Chapter 1571: The Same Sky (2)

The old turtle returned to the bottom of the sea and placed his city down.

After some thought, he entered the Death Realm with his actual body. The area near his city was mostly devoid of death sovereigns as He Tu had brought them all toward Xing Yue's place. After looking around, the old turtle noted an area with an excessively high density of death qi. He ignored that place and flew straight toward the Celestial River of Death.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived. There, a death spirit was floating above the river. Surprisingly, the death spirit was emitting a faint white radiance from his body.

The old turtle's eyes glowed as he focused on the death spirit. That caused the death spirit to open his eyes and look at the old turtle. He seemed to recognize the old turtle as he bowed slightly and said, "Greetings, General."

"You are too polite. As the Culturekeeper Marquis, you are higher ranked than I."

The death spirit said, "Not at all. I'm dead. I am no longer the Culturekeeper Marquis. Only the current Gravekeeper is the Culturekeeper Marquis."

The old turtle said nothing about that. He asked, "Have you regained your memories?"

"About sixty to seventy percent of them."

"That's good to hear." The old turtle asked again, "Did you defeat Marquis Qishan previously?"

"I barely stopped him. Eventually, someone called him away."

"Did he cross the river?"

"Yes."

"I know what to do now."

The old turtle did not say more. He stepped onto the river. Instantly, something rose from the river and clawed at him. However, he easily shattered the incoming arm with a stomp. Then, he started crossing the river. He was able to easily neutralize all the dangers the river had to offer.

The other side of the river was a slightly brighter world.

Here and there, some flickering white light could be seen.

The aura of the old turtle started changing alongside his clothes. Instantly, he transformed into an armored general. His usual gentle disposition was gone, replaced by a furious disposition.

Then, he ripped space apart, stepped forth, and instantly arrived before a large palace.

"East Heavenly King!"

His roar resounded everywhere.

His aura continued surging as he took a large token out and said, "The Spirit Suppression General, Grand Dream, is here to meet the East Heavenly King."

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Inside a certain side hall in the palace, Marquis Qishan frowned.

The same was happening in the other side halls.

Before long, a voice rang out, "Spirit Suppression General, the heavenly king is not around. He is out to handle some duties."

The old turtle coldly asked, "Is that so? Are you saying that Marquis Qishan had intruded into the thirtieth eastern region out of his own initiative? Impudent! Marquis Qishan, come out and die! How dare you invade the territory under my care?"

A powerful being appeared in midair. It was Marquis Qishan.

Marquis Qishan coldly said, "Grand Dream, this is the Death Realm."

"Death Realm?" The old turtle declared, "Still under the rule of the imperial court. Up above, down below, living and dead, all fall under the imperial court's rule. That won't change until a new conquest. Before that, the sky above is still the sky of the ancient past. The imperial court's sky. I am a general of the imperial court, the Spirit Suppression General. Marquis Qishan, how dare you intrude upon my territory without permission?"

Marquis Qishan frowned and asked, "What do you want?"

"Cut your Dao Body thrice and I'll consider the matter over."

"What a joke—"

Boom!

The old turtle tossed his token out. Just as Marquis Qishan was about to resist, the power of laws gathered and suppressed him. This power seemed to specialize in suppressing death spirits.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Marquis Qishan's body started burning, causing him to wail mournfully. The old turtle said, "How dare a mere marquis deny the sky above us? How dare you maintain your arrogance even after going against the laws? Are you intending to revolt against the imperial court?"

At that, the token shone even brighter than before. The surrounding death sovereigns and marquises hurriedly distanced themselves from the token. The burning light emitted by the token could harm even marquises.

As for Marquis Qishan, he continued roaring as death qi rippled out of his body.

Boom!

The old turtle punched him, causing him to cough blood repeatedly. He was completely helpless as the old turtle followed with even more punches. Eventually, a figure emerged behind Marquis Qishan. Noticing the figure, the old turtle drew a blade out and cut the figure thrice with the power of the laws.

The figure shattered, releasing three drops of blood.

Death blood.

Yes. This was the so-called death blood Su Yu had encountered before. The old turtle had harvested three at one go, each bigger than the drop Su Yu had seen previously. With the three drops in hand, the old turtle withdrew his token.

The weakened Marquis Qishan glared at the old turtle hatefully and said, "Grand Dream! You damaged my Dao Body!"

The old turtle said indifferently, "You asked for it. You intruded upon somewhere you shouldn't yet showed no remorse. This is a fitting punishment for you. Don't forget that the laws are still around. You will obey them as long as they are around, even after death. The same goes for everyone."

The old turtle looked at the others and said, "I am only in charge of suppressing the thirtieth eastern region. As for the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth regions, they were originally under Devote King's care. Now that the Source Return Blade has been taken away, I'll be watching over the two regions temporarily as well. I hope nobody will try to stand in my way when I'm carrying out my duty."

Just as the old turtle was about to leave, someone laughed and asked, "Grand Dream, what's the rush? Since you're already here, why don't you grab something to drink at my place?"

The old turtle's expression changed slightly. He replied unhesitatingly, "I have my duties. Thank you for the invitation, Heavenly King. I will visit you when I have the time in the future."

"A pity. So be it." The same voice said, "By the way, when is He Tu coming to register himself here? He falls under the jurisdiction of the Eastern King's Court. It's not proper for him to be staying at your place."

The old turtle expression changed further as he said, "It will happen soon. I'll push him to register here."

"How many years have you been saying this?"

The old turtle raised his brow and said, "I'll push harder. Be patient, East Heavenly King. He Tu has a unique identity. He is the descendant of my direct superior. I can't be too harsh with him."

"I understand. In truth, Marquis Qishan had intruded upon your territory for this reason. He was there for He Tu, but unfortunately, it caused a misunderstanding with you. Brother Grand Dream, since it's a misunderstanding, it's better to return Marquis Qishan his death blood."

The old turtle continued flying away as he replied, "He intruded without any notification or official papers. I did not punish him wrongly."

"Is this a refusal, Brother Grand Dream?"

The old turtle replied with a far sterner voice, "Yes. East Heavenly King, I have the authority to enter your territory since I am the Spirit Suppression General appointed by the imperial court. However, Marquis Qishan does not have the authority to enter my territory."

The East Heavenly King's eyes turned cold as he said, "Grand Dream, you're pushing it..."

"Calm your anger. I am doing everything in accordance with the laws. The imperial court would naturally punish me in the event of any wrongdoing. Let me reiterate. The laws are supreme. If Marquis Qishan dares to come again, I'll still punish him."

At that, the old turtle vanished into the distance.

An ancient being appeared above the palace. For some reason, the death qi on his body was barely noticeable, as though there was no death qi on him.

Beside him, the weakened Marquis Qishan bowed and said, "Heavenly King...he took three drops of blood from my Dao Body!"

The East Heavenly King said nonchalantly, "You asked for it. Why did you enter his territory? You are a vassal of the Eastern King's Court. It is only natural for him to punish you for intruding upon his territory."

"But..."

The East Heavenly King cut him off and continued, "I'll forgive you this once. Grand Dream obeys nothing but the laws. Are you dreaming of killing him? He's right. The sky above us...is still the imperial court's sky. Can you bear the price of killing a suppression general?"

He added, "Produce an official paper and urge him to send He Tu over. He Tu has a unique identity. He can't be allowed to stay outside for long. I also learned from the Heavenly River Supervisor that a high-degree Eternal has risen recently. Send someone to verify his identity. If he fits the requirements, he needs to report himself here as well."

Marquis Qishan was still unhappy, but he agreed, "Yes. I will handle this well."

"Go."

Marquis Qishan flew away with anger bubbling inside him. He couldn't forgive Grand Dream for this humiliation. The damn turtle could only rely on the heavenly laws to deal with him. What was the big deal about that?

The East Heavenly King looked into the distance thoughtfully before returning into the palace.

Then, several marquises appeared in the sky. One of them laughed and said, "Lanshan, I heard that the thirtieth eastern region was in chaos lately because of your fellow humans."

An expert said indifferently, "And? So what? That's Grand Dream's territory. It has nothing to do with us. Marquis Qishan was punished precisely because he meddled too much. He's already dead. Why bother?"

"True."

The marquises laughed and left without saying anything else. The conflicts between races would not end even upon death. But that region was not under their jurisdiction. Thus, they couldn't do anything about it.