Chapter 2029: Sealed Land
Chapter 2029: Sealed Land
Yun Jianyue’s heart was beating crazily. Could it be that he already knew about her relationship with Ah Zu?
If he uses that to threaten me, things will become a bit tricky...
As if seeing through her confusion, Yun Shou said with a smile, “These humans might not know the truth, but how can we not know? Previously, in the Fiend King Court, you and the regent fought side by side, so your relationship is extremely good. As such, it shouldn’t be too big of a deal for him to keep an eye out for your brother-in-law, right?”
Yun Jianyue was speechless.
Yun Shou continued, “Didn’t Lu Sanyuan just start a rebellion? His troops are without a leader right now, so we can have them seek shelter under King Wu. That way, they will no longer have to act as rebels. Furthermore, King Wu will also have enough forces to keep his various rivals in check.
“Of course, you won’t be doing this for nothing. You can put in your own trusted aides and control the troops that way. Once King Wu ascends to the throne, you can smoothly be granted the position of State Teacher. The Devil Sect will become a true Holy Sect. This is the ideal countless members of your sect pursue. With such a good opportunity in front of you, if the past sect masters’ spirits were here, they would definitely support your choice.”
Yun Jianyue had to admit this fellow did have some skills in stirring up sentiment. She said, “In the past, your method might not have been bad. And yet, right now, there are monsters invading from different worlds. All the various forces are currently joining hands to face this powerful enemy, and yet you and King Wu are doing these kinds of things in the background. Aren’t you just putting the entire world in danger?”
“Who would have thought that the witch who killed people like a scythe through wheat would actually worry about the fate of mankind?” Yun Shou remarked with a look of surprise. “What you say does make sense, but even if the heavens collapse, there is a higher heaven. That is, let alone the fact that those foreign monsters still cannot invade this world.” He paused for a moment and said with a smile, “Besides, it’s actually thanks to those monsters causing trouble that the regent and main army’s elites were transferred away. That was how King Wu was able to get such a great opportunity.”
Yun Jianyue's demeanor immediately became extremely cold. Ah Zu was fighting against these monsters with his very life on the line, trying to save this world, and yet there were still so many ambitious bastards who only cared about their own personal benefits.
“Does the sect master carry misgivings toward the regent?” Yun Shou asked. “Forget about the fact that the two of you are friends, the incredible power the sect master showed a few days ago is something I still remember vividly. Your current cultivation isn’t any weaker than the regent’s, right?”
Yun Jianyue had a strange expression. She naturally knew that was when Zu An had impersonated her.
Ah Zu really did give me a lot of face. If that stone cold woman heard about what happened, would she be scared to death by ‘my’ battle? From then on, she wouldn’t even dare to raise her voice in front of me again.
“Interesting,” Yun Jianyue said as she deliberately put on an interested look. She wanted to get deeper into the other party’s ranks to get more information. Then, she would be able to help Ah Zu at the most crucial moment. As for the two ladies in the capital, she didn’t care who won or lost at all. However, she suddenly thought of something and added, “Even so, my disciple went missing recently, so I need to spend some time looking for her.”
Yun Shou was stunned, asking, “The saintess is missing? Wasn’t she still at the Lake of Hatred a few days ago? She actually contributed greatly in dealing with the aftermath.”
“She and I had a fight,” Yun Jianyue said ambiguously.
Yun Shou said with a sigh, “What can you do about young people; it’s normal for them to have a bit of a temper. We will use our intelligence network to help you look for the saintess. We will swiftly contact the sect master as soon as we find something.”
Yun Jianyue nodded in satisfaction, saying, “Then I’ll be troubling you.”
Yun Shou had an even bigger smile on his face as he replied, “The sect master’s willingness to cooperate is our greatest honor.”
...
Meanwhile, in Bluefield Country, Zu An reluctantly bid Tushan Yu goodbye. Unfortunately, the front lines’ situation was urgent, or else he could have had some fun with this true fox spirit. After handing her instructions for dealing with the human side’s reinforcements, though, he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He quickly rushed toward the sealed land again.
As he traveled further and further north, he could feel that the surrounding air was becoming colder and colder. If not for the ki protecting his body, his clothes would have already been covered in a layer of ice.
A few days later, he got close to the sealed land. There was endless snow wherever he looked, with thousands of miles of ice in any direction. In that instant, he thought that he had returned to the Great Snowy Mountain.
“What's going on?” Zu An muttered with a frown. Even though he had never come to the sealed land before, he had read up on information related to it. Even though the place was bitterly cold, it should have been a grassy plain with a bit of life. How had it become like this?
Along the way, he saw some fragmented homes that local hunters likely resided in. However, when he went in to look around, he didn’t see a single person. Furthermore, several articles used for daily life were all still there. The chairs and tables were a bit messy, as if they had suddenly encountered danger and fled in alarm.
He llooked up toward the distant horizon. There was a giant yellow-brown glow in that direction. A streak of light emerging from above reached straight into the heavens, while a streak below reached countless miles underground. It looked just like a giant eye towering over the world, as if the limit of the heavens itself had been ripped apart. The spatial rift he had previously seen in Violet Mountain couldn't compare to this one at all. He could feel a mysterious and terrifying pressure even from far away.
This was the sealed land that the Fiend races had guarded for over ten thousand years!
Zu An took a deep breath. Ever since he won against Zhao Han, he hadn't been able to help but become a bit overconfident. But now, it seemed that the universe was huge and full of extraordinary things. Before the might of the cosmos, just a trifling earth immortal wasn’t much at all.
After being absent-minded for a while, he snapped out of his daze and collected his thoughts. He carefully examined the area in the distance. He could vaguely make out a city by the outskirts of the yellow-brown halo. That was the northernmost city of the Fiend races territory, Primeval Iron City. In the Fiend races’ own words, it was a city built on the frozen fields, an impenetrable defense. It was mainly for defending against the sealed land, as well as for sheltering those who were in charge of logistics and quality of life.
Just then, Zu An vaguely sensed some auras of life there. He shot forth like lightning and quickly arrived in the skies over Primeval Iron City. Guards soon discovered him and shouted in alarm, and many crossbows and rune cannons were aimed at him.
A beautiful female voice suddenly called out, “All of you, halt. That is the regent!”
A young lady with an impressive bearing stopped the soldiers on the city gates. She was wearing a rainbow-colored dress that was especially alluring and dazzling in this world of ice. She had a light blue hair decoration in her hair that resembled a feather, adding a bit of youthful vigor to her mature appearance.
“We greet the regent!”
“We’re saved!”
...
The soldiers all bowed in respect. All of them couldn't help but cheer.
After all, in the past, Zu An had personally put the new emperor onto the throne. Legends surrounding him were still circulating through the army.
“Everyone, please rise!” Zu An said as he landed on the city walls. He raised his hand, and they all felt as if they were being supported by a pair of invisible hands. All of them were really moved.
“Princess, it has been a long time,” Zu An said, nodding toward Kong Nanwu off to the side.
Kong Nanwu bowed respectfully. She said with a smile, “Big brother Zu is still as suave as before.”
Before the two of them had time to chat, a brilliant rainbow aura flew over. When the one coming saw Zu An, they were first stunned, then roared with laughter, exclaiming, “I thought that the monsters were invading, but it was actually you!”
When he saw the handsome middle-aged man in front of him, Zu An couldn't help but say with a sigh, “The Wise King is still so elegant in style; it truly is enviable.” He was discovering that the fathers of these pretty women he encountered were all ridiculously handsome.
“I’m already old; how can I compare to you, someone in your prime?” Kong Qiaoming replied, now with an even bigger smile on his face.
This kid really knows how to speak well; I love it!
Meanwhile, another elder bowed to Zu An, saying, “I greet the regent.”
Zu An quickly supported him back up, replying, “Sir is too polite.”
This person was Kong Qing, someone he had met before in Cloudcenter Commandery. Kong Qing had acted on his own initiative and showed him great sincerity in the Peacock race’s place. Strictly speaking, Zu An still owed this man a favor.
Kong Qing felt warm inside. Now, their statuses were already completely different, and yet the other side still acted the same way. This was a rare sight.
The Peacock Wise King also nodded slightly, thinking that this youngster’s temperament wasn’t bad, and furthermore, he wasn't insufferably arrogant like others in the Fiend races.
Hm, Wu'er normally has such high standards, but only when she talks about him is she full of endless praises. I heard Kong Qing mention that the two seemed to have already met each other on the human side. Wu’er even gave him that precious peacock feather... It seems I have to play matchmaker a bit between them.
Hmph, my daughter was previously the crown princess, the next generation Fiend Empress, and yet she ended up becoming a widow before she even had a proper marriage. He has to take responsibility!
The only thing is that he seems to have an ambiguous relationship with the Second Empress. But that’s fine too; either way, there is no way the Second Empress can marry him properly. What’s tricky is that the Qiao clan’s daughter seems to have a marriage arrangement with him! This really is troublesome!
Zu An gave the Peacock Wise King a strange look. Ever since they met each other, the latter had occasionally smiled and occasionally frowned while looking at him. Those expressions really were a bit strange.
He coughed and asked, “By the way, what is the situation with the sealed land right now? Didn’t the Second Empress say that she was coming with the Golden Crow Guards? Why is she still not here even after all this time?”
Normally, with how small this city was, she would have already come out once she received news of his arrival, right?
When she heard the urgency in his tone, Kong Nanwu had an ambiguous smile. There were rumors that he had something going on with the Second Empress, but back then, she had just thought of it as slander spoken by the defeated. Now, it seemed that could really be the case.
The Peacock Wise King’s expression became serious. He took Zu An to a quieter place atop the city walls before saying, “The Second Empress entered the sealed land!”
“What?!” Zu An exclaimed, feeling really shocked this time.
Kong Nanwu explained, “When the king court suddenly received news that something happened in the sealed land, many people suspected that there could have been a problem with the Second Prince. That was why the Second Empress personally gathered the elites of the different races to investigate what was going on here.
“According to our previous investigations, though, the Second Prince didn’t betray us. Rather, the crack in the sealed land grew larger and larger, and the monsters that crossed over increased in number. The Second Prince knew that if this continued, that would only exhaust the Fiend races until there wasn’t even a single drop of blood left. Those monsters’ reproduction abilities really are shocking, and we simply can't win a war of attrition. As such, he took his army into the sealed land to repair the ancient seal.”