Chapter 1724: Exchange of Hostages

Jiang Fan tidied up his disheveled appearance, then unhurriedly took out his gourd and said:

“I have the Sky Sword. Let’s make a deal.”

The Asura Empress secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t sense the Sky Sword’s presence and had mentally prepared herself for his demise. She hadn’t expected him to still be alive; it was a huge surprise.

Her phoenix eyes flashed as she said:

“Alright, release the Sky Sword, and I’ll return the spatial mirror to you. However, if you release the Sky Sword, won’t it be killed by the continent’s restrictions? Why don’t you come out? I swear, I will not harm you.”

Jiang Fan let out a scoff:

“You won’t injure me, but you can kill me, capture me, imprison me, or have your subordinates do it. A grand Asura Empress stooping to play word games with a junior.”

Trying to outwit him was a mistake.

The Asura Empress secretly sighed, admitting that this fellow was indeed hard to fool. She had two objectives for coming to the Central Land: to rescue her children and to bring back Jiang Fan’s head to report to the Giant Emperor of the Central Tribe. How could she give up so easily?

Seeing the Heaven-Connecting Dark Pillar rapidly dissolving and unable to last much longer, she lost her patience. Once the Heaven-Connecting Dark Pillar collapsed, she would have no choice but to tear open the world barrier and return to the Celestial Realm by traversing the void. Not only would it be troublesome, but tearing open the world barrier would create a massive disturbance, attracting the Sages of the Central Land.

Her phoenix eyes filled with majesty as she said indifferently, “Do you think I can’t do anything to you just because you’re hiding on the continent? You lack sufficient reverence for an Asura Emperor.”

The vortex above her head suddenly began to spin, emitting a wave of karmic power.

“All things are slaves,” she murmured softly, and the karmic power spread into the continent, enveloping Jiang Fan.

However, her expression subtly changed. Jiang Fan, as if he had anticipated this, took out a snow-white, ten-foot-tall great bell and inverted it over himself. Only his two eyes were visible through a damaged spot. Her karmic power struck the snow-white bell, with most of it bouncing off and a small portion being absorbed.

Hiding inside the bell, Jiang Fan’s voice sounded muffled:

“Is that all? Give me more.”

It seemed this great bell no longer possessed its former power, only capable of absorbing a very small amount of karmic energy. However, as a defensive artifact capable of resisting Sage Realm laws, it was still quite effective. Provided the bell couldn’t be seized, it was indeed an invincible treasure.

The Asura Empress’s phoenix eyes gleamed with malice. Refusing to believe it, she launched two more karmic attacks. The result was the same: all were repelled by the great bell, with only a small amount absorbed. Jiang Fan remained inside, completely unharmed.

“More, more, that’s too little, not enough to watch.”

What made the Asura Empress’s chest heave even more was Jiang Fan’s continuous provocation from inside the bell. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

At that moment, the Heaven-Connecting Dark Pillar rumbled; it was about to collapse. There was no more time. Her voice quickened as she said, “Very well, I won’t kill you. Hand over my son, and I’ll return the mirror. We’ll be even!”

She had no choice but to settle for less, abandoning the mission to assassinate Jiang Fan. Let the giants deal with their own headaches; she was done with it!

Jiang Fan also noticed the movement of the Heaven-Connecting Dark Pillar, knowing that time was on his side. How could he let this opportunity slip away easily?

“Hmph! Your son almost caused a major defeat for our Central Land, and you almost killed me. For both public and private reasons, I cannot let you leave so easily.” As he spoke, he manipulated the snow-white bell to retreat backward, to prevent the Asura Empress from using any means to pull him out of the continent.

The Asura Empress let out an angry laugh: “You still want to negotiate terms with me?”

Jiang Fan’s visible eyes darted around. “Then let’s both suffer losses,” he said. “I’ll kill a Five-Crown Asura King, and you can destroy all the living beings in the mirror. Either way, our Central Land won’t be at a disadvantage.”

The Asura Empress glared at Jiang Fan, her eyes burning with malice. The mirror contained only Nascent Souls and Soul Transformation spirits; how could they compare to a Five-Crown Asura King? What’s more, that was her son.

“What do you want?” she demanded in a deep voice.

Jiang Fan thought for a moment, then said, “Give me a portion of your karmic power.”

The Asura Empress scoffed, “You certainly know how to pick, but unfortunately, all my karmic power was just used on you. Choose something else.”

Jiang Fan almost spat blood! This extravagant woman, not even saving a bit of her karmic power; now it was all gone when he wanted some.

After some thought, he could only settle for a lesser demand, saying, “I want to know how your Five-Crown Asura Kings break through to the Asura Emperor realm.” Judging by the situation in the Hell Realm, it didn’t seem like they ascended to emperor status through merit.

The Asura Empress considered it. This wasn’t a secret, so she didn’t hide it: “It’s similar to the demon race in your Central Land. The demon race needs to return to their ancestors, while the Asura race needs to elevate their bloodline power. Once they reach a certain stage, they naturally enter the Emperor Realm.”

Jiang Fan recalled the drop of Asura Saint’s holy blood that Green Pearl had obtained during the Ancient Wild Hunt. He secretly congratulated himself for having Green Pearl choose that blood. However, one drop of blood wouldn’t be enough. Furthermore, he also needed to prepare for Xu Youran.

Currently, Xu Youran had cultivated to the Nascent Soul realm using Asura resources and hadn’t yet transformed into an Asura. But if she wanted to advance further and become an Asura King, she would eventually become an Asura. At that point, if she wished to enter higher realms like the Asura Emperor, her bloodline power, as a human who had transformed, would be a significant disadvantage. He should prepare for her in advance. It would be best if she didn’t pursue the Asura path, but if she did, he would pave some roads for her.

“Then give me something to enhance bloodline power. Heavenly materials and earthly treasures are fine, artifacts are fine, or even an Asura Saint’s blood is acceptable.”

The Asura Empress stated unequivocally, “Daydreaming! I don’t even possess an Asura Saint’s blood, and even if I did, it’s impossible for me to give it to an outsider like you!”

It seemed an Asura Saint’s blood was far rarer than he had imagined. Jiang Fan frowned and said, “You don’t have this, you don’t have that, so what do you have?”

The Asura Empress was prepared and said, “I’ll give you something from the human race!”

From the human race? Jiang Fan was secretly surprised. When did the Celestial Realm acquire human artifacts? In a thousand years, they had only recently ascended to the Celestial Realm a few times. As the Asura Empress raised her palm and a blue halo appeared, he suddenly realized!

It was a blue wishing paper! Grand Venerable Star Abyss had once given Jiang Fan one, which could be used to make grand wishes to heaven and earth. He had even made a grand wish to transport all the prodigies from the Ancient Wild Hunt to the Central Land. Although the value of this item was far inferior to the karmic power of an Asura Emperor or the blood of an Asura Saint, it could be of great use at a crucial moment. If he wasn’t mistaken, this blue wishing paper must have originated from Grand Venerable Immaculata. The other party was a genuine Confucian Sage; refining such talismans would be much easier for him than for Grand Venerable Star Abyss. Most importantly, the blue wishing paper before him was brimming with noble energy and could be activated at any time.

Seeing the Asura Empress gradually losing patience, he decided to seize the opportunity and said, “Alright! We’ll exchange the person and the spatial mirror at the coastline.”

Jiang Fan took out a bag belonging to an ancient giant. Although the internal space of these bags was far smaller than human spatial artifacts, they had a significant advantage: they could hold living beings, which ordinary spatial storage devices could not. He took out his gourd, and with a thought, a wisp of smoke containing the Sky Sword’s aura drifted into the bag. Then, he controlled the six-zhang Yin Corpse, carrying the bag, to approach the coastline. He himself remained hidden in the distance.