Harvesting the Immortal Emperor

The Immortal Emperor withdrew his gaze and cast another hexagram. This battle portended great fortune. Settling his mind, he let out a long breath and cast a cold, indifferent look toward the Supreme-level powerhouses on the opposite shore. Though the enemy held overwhelming numbers, Dan Xuanzi was still by his side. Dan Xuanzi's cultivation and strength ranked fifth among the Twelve Marvels. While not extraordinarily formidable, his presence by the emperor's side demonstrated that he still had supporters! A mere Xu Ying... Just then, the Immortal Emperor's eyelid twitched. Amidst the dense sea of people on either side of the Heavenly Abyss, he suddenly caught sight of a figure that resembled Dan Xuanzi. When he hurriedly looked again, the figure had already vanished without a trace. He glanced back. Dan Xuanzi stood right beside him, which reminded him of the man's Dao methods and divine powers. Dan Xuanzi was adept in the art of clone division and avatar manifestation. What he excelled at most was multiplying one into tens of thousands, passing off the counterfeit as genuine! Back in the Mortal Realm, when the Ancestral God and the Holy Venerable had been severely wounded, Dan Xuanzi had multiplied into ten thousand to track them down. Because he had found them fastest, Yuan Weiyang had rammed her ship into him, crippling him. "Then is this Dan Xuanzi beside me the real body, or an avatar?" The thought crossed the Immortal Emperor's mind. He wanted to divine the truth, yet dared not make the calculation. Divine divination was not omniscient; it was only when one needed clarity on a specific matter that one would deduce cause and effect. Last time at the Heavenly Abyss, Fairy Zitong had blinded him with her technique of self-severance. Only after the fact did he deduce that his Samsara trap had been broken. As for whether Dan Xuanzi was genuine or an imitation, he would need to perform a divination to be certain. Yet if the divination revealed that Dan Xuanzi was merely a clone, the blow would be far too devastating. At that point, he would truly be a forsaken despot left entirely alone. No children, no friends, no ministers loyal to him. Dan Xuanzi's voice came from behind him, ringing with righteous devotion: "Your Majesty, rest assured, this minister will surely advance and retreat with Your Majesty!" The Immortal Emperor remained expressionless and said, "Good. Good." Inwardly, he thought, *Yet as long as I strike Xu Ying dead, I will still be the Immortal Emperor, still the center of all eyes, still holding supreme power in my hands. These enemies will scatter like monkeys when the tree falls; they will even pledge allegiance to my Immortal Court and serve as officials under my command!* At this thought, he suddenly realized that among all the masters gathered here, not a single one served as an official in his imperial court! Even Heavenly Venerable Ning Zhong was no longer a Heavenly Venerable of his Immortal Court! Outside his Immortal Court, a massive power had already formed, its strength far surpassing that of the court itself! Even his disciple, Zulong Zhao Zheng, had betrayed him and joined their ranks! "All of them are rebels and traitors!" A sharp sense of crisis surged in the Immortal Emperor Supreme's heart. Without another word, he summoned the four great cave abysses. Behind him, the four cave abysses blazed ever brighter and more dazzling; he needed to seize the initiative and dispel the oppressive momentum Xu Ying brought from afar! At that moment, countless pairs of eyes turned toward him, their expressions strange. Puzzled, the Immortal Emperor looked back, only to see that while his four great cave abysses were brilliant in the extreme, a dark shadow ran through every single one of them. Those were cracks in the cave abysses. Now that he had pushed their power to the limit, those cracks became starkly visible. "Isn't he the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao?" Someone asked in confusion, "Why would the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao not even have a cave abyss of his own, and instead need to use others' broken scraps?" An uproar swept through the crowd. The New Dao was different from the old path. One refined cave abysses from within, allowing them to form naturally. A cave abyss one forged oneself was the manifestation of the Grand Dao one cultivated; even if broken by an opponent, it could be restored. Yet the Immortal Emperor's cave abysses were in a state of ruin. The Immortal Emperor claimed publicly that he was the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao, and indeed many had believed him. Even though Lou Mingyu and others had preached the Dao on Xu Ying's behalf and spread the truth that Xu Ying was the real Dao Ancestor of the New Dao, there were still those who believed the Immortal Emperor was the true founder. For the Immortal Court represented authority, and the Immortal Emperor was the symbol of that authority! Now, however, the moment the Immortal Emperor summoned those four cracked cave abysses, everyone immediately saw through how fraudulent this so-called Dao Ancestor of the New Dao truly was. "He doesn't even have a single intact cave abyss, yet he calls himself the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao!" someone in the crowd sneered. "What kind of Immortal Emperor Supreme is he? The cave abysses he uses aren't even his own—he's worse off than me!" "Immortal Emperor Supreme? More like a ragpicker!" "Meng Shanming harmed the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao, plundered the fortune of the New Dao, and impersonated the Dao Ancestor! His crimes truly deserve ten thousand deaths!" "He deserves ten thousand deaths!" ... The Immortal Emperor Supreme's face darkened, his hands trembling slightly, his mind baffled. How had things come to this? He clearly possessed the greatest power beneath the heavens, clearly held the most formidable strength, and clearly commanded the most resources. Why did these people not respect him? Why did they not even fear him? When the Holy Venerable held three cave abysses, he controlled half the world's wealth. Now that he himself held four cave abysses, why had he instead become a laughingstock in the eyes of the masses? Were cave abysses no longer wealth? The New Dao! It was the New Dao! It was Xu Ying who, with the New Dao, had overturned the dining table everyone ate from! In the past, when cave abysses were wealth, controlling a cave abyss meant controlling the wealth of the world, controlling the fates of all immortals in the Immortal Court and all Qi Refiners in the mortal realm, granting life and death at one's whim. Back when Qingxuan rose in rebellion, he had likewise declared: to seize power, one must first seize the cave abysses. The Immortal Emperor had always regarded cave abysses as paramount. In sixty myriad years of plotting and patient waiting, he had staged the Kunlun Bloodshed and nurtured the first incarnation of Xu Ying—Celestial Venerable Xu. When he realized that incarnation was not the Xu Ying he needed, he had the Imperial Emperor execute him, casting Xu Ying into ten thousand mortal reincarnations until this generation's Xu Ying finally ripened to be harvested. All his painstaking efforts had been aimed at securing the Taiyi Cave Abyss! He had indulged the rebellions of the Changsheng Emperor, the Heavenly Venerable, the Eastern King, Prime Monarch Ling Su, and the others, all for the purpose of gathering the ten Heavenly Monarch cave abysses. He had slain Creation Supreme, partly to seize the Creation Cave Abyss. Yet just as he obtained these cave abysses and rejoiced, only now did he realize that cave abysses—which once represented wealth, power, and status—were suddenly everywhere. Anyone could obtain a cave abyss through their own cultivation! This shattering of his reality made him feel as if he had plunged into hell! When cave abysses no longer represented wealth, power, and status, let alone his position as the Immortal Emperor Supreme, even the foundation of the Immortal Court was shaken—it no longer had any reason to exist! Blinded before by the Taiyi Cave Abyss, he had overlooked this all along. Only now did he realize how far he had fallen behind. *The New Dao! It's the New Dao! So long as I destroy the New Dao, we can return to the state of old—controlling cave abysses will once again mean controlling the wealth and power of the world!* His gaze fell upon Xu Ying walking toward him, boiling with murderous intent. To destroy the New Dao, he would begin by slaying Xu Ying! "Xu Ying, the battle between you and me can begin!" The Immortal Emperor Supreme let out a long howl. His aura erupted, forcing Dan Xuanzi to stumble backward repeatedly, which made the emperor's heart sink—this Dan Xuanzi truly was nothing more than an external avatar! The true Dan Xuanzi had long since abandoned him, leaving only an avatar behind! He had long become a solitary ruler, an autocrat forsaken by all. The Immortal Emperor Supreme cast all else aside. Taking a stride forward, his cultivation and dharmic power soared exponentially. The thirteen New Dao realms he had severed from Xu Ying were stimulated into action all at once! As he strode across the Heavenly Abyss, his mighty aura even caused the abyss to temporarily pause its swallowing of the Heavenly Sea's waters. Behind him, within the Taiyi Cave Abyss, resided his own six Dao scenes alongside Xu Ying's thirteen Dao scenes. The terrifying Dao power harbored within them converged, providing him with unparalleled might! Previously, he had been unable to unleash the power of Xu Ying's Dao scenes, nor could he fully mobilize the Taiyi Cave Abyss's power. But sharing the same boat with Creation, Yaoluo, and the others, they had studied the Taiyi Enlightenment together, granting him many deeper insights into the Taiyi Dao. He could now utilize Xu Ying's Dao scenes of Life and Death, Dao Power, Void, Taiyi, the Heavenly Dao, and more. Furthermore, as his understanding of the Taiyi Enlightenment deepened, he could even activate the Emerald Rock Dao Scene. He had truly mastered Xu Ying's power! Were it not for this, it would have been impossible for him to kill a veteran Supreme like Creation Supreme in mere moments. To kill Xu Ying using the New Dao realms, cave abyss, and Dao scenes harvested from Xu Ying himself—that would be his ultimate mockery of the New Dao! "This battle portends great fortune!" Unflustered and poised, the Immortal Emperor Supreme cast a hexagram: he remained the ultimate victor! Over the past few days, he had cast many hexagrams, and every single time the result had been great fortune. His divinations had never lied to him! *Once I eliminate Xu Ying, wipe out all the masters here, and seal away the New Dao, I will still reign over the Earth Immortal Realm!* He was brimming with confidence. With his current strength, Qingxuan the Waste, Liu Guanyi, and the rest were no match for him; with the Ancestral God outside and the Holy Venerable having restarted his cultivation, neither could do anything to stop him. He was the foremost figure in the Earth Immortal Realm today! Even if all of them attacked together, he could borrow the power of the Heavenly Immortal Realm to eradicate them. At this moment, Xu Ying stepped through the crowd, walking above the Heavenly Abyss to face him from across the distance. *I will summon the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit and kill him in a single strike to produce the greatest impact!* The Immortal Emperor's gaze was chilly as it fixed on Xu Ying. He thought silently, *He has likely not yet attained the Supreme Realm; killing him will take only one strike. If even Creation Supreme couldn't withstand two attacks from the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit, what hope does he have?* Back in the Dragon Court, the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit, unable to bear its own immense power, had burst apart and shattered into fragments. The Immortal Emperor, Jiugong, Taiyuan, and Saint Luo had each obtained a piece of the primordial spirit fragments; among them, the Immortal Emperor had been the strongest and seized the largest portion. Over the years, he had contemplated the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit and comprehended its profound mysteries, reaping bountiful harvests—yet the greatest harvest was the primordial spirit itself. Refining the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit was exceedingly difficult, but after harvesting Xu Ying and obtaining Xu Ying's primordial spirit, he discovered that he could use Xu Ying's primordial spirit to refine it. Because Xu Ying's primordial spirit was far more flawless than his own, merging with Xu Ying's primordial spirit made mobilizing the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit's power vastly easier. Thus, he had refined Xu Ying's primordial spirit into his own, absorbing the power of the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit fragment to elevate his cultivation and achievements even further! Previously, too many people possessed cultivation and strength above his, so he needed to conceal the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit. But now that he was invincible, why hide it any longer? His aura climbed ever higher, swelling with terrifying strength. Looking at the approaching Xu Ying, he burned with murderous intent. "Xu Ying, can we begin?" His expression was grim and menacing. "Wait a moment." Xu Ying was still some distance away. He raised a hand and made a grasping motion through the air, saying, "Meng Shanming, I will take back what is mine first." The Immortal Emperor Supreme suddenly felt a tearingly excruciating agony rip through him. Within his body, inside his Realm of Xiyi, the realms transplanted from Xu Ying suddenly rumbled and violently shook. From inside out, they ruptured his flesh and skin, bursting out of his Realm of Xiyi! The first to fly out of his body were Xu Ying's Five Sacred Immortal Mountains! These Five Sacred Immortal Mountains corresponded to the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys of the human body. From inside the Immortal Emperor Supreme, Xu Ying's heart flew forth, dripping with blood and still beating! Next, Xu Ying's lungs flew out, followed by his spleen, kidneys, and liver, practically hollowing out the Immortal Emperor Supreme's abdomen! "Meng Shanming, there are also my Three Passes—it's time you returned them as well," Xu Ying said indifferently. The Immortal Emperor Supreme's Weilu Pass, Jiaji Pass, and Yuzhen Pass flew out toward Xu Ying—bloody bones exuding a torrential, heaven-shaking aura! The Immortal Emperor Supreme roared, mobilizing his dharmic power in an attempt to suppress these mutinous realms within him, but for some reason, his cultivation was precipitously collapsing. Xu Ying said coldly, "My Hidden Scene, return it to me!" "My Golden Core, return it to me!" "My Cave Abyss, return it to me!" "My Nine Realms, return it to me!" "Yaochi, Divine Bridge, Six Paths, Yujing, Dao Domain, Six Domains, Dao Field—return them all to me!" Across the Immortal Emperor Supreme's body, explosions erupted one after another. Even his forehead burst open, and the bloody Immortal City of Yujing flew out! He tried to muster his cultivation, but his power plummeted sharply—he could not suppress it at all! He was drenched in blood. These realms had been fused with his flesh; carving out these realms meant ripping away parts of his physical body! Back then, when Xu Ying was harvested by him at the Heavenly Abyss, his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys had been gouged out; the Weilu and Jiaji bones of his spine had been extracted; the Yuzhen bone at the back of his head had been pried loose; the twelve rings of his throat had been severed and removed; his tongue had been pulled out; and even his cranium had been pried open to extract the Immortal City of Yujing! That was why Xu Ying had been considered a corpse at the time, slated to be cast into the Heavenly Abyss's ocean eye for complete destruction, which had given Xiaotian the opportunity to snatch Xu Ying's body away. Now, the Immortal Emperor was reliving almost the exact scene Xu Ying had endured back then! Still, he was far more fortunate than Xu Ying had been; he could still mobilize the Taiyi Cave Abyss and activate the Chaos Dao Scene to regenerate his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys with surging physical vitality! Without a second thought, he mobilized his Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit. Suddenly, from within this entity of supreme power, Xu Ying's primordial spirit flew forth, breaking free from his control! "Ah, right—there is also my primordial spirit," Xu Ying said indifferently. The Immortal Emperor Supreme felt dizzy and faint. With Xu Ying's primordial spirit slipping from his grasp, he instantly found that controlling the Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit was no longer smooth and effortless. His Far Ancestor Primordial Spirit reached out to grab Xu Ying's primordial spirit, but it was a step too slow and caught only empty air. His heart sank. His cultivation had fallen so rapidly that he could not immediately readjust to his own strength. Xu Ying's voice sounded: "And my Dao scenes!" Panic seized the Immortal Emperor's heart. Within the Taiyi Cave Abyss, Xu Ying's thirteen Dao scenes separated from his own and tore through the void! Seeing this, Qingxuan the Waste sighed and murmured softly, "I already warned him long ago..." "Meng Shanming, over these past six years, you have cultivated quite diligently. You trained my realms very well." Xu Ying's voice echoed. The Immortal Emperor looked up, his eyes nearly tearing at the seams. He saw Xu Ying absorbing those realms, merging them seamlessly with the realms he had previously forged anew. Xu Ying's cultivation surged wildly, jumping upward by a tremendous margin in a single instant! Those realms might have originally belonged to Xu Ying, but the bitter cultivation and diligence the emperor had poured in over the past six years were all accumulated inside them! "With this harvest, I am quite satisfied." Even though he said so, Xu Ying's gaze was cold to the bone, brimming with hatred. He was not satisfied with this harvest at all. Had he not been the Dao Ancestor of the New Dao, he would have died the moment the Immortal Emperor finished harvesting him back then! It was the merit of being the New Dao's Dao Ancestor, combined with his first incarnation dying in his stead, that had given him a chance to come back to life. Without beating the Immortal Emperor Supreme to death, how could he ever be satisfied? Xu Ying drew a long, deep breath. His power skyrocketed explosively, rumbling like thunder: "Meng Shanming, I am ready now! Please, accept your death!"