Even if they were unwilling, the Great Zhou Empire subjects had no choice but to retreat.
But this time, their losses were too huge. Not only did they not obtain the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and the Penglai Celestial Mountain, they even lost their own Fangzhang Celestial Mountain. The Imperial Palace had not recovered till its peak state, and even sustained more damage.
As the three celestial mountains appeared, the Great Zhou Empire invested a lot of effort to gain an advantage. But eventually, they suffered greatly. This result was bound to make Liang Pan, Zhu Hongwu and the other Great Zhou subjects depressed.
In fact, as the Penglai Celestial Mountain was used by Lin Feng to snatch the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, even if they got the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, they would still be at a disadvantage.
They had planned for years and made a lot of preparations. They even invited the Luofu Holy Man to help them. But all these were eventually wasted. Since they could not obtain a second celestial mountain, their efforts went down the drain.
Only if they could get both the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain and the white jade pillar could their broken hearts be mended.
But it's a pity things didn't go their way at all.
Zhu Hongwu kept the Great Heavenly Wheels and returned to the Imperial Palace. He looked gloomy, "I am useless and affected Your Majesty's plan."
Liang Pan shook his head and his expression restored to normalcy, "I can't blame all of you. This failure is due to two things. Firstly, news of our control of the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain was leaked. Secondly, I was too greedy."
The Great Zhou controlled the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, which gave them a huge advantage in the mission to obtain the rest of the celestial mountains. But news of this was leaked beforehand, and left the Great Zhou Empire in the limelight. The other great powers were observing the Great Zhou Empire. Under normal circumstances, they would collaborate together to resist the Great Zhou Empire.
And under such a circumstance, the Great Zhou Empire continued to attack. They tried to seize both the Penglai Celestial Mountain and the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, thus giving themselves control of all three celestial mountains.
Liang Pan sat on the dragon seat in the Imperial Palace and sighed, "As I was too greedy, my reasoning was blurred. This is a huge shame."
Zhu Hongwu and the rest of the Great Zhou subjects said in unison, "We are all guilty."
Shao Dongtian, who had also returned to the Imperial Palace, sighed, "If it was not because of the leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, news of our control over the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain would not have been leaked. If the Celestial Sect of Wonders did not interfere, we could have had a chance."
The East Heaven's Gate had always kept a low profile. This time, for the grand scheme, they revealed themselves. Revealing themselves was an immeasurable, intangible loss for them.
Zhu Hongwu said, "Without Lin Feng, there may be Zhang Feng, Li Feng or any other person. Rather than thinking about all this, we should reflect on how we can do better."
He placed both his hands behind his back. His fingers moved a little, "The thing that you've always desired, I shall give it to you."
Shao Dongtian's brows raised as he looked at Zhu Hongwu.
After the two of them looked at each other for a while, Shao Dongtian nodded his head, "Whatever you want, I shall give you too."
Liang Pan did not move and looked at Shao Dongtian. He said calmly, "Shao, go back and retrieve some treasures over. Try to restore your Xuan Heaven Seal as quickly as possible."
The Great Zhou lost the Fangzhang Celestial Mountain, which meant that they lost their fort in the Ying Sea. In the future, it would be difficult for them to obtain any more treasures from the Ying Sea. At the same time, the Imperial Palace was damaged and required a lot of resources to mend it. But Liang Pan did not hesitate to make an edict to assist Shao Dongtian in restoring the Xuan Heaven Seal.
Shao Dongtian's brows shivered a little. He did not feel excited, rather, he sighed.
But he remained calm on the exterior and thanked Liang Pan, "Thank you Your Majesty for your generosity."
After that, he paused for a moment before saying respectfully, "My daughter's cultivation is poor. She damaged the Diplomatic Immunity Certificate that you gave to her. I am shameless and I hope to request one more from you. I hope Your Majesty can be generous."
Liang Pan revealed a smile on his face and said slowly, "Granted."
The Tidal Sword Elder asked the Vast Sea Swordmaster, "Master, Shao Dongtian is being greedy. If he did not think that the Great Zhou Empire has been weakened, would he have the guts to demand so much? Although the Great Zhou has suffered in their conquest this time, I don't believe that it has affected their vital energy that much?"
The Vast Sea Swordmaster did not reply to the question directly, "Shao Dongtian is smart. He is faster than me, but the East Heaven's Gate is indeed stronger than the Vast Sea Sword Sect by a little. Since he has already taken the first step, it's not good for me to follow him."
The Tidal Sword Elder felt ridiculous, "Master…"
The Vast Sea Swordmaster shook his head slightly, "Is there any free lunch in the world?"
"Master, are you saying that Shao Dongtian is doing it in an opposite way…" The Tidal Sword Elder was enlightened. He laughed, "He is indeed sly. Is he not scared that the next mission that the Great Zhou Empire gives him is one that will cripple the East Heaven's Gate?"
The Vast Sea Swordmaster shook his head and did not speak, but he looked worried.
Before today, the Great Zhou Empire had been on a rapid rise and kept on expanding.
As the three celestial mountains appeared, if the Great Zhou Empire could obtain the Penglai and Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, they would be able to control the entire Ying Sea. Following that, the power of the Great Zhou Empire was set to rise again.
But that was not meant to be. The end result was that the powers of the Great Zhou Empire fell. This defeat also made sure that the momentum of the Great Zhou expansion was halted.
In the future, the Great Zhou Empire had to be wary of every step they took. Otherwise, if they were not careful, not only would their development be halted, they might even fall. There was no room for carelessness.
How should the Vast Sea Sword Sect proceed then?
Just like the East Heaven's Gate, the relationship between the Vast Sea Sword Sect and the Great Zhou Empire was very close. They were almost inseparable….
Unlike the Vast Sea Swordmaster who was depressed, the Celestial Sect of Wonders could rejoice.
After bidding goodbye to Shi Yu and the rest, Lin Feng commanded Mount Yujing to transcend void space, while the Illusory Sea Tide was devoured by his Avatar of Ares. The celestial mountains disappeared within the misty conditions of the Ying Sea.
Countless transparent, circular jade appeared and stacked upon one another to form a huge transparent ball-like entity. Like a shell, it covered the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain.
After Lin Feng cultivated the celestial mountain, he received the power of the Ying Sea to reform the Nameless Ancient Formation.
However, to restore it to its previous powers needed more time.
The core illusory realm of the celestial mountain was restored. This core illusory realm was highly regarded by Lin Feng. Zhu Yi, Xiao Yan and the rest who had entered this realm understood the powers of the Great Sun Holy Man and Hell Shadow Holy Man through the pattern of the combination of the stars in this realm.
And the core illusory realm of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain was able to allow the remnant souls of the cultivators that had perished in the Ying Sea to be cultivated into the powers of the stars.
Although Xiao Yan, Zhu Yi and the rest feedbacked that it was difficult to deduce the mantras and they were only able to comprehend the abhijnas, and even only part of them, this was a treasure chest that was invaluable.
The bigger problem was that the powers of the stars in this realm that had died off were unable to be restored again. There was only one chance to consolidate these powers of the stars using the remnant souls of the perished cultivators. Previously, in order to crack open this illusory realm, Xiao Yan, Zhu Yi, Monk Dakong, Shi Xingyun and the other battled continuously. This caused around half of the stars inside this realm initially to collapse.
The collapsed stars would be converted into a line of red light and this light would gather in the heart of the river of stars. This formed the door into this illusory realm.
However, Lin Feng believed that as time passed, there would be more cultivators who will perish in the Ying Sea. Most of the remnant souls would be gathered and converted to the powers of the stars in this realm.
Before Xiao Yan, Zhu Yi and the rest ascended the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, and faced the attacks of countless powerful cultivators and time, the defensive mechanism of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain was already very week. After Lin Feng cultivated the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, he realized that this core illusory realm still had a lot of uses. For example, the powers of the stars within could be released to tackle enemies. In a short span of time, each ball of these powers could unleash the original abilities of the owner of the souls.
Although these powers dissipated quickly as they leave the realm, as they came together, their strength was also extremely significant already.
Besides the Nameless Ancient Formation and the core illusory realm, there were many other restrictions on the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain. But Lin Feng had just cultivated the mountain only. There were many things for him to further study and analyze.
In terms of resources, besides the core illusory realm of the Yingzhou Celestial Mountain, the most valuable thing was that Jade Nectar Spring.
Lin Feng understood the spiritual energy within and discovered that the spring water was indeed very useful in nourishing magic treasures. Its value was significant.
As for the other spiritual flowers and herbs as well as resource mines, they were also in abundance.
Because of the celestial mountains, Lin Feng could also obtain the treasures from the sea much more easily.
"Master, we have reaped a lot of rewards this time." Xiao Yan laughed as he came forward to greet Lin Feng along with the rest. After greeting him, he pointed at Zhu Yi. "Especially Second Junior. He has benefited greatly this time."
Zhu Yi smiled widely. But he was neither proud nor modest, "I have indeed benefited greatly."
His Great Sun Avatar dragged along the white jade pillar and he came in front of Lin Feng, "Master, please deal with it."
Lin Feng laughed, "This is your own destiny. I won't interfere. I will only guide you along, so as to help you cultivate this treasure quickly. It will be good if it can become a magic treasure in the destiny realm in the future.
Zhu Yi blinked his eyes and he bowed towards Lin Feng, "Thank you Master!"
Although he knew that according to past experience, Lin Feng would not take the treasures that they obtained based on their destiny, the white jade pillar was a very valuable magic treasure embryo. It had a total different meaning. Even the Great Void Sect, Mount Shu Sword Sect and the Great Zhou Empire would try to secure it. Firstly, it was out of safety. Next, it was also to ensure that it could be cultivated successfully.
In the entire world, Lin Feng was probably the only one who would leave such a magic treasure like the white jade pillar to his disciple.