Chapter 254 - 253: The Redundant Jiang Li
Jiang Li didn’t expect that there would be such thing as Observing Mahayana Sect. There really are many odd and intriguing occurrences in Nine States.
“When I first crossed over, Nine States was more serious and solemn. Why is it filled with eccentricities now?” Jiang Li pondered, believing that Bai Hongtu must have corrupted the culture of Nine States.
Bai Hongtu’s crimes were innumerable and diabolically evil.
Jiang Li and Li Nian’er arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Palace, revealing their true faces. The two Human Emperor Palace Guards were overjoyed, as if they were celebrating a festival. No, it was like a festival.
“Hall Master!”
“Keep up the good work.” Jiang Li encouraged.
“Yes, we will live up to the Emperor’s expectations!” The two guards stood tall, their voices resonated with firm resolve.
“This is the Imperial Palace, it’s magnificent.” Li Nian’er curiously wandered around. It was her first time visiting the Imperial Palace, and she was filled with curiosity about this place.
The Imperial Palace, having been blessed by successive Human Emperors, has stood on the Nine States Continent for nine thousand years. It is unshakeable and impervious to the attacks of Immortal Artifacts.
The duration of the Imperial Palace’s establishment corresponds to the length of time it has protected Nine States.
The Human Emperor is the faith of the Nine States, and the Imperial Palace is the holy land in the hearts of the people of Nine States.
Jiang Li led Li Nian’er to a room. This place was endless and directionless, surrounded by the blackness of the night sky, like a miniverse, vast and intimidating. From the outside, you would never guess that it was this big.
There was no ground in this place, and Li Nian’er floated in the miniverse, seeing majestic statues.
Seventy-one towering statues stood erect, each with distinct features and determined expressions. They were like the gods of mythology who had created the heaven and earth, yet they gave a feeling of inexplicable reassurance. It felt as though even if the sky were to fall, they would be there to hold it up.
Li Nian’er saw statues serving as swords, their Sword Intent confronting the stars; statues wielding large hammers, the ground cracking and magma erupting with their roars; statues with exquisite magical techniques, unparalleled magic formations defending against enemies…
Although Li Nian’er did not recognize these people, she had guessed their identities.
These were the spiritual pillars of the Nine States.
Jiang Li began to explain, “The statues of the successive Human Emperors are placed here to commemorate their contributions in resisting the Heavenly Demons and safeguarding the Nine States.”
“It was the second Human Emperor who thought that there might be many Emperors who would die in the future so he built a bigger place in advance. He invited the Sumi Buddha and the Arhats, using the doctrine of space, took a corner of the universe, placed it here to put the statues, and with the sacrifice of every Human Emperor, they erected a statue here. To date, there are seventy-one statues.”
Jiang Li touched these statues, thinking back on the heroic deeds of his predecessors from the “Imperial Records, ” he was particularly moved.
Too many people had sacrificed themselves over the course of nine thousand years.
He laughed, “With me here, there won’t be any new statues.”
His tone was relaxed, but Li Nian’er couldn’t help but believe him.
Jiang Li then took Li Nian’er to the center of the Imperial Palace, where Lord Liu was stationed all year round.
In the center of the palace, there was a bronze tripod with endless faith power flowing into it.
Normally, faith power is weak and undetectable, but the amount of faith power entering here was so great that it was clearly visible.
Li Nian’er watched as the faith power flowed into the tripod and transformed into an almost transparent fluid that looked like jade, which emanated an immeasurable majestic power.
The successive Human Emperors had used this faith power to resist the extraterritorial Heavenly Demons.
“Uncle Jiang, have you never used the power of faith?” Li Nian’er was surprised. She had heard that successive Human Emperors would choose to use the power of faith, always maintaining their most powerful stance, ready to fight against the extraterritorial Demons.
“After reaching the Mahayana Realm, I stopped using the power of faith and asked the Dao Sect’s Artifact Refinement Peak to forge this tripod to store the power of faith for the next Human Emperor.”
Li Nian’er looked at Jiang Li with admiration, and the idea of becoming a Human Emperor sprouted in her heart.
She wanted to become an great person just like Uncle Jiang.
At that moment, Lord Liu was assigning tasks to five leaders, “Kong Hu, you are the one who knows most about food. I’ll leave the matter of procuring the food to you. You must not get hungry halfway and eat up half of the food.”
“You always cannot control your appetite when you’re hungry. Even when you reached the Body Integration Realm, you never changed. I don’t know if it’s because of the witch lineage or just your natural disposition.”
“Leave it to me.” Zhang Konghu was full of confidence.
However, Lord Liu arranged several Human Emperor Palace Guards to purchase food with Zhang Konghu, still not quite trusting him.
“Mu Leader, you are the most familiar with low-level cultivators. I’ll leave the task of receiving low-level cultivators to you. Be polite, don’t let people say the Imperial Palace looks down on low-level cultivators.”
The Imperial Palace has always treated everyone equally. They do not think low-level cultivators are inferior, after all, everyone started from being low-level cultivators.
“Alright.”
“Leader Huang.”
“Yes!” Huang Leader was a little excited, feeling there was finally a use for him.
“You should stay in places with few or no people so that your cultivation technique doesn’t affect everyone.”
“Oh.” Huang Leader was disappointed and it was clear that his atmosphere was different from everyone else’s.
“Ma Zhuo and his wife, you should inform the factions on the list, check on how their performances are progressing.”
During the celebration, all the major factions would put on performances to lighten the atmosphere.
For example, the Corpse-Driving Sect’s zombie dance, the Four Sea Dragon
Palace’s Four Dragons Dance, Buddha’s Thousand-Hand Guanyin performance, Bai Hongtu’s monologue.
However, some attempts to lighten the atmosphere ended up failing, like the Union Sect’s erotic dance during the last celebration which did liven things up but it wasn’t quite proper.
“Hall Master, why are you here so early?” Lord Liu’s reaction upon seeing Jiang
Li was akin to seeing Ma Zhuo and his wife giving up on explicit activities, Zhang Konghu studying hard, Bai Hongtu stopping his tomfoolery, and the ladder to immortality appearing.
Your reaction doesn’t seem to be asking ‘Why are you here so early”, it seems like you’re asking “How are you still alive.”
Jiang Li was speechless. I know your reaction is sincere, but can you at least pretend to be calm in front of Li Nian’er?
“I’m here to see if there’s anything that needs my help and also to take Li
Nian’er on a tour of the Imperial Palace. Is there anything I need to do?” “Why don’t you continue to show her around the Imperial Palace?”
“…Even if you want to get rid of me, you don’t need to make it so obvious, do you?”
Lord Liu sidestepped to reveal the Emperor’s chair behind him, “Please take your seat, Hall Master.”
“Nian’er, let’s go. Uncle Jiang will continue to show you around the Imperial
Palace.”
Actually, Lord Liu was also quite troubled. He was organizing the venue methodically and everything was perfectly arranged. But now, the rare sight of the Hall Master showing up was making it difficult to handle the situation.
What should he do with this extra person?
“Leader Huang seems lonely, perhaps you and Nian’er could keep him company.”
Jiang Li has never felt like such a third wheel before.
Leader Huang was idle, and Lord Liu shunted him aside. The Emperor, Jiang Li, was idle, and Lord Liu put him with Huang Leader.
Jiang Li felt that Lord Liu was sorting the trash.
Jiang Li had no choice. There were only a few places in the Imperial Palace that were open for visit, other areas were either confidential or uninteresting to visit. So he could only use the excuse of caring about his subordinate, to go and check on Huang Leader..