All of the mortals in the town began to tremble in fear, and no matter where they were or what they were doing, dropped to kowtow to the figure up above.
In the Eternal Lands, mortals didn't view the immortals as figures of legend and myth. Although they didn’t necessarily see them every day, they were by no means rare. In fact, even this small town had an official residence set aside for them. As the deva fluctuations filled the town, four figures emerged from a rather large pagoda. They quickly flew up into the air toward the deva, and then kowtowed in greeting.
One of them was the old man who had taken his apprentice to the temple some time ago, the Core Formation cultivator. Another of the four was that very apprentice, the boy who was in the Qi Condensation level. The other two were young men, both of whom had Foundation Establishment cultivation bases. The entire group was visibly sweating as they greeted the deva.
“Greetings, Immortal!” the old man said respectfully.
The deva looked at the man with a piercing gaze, then clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a voice that echoed out like thunder in all directions.
“I bear orders from the demigod preceptor of Crosspeak Prefecture, Master Dust-Origin. All inhabits of Crosspeak Prefecture are hereby commanded to participate in the manhunt for people from the Heavenspan Realm!
“Every single one of them must be tracked down and delivered to the local prefecture, even the corpses!
“Anyone who harbors or assists refugees from the Heavenspan Realm will be severely punished, and possibly have their clan exterminated! If anyone is found guilty of negligence by allowing Heavenspan cultivators to reside in the area, they will have their cultivation base crippled! There will be no leniency in this regard! And anyone willfully violating any of these orders will bring greater disaster onto themselves than they can possibly imagine!
“Of special importance are any Heavenspan cultivators in the Foundation Establishment level or higher. Hold nothing back to capture them! Anyone who does will be handsomely rewarded by the Vile-Emperor!”
His words were spoken in callous and grim fashion, and left everyone in the town trembling, especially the Core Formation cultivator. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he said, “We will follow the orders of the preceptor down to the smallest aspect! If any Heavenspan denizens appear in our area, we will put our lives on the line to do just as the Vile-Emperor and the preceptor command!”
The deva nodded slowly, then scanned the area with divine sense. Finding nothing unusual, he turned and sped off into the distance to the next location on his list of places to make the announcement. Generally speaking, a voice transmission would have been sufficient, but in order to emphasize the importance of the matter, this deva and his compatriots were personally taking the announcement to everyone in Crosspeak Prefecture, and simultaneously inspecting the area.
After the deva left, the town did not simply go back to business as usual. No one would dare to take the words of a deva lightly, and thus the old man in the Core Formation stage immediately passed down orders, instructing the gang in town to perform a thorough search.
Back in the temple, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone with cold light, as did the Giant Ghost King’s.
“I could smell the blood of Heavenspan cultivators on him,” Bai Xiaochun said. The Giant Ghost King snorted and flew up into the air.
Please go to
install our App to read the latest chapters for free
Chapter
1036: The Ruling Ghostmother
Some distance away from the town, the deva who had just made such an impressive showing was currently flying through the air over Crosspeak Prefecture.
“This is all the fault of those vermin from the Heavenspan Realm!” he muttered.
He was the youngest deva in Crosspeak Prefecture, a fact of which he was very proud, arrogant even. Considering that he had already made such achievements, it seemed likely that his future prospects were considerable.
Although reaching the Demigod Realm might not be realistic, he was confident that he would eventually get to the great circle of the Deva Realm.
“Why don’t the Heavenspan people just hand themselves over to be slaves? Why resist? What’s the point of struggling?!” The man chuckled, thinking back to the search for Heavenspan cultivators which had already gone on over the past half year or so in Crosspeak Prefecture. A flicker of scorn passed through his eyes.
“From what I heard, the legacy of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty was never passed on. They had some guy called the Celestial? How dare he call himself that without ever having reached the Mahayana Realm! And what about that Arch-Ancestor?” The man shook his head arrogantly.
“Although, people with the blood of the Heavenspan Realm are supposedly really good at spirit enhancement…. That’s pretty amazing.” At this point, his eyes began to burn with anticipation. After all, the rewards offered by the Vile-Emperor were quite attractive. Pushing forward with greater speed, he thought, “The best would be to capture one of the Heavenspan devas….”
Even as his heart surged with excitement, the air around him suddenly distorted. It happened so quickly that he had no time to react. A hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, which then reached out and grabbed him by the neck!
“You--” The man’s eyes went wide, filling with terror and shock as he realized that he was powerless to struggle against this hand. In fact, he could sense that all the hand needed to do was squeeze down a bit, and he would be crushed out of existence.
“Demigod!?!?” He didn’t even have time to transmit a message before that very power he feared erupted into him. However, it didn’t kill him, it merely shoved him into unconsciousness. Then, he was dragged away by the hand, vanishing without a trace.
From the moment the hand appeared until both of them were gone, only a brief moment passed. No evidence was left behind of what had occurred, not even a tiny energy fluctuation.
Back in the temple, a cold, grim expression could be seen on Bai Xiaochun’s face as he sat there against the wall. A moment later, the giant Ghost King entered, his expression equally grave, a limp deva held in his hand the same way he might hold a chicken.
After walking over to Bai Xiaochun, he dumped the deva down onto the ground. The deva shivered and opened his eyes. After looking around and seeing Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, he began to pant.
“Who are you people?!?!” he blurted, his mind and heart battered by waves of shock as he realized that his cultivation base was sealed, making him little more than a mortal. As for the old man who had captured him, he had his cultivation base fluctuations masked to a certain degree, but the deva could tell that he was no ordinary demigod!
The pressure the deva felt when looking at him was even more terrifying than those of Crosspeak Prefecture’s preceptor, the demigod Master Dust-Origin!
Then he looked over at Bai Xiaochun, sitting off to the side with a blank face. When Bai Xiaochun looked back at him, he sensed something intangible stabbing into him, causing his head to spin, and shaking him down to the depths of his being. It was as if that gaze contained divine sense which could peer at every aspect of him, inside and out. At this point, the deva cultivator felt ten times more shaken than he had before.
“C-cel… celes… celestial…!” he stammered. Years ago, he had accompanied the demigod preceptor to visit the celestial who presided over the third immortal domain, and back then, he had experienced this same feeling.
It was as if the person sitting in front of him wasn’t a cultivator, but rather, a god!!
As of this moment, he had no need to ask who this person was….
“You’re… Arch-Ancestor Bai Xiaochun!” he said in a quavering voice. He had now fully resolved to not do anything to resist.