Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Liang Pan was in the Imperial Palace of Emperor Tai. He opened his palm and there was a talisman on it. The talisman was flashing repeatedly with a radiance.
Prince Yanliang, Liang Fu, stood beside him and looked at the talisman. After a brief moment, he revealed a perplexed look on his face, “Your Majesty, this talisman…seems to be related to Fangzhang Celestial Mountain and the Ying Sea.”
Liang Pan said quietly, “You’re right. Although we lost the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, we managed to obtain some rewards after figuring it out for the many years that we controlled it.”
“With this talisman, we can regain control of the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain.” Liang Pan said quietly, “Lin Feng’s sword shook the Ying Sea. Although it didn’t cause the Three Mountains of the Ying Sea to appear, the talisman reacted to it. We have found a way to regain control of Fangzhang Celestial Mountain.”
“With the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, we can hide ourselves within it. Unless the entire Ying Sea is destroyed, Lin Feng can’t find us even if he controls the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.”
Liang Fu nodded his head as he heard Liang Pan’s words, “I understand.”
Till this day, the Great Zhou Empire’s subjects’ greatest regret and disappointment was giving Lin Feng the opportunity to seize control of the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain using the Penglai Celestial Mountain because they were not prudent enough.
That was a turning point in the Great Zhou Empire’s recent developments and its influence was very great.
Excluding the opportunity to seize control of the Ying Sea and losing out on the resources on the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, the greatest impact on the Great Zhou Empire was losing their route of retreat and confidence. They no longer had any depth in strategy.
Tianjing became defensively resolute under the Great Zhou for many years. With Liang Pan, Zhu Hongwu, the Imperial Palace of Emperor Tai and Great Heavenly Wheels around, they were even much stronger than the Mount Shu Sword Sect after the battle of Mount Shu.
But losing the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain meant that they no longer had a path to retreat after their enemies stepped foot on Tianjing. They could only clash head-on with their enemies.
After Tianjing was taken down and Liang Pan, Zhu Hongwu and the rest were defeated, the Great Zhou’s fate was basically decided. Even if Liang Pan and Zhu Hongwu managed to escape, they lost their foundation to rise again.
With the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain to back them up, the Great Zhou subjects could retreat to the mountain and hide themselves. This made it difficult for anyone to find them.
The Great Zhou was greatly limited in the recent years and their autonomy was dipping too. Under the pressure exerted by the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Qin Empire, they started to turn towards the Great Void Sect. It had a direct connection to their loss of Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, that made them very vulnerable if Lin Feng forced his way into Tianjing.
If the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain was under the Great Zhou Empire, they would have a lot of room for maneuver. They wouldn’t be in such a state like now.
The reason why Lin Feng and the Celestial Sect of Wonders were able to accomplish their goals all these years was because of Mount Yujing’s ability to shift itself freely in void space. This made it difficult for it to be detected. Another reason was that they seized control of celestial mountains in the Ying Sea that were also difficult to locate.
Even when Mount Yujing revealed itself, the Celestial Sect of Wonders still had another route of retreat.
Liang Pan was scheming to retake control of the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain for two reasons. Firstly, the Great Zhou Empire’s powers had increased and they had hope of rising once again. Secondly, they had no choice.
And this choice of theirs was likely to turn the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ attention towards them.
After all, the Celestial Sect of Wonders was the only sect that controlled the celestial mountains in the Ying Sea. They were naturally more aware of things that happened there. As they did so, they also tried to seize the other celestial mountains to gain a greater advantage.
Besides this, the Great Zhou Empire couldn’t take any other path. After Xiling City was saved, this was the most plausible way for the Great Zhou Empire to increase their powers.
After all, apart from the Celestial Sect of Wonders, the rise of Buddhism once again was no good news for the Great Zhou Empire.
Of course, this was also the reason why the Great Zhou Empire gained the support of the Great Void Sect.
This was a tacit agreement that the Great Void Sect and Great Zhou Empire shared. But this reward was unable to leave Liang Pan relaxed.
But Liang Pan was no ordinary person. He was determined. He shook his head and said to Liang Fu, “Go. After you gather all the resources in this region, we shall return to the Divine Lands and start preparing for our next step.”
Liang Fu nodded his head and replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
The War of the Two Worlds had yet to finish, but the result was largely known. The demons would find it difficult to rise with Lin Feng round. But the Hades tribe, Dragon tribe and Ancient Demon Apes did catch Lin Feng’s attention, thus he was likely to be focused on monitoring their actions. This made it the best time for the Great Zhou Empire to strike.
When the War of the Two Worlds fully ended, the Celestial Sect of Wonders would be much less busy and the Great Zhou Empire would find it difficult to strike then.
Although they were unsure of Lin Feng’s limit in summoning the Heaven-Destroying Sword, it was best that the Great Zhou Empire strike early. The longer they dragged, the more time they gave to Lin Feng.
Since they had made their decision, the Great Zhou Empire was decisive and they started to act.
After Liang Fu retreated, Liang Pan continued to stand where he was quietly. After pondering for a moment, he swiped his palm in void space and a light projection flashed. This light projection revealed a sealed space.
In that sealed space, a middle-aged man with a golden crown and a brocade robe sat cross-legged on the ground. He was Zhu Hongwu, the Great Zhou’s Grand Advisor.
Zhu Hongwu opened both his eyes and looked at Liang Pan. He bowed and said, “Your Majesty, forgive me as I can’t formally greet you.”
He had cultivated till a critical stage. Liang Pan knew immediately as he saw Zhu Hongwu and waved his hand, “Hongwu, you don’t have to stand on ceremony.”
Zhu Hongwu said, “The Cosmic Marble Buddha has descended, causing the way of karma to appear with more and more mystical changes. I have comprehended some things after meditating for this period of time. I’m only left with some stuff that I’ve yet to understand. Fortunately, it didn’t thwart Your Majesty’s plans.”
Liang Pan replied, “The situation in the Two Worlds changes drastically. There’s not much time left for you. I hope that you can quicken your pace a little.”
“Oh?” Zhu Hongwu was a little surprised. He gave Liang Pan a confused look. Liang Pan pointed with his finger and a part of the Cheng Heaven Great Void Light above the Imperial Palace of Emperor Tai landed in front of Zhu Hongwu.
Zhu Hongwu’s gaze surged with a divine light and he could tell what this light was immediately.
He took in a deep breath and this light landed on his body. Zhu Hongwu’s pores started to open and close in a violent, jerking motion.
“Your Majesty, I need some time.” Zhu Hongwu figured for a moment before he said, “In this way, my powers will be greater than expected after I reach the Immortal Soul Third Level.”
Liang Pan replied, “That’s my wish. Although time is tight, you’ll have to be calm and focused.”
Zhu Hongwu bowed and answered, “I won’t let you down.”
The light projection and Zhu Hongwu’s figure disappeared at the same time. Liang Pan shut his eyes slightly and stood in the Imperial Palace of Emperor Tai quietly. After a long while, he finally opened his eyes and he muttered, “What follows is the toughest and the most crucial period of time.”
As one of the few powers who maintained their strength in this War of the Two Worlds, the Great Zhou Empire decided to actively make their move gradually before the dust had settled in the War of the Two Worlds.
Besides attacking some isolated Middle Worlds and alternate planes of spaces, the Great Zhou Empire left the Barren Expanses under Liang Pan’s commands and returned to the Divine Lands.
The curtain on the War of the Two Worlds was about to close at this stage. The elite human cultivators and demons were in a stalemate, while the younger human cultivators and demons were still battling intensely. But the intensity of the battles were no longer as great as before.
The junior disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonder once again showed their brilliance as they shone.
Dao Yuting caught many eyes. Dao Yuting managed to kill an Undying Demon Soul demon with her Advanced Nascent Soul Stage cultivation.
Besides them, Zhou Yuncong, Tang Jun and Han Yang all managed to achieve great success in this War of the Two Worlds too.
The reputations of Yang Tie, Ying Luozha, Lin Tong and Huang Zhenting also grew immensely.
Although Dao Yuting, Tang Jun and the others were yet to form the Immortal Soul, no Immortal Soul Elder in the Divine Lands could treat them as Nascent Soul Stage cultivators anymore. They had to be viewed in the same light as other Immortal Soul Stage cultivators.
What was even more petrifying was that Li Xingfei, Liu Xiafeng, Zhao Huan, Tan Yunqing, Zhuge Wanqiu and the other junior disciples also shone very brightly. All of them were shockingly good compared to others of the same cultivation level.
Besides the second-generation disciples, the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ third-generation disciples also started to achieve some success for themselves too.
They included Han Yang’s disciple, Hua Zhao, Li Xingfei’s disciple, Chen Fangge, Ying Luozha’s disciple, Meng Honglou, and Huang Zhenting’s disciple, Shi Yang.
In this War of the Two Worlds, the talents of the Celestial Sect of Wonders appeared non-stop. They unleashed a frightening momentum that couldn’t be stop.
The humans achieved an overwhelming victory in this War of the Two Worlds. In terms of the quantity and quality of the demons slayed, it wasn’t that much better compared to the other War of the Two Worlds. But in terms of resources, the humans had indeed benefited greatly.
As time passed, the War of the Two Worlds had finally ended. All the powers also started to account for the rewards and benefits that they managed to obtain as well as the losses they suffered. There were those who delighted, but there were also those who were frustrated.
But at this moment, most of the powers in the Divine Lands decided to send out a representative each to proceed towards Mount Yujing in the Kunlun Mountains. They wanted a meeting with Lin Feng.
