Yuan’s Ascension

Chapter 1146: The Immortal Court’s Deadly Scheme (2)

In the vast cosmic sea, not far from the River of Universes, there stood a majestic and boundless Saint Realm–the Xiao Yao Saint Realm.

This was the Saint Realm established by the Immortal Court’s True Saint Xiao Yao.

In the core region of the Saint Realm, within a recently created world, towering projections emanating eternal Dao resonance appeared one after another. Though they were virtual incarnations, they still exuded immense power.

“Jiu Fang has arrived.”

“Xiao Yao, this operation is led by you, yet you’re the last to arrive.” One by one, the great beings spoke up, clearly all of equal status.

“Everyone.” True Saint Xiao Yao stood at the edge of the world, his aura the most powerful, evidently the only one whose true body was present.

True Saint Xiao Yao’s gaze swept across the figures in the world. There were exactly thirteen figures including himself, representing thirteen True Saints.

“It has been two hundred thousand years since the Immortal Eminence ordered us to join forces against Wu Yuan of the Eldritch Court,” True Saint Xiao Yao said slowly. “Over these years, we have been searching the cosmic sea and spying on his movements in the Ling Jiang Universe, but to no avail.”

“Wu Yuan has occasionally taken action within the universe, yet the strength he has revealed is astounding. He has reached the peak third-stage Overlord at least, and may even have reached fourth-stage Overlord,” True Saint Xiao Yao continued.

The dozen or so Immortal Court True Saints listened. None objected.

Cultivating to fourth-stage Overlord in just hundreds of thousands of years? It sounded incredible, but considering the Immortal Eminence’s assessment of Wu Yuan and the many legendary feats he had accomplished. It was indeed possible!

“We cannot delay any longer,” True Saint Xiao Yao continued. “This opening of the Xuanhuang Cosmiris is an excellent opportunity. If we wait for the next one, that will be billions of years later. By then, he may have already completed Dao Enlightenment, becoming a true Eternal.

“How long has Wu Yuan been cultivating? Just hundreds of thousands of years! So I believe he will certainly participate in the battle. He won’t miss this chance.”

“Xiao Yao, just tell us directly, what do you want to do?” A True Saint spoke up.

“Yes.”

“Just tell us the plan.” The other True Saints chimed in.

“We could attempt a normal encirclement and dispatch Saints. However, the Saints under our command won’t be able to enter the Ling Jiang Universe. They’ll be strongly suppressed.” True Saint Xiao Yao said.

The many True Saints nodded in agreement.

“The Xuanhuang Cosmiris is located within the River of Universes, a place where we True Saints can hardly set foot,” Immortal Reverend Xiao Yao said. “But the Saints under our command are able to enter the River of Universes as long as they were born within the last nine samsara cycles of heaven and earth. The suppression they face in their home universes is far weaker than in foreign universes, and they can still exert Perennial or even Peak Perennial strength.”

Hearing this, the eyes of the many True Saints in the world lit up, already grasping Immortal Reverend Xiao Yao’s plan.

Saints could enter the River of Universes relatively easily. On the contrary, True Saints faced stronger suppression.

“I’ve done the calculations,” Immortal Reverend Xiao Yao said. “Apart from the Saints needed for cover, and including support from other True Saints, we can dispatch a total of twenty-three Saints.”

“Saint Zhu Guang under Daoist Jiu Fang’s command is a Full Saint. Once his true body descends, he can likely unleash Threshold Saint-level power even within the River of Universes.”

Saints, or those at the Dao Pioneer stage, were divided into four levels: Threshold, Standard, Peak, and Full.

Threshold Saints were the weakest, mostly Saints who had just broken through. There were very few Saints at this level, and most were in seclusion.

Standard Saints were the most numerous, such as Saint Hong Yun, Saint Zuo Zai, Saint Ye Xing, and so on.

Peak Saints were much rarer and considered extremely powerful among Saints. These Saints had reached the limit of the Saint stage and had the potential to advance to the True Saint level, like Saint Zhu Mu and Saint Yan He.

Full Saints often didn’t differ much from Peak Saints in terms of cultivation level, but their self-created secret arts and ultimate techniques were usually stronger. They also possessed high-grade Xiantian artifacts, making their combat power exceptionally formidable, like Saint Shen Shui.

Full Saints were so rare that even one could hardly be produced per Saint Realm. They were absolutely the most powerful generals under a True Saint’s command.

“Saint Zhu Guang will participate in battle?”

“That does give us some confidence.” The eyes of the dozen or so True Saints lit up.

With their vast knowledge and access to intelligence, they could quickly deduce which twenty-three Saints True Saint Xiao Yao was referring to after a brief search. Nearly all of them were Peak Saint powerhouses.

Such a force might not be considered too strong in the cosmic sea, but within the River of Universes, its significance was completely different.

“Xiao Yao, are you suggesting we gather so many Saints to ambush Wu Yuan?” a True Saint in black robes said slowly. “Are you confident?”

“The location of the Xuanhuang Cosmiris has been confirmed,” True Saint Xiao Yao said. “While there are multiple routes from the Ling Jiang Universe, the final stretch is fixed. As long as we conceal the workings of destiny and have the Saints arrive early to set up an ambush, it will suffice.

“If Wu Yuan participates, he will certainly send his true self. At that time, with dozens of Saints unleashing attacks, even if he has the strength of the Heavenly Imperator in his younger days and can create a Legend of the River, he will still perish.” True Saint Xiao Yao said with considerable confidence.

The dozen or so True Saints pondered this.

A sempiternal lifeform who could slay eternal beings was indeed a Legend of the River. But they only needed to kill one or two Saints. Dozens of Saints joining forces? Even suppressed by the universe’s essence, it was not something a single sempiternal lifeform could withstand. Escaping would be difficult.

“I understand that there are many risks,” True Saint Xiao Yao said solemnly. “For example, Wu Yuan may be hiding formidable strength, and the Eldritch Court may send powerful Saints to protect him.

“But this is already the best opportunity we’ll get. Twenty-three Saints is the limit of the force we can dispatch. The other Saints must all take various actions to mislead the Eldritch Court and conceal our traces.”

The Immortal Court commanded many Saints, but there were only a few dozen Saints under the thirteen True Saints who could enter the River of Universes. Among them, a majority had already used up their opportunities.

A Saint could return to the River of Universes twice at most within one samsara cycle of heaven and earth.

True Saint Xiao Yao had managed to mobilize these twenty-three Saints after reporting his proposal to the Dao Zenithels of the Immortal Court and requesting some from other True Saints of the Immortal Court.

Of course, this was not all of them. However, this samsara cycle of heaven and earth was still long, and many True Saints needed to prepare for future openings of the Xuanhuang Cosmiris. They couldn’t be left without anyone to dispatch when the time came. This involved their own interests.

Ultimately, just as the Eldritch Court was divided into many factions, the internal politics of the Immortal Court were even more complex, and many True Saints had conflicts with each other.

In the eyes of many Immortal Court True Saints, Wu Yuan of the Ling Jiang Universe was indeed a threat and truly had the potential to become a Dao Zenithel in the future. But even if the Eldritch Court gained another Dao Zenithel, would it cause the entire Immortal Court to collapse? What a joke! How could it compare to their own interests?

Moreover, the performance displayed by Wu Yuan’s body refiner self so far was inferior to Devil Emperor Xia and Ming Jian. Therefore, within the Immortal Court, those truly eager to eliminate Wu Yuan were just these thirteen True Saints led by True Saint Xiao Yao.

In fact, being able to dispatch over twenty Saints into the River of Universes was already a grand feat. Setting up such a deadly trap for a single sempiternal lifeform was rare even in the entire history of the Immortal Court.

“This time, we have hope of killing his true self,” True Saint Xiao Yao said in a low voice. “Once we kill his true self, Immortal Eminence Jiu You will take action, swiftly erasing his past traces, preventing even the Eldritch Court from reversing spacetime to resurrect him.”

The many True Saints exchanged glances.

Immortal Eminence Jiu You? That was an extremely powerful Dao Zenithel within the Immortal Court, with extraordinary attainments in Spacetime.

“Very well.”

“Then let’s execute the plan.”

“With twenty-three Saints, how can we fail to slay a single sempiternal lifeform?”

“Even if Wu Yuan has fourth-stage Overlord strength, as long as he falls into the ambush, he will perish instantly.” The thirteen True Saints reached a consensus.

Then, Saints from various Immortal Court Saint Realms received orders – to send their true bodies into the River of Universes dimension.

Under normal circumstances, the Eldritch Court and Immortal Court constantly monitored each other. Each descent of an eternal being would lead to rejection from the River of Universes, causing ripples of change in the universe’s essence. Thus, the large-scale descent of eternal powerhouses could be easily detected by divining future destiny.

But now, the Xuanhuang Cosmiris was about to open. Not only were Immortal Court Saints descending, but Saints from the Eldritch Court, Abyss Alliance, and even the Nine Peaks and Nine Saints Alliance were descending in succession. The Immortal Court’s actions attracted much less attention.

…

Time flowed like water.

Tens of thousands of years passed, and the entire River of Universes remained calm as the opening of the Xuanhuang Cosmiris drew ever closer.

The Xuanhuang Cosmiris would open in just one thousand years at most, or even centuries.

Within the Taiyuan Saint Realm.

“True Saint,” Wu Yuan’s qi refiner self emerged from the meditation chamber to greet True Saint Taiyuan.

“Preparing to return to the River of Universes, I presume?” True Saint Taiyuan asked with a smile.

Wu Yuan nodded. “Indeed. The Xuanhuang Cosmiris is about to open. I must return and reunite with my body refiner self.

“This time, I plan to have Saint Dong Lin return to the River of Universes. You two shall travel together,” True Saint Taiyuan declared.

“Saint Dong Lin?” Wu Yuan’s brow furrowed in surprise.

“Few Saints from the Blood Dream Alliance are able to return to the River of Universes dimension. Thus, each Saint must shoulder some responsibility,” True Saint Taiyuan explained with a gentle smile. “This time, our Blood Dream Alliance is dispatching two Saints, one of whom is Saint Dong Lin. He will escort over a thousand Overlords, tasked with sending them into the Xuanhuang Cosmiris.”

Wu Yuan nodded slightly.

Over a thousand Overlords? This implied that the Blood Dream Alliance was dispatching more than two thousand Overlords in total. In terms of sheer numbers, the naturally-born eternal lifeforms indeed far surpassed the universe-born lifeforms, by more than a hundredfold.

“Very well. Then we shall depart together,” Wu Yuan agreed with a nod.

Shortly after, Saint Dong Lin arrived. Though also under True Saint Taiyuan’s command, he had not previously met Wu Yuan.

“Overlord Ming Jian, I’ve long admired your reputation,” Saint Dong Lin, a Dao Enlightened beast cultivator, had taken human form but remained covered in gleaming, golden scales that were almost blindingly bright.

He conducted himself with great courtesy.

“Saint Dong Lin, your name suits you well. We shall chat more on our journey,” Wu Yuan replied with a smile. “Let us make haste and depart.”

Soon after, the two stepped onto the Saint Realm passage back to the Ling Jiang Universe, a journey that would take a century to complete.

…

In the Ling Jiang Universe, within the Greenridge Macrocosm.

“Overlord Wu Yuan, the Immortal Court may ambush you during this opening of the Xuanhuang Cosmiris.” A message, transmitted from the Eldritch Court Voidrealm, reached Wu Yuan’s body refiner self.

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