Chapter 52: Did Scrubbing Off a Celestial Weapon Break It?

The backyard open-air hot spring of the Nine Heavens Carefree Immortal Palace.

Water vapor misted the air, and immortal fog swirled around.

This ultra-luxurious bath, personally constructed by a Mahayana Stage Demon Sovereign with a bottom seamlessly pieced together from star-sinking radiance stone and nine heavens cold grease jade, was currently emitting an intoxicating warmth.

The pool water was a top-grade spiritual spring from the back mountain, with several Creation Immortal Leaves picked from the Primordial World Tree floating on its surface. At the bottom of the bath, a layer of extremely faint Nine Netherworld Karmic Fire, controlled to an exquisite degree, provided a constant stream of steady heat like underfloor heating.

In a mill not far away.

The Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor was staring at a jade Formation Plate in front of him, sweat pouring down his face as his hands formed seals as fast as if they were cramping, precisely adjusting the output power of the Nine Netherworld Karmic Fire.

"The water temperature on the left is half a degree too low! Add fire quickly! The current on the right is a bit fast, smooth out the rhythm of the Karmic Fire! This is for that living ancestor's bath; if his skin gets scalded off, my iron rice bowl of grinding this mill will be smashed!"

The Nine Netherworld Demon Emperor muttered to himself while exerting every ounce of his strength. The dignified Nine Netherworld Karmic Fire, which ruled the Demon Realm and burned through the heavens, had been forcibly turned by him into an automatic constant-temperature water heater, even featuring a water-wave massage function.

Meanwhile, inside the bath.

Lin Yuan leaned back comfortably against a warm cold grease jade pillow, his arms spread out over the edge of the pool as he let out a long, relaxed sigh.

"Xiao Jiu's fire control skills have indeed improved. The water temperature is just right, and the frequency of the ripples is even more satisfying than the massage Formations in the top brothels of the Central Continent."

Lin Yuan lazily closed his eyes, enjoying this rare moment of relaxation.

Around him, the four once-lofty Heaven-Suppressing Immortal Kings of the Immortal Court, who had ruled over billions of Star Domains, were now standing like four stiff wooden posts in the corners of the bath. Each held an Ever-burning Lamp, serving as "ambient lighting" for the pool.

"You there, the one on the left who keeps shaking his leg."

Lin Yuan didn't even open his eyes; he just casually raised a hand and crooked a finger. "Come over and scrub my back."

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King, standing in the left corner, shuddered violently, nearly dropping the Ever-burning Lamp into the water.

His face, already pale from losing his cultivation, now turned ashen like death.

As the head of the four great Immortal Kings of the Immortal Court, a supreme existence whose single decree could once plunge the Lower Realm into misery, he was now not only punished to stand as an ambient light but actually had to condescend to scrub the back of a Lower Realm Cultivator?!

What a disgrace! This was trampling the dignity of the Immortal Court into the dirt!

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King roared frantically in his heart, humiliated tears welling in his eyes.

However, when his gaze inadvertently swept over the Primordial World Tree in the center of the courtyard and saw the remains of the first-generation ancestor, "Xing Tian," acting as a heartless fertilizer machine beneath it, the pride and humiliation in his heart were instantly extinguished as if doused by a bucket of ice water.

Even the Old Ancestor of the Immortal Court was here serving as a potted plant; what right did he, a mere prisoner of an Immortal King, have to talk about dignity?

"Yes... yes! This lowly one will come scrub for you right away!"

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King completed his mental adjustment with extreme proficiency, quickly placed the Ever-burning Lamp by the pool, and tremblingly walked down the jade steps to stand behind Lin Yuan.

He rolled up the sleeves of his tattered Immortal King robes and looked at Lin Yuan's seemingly fair and defenseless back, a trace of doubt rising in his heart.

"What exactly is this Variable's Physical Body made of? He can even tear apart Chaos Demon Gods with his bare hands. If my mortal hands don't scrub him clean, will he slap me to death?"

To save his own life, the Eastern Heaven Immortal King gritted his teeth and stealthily summoned a top-grade Immortal Artifact from his natal space that he had relied on to make his name—the Heavenly Silkworm Universe-Binding Silk.

This was a supreme Magic Treasure woven from the silk of Laws spat out by the Primordial Heavenly Silkworm! In the Immortal Realm, once this thing was unfurled, it could trap an entire galaxy to death; it was incredibly tough and impervious to water and fire.

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King extravagantly folded this top-grade Immortal Artifact several times, turning it into a square "bath towel."

"My Lord, I am starting to scrub now. Please feel the pressure..."

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King swallowed hard, holding the "Heavenly Silkworm bath towel," and carefully pressed it against Lin Yuan's back before scrubbing down with all his might.

Screech—!

The moment the Heavenly Silkworm Silk touched Lin Yuan's skin and generated friction.

A terrifying, scalp-numbing counter-shock force surged directly into the Eastern Heaven Immortal King's body through his hands!

In his perception, what he had just scrubbed was not a person's back at all, but a Wall of Chaotic Sighs built from a hundred thousand Primordial Divine Mountains and covered in the sharpest Laws of the Universe!

The hundred thousand particles within Lin Yuan's body, which had already begun to transform into Dragon Elephants, instinctively produced a tiny defensive resonance upon sensing the external friction.

Just that single sliver of resonance.

Bang!

The indestructible top-grade Immortal Artifact, the Heavenly Silkworm Universe-Binding Silk, which was said to be able to trap galaxies, couldn't even last a second. It instantly exploded into a ball of blinding sparks and then shattered directly into powder that drifted through the air!

"Ah—!"

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King let out a shrill scream as his arms were instantly broken by the counter-shock force. He was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming hard against the jade wall behind the bath and spraying out a mouthful of blood.

Silence.

The entire bath area fell into a deathly silence.

The remaining three Immortal Kings, holding their Ever-burning Lamps, stared dumbfounded at the Eastern Heaven Immortal King coughing blood in the corner, then at the powder of the Immortal Artifact floating on the water. They felt as if their Souls had stopped thinking at that moment.

"How... how is this possible?!"

The Southern Heaven Immortal King screamed frantically in his mind, "That was the Heavenly Silkworm Universe-Binding Silk! A top-grade Immortal Artifact! It was actually... actually ground into powder by his back?!"

The Dao Hearts of these Immortal Kings faced their ultimate collapse and over-interpretation at this moment.

"His Physical Body... is not a body of flesh and blood at all!"

The Western Heaven Immortal King trembled all over, looking at Lin Yuan as if he were looking at an unspeakable cosmic taboo. "Every inch of his skin, every pore, is branded with ultimate Laws that exceed the limits of the Heavenly Dao! He has already used his body as a seed, transforming into the source of the Myriad Great Daos! Our Immortal Court... actually dared to try and suppress the source of the Dao?!"

"He broke a top-grade Immortal Artifact just by scrubbing... He didn't even use Spiritual Qi; it was just the friction of his Physical Body's instinct!"

The Immortal Kings frantically filled in the blanks about Lin Yuan's terrifying Realm in their minds. The more they thought, the colder they felt, until finally, with a series of splashes, they all knelt by the bath in unison, shivering and not daring to breathe.

Meanwhile, Lin Yuan, lying in the bath, turned his head with extreme exasperation.

He looked at the Eastern Heaven Immortal King coughing blood in the corner, then at the shredded rags and powder floating on the water, his brow furrowing slightly.

"I asked you to scrub my back, and you used some scrap of cloth to rub around? The quality of this cloth is too poor; I didn't even feel anything before it crumbled into dust. It even dirtied my bathwater."

Lin Yuan sighed, his tone full of disappointed disdain. "People coming down from the Immortal Realm really can't do anything right. You can't even handle a simple scrubbing job; what else can I expect from you? Forget it, I don't need you to scrub anymore. Get back to your corners and hold the lamps."

"Thank... thank you, My Lord, for your mercy!"

The Eastern Heaven Immortal King felt as if he had been granted a grand pardon. He scrambled back to his corner, ignoring his broken arms, and skillfully picked up the Ever-burning Lamp with his mouth, tears streaming down his face.

This was the joy of surviving a disaster, and also extreme fear of that supreme ultimate Physical Body.

Outside the bath, Luo Xue, who was sweeping the courtyard, witnessed the entire scene.

She stopped her broom and looked at Lin Yuan's lazy silhouette, a look of extreme adoration and realization appearing on her beautiful face.

"A top-grade Immortal Artifact shatters upon contact. Senior is using the most direct method to show me the supreme truth that 'all Laws are empty, only the Physical Body is immortal'!"

Luo Xue performed a very serious interpretation in her mind. "Senior must be reminding me that in my past life as the Supreme Immortal Emperor, I relied too much on the heritage and treasures of the Immortal Court, leading to an unstable Foundation and my eventual fall."

"A truly strong person doesn't need any external objects at all! One's self is the strongest weapon!"

Luo Xue took a deep breath. Her hands, which had been habitually using immortal power to dust while holding the broom, suddenly withdrew all Spiritual Qi. She began to try using pure physical strength to swing the broom, feeling the most primitive muscle exertion and the rhythm of the Dao.

"I understand! Thank you for the guidance, Senior!"

Luo Xue silently kowtowed three times to Lin Yuan in her heart, her sweeping movements becoming even more devout.

Lin Yuan had no idea that his simple complaint about the poor quality of a bath towel had caused everyone in the courtyard to dance wildly on the edge of their Dao Hearts.

He finished his bath comfortably and stood up from the pool.

As he moved, the pool full of spiritual spring water automatically slid off his flawless skin without leaving a single water mark—this was the dust-free and stainless state inherent to the hundred thousand Dragon Elephant particles.

"Young Master, your robe."

Dressed in red, Dantai Jinyue appeared by the pool at the perfect moment. This Peerless Demoness, who had once slaughtered her way through the Righteous Path, was now like the most attentive maid, gently draping a large bathrobe woven from Ten-thousand-year Ice Silkworm Silk over Lin Yuan.

Not only that, but in her other hand, she held a glass of top-grade grape spirit wine that had just been chilled by Xiao Bing.

Lin Yuan took the glass and took a sip. The icy fruit wine flowed down his throat, dispelling the slight heat from the bath, making him feel instantly refreshed to the core.

"Jinyue, your skills are getting better and better. I wouldn't trade this life for being a god," Lin Yuan praised with satisfaction.

"Being able to serve the Young Master is Jinyue's blessing." Dantai Jinyue lowered her eyes, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Just as Lin Yuan was about to stroll back to the throne of ten thousand spirits gold essence to lie down again.

From outside the front courtyard of the Immortal Palace, a set of extremely cautious, even slightly trembling footsteps suddenly approached.

"The current Sect Head of the Taixuan Dao Sect, Qingxu... along with all the sect Elders, has come to thank the Old Ancestor for the grace of our rebirth!"

Immortal Master Qingxu's voice came from outside the courtyard gate. He sounded full of vigor, yet he was trying hard to suppress the tremor caused by excessive excitement.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, shuffled into his cloth shoes, and slowly walked to the main gate of the Immortal Palace.

The gates swung open.

On the open ground outside the palace, over a hundred people were kneeling in a dense crowd. Leading them was Sect Head Immortal Master Qingxu, and behind him were all the powerful Elders and Core Disciples of the Taixuan Dao Sect.

At this moment, the aura emanating from this group was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Immortal Master Qingxu had firmly stepped into the Mahayana Stage, his Laws restrained within; the dozens of Elders behind him were all at the Peak of the Void Returning Stage or even half-step Mahayana; and the Core Disciples further back were, at the very least, at the Soul Transformation Stage!

If this force were placed in the Eastern Desolation a few days ago, it wouldn't just be a dominant power; it would be more than enough to plow through the entire Eastern Desolation cultivation world twice over.

But now, these mighty figures who could shake heaven and earth were like a group of elementary school students waiting for a teacher's lecture, kneeling honestly and even shivering before Lin Yuan's door.

"It's early morning. Instead of consolidating your cultivation, you've come here to wail?" Lin Yuan leaned against the doorframe, holding his wine glass, and asked lazily.

"Old Ancestor, please appease your anger!"

Immortal Master Qingxu shuddered and quickly kowtowed, reporting excitedly: "Thanks to the Old Ancestor's great fortune, the Golden Immortal Rain you brought down from the Upper Realm has allowed everyone in the Taixuan Dao Sect to be reborn! Now, there is one person in the Mahayana Stage, thirty-eight in the Void Returning Stage, and over four hundred in the Soul Transformation Stage!"

"It's just... just now, the immortal rain suddenly stopped, and the cross-Realm crack has completely closed. We are terrified, not knowing if there is some major move from the Immortal Realm side. So we have come to ask the Old Ancestor for instructions on how our Taixuan Dao Sect should proceed. Do we need to... prepare for war against the Immortal Realm?!"

As Immortal Master Qingxu finished speaking, a look of extreme, fanatical Battle Intent ignited in his eyes.

In his view, the Old Ancestor had angered the Immortal Emperor to death and eaten the Primordial Demon God like takeout; the Immortal Realm was already an empty shell. As long as the Old Ancestor gave the order, these Taixuan Disciples, who had been transformed by Immortal Qi, could immediately counterattack the Upper Realm and take over the Nine Heavens Immortal Court!

"Prepare for war against the Immortal Realm?"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan almost spat out his grape spirit wine.

He looked at Immortal Master Qingxu as if looking at an idiot and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Prepare for what war? The ancestral pulse over in the Immortal Realm was mostly drained by the World Tree, and that Supreme Immortal Emperor got so angry he turned himself into fly ash. The cross-Realm channel lost its energy support, so it naturally closed."

"When the rain stops, it stops. That bit of Immortal Qi is enough for you to digest for several hundred years. All of you, get back to your closed-door cultivation and do what you need to do. Don't come to the back mountain to bother me unless it's something major; I'm going back to take a nap."

After saying that, Lin Yuan waved his hand dismissively, turned around, and prepared to close the door.

However, these casual words of dismissal fell into the ears of Immortal Master Qingxu and the Elders and were instantly subjected to a complex and ridiculous process of over-interpretation by their brains.

"The Immortal Realm's ancestral pulse was drained... the Immortal Emperor was turned to fly ash by anger... the channel closed..."

Immortal Master Qingxu's eyes widened, and he sucked in a breath of cold air, his mind feeling as if thunder had exploded within it.

"I understand! I completely understand!"

Immortal Master Qingxu suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with extreme fanaticism and awe for Lin Yuan.

"The Old Ancestor said 'When the rain stops, it stops.' He is hinting to us that the era of the Immortal Court has completely ended! The Immortal Realm exists in name only and is not even worthy of us 'preparing for war'!"

"The Old Ancestor told us to 'go back and digest for several hundred years.' This is to have us keep a low profile and solidify our Mahayana Stage Foundations! Because the Old Ancestor's gaze has already moved beyond a mere Immortal Realm; his ultimate goal is the endless Myriad Realms and the Primordial Chaos!"

"The Old Ancestor is going back to 'take a nap'... Heavens! The Old Ancestor just devoured a Primordial Chaos Demon God. He's not sleeping; he's suppressing the Chaos Laws within his body and using his supreme cultivation to re-anchor the spatial coordinates for this Universe!"

Immortal Master Qingxu roared frantically in his heart; the more he thought, the more he felt that every word from the Old Ancestor contained a grand strategy on a cosmic scale.

"This Disciple respectfully obeys the Old Ancestor's decree!"

Immortal Master Qingxu suppressed the shock in his heart, kowtowed once more with extreme respect, and shouted in a booming voice: "The entire Taixuan Dao Sect will immediately seal the mountain for closed-door cultivation to diligently digest the heritage bestowed by the Old Ancestor! We will not fail the Old Ancestor's painstaking efforts! We will not disturb the Old Ancestor... from suppressing the Universe's Luck!"

Bang!

The gates of the Immortal Palace were impatiently shut by Lin Yuan.

Inside, Lin Yuan heard the phrase "suppressing the Universe's Luck" from outside and twitched the corner of his mouth in exasperation.

"Has the Immortal Qi scrambled these people's brains? Suppressing what Luck? I just simply want to lie on my gold chair and take a nap..."

Lin Yuan shook his head, too lazy to pay attention to the drama queens outside. Yawning and holding his chilled fruit wine, he strolled back to the backyard and comfortably lay down on the throne of ten thousand spirits gold essence.

The sun was just right, and the breeze was gentle.

Accompanied by the rustling of the World Tree and the background noise of Xing Tian silently fertilizing, Lin Yuan soon drifted into a sweet dreamland.