The Five Venom Emperor's words left many of the negotiators from the various factions scratching their heads.
"Emperor Mangya, can the Five Venom Emperor's words really be taken seriously?" Members of the Ancient Kingdom Alliance of the Barren Domain gathered for a discussion after the meeting, all wearing doubtful expressions.
"Those from the Self School's Shennong line are either lunatics, madmen, or just plain freaks. Maybe this is just another delay tactic."
"Delaying would actually benefit the Red Star Empire more," someone speculated. "Using the chaos in Suyue Barren Domain as an excuse, they've made all sides pitch in early, collected a bunch of resources, and also got everyone to help hold the defense line against the demon race…"
"Maybe they can't drag it out anymore, and some real progress needs to be made," Emperor Mangya said. "Either way, let's start selecting a few geniuses from each country to get ready."
"Primordial Hill, Reincarnation Hall, Ancient Kingdom Alliance of the Barren Domain, Scholarly City, and the Origin Heaven Palace negotiation group—they've been in the Primordial World for at least two hundred years now."
"Big and small meetings have been held countless times, most of them were just empty talk in the void. Not a single concrete detail was finalized."
"Now, finally, there's been some real breakthrough in the talks—it hasn't been easy."
Among the scholars, a few Reincarnation Realm scholars were having a casual chat inside their Mental Hall.
"It really hasn't," said a cold-faced man with a black three-leaf clover imprint between his brows. He tapped the table lightly. "Without a Divine Realm figure leading, Scholarly City can only sit and watch these idiots argue over scraps."
"Our Scholarly City should have a Divine Realm of our own."
"Scholar Bowie, mind your words," an elder scholar interrupted Bowie's rant. "That's not the topic right now—we're talking about Du Yun."
"Du Yun, you heard the meeting earlier—you're about to represent our Origin Heaven Palace in the battle!" Emperor Tianwu was personally instructing Du Yun.
"If you can defeat all the opponents, we'll get the upper hand in this exploration and gain more benefits."
"As long as you win, on paper, everyone has to follow this distribution plan. Even if there's disagreement and struggle afterward, our Origin Heaven Palace will have the moral high ground—we'll be able to do as we please."
"Don't worry, Emperor. I'll give it everything I've got," Du Yun replied calmly.
"You better give it your all. This match won't be an easy win for you!" Emperor Tianwu laughed. "I'm afraid they'll play tricks with the rules in the follow-up. Like claiming you're a Qi Cultivator, so you can't use Dao Soldiers. Or maybe they'll change the battlefield to somewhere without a Sun Star—basically, there'll be plenty of ways they'll try to target you."
"I understand," Du Yun said steadily. "We Qi Cultivators don't rely on external tools anyway. As long as I'm allowed to step up, below the Reincarnation Realm—no one can beat me."
That sounded like pure bragging, but neither Emperor Tianwu nor anyone else doubted it.
After all, Du Yun had broken multiple records held by Qi Cultivators.
If he wanted to, Du Yun could break through to the Life-and-Death Dao Domain Realm right now.
Once he did, with nearly eighty thousand years of accumulation, he'd immediately become the strongest Life-and-Death Dao Domain expert.
He even had the qualifications to enter the Reincarnation Realm.
"Du Yun, why don't you break through during this match?" Emperor Tianwu suggested. "Make it your debut as a Dao Domain Realm cultivator."
"After nearly eighty thousand years of digging into your physical body's potential, even if you're cultivating the Void Ancestor Origin Chapter, you've probably reached your limit."
"Yes," Du Yun nodded, accepting the advice.
It was said that back in the Origin Realm, the Void Ancestor had excavated exactly 1,345,600 physical body treasures.
So when the Void Ancestor entered the Dao Domain Realm, he possessed a Thousand Extremity Golden Body. And upon reaching the Reincarnation Realm, he had the Ten-Thousand Extremity Golden Body.
In contrast, regular Dao Domain experts at that stage usually only had around ten extremities in their golden bodies.
As for Du Yun, during his time in the Origin Realm, his effective body refinements had already surpassed 1,000,008 times.
He was the fifth person in the history of the Xuanling Star Domain to surpass one billion effective tempering cycles.
Of course, the Void Ancestor was a divine anomaly and couldn't be replicated.
That's why even the strongest Qi Cultivators in the Xuanling Star Domain could never match the Void Ancestor's accumulation in the Origin Realm.
At most, a Dao Domain cultivator could reach nine hundred ninety-nine extremities in their golden body.
For the past thousand years, Du Yun hadn't added a single effective new tempering cycle.
The palace lord had already said he'd hit the limit—staying in the Origin Realm longer wouldn't make him stronger.
For a top genius like Du Yun from Origin Heaven Palace, this breakthrough to the Dao Domain Realm was a major event. Choosing to do it during the upcoming battle was perfect timing.
After the meeting ended, Tao Yangzi followed his master, Emperor Hongshan, wandering through Thousand Star City.
"Master, what's going on with the Primordial World? Do they really think You Beixuan can take on Du Yun?"
"No idea," Emperor Hongshan replied. "He probably can't beat Du Yun."
"In that case, why would the Five Venom Emperor back this idea?" Tao Yangzi asked.
"Not sure," Emperor Hongshan shook his head.
He seemed detached, like it was none of his business. He looked around casually, making Tao Yangzi even more confused.
Wasn't his master supposed to be one of Primordial Hill's negotiation representatives?
"Master, what are you looking at?"
Emperor Hongshan stood still for a moment, as if listening to something. Then he crouched down, plunged his fingers into the ground—and smiled faintly. "Someone's mastered the first layer of Extreme Land."
"Oh?" Tao Yangzi instantly responded, "How come I didn't sense anything?"
"He's a bit special—disciple, go back first," Emperor Hongshan said. "I'm going to receive him."
At the same time, the Five Venom Emperor was also on the road to Coral City.
He held a Star Mirror in his hand, clearly in the middle of an intense conversation with someone inside the mirror.
"…Brother Bai, don't worry. Those two disciples of mine, Wei Lan and Ai Miaomiao, have been thoroughly tempered by me. They're absolutely dependable."
"I know your Gengzi Expansion Army isn't short on people—tons of experts are lining up to join. Just let those two test the poisons, alright? Any unknown native species—hand them all over to them to eat!"
"Right, if they die, that's on me."
"Good, good, we'll leave it at that then."
As the Five Venom Emperor ended the call, he noticed Zuo Qiyu giving him a look of pure disgust.
"What now? You look like you just swallowed crap," he asked.
"Do the ancient elders know the filthy things you're up to?" Zuo Qiyu shot back.
"Which filthy thing are you talking about?"
"??"
Zuo Qiyu was momentarily speechless.
The Five Venom Emperor shrugged. "If it's filthy, of course I wouldn't tell him. I'll just get someone else to take the blame. No need to smear the reputation of the ancient seniors."
"Then why do you keep dragging me into this crap?" Zuo Qiyu growled through clenched teeth.
"You're the Primordial Emissary. You can take the heat," Five Venom Emperor said cheerfully. "I'm just a Thousand-Star level member. My face isn't as valuable as yours."
"If you hadn't screwed up so many times, you'd have been the Primordial Emissary already!"
"I'm no good for that kind of thing," Five Venom Emperor shook his head. "Give me a little power and I immediately want to place my own people. That's why they never pick me for the role."
"You know that, but you still don't change? You're really a damn living dog!"
The Five Venom Emperor waved his hand dismissively and muttered, "Arranging good opportunities for my disciples—in the ancient sect era, that would've been considered absolutely justified. You're better suited to be the emissary anyway—huh? Oh? Hongshan, you old dog."
In Coral City, the Five Venom Emperor, Emperor Hongshan, and Zuo Qiyu came face to face.
Hearing the Five Venom Emperor's nickname for him, Emperor Hongshan wasn't offended. He simply smiled and gave a polite greeting. "Brother Wuxing, Brother Zuo, greetings."
"Hongshan, what are you doing here at my disciple's place?" Five Venom Emperor asked with clear suspicion.
"Zhao Xing has mastered the first layer of Extreme Land. I came to find Brother Wuxing," Emperor Hongshan replied calmly. "According to the rules, I should be the one to receive him, to pass on the next stages of Primordial Hill's cultivation method. If Brother Wuxing is willing, we can even exchange and let Zhao Xing come to Primordial Hill to train for a while."
"No way, no way!" Five Venom Emperor waved him off instantly. "He's not going. Just leave. I'll scrap his Extreme Land cultivation right now if I have to."
"…," Emperor Hongshan was speechless.
"…," Zuo Qiyu was too.
Emperor Hongshan hadn't interacted with the Five Venom Emperor much before, but he hadn't expected the man to be this foul-tempered.
Scrap Zhao Xing's cultivation? Are you serious? Can't you at least ask if the man agrees?
Zhao Xing's real identity… he's the Emperor of Tianning!
"If you don't want him to leave, that's fine too. We can discuss it. Just spend a bit of time here in the Primordial World. Why not summon him for a brief meeting first?" Emperor Hongshan still kept his patience.
The Five Venom Emperor was just about to refuse again, but Zuo Qiyu quickly pulled him back. "You idiot, what are you doing? Don't let Emperor Hongshan get suspicious."
"Alright, fine," Five Venom Emperor grudgingly accepted. "We'll call Zhao Xing over to deal with this."
At this moment, Zhao Xing wasn't in the Huailiu Courtyard in Coral City.
He was at the Primordial Dojo, exchanging moves with Fairy Youling on a Boundary Star Arena.
The moment he disabled his solo cultivation mode, the first message he received was from Fairy Youling—an invitation.
The two of them had made a pact when they first entered the Primordial Assembly—to fight again one day.
Thanks to her guidance, Zhao Xing had previously comprehended the powerful world-law divine ability Yin-Yang Partition. Now it was time to honor that promise.
On the vast arena, Zhao Xing and Fairy Youling stood at opposite ends of the Boundary Star.
The rules were exactly the same as the old arena duels of the Primordial Assembly.
Only now, Zhao Xing was completely different from the past.
"Zhao Xing, I didn't think you'd advance this fast. You wasted a thousand years with Zuo Qiyu and still reached Stage Seven of the Solar Dao Field," Fairy Youling's eyes gleamed with excitement as she looked at the green defensive line before her.
The line was composed of nothing more than simple, tenacious vines, yet her gaze wasn't fixed on the plant units—but on what lay beneath the ground.
"No shadow trace, fully fused with the void. Looks like your world-law mastery is pretty advanced," Fairy Youling said, licking her lips with a pink tongue.
"Let's begin."
When her tongue passed over her lips, it was like it had touched the first defensive line. A streak of red shimmered across the tenacious vines.
In an instant, that line of vines fell under her control and transformed into Mo Yun Vines.
She cast two techniques simultaneously: Xuanling Seed Borrowing and Origin Vine Immortal!
"Impressive," Zhao Xing muttered to himself as he saw his front-line units wiped out.
"Fairy Youling has eight great divine abilities. The strongest among them are two parasitic divine arts—Xuanling Seed Borrowing and Vision Parasitism."
"I'm at Stage Seven of the Solar Dao Field. She's Stage Eight. The gap isn't that big anymore."
"In terms of Origin Space, I'm at 75% of the second level of the Hunyuan Realm, while she's perfected the second level of the Nirvana Realm. The difference is small. In fact, because of my cultivation method Hunyuan Realm, my Origin Space is even stronger than hers."
"So the difference in world-law is really neck and neck."
"But she still managed to steal my units, all because of Xuanling Seed Borrowing."
"No wonder it's one of the secret techniques of the Sanbao Dao Sect."
Xuanling Seed Borrowing was a parasitic-type secret art, specialized in controlling the opponent's units!
No one knew exactly how it worked, and that was what made it so twisted.
It was just like the Void Straw Puppet, both were secret techniques capable of flipping the battlefield.
"Hss~"
The rebel tenacious vines, after being transformed by the mutation art Origin Vine Immortal, evolved into Mo Yun Vines, casting Void Solidification and Void Strangulation, launching a wild assault into Zhao Xing's territory.
Large numbers of plant units either died or were overtaken by Fairy Youling, while she continued searching for Zhao Xing's true body.
Once she located the real one, she could use her second divine ability—Vision Parasitism.
These two divine arts were the very foundation of Sanbao Dao Sect's dominance across the cosmos, securing its place as a top-tier Shennong power.
"Zhao Xing, if you don't use your Void Straw Puppet, you're going to lose," Fairy Youling's voice echoed across the entire arena. "Come on, let me see how powerful the Void Straw Puppet really is."
"Not necessarily," Zhao Xing's voice suddenly came from a zone that Fairy Youling had already taken over.
"Huh?" Fairy Youling froze. She looked down and saw eighteen vines, writhing like venomous snakes, crawling toward her feet.
"This is… Stalk Duel Immortal?"
"No, wait, it's not just a second-stage mutation—there's another technique mixed in!"
Fairy Youling's figure flickered as she evaded the eighteen serpent-like vines. At the same time, an overwhelming number of her own units swarmed back and shredded the vines into pulp, cutting Zhao Xing off from any further control over that section.
"Stalk Duel Immortal combined with my self-created divine ability—Great Yang Revival," Zhao Xing's voice came from a dry twig, and as it echoed out, the withered vines sprouted once more with fresh vitality.
"You took my units—I couldn't stop that. But your mutation art Origin Vine Immortal has a lower value compared to my Stalk Duel Immortal. I can apply a second-stage mutation, leaving you with nothing to borrow."
"At the same time, Great Yang Revival lets me generate new units from your territory, disrupting your field setup."
"This is the move I spent one thousand nine hundred seventy-seven years creating—just to break your Xuanling Seed Borrowing!"
As Zhao Xing finished, the playful expression on Fairy Youling's face faded.
Her gaze turned serious. Her tone dropped and grew colder. "Sanbao Dao Sect's Xuanling Seed Borrowing… you think you can break it with a mere thousand years of effort?"
"Zhao Xing, you're too arrogant!"
"What if I borrow your heart-seed instead? Then what will you do?"
Her voice carried a strange kind of magic. Zhao Xing suddenly realized that his mind was filled with her image, and he couldn't shake it away.
A desire to submit started to sprout inside him—a yearning to give her everything.
"Now that's freakin' twisted."
Zhao Xing staggered slightly, then his soul slipped out from the Soul Tree, and his spiritual will transformed into a vast foggy marshland.
Heartfield Art—Great Dream Marsh!
This was a divine ability Zhao Xing developed by fusing the Soul Bell of Mind Island with Heartfield Art.
Within the marshland, sprawling patches of Hour Grass grew wildly. These countless strands of time-sensing grass disrupted Fairy Youling's mental invasion. Though he couldn't fully erase her presence, she could no longer overwhelm him.
In other words, Zhao Xing had successfully blocked the second phase of Xuanling Seed Borrowing.
"What technique is this…?"
Fairy Youling's shadow looked on in surprise. Inside the Great Dream Marsh, the seemingly insignificant Hour Grass distorted her perception of time, disrupting her attempts to form a continuous influence on Zhao Xing's spirit.
With broken and unstable control, her methods lost all effectiveness.
"Self-created divine ability from Heartfield Art, Great Dream Marsh," Zhao Xing answered honestly.
"Who asked you, huh?!"
Fairy Youling was a little annoyed. "You're amazing, fine! Self-created divine arts again. But is it really that hard for me to just see your Void Straw Puppet?!"
"…huh?"
Zhao Xing genuinely couldn't follow her train of thought. Wasn't this a proper duel? Why was she so obsessed?
"If you want to see it, that's fine. I'll—"
He was about to bring out the Void Straw Puppet to show her.
"Absolutely not!"
Suddenly, three figures appeared on the Boundary Star Arena—Five Venom Emperor, Zuo Qiyu, and Emperor Hongshan.
"Xu Youling, the match is over. You lost." Five Venom Emperor reached out and plucked Xu Youling off the arena like a chicken. "Zhao Xing has important matters to attend to. You head out first."
"What?! I—"
But the Five Venom Emperor couldn't be bothered. He gave her a solid kick and launched her straight out of the Primordial Dojo.
Emperor Hongshan watched as Xu Youling soared into the sky, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly. "Brother, with that one kick, you might've just ruined your disciple's love life."
"Love life, shmuv life." Five Venom Emperor didn't care at all. "Zhao Xing, did I kick right or what?"
Facing the Five Venom Emperor's stern glare, Zhao Xing lowered his head and replied, "Master's kick was perfect."
Emperor Hongshan: "…"