Chapter 112 Unbreakable Evidence

Elder Tianji covered his Face in pain and nodded. "And... it's a weed growing on scorched earth, swaying in the wind!"

The Dragon Prince maintained his forward-leaning posture, his head turning stiffly, click by click, to look at the other high-ranking members of the Dragon Clan.

The expressions on the Faces of dozens of God Lord Realm experts and several reclusive Divine Venerables were quite a sight.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

An old dragon from the God-Venerable Lietian lineage slammed the table. "Lord God-Venerable Lietian achieved Sanctification through his Physical Body. Even if his form and spirit were extinguished, his true spirit's Reincarnation should be in a dragon's body! How could he turn into a blade of grass?! You old fool, did you make a mistake in the deduction Formation?!"

"Exactly!"

Another Dragon Clan Elder was also getting anxious. "If word of this gets out, how will the Myriad Races look at our Dragon Clan? Tomorrow morning, those old fogies from the Divine Court will be asking on the Realm Channel: 'Where is your Dragon Clan's God of War?' How do we respond? 'Oh, he turned into grass.' Does that make any sense?!"

"Is the Heavenly Dao playing a joke on us?!"

Indignation filled the crowd.

A sense of humiliation surged throughout the main hall.

Elder Tianji wailed with a bitter Face, "I deduced it seven times! Seven whole times! I even burned several drops of my Life Essence Blood, and every single time yielded the same result! Do you think I want to admit this?

I also wanted Lord God-Venerable Lietian to be reincarnated as a majestic Ancestral Dragon. Even a flood dragon would have been fine! But the Heavenly Dao didn't give me any Face, so what can I do? That blade of grass is standing right there in that scorched earth, and its aura cannot be faked!"

Several Elders exchanged looks, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in their eyes.

"Since that's the case, to preserve the Dragon Clan's Face..."

"Why don't we send someone down to... secretly crush that blade of grass. We'll announce to the world that Lord God-Venerable Lietian died in battle, with his form and spirit extinguished. That's better than letting the Myriad Races know our clan's God of War has become a mere weed!"

"Bastard!"

The Dragon Prince shouted, "That is Lord God-Venerable Lietian! Even if he is a blade of grass, he is still an Old Ancestor of my lineage! Whoever dares touch him, I will tear them apart alive!"

"You know nothing! The Dragon Clan's Face is more important than the heavens!"

It looked as though a full-blown brawl was about to erupt in the hall.

"Enough."

From the depths of the hall,

The dark-gold eyes of the Dragon Ancestor slowly turned, scanning the room.

"It is a great fortune that God-Venerable Lietian's true spirit has not dispersed. As for his form..."

The Dragon Ancestor fell silent for a moment.

The dragons struggled to lift their heads against the immense pressure.

"He couldn't possibly... recultivate from a blade of grass back into an Immortal Emperor, could he?"

"Exactly, Ancestor!"

"Since the creation of the Three Thousand Great Worlds, have you ever heard of grass becoming an Emperor? These flora types are born without intelligence, without Meridians, and without a Divine Soul! They can't even get past the step of awakening their intelligence. How would they Cultivate? By drinking the northwest wind?"

"Unless..."

An Elder who had been silent stroked his beard and spoke thoughtfully.

The dragons all looked toward him in unison.

"Unless there is external help."

The Elder said slowly, "Using supreme Divine Abilities to awaken the grass's intelligence; using Heaven-Defying fortune to mold its Meridians. Not only that, one must protect it at all times; a slight disturbance could cause the grass to wither. But to reach this step... what Realm would be required? At least a half-step God Emperor, sacrificing their own understanding of the Dao to nourish it with their Origin day and night."

The dragons looked at each other, sucking in a cold breath of the Void Realm.

They all simultaneously thought of those dark-gold eyes.

But the Dragon Ancestor was in secluded meditation to break through to the God Emperor Realm, a matter of paramount importance concerning the Dragon Clan's million-year Luck. How could he possibly spare the energy to act as a nanny for a blade of grass?

Moreover, although God-Venerable Lietian was of the Ancestor's direct lineage, he wasn't important enough for the Ancestor to abandon the path of the God Emperor to save him.

Then who else?

Who would go to save a blade of grass?

"Enough."

The dark-gold eyes scanned the room again, flashing with a hint of impatience, but mostly with the indifference of one who had seen through the world.

"A blade of grass is just a blade of grass. What does the form matter?"

"That his true spirit remains is his fortune. As for whether he can recultivate in the future and to what Realm he can reach—"

"That is his own fate. This seat has no time to awaken the intelligence of a blade of grass."

Upon hearing this, the Dragon Prince's mouth hung open, his Face pale.

"Then... Lord God-Venerable Lietian is just to be left in the Lower Realm?"

The Dragon Prince couldn't help but speak, his tone full of frustration. "To just let him be exposed to the elements, or eaten by some blind wild rabbit?"

"What else?"

The Dragon Ancestor glanced at him. "Will you go down to accompany him? Will you go to shield him from the wind and rain?"

"..."

Under that gaze, the Dragon Prince's blood instantly froze.

His open lips trembled twice, and he ultimately withdrew, not daring to speak further.

"Let him stay in the Dragon Domain."

The Dragon Ancestor withdrew his gaze, his eyelids drooping slightly. "As for his fortune, it depends on his own fate. If he can survive, it is because of his resilience; if he cannot—"

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Although the high-ranking members of the Dragon Clan felt uncomfortable, thinking the Ancestor was truly a bit cold-hearted,

On second thought, it made sense.

Who was the Dragon Ancestor?

A half-step God Emperor, a being about to charge into that supreme Realm. How could he possibly water and fertilize a blade of grass every day?

The Dragon Prince lowered his head, sighing deeply in his heart as tears hit the floor.

Lord God-Venerable Lietian...

How did you...

A blade of grass.

From now on, our Dragon Clan's God of War is just a blade of grass to be trampled on...

"Right."

The Dragon Ancestor suddenly spoke, breaking the oppressive silence.

"Has the trial of the Myriad Races Geniuses ended?"

Elder Tianji immediately stepped forward and bowed. "Reporting to Ancestor, it has indeed ended. The geniuses of all races have returned to their positions. The Realm passage to the Original Realm has been completely sealed."

"Hmm... This seat heard that those Juniors seemed to have seen something extraordinary in that Original Realm?"

"That is indeed the case."

Elder Tianji's expression grew a bit more serious as he took out a Jade Slip. "According to the soul-searching intelligence sent back by various races, a White-robed God Emperor appeared in the Lower Realm. This person's aura suppressed the entire scene, and both the Immortal and Demon Emperors knelt before him. However... no one saw his Face, only a residual image of his back in white robes."

"White-robed God Emperor?"

The Dragon Ancestor let out a sneer.

"A bunch of frogs in a well."

"The highest cultivation among the Myriad Races Geniuses is no more than the Immortal King Realm. They can't even touch the edge of what a God Lord is; how could they distinguish between a God Emperor and a God Lord? They probably saw a bit of a disturbance or some Loose Cultivator God Lord showing off some tricks and took it for a God Emperor's descent."

Elder Tianji nodded, deeply agreeing.

Thinking about it this way, that so-called 'White-robed God Emperor' was likely a rumor spread by those Juniors, imagining some ordinary God Lord or Immortal Emperor as an unspeakable forbidden existence. After all, in an Immortal King's perception, the pressure of a God Lord and a God Emperor would feel the same.

"Pass down the order."

The Dragon Ancestor said, "Tell each race to manage their own Disciples; do not believe every rumor. The Dragon Clan's great cause is at hand, and we cannot allow such messy rumors to confuse our morale."

"As you command!"

Elder Tianji bowed.

The high-ranking members of the Dragon Clan nodded one after another. Since their frustration over God-Venerable Lietian turning into grass had finally found an outlet, they all chimed in:

"The Ancestor is right! Young people just love to exaggerate; they haven't seen the world!"

"Exactly! What White-robed God Emperor? It was probably just some Immortal Emperor Passing By who was mistaken for a forbidden existence by those Juniors!"

"The Ancestor is wise indeed, seeing through the truth at a glance! Where would so many God Emperors come from in the Three Thousand Great Worlds?"

The Dragon Ancestor didn't even lift an eyelid at these flatteries.

He knew in his heart that the so-called 'White-robed God Emperor' was most likely non-existent. Even if he did exist, he was just some God Lord Realm Loose Cultivator playing God in the Lower Realm.

A God Emperor?

In the Three Thousand Great Worlds, how many God Emperors were there in total?

Which one of them wasn't a being who awed all ages, presided over a region, and planned the grand scheme of eras? How could they go to a godforsaken place like the Lower Realm, where even the Spiritual Qi was as thin as plain water?

Nonsense.

The Dragon Ancestor reached a conclusion in his mind.

"There is one more thing."

Elder Tianji spoke again, his tone even more respectful this time.

"The Original Realm... that Lower Realm, is on the brink of destruction after the previous great war. If we can send someone to refine it and take the remaining Origin fragments, we might be able to forge an extraordinary Magic Treasure for our clan."

"Furthermore, the Original Realm was once a place where the Demon God Emperor fought, and there are Law fragments left over from the ancient battle between Demon Gods. These fragments are useless to ordinary people, but for you, Ancestor, they might be of some help in comprehending the Dao and breaking through to the God Emperor Realm."

The Dragon Ancestor was silent for a moment.

"The Divine Treasury is about to open, and I do indeed need a spatial Magic Treasure capable of containing all things; ordinary storage rings simply cannot withstand the pressure of the Laws within the Divine Treasury." He said slowly, "Although the Origin of the Original Realm is incomplete, it was once an ancient battlefield, so its foundation remains. If it can be refined into a Small World... it would make a decent container."

"Since that is the case—"

The Dragon Ancestor's gaze swept the room, his voice like thunder.

"Who is willing to go?"

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Refining a Realm was no small matter. Even though it was a Lower Realm, it still required extremely domineering cultivation and methods; the slightest mistake could lead to a backlash from the Karma of the Realm's destruction.

After a few breaths.

A middle-aged member of the Dragon Clan, covered in Evil Qi, stepped forward.

"Your subordinate, Ao Lie, is willing to go!"

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Ao Lie cupped his fists, "Although my cultivation is not as high as Divine Venerable Lietian, only at the Peak of the God Lord Realm, a mere lower-class waste Realm is not something I care about. Please, Ancestor, give the order. I will surely bring back the complete Origin of the Original Realm and present it to you!"

The Ancestor glanced at him.

Ao Lie was a radical in the Dragon Clan, with extremely cruel methods. He loved doing these things—exterminating Realms and refining living beings.

"Go then."

The Ancestor nodded slightly, "Refine that Realm, drain its Origin, and bring it back. If there are any annoying living beings inside, refine them along with it."

"As you command!"

A cruel smile rose on the corner of Ao Lie's mouth as he turned and strode out of the hall.

Behind him, other high-ranking Dragon Clan members spoke up with flattery.

"Safe travels, Brother Ao Lie! This is a great achievement!"

"A mere lower-class waste Realm is nothing but a trivial task for you, Brother Ao Lie! Just hope you don't use too much force and crush the fragments!"

"Go early and return early, we await your good news!"

Ao Lie's back disappeared outside the hall door, and his voice came from afar.

"Don't worry, a mere Original Realm is easily taken. I'll be back in no time!"

...

Divine Court Hall.

The discussion continued.

At this moment, they were already discussing the return of the Myriad Races Geniuses and the vague memory shared within their Sea of Consciousness.

Pojun stood in the center of the hall, listening to the Elders boasting and discussing how to send a grandiose "letter of condolence" to the Dragon Clan, while mocking Divine Venerable Lietian for dying from "Qi Deviation".

Extreme frustration burned like fire in Pojun's chest.

He had clearly stated that there was great terror in God-Venerable Lietian's death, that a third party had intervened, yet these stubborn old men insisted on attributing the credit to him.

So unwilling...

Pojun took a deep breath and suddenly stepped out of the silence in the center of the hall.

"Everyone."

He cupped his fists, "Regarding the rumors about that White-robed God Emperor, this Junior has something to say."

The discussion in the hall gradually quieted down.

Dozens of turbid yet sharp eyes looked at him.

The Old Hall Master of Xuantian Hall stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes, "Pojun, what do you mean? Wasn't it already concluded just now? God-Venerable Lietian was executed, thanks to your tactical skill. What case are you trying to reopen?"

Pojun gritted his teeth, bearing the invisible pressure coming from all around.

"The news brought back by the Myriad Races Geniuses points directly to a mysterious man in white. This Junior believes—there may be a connection between these two things. That White-robed God Emperor might very well be in the Realm below the Dragon Domain!"

The hall fell silent.

The Elders looked at each other, the smiles on their Faces gradually disappearing, and their brows furrowing.

They were not afraid of Pojun killing people; they were afraid of unknown variables appearing in this world that were beyond the control of the Divine Court.

"Pojun, then tell us, what is the cultivation level of this 'third party'?"

Pojun was silent for a moment, "...At the very least, a God Emperor."

"God Emperor?"

The red-robed Elder laughed, seemingly finding it ridiculous.

"Pojun, oh Pojun, did you get infected by hallucinogenic miasma in the Lower Realm?"

The red-robed Elder pointed to the dome of the hall, "In the Three Thousand Great Worlds, how many God Emperors are there? You're saying they would run to the Lower Realm and play god in a waste Realm where even Spiritual Qi is scarce?"

"What for? Do they think those loaches in the Dragon Domain look good?"

Pojun opened his mouth, just about to retort—

"Furthermore."

The Old Hall Master of Xuantian Hall took over the conversation, his tone softening, "Pojun, you just said that God-Venerable Lietian's Origin Laws disappeared before he fought with you?"

"Yes."

"Then have you ever seen that 'third party' make a move with your own eyes?"

"...No."

"Have you ever felt the fluctuations of that so-called God Emperor's Laws?"

"...Also, no."

The Old Hall Master sighed, looking at Pojun with an expression of "young people are just too impatient".

"Then on what basis do you conclude that someone must have acted in secret? And not that God-Venerable Lietian himself had a problem with his cultivation and suffered a backlash from old injuries?"

Pojun was stunned.

He had no evidence.

Except for his hand that struck down, there was nothing else at the scene. He didn't even feel a single hair of that mysterious existence.

"Pojun, oh."

The red-robed Elder shook his head, earnestly, "Old man knows you are eager to make contributions and afraid of taking responsibility, wanting to clear yourself of the suspicion of breaking the truce agreement between the two races. But you cannot force this onto an ethereal 'White-robed God Emperor' just because God-Venerable Lietian died suspiciously. This will make our Divine Court commander look like a coward who dares to act but dares not admit it."

Once these words were spoken, the whole hall echoed in agreement.

"Exactly, exactly. Pojun, you are too sensitive. A dignified Divine Commander, how can you be scared by the Dragon Clan's tricks?"

"The Imperial Teacher hasn't spoken yet, what are you rushing for? Even if there really is a God Emperor, wouldn't the Imperial Teacher have noticed?"

Pojun stood in place, unable to defend himself.

He cast the glimmer of hope in his eyes toward the figure on the secondary seat in the hall—the Imperial Teacher.

At this moment, the Empress was not in the Divine Court meeting hall; Jiang Wanyin was sitting in the secondary seat.

She was not wearing formal attire today, just a loose robe.

And she was sitting cross-legged, one hand resting on her knee, propping up her chin, with a few strands of dark hair falling to the side of her cheek.

She just watched the argument below without any expression.

Although the whole hall was noisy, everyone intentionally or unintentionally avoided the three-zhang radius around her.

"You are all overthinking."

"That was just my memory secret technique, which tampered with their memories. It was misread by the residual consciousness in their Sea of Consciousness."

"There is no White-robed God Emperor."

Once these words were spoken,

The entire hall instantly went quiet.

You could hear a pin drop.

Then,

All the Elders let out a long breath at the same time, showing expressions of sudden realization and relief.

They nodded one after another, the wrinkles on their Faces smoothing out:

"So that's how it is!"

"Since the Imperial Teacher has personally concluded it, it is ironclad evidence! Where could any God Emperor come from? It was purely an illusion!"

"Pojun, did you hear that? The Imperial Teacher has spoken, what else do you have to doubt? Even the Imperial Teacher says there isn't one, do you have to fabricate one?"

Pojun stood in place, his mouth opening and closing, closing and opening.

The Imperial Teacher personally stepped in and blocked the path?

"Pojun, oh."

The Old Hall Master of Xuantian Hall walked up to him with square steps, patted his shoulder with a kind Face, earnestly.

"Old man knows you want to find the truth. But the ironclad evidence, the truth is already right in front of you, you don't have to take us for fools. Except for you, no one else made a move. Understand?"

Pojun's eyelids twitched wildly, "Old Hall Master, I..."

"Eh... say no more."

The Old Hall Master raised his hand to interrupt him and turned to walk back to his seat.

Subsequently,

The Old Palace Master put on an extremely respectful and cautious expression, looked at Jiang Wanyin, and asked with cupped hands: "However... may I ask Imperial Teacher, what exactly did those Juniors see in the Lower Realm? That it actually troubled you to personally cast a secret technique to tamper with it? Could it be that there are remnants of the Demon Race causing trouble?"

The hall fell silent again, and everyone pricked up their ears.

"To be precise, it was not I who cast the spell personally." Jiang Wanyin said slowly, "It was a Divine Sense I left in the Lower Realm that encountered some sort of... unpredictable variable."

"Therefore, it was that Divine Sense of mine that, while out of my control, made a judgment on its own and forcibly tampered with the memories of those Prodigies."

The air in the hall stopped flowing.

"The connection between that Divine Sense and me has been severed."

"As for what that memory, which was originally erased, actually was, I do not know either."

The expressions on the Elders' Faces changed from confusion to suspicion, and finally to horror.

Severed?

The Imperial Teacher's Divine Sense, severed just like that?

How is this possible! The Imperial Teacher is at the Peak of the God Emperor Realm, a being who has one foot in that unspeakable Realm! Her Divine Sense, even if the Dragon Ancestor acted personally, it would be impossible to sever it silently!

Then what happened in the Lower Realm!?

The Old Hall Master of Xuantian Hall's hand, which was stroking his beard, paused; he forgot to pick it up. The red-robed Elder's Face was redder than his robe.

Pojun stood in the corner, the thought that had been suppressed in his mind now growing wildly like weeds.

Not Qi Deviation.

Not Dragon Clan infighting.

Even the Imperial Teacher's Divine Sense was forcibly severed, and she even tampered with memories to cover up the truth!

That "third party" capable of instantly draining God-Venerable Lietian's Origin definitely exists!

And it is terrifying to the extreme!

Pojun looked at the Elders in the hall who were falling into panic, as if he had made a certain resolution, and suddenly took a step forward.

Everyone's eyes pierced toward him.

Pojun cupped his fists and spoke in a deep voice, "Elders! Since the Imperial Teacher's Divine Sense can tamper with memories on its own to cover up someone, and even cut off the connection..."

"Then is there a possibility..."

"That it was enslaved by that White-robed God Emperor in the Lower Realm!?"