Capital Wu. Two immortals were fighting.
After seeing such an earth-shattering scene, the entirety of Capital Wu was like a restless beast. Even though night was falling, no one seemed to have the intention of going to bed.
On the streets, the crowd was moving back and forth, discussing. In the teahouses, the chatter never ceased.
Inadvertently, gazes would stray towards the palace, eyes filled with happiness.
Tonight was the reception banquet for Wu Yu. It was being held at Tian Wu Hall, the highest quality place of reception for honored guests that the Dong Yue Wu Kingdom had ever built. Because the VIPs were immortals and mortal emperors, even the waiting girls were of the most exquisite beauty, and a majority of them even had other artistic skills.
When Wu Yu arrived, Imperial Concubine Xi, Yuan Hao, and the others rose to receive him. He had not been close to Imperial Concubine Xi for a long time, but his eyes were pulled to that poisonous, devil of a woman. Luckily he was wearing his mask, or they would only see Wu Yu's cold gaze.
"Everyone, leave us." After Wu Yu sat down, Imperial Concubine Xi waved a hand for those ladies in waiting to leave Tian Wu Hall. She hooked a dainty finger around an exquisite kettle and perched gracefully beside Wu Yu. She filled his cup to the brim, saying, "Heavenly Immortal Sun, please try the Monkey Wine of Dong Yue Wu. This Monkey Wine..."
Following that, Wu Yu paid no attention to her heap of introductions. After all, he was well versed with everything of Dong Yue Wu. He had been to Tian Wu Hall quite frequently as well, although he was previously the owner and not a guest.
What was strange was that the most central main table today stood empty. Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian and Yuan Chen flanked it, while Imperial Concubine Xi and Yuan Hao's positions were even further down. Besides the four of them, there was one other present, which was Princess Wu You, who Wu Yu thought about night and day. She sat primly in the corner, her gaze downcast and looking at the table.
With her around, Wu Yu's heart was eased, even if the night ended in blood and violence. This was a habit that had been nurtured from young. She was an elder sister that lent one a sense of reassurance.
Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian raised his cup, saying, "Old Brother, this humble creature will introduce you." As he spoke, he introduced Empress Dowager Imperial Concubine Xi, Emperor Yuan Hao, as well as the status of Princess Wu You. At his gesture, Wu You nodded to Wu Yu, raising her gaze for a moment.
Compared to before, her gaze had become much brighter. Eyes were the window to the soul. In that instant, Wu Yu felt like her mood had suddenly changed. He immediately knew that she had her suspicions about his identity, so he hastened to avert his gaze. He did not want Princess Wu You to recognize him right now.
Before, the mood had been frosty, but now they spoke of Princess Wu You, and emperor Yuan Hao suddenly laughed, saying, "Heavenly Immortal Sun, it's not just you. In a few days, my Capital Wu will receive another guest, also a presence of the highest status."
Yuan Hao's personality had always been prone to showing off, and it had been that way since young. But it had always been shut down by Wu Yu. After not speaking for so long, he must’ve felt stifled.
"Oh, could it be that someone is trying to snatch the Immortal Protector position away from me?" Wu Yu's gaze pierced through the Demon Ape Mask and bored directly into the eyes of Emperor Yuan Hao. At the same time, the latter could feel a wave of terrifying pressure emanating.
"That... That is... Do you know the East God Nation of the East Sea? A happy affair between my Dong Yue Wu and the East God Nation. The monarch of the East God Nation will soon take our Princess Wu You as his wife and make her queen of the East God Nation. In a few days, he will come to Capital Wu for his courtship. At the same time, there will also be the East God Nation's Immortal Protector..."
Kacha!
The golden wine cup in Wu Yu's hand was crushed into golden pulp.
In truth, Wu Yu was seized by an impulse to retrieve his Demon Subduing Staff upon hearing this news and club Yuan Hao into a meaty pulp.
Now that Sun Wudao had passed, Wu You was his greatest affiliation in this life. It was the elder sister he cared most about. Firstly, this was clearly a political marriage. Besides, Wu Yu was very familiar with the East God Nation. Previously, his army had resisted the pirates from the East God Nation, and the Nine Regicides King was a demon who killed without batting an eyelid. He must’ve had over 100,000 cronies under him.
Those pirates had directly cut off Dong Yue Wu's marine commerce routes and would frequently disembarked to pillage along the coast.
Wu Yu had once sworn that after he ascended the throne, he would exterminate those pirates. Who would have thought that during his return, he would actually see Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian and the rest pledge Princess Wu You to the Nine Regicides King? Clearly, they were sending Wu You into the fire.
Rage!
But in his heart, another voice spoke, which caused Wu Yu to suppress the wrath he now felt.
That was reason.
"No matter what, I have returned in time. Elder Sister has yet to be married off to the East God Nation and has yet to come in contact with the Nine Regicides King. Nothing has happened yet."
If he had returned late, he would’ve probably had to kill the entire East God Nation.
But now that nothing had happened, it was not the time to let his anger get the better of his reason. Presently, Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian was stronger than him. If he did not handle things well and prematurely revealed his identity, it would not only be his life in peril, but Wu You would have no way to avoid her painful fate.
The moment things concerned Wu You's fate, he had to move cautiously.
"Heavenly Immortal Sun?" Seeing Wu Yu crush the cup, Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian naturally had his suspicions.
Wu Yu knew that he had to cover it up. With some quick thinking, he dredged up something from The Chronicles of the Dong Sheng Divine Continent and said coldly, "This so-called East God Nation must be a new country. It's clearly not an immortal kingdom. How can it have an Immortal Protector? To the extent of my knowledge, the East Sea is a 'ghostly' place. This heavenly immortal wouldn't be a ghostly cultivator, would he?"
Ghostly cultivation.
Wu Yu recalled from The Chronicles of the Dong Sheng Divine Continent that ghostly cultivation was one of the three major sources of power, besides martial cultivators and demons.
In the mortal world, there was a saying that there were five creatures in total. The winning creature, the feathered creature, the furred creature, the scaled creature, and the shelled creature. The winning creature meant humans, while the other four were respectively birds, beasts, marine life, and insects.
Besides mortal humans, the other four kinds could undergo transformations to gain sentience and become demons. Besides them, even vegetation, mountains, and other non-living things could also undergo transformations to become demons. Mortal cultivation, which was martial cultivation, led to heavenly immortals.
However, the dao could generally be divided into two different dao.
One dao was known as the official dao, or heaven's dao - the hao that deaven permitted. It was the dao where one flew as an immortal, the dao that Wu Yu had seen. A majority belonged to this dao, and it could be called: Immortal's Dao.
The other dao was a demonic dao, a dao of plunder. In the quest for strength, they defied heaven and eschewed morals. They only looked for strength. For power, they would even commit all kinds of atrocities, even genocide. This dao was hence known as the Ghostly Dao.
Comparatively, the Immortal's Dao would make one a real immortal!
For the Ghostly Dao, no matter what, one would enter the deepest levels of hell and endure eternal suffering, forever unable to ascend.
But these were all just legends.
In order to obtain power, many of the winning creatures of this world - mortal humans - practiced the Ghostly Dao. These people lived in the shadows, cunning and sneaky. They were even more hated by martial cultivators than man-eating demons.
Those that practiced the Ghostly Dao were known as ghostly cultivators.
There were numerous islands in the East Sea, and it was said that where the sun shone brightest, there were four huge islands, which had a combined tenth of the land area of the entire Dong Sheng Divine Continent. They were known as the Four Islands of the East Sun. It was a major camp of the ghostly cultivators.
Heavenly immortals, ghostly cultivators. All winning creatures, all human.
Demons came from the other four types of creatures.
No matter what, the ghostly cultivators and demons were the main enemies of martial cultivators.
When he heard that the East God Nation had an Immortal Protector, Wu Yu could guess roughly what was going on. The Heavenly Sword Sect and the Zhongyuan Dao Sect were proper sects, and when he heard the news about the ghostly cultivators, crushing his cup could be considered a normal response.
In truth, the real reason why he had crushed the cup was Wu You.
As it was, Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian's doubts vanished, and he smiled. "Old Brother, you are overthinking this. The Immortal Protector of the East God Nation is not a ghostly cultivator. You have no need to get worked up."
"That's good, then." Wu Yu did not care if it was a ghostly cultivator or not. He just wanted to bring Wu You away from all of this.
He looked at Wu You. From the way she looked, she must have resigned herself to her fate. But Wu Yu was clearest about her personality. He knew that she must have had made preparations for her suicide.
"Since I have made it back in time, I will save her."
The banquet proceeded on for a while. During that time, Yuan Chen suddenly laughed and said, "Senior Brother Sun, let me introduce you to somebody important. Please don't be scared."
Someone important?
Why would there be someone important here?
In a place like Capital Wu, they were already at their limits.
This turn of events was beyond what Wu Yu had anticipated, but he had a feeling that tonight's banquet was not just the simple affair that it currently was. It looked like the opponent was about to make life difficult for him. Yuan Chen returning at the same time as him must’ve been more than just coincidence.
As expected, Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian and the others rose as one at this time, with welcoming smiles. Princess Wu You hurried to take to her feet as well to welcome this important person.
"Old Brother, I recommend you stand up." Heavenly Immortal Hao Tian had been very warm, but suddenly his attitude had changed drastically. He was as cold as the time when they first met.
Wu Yu wanted to see who it was. Just as he stood up, a figure descended outside Tian Wu Hall and appeared within Tian Wu Hall in the blink of an eye, immediately becoming the center of attention.
It was a tall man, his stature comparable to Wu Yu's. He was draped in a bright, silver coat, with a beast fur against the wind. It also included a fox's fur, with the fox head resting on his shoulder. Further up, he had sharp eyebrows and a sharp look about him. With his shoulder-length hair, his features were hard and intimidating. He had an imposing air about him, and his every move gave off the aura of a born emperor. Although Yuan Hao was the emperor of Dong Yue Wu, compared to this person, it was like the difference between a rice grain and the moon.
Those eyes were as bright as stars. His mouth was set in an evil smile, while his eyes were piercing. He strode confidently with big steps. The words came to mind: All would bow before Junlin!
"Danger!"
Wu Yu's Invincible Vajra Body and Visualizing the Inner Ape made him have the instinct of beasts. Against a powerful enemy, his hair rose like a cat's. Faced with this awesome youth made him feel significantly threatened.
"Who would have thought that within Capital Wu, there would actually be people of the class as Senior Sister Su and Senior Brother Mo!"
Wu Yu thought to himself, shocked.