Chapter Ninety-Five: The Divine Court of the Northern Wilds, Continued

The City of the Gods, the Sacred Realm of Jade Pool.

Nanluo sat high upon the God-Emperor’s throne, a halo of seven-colored divine gold shining around him, like a sacred being among mortals, sovereign of heaven and earth.

"Many thanks, Your Majesty!"

The voice shook the sky and rang through the divine city.

Miaoyan, Divine Lord, led the gods of the divine race, while Xuantian Wu brought the myriad gods of the Northern Wastelands; all bowed respectfully three times to Nanluo before returning to their seats.

Seated upon the God-Emperor’s throne, Nanluo looked down from on high upon the myriad gods of the Northern Wastelands and the gods of the divine race gathered below. His golden pupils were pure and brilliant, and a heroic spirit rose naturally in his chest: all the gods of the world shall belong to me.

"I proclaim the Grand Peach Banquet begun," Nanluo declared, his majestic divine voice spreading through the Sacred Realm of Jade Pool.

At his command, the three thousand musicians of the banquet played in unison, extolling the greatness of the gods, the sanctity of the gods.

With the grand divine music came eight hundred ethereal and ravishing dancers, their graceful bodies swaying as they entered the Sacred Realm of Jade Pool at a measured pace. With sleeves lightly sweeping, they danced in exquisite splendor, a dance fit truly for the heavens.

At this time, rows of maids in ornate dress carried jade platters bearing divine wine, spiritual fruits, delicacies, and one after another of large, crimson peaches, ripe as if about to drip blood.

Before long, the maids had already placed the jade platters laden with peaches, divine wine, spiritual fruits, and delicacies upon the banquet tables of the lords of the Northern Wastelands.

Xuantian Wu gazed at the crimson peaches upon the table, breathed in the wisps of strange divine fragrance wafting from them, and at once felt his spirits lift and his appetite stir. He could not help but praise, "So this is the innate spiritual root, the peach of immortality!"

As the clan chief of the Black Tortoise race and the former strongest divine lord of the Northern Wastelands, Xuantian Wu had long ago tasted countless divine fruits and spiritual foods in the world, and ordinary ones no longer interested him at all.

Yet today, upon seeing the peaches of immortality, not to mention their wondrous effects, merely the fact that they stirred his appetite was enough to prove them worthy of being called divine fruits from an innate spiritual root.

The lords of the Northern Wastelands were all the same as Xuantian Wu: beings of high station, with no appetite for ordinary divine fruits and spiritual foods.

The divine fruits and spiritual delicacies prepared by the divine race were not even glanced at by the lords of the Northern Wastelands; their eyes went straight to the crimson peaches.

Today, upon seeing and smelling the divine fragrance of the peaches, all the lords felt their appetites awaken, and some even longed to swallow a peach whole in a single gulp.

Regrettably, God-Emperor Nanluo had not yet declared the feast open, and the lords had to mind their dignity. None dared eat first; they could only endure and wait for Nanluo to proclaim the banquet begun.

Compared with the divine lords themselves, their subordinates suffered even more.

Those who had come with the lords stood respectfully behind them. After smelling the unrivaled divine fragrance of the peaches, they became even more wretched, swallowing their saliva again and again.

But the subordinates could only stare at the peaches and swallow.

One must understand that the lords merely could not eat the peaches yet, though the peaches were already before them. Their subordinates, however, could not even touch the skin of the fruit.

The peaches of immortality were innate spiritual roots, fruits of heaven and earth.

Such precious peaches, the lords could scarcely keep enough for themselves; how could they generously bestow them upon their followers?

It must be mentioned here that the peaches held by the divine race came from a single original peach tree, like the ginseng fruit tree in the hands of Zhenyuanzi; it bore only thirty fruits every ten thousand years.

In later generations, the Peach Banquet’s peach trees had their source severed and divided into nine thousand trees, causing the peaches’ divine effects to greatly diminish while their quantity increased, and they were no longer precious.

Once their divine effects had declined so sharply, the Peach Banquet could no longer invite those of great power, and it gradually became a gathering for gods and immortals of lower cultivation.

Only after it had become a lowly banquet did the Jade Emperor cease to care when a monkey overturned it.

If a high-level Peach Banquet of the divine race had been overturned, the Jade Emperor would certainly have slain the monkey with a single palm strike and would never have spared Buddha’s face.

Thus, the devotion of the myriad gods of the Northern Wastelands to the peaches was entirely understandable.

Moreover, this Peach Banquet hosted by the divine race had exhausted all the peaches they had saved. It was feared that another would not be held for a hundred thousand years.

Naturally, the lords of the Northern Wastelands cherished the peaches even more and would absolutely not give them to their subordinates.

And those subordinates who could not obtain peaches would naturally long for them all the more, yearning for the day when they themselves might sit at a Peach Banquet and enjoy them.

Nanluo could clearly see a fire of longing burning in the eyes of the subordinates.

Longing for peaches, longing for power, longing for status—all would become an endless blaze, driving them to cultivate diligently, to advance further, and to become new divine lords.

This was one of Nanluo’s designs, and also one of the Peach Banquet’s charms.

The peaches, the moment they appeared, had already conquered the myriad gods of the Northern Wastelands.

"All of you," Nanluo raised his wine cup and smiled at the assembled gods, "let us drink together to celebrate the Grand Peach Banquet!"

The lords of the Northern Wastelands and the gods of the divine race all raised their cups and joyfully cried, "To the Grand Peach Banquet!"

Nanluo drank his cup dry in one gulp, then looked at the impatient lords of the Northern Wastelands and smiled. "Please, enjoy the peaches."

After exchanging a few polite words, the lords of the Northern Wastelands could not restrain themselves any longer and quickly picked up the crimson peaches, tasting them eagerly.

The gods of the divine race had long since eaten peaches before, and so were not as eager as the lords of the Northern Wastelands. They simply picked up a peach and savored it slowly.

Xuantian Wu took one peach and bit into it. The flesh melted in his mouth, instantly turning into a clear stream that flowed through his entire body.

"Hmm!" Joy showed on Xuantian Wu’s face, and he exclaimed in delight, "I never expected the peaches of immortality to increase divine power as well."

Once cultivation reached the realm of divine lord, the strengthening of divine power required a very long accumulation of time.

For a powerhouse at Xuantian Wu’s level, remaining at a standstill for a hundred thousand years was perfectly normal.

Yet the bite of peach he had just eaten had actually increased his divine power by ten thousand years.

How could that not shock and delight him?

Xuantian Wu hurriedly finished the peach in his hand and discovered that his divine power had increased by a hundred thousand years.

Overjoyed, he quickly picked up a second peach. After eating it, he found that it had increased his divine power by only eighty thousand years.

"Does the peaches’ divine effect gradually weaken?" Xuantian Wu picked up the last peach on the table, swallowed it in a single bite, and found that it had increased his divine power by only fifty thousand years. He thought to himself, "It really does weaken progressively? Then how far will its effects weaken?"

"Tiangji, bring me a peach!" Xuantian Wu glanced over and saw that Xuan Tianji still had a peach on his table, so he said directly.

Upon hearing this, Xuan Tianji immediately handed over the peach from his own table to Xuantian Wu without the slightest hesitation.

Xuantian Wu took the peach and finished it in one bite, discovering that his divine power had still increased by fifty thousand years. He thought, "It seems the minimum divine effect of a peach is an increase of fifty thousand years of divine power."

From the God-Emperor’s throne, Nanluo took in all of Xuantian Wu’s movements. Inwardly, he could not help but admire the sharpness of Xuantian Wu’s mind.

While the other divine lords were still immersed in the joy of having their divine power increased after eating peaches, Xuantian Wu had already keenly noticed the change in the peaches’ divine effects. Truly worthy of being the former overlord of the Northern Wastelands.

Nanluo quickly set Xuantian Wu’s small movements aside and prepared to announce to the myriad gods of the Northern Wastelands the vast ambitions of himself and the divine race.

By then, the lords of the Northern Wastelands had all finished the peaches on their tables and were resting, conversing, and drinking.

Nanluo turned his gaze toward them and was just about to speak when he saw a divine lord in dark blue battle armor rise from his seat and walk toward him.

"Divine Lord of the Dark Sea? What is he doing?" Nanluo watched with interest as this Divine Lord of the Dark Sea approached him.

Not only Nanluo, but every divine lord present noticed his movement, each revealing a curious look.

Some divine lords who knew of the relationship between the Dark Sea Divine Lord and the Azure Sea Divine General displayed expressions of understanding, surprise, and admiration.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have something to present!" The Divine Lord of the Dark Sea gritted his teeth, left his seat, came swiftly to the steps before the throne, bowed to Nanluo, and spoke respectfully.