Chapter 4639: Enemy On The Battlefield
Chapter 4639: Enemy On The Battlefield
As Divine Envoy Wu Hen was speaking with Divine Envoy Shuang Luo, footsteps rang out behind them, and Divine Envoy Wu Hen turned to look around.
Some distance away, a mass of mist slowly came into view. There was an air of mystery to it.
The mist hid none other than Greater Sancte Awe Gate.
Seeing the mist, Divine Envoy Wu Hen was surprised. "That form?"
Divine Envoy Shuang Luo's eyes flashed. This was the same appearance as the creature who had once saved Yan Zhong and who had reportedly been saved by Yan Gong. The two were definitely members of the same species.
Divine Envoy Wu Hen's expression turned ugly. This was a problem. This creature was unquestionably the same species as Nie, and Nie could already be considered to belong to Shuang Luo. This meant that Shuang Luo would gain another allied divine envoy.
Fortunately, Wu Hen had also brought in a new Immortal being, so it was not suffering any real loss.
When the two parties met, they did not exchange many words.
The Divine Palace had lost three divine envoys, while another two had just been added, as well as the golem.
The Divine Palace still had thirteen divine envoys.
Looking at the appearance of the two new gateways and two sections that briefly rose up above the very center of the Divine Palace, it was clear to all that two more Immortal beings had joined the Divine Palace.
The Divine Palace still had thirteen divine envoys, and because of this, countless creatures outside the Divine Palace were able to breathe sighs of relief. After all, the fewer divine envoys there were, the more of a disadvantage they would have on the battlefield.
Many had believed the Divine Palace to be declining. If three divine envoys had not been lost, there would currently be sixteen. What a pity.
Ba Rong officially joined the Divine Palace and was registered as a divine envoy.
"Remember, including you, there are now thirteen divine envoys in the Divine Palace. Of those thirteen, Divine Envoy Gui Xing absolutely must not be offended," Divine Envoy Wu Hen warned.
Ba Rong curiously asked, "The turtle?"
Divine Envoy Wu Hen immediately told the fist to be quiet, "You must never say that! If you offend it, you will have nothing but trouble on the battlefield. You could even die."
Ba Rong clicked its tongue. "I will not offend it. I absolutely will not offend it."
"Aside from Divine Envoy Gui Xing, you do not need to care too much about the others. Also, that golem is called Divine Envoy Gang. Do not go out with it. No matter what it says, ignore it."
"All right."
"Also, Divine Envoy Shuang Luo is my enemy. Suppress it whenever you get the chance. If there is no chance, create one and suppress it anyway. We can talk about that more later."
Ba Rong listened quietly.
On the other side of the Divine Palace, Divine Envoy Gui Xing looked at the new gateways that had taken form. It could not suppress a feeling that something was off. This was the intuition of one who had comprehended karma. The turtle felt as though some invisible hand was manipulating things, yet it could not say where or how.
Forget it. For matters as great as the heavens, the Temporal Sequence is here to hold things together. With the power of the Primacy Path, no one could stir up a storm. Preserving its own life was the most important thing.
However, this new divine envoy was actually part of the same species as Nie. Gui Xing truly wanted to see how powerful the power of growth inside her was. Unfortunately, as fellow divine envoys, it could not look at it.
***
Outside the Divine Palace, Yan Zhong hurried to rouse Yan Gong.
Yan Gong was irritated. "What could be more important than my own attempt to join the Divine Palace’s sequences?"
"Father, the Divine Palace recently lost three divine envoys and added three new ones. The divine envoys have changed."
"Something like that actually happened? What is going on? Divine Envoy Shuang Luo is fine, right?"
"It is fine. It is just that, during this period..."
After Yan Gong finished listening, it said, "Fine, I understand. Do not disturb me with this kind of thing in the future. The situation among the divine envoys is not something that we have the right to speculate about."
"There is another matter that is even more important, which is the real reason why I disturbed you, Father." Yan Zhong hesitated.
Yan Gong grew puzzled. "What is it?"
Yan Zhong’s voice dropped low. "One of the new divine envoys is the same species as Nie."
"What?" Yan Gong was shocked, and his heart dropped. "How could that be?"
Yan Zhong felt bitter and very much wanted to blame Yan Gong. Previously, he had told Yan Zhong not to do anything to harm Nie. After all, Nie had saved him. However, Yan Gong had insisted on not helping Nie and had done nothing when Nie had been thrown to the Godless Territory. Later, he had even stopped Yan Zhong from paying the offerings on Nie's behalf, which had essentially drawn a clear boundary between them.
However, now more of Nie’s species had appeared, and it was even a divine envoy.
This was a much closer relationship than the one they had with Divine Envoy Shuang Luo, far closer. What were they supposed to do?
Yan Gong also regretted his actions. He had not expected such a powerful civilization to stand behind that Nie.
"Father, what do we do now?"
"I—" Yan Gong was just about to speak when Divine Envoy Shuang Luo summoned him. He knew that this was not good. This was definitely related to Nie. Divine Envoy Shuang Luo was not clear about the father and son’s current relationship with Nie.
With complicated feelings, Yan Gong entered the Divine Palace, while Yan Zhong could only wait.
Before long, Yan Gong returned, his teeth clenched. "Go. We are heading to the Godless Territory to apologize to Nie."
Yan Zhong sighed. "If we had done things differently, or if I had paid the offering for Nie, things would not be like this now."
Yan Gong stared at his son, who did not dare to say anything more. What had originally been a very good relationship had fallen into a rocky state.
Yan Gong and his son soon arrived in the Godless Territory. For creatures like them, even if Lu Yin did not want them to see Manifest City, there was no need to put it away. He only needed to block it a little.
The father and son had come to apologize, but Lu Yin did not take their offenses seriously at all. He had only used them to enter the Divine Palace.
However, these two could still serve another use, which was to inform Lu Yin that someone from his species had been found. No one had brought this up yet, so Lu Yin should not know about it. Awe Gate had only just joined the Divine Palace and had never visited the Godless Territory, so she should also not know that Nie, a member of her species, was present in the Divine Palace.
Having Yan Gong and his son make the connection helped make everything reach a reasonable conclusion.
"Really? Senior Awe Gate? Has Senior Awe Gate really joined the Divine Palace? Wonderful!" Lu Yin was overjoyed.
Yan Gong smiled. "Congratulations, Nie. You’ve finally found another of your race."
Lu Yin thanked him. "I must also thank you, Senior, for specially coming to tell me."
Yan Gong quickly offered a few more polite words.
There was something that Yan Zhong did not understand. "Nie, your species has an Immortal being, so how were you captured by Wu Shan back then?"
At the mention of this, anger entered Lu Yin's voice. "Back then, I unintentionally came to..."
He casually made up a story. Given his experience of fabricating stories for Thousand Machinations every day, this came naturally to him.
"Things are fine now. With Divine Envoy Awe Gate’s presence, Wu Shan is certain to die," Yan Gong said excitedly.
Lu Yin nodded. "I will go find Senior Awe Gate right away."
"Let’s go. We will accompany you."
When Yan Gong and his son led Lu Yin to the Divine Palace, they learned that Awe Gate had already gone to the battlefield.
This was actually outside of Lu Yin’s expectations. He had merely asked Greater Sancte Awe Gate to join the Divine Palace. As for what she did after joining, that was for her to decide on. They were both human Immortals, and Awe Gate was not Lu Yin's subordinate. They had equal statuses.
Seeing Lu Yin's disappointment, Yan Gong comforted him. "It is fine. You will be able to see Divine Envoy Awe Gate when she returns from the battlefield."
Lu Yin could only say, "I hope that that will be soon. I want to go home and see it again. I’ve been away for too long, and I don’t know whether my old friends and family members are still there."
Because of Awe Gate, Yan Gong and his son were extremely warm and friendly towards Lu Yin. Even Divine Envoy Shuang Luo paid him a visit, and when it spoke with Lu Yin, the divine envoy showed an attitude worlds apart from before. It was much more amiable, and it even answered all of his questions without holding back at all.
"This junior has always been very curious about where exactly our powerful enemies on the battlefield are from. The cultivators that I’ve encountered during my time here have either said that they belong to newly discovered cosmic civilizations or other Divine Palaces. Are there really other Divine Palaces aside from our own?" Lu Yin asked.
This was something that Yan Gong and his son were equally unclear about. Their level only qualified them to hear rumors, but they could not confirm anything.
Lu Yin had not asked about these matters when he had captured the three divine envoys. To begin with, he had no way to ascertain whether they were telling the truth or not. Secondly, he did not want to examine them with karma and increase his karmic chain. Finally, he had known that it would be very easy to obtain the answer from the Divine Palace, so there had been no need to waste any time on it.
He finally received an answer. Divine Envoy Shuang Luo replied, "This is not a matter that you should typically know about, but since you have asked, Nie, I will tell you."
After a pause, it continued in a lower voice, "There is more than one Divine Palace."
Yan Gong and his son exchanged glances. There had always been such rumors, and they had even questioned powerful enemies that they had encountered on the battlefield, but neither side had any knowledge about the other. Thus, both could only probe the other.
Now, those rumors had finally been confirmed. This was a secret that even Origin Realm combat gods could not confirm.
Lu Yin was surprised. "Is there really more than one Divine Palace? Then how many are there?"
"According to what is currently known, three."
"What does that mean?" Yan Gong did not understand. When Divine Envoy Shuang Luo's gaze turned to him, he quickly followed up in a more respectful tone. "Master, your disciple spoke out of turn."
Divine Envoy Shuang Luo indifferently answered, "When it comes to the exact number of Divine Palaces, no one knows. However, we have currently confirmed the existence of three. In the future, a fourth, a fifth, or even more may appear. As for the wars between the Divine Palaces, there is a battlefield, which is the one that you have been to.
"Only through the Divine Palace’s altar can one reach that battlefield. We do not know exactly where that battlefield is, as we cannot find it. We only know that, if there are grudges between Divine Palaces, they are almost always resolved on the battlefield."
Lu Yin did not understand. "Why would there be grudges? And why must war be waged? The existence of the battlefield indicates that the rules of war have been set down since the very beginning, right?"
Divine Envoy Shuang Luo was impressed. "Very clever, Nie. That is correct. This is precisely what we have been able to confirm. Since the battlefield exists, it means that there must be a war between the Divine Palaces. The reason remains unknown, with only the lord of the Divine Palace possibly knowing, but that is how war arrives.
"There is also a legend." Its voice dropped. "If one can defeat a Divine Palace, they will receive enormous benefits. Benefit so great that it would be staggering even to an Immortal being."
Yan Gong spoke up again. "Perhaps that is the reason for war."
Divine Envoy Shuang Luo shrugged. "Perhaps. Regardless, no matter what happens, we will not have a turn to obtain those benefits. Our Divine Palace currently still has thirteen divine envoys. I do not know how many divine envoys the other Divine Palaces have, but the number cannot be small. Wanting to defeat another Divine Palace is as difficult as ascending the heavens."
However, Lu Yin’s mind was considering another detail. If the lord of the Divine Palace was a Temporal Sequence, then the number of Divine Palaces should be equal to the number of Temporal Sequences.
Since these Temporal Sequences were ranked, there had to be some sort of competition between them, just like between the Divine Palace’s sequences.
That was likely the reason for the wars.
However, the title of Temporal Sequence indicated that they were waiting in line for something. If that was true, then what exactly were they waiting for?
The power of the Primacy Paths blanketed the entire Aevum Inch, which was how this Divine Palace could exist, even without the Temporal Sequence taking action. It was able to rely on a number of ordinary Immortals to suppress various cosmic civilizations. Still, ultimately, these divine envoys were nothing more than average Immortals. If the Divine Palace ever encountered a fishing civilization, the divine envoys would be unable to withstand even a single blow.
Leaving everything else aside, Lu Yin was capable of defeating all thirteen divine envoys with just his skeleton clone.
If the former region of the Aevum Inch was covered with the power of the Primacy Paths, and if each Primacy Path had its own representatives, then the number of Divine Palaces was absolutely not small.
There would not only be the Temporal Sequences. There were almost definitely also Karmic Sequences, Fate Sequences, and so on.