Chapter 2591: The Celestial Emperor’s Repayment

The Golden Crows were much stronger than Ji Xiaoxi in the first place. Shortly after their fragmented souls entered the Golden Crow Tenth Prince’s body, the Tenth Prince’s body slowly opened his eyes.

“Mother...” Seeing Xihe, the Tenth Prince burst into tears. He was about to get up when he suddenly clutched his head and exclaimed, “Ugh, it hurts!”

Xihe was overjoyed to hear the voice of her son, but she was horrified to see him in such pain. She anxiously turned to Zu An.

Zu An explained, “Their souls are incomplete. It’s only normal for them to suffer a headache.”

Soon, different voices echoed from the Tenth Prince’s mouth.

“Huh? What am I doing here?”

“Who are you?”

“Isn’t this tenth brother’s body?”

“Mother, what are you doing here?”

“I vaguely recall father killing me.”

...

The commotion caused by the different voices caused the Tenth Prince’s headache to worsen. Just then, the Goddess of Wu Mountain threw a jade bottle over and said, “This should make them feel better.”

Xihe directed a grateful nod at her before feeding a droplet of Cloud Fog Essence to the Tenth Prince. That eased the Tenth Prince’s pain, and he gradually calmed down. That gave Xihe the chance to explain the situation to them.

Zu An returned to Ji Xiaoxi’s side and gently held her hand, infusing ki into her body to aid her recovery. When he felt just how cold her hands were, his heart stung.

“Don’t worry, Miss Xiaoxi will be fine,” the Goddess of Wu Mountain consoled him.

But Zu An wasn’t that optimistic. Xiaoxi had been the ‘main ingredient’ in the Myriad Souls Banner, so her soul was bound to have suffered a lot of damage. Furthermore, it was unknown whether this incident would trigger her Cruel Poison Constitution.

Just then, Ji Xiaoxi’s eyelids fluttered. Overjoyed, Zu An called out for her.

A while later, Ji Xiaoxi finally opened her eyes. Delight and hesitation flickered in her eyes when she saw Zu An. “Big brother Zu, am I dreaming?”

Unable to hold himself back anymore, Zu An pulled her into his embrace. “No, it’s not a dream. It’s all right now. Big brother Zu will protect you.”

His warm embrace convinced Ji Xiaoxi that this was all real. She finally revealed a smile that came from the bottom of her heart as she said, “I was in a scary place earlier. My body felt light, and it was on the verge of being devoured by darkness. I was so afraid, until I heard big brother Zu’s voice in the distance. It was as if I finally found my pillar of support. It’s because of you that I didn’t lose myself to the darkness...”

Her words made Zu An feel even more sorry for her. “It’s all over now. I’ll be by your side from now onward.”

It was hard to tell what was in Ji Xiaoxi’s head, but upon hearing his words, her face turned red. She then happened to notice the Goddess of Wu Mountain, and that sent her into a fluster. She tried to push Zu An away but was too weak to succeed. In the end, she shyly smiled at the latter and said, “Big sister Pei is here too.”

“I’m not Miss Pei,” the Goddess of Wu Mountain replied.

I must truly resemble Miss Pei for her to say that too.

That made her even more curious about Zu An’s history with Pei Mianman.

“Ah?” Ji Xiaoxi blinked in confusion.

Is big sister Pei angry at me?

Zu An quickly explained the Goddess of Wu Mountain’s identity to her. Ji Xiaoxi was fascinated. She hadn't thought there could be two people who resemble each other so much in the world.

Meanwhile, Xihe brought the Golden Crow Tenth Prince over to thank Zu An when a huge explosion suddenly echoed in the distance. The entire palace shook due to the explosion.

The group was startled. “What happened?”

“Something happened to the formation suppressing Zhuanxu.” Zu An recalled the Great Constellation Formation being in the direction of the explosion.

The group rushed to the window to ascertain the situation. There, they saw the stars in the sky plummeting one after another, a sign that the formation was unraveling.

Zu An grimly said, “Let’s quickly leave this place.”

There was no telling how Zhuanxu would react to them. Given their relationship with Emperor Jun, Zhuanxu’s ire could be drawn to Xihe and the Golden Crow Tenth Prince. At the same time, Zu An carried the shamans’ aura right now, and the shamans had bad blood with the fiends.

Besides, Zu An had a terrible impression of Zhuanxu. The latter had little control over the Celestial Court despite being the Celestial Emperor, and had simply watched as Emperor Jun caused so much trouble.

The others agreed with his suggestion.

Zu An picked Xiaoxi up.

The group was about to leave when a divine light suddenly surged from the distant formation. Zhuanxu had to have broken free of his restraint.

Alarmed, Zhao Lingguan rushed over with his subordinates. “Where do you think you're going?”

He charged at Zhuanxu with his massive axe.

The figure amid the divine light casually pressed downward, and a giant palm descended from the sky and smacked Zhao Lingguan and his subordinates down from the Celestial Court. The falling stars’ debris then fell on them, turning into mountains that buried them within.

Zu An was stunned.

Has Zhao Lingguan always been this courageous?

Of course, Zhao Lingguan wasn’t so foolish as to think he could subdue a Celestial Emperor. He'd thought that Emperor Jun was nearby and all he had to do was buy some time for Emperor Jun to appear. He could have accrued merit that way. Little did he know the Emperor Jun he had just seen was Zu An.

The person in the divine light glanced in the direction of where Zu An and the others were before taking a step forward. Before Zu An and the others could react, he was already inside the celestial palace.

Zu An and the others froze in place.

Damn it, we were still a step too late.

Zu An anxiously urged Xihe and the Goddess of Wu Mountain to be careful, only to realize that they weren’t responding, as if someone had frozen them in place.

“What did you do to them?” Zu An furiously glared at the man shrouded in divine light.

The man wore a resplendent coronet and a five-colored silk robe embroidered with gleaming jewels. His presence was so powerful that it made one overlook his appearance; all one would remember was his inviolable authority.

“Don’t worry, they are fine. I just want to talk to you,” Zhuanxu said.

Zu An fell silent.

He must have used some kind of spatial domain-type skill. As expected of a Celestial Emperor. His methods are impressive.

But the thought of how Zhuanxu had done nothing all this while despite his incredible prowess, sitting idly as Emperor Jun messed around, made him even angrier.

“You seem to be blaming me.” Zhuanxu saw through Zu An’s thoughts.

“I wouldn’t dare. I’m merely perplexed as to why you haven’t done anything despite your formidable abilities. You were even imprisoned by your own people. I find it baffling,” Zu An replied sarcastically.

“It’s more complicated than you think. I’m not just up against Emperor Jun and Taiyi here...” Zhuanxu suddenly paused here, as he was reluctant to share more details with Zu An. “And how do you know I haven’t done anything at all?”

“Oh? Enlighten me, please,” Zu An replied.

All you've done is to sever heaven and earth by sacrificing your most talented grandson.

“How could you have shot down the Golden Crows and foiled Emperor Jun’s plan if I hadn’t bestowed Suzeng to you?” Zhuanxu replied with a faint smile.

Zu An frowned. “You might not have been the one who gifted Suzeng to me. Besides, how could a future event resolve a past incident?”

Zhuanxu chuckled. “The past, the present, and the future; those are concepts thought up by mortals. To beings like us, there’s no difference among them. We can influence the timeline with a simple intervention at any temporal point. I might have gifted Suzeng to you in the future, but it came in handy here, no? It would be unnecessary to bestow it upon you a second time.”

Zu An’s head shook, as he felt as if he had heard the chime of truth. He vaguely felt something, but the moment passed, and he failed to fully grasp what exactly it was.

Zhuanxu wasn’t interested in speaking further on the matter. “You have done me a huge favor, so I’ll allow you to make a request. Is there anything you want?”