Chapter 1188: Hush Money
The Nine-Layers Immortal’s ability wasn’t a true Time Stop. He could only plunge a region into absolute zero. While the Extreme North was frozen in time, the other continents carried on as usual.
On the other hand, the range of the Epoch Immortal’s Time Stop was the whole world.
Seeing the situation turn dire, the Fate Arbiter immediately took to his heels. Every one of my abilities has been countered by the Nine-Layers Immortal. If I don’t run now, then when?
“Oh no, he’s getting away!” Lu Yang shouted. Even if a victor could be determined in an immortal battle, it was seldom enough to decide life and death. One side could always flee, and the other party couldn’t stop them.
But soon, Lu Yang relaxed. Big Senior Sister hasn’t acted yet, but she should have arrived long ago.
With Big Senior Sister around, he definitely can’t escape.
“Who needs Lass Yun’s help? We Five Ancient Immortals can catch one person just fine.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy was self-reliant. If she could get the Four Ancient Immortals to help, she would never call on Yun Zhi.
“Immortal Fairy, are you sure the Nine-Layers Immortal can catch him?”
“It naturally wouldn’t work with just the Nine-Layers Immortal, but this immortal can call for reinforcements.
“Xiao Yangzi, go out and shout a couple of times, ‘The Heaven Mandate Immortal is petty.’ The Heaven Mandate Immortal will show up.
“The Heaven Mandate Immortal was always like this in the past. He could sense anyone cursing him. Later, with Hui Doudou around, he didn’t dare to extend his senses. Now that Hui Doudou is gone, his perception has returned.”
“Immortal Fairy... maybe we should just ask Big Senior Sister to help catch him.” After careful consideration, Lu Yang felt that capturing a Great Qian immortal wasn’t worth risking his own life.
“Aiya, what are you afraid of? With this immortal protecting you, nothing will happen!” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy lifted her chin and patted her chest with confidence.
When the sovereign commands a subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. With a lack of options, Lu Yang left the mental space and muttered quietly, “The Heaven Mandate Immortal is petty...”
Crack.
In the deathly silence of the Extreme North at absolute zero, the sudden thunderclap was especially conspicuous.
Thunder streaked across the void. The Heaven Mandate Immortal appeared before Lu Yang, composed entirely of lightning. His expression was less than friendly.
“Kid, were you the one who called me petty?”
“Uh...” Lu Yang’s forehead beaded with sweat as he stammered. The Heaven Mandate Immortal arrived too quickly. And you don’t call this petty?
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy stepped forward to back Lu Yang up, protecting him like a hen guarding her chick. “This immortal was the one who said it. What about it?”
The Heaven Mandate Immortal’s expression changed several times before settling into an ingratiating smile. “So that’s why I heard someone telling me to be careful. Turns out it was you who called me, Everlasting.”
Only now did the Heaven Mandate Immortal realize something was amiss. This is an absolute zero field. He sensed the pursuit in the sky and recognized the two combatants.
“The Nine-Layers Immortal and the Fate Arbiter?”
He looked at Lu Yang in astonishment. Kid, why are you present at the scene again?
“Go help Nine-Layers first,” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy urged.
The Heaven Mandate Immortal replied, “Alright,” and soared into the sky.
“Heaven Mandate?” The Nine-Layers Immortal wasn’t surprised by the Heaven Mandate Immortal’s appearance. As soon as he heard the thunderclap, it was obvious to him that someone had cursed the Heaven Mandate Immortal, prompting his clone to descend.
“Another one?!” The Fate Arbiter was fleeing for his life, but he involuntarily looked back and nearly cursed out loud.
I couldn’t find the Four Ancient Immortals no matter how I searched before. How have two of them popped out all of a sudden?
Yang Kongtong said there were clues about the Four Ancient Immortals here, but aren’t there too many clues?
“Let's capture him together.”
“Alright!”
The two had known each other since the ancient era. Although they had both suspected the other of having their body taken over by the mastermind and hadn’t contacted each other for three hundred thousand years, with a common enemy before them, they set aside the past and joined forces.
The Heaven Mandate Immortal’s lightning avatar moved with inconceivable speed, intercepting the Fate Arbiter in a flash.
The Fate Arbiter tried to change direction, only to be blocked by the Nine-Layers Immortal.
“Lightning tribulation...” The Heaven Mandate Immortal was about to summon his lightning tribulation out of habit to finish off the Fate Arbiter, but the Nine-Layers Immortal stopped him.
“Don’t use lightning tribulations. His Dao Fruit’s ability is transfiguring inanimate objects and awakening sentience!”
The Heaven Mandate Immortal abandoned the idea without hesitation. With tacit understanding, the two seamlessly coordinated their movements and engaged the Fate Arbiter in close combat.
It was only with his bone armor that the Fate Arbiter had been able to hold his own against the Nine-Layers Immortal just now. With the Heaven Mandate Immortal joining the fray, he had no chance to resist.
Before long, the Nine-Layers Immortal and the Heaven Mandate Immortal returned to Muxue City with the Fate Arbiter in tow. The many trinkets the latter had been wearing had fallen off somewhere during the battle. He now looked like a rooster plucked of its feathers.
The Fate Arbiter couldn’t understand why they had brought him back to Muxue City.
“Settled!” The two tossed the Fate Arbiter to the ground.
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy emerged from within Lu Yang smugly. “How’s that? Now you know how powerful we Five Ancient Immortals are. See what this immortal told you? We didn’t even need Lass Yun to step in to handle this damned Fake[1] Arbiter!”
“It’s Fate Arbiter,” Lu Yang corrected.
The Fate Arbiter stared at the Everlasting Immortal Fairy in shock, unable to make sense of what she meant by “Five Ancient Immortals.”
Wasn’t it Four Ancient Immortals?
“I see. I never expected the Tribulation Mandate Dao Fruit could be used in this way.” A familiar voice came from behind the Heaven Mandate Immortal, startling him so much that he nearly dissolved his lightning clone.
“Big Senior Sister!”
“Well done.” Yun Zhi nodded.
No one knew that Yun Zhi wasn’t praising them for the capture of the Fate Arbiter. She was complimenting Lu Yang for dealing with the matter of Yang Kongtong on his own.
From once needing to call me whenever he faced a Transcendent Tribulation enemy to now being able to take on a half-immortal alone, that is truly remarkable progress.
The Fate Arbiter stared at Yun Zhi in disbelief. He finally understood why the Midheaven Emperor-Lord had retreated after a single step. So this terrifying existence who made even the Emperor-Lord tremble in fear is also in the Extreme North.
“Let’s get things straight first. This immortal captured him!” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy hastily said upon seeing Yun Zhi’s intention to take the Fate Arbiter away.
Lu Yang couldn’t help but comment, saying, “Immortal Fairy... can you really say that you captured him?”
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy replied with righteous confidence, “If this immortal caught him through connections, it counts as this immortal catching him.”
“What is it you want, Senior Immortal? Become the sect leader?” Yun Zhi was also curious why the Everlasting Immortal Fairy was so adamant about this.
If contribution points were awarded for capturing an immortal and then redeemed for a Sect Leader Experience Coupon, the duration would probably be measured in tens of thousands of years.
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy waved her hand. “This immortal doesn’t want to be sect leader. This is hush money.”
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s words left everyone present utterly befuddled.
“Hush money?” Yun Zhi repeated. She then smiled inwardly, roughly guessing the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s meaning. Her power to restore her immortal body at will must remain a secret.
Or rather, is this gratitude money for not telling Little Junior Brother about it, just that she’s too shy to say it directly?
The thought of the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s inner turmoil and awkwardness brought a rare smile to Yun Zhi’s face. She shook her head with a soft chuckle. “Then I’ll accept this hush money.”
“Don’t laugh!” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy was red with embarrassment, stamping her feet in frustration.
The Nine-Layers Immortal, the Heaven Mandate Immortal, and Lu Yang—the Little Junior Brother of Yun Zhi, the Second-in-Command of the Everlasting Lineage, the Pillar Minister of the Great Dou Dynasty, the Young Creed Leader of the Heavenly Court Creed, a disciple of the Taciturn Daoist Priest, and a peerless sword cultivator—all exchanged bewildered glances. None of them could make sense of the situation.
1. To be accurate, the Chinese text here translates as doom or destined to die. The “siming” here uses a “si” different from the “si” in the title of “siming.” The pronunciations are also different, and the “si” here means death. Translating it as “Death Arbiter” would be slightly more precise, but “death” and “fate” sound different in English, so I opted for “fake” instead. ☜