Wushi emerged from his secluded cultivation chamber with a long sigh, only to find a Jade Lake Saint approaching him with a peculiar expression.
"Young Ancestor, the Eastern Wasteland has fallen into chaos."
"Oh." Wushi nodded. "Tell me, what new surprise has that fellow Daoist of mine brought me-the one whose acquaintance I made through a fight?"
"Your insight burns like a torch, Young Ancestor," the Jade Lake Saint praised him before continuing. "'You' have attacked numerous strongholds of the three great Assassin Divine Dynasties, razing them one after another. You declared that the day your Sacred Body reaches full maturity will be the day all three dynasties are utterly destroyed..."
Wushi's lips twitched.
For a moment, he genuinely had no idea what to say.
After a while, he said quietly, "Although I had already decided that once my cultivation amounted to something, I certainly wouldn't let Hell off..."
"But Human World and the Assassin Heavenly Court..."
He frowned. "The Assassin Heavenly Court suffered too?"
"Yes. Word has it that even one of the Assassin Heavenly Court's ancestral temple halls was overturned. Their losses were devastating." The Jade Lake Saint's expression was subtle. "Throughout history, the Assassin Heavenly Court's central halls have never fallen. Yet today, the unexpected happened."
"Well... what a riotously 'filial' deed."
At that moment, Wushi became certain that his assassin Daoist brother was truly far too "loyal" to Heavenly Court.
The Assassin Heavenly Court had probably never imagined that, guard against outsiders day and night though they might, a thief within the household was the hardest to guard against. A hall no outsider could breach had been overturned by one of their own, born with rebellion in his bones.
"No wonder that Daoist brother didn't care in the slightest when I threatened to wipe out the Assassin Heavenly Court."
Wushi chuckled. "He traded away Nine Secrets: Xing without a second thought. Not much loyalty to speak of."
"They are an assassin organization, after all," the Jade Lake Saint said, understanding his behavior. "They differ from ordinary holy lands and Dao lineages. Their focus is the study of the Life-Killing Great Art."
"They are ruthless toward outsiders, treating outsiders' lives as worthless. But are they any less ruthless toward their own?"
"When replenishing their ranks, they have always favored orphans. They recruit them, brainwash them day and night, then subject them to brutal training... sometimes, they even raise them like venomous creatures in a jar, leaving only one assassin alive out of an entire group."
"Such experiences hone them into the coldest, cruelest tools of murder, fearless in the face of life and death."
The Jade Lake Holy Land also knew something of the Assassin Divine Dynasties.
In fact, disciples of this holy land had died at their hands.
However, the Saint did not particularly care.
At her level, she took many things lightly.
The Assassin Divine Dynasties had indeed killed disciples of the Jade Lake Holy Land, but viewed from another angle, were they not also excellent whetstones?
Besides, when ordinary holy land disciples died, they died. Their deaths weighed no more than a feather and were nothing to dwell on.
Those who could not become Saints were not worth much attention to an Ultimate Dao lineage.
If someone truly had the potential to become a Saint, they would most likely survive the deadly tribulations brought by the Assassin Divine Dynasties.
The Assassin Divine Dynasties also knew their place and followed the rules.
Generally speaking, even when the assassins they dispatched possessed higher cultivation than their targets, the gap was never too great. To some extent, the two sides could be called evenly matched; even an advantage would not be overwhelming... they served as whetstones for one another!
"Training that extinguishes humanity, assassins fearless of death..." Wushi understood, then shook his head. "But however I look at it, that assassin Daoist brother of mine has far too lively a human side. He holds grudges far too well!"
"..." The Jade Lake Saint had no answer. Uncertainly, she said, "A prodigy who enters divine prohibition cannot be judged by common sense."
Even the Jade Lake Saint was astonished when she thought of that terrifying prodigy, who had opened up reincarnation on his own and wielded Nine Secrets: Xing with transcendent mastery.
She had thought their Emperor's Son was already invincible beneath heaven. Yet someone even fiercer had appeared?
"Yes, common sense doesn't apply... he hasn't followed it even once." Wushi spoke softly. "He disguised himself as me, swaggered into Jade Pool, and made off with a hefty haul."
"Now he's using my name to stir up a tremendous uproar among the three great Assassin Divine Dynasties... what is he trying to do?"
"Perhaps he is trying to frame you?" the Jade Lake Saint ventured.
"I don't think it's that simple," Wushi said with absolute certainty.
He had no reason for it, only an intensely strong intuition.
"He knows who I am. They're merely three Assassin Divine Dynasties. So what if they join forces and attack Jade Pool? I am an Emperor's Son. With the ultimate means my mother left behind, I could crush every assassin organization with a wave of my hand."
"They're no more than a skin-deep affliction," Wushi said quietly. "I have nothing to fear."
He paused, then asked, "Where is the 'Wushi' outside now?"
"His last known trail ended at the Nether God Palace in the far north of the Northern Region of the Eastern Wilderness," the Jade Lake Saint said.
"The Nether God Palace?" Wushi's gaze shifted.
"It is an ancient holy land with a long history, predating even our Jade Pool..." the Jade Lake Saint explained at length. "Its heritage is lofty, connected to a branch of a Primordial Imperial Clan."
Beidou was vast, yet also small.
Its history was long, yet also short.
Many things unknown to lower-level cultivators were no secret to the various Extreme Dao Holy Lands.
After all, Extreme Dao Holy Lands had true Great Emperors as ancient ancestors, founders who had attained the imperial Dao. In the eyes of such figures, almost the entire Big Dipper Ancient Star lay exposed, save for those Life Forbidden Zones.
Surely one could not conclude that Beidou was vast to Ultimate Dao figures merely because the Ancestors of a certain Ultimate Dao family, who preferred to remain unnamed, had once "journeyed far" from the Eastern Wasteland to the Central Continent?
The Jade Lake Saint had a fair understanding of the Nether God Palace's true background.
The Jade Lake Holy Land was also located in the Northern Region of the Eastern Wilderness. It was the "local dragon" here!
"So that assassin friend of mine has his sights set on that ancient imperial clan?"
Wushi laughed. "Does he think that clan can produce someone comparable to me, and use them to make trouble for me?"
"Hmm, a Primordial Imperial Clan-a people that produced a primordial emperor... they should have an ancient emperor's offspring sealed away, shouldn't they?"
"Interesting... I wonder which is stronger: an emperor of the primordial age, or a Great Emperor of my Desolate Antiquity?"
"If an ancient emperor's son truly emerges, I hope to fight him. May he not disappoint me!"
Wushi was utterly composed.
So what if it was an ancient emperor's own son?
Let them have a battle that set their blood boiling!
Surely he would not be another mechanics-abusing bastard like Feng Jiu?
His battle with Feng Jiu had shaken even Wushi's confidence a little. He urgently needed an ancient emperor's son delivered to his doorstep so he could recover it.
In short.
-Bring on the ancient emperor's son!
The Jade Lake Saint sighed in admiration. This was the Emperor's Son of her Jade Lake Holy Land: so transcendent, so confident.
Then a piece of news arrived, changing the Jade Lake Saint's expression and shattering Wushi's composure.
"Emperor's"
"Son, good news!" An elder rushed over, his eyes blazing with fervor. "Someone at the Nether God Palace saw an Immortal Divine Medicine flying through the sky and burrowing through the earth. It seems to be the legendary... True Dragon Immortal Divine Medicine!"
"The news has spread throughout the entire Northern Region!"
"Senior Martial Grand-Aunt, Emperor's Son, let us hurry and invoke the Western Emperor Pagoda! We can suppress that place and seize the medicine, laying another brick along the Emperor's Son's emperor road!"
At those words, the Jade Lake Saint and Wushi stared at one another.