Chapter 616: Yin Shenhua Lies to the People

Above Yongding, a tempest bloomed. Fires blazed across the air.

Yin Shenhua and his subordinates fought against Ao Canghai and his Martial Aspects more and more intensely.

Ao Canghai knew that he wouldn't be able to take down Yin Shenhua immediately, but he was familiarizing himself with Yin Shenhua's techniques to plan for his future capture.

The two cultivators grew more and more intense as the fight progressed. Within the flames, the image of a Buddha fighting a golden dragon could vaguely be glimpsed.

Meanwhile, both cultivators' subordinates sent them mental transmissions.

"Your Majesty, Xiao Nanfeng's other body and the three superior draconic veins that escaped from Dayin's capital have returned!" a monk said.

"Xiao Nanfeng's in Dayin's capital again? That bastard. Is the cursed effigy impersonating the Past Buddha there with him?" Yin Shenhua gritted out.

"No, Your Majesty. It's currently fighting His Highness in the city of Jinsha," the monk replied.

"Good. With Buddha Mahakasyapa protecting Dayin's capital, nothing untoward will happen," Yin Shenhua replied.

Then, he glanced toward Ao Canghai. "Ao Canghai, neither of us will be able to overcome the other today. Let's end it now. We'll fight again some other day."

Ao Canghai had received transmissions from his subordinates as well. Knowing that Yin Shenhua was about to take on Xiao Nanfeng, he was inclined to agree to Yin Shenhua's proposal and have him kill Xiao Nanfeng on his behalf.

Suddenly, a shout came from within Yongding. "Eastern Aspect Ao, if your Martial Aspects can't take down Yin Shenhua, we Martial Aspects of the Southern Quadrant are more than happy to take over, haha!"

Raucous laughter passed straight through the flames and into Ao Canghai's ears.

Ao Canghai narrowed his eyes and glanced down, but he couldn't see who had spoken.

"Eastern Aspect, that person who spoke was a Golden Immortal."

"He said he was a Martial Aspect of the Southern Quadrant? Why does his voice sound so foreign?"

"He's hiding his identity, but it's clear he's a Golden Immortal."

The Martial Aspects came to a consensus quickly.

Ao Canghai found his scalp prickling. What were other Golden Immortals doing in Yongding? Was it really one of the Martial Aspects of the South? No—that might be information intended to mislead. However, why else would other Golden Immortals be in Yongding now?

Could Zhang Lingjun have reported on his ambivalence in committing to subduing Yin Shenhua?

Ao Canghai frowned. If that were the case, then the Heavenly Emperor was clearly upset with what they had done to date. If other Martial Aspects were to interfere, then the authority that he commanded would surely be diluted.

"Die, Yin Shenhua!" Ao Canghai shouted at once.

He struck Yin Shenhua with a heavy strike as he gave up on his plan to let him leave. He guessed that the Heavenly Emperor was paying attention to this fight; if he were to allow Yin Shenhua to target Xiao Nanfeng, it would surely affect his standing in the Imperial Court.

"Follow me. We'll head to Dayin's capital as we fight!" Yin Shenhua commanded.

Yin Shenhua and his subordinates flew toward Jinsha, where the peacock was embroiled in a fight against the black lotus. Ao Canghai and his Martial Aspects gave chase, forcing Yin Shenhua and his subordinates to slow down tremendously.

Meanwhile, by Jinsha, within the red fog, some cultivators were reporting to Xiao Nanfeng about what had happened in Yongding.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the arhats hanging in the air in annoyance.

"What a pity. I've only managed to catch three thousand arhats, and I don't have time to wait for the rest." Xiao Nanfeng sighed, then turned and asked, "How's the situation at Jinsha?"

"Sir Wen has commanded for all the citizens in Jinsha to be evacuated. Sir Ye and the Immortals that have rushed over from the vicinity have almost completed the evacuation," a cultivator in the distance shouted.

"Got it!"

With a wave of his hand, Xiao Nanfeng manipulated the red fog as he flew further away. Some arhats that had just arrived, confused about what was going on, followed the red fog as it departed.

Meanwhile, on the other battlefield at Jinsha, the black lotus continued to hold back the fierce peacock. He had just realized that something was wrong with the red fog and was about to command the arhats not to head over when he saw it was steadily moving away.

The peacock hesitated, then roared, "Xiao Nanfeng, hold it right there!"

However, the red fog continued to drift away. Soon, it was by the horizon. The black lotus had more or less guessed what was going on as well. As it continued to fight the peacock, it brought him away from Jinsha.

The black lotus and the peacock rose into the air as they fought, then drifted away from the city themselves.

Just then, a number of figures flew toward them from afar, only to be halted by Ye Dafu and his crew.

"Kill off all of these Dayin scouts!" Ye Dafu commanded.

"Understood!" his group of golden cultivators replied.

The scouts were killed one after another. The golden cultivators divided themselves into two groups that trailed the red fog and the black lotus as they cleaned up after the two battlefields.

Before long, word had spread to Yongding as well.

"Your Majesty, the two bodhisattvas chasing after Xiao Nanfeng commanded all the arhats to head to Dayin's capital to assist them, but none trapped within Xiao Nanfeng's red fog have responded to the summons. All our scouts around Jinsha have been killed, and we don't know what's going on there ourselves. When we rushed over, Jinsha was already empty. There's no one in the vicinity, only a large number of arhats swarming over," one of Yin Shenhua's subordinates sent him a mental transmission.

"Damn it!" Yin Shenhua cursed.

Just then, another monk shouted, "Ancestral Buddha, something's gone terribly wrong in Dayin's capital. Xiao Nanfeng' managed to extract all the superior draconic veins from the dragon-headed mountain. They've infused themselves into a black dragon's body, and the black dragon is completely suppressing Buddha Mahakasyapa. Buddha Mahakasyapa's been seized and is being taken away!"

Yin Shenhua frowned. He could feel a sense of growing unease.

"Ancestral Buddha, Xiao Nanfeng's formations master has excavated the Buddha's Grottos underground. They're about to break them and reveal the truth to the people!" the monk exclaimed.

Yin Shenhua blanched. He roared, "We return to the capital, now!"

He fended off Ao Canghai with incredible effort, as did his subordinates against the gatheredMartial Aspects. Then, they rushed off toward Dayin's capital.

Ao Canghai frowned as well. "Guard Yongding. I'll head over to Dayin to have a look at what's going on."

"Understood!" the Martial Aspects replied.

Ao Canghai stealthily followed behind Yin Shenhua and his subordinates.

Yin Shenhua flew extremely quickly, but no matter how quick he was, it would take significant effort to return to Dayin's capital.

By the time they did so, they saw countless people fleeing the capital in horror. The entire capital was a chaotic mess.

Yin Shenhua and his subordinates' features contorted in annoyance. On the way back, they had learned about everything that had happened.

"Ancestral Buddha, things aren't looking good."

"Xiao Nanfeng's actions have made what we're doing public knowledge. All the Immortal cities of Dayin are going to revolt."

"What do we do now, Your Majesty?"

The monks themselves were in an uproar.

Yin Shenhua was considering his options when a flash of blue light suddenly appeared by the horizon. The peacock had returned.

Yin Shenhua narrowed his eyes and absorbed the peacock into the world of his palm.

"Suppress your aura. Don't show yourself," Yin Shenhua warned.

The peacock did so, transforming back into a human as Yin Shenhua freed him from the world of his palm.

"Father, I just managed to break free from the Venerable Buddha's pursuit and headed to Yongding. I found that the battle there had ended. On the way back, I found a scout who told me that something had happened in Dayin's capital." Yin Mingwang seemed infuriated.

Yin Shenhua nodded. "Our actions have been exposed. Xiao Nanfeng, sly and crafty as he was, took the opportunity to counterattack Dayin's capital and caused chaos."

Yin Mingwang gritted his teeth. "That damned weasel!"

"We'll have plenty of time to deal with him later, but the situation here will be rather dangerous. He struck at the very core of our empire," Yin Shenhua said, his brows furrowed.

"Father, since we've already been exposed, why not reveal the truth once and for all? Rather than watch these civilians flee, why not eat them all?" Yin Mingwang stared fiercely at the fleeing civilians.

"We can't! If we slaughter even a single city, the three hundred Immortal cities of Dayin will surely all defect," Yin Shenhua retorted.

"Then we'll eat them all, one city after another! We'll grow far stronger than before, then take over the entire world as tyrants! We can easily invade the Imperial Court and devour the Immortal Emperor as well," Yin Mingwang exclaimed.

"Nonsense! Do you think it's that easy to massacre the Immortal cities? You'll need time to digest what you've consumed. During that period of time, the Imperial Court will surely send more cultivators over, as will external forces in the vicinity. They'll fight over Dayin's Immortal cities, and the entire world will take us on. We haven't yet reached the height of our power. How do you expect us to defend against an assault from every direction?" Yin Shenhua demanded.

"But we can't stop the civilians from fleeing Dayin anymore! Once news of what happened in the capital spreads, all the Immortal cities will surely rise up against us," Yin Mingwang said.

Yin Shenhua took a deep breath. "Are you certain?"

"Oh?"

"And what if those Buddha's Grottos had been deliberately planted by Xiao Nanfeng?"

"Planted?" Yin Mingwang exclaimed.

"Are you certain that the cursed effigy by Xiao Nanfeng's side is the Venerable Buddha?" Yin Shenhua asked.

"I am."

"Good, very good. From now on, remember this. The Venerable Buddha is one of my subjects and is responsible for everything to do with the annual recruitment. I had the Venerable Buddha pick out all sorts of talents to be groomed into positions of power, not realizing just how ambitious it was. Against my orders, it cultivated a group of arhats that were loyal only to itself, then devoured the talents picked out from the annual recruitment. Then, worried that I would discover what it had done, the Venerable Buddha escaped from Dayin and joined the Imperial Court, hatching a scheme with Xiao Nanfeng against me. I warred with the Venerable Buddha many times, but failed to take it down because of the interference of the Martial Aspects of the Imperial Court. Xiao Nanfeng took advantage of the opportunity to sow chaos in Dayin. I now summon loyal citizens of Dayin to take revenge for their loved ones and kill the Venerable Buddha and Xiao Nanfeng!" Yin Shenhua proclaimed.

"Father, you mean to pin the blame on Xiao Nanfeng and the Venerable Buddha? You'll make it appear as though they're the ones devouring these cultivators, not us?" Yin Mingwang's eyes brightened.

"Quite so. The Venerable Buddha is familiar with these death chants and traces its powers to the same roots as we do. That's easy information to learn. To stabilize the situation at Dayin, we have no other choice," Yin Shenhua said.

"But will anyone believe us?" Yin Mingwang asked in worry.

"Some will, and some will believe Xiao Nanfeng. As long as Xiao Nanfeng doesn't garner everyone's trust, the Immortal cities of Dayin will be safe."

"Understood, Your Majesty! We're all victims. It's the Venerable Buddha who's been devouring these poor people!" Yin Shenhua's subordinates replied.

"Good. Now, let's go!" Yin Shenhua commanded.

Yin Shenhua and his subordinates flew toward Dayin's capital. Countless civilians began to panic upon spotting him and fled all the more quickly. Of course, some cultivators who had lost their relatives and found themselves with no other purpose in life than to seek revenge rushed forward and sought out Yin Shenhua.

Dayin's officials were likewise disorganized. Some panicked, and others fled.

Yin Shenhua didn't criticize anyone. Rather, he took a deep breath. "Citizens of Dayin, like you, I was caught in a trap. Vile criminals have tarnished my reputation and falsely indicted me of crimes I did not commit."

His voice boomed across Dayin as he began his performance.