Chapter 857: Careful Budgeting (4)
Xingshang River, the place where tributaries meet.
The Nine Lotus Treasure Boat floated quietly on the river, surrounded by white mist suspended like a veil.
A strange wave rippled from the depths of the Nine Lotus Treasure Boat, spreading out slowly like the sound of a bell. The mysterious power penetrated the void and extended into the distance, soon causing several subtle echoes.
The river surface was flickering with dim light, and the Nine Lotus Treasure Boat's sub-exalts were like ghosts of will-o'-the-wisp, jumping and flashing along the tributaries, and gradually merged into the floating hull. Mild doubts continued to come from the merged hull, which was the many members of the Nine Lotus Alliance wondering why the Grand Alliance Leader would recall all the sub-exalts outside.
Many members complained that some important things they were working on had been delayed.
But since this ingenious technique of dividing the dignity originated from the great leader of the Nine Lotus Alliance, the entire Nine Lotus Treasure Boat is under his control, and he also controls the development direction of the Nine Lotus Alliance. Even major events such as hunting the Thirty-Three Year Cicada were plans and ideas proposed by him... In the face of his call, what can be done even if there are objections?
A low shout came from deep inside the cabin of the Nine Lotus Treasure Boat.
The second leader who was shaped like big eyeballs, the beautiful woman in a red dress sitting on the blood throne, and other leaders with strange looks, all turned into streams of light and fled to the cabin on the lowest level.
In the deep darkness, the leaders of the Nine Lotus Alliance saw the badly damaged head of their leader. The young Linghu family man, the old man with a three-foot white beard, and the burly black-armored man were surrounding the head. The young Linghu family man was holding a white jade vase that was gleaming with faint starlight, pouring a stream of clear and fragrant juice into the slightly opened mouth of the head.
Under the horrified gazes of the Nine Lotus Alliance leaders, their "boss", whose head had been severely damaged and had not been repaired for countless years, actually grew new skin and flesh at a speed visible to the naked eye. The spine exposed below the head also grew new bone tissue bit by bit with a subtle sound of bone residue growing, and new flesh and blood were also rapidly growing on it.
"Great Alliance Leader!" The beautiful woman in the red dress was the first to laugh happily: "Congratulations, Great Alliance Leader, are you...going to recover?"
All the alliance leaders looked at their 'boss' with flickering eyes, but the boss had a stern face and said nothing.
The young man from the Linghu family looked at the beautiful woman in the red dress with a smile, and there was admiration in his eyes. It was obvious that this beautiful woman really met his aesthetic standards.
The white-bearded old man, who was a little over three feet tall, was smiling, gently waving the whisk in his hand, without revealing any inner emotions.
Only the big man in black armor suddenly widened his eyes, a bloodstain on his forehead opened, revealing a pair of eyes that were gleaming with brilliance and murderous intent. He stared at the beautiful woman in the red dress and sneered, "Pretending to be attentive and smiling, you, woman, have ulterior motives and you definitely deserve to die..."
Without giving anyone time to react, the black-armored man waved his right hand, and a bolt of lightning surrounded by countless extremely thin silver starlight fell directly on the head of the woman in the red skirt. With a scream, the beautiful woman instantly turned to ashes, leaving no residue. Not only on this Nine Lotus Treasure Boat, but also on several other Nine Lotus Treasure Boats that were returning to merge at full speed, and several of the Nine Lotus Treasure Boats that the woman in the red skirt had spread out, also turned to ashes.
The causes and consequences were wiped out in an instant, leaving no trace or residue.
The beautiful woman in the red skirt was ranked very high in the Nine Lotus Alliance, and her own cultivation was above thirty days... Such a powerful person was easily killed by the black-armored man with a single blow. The gap in strength between the two sides was simply immeasurable.
Including that big eyeball, all the leaders of the Jiulian League were frozen, looking at the three terrifying beings with unimaginable strength that suddenly appeared beside their "boss" with shock on their faces.
"Alright, alright, it's alright." The young man from the Linghu clan looked at the leaders with a smile and chuckled, "We are all family members... I am Linghu Wuyou, and your leader is Linghu Cang, who is actually my third uncle. Therefore, we are all family members, hee."
"This heroic warrior in black armor is Commander Qing of the Patrol God Guards. You can call him Commander Qing Feng. He is a good man, but he is very straightforward and can't tolerate any injustice. The beauty just now had some bad thoughts in her mind, but Commander Qing Feng was born with the "Judgment Eyes" and can best distinguish the true and false in people's hearts."
"To tell lies and be cunning in front of him is to seek death."
"You all seem to be upright people. You will definitely not harbor evil intentions, nor will you have any messy thoughts, right? In this case, you don't have to worry about anything. Commander Qingfeng will definitely not be ruthless to you!"
Linghu Wuyou smiled brightly.
The big man in black armor remained silent.
The white-bearded old man, who was a little over three feet tall, gently waved his whisk and showed an extremely gentle and kind smile to the Jiulian Alliance leader, who was staring at the crowd, who were staring in amazement and had endless complaints in their hearts.
"You are all in Loulan Pass, so I think you are very familiar with the geography, folk customs, and various situations. Haha, I wonder if you have seen any strange things in these years?" The old man smiled beautifully, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Supreme Taichutian, who controls the heaven and earth, governs all living beings, controls yin and yang, and controls life and death. I am a small clerk under the command of the Supreme Taichu Emperor who sits on the Supreme Emperor's throne in the Ninth Heaven. I coordinate the correspondence affairs..."
"Everyone, you can call me 'Lord of the Heavenly Book'."
"This word 'Heaven' is not a flattery for me. The truth is, I am in charge of the official documents between the Great Emperor and the Heavenly Emperors of various directions. Those documents can be called 'Heaven'. Therefore, it seems reasonable for me to be the Lord of the Heavenly Book."
Linghu Wuyou smiled and nodded, nodding continuously, agreeing with the words of Tianshu Laojun.
Commander Qing Feng had a stern face with a faint light flickering in his eyes. He did not comment on what the old man said, but he did not clearly show his opposition either.
The Heavenly Book Lord smiled and said, "The strange things I am talking about are things that you cannot understand with your perspective and experience. Things that you cannot analyze with your magical powers and secret techniques. Things that you cannot touch with your vast power."
A spot of colorful divine light lit up beside Tianshu Laojun.
The void was violently torn apart, and the next moment, a beautiful girl with wings on her back and colorful divine light lingering all over her body struggled out of the torn void with some difficulty. A thick stream of light continued to gush out from the cracks in the void around her, and the rolling fragrance turned into a visible mist that surged around.
Linghu Cang's body, which was slowly recovering, was sprayed with the fragrant mist, and the speed of his body recovery increased a hundred times out of thin air.
In the cabin, the leaders of the Nine Lotus Alliance suddenly sniffed the surging fragrant mist and felt their whole bodies burning hot. Their souls were beating violently. The endless mysteries of the great Dao penetrated directly into their souls. Their magic power, as well as the realm of their souls, were all advancing by leaps and bounds at an unpredictable speed.
But as this strange cultivation level soared, they inexplicably went from being unfamiliar to feeling familiar with this girl, from being familiar to feeling close, from being close to feeling admiration, respect, and awe, and finally they even felt like a puppy meeting its master...
They wanted to pounce at the girl's feet and wag their tails at her desperately, just to get a friendly smile and a gentle touch from her...
Several leaders were horrified at the same time, and cold sweat suddenly broke out on their foreheads. They struggled frantically, trying to get out of this inexplicable admiration and respect. This was wrong, this was very wrong. At their level, with their cultivation, how could they be so weird and want to crawl at the feet of a creature and want to be pampered by a creature?
No matter how powerful the opponent is!
No matter how great the other person is!
For them, no matter how powerful or great the enemy is, their first thought is to fight. If they can't beat them, then escape... If they can't escape, then fight with all their might... For life forms like them who have already mastered several great ways of heaven and earth and have already clarified their own Dao hearts, how can they 'worship' or 'believe' in them?
However, no matter how they struggled, even one leader who looked like a sixteen-clawed octopus had exploded several tentacles in succession and launched his clan's desperate secret technique, but they still could not wake themselves up from that terrible "nightmare".
They stared blankly at the girl who was slowly appearing, looked at her with great reverence and respect, and the faith and admiration in their hearts grew stronger... The fragrant mist invaded their bodies little by little, and their faith and respect for this girl turned into a terrible brand, smashing into their souls little by little.
Self-belief is like a candle in the wind, which may go out at any time.
The big eyeball screamed, and the blood-red pupil locked onto the girl, ready to risk her life to launch a desperate attack... Tianshu Laojun sighed softly: "The little girl is too naughty!"
With a flick of the whisk in her hand, the fragrant mist that spewed out from the crack in the space was immediately swept away by a hurricane. The huge wings on the girl's back shook slightly, and she struggled out of the broken void, and came to the front of Tianshu Laojun with an expressionless face.
"Laojun, do you have any problem with my emperor?" The girl's words were extremely impolite.
The Heavenly Book Master looked at the girl in astonishment, "Why do you say that, little girl? I know everyone about my life. I have great respect for the Great Emperor Taimi! Little girl, don't take advantage of the Great Emperor's favor and talk nonsense."
The girl sneered: "If that's the case, why do you want to destroy my magical powers?"
Linghu Wuyou and Commander Qingfeng took two steps back, their faces drooping, and they said nothing. The Lord of the Heavenly Book and the young girl were both powerful characters, so let them take the fight, and they should just watch quietly.
Tianshu Laojun sighed: "Little girl, you really... Could it be that you want to keep all the evidence for yourself?"
The girl narrowed her eyes and said, "I have been ordered to recover the remains of my son , and all the treasures left behind."
The Heavenly Book Lord said calmly, "I am following orders to thoroughly investigate the cause and effect of this matter... Those who are guilty must be punished, and those who have made contributions must be rewarded... Once you make a move, you will completely destroy their intelligence and turn them into your fanatics... Can I assume that you want to...monitor all the information of the investigation and eliminate any clues that are unfavorable to your son?"
The girl was silent.
She tilted her head and stared at the Heavenly Book Master. After a long silence, she shook her head and said, "My prince is just young and ignorant. He was deceived by people with ulterior motives and mistook him for a friend... My prince is the one who abides by the Heavenly Rules. How could it be possible..."
The Heavenly Book Master smiled until his eyes narrowed. "Then, little girl, don't do anything that will cause me to misunderstand you... You have turned these people into your fanatics. How can we find useful information from them?"
The girl pursed her lips.
In the cracks in space behind her, twelve olive-shaped balls of light several feet high struggled to emerge. Divine light filled the sky, fragrant mist gushed out, and twelve balls of light and shadow lined up behind the girl, accompanied by the sharp sound of thunder, and colorful lightning flashed one after another. The twelve balls of light and shadow condensed into six pretty girls and six mighty soldiers.
The girl frowned and turned around to glare at them fiercely.
The twelve human figures that had just condensed were stunned, and then turned into a ball of fiery and sticky light again. The ball of light, like juice, squirmed for a while, and lightning flashed again. They condensed into twelve soldiers wearing platinum armor, about three meters tall, mighty and handsome, with three pairs of huge platinum wings on their backs, and holding platinum thunder swords more than two meters long.
The girl then nodded in satisfaction.
She said to the Heavenly Book Lord in all seriousness: "Lord Lao must have misunderstood. What I did just now was just a habit. These creatures from the lower realms are lowly and filthy and cannot be approached. They are not qualified to be my fanatics at all."
With a faint smile, the girl's wings behind her fluttered lightly, and she went straight to Linghu Cang, whose body had been mostly restored after being illuminated by the divine light and scented by the fragrant mist, with only his two calves not yet grown.
"Linghu Cang is guarding Loulan Pass? Do you still remember the cause and effect of Loulan Pass falling from the Supreme Primordial Heaven?"
Linghu Cang stared at the girl with eyes wide open. There was a glimmer of light at the corner of his mouth, and with a bit of greasy air, Linghu Cang smiled softly and asked, "Excuse me, young lady, what is your name? I am Linghu Cang, hey."
Linghu Cang wanted to say something more, but Linghu Wuyou pinched the soft flesh under his armpit fiercely. The pain came and Linghu Cang suddenly closed his mouth.
Having been in the ancient city of Loulan for so many years, he has forgotten many things about the upper world.
After Linghu Wuyou's reminder, he finally dug out the memories related to this girl from the depths of his mind - the colorful divine light, the fragrant mist in the sky, the fanatics who could easily turn people into living dead, and the accompanying soldiers were all transformed from the light and flame, and their gender could be male or female...
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
The only ones with such characteristics are the Tai Mi Emperor who rules a region in the Supreme Primordial Heaven, and the 'Holy Spirit' clan that he spawned and nurtured from the supreme heavenly ways of infinite light, infinite heat, and infinite faith!
Pride borders on madness.
Bravery bordering on madness.
The pursuit of flawlessness and perfection has reached the point of obsession.
Apart from the Great Emperor Taimu, he has no eyes for anything else, and treats all living beings with an attitude of "I am above you, and you are all inferior to dirt". He even treats the many sons of the Great Emperor Taimu as if they are nothing...
Don't mess with me!
Linghu Cang quickly put away the dirty thoughts in his mind and put on a serious face as if doing business: "May I ask your name, young lady... I am Linghu Cang, the guard of Loulan Pass. What the young lady said, I have personally experienced... but..."
Linghu Cang's eyes flickered, and countless thoughts were churning in his mind.
The girl leaned down slightly and stared at Linghu Cang. The girl who was originally full of majesty, sacredness, and solemnity, which made people unable to help but admire her and want to get close to her to worship and get close to her, suddenly became like a burning knife, sharp, overbearing, and intimidating. Just a slight contact of the eyes with her would make people feel as if their souls were torn apart and burned.
Linghu Cang's body trembled slightly and sweat poured down his body.
He couldn't help but recall everything he had done during the whole process of falling to the lower world at Loulan Pass. The more he recalled, the more guilty he felt and the more frightened he became. Gradually, his eyes flickered and he no longer dared to look the girl in the eye.
Linghu Wuyou gritted his teeth.
My third uncle is really useless to the extreme.
This kind of behavior is clearly an admission of guilt.
Commander Qing Feng and Lord Tian Shu showed subtle smiles - it was a good thing for them that Linghu Cang behaved so badly.
The girl smiled coldly, and the wings behind her slowly spread out. The sharp divine light turned into an infinite hurricane that blew around, and the entire cabin shook violently. The overbearing and infinite light and heat filled the void, drowning everything, causing the leaders of the Nine Lotus Alliance to convulse all over, and their minds went blank.
"You can call me Lingxuan... The name has no meaning, it's just a code name." The girl smiled: "I can be Lingxuan, and my sisters can also be Lingxuan... Name? Hehe..."
Linghu Cang laughed dryly.
The Holy Spirit Clan is extremely large in number. Their clan is so large that they can only be named with a long series of numbers... However, when the Holy Spirit Clan travels outside, in order to facilitate communication with outsiders, they will randomly choose some words as their names.
They all use "Ling" and "Sheng" as their surnames.
As for the names, all the words are randomly selected and rotated in the order in which the characters appear. The girl in front of you could be Ling Huan, and a few years later, another girl you meet could also be Ling Huan... For them, the names have no meaning.
"Miss Lingxuan, what do you want to know?" Linghu Cang smiled dryly.
"How did my son, the emperor, die in your Loulan Pass?" Ling Yu went straight to the point and asked the most important question: "Was he murdered by someone?"
The Qingfeng commander at the side said coldly: "Linghu Cang, this question is of vital importance, you must think carefully about your answer."
The Heavenly Book Lord said with a smile: "Linghu Zhenshou, just answer with confidence, yes, answer in detail and truthfully. Don't worry, no one can wrong you. The Great Emperor only needs the truth."
Linghu Cang was sweating profusely and his whole body was stiff.
In this situation, how could he not know that he was involved in a huge trouble.
The leader of the Sky Patrol Divine Guards.
The close confidant of Emperor Taichu.
A special envoy sent by Emperor Taimu.
Oh, plus a fallen son of the Great Emperor Taiyi...
How could Linghu Cang have deserved to be involved in such a major incident?
Linghu Cang felt like crying but had no tears - forcing the passage from the Supreme Primordial Heaven to be opened and sending the celestial beings from the upper realm back to the heavenly realm would consume resources, but for the lower realm, the resources would naturally be an astronomical figure.
In order to send the most ordinary celestial being through the retrograde channel to the lower world, the resources burned would probably be equivalent to all the resources in the ten celestial realms in the upper and lower worlds - that is, a celestial realm like Liang Yi Heaven, which is full of vitality and is thriving, would have to be burned out in its entirety. It would take ten Liang Yi Heavens to send a celestial being retrogradely to the lower world.
Of course, this amount of expenditure is nothing for the Supreme Taichu Heaven, which possesses infinite resources.
Resources... With the supreme power of the emperors, they can sprout countless great worlds with infinite resources in a single thought, allowing the celestial beings in the Supreme Taichu Heaven to mine and use them.
The biggest expense is that, for the celestial beings, this lower world is a desert, a Gobi desert, and a filthy Gobi desert. The feeling of the celestial beings descending to the lower world is like putting a severe mysophobia patient directly into an old manure pit that has been fermented for three thousand years... You can imagine how it feels.
The first moment Linghu Wuyou, Commander Qingfeng, and Lord Tianshu descended, they covered their noses and almost vomited. They knew how unbearable it was for them to descend to the lower world.
Given their identities, and the fact that they have come down to the mortal world in person, one can imagine how many deadly things are hidden in there.
Linghu Cang lamented in his heart - he was just a second-generation rich man who took advantage of his family's influence to occupy a good position in an important frontier town and lived a life of idleness and waiting to die... What qualifications did he have to get involved in such a deadly business?
Just as Linghu Cang was lamenting, a few points of divine light flashed in the cabin again.
A deep curse sounded: "It's too muddy here, and we have made the wrong decisions several times... Commander, we are late."
Amidst the dull roar, the void split open, and a large group of patrolling divine guards in heavy black armor struggled to walk out of the torn void. Several patrolling divine guards who were walking in the front had just appeared when their faces twitched and they vomited several mouthfuls of water with a "woooooo" sound.
Immediately afterwards, surrounded by light, a team of celestial officials wearing starry robes, tall crowns on their heads, with seals and jade beads hanging from their waists strode out from another torn rift in the void.
This group of celestial officials were all well-dressed and calm, but as soon as they walked out, they covered their noses, trembled all over, and almost fell to the ground.
Another ray of starlight swirled, and more than a hundred members of the Linghu family walked out wearing tall crowns.
Compared with the patrolling divine guards under the command of Commander Qing Feng, and the heavenly officials under the command of Lord Tianshu Laojun, these Linghu clan members were even more miserable. As soon as these pampered noble family members arrived, they collapsed to the ground and vomited loudly. Some of them even twitched all over, like fish that were dragged ashore from the water, and quickly fell into a dying state.
Ling Huan chuckled.
"Shou Linghu, let's not talk about other things for now. Just explain how my prince died." Ling Yu said leisurely, "Is my prince framed by someone? You must explain it clearly and understand."
