In his normal condition, Emperor Jun wouldn’t fear these divine runes. He had plenty of ways to deal with such situations. But this was only a sliver of his soul, and it was possessing the Golden Crow Prince’s body. This was considered an evil, unorthodox method.
Furthermore, Jianmu’s divine runes had the power to dispel evil!
Zu An had attacked Jianmu using Emperor Jun's face and aura to trigger the divine runes, and to make things worse, he'd even swapped their positions! The divine runes didn’t have intelligence and were incapable of telling people apart, so they could only identify the aggressor through their aura. Meanwhile, Zu An’s earlier attack had harnessed the auras of the Golden Crow Prince and Emperor Jun’s soul sliver.
Emperor Jun was instantly devoured by the divine runes’ light.
Cold sweat dripped down Zu An’s forehead. He had been taking on a huge risk there. If the divine runes had somehow identified him as the aggressor, he would have been the one suffering that fate. Fortunately, he had played plenty of games in the past and was skilled at finding loopholes to exploit.
His bet had paid off!
With a scream of agony, Emperor Jun plummeted from the sky like a sandbag.
The divine runes reined in their light and reverted to normal.
Zu An carefully caught the Golden Crow Tenth Prince’s body and confirmed that there was no longer any soul pulsing in it. That meant Emperor Jun’s soul sliver had been vanquished! He had no idea why the divine runes had only obliterated Emperor Jun’s soul sliver, but hadn’t harmed the Tenth Prince’s body; but this wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. He quickly brought the prince’s body back to the celestial palace.
On the battlefield between the Fiends and the Shamans, Emperor Jun, who had been imposingly massacring his enemies, suddenly clutched his head and let out a miserable cry. The nearby Ancestral Shamans took this chance to counterattack. If not for Donghuang Taiyi protecting him with the East Emperor Bell, he could have lost his life there and then.
“What happened?” Donghuang Taiyi asked, concerned.
Emperor Jun didn’t answer, but he stared intently in the celestial palace’s direction. The soul sliver he had left there as a precaution had been killed! The backlash of that dealt a heavy blow to him. To make things worse, this hinted that something had gone awry in the celestial palace, and the Myriad Souls Banner wouldn't necessarily be safe anymore...
Knowing that he couldn’t leave things be, he said, “I’ll leave things here to you. I need to make a quick trip back to the Celestial Court.”
He was about to leave when his surroundings were suddenly sealed off. It was Zhulong’s doing.
“I’m your opponent, Emperor Jun. You won’t get away that easily,” Zhulong said as he angrily charged at Emperor Jun.
Emperor Jun had no choice. These Ancestral Shamans were so strong that he could only barely fend against them with his cultivation. There was no way he could escape when they were doing all they could to tie him down.
...
At the Celestial Court, Zhao Lingguan was delighted to see Zu An. “You’re back, Your Majesty!”
He saw the Golden Crow Tenth Prince in Zu An’s hand and was awed. As expected of His Majesty. He still subdued the Tenth Prince in the end. He probably struggled earlier because he didn't want to go too far dealing with his own son.
Hm, why does the Tenth Prince look dead?
“Mm. Continue guarding the South Celestial Gate well. I’ll bring him to apologize to his mother,” Zu An said as he entered the Celestial Court with the Tenth Prince.
Zhao Lingguan nodded. Disobedient brats ought to be beaten up by their parents.
The shame he felt from being outmaneuvered by the Tenth Prince disappeared. He puffed up his chest as he regained his usual liveliness.
Zu An soon returned to the celestial palace, where he found Xihe and the Goddess of Wu Mountain pacing around the hall anxiously. When they saw him, their eyes lit up in delight. They were about to rush forward to welcome him back when they each remembered that there were other women present and held themselves back.
Xihe’s gaze soon fell on the Golden Crow Tenth Prince. “He...”
“Emperor Jun’s soul sliver died. I brought the Tenth Prince’s body back,” Zu An replied.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain was astonished. To think that he could killEmperor Jun’s soul sliver? That’s practically a miracle!
Unable to hold herself back anymore, Xihe rushed forward to grab her son’s corpse and began sobbing pitifully.
Zu An gently patted her shoulder. He knew that at times like this, no words could help.
He then turned his gaze to the Myriad Souls Banner, which no longer looked as imposing as before. Under the suppression of the celestial palace and the Five Directions Demon Suppression Formation, its demonic ki had completely receded into it.
Thus, he drew the Tai’e Sword and unleashed a brilliant sword ki strike at it.
The Myriad Souls Banner could no longer absorb such powerful ki. With a loud crack, it shattered into pieces. Countless souls gushed out from the banner and fled in all directions, delighted that they had finally regained their freedom. Even though they would soon dissipate into thin air, they would rather disappear than suffer eternally in the banner.
However, some vile souls noticed Ji Xiaoxi’s body lying on the altar and charged at her, hoping to occupy her body and come back to life.
“Scram!” Zu An roared. The combined prowess of his primordial ki and his authority as the Netherworld’s master easily crush those vile souls. No other soul dared approach Ji Xiaoxi’s body, fearing they would suffer the same fate.
As the netherworld’s master, Zu An had exceptional sensitivity when it came to souls. It took a while, but he eventually found a faint silhouette amid the countless souls. This silhouette looked timid, but no other souls dared to approach her as if she were an incarnation of horror.
As expected of the Cruel Poison Constitution. Emperor Jun used her as the Myriad Souls Banner’s core for a reason. Even her soul is laced with lethal poison that intimidates other souls.
Ji Xiaoxi’s soul had been split into many fragments to dampen the effects of the Cruel Poison Constitution, lest she poison the other souls inside the Myriad Souls Banner to death. It was thanks to that she'd lasted long enough for him to rescue her.
Still, it hurt Zu An to see how fragmented her soul had become. She must have suffered a lot.
Not daring to hesitate, he used a secret art inside the Netherworld Book of Life and Death to summon a couple of specters. These figures were initially frightened and tried to escape, but the sight of Zu An inspired inexplicable trust in them, prompting them to subconsciously fly toward him.
“Don’t be afraid, Xiaoxi. I’m here to save you,” Zu An spoke gently for fear that he would scare her.
It was hard to tell whether the specters understood his words or not, but they smiled and allowed him to do as he pleased. In the end, they returned into Ji Xiaoxi’s body.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain passed a jade bottle over to Zu An. “This is Wu Mountain’s Cloud Fog Essence. It helps to heal the soul.”
Zu An looked at her with grateful eyes. That was indeed what Xiaoxi needed right now.
The Goddess of Wu Mountain smiled. She waved a hand, and a droplet of viscous liquid resembling honey flew from the bottle into Ji Xiaoxi’s mouth.
Zu An could feel the rich energy and life force contained within the droplet. This is much more potent than Milk of Purple Frost.
Ji Xiaoxi moaned as her complexion became visibly redder. However, her injuries were so severe that even with the Netherworld’s secret arts and the Cloud Fog Essence healing her soul, she wouldn’t regain consciousness so quickly.
So, Zu An entrusted the Goddess of Wu Mountain to take care of her before scanning the room. One by one, he found ten unique souls resembling little birds. He used his secret art to channel the souls toward the Golden Crow Tenth Prince’s body.
These little Golden Crows became more lively the closer they got to Xihe. Their wings fluttered as if they were cheering.
Xihe was both stunned and delighted to see this. With a quivering voice, she asked, “Is it still possible... to save them?”
She almost wanted to cover her ears, fearing that the answer would shatter her heart.
“Of course. This world must have a sun.” Whether for the greater good or his ties with Xihe, Zu An was inclined to help the Golden Crows. “However, they have been dead for too long, and on top of that, Emperor Jun used their souls to control the Myriad Souls Banner. That has resulted in the severe erosion of their souls.”
Xihe’s heart sank. Her hatred for Emperor Jun hit a boiling point.
“I’m incapable of saving them individually. What I can do now is to fuse their souls to form a complete soul. This soul will retain their individual memories and personalities. We can only nurture their souls in a body and try to find ways to heal them in the future.”
Xihe had thought that it was hopeless; she hadn’t expected there to be such a solution. She was so overjoyed that she cried tears of joy. “This is good enough! It’s good enough!”
Over the years, she had tried countless ways to change the trajectory of history, but she was unable to defy fate no matter what she did. She had already resigned herself to despair, so how could she not be excited upon learning that there was a chance to rescue her ten sons?