Chapter 1267: Two Sickly Fellows (First Update)
After Heaven Sovereign bowed, he indeed felt his nearly shattered nine celestial palaces rapidly restoring themselves, the speed of recovery surprising and delighting him.
Such Dao wounds were extremely difficult for him to refine and heal on his own. He never expected it would be so simple for the Primordial Goddess!
Before long, his nine celestial palaces would be fully restored!
"The path of Primordial is profoundly mysterious. If I could get my hands on it..."
His mind began to stir with schemes. The Primordial Goddess seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled slightly, saying, "I can help restore your nine celestial palaces, but your other celestial palaces won't be so easy. Those palaces have already been abandoned by you, their Dao foundations destroyed. Forcibly restoring them would require me to deplete my own cultivation. Since you have chosen to cultivate on your own, I won't force you."
Heaven Sovereign expressed his thanks.
The Primordial Goddess continued, "The Primordial mineral vein in the Ancestral Court has fallen into the hands of Palace Sovereign. I cannot defeat her, so I need your help, nephew."
Heaven Sovereign's heart stirred slightly, feeling a bit more at ease with the Primordial Goddess. "Auntie has saved my life. I'll find a way to deal with the Primordial mineral vein."
Clearly, the Primordial Goddess had a request of him, which was why she treated him so well. Cooperation between them would benefit both parties.
Moreover, the Primordial Goddess's cultivation and strength were not overwhelmingly powerful—at most on par with the Four Ancient God Emperors, manageable.
The only annoyance was that each recovery required him to bow to her, which somewhat displeased Heaven Sovereign.
The Primordial Goddess said, "With your word, nephew, I am reassured."
Before long, Heaven Sovereign's nine celestial palaces were restored to their original state, and his Dao wounds vanished without a trace. However, his primordial spirit remained trapped within the Imperial Emperor's divine ability, the Great Luo Heaven of Divine Awareness, unable to escape.
The Primordial Goddess apologized, "The Imperial Emperor's skills are too great. I cannot break his divine ability for now. If you cultivate twenty or thirty celestial palaces on your own, nephew, you should be able to unseal your primordial spirit."
Cold sweat broke out on Heaven Sovereign's forehead. A crucial realization struck him—his primordial spirit!
His primordial spirit was trapped in the Imperial Emperor's Great Luo Heaven of Divine Awareness. Without it, he couldn't activate his cultivation techniques to quickly rebuild his other destroyed and obliterated celestial palaces!
The primordial spirit was the core of his techniques. The vital energy flowing from the seven divine treasuries and the seven celestial palace realms had to pass through the primordial spirit to allow his cultivation to grow day by day.
Without his primordial spirit, his techniques would be scattered like loose sand!
Even more critical was that he had abandoned twenty-six celestial palaces. This abandonment was complete and utter destruction, not forming Dao cocoons!
If it were Dao cocoons, he could use the Abyss's divine ability to refine them and return to his former peak state, which would take at most four or five months. Then he could regain his peak strength.
But his twenty-six celestial palaces were completely destroyed, forcing him to start from scratch!
Without his primordial spirit, he simply couldn't begin rebuilding!
The Primordial Goddess watched him, saying nothing.
After a moment, Heaven Sovereign knelt and bowed again. "I beg you, Auntie, to restore my other celestial palaces!"
The Primordial Goddess revealed a smile. "No matter how heaven-defying your past methods were, you must fall into my grasp, unable to escape."
---
This time, Carefree Haven's assault on the Heavenly Court camp finally sounded the retreat as the Heavenly Court's reinforcements arrived. Carefree Haven and the Creators did not seize territory; they merely took advantage of the chaos caused by Qin Mu and Heaven Sovereign, when the Heavenly Court's gods and demons were unsettled, to launch an attack and harvest heads.
With the arrival of the Heavenly Court's reinforcements, they naturally had to withdraw.
Carefree Haven had won a great victory, with cheers everywhere. However, the Woodcutter Sage immediately ordered a contraction of forces, preparing to retreat to the Void Bridge.
The strong among Carefree Haven and the Creators also saw the situation. Retreating to the Void Bridge was a reluctant but inevitable outcome.
The battle between Heaven Sovereign and the Imperial Emperor had shattered the collapsed void, shortening the distance between the entrance to the Primordial Void and the Primordial Void itself countless times. Previously, the Heavenly Court's reinforcements needed at least a year to travel from the entrance to the Primordial Void. Now, it took less than a day!
Under these circumstances, Carefree Haven had no chance against the Heavenly Court!
The Primordial Void was completely indefensible!
Preparing to retreat to the Void Bridge now would avoid many unnecessary losses in the future.
Moreover, the Primordial Void was now filled with heart demons and corpse walkers, which could delay the Heavenly Court's advance. Even if the Heavenly Court took the Primordial Void, it wouldn't be of much use, as they would need to guard against heart demon attacks.
By contracting their forces, they would face far fewer heart demons.
---
At the Heavenly Court camp, the reinforcements arrived. Fire Sovereign and Void Sovereign, dragging their sickly bodies, comforted and encouraged the three armies. The reinforcements were originally the troops guarding the Void Passage, bringing with them the Eastern Emperor's artifact and the Southern Emperor's artifact.
Heaven Sovereign also returned to the Heavenly Court camp, causing a stir. Various generals of the Heavenly Court came to pay their respects. Fire Sovereign and Void Sovereign held a grand feast to welcome Heaven Sovereign and wash away his bad luck, with all the generals offering blessings.
Heaven Sovereign looked sickly and listless, clearly severely injured and not yet recovered.
Just then, a divine general burst into the feast and reported, "Pastoral Sovereign has arrived!"
The feast fell silent. Even Void Sovereign and Fire Sovereign said nothing.
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on Heaven Sovereign. His aura was weak, and he coughed violently from time to time, as if he might die at any moment. After two heavy breaths, he said breathlessly, "Pastoral Sovereign is one of the five founding elders of the Heavenly Alliance. How can we leave him waiting outside? Quickly, invite him in—"
---
Qin Mu opened his vertical eye on his forehead, waiting quietly outside the gathering. In his brow, the Primordial Beginning Egg complained, "Fellow Daoist, aren't you afraid Heaven Sovereign will turn on you on the spot and kill you? You humiliated him so badly, making him lose all authority. He must hate you to the bone!"
"Brother, though you are worldly, you don't understand human hearts."
Qin Mu's divine consciousness rippled as he smiled. "If I were Heaven Sovereign, I would pretend to be gravely injured and near death. The weaker I appear, the more those with ulterior motives would hesitate to act against me. Then, with a slight show of force to establish authority, everyone would be terrified, and no one would dare make a move. The target of Heaven Sovereign's show of force is not me. With you protecting me, if he attacks, he won't kill me, and it would expose that his cultivation hasn't recovered. As soon as he reveals that, the other Sovereigns won't let the opportunity slip."
The Primordial Beginning in the egg thought for a moment and realized this was indeed the case.
"So, when we meet, we'll still be polite and courteous, as if nothing happened."
Qin Mu watched the divine being coming to welcome him, then suddenly his aura weakened. The divine being exclaimed in surprise, "Sovereign, you're injured?"
Qin Mu nodded weakly, trembling as he raised his arm. The divine being hurriedly supported him and led him into the gathering. Qin Mu's divine consciousness continued, "Heaven Sovereign and I will only exchange pleasantries. The only one who can truly let him establish authority in front of everyone without revealing his true strength is the Nether Emperor."
The Primordial Beginning in the egg was intrigued. "Why do you say that?"
"The Nether Emperor is Heaven Sovereign's most trusted confidant, even closer than Fire Sovereign. They have a life-and-death bond. However, when I was chasing Heaven Sovereign, the Nether Emperor stood by and did nothing to save him. Therefore, Heaven Sovereign will use him to establish authority."
Qin Mu, barely breathing, trembled as he was helped into the feast under everyone's gaze. He sat down shakily, as if he had exhausted all his strength, and continued his divine consciousness transmission. "The Nether Emperor also knows that because he didn't save Heaven Sovereign, he has incurred his resentment. The way to dispel that resentment is to let Heaven Sovereign beat him. When Heaven Sovereign beats him, it's also to reassure him—after the beating, he won't hold a grudge. The Nether Emperor will then serve Heaven Sovereign wholeheartedly, without any second thoughts."
The Primordial Beginning in the egg was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Is there so much scheming in human hearts? Can't invincible martial power unify the world?"
Qin Mu let out a long breath and said gloomily, "Heaven Sovereign, Void Sovereign, everyone, please forgive me for my injuries preventing me from being overly polite. To save Heaven Sovereign, I was severely wounded by the Imperial Emperor."
At these words, the feast grew even quieter. A divine being had meat in his mouth but forgot to chew.