Chapter 884
Chapter 884 Dragon-scorpion Imperial Lord
Qin Zhong and his men had fought to the death to protect the human race. The last thing Li Mu wanted was to start spilling blood when his comrades have died heroic deaths just not long ago. After all, Lei Cang and the rest from the two Divine Clans were also humans. Perhaps by sparing them, Li Mu believed that he was showing respect to the deceased warriors.
However, but the middle-aged scholar’s provocative ways weren’t amusing at all and Li Mu could feel his wrath boiling.
“You’d better shut up because I don’t want to hear your voice. One more syllable and I’ll kill you.”
Li Mu was very straightforward.
The middle-aged intellectual’s face darkened.
He could have a million honeyed words and evil plots to contrive, but so long as his mouth remained shut, nothing he did would cause any harm.
The people of the Thunder Clan were still coveting the Heaven and Earth Rings in Li Mu’s hands.
The members of the Ghost Clan were greedily eyeing the remains of Qin Zhong and the officers and men of the Armored Battalion.
They were enraged by Li Mu’s aggressive manner.
However, they still felt a little scared at the thought of the terrifying power that Li Mu demonstrated when he fought the Extraterritorial Demons just now.
While they were hesitating, numerous beams of light suddenly flashed outside the gate.
“Someone is coming.”
Li Mu frowned slightly and turned his head.
“Are they the people of other Divine Clans?”
As the light beams flashed, numerous figures landed at the gate.
The leader was a stunning fairy-like woman from the Cloud Clan, followed by some maters of the Cloud Clan in the Deity Realm, the lord of the Mist Clan, and the successor of the Mist Clan named Fairy Shuiyue. Thirty-one people had come.
The middle-aged scholar’s eyes lit up.
“This is a heaven-sent chance!”
He hurriedly walked up to welcome the newcomers and sent some voice messages to the fairy-like woman from the Cloud Clan and the lord of the Mist Clan using a secret skill.
The fairy-like woman glanced at Li Mu and demanded something he did not quite expect, “Li Mu, where is my disciple?”
“She looks worried and anxious, and she’s not pretending. It seems that she cares much about the Cloud Light Saintess.
“Could it be that the Cloud Light Saintess hasn’t met up with the people of the Cloud Clan yet?”
At the thought of that, Li Mu revealed how he let the Cloud Light Saintess go that day.
The beautiful fairy-like woman thought for a moment and then said, “You know how dangerous is this immortal palace, but you… Humph! I hope that you’ve told me the truth. Should anything bad happen to Yun’er, I will never let you off the hook.”
Without saying anything else, Li Mu directly everyone to leave. “This is a forbidden place. You should leave immediately.”
“Huh? A forbidden place? What kind of forbidden place?” called a young man in his twenties suddenly, breaking out of the crowd.
The young man had an oval face and sparkling eyes that looked like two shining stars in the night sky. With an elusive smile on his face, he said, “Brat, I know this place is called the Middle Sky Gate. If you could cross the execution platform behind you and open the invisible door in the wall, you would enter the real hallowed lands of the immortal palace and gain access to the immortal providence.”
Li Mu’s eyes flashed with killing intent. “Even if there were an access to the immortal providence, it would have nothing to do with you as long as I am here. You’d better leave right now.”
He planned to bury the remains of Qin Zhong and other officers and men of the Armored Battalion, send a message to Randeng Temple, and seal off the parade square for a meditation in solitude.
Ten years was just the right time for a solitary meditation.
He had fought several fierce battles and reached a point where he had to clear his mind and refine his mindset toward martial arts and cultivation. A 10-year-long solitary meditation was just exactly what he needed.
It was common for martial arts practitioners to embark on such decade-long meditations.
The years would just pass by in a flash.
“Heh heh, brat, you’re quite ambitious. You want to hog the access to the immortal providence to yourself, don’t you? Heh heh, you’re just too greedy.” The young man laughed.
Only then did Li Mu notice that the young man must be someone important. Everyone – the people of the Cloud Clan and the Mist Clan, and even the proud fairy-like woman from the Cloud Clan, the lord of the Mist Clan, and Fairy Shuiyue – were very respectful to the young man. No one dared to look at him in the eye, keeping their heads bowed like humble servants when he breezed past them.
The young man walked leisurely and slowly to the execution platform and glanced at the remains of the Armored Battalion men. Then, he shook his head and clicked his tongue, saying, “These evil people of the ancient Celestial Court have fought and died countless times. They’re so deeply obsessed.”
With that, he glanced at Li Mu. His pupils suddenly grew larger and turned pitch-black, making it difficult to distinguish them from the whites. With his eyes looking like two unfathomably deep black pools, he cast another two glances at Li Mu, shook his head, and said, “You have the evil aura typical of the members of the ancient Celestial Court. It seems that you have long succumbed to evil. Well, that explains your smug and imperious manner. It’s time someone sends you to where you belong. Be thankful, for I’m the very instrument of your salvation who shall give you a new lease of life.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a pair of black snake-like bolts suddenly shot out of his eyes, hurtling towards Li Mu’s glabella with the speed and intensity of lightning bolts.
Li Mu knew this was coming. Four golden chains of Broadsword Intent immediately appeared, answering his mental call. They circled around him, keeping him protected in the center of four golden rings.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The black snake-like bolts smashed through the rings without any difficulty like they were marshmallows.
“What?”
Li Mu was shocked.
A beam of black light flashed by him all of a sudden.
The black beam of light battered at the pair of snake-like bolts, knocking them off-course before they disintegrated.
It was Silly Dog who had spat out the Heaven and Earth Rings in his mouth and saved Li Mu from the sneak attack.
Li Mu suddenly realized something. “This young is even more powerful than I have imagined. Whoever he is, he’s very close to the strength of that dead Extraterritorial Demons chieftain, if not on par.”
Is he an entity of the Great Way Realm?
But since when did the six major Divine Clans have such a formidable champion? Even the lords of these clans do not necessarily wield such powers.”
The young man seemed to know what was on Li Mu’s mind. His first attack had failed, and his eyes had returned to normal. He said, “There’s no point dwelling too much on what I am. I’ve only just broken free of the restraints that manacled me and I’m destroying this site, this god-forsaken Celestial Court. It’s what I was meant to do so long, long time ago, so here I am.”
Li Mu suddenly understood everything.
“Are you a High God of the Celestial Court?”
He stared at the young man, his hair standing on end.
Before the people of the six major Divine Clans entered the immortal palace, they once vaguely hinted that the ultimate purpose of entering the immortal palace was to find something that could awaken the sleeping High Gods of the Celestial Court.
However, after the people of the Rain, Thunder, Ghost, Wind and other Divine Clans entered the immortal palace, they began to make their own plans for their own benefit. As a result, Li Mu almost forgot about this matter.
The six major Divine Clans were the major external branches of the Celestial Court. It seemed that not all of these Divine Clans were devious and self-serving folks. The Cloud and Mist Clans had really retained their loyalty to the High Gods by successfully awakening a High God of the Celestial Court.
The Ancient Celestial Court and the present one were bitter factions that could barely tolerate each other’s existence.
The forces that invaded the immortal palace of the ancient Celestial Court back then included not only the Extraterritorial Demons, but also gods of the present Celestial Court.
Li Mu looked at the young man more warily, realizing that this was an entity more dangerous than the chieftain of Extraterritorial Demons.
“You’re really quick-witted,” the young man said with a smile on his face, carelessly ignoring what Li Mu had just realized. “Now that you know who I am, just give up and save us some trouble. I’ve heard that you’re just a mortal. It’s not easy for a mortal to reach such a high cultivation level. I met your master back then. He was just a fish spirit, but his magic skills were quite powerful. At first, I wanted to leave his offspring alone. However, I didn’t expect that you would be contaminated by the evil spirits of the ancient Celestial Court. You’ve been contaminated to the bone, and there’s no cure. Therefore, my only option is to kill you. That old fish spirit won’t blame me for doing that. Oh, your dog is… quite interesting. Well, I may kill you and spare the dog.”
Li Mu’s heart skipped a beat.
“I’m sure he is a High God of the Celestial Court because he knows about the old faker.
“The people of Divine Clans call the old faker Senior Yu, but this High God calls him Old Fish Spirit… Could it be that he is actually a fish that has become a spirit? What kind of fish is he? A salted fish?”
These thoughts flashed across Li Mu’s mind.
“I’ve just promised Qin Zhong and his men that I will guard this place for ten years! And such a powerful enemy could appear so fast?!”
Li Mu reached out his hands and grabbed the Heaven and Earth Rings.
His Four-Blade God Killing Broadsword in the form of golden chains didn’t cause damage to the young man as it did to the masters of Divine Clans. He couldn’t even deal with the young man’s Gazing Skill. He knew that for the moment, he could only rely on the Heaven and Earth Rings, which were Emperor’s Weapons that he didn’t know how to use yet.
The Heaven and Earth Rings felt weighty and firm in his grips.
A hint of hesitation flashed in the fair youngster’s eyes the moment he saw the rings in Li Mu’s grasp. But it quickly vanished. Everything was under his control and he still has the upper hand. But he could barely hold back the urge to keep talking, having been imprisoned for so many centuries. “The Heaven and Earth Rings… Long has it been since I last laid eyes on them… What memories do they invoke… Back then, they were not black. The Dragon Scorpion crafted them using the golden essence he collected from the moon. It is the fifth of the ten most valuable celestial metals. Whiter than white and pure as the driven snow, it did not use to be black. But now it is and do you know why?”
Li Mu thought to himself, “That’s very strange.
“He wanted to kill me just now. But what caused him to become so chatty after his first failed attempt? Not that I’m complaining; I could use the time and the information. I need to figure out how to use the Heaven and Earth Rings, so the more he talks, the better.”
He pretended to be curious, though he was actually calm.
The young man chuckled and continued. “The reason is that the Dragon Scorpion spilled too much blood with these rings. It was the blood of those he slew that turned the rings red before they eventually became black. What you might think are an invincible set of Emperor’s Weapons are in fact, accursed weapons too. Remember, this is the fifth rarest celestial metal we’re talking about. How many people do you think Dragon Scorpion had to kill to turn such a rare celestial metal black?”
At this point, Li Mu couldn’t help asking out of curiosity, “Who is this Dragon Scorpion you’re talking about?”
The young man opened his mouth in surprise as if he had heard something incredible. Then, he burst out laughing. “Funny. The evil stench you reek of is so strong that I thought you must know enough about the ancient Celestial Court. How could you not know anything at all?! You can’t even recognize the name of the Lord of the ancient Celestial Court? What on earth did that Old Fish Spirit see in you, I wonder? This is not a joke, is it?”
Li Mu was silent.
“So the Imperial Lord of the ancient Celestial Court is called Dragon Scorpion. In this case, he should be the His Celestial Majesty Emperor Dragon Scorpion.”