HSSB892: The invitation from the Brocade Emperor
Around a year ago, Shen Lingzi had returned to the Royal Reed Sea and domineeringly swept through it.
Apart from Broad Creed Mountain which had remained intact, the other three primary anti-Xuan powers, the North Sea Sword Pavilion, the Dim Darkness Sect and Copper Men Island had all fallen.
Chief Gongsun Wu of Copper Men Island had been slain while Pavilion Lord Gu Hong of the North Sea Sword Pavilion had been captured.
Shen Lingzi had been unable to take down Broad Creed Mountain. After leaving, he had moved to attack the Dim Darkness Sect.
However, the Shadow Mountain Sword King Lin Hanhua had chased Shen Lingzi over from the west to the south of the Royal Reed Sea, expanding in a major battle with him there.
In the end, he had managed to save Gu Hong and secure the life of Chief Zhou Haosheng of the Dim Darkness Sect.
Shen Lingzi had retreated to the capital of the Grand Xuan Dynasty, Blazing Xuan City.
“From the looks of it, Lin Hanhua had the upper hand in their battle,” This was what Yan Zhaoge had judged upon hearing this news.
When two sides clashed, it would be very difficult to secure the safety of a third party as killing another person was easier than protecting that person.
The protecting side would have given up on the initiative to some degree.
Under such circumstances, having been able to battle to a draw with Shen Lingzi and successfully secure Gu Hong and Zhou Haosheng, this was actually equivalent to Lin Hanhua having formlessly secured the upper hand.
The problem, though, was that Shen Lingzi was not weak.
He was one of those rare few who could challenge late Immortal Bridge Martial Saints as a mid Immortal Bridge Martial Saint.
While Lin Hanhua was powerful, it would have been very difficult for him to secure the lives of Gu Hong and Zhou Haosheng beneath Shen Lingzi’s sword while withholding some of his abilities.
At that time, Yan Zhaoge had already been wondering whether Lin Hanhua had let slip his foundation.
The Grand Xuan Dynasty and Shen Lingzi had made no mention of this afterwards. Still, this did not mean that there was no problem at all.
When Yan Zhaoge had revealed the Immortal Trapping Sword in the midst of battling against Shen Lingzi, amidst his surprise, Shen Lingzi had also once said something like this.
“This southeastern Yang Heaven Territory is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons indeed.”
Why had he said that the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory was filed with crouching tigers and hidden dragons rather than just being surprised by him knowing Prime Clear lineage martial arts?
Had he encountered someone else who was proficient in the supreme martial arts of the Prime Clear lineage in the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory before this?
“Now that I think about it, perhaps he was still able to discern a little something from his battle with Lin Hanhua,” Yan Zhaoge lightly rubbed his temple, sighing, “Lin Hanhua’s identity should be an absolute secret. Let alone the Ten Exalts, it is likely that not all of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors know about it.”
They might know that such a person existed, knowing that a descendant of the Dragon Spring Emperor’s lineage would have returned to the World beyond Worlds from whence he came.
However, there would not be many who knew exactly which peak expert this person was.
The Earthly Sovereign definitely knew, and the Southeastern Exalt Cao Jie too. Still, others might not.
However, with Lin Hanhua having clashed with Shen Lingzi, if the latter had been able to discern something, that would be equivalent to the Primordial Heavenly Emperor knowing about this too.
Yan Di, Yuan Zhengfeng and the others all frowned as they were silent.
After a while, Fang Zhun said, “The Earthly Sovereign’s decree is no joking matter. Moreover, this decree is collectively supported by most of the World beyond Worlds’ major figures.”
Lin Hanhua’s matter had actually come with the Earthly Sovereign’s tacit permission as he had just intentionally overlooked it.
It could be done, but it could not be said.
Those who were secretly in the know could only pretend not to know about it.
However, as soon as the matter was exposed and became known by all, it would not be such an easy thing to overlook.
It would be impossible for the Earthly Sovereign to continue feigning ignorance.
Yan Di said, “The other party should have used this as a bargaining chip and interacted with the Southeastern Exalt on this. Still, the Southeastern Exalt clearly did not agree to their demands.”
Everyone sighed. The Shadow Mountain Sword King Lin Hanhua had been on good terms with Broad Creed Mountain all this while, also having taken rather good care of them.
Indeed, news of this fact quickly spread.
The head disciple of the Southeastern Exalt, the Shadow Mountain Sword King Lin Hanhua, was of the Prime Clear lineage, having been in the World beyond Worlds for many years.
As the news spread, a great commotion instantly arose.
Due to the influence and control of the Southeastern Exalt Cao Jie, the news spread rather more slowly in the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory. However, it was already widespread elsewhere.
As a result, more and more people in the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory came to learn of this.
Yan Zhaoge and Broad Creed Mountain got wind of this rather early on. The source of it was not the southern Blazing Heaven Territory that closely neighboured the Royal Reed Sea but external visitors.
This visiting side was not all that unexpected.
Descendant of Kunlun Mountain’s Ingenious Flying Peak, of the lineage of the Brocade Emperor of the World beyond Worlds’ Five Emperors.
This was already the second time a descendant of Ingenious Flying Peak had visited Broad Creed Mountain. Still, as opposed to the last time, the one who had come this time was shockingly the daughter of the Brocade Emperor, the ‘Grand Red Lotus’ Fu Ting.
On seeing Yan Zhaoge, Fu Ting’s gaze immediately focused slightly.
The last time the two of them had met, Yan Zhaoge had been a mid Merging Avatar Martial Saint. In comparison to his actual age, this was already shockingly young.
Now, going by the time of the World beyond Worlds, in merely a little over three years, Yan Zhaoge had actually made three consecutive leaps, advancing into the fifth level of the Martial Saint realm, the mid Seeing Divinity stage.
Such a speed was literally unheard of as Fu Ting could not help but suspect that she had misread Yan Zhaoge’s actual age.
She herself was the most outstanding expert of the World beyond Worlds’ younger generation, also being supported by the oceanic amount of resources her father possessed. Yet, even she was unable to achieve such a cultivation speed.
The current Fu Ting was also of the fifth level of the Martial Saint realm, the mid Seeing Divinity stage.
Yet, when she had met Yan Zhaoge in that foreign dimension, she had already been at the peak of the third level of the Martial Saint realm, just a mere half step away from the Seeing Divinity stage.
In truth, following that incident, Fu Ting had quickly surpassed that bottleneck and broken through space to see true Divinity, attaining the fourth level of the Martial Saint realm.
Following these three years of diligent cultivation, she had recently advanced further, attaining the fifth level of the Martial Saint realm.
Such a cultivation speed was already enough to shock the world.
Clearly, though, Yan Zhaoge’s rate of progress was even fiercer than hers.
Thinking of how his father, Yan Di, had also advanced to the sixth level of the Martial Saint realm a few short years after having attained the fourth level of the Martial Saint realm and ascended to the World beyond Worlds, Fu Ting again felt shocked.
She had her fellow disciples had naturally not come this time simply to notify Yan Zhaoge about Lin Hanhua’s matter.
With the shocking cultivation speed of Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di, Ingenious Flying Peak could not help but suspect that the Profound Sky Purple Gold Furnace had previously fallen into the hands of Broad Creed Mountain.
It was just that while Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di possessed shocking strength, they should still lack the ability to control the Profound Sky Purple Gold Furnace considering their current cultivation bases.
Broad Creed Mountain also had no hidden experts who could assist them in this matter. Therefore, Fu Ting and the others just felt this to be very difficult to understand.
Temporarily suppressing her doubts, sitting on the guest seat in Broad Creed Mountain’s main hall at Heaven Rising Peak, Fu Ting continued, “Senior Brother Lin’s identity is unordinary. Uncle Cao says that there is no need to worry about him even though he is of the Prime Clear direct lineage.”
Yan Zhaoge and the others slowly nodded.
Fu Ting at Yan Zhaoge and Yan Di, “In having come here this time, I come at my father’s behest to invite Young Master Yan and your father, Chief Yan, to the Minor No Hatred dao arena as a guest.”
The Minor No Hatred dao arena was named after the No Hatred Heavens.
The No Hatred Heavens were also known as the Major Crimson Heavens, being the rumoured residence of the founder of the Grand Clear lineage, the Lord of the Dao and Virtue.
The dao arena of the Brocade Emperor was the current World beyond Worlds’ central Jun Heaven Region’s Kunlun Mountain’s Ingenious Flying Peak’s Red Lotus Cliff.
The Minor No Hatred dao arena was a manor of his located in extradimensional space outside of the World beyond Worlds.