Liu Bai's sudden breakthrough threw the entire Greatlaw Heaven Territory into madness.
After all, Earth Sovereign experts were already considered peak existences within the Northern Region, and for Liu Bai to reach such a level in such a short amount of time, the strength of his talent left everyone able to do nothing but look up at him.
Of course, this was also good news for Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered, because with Liu Bai becoming the Vice Domain Lord of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory, another Emperor position became available within the Greatlaw Heaven Territory. For the two of them, this was the best possible opportunity.
As for the following battles, there was no need to elaborate further. Since Jiu You was a Ninth Grade Sovereign, defeat was impossible for her, so her becoming an Emperor level expert was already a foregone conclusion.
Naturally, the proper procedures still had to be followed. After Jiu You easily defeated Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the arena.
Especially among the veteran experts of the original Greatlaw Heaven Territory, seeing one of "their own" emerge victorious naturally excited them greatly.
Even the Three Emperors could not help nodding in satisfaction.
"No matter who becomes the Fifth Emperor now, these fellows will behave themselves for quite some time," Sky Vulture Emperor chuckled.
Spiritual Pupil Emperor's deep eyes flickered with spiritual light, and upon hearing this, he also nodded.
Ever since Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered joined the Greatlaw Heaven Territory, they had never behaved honestly. They constantly wanted to challenge the authority of the Three Emperors, yet due to their strength, the latter could not truly do much against them.
Now that Jiu You had become the new Emperor, four out of the Five Emperors of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory would belong to the original "old guard" of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory. In this way, they could still firmly suppress these newly arrived fellows beneath them.
This was also much more beneficial for the stability of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory.
As for these struggles over power and influence, they meant little to Mandala as the Domain Lord. After all, no matter how much they fought, it was still within the rules of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory. As long as they did not cross the line, she could not be bothered to interfere.
The subsequent battle between Dragon Arm Sovereign and Old Man Withered also allowed the many experts of the Greatlaw Heaven Territory to witness the strength of these two veteran Northern Region experts.
However, Dragon Arm Sovereign was ultimately slightly inferior. Although his pair of dragon arms were powerful, they still could not withstand the Withered Glory Physique cultivated by Old Man Withered. This was a powerful Sovereign Celestial Body ranked sixty first on the Ninety Nine Sovereign Celestial Body Ranking. In the end, Dragon Arm Sovereign still fell beneath Old Man Withered's Sovereign Divine Ability, the Withered Willow Sweeping Heaven Hand.
At this point, the arrangement of the experts under the Greatlaw Heaven Territory was fully settled, and Mandala immediately began assigning the members who would enter the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
Using the discussion of this matter as an opportunity, Liu Bai and Mandala finally managed to walk alone together for once.
Mandala, still appearing as a little loli, glanced at Liu Bai and could not help saying, "You actually broke through to Earth Sovereign. You really caught me completely off guard..."
Liu Bai revealed a surprised expression and asked, "How so?"
Mandala slowly explained, "Although the Ancient Heavenly Palace has appeared, the internal space is unstable and completely incapable of supporting Earth Sovereign experts entering it. Therefore, only Sovereign experts can enter. And you were one of the rare individuals capable of displaying Earth Sovereign level battle power while still at Ninth Grade Sovereign. If you could have entered, you definitely would have held an enormous advantage..."
Liu Bai immediately showed an enlightened expression before slapping his hand and saying regretfully, "Ai, if I had known this earlier, I would have delayed my breakthrough for now. Wouldn't that mean missing out on many opportunities..."
Mandala glanced at him. Even his acting was so halfhearted.
"What opportunity could possibly be better than breaking through to Earth Sovereign?"
"It's just that if you can't enter, it will affect me somewhat..."
Liu Bai smiled slightly before saying, "Are you talking about your original body trapped within the Ancient Heavenly Palace?"
Mandala had mentioned this matter to him before, so Liu Bai naturally could easily guess the reason.
"Correct. My original body is inside the First Hall Master's palace within the Ancient Heavenly Palace, which is basically located in the deepest region of the Ancient Heavenly Palace. Even among Ninth Grade Sovereigns, not many can reach that place."
Liu Bai nodded. This was indeed true.
"Don't worry. Even without me, there's still Jiu You. She can help you retrieve your original body as well..."
Mandala's brows remained tightly furrowed as she said, "I admit that Jiu You is indeed very strong, but you should know that my great enemy will definitely make a move to obstruct her. At that point, Jiu You may not necessarily be his opponent."
"You mean the Palace Master of the Saint Demon Palace, the overlord of the Southern Region?"
Liu Bai asked.
"Exactly!"
"That Saint Demon Palace Holy Son Garuda is an expert personally nurtured by that man. Although he may not be as monstrous as you, his strength is absolutely not something ordinary people can compare to. Even Jiu You still has quite a gap compared to him."
"And I suspect that man will prepare other methods as well to prevent me from reclaiming my original body. So this journey is destined to be extremely dangerous."
Mandala's face was completely serious as she spoke these words, clearly showing her deep fear of the Saint Demon Palace.
However, Liu Bai simply waved his hand and laughed. "No problem!"
Even if the other side truly managed to send an Earth Sovereign into the Ancient Heavenly Palace, with the trump cards Liu Bai had prepared for her, Jiu You would still be capable of resisting and even defeating the opponent.
After all, Liu Bai clearly understood how powerful the enemies within this Ancient Heavenly Palace would be. If he remembered correctly, Lu Huan had directly forced a former Earth Sovereign to enter the Ancient Heavenly Palace at the cost of damaging his own cultivation, all for the purpose of preventing anyone from helping Mandala recover her original body.
Of course, even so, that heavily crippled Earth Sovereign had still been killed by Mu Chen in the original story, which was enough to prove how greatly his strength had declined.
With the array discs Liu Bai had left for Jiu You, if she truly encountered that person, she would definitely be able to kill him easily.
After hearing Liu Bai's words, Mandala finally felt somewhat reassured.
"As long as I can recover my original body, my cultivation will rapidly return to its peak state. At that point, with my strength, we will have a very high chance of obtaining Lord Heavenly Emperor's inheritance!" Mandala declared confidently.
"That works perfectly." Liu Bai smiled as he looked at the little loli before him.
"When the time comes, you and I can join forces. Whether it's the Southern Region overlords or the Eastern Region imperial dynasties, we'll wipe all of them out. Then naturally everything will belong to us!"
These words immediately caused Mandala to roll her eyes.
Originally, she thought her own earlier words had already been arrogant enough, but compared to the fellow before her, she was truly insignificant.
"Do you know how many Earth Sovereign level experts will descend by then? Yet you still talk about wiping them all out. I think their spit alone would be enough to drown the two of us!"
She truly found Liu Bai's tendency to constantly want to kill people, especially powerful experts, extremely troublesome.
Although she understood that this would allow Liu Bai's cultivation to rise rapidly, one still had to know their limits.
Even if she recovered to Great Perfection Earth Sovereign by then, and Liu Bai possessed battle power comparable to an Greater Earth Sovereign, so what? Against the siege of countless Earth Sovereign experts, they truly would not have much room to resist.
"The best method is still to let them fight among themselves first, then we reap the benefits as the fisherman!"
Naturally, Liu Bai understood all this, but he still had to consider the hidden threat brought by the resurrection of the Nine Corpse Heavenly Demon Emperor.
Of course, there was no way for him to explain such matters to Mandala beforehand, so he could only wait until the situation actually arose before making a decision. Naturally, if he could meet the person he wanted to meet, then his actions afterward would proceed much more smoothly.
"This time, the Northern Region will be acting together, so our movements may be somewhat slower. I plan to have Jiu You lead some people ahead first to scout for information. What do you think?"
Liu Bai pondered for a moment before saying, "That works. However, I'll go along as well. That way, the speed will actually be much faster. After all, you can handle matters here yourself. There's no need for me."
Mandala curled her lips. "That sounds nice, but why do I feel like you're just worried about your little girlfriend?"
Liu Bai smiled upon hearing this and replied jokingly, "What? Mandala, don't tell me you're jealous?"
The instant those words fell, a sharp gaze like a blade landed directly on him.
"If you want to die, then keep talking!"
"It seems that breaking through to Earth Sovereign has made you much bolder. You even dare to joke with this Domain Lord now?"
"No, no, absolutely don't get angry." Liu Bai repeatedly waved his hands and said, "But that place is located in the Western Extreme Region after all. The experts of those top forces from the Western Region will definitely arrive before us, so I plan to head to the spatial crack first and see whether there is a chance to enter ahead of everyone else."
This was indeed a good method, and one should not forget that Liu Bai still possessed an Ancient Heavenly Palace Elder Token!
Mandala pondered for a moment before finally nodding.
"That works too, but do not take risks. We already possess an information advantage. Even if we enter at the same time as the others, we can still seize the initiative!"
Liu Bai nodded in agreement.
Afterward, the two discussed some details regarding the team and the number of people the Great Havenlaw Domain would send this time, then Liu Bai went off to make preparations.
When he informed Jiu You of this decision, she immediately agreed.
"This time, aside from scouting information in advance, you also have another important mission, Jiu You!" Liu Bai said with a serious expression as he conveyed Mandala's intentions.
"What mission?" Jiu You asked doubtfully.
"Enter the depths of the Ancient Heavenly Palace and find Mandala's true body!"
Liu Bai's words startled Jiu You, and she immediately looked at him with a face full of confusion. Regarding Mandala's true background, the entire Great Havenlaw Domain only had Liu Bai who knew about it. No matter how close his relationship with Jiu You was, without Mandala's permission, Liu Bai would never spread such information.
"You mean the Domain Lord? Her true body is actually inside the Ancient Heavenly Palace?" Jiu You asked in shock.
If that was the case, then Mandala actually originated from the Ancient Heavenly Palace? By that logic, Mandala was probably tens of thousands of years old already, right?
Thinking about Mandala's little loli appearance, the corners of Jiu You's lips could not help but curl upward slightly, though she quickly suppressed it.
No, no. That was their Domain Lord after all. How could she laugh at her?
Still, at that age, even among long lived races it would already be considered very old, right? At such an age, could she really still set her sights on a young human man?
Thinking about this, Jiu You suddenly felt much more at ease inside.
Naturally, Liu Bai had no idea what his little girlfriend was thinking. At this moment, he was explaining some secrets from the era of the Ancient Heavenly Palace to her.
"No one expected Lu Huan, the Heavenly Emperor's mount, to suddenly betray him. Mandala was heavily injured on the spot after being ambushed. Although she ultimately escaped using her innate ability, she was still afflicted with a curse. All these years she had remained hidden in slumber to suppress the curse, and only awakened within the past hundred years before eventually establishing the Great Havenlaw Domain…"
This also explained why Mandala was clearly so ancient, yet the Great Havenlaw Domain was considered a "newly rising force" in the Northern Region.
"So that's how it is." Jiu You nodded. By that calculation, Mandala's age was not actually as outrageous as imagined.
This was similar to Xiao Xiao in the original story. Strictly speaking, she had already been born for several hundred years, but because she frequently fell into slumber, both her mentality and strength could only be considered part of Mu Chen's generation.
Afterward, Liu Bai also explained everything regarding the Five Halls and Nine Prefectures within the Ancient Heavenly Palace.
Although the Fourth Hall Master had originally been responsible for guarding the Northern Region and had eventually fallen there, that did not mean there was no palace belonging to the Fourth Hall Master within the Ancient Heavenly Palace itself.
With the token of a Battle Hall Elder under the Fourth Hall Master, they would be able to move through the Fourth Hall Master's territory without obstruction after entering. Therefore, Liu Bai specifically explained these things in detail to Jiu You so they could search for treasures more conveniently later on.
"This Elder Token contains a detailed map of the Ancient Heavenly Palace. When the time comes, you can rely on it to search for more useful treasures." Liu Bai chuckled lightly.
Naturally, Jiu You was delighted about this, especially after learning that the Heavenly River within the Ancient Heavenly Palace could help with future breakthroughs to Earth Sovereign. That made her even happier.
Although her cultivation speed was already extremely fast, that still depended on who she was being compared to. If compared with a monster like Liu Bai, then the gap was simply far too large.
However, even knowing that there was a gap between herself and Liu Bai, Jiu You still did not wish for that gap to widen too much. Therefore, encountering a place like the Heavenly River, which increased the chances of breaking through to Earth Sovereign, was naturally something she would not let pass.
After explaining everything, it was finally time for Liu Bai, Jiu You, and the others as the advance force to depart.
This time, aside from Liu Bai and Jiu You, there were also Zong Qingfeng and the other three beast slaves, along with Mo Ling. In addition, Liu Bai brought along three more experts who had voluntarily joined the Nine Nether Palace, all of whom were Eighth Grade Sovereigns.
The reason these people joined the Nine Nether Palace was naturally because of Liu Bai.
After all, everyone knew that the Nine Nether Palace had two masters. Yet the one truly in charge was not Jiu You, the nominal master, but rather Liu Bai, the Earth Sovereign. Thus, many experts had taken a liking to this point and came seeking refuge under them.
Naturally, Jiu You did not mind. Regardless of what motives these people held, in the end they were still her subordinates. Even if only in name, no one dared disobey the orders of her, the Master of the Nine Nether Palace.
And that alone was enough!
As the Nine Nether Palace continued to expand, it indeed needed several powerful experts capable of guarding all directions.
...
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