Chapter 282: Chapter 307: Monarch vs Lord

Ba Shifang was struck by the urge to take on a mission. Due to keeping up the act as the Sword Sovereign's son, he rarely took on any missions. He wanted a change of pace, so he arrived at the War Hall to choose a mission. Even then, the missions he could take were curated. Almost all of them were low-danger missions and located within a safe area within the Buzhou Immortal Sect's sphere of influence, almost untouched by war.

Tianyi's stand-in directly ignored ninety percent of the missions available. Sometimes, he had Ming Xingyun accept a mission and secretly follow her to keep her safe. He did the same with Jinshu, but neither knew of his actions. After rifling through several missions, one caught his eye. An assassin had somehow penetrated deep into the Buzhou Immortal Sect's territory and had already killed three true immortals.

Compared to the boring searching mission or defending a location that had a low risk of being assaulted, this was much more to Ba Shifang's taste. He accepted the mission and left for Flower Peak.

There, he met Hu Landie. "Miss Hu, I recently accepted an interesting mission to hunt down an assassin near the Buzhou Immortal Sect, do you want to come?"

Hu Landie paused to think, and just as she was about to answer, silver flashed across her sole eye. She shook her head and said, "I have already chosen my next mission. I cannot accompany you on this mission."

"Is that so," Ba Shifang said with a shrug. It hadn't been the first time he had invited her. Sometimes she accepted, but other times she rejected, so Ba Shifang didn't feel anything strange. "Then I wish you the best of luck."

"You too," Hu Landie said. "Be careful. An assassin that can kill three true immortals is dangerous."

Ba Shifang nodded and left. After leaving the Buzhou Immortal Sect's immediate vicinity, he blinked. "Did I tell her that the assassin had killed three true immortals?"

He shook his head. He likely let it slip without noticing.

Back in the War Hall where Ba Shifang had accepted the mission, an earth immortal elder was sweating buckets as he reviewed the information. He blinked twice as he made sure he wasn't hallucinating, but the information didn't change at all.

Somehow a mission that wasn't supposed to reach Ba Shifang's hand had reached it. Worse, he accepted it and likely already left. If it wasn't handled well, the earth immortal could already see his bleak end. "No, I can't let anyone. I just have to erase it. With how powerful Elder Xi is, he should return safely."

"Yes," the earth immortal elder said. "Once he returns, I can sweep this under the rug, and no one will notice."

---

Ba Shifang reached the location of the latest crime scene where the true immortal had died. None of the three immortals had any linking factors, and their deaths seemed completely random, aside from the fact that they had been murdered.

As he expected, he couldn't find any clues. The corpse had been taken back weeks ago. Surprisingly, the killer only took the spatial ring and left the body. For an assassin, it seemed extremely amateurish, so the reports indicated it was likely a newly ascended true immortal not part of the Tripartite or Anti-Heaven Alliance that wanted to fish in muddy waters.

Ba Shifang flew to the nearest city. There wasn't any real reason, just a slight hope that he could find some clues. Inside the city, he found the busiest teahouse and pretended to be a venerable level expert.

He was seated at his table with a full view of the street. Ba Shifang sipped his tea while he waited for the dishes to come. During the process, he perked his ears and listened to the rumor mill.

"Hey, when do you think the war will end?"

"I heard that the war is going in the Buzhuo Immortal Sect's favor."

"As expected of the number one sect in the Heaven Continent. Those rebels should have known better than to rebel."

"That's not what I heard. I heard the situation isn't going so well, and this place would soon become a war field."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Why else would so many venerables and grandmasters suddenly die? Even those that left for a short while never returned. None of them who left ever returned, even longtime residents!"

"Are you for real? I guess I should stay in the safety of the city."

"Are you an idiot? With how many people are disappearing, it's only a matter of time before the city falls."

"No way, that's impossible. Isn't there still the city lord?"

"City lord? He's just an earth immortal. The war between the three factions is now the stage for true immortals. An earth immortal isn't worth a fart."

"If your information is real, this is bad. I want to leave, but I'll die. And staying is also certain death, what should I do?"

"Actually, there's going to be a caravan leaving the city in a month's time. There's no other point than a gathering for safety. I heard there's going to be over ten saints and a hundred venerables!"

"Would I be able to join?"

"Not everyone can join, but I can introduce you for a small fee."

"That's nothing. What's wealth compared to a life? Fellow daoist, just name your price."

Ba Shifang stopped paying attention at this point. When the two people holding the conversation left, Ba Shifang's figure also disappeared. He found the exact time and location of when the caravan would leave and waited.

A month later, when the caravan left, Ba Shifang followed silently over a thousand kilometers behind. The caravan had gathered over a thousand venerables at this point, nearly fifteen percent of the city's experts.

Nothing happened for the first few days, but then the seventh day arrived.

The attack came out of nowhere. A massive white lotus phantom appeared around the caravan. Almost instantly, all the cultivators inside were vaporized into qi, leaving only their clothes and treasures. A few at the edge managed to escape but not without injuries such as missing limbs.

The illusionary white lotus shook, and beams of white light shot out, piercing the escapees to death. One of the beams of light pierced one of the escaping cultivators, but the beam did not stop and shot toward Ba Shifang.

It was the luckiest shot Ba Shifang had ever seen. Out of all the places the beam could have struck, it struck his location. He moved out of his hiding spot and slapped the beam away.

"XI.TIAN.YI!!!"

Ba Shifang shifted his sight toward the origin of the voice. The style was extremely similar, and he saw a surprising woman. Dressed in white and exuding a clean and pure aura, that was Bai Weiwei.

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He blinked, not believing his eyes. Not because of the rage and hatred seeping out of her eyes but because of her aura. She exuded the aura of an immortal monarch, so it couldn't have been Bai Weiwei.

'Did she have a twin or third sister that she happened to meet? And after explaining her grievances, the third sister decided to help her attain revenge?'

Ba Shifang didn't have any more time for wild delusions as Bai Weiwei charged at him with a sword with linked coins for a blade. Sparks clashed as Ba Shifang unsheathed his own sword and blocked hers.

'This?' Ba Shifang instantly recognized the sword. Wasn't this Peng Yun's sword, why was it in her hands?

"XI.TIAN.YI!"

"Yes, yes, that's my name. You don't have to shout," Ba Shifang said. Despite her exuding the aura of an immortal monarch, he did not lose in a contest of strength at all.

"Speaking of which, I have to ask. Are you Bai Weiwei?" Ba Shifang asked.

"Who else would I be?" Bai Weiwei shouted. "Today, I'll take your dog head for Brother Ji and Brother Peng!"

"You can't blame Ji Wutong's death on me, and as for Peng Yun. What'd you want me to do? Let him kill m–kill my clone?" Ba Shifang retorted.

"Yes!" Bai Weiwei shouted as she retracted her sword and swung it furiously. "Both of them are much better people than you can ever be! They're a hundred times more talented too!"

"Okay, that's just going overboard." Ba Shifang said as he calmly deflected her sword strikes. "Ignoring the fact if they are better people than me, character doesn't equate to talent. Besides, didn't you call that...um, Bing Huoyuan, brother once? What about him?"

"Don't you dare speak his name!" Bai Weiwei shouted as she raised her sword above her hand and grasped it in both hands. 

Ba Shifang's eyes lit up as he saw the opening. A heavy aura covered his sword as he thrust forward, piercing her stomach. But he wasn't done yet.

Fire, water, wind, and earth qis cracked around his sword. Ba Shifang flicked his wrist, twisting his sword and causing the four elements to explode inside her body.

A mixture of yellow, red, green, and blue squirmed Bai Weiwei's skin as smoke escaped from her mouth, and she hacked up dried blood from her mouth. Like a sculpture, cracks started appearing from where Ba Shifang had stabbed her.

With a kick, Ba Shifang launched her to the ground. However, he wasn't done yet as he sheathed his sword and formed several hand seals. A giant continent depicting the sky, lake, mountain, fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning in eight directions appeared.

He pointed down, and the continent came crashing down.

'I knew it wouldn't be this easy.' Ba Shifang thought as a giant white lotus emerged. Unlike the illusionary form it took before, this one appeared corporeal.

The giant white lotus trembled under the continent's mass but held strong. Slowly, the continent started to disintegrate as the lotus purified it into pure qi and absorbed it. Ba Shifang canceled the technique before the white lotus could drain anymore.

Once it disappeared, he saw Bai Weiwei floating safely in the white lotus's core. All her injuries had healed, and she held a disintegrating talisman in hand, showing her usage of the consumable.

Upon seeing this, a bad memory appeared in Ba Shifang's mind. He stared deeply at Bai Weiwei and said, "Wealth System?"

Bai Weiwei jolted and glared at Ba Shifang with even more hatred, if that was even possible. "I knew it! You killed Brother Peng to steal his Wealth System!"

Ba Shifang opened his mouth, but nothing came out. "Forget it. Explainings things to an idiot will get me nowhere. Just die now."

The Thunder Throne Mk IV appeared behind Ba Shifang, and he sat down on it. Next, a helmet, gauntlets, pauldrons, chest armor, armored skirt, grieves, and a cape appeared on him. Each one was an immortal rank artifact, and in addition to the throne, he had an artifact representing all eight trigrams.

The sky darkened as thunderclouds gathered. Lightning rained down upon the area and struck the white lotus protecting Bai Weiwei and Ba Shifang sitting on his throne. The white lotus turned the plasma into qi while a figure started to condense around Ba Shifang.

Hundreds of bolts struck Ba Shifang, and a lightning giant emerged. Giant armor formed from lightning reflecting the one on Ba Shifang's body emerged on the lightning giant's body. It roared, and its electrifying eyes focused on Bai Weiwei.

A fist came down, smashing the white lotus and, by extension, Bai Weiwei into the ground, almost burying her. If one punch didn't break the lotus artifact, then two, and if two wasn't enough, then three, and so on.

The land quaked as the lightning giant continued to wail upon Bai Weiwei. The ground became scorched from the flowing lightning. Even as the white lotus blocked the lightning giant's fist and absorbed parts of its fist, the raining lightning replenished what was lost.

'Am I the immortal monarch, or is he?!' Bai Weiwei thought, her mind in turmoil.

[Host, the system has confirmed that Xi Tianyi is still a true immortal but has sensed that he has mastered at least two complete laws.]

'Two complete laws?!' Bai Weiwei shouted in her mind. 

[Host, do you want to upgrade your understanding of the Law of Probability?]

Bai Weiwei hesitated and shook her head. She brought out the talismans she had purchased beforehand. She crushed and activated the Five Element Destruction Talisman, causing a five-colored beam to shoot out of the white lotus and strike the lightning giant's hand.

The lightning giant's fist and five-colored light clashed for a brief moment before the five-colored light split and snaked around its arm, shattering it and leaving only a skeletal frame. However, Bai Weiwei wasn't happy at all.

She crushed the other three Five Element Destruction Talismans she had in hand. The lightning giant crossed its arms and protected the torso where Ba Shifang was located in. Although all four of its limbs had been turned into frames, it was quickly healing under the nourishment from the rain of lightning.

Bai Weiwei roared and controlled the white lotus to enshroud the lightning giant and Ba Shifang whole. She flew towards him and flicked a coin in her hand. The coin struck the lightning giant, and Ba Shifang's face turned slightly pale.

The lightning giant collapsed as its core, the Thunder Throne Mk IV, flew out from under him and towards Bai Weiwei. The moment Bai Weiwei touched the throne, her expression changed, and she snapped her gaze upward. The thunderclouds that Ba Shifang had summoned quietly changed into tribulation clouds.

"Xi Tianyi, you insidious bastard!"