Hell Emperor.

Chapter 495: Southern Spirit Crane - Mingmie
"Tianyuan Star Officer, your starlight suddenly moved strangely, and the astrological signs are wrong."

In the sky of the universe, above the majestic and sinking steel beast, a white-haired old man with an immortal look stood with his hands behind his back. He raised his eyes indifferently, his gaze accurately locked onto a few extinguished stars, and said with an unhappy look on his face.

In front of him, a man in brocade robes sat cross-legged. He was picking his ears with one hand, with a cynical look on his face, not caring at all: "No need for Dousu Xingjun to remind me, I did this on purpose."

The old man was somewhat confused and reminded, "I have not received any order from heaven to change the stars. How much light each star emits, when it goes out, and when it lights up are all determined by heaven. If you change the stars privately, I am afraid it will cause unrest and you will be punished."

The man didn't take it seriously. "It's just that the God of Wealth asked me to extinguish the stars for half an hour. We are all immortal officials. We will meet each other every day. What's wrong with giving him a favor? Besides, there are three bright stars in Tianyuan. I only extinguished one of them. Since I have done a favor, it will be easy to explain if the Heavenly Court asks about it."

The old man frowned, not satisfied with his disrespectful attitude: "As an astronomical official, how can you tamper with the stars without the permission of heaven just because of others' request?"

The man waved his hands and said, "Please, he is the God of Wealth. It never hurts to have a good relationship with him. There will always be a time when we can ask the God of Wealth for help. It would be unwise to refuse him now, right? You might as well take a closer look at how many stars in the galaxy have gone out because of the God of Wealth's request. Even some of the Big Dipper have gone out for him. If you know better, you should do the same."

Seeing that he couldn't be persuaded, the old man sighed and stopped talking, saying:

"Forget it... Let's focus on escorting this shipment. This shipment is of great importance, so we must be cautious and not be distracted by such trivial matters."

…………

"It's over... It's all over this time..."

Shoufa had a sad face. After learning that the Immortal Official Li Shi had extinguished thirty-six stars, his face turned pale and he collapsed to the ground.

His emotions also infected the companions around Ye Jie, and everyone looked worried.

Ren Changhong gritted his teeth and said, "How could this happen... If I had known this would happen, I should have played dice with him. At least I could have relied on luck and still have a fighting chance. It wouldn't be like this now."

Su Miao stared at Ye Jie, with lingering complaints in her eyes: "That's good now, it looks like I'm going to lose all my life. It's all your fault, you insisted on challenging the God of Wealth, now you feel better, right?"

Shen Qingge frowned slightly: "It seems that this time, I am destined to fail to complete the commission of the old man Wanshou. I should think about how to calm her disappointment and anger."

Listening to everyone's words, Ye Jie smiled faintly, his expression unmoved, as if what the Li Shi Xianguan had achieved was not some unattainable result, but a number that could be surpassed at any time:
"Why are you so discouraged? The Nanlinghe competition hasn't even started yet. How can you destroy your own ambition and enhance the prestige of others?"

Shoufa smiled bitterly and told the truth: "The stars flicker and appear to be in complete disorder, but in fact, their every move is controlled by the star officials and star gods in the sky. It's just that ordinary people can't touch them. But the opponent is the Immortal Official Li Shi, one of the gods of wealth. He must have persuaded those star officials to extinguish the stars in the sky."

After a pause, Shoufa sighed, "The scoring requirement is that the stars must be extinguished for more than an incense stick of time and cannot light up again in the middle. There are no clouds in the sky tonight. It is almost impossible to achieve this by luck. It seems that we are doomed to lose this time..."

Ye Jie didn't think so. He looked at Nan Linghe and said, "It's hard to say who will win or lose until the last moment. Who knows what the final result will be?"

In the night sky, the stars that had been extinguished at the request of the Immortal Officer Li Shi now light up again, as if they were afraid that others would not be able to see them, and their light is even brighter than before.

Seeing this, everyone felt even more bitter, and they all thought that defeat was inevitable.

Nan Linghe looked up at the sky, her bright eyes gleaming with joy and a charming smile showing at the corners of her mouth.

The stars are dotted and the Milky Way is pouring down, like bright gems, competing to burst out with shining light. The lights are intertwined to form this beautiful picture.

Nan Linghe had never seen such a beautiful night sky. She held Ye Jie's hand tightly and couldn't help sharing this joy with him.

Ye Jie patted Nan Linghe on the back and said to her, "If you are ready, you can always choose a time you think is appropriate to start."

In the back, Hua Xiaomei seemed to have thought of something and started to analyze: "When to start is also a matter of great importance. The final deadline for the competition is before the fourth watch. Generally speaking, the darker the night, the more stars there are in the sky. But if it is too dark, the stars will disappear at dawn. We must choose the right time."

Xie Xinyu also nodded and said, "Since there is no other way, we can only pin our hopes of winning on luck. The start time is undoubtedly very important. I believe Sister He will definitely choose the most correct time to start. Maybe we have to wait another half an hour."

To everyone's surprise, Nan Linghe blinked and said, "Well, let's get started now!"

Su Miao's eyes twitched. She didn't expect Nan Linghe to start right after the Li Shi Immortal Official and remind him:
"Those star officials just extinguished their stars at the request of the Lishi Immortal Official. To avoid punishment, they will definitely make their stars brighter out of guilt. If we start now, won't we lose? We have lost even the last chance. You should wait a little longer."

Unlike the others who tried to dissuade him, Ye Jie shook his head and insisted, "No, I believe in Nan Linghe's judgment. This is the time she chose, and the countdown starts now."

Seeing that Ye Jie not only did not dissuade Nan Linghe, but agreed to her request, Su Miao was so angry that she was speechless. It was obvious that she was trying to persuade him with good intentions, but Ye Jie did not take it seriously at all, which made her very angry.

Soon, another long incense stick was inserted into the incense burner, and the time belonging to Nan Linghe officially began.

"Start now? I want to see what you are sure of!"

The Immortal Officer Li Shi folded his arms with a look of certainty of victory. In his eyes, it was only a matter of time before he won this bet. No matter how hard his opponent tried, he would not be able to extinguish more stars.

“Have you started yet?”

Looking at the long incense burning in the incense burner, Shoufa said anxiously with sweat on his forehead: "Why did it start so soon? Isn't there still a lot of time to prepare? I was just about to contact the star officials I know to see if I can convince a few of them to extinguish the stars, even if it costs me a price. If you start now, I'm afraid it will be too late..." Hearing this, Ye Jie was also a little surprised: "Have you contacted the star officials in the sky?"

Shoufa nodded and answered truthfully without hiding anything: "The longevity trade of Wanshou City is connected to the three realms and six paths. Some of the large-scale transactions involving the stars will be escorted by star officials who specialize in the stars. In the boundless universe, there are many evil and tyrannical evil immortals who are wanted by the righteous world. It is not uncommon to have six or seven transformations. If you are not careful in guarding and let them rob the goods, it will be a big loss."

After a pause, Shoufa continued, "Speaking of which, there are several star officials who have a very good personal relationship with me, such as the Tianyuan star official. If I am willing to pay a price, I may not be able to ask him to extinguish all the three stars of Tianyuan, but it is not a problem to extinguish one of them. However, he is now in the universe, and it is quite difficult to contact him. Time is a bit short..."

"Three Stars of the Abyss? I remember that among the stars that the Lishi Immortal Official extinguished just now, the Second of the Abyss was one of them."

Ye Jie seemed to remember something, with a thoughtful look on his face. Since Tianyuan Star Official agreed to extinguish the stars for Lishi Immortal Official, he would probably also extinguish the stars for Shoufa.

Looking up, the shining stars in the night sky almost blinded Ye Jie. He didn't know much about the sky, even less than Nan Linghe.

Ye Jie scratched his head and couldn't help asking:
"Speaking of which... which three stars are the Three Stars of the Abyss?"

Seeing that Ye Jie was also interested in the starry sky, Nan Linghe smiled calmly, raised a finger, and pointed to the distant sky: "It's in the low sky in the south, close to the Niu and Nu constellations."

Following Nan Linghe's pointing, Ye Jie also saw three stars shining in the sky. He was about to speak, but without any warning, the three stars all went out, without a trace of light.

Ye Jie: “…”

The incident happened so suddenly that Ye Jie had no time to react and his eyes were blank.

The people around also saw this scene, and their faces had different expressions.

Hua Xiaomei was pleasantly surprised: "The three stars of Tianyuan suddenly went out! Hurry up and start counting. As long as we can hold out for an incense stick of time without them lighting up again, Sister He will get three points."

Xie Xinyu opened her mouth wide, not daring to believe what she saw: "What did I see? Sister He just pointed and extinguished the stars in the sky!"

Su Miao snorted, "It's just luck that it's temporarily extinguished. No matter how brave the star official is, he wouldn't dare to extinguish his main star within the time of an incense stick. It will probably light up again in a short time."

Unlike Su Miao's expectations, the three stars of Tianyuan did not light up for a long time. Seeing this, Ye Jie was also a little surprised. It seemed that this was just luck. It turned out to be the right choice to let Nan Linghe come to compete.

On the side, even the Lishi Immortal Official had an expression of disbelief, and a bit of anger:
"What's going on? Tianyuan Star Officer was only willing to extinguish one star for me just now, but now he is extinguishing three stars for her? Even his own main star is extinguished. What benefit did she give me?"

The Immortal Officer of Profit secretly gritted his teeth, and in his heart he could not help but feel a little resentful towards the Star Officer of Abyss. Did he think that what he could give was not as good as his opponent? He really did not take the God of Wealth seriously.

And in the distant sky, a giant steel beast was sailing in the sky, and golden flowers covered the outside, adding a different kind of vitality to the coldness of the steel.

On the deck, the man in brocade robes was charred all over, as if he had been roasted on fire. He fell to the ground, no longer able to breathe.

If the Immortal Officer Li Shi saw the miserable state of the Star Officer Tian Yuan, he would surely cry out that he had been wrongly accused, because he was not the main star that voluntarily extinguished, but had been killed by a murderous hand.

This sudden change alarmed many immortals in the steel behemoth, and they all came out one after another and confronted the uninvited guests at the other end of the wide deck from a distance.

Looking at the miserable state of the man at his feet, the white-haired old man with an immortal look was filled with anger and shouted, "Who are you? How dare you attack the Marigold and kill the Tianyuan Star Officer in charge of the escort? Do you know whose goods are transported on this Shenzhou? If you dare to offend that existence, you will surely die even if you hide on the moon!"

That person's eyes were like fire, his gaze was like lightning, a pair of pigtails fluttered from the back of his head, and on his slender shoulders, he had once shouldered the calamity of all living beings:

"What is carried on this Shenzhou is the life span plundered from innocent lives! You know this clearly, but you still act as accomplices to the evil. As star masters, you don't even understand the most basic right and wrong, and are willing to go along with evil. Today, I, Xia Wei, will enforce justice on behalf of heaven. All of you, go to hell!"

The one who flew onto the Marigold was Xia Wei, who had been waiting for a long time. She looked at the star officials who were confronting her, her eyes full of rage and hatred. They were the ones who dominated the world and clearly had the ability to stop all of this and make all living beings stop suffering, but they did nothing. Not only that, they turned around and became part of the ones who harmed all living beings. All these things made Xia Wei furious.

On the deck, a woman in gorgeous clothes sneered and stepped forward and said:
"You are only in the middle stage of the third transformation, yet you dare to speak nonsense in front of the star officials and star masters. Who do you think you are? Let me, the star official Lizhu, come and meet you!"

The white-haired Douxu Star Lord frowned and said, "Don't be careless. This person is incredibly powerful. Even Tianyuan Star Official fell into her hands. If you are careless, you may suffer a great loss."

Lizhu Star Officer sneered, "Tianyuan Star Officer was just caught off guard for a moment and was ambushed by her. She really thinks she has some ability. I will let her know how huge the gap between the fifth turn and the third turn is."

After a pause, she raised three fingers and said, "Three moves. I only need three moves to kill her here. If it takes one more move, I will write Li Zhuxing's name upside down."

After hearing what she said, Douxiu Star Lord didn't want to persuade her any further. Persuading people had to be done in different situations. Since she had promised that she could kill the enemy in three moves, if he continued to persuade her, it would not only fail to serve as a reminder, but would make her hate him. With Lizhu Star Lord's mean and jealous nature, this kind of thing would very likely happen.

Beside Lizhu Star Officer, another sturdy man agreed: "Then we will wait for your good news. After all, we are all Star Officers appointed by the Heavenly Court. If we have to attack a third-level enemy with all our strength, it will only make others laugh at us and lose our status as Star Officers."

Li Zhu Xingguan smiled at him, then walked towards Xia Wei with great confidence, and the power of the stars suddenly flourished.

(End of this chapter)