Chapter 367: Summoned by Yan Dan
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Wu Qi did not participate in the meeting at Cang Ao Immortal Abode. Those who had a meeting with Patriarch Jiang Yun, Daoist Qing Xin, and the rest of the top people from both Immortal Sects were the emperors of six dynasties and their important ministers. The meeting lasted for three days and three nights. When Yan Dan and his ministers finally returned to Ji City, standing at the front door of Duke Yan Le's Mansion, Wu Qi gave them a glance. Yan Dan's face was grave, mixed with a slight tinge of joy. Obviously, the result of the meeting was not bad.
The night of the very same day, Ma Yi personally came to Duke Yan Le's Mansion, summoning Wu Qi to meet Yan Dan in the imperial palace.
Guided by Ma Yi, Wu Qi went through palaces after palaces, halls after halls, and finally arrived at the small cottage which he and Lu Chengfeng visited during the first time when they arrived at Ji City. It was the cottage Yu Xuan used to examine Lu Chengfeng's bloodline and decided to let him inherit the title of Duke Yan Le.
After removing his shoes and socks, Wu Qi entered the cottage, and saw Yan Dan sitting cross-legged on a cattail hassock, while Princess Zhang Le was sitting next to him with her head hung low. There was a redness in her eyes, a clear sign that she was crying just now. Wu Qi gave her a look, and following the etiquette, he gave Yan Dan a deep bow before sitting down on a hassock placed next to Yan Dan, facing right towards Princess Zhang Le.
Upon hearing the noise made by Wu Qi, Princess Zhang Le raised her head. Her lips twitched a little as she gave Wu Qi a brief smile.
Wu Qi rested his eyes on Princess Zhang Le's face worriedly. He had a feeling that she had grown up a lot over the last few days. She was once a naive, and a little bit one-track-minded girl. But when Wu Qi saw her today, it was as if she had grown a few years older overnight, becoming mature and sensible. Her childishness of a teenage girl was still there, but the constantly drifting gleams in her eyes could no longer be found, and was replaced by a look of unswerving determination.
After a brief observation, Wu Qi nodded his head at Yan Dan and asked, "Your Majesty, what is the matter so important that makes you summon me at this late hour?"
Yan Dan nodded his head and waved his hand. Without stirring up a sound, Ma Yi left the cottage and kept guard near the entrance. Very quickly, Wu Qi used his divine will to give the surrounding a brief glance, and he found many Great Yan's sinecures and palace guards had put up a strict defense two thousand feet away from the cottage. Powerful defensive formations stretched up high into the sky, preventing any possible intruders from entering the area.
Gazing at Wu Qi, Yan Dan began to talk in a deep voice, "A few months ago, both Old Misters, Mo Di, and Xun Kuang smoothly transcended their thunder tribulation. They are now Heaven Immortals."
"I know that. In the trip of Xue Yuan Planet, if not because of them, perhaps Crown... father-in-law would still be trapped there." Wu Qi said with a nod.
Yan Dan narrowed his eyes, with his fingers lightly tapping on the floor as he said in a flat tone, "After practicing the Energy Unity Script and Tranquil Sutra, while receiving personal guidance and advice from the Immortals of two immortal sects, each of the six dynasties has two to three Imperial Advisors or sinecures smoothly breaking through their bottlenecks, finally transcending their thunder tribulation of Heaven Immortal!"
He paused and pondered for a brief moment, then began to tell Wu Qi the result of the meeting in Cang Ao Immortal Abode.
As all six dynasties had someone becoming Heaven Immortals, when that added up together, they now had over ten Heaven Immortals, which gave them a combined overall strength not weaker than White Cloud Immortal Sect and Tranquil Vimalā Sect. As Patriarch Jiang Yun and Daoist Qing Xin were cultivators of moral integrity who focused only on cultivating the Dao and not fighting, after three days and three nights of discussion, they had come to an agreement: the emperors and ministers of six dynasties would still be the outer sect disciples of both immortal sects, maintaining their relationship of Master and Disciples with both Patriarchs. However, both immortal sects would no longer restrain any people from the six dynasties. They were allowed to do anything as their pleased.
To a certain extent, the six dynasties and two immortal sects had formed an alliance. The two immortal sects would not attack the people from six dynasties, while the people of six dynasties would not scheme against the two immortal sects. When any of them were in troubles, both sides would provide help with all they could. Nevertheless, this alliance was effective when six dynasties were considered as one entity. If there were any conflict that broke out between the six dynasties themselves, the two immortal sects would not interfere at all.
On top of that, as the overall strength of six dynasties had skyrocketed in just three short years to a level where they could be placed at par with the two immortal sects, the allocation of resources on Myriad Immortals Planet had also been re-evaluated. Two immortal sects would enjoy forty percent of all products on Myriad Immortals Planet, while the six dynasties each took ten percent of the share.
"Originally, with Ying Zheng's temperament, he wanted all six dynasties to join forces for an all-out war, completely annihilating both immortal sects. However, putting aside how many of us would fall in the war, according to the words dropped out by Patriarch Jiang Yun, they are actually not itinerant cultivators with no root, but Immortals who come from some mighty Sects. The two immortal sects are just the branches which the mighty Sects behind them established in Liyuan Galaxy."
Wu Qi's heart trembled. "So that is the reason the alliance is formed?" he asked with a nod of his head.
Wiping away some cold sweats that broke out from his forehead, Yan Dan said with a cold grin, "I can tell that Jiang Yun, Qing Xin, Qing Shen, and Qing Yi are not covetous people. They have their hearts set on cultivating in seclusion, and do not harbor any evil intention in their minds. If not because of that, with those unknown mighty Sects as their backing, even though they did not kill us three years ago, they still have the ability to kill us today.
"Ying Zheng is a fellow who forgets the pain when the wound has healed. Hmph, although I can understand why he wants to scheme against those Immortals, he should have looked into the fact whether we are capable of doing that or not! Even funnier, just like all of us, his life is still held in someone's hand, yet he has started to become restless!"
Wu Qi raised his head abruptly, his eyes flickering with a bright gleam. He was wondering what Yan Dan really meant when mentioning 'their lives were still held in someone's hand'?
Shaking his head, Yan Dan continued with a faint sigh, "At least, after forming an alliance with the two immortal sects, there will be a mutual peace between us in the future. Also, by borrowing the power of two immortal sects, especially their real backers, perhaps there are more things we can achieve than we could imagine." Yan Dan pointed his finger at Princess Zhang Le, then continued in a deep voice, "Before you arrived, I've told Zi Xuan about her mother. After her mother was pregnant with Zi Xuan, I gave her a Nascent-Seizing Pill and took away all her bloodline and blood essence, which caused Zi Xuan to lose her mother right after she was born."
Wu Qi felt something was choking in his throat. "The order was given out personally by Your Majesty?" He asked with a deep voice.
Yan Dan nodded. Then, he gave the top of his head a powerful slap while grinning coldly. Immediately, a nearly inaudible ghost howl echoed out as a dark smoke rushed out from the top of his head, amidst which hovered a three feet and six inches tall Nascent Divinity. Judging by its facial feature, it was indeed Yan Dan's Nascent Divinity.
However, a cultivator's Nascent Divinity never looked as bizarre and mysterious as Yan Dan's.
The surface of this three feet and six inches tall Nascent Divinity was densely covered with countless crisscrossing dark, tiny threads. Each of these tiny threads was stretching out from within the Nascent Divinity, evidence that they had deeply fused with it. At the parts where these tiny threads overlapped each other were sesame seed-sized black specks. And shockingly, underneath these constantly blinking dark specks were countless bony spurs that poked deep into Yan Dan's Nascent Divinity.
Wu Qi drew in a sharp, cold breath. It seemed to him that this restrictive spell was once mentioned in the Scroll of Stealing. However, even the Scroll of Stealing did not have any detailed information about it. Clearly, the shadowy figure that passed the Scroll of Stealing over to Wu Qi did not obtain the technique relating to this restrictive spell in those years.
"What Yu Qianqian said three days ago made me aware of her origin," said Yan Dan with a cold smile on his face.
He stared blankly at Wu Qi for a moment before saying, "Do you know that I, Jing Ke, Gao Jianli, and even Mo Di and Xun Kuang, as well as many others, have gone through death once? Actually, we knew nothing about cultivating the Dao before we were dead. Back in those days, we were just ordinary mortals, warring against each other on an ordinary continent."
Pointing his right hand towards the outside of the cottage, Yan Dan laughed and said, "It is the same for that Ying Zheng, Qu Ping, Wei Wuji, Tian Wen, Zhao Sheng, and their ministers. In those years we, the six dynasties, were warring against each other, tangled deeply in the feeling of gratitude or resentment, and harboring extreme hatred against each other. Therefore, when we met here in this world once again, we fought each other with our lives."
Laughing loudly, Yan Dan began to tell Wu Qi their story. Although his laugh sounded hearty, but in this small hour of the night, it carried an eerie, ghostly feeling.
As Wu Qi had expected earlier, before all the heroes of six dynasties were dead, they had attracted the attention of some almighty expert. And when they were finally dead, the almighty expert gathered their souls and let them witness the various scenes after their death. After that, the almighty expert promised them that he could teach the heroes of six dynasties how to cultivate the Dao that would bring them immortality, enabling them to attain the righteous fruit of Immortals.
It was a fascinating temptation that few under the heaven could resist. As a result, the unknown almighty expert gathered the souls of all the heroes of six dynasties during the late warring state period, and brought them to Myriad Immortals Planet. With the mighty magical power, he created new fleshly bodies for all of them, fusing their souls with the brand new bodies, and asked them to practice the cultivation techniques they were given with.
However, Yan Dan soon discovered that a very powerful restrictive spell was planted in their souls. Even more frighteningly, the soul restrictive spell could be passed down to their offspring. From Yan Qijun, Yan Yuxuan... even to Lu Chengfeng, their souls had the same restrictive spell like the one on Yan Dan's Nascent Divinity.
Wu Qi's body tensed up as he quickly asked, "My brother Chengfeng has the same restrictive spell in his soul?"
"I can't tell you how many members there are in Great Yan's imperial clan," Yan Dan answered in a flat tone, "…and I've tried all sorts of methods, while my descendants of different generations have been working very hard to produce more offspring. Yet, none of them could escape from the spell. Apart from Zi Xuan, I found no other successful case. As Zi Xuan possessed all her mother's bloodline and blood essence, that had broken the restrictive spell. Therefore, she is the only member of Great Yan's imperial clan who is not bound by the spell."
Breathing out a faint sigh, Yan Dan said lightly, "It did not happen only to Great Yan. The rest of the six dynasties, all the members of their imperial clans, as well as the many ministers and generals that came to Myriad Immortals Planet, along with their offspring, every single one of them has the same restrictive spell in their souls. No matter how many methods we have tried, regardless which generation of offspring that person is from, as far as I know, apart from Zi Xuan, none of them could escape from it."
Wu Qi swallowed a lump in his throat, then smiled bitterly and asked, "What does that man want?"
"That man only told us one thing before he left." Yan Dan said coolly, "He told us that we can do whatever we like here, but when he needs our help in the future, we have to help him with all we have got." Laughing in a self-mocking manner, Yan Dan said, "Perhaps even after two thousand years, our puny overall strength still cannot meet his eyes, and that's why he never made contact with us."
Wu Qi grinned coldly and said, "Really? No contact at all? Then what are the people of the Yu clan doing here?"
Yan Dan's face fell instantly.