Chapter 872 - The Underworld Sage's Doubts
Chapter 872: The Underworld Sage’s Doubts
Boom!
The Dark Mountains transformed into a stream of light and shot straight into the Immortal Realm. It had only to reach its target and the sturdy ground of the Immortal Realm, along with the Dark Mountains, would ground Zhou Bao into fine powder. Neither his Primordial Spirits of Three Separations, Supreme Fairy Weapon or even his spirit could get away. Being such a high-level Earthly Immortal, once Emperor An were to use all his powers, Zhou Bao would have no chance at all.
Just when Zhou Bao and Yu An thought he would be done for, an ochre airstream suddenly appeared. The surface of the Immortal Realm was hard like pure steel. The moment Zhou Bao touched it, the surface suddenly softened into an immeasurably thick sponge. It completely absorbed the formidable attack descending from the sky. Zhou Bao was overjoyed and immediately took advantage of the opportunity to use the Infinite Realms Teleportation divine sense. Using all his powers, he split open the space in the Immortal Realm. As he did so, a huge gravitational force came from the fissure. It sucked him in and he disappeared inside.
Boom!
Everything in the Immortal Realm had just returned to normal. The ground burst open, leaving a huge bottomless pit, thousands of miles wide.
“Who could it be?”
The moment when Zhou Bao split open the space, Yu An was all set to stop him. However, a miraculous force suddenly appeared in mid-air beside him, blocking the emperor’s actions. Yu An felt as if he was punching into emptiness, using his full strength to no effect. He wanted to follow Zhou Bao, but he had disappeared without a trace.
“It must be a Celestial Immortal. Only a Celestial Immortal could have this kind of divine sense. Effortlessly lifting and saving somebody like that. Only a Celestial Immortal could be so relaxed when facing my attack!” He thought with enmity in his heart. All he could feel was a deep resentment smoldering in his chest, with no way to let it out.
He left empty-handed. He had lost everything while trying to grab more in greed. In his attempt to get hold of Zhou Bao, his Dark Mountains were fundamentally damaged. At the last moment, someone had beat him to it. How could he ever live with this?
“It wasn’t the Nine-headed Fierce Beast Sage, nor was it the Gale Sage. Right now, neither of them could do anything!”
Beaten to it. Naturally, he was unhappy and of course he wanted to find out who had saved Zhou Bao. But deep down, he knew that the three Celestial Immortals of the Immortal Realm could not have done it; he was certain that they could not have blocked him. There was no way that halfway through his battle with Zhou Bao, a Celestial Immortal would suddenly pop up.
“Maybe this is the legendary luck of the Tribulation Takers? Alarming even a Celestial Immortal!”
Fate was something that could not be seen or felt, but it certainly existed in this world. It was something nobody could deny. However, under normal laws, it would not affect Celestial Immortals. In other words, fate only affected those at the Earthly Immortal level and below. But Celestial Immortals had the power of creation deities, independently setting up Taoist rites in Extraterrestrial Areas. They had the power to re-open universes and so decided other peoples’ fates. How could they be affected by fate themselves?
Only, if it wasn’t the effect of fate, how could the Celestial Immortal have suddenly appeared? This was the Immortal Realm, where there were only three Celestial Immortals. Who were Celestial Immortals, anyway? They were the supreme practitioners of the Void Universe, of the highest rank. Reaching the Celestial Immortal level was the pinnacle of one’s cultivation.
Even if this era was destroyed, Celestial Immortals would remain.
So they were not the usual practitioners and did not just come and go.
Besides the Three Great Celestial Immortals, Heaven Realm had a few others in hiding. But these Celestial Immortals were not able to come out and they definitely could not intervene.
This was only the Dharma Ending Tribulation. It was completely meaningless to the ancient Celestial Immortals hiding in the depths of spacetime. Since they could not get involved, it must have been a Celestial Immortal from the outside the Immortal Realm. So, who was it then?
Yu An frowned indignantly. At first, he thought it was Taoist Zhen Yuan, but then he changed his mind. Taoist Zhen Yuan clearly did not want to get involved in this tribulation. He even carried the Fifth Manor of Longevity Mountain away. This made it clear what his attitude was like. Who else could it have been, then?
Were there any other Celestial Immortals Zhou Bao was in touch with? Could it have been the Treasure Snatching Rock?
It could not have been. The Treasure Snatching Rock was not strong enough. Its device spirit was slightly stronger than his own and only because it had the home advantage. It also seemed to have some connection to the Immortal Realm and nobody there had anything to do with Zhou Bao for a while. Making someone travel thousands of miles just to pull off a rescue mission for Zhou Bao? That was highly impossible!
Apart from Taoist Zhen Yuan and the Treasure Snatching Rock, who else could it have been?
Who else could it have been?
Yu An could think of no-one else.
The Immortal Realm was a sanctum, a special place for normal practitioners, but it meant nothing to Celestial Immortals. Here, there was only the Taoist Jin’s Taoist location of yesteryears. In other people’s Taoist rite practice, the life of a normal Celestial Immortal was a huge disgrace. This was because the Taoist Jin was an ancient Celestial Immortal and his power was too valiant and too mysterious. Therefore, the less experienced Celestial Immortals were perfectly happy to live in seclusion in the Immortal Realm.
As much as he tried, Yu An could not think of who it could have been. But Zhou Bao knew who it was as soon as he felt the power. It was the Emperor of the Netherworld, or rather The Underworld Sage, as he was now known.
After the space was ripped open, a powerful force guided Zhou Bao. He did not resist, because if the Emperor of the Netherworld was really going to harm him, it would have been useless to resist. He was a Celestial Immortal! Emperor An, himself an Earthly Immortal, could not have withstood it and a Celestial Immortal was many times more powerful than an Earthly Immortal.
There was another place apart from where the space had been ripped open.
The Netherworld Heaven!
Zhou Bao was shocked. He was very familiar with this part of the universe. Is this not the Netherworld Heaven? But did this Netherworld Heaven not merge with Azure Big World? Perhaps he had reached Azure Big World?
“This is an Extraterrestrial Area where I have performed a new Taoist rite. It is not the real Netherworld Heaven!” Seeming to understand Zhou Bao’s thoughts, The Underworld Sage’s voice faintly resounded all around. The water of the Underworld River surged, condensing into a Taoist figure – The Underworld Sage.
“Zhou Bao, I didn’t think we would meet so soon!”
“The honorable Underworld Sage!” Zhou Bao could not afford to be disrespectful to the Underworld Sage. Although the Underworld Sage did not have a trace of a practitioner’s deterring force, deep down, Zhou Bao accepted the mighty pressure.
A Celestial Immortal!
The Void Universe was a supreme entity in the Extraterrestrial Area. There was nothing above it. He had met two people like this before, one was Taoist Zhen Yuan, and the other was the Underworld Sage.
It felt completely different meeting these two people. There was no pressure felt when meeting them, but instead there existed an irrepressible feeling of not being able to fight back.
This was a Celestial Immortal.
“I didn’t think we would meet so soon!” The Underworld Sage smiled, which embarrassed Zhou Bao. Every time he met the Underworld Sage, he would have to accept his grace. He knew that the Underworld Sage must have his own intentions, but before he made them clear, Zhou Bao would always owe him this favor.
“It’s really shameful, that due to my meager power I am causing trouble and giving the Honorable Sage cause to laugh at me!” Zhou Bao said somewhat awkwardly.
“Haha. It’s nothing really. You’re young! If you don’t cause trouble, how will you move forward?” The Underworld Sage nodded, “It’s just that this time, I didn’t expect to get involved with your problems!”
“Since the Sage has performed a Taoist rite in the Extraterrestrial Area and suddenly appeared in the Immortal Realm, then something terrible must have happened!” Of course, Zhou Bao did not expect the Underworld Sage to appear in the Immortal Realm specifically to rescue him. Just as the Underworld Sage said, he appeared because something happened in the Immortal Realm. He just happened to be passing through and saved him.
“It’s great that you are here! I just finished my task and was on my way back and happened to run into you while you were in trouble. Isn’t it such a coincidence?”
“I know.”
“Usually, a Tribulation Taker’s fate does not affect me. After I was done, I was about to go for a wander around the Immortal Realm. Then I returned to my Taoist rite. I wanted to go for a quiet ramble. I am a Celestial Immortal, and if I want to go for a quiet wander, then even the Jade Emperor Sage and his men would not be able to stop me. They couldn’t find me, even if they wanted to. But then I ran into you, which I find very strange!”
Having said that, Zhou Bao also felt it was strange as well. A Celestial Immortal, who was supposed to have absolute power over fate, apparently didn’t. This explained their fear. It was as he just said, if he wanted to go for a quiet wander, then he would not have run into anything in the Immortal Realm that would make him worried. Currently he was not really that worried, it was like Mars colliding with the Earth, there wasn’t any firestorm!
How could this make him feel calm? His absolute power over fate seemed to have been lost. This is something even another Celestial Immortal would have found difficult to achieve. But when he thought about it, Zhou Bao realized that he himself did not have that skill. His strongest card had been damaged in battle with Emperor An. So, what else was there that could make a Celestial Immortal lose his power over fate?
Fate, it was fate!
Although he did not kill the Jade Emperor’s Second Crown Prince himself, he had imprisoned him in the Dark Garbha-mandala Canopy. You could say it became infused with half of Huang Lei’s fate. He himself was a Tribulation Taker and having a Tribulation Taker’s entire fate, as well as Huang Lei’s fate, took him far above the standard of a normal Tribulation Taker’s fate. Influencing a Celestial Immortal and having him come and save him was not just a thing of the past.
But was this really the case?