Chương 357: Gathering of deities

All of the peak Imperials in the serene heaven mystic realm were harbouring doubts and confusion in their hearts due to several reasons. One of which was that the ominous aura surrounding the serene heaven inheritance ground was slowly fading away, causing the extreme sense of danger to strangely vanish. As for the gigantic palace itself, it had crumbled into nothing, leaving a massive space in the center of the realm. The inheritance ground had strangely vanished, which startled everyone in the realm.

For such a thing could happen, it could only mean one thing. The inheritance had been cleared and the treasures inside were gone. As far as the disciples could tell, only the top ten outer peak disciples had entered the inheritance ground. No one else had the guts to even approach too close due to the terrifying ominous aura that could freeze the heart. In their understanding, it could only be that one of the ten deities or even all of them had cleared the inheritance and taken the treasures.

This naturally filled the hearts of the disciples with envy. But something befuddled them even more. After the inheritance ground disappeared, the ten deities returned to the realm, but their expressions could only be described as scary to whoever saw them. Scarlet eyes that seemed to contain madness terrified all of the peak Imperials who were unlucky to run into any of the ten deities. Mere minutes after the inheritance ground crumbled, a shocking news reached all of the peak Imperials in the realm.

The enraged deities had all given out almost the exact same orders to dozens of Peak imperials. The order was extremely simple and easy to understand, yet at the same time it was absolutely impossible to comprehend to the disciples. Capture Long Feng, dead or alive. That was the simple order. Everything known about Long Feng was spread, letting all of the disciples to learn who he was.

From his cultivation to his Dao and also what was known of his background, nothing was left out except the fact that he had managed to take the treasure of the inheritance from right under the noses of the ten deities. Everything about him including his face and countenance was shared to nearly every corner of the inheritance ground. The confusion of the disciples could be imagined.

Suddenly receiving this strange order out of the blue to capture a mere rank two Imperial dead or alive would certainly pique their curiosity. Most shocking was that the deities had strictly warned them all against moving alone. They were to move in groups of two or three to capture Long Feng using any means possible. The Peak imperials weren't stupid. Nothing was said about the actual reason they were to capture this person, but many of them could deduce some things from everything that had occured.

The inheritance ground was conquered after over two hundred years. The deities should've been the most ecstatic considering that only they could've possibly achieved such a feat. But obviously, that wasn't happening. Instead, the exact opposite of that was occuring. Nine of the ten deities rallied dozens of Peak imperials and sent them out in different directions to find this Long Feng.

They could all sense that there was a hidden undercurrent which they weren't aware of, but in the face of great rewards, everything else was bullshit. The rewards offered to whoever found Long Feng was a true essence pill as well as a low grade mortal armament. If someone could go ahead and kill Long Feng while preserving his corpse, then the reward would double. And the highest reward would be offered to whoever captured him alive.

Even just the first reward was enough to drive all peak Imperials out of their minds. The mysteries were thrown to the back of their heads and they engaged in a furious search that encompassed the entire mystic realm in a bid to find Long Feng and even capture him alive. While the search was ongoing and the mystic realm was slowly getting turned upside down, the cause of it all, the deities were gathered together in the place where the inheritance palace once stood.

Of the ten deities, only eight of them were present. As for the two missing deities, they were Yang Qian as well as the strongest among them, Qiu Yushi. They all floated above the ground in silence with a thick murderous aura clouding the space around them. They stared at the empty land where the inheritance palace once stood for a while with different thoughts swirling through their minds.

Minutes later, Zhou Zheng suddenly clenched his fist and gritted his teeth forcefully, no longer able to suppress his pent up rage and frustration. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"That bastard! For the first time in my life, I've been made such a fool out of! And by a mere Imperial at that! If I get my hands on that brat…" His clenched fists shook slightly while he breathed heavily with violent rage. Zhou Zheng could easily be considered as the most hot tempered deity among the ten deities, which was surprising considering that Bai Zijun was a flame cultivator. Usually, those who comprehended the flame Dao tended to be far less rational and very hot tempered compared to others.

"Everyone currently within this realm is hunting him down, and they're all elites among peak Imperials. While the mystic realm is large, there's nowhere for him to hide. We'll find him." Situ Hong narrowed his eyes.

"He's just an Imperial realm brat. For all we know, he could be dead already. That is a Dao heart we're talking about. Even a peak Imperial would die nine out of ten times if they dared to approach it." Everyone instantly froze for a few seconds, realizing that Situ Hong's words made perfect sense. They had completely disregarded this one crucial point.

"He was already on death's bed when we left him. Even if we mistakenly helped him to weaken the heart, the sheer amount of energy it contains would reduce him to ashes. Let's not forget, this is true essence we're talking about." Situ Hong continued with a snort. A heavy silence descended between them for a few seconds.

"Well if that's the case, doesn't that mean this is a waste of time? If he dies, does the Dao heart gets destroyed as well?" One of them questioned in frustration. None of them could accept this fact; that an opportunity as amazing as a Dao heart had just escaped their grasp forever.

"I'm not sure. While I'm very certain that he is dead, the same can't be said about the Dao heart. Perhaps it could still survive. None of us know exactly what would happen." Listening to their discussions, Bai Zijun finally spoke up,"If he is dead, I want to see his corpse. We might also find our answer there. Just the same way, he will certainly die even if the mystic realm closes." A cold glow flashed in his pupils.

"From the moment he took the Dao heart, he signed his death. Not even the rules can protect him this time." Situ Hong suddenly grinned and glanced at Bai Zijun.

"Come to think of it, you must be the most enraged one among us. You already lost your dear brother to him. Now, he managed to acquire the Dao heart which your uncle had so carefully planned for you to get. That must be extremely frustrating, isn't it?" A thin smile containing mockery danced on his lips. Bai Zijun's expression didn't change. There was no sign of fury on his face after hearing Situ Hong's words, and he didn't say a single word in response.

Seeing that his taunts weren't working, Situ Hong snorted and looked away.

"Where are Yang Qian and Qiu Yushi? Don't tell me they've decided to give up on the Dao heart altogether?"

"Qiu Yushi being absent isn't surprising. He wouldn't lower his pride to join forces with us for a mere Imperial. He's probably scouring the realm by himself. As for Yang Qian…" Zhou Zheng paused briefly with a confused frown.

"He really decided to quit."

"What?" Situ Hong's smirk froze on his face. His earlier words were simply spoken randomly. He didn't actually expect anyone to back out of this. He wasn't the only shocked one. All of the deities were startled by Zhou Zheng's words and couldn't help but exchange glances.

"Did he mention a reason?" Situ Hong questioned. Zhou Zheng shook his head slightly.

"He didn't clearly state why… he merely said he didn't want to put his life at risk." Situ Hong snorted in disdain.

"To think we're mentioned together with that trash! He's terrified to face a little brat at the Imperial realm? Does he still have the face to call himself a deity?"

"Whatever his reason was, it no longer matters. We have a new problem to deal with right now." Bai Zijun didn't dwell on Yang Qian's strange choice. He quickly sorted out his emotions and spoke calmly.

"Qiu Yushi is already searching for the Dao heart. Considering it still exists, then we can't let him find it before we do."

"That's right. Although I hate to admit it, that bastard is too strong. We must find it before he does, otherwise forcing him to share with us will be extremely hard." Situ Hong responded in a rare moment of calmness without arguing with Bai Zijun.

"As for that trash Yang Qian, I'll deal with him personally once we leave here. He won't drag our names down the mud!"

"We'll need to spread out to hasten the search. Time is no longer on our side. If the Dao heart leaves this realm, then even some Inner disciples would join in the fray to get their hands on it." Naturally, spreading out was the exact issue. None of them trusted each other, not even a little bit. If perhaps one of them found the Dao heart and decided to refine it secretly, then the others would all suffer a huge loss. But as it currently stood, spreading out was the best choice.

As stated, the moment the Dao heart left this realm, then not even the ten deities would have any share of it any longer. Even peak deities wouldn't easily give up the chance to get the Dao heart and understand some mysteries of the Dao realm. In the end, the Dao realm was the end point of both imperials and deities. Minutes later, the eight deities came to a mutual decision and flew away in different directions, keenly searching for any trace of the Dao heart while harbouring differing thoughts in their minds.

Zhou Zheng flew through the air at a great speed, leaving a trail of energy behind him. The dense aura of true essence surrounding him kept all threats away, terrifying even ordinary deity level beasts. As he rushed forward, he sucked his teeth and spat out coldly with cold glimmers in his eyes.

"Fools! Who said anything about sharing the Dao heart? It's good that no one among them is aware of the fact that I've fixed the flaw in my cultivation manual. Right now, my strength is nearly on par with Bai Zijun and Situ Hong! I just need a little more time to perfect it and reach their level. My only concern right now is Qiu Yushi… the last time I checked, he was able to fight Bai Zijun and Situ Hong simultaneously without losing ground. That terrifying bastard!"

He rubbed his eyes and sighed with a pondering look.

"How great would it be if I ran into the Dao heart… refining it would push my cultivation to the mid deity realm. My true essence will become much stronger and I will have a significant understanding of the Dao realm. My cultivation manual will be fully perfected, leaving no flaws for me. That would be enough to easily defeat Qiu Yushi. Hell, even if they all teamed up against me, I could still beat them! My name would spread through the region and I'll become strong even in the Inner peak!"

Imagining this scene caused a dreamy look to appear on his face for a few seconds.

"But… where the hell did that brat get sent to? Even after he died, he had to make things so difficult. No one else can get that heart before I do! It's my destiny! I must find it before everyone else…" He continued chattering to himself while he flew around aimlessly, hoping to be blessed by his ancestors and get lucky. Nearly an hour later, he suddenly sensed an extremely powerful fluctuation of energy some distance away from him.

The fluctuation only lasted for a brief moment, but Zhou Zheng's eyelids twitched at the intensity.

"This… it's so powerful, it has to be Bai Zijun or Situ Hong!" He paused midair with a slight frown.

"But why would any of them attack? Could it be…" his heartbeat sped up dramatically.

"Could it be one of them found the Dao heart? In that case, it must be in that direction!" He didn't even have the time to think it through. His blood rushed to his head and he rushed towards the direction of the fluctuation, exploding with much greater speed than before.

"Bastards! Whoever it is… they must be trying to refine the Dao heart for themselves! Luckily, I am nearby. Hmph! No one is taking my rightful destiny away from me!" With his speed, it only took minutes for him to reach the exact location where he sensed the energy fluctuation from. He slowly came to a halt and looked around with a confused frown. Looking down from the sky, he could see three broken corpses on the floor.

The residual energy in the corpses told him that they were peak Imperials before they died, and they had fallen from the sky, resulting in their crumbled corpses. Naturally, peak Imperials wouldn't have suddenly lost their balance and fell from the sky to their deaths. It needn't be mentioned that someone or something was the cause of their deaths. To kill three peak Imperials in that extremely brief moment… Zhou Zheng was convinced that either Bai Zijun or Situ Hong was here.

"Hmph! Which way could they have gone? They shouldn't be too far away." He began to look around while spreading his perception, trying to deduce the right way.

"What a coincidence. We meet again, Zhou Zheng…" Zhou Zheng's hairs began to rise as he jumped backwards at the sudden appearance of an unknown voice. Looking around, he spotted the source of the voice… a young man seated cross legged in the air not far from him. As for how exactly he wasn't able to sense the youth's presence untill he spoke, Zhou Zheng didn't have the ability to think about that. The moment he saw the face of the youth, his mind went blank for a second before he was overwhelmed by excitement.

How could he not recognize this face? Right now, only one person could cause such emotions within any of the deities. And that person was naturally the cause of this roiling storm… Long Feng!