Capítulo 1283: Chapter 1281: The Jade Emperor’s Counterplot
“The Jade Emperor has been scorched by Karmic Fire and is injured!?”
After a conversation with Ksitigarbha, Jiang Liu understood the current situation of the Jade Emperor, which made Jiang Liu’s eyes light up slightly.
If this is true, then it seems like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him.
He might as well try to see if he can assassinate the Jade Emperor too?
The Jade Emperor’s strength is very formidable, this Jiang Liu is well aware of, but if he’s really injured, it seems there might be a chance after all?
Especially with the Overlord Contract ring, it can let him break through to the Cultivation Level of Quasi-Saint, level 92, within a short time.
What if he combines it with the strength of the Good Corpse and Evil Corpse?
Three Quasi-Saints teaming up to attack the Jade Emperor, there should be a certain degree of confidence they can kill him, right?
As for the exposure of his identity after killing the Jade Emperor? If he can succeed, in Jiang Liu’s view, exposure isn’t an issue, it’s more about how sure he is of this matter, and whether it’s worth gambling on.
The saying goes, with high risk comes high reward. Killing the Empress only weakens the Heavenly Court’s forces, but if he can kill the Jade Emperor, it would truly break the backbone of the Heavenly Court, wouldn’t it?
Even Jiang Liu couldn’t resist such temptation.
After much deliberation, Jiang Liu felt this was an opportunity, he could first see how things develop.
Thus, Jiang Liu, who was originally concealed in the dark, began to move silently and left the Glycyrrhiza Garden.
Because the Jade Emperor had sealed the Heavenly Court, at this time, no one was leaving the Heavenly Court.
After returning from the Netherworld, the Jade Emperor moved swiftly, launching a carpet search within the Heavenly Court, naturally searching for the whereabouts of the black-clad mystery.
However, in comparison to finding the black-clad mystery, reviving the Empress was of greater importance to the Jade Emperor.
Therefore, while he commanded the forces of the Heavenly Court to swiftly move to search for the black-clad mystery, he also stayed with the Supreme Elder Lord, discussing the matter of resurrecting the Empress.
Although being killed, resurrection isn’t such an easy affair, but since both the body and soul are present, difficult as it may be, it’s not entirely impossible either.
“Your Majesty, is your condition alright?”
The Supreme Elder Lord, returning from Chang’an City and even missing the Mahjong Saint competition, upon his first sight of the Jade Emperor, his expression slightly changed, asking with concern.
Looking at the Jade Emperor, his aura was languid, seemingly in a very poor state.
“I forcibly seized Yaoji’s soul from Ksitigarbha’s hand, an act against the heavens, thus suffering Heavenly Dao’s punishment, facing the Karmic Fire’s burning every day!” Hearing the Supreme Elder Lord’s inquiry, the Jade Emperor had no intention of hiding, explained his situation.
“This, truly is a terrifying punishment…” Thinking about facing the Karmic Fire’s scorch for an hour every day, the Supreme Elder Lord felt a chill in his heart.
“Supreme Elder Lord, let’s discuss Yaoji’s resurrection first!” Regarding his ordeal with Heavenly Punishment, the Jade Emperor seemed unwilling to delve deeper, changing the subject.
“Hmm, for the Empress to be resurrected is indeed no simple feat. Ordinary mortals, after death, if both the body and soul are present, can revive with just a Soul-Returning Pill, but in the Immortals and Buddhas Realm, it’s not so easy, not to mention the Empress’s Cultivation Level is already at the Quasi-Saint stage!”
Since the Jade Emperor didn’t want to discuss it, naturally the Supreme Elder Lord wouldn’t dwell on the Heavenly Punishment matter either, shifting his focus to the Empress’s resurrection, responding.
“Then, what specifically is needed for Yaoji to be resurrected?” Slightly nodding, the Jade Emperor agreed with the Supreme Elder Lord, and followed up with the question.
With the increase in Cultivation Level, strength growing stronger is indeed good.
But similarly, another drawback is that the higher the Cultivation Level, the harder it is for injuries to recover and for revival after death…
Jiang Liu, quietly hidden within the Heavenly Court, after some hidden probing, learned about the Jade Emperor being in Doushuai Palace.
Naturally, Jiang Liu hid around Doushuai Palace.
He wasn’t ready to take action right around Doushuai Palace, but rather wanted to observe the Jade Emperor’s current state first.
If severely injured by the Karmic Fire, then he could seize the chance and try a move.
Hiding around Doushuai Palace, after waiting for over an hour, indeed, Jiang Liu saw the Jade Emperor emerging from Doushuai Palace.
Looking at the Jade Emperor’s appearance, indeed his aura was languid, severely injured, making Jiang Liu’s eyes brighten slightly.
However, when Jiang Liu looked at the Health Bar atop the Jade Emperor’s head, his eyebrows furrowed slightly again.
“Strange!” Observing the Jade Emperor’s condition, Jiang Liu murmured inwardly.
Judging by his complexion and aura, the Jade Emperor indeed seemed injured. However, the health bar above his head was very healthy, at least over 95% full.
In such a situation, he didn’t appear injured at all. The health bar above his head couldn’t possibly be deceiving, could it?
“Could it be…”
After pondering for a moment in his mind, Jiang Liu’s heart stirred slightly, and a guess began to form in his mind.
Why did the Jade Emperor seal off the Heavenly Court? It’s because he knew he hadn’t left and was still trapped within the confines of the Heavenly Court, right?
Yet, while knowing that a powerful figure who assassinated the Empress was within the Heavenly Court, he still dared to walk around in public, pretending to be injured?
Could it be that he’s using himself as bait to entice me to strike?
No matter how severe the Jade Emperor’s injuries appeared, the health bar above his head couldn’t lie. Perhaps the Karmic Fire really injured him, but it didn’t cause much significant harm, did it?
The Karmic Fire of Heavenly Punishment was mainly meant for punishment, causing him suffering without the intention of inflicting real injury.
“Indeed, as the ruler of the Three Realms, the Jade Emperor is truly tough to deal with. Had I not been able to see his health bar, I might very well have fallen into his trap,” Jiang Liu realized the true intentions of the Jade Emperor and felt a sense of lingering fear.
Having no intention of taking any action, he hid in the shadows, waiting patiently for time to pass.
As Jiang Liu suspected, the burning of the Karmic Fire was a Heavenly Punishment, but its primary purpose was to make the Jade Emperor suffer rather than endanger his life.
Otherwise, if he was burned daily for an hour, the Jade Emperor might indeed perish from it, right?
Suffering was inevitable, and the Jade Emperor took advantage of this, pretending to be gravely injured to bait the mysterious figure in black into action.
The Empress had died at the hands of that mysterious black-clad figure, and the Jade Emperor’s hatred was apparent.
So, using himself as bait, the Jade Emperor would stop at nothing.
In the Jade Emperor’s view, since the mysterious figure in black had taken the opportunity to target the Empress, and now he was supposedly injured by Heavenly Punishment, surely the mysterious figure wouldn’t miss such an opportunity, right?
On one hand, he was searching for the whereabouts of the mysterious figure in black, and on the other hand, he was busy with the Supreme Elder Lord trying to resurrect the Empress. Meanwhile, the Jade Emperor made no effort to hide his own situation, howling in pain and appearing wretched as he was burned by the Karmic Fire in his bedchamber.
There is no wall in the world without a crack, especially when the Jade Emperor wanted this news to leak out deliberately.
As a result, Heavenly Court’s immortal officials and Divine Generals soon started whispering about how the Jade Emperor had forcibly taken the Empress’s soul from Ksitigarbha, suffered Heavenly Punishment, and was burned by the Karmic Fire daily, with his injuries worsening.
Sometimes rumors spread faster than official announcements; even hiding in the Glycyrrhiza Garden, Jiang Liu had heard this discussion several times.
Having personally confirmed the Jade Emperor’s situation, Jiang Liu understood that the Jade Emperor had intentionally leaked this information to lure him out.
With the Jade Emperor’s intentions understood, Jiang Liu continued to hide confidently in the Glycyrrhiza Garden, cultivating the Green Lotus Taoist Scripture.
As time slowly passed, Jiang Liu gained Experience Points little by little, striving to reach level 88 once more.
“Sigh? Originally, I had reached level 88; it should have been Wukong chasing after me. Due to this Karmic Curse, I fell to level 87, and now my level is one below Wukong’s!” Jiang Liu sighed inwardly over his drop in level.
At his current cultivation level, one level’s worth of Experience Points was no small amount!
The Jade Emperor had purposely leaked the news of his severe injury to lure the mysterious figure in black to strike, but after waiting for a long time, the mysterious figure never showed any intention of attacking him, leaving the Jade Emperor puzzled.
Was the mysterious figure in black not planning to attack him?
Or had the mysterious figure in black already left the Heavenly Court and was unaware of his injury?
Suppressing his impatience, the Jade Emperor continued to wait in the shadows!
There’s no choice; fishing is like that: the bait is cast, but whether the fish bites is something you can’t determine.
Days passed, and finally, after the Jade Emperor suffered through the final burning by Karmic Fire and again portrayed himself as gravely injured in his bedchamber, the mysterious black-clad figure still did not strike, causing the Jade Emperor to sigh inwardly.
With the power of a Quasi-Saint, if the mysterious figure chose to hide in such a vast Heavenly Court, it wouldn’t be easy to find him. Moreover, after so much time, the final Heavenly Punishment of Karmic Fire had come to an end, yet the mysterious figure in black still hadn’t shown up. The Jade Emperor began to conclude that perhaps the mysterious figure had indeed left the Heavenly Court long ago.
With the Heavenly Court sealed for so long, allowing only entry and no exits, the impact on the entire Heavenly Court was significant, naturally.
Almost certain in his mind that the mysterious figure in black had already left, the Jade Emperor sighed inwardly and began to slowly lift the restrictions…