Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 868: Passed Away

With two half-immortals fighting over the immortal peach, the battle between the Second Imperial Prince’s faction and the Meng Family had become utterly inconsequential.

Meng Potian stepped on a masked acquaintance, gazing anxiously at the armored adept and the ancient qiongqi battling above the imperial city. Suddenly, he recalled the old horse’s assessment of Lu Yang.

“Your Meng Family can buy half the imperial city, right? Lu Yang’s luck can destroy half the imperial city.”

No matter how sturdily the imperial city was built, it could not withstand the full force of two half-immortals in combat.

Fortunately, these two half-immortals’ Incipient Dao Fruits had yet to reach their pinnacle; otherwise, the imperial city’s destruction would have been even faster.

“Big Dipper Inverted, Truth Shadow Swapped!” General Yu pointed a finger at Jin Caiwei. Her shadow gradually swelled and took her form, though it was only an outline with no details.

Not only could General Yu use his own shadow to evade mortal peril, but he could also control the shadows of others, making them attack their owners.

“Troublesome!” Jin Caiwei frowned. She had heard from her father that the Nine-Layers Immortal had often used this move to exhaust his opponents’ stamina during his half-immortal days. By the time the opponent defeated the shadow, their energy would be mostly depleted. This was an intractable move to deal with.

But that is for others.

“Get back!” Jin Caiwei activated her Planary Incipient Dao Fruit, compressing the bulged shadow back into a flat plane, suppressing it temporarily. She would deal with her own shadow slowly after the battle concluded.

With a pat of her storage ring, countless bone fragments flew out. These fragments were ground until they were extremely sharp, capable of slicing through hair.

“Go!”

The reason she had chosen bone fragments was that cultivators at this level typically mastered control over metals. Using special materials such as bones for weapons could prevent them from being manipulated.

Countless bone fragments streaked through the air, leaving shocking gashes in the surrounding space.

General Yu twirled his spear. Though the bone fragments were numerous, he had faced even more attacks from hair-slicing flying daggers. This level of assault was nothing to him.

However, the moment the fire-tipped spear touched a bone fragment, it was cleanly sheared in two. Startled, General Yu dared not block directly and instead dodged frantically.

How could there possibly be such sharp bone fragments in the world?!

General Yu didn’t know that these bone fragments had long been compressed into planes, devoid of the concept of height. For a weapon to become sharp, its edge must be as thin as possible. At the ultimate thinness, it would become a plane without height.

Without an immortal artifact, no matter how excellent the material of one’s weapon was, it would be severed upon contact with these bone fragments.

“Taking so long just to seize a peach.”

Accompanied by a phoenix’s cry, a five-colored phoenix soared across the sky, looking down at the two half-immortals battling below.

Among all birds, the phoenix reigned supreme, and among phoenixes, the five-colored phoenix reigned supreme. This five-colored phoenix was naturally none other than Jiang Lianyi, one of the Heavenly Court’s Four Regents.

“It’s the Southern Great Emperor of Nirvana, Jiang Lianyi!”

The half-immortal battle was visible to the entire imperial city, and Jiang Lianyi had made her entrance before everyone’s eyes. Anyone who paid even the slightest attention to the Demon Region could recognize Jiang Lianyi.

“Two of the Four Regents have appeared. Is this the world about to get turned upside down?” 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“Speaking of which, the Heavenly Court’s Four Regents have never had more than one appearing at the same time.”

Compared to the relatively unknown Jin Caiwei, Jiang Lianyi was far more widely recognized. Although General Yu was also a legendary existence for cultivators, his fame still fell short of Jiang Lianyi’s, which had resounded throughout the lands since ancient times.

The crowd marveled. Three half-immortals had appeared simultaneously above the imperial city! Since the founding of Great Xia, a battle of such magnitude had never occurred, especially right in the imperial city.

“Space, seal.” Jiang Lianyi activated her Law of the Jungle Incipient Dao Fruit right from the outset, locking the space around General Yu.

Since Jiang Lianyi could shatter space, it meant that she herself was stronger than space. Therefore, she could employ a portion of spatial power.

In the ancient era, Jiang Lianyi had sparred with the Nine-Layers Immortal before he became an immortal. She was far more familiar than Jin Caiwei with how to counter the Yin-Yang Dao Fruit.

Against a Yin-Yang Dao Fruit, attacks of the Five Elements were ineffective. If one attacked with fire, the opponent could counter with water, completely negating the attack. A better method was to use physique cultivation methods or direct weapon attacks. However, the most effective way was undoubtedly to employ spatial or temporal means.

General Yu was locked in place, and several bone fragments pierced through his waist, cleaving him in half.

Jin Caiwei pouted. I had already gained the upper hand, yet Jiang Lianyi just had to pop up out of nowhere to steal my thunder. How infuriating!

While the three half-immortals battled, Lu Yang ran himself ragged, traversing through most of the imperial city. At last, he caught sight of the imperial palace.

~~~

Within the imperial palace, the Xia Emperor lay on his sickbed. He was emaciated to skin and bones, his lips parched. Manifold spiritual pills, wondrous elixirs, and natural treasures that seemed capable of prolonging one’s lifespan were piled up beside the bed.

But for the Xia Emperor, whose lifespan was almost depleted, they were pointless.

His eyes were clouded. He seemed to sense the battle of the three half-immortals outside the palace and Lu Yang rushing toward him, carrying the immortal item that could save his life.

He tried his best to turn his head, but in his current frail state, he couldn’t even manage that. He could only move his eyes.

He knew Lu Yang very much wanted to save him, but he also knew he couldn’t hold on until then.

“This emperor...I...still have so many things not yet done...”

I still haven’t universalized education, haven’t reduced medical costs, haven’t cleansed officialdom, haven’t eradicated diabolic cultivators, haven’t eliminated the archaic cultivators...

Most importantly, I haven’t appointed a successor.

~~~

At this very moment, Lu Yang’s heart raced. And it wasn’t just Lu Yang’s—the heartbeats of all Great Xia’s citizens inexplicably quickened, as if something terrible had happened, tugging at everyone’s heartstrings.

A red beam of light shot up from the imperial palace into the sky. The light appeared as a ribbon, drifting in the air like a person who had lost their way, in search of a direction for their future.

Lu Yang wore a bewildered expression, not understanding what had occurred.

Meng Potian and Meng Kuang witnessed this scene from afar. They experienced the same sensation as Lu Yang, the difference being that they knew what had happened.

The Xia Emperor had passed away. Without him naming a successor, and without Jiang Ping’an present to pacify the national fortune, that power had lost all control and restraint.

To regain control of the national fortune, they would either have to wait for Jiang Ping’an to return or have an imperial prince ascend the throne.

However, neither method was feasible now.

Because an immortal had appeared.

“Finally...finally, this opportunity has come.”

A deep, resonant laughter reverberated through the clouds. The laughter alone was enough to disperse the dark clouds above the imperial city and halt the flow of the Golden Sand River that bisected the city.

An elderly man with a weathered face walked through the air, hands clasped behind his back. Arriving above the imperial palace, he paid no heed to the fearful or furious gazes below. Instead, he looked at the confused national fortune with a beaming smile, utterly enchanted.

Lu Yang and Jin Caiwei were extremely familiar with this elderly man. They had just met him together not long ago.

It was Qi Xiuya, the Dean of the Imperial Taixue Academy.

And he had an even more resounding identity and name—Great Yu’s First Imperial Preceptor, Guan Shanhai.