501: Forbidden methods, utterly disillusioned!

Xuanyuan Tianji stood with her hands on her hips, her brows filled with hostility.

"Immortal Sword Manor hasn't fallen yet. No matter how powerful the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect is, would they really dare to act directly regardless of the threat from Immortal Sword Manor? Jian Lingtian would be the first to disagree."

Su Ming looked at her protective demeanor and shook his head helplessly, but there was no warmth deep in his eyes.

"Jian Lingtian can naturally suppress a single Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor."

"But what if... among those who are to charge into the Immortal Emperor Realm, two of them are from the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air seemed to freeze instantly.

Xuanyuan Tianji was stunned for a long while, then, as if she had heard a huge joke, she waved her hand decisively.

"Absolutely impossible!"

She sneered and glanced sideways at Su Ming.

"Do you think Immortal Emperors are as common as cabbages? For a Sect to produce one Immortal Emperor is a sign of immense ancestral luck."

"Produce two? The ancestor of the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect would probably crawl out of his coffin and wake up laughing."

She counted on her fingers for Su Ming.

"Besides that old fellow, the strongest person in the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect is their Grand Elder."

"But that old geezer is currently only a Genius Immortal Emperor Ninth Heaven; he hasn't even touched the threshold of the Quasi-Immortal Emperor."

"In nine years, let him jump two levels to become an Immortal Emperor? He wouldn't even dare to dream of that."

Su Ming didn't argue; he just looked at her quietly.

"For this kind of method of 'pulling up seedlings to help them grow,' what's lacking is never talent, but resources."

Su Ming's voice was very low, sounding somewhat ethereal in the wind.

"Now, the resources of the entire Immortal Domain are to be piled onto those few people."

"The lot from the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect has always had unsightly manners."

"What if they have a secret technique that can forcibly plunder these resources?"

The smile on Xuanyuan Tianji's face gradually faded and finally froze completely.

"Resources? What do you take an Immortal Emperor for?"

She looked at Su Ming as if looking at a madman.

"If piling up Spirit Stone veins could create an Immortal Emperor, then the Immortal Emperors of the Weiyang Immortal Domain would have long been numerous enough to line up from the Weiyang Immortal Domain to the Vast Immortal Domain."

"From the Immortal Emperor Ninth Heaven to a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, and then to a true Immortal Emperor, what lies between is destiny and Laws; it's not a chasm that can be filled by a few boxes of treasures."

Su Ming listened calmly to Xuanyuan Tianji's explanation and didn't respond.

He naturally knew it was difficult.

But the images from the simulator flashed repeatedly in his mind, and among that fragmented information, one clue remained lingering.

The Grand Elder of the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect, within just nine short years, forcibly seized the status that originally belonged to another Quasi-Immortal Emperor.

Seized.

This word suddenly exploded in Su Ming's mind.

If the so-called 'power of the entire Immortal Domain' didn't just refer to resources, but also included... people?

Su Ming's breath hitched, and a layer of fine cold sweat seeped from his back.

He suddenly looked up, staring intently at Xuanyuan Tianji in front of him.

The chill in that gaze made Xuanyuan Tianji instinctively shiver, and she even involuntarily took half a step back.

"You... what's with that look? It's scary."

Su Ming's voice was a bit dry as he asked in a low voice.

"In this world, is there a method that can forcibly strip a Quasi-Immortal Emperor of their entire cultivation, and even swallow the other party's Dao Fruit along with it to supplement oneself?"

The surrounding wind seemed to stop at this moment.

Xuanyuan Tianji's face instantly turned pale, a deathly white without a trace of blood.

She suddenly reached out and grabbed Su Ming's arm, her fingertips trembling slightly from the force.

"Su Ming, don't take the wrong path."

"You have the Chaos Body; once you grow up, you will surely be a powerhouse among powerhouses."

Hearing that Xuanyuan Tianji didn't deny it, Su Ming immediately had a suspicion.

"So, there really is such a thing?"

Seeing that Su Ming was persistent, Xuanyuan Tianji bit her lip and nodded.

"That kind of thing isn't a method; it's a taboo."

"In ancient times, it was a Demonic Technique that was jointly erased by all races."

"Those who touched that Domain eventually turned into mindless monsters."

"So, you absolutely, positively must not harbor such crooked thoughts."

Su Ming felt the force from his arm, but his heart grew cold.

He wasn't worried about himself.

He was thinking about who exactly was the lamb to be slaughtered in this Emperor Creation Plan promoted by Jian Lingtian at this assembly.

If the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect wanted to create an Immortal Emperor, they had to have a sacrifice of sufficient weight.

Suddenly, Su Ming thought of how the other party was willing to offend Jian Lingtian just to take Su Qingyuan away.

Su Ming's footsteps came to a sudden halt.

An extremely absurd yet incredibly logical thought slithered into his mind like a venomous snake.

Why did those old foxes from the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect insist on taking Su Qingyuan away?

Even to the point of tearing off all pretenses with Jian Lingtian in public?

If it were purely for resources, they had already received enough benefits at the assembly just now.

The only explanation—Su Qingyuan's Physique could help them resolve the side effects of swallowing.

"So that's what they were waiting for."

Su Ming muttered to himself, his voice so cold it could drop ice shards.

He finally figured it out.

The Nine Heavens Immortal Sect had always lacked a reason, a reason that would allow them to swallow a Quasi-Immortal Emperor's Dao Fruit with great fanfare without being attacked by everyone.

In peaceful times, this kind of thing would be called betraying one's masters and ancestors, and the three major forces would join hands to grind them to dust.

But now, the Five Great Eerie Immortal Emperors were pressing down, and the Vast Immortal Domain was in critical danger.

"For the sake of the big picture, someone always has to be sacrificed."

Su Ming repeated this high-sounding phrase, feeling his stomach churning.

In the face of such a dead end, as long as an Immortal Emperor could be created.

No matter how dirty the methods, even if it meant sacrificing the life of a Quasi-Immortal Emperor, those high and mighty figures probably wouldn't even bat an eyelid.

What made him feel even colder all over was Jian Lingtian's attitude.

That master of the manor, known as the backbone of the Immortal Domain, had behaved too calmly at the assembly just now.

So calm it was almost like tacit consent.

Su Ming's fists clenched until they cracked.

It was impossible for Jian Lingtian not to know about the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect's little moves, but he chose to turn a blind eye.

Because in his eyes, sacrificing one Quasi-Immortal Emperor was a worthy trade as long as it could bring about an Immortal Emperor to fight against the Eerie.

It was just that he hadn't expected the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect would eventually set their sights on him and Su Qingyuan.

When that time came, even if he wanted to help Su Ming, he would be powerless.

The so-called Emperor Creation Plan was, from beginning to end, a clearly priced blood sacrifice.

Su Ming looked up at that grand hall, which now looked exactly like a massive slaughterhouse in his eyes.

Su Ming let out a short, mocking laugh.

He had thought he was just looking for a way to survive, but now it seemed he was fighting for his life against a pack of beasts in human skin.

Before Xuanyuan Tianji could recover from her shock, Su Ming had already started moving again. This time, his speed was extremely fast, and he turned into an afterimage, heading straight for the side hall where Su Qingyuan resided.

Since the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect wanted Su Qingyuan so badly, he would make sure they didn't get their way...