Chapter 2079 - The Mirror of Acuity

Greater Gods were experts nearing the pinnacle of the Divine Dao. They were the mightiest existences beneath the Master God level!

Given Su Yi’s current cultivation base, he could defend himself against a Greater God in a one-on-one duel, but that was all.

In a fight to the death, he'd struggle to come out ahead!

When the Master Gods suddenly turned and fled, Su Yi couldn’t stop them in time. The Third and Chief Libationers couldn’t do it either.

Luo Xuanji initially planned to intervene, but when she saw that Su Yi wasn’t moving, something occurred to her, and she held back.

The Staff of Divine Punishment, however, didn’t. This mighty killer weapon suddenly took to the skies.

Boom!

The electric power of the Laws over the City of the Beginning turned a startling blood red, then descended from the heavens.

Whoosh!

A surging downpour came crashing down.

Countless blood-red divine chains of the natural order interwove into a crimson net that ensnared Ren Beiyou and the other thirteen Greater Gods before they knew what hit them!

No matter how hard they struggled, it was to no avail!

That strikingly red power of the natural order sealed the Master Gods’ cultivation bases completely, then flung them to the ground like dead dogs!

The Staff of Divine Punishment, meanwhile, hovered beneath the dome of heaven, emanating a taboo power as radiant as the sun.

Not even gods dared to gaze upon it directly!

This divine weapon was far too unbelievable, and it was fully sentient and brimming with an unimaginable, taboo aura. It was like the ruler of the City of the Beginning. Life and death were its to decide!

The crowd looked on in astonishment, all of them wide-eyed and tongue-tied.

One strike, and more than a dozen Greater Gods had been suppressed!!

What terrifying power. Just who created this treasure, for it to be so terrifying?

Luo Xuanji’s gaze focused.

She was the former ruler of a forbidden zone, but she only now realized how terrifying this Taboo treasure was!

Meanwhile, the group gathered within the city lord’s estate left the main hall and arrived at where the Greater Gods had been suppressed.

“These

are the rules of the City of the Beginning? Feh!” A Greater God roared in fury. “What rules? Su Yi is obviously behind all this and doing whatever he likes. How on earth is this fair?”

The other Greater Gods gnashed their teeth, bitterness written all over their faces.

The way they saw it, in a competition of individual strength, any one of them could have crushed Su Yi with ease. After all, he’d yet to become a god!

But they couldn’t, because this was the City of the Beginning. That’s what made the situation so frustrating!

With a killer weapon like the Staff of Divine Punishment around, their cultivations were useless. They couldn’t even fight back.

“I said it earlier. The rules are the rules, and anyone who breaks them must be punished, no exceptions,” said Su Yi. “Of course, that includes me. Rules must be strict and impartial if people are to respect and follow them from the bottom of their hearts.”

Boom!

The Drum of Injustice beat, and a new line of text appeared in the air. “You’re absolutely right, Your Excellency! Nothing can be accomplished without rules, and not even gods are exempt! Without rules, the weak have no protection, and the strong have no restraints. Then, there would be no reason for the City of the Beginning to exist!”

The Staff of Divine Punishment rumbled beneath the dome of heaven, as if chiming in its agreement.

Countless onlookers felt waves of emotion crash through their hearts.

“Since you care so much about the rules, let me ask you this. The Drum of Injustice has accused us of being Qin Wenxiao’s accomplices, but does it have any proof?” Ren Beiyou said coldly.

The crowd exchanged glances, but against all expectations, Su Yi nodded. “Yes.

“It does?” The crowd was stunned.

Even Luo Xuanji couldn’t help but find this strange.

Su Yi has only just arrived in the City of the Beginning, and he’s never been anywhere else in the Path of the Ancient Gods. Where on earth did he find proof?

But then, Su Yi fixed his gaze on Chief Libationer Fa Tianming. “This situation is about to come to a close. Now that you’ve enjoyed the spectacle, isn’t it about time you took out the Mirror of Acuity?”

The crowd was stunned once more. All of them knew that the Mirror of Acuity, one of the city’s three great divine artifacts, had been stolen a long time ago.

It was for that reason that City Lord and Chief Libationer Fa Tianming was like a defanged tiger. His prestige and influence were far from what they’d once been. Second Libationer Qin Wenxiao’s influence completely suppressed his.

It was to the point that prior to today’s incident, neither the Second Libationer nor anyone else had taken the Chief Libationer into account.

And indeed, the Chief Libationer had chosen to remain a bystander to protect himself. He hadn’t gotten involved in this mess at all.

Everyone had taken this as a sign of weakness. Thus, none of them had anticipated that Su Yi would insist that the “stolen” Mirror of Acuity had been under the Chief Libationer’s control this entire time!

Second LIbationer Lie Xingqu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Chief Libationer, you’ve had the Mirror of Acuity this entire time!?”

Fa Tianming stood there in a daze, his expression shifting erratically. Finally, he grimaced and let out a long sigh. “I finally understand. The Second Libationer and I thought ourselves clever, but we far underestimated your capabilities.”

Uproar ensued. It was obvious to everyone that this was a tacit admission!

“You're giving up so easily? Why not struggle a little?” asked Su Yi.

Fa Tianming shook his head. “The moment the Drum of Injustice awakened, I realized that my petty tricks were doomed to failure. You saw through me a long time ago. There’s no need to struggle; it would do me no good.”

He took a deep breath, then slipped a mysterious black box from his sleeves and held it upright with both hands.

“The Mirror of Acuity is inside this box. This old man is convinced of his defeat and willing to accept punishment!”

With that, Fa Tianming bowed to Su Yi, then lowered his head to the ground in penitence.

The crowd watched in astonishment. None of them could have imagined that the Second Libationer wasn’t the only culprit. Even Chief Libationer Fa Tianming had harbored secret ulterior motives this entire time!

“Fa Tianming, what... what exactly is going on here?” roared Lie Xingqu.

“You still don’t get it? This old-timer decided to monopolize the Mirror of Acuity a long time ago, and he planned to get rid of Second Libationer Qin Wenxiao. In doing so, he’d acquire the Staff of Divine Punishment, too,” Luo Xuanji said coldly. “When the snipe and the clam fight, it’s the fisherman who benefits.

“Had his plan succeeded, he’d have gotten rid of Qin Wenxiao without the slightest effort. Logically speaking, the Staff of Divine Punishment would have fallen under his control. He’d have acquired a powerful killer weapon essentially for free.

“He just didn’t anticipate that Fellow Daoist Su would be so capable as to make all three divine treasures reawaken, so his plan came to naught.”

Her voice was tinged with dense mockery.

The crowd was starting to grasp the situation. The way they looked at Fa Tianming changed.

The old-timer sure hid himself deeply!

But Fa Tianming sighed deeply. “You’re wrong. It’s true that I wanted to monopolize the Mirror of Acuity, but I didn’t anticipate that the Second Libationer’s attitude would change so starkly after the mirror was ‘stolen.’ I was still the city lord, but he completely disregarded me.

“In the years that followed, even the city guards dared disregard my orders, yet they obeyed Qin Wenxiao’s every command and treated him with the utmost respect.”

Resentment appeared on his face. “Furthermore, I could clearly sense that Qin Wenxiao had thoughts of replacing me as city lord! He repeatedly made contact with Lie Xingqu in secret in the hope that the two of them could join forces to find an excuse to strip me of my position.

“I hated him! How could I not?”

Lie Xingqu fell silent. Fa Tianming wasn’t lying; Second Libationer Qin Wenxiao really did have plans of removing the city lord from office.

“So, from the moment this storm first arose, you planned to watch tigers fight from a safe distance, then swoop in to reap the benefits. Is that right?” said Su Yi.

Fa Tianming maintained his bowing posture and said in a low, bitter voice, “That’s right. I really did want you and Qin Wenxiao to fight to the death.”

“Weren’t you worried that Qin Wenxiao might win?” asked Su Yi.

Fa Tianming shook his head. “You control the power of reincarnation, and you carry the Epoch Spark. I was convinced that there was no way Qin Wenxiao could kill you! I was also convinced that Third Libationer Lie Xingqu understood that, and that that’s why he decisively chose to take your side.”

Lie Xingqu’s expression shifted, but he didn’t deny it.

“People are selfish. I’m naturally no exception,” sighed Fa Tianming. “Fortunately, although I longed to kill Qin Wenxiao and acquire the Staff of Divine Punishment, I was too cautious of the city’s rules to act recklessly. That’s why I endured and tolerated as much as I did, and why I chose to remain a bystander. I’ve avoided committing any major errors.”

Luo Xuanji sneered. “You monopolized the Mirror of Acuity for the sake of your own greed. How is that any different from trampling on the rules of the City of the Beginning? It’d even be fair to say that

you

caused this storm!”

After all, had the Mirror of Acuity been here, how could Qin Wenxiao have dared to target Su Yi?

The Mirror of Acuity could sense everything that happened in the City of the Beginning, and it could restrict the Staff of Divine Punishment. Had he known it was there, Qin Wenxiao would never have dared attempt to frame Su Yi!

The Staff of Divine Punishment would never have let him!

Fa Tiaming slumped in despondency and sighed. “I won’t try to justify my actions. I admit to my mistakes, and I’m willing to accept punishment!”

When the crowd saw this, all of them were rueful. Witnessing this storm had really broadened their horizons.

Su Yi walked up, took the black wooden box, and said, “You’re the city lord. Don’t tell me you know that no one can really make the city’s three great treasures their own?”

“All this time, we thought the power of reincarnation had vanished for good,” said Fa Tianming. “And we thought that the Epoch Spark necessary to open the Path of the Ancient Gods had been lost, and that no outsiders would come to the City of the Beginning ever again. Given the circumstances, even if I couldn’t make the treasures my own, I figured I could at least take control of them. Of course I was tempted. Who wouldn’t have been?”

Su Yi instantly understood. Ultimately, the power of reincarnation had vanished for far too long, and it had been far too long since the Path of the Ancient Gods had last opened.

This was what made the Chief and Second Libationers give in to greed, and what led to today’s incident.

Su Yi shook his head, cast aside his scattered thoughts, and removed the lid of the black box.

A round bronze mirror shot out of the box, then transformed into a beam of light that shot into the firmament. The mirror shone like the rising sun, illuminating all of creation.

A boundless, mighty aura surged within the Laws of the City of the Beginning.

This was the Mirror of Acuity! It watched everything from on high, and saw everything down to the smallest detail.

Nothing that happened within city limits, no matter how small, could escape the mirror’s notice.

When this treasure entered the world, the suppressed Greater Gods visibly lost their composure.

Earlier, they’d refused to admit that they were the Second Libationer’s accomplices because they knew no one could present any concrete proof.

But now that the Mirror of Acuity had appeared, they realized that they were really in trouble this time!