Chapter 333: The Causes of Everything
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
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Green Spirit tended to conceal things from Zhou Bao and deliberately mystify him. However, Elder Qing would tell him everything in detail. If he had any doubt, Elder Qing would try his best to answer him without any hesitation.
Therefore, he figured out the general ideas about being a listed Immortal, the Golden Book of Fate, and the Seven-deity Regions within less than one hour.
Jade Pool, Immortal Palace, Divine Wind Palace, Dragon Thunder Palace, Small Thunder Temple and Dark Sect were the real mainstays and powerful influences of the Four Eastern Regions. However, the Tian Long Taoism, Mingyi School and Sect of Flame were their public schools. Of course, these schools were not affiliated with the former Six Influences but inextricably linked with each other. In a sense, these three schools were the spokespersons of these Six Influences in the Jin Dynasty of the Central Mainland Region. In addition, there were many other countries and regions in the Central Mainland Region that were also spokespersons of these Six Influences. For example, Palace of Destruction Demon of Northern Yuan was the spokesperson of Dark Sect in Northern Yuan. Mount Kunlun was closely correlated with Divine Wind Palace. Living Buddha Ba Siba was the Living Buddha of Small Thunder Temple on Snow Mountain. These influences were unknown to ordinary people, but they left a deep brand in the whole Four Eastern Regions. Moreover, aristocrats of the Central Mainland Region were closely linked with these Six Influences, and many aristocratic families were established by people from these Six Influences. For example, the Wang family, who had a bad relationship with him, was established by Divine Wind Palace. As time went by, except the Family Heads of well-known families, barons and the top experts of schools, few people knew these Six Influences.
Zhou Bao could understand that all these were due to the fact that the world was so big. Even masters of martial arts could fly across the sky, the Sea Area that was millions of miles separated the Seven-deity Regions from each other. Thus, though they did have the ability, it was quite difficult for them to arrive at another Divine Region. Only those who had achieved the Karmic Rank of Individual Immortal and possessed corresponding strength were qualified to fly across the Sea Area. But the so-called flying across the Sea Area meant that you could fly smoothly from one Divine Region to another without meeting any danger. However, once you met the evil beasts, everything would be different.
The Sea Area was far broader than the land, and no one knew what kind of primitive beasts and powerful demons would be in the sea.
Even if achieving the Karmic Rank of Individual Immortal, human beings could only be the dominators of the land. They were extremely weak when compared to living beings in the Sea Area.
Only those who had broken through Three Big Realms and achieved the Karmic Rank of Genuine Immortal could leave from the East Sea in the morning and arrive at Cang Wu in the evening. They could travel everywhere as if the world was their home. Even if they met evil beasts as they flew across the Sea Area, they could escape safely.
However, even so, those who obtained Genuine Immortal Karma Rank would not likely to fly across the Sea Area casually, because there were plenty of experts in the Sea Area. If they died of trivial things, it was not worth doing, though they were lucky enough to keep their Original Spirit.
Hence, only top experts and high-level managers knew the real condition of the world. As for the ordinary people, they would feel tired to run two or three kilometers, let alone millions of miles.
It was like other people talked about the condition of Mars with you when you were living on the Earth. Though you were interested in the conversation, it would not influence you after all. Mars is far from Earth, so it’s a different world to you. It was extremely hard for ordinary people to have any connection with other regions all their life for many people in this world would spend their entire life living in their cities. They would never go to other countries and continents.
“Since evil beasts in the Sea Area are powerful enough to pose a threat to Individual Immortals and Genuine Immortals, they must have equal strength. Will their names be listed on the Golden Book of Fate?”
“Of course. Once their strength meets the requirement of the Golden Book of Fate, their name will be listed on the book automatically!” Elder Qing smiled. “But their Golden Book of Fate is different from ours!”
“What kind of difference?”
“Originally, there was only one Golden Book of Fate. But it’s a pity that it was divided into two in the Massacre of Heaven and Earth at that time. After that, it recorded Powerful Divines of the Human Tribe and the Demon Tribe respectively. Therefore, the Golden Book of Fate in the Sea Area was called Ranking of Demons and Immortals. Its function was the opposite of the Golden Book of Fate in the Seven-deity Regions. However, there were fewer restrictions in it than in the Golden Book of Fate in the Human Tribe.”
“You’ve said that the so-called Law of Heaven is an empty shell earlier. Why do you say it has many restrictions now?”
“The Golden Book of Fate is a fairy weapon. It won’t have that many restrictions when it’s put aside. But things will be different if someone’s controlling it.” Elder Qing smiled mysteriously, but the smile also showed his helplessness and bitterness. “Different from the Human Tribe, the Demon Tribe doesn’t have so many evil intentions. No one has ever touched the Ranking of Demons and Immortals, but it’s quite the opposite in the Human Tribe. Over the past hundreds of thousands of years, numerous people paid attention to it, because controlling the Golden Book of Fate equals to controlling people with Immortal ranks. With the book in hand, people can reorganize Heavenly Court and control all Immortals!”
Zhou Bao’s eyes flickered. “What do you mean? The Golden Book of Fate is controlled by others? Does it mean that once I reach the Mysterious Realm, I’ll become a subordinate of other people?”
“Yeah. You’ll become others’ subordinate once you enter the Mysterious Realm and achieve Individual Immortal Karma Rank!” Elder Qing said. “However, the Golden Book of Fate isn’t controlled by a certain man. Instead, it’s controlled by a huge influence!”
“A huge influence?” Zhou Bao’s expression became solemn and cold as he thought of Wang She’s words. There was an orthodox influence that had eliminated the Fiery Eyes tribe. “Is it controlled by a certain strong influence?”
“It’s not just a strong influence but several influences. Six Influences of the Four Eastern Regions are involved in it. Several powerful influences of the Three Western Regions, whose strength is no worse than ours, also take part in it!” Elder Qing smiled bitterly. “Since they cannot resist the temptation, they have to participate in it and gain some benefits from it. They have no other choice!”
“Damn it!” Zhou Bao swore secretly. He heard that the orthodox influence was extremely powerful from Wang She, but he had not expected that it was so powerful. He was frightened by just hearing it, though he was not 100 percent sure that the orthodox influence was the same influence that controlled the Golden Book of Fate. Yet, it was pretty close.
“Do you think it’s troublesome?” Elder Qing smiled gently. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to worry about it even if you enter the Mysterious Realm. Immortal Palace is one of the controllers of the Golden Book of Fate. No one will operate the Golden Book of Fate to harm you as long as you haven’t caused widespread indignation and resentment, even though you’ve violated the Law of Heaven. The Golden Book of Fate is a Supreme Fairy Weapon. Except for the Ruler of the Sea, the Celestial Emperor, no one can activate it individually. Only the combined power of several Powerful Divines from these influences can do that. The power it costs is beyond your imagination. Therefore, though it exists, it hasn’t been launched for thousands of years.”
“Ruler of the Sea, the Celestial Emperor?” Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows. “Is he very powerful?”
“Celestial Emperor is a legend. His name is enough to intimidate the whole Sea Area. He’s a huge demon that has existed since antiquity times. His strength is unfathomable, and the Ranking of Demons and Immortals of the Sea Area is in his hands. If there’s someone who can launch the Golden Book of Fate alone, that’ll be him.”
Elder Qing’s eyes became bright as he mentioned Sea Emperor. “Because of his existence, the Seven-deity Regions never have had any big dispute, though internal dissension is commonly seen. Even if there are big disputes, big bloody incidents won’t take place. No one dares to weaken their strength because of internal strife. Likewise, because of Sea Emperor, several influences can control the Golden Book of Fate together and put some restrictions on experts that have entered the Mysterious Realm for fear of their reckless actions.
“Is there any expert who has questioned our control of the Law of Heaven these years?”
“Yes, of course. Human nature is the same as that of demons, who long for freedom. Of course, they’ll have a conflict with us. Our influences are way too strong, so we’ve never encountered any large-scaled fight initiated by them, except the Fiery Eyes tribe. They rose abruptly and didn’t want to obey the so-called Law of Heaven. Therefore, they caused a battle. But all experts of Divine Wind Palace spared their efforts and finally eliminated this horrible tribe!”
“The Fiery Eyes tribe?” Though Zhou Bao was mentally prepared, he suddenly felt alarmed when he heard Elder Qing mentioned the Fiery Eyes tribe. He suppressed his surprise and said, “I’ve heard about the Fiery Eyes tribe and I possess a Fiery Eye External Elixir. But the Golden Book of Fate was controlled by all of us, why experts of Divine Wind Palace were the only forces that had taken action?”
Elder Qing wore a strange smile and glanced at him. “Since you own a Fiery Eyes External Elixir, you must know the wonderfulness of the Fiery Eyes. Do you think Divine Wind Palace would be willing to share benefits with other influences? Though the Golden Book of Fate is controlled by all of us, it’s stored in Divine Wind Palace. Divine Wind Palace always think of themselves as Orthodox Heavenly Court. Therefore, they’re the best influence to handle matters such as violating Law of Heaven!”
“Orthodox Heavenly Court?”
“Yes, Orthodox Heavenly Court. They intend to recover the majesty and stateliness of Heavenly Court and choose a new Jade Emperor to restrict Sea Emperor!”
“Choose a new Jade Emperor? The Great Jade Emperor?”
“Yeah, the Great Jade Emperor. He’s the only one who has practiced the Way of the Emperor to the extreme among the owners of Heavenly Court in the world!” Elder Qing said without any expression. “Because of this, Divine Wind Palace surely wouldn’t let go any chance that could advance their strength. The Fiery Eyes tribe was a strong bloodline that was created by necromancers in antiquity times according to numerous Immortal-demon Bloodlines. Since the Fiery Eyes had many wonderful uses, the Divine Wind Palace began to fight the Fiery Eyes tribe in order to level up their strength. But they had never expected that after the Fiery Eyes tribe was cornered, they manifested an extremely strong power. They weakened half of the Divine Wind Palace’s power and destroyed one of their Taihao Fairy Weapons, and Divine Wind Palace suffered considerably. After that, Fifth Manor on Longevity Mountain struck Divine Wind Palace too. Divine Wind Palace was meant to go for wool but came back shorn. But if with the help of Jade Pool, it would have disappeared.”
“Fifth Manor on Longevity Mountain?”
“It’s another powerful influence in the Three Western Regions and also the only one that is in a good relationship with the Four Eastern Regions. It’s in a bad relationship with Divine Wind Palace. Hence, once it found any chance, it would definitely cause Divine Wind Palace to suffer a lot!” Elder Qing sat down slowly and sighed. “It’s a pity that not everything went as we expected. Though Divine Wind Palace suffered greatly, it benefited a lot as well. No one had expected that the Fiery Eyes should have some peculiar connection with the Golden Book of Fate. Divine Wind Palace exterminated the Fiery Eyes tribe and got the Fiery Eyes. Therefore, they could better control the Golden Book of Fate. Thus, we couldn’t act against it so as to prevent harm to innocents. Alas, if we knew this point at that time, we would have taken in the Fiery Eyes tribe and controlled the Golden Book of Fate. Maybe the Seven-deity Regions would have a new look!”
“Yeah, it’s a pity!” Zhou Bao’s facial muscle twitched rigidly, and no one knew his feeling.
After a short silence, he asked, “Was the Fiery Eyes tribe really that powerful?”
“Of course. Otherwise, Divine Wind Palace would neither fear them nor suffer greatly from them. Their eyes, their eyes…!” When it came to the eyes of the Fiery Eyes tribe, Elder Qing’s eyes showed some greed. However, it disappeared in a flash. “Their eyes were so powerful. It was the key of their confidence!”
“It seems that you’re quite familiar with the Fiery Eyes tribe!”
“Of course, I’ve lived for 38,000 years. I definitely know many things!” Elder Qing looked at Zhou Bao sourly. “The Fiery Eyes tribe wouldn’t have suffered from extermination if its patriarch gave in and joined us. Although Divine Wind Palace was powerful, Immortal Palace together with other five influences would be a match for it. But unluckily, the patriarch was too arrogant and never gave in. Haha, without strength, arrogance is futile. He could only suffer a great loss. He was truly an idiot!”
“Yes, he was an idiot. But why did Divine Wind Palace pursue and kill the Fiery Eyes tribe after that?”
“I’ve said that earlier, the Fiery Eyes could generate some connections with the Golden Book of Fate. After people in Divine Wind Palace knew this, they were upset. Though they had obtained countless Fiery Eyes, they were not inborn ones. Even if they were turned into External Elixirs, they were no match for the inborn Fiery Eyes. The Divine Wind Palace was scared of this and thus pursued the remnant Fiery Eyes bloodlines. In order to justify themselves, they smeared the Fiery Eyes tribe. Hum, they were deceiving themselves!”
“Yeah.” Zhou Bao smiled. “So it seems that Divine Wind Palace is the most powerful one among the Six Influences of the Four Eastern Regions? They’ve possessed the strongest control of the Golden Book of Fate. Therefore, the power they can utilize is very strong. Strictly speaking, Immortal Palace is no worse than it. However, unless encountering something urgent, the Six Influences wouldn’t like to initiate conflicts. They all pursue immortality rather than anger after all!”
“Yeah, you’re right!” Elder Qing nodded in agreement.
“Then, how about Taiyuan Heaven and Taiyuan Token?”
“Oh, it’s the same with the appearance of Ancient Ruins. The difference is that Taiyuan Heaven only appears during a certain period and Taiyuan Token is needed in order to enter it. I’ve lived for so many years and have seen the appearance of Taiyuan Heaven nearly 40 times. I entered it once and I’m tired of it now!” Elder Qing waved his hand. He said impatiently, “But you’re different. Junior Leopard, you’re young and strong. You also possess a great luck and good opportunities, but be careful when you enter it. It’s worth worrying about it, but there’s no need to worry about it too much. Since you’re going there with Wang She, you both will be safe, because you’re powerful and own Pure Yang Celestial Devices.”
“I hope so!” Zhou Bao smiled bitterly. “Elder Qing, what’s the so-called Thousand Year Promise about Taiyuan Heaven?”
“Taiyuan Heaven appears every 1,000 years.” “Because of this law, we (influences of the Seven-deity Regions) have entered Taiyuan Heaven many times and know something about it as well. In the beginning, in order to contend for resources in Taiyuan Heaven, we fought with each other fiercely and suffered considerably. Only 10 percent of experts came back alive from Taiyuan Heaven 17,000 years ago. Because of this, we were on the verge of falling out with each other. However, we kept calm and made some rules finally; whoever entered Taiyuan Heaven should behave according to the rules and obtain resources through his lucky chances and strength; no one was allowed to robe others, otherwise, he would be our common enemy. Therefore, we had a Thousand Year Promise. Gradually, the more frequently we entered Taiyuan Heaven, the more familiar it was to us. We divided Taiyuan Heaven into 20 areas because only 20 Taiyuan Tokens would appear every time. Holder of every Taiyuan Token could only search resources in a specified area. If he was unsatisfied with his area, he could negotiate with others to exchange their areas before entering Taiyuan Heaven the next time. Of course, the two parties should agree with it willingly. In this way, the chances of leading to conflict decreased largely, and therefore, several recent Taiyuan gatherings were fruitful.”
“But now, there’s one more Taiyuan Token!” Zhou Bao finally understood the reason why Earth Bat of Girl was panicked. It was just like planting a carrot in a hole, however, there was one more carrot left. Planting it in which hole was a serious problem.
“Hum. That’s why I said that it’s complete bullshit to determine things that would happen 1,000 years later. Ye Qingtian’s background is mysterious. As White Tiger showed me his information, I thought there was something wrong. Luckily, he was too arrogant that he didn’t want to join us. Otherwise, he would have brought troubles to Immortal Palace. The Taiyuan Token you have is one of the four Taiyuan Tokens in the Central Mainland Region, and they are kept by the strongest worldly orthodox dynasties in the Central Mainland Region. The Jin Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Dynasty contended for it earlier, but now, since the Northern Yuan was destroyed, it belongs to Jin. Yan Yuntian wanted to suppress his two rivals taking this as an opportunity. Therefore, he gave you his Taiyuan Token!”
“His rivals? Who were his rivals?” Zhou Bao was confused, not knowing why. “How does it connect with Yan Yuntian’s rivals?”
“It’s about the plan of Divine Wind Palace. It planned to reestablish the Heavenly Court. They always call themselves orthodoxy. Thus, they supported dynasties that had orthodox status in the Four Eastern Regions secretly, such as the Jin Dynasty and the Li Dynasty. They intervened in the world trend through these dynasties, and the Mingyi School was the product of their support. Moreover, they wanted to choose a new Jade Emperor, and control the Law of Heaven and Golden Book of Fate. But they haven’t found a proper person or opportunity yet. Therefore, Yan Yuntian becomes one of the candidates it promoted.”
“Jade Emperor?!” Zhou Bao blinked his eyes. “Is he crazy?”
“You may think that Divine Wind Palace was crazy. However, they’ve been carrying out the plan. There are two reasons for them to call themselves orthodoxy: the First reason was that they’ve occupied the main hall of Heavenly Court, namely Divine Wind Palace. The second reason was that they possess the complete Way of the Emperor. The Way of the Emperor is one of the 3,000 Great Ways. The royalty of the Jin Dynasty and the orthodox royalty of the Four Eastern Regions together with the Three Western Regions all practice the Way of the Emperor. It needs infinite ambitions and schemes. Besides, it requires you to rule and control everything. If you practice it to the extreme, you can be called Jade Emperor. The process of practicing the Way of the Emperor has something to do with authority. The greater authority you possess and the more people you’ll control, the more unfathomable your strength will be. Sea Emperor controls the whole Sea Area, boasting numerous experts and infinite territory, so he has practiced the Way of the Emperor to the extreme!”
“It’s completely a joke!” Zhou Bao curled his lips. “If Yan Yuntian wants to be the enemy of Sea Emperor, he should control the whole Seven-deity Regions at least. Only in this way can he level up the power of the Way of the Emperor. But he has only controlled a country, he’s way far from Celestial Emperor!”
“So he’s one of the candidates of Jade Emperor. Choosing a Jade Emperor isn’t as easy as you have thought. Divine Wind Palace has only chosen some candidates during such a long time, but no one meets their requirements. Once such a man appears, they’ll spare every effort to help him to control the Seven-deity Regions, at least the Four Eastern Regions. In this way, though he’s no match for Sea Emperor, at least he can fight against him!”
“It’s crazy. They’re all crazy!” Zhou Bao murmured incredibly.
“Yes, you’re right! Those who practice the Way of the Emperor were all lunatics!”