"But Father!" Duke Qi called out with a voice full of unwillingness.
Ba Shifang frowned when he heard Duke Qi's father. Like Tianyi, although he didn't cultivate the Three Pure True Self Visualization Technique, his soul was stronger than most core formation masters due to the Nine-Five Scripture.
It wasn't that Tianyi had tried having Ba Shifang cultivate the Three Pure True Self Visualization Technique to conduct some experiments. The truth of the matter was that Ba Shifang couldn't cultivate it at all, leading Tianyi to believe that only he could cultivate it. Coupled with the abundant tribulation essence in space where his three true selves resided, Tianyi couldn't help but suspect that this was some sort of conspiracy of the Heavenly Dao. With how often tribulation lightning used to strike him, Tianyi would totally believe it, but he just didn't know why.
Ignoring whether it was the Heavenly Dao's conspiracy or not, Ba Shifang's soul was powerful to the point that not even a nascent soul grandmaster's spiritual sense would be able to evade his senses, but he couldn't detect anything when Duke Qi's father spoke. Upon realizing this, Ba Shifang raised his guard against the seemingly weak Qi Ducal Estate that he had never placed into his eyes before.
After some more argument from Duke Qi, he finally relented and welcomed Ba Shifang to his father's secret chambers. From his choice of words, it seemed that Duke Qi learned of Ba Shifang's status.
Ba Shifang followed Duke Qi to the center of the whole estate, which was the study room. Inside, Duke Qi fiddled with some ornaments, and a secret entrance opened. Upon seeing this, Ba Shifang's eyes lit up with interest, but he quickly suppressed his curiosity as it was not the time.
The entrance led to a stairway that went deep into the earth. When the stairs ended, there was a small room about ten meters in diameter, carved with ruins. The density of spiritual qi surprised Ba Shifang as it was ten times denser and even purer than the best cultivation chambers inside the imperial palace. It seemed that the Jiang Family wasn't as simple as the Xi Imperial Family thought.
However, Ba Shifang had no excess attention to focus on inconsequential thoughts. Instead, he focused all his attention on the person sitting on a prayer mat in the center of the room, Jiang Ziya.
Jiang Ziya was a middle-aged man with long black hair, beard, and mustache. His skin was white and ruddy. His eyes were closed, but his two long eyebrows extended past his cheeks. Combined with his slightly wrinkled skin, it made for a disharmonious yet harmonious sight. He wore black and white daoists robes instead of the luxuriant noble robes Duke Qi wore.
That wasn't the most crucial point. The most crucial aspect was the aura Ba Shifang felt. It wasn't a suppression of cultivation realm but a suppression of law. Ba Shifang inherited Tianyi's spacetime concepts so he could acutely sense Jiang Ziya's mastery over space concepts, which reached the point that it surpassed most immortals that he met.
If he was correct, Jiang Ziya focused on the Law of Qiankun. To be more precise, the Law of Qiankun was closely related to the Law of Space but not the Law of Time. Qiankun was like a unique universe but without the flow of time and able to accommodate anything. That was the feeling Jiang Ziya gave off, an aura that he could accept any and everything.
Ba Shifang reflected Jiang Ziya's information inside his mind. Jiang Ziya was around three hundred years old, and Ba Shifang could clearly feel the aura of a nascent soul grandmaster. Even in the Buzhou Immortal Sect, a three-hundred-year-old nascent soul grandmaster was above average. This wasn't even including Jiang Ziya's master of the Law of Qiankun. This was enough to make a genius greater than even Tianyi. Jiang Ziya's immortal ascension was all but guaranteed!
For a moment, Ba Shifang's mood became tangled. Logically speaking, he should invite such a talent cultivator to join the Buzhou Immortal Sect. But Ba Shifang never forgot that it was the Jiang Family that caused Daoyi so much misery in the first half of her life in the Huang Realm.
'Forget it. I'll let Main Body decide. Who told me to be the clone and him the main body? Haha!' After deciding to let Tianyi have the headache, Ba Shifang peacefully stared at Jiang Ziya. "Fellow Daoists, please enlighten me on the matter to what exactly befell the Xi Dynasty."
At this moment, Jiang Ziya opened his eyes, and Ba Shifeng felt as if the world only consisted of this secret chamber and nothing else. The feeling lasted for a moment before disappearing, causing Tianyi's third clone to be even cautious with Daoyi's grandfather.
"No need to be so cautious. We are on the same side," Jiang Ziya said, but his voice held the tone of a superior.
Ba Shifang felt unnatural. Jiang Ziya was just a mere nascent soul grandmaster of an unranked empire. Even if the Xi Dynasty was owned by Tianyi's uncle, it was a dime in the dozen, but Ba Shifang also understood the world's reality. Strength was law, so even if Jiang Ziya viewed him lightly, Ba Shifang quietly listened to Jiang Ziya's recounting of what happened.
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The truth wasn't anything earth-shattering to the point that the world would be changed from a secret. According to Jiang Ziya, a remnant soul happened to possess the Xi Emperor and was using the Xi Dynasty to restore his former cultivation. Under Jiang Ziya's observation, the possessed Xi Emperor should have no allies and be secretly taking action.
All those that noticed the different nature of the possessed emperor were summoned by the emperor. After meeting him, they miraculously changed and wholeheartedly believed that the Xi Emperor hadn't changed and had an unnatural faith in him. This led Jiang Ziya to conclude that the cultivator that possessed the Xi Emperor was a soul cultivator and one at the Immortal Realm.
There were those that the possessed Xi Emperor didn't bother to summon. Instead, they were placed under house arrest, like the current Qi Ducal Estate.
This information made Ba Shifang's head hurt. He had belief in resisting the possessed Xi Emperor, not because of his cultivation, but because of the soul defense artifact he had. After encountering Monarch Soulfish, Tianyi always carried one and gave one to his clones too. Even in Tianyi's current state, he still carried a soul defense artifact.
What made Ba Shifang, and undoubtedly Tianyi, worried was how to rescue his cousin and his Emperor-Uncle.
"Thank you, Senior Jiang. I can't make the decision now, but the main body will definitely not forget your grace," Ba Shifang cupped his fist and saluted Jiang Ziya.
Jiang Ziya just waved his hand. "There is nothing to thank. I am a citizen of the Xi Dynasty. How can I watch an evildoer besmirch and use His Majesty?"
Ba Shifang didn't stay any longer and left the secret chamber. After leaving, he wrapped himself in his immortal ranked concealment artifact and disappeared. Unknown to him, once he disappeared, Jiang Ziya's eyes flashed with hidden light.
After Ba Shifang left, Duke Qi couldn't hold any longer. "Father, the matter of the His Majesty being possessed, is it true? Why didn't you say anything?!"
Jiang Ziya calmly closed his eyes. "If I told you, what could you have done?"
Duke Qi opened his mouth, only to discover that he had nothing to say. Still, he managed to spit out some words, "We could secretly leave and tell the Buzhou Immortal Sect."
"Stupid," Jiang Ziya calmly rebuked. The peaceful tone was as if he was long used to Duke Qi's idiotic ways, causing Duke Qi's face to pale. "With our strength, how can we leave without his notice?"
Duke Qi felt his heart go into overdrive as he thought that the possessed Xi Emperor could get rid of them at any time, but when he saw his father's serenity, he felt his heart calm down. "Then, in Father's opinion, what should we do?"
"Wait for Xi Tianyi's instructions." Jiang Ziya said.
"Him?" Duke Qi's expression twisted a bit. He could still remember Tianyi's arrogant behavior towards him. He lowered his attitude and respectfully attended Tianyi, but Tianyi disdained him. As one of the Four Dukes of the Xi Dynasty, when had anyone dared to disdain him? "What can he do?"
"Stupid," Jiang Ziya calmly said again, causing Duke Qi's expression to fall.
Duke Qi may have been unaware, but Jiang Ziya knew that even if Tianyi didn't have the ability, the Sword Empress must have given him numerous treasures to protect himself. Just the matter of Ba Shifeng's mysterious appearance and disappearance made Jiang Ziya clear that Tianyi had Immortal Realm artifacts.
Jiang Ziya practiced the Laws of Qiankun. It was not an overstatement to say that nothing is out of his sight within the Qi Ducal Estate, but Ba Shifeng was able to appear and disappear out of his senses, something that even unity venerables were unable to do.
Plus, he had inside information that Tianyi wasn't so simple.
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When Tianyi heard of Ba Shifeng's report, he felt a migraine coming. Tiredly rubbing his head, he told Ba Shifeng to retreat and let him ponder over the matter.
If it were any other type of cultivator, such as a martial or spiritual cultivator, Tianyi wouldn't have such a headache. Say he physically rescued his cousins, but that was only physically. The soul cultivator could easily command them to die with a simple word, rendering all of Tianyi's effort fruitless.
Tianyi was clear on the terrible powers of soul cultivators. After all, his junior sister, Daoyi, was such a soul cultivator.
There was another problem Tianyi had, and that was the sheer number of his Emperor-Uncles women and children. Even if his Emperor-Uncle only took one woman a century, the number of children born would be too many to count. Tianyi knew that he would be unable to save them all if he wanted to take them away.
So what could he do? Strike at the root of the problem, the possessed Xi Emperor? That was even less realistic. Tianyi wasn't proficient in soul techniques, and less needed to be said about his clone. He had confidence beating the possessed emperor, but then what? Kill him? That would lead to an even worse outcome.
Tianyi sorted through his memories, trying to find a treasure that could solve the possessed Xi Emperor. The first artifact he thought of was the Vast Heaven Islands, but he quickly denounced it. Although anyone trapped inside would be severed from the external world, Ba Shifeng wasn't able to control it proficiently. Even if he could, how would he force the possessed emperor to enter?
Besides the problem of dealing with the remnant soul, Tianyi also had to think of who exactly the remnant soul was. If it was just an unlucky soul immortal who happened to possess his Emperor-Uncle, then that would be okay, but would things really be that simple?
Who, at least those with connection and power, didn't know that the Xi Emperor was his mother's, the legendary Sword Empress, brother? It offered him protection, but it also placed a large target on his back. What if the possession was some sort of conspiracy?
Tianyi couldn't help but think of the rising number of conflicts happening in the Heaven Continent. Daoyi and Xi Ri both left to take of the issues near the continent's edge. The biggest suspect was naturally the Anti-Heaven Alliance. They've long wanted to replace the Buzhou Immortal Sect as the hegemonic sect of the Heaven Continent.
To deal with the Buzhou Immortal Sect, they would have to deal with the three immortal emperors: the Concealed Emperor, Empress Voidink, and Sword Empress Xi. Both the Concealed Emperor and Empress Voidink had no noticeable weakness. Only his mother, Mengfei, had a weakness known as the Xi Emperor.
Tianyi made a self-deprecating smile. Who said he also wasn't a weakness?
Tianyi sighed, "If Daoyi was here, it would be so much simpler."