The inner square was completely isolated from the clamor outside the temple.
It was an altogether different world that looked much bigger than the outer square. There were swirling immortal Qi, lush green trees, artificial hills, fountains, streams, ponds, waterside pavilions, buildings constructed of gray bricks and emerald tiles, red walls, and green willows. Obviously, there were also tactical deployments created by immortal sects.
There were many famous mountains, vast seas, great rivers, and big lakes in Hero Country. This session of the Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly was hosted by the ancient Celestial Court. Therefore, many masters of the major immortal sects were present.
At least ten thousand people, including masters in the King Realm and even the Upper King Realm, were in the inner square.
Li Mu couldn’t tell if there were masters in the Deity Realm and the Great Way Realm.
Most of the cultivators who came wore ancient clothes from the different dynasties. The entire scene looked messy but quite interesting.
“Mr. Li, I have too many guests here. Please forgive me for not being able to keep you company all the time.” Athanasia Taoist Child apologized to Li Mu and left in a hurry with several disciples of the Chunyang Clan to entertain other esteemed guests.
The big inner square was like the venue of a fairyland banquet with all kinds of wines, fairy fruits, and delicacies. The fairy maidens from Fengyi Palace of the ancient Celestial Court walked back and forth with trays in their hands to serve fruits, wines, and nectar to the guests.
“This event is like a wine party in the mortal world.”
Li Mu walked around the square, but he didn’t find anyone that he knew.
“Li Mu, some of my old friends are here. I want to meet them,” Cloud Light Saintess said.
Li Mu directly rejected her request. “You are just a maidservant. Your job is to serve me. Don’t think about things that are not in line with your ident.i.ty. Just stay by my side.”
“You...” Cloud Light Saintess was thoroughly exasperated.
Li Mu said, “Try to make it look real if you want to put on a show. Of course, you may go ahead if you want to find your accomplices and tell them about Randeng Temple, but you have to think before you leap. I might hand you over to my master and let him interrogate you with the cruelest torture method in the world.”
Cloud Light Saintess shuddered as the old faker’s wretched face popped into her head. She immediately stopped talking and followed Li Mu obediently.
The stupid Husky set himself free and greedily gobbled up whatever food and wine he saw.
“Li Mu, this place is simply like a paradise in the mortal world. I really want to live here for the rest of my life... Wow, good wine.” Obviously, he was too happy to think of his home.
Li Mu was rendered speechless.
“Hopefully, the people of Chunyang Clan won’t cry at the end of the banquet. I’m afraid this dog will eat more than half of the desserts, wines, and fruits they’ve prepared.”
After strolling in the square for a while, Li Mu sat down at a waterside pavilion by a pond.
There were several men and women talking and laughing at the waterside pavilion. When they saw him coming in, they all left in a hurry. He stood by the railing, followed by Cloud Light Saintess. The stupid Husky was nowhere to be found.
He didn’t mind how those people reacted.
Many people recognized him when he walked out in the square.
This session of Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly was centered on the ancient Celestial Court. Li Mu offended the Thunder Clan, the Ghost Clan, the Mist Clan, and the Cloud Clan in the battle behind the Gate of the Ancestors. Later, he provoked the people of the Rain Clan when he was in s.h.i.+yu Manor. Up till now, he had offended almost all the people of the six major Divine Clans. It was normal that those people treated him like a pariah.
To put it bluntly, he was a plague in their eyes.
“Why did they invite me to the Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly?”
Li Mu had a feeling that the purpose of both the old faker and six major Divine Clans in asking him to attend the event was not that simple.
“Li Mu, you’re just a mortal. How dare you ask Saintess of the Cloud Clan to be your maidservant? That’s ridiculous! Release her right away. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to leave this square today.” A provocative voice rang out. The speaker was the little fairy with big eyes who took Cloud Light Saintess’s hand and stepped up for her in the outer square a few moments ago.
She came with some young friends and helpers.
“Li Mu, release her immediately. Otherwise, her boyfriend would tear you into pieces,” the little fairy shouted in a loud voice.
Li Mu was annoyed by her shouts. He said without even looking back, “Tell your friends to go away. I am in a bad mood now. Don’t bother me.”
Cloud Light Saintess’s eyes flashed with anger. She took a deep breath, turned around, walked over to the little fairy and the others and said something to them. It took her quite a while to persuade them to leave.
Li Mu said, “Well, you win. You have 30 minutes to say hi to your friends, make things clear to them and tell them not to bother me again. Otherwise, I will unleash my dog and let him eat them alive.”
“Got it.”
Cloud Light Saintess gritted her teeth and left.
Li Mu rested his chin on his hands and leaned against the railing of the waterside pavilion, feeling bored. He yawned. When he was about to get up, he suddenly saw someone sitting under a shed on the opposite bank of the pond in the distance.
“w.a.n.g Yanyi?”
He could tell at a glance that the lanky, handsome young man in an ordinary black swordsman outfit, sitting upright under that shed was w.a.n.g Yanyi, the G.o.d of Sword from the Ziwei Star Zone, who had shocked the people of various sects and clans in famous mountains and had been pursued by the Rain Clan—one of the six major Divine Clans of the Celestial Court these days.
“Why does he dare to show up at the Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly?”
Li Mu remembered that he saw many masters of the Rain Clan just now.
At the same time, w.a.n.g Yanyi turned around and looked in Li Mu’s direction, as if he had sensed Li Mu’s gaze.
When he saw Li Mu, he didn’t look surprised at all. On the contrary, he looked incredibly calm. As a greeting, he nodded his head slightly at Li Mu from the distance.
“He’s really come to Earth.”
Previously, when Li Mu heard w.a.n.g s.h.i.+wu and the people of the Rain Clan talking about w.a.n.g Yanyi, he wondered if there was some misunderstanding and thought that the “w.a.n.g Yanyi” that they talked about was not the “w.a.n.g Yanyi” he knew. Now, however... it seemed that it was the same person.
With a flick of his mind, Li Mu appeared in front of w.a.n.g Yanyi in a flash.
“Long time no see, Mr. w.a.n.g.” Li Mu looked at w.a.n.g Yanyi’s face, which was somewhat familiar to him, and asked him directly, “How did you come to Earth?”
w.a.n.g Yanyi glanced at Li Mu and said with a perfectly calm look on his handsome face, “I came to Earth the same way you did.”
“But...” Li Mu didn’t know what to say.
“Does he know about the existence of ‘the Path’?”
“Did you kill the successor of the Rain Clan?” He asked another question.
w.a.n.g Yanyi took two gla.s.ses of wine from a fairy maiden pa.s.sing by, handed one to Li Mu, and said, “Yeah.”
“Why did you mess with the people of the Rain Clan?” Li Mu asked.
w.a.n.g Yanyi thought for a moment and then said in a serious tone, “If I say that I killed an original candidate of the Celestial Court to create a vacancy for you to enter the battlefield behind the Gate of the Ancestors, you won’t believe it, will you?”
Li Mu was speechless.
“I’d never believe that!
“We are neither relatives nor friends. We don’t have such a tacit understanding, do we?”
“Okay.” w.a.n.g Yanyi took a sip of the fine wine and continued. “I killed him just because I don’t like him. Is this reason more credible?”
Li Mu was at a loss for words.
When he was on White Earth, he already knew that w.a.n.g Yanyi was a rather eccentric person. However, he never expected that this G.o.d of Sword would be that eccentric. He wondered if the latter was just kidding.
“You’ve killed the future leader of the Rain Clan, but you still dare to show up here. Has the grudge been settled?” Li Mu asked.
He once fought alongside w.a.n.g Yanyi and thought highly of the latter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told the people of the Rain Clan that he was the latter’s friend. Now, he was a little worried about the latter’s safety.
w.a.n.g Yanyi wanted to say something.
Suddenly...
“Humph! w.a.n.g Yanyi, you said that you killed him just because you don’t like him, didn’t you? You are such a braggart. The successors of the Rain Clan never shed blood for nothing. You came here alive, but we’re not going to let you get out of here alive.”
More than ten young masters of the Rain Clan stormed over and surrounded the shed.
w.a.n.g Yanyi shrugged at Li Mu and said, “The answer is very obvious.”
“w.a.n.g Yanyi, don’t be so arrogant. Lin Yuhan, my senior fellow apprentice, will take part in the fight in the Immortal-slaying Ring today. You won’t escape the calamity this time. We’re going to kill you and offer your head as a sacrifice to our young master.”
The young men of the Rain Clan couldn’t wait to skin w.a.n.g Yanyi alive, but they didn’t take any action yet. They glared at him constantly for fear that he would escape.
“What’s going on?” Li Mu glanced at w.a.n.g Yanyi.
Just when w.a.n.g Yanyi was about to say something...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three thunderclaps suddenly rumbled in the sky. The sound was clear and full of majesty and n.o.bility. It reverberated throughout the square and in everyone’s ears.
In an instant, it drowned out all the noises in the square.
An Eight Trigrams plate flew over with Yin and Yang Qi swirling around it.
A white-haired Taoist priest wearing a black and white Taoist robe with Tai Chi Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams pattern stood on the plate.
The Taoist priest had snow-white hair and silver beard and eyebrows. Judging from his beard and hair, he was at least one hundred years old. However, he looked like an 18-year-old man and had bright eyes which shone like stars, eyebrows like long swords, an elegantly hooked nose and ruddy cheeks. Even though his hair was white, he had the refined and elegant demeanor of a peerless handsome man and exuded a strange charm, which made people feel ashamed of their own looks at the sight of him.
“Dear friends, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Chun Yang, a Taoist priest. I feel honored to a.s.sist the major clans and sects of the Celestial Court to host this session of Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly here. It’s the first big gathering after the opening of the chaotic battlefield. Thank you all for coming such a long way here to attend this grand event.”
The white-haired Taoist priest named Chun Yang was the founder of the Chunyang Clan—an immortal sect of the Celestial Court. He had an exalted status.
When he spoke, all the pract.i.tioners in the square quieted down and listened to him carefully.
Li Mu looked up and listened. He knew that the purpose of today’s event was about to be revealed.
“Dear friends, there is only one purpose for today’s gathering, which is to determine the candidates who can enter the ancient site of the immortal palace. I believe that all of you know about the matter of the immortal palace. Those who have been invited to today’s banquet are all qualified to enter the immortal palace to search for treasures. The Celestial Court has four fragments of the keys to the immortal palace, and the six major clans of extraterritorial devils have two fragments. The two sides have conducted friendly negotiations, but no agreement has been reached. Therefore, we have decided to hold a session of Immortal-Devil a.s.sembly and open the Immortal-slaying Ring of the Celestial Court to settle this matter and determine the final candidates by organizing a fighting compet.i.tion.”
The words of the founder of the Chunyang Clan slammed into the hearts of all the attendees to the event.
The eyes of many pract.i.tioners of immortal sects lit up, and even their breathing became heavy.