Chapter 618: The Origin of the Pool of Thunder Tribulation and A Scrupulous Plan
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The Thunder Emperor's palace!
Hearing the words "Thunder Emperor's palace", both Zhou Bao and Wang She went dumbstruck on the spot.
There had been 99 Emperors in antiquity times, and indisputably, the top ranked among them was the Jade Emperor. He had suppressed various heavens, ruled different worlds, and assumed personal command over the Central Star Area. However, though Jade Emperor ranked first and was peerlessly powerful, he actually enjoyed a status similar to a Human Emperor, similar to what Yan Yuntian was experiencing. The main trend of events and justice favored his side. To some extent, the position he took up had special meaning, and covered up his true strength. Except for a handful of people, no one actually knew how strong the Jade Emperor was. And, he seldom came out to show his power. When he finally made an all-out strike, he moved the Heaven Realm out from the Central Star Area! He had an astonishingly powerful Divine Sense that few men could exercise, but unfortunately, it was already too late.
In antiquity times, aside from the Jade Emperor who had been commonly acknowledged as the most powerful among the 99 Emperors, no definitive rankings of the rest of the emperors had ever been made. It would have been difficult to do so, but it was relatively easy to select multiple Emperors whose strength was evidently stronger than others and do the rankings.
And the Thunder Emperor would have been one of those selected.
Among the 99 Emperors in antiquity times, the Thunder Emperor was one of the best. In fact, according to many legends, his combat capability was ranked first. He controlled the Thunder Tribulation Heaven, one of the 33 Heavens, and possessed the ability to manipulate Thunder Tribulations.
By virtue of the Thunder Tribulation Heaven, the Thunder Emperor could impact the power, degree, and even time duration of Thunder Tribulations. This was basically a means used by the Ancient Celestial Court to restrict immortals. If a person behaved, their Thunder Tribulation would be an easy one. If not, their Thunder Tribulation would be several times harder than others. It could be said that the authority the Thunder Emperor had in the Ancient Celestial Court was, in many cases, equal to that of the Jade Emperor, and sometimes even more.
As an old saying went, a public official was actually more influential than the head of a county government. As long as someone controlled the means of governing you, he would be your boss, your God.
In antiquity times, this was the role the Thunder Emperor had played.
"The Thunder Emperor was the only emperor that could create the Pool of Thunder Tribulation in antiquity times!" The Child-endowing Buddha said faintly. "Also, the Pool of Thunder Tribulation could only be produced in his Thunder Tribulation Heaven. It's not surprising that you heard about the Pool of Thunder Tribulation in the Thunder Emperor's palace!"
"How do you know this so well?" Wang She asked, slightly bewildered. He was increasingly startled by the Child-endowing Buddha's background. After all, in respect to this type of highly confidential information about antiquity times, even the Divine Wind Palace might not be as informed.
"The Divine Wind Palace must have known this. It's just that they never expected the information to spread like this!" The Child-endowing Buddha sneered. "The guy possessed by the Devil Fetus was once a core disciple of the Divine Wind Palace. That's why he knew about these secrets!"
"Then, why didn't the Divine Wind Palace take action before?"
"The Divine Wind Palace knows this, but that doesn't mean they know the exact location of the Thunder Emperor's palace. They likely have a minimal intelligence about the Thunder Emperor at most. As for the information about the Thunder Emperor's palace, I'm afraid it was disclosed by the Devil Fetus!" The Child-endowing Buddha answered, slowly squinting his eyes. "Although our Seven-deity Regions belonged to the Heaven Realm in antiquity times, they have been on the wane for ages and many of their secrets are long lost. Compared to other macro worlds and Star Areas, knowledge about our Seven-deity Regions is much less abundant. You should note that other macro worlds and Star Areas have passed down their heritage directly from antiquity times, and lots of secrets are still in their hands. The Devil Fetus was born in the Infinite Star Sea by a Primordial Demon who was oppressed there. He knows more secrets. This time he came to the Heaven Realm, it's absolutely certain that he has his eye on the Heaven Realm's precious heritages from antiquity times!"
"That is to say the rumors are true. But frankly speaking, this is a swindle set up by the Devil Fetus. I assume he does know about a few wonders of the Thunder Emperor's palace, but not enough to find all the wonders by himself. He spread the news to draw worldwide attention and is waiting to profit from others' endeavors."
"Humph, he seems to be very confident in himself. Could he really rake in huge benefits under the noses of so many people?" Zhou Bao questioned in disbelief.
"Since he has the guts to do so, I presume he must have some kind of assurance, or maybe he is bluffing about knowing secrets that others do not!" The Child-endowing Buddha said composedly. "Powers and living creatures passed down from antiquity or even primitive times always carry loads of secrets. Some of those secrets, or even just a sentence in them could change the entire developing trend of a macro world, provided that you have the ability to dig out the secrets first. Although the Devil Fetus knows the secrets exist, he doesn't have the ability to dig them out; he needs others' help. However, the moment he resorts to others' help, the variables increase. This move will attract men harboring evil intents, such as the three of you."
All three of them were reduced to silence, quietly brooding over their own agenda. After a while, Zhou Bao finally posed his question. "Okay, so if we go there, do we have a good chance of obtaining benefits?"
"That depends on your strength!"
"I do have some confidence about my strength!" Zhou Bao said casually. Worst case scenario, he might have to wield his hammers and make fervent smashing attacks. He did not believe that anyone in the Seven-deity Regions was able to bear the strike of his two hammers.
"Then surely you will gain benefits!" Seeing Zhou Bao's confident countenance, the Child-endowing Buddha nodded and went on, "Now since you're so confident, the next issue we need to consider is how to deal with the green-eyed powers throughout the Seven-deity Regions once the whole thing is over!"
If they actually got anything from the Thunder Emperor's palace, never mind the Pool of Thunder Tribulation, even if they merely obtained some Pure Yang Celestial Devices or fairy weapons, the large sects would be jealous. They might even plan some other hidden agenda. Despite the vast land area of the Seven-deity Regions, there were only a few powerful sects. Having one more fairy weapon than other sects would indicate a great advantage. It was something any lucid man could figure out. Thus, obtaining assets became a tough job. Even if one sect had no chance of taking hold of the assets, it would attempt all means to rob the other sect the chance of obtaining them. That was the way human beings behaved; it was human nature. If only one sect got the windfall, other sects would definitely ally together to impose pressure, forcing it to share among the rest. This had become sort of a customary practice over the past thousands of years. The Divine Wind Palace in particular had grown into a master of this collaboration game, common players were no match for them at all.
That was why the Child-endowing Buddha reminded them of the foregoing. They were merely three men, but they possessed immense strength. Zhou Bao and Wang She were both at the peak of the Individual Immortal Level, but since one had the Bloodline of the Primordial Fierce Beast Zhuyan and the other had the Bloodline of the Primordial Fierce Beast Kunpeng, their combat capabilities were far above that of ordinary Individual Immortals. If Wang She went all out in combat, he was more than enough to serve as a Venerable, not to mention Zhou Bao who could defeat even an Eight-tribulation Lord of Heaven. However, what about the Child-endowing Buddha?
In recent days, he had been rapidly recovering his strength. Attributing to the several unique skills he still grasped, if he got into a fight, his power would not be much less than a Lord of Heaven. The combined strength of these three was sufficient to take on a super large sect.
It wouldn't matter if it was the five biggest sects of the Four Eastern Regions or the super large sects of the Three Western Regions, even if they knew the numbers of their enemies and dispatched a large sum of forces, among them there would at most be one Genuine Immortal at the level of a Lord of Heaven Realm. The rest of them, be it Venerables or Genuine Immortals, were merely playing supporting roles.
But now looking at the three of them, they had a combat capability equivalent to that of one and a half Lords of Heaven or even two Lords of Heaven. It was very impressive! So, now the issue they had to think over was not whether they could obtain benefits but how to take on the pressure deriving from various other influences.
"Let's take it easy and act with prudence. Just try our best to prevent others from spotting our flaws!" Zhou Bao was slowly knocking the table with the tips of his fingers. A chilling light flitted through his eyes. "If I get the Thunder Tribulation Heaven, I will see who on earth dares to ask me for a share of it!"
Zhou Bao's words were brimming with such an assurance that the Child-endowing Buddha's eyes brightened. "Looks like the closed-door training you conducted over the last five years was quite fruitful, wasn't it?"
"I wouldn't have left if it wasn't!" Zhou Bao replied. Though it was said to be five years, who knew how many years Zhou Bao had spent in the Azure Heaven, perhaps it was 50 years. Otherwise, how could he have digested the power of a whole planet?
"Relax, don't worry about the Lords of Heaven, or be afraid that our power may be insufficient. We only need to focus on how to get the benefits, and that's all!" Zhou Bao waved his hands in a heroic spirit, expressing very clearly that if they bumped into Lords of Heaven or other strong enemies, he could totally handle them. The other two just needed to search for the benefits!
This declaration caused a stir in the other two.
"It couldn't be better. However, to do so, you have to really have such strength. The Thunder Emperor's palace is not a place we can trifle with. In addition to the Seven-deity Regions, the Sea Area won't let us off the hook, either!" The Child-endowing Buddha's expression turned stern. "Considering our Seven-deity Regions are not a match for the Sea Area, and the Desolate Island sits within the territory of the Sea Area, if this news is leaked within the Sea Area, even the Sea Emperor will be unable to curb his lust. I believe that our biggest challenge will be in the Sea Area, not the Seven-deity Regions. The Sea Emperor is a highly secretive man, and no one can verify his true identity. But there is one thing I'm sure of—his strength is definitely at the Human Immortal phase or above. It's possible it has surpassed the Human Immortal phase and entered the Divine Immortal phase!"
"The Five Immortal Realms are the Celestial Immortal, the Earthly Immortal, the Divine Immortal, the Human Immortal, and the Ghost Immortal. But nowadays, even Human Immortals are extremely rare. Could a Divine Immortal actually exist?"
Talking about phases like the Human Immortal and the Divine Immortal, Zhou Bao's expression turned slightly solemn. He was not the newbie who had just stepped into Jinghu as he was before. He had assumed a high ranking position in the Seven-deity Regions, and the mysterious secrets about practitioners were no longer secrets to him. He already had a fairly complete understanding of the Five Immortal Realms.
The so-called Five Immortal Realms referred to five realms that were divided into the Celestial Immortal, the Earthly Immortal, the Divine Immortal, the Human Immortal, and the Ghost Immortal. The Ghost Immortal ranked lowest among all the immortals, while the Celestial Immortal ranked highest. It was just that even back in antiquity times, no one had ever achieved becoming a genuine Celestial Immortal. In the times of ancient deities, the cultivation of most deities usually stagnated in the Divine Immortal Realm. Only if one broke through to a higher realm and stepped into the legendary Realm of Master Deities could he claim to be an Earthly Immortal.
As for the Celestial Immortal, which was one realm higher than the Earthly Immortal, it was the Realm of supreme experts selected from Primordial Demons, Innate Deities, and Primordial Fierce Beasts. If one broke through the Earthly Immortal Realm, he would be called as a supreme expert. Based on accounts of ancient deities, only supreme deities could possess the Karmic Rank of the Celestial Immortal. As a result, in terms of the so-called Karmic Rank of the Celestial Immortal, Zhou Bao had taken a wait-and-see attitude.