Chapter 192 : The Essence of the Heavenly Court
Chapter 192: The Essence of the Heavenly Court
“Village Chief!”
Upon hearing the words about leaving, the two immediately rushed forward. Even though the “Village Chief” before them appeared even more suspicious, it was still worth taking a gamble.
And the Village Chief lying on the ground spoke again before they reached him.
“Ah…! I’m… I’m being restricted. Some things… I can’t say… but remember… ha… ha… what kind of place this is. General! Only the General can… can take people away. The General… is the only path to survival. Everything else… is a trap. I… I’m going to become the General! I! I can become the General!”
The final few sentences were nearly hysterical screams, frightening True Person Mingzhu and Long Tao so badly that they froze in place, hardly daring to breathe, afraid that in the next moment this “Village Chief” would mutate into some indescribable monster.
When the final hoarse cry of “General” faded into the air, the Village Chief’s struggle abruptly stopped. He lay completely motionless.
Long Tao hesitated about whether to step forward and investigate when the “corpse” suddenly sprang upright.
The moment the Village Chief stood up, he instantly returned to that affable and standard smiling “pseudo-human” appearance.
As if nothing had happened, he brushed the dust off his robe, the unsettling smile returning to his face. The sight made both True Person Mingzhu and Long Tao’s hearts skip a beat as a chill spread through them.
“Oh dear, how rude of me. Did this old man have another episode just now?” he said with a flawless smile. “To be honest with you both, I was originally a vice officer under the General. Because of this occasional old illness of mine, I was reassigned here to serve as the Village Chief. Please don’t take my earlier nonsense to heart.”
As he spoke, he turned around with a smiling face and walked away, leaving the two staring at each other. In each other’s eyes they saw unease and dread too thick to dissolve.
“True Person, that person just now definitely wasn’t the Village Chief, right?”
“I don’t know. But he definitely wasn’t that one who only knows how to smile. Let’s return to the house first. There’s too much we need to discuss.”
The moment they entered the house, the sight of the red bed and bedding, along with the two large red candles that had never been lit and still stood there properly, made True Person Mingzhu feel a wave of embarrassment.
At this moment, she felt as though the entire world was targeting her.
Doing that kind of thing with a man… bearing a child… she had never imagined that nearly eight hundred years after forming her Golden Core, she would still have to face such a calamity.
Thinking of this, she recalled the predictions made by several ancestors long ago. They had all said that before reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, she would encounter one more tribulation.
If the so-called tribulation referred to bearing a child, then it was simply too ironic.
Then she glanced at Long Tao beside her, who seemed hesitant to speak. She had originally thought that in this place he would be the teammate she could trust the most. Who would have thought… that now the person she needed to guard against the most was actually him?
“True Person, that mysterious person inside the Village Chief’s body told us to remember what kind of place this is. Could it be hinting that the strangeness here is related to the Ancient Heavenly Court?”
Hearing this, True Person Mingzhu suddenly felt her face flush with shame.
Just now she had been thinking about matters between husband and wife and about bearing children. Meanwhile, Long Tao had been pondering serious matters. This… was far too embarrassing.
So she quickly adopted the demeanor of a senior and said calmly and indifferently,
“That is indeed possible. By the way, how much do you know about the Ancient Heavenly Court?”
To ease the embarrassment and shame in her heart, the only method she could think of was to give Long Tao a lecture. By doing so, she could forget the impure thoughts from earlier, and at the same time organize her own reasoning to see whether any clues might appear.
“Absolutely nothing. The sect’s Grand Lecture never mentioned it.”
“Mm, that’s understandable. After all, the Heavenly Court has already disappeared. The fragments that remain are far too dangerous. To prevent disciples like you from becoming curious and going out to search for them, information about it was deliberately sealed.”
Long Tao nodded noncommittally.
Yes… it was certainly dangerous enough. Wasn’t he personally experiencing it right now?
Sure enough, the rules established by the sect—no matter how absurd they seemed—always had a reason behind them.
“Since we have some time now, I’ll tell you about the Ancient Heavenly Court. In any case, there’s no need to hide it from you anymore.”
Long Tao immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, adopting the posture of a well-behaved student.
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had attended True Person Mingzhu’s Grand Lecture.
The only regret was that it would have been even better if she were dressed like a professional teacher in a sexy outfit with black stockings.
“First, let me clarify a misunderstanding you’re certain to have. The Heavenly Court was not a world of a higher ontological rank, so don’t overestimate it and imagine it as some unreachable land of immortal gods.”
“Ah? Then… isn’t that the case?”
“No. The true essence of the Heavenly Court… was a magical artifact.”
Long Tao immediately fell into confusion again.
The Heavenly Court… a magical artifact? How could those two concepts possibly be the same?
True Person Mingzhu naturally saw his confusion and continued explaining patiently.
“In ancient times, cultivators possessed immense divine abilities, far beyond what you and I can imagine. At that time, there still existed true ‘Innate Deities’ born between heaven and earth.”
“You mean… those divine beings born from the evolution of the Great Dao or from innate magical artifacts?”
“Correct. Yet even though they possessed innate authority, they were still no match for the cultivators of that era. In the end, the gods had only three outcomes: submission, being refined into innate magical artifacts, or… abandoning their godhood and falling into reincarnation.”
Long Tao felt his mind tremble.
These ancient secrets were completely different from what he had imagined.
“Later, several top powers—who knows for what reason—actually took out the innate magical artifacts under their control and, together with those gods who had submitted, forged an unprecedented super magical artifact. That artifact was the ‘Heavenly Court’.”
At this point, even True Person Mingzhu’s tone carried a hint of longing.
Such grand ambition to reshape heaven and earth was something people of the present age could hardly match.
“This Heavenly Court could not only control and rewrite the laws of heaven and earth, but could also confer divine offices and exert authority over countless worlds. The one who controlled the authority of the Heavenly Court was honored as the ‘Heavenly Emperor.’ It is said that this position was rotated among the several great powers that had jointly created the Heavenly Court.”
“So that means even the laws of heaven and earth and divine authority were completely controlled by cultivators?” Long Tao felt his throat grow dry. “Then… why would the Heavenly Court still shatter?”
True Person Mingzhu could only smile helplessly.
That kind of question was not something a Golden Core cultivator like her could answer.
But Long Tao continued asking.
“Wait, since it was the Heavenly Court, was there a place used to punish immortals and gods? For example… like in myths, a place where immortals are banished to the mortal world and turned into mortals.”
An ancient term instantly struck True Person Mingzhu’s mind, and she blurted out,
“The Banished Immortal Pool… that’s right, the Banished Immortal Pool! It’s said that the water within that pool could weaken a person’s cultivation and destroy their foundations. Even if a Golden Immortal fell into it, they would become a mortal body. It was one of the most severe punishments of the Heavenly Court… If this place… if this place is related to the Banished Immortal Pool, then our becoming mortals would make sense!”
The moment she finished speaking, True Person Mingzhu’s heart sank.
If it truly was the power of the Banished Immortal Pool, then becoming mortals might not be temporary… Even if they left this place, their cultivation might never return.
After hearing the concept of the Banished Immortal Pool and seeing True Person Mingzhu’s reaction, Long Tao immediately guessed her concern. But he could not comfort her right now, so he could only say,
“True Person, please don’t think too much about it. This is only a guess after all. By the way, although our cultivation has disappeared and our Divine Sense cannot extend outward, we should still be able to meditate to stabilize our Divine Souls, right?”
Seeing Long Tao’s concerned expression, True Person Mingzhu felt that she had indeed lost her composure a little. She nodded and sat cross-legged on the bed.
Meditation was indeed a good choice.
It could help pass this awkward and anxious period of time, while also allowing her to reexamine herself.
At the same time, she also intended to see what would happen if tonight they did not carry out that husband-and-wife matter.