Chapter 1081: Great Yu Deceives My Great Gan Having No One!

While the cultivators of Great Yu cheered, celebrating the victory Guan Shanhai had secured for them, the cultivators of Great Qian were utterly humiliated, and the Prisoner's Peak seethed with chaotic rage.

Lu Yang silently appeared, and both sides instantly fell silent, none daring to utter another word.

Right on his heels followed the Eldest Senior Sister, causing the inmates of Prisoner's Peak to drop their heads in sheer terror, not daring to meet Lu Yang's gaze for fear of catching the eye of this jinx.

Thanks to Lu Yang, they were privileged to enjoy exceptionally high-grade medicinal cuisine every day—right before being bled.

"Why is it so quiet?"

Lu Yang had distinctly heard the inmates causing a raucous disturbance while he was outside, yet the moment he stepped in, the noise vanished as if what he had heard was a mere illusion.

Ah, well, it was a trivial matter, best ignored.

Lu Yang unlocked the cell holding Lord Silei and held up the pitch-black ancient ring; a dark flash emanated from it, drawing Lord Silei inside.

Lu Yang and Yun Zhi then entered the ring one after the other, leaving the prisoners staring at each other in bewildered silence.

In the past, the Wendao Sect had no habit of entering a ring to interrogate prisoners, did they?

Guan Shanhai silently stared at the pitch-black ancient ring, instinctively sensing that its origins were extraordinary.

He was no master of artifact refining, but Wu Yao was; the Qingfeng Sword had been forged by Wu Yao himself.

Could this ancient ring be an immortal artifact?

Who could have forged it? Could it be the legendary Immortal Yingtian?

Within the minor world of the ancient ring, Lu Yang was just preparing to say something along the lines of "leniency for confession, severity for resistance," "if you don't talk, we have plenty of ways to make you talk," or "look who this is."

Before he could stoke his emotions, he saw Lord Silei fall to his knees and speak with utmost sincerity: "Ask away, I will confess everything."

"You had better confess honestly... what?"

Lu Yang had been ready to recite his script, but Lord Silei’s very first sentence shattered his plans.

Are all you Great Qian cultivators this honest?

Yun Zhi also wore a rare look of faint perplexity; having interrogated so many people, it was her first time encountering one so cooperative.

"It seems I am not needed?"

Only then did Lord Silei notice a colossal golden dragon circling in the sky, each of its scales as massive as a mountain; the great dragon shook its form and transformed into a handsome man radiating immense imperial majesty.

The moment he beheld the man, Lord Silei’s body shook uncontrollably; this was a terror that stemmed from the deepest recesses of his embryonic Dao Fruit, a fear far more intense than any triggered by the Emperor's wrath.

"Im... Immortal Yingtian..." he stammered out the handsome man's title.

Only his superior, Immortal Yingtian, who commanded the Dao Fruit of Reaping Tribulation, could possess such overwhelming pressure!

He had been created for the sole purpose of seeking out Immortal Yingtian's traces, yet he never expected to encounter him under such circumstances.

"I must still trouble Senior Yingtian to ensure he cannot use his embryonic Dao Fruit, and then command him to speak the truth."

Lu Yang did not trust Lord Silei; relying on the Dao Fruit for suppression was the most foolproof method.

Yet when they tested him with the Dao Fruit, they discovered that Lord Silei really harbored no ill intentions just now; he truly desired to confess the truth.

Regrettably, much like the situation with Lord Sichen, Lord Silei had also been bound by an incense restriction, preventing him from disclosing the location of the Immortal Palace through either direct statement or subtle hint.

The heavenly treasures, spiritual stones, and magical artifacts he had amassed were all stored within the Immortal Palace, unreachable, which Lu Yang found deeply regrettable.

"Do you have any final words?" Considering Lord Silei’s commendable attitude in admitting his faults, Lu Yang felt that if the prisoner had any requests, he would fulfill them as long as they were not too unreasonable.

Lord Silei struck his thigh in anger, the recent events filling him with growing vexation the more he thought upon them: "Great Yu treats our Great Qian as if we have no one! If the Emperor and Lord Siming were here, we would never suffer such humiliation!"

The Emperor and Lord Siming had established a dynasty upon the ruins; how arduous and grand a feat that was, could the likes of Wu Yao and Guan Shanhai even compare!

No matter where they were, the forces of Great Qian were absolute supreme; did a mere State Preceptor of Great Yu truly think himself grand?

"Uh, I'll do my best." Lu Yang felt a bit put out; this request was truly not something he could grant just because he wanted to help.

...

Deep within the forbidden grounds of the imperial palace, the two Immortals of Great Xia faced each other over a chessboard, the black and white pieces locked in a perilous struggle where a single misstep meant total defeat.

"That scoundrel Guiyuan crawled out from some forgotten corner?" Upon receiving this intelligence, Scholar Meng was beside himself with excitement and shattered the chessboard with a single slap.

Jiang Ping'an glared at Scholar Meng with a rueful expression, wanting to pick up the hoe by his feet and strike the shameless fellow.

I was just about to win!

Soon after, Jiang Ping'an also let out a relieved smile; that Guiyuan was alive was indeed a wondrous thing.

When Heavenly Venerable Guiyuan vanished eighty thousand years ago, Jiang Ping'an had used the power of the national destiny but found no trace of him, fearing that some disaster had befallen him.

He should have known the man was thick-skinned and hardy; he certainly wouldn't die easily.

Before the two could finish sentimentalizing over the return of their old friend, a burly figure barged into the forbidden imperial grounds, laughing heartily.

"Scholar Meng, I knew a sly fellow like you would achieve immortality! Come, let's test our skills!"

Having regained his confidence after thrashing Master Tiankui, Heavenly Venerable Guiyuan had lost no time dragging the utterly soul-weary Master Tiankui along to challenge Scholar Meng.

If it weren't inconvenient for Perfected Zhaoyue to come over, he would have dragged her along as well.

...

"Silei was captured by the Wendao Sect?" Emperor Zhongtian was utterly dumbfounded when he heard the news.

Yet, remembering that his own clone had fallen at the Wendao Sect, it was only logical that Lord Silei was no match for them.

"Why are our numbers dwindling so rapidly?" Emperor Zhongtian turned to ask Siming.

In a span of just a few years, not one of the four ancient immortals had been found, while several half-immortals had been lost instead.

Even if they could manufacture embryonic Dao Fruits using the incense of faith, half-immortals were not so easily born.

"Could it be that the Great Era's contention has arrived?" Siming pondered for a long while before finally coming up with an explanation.

"No, the ancient contentions of the Great Era always began with young geniuses. Does this Great Era's contention begin straight from half-immortals?"

"Perhaps the ancient contention of the Great Era never truly ended?"

...

"Explosions, continuous explosions..." The figure seated upon the throne of bones focused on a detail that few in the intelligence reports had noticed.

The very explosions that had rendered Heavenly Venerable Guiyuan and Lord Silei unconscious.

"It sounds as though the power of the explosions is inferior to the one at the Western Heaven Temple, but to achieve continuous explosions, aside from an immortal artifact, there is only the embryonic Undying Dao Fruit!"

"The person who caused the explosions at the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect likely possesses the embryonic Undying Dao Fruit!"

"No, it is not likely—it is certain!"

"She also made a move at the Sword Pavilion, taking Liu Ningxuan's Sword of Extinction head-on; I had thought she possessed the embryonic Dao Fruit of the Vajra lineage."

"Looking at it now, what she possesses is the embryonic Undying Dao Fruit!"

The figure's tone grew increasingly excited.

Ever since the mysterious immortal made a move at the Western Heaven Temple, all traces of them had vanished; the figure had been searching for clues regarding the mysterious immortal, yet had found absolutely nothing.

It was as if the mysterious immortal had vanished into thin air.

Now that the clue to the Undying Dao Fruit had reappeared, how could he not be ecstatic!

"She claimed to be Yun Zhi at the Sword Pavilion? No, Yun Zhi is not this weak."

Yet she is undeniably entangled with Yunzhi, rendering the matter dreadfully difficult to handle...