Volume 3, Chapter 109 – Ghost Fetus (Two-in-One)

“Wait a moment.” Just as the monks were about to set out, a young yet hoarse voice came from behind.

Hua Li turned back and saw that another group had appeared on the small square.

Unlike the monks he led, over half of whom were Yu people, this new group was almost entirely Luohou barbarians with dark skin. Only one young man standing in the center was clearly different in bearing; his skin was much paler.

“So it’s Your Highness Saiwei.” Hua Li recognized the young man. He was none other than Prince Saiwei, the one currently holding the reins of the Luohou regime.

Bai Xiang had said before that neither modern Luohou nor ancient Wet-slave people were born dark-skinned. They were tanned by their living environment.

From ancient times, the nobles and royal clans on this land had always been pale. That was the hallmark skin tone of nobility and royalty.

At first, Hua Li only paid attention to Prince Saiwei. Very quickly, though, he realized there was someone else in that crowd whose depth he could not see through.

The man wore dark Daoist robes. Around his neck was an enormous golden “collar,” so wide it reached to his shoulders. His neck was much thinner and longer than most people’s, his frame tall and gaunt, his face very strange.

Strange, in the sense that it hovered somewhere between “shifty and rat-eyed” and “immortal demeanor and Daoist bone.” Hua Li could clearly feel this person was no good thing, yet he did not understand the transcendent air that clung to him.

If he was not mistaken, that was an arrogance etched straight into the bone.

And that arrogance was not only directed at the Luohou barbarians around him. Even when his gaze swept over to Hua Li, it did not lessen in the slightest.

He looked down on everyone present.

Who was this man?

“Master.” Prince Saiwei wore a pitch-black military dress uniform, high boots on his feet, a slender rapier at his waist. He stepped forward, pressed his palms together, and bowed to Hua Li.

Hua Li returned the gesture in a formal way.

“This place…” Prince Saiwei hesitated, “I am not sure if… mm…”

“Your Highness Saiwei may speak freely.” Hua Li’s eyes flickered. He moved with him a little farther aside. “Within a severed realm, Black Heaven’s perception is dulled.”

“Is that so?” Prince Saiwei’s spirits lifted. “If so, that is excellent. I actually wanted to ask, Master, what you think the odds are of your success this time…”

To the outside world he had always been seen as a drunken wastrel, either partying all day or meddling recklessly in state affairs. In particular, the way he raised war just as the unrest had barely died down was widely condemned. Yet in truth, he had hidden himself very well.

Hua Li gave Prince Saiwei a long, deep look. Only after confirming that the monks were some distance away did he finally say, “What do you mean by that, Your Highness? Have you not already set your faith on the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable?”

Although there was some cooperation between them, the two had not had much personal contact. For a simple reason: they each served a different master.

Prince Saiwei had chosen to cling to the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable, waiting only for the arrangements to be complete so he could leave the main world and watch it fulfill its promise of bringing him to the so-called Upper Realm. Hua Li, on the other hand, had chosen to cling to the Black Heaven thralls. The two “Venerables” were wary of each other.

The Black Crystal Sacred Venerable feared how easily Black Heaven could turn so many powerful servants. Black Heaven, in turn, feared how easily the Sacred Venerable could pollute countless lives into rock crystal.

This infiltration of the Blackrock Demon Kingdom was already an overreach on Hua Li’s part. He had assumed Prince Saiwei had come with his men to stop him, but judging from the meaning between his words, it sounded more like the other wanted to hedge his bets.

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Was it because he had heard that Bai Xiang had already broken through this place?

Afraid that the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable might fail, he wanted to make new connections in advance and build goodwill elsewhere?

No.

Seeing the smile on Prince Saiwei’s face, Hua Li felt a sharp warning rise in his heart.

If that were all, there would have been no need for him to worry about whether Black Heaven’s perception was in effect or not.

Whatever he wanted to discuss with Hua Li was something neither the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable nor the Black Heaven thralls had any claim over. So then he…

“Master is here to seek treasure.” Prince Saiwei murmured, “Our dealings may not be deep, but I have heard of some of your deeds. I know that while you remained here, you were constantly traveling north and south, tirelessly searching for the ruins of Golden Light Temple.”

“Your Highness jests.” Hua Li’s eyelid twitched. “What seeking treasure… we are only fulfilling our duty as allies, here to help the Sacred Venerable block that Yu demoness.”

“The Zhenyuan Sword…” Prince Saiwei suddenly said, in somewhat crooked Yu speech.

Hua Li’s face changed at once. He quickly stepped in close, glaring at Prince Saiwei. “That sounds a little beyond the ordinary concern owed between allies, does it not?”

“Amitabha… does it really?” Prince Saiwei blinked and smiled at him. “There is no need to be nervous, Master. This is hardly some great ability. You know, I am only trying to survive.”

Prince Saiwei was a clever man.

He had managed to play dead and bide his time, to maneuver his way to this position in the grinding of corporations, great conglomerates, and demon kingdoms, even to be scorned and underestimated by so many. That alone proved he was far from stupid.

Now Hua Li truly understood what that meant. A man who was not stupid was unlikely to believe in talk of some “Upper Realm.” In truth, the prince and he were the same kind of person. They were used to holding power and fate in their own hands. They would not gamble everything on an uncertain future.

“Master’s tireless efforts must be for the sake of excavating the Golden Light Temple legacy from before it was polluted by Black Heaven, to truly bring Great Yu’s Golden Cicada Temple back into the world.” Prince Saiwei spoke quietly. “This does not conflict with my goals. If the Nine Provinces of Great Yu cannot tolerate a single temple, I can guarantee that Luohou will always keep a place open for Master.”

“As long as you trust me, I will honor you with the courtesies owed to a guest of state.”

“No matter which demon Venerable or demon Buddha descends, you would not keep the position you have now.” Hua Li narrowed his eyes at him, curious what gave him the confidence to make such promises.

Prince Saiwei’s answer was to turn and bow deeply to the long-necked Daoist. The Daoist ambled forward and asked, “Has he agreed?”

The young prince shook his head. “Reporting to Heavenly Envoy, I have not yet explained the matter of the Immortal Dynasty in full.”

“Why did you not?” The Daoist sounded displeased. “Then what did you summon me over here for?”

The young man bowed again. “Naturally because my life is lowly. I feared I would sully the glory of the Immortal Dynasty. It would be best if Heavenly Envoy explained it in person.”

They were speaking Yu.

Prince Saiwei’s Yu was clumsy, but it was enough to show how far he had gone to curry favor with this man.

The warning in Hua Li’s heart flared higher still. This was the first time he had felt that the situation had slipped beyond his control.

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Who was this Daoist?

And what was this “Immortal Dynasty”? When had Prince Saiwei managed to cozy up to yet another power?

“Let us speak plainly.” The long-necked Daoist looked at Hua Li. “Little monk, have you heard of the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty?”

Hua Li frowned and stared at him for a long moment before answering stiffly, “I am ignorant and ill-informed. I have not heard of it.”

“As if you would have.” The Daoist’s voice was extremely shrill, reminiscent of a eunuch from the palace. “Our Great Wu are the descendants of an ancient emperor line, the true orthodox under Heaven. Long before that rebel severed the pathways between Heaven and Earth, we had already split from the main world. It is natural that you would not know.”

“You need not understand too much. It is enough to know that when the Immortal Dynasty descends, it will not slaughter the innocent.”

The Daoist narrowed his eyes and stared at Hua Li. “Is that not much better than throwing yourself into filthy hands?”

So he wanted Hua Li to submit.

Hua Li’s face twitched slightly as he weighed the pros and cons at speed.

It was true that he had his own agenda when it came to the search for the Zhenyuan Sword embryo.

Just like how Prince Saiwei’s public display of obedience was false, his own outward show of loyal devotion was false as well.

Black Heaven thralls, what nonsense.

If he were truly devoted to that kind of thing, why would he have led the remnants of Golden Cicada Temple to wander mountains and rivers, exiled far from home? He could have simply surrendered to that dog emperor. Would that not have been easier?

That dog emperor’s ancestors had destroyed Golden Cicada Temple’s Dao lineage.

Golden Cicada Temple, in turn, had been the successor to Golden Light Temple.

Now the Black Heaven thralls wanted to devour Golden Light Temple’s Dao lineage as well, smothering it beneath their own Black Heaven Dharma.

What difference was there between them, really? On what grounds should he choose one side over the other?

So of course he had his own motives.

He had fabricated intelligence, using the power of the Black Heaven thralls to search out legends of Patriarch Daokong’s sword, while duping them into believing that the sword contained the great arts of Golden Light Temple. In truth, he was planning to make other arrangements once the treasure was found.

Golden Light Temple, Golden Cicada Temple.

That entire lineage needed to be wrested from the control of others and firmly held in Buddhist hands.

Naturally, the risks were high.

Once one had chanted the Black Heaven Salvation Scripture, one became parasitized by a fragment of the Black Heaven thralls. That parasite could probe the surface layer of the host’s thoughts at all times. Deceiving Black Heaven was extremely difficult.

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Yet Heaven never bars off every road. Hua Li had soon discovered that connections between Illusory Realms were far more difficult and obscure than those between an Illusory Realm and the main world. He had then arranged to reveal the existence of that Bosuo Ancient Tree he had painstakingly located in countless records, leaking its location to the envoys of the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable, and letting them haul it up whole from a distant land and move it into the Demon Kingdom through Jingwu Village’s entrance.

That Bosuo Ancient Tree was the Illusory Realm gate of the Ranxian Demon Kingdom.

Discovering this had not been hard. Countless surviving scrolls and copies from Golden Cicada Temple had all pointed their arrows at it. The hard part was that knowing the entrance did not mean one could go in.

The texts described in detail that this was an Illusory Realm personally sealed and suppressed by Patriarch Daokong.

Without his sword as a key, no one could enter.

His original plan had been to lure Bai Xiang here, wait until she and the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable had fought each other to mutual exhaustion, then seize her sword and use it as the key to open the Ranxian Demon Kingdom and claim the Daokong legacy within.

What he had said to Hua’an?

Just to string the man along.

What Hua Li had not expected was that a third Illusory Realm power would butt in midway.

The Shenwu Immortal Dynasty. Exactly how strong were they, that even a mere envoy strutted over the main world with his nose in the air?

After some hesitation, Hua Li decided to steady this Heavenly Envoy for now.

The man looked Daoist. Although not of the same branch as Buddhism, at least he was not some inhuman monster like the Black Heaven thralls or the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable.

Compared to submitting to those two and likely bringing about ruin, the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty did seem a better partner.

There was also the most direct reason of all. Hua Li could not see through him. In a direct clash, he had no confidence.

This moment was critical to securing the legacy. He still had trump cards. He still held secrets known only to himself.

That gave him enough confidence that even if he revealed the Ranxian Demon Kingdom’s gate to the man and invited him inside, he could still accomplish his aims right under everyone’s noses.

With that thought settled, he spoke to the Daoist, who was already looking impatient.

“At Heavenly Envoy’s invitation,”

“Hua Li would not dare refuse.”

“Good.” The Daoist’s expression changed, his shifty face snapping back into immortal air in an instant. He let out a shrill chuckle. “You have made the right choice. You must understand, the Immortal Dynasty is vast. It rules more than one fragment of Illusory Realm. You need not worry that the court will enforce a ‘sole-honoring of one Dao and abolishing all others.’ We can quite easily spare room for one little temple.”

The corner of Hua Li’s mouth twitched. He played along with the man’s pretense of concern. “Heavenly Envoy may not know that someone may already have stolen a march on us.”

Bai Xiang was the piece he had intended to spend to cash out the Black Crystal Sacred Venerable. He no longer expected to use her to check the Daoist again, but he still wanted to use this probe to see clearly where the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty stood.

Bai Xiang’s identity was very complicated. She was human by race, but in truth she was the imperial daughter of the ancient Xuan Dynasty, very likely bearing the blood of some mighty one.

If the Daoist were hostile to her, and that hostility ran deep, it would show that the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty was at least not of the same line as that Feathering Sect crowd.

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If the Daoist favored her and brushed it off as nothing serious, then Hua Li would have to suspect that they were attached to the Feathering Sect, or at least of a similar Dao lineage.

As for whether they might “side with humanity,” stand on the human side and resent Bai Xiang—Hua Li had never even considered that.

He had long since seen through these visitors from the Illusory Realms. Regardless of what face they showed, at best they were like this Daoist, having learned to put on a skin of courtesy. Inside, they were still built around “demon” at the core.

Immortal? Buddha?

Before the severing of Heaven and Earth, this world had been dominated by demons.

“Stolen a march? You mean that Bai Zhixing?”

The Daoist’s reaction was a bit odd. He neither hated her nor favored her, and there was a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Heavenly Envoy also knows of her?”

Hua Li could only continue to play dumb.

“She has ruined our Immortal Dynasty’s plans more than once. Of course I know her.” The Daoist snorted. “But you need not worry.”

“She has good fortune, shrouded by the halo of a Xuan Emperor’s remnant favor.”

“The ancient Xuan Dynasty was a legitimate orthodox under Heaven, just like our Great Wu.”

“Our Crown Prince will soon be leading an army down to the lower world. I hear he is already preparing to propose marriage to the Bai family. If that succeeds, it will be considered a merging of the ancient orthodox lines…”

The implication was clear. Even if Bai Xiang obtained the legacy, she would become one of their own. There was no need to fret over it.

Well then.

Hua Li blinked and forced his expression still.

That was indeed an outcome he had not considered.

But, based on what he knew and understood of Bai Xiang, if anyone told her this to her face, things would explode at once.

All the better.

He glanced at Hua’an, who stood among the crowd, numb and unresponsive, and a gleam flickered in his half-lidded eyes.

This was not “affection” or goodwill in any sense.

It only made his schemes easier to carry out.