Eternal Night.

Chapter 918 Promises and Uncertainties

(PS: My parents-in-law flew to Chongqing overnight last night... They're doing well, the baby is fine, and my wife can be discharged today. I'm sorry to have worried everyone. I plan to resume normal updates tomorrow. And maybe I'm just too careful with my writing, but while taking care of my wife these past two days, I've come up with even better ideas for the first half of the Eternal Night. I'm going to start writing it next.)
The news of Wu Pifu's solo incursion into the Heavenly Court spread throughout the Dream World. This was naturally orchestrated by someone, or rather, Wu Pifu's actions were simply a staged event.

Indeed, he hacked his way through the Thunder Department's Heavenly Punishment Program, descending into the lower levels of the Dream World, until finally breaking through to the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Heavenly Court. The entire journey was documented with images, sound, and staged footage of the battles. The three Ascended Beings acted as all-around photographers, capturing the entire battle and descent process. This showcased both the terror of the Heavenly Court's Thunder Department's Heavenly Punishment Program and Wu Pifu's incredible ability to eliminate enemies with a single strike, all while minimizing the leakage of its secrets. These three Ascended Beings, achieving all these feats, truly deserve the title of top-notch photographers…

Of course, this comes at a price, and there are two. One is that Wu Pifu is so embarrassed that he could dig out the entire dream world with his toes, which goes without saying. The second is that the three sublimated beings bear the danger of posing for photos. They have to leave the fifth type of pocket world when taking photos and disseminating information, which means that they are likely to be exposed to the danger of fish surfacing, as well as... attacks from time!

From the moment Wu Pifu shattered the first wave of the Thunder Department's Heavenly Punishment program in the Shattered Domain, something called Time-Sequence Strike quietly descended.

At first, it was just that everyone was unlucky. For example, they tripped and fell while walking, the aftershocks of Wu Pifu's slash almost hit their own people, or one or two Thunder Department Heavenly Punishment Programs that should have been killed by Wu Pifu suddenly escaped the net, which was enough to pose a fatal threat to his companions... Thanks to the existence of the three sublimated beings, although they were very "weak", they were still sublimated beings and had no problem facing one or two Thunder Department Heavenly Punishment Programs. However, these "accidental" events gradually increased, to the point that even Wu Pifu noticed them.

"...This is the chronology, the domain of the Eastern Azure Emperor among the Four Emperors of Heaven!"

The three ascended beings were indeed veterans who had lived for many epochs. Even if they had not personally experienced the methods of the Heavenly Court, they had at least heard of them or knew of their general existence. As for the information about the four emperors of the Heavenly Court, they knew it in great detail.

"The title of the Four Emperors of Heaven is the title of the four strongest sources below the initial immortals of Heaven. But, my lord, did you know that these four emperors are actually just titles and do not represent any specific person? It is said that since the very distant past, the four emperors—the Great Emperor of the North Pole, the Great Emperor of the South Pole, and the Great Emperor of the Supreme Ultimate—have been replaced by several different individuals. Moreover, the prefix 'Emperor' itself represents the title of the source within Heaven, for example..."

Wu Pifu said thoughtfully, "The True Martial Emperor?"

The three ascended beings were taken aback, then nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, there are many similar emperors, but the title of Four Emperors is unique to these four, as they are the overseers of all affairs of the Heavenly Court, and the most unique among them is the Azure Emperor..."

Beelzebub sneezed beside him and said, “Let me explain. The structure of the Heavenly Court is actually very simple and straightforward. To put it bluntly, the capable rise and the weak fall. As far as I can remember, there are only two constant beings in the Heavenly Court. One is the First Immortal, who is the supreme leader of the Heavenly Court, and the other is the Azure Emperor, who is the First Immortal’s right-hand man and even the biggest driving force behind the First Immortal’s success. He is also known as the Eastern Azure Emperor. He is very special. To this day, I still do not know his true face, his true strength, or what he is pursuing. In the eyes of many of us, he is a more mysterious figure than the First Immortal.”

After thinking for a while, Wu Pifu said, "I don't understand."

Beelzebub sighed and said, "I don't understand either. His strength is unpredictable. When he was weak, even an ascended being at the extreme level could beat him. When he was powerful, he even faced the Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds... and the original Three Buddhas, who were Buddhas from other realms whose strength was even greater than that of a Bodhisattva destined to become a Buddha in his next life. They were super-powerful beings who could establish a Pure Land of Buddha outside of the initial Buddha, and each of them was a supreme source of power at the zero-first level..."

After waiting for a while, Wu Pifu asked, "And the result?"

"What?" Beelzebub paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "The three Buddhas all entered Nirvana, and that was also the battle in which the Heavenly Court completely overwhelmed Buddhism and became the strongest ancient civilization... Apart from strength, the identity of the Azure Emperor, gender, age, appearance, karma... all of these are uncertain. We don't even know if the Azure Emperor is a single being, a group of beings, or even if such a being exists at all. He is the greatest uncertainty in the entire Heavenly Court, and also the core guarantee that the First Immortal can sleep peacefully."

"...Chronology?" Wu Pifu asked, frowning.

“Yes, the order of time.” Beelzebub said in a somewhat incredulous tone, “But what exactly is the order of time? We don’t know anything about it. We only know that it is a kind of root domain related to time. However, the root domain of time has been monopolized by the absolute view of time and the relative view of time. It’s not that there are no scraps of the time domain, but at most they can achieve a root domain of level 0.3. It is impossible for them to be as powerful as the Azure Emperor. So our guess is that the order of time is not a simple root domain of spacetime, but a multi-composite domain that involves branch domains such as spacetime and causality.”

When Beelzebub spoke, and spoke in the tone of someone who knew the Green Emperor, the three Ascended beings trembled.

Damn it, a big fly speaking in that bossy tone—they know better than anyone what flies symbolize, but that's precisely why they're even more terrified.

This incredibly extravagant battle journey was a feat they had never imagined in their lives, but it would be truly unjust if they were silenced by the big boss afterward for knowing too much.

At this moment, Wu Pifu was not in the Heavenly Court.

In fact, he had already broken into the Heavenly Court twice, once at the South Heavenly Gate and once at the North Heavenly Gate. However, each time he broke in, he would inexplicably leave the Heavenly Court. In fact, he had never stepped into the inner part of the Thirty-Three Heavens. Although he had indeed caused some damage to the Heavenly Court, such as killing at least a hundred heavenly soldiers and breaking through the South and North Heavenly Gates, this damage was nothing to the Heavenly Court. Moreover, Wu Pifu had a premonition that the Heavenly Court was rapidly recovering and that some kind of deadly threat was forming inside the Heavenly Court's gates.

But if he can't get in, he can't get in. His strength isn't enough, his level isn't high enough. Perhaps he could break through this barrier with his full power, but if he conserves his strength, he truly cannot break through the Heavenly Court's gate. And to cope with the fierce battles after entering the Thirty-Three Heavens, he can't possibly exert all his strength just to break through one gate. So, things are stuck here…

However, Wu Pifu was not flustered, because he was certain that the fish was still following him and watching him, but it just hadn't surfaced yet. He had now confirmed that the Heavenly Court truly had the foundation and strength, and he couldn't do anything to the Heavenly Court, so he could leave the rest to the fish. Now he just needed to wait for the fish to surface again.

At this very moment, everyone is in the Shadow Palace Dream World, the sixth level of the Primordial Demon Prison.

This is a dream world below level 0.3, and it is also the only low-level dream world that Wu Pifu has coordinates in. Back then, he and the Gaia humans used this dream world as a transit point to reach Zhoumo, and he also made a ten-year agreement with the pseudo-people in this dream world.

As Wu Pifu descended from the Shattered Domain, he relentlessly slashed at the Thunder Department's Heavenly Punishment programs. Eventually, he reached the gates of the Heavenly Court using the Dream Compass. After two unsuccessful attempts to enter, he dared not linger at the gates any longer. The dangers gathering within the Heavenly Court gates seemed to intensify with his continued presence. Therefore, during the interval between his two unsuccessful attempts to enter, he led everyone to this dream world for a temporary respite.

Xu Shilan was heating a can of meat over the fire when she suddenly asked, "Speaking of the fifth type of pocket world, we don't really need to come to this dream world to rest, so... are you actually planning to fulfill the ten-year promise?"

When Wu Pifu led the Gaia humans to rescue Chu Minghao on the weekend, they arrived at the Shadow Palace Dream World, the sixth level of the Primordial Demon Prison, as a transit point. During this time, Wu Pifu and the Gaia humans fought against the bizarre world, which awakened the great terror hidden in this world and even attracted an attack from a powerful figure in the Heavenly Court.

Afterwards, the world that had long since transformed into bizarre "pseudo-people" regained some of their senses. They helped Wu Pifu and his group, which led Wu Pifu to make a ten-year promise with them. When Wu Pifu was strong enough, he would return to save the world, or to put it more directly... to give them liberation!

Wu Pifu's strength is now vastly different from what it used to be. The reason he chose this place as a temporary resting point was indeed to fulfill his original agreement. However, when he arrived here, he discovered that what caused the world to change drastically, making these "pseudo-humans" unable to live or die, was not a specific enemy, not the root cause, not a nightmare, and not even anything strange, but rather... loss!
That's right!

The core reason for this dramatic change in the world and the existence of false people is loss. What lies hidden in the deepest part of this world and was originally suppressed by the powerful Heavenly Court is actually a phenomenon of loss.

This is a natural phenomenon unique to the dream world. His current strength is not enough to solve the Lost Pollution, so he cannot fulfill this promise on his own. But... he can rely on the fish!
Indeed, he instinctively sensed that this fish was not simply a type of pollution; it belonged to a higher level of being. Once the fish appeared, the entire world would change. He planned to use this fish to liberate the pseudo-people of this world.

Seeing Wu Pifu's tacit agreement, Xu Shilan was thinking about something else entirely. She sighed and said, "Your martial arts have reached the highest level, haven't you? Back in the Land of Redemption, I also helped you explore information about martial arts, other extraordinary paths like the Human Immortal Martial Arts. There are others in the Night Watch who have practiced martial arts and related extraordinary abilities. Although they are not as good as you, they have reached the point of sensing danger before the autumn wind blows. Their combat strength may be weak, but their spiritual sense is astonishing. They are human danger radars that many Night Watch teams admire..."

Wu Pifu didn't understand what Xu Shilan wanted to say, but Huang Rong, who was sitting next to Xu Shilan, looked worried and immediately lowered her head.

Xu Shilan looked at Wu Pifu and said, "I know you very well. You're the kind of person who values ​​promises more than your own life. You had a bad feeling about this trip to the Heavenly Court, right? That's why you wanted to fulfill the promises you made before you fully entered the Heavenly Court... right?"

After a long silence, Wu Pifu shook his head and said, "Perhaps so. Going to the Heavenly Court is a perilous journey with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death. If I die, then these hypocrites who are still waiting for me will be too pitiful."

Just as the three ascended beings were about to say something, Wu Pifu suddenly pulled out a transcendent crystal from his pocket: "I won't say much more. I have a vague feeling that the fish may rise to the surface at any time. Please come in."

No one dared to be negligent, and they all approached Wu Pifu. As soon as Wu Pifu shone the crystal on them, everyone vanished from their spots. Only when Wu Pifu remained did he pick up the crystal and examine it closely. It was smaller than when he had first obtained it; indeed, this extraordinary crystal was not permanent. However…

That's enough.

In the next instant, Wu Pifu saw the surface of the water, and the deep shadows of fish beneath the surface.

It... floated up!

(End of this chapter)