Chapter 413: Yu Hua Heavenly Realm
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Yu Hua Heavenly Realm was the core of this part of the universe.
Heavenly Lord San Yu, an Eighteenth Tier Heaven Immortal, was accredited by the Heaven to station here. He came from an immortal sect with an incredibly strong overall strength. Under him were three hundred Heaven Immortals, nearly ten thousand Nascent Divinity cultivators, and countless immortal officials. Every one of them possessed a profound cultivation base. It made him a man with real power in his hand, who controlled nearly ten thousand heavenly realms of various sizes within the vicinity of Yu Hua Heavenly Realm.
There, at the heart of Yu Hua Heavenly Realm, was a city name Yu Hua Immortal City. It was frequented by numerous itinerant cultivators and ordinary cultivators, who came from all over the heavenly realms ruled by Yu Hua Heavenly Realm. Some of them ran legal trading businesses, some ran their businesses with a high-handed measure, and some earned their living by blackmailing or robbing others. Some were operating brothels or casinos, some were blacksmiths, while some were alcoholics. People from all walks of life could be found here.
It was an immortal city, which was little different from the city constructed by mortals. A complete array of businesses could be found here. The most obvious difference was that up to fifty percent of the people bustling in the city were cultivators, with at least Nascent Soul cultivation base, while the remaining were mortals who served as slaves and maid-servants.
Heavenly Lord San Yu had his immortal abode and office built right at the center of the city. It occupied a land measuring nearly ten miles in both length and width, with roughly one hundred palaces and buildings scattered here and there. All the buildings were built with golden bricks and jade roof tiles, giving them a touch of magnificence and glory. Throughout the year, only a dozen Heaven Immortals were living in this immortal abode, together with several hundred Nascent Divinity immortal officials and some servants. However, for the sake of showing off the Heaven's authority, the palaces and buildings were extravagantly decorated. Every day, when the sunlight shone on the golden bricks and jade roof tiles, the radiance could always reach as far as one thousand miles.
In clear contrast to its magnificent appearance was a cluster of buildings located outside Yu Hua Immortal City, about one hundred miles to the south. All the palaces here were constructed with smoothly polished, black rocks. They looked heavy, ancient, and sending forth a mysterious and savage aura that came from the chaotic wilderness. Nearly all the palaces were fashioned in the same design: they were square shaped, with large and tall entrances. Some ancient images of hunting and fishing were engraved on the rock walls, while inconsistent number of rock pillars were erected before the palaces, on top of which, a fire pan was burning ragingly, casting a strange green light, that also shone as far as one thousand miles away. Vaguely, they were competing with the golden and jade light shining from Heavenly Lord San Yu's Immortal Abode.
The cluster of palaces was enclosed with a layer of thick, heavy, and black rock wall. Flagpoles made from giant logs were erected loftily on the roof of the gates on four sides of the wall, on top of which, a huge flag, about two hundred feet wide, was fluttering in the passing breeze. A large character, 'Yu', was embroidered on each of the flags.
In broad daylight, inside a palace located at the northeast of the ancient-looking city, a young man who had a dark skin tone and looked as sturdy as a lion was seen sitting on top of a large jade bed, panting heavily and twitching violently with a beautiful teenage girl lying between his arms, who looked petite and skinny, with a skin as fair as snow. Clearly, the two of them had just finished a fierce battle. Sweat kept rolling off their skin, smearing the fine silk that spread on top of the jade bed.
After a full fifteen minutes, the teenage girl snorted lightly as she pushed the young man away with one hand, sitting up slowly. Then, she leisurely began to tidy up her long hair, which had a dark tone, but at the same time, were faintly exuding a strange, grayish aura.
With his eyes narrowed, the young man spent a moment recollecting the pleasures he enjoyed during the previous fierce battle. After that, with his hands grabbing the teenage girl's breasts, he said in a low voice, "Qing Ying, can't you just request the Great Oracle to do it one more time?"
The girl leaned against the young man lazily, her hands stroking his broad chest as she sighed and said, "Great-grandfather has only less than twenty-years of life. As none of our clan members have the divine ability that could inherit his position of Great Oracle, he has devoted all his efforts and time in searching for spirit medicines that can prolong his life. How would he agree to my request of divining a matter that is not related to him and will cost his precious life?"
The young man whispered, "I just need a divination for the current location of the person who killed Hede, Hetian, and Heling. Why can't he perform a simple divination such as this?"
The girl leered at the young man and said with a sneer, "I thought you, Hehuan, should be happy after the three of them died? Don't tell me that you are planning to take revenge for them?"
With a cold grin appearing on his face, Yu Hehuan shook his head and said mockingly, "Avenge them? Unless they are my brothers from the same mother, why would I be interested in doing that? I'm just curious as for what had they done after sneaking out from here, and what they bumped into, which made someone kill them? I know that in the recent years, they had colluded with a person with a prestigious status. I want to know what is the scheme that person is brewing?"
The girl, Qing Ying, frowned. Shaking her head, she said, "Speaking of this, I feel really strange as well. You said that you have no idea what they were doing in recent years, but why is Marquis Jian also clueless as to what they were up to? How much effort and time is required to find that out?"
Yu Hehuan was frowning as well. Then suddenly, he gave Qing Ying a gentle smile and said, "Why don't you try to beg the Great Oracle again? In any case, you are the Ghost Master with the best latent talent in Qing clan, and Great Oracle is very fond of you. At worst, I'll offer the immortal fruit which I obtained previously to the Great Oracle. It can prolong his life for another ten years."
Qing Ying shook her head and said in a low voice, "The person who killed Hede and his brothers is too far away from Yu Hua Heavenly Realm. Great grandfather's energy is declining, and his cultivation base is no longer like what it was in those years, so it will be a great burden for him to try locating the person's trace. If he really performs the divination, perhaps that would kill him on the spot. Currently, as there is no one from our clan having sufficient power to inherit his position, if the position of Yu Hua Heavenly Realm's Great Oracle is taken by another person sent by Directorate of Celestial, Qing clan...
"Qing clan has produced over three hundred generations of descendants in Yu Hua Heavenly Realm. If that position is replaced by someone else, Qing clan..." Qing Ying said with a sigh.
Yu Hehuan knitted his brow into a tight frown, then let loose of his grip and rose to his feet as he slowly put on his clothes. A heartless gleam flashed across his eyes as he said coldly, "Never mind then. My father has just come back from Puluo Heavenly Realm a few days ago, and he is wounded. I was told that he is having a really bad temper recently. Well, as his only son, I need to pay him a visit and show my concern."
Waving his hand, Yu Hehuan spun and walked towards the exit of the palace without giving Qing Ying another look.
Qing Ying's expression kept shifting like the clouds. "Wait!" she shouted suddenly.
Seeing that Yu Hehuan had stopped leaving, Qing Ying said in a low voice, "Hehuan, if you insist on locating the murderer, perhaps I can help by using the mystic technique of Mediumship. However, as my cultivation base is limited, if I forcibly exercise the mystic technique of Mediumship, my fleshly body would be invaded by Yin Deities. Most probably, I'll have my life-span reduced by half."
Gloomily, she stared at Yu Hehuan and said, "They are dead now, so what's the point of pursuing the matter further?"
Yu Hehuan spun. A smile emerged on his face as he walked back to the jade bed and embraced Qing Ying. "Please help me perform the divination, Qing Ying. I'll definitely find some spirit medicines that can bring back the life-span you've lost in the process. You do believe me like how you did all these times, don't you?"
Qing Ying opened her mouth, as if she was about to say something, but she didn't. Instead, she left the jade bed without uttering a word, and pointed her finger at the floor. A stream of clear water rushed out of nowhere and quickly cleansed her body. After that, even as she began to recite some ancient and unintelligible incantations, she dropped to her knees, and her long hair floated in the air strand by strand. All of a sudden, the entire palace was enshrouded by a layer of grayish-white mist, from which came rushing out an oppressive pressure, while some obscure figures could be seen emerging amidst the mist.
These figures were exuding a biting coldness, and although they had a roughly humanoid shape, their visages could not be seen. Right when they made their appearance, Qing Ying's body shivered violently, and about forty percent of her dark hair turned grayish-white abruptly. Her silky smooth skin had also dried up and lost the youthful glow, as if she had suddenly grown a few years older in that instant.
The panic-stricken Yu Hehuan took a few paces backward. Not knowing since when, he was holding a jade slab fully carved with strange runes. A heat surged from the jade slab, expelling the coldness filling the atmosphere around him, which was so cold that it could easily freeze someone's soul.
Abruptly, the grayish-white mist contracted, and had Qing Ying fully wrapped.
A piercing cry burst out of her mouth. Her body was shivering incessantly while from her fingertip came spraying out a stream of grayish-white flame, transforming into a grayish-white screen that was about ten feet tall inside the palace. She said weakly, "This is the man... he is related to the person who killed your brothers. The real murderers are too far from here, and I don't have the sufficient cultivation base to accurately locate them!"
After saying that, she gave a tragic howl, as blood that was dark, stinking, and sticky like paint, oozed out of all her seven apertures at the same time.
A scene of some teleportation formation in Yu Hua Immortal City appeared on the screen. The formation flickered with bright light, and in the next moment, a man clad in a green Daoist robe, having a head of not-too-long hair hanging behind his back, a leather belt strapped around his forehead, and looking clean without any ornaments, walked out from the formation. He was none other than Wu Qi. A few idlers, who were standing around the teleportation formation, greeted him with a big smile on their faces. They were seen offering him greetings with great hospitality.
"That's the man! The Daoist in a green robe!" Qing Ying closed her eyes, shouting loudly as her body kept twitching violently, "He... if he stays alive, both you and I will be killed by him! I saw immense bloodshed! Remember my words, if he stays alive, both you and I will be killed by him!!!"
The look in Yu Hehuan's eyes changed dramatically. He walked up and embraced Qing Ying, and after whispering a few gentle words near her ears, he pushed her away heartlessly and strode out of the palace.
Pursing his lips, he issued a sharp whistle. Before long, an exceedingly gallant black leopard, with a horn growing on its forehead, arrived at a great speed. Very obediently, it squatted before Yu Hehuan, and the latter brought himself up and sat firmly on its back. "Flying Leopard Army, follow me to Yu Hua Immortal City!"
As an answer to his calling, an army consisting of one thousand light-armored soldiers arrived, each riding a colorful leopard as they followed closely behind Yu Hehuan.
Inside Yu Hua Immortal City, Wu Qi had just walked out of the teleportation formation connecting Yu Hua Immortal City and Puluo Heavenly Realm. Before he came here, he told his Master and the sect about his wish of traveling the world so he could broaden his horizon. All the Heaven Immortals in the sect, including Patriarch Yuan Hua, granted him the permission of doing that, and even gave him a few spirit items as rewards.
Qing Ying's divination technique was indeed magical, as when she learned that Wu Qi would appear in Yu Hua Immortal City was ten minutes before Wu Qi set out of Puluo Heavenly Realm. Therefore, right when Wu Qi walked out of the teleportation formation and was halted by the few idlers, Yu Hehuan, whose face was wearing a merciless, cold grin, had already arrived next to the formation with his Flying Leopard Army.
"Flying Leopard Army is carrying out an official mission! Do not get in our way!"
Laughing wildly, Yu Hehuan thrust his spear and killed a Nascent Soul cultivator who stood next to him. Then, he turned the spear straight towards Wu Qi.
As the spear flickered and brought up a strong wind that swept across half of the square where the formation was built, the tip of Yu Hehuan's spear poked right towards Wu Qi's crotch.