Great Emperor of Abundant Wealth of the Northern Pole

When Jin Caiwei had first come to Great Xia, her intention had been to form a partnership with the Dao Seeking Sect. However, while staying at the Meng Family residence, Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi told her about the Heavenly Court, so she decided to join it as well. After all, joining the Heavenly Court effectively made her half a Dao Seeking Sect member anyway, which was hardly different from her original goal. The title "Great Emperor of Abundant Wealth of the Northern Pole" was something Jin Caiwei had come up with herself, carrying her fondest wishes. "The Great Emperor of Abundant Wealth of the Northern Pole?" Jin Caiwei's sudden appearance instantly drew every eye in the imperial capital. "Why has the ancient Heavenly Court come to the imperial capital as well?" "Which figure from the ancient era is this Qiongqi? According to historical records, the Qiongqi among the ancient half-immortals was male, wasn't he?" "I can't find anything on her." None of them could match her to any known ancient half-immortal. "Forget that! Judging by the title, this Great Emperor governs wealth and fortune. Do you think bowing and praying to her will make us rich?" "That actually makes sense. Want to give it a shot?" …… "Your Heavenly Court again?" General Yu's smile vanished, the rake-like grin no longer gracing his face. "Wu Youdao's operation in Huangzhou failed because of your Heavenly Court. Now you want to stick your oar in again?" "Stick our oar in?" The white Qiongqi offered a mocking sneer. "This immortal peach originates from the only innate spiritual root between heaven and earth. Eating even one confers boundless wonders; how could it be as simple as merely extending lifespan? "Ancient immortals once partook of it. This innate spiritual root was originally a possession of my Heavenly Court, lost only in the immortal war at the end of the ancient era. "Now that the immortal peach has surfaced, we can certainly use it to locate that innate spiritual root once more. "You Great Yu cultivators have eyes but fail to see, completely blind to genuine immortal goods, and you actually presumed to destroy this immortal peach. Truly ignorant to the extreme!" "The only innate spiritual root between heaven and earth?" General Yu was startled by the claim. The sheer title made it clear just how extraordinary the immortal peach was. It made sense. To revive Emperor Xia when his oil was burnt out and his lamp exhausted, apart from the legendary elixir of immortality, only such an immortal relic could suffice. "Why waste so many words on a country bumpkin of later generations? Boy from the Dao Seeking Sect, hand over the immortal peach!" A massive white tiger paw reached toward Lu Yang like a miniature mountain. Lu Yang stood rooted to the spot, petrified by the ancient Qiongqi's horrifying pressure. "First come, first served! This immortal peach rightfully belongs to our Great Yu!" General Yu unleashed a fiery spiritual blade that incinerated spiritual power, knocking Jin Caiwei's tiger paw aside. General Yu had thought it through. Emperor Xia was protected by the national destiny and could not be easily slain; they could only wait for him to die of old age. His mission was to stop the immortal peach from reaching the palace. Whether it was destroyed or taken for himself made no difference. Since that was the case, they would play by jianghu rules: whoever had the bigger fist took the prize! Countless rare spiritual irons melted into iron plating within the flames. The countless plates flew forth and adhered to General Yu's body, assembling into a fully armed suit of armor. This was the battle dress he had worn while campaigning in the late Great Qian. Back then, he had commanded thousands of troops and steeds, brimming with high spirits, an ambitious overlord fully qualified to contend for supremacy over the world. Grasping a fire-tipped spear, General Yu charged at Jin Caiwei! "Courting death!" The golden tiger eyes turned frigid. Qiongqi governed slaughter, and her father had been a ruthless terror who had carved out a legendary name through blood in the ancient era. As the old Qiongqi's youngest daughter, how could she possibly be weak? Roar—! The Qiongqi roared and beat her skeletal wings. The sound seemed to echo with the wails of countless wronged souls, shattering space. General Yu trampled across the spatial fragments, charging straight for Jin Caiwei! The white Qiongqi opened her bloody maw and clamped down directly on the spearhead of the fire-tipped spear. She whipped her head around violently, hurling both the spear and General Yu through the air. A tiger tooth mark was actually left upon the fire-tipped spear. Seeing this, General Yu's expression shifted drastically. This spear had accompanied him through countless years of war; even when clashing against Nightmare Supreme and Emperor Yu Wu Yao, it had never suffered a scratch. To think it had been damaged by a single bite from this ancient Qiongqi! With two ancient figures locked in combat, Lu Yang didn't dare linger. Hugging the immortal peach, he turned and bolted. "Holy crap, he's heading this way!" The higher-ups of the Nine Nether Cult and Shining Sun Cult, who had been watching with great relish, were scared out of their wits when they saw Lu Yang rushing in their direction. As Body Integration cultivators, their speed was naturally far superior to Lu Yang's, so to enjoy the spectacle, they had run ahead of him. Now that Lu Yang wanted to break away from the battlefield and rush toward the Imperial Palace, he naturally ran straight toward where they stood. Yet the problem was that while Lu Yang wanted to withdraw, the two half-immortals in the sky had no intention of letting him! No matter how powerful the higher-ups of the two cults were, they dared not spectate a battle between half-immortals at close quarters. General Yu no longer dared clash with Jin Caiwei head-on. He activated his rudimentary Dao fruit, and blackish-red flames flared to life in the palm of his right hand, making Cult Master Chi of the Shining Sun Cult's eyelids twitch. Chi could sense that the flames in General Yu's grasp were hotter than the surface of the sun. That was a temperature potent enough to scald a Body Integration cultivator to death and severely burn even a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator! Meanwhile, a suspended block of ice materialized in the palm of General Yu's left hand. The surrounding temperature plummeted drastically, frost rapidly condensing out of thin air, while the trees below froze into brittle lumps of ice that shattered at the slightest touch. Utmost heat and utmost cold were simultaneously harnessed by General Yu. Taking his body as the dividing line, the two extreme forces did not interfere with one another at all, coexisting in perfect balance. Jin Caiwei recognized General Yu's rudimentary Dao fruit at a single glance. "Mastering twin extremes—it seems you possess a rudimentary Yin-Yang Dao fruit." Though Jin Caiwei had not lived through the great era's contest in antiquity, she had often heard her father recount the events of that time, including the Nine Heavens Immortal's Yin-Yang Dao fruit. "If it were the Nine Heavens Immortal during his half-immortal days, I truly wouldn't be his match. But you... you are far from it!" "Arrogant! Today I shall teach you that the ancient does not surpass the modern!" The blackish-red flames and dark ice hurtled toward Jin Caiwei. The flames spread aggressively, threatening to collapse space itself. The dark ice could not match the extreme chill of the Nine Heavens Immortal that could halt time itself, but it was still frigid enough to slow the flow of time and make one's movements sluggish! Jin Caiwei reached out a tiger paw and pressed down gently. Under the dual compression from above and below, the blackish-red flames and the dark ice were squashed flat into a two-dimensional plane. Viewed head-on, one could see only a thin black line without the slightest trace of height. At first, General Yu thought nothing of it and attempted to redirect the flames and ice. Yet he soon discovered something amiss: he could only shift their position forward, backward, left, and right; he could not move them up or down! It was as though the flames and dark ice had been imprisoned within an invisible flat plane, completely stripped of their vertical dimension. Even the searing heat and piercing chill they emitted could only be felt within that flat plane. The flow of time instantly returned to normal. In truth, anything struck by the rudimentary Plane Dao fruit could only move parallel to the surface, incapable even of stepping over obstacles. Earlier, when everyone had sneaked into the Imperial Palace and flattened themselves yet remained able to roam freely, it had only been because Jin Caiwei had deliberately controlled the effect. "What kind of rudimentary Dao fruit is this?!" Naturally, Jin Caiwei would never deign to answer such a foolish question. Her only reply was a deafening tiger roar. The roar manifested as sound waves rolling forth like terrifying tidal waves, layer upon layer without end. Battered by the relentless sonic barrage, General Yu found himself pinned into that pocket of space, unable to move an inch. Jin Caiwei channeled her rudimentary Plane Dao fruit once more, intending to compress General Yu into a flat plane. Knowing full well he could never allow himself to be struck, General Yu bellowed, "Yin-Yang Transposition!" General Yu instantly swapped places with his own shadow. The shadow was squashed flat into a two-dimensional plane, unable to move up or down, while he himself narrowly escaped the catastrophe, shaken to his core with lingering terror.