In truth, the first step of the so-called Grass Sea event was connecting the two realms.
When a pocket realm opened, the overlapping region between the two worlds experienced a breakdown of natural laws, sometimes causing mountains to collapse and the earth to tear apart. However, the barrier between the two realms at the Grass Sea had always been gentle. As long as the Storm Gate was kept under control, the remaining anomalies were mostly along the lines of water flowing uphill.
Though he had heard the principles explained by Fu Shanyue beforehand, witnessing a pocket realm open with his own eyes still left He Lingchuan deeply shaken.
Two worlds that had had no connection whatsoever—just like that, briefly linked together?
There was good reason Lingxu City called this pocket realm the "Fu Realm." Seated in the front row of the sandbank with an unrivaled view, He Lingchuan was fortunate enough to behold a strange marvel at the center of the giant cyclone.
Outside, winds churned and clouds converged amid flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder, yet at the center of the supercell lay an enormous void. Through it, He Lingchuan saw a vivid bluish-purple expanse. That other world inside the void appeared quite dim, lit like the mortal realm just after sunset as night was about to fall.
He could even see that this world had stars, though they were not very bright.
He Lingchuan asked Fu Shanyue, "Does the Fu Realm have day and night?"
Fu Shanyue shook his head. "I've entered three times, spending as little as two days and as many as ten. It has only stars and no sun. It's lit like this at every moment, never darker and never brighter."
So the Fu Realm had neither four seasons nor any distinction between day and night.
He Lingchuan then noticed several bolts of lightning streak across that world.
Wait, with no clouds, where did the lightning come from?
By this time, fortified by the two National Preceptors, the entrance to the pocket realm had stabilized.
An emissary of the Heavenly Palace struck the chimes once more and called out loudly:
"The Fu Realm is now open! All teams, queue up to enter, and take care for your safety."
Immediately, teams strode onto the field one after another, ten members to a squad. By all appearances, they were cultivators or demons of exceptional prowess.
The method for traveling to the Fu Realm was equally blunt and straightforward: they stepped into the eye of the wind and were sucked up with a whoosh.
He Lingchuan counted—in total, more than sixty teams entered.
"The vassal demon kingdoms usually send teams to participate." That accounted for thirteen. The rest were teams organized by various factions and families within Lingxu City. "Lingxu City doesn't limit the total number of teams that can enter, but to ensure fair competition, each faction can only send one team of ten members during the first five days."
The Chiyan Kingdom naturally fielded a team as well. Fu Shanyue had brought nearly a hundred guards to Lingxu City, among whom were the contenders chosen for this Grass Sea operation.
As the teams entered the Storm Gate in an orderly fashion, the common folk on this side overflowed with excitement, throwing themselves into an activity He Lingchuan knew all too well:
Gambling.
For officials and nobility to organize teams and cross into another realm was a private delight for the few.
For the populace to run betting pools and gamble for prizes was true joy for all.
With over sixty teams competing, there were more than enough betting markets: over/under, odd/even, and even dazzling arrays of combination wagers.
It was said that at the very beginning, the authorities did not encourage it, believing widespread gambling would corrupt public morals.
Soon, however, officials proposed setting up official betting houses—taking commissions on one end while collecting taxes on the other, catching two fish with one net.
The commoners got their fun, Lingxu City raked in money, and everyone was pleased. What was there to complain about?
Thus, it became an enduring tradition spanning four to five hundred years. The official monopoly offered a wide variety of wagers, and every winner had to pay an exorbitant tax of five percent upon collecting their prize.
Though people complained year after year about the steep tax, the scene at the Grass Sea was always booming.
He Lingchuan asked around at random and learned that the heavy favorite to win this year was the Tongxin Guard.
At each Grass Sea event, Lingxu City offered hefty rewards to the top five teams, judged by the number of floatstones they retrieved from the Fu Realm.
Recently, He Lingchuan had been bogged down by too many tangled affairs and had lacked the time to pay attention. Only just before the contest began did he learn that the seven floating isles of Upper Lingxu were able to hang high in the sky precisely because of the floatstones hunted in the Fu Realm.
The secret to the floating isles' levitation was Xuandou stones, and floatstones recharged them—just as horses needed fodder to run. If replenishment fell behind and the Xuandou stones ran out of power, the floating isles would...
One could easily imagine the catastrophe that would unleash upon Lingxu City.
Fortunately, such a terrifying scenario had never occurred in five or six hundred years, because every two years Lingxu City sent powerful experts into the Fu Realm to harvest floatstones.
These peculiar stones were actually otoliths produced by monsters called "Donao beasts," growing inside their skulls.
Donao beasts were native to the Fu Realm, coming in many varieties and differing in strength. The energy contained within their otoliths varied accordingly. Floatstones yielded by formidable Donao beasts could be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of times more potent than those from their weaker kin.
Fu Shanyue had mentioned that thirty years ago, an official team in the Fu Realm surrounded and hunted a giant Donao beast whose harvested floatstone was worth six hundred ordinary ones.
Every six hundred and eighty days, the Fu Realm intersected with the mortal world, staying open for thirty days. Lingxu City had to seize the opportunity to hunt and stockpile as many floatstones as possible.
Of course, it reclaimed the floatstones from the teams through purchase. To incentivize everyone, it also bestowed handsome prizes on the top five stone hunters.
After all, whether the high officials could continue lording over the commoners high above their heads depended entirely on these teams.
Competition among the teams naturally formed the foundation of the betting market.
Looking at it this way, the biennial Grass Sea event carried immense significance: it satisfied Upper Lingxu's need for floatstones, while the authorities made a killing through betting; it met the social networking needs of aristocratic clans, while peddlers and laborers earned money here as well.
And the common folk, of course, had their fill of spectacle.
A win for all three sides—only the Donao beasts of the Fu Realm suffered.
Fu Shanyue had naturally placed bets on his own team. He turned to ask He Lingchuan, "Which one caught your eye?"
"No idea." He didn't even know which specific teams or people were competing; tossing money in would just be throwing it to the wind, wouldn't it?
For the Mount Xu operation to proceed smoothly, he wanted to enter the Fu Realm too, but not right now.
At a moment like this, with thousands of eyes watching, entering rashly would only invite fatal disaster.
"Look over there. The Heavenly Palace is leaving."
Fu Shanyue looked in the direction he pointed and indeed saw the Heavenly Palace envoy delegation withdrawing. Chief Duyun Emissary and Bai Ziqi were walking out surrounded by retainers, while the rest were striking camp, seemingly leaving only a few tents behind.
"Once the opening ceremony ends, they head back. It's like this every time."
"This year is different." He Lingchuan observed Bai Ziqi's expression. At first glance it seemed no different from usual, but his bearing had grown distinctly spirited.
He knew Emissary Bai had finally obtained fresh leads after much difficulty, and was bound to be itching for action.
He asked Fu Shanyue, "Pulling up the radish brings along the mud. Do you think the elixir of immortality case could actually be investigated to the very end?"
"That depends on what the celestial gods think, and what the Emperor thinks," Fu Shanyue murmured, turning his head. "Concerning the elixir of immortality, the celestial gods certainly want a thorough investigation and severe punishment. But if the spearhead ends up pointing at National Preceptor Qingyang, the Emperor might plead for her."
"You mean the Emperor might want to smooth things over and blur the lines?"
"Among the four National Preceptors, National Preceptor Qingyang shares the deepest bond across two reigns of Emperors, and she has never failed to back the Emperor's decrees."
He Lingchuan let out a long "oh."
She was a textbook royalist.
"What about National Preceptor Shuangye?"
Fu Shanyue reached out and pointed toward the sky.
National Preceptor Shuangye belonged to the faction of the celestial gods.
He Lingchuan nodded. No wonder the Emperor disliked National Preceptor Shuangye—they were never of one mind to begin with.
Now National Preceptor Shuangye was moving to take down National Preceptor Qingyang, which was tantamount to severing the Emperor's right hand. Yet the Emperor had no way to stop it.
Because National Preceptor Qingyang might truly be guilty.
"This matter is thorny. It implicates not only National Preceptor Qingyang, but also a great number of buyers," Fu Shanyue added. "If buyers and sellers share equal guilt, the royal court will inevitably be thrown into turmoil. The previous elixir of immortality case resulted in rivers of blood. But if they raise the stick high only to let it fall lightly with mere slaps on the wrist, it compromises the majesty of both the celestial gods and the Emperor. How could that serve as a warning to others or intimidate the court officials?"
He Lingchuan added inwardly:
Behind National Preceptor Qingyang, other deities must be involved.
Otherwise, where did the recipe and divine blood needed to refine the elixir of immortality come from?
That was likely one of the key points the Heavenly Palace wished to investigate.
Just as Mitian had said, harmony did not reign among the celestial gods either.
Therefore, the most grueling part of this case had yet to arrive.
Fortunately, with the case progressing to this stage, subsequent developments had nothing to do with He Lingchuan, and not even Fu Shanyue could stick his hand in. They only needed to sit back and watch the show.
He just didn't know whether he would be around to see the final curtain fall.
Right at that moment, two beasts suddenly leapt out from the eye of the storm, prompting a wave of gasps from the onlookers on the sandbank.
The two monsters resembled apes, massive in build, visibly weighing at least three hundred jin. Their bodies were hunched forward on thick, sturdy limbs, completely hairless, with long tusks jutting out from their lower jaws. Their bodies were purplish-black, their hides as rough as rock, with patches of stone moss growing in places.
Having just arrived in the mortal world, the beasts seemed somewhat dazed. If mortal warriors could cross over, monsters from the Fu Realm could naturally cross over as well.
They spun around twice on the spot before letting out a roar and bolting outward.
Heavy guards had long been stationed around the Storm Gate, and they moved forward immediately to intercept them.
"Are those Donao beasts?" He Lingchuan had finally seen the monsters of the Fu Realm.
"Yeah, but of very low rank. At best, they'll yield two small floatstones," Fu Shanyue said offhandedly. "Actually, guards will soon be stationed at the other end of the Storm Gate as well, but if they judge that the beasts pose little threat to the mortal world, they're likely to let them through. That allows for impromptu betting pools to be opened, giving the common folk more spectacle to enjoy so they don't get bored waiting here."
Simply put, entertainment value was vital for large-scale events like this.
As they spoke, the two beasts were slaughtered in flamboyant fashion, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd.
A flying start indeed.
Watching this, He Lingchuan's heart sank slightly. Not out of sympathy for the beasts, but because the elites guarding the Storm Gate fought with decisive lethality, formidable prowess, and remarkable coordination.
In all the time he had been in Lingxu City, he had mostly seen vanity, decadence, and revelry, and had nearly forgotten how profound Lingxu City's foundation truly was.
"Those two beasts looked a bit abnormal." When they first crossed over, their movements had been exceptionally agile and ferocious, belying their hulking appearance—even a wild boar demon would have paled in comparison—yet the guards had withstood their assault effortlessly.
The two monsters bled profusely from all over. After a quarter of an hour, they slowed down more and more, soon riddled with holes like sieves.
Chapter 634