Chapter 2612: There Are No Ifs in Worldly Affairs

This is the Sea Emperor Xuandu leaving the Spirit Nourishment Palace, searching everywhere for the enemy's whereabouts.

Not long after, the Sea Emperor Xuandu returned to the Spirit Nourishment Palace, his body radiating surging fury, so that other immortals and demons dared not approach.

"There is no trace of it in the sea."

If the opponent had escaped via water evasion, he still possessed divine abilities and secret methods to track them; after all, the title of Sea Emperor was not earned in vain.

It is a pity that he still arrived a step too late.

Beneath the Hundred Pearls Archipelago, there is no ocean trench; the Earth Mother directly burrowed from the seabed into the strata, not counting as traveling by water. Even if the Sea Emperor possessed heaven-reaching abilities, he could not track it underground.

Before the Immortal Lady of No Misfortune withdrew from the Earth Mother's traces, she had also secretly left a tracking artifact there; but now, upon activating divine abilities to search, there was no response or positioning, clearly indicating the opponent possessed the ability to shield tracking techniques.

The methods of other immortals and demons were equally ineffective.

The temporarily promoted Mei Yin Shen, tasked with cleaning up the Spirit Nourishment Palace incident, said: "That island is part of the Earth Mother's body. This great demon can activate a barrier, isolating the transmission of divine abilities within and without its controlled range."

The Heavenly Demon had once collaborated with Shangguan Biao, thus knowing this.

Therefore, once the Earth Mother sank underground and distanced itself from the Smoke and Mist Bay, pursuers could basically not find it.

However, no matter how furious the Lord of the Void Sacred Venerable became, he could not rebuke Xuandu as he would other immortals. Xuandu's status and cultivation stood there, so even Mei Yin Shen had to be respectful before him: "Sacred Venerable wishes to ask the Immortal, by what means did the Nine Abyss take the body of the Hidden God?"

The Hidden God's body was so vast that the Smoke and Mist Bay could not contain it; the Lu Lu Heaven could only create a small world specifically to hold it.

"After he found the main root, it was as if he became a black hole, sucking in the Hidden's body like a whale, taking only a few breaths in total." Xuandu's inference was: "This already far exceeds the scope of storage; he must possess an incredibly powerful artifact in his hand."

"The Great Square Vessel." Mei Yin Shen said, "Do you know the Great Square Vessel? He is the master chosen by the Great Square Vessel this time."

"Is it the artifact forged from the Heavenly Net Star fragments shattered by the Dragon God?" Xuandu pondered, "It does not choose the Lingshan, nor does it choose you Heavenly Demons, yet it repeatedly chooses humans; however, this time its choice seems even better. Hmm—this human, is he the Lord of the Azure Banquet you often speak of?"

"Yes."

"His power differs greatly from that of immortals, seeming to be martial cultivation entering the Dao, fierce and explosive, even having a restraining effect on immortal arts." After only one exchange, Xuandu understood clearly.

"That is Yuan Force." Mei Yin Shen explained, "Although Yuan Force has existed for over two thousand years, its changes in the past decade or so have been especially drastic. The human realms, relying on Yuan Force, are no longer as disadvantaged against immortals as before."

From the early to middle ancient period, human kingdoms began to emerge while immortals had not yet declined; at that time, in the eyes of immortals, human kingdoms were merely a gathering of ants, and great immortals and great demons could slaughter all living beings in a city with a gesture. However, later, as spiritual energy concentration continued to drop, immortals, like fish lacking water, struggled to survive in the world, inevitably falling or entering seclusion, yielding the world to nations.

And Yuan Force was the power born when human kingdoms first appeared; though over thousands of years many wondrous uses have been discovered, it has never displayed the heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating capability of immortals and demons, thus not being taken seriously by true immortals like Xuandu.

Xuandu snorted: "If his reliance is merely Yuan Force, then this so-called Nine Abyss Great Emperor's cultivation is not fearsome."

Mei Yin Shen whispered: "The Sacred Venerable judges that the Nine Abyss has concealed his strength in past battles. You just exchanged blows directly with him—what do you think?"

Xuandu is a genuine true immortal; his vision and experience are beyond ordinary immortals. Just now, the Nine Abyss considered him that obstacle—how much could he hide his clumsiness?

"Ordinary immortals, like these few, would surely lose to the Nine Abyss." The Sea Emperor pointed to the nearby Lady of No Misfortune and others, "I also sense he surely has a trump card. Unfortunately, our exchange was too brief; if we could fight freely, I am confident I could subdue him."

He paused: "I actually hope he does not give up, comes to the Spirit Nourishment Palace again—there should still be his goal here. When that time comes, I will certainly fulfill my duty as host."

In Xuandu's view, the Nine Abyss is not his match; he merely fled with exceptionally high skill and unexpected means.

"The Sacred Venerable said, if he succeeds in one strike, he will flee thousands of miles and never return." Mei Yin Shen conveyed the Sacred Venerable's original words, "The Nine Abyss has venomous vision and precise strikes, but the hardest to deal with is his ability to assess the situation. Since he has set his sights on the Hidden's body, he can only abandon the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

Xuandu added: "His means of breaking through the Cloud Platform barrier and escaping the Spirit Nourishment Palace—if relying on the Great Square Vessel, then truly fearsome is the Great Square Vessel itself. Before, it was not like this, lacking so many wondrous uses. In these years of change, it has already surpassed the scope of divine artifacts."

Saying this, he turned and walked out:

"I will first return to the Glazed Sea; we can talk again if there is business."

Although the spiritual energy concentration in the human world is now rising rapidly, and immortals can travel everywhere, for true immortals it is still not dense enough, not allowing them to freely shift clouds and rain. Thus, great demons like Xuandu must still retreat into seclusion in the Glazed Sea to enjoy abundant spiritual energy support.

He departed with ease, and no one dared to stop him. The other participating immortals and demons, lacking his stature, now had to honestly report all battle details to the heavenly leadership and accept punishment.

Especially facing the Lady of No Misfortune, Mei Yin Shen was even more blunt:

"The Sacred Venerable believes that the major misjudgment of the enemy's identity is the key reason for this defeat!"

If the heavenly gods had known from the beginning that the enemy came from the Azure Banquet and not the Lingshan, their countermeasures would certainly have been different!

Since He Lingchuan caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace over a decade ago, how many times have the Void Heavenly beings suffered at his hands? Many heavenly gods, upon hearing his name, begin to have headaches.

If they knew the Nine Abyss had arrived in person, the Void Heavenly Sacred Venerable would certainly deploy wiser plans, dispatch stronger heavenly gods, and organize more comprehensive forces to encircle and suppress the Nine Abyss Great Emperor.

Let alone other matters, the Lu Lu Heaven would absolutely not leave the Spirit Nourishment Palace even half a step, for the gods long knew the Nine Abyss possesses the ability to sever divine observation.

Then, the Nine Abyss's method of stealing beams and replacing pillars on the Cloud Platform could not succeed.

The Nine Abyss himself possesses outstanding strategy but loves adventure, and also has the divine object Great Square Vessel by his side;

The Nine Abyss has newly subdued the Earth Mother, his mobility surpassing ordinary immortals by a hundredfold.

If they could have early discovered the opponent was the Nine Abyss, the heavenly gods, though anxious, would also be eager to try? In the recent Jade Capital City battle, the Jia Lou Heaven missed the chance to eliminate the Nine Abyss; if this time they could retain him, would it not clear the gravest future trouble for the descent of heavenly gods?

Alas, there are no ifs in worldly affairs.