Book 5: Chapter 111: Long Zhanguo’s Promise

In an inn in Heavenly Yin City:

Lord Tang stood in a small courtyard, staring at Long Wanyu’s residence in the distance.

“Milord, it has been eight days. Could Gu Hai have not received our invitation? There were so many invitations, and ours did not even have a single word on it,” a subordinate said worriedly.

“That won’t happen. His subordinates are not muddle-headed people, especially that Mo Yike. Our invitation did not have any words on it at all, so they are bound to scrutinize it. All the more would they not toss it away.” Lord Tang looked into the distance with cold eyes.

“Will Gu Hai know that it’s us when he sees the invitation? Will he come and seek us out? However, can he find us?”

“If he wants to find someone, he can, no matter how hard it is. The main thing is whether he wants to search or not. It has been eight days; it’s about time. To think that he did not come and seek me out. Hah! Old man, you are really stubborn. Do you think that it is still the past?” Lord Tang said with slightly narrowed eyes.

“Then, we…”

“Alright. Since he has not sought us out, then we will seek him out,” Lord Tang said coldly.

“Yes!”

——

In a manor in Heavenly Yin City:

Li Shenji also looked coldly at the distant residence belonging to Long Wanyu.

“Milord, Gu Hai has only one Heaven Blasting Lightning left,” a subordinate said with a smile.

Li Shenji nodded. “Indeed. There is only one left. However, his cultivation increased again. Nascent Soul Realm? Even though he is in the Nascent Soul Realm, he probably will not be at a disadvantage against an ordinary Lower Heavenly Palace Realm cultivator now.”

“Ah?!”

“We cannot let him continue growing! We will make our move after he meets with His Holy Eminence and if His Holy Eminence does not entrust him with a heavy responsibility,” Li Shenji said with a glare.

“However, what if…what if His Holy Eminence does entrust him with a heavy responsibility?”

“Then, he is lucky. My Divine Strategy Battalion will no longer target him,” Li Shenji said.

“Yes!”

——

Ten days had passed in a flash.

Although many invitations had come for Gu Hai, he did not respond to any of them. He remained in Long Wanyu’s residence for ten days before heading for Heavenly Court City.

Long Zhanguo sent guards to escort and protect Gu Hai. Along the way, countless experts in the Qian Nation looked at the flying ship that came to pick him up. They did not know what Long Zhanguo was thinking.

Long Zhanguo had defeated Heaven. He was ferocious and peerless. His every action affected the thoughts of countless experts in the world.

In the emperor’s study in Heavenly Court City:

The moment Gu Hai entered the study, the door closed.

Creak!

Long Zhanguo sat at his desk, going through memorials. As he wrote, there were beams of golden light, reminiscent of the heavenly Dao’s laws.

“Elite Hall’s Gu Hai greets the Qian Heavenly Emperor!” Gu Hai said with a polite bow.

Whoosh!

Long Zhanguo put down his brush and looked at Gu Hai.

Although Long Zhanguo did not give off an aura, Gu Hai still sensed the air of a sovereign pressing down on him. Perhaps that air had undergone a qualitative improvement after Long Zhanguo defeated Heaven, making him appear invincible.

“Gu Hai, you are here,” Long Zhanguo said after exhaling gently.

“Yes. Qian Heavenly Emperor, might I ask why you wished to meet with me alone?” Gu Hai asked with a frown.

“Your contributions to my defeat of the Six Paths Immortal cannot go unnoticed,” Long Zhanguo replied with a faint smile.

“Me? Qian Heavenly Emperor is joking. I only brought a black ball into the Human Path Secret Realm; anyone could have done that. You could have made that happen, no matter who it was.” Gu Hai shook his head.

Back then, Long Zhanguo could have snatched the recommendation talismans away, given his combat prowess. Perhaps it would have taken some effort, but he could have accomplished everything without Gu Hai.

Long Zhanguo shook his head.

“We are not referring to just that. There is also Duke Lu Yang and the Yuan Imperial Dynasty. Most importantly, as we told you previously, you have nothing to do with Six Paths,” Long Zhanguo explained.

“Oh? Duke Lu Yang?” Gu Hai said quizzically.

“Why do you think we let Duke Lu Yang be when he previously rebelled and even killed our daughter, Long Xiaoyue?” Long Zhanguo said with a deep breath.

“Yes, this humble one is curious about that. That Duke Lu Yang is no match for Your Holy Eminence. No, even a crown prince could have easily dealt with him. Why…,” Gu Hai said.

“He was one of Six Paths’s spies, although he did not know it. We did not want to alert Heaven. Six Paths’s reach extends all over the world. Back then, Six Paths had successfully opposed Heaven. Naturally, Six Paths does not want a repeat of that. Hence, Six Paths has spies all over the world. While those spies do not know about their mission, when certain conditions are met, they will immediately come to Six Paths’s attention,” Long Zhanguo said sullenly.

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “The Six Paths Immortal used certain trigger conditions to monitor the strong people of the world. That’s why you never made a move in the past? Once you did, you would have had to finish it in one go?”

Long Zhanguo looked at Gu Hai and showed a faint smile. “That’s why I said your contributions cannot go unnoticed.”

Gu Hai’s eyelids twitched. Clearly, this was the first time he understood the extent of the Six Paths Immortal’s monitoring of the world.

“Although we can sweep our way through the world in the Six Paths Immortal Firmament, we can only remain trapped in this cage. All our actions are monitored,” Long Zhanguo said with a deep breath.

“Congratulations, Qian Heavenly Emperor, you have defeated the Six Paths Immortal. The cage is no longer there,” Gu Hai said with a smile.

Long Zhanguo shook his head and said, “No. The battle has only just begun!”

“Oh?” Gu Hai appeared startled.

“Did you think those two eyes were the Six Paths Immortal’s full power? No, it was not a ten-thousandth, not even that. If that was all the Six Paths Immortal was capable of, how could he have opposed Heaven in the past? Furthermore, do you think he remained static over the past eight hundred thousand years?” Long Zhanguo asked seriously.

“That was not the Six Paths Immortal’s full power?”

“It wasn’t. The Six Paths Immortal has not awakened yet. He is not fully awake, just partially. We only woke up a small portion of his consciousness and crippled one of his eyes. He still has other parts—two hands, two legs, his body, mouth, nose, and ears. This is just the beginning,” Long Zhanguo said.

Gu Hai felt horrified. “When will the Six Paths Immortal appear again?”

“He will definitely fully appear within sixty years. However, some of his body parts might awaken in the meantime, so we have to be quick. We need to grow strong enough to cut him down completely,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Sixty years?”

“This time, you have made great contributions. We remember these and will heavily reward you. Sixty years later, we will not forget your contributions,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Without Qian Heavenly Emperor, this humble one would still have done those things. That’s right. I also brought Qian Heavenly Emperor’s Renewing Soil and Immortal Slaying Calabash’s vine with me and will be returning them.” Gu Hai extended his hand and took out two jade boxes.

Although Gu Hai felt reluctant, he could not take what was not his.

“We do not take back things that we gave out. Keep them.” The Qian Heavenly Emperor shook his head.

“Many thanks.” Gu Hai nodded.

“Might I ask why Qian Heavenly Emperor called me here?” Gu Hai asked seriously once more.

“We need you to be an envoy to the Yan Heavenly Emperor,” Long Zhanguo replied.

“The Yan Heavenly Dynasty? Me? Why?” Gu Hai raised his eyebrows.

“You contributed greatly to the Six Paths Immortal’s injury. That is to say, Six Paths will not spare you. Since you cannot possibly be Six Paths’s pawn, we do not have to worry about you,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Eh?” Gu Hai’s expression turned stiff.

Doesn’t that mean I will be included when the Six Paths Immortal comes for revenge?

“Furthermore, we trust in your abilities. We know everything you did in the past years. We know that you can succeed,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Succeed in what?” Gu Hai’s face sank.

“Convince Jiang Lianshan to cooperate with us and cut down the Six Paths Immortal’s support, to cut off his source of power,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Jiang Lianshan? The master of the Yan Heavenly Dynasty?” Gu Hai raised his eyebrows.

“That’s right!”

“But, why me? Furthermore, how could I succeed? I am just a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.” Gu Hai frowned.

“We will not force you to do it. Aside from you, we will also send another batch of people over. However, if you succeed, we will give you all of the Yuan Imperial Dynasty’s former territory. How about that?” Long Zhanguo said.

“All of the Yuan Imperial Dynasty’s former territory?” Gu Hai’s pupils constricted.

“That’s right. However, you will have to defend it,” Long Zhanguo said with a smile.

The Han Royal Dynasty was previously sandwiched between the Qian Nation and the Yuan Nation. Now that the Qian Nation had conquered the Yuan Nation, the Han Nation was completely surrounded by the Qian Nation. The Han Nation was essentially a nation within a nation. For the Han Nation, that was extremely bad. Now…

“Territory is the foundation of a nation. Why…?” Gu Hai frowned at Long Zhanguo.

“If we can kill the Six Paths Immortal, what would the territory of an imperial dynasty be to us?” Long Zhanguo countered.

If Long Zhanguo could kill the Six Paths Immortal, the entire world would be his. Would he care about a few cities?

Gu Hai felt slightly tempted, as the Han Royal Dynasty had no way to expand. However, with this…

Long Zhanguo added, “We permit you to work in secret to avoid alerting the enemy. After all, you are currently still too weak.” He apparently realized Gu Hai was wavering.

Gu Hai did not deny that.

“We permit you to pick anyone under the rank of marquis or sixth-grade official to go with you,” Long Zhanguo said.

[TL Note: The importance and paygrade of ancient imperial court officials were determined by their grades since Emperor Qianlong (1736–1796) of the Qing dynasty. The lower the grade number, the more authority that official had. The imperial court had two kinds of official posts, civil and military. Civil officials had nineteen grades, from upper-first grade, lower-first grade, upper-second grade, and so forth until lower-ninth grade, and ungraded. Military officials had twenty grades; they had the same structure as civil officials with one additional grade above upper-first grade: transcendent grade. An example of a sixth-grade civil official would be a department head in the imperial academy. An example of a sixth-grade military official would be a field/senior officer in the military.]

“Oh?” Gu Hai’s eyes lit up.

“Regardless of success or failure, we will not blame you. Just do your best. We will give you a decree to make things easy,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Then, this humble one will give it a try. However, as you said, the Qian Nation should be filled with the Six Paths Immortal’s spies. To avoid trouble, this humble one will not remain in the heavenly court’s cities. I will send you a list of people in the future. Just arrange for them to come to my Han Royal Dynasty’s Borderless Heavenly Capital and meet me there,” Gu Hai said.

Long Zhanguo looked at Gu Hai and nodded. “Alright.”

Gu Hai nodded back.

“When you reach the Yan Heavenly Dynasty, pass this sachet to Jiang Lianshan.” Long Zhanguo handed over an extremely old and tattered red sachet with an eight trigram diagram embroidered in white thread. The flowers in the sachet had dried up long ago.

“This sachet?” Gu Hai carefully received it.

After taking a deep breath, Long Zhanguo said, “Tell him this: ‘Murong Yan embroidered it for you back then. Her heart had not changed, but you were not worthy of her. Did her heart change after one reincarnation? Even if she reincarnated ten times, she would not have chosen you. Guan Qi could even point his sword at the Six Paths Immortal for her. What about you?’” As he spoke, his eyes turned somewhat bloodshot.

Murong Yan? Back then, Yuan Imperial Emperor Xi Yu waged war on the Qian Heavenly Dynasty because of this woman, right? Didn’t Old Mister Guan Qi oppose Heaven for his wife? Could Old Mister Guan Qi’s wife be Murong Yan?

“Alright!” Gu Hai nodded after some silence.

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