In the hidden depths of the Void.
Da Xing the Mad Monk was rather moved.
Just moments ago, he had been puzzled. Empress Wuyue was clearly the Destiny Empress of the Immortal Dao, and she had painstakingly laid out karma with the sole purpose of erasing Gu Qingfeng. Her existence should have been to protect the Great Dao.
He didn't understand why she would disrupt the Sacred Ground's plans and throw the situation into chaos.
Only now did he realize that while Empress Wuyue appeared to have disrupted the Sacred Ground's plans and muddied the waters, that was merely the surface appearance. Her true intention was more to make the Immortal Dao, the Sacred Ground, and the various Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands recognize a fact—the fact that the life and death of the Great Dao lay in the hands of Xuanyuan Wuji and the Great Sun Radiant Emperor.
It had to be said, Empress Wuyue was truly putting in immense effort. The only question was whether the Great Dao side would appreciate her goodwill and whether they could recognize this fact.
"As for You Di, there's no need for you to keep creating opportunities to erase him. You simply cannot erase him. At least from the current situation, you cannot kill You Di."
As soon as Empress Wuyue's words fell, a voice of rebuttal echoed through the Void.
"Utter nonsense!
Wuyue!
You are merely the Destiny Empress of our Xuantian Immortal Dao. What qualifications do you have to pontificate here? How do you know we cannot erase You Di!"
"Heh heh heh..." Empress Wuyue laughed heartily, her laughter filled with disdain. She shouted, "Since the ancient times, you have tried to erase You Di time and time again. Tell This Consort, has there ever been a single time you successfully erased You Di?
Wasn't every single time a miserable defeat where you were slaughtered by You Di instead?
And you still have the face to question This Consort?
What a colossal joke!"
Empress Wuyue's words left the Ancestral Patriarchs of the Xuantian Immortal Dao speechless.
"Your schemes to erase You Di are utterly meaningless, serving only to make you look foolish. Especially now that you've pinned your hopes of erasing You Di on the Original Sin side, you are doomed to fail."
"Do you know that at this very moment, You Di is hiding right here, drinking fine wine while watching your antics like a farce?
Watching you make fools of yourselves?"
Hearing this.
Gu Qingfeng, hidden in the Void, couldn't help but be taken aback. Because at this very moment, he was indeed drinking fine wine and watching the spectacle. He was sitting on a jar of fine wine, with another jar in his hand. He looked down at himself and said with some suspicion, "Has Tang Heng discovered me?"
"Impossible, right?"
Da Xing the Mad Monk said, "No one can detect your presence. No matter how uncanny Tang Heng is, she couldn't possibly find you."
"Then how does she know I'm drinking wine and watching the show?"
"Anyone who knows your character knows what kind of person you are.
They could guess what you're doing with their eyes closed. Besides, Tang Heng has a history with you. She probably knows exactly what you're up to the moment you twitch."
"Go to hell!"
At that moment.
The voice of a Great Dao Ancestral Patriarch echoed through the Void once more.
"Wuyue, This Old Master advises you to mind your own business. The affairs of the Great Dao are not for you to meddle in. Even without Xuanyuan Wuji and the Great Sun Radiant Emperor, we ourselves can still defend the Great Dao. Even without allying with Original Sin, our Great Dao can erase the scourge that is You Di!"
"Heh heh heh heh..." Empress Wuyue's laughter sounded again.
This time, her laughter sounded somewhat maniacal, mixed with boundless anger and helplessness. After her laughter subsided, Empress Wuyue suddenly roared sharply, "What a bunch of hopeless, stubborn, and utterly rotten old fossils!
With fools like you around, how can the Great Dao not perish?
You keep talking about erasing You Di. It's not that This Consort looks down on you, but even if You Di stood before you right now, forget about erasing him—you wouldn't even have the guts to make a move!"
One had to admit, Empress Wuyue was truly ruthless. Her opponents were, after all, Great Dao Ancestral Patriarchs, and most likely either Sacred Dao Patriarchs from the Holy Temple or Immortal Dao Patriarchs from Xuantian. Yet she showed them no face at all. Not only had she berated them earlier, but now she was outright humiliating them.
"Wuyue!
If you continue speaking so recklessly, don't blame This Old Master and the others for being impolite to you!"
Clearly.
The Great Dao Ancestral Patriarch was truly infuriated.
Unexpectedly, Empress Wuyue paid them no heed, her words growing even sharper. "Be impolite to This Consort?
Heh!
Indeed, that's all you're capable of—being impolite to your own people, while not daring to utter a single fart in front of You Di!"
"Outrageous!
If You Di dares to appear today, we will surely make him die without a burial place!"
"Heh heh heh heh!
What a joke!
Talk about making You Di die without a burial place—do you have the ability?
Do you have the courage?
Haven't you spouted enough of this meaningless bravado?"
"Preposterous!
Utterly preposterous..." This time, before the Great Dao Ancestral Patriarch could finish, Empress Wuyue cut him off. "Preposterous?
Hmph!
If This Consort makes You Di appear, are you confident you can erase him?
Forget erasing him—how many of you would dare to make a move?"
"Why wouldn't we dare?
As long as you can make You Di appear, we are confident we can erase him!"
"Good!
Good!
Good!
Excellent!"
Perhaps out of sheer fury, Empress Wuyue uttered the word "good" three times in succession, each syllable seeming to contain infinite rage.
"Since each and every one of you is so confident, This Consort wants to see exactly what capabilities you possess!"
With that, Empress Wuyue shouted again, "You Di, you've watched enough of the show, haven't you? Since so many people wish to see you, how can you have the nerve to keep hiding? It's time to appear and let them have a look!"
Hidden in the dark depths of the Void, Gu Qingfeng felt more and more that something was off. The more he listened, the stronger his sense of foreboding grew. "I have a feeling Tang Heng is very confident she can drag me out."
"Impossible, right?"
Da Xing the Mad Monk scratched his head. Although he thought it unlikely, he too had a bad feeling.
Just as both felt something was amiss, something unbelievable happened. The Void surrounding them began to inexplicably churn and rotate at an incredible speed, so fast that neither of them could react. It felt as if they had been hiding within clouds, only for a tornado to suddenly sweep the clouds away with lightning speed.
And then...
There was no 'and then'. Just like that, Gu Qingfeng and Da Xing the Mad Monk inexplicably and bewilderingly emerged from the shadows into the light.
It happened too suddenly.
So suddenly that neither the Great Dao Ancestral Patriarchs nor the Original Sin Ancestral Patriarchs could react. Neither Gu Qingfeng nor Da Xing the Mad Monk could react either. Of everyone present, probably no one except Empress Wuyue had anticipated Gu Qingfeng's sudden appearance.
What was even more astonishing was that when Gu Qingfeng appeared in everyone's sight, he was still sitting on a jar of fine wine, with another jar in his hand. On his utterly ordinary face, apart from a look of utter bewilderment, there was also a hint of awkwardness.