The golden compass didn’t distinguish between friend and foe. It surrounded even Xue Yang and the others.
Or rather, the compass took the place of the entirety of Spirit City. The inhabitants paled; they felt something on the verge of shifting their destinies.
“Xuan Ji’s really angry this time,” Xue Yang couldn’t help but speak up
“Do we need you to tell us that?” asked Zhao Qianling. “Look, she’s even activated the Destiny Compass.”
“This feeling of shifting destinies….. This is her god-given divine artifact, the one she received upon attaining godhood, right?” muttered Bi’an.
Xuan Ji was the top divination expert of all time, and that was entirely due to her divine artifact.
The Destiny Compass.
It worked as the name suggested.
Xuan Ji stood in the center of the compass, gradually undergoing a transformation. She wore pure white robes, and her eyes now glowed bright gold. Her pupils had needles revolving in them like miniature clocks, and her godhead hovered above her.
Anyone who condensed a godhead and achieved true divinity would receive a god-given divine artifact. Bi’an’s Hidden Dragon Sword and the Wish God’s Wish Codex were also god-given divine artifacts.
Each god-given artifact was unique and unduplicatable. Furthermore, no one else could use them. Only their owner could wield them.
Furthermore, god-given divine artifacts were, almost without exception, far stronger than those created by artificers, even grand-master artificers.
However, it wasn’t completely impossible to forge one. There had once been a grandmaster who’d forged a god-given divine artifact. That weapon was none other than the artifact at the top of the divine artifact leaderboards, the Xuan-Yuan Sword.
However, after that, no other man-made god-given artifacts ever made an appearance. As such, grandmaster artificers took pride in creating treasures as close to that level as possible.
You couldn’t use a god-given divine artifact lightly, as it expended a vast amount of one’s godhead’s power.
In the face of Xuan Ji’s domineering nature, the two Bai Family patriarchs paled. The Destiny Compass gave even them a feeling of helplessness, as if their fate was now in another’s hands, beyond their control.
However, Bai Mingli quickly recovered his usual calm. The God Emperor had once told him the secret of Xuan Ji’s god-given divine artifact.
It didn’t differentiate between friend and foe. So long as you were within its range, whenever the compass’s needle shifted, it would alter your fate. That meant that if Xuan Ji dared activate it, they weren’t the only ones who’d suffer; it would change Xue Yang, Bi’an, Su Qingyan, and the Zhao Sisters’ fates too.
Bai Mingli didn’t believe that she could implicate her allies, much less the countless innocents of Spirit City, just to take down their Bai Family.
Xue Yang and the others’ knit their brows.
“What do you mean?” asked Bi’an.
“Exactly what I said!” said Bai Mingli.
White-robed Xuan Ji’s gaze shifted slightly. In the depths of her fury, she wanted nothing more than to avenge her subordinates, so she summoned her Destiny Compass without thinking. It had been a spur of the moment impulse.
But now that Bai Mingli warned her, she remembered: Xue Yang and the rest of her allies were here.
And it wasn’t just them, either. Ye Zichen, the Third Era’s Master of the Stars was in range too. She could perhaps disregard others’ fates, but she couldn’t afford to alter the Master of the Star’s destiny.
Based on Bai Mingli’s heavior, Xuan Ji knew that he understood her Destiny Compass’s effects.
As for how he’d learned her secrets, she didn’t even have to think. She’d only spoken them out loud once, to God Emperor Zhou Wu.
“Hah….” The golden light receded, and the compass disappeared from heaven and earth. Only then did the inhabitants of Spirit City feel the needle tugging at their destinies disappear.
However, Xue Yang and the others were keenly aware that Xuan Ji had only put away her weapon because of the Master of the Stars.
“Obliterating the entire Bai Family would deplete my godhead’s power. Your Bai Family…. Isn’t worth that much effort.” Xuan Ji laughed coldly. Just now, Hu Bazi arrived, leading the rest of the Profound Pavilion’s forces.
Before long, they heard screams from the Bai Family’s outer perimeter. In just a hundred breaths of time, every clansman standing behind Xuan Ji was obliterated.
“Did you see that? As I said, there’s no need to use the compass.”
Bai Mingli displayed no obvious ripples of emotion.
Xuan Ji hadn’t rushed to check on her subordinates, but that was only because she knew Su Qingyan would investigate their condition for her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Su Qingyan check their conditions, then feed each of them a pill. This meant they were still alive.
After feeding the Divine Generals their pills, Su Qingyan entrusted Thirteen with their care, then walked up to Xuan Ji.
“Their wounds are serious. The God of Wine’s injuries are even worse than Ye Zichen’s. We’d best not get tangled up here; we have to rush them to the Hermit Emperor as quickly as possible,” Su Qingyan transmitted directly into Xuan Ji’s sea of consciousness.
Their fury instantly burst forth, and they rushed over. “Boss!”
“I know what you’re feeling right now, but Qingyan told me that if we rush them to the Hermit Emperor for treatment, they still have a chance. We don’t have time to waste here,” said Xuan Ji.
“Then take them with you. We brothers in arms will stay here and obliterate the Bai Family,” growled Hu Bazi through clenched teeth.
The other Divine Generals nodded in agreement. The Divine Generals of the Profound Pavilion had deep bonds. After seeing the severity of their brothers’ wounds, how could they possibly just let their d.e.s.i.r.e for revenge go?”
“Don’t be reckless. What good will it do for you to stay here? Do you know who my nephew brought with him? Four imperial-level rulers and twenty close to that level, plus every yao servant he could muster. Look at yourselves. How many people do you have with you? Now look at the Bai Family. How vast are their forces?”
Hu Bazi shut his mouth. Xuan Ji hadn’t even needed to mention the yao servants; mentioning the four imperial-level rulers was enough.
Even with four imperial-level experts, plus the God of War and the other Divine Generals, Ye Zichen had wound up like this. Xuan Ji was right: the Profound Pavilion’s handful of rulers and tiny army wasn’t enough to accomplish anything here.
Even if they could, there was nothing they could do against the Bai Family patriarchs.
“This entire incident was the result of my mistakes. I didn’t realize that the patriarch behind the Bai Family was Bai Mingli.” Xuan Ji narrowed her eyes, then continued, “Let’s retreat for now. So many Bai clansmen died that in a sense, we’ve already come out ahead.”
“Of course not! We naturally have to get revenge!” said Xuan Ji without so much as the slightest pause. “The grudge between the Bai Family and the Profound Pavilion is already irreconcilable. How could I possibly rest until I’ve obliterated them? However, right now, saving my nephew and the wounded Divine Generals is more important. This isn’t the time to settle things with them.”
They’d originally come here to save Ye Zichen. There was temporarily no point in worrying about their grudge with the Bai Family. So long as Ye Zichen stayed alive, they had achieved their goal.
The other top experts of the Divine Mountains received her transmission too, and after understanding the situation, they prepared to retreat.
However, the Bai clansmen surrounded them once more. Bai Haoyu picked up his dropped blade. They then heard Bai Mingli snort, “You think you can leave just like that? Now that you’re here, you have to leave something behind before you go!”
