This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder-Chapter 696: Ease

Xi Yinian frowned when he saw the destruction left behind. He had just arrived at the Interplanetary Teleportation Array Outpost. His aura was unstable, but Yinian now radiated the pressure of an immortal emperor.

However, his improved realm only signified a rise in combat power. Yinian was someone who put all his points into combat, leaving little to no points for anything else. He wasn’t the slowest immortal emperor, but neither was he the fastest.

It was the same with his detection abilities. Knowing Gu Longyu’s overpowering combat capabilities, he had focused all his time on his swordplay. Not to mention, he loved the sword.

Yinian could still remember the days watching his father train his swordsmanship. This love made his progress extremely rapid.

Reaching the Extremity Immortal Realm in a thousand years was extremely fast, regardless of Gu Longyu’s disappointment. Even becoming a four-step immortal monarch in a thousand years was extremely fast.

But compared to an orthodox genius, Yinian was more skilled at infusing worldly laws into his sword. He could display far greater power with only a fragment of a complete law, but it left him overly specialized.

“How is it? Can you track them?”

The soul emperor frowned. “Let me try, Holy Son.”

Immediately, Yinian felt a unique fluctuation spread out. However, he did not have much hope. The soul emperor had tried to find the hidden hands on Planet Madarchy many times, but they still failed. Before, they hypothesized that it was because the three immortal emperors had used some treasure or hidden themselves in some formation, but after seeing Gu Longyu, Yinian did not think so.

At least for Gu Longyu, he did not need to use a treasure or formations.

“I’m sorry, Holy Son, but I can’t sense them,” the soul emperor said.

Yinian nodded, showing no surprise.

The soul emperor sighed in relief when he saw that Yinian did not blame him.

Logically speaking, he was a lofty immortal emperor and should not show such a subservient attitude toward Yinian, who had just entered the Extremity Immortal Realm.

Yinian’s appointment as the Holy Son was not without controversy. Although everyone outwardly obeyed the announcement, many people took action behind the scenes. Either they wanted to abolish his status, or they wanted someone from their faction to take it for themselves.

It was not that they didn’t fear the Goddess of Death, but the goddess had not taken action for too long, making them forget her power. Nor had she cared about the operations of the Temple of Death, giving them the illusion that they wouldn’t be punished.

This was further fueled by her inaction when their replacements challenged Yinian. Yinian defeated his foes. His victory as a true immortal over the most promising half-emperor sent ripples, but the faction leaders did not care. They still wanted to replace him, and when the Goddess of Death still did not take action, they grew bolder.

Those with ulterior motives eventually realized that their chosen representatives could not defeat Yinian, and having an immortal emperor challenge him would not convince anyone. In that case, they chose to manipulate the temple rules.

An immortal emperor–level elder in charge of the Inquisition Hall condemned Yinian and placed false charges on his head. Although Yinian had allies, they were too weak, and he did not have enough supporters. So they could only watch helplessly.

Just as it seemed that Yinian would be condemned to death, a black hand appeared. It closed and pressed down with a single finger, killing the immortal emperor leading the trumped-up charges.

A holy and inviolable voice followed. “Falsifying charges and breaking temple rules for selfish motives. Death!”

However, the Goddess of Death’s display of divine might did not end. Although the giant black hand disappeared, many immortals suddenly cried out in shock and fear.

Their cries caught everyone’s attention. After a little explanation, everyone discovered that their cultivation bases were rapidly decreasing. An immortal emperor’s aura decreased directly to that of an immortal emperor. A fifth-step immortal monarch regressed to a fourth-step immortal monarch, and the decline did not stop.

No matter how they struggled, they could not stop the regression of their cultivation bases.

The regression did not last forever. Some just dropped one minor realm, while others dropped a major realm. Three immortal emperors directly dropped to the Pathfinding Immortal Realm.

Their cultivation was not sealed, nor was it an illusion. Those whose realms had dropped felt as if they had returned back in time. Although their age remained the same, they lost all insight into the worldly laws they had mastered, so they could not return to their peak with time.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The regression directly wiped out hundreds of thousands of years of effort. It caused their willpower to become unsteady, and if they discovered that they could not restore their cultivation base, it might cause their willpower to collapse.

The most egregious example of them all was the pontiff, the major decision-maker of the Temple of Death since the Goddess of Death had never interfered. He was also the one most threatened by Yinian’s status as the Holy Son.

The pontiff’s cultivation base fell from the Origin Immortal Realm directly to that of an ordinary mortal. In other words, he lost all his cultivation and became an ordinary old man.

His expression was filled with anger, fear, and disbelief. It was no wonder. After all, he was the one publicly acclaimed to have the greatest chance of reaching the Divine Realm. Because of this, he gathered many allies in the Temple of Death.

The cries and despair of the other immortals broke the pontiff out of his stupor. Rage overwhelmed all other emotions, and he glared at the sky. “You did this! You feared the inevitable, so you hindered me!”

Although the pontiff did not name anyone, everyone knew who he was referring to. Those who had allied themselves with the pontiff couldn’t help but shrink their shoulders, fearing that the Goddess of Death would wipe away their years of cultivation as well.

The most despairing part was that the Goddess of Death did not even acknowledge him. While the pontiff raged, the immortal elders stared at each other, not knowing what to do.

The trial and persecution obviously could not continue. If anything, all those who had previously offended Yinian changed their attitudes by one hundred and eighty degrees. No, they tried to curry his favor with far more effort than they had spent to discredit and pull him down.

Although it wasn’t directly stated, the regression of the cultivation bases was most likely an extension of the crime for which the immortal emperor of the Inquisition Hall was executed. All those affected were likely complicit in the crime.

It wasn’t until the notification appeared on their Xiyi Talismans that everyone sprang into action.

The message already laid out the sentences of all those involved. Aside from the immortal emperor who was directly executed, all those involved were to be imprisoned or relocated to guard dangerous areas. Of course, they were naturally demoted, if not dismissed, from their original posts.

The pontiff was sentenced to exile in a mortal city with no ties to the cultivation world. He would be left with only coarse linen clothes and nothing else. Except for leaving the city, there were no other restrictions on him. He could do with the rest of his life as he liked.

This was seemingly a light sentence compared to the other criminals. The pontiff could even rejoin the Temple of Death once he returned to the Pathfinding Immortal Realm, but everything related to cultivation had vanished from the former pontiff’s mind. Because his soul had also regressed, he couldn’t even remember his hundreds of thousands of years of memories.

Under such conditions, it was impossible for him to cultivate again. That said, he was far from an ordinary mortal. The former pontiff could easily accumulate wealth and live as an ordinary man, but with his experiences, would he be content with remaining a mortal?

Whatever memories he could recall would only become torture for him. He was once a lofty immortal sovereign, but he had been pushed back into the mud, no different from any other lowly mortal, destined to die before the age of one hundred.

From that point on, Xi Yinian’s status as the Holy Son was established. Even those who disliked and didn’t agree with his appointment would have to curate their words before speaking. That remained true even when he was a true immortal, much less an immortal emperor like now. Of course, Yinian’s peak combat potential had never been determined by his cultivation alone.

“Contact the temple. The interplanetary teleportation array has been destroyed. We won’t be able to return until it’s fixed,” Yinian ordered. “Also, continue the elimination of the rebels as usual. I don’t believe the immortal emperors won’t appear. And once they do, I’ll finish them.”

The soul emperor stared at Yinian in surprise—not because of the orders, but because of the bite in Yinian’s words. Aside from the time the wrongful crimes had been pinned on him, he had never heard so much hatred in Yinian’s voice.

While the soul emperor took charge of the situation, Yinian entered a seclusion chamber untouched by the devastation. He had just entered the Extremity Immortal Realm, and he needed to stabilize his cultivation base. The power of his immortal qi had increased by a hundred times, from monarch immortal qi to emperor immortal qi, but that didn’t mean his peak combat potential had increased by a hundred times, as Gu Longyu thought. In reality, it was only around ten times.

At his current level, unless his immortal qi became essence qi, his combat power relied more on his understanding of the worldly laws. Currently, Xi Yinian had only mastered two worldly laws: the Law of Time and the Law of Death. He was still on the final cusp of mastering the Law of Space.

Yinian considered his talent at comprehending worldly laws average at best. It wasn’t that he used Gu Longyu as a benchmark, but this feeling appeared in his chest for some reason. Of course, he never voiced it. Only he considered himself slow; others already considered him a monster.

He thought he would stay at the Extremity Immortal Realm for a long time, but he discovered that when he attempted to merge the Law of Space and the Law of Death, it was much easier than comprehending the five elemental laws. He had a feeling that the time he stayed in the Extremity Immortal Realm might not be longer than his time as an immortal monarch.

Because of this, Yinian continued to cultivate even after stabilizing his cultivation base. Time flowed, and he became ignorant of the outside world. When he finally emerged, his aura was no longer that of an early immortal emperor, but that of an intermediate one—an advanced intermediate immortal emperor at that. He had merged the Law of Death into the Law of Time and integrated all his current understanding of the Law of Space as well.

Unfortunately, because Yinian had not fully mastered the Law of Space, the fusion was incomplete, keeping him in the Intermediate Extremity Immortal Realm.

On a side note, even if Yinian fully merged the Law of Space into his Law of Time, it would not evolve into the Law of Spacetime. This merger was not a true fusion, but one with the Law of Time as the core. Still, if Yinian succeeded, he would have a chance to comprehend the Law of Spacetime.

During this time, although the Interplanetary Teleportation Array Outpost had been destroyed, the situation for the Temple of Death had not worsened. If anything, it tilted in their favor. The soul emperor did not merely guard the rebuilt outpost, but personally intervened. Yet his actions did not summon Gu Longyu or the other two emperors from the Death Defier Alliance. It was as if the three emperors had vanished from Planet Madarchy.