87: Chapter 87 Meeting

He stood up and stepped out of the ice coffin.

His shriveled Physical Body reshaped within a breath, transforming into a majestic middle-aged emperor in an instant.

"The Heavenly Dao's suppression has been lifted. I am but half a step away from being a Quasi-Emperor. You dare to run wild on Heaven Burial Island? You truly think you're someone special."

The Ancient Emperor raised his hand.

The profound ice within the great hall transformed into countless Ice Dragons, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws as they lunged at Gu Sheng.

Luo Qingxue plucked the strings of her zither.

The zither notes collided with the Ice Dragons.

But the power of a Saint King was far beyond Luo Qingxue's limit. The zither notes were forcibly suppressed, and the Ice Dragons' momentum remained unabated.

Gu Sheng swayed his folding fan.

"A half-step Quasi-Emperor? Is that supposed to be rare?"

He pulled a card out from his storage ring.

[Top-Grade Permanent Character Card — Green-Robed Confucian Saint · Chen Changsheng]

Chen Changsheng had been left to hold the fort in the Central Province, but Gu Sheng still had a [Summoning Anchor Talisman] provided by the System.

He crushed the talisman paper.

A large hole tore open in the Void Realm.

Chen Changsheng walked out carrying a wine gourd, yawning.

"Pavilion Master, calling someone in the middle of the night... you'll have to pay extra."

Gu Sheng pointed at the Ancient Emperor opposite them.

"I'll pay. Deal with this old thing, and you can take your pick from the wine cellars of Heavenly Saint City."

Chen Changsheng's eyes lit up.

He turned his head to look at the Ancient Emperor.

The moment Chen Changsheng appeared, the Ancient Emperor's scalp went numb.

A Quasi-Emperor.

A genuine, bona-fide Quasi-Emperor.

"You... who are you?" The Ancient Emperor's voice was slightly out of tune.

Chen Changsheng ignored him and tilted his head back to take a swig of wine.

"The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, feats of strength, disorders, or spiritual beings."

Chen Changsheng exhaled a breath of wine vapor.

Will Manifests as Law.

The Ice Dragons filling the sky dissipated, turning into pools of water.

The dragon robes on the Ancient Emperor's body shattered inch by inch, and his Saint King Law was forcibly stripped away.

"Impossible!" the Ancient Emperor roared, attempting to burn his Origin to fight for his life.

Chen Changsheng flipped open a tattered book.

"Everything passes away like this, ceasing not day or night."

The Law of Time descended.

The Ancient Emperor's movements froze in mid-air.

He discovered in horror that his newly reshaped Physical Body was rapidly aging.

His vitality was being forcibly drained away.

In a mere three breaths.

The once awe-inspiring Burial Heaven Ancient Emperor turned back into a shriveled corpse once again.

Thud.

The corpse hit the ground and broke into several pieces.

Chen Changsheng closed the book and let out a wine burp.

"Done. Going back now."

He turned and walked back into the void passage, disappearing from sight.

Silence filled the great hall.

Nether Ancestor knelt on the ground, his entire body trembling.

The Great Demon from the Southern Border was scared witless.

A half-step Quasi-Emperor Ancient Emperor was just gone. He had been recited to death by a shabby scholar reciting two lines of poetry.

Gu Sheng stood up and walked over to the Ancient Emperor's corpse.

He gave it a kick.

"At your age, you just had to come out and show off. Wouldn't it have been better to just stay in your coffin?"

The System notification sounded.

[Ding! Host has killed the Burial Heaven Ancient Emperor, altering the landscape of the Northern Plains. Gained 500,000 destiny points.]

[Ding! Intercepted the Ancient Emperor's Luck; System upgrade progress increased to 50%.]

Gu Sheng was very satisfied.

He turned to look at Luo Qingxue.

"Go and take your Legacy."

Luo Qingxue walked toward the depths of the great hall.

Gu Sheng then looked at Nether Ancestor and the others kneeling on the ground.

"You guys."

Nether Ancestor kowtowed like a woodpecker.

"Pavilion Master Gu, spare our lives! We are willing to serve the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion as our master!"

Gu Sheng opened his folding fan.

"Don't be nervous. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has always been fair in its business. Since you've come, you can't go back empty-handed."

He pointed at the Ancient Emperor's corpse on the ground.

"This Saint King's corpse—dismantle it and sell it. Bones, Meridians, Demon Core... wait, he doesn't have a Demon Core. Regardless, dismantle everything that can be used."

"I'll give you a 20% discount. One million Top-Grade Spirit Stones, and it's yours."

Nether Ancestor was stunned.

Buying a corpse?

"No money?" Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow.

"We have it! We have the money!" Nether Ancestor hurriedly emptied his storage ring, piling all the Spirit Stones and Magic Treasures he had on the ground.

The Great Demon from the Southern Border followed suit.

Soon, a mountain of Spirit Stones rose in the center of the hall.

Gu Sheng waved his hand and collected the Spirit Stones.

"Alright, the corpse is yours. Divide it amongst yourselves."

Nether Ancestor and the Great Demons treated it like a treasure, rushing up to divide the Ancient Emperor's remains. This was the body of a Saint King; whether used to refine Magic Treasures or as medicinal ingredients, it was a priceless treasure.

Gu Sheng watched them fight like dogs over a bone, not caring in the slightest.

It was just waste utilization.

Half an hour later.

Luo Qingxue walked out from the depths of the hall.

The aura on her body had undergone an earth-shaking change.

Her cultivation had directly broken through to the Creation Realm Early Stage.

An ice-blue mark had appeared between her brows. That was the Legacy Law of the Xuanming Hall's first generation.

"Got it?" Gu Sheng asked.

Luo Qingxue nodded.

"The Legacy is complete."

The two of them left the ice palace.

Gu Sheng stood on the deck, looking down at the vast ice plains below.

The matters in the Northern Plains were settled.

It was time to see what was happening in the Eastern Domain.

Ye Yuan had caused quite a stir in Tianshui City, and the Dragon Clan certainly wouldn't let it slide.

The struggle of the great era was just warming up.

The flying boat turned around and sped toward the Eastern Domain.

Wind and snow fell upon the defensive Formation, turning into water vapor and dissipating.

Gu Sheng closed his eyes to rest, calculating the trump cards and destiny points in his hand.

One million, six hundred and fifty thousand destiny points.

It was enough for him to whip up another storm in the Eastern Domain.

Eastern Domain, Tianshui City.

Second floor of the Haiyue Inn.

Ye Yuan leaned by the window, twirling a white jade wine cup in his hand. The streets below were much quieter than usual. The spies from Changsheng Pavilion, Yanyu Pavilion, and Lingxu Pavilion had all retreated into the shadows, and even the street-vending Loose Cultivators had hidden themselves out of sight.

Chu Kuangren stood to the side, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Young Lord, the flying boat from the Central Province's Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has already passed the Falling Star Sea and is heading toward Tianshui City."

Ye Yuan placed the wine cup on the table with a crisp clack.

"The people of the Gu Family are moving quite fast."

Chu Kuangren swallowed. Who in the Eastern Domain didn't know that this Divine Son of the Hidden Ye Family harbored a bone-deep hatred for the Central Province's Gu Family? Just a few days ago, the Dragon Clan's Second Ancestor had been cleaved by the Ye Family's Dao Protector, and their prestige was at its peak. The Gu Family just had to make a high-profile entrance at this exact moment.

With two tigers about to clash in Tianshui City, this place likely wouldn't survive it.

At the edge of the horizon, a massive purple-gold flying boat broke through the clouds.

Without hiding its tracks, the Formation's light surrounding the flying boat painted half the sky in purple-gold.

The moment the flying boat approached, Tianshui City's protective array directly ceased operation. The city-guarding Cultivators didn't even entertain the thought of blocking it, all retreating to both sides of the city walls.

The flying boat hovered directly above the Haiyue Inn.

The hull, which blotted out the sun, cast the entire street into shadow.

Old Beggar sat on a doorstep, holding a tattered bowl, looking up at the flying boat in the sky.

"The Gu Family has arrived too. It's going to be lively now." Old Beggar downed the remaining wine in his bowl. "Pass the word down: when gods fight, don't get close."

On a pleasure boat, several women holding umbrellas stopped their movements and looked toward the Haiyue Inn.

As for the East Sea Dragon Clan, those few Old Ancestors deep within the Return to Ruins were likely staring at Tianshui City, wishing for the Gu Family and the Ye Family to fight until both were wounded.

On the deck of the flying boat.

Gu Sheng swayed his folding fan and looked down.

Luo Qingxue stood behind him, cradling the nine nether soul-suppressing zither in her arms. Xuan Kong stood with his hands down.

"Pavilion Master, below is the Haiyue Inn where Ye Yuan is located," Xuan Kong spoke.

Gu Sheng closed his folding fan and tapped it against the ship's railing.

"Call out to them. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion does business with courtesy before force."

Xuan Kong stepped forward, and his Creation Realm Peak Protective Aura transformed into sound waves, spreading throughout the entirety of Tianshui City.

"Pavilion Master Gu of the Central Province's Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has arrived. People of the Ye Family, come out and speak."

The voice echoed through the streets, making the shop signs on both sides rattle.

Second floor of the Haiyue Inn.

Ye Yuan gave a cold laugh.

He stood up, the power of his Ancient Desolate Magic Body circulating as he crashed directly through the inn's roof, soaring into the sky.

Nie Xiao followed closely behind, carrying his broken blade. The pressure of a Half-Saint was released without reservation, clashing with Xuan Kong's Protective Aura in mid-air.

The air let out an ear-piercing sound of friction.

Sections of the bluestone road below Tianshui City cracked apart.

"People of the Gu Family, what a grand display." Ye Yuan stood suspended in the air, level with the flying boat, his gaze arrogant. "This is the Eastern Domain, not your Central Province. To come running to Tianshui City to act wild—have you asked my Ye Family?"