Chapter 1387: This Is War

Participants: thirteen thousand.

These thirteen thousand attendees were presumably the heads and leaders of all worlds, all members of the Heavenly Alliance. The Heavenly Alliance was arguably the most formidable power in existence.

Even the Heavenly Court was merely a nominal ruler; the Heavenly Alliance was the true governing power of all heavens and myriad worlds.

Millions of years ago, when Qin Mu returned to the early Longhan era and suggested to Ling Tianzun the formation of the Heavenly Alliance, his aim was to overthrow the Heavenly Court. He envisioned a future where acquired beings, especially humanity, possessed the right to exist, preventing tragedies like Yu Tianzun's and freeing people from the miserable lives endured during the Longhan era. Ling Tianzun, Yun Tianzun, and Yue Tianzun established the Heavenly Alliance with this very same objective.

Yet, the Heavenly Court still stood, never truly overthrown. Instead, the Heavenly Alliance had effectively sidelined it, becoming the de facto ruler. However, this current era was hardly an improvement over the Longhan era. The Heavenly Alliance itself had evolved into a ruling power even more formidable and challenging to overthrow than the former Longhan Heavenly Court.

He put away the invitation. Of the Heavenly Alliance's five founding elders, Yun Tianzun was deceased, Yue Tianzun's injuries had just healed but she was now a declared rebel, Ling Tianzun was caught in a cycle of life and death, and Kai Huang had been branded a traitor. Only he, Mu Tianzun, could still attend the Heavenly Alliance's gathering.

“Therefore, I must go, no matter what!”

On the Celestial River, fleets of grand ships sailed from all corners of the myriad worlds, converging on the Heavenly Court. The Celestial River had not witnessed such bustle since Mu Tianzun designed the Psychic Teleportation Bridge. The Psychic Teleportation Bridges linked all heavens and myriad worlds, including the most distant Four Extremity Heavens. They allowed travel to and from the Heavenly Court in the shortest possible time, saving an immense amount of transit time.

Mu Tianzun's invention of the Psychic Teleportation Bridges had elevated the Heavenly Court's dominion over the various heavens to an unprecedented level. Before, whenever divine beings from the Heavenly Court descended upon other heavens, their powerful divine might would crush world barriers, causing spiritual energy and aura to dissipate and leaving destruction in their wake. Now, however, they could descend swiftly and efficiently via the Psychic Teleportation Bridges, virtually eliminating any possibility of rebellion from the myriad heavens.

Furthermore, interactions between the various heavens had become far more frequent, and within just over a decade, trade had flourished to an unimaginable degree. In fact, over the seventeen years since Mu Tianzun's arrival at the Heavenly Court, the total trade volume across all heavens had equaled that of the previous hundred thousand years combined.

This time, the rulers of the myriad worlds chose to travel to the Heavenly Court by boat on the Celestial River, rather than using the Psychic Teleportation Bridges directly. This was mainly to display their status and prestige. After all, those qualified to attend the Heavenly Alliance meeting were the paramount rulers of the heavens, and such an occasion naturally warranted a grand spectacle.

However, this very surge in trade had also led to a concentration of wealth. Particularly in recent years, resources and riches had begun to accumulate in the hands of the divine families who oversaw trade across the various heavens. Consequently, the overall wealth of all heavens and myriad worlds began to converge in the Primordial Realm.

Throughout the Heavenly Court, from the Jade Pool to its various sacred sites, ships arrived and departed ceaselessly. Divine beings from all paths mingled with laughter and chatter, an endless stream of exquisite delicacies adorned the tables, wine flowed freely, and beautiful women were everywhere. All previous Heavenly Alliance grand gatherings had been held at the Jade Pool, with the Heavenly Alliance Hall situated on an island within the Jade Sea itself. Legend held that this was where the Heavenly Alliance was first established. It was said that after Ling Tianzun bid farewell to Mu Tianzun and Qin Tianzun, she encountered Yue Tianzun and Yun Tianzun at the Jade Pool, and it was there that they founded the original Heavenly Alliance and laid down its most ancient rules.

At that moment, in a side hall of the Heavenly Alliance Palace, Meng Yungui, the Second Heavenly Master, was poring over the countless dossiers submitted by the various heavens. Below him were tens of thousands of Taoists from the Heavenly Court's Daoist sect, each surrounded by towering stacks of dossiers. For every heaven, two or three arithmancy-skilled Daoists were tasked with compiling and organizing trade information from the past decade before submitting the processed data to Meng Yungui for his review.

These tens of thousands of Heavenly Court Daoists and Meng Yungui secluded themselves in the side hall, spending over ten days merely to review the vast volume of trade information submitted from all heavens and myriad worlds. Meng Yungui clapped his hands, his voice resonating with gravity: “Thank you, colleagues, for your arduous work. You may now go and rest.”

The Daoists bowed respectfully and filed out, leaving only the venerable Old Dao Master of the Heavenly Court's Daoist sect and Meng Yungui in the hall. The Old Dao Master, with a benevolent expression, smiled and inquired, “What have you uncovered, Heavenly Master Meng?”

Meng Yungui rubbed his bloodshot eyes and stretched, his expression grim as he declared, “A great catastrophe.”

The Old Dao Master appeared surprised, then chuckled, “The Great Void has been pacified, Wuyouxiang and the Creators are suppressed in the void beyond the Void Bridge, with no chance of resurgence. The situation is excellent, so why do you utter such grim words, Heavenly Master Meng?”

Meng Yungui cast a glance at him, then stated earnestly, “Teacher, you are my first mentor, and your mastery of arithmancy is profound. If I can discern this, how could you not?”

With a flick of his sleeve, countless dossiers soared into the air, rustling open. The Heavenly Court's Old Dao Master gazed at the documents, observing that countless dossiers bore marks drawn by Meng Yungui in cinnabar red. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the areas highlighted by Meng Yungui indicated the flow trends of Heavenly Coins across the various heavens.

Heavenly Coins were the currency of the Heavenly Court, issued by the Heavenly Court's Ministry of Commerce. Each coin bore a unique Heavenly Court imprint, impossible for others to replicate. The total supply of Heavenly Coins was not fixed. Especially in recent years, with burgeoning trade among the various heavens, the Ministry of Commerce had issued more coins. They used these to purchase divine materials, rare metals, mystical ingredients, miraculous elixirs, powerful divine weapons, grand ships, and even slaves from across the heavens. Furthermore, Heavenly Coins were also the medium of exchange for trade between the various heavens themselves.

“Teacher, do you discern anything?” Meng Yungui asked.

The Heavenly Court's Old Dao Master shook his head, a faint smile on his lips.

“The flow of Heavenly Coins across most of the heavens and myriad worlds exhibits a consistent phenomenon: an outflow of currency.” Meng Yungui stated gravely, “Previously, an outflow of Heavenly Coins from the various heavens also occurred. That was when the Heavenly Court minted too many coins, and the various heavens accumulated excessive Heavenly Coins from their transactions with the Heavenly Court, leading to currency devaluation within those realms.”

The Heavenly Court's Old Dao Master chuckled, “And so we inflated land and housing prices within the Heavenly Court, continuously driving them higher. This attracted Heavenly Coins from the various heavens, as gods and demons there purchased these assets, thereby drawing currency out of their realms. As wealth accumulated in the Heavenly Court's hands, and Heavenly Coins became scarcer elsewhere, the currency regained its value.”

Meng Yungui nodded and continued, “Once Heavenly Coins accumulated in the Heavenly Court's possession, the Ministry of Commerce would destroy a portion. With fewer coins in circulation, Heavenly Court land and housing prices, though listed, would find no buyers and naturally plummet. Consequently, these properties would rapidly depreciate, and the wealth accumulated by the various heavens over centuries or millennia would be rendered worthless.”

The Heavenly Court's Old Dao Master chuckled, “The various heavens would then become impoverished once more. The Ministry of Commerce would mint even more Heavenly Coins, using them to purchase divine materials, rare metals, mystical ingredients, miraculous elixirs, powerful divine weapons, grand ships, and even acquiring mines, land, and populations from these heavens! In essence, the myriad heavens would once again be forced to labor for the Heavenly Court's currency. By periodically employing this method, every few centuries or millennia, to seize the accumulated wealth of the various heavens, we ensure they perpetually serve the Heavenly Court.”

“And the Heavenly Court itself needs to offer nothing in return, beyond the mere act of minting and destroying Heavenly Coins.”

Meng Yungui sighed, stating, “However, this method no longer works.”

He gestured, and lines of text on the various heavens' dossiers illuminated. “Teacher, please observe. These documents detail the annual flow of wealth from the various heavens into Yankang Kingdom in the Primordial Realm. And these figures, conversely, represent the Heavenly Coins flowing out of Yankang Kingdom in the Primordial Realm.”

The Heavenly Court's Old Dao Master scrutinized the data, and after a moment, chuckled, “Yankang Kingdom in the Primordial Realm is profiting handsomely from the various heavens. They acquire raw materials from these realms, then sell their refined daily spiritual artifacts back to them, making a substantial gain.”

Meng Yungui then displayed another set of dossiers, stating, “These figures show the Heavenly Coins Yankang Kingdom earned from the Heavenly Court.”

The Old Dao Master studied them closely, then mused, “Yankang also earns a considerable amount of Heavenly Coins from the Heavenly Court annually. However, the solution isn't difficult. Heavenly Master Meng simply needs to apply the same method: absorb Yankang's Heavenly Coins, and we can plunder their wealth.”

“That is precisely the most challenging aspect,” Meng Yungui sighed. “Those boors from Yankang simply refuse to buy our Heavenly Court's land and housing!” His face flushed with agitation: “In the past decade or so, they've only purchased property once – and that was for that boor, Mu Tianzun! This is war, a war against the Heavenly Coins and against the Heavenly Court itself! These primitives intend to use our currency to dismantle the Heavenly Coin system and bring down the Heavenly Court!”