Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 957 - 789: Kunpeng Treasured Mountain (Requesting Monthly Votes and Subscriptions)

Chapter 957: Chapter 789: Kunpeng Treasured Mountain (Requesting Monthly Votes and Subscriptions)

After Li Xuan had slain the Kunpeng Emperor, it was only logical that he set his sights on the wealth left by the emperor.

The palace of this demon emperor was located beneath this expanse of sea.

It was at the peak of an underwater mountain, four thousand fathoms from the surface.

The interior space of this mountain was somewhat similar to the court of the Bashe, hollowed out to serve as a palace, with many interconnected passageways.

This demon emperor was too arrogant and reckless, commanding the deep-sea aquatic cultures from this location on a daily basis, which caused countless massive water demons to come and go, leading Li Xuan and his party to their lair and eradicating them in one fell swoop.

However, when Li Xuan and the others entered the palace, they found that apart from its grandeur, there was nothing much to say about it.

All the halls inside were simple and unadorned, apart from the Luminous Pearls used for lighting. There were no other decorations, not even gold or silver.

Li Xuan didn’t find the Kunpeng Emperor’s wealth; all the rooms in the palace were empty.

Helplessly, Li Xuan could only capture a deep sea giant turtle approaching the heavenly level and interrogated it.

The turtle was just as clueless: "Distinguished immortals, we truly do not know where the Kunpeng Emperor’s treasury is. This demon emperor appeared suddenly a year ago. It is said that he slept within that palace for over ten thousand years, only to have awakened recently.

Before this, we deep sea creatures did not even know that a palace existed there, let alone that an emperor lay dormant inside. None of us served within that palace, so naturally, we were oblivious to whether the demon emperor had any treasure or not."

Fu Youde and Lan Yu then captured other deep-sea demons for interrogation, but they met with the same ignorance, and a great many of them didn’t understand what was being asked of them.

Most of the nearby deep-sea demons that encircle the Great Jin are conversant in the language of Jin, but in the outer deep sea, thousands of miles away, these aquatic creatures don’t need to use the Jin language day-to-day and subsequently have no need to learn it.

In the end, Li Xuan, with no other choice, had to summon the Tingtian Ao.

He found the dog to be somewhat useful; Lei, the Six-Tail Fox, could predict fortunes and was knowledgeable in myriad matters, but Tingtian Ao could listen to the world and sense thoughts.

Tingtian Ao’s Divine Skills were undoubtedly more useful at this time.

When Tingtian Ao arrived, it was rather reluctant. It felt as if every woman’s gaze upon it was like a knife, making it shiver all over.

Tingtian Ao was full of regret. It considered itself to be a smart dog, one that understood the ways of the world, so how had it come to find itself in such straits?

For this reason, Tingtian Ao searched with exceptional diligence this time. It had to let these women know that it was indispensable to Li Xuan, so they had better drop any inappropriate thoughts they might harbor!

Eventually, Tingtian Ao located the treasury of the Kunpeng Emperor in a sea trench fifty li in front of the palace.

It couldn’t really be called a treasury, but rather a mound formed of various ores, jewels, and corals among other things.

According to Tingtian Ao, fish within a five-thousand-li radius of the deep sea would follow ancient wills imposed on their hearts and bloodlines, bringing things they regarded as precious to this trench.

Over time, it accumulated into a deep-sea mountain over two thousand fathoms high.

However, it’s difficult to assess the value of this mountain at present. Although many precious ores are inside, and fist-sized Luminous Pearls are common, more often there are mere scraps of copper and iron, clam shells, and fish bones.

These deep-sea fish with limited intelligence, how could they discern what treasures were?

They simply brought what they liked to this place.

As these deep-sea fish improved their cultivation and gained sufficient wisdom, they could then resist the influence of that ancient will in their bloodlines.

Li Xuan could only move the mountain into his own Heavenly Court of Xuanhuang, to be sorted and appraised at a later date.

After shifting the massive mountain, Li Xuan conferred the title of ’Divine General Fubo’ upon Zhang Dingbian right above this expanse of sea.

Originally, the title was ’Divine General Fuhu,’ as legends tell of a young Zhang Dingbian who once single-handedly slew more than a dozen tiger demons.

However, after the battle in the East Sea, Li Xuan felt his Heavenly Court was somewhat lacking in naval strength, so he changed it to ’Divine General Fubo’.

In the past, Zhang Dingbian was unbeatable in the great battle on Poyang Lake, having nearly slain Emperor Tai of Jin alone, demonstrating his formidable abilities in naval warfare.

Following that, Li Xuan began to command five Yunzhong warships and his army of forty thousand, marching towards Fusou.

Li Xuan also took the opportunity, on account of the Kunpeng treasure mountain, to relieve Tingtian Ao of its calamities and troubles.

The first one he had to deal with was Luo Yan.

Although Tingtian Ao had not offended her recently, since Luo Yan had acquired the ’Xinling’ Rule, she had set her sights on Tingtian Ao’s innate Divine Skill.

Her ’Xinling’ Rule and Tingtian Ao’s ’Tingtian’ power complemented each other well.

Once Tingtian Ao achieved the heavenly level, it could greatly enhance her ’Xinling’ Rule.

So in recent days, Luo Yan had been negotiating with Ao Shuying, intending to have Tingtian Ao switch allegiances and serve in her ’Yunyan Pavilion’ as a Spirit Pet.

But Li Xuan felt he certainly couldn’t let Luo Yan succeed, for that would be a disaster for himself and the girls around him.

His Liuli Haoqi might not be able to withstand Luo Yan’s ’Telepathy’ by then.

At that time, even if the girls could tolerate Tingtian, Li Xuan himself would have turned his brother into hot pot.

In short, Li Xuan managed to persuade Luo Yan to abandon the terrible thought by coaxing her, instead planning to adopt three little ’Tiantian’ from the Duchenghuang of Nanjing, relieving some stress for the Duchenghuang of Nanjing.

Luo Yan agreed with Li Xuan, believing that it was better to raise spirit pets from a young age if they were to be truly close to you.

It would be just right for her own Little Pingan to have a few playmates.

Li Xuan thought by the time the little Tingtians grew up, his Liuli Haoqi would have already derived the "Rule."

It would not only protect his own thoughts but also cover and protect the girls around him.

After Luo Yan came Meng Qingfan.

This time in the campaign against Fusou, Li Xuan would still be as determined as a lion hunting a rabbit, exerting his full strength.

The previous two ’kamikazes’ during Meng Wu’s eastern campaign did not allow Li Xuan to take any chances. As a result, Jiang Hanyun still accompanied him, and Meng Qingfan stayed on the ship as well.

This person always watched Tingtian Ao intently, her gaze as sharp as knives and spears, scaring Tingtian Ao to the point where it dared not stray half a step from its master.

But Ao Shuying had her mischievous moments, holding a grudge for the dog’s previous slip of the tongue about her embarrassment and deliberately taking Tingtian Ao to swagger in front of Meng Qingfan.

Worried that Meng Qingfan might actually slaughter Tingtian Ao, Li Xuan took the opportunity to speak with her.

"Qingfan, this dog didn’t have any ill intentions. It acted out of kindness last time. Why don’t you forgive it this once? I can assure you there will be no next time. This dog is actually quite discreet. It would not have done something so foolish if it had not been lured by the cravings and deceived by Lord Tushan. I will keep an eye on it."

Meng Qingfan, wearing a mask, remained silent and non-responsive.

Actually, deep down, she didn’t harbor much resentment toward the dog.

On the contrary, she felt somewhat grateful. If it weren’t for Tingtian Ao, she would probably have remained an ostrich for a long time, serving as Li Xuan’s ’mount.’

However, since she had been put in such an embarrassing situation, it was only right to show her annoyance appropriately.

Tingtian Ao next to her kept its head hanging down, like a child dragged by parents to apologize, meek and genuinely remorseful in every aspect.

But at this moment, Tingtian Ao noticed that Li Xuan had already quietly grabbed Meng Qingfan’s small hand.

It couldn’t help being slightly startled and then wondered whether Li Xuan brought it to meet Meng Qingfan truly to help dispel its disaster and resolve difficulties, or as a pretense to get closer to Meng Qingfan?

Li Xuan’s face showed no sign of difference, as he said with full apology, "Speaking of which, it’s my fault, Qingfan. I should have realized sooner. Back when we were in Xuanfu, the Golden Peng from Yexian, the Khan of Vala, was killed by your hand, right? Luckily so, otherwise I might not have had the time to assemble that electromagnetic gun at Nankou Pass. And there were several times you secretly protected—"

Behind Meng Qingfan’s mask, her face was flushed red.

She actually wanted to pull her hand away at the first moment, but at this time, Li Xuan’s strength suddenly surpassed hers.

He held on firmly, refusing to let go.

Meng Qingfan knew that if she struggled forcefully, she would inevitably alarm the others on this ship.

And Li Xuan’s hand seemed to have some magic power that made her body go weak.

"Qingfan," Li Xuan looked at Meng Qingfan, his lips involuntarily curving up slightly.

His eyes on Meng Qingfan were like those of a hunter watching a deer about to fall into a trap.

Just as he was about to make a further move, ready to let the deer fall deeper into the trap, a red beam of light flew from afar, landing on this Yunzhong warship.

It was Daxueshi Shang Hong, who as an envoy of the Court, arrived in the Red Thunder Chariot.

Seeing Shang Hong, Li Xuan wondered why this Daxueshi always seemed out of sync with him.

It seemed he would have to find a reason one day to transfer him to serve as a local official for some experience, to cultivate his administrative talents.

This man, who had achieved the top three ranks in the imperial examinations, was a Zhengtong-born official but lacked the experience of a local official.

Li Xuan believed that the rule during the Tang Dynasty of "no experience in prefectures and counties, no appointment to the imperial ministries" should be reintroduced, so Hanlin officials do not directly become norm among high-ranking ministers in the Court.

Shang Hong, unaware of Li Xuan’s thoughts, looked serious: "I have been tasked by the seven regent ministers and at the behest of the Inspectorate to ask Prince Fenyang a few questions. Firstly, is Prince Fenyang aware that in the former Yuan’s expeditions against Fusou, there were two times we encountered ’kamikaze’, and millions of troops perished entirely?"

Li Xuan nodded slightly: "I am aware, there are records in the history books. Xueshi Shang, you may tell the ministers of the Court that the Kunpeng Emperor has been slain by me in the ocean."

Shang Hong’s expression tensed slightly,

A few days before the incident in Dengzhou, there were also those in the Court who were ready to criticize Li Xuan for his arbitrary execution of Kunpeng’s emissary, bringing disaster upon the Court.

But before the storm could form, the Kunpeng Emperor had already been slain by Li Xuan in the ocean.

The prince’s implication was simple: if even the Kunpeng Emperor could be killed by him, what about the kamikaze?

"The second question," Shang Hong looked intently at Li Xuan, "Does Prince Fenyang know that Fusou was designated by the Great Ancestor as a kingdom that does not levy taxes?"