237 – The Hidden Culprit Revealed! The Truth about Emperor Tianyu’s Disappearance!

“Is the Gu family hiding so deeply? Could it be that there is an immortal among them? Should I say, it’s no wonder they could survive from the previous era until now as an eternal family? Their foundation is truly terrifying.”

Wang Ping looked at the content of the text simulation, also shocked.

“However, with the Gu family’s reaction, could it be that the Gu family isn’t the hidden culprit, but also a victim that has been plotted against? If that’s the case, who has such great ability to plot against so many forces and powerhouses, even making them unable to divine who did it.”

Immediately, Wang Ping frowned, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

It’s important to know that emperors at this level can already deduce some things, not to mention there are existences like the Heavenly Calculator and Divine Calculator who can predict heavenly secrets.

So many powerful existences did not detect anything unusual; such methods are truly astonishing.

“The Gu family fears the Immortal Palace, could it be that the Immortal Palace has problems? Or simply that the Immortal Palace also has an immortal?”

Wang Ping recalled the reaction of the Gu family’s Emperor and pondered slightly.

“No, that’s not right. Whether it’s the Gu family or the Immortal Palace, they shouldn’t have an actual immortal in their ranks. After all, if there really were an immortal, then the Immortal Palace wouldn’t open the Immortal Gate and seek to cultivate an immortal. That being said, whether it’s the Gu family or the Immortal Palace, it’s highly likely they possess an Immortal Artifact or are hiding a powerhouse who has surpassed the emperor level, in part, and has at least a part of an immortal’s power.”

“Although not a true immortal, it’s still terrifying enough. Even so, they still haven’t detected either this scheme or anything wrong with Gu Xuan, which means the hidden culprit’s means are incredibly astonishing, it even makes me think of anomalies…”

Wang Ping squinted his eyes, thinking of a possible scenario.

Anomalies have a very high level of ability for their cultivation. They are often eerie rules-based abilities too and their abilities can grow, just like the Golden Fingers of chat group members.

If their abilities are allowed to develop, no one knows to what level their abilities can reach.

If all this is really the anomalies manipulating things behind the scenes, then Wang Ping could understand why so many powerhouses couldn’t detect anything abnormal. It all makes sense!

Anomalies have a very high level of ability, they can silently control those Black Fog prodigies, or cultivate prodigies of that level, and they can also shield heavenly calculations.

However, anomalies’ strength isn’t enough to face the entire Upper Realm, so they use various schemes and cannot directly act directly against meddlesome people like him. Otherwise, there would be no need to trick him or the rest into a prepared kill-zone like that secret realm.

“Anomalies…”

Wang Ping’s eyes shined brightly, as his speculation proceeded, he felt the possibility was very high.

At the same time, Wang Ping was also thinking, if he could kill this anomaly, would it meet Alpha’s conditions?

If that conditions could be met, then he could rest assured when he goes to Allheavens Playground in the future, without having to wait any longer.

After all, who knows when an anomaly of such a level would appear, and the type of special ability may not always be something one can resolve.

And this anomaly before him, since he can only plot, it shows that his powers are strong but not the type that would accidentally kill you immediately.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to be so good at scheming. As long as he understands his power and more specific abilities, it would be easier to deal with.

“Of course, all this is still just my speculation. Although it makes sense, it still needs to be verified whether it’s an anomaly or not. Besides, the most crucial question is whether this anomaly in the real world is strong enough and has also chosen to self-seal and come to the golden era. If it had to wait one hundred thousand years to develop, finding and eliminating him right now in the real world may not give as many benefits as killing it in the Golden Age.”

Wang Ping thought of this and shook his head slightly. It wasn’t as though he would self-seal for a hundred thousand years in reality just to allow an anomaly to get buffed until it was worth killing.

Then, he gathered his thoughts and stared at the screen.

【Soon, some experts noticed something was wrong. The Gu family’s immortal aura, although very powerful and made them feel a deadly sense of danger as emperors, did not completely transcend the emperor level.】

【If it were a true immortal, then even an emperor should be no more than an ant in front of it. After all, the further you advance in cultivation, the greater the gap. A quasi-emperor before an emperor is like an ant. Thus, the gap between an emperor and an immortal would be even more terrifying, a true qualitative change.】

【In this case, perhaps an immortal could kill an emperor just by glaring at him, or just relying on immortal pressure might be somewhat exaggerated, but it wouldn’t be merely this level.】

【Thus, an emperor immediately voiced his disappointment, saying that the Gu family has no immortals, only a celestial spirit. These words made the many emperors react and feel a little disappointed.】

【If this world could truly produce immortals, they wouldn’t have to entirely pin their hopes on immortal fate or wait for the appearance of the Immortal Domain’s passage.】

【Unfortunately, there are no true immortals in this world. The Gu family’s figure probably obtained a celestial spirit behind the Immortal Gate, refined it, and gained some of its essence, possessing power surpassing that of emperors.】

【Although celestial spirits are also extremely rare and legendary, making the present emperors quite envious, it feels much less shocking compared to having a true immortal present.】

【The Eternal Life Gu family Emperor glanced at everyone, calmly stating that although the Gu family indeed had no immortals, after refining the celestial spirit, the Gu family now had a quasi-immortal. If anyone dared to attack the Gu family, they would fall here.】

【These words made the Emperors present frown and look in the direction of the Gu family with some wariness. With a quasi-immortal in the family and Gu Xuan’s high talent, it indeed seemed unnecessary for them to plot against everyone’s descendants. Such actions would bring more harm than good—furthermore, once you had this level of strength all schemes became meaningless.】

【In other words, the possibility that the Gu family was being plotted against was also very high. With a quasi-immortal in the Gu family, if they really fought, it might come at a heavy cost. Not to mention, in such a situation, the Emperors present were not united. No one wanted to directly confront the Gu family’s quasi-immortal to see how strong they really were.】

【For this reason, an Emperor calmly suggested that since the Gu family was also being plotted against, they might as well spend some time together deducing and finding the real culprit.】

【These words gave both sides a way out, saving face for both parties. The Eternal Life Gu family Emperor squinted his eyes but eventually nodded slowly.】

【Thus, a terrifying battle came to an end before it even began, leaving many cultivators on the Central Immortal Continent restless. You, too, breathed a sigh of relief and entered the Eternal Life Gu family with Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation.】

【As for the Emperor Council and how they would find the culprit, it was temporarily not your concern. Perhaps only after the Emperor Council ended and the Emperors together could not deduce the result, they would call you over.】

【Soon, the detailed events spread throughout the Upper Realm. For a while, the Upper Realm was in shock. No one expected that the prodigies on the Saint King List and the Great Saint List almost got wiped out. A mysterious existence plotted against all the emperor-level forces of the Central Immortal Continent, with the Qin family suffering the most, and even the Gu family being framed.】

【However, following this, your name became completely famous. Your performance in the secret realm was spread, earning you the title of the greatest prodigy of all time. Even those Emperors couldn’t compare to you in their youth.】

【Of course, while more people acknowledged your title and status as the greatest prodigy, they did not link talent with future achievements as much as they used to.】

【Although it was known before that talent does not necessarily equate to future success in proving the Dao, the near extermination of the prodigies this time was too shocking, with far-reaching impacts, reinforcing the idea that only those who stand till the end are winners.】

【For this reason, some cultivators paid less attention to prodigies, thinking that placing all their eggs in one basket by pouring all resources into one prodigy was too uncertain. It might be better to use those resources to cultivate two or three second-tier prodigies instead.】

【While the outside world was in turmoil and the Emperor Council was in session, you chose to go into seclusion, stabilizing the Dao markings of space you comprehended in the secret realm, attempting to merge the two Dao markings into one, transforming them into true spacetime Dao markings.】

【However, just as you were doing so, the red pattern on the back of your hand suddenly lit up, causing your face to change.】

【Then, you felt a sharp pain in your sea of consciousness, with a force invading it.】

【At the moment of your mishap, the divine senses of several Emperors descended, including the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu. They all stared at you, choosing to act without hesitation.】

【Obviously, these people guessed that you were hiding something. During the meeting, they were also secretly watching you. Now that you had a problem, they had seized some clues.】

【However, to their surprise, even the Emperors couldn’t eliminate the force invading your sea of consciousness.】

【Immediately, one Emperor wanted to use a forceful method to suppress this force while also conducting a soul-search on you to learn more information. However, the incarnation of Emperor Tianyu shouted angrily, trying to stop him.】

【Unfortunately, no matter how strong Emperor Tianyu’s incarnation was, it was impossible to stop so many Emperors, let alone the fact that this Emperor was not an old one.】

【However, at the moment of their dispute, the rainbow light suddenly exploded, completely invading your sea of consciousness.】

【Because you fell into a special death-like stasis, this simulation ends here.】

The text simulation stopped here.

In Wang Ping’s mind, many scenes and cultivation insights emerged.

Then, his figure appeared in the Eternal Life Gu family.

“Sure enough, something happened. The red pattern formed by Gu Xuan’s technique that entered my body is indeed not a good thing.”

“But what is this guy thinking? Why did he so impatiently trigger the red pattern to kill me? He should know that I am likely being watched by the Emperors now.”

Wang Ping watched this scene, muttering to himself.

Wang Ping silently thought, unable to find an answer for now, and could only shake his head helplessly, exiting the immersive simulation state.

As his vision transitioned back to the real world, the System’s voice also sounded.

Ding, the reward generation is successful. The host can choose two of the following rewards:

①. Seven-colored Talent: Origin-Breaking Eyes.

②. Heavenly Frost Ice.

③. A random Supreme Artifact.

④. Life-bound Supreme Artifact.

“System, I choose ①. Seven-colored Talent: Origin-Breaking Eyes and ④. Life-bound Supreme Artifact.”

After Wang Ping looked at the reward list, he made his choice without hesitation.

As Wang Ping made his selection, his eyes underwent a change, and mysterious rings appeared within his pupils. However, they soon concealed themselves again.

At the same time, in Wang Ping’s storage world, his Life-bound Supreme Artifact also appeared.

“Now I have two Life-bound Weapons. If I could multiply them and then merge them, that would be great… However, my multiplication and merging abilities haven’t been optimized again. It’s too uncertain to trigger the abilities, so I still have to wait.”

After taking a look at the weapon, Wang Ping put it back.

Next, Wang Ping closed his eyes in thought, continuing to ponder over the various issues in this simulation.

“If that red pattern allows the mastermind to read my memories, then he would understand how dangerous I am and eliminate me quickly. This would prevent the simulated Wang Ping from continuing to gather intelligence.”

“Alternatively, the other party might be able to block calculations. But if I were taken to someone like the Heavenly Calculator or the Divine Calculator, he might be exposed. After all, there was no such precondition to calculations before. With the right conditions, he might be uncovered, then there’s a possibility of being silenced.”

“But regardless of the situation, why did he wait until now to detonate the red pattern? Normally, anyone would detonate it as soon as it entered the body, right? Or does this red pattern have a range restriction, only detonating when the distance between us is sufficiently reduced?”

“If that’s the case, then he might be within the Eternal Life Gu family or has secretly arrived near the family during this period. This method is similar to some of the anomalies I’ve dealt with before.”

Wang Ping considered various possibilities.

Suddenly, he frowned.

Since the mastermind could arrange such a peculiar secret realm, allowing Gu Xuan to enter and even replace the Immortal Palace’s arranged secret realm, quietly coming in and eliminating me should be the correct course of action.

However, he did not do so.

Therefore, these two possibilities are wrong; the flaws are too significant.

A more plausible scenario is that my Golden Talent: Damage Nullification caused a bug in the red pattern, resulting in a delay or reducing the detonation range. Of course, both these conditions could also be true.

“Whew… The obtained intelligence is quite plentiful, bringing me a step closer to the truth. Going forward with normal simulations should do, I don’t need to prematurely defeat Gu Xuan, triggering such exaggerated plot twists. I can uncover his trail bit by bit through steady cultivation and exploration.”

After a few minutes, Wang Ping exhaled deeply, casting aside distracting thoughts and muttering to himself.

“I saw your memories; the red pattern on your hand indeed carries an anomalous power fluctuation.”

At this moment, Alpha’s voice, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly sounded.

“Is it truly an anomaly?”

Alpha’s words made Wang Ping slightly stunned, then he squinted his eyes.

“If it’s an anomaly, then as I previously speculated, everything makes sense. By the way, Alpha, does this anomaly meet the conditions?”

After pondering, Wang Ping inquired again.

“Judging by the behavior of the anomaly and the red pattern, if it were the anomaly from the Golden Great Era, it would certainly meet the conditions. However, at this point in time, it only meets four or five tenths of the conditions.”

Alpha’s voice sounded again.

“It’s almost what I expected. If at this time it doesn’t meet the conditions, I can take my time cultivating it a bit.”

Wang Ping’s eyes flickered as he thought secretly.

As for whether cultivating anomalies would backfire, Wang Ping believed the chances were close to zero.

Having sufficient combat experience with anomalies, he knew that as long as he understood all of their abilities and power limits, there was nothing to fear.

Of course, this premise still rests on completely controlling the information and his strength being far superior to the anomaly.

Otherwise, Wang Ping still wouldn’t act rashly.

In any case, killing the anomaly in advance wouldn’t send him to the Allheavens Playground, which is meaningless.

“Continue with the simulation. This time, I hope to endure and make a significant breakthrough in my strength…”

Then, Wang Ping collected his thoughts, intending to start a new simulation, and couldn’t help but speak inwardly.

“System, I want to start a new Paid Simulation.”

“Ding, spent four million upper-grade divine sources, Life Simulator is activated, refreshing talents…”

The System’s voice rang out.

“Ding, talents refreshed successfully. Congratulations to the host for refreshing red talent: Light Profound Body, red talent: Dark Profound Body.”

“Really can’t get away from Profound Bodies, huh? You really want me to choose one, don’t you…”

Wang Ping wasn’t surprised at this bad luck; if he repeatedly refreshed seven-colored talents, it would be a strange thing.

It’s just that the frequency of Profound Bodies appearing is ridiculous; this time, two showed up at once.

“Choose, choose, choose…Could it be that if I pick all Profound Bodies, it will super-evolve and upgrade to a seven-colored physique talent?”

Wang Ping couldn’t help but complain before casually selecting the Light Profound Body.

“Ding, talent selection successful, Life Simulation begins.”

The System’s voice rang out, and Wang Ping’s consciousness flickered, entering an immersive simulation state.

Then, on the screen, words began to appear.

【On the first day, you chose to act as in the last simulation, heading to the Dao Palace. In the end, you obtained the Emperor’s Weapon, Eternal Space Emperor Sword, just like in the last simulation.】

【This time, however, you did not go to Hell Ancient Star but directly headed to another place, which turned out to be Azure Wave Ancient Star.】

【Once, you were relentlessly hunted on Azure Wave Ancient Star in a simulation, forced to flee in utter embarrassment. Of course, your coming here this time is not to grab gold coins from the Azure Wave Empire but because of something you recalled.】

【This matter involves a rumor that if one obtains the blood of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body, they can gain a great opportunity.】

【Before, you forgot about this matter due to various reasons and never investigated what this opportunity was. Now, you plan to find out what great opportunity can be obtained with the blood of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body. Perhaps, it can provide your disciple Lin Qinghe with a good inheritance to grow rapidly.】

【Of course, if this opportunity is also useful to you, you wouldn’t mind keeping it for yourself and using it first.】

【Your movement to the Azure Wave Empire did not catch the attention of any cultivators. After all, Azure Wave Ancient Star’s strongest figures are only three Supremes, with the Azure Wave Empire’s Supreme being the strongest. However, this Supreme’s strength is largely due to the Emperor’s Weapon and quasi-emperor weapon of the Azure Wave Empire.】

【In the past, you were very wary of the Azure Wave Empire, but now, you can ignore it. After all, you can already battle Supremes; some ordinary Supremes can be easily crushed by you. Now, with the Emperor’s Weapon, the Azure Wave Empire is truly insignificant before you.】

【Next, you think about how to draw out the cultivator who knows the great opportunity. After all, the past simulation only briefly mentioned the opportunity without specifying who knows the secret.】

【In the end, you find the idea of searching one by one too troublesome and decide to take a bold approach.】

【Thus, you very openly display your aura and use the Taiyi Emperor Palace’s Emperor’s Scripture, causing the entire Azure Wave Ancient Star to tremble.】

【In an instant, all self-sealed cultivators are awakened, looking at you in fear, recognizing the Taiyi Emperor Palace’s Emperor’s Scripture and guessing that you are a powerful figure from the Taiyi Emperor Palace. However, they do not understand why such an important person has come here.】

【The self-sealed Supreme of the Azure Wave Empire is also awakened. He notices you and senses the aura of the Emperor’s Weapon you deliberately show, making him extremely frightened. He quickly transmits a message, asking if any cultivator on Azure Wave Ancient Star has offended you. If so, the Azure Wave Empire is willing to help you find and eliminate them.】

【In response, you smile faintly, holding the Emperor’s Weapon, and ignore the Azure Wave Empire’s Supreme. Instead, you calmly announce to the ancient star, your voice spreading across the star, stating that you are looking for someone who knows the secret of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body. If they come forth voluntarily and reveal the secret, you will retract your power, and no one will be harmed. If not, the entire ancient star will turn to ashes.】

【This ruthless declaration causes all the cultivators to be filled with fear, praying that the one who knows the secret steps forward quickly. Even the Azure Wave Empire’s Supreme is troubled, not expecting you to disregard him and make such a heartless statement.】

【Although he could preserve the Azure Wave Empire with its Emperor’s Weapon, the destruction of the ancient star would cause them great trouble and force him out of the self-sealed state, making it difficult to endure the era of the end of the magic.】

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, that cultivator was inwardly cursing, thinking you were too crazy. However, he didn’t want to be buried with the ancient star either, so he bitterly sent you a voice transmission, revealing the secret in the hope that you would spare him…

From this, you learned the secret he knew. Turns out, he had discovered the inheritance site of a previous generation of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body. However, that site was very special, requiring the blood of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body to open. That’s why he was searching everywhere for an undeveloped Devouring Immortal Demon Body…

Unfortunately, the Devouring Immortal Demon Body isn’t easy to find. He searched for many years and found nothing, eventually forcing himself to seal in his homeland, hoping that when the golden era arrived, he might find the Devouring Immortal Demon Body, obtain its blood, open the inheritance site, and acquire the legacy within…

Hearing this cultivator’s words, you were quite astonished. You never expected it to be the inheritance site of a previous generation Devouring Immortal Demon Body. Thus, his regret at not competing for Lin Qinghe back then made sense…

However, you still thought this cultivator was too greedy. Since it was the inheritance of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body, it would definitely not be that simple. If it only required the blood of the Devouring Immortal Demon Body, it would likely only let you in. Once inside, there would definitely be tests. If one isn’t a true Devouring Immortal Demon Body, the probability of dying miserably is high…

Of course, you also remembered that this guy had cultivated for many years and only reached the half-step Great Saint realm, and was almost out of lifespan, remaining in a self-sealed state. It made sense that he would take a desperate gamble. If he won, he could become a Great Saint, even a Supreme. If he lost, he would just die a little earlier…

Next, you chuckled, retracting the Emperor’s Weapon, explaining that you were just playing a little joke with everyone and hoped they wouldn’t mind. After that, you left Azure Wave Ancient Star with Fang Xingyu…

Seeing this, the cultivators on Azure Wave Ancient Star all twitched, cursing inwardly. Joking? Given your demeanor just now, was that a joking manner?

As the cultivators on Azure Wave Ancient Star cursed, Fang Xingyu rolled his eyes wildly, silently complaining in his heart…

Next, you had no intention of heading elsewhere and returned directly to the Central Immortal Continent, bringing Fang Xingyu back to Taiyi Emperor Palace…

After returning to Taiyi Emperor Palace, you did not immediately take Lin Qinghe to search for the inheritance site but chose to self-seal…

In the blink of an eye, the golden era arrived. You chose to re-emerge, apprenticing yourself to Emperor Tianyu, enquiring if he had any places to go next. This puzzled Emperor Tianyu, curious as to why you were asking such questions. If you needed anything handled, he could take care of it first and then attend to major matters…

You shook your head, indicating you were merely curious. Seeing your persistence, Emperor Tianyu pondered for a moment. Although he felt this wasn’t something you should know, he still provided an answer…

Apparently, Emperor Tianyu had reached a bottleneck in his cultivation. One of the top ten forbidden zones, Ghost Demon Sea, contained something he needed. Additionally, his daughter had gone missing. Over the years, he had been searching for her, and after years of investigation, he discovered she had somehow ventured into the Ghost Demon Sea…

Hearing Emperor Tianyu’s explanation, you gained clarity. You finally knew why Emperor Tianyu had vanished. It turned out he had gone to the Ghost Demon Sea…

Although Emperor Tianyu claimed to need something from the Ghost Demon Sea due to a bottleneck in his cultivation and to search for his missing daughter, you felt his primary goal was to search for his daughter…

In your view, Emperor Tianyu’s daughter, trapped in the Ghost Demon Sea for many years, was most likely dead. But as a father, unless he received definite news of her death, he would never give up searching…

In previous simulations, it seemed Emperor Tianyu helped you find the twin Emperor’s scriptures of Spacetime first and then went searching to avoid delaying your cultivation and to keep hope alive for Taiyi Emperor Palace…

Perhaps Emperor Tianyu had considered the possibility of his own demise. After all, even Emperors risked their lives in such top ten forbidden zones…

Emperor Tianyu’s actions might seem somewhat irresponsible for Taiyi Emperor Palace. Ideally, he should have nurtured a new Emperor before venturing forth. But as a father, his selfishness was understandable…

Moreover, though he was desperate to find his daughter, he delayed for your sake. This kindness was unparalleled. Therefore, you couldn’t blame Emperor Tianyu for anything…

“So this is why Emperor Tianyu disappeared… He went to find his daughter, even if it meant venturing into one of the top ten forbidden zones, the Ghost Demon Sea…”

Wang Ping sighed inwardly as he read the simulated text.

As a father and a master, Emperor Tianyu was undoubtedly outstanding…

“However, if he goes, trouble is sure to follow. Who knows if he’ll live or die… So, Emperor Tianyu must not go.”

Wang Ping shook his head slightly, continuing to gaze at the screen.

Knowing the past and present, your expression turned serious. You solemnly informed Emperor Tianyu that you possessed the means to foresee the future. If Emperor Tianyu went, his fate would be uncertain, he wouldn’t return by the time the Immortal Palace opened, and he would be completely unreachable…

With this revelation, Emperor Tianyu fell silent, understanding why you sought his whereabouts. However, he still sank into contemplation…

Ultimately, Emperor Tianyu shook his head, stating he must go. Yudao Yi was his most beloved daughter, one he held great hopes for. He must find her…

Hearing Emperor Tianyu’s words, you bitterly smiled, knowing you couldn’t persuade him. Currently, you and Emperor Tianyu shared a fairly new bond. While you had deep respect and admiration for him, to Emperor Tianyu, you were merely a newly accepted disciple. Your advice couldn’t sway his determination…

Seeing your bitter smile, Emperor Tianyu assured you, promising to leave enough resources for Taiyi Emperor Palace and you. Even if something happened to him, you wouldn’t be at a disadvantage when competing with other prodigies…

Ultimately, you could only nod, unable to dissuade Emperor Tianyu. With no other choice, you pushed this matter out of your mind and continued your cultivation in seclusion…

This time, you planned to take a low-profile approach until the Immortal Palace opened, hoping to change something…