had nearly hacked a lasting trauma into him.
Even if the Assassin Heavenly Court had no one else like Feng Jiu, a few figures only a shade beneath him would still mean bitter battles on the Emperor Road.
"People like me have been rare since ancient times and will scarcely be seen again. Across all history, there have only been two or three."
Feng Jiu was radiant, composed, and confident.
Of the world's two extraordinary flowers, he possessed one. He had every right to say that.
Not convinced?
Then bring on Chu Feng!
An ornamental flower against the Myriad Tribulation Reincarnation Lotus, pollen particles against the Six Paths of Reincarnation... If such a battle took place, it would surely become a myth, deciding who was the most dazzling flower on the eerie Plateau!
"But you... Your constitution combines the strengths of the Sacred Body and the innate Dao embryo, achieving a qualitative transformation."
Feng Jiu looked at Wushi. "Did the Western Emperor never consider giving you a few more brothers and sisters back then?"
"As far as I know, whether the emperors of the primordial age or those of Desolate Antiquity, they either had no children at all, or, once they did, it was usually more than one or two."
"If you'd had a few brothers to help you in this battle, I would have turned around and left without another word!"
Fight one Wushi? Sure.
Fight a whole pack of Wushis?
Feng Jiu felt he had not lost his mind.
If three or five innate sacred body Dao embryos really appeared, whether he would go mad was debatable, but the Forbidden Zone Supremes certainly would.
"If it were possible, I'd also have liked a few more brothers," Wushi sighed.
Feng Jiu's words had struck a chord in his heart.
"But when my mother was carrying me, my father was already very old." Wushi shook his head, unwilling to revisit those painful memories.
"You're still very young now, though. Why not start preparing?" Feng Jiu closed the book of the Western Emperor's imperial arts and casually tossed it back. "With a constitution like yours, who could rival you unless a chaos body appeared?"
"It would be a shame not to pass on such an extraordinary bloodline."
"The stronger a cultivator is, the harder it becomes to have children... While you're still so weak, why not build a vast harem, sow plenty of seeds, and have twenty or thirty descendants?"
"Even if their bloodline and constitution weakened terribly, they couldn't be much worse than a true Sacred Body, could they?"
"Then, once you prove your Dao and become an emperor, the laws of the universe will imbue the traces you leave with divinity, and you'll suddenly have dozens of Emperor's Sons... Send those dozens of Emperor's Sons to stand in any Life Forbidden Zone, and I guarantee those Supremes won't dare let out so much as a fart!"
"Even the Underworld, faced with dozens of peak Emperor's Sons comparable to fully realized Sacred Bodies charging them together-could they still keep their composure?"
Feng Jiu's suggestion left Wushi speechless.
-What kind of rotten idea was that?
Did he take him for a stud horse?
Yet before Wushi could say anything, he sensed that something bad was happening. The deity within the Western Emperor Pagoda seemed moved by those words, as though it thought this fellow Feng had made an excellent point!
Just as there was a kind of cold called "your mother thinks you're cold."
Likewise, your mother thought you ought to get married, ought to have children...
Wushi's gaze changed. He looked exactly like a dutiful son watching someone come to his door and hoodwink his mother into buying health supplements.
"Dao brother, with the forbidden zones still standing, how could I think of starting a family?" He shook his head repeatedly, declaring that he would never marry in this lifetime and wished only to devote his entire life to cultivation without distraction.
"Foolish!" Feng Jiu looked as though he bitterly regretted that iron would not turn to steel. "Isn't the ultimate purpose of cultivation to become an immortal?"
"To forge a path to immortality, to seek eternal life through the Dao-we must pursue not only our own ascension, but the greater cause of discovering why the path to immortality has been severed throughout the ages!"
"Human strength has its limits. Your constitution may defy heaven, but even you might not reach the end of the immortal path... So why not exhaust every resource and means, leave hope behind, and let those who come after carry on the flame?"
"If, one day, you unfortunately fall, who will inherit the path you explored and the will of your Great Dao? Your children would be the best successors. The more, the better!"
"This isn't a scheme for one person's immortality, but a search for the ultimate truth and root of the mystery across the ages!"
Feng Jiu spoke with righteous conviction. At that moment, he seemed possessed by a certain Big Black Dog, rebuking Wushi with ringing words that made the deity of an Emperor Tower nod repeatedly in secret.
Though this fellow Feng came from the Assassin Heavenly Court and was an absurd character, those were fine words. He was a good boy!
"I unfortunately fall?" Wushi's face darkened. "I'm still a long way from dying!"
Feng Jiu glanced at him and lightly shook the short blade in his hand. The meaning was obvious.
-Whose head had hit the ground?
At the same time, Feng Jiu held out his other hand. "Fellow Daoist Wushi, it's time to pay the balance! Even if you don't have any spare immortal tear green gold, I'm not picky about other immortal gold!"
"Dao brother, you did win this battle, but you were still some way from truly killing me," Wushi said quietly.
He felt he could not let this continue. The way the Western Emperor Pagoda's deity looked at him was growing increasingly peculiar.
More importantly, he felt that this fellow Feng Jiu countered him far too well, always managing to steer events toward an outcome that made his vision go black.
He had to strike hard, use ultimate Dao deterrence, and make this fellow shut his mouth!
Wushi raised his hand. Without a sound, an Emperor Tower appeared, as though formed from condensed eternal light. The instant it emerged, the cosmos across the ages wailed, and an incomparable ultimate Dao pressure swept through heaven and earth, forcing the mountains and rivers for hundreds of millions of miles to bow!
Feng Jiu bore the brunt of it. Though that imperial might held no killing intent, the gulf between their levels of existence was too vast. It felt as though the Dao of the entire universe was crashing into him!
...As expected of the fellow who raised the Black Emperor. He really did bring an Emperor Weapon!
Can't handle losing, huh? Using an Emperor Weapon to bully me?
Feng Jiu grumbled inwardly as boundless pressure swept over him. His whole body was like a dying candle in the wind, its flame flickering.
"Because you've talked him into boiling over..." A pitted ball of light flickered. System 999 was full of vigor-without it, Feng Jiu's loose tongue would sooner or later get him hunted to the death.
Fortunately, with it around, his ability to flee was unrivaled throughout heaven and earth.
Back then, right in front of the local "shaman," it had brazenly snatched a Lotus Seed from the Myriad Tribulation Reincarnation Lotus. Granted, it had been beaten half to death for it, and there might still be lingering trouble, with terrifying beings continuing to investigate.
Wait... Aren't my host and I two of a kind? Both little experts at stirring up trouble?
The system suddenly felt a faint sadness.
One man and one system huddled together, and not a single steady, dependable one among them?
Boom!
Imperial might surged, and mountains and rivers sank.
Hum!
The system shone, eternal and unbound.
Suddenly.
Rustle!
An immortal flower underwent a change. Its lotus leaves trembled, its bud swayed, and a delicate fragrance rippled outward. It seemed to unfurl naturally beneath that terrifying pressure, refusing to yield and growing stronger when faced with strength!