Chapter 487: 486. Chapter 481: Help Me Kill One Person

486. Chapter 481: Help Me Kill One Person

"Your cultivation technique is extraordinary—don't let Wu Chang and those few others find out." Brother Xingpan suddenly spoke.

He must know Ding Huan intended to leave; with injuries this severe, he had no intention of surviving.

There was no place left for him in the Great Immortal Realm, and his Dao was mottled—this was unsolvable.

He had clung to life for so many years; now, with yet another wound piled atop the old, what reason was there to go on?

Ding Huan smiled and suddenly asked: "Could you tell me about the Four Emperors?"

Brother Xingpan, puzzled by Ding Huan's sudden shift in thought, paused a moment before replying: "Emperor Jinhe's intentions are hard to fathom. When they surrounded me back then, he never fully unleashed his power. I still feel grateful toward him."

"Emperor Pingwei is straightforward, sometimes easily swayed. When they surrounded me back then, he held nothing back—nearly half my old wounds came from him. As for Emperor Sun Wukong… this man, heh…"

After a long silence, Brother Xingpan said: "Inscrutable. Appears simple-minded, but is in truth the most treacherous."

Ding Huan nodded; this matched his understanding of Emperor Sun Wukong. Only such a man would have sent out the Soul-Eating Ring.

"What about Emperor Du Xing?"

Brother Xingpan sneered: "I killed Du He. When all four of them surrounded me, I slew Du He and escaped."

"It was only because Jinhe didn't go all out that I survived. Otherwise, I wouldn't be speaking to you now."

Ding Huan didn't ask for specifics—he assumed it was because Brother Xingpan refused to relinquish the Heavenly Emperor's throne, prompting the other emperors to unite and attack him.

Ding Huan now had a rough sense of Brother Xingpan's strength.

Four Emperors attacked Brother Xingpan, yet he still killed Du Xing—clearly, he was the strongest among the Five Emperors.

"If you survive and recover, will you still try to seize the Heavenly Emperor's throne?" Ding Huan looked at Brother Xingpan.

Brother Xingpan chuckled: "First, I'm certainly not going to recover. As for the Heavenly Emperor's throne—just as you said, let whoever wants it take it. Why should I burden myself with such a thankless task?"

The deeper reason was: if he held the Great Immortal Realm, he might still rally Immortal Court cultivators to ally with one race against another.

Now, there are only two words: heh…

"But Wu Chang certainly doesn't think holding the Heavenly Emperor's throne is a thankless task—he's delighted," Ding Huan said.

Brother Xingpan's eyes brimmed with scorn: "That kind of Heavenly Emperor is a mere figurehead, utterly indifferent to the fate of the Great Immortal Realm. He cares only for his own Dao and his position."

"It's comfortable being a Heavenly Emperor like him—but the cost is borne by the cultivators and immortal sects of the Great Immortal Realm."

Ding Huan nodded in agreement: "That's true. If you sat on the Heavenly Emperor's throne, you wouldn't be able to enjoy any peace either."

Brother Xingpan fell silent. Ding Huan was right.

If he had sat on the throne, he would never have allowed the demonic and beast tribes to ravage the Great Immortal Realm unchecked.

He couldn't stand idly by—even if he had to act alone, he would have led the Immortal Court's army to crush them.

"I can heal you—but I'd like you to do me a favor," Ding Huan suddenly said.

"You can heal me? Do you even know what's wrong with me?" Brother Xingpan stared at Ding Huan, wide-eyed, even doubting he'd heard correctly.

"Your Dao is mottled. Your purple palace is cracked," Ding Huan said calmly.

"You actually know?" Brother Xingpan was even more stunned. Ding Huan's cultivation level was only around Great Yi Immortal, yet his words shook the heavens.

Ding Huan didn't answer, only gazed steadily at Brother Xingpan.

After several breaths, Brother Xingpan spoke slowly, word by word: "If you can heal me, my life is yours."

He had tried healing for countless years—still unable to expel the mottled Dao essence.

When the Great Immortal Realm was invaded by demonic and beast tribes, not a single Heavenly Immortal among the Immortal Court stepped forward. He simply couldn't bear to sit idle like them.

The moment he appeared, he encountered an eighth-rank Beast Emperor. After a fierce battle, though he killed the beast, his old wounds reopened—he was beyond saving.

He had already resigned himself to death—yet Ding Huan claimed he could save him?

Open your soul sea. Unseal all your meridians and dantian. Let me handle everything.

Hearing Ding Huan's words, Brother Xingpan immediately opened his soul sea, dantian, and meridians without hesitation.

What was there left to fear, in his current state?

Ding Huan casually set a hidden Immortal array, then pulled out a high-grade Immortal spirit vein and slapped it against Brother Xingpan's purple palace, activating the Great Universe Technique: Zhou Tian.

Within a single Zhou Tian, the Immortal spirit energy of the vein completely enveloped Ding Huan and Brother Xingpan.

Though Brother Xingpan had opened his soul sea, dantian, and meridians, he clearly felt his soul sea rapidly healing, his cracked purple palace mending at a pace he could perceive…

His dantian was also repairing; the mottled Dao essence and his own Dao aura were violently separating.

He hadn't imagined it—it was truly separating.

The endless mottled Dao essence had tormented him for countless eons—he had never managed to split it.

Now, under Ding Huan's Dao, it was separating at the fastest possible speed—something he could never have dreamed of.

Ding Huan's Dao Zhou Tian acted like a blade of cosmic division, cleanly severing the mottled Dao essence from his body and expelling it.

He didn't know that, for Ding Huan, separating the mottled Dao essence was the easiest part—repairing the purple palace consumed far more time and Immortal energy.

As his soul sea healed, even without cultivating, Brother Xingpan felt his strength surging wildly.

After an unknown length of time, Ding Huan's voice reached his ears: "Go on, cultivate and restore yourself. Afterward, we're going to kill someone."

Brother Xingpan had already begun activating his technique.

The moment his first Zhou Tian formed, tears streamed down his face. For countless years, he had never formed a complete, personal Zhou Tian—yet now, effortlessly, he had done it.

This sense of freedom filled him with boundless joy.

One day later, Brother Xingpan's gaunt body visibly regained vigor.

His aura surged wildly.

Five days later, Brother Xingpan ceased cultivation. Though still thin, his cultivation had fully returned to its peak.

Brother Xingpan bowed deeply to Ding Huan: "I have yet to ask your noble name, my benefactor."

"Ding Huan," Ding Huan said.

"Brother Ding, without you, I, Brother Xingpan, had no hope of survival. Whatever you command, I will give my life to fulfill."

Without losing something, you will never know how precious it is.

Because Brother Xingpan had lost it, he knew how hard it was to regain this strength.

"I'm going to kill someone now, and then I'll need your help for a while," Ding Huan said.

Brother Xingpan didn't even ask who it was—he simply said, "My life is yours."

"That's unnecessary. The man I'm going to kill is Sun Wukong the Great Emperor."

"You want to kill Sun Wukong the Great Emperor? Do you know where he is?"

Brother Xingpan asked in astonishment; he couldn't understand how Ding Huan could have made an enemy of Sun Wukong the Great Emperor—their cultivation realms were vastly different.

"I don't know where he is, but he'll be coming soon. After that, I plan to go to the Immortal Court. You know those people there—they covet what I carry, so I need your help."

Ding Huan trusted Brother Xingpan's character and didn't hide anything.

The reason he wanted to kill Sun Wukong the Great Emperor now was that if he entered the Immortal Court, he would almost certainly be taken to the Immortal Palace by Wu Chang the Great Emperor.

If he went alone, he would never return.

If he went with Brother Xingpan, it would be far safer.

First, kill Sun Wukong the Great Emperor; then, when we reach the Immortal Court, Wu Chang the Great Emperor will have one less powerful ally.

If Brother Xingpan proves truly trustworthy, Ding Huan would ask whether he wished to join him in searching for the Cosmic Position Disc.

Having stayed so long in the Pangu Great World, Ding Huan had begun to see something.

The reason the Dao Ancestor refused to remain in the Pangu Great World was most likely because the world's heavenly laws were limited.

Otherwise, no one above the Immortal Emperor realm would have failed to appear here until now.

"Fine. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it," Brother Xingpan said without further questions, accepting Ding Huan's plan decisively.

"Can you perform the Embryonic Transformation and Body Alteration?" Ding Huan suddenly asked.

Brother Xingpan smiled bitterly: "That's a great divine art among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Techniques. If anyone in the Pangu Great World knows it, it can only be Wu Chang the Great Emperor."

Ding Huan understood what Brother Xingpan meant—after all, Wu Chang the Great Emperor was the Dao Ancestor's appointed Heavenly Emperor here.

"Here is the Embryonic Transformation and Body Alteration technique. Learn it first, then we'll deal with Sun Wukong the Great Emperor."

Looking at the jade slip in Ding Huan's hand, Brother Xingpan was stunned: "Brother Ding, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Techniques are great divine arts from the Ninth Heaven. How could they possibly be here?"

Embryonic Transformation and Body Alteration was merely one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Techniques—it was equally impossible to exist here.

Moreover, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Techniques were said to be impossible to copy onto jade slips. How did Ding Huan manage this?

But then again, if Ding Huan could sever his own mottled Dao, perhaps this wasn't impossible after all.

If one day Ding Huan reached the Immortal Emperor realm, other Immortal Emperors might be no more than ants beneath his feet.

Ding Huan waved his hand: "I happened to acquire it. Learn it first, or you might not even make it into the Immortal Palace."

"You're going to the Immortal Palace?" Brother Xingpan realized.

Ding Huan nodded: "Yes. Once I reach the Immortal Court, even if I don't go, someone will come to invite me. Better to face them now than keep hiding."

He was currently a Great Yi Immortal; to cultivate to a higher realm and leave here, he must go to the Immortal Court.

Originally, Ding Huan had planned to proceed slowly, but now the Demon Clan and Beast Clan have fully invaded the Great Immortal Realm, leaving him no safe place to cultivate—he could only confront Wu Chang the Great Emperor and others sooner.

"Thank you, Brother Ding," Brother Xingpan solemnly stored away the jade slip.

Ding Huan smiled: "I should be thanking you—you'll still have to help me with many things ahead."

Brother Xingpan shook his head: "No. In truth, the man I most want to kill isn't Wu Chang. Wu Chang is merely the Heavenly Emperor appointed by the Dao Ancestor—I have little hatred toward him.

The man I most want to kill is Sun Wukong the Great Emperor. Jinhe and Pingwei at least acted honorably; though I killed Du Xing, he didn't lose the dignity of an Immortal Emperor.

But this Sun Wukong the Great Emperor—he's despicable. My mottled Dao was sabotaged by him. Tell me, shouldn't I collect interest from him?"

So that was it.

Ding Huan raised a jade token in his hand: "Don't worry. Once I lock Sun Wukong the Great Emperor in place, I have a way to make him vomit back what he stole from you."

Inside the jade token was the mottled Dao rhythm peeled from Brother Xingpan's meridians.