A Martial Odyssey

Chapter 157: The Essential Righteous Energy

Everyone else in Yi Ping's group was also alarmed!

Yixian, Shen Xingyue, Ye Yin, Lie Qing, Youxue, Shi Shi, Yang Min, the Goddess Aiel, Yu'Er, Mei'Er, Lingfeng and Han Lin had all gathered around Yi Ping hastily to feel his pulses but they could find nothing wrong with him!

Yixian was secretly anxious as she looked gently at Yi Ping while feeling for his pulses, "Ping'Er, are you well?"

Lie Qing was also panicky as she quickly took his hand as she asked nervously, "Ping'Er, Ping'Er"

She quickly turned to look at the Goddess Celestial Alice, "What's wrong?"

The Goddess Aiel was also startled by the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy but no sooner had she examined Yi Ping's pulse too, she gasped aloud and startling everyone!

Lele began to panic as well as she asked urgently, "Whatwhat'sis wrong?"

The Goddess Aiel had turned ashen immediately as she stared blankly at Yi Ping, "I think that I am going to faint"

Yunzi lost her composure when she had heard it and she began to tremble while Youxue took a shocking step backward!

Slowly the Goddess Celestial Alice composed herself as she looked weirdly at Yi Ping, "Who exactly are you"

Yi Ping was really surprised by her question as he looked blankly at her, "Um?"

All of a sudden the Goddess Celestial Alice turned to look at the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy before she whispered secretly to them via the Great Divine Whisperer, "Did you feel it?"

Yi Ping, the Goddess Aiel and the rest of the group did not know that the Goddess Celestial Alice was secretly whispering to the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy because she had used a secret immortal whispering skill. Unless she willed it, there was no way that the others would be able to eavesdrop on her!

The Goddess Isa was trembling as she utilized her Great Divine Whisperer to the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy, "It is really thePangu Intricate Energy and it is what we called the Essential Righteous Energy!"

The Goddess of Mercy was also trembling as she whispered back, "The Arhat Practitioners also call it the Fantian Universal Forcebetween the elusive Heavens and the Earth, lies the primeval remnants of the Fantian Universal Force! But Alice is correct; it is the Essential Righteous Energy!"

The Goddess Isa whispered shockingly, "whatever naming it is called, it is the ultimate creation force."

The Goddess of Mercy began to shiver, "Only the Great God Fantian can possibly possess it. How is it possible for Yi Ping to be in possession of the Essential Righteous Energy? Is henohe is the real successor of the Great God Fantian?!"

The Goddess Celestial Alice nodded slowly, "I suppose he really is"

The Goddess Isa was stumped, "He has succeeded when not even the Dark Chaos Lord had succeeded? And he has not even reached the apex of the Stellar Sanctuary yet"

The three of them were completely silence for a while as they began to contemplate quickly

The one reason why the Stellar Sanctuary was all important to the immortals was because the first person that could reach to the very top would be able to become the true successor of the Great God Pangu/ Fantian!

They all knew that this true successor would then receive the Essential Righteous Force that was the only thing that could withstand the impassable divine calamities to reach beyond the Three Known Realms and to learn the secrets of the Divine!

The Three Known Realms were the Mortal Realm, the Celestial Realm and the Immortal Realm!

The Mortal Realm was a realm where the celestial practitioners hailed from. In the Mortal Realm, practitioners who were enlightened as a celestial practitioner defined their celestial fraternity as the Celestial Realm even though they had not ascended yet. This 'world' was a fraternity of celestial clans and celestial practitioners with the common goal of ascending to a higher realm!

This higher realm was actually the true Celestial Realm at which the Stellar Sanctuary had now descended!

At the boundaries of the Celestial Realm was the perilous great wilderness. And further beyond the perilous wilderness was the First Heavens of the Immortal Realm!

The Immortal Realm had altogether nine heavens, from the First Heavens to the Ninth Heavens and the immortal practitioners were populated in these heavens accordingly to their immortal attainment. While it was impossible for a lower attained immortal practitioner to reach the high heavens but a highly attained immortal may choose to be in the lower heavens.

Now the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess Mercy seemed to have put aside their differences as they quickly exchanged conversations between themselves wordlessly.

That did not escape the notice of Yi Ping and the rest of the group as they could tell from their moving expressions!

Yi Ping was curious enough but he did not try to interrupt them to ask but had decided to wait patiently.

Han Lin however was impatient as she asked the Goddess Aiel, "Mistress, you are an immortal practitioner too. Can you tell us what they are discussing?"

Jing'Er and the Celeste Wind Maiden were also looking intently at their Celestial Mistress for the answers. It was because she had gasped out aloud earlier so surely she must have known the reasons?

The Goddess Aiel smiled weakly as she looked at Yi Ping, "My attainment is not there yet to listen to their conversations. Moreover even if I have that attainment, it is impossible for me to eavesdrop if they did not want me to listen to them. However, more or less I have already guessed the reasons"

Han Lin laughed jovially, "Quick! Hurry and share with us!"

Even Lele, Lie Qing, Youxue, Shi Shi, Youxue, Lingfeng and everyone else were all looking at the Goddess Aiel excitingly!

The Goddess Aiel felt uneasy at the attention that she was getting as she muttered softly, "Well"

But before she could say anything more, the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy had all straighten up as they started to arrange their attire carefully and with moving eloquent!

Before Yi Ping or any others could second guess them, they had all humbled themselves to their knees as they offered their most respectful condolences. "Our humble respects to the Great God. Your faithful servants await your further instructions!"

They had all said it together, stunning Yi Ping and the rest of the group!

Everyone was stunned with disbelief that the three most powerful immortal practitioners in the Immortal Realm would suddenly fall to their knees!

The Goddess Aiel turned ashen immediately as she panicky bowed down to her knees beside the Goddess Celestial Alice to say, "My humblest respects to the Great God. Forgive me for my insolent. Your faithful servant awaits your further instructions!"

Han Lin stared blankly at the Goddess Aiel as she took a glance at Yi Ping at the same time, "Mistress, what is going on here?"

Even the Celeste Wind Maiden had a shocked expression!

Yi Ping had quickly regained his composure as he said panicky, "Please rise quickly. I am not a Great God or any God. Surely you must be mistaken"

The Goddess Celestial Alice said with trembling voice, "We are not mistakenyou are indeed a Great God. You are the successor to the Great God Pangu!"

The Goddess Isa nodded, "Or else how do you explain the Essential Righteous Energy that is within you?"

The Goddess of Mercy agreed, "That is right"

Yi Ping said exasperatedly as he helped them up, "Maiden Alice, Maiden Isa, Maiden Xiang'Er, Maiden Aielplease rise first"

It was only when Yi Ping had pleaded to them repeatedly and had helped them up, only then did they rose reluctantly!

The Goddess Aiel eyed suspiciously at the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy, "Are the three of you trying to fulfill the prophecy? I am so dumbI am one step too late"

But the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy seemed to have made up their minds to keep it hush hush and refused to answer her!

Lele had overheard her and asked curiously, "What prophecy and what is this Essential Righteous Energy?"

Youxue asked, "What is this prophecy all about huh?"

Lingfeng was looking intently at Yi Ping as she thought, "Heis a Great God?"

Ye Yin was also looking at Yi Ping in disbelief as she thought, "I am right about him as the righteous person in my heart that will save me buthe is actually a Great God?!"

Shen Xingyue said angelically, "Is it a joke? It is not funny at all. Yi Ping is a Great God? He is nothing but a rascal!"

Lie Qing was the only one who smiled at her comments. At the same time she added, "Um, really not funny at all!"

It seemed to her that after going through several adventures with Yi Ping that she had seen and heard weirder things so she was taking this announcement with a pinch of salt.

Yixian said nothing but she was smiling to Yi Ping; as long as Yi Ping is well, she was content!

Yu'Er and Mei'Er were exchanging astonishing looks with each other!

Han Lin was grasping her trembling hands close to her bosoms

Jing'Er looked at the ground quietly. All of a sudden she felt that the distance between Yi Ping and her had widened so much

Suddenly two other maidens were by her side as they looked at her with equal sense of melancholy; it was Shi Shi and Yang Min!

Yunzi, Lady Winter Plum, the Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage were all looking at Yi Ping and waiting for his reaction

The Goddess Celestial Alice asked softly, "My lord, what is your next command?"

If Yi Ping was the Dark Chaos Lord, what would he say?

If he was the White Sage, what would his response be?"

Yi Ping said politely, "Firstly, be yourself and don't address me by any honorific titles. I am still the Yi Ping that you have all known. Secondly, I am interested to know more about this Essential Righteous Energy that you are all talking about. Why is it that I am not aware of it?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice gave an alluring smile as she interrupted emotional, "This Essential Righteous Energy exists only within the fundamental constraints of the Stellar Sanctuary and it is often mistaken as the Universal Force. However any highly attained immortal practitioner would be able to distinguish it. As to how you have got it, I do not know. Do you remember the last time that we have met? I have used my internal energy to help you to calm the fiery energy of the Kirin blood. I am sure that you did not have the Essential Righteous Energy back then."

The Goddess Isa said weakly, "Thinking back, I am positive that it is your Essential Righteous Energy that had weakened the manifest artefact monster of the Universal Harmonic Chain. The manifest artefact monster of the Universal Harmonic Chain was protected by the artefact's shielding powers. It may look like it was on the verge of collapse but it is not. When the manifest artefact monster hit point gets down, its defense will increase tremendously! This lures the unsuspecting practitioners to a death trap!"

When everyone had thought of that, they could only shiver!

Yi Ping had remembered that he had used the last of his martial strength to strike the manifest artefact monster and had thought that his attacks had ended up futile

The Goddess of Mercy nodded slowly as she said, "That is a really close call. At that time, a mysterious strength seems to summon us again. We have heard you calling for uswe picked ourselves up and give the manifest artefact monster everything that we got. Even with the three of us combined, we did not harbor hope against such a terrifying monster"

The Goddess Isa gave a melancholy sigh, "but we did win. It is because your Essential Righteous Energy had temporary nullified the invincible defense of the manifest artefact monster!"

Now that the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa had explained it, the rest of the maidens had a sudden cold shudder!

It was because many of the maidens like Ye Yin and Lie Qing were too overconfidence of themselves!

Now that they had recalled the battle, they began to realize that if the battle became prolong, they would surely suffer defeat since the manifest artefact monster would never be tired!

Lingfeng gave a soft advice, "We ought to be more careful the next time. The trials of the Stellar Sanctuary are not to be overcome with raw strength alone."

The Universal Old Man smiled bitterly as he thought, "Isn't that what I have told her"

But he had decided to keep it to himself.

Yi Ping clenched his hand into a fist as he said quietly, "Do you all still remember that after I have entered the Inner Stellar Sanctuary, I was almost struck down by a white lightning from the apparition of the Great God Pangu?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy were staring at Yi Ping in disbelief as they gasped at the same time, "Whatis there such a thing?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice muttered, "That isn't supposed to happen. The apparition is just an illusion of the past"

All of a sudden the Goddess Isa said excitedly, "This is my first time to the Stellar Sanctuary so everything is new to me. Aiel, do you remember what the Great God Pangu had said before he vanished?"

The Goddess Aiel covered her mouth as she recalled with shock, "I remember. I remember! He said; You have finally come! Good, good, good! Perhaps this time round you will finally be able to succeed. As promise, this is what I have owed you. The next thing that we saw is a white lightning that was aimed at Yi Ping but it had disappeared just before it had struck him"

Yang Min smiled, "That was the second lightning in fact. I almost got struck by the first lightning!"

The Goddess Isa smiled weakly, "At that time I have made a joke to Aiel that it could be the Pangu Intricate Energy. It turned up to be true"

Yang Min laughed softly, "What a lightning. Come to think of it, now I wish that I am being struck by it!"

The Goddess Celestial Alice muttered shockingly to herself, "Did it really happen? The Great God Pangu had actually given Yi Ping the most powerful martial energy in the Three Known Realms. So it seems the Dark Chaos Lord had reached the very top of the Stellar Sanctuary but what had actually happened there? Did he really died"

Lele had tapped Yi Ping on his shoulder as she smiled jovially, "So Great God Yi Ping, where should we proceed next?"

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, "Lele, don't call me that"

Lele began to wonder, "So if Yi Ping is the Great God, then I will be the Great Goddess Lele? Or the Great Joyful Goddess?"

She was not paying Yi Ping any attention as she had turned around to ask Yixian and Lie Qing for their opinions!

But Yixian and Lie Qing were not paying Lele any attention either; that was because they were looking at Yi Ping and the look of their lovely eyes were beaming with pride for him!

The Universal Old Man laughed jovially, "If my protg is a Great God, then I am the master of the Great God. What an honor, what an honor!"

Lady Winter Plum was smiling to herself, "I am not going to let you go. I am content to be just your wife"

Yi Ping had turned to the Goddess Celestial Alice to say, "Maiden Alice, I have a favor to ask. I hope that you will accede to my request."

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled, "My lord, please say."

Yi Ping stammered for a while because he had an impossible request, "II am not any lorddo you think that you can forgive Isa and Maiden Xiang'Er for entering the Stellar Sanctuary and other transgressions?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice gave him a gentle nod, "If you say so, so shall it be."

Yi Ping was delighted that she would agree so readily, "Realreally? Thanks!"

He paused for a while before he asked shyly, "Can I address you as Ziyan?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled gently, "If that is what you want, I am perfectly happy with it."

She was delightful too. It was because she knew that she had a place in his heart!

Yi Ping was not flirting with her by any normal standards. It was because he was not a lustful man. He was sincere in making friends with all that he had met.

By now, all his consorts had already known him inside up. They were all celestial practitioners and had long put aside any feelings of envy with each other.

Moreover many of the maidens had gone through many life and death experiences together with Yi Ping and for that they had earned deep grudging respects for one another!

Instead they knew that if they wanted to be with Yi Ping, they had to overcome their own divine calamities. It was not easy and failure to do so would mean instant death!

Therefore they had only one purpose; to strive to be an immortal!

By mortal standards, they now seemingly had a long life but as celestial practitioners, this 'long life' actually passed quickly. Unless they had a breakthrough each time, they would perish. They were aware that injuries caused by the Divine Calamities were permanent and would affect their next Divine Calamity. To this end, they had prepared endlessly!

All of a sudden Yi Ping had turned pale when a thought jolted him, "Youare willing to break your oaths for meif it means that you will be sacrificing yourself, I don't want it. I want you to live a full life"

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled gently, "The oaths that I have made are to the Great God Pangu. You still don't get it, do you?"

Yi Ping had a bewildered look on his face as he enquired, "Huh?"

She smiled alluringly as she winked at him, "You are the Great God Pangu himself! You are his incarnation!"

The Goddess of Mercy nodded, "That is right! There is only one Great God and that is you!"

Yi Ping was startled as he protested immediately, "That is impossible. I am so weak"

The Goddess of Mercy said coyly, "Weak? I don't think so. The Great God Pangu is meant to experience the tribulations of everything. In future, you will definitely be the most powerful immortal and you will dwell in the most high, the Eternal Realm!"

Yi Ping could only smile bitterly, "If I don't get killed first. Maiden Xiang'Er"

He turned to look at the Goddess Isa, "IsaI hope the two of you will also put aside your differences with Maiden Alice. Is that possible?"

Their enmities ran deep and Yi Ping hoped that they would be able to put aside their vendetta with each other

But to his surprise both the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy nodded and said at the same time, "Why not?"

The Goddess Aiel was laughing softly, "Don't worry. They would surely put their differences aside."

Yi Ping had a puzzled look on his face!

The Goddess Aiel said playfully as she stole a glance at them, "There is an ancient prophecy of the Goddess Theocracy. It is said that when the Great God Pangu has finally descended again and become the Sovereign Lord of the Three Known Realms, he will partition the Three Known Realms to the first three that are able to recognize him before he is known. They will be his consorts and they will rule the Immortal Realm, the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm on his behalf."

Han Lin asked, "Ermwhat a weird prophecy. What if the first three are men? Would it be weird if they become his consorts?"

Lingfeng laughed softly as she tried to suppress the tears in her eyes, "There are certain places where the master has men as his consorts"

Yi Ping smiled miserably, "Lingfeng, that is not funny"

The Goddess Aiel had a mysterious smile on her as she said coquettishly, "Why do you think the reason the majority of the immortal maidens would rather practice alone and not find a partner? It is because they are hoping that one day they would be a consort to the Great God Pangu. The chance is slim but they are not giving it up!"

The Goddess Celestial Alice growled softly, "Aiel, you are getting out of your place. Have you forgotten that I am the Eternal Goddess of the Immortal Realm, the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm? Do you think I will hunger after the temptations of power?"

The Goddess of Mercy was also protesting shyly, "II am the sectarian leader of my own immortal clan. Why do I care about being the ruler of the Celestial Realm or the Mortal Realm?"

The Goddess Isa was also protesting weakly as she looked at Yi Ping, "Hmph! I am sticking with Yi Ping. He is the incarnation of the Dark Chaos Lord. I don't care for the Great God Pangu or whatever!"

All of a sudden Lie Qing had cuddled Yi Ping as she invited looks of jealousy from the rest of the maidens, "Whatever you do, I ought to remind you that the rest of Yi Ping's consorts are not invisible. Even if Yi Ping were to agree, we have not given our permission yet!"

Ye Yin was fingering her Despairing Heavenly Divine Sword as she laughed alluringly, "Lie Qing, I have to agree with you."

The Goddess Isa said coldly, "You are trying to take advantage of our dire situation to bargain with us?"

Shen Xingyue had also stepped in as she smiled angelically, "That's right. So what? With the present condition of the three of you, it does not take any effort to crush anyone of you!"

The Goddess of Mercy smiled weakly, "Wewe are on the same side, right?"

Lie Qing interjected with a sly smile, "Who is on your same side? You just barge in and interrupt our personal space with Yi Ping. Now it is payback time!"

Lele was not sure what was going on but she sensed a fight and she did not want to miss it, "Iam the Joyful Goddessum.waitI haven't thought of my new immortal title yet"

Yixian simply stepped aside!

Yu'Er asked, "Mistress, you are not helping them?"

Mei'Er was already fingering her sword as she asked, "Sister Qing'Er is right. They are extras and not part of our original group. We should teach them a little lesson!"

But Yixian simply smiled as she cautioned them, "Let's wait a little longer first. Let us adopt a wait and see approach."

The Goddess Celestial Alice laughed softly as she winked at the rest of the maidens, "Don't be silly. We may not lose and there are more than three of us."

Shen Xingyue hummed coldly, "What do you mean?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice said coolly, "Aiel, come over my side with your followers."

The Goddess Aiel muttered softly as she took a glance at Shen Xingyue, "Don't look at me like this. I am the High Priestess of the Goddess Theocracy in case you have forgotten."

She called out, "Han Lin, Jing'Er, Xiao Qian. Come over here!"

Han Lin took a glance at Yi Ping as she protested weakly, "Idon't wantoh never mind!"

The Goddess Isa laughed softly, "And one more. Alice, you remember Ishtar?"

The Goddess Celestial Alice nodded as she looked gently at Yixian the Celestial Fairy, "I have never forgotten her."

The Goddess Isa clapped her hands, "Good! Sister Yixian, you ought to join us because your previous incarnation is the Goddess Ishtar and you are one of us! Including Ishtar, now we have eight on our side!"

Yixian smiled weakly but still she did not make a move!

Lele began to panic as she looked at Ye Yin, Lie Qing and Shen Xingyue, "We only have four?!"

She turned to look at Shi Shi, Yang Min, Youxue, Yunzi, Yu'Er, Mei'Er and Yixian, "Sisters, come and lend us a helping hand!"

Yunzi and Youxue were smiling but like Yixian, they did not make any move!

Yi Ping had stepped in panicky, "Wait cool it everyone. There is no need for any fight"

Lie Qing laughed jovially, "Ping'Er, this time you should step aside. Every harem has its own pecking order. We are establishing an order for you!"

Ye Yin smiled, "That is right. What better day other than today to decide things?"

Shen Xingyue was tapping her foot lightly. Everyone knows that her speed attacks were deadly and unfathomable.

She said, "Right, right. Four versus seven, eight? No matter, we may not lose!"

Han Lin protested immediately as she fingered her Green Dragon Divine Sword, "Hey, hey! I am not weak. It is just that I am lazy to fight. Do you think that I am afraid of you?"

Shen Xingyue smiled coldly, "You didn't do too well in the fight versus the manifest artefact monster. Is that already the best of your abilities?"

Han Lin began to fluster, "No! Hey, you didn't do too good against my protg brother Chu Mingfan, am I right?"

Shen Xingyue replied coldly, "Don't mention that wicked person!"

Han Lin hummed coldly, "There is no denying that you have lost to him!"

The Goddess Aiel was groaning coldly, "We are weak? I don't think so. Don't forget that in the Ascension Sect I am known as the Sagess Ai. Even the Lord Supreme isn't my match!"

The Celeste Wind Maiden was caught in the middle as she smiled weakly to herself, "It is the first time that I have seen Aiel so provoked. It is not a good thing. But"

She began to smile to herself, "Finally I have a chance to duel with Ye Yin the Ascension Goddess, one of the top seven fighters of the Celestial Realm. I have heard that you are quite difficult to beat. Today your invincible legacy will end"

Ye Yin immediately replied coldly to the Goddess Aiel, "But I have never heard of the Lord Supreme losing to you either. Don't think that you are our elder we will show mercy toward you. Fat hope!"

Yi Ping was dazzled by their conversations as he raced from one to another to prevent them from fighting. But no sooner had he raced to one, fury words would start from the other!

This goes on for some time

Finally Yi Ping gave a loud martial shout out of frustration, "Stop! Stop it!"

All of a sudden there was a dead silence

Lele was the first one that broke the silence as she said with woeful expressions, "Ping'Er, did you just shout at me?"

Yi Ping said panicky, "Uhnosorry"

Lie Qing said melancholy, "Ping'Er, you have never shouted at us before but for a new attraction, you are willing to abandon your old?"

Ye Yin was also saying, "Ping'Er, have you forgotten that we have shared the same bed?"

Yi Ping had turned completely flustered as he said weakly, "I"

The Goddess Aiel and the Celeste Wind Maiden had an astonished look on their faces. It was because they had suddenly realized that these maidens were really good in playacting and getting sympathies!

It did not fail to escape notice from the Goddess Celestial Alice as she quickly said, "So is there anyone still interested to know more about the Divine Practice?"

Immediately everyone began to crowd around the Goddess Celestial Alice excitingly, leaving Yi Ping stumped by their sudden animosity to sudden friendliness!

Yi Ping muttered, "Women are complicated"