Chapter 591: The Second Conversation with Hongze Daxian

When a living being looks too perfect, no matter how lifelike it appears, it still seems like a dead thing.

The white rhino above Hongze was exactly such a case. On that vast form that blotted out the sky, not the slightest flaw could be picked out; its entire body seemed as if carved from jade, and the aura emanating from it gave one an inexplicable sense of majesty that left no room for any thought of resistance.

It awoke once more from its slumber, a gleam of light rising in its eyes as it looked toward Taoyuan Shanzhuang.

Compared to before, although this white rhino still did not speak, a gentle voice rang in Lady Qinghua's ears.

"My earlier offense was entirely a misunderstanding. I hope Shen Xianyou will overlook it."

"..."

The Prison-Suppressing Golden Body, over ten zhang tall, slowly raised its head, merely meeting the gaze of the white rhino far above the sea of clouds, without offering any verbal response.

Lady Qinghua was not entirely sure what this white rhino was, but she was certain the one speaking was not the rhino itself. For a conversation at this level, she had no qualification to take part, and she absolutely could not cause her master any trouble.

"Shen Xianyou need not worry. We are both beings of renown in the Immortal Register—how could I possibly strike at a fellow colleague?"

The white rhino looked down with an indifferent expression, yet a laughter as warm as a spring breeze echoed through Lady Qinghua's mind.

She quickly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her entire gaze had grown much calmer.

This Prison-Suppressing Golden Body had once again been taken over by Shen Yi.

"If that is so, what is the meaning of imprisoning me here?"

The golden-body dharma-phase slowly rose to its feet, the dark-gold feathered cloak swaying slightly, and asked the heavens in earnest.

At these words, the light in the white rhino's eyes flickered several times, its voice still unhurried: "Imprisonment? Where does that come from? I was merely concerned for Shen Xianyou's safety, and so wished to keep watch over you. This seat has already dispatched people to escort Shen Xianyou, and when the time comes, this protective grand formation will naturally be withdrawn."

Having said this, it simply skipped past the topic and laughed: "Of course, since Shen Xianyou hails from this seat's jurisdiction, by every right and reason I ought to invite Shen Xianyou as a guest, and have a proper chat."

"A proper chat?"

Shen Yi drew in a deep breath, lowered his head slightly, and within his calm gaze a faint, almost imperceptible ferocity welled up.

In truth, ever since the last incident, he had been pondering what this Hongze Daxian actually wanted to do.

First of all, simply letting his golden body ascend to the heavens like that was absolutely impossible.

Judging by how Hongze had been handed over entirely to the Four Dragons Palace to manage, with no regard whatsoever for the lives of other beings—so much so that it had even brought about a hundred-thousand-year killing calamity—and had it not been for the Eastern Long Gong holding things together, no one knew what a mess it would have become—this immortal plainly lacked both the ability and the inclination to govern a region.

Dereliction of duty. Misconduct in office.

At the very least, these two charges were certain.

Moreover, Yu Nanhong had more or less some grudge against the immortal. A merit-immortal of Yu Nanhong origin, by ordinary reasoning, must certainly be tied up with the Seven Sons of Nanhong, those local powers. So the very first thing this merit-immortal would do upon ascending would likely be to lodge a complaint against this Hongze Daxian.

Using means incomprehensible to the mortal world, causing a cultivator at the Perfection of Heavenly Realm to have his Dao-heart fall into demonic corruption, and personally refining all fellow sect cultivators within the treasured land.

So-called killing is nothing more than a nod of the head; even for the most heinous of crimes, even if one must exterminate the nine clans, why force the victim to do it himself.

Such an act, tinged with venting and carried out wantonly, had already far exceeded the bounds of punishment; no matter how one looked at it, it had nothing to do with the word "immortal."

But Shen Yi still had not expected that even if this Hongze Daxian had silently kept the golden body suppressed at Taoyuan Shanzhuang the whole time, he could have understood it. Yet the other party was brazenly planning to send people to take the golden body away to be imprisoned in Bei Hong.

That was somewhat absurd.

One could see that this Hongze Daxian had already treated this stretch of water and land as his own back garden, not at all worried about any rumors leaking out. This showed that over the years, those forces in Bei Hong had truly licked his boots well enough to have completely won the immortal's trust.

For Shen Yi, this was not good news.

His usual method was to seek survival in the cracks, then break the deadlock with a rate of improvement beyond others' imagination.

But clearly, with a single word from the immortal, Bei Hong would instantly become a solid block of iron, leaving him no room to maneuver at all.

"Yes, just a proper chat."

Facing Shen Yi's clearly suspicious counter-question, laughter once again came from the white rhino's mouth. The immortal knew how flimsy this excuse was, but he did not care in the slightest.

Before the words had faded, the white rhino finally raised one hoof.

At the same time, the vast force pressing down on the dharma-phase rapidly receded.

"..."

Shen Yi casually swept a glance around, and there was no joy of regained freedom on his face.

Sure enough, in the span of a single breath, an aura rose from the waters outside Taoyuan Shanzhuang, locking tightly onto this Prison-Suppressing Golden Body.

"Hongze is far too dangerous; even this seat is unable to look after everything. I hope Shen Xianyou will not wander about at will, and will rest easy staying here to cultivate. Once the people under this seat arrive to fetch you, only then will your life be safe."

The white rhino finally withdrew its gaze, leaving behind only a single sentence thick with the flavor of threat.

Shen Yi, meanwhile, quietly looked toward the waters.

In this stretch of water and land that was Yu Nanhong, there was only one being who could possess such power.

Who else could it be but that Southern Long Wang.

He slowly closed his eyes and began to replay this conversation in his mind.

There were quite a few suspicious points within it, but Shen Yi quickly seized upon the most important one—a point that had puzzled him before.

Namely, whether the Immortal Court actually permitted immortal officials to kill one another, and how strict its oversight was.

This white rhino treasure was surely an object from the heavens, most likely bestowed by the Immortal Court upon the immortal to guard a region. Could such an object truly be used against another merit-immortal of renown in the Immortal Register without being discovered?

Now, Shen Yi had a vague inference in his heart.

The answer was yes.

Otherwise Hongze Daxian would not have needed this extra move. If the white rhino could handle it, why hand it off to an unreliable old stinkbug.

Perhaps it was precisely because the white rhino treasure was under the Immortal Court's supervision—even using it merely to suppress the golden-body dharma-phase carried the risk of being detected—that the other party had resorted to this inferior strategy.

Beyond this, the immortal likely also wanted to obtain something from the dharma-phase.

One could tell from the words the other party had left behind when departing.

Even if he did not dare lay a hand on the golden body, at worst he could have the Southern Long Wang step out and cut it down, then drive the Southern Long Wang out of Hongze. Setting aside whether the Immortal Court could even recall there being such a merit-immortal, even if it truly did and sent people to investigate, the trail would not lead back to Hongze.

Since he was not killing, it certainly was not because the great immortal was kind-hearted, but because he had other designs.

He barely managed to sort out his thoughts.

Shen Yi slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the waters growing colder still, the corner of his lips quietly curling into a hint of cruelty, as he murmured: "Thank you."

I was fretting over having no plan to break the deadlock, and to think it would be delivered right to my doorstep.

……

Yu Nanhong, within the dragon cave beneath the green stone palace.

In the pitch-black, bottomless abyss, a pair of golden, dazzling eyes suddenly lit up; amidst the swaying of the crown's jade beads, bloodshot veins gradually spread within those eyes.

Though it dwelt within the dragon cave, how could such a blatant celestial anomaly have escaped its perception?

Although the legitimate son had already counted as betraying him, at the moment he sensed the other's life extinguished, the Southern Long Wang's heart still could not help but twitch.

It truly wanted to live, and it truly did not wish to hand over the dragon cave, yet the thought of carefully nurturing the legitimate son as the next Long Wang, intending to entrust the entire Long Gong to him after his own natural death, was equally true.

Now, that descendant bearing all its hopes, having left the Long Gong for only a short time, and not even stepping beyond the bounds of Yu Nanhong, was slain right under its very eyes.

If the Southern Long Wang had previously had the spirit to let out a long roar, shaking both land and water, then at this moment, it felt only utterly exhausted.

With no hope of breakthrough, merely scraping by like this, sheltered by the dragon cave, at least its life would be secure.

Yet having lived so many years... it felt gradually growing dull.

Of course, even so, it still had no thought of leaving this place; at most, it would attempt to report everything that happened in Yu Nanhong, along with the strangeness surrounding the Shen Zongzhu of General Nanyang, to the Immortal.

However, many years ago, the Immortal would occasionally patrol the Four Yu, but as time passed, the other had not placed attention on the south for a very long time.

So much so that upon seeing this immortal letter before him, the Southern Long Wang even felt somewhat unfamiliar.

"Tao Yuan Shanzhuang..."

It slowly rose to its feet.

The Southern Long Wang was cautious by nature and extremely cherishing of its life.

Unless absolutely necessary, given the current situation in Yu Nanhong, it would absolutely not take a single step out of the dragon cave.

But an order from an Immortal; not just its Southern Long Gong, but even adding the other three Dragon Palaces, none would dare to defy it.

Moreover, no one in the entire Hongze had the ability to intercept a letter from Hongze Daxian; it did not worry about the message leaking, giving the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong a chance to ambush and kill it.

It comforted itself slightly.

Or perhaps it was stimulated by the death of its legitimate son, and the humiliation suffered after waking this time.

The Southern Long Wang finally took a step forward, stepping out of the dragon cave.

From its ancient sleeves, it drew out a letter long prepared, which detailed the life of Shen Yi as mastered by the Southern Long Gong; when these words gathered together, even it, a Long Wang who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, felt a pang of heart-fear.

Such a figure, how could he be compared to the mere Xuan Qing? If allowed to continue living, without much time, he would inevitably become a name recorded in the Immortal Register.

Compared to that Merit Immortal born in Yu Nanhong, if this legitimate Shen Zongzhu of General Nanyang ascended to heaven, could the Immortal truly sleep?

"Tsk."

At this thought, the Southern Long Wang revealed a ferocious smile, carefully stuffing the letter back into its sleeve.

A group of beasts that should have been annihilated ten thousand years ago, stubbornly surviving under the protection of the Zi family, even borrowing the power of Zi Ling Xianzi, had actually managed to scrape by until today.

Perhaps the Eastern Palace had taken too good care of them.

Even the death of Qin Jiaoyang and the silence of the General Nanyang Sect could not make this group of beasts see what situation they were truly in; they still dared to bare their teeth!

Did they truly think Shen Yi was a blessing for the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong? A favor from heaven?

Ridiculous! This group completely did not understand Hongze Immortal, not knowing how small-minded this celestial official sent from heaven truly was.

Then let me personally make up for what was left undone ten thousand years ago.

This time, what can the Eastern Long Gong use to protect them?

……

Yu Nanhong, outside the Seven Sects.

Ye Jiu rubbed his brow, looking at Shen Yi, who stood silent with his back turned, and suddenly felt somewhat awkward.

Shen Zongzhu had worked tirelessly for Yu Nanhong, risking life and death, single-handedly resolving numerous demonic calamities, and had only just returned; not only was he not given a grand welcome, but he had to face his own interrogation.

What thickness of face must one have to do such a thing?

"Ye has spoken too much; I hope Shen Zongzhu will forgive me..."

Having thought thus, Ye Jiu respectfully clasped his hands and bowed once more.

His words carried much more respect, yet also a hint of distance.

When he raised his gaze again, the youth before him was a prodigy Hongze had never seen, an immortal seedling rarely born, a powerful one who saved the common people without them knowing, yet he did not belong to the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong.

The temples of the Seven Sects were too small and too broken; even if they exhausted all their efforts, it would be truly difficult to keep such a great Buddha.

"..."

Hearing Ye Jiu's words, the remaining sect masters exchanged glances, yet found it hard to utter any comforting words.

Even the best relationships are mutual.

Shen Yi had helped Yu Nanhong so much, yet they were of no use to him; even if they were shameless to the extreme, how could they have the face to continue pressing the burden of revitalizing the Seven Sons of Yu Nanhong onto his shoulders?

Just then, under everyone's gaze, Shen Yi finally turned around.

He carefully examined Ye Jiu once, then said softly, "I indeed have something I need Senior Ye to help with. Will you do it?"

"Ah?"

Ye Jiu looked over, somewhat dazed.

He saw Shen Yi stride directly toward the distance and wave at him.

Under the puzzled gazes of the others, Ye Jiu hesitated for a moment, then followed, his heart growing even more complex.

Could Shen Zongzhu's previous silence have been to save their faces, pondering deeply there whether they could help with some menial tasks?

Truly... hard work for Shen Zongzhu.

Ye Jiu gave a bitter smile, arrived behind Shen Yi, and was about to ask a question, only to see the other's expression calm, his voice without much fluctuation: "Accompany me to kill the Southern Long Wang."

"Cough! Cough!"

The sudden words directly caused Ye Jiu to choke.

He even thought Shen Yi was joking.

Forget those two — even if all seven of the Nanhong were gathered together, unless Zhu Shixiong Qin had been resurrected, how could they possibly have slain that old mudfish in the dragon's lair?

But under Shen Yi's gaze, the expression on Ye Jiu's face slowly stiffened; he realized the other party seemed to be serious.

"Are you serious?"

"What else?" Shen Yi raised an eyebrow.

This might be his only chance, and it had been bought with Lady Qinghua's life; even if the South Long Wang died at Ye Jiu's hands, he absolutely could not let it slip.

To ensure no accidents occurred, if this Senior Ye was willing to lend a hand, that would naturally be for the best.

"But…" Ye Jiu stood frozen on the spot.

"Are you going or not?" Shen Yi cut off his rambling.

Ye Jiu's breathing gradually quickened, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, like the rust slowly flaking off a treasured sword, once again revealing its edge.

Only a sect master of General Nanyang so bold and meticulous, daring to think and daring to act, was qualified to wield a blade like himself.

"I'll go!"

Ye Jiu nodded seriously, then cupped his fist: "Thank you."

"Hm?"

This time it was Shen Yi's turn to be puzzled; he seemed to have promised the other party no benefit at all, and instead was asking him to go risk his life — so why was he thanking him?

These seniors of the Qunmeng Sect, say what you will, it really did seem like not a single one of them was normal.

Still, he had no intention of dragging things out, merely giving a slight nod of his chin: "Good, wait for my word."

With that, Shen Yi headed straight for the other sect masters, bringing Ye Jiu along.

Upon seeing the excited expression on Ye Jiu's face, those sect masters were all thrown into bewilderment — what was going on? Just moments ago it had been so awkward, and now they were already on good terms?

Only Ji Jingxi frowned slightly, as if she had guessed something.

She looked toward the two with some worry.

The matter that could so reinvigorate Zhu Shixiong Ye — counting across all of Nanhong, there seemed to be only one such thing.

(End of chapter)