The Great Northern Emperor has existed ever since the era of the ancient Heavenly City. As such, he naturally had some knowledge on the matters of the ancient Heavenly City’s Divine Beast Department, especially considering that he clearly had a good relationship with Slow-Witted Song.

Song Shuhang listened and said with a smile, “So that’s the case. No wonder I’ve been getting the feeling that Sage Monarch Melon Eater’s appearance was really similar to my illusory core’s.”

Sage Monarch Melon Eater said with dissatisfaction, “My appearance is similar to your illusory core? Fellow Daoist Tyrannical Song, are you saying that I’m as round as a ball?”

An illusory core was the framework for a golden core, so all illusory cores were illusory spheres. With that said, could Fellow Daoist Tyrannical Song be saying that he was fat?

Although he was a whale and his volume was quite large… he was only a little plump and definitely not fat!

Interestingly, when Song Shuhang mentioned his ‘illusory core’, Sage Monarch Melon Eater did not think that Shuhang’s realm was at the Fourth Stage. Sage Monarch Melon Eater had subconsciously thought that Song Shuhang was simply referring to ‘when he was at the Fourth Stage’. After all, Sage Monarch Melon Eater had the impression that Song Shuhang’s strength was definitely at the ‘Eighth Stage’ realm.

Song Shuhang explained, “Fellow Daoist Melon Eater, you’ve misunderstood. I didn’t mean to mock your size. What I practice is the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯, which has caused my illusory core to be different from that of ordinary cultivators. Mine has taken on the form of a giant whale.”

“Huh?” Sage Monarch Melon Eater’s whale face showed great surprise. One had to take note, that it was difficult for Melon Eater to even make such a rich facial expression being a whale. “You shouldn’t try to deceive me just because I seem uncultured. In fact, I am someone who possesses several doctoral degrees!”

Don’t lie to me! I’ve lived so long, yet I’ve never heard of anyone’s illusory core growing into the shape of a whale—this was what Sage Monarch Melon Eater was expressing.

Su Clan’s Sixteen blinked. The same went for her, she had never heard of anyone’s illusory core being in the shape of a whale.

As for the monster bird, Little Cai, she showed no interest in the topic. After all, she was a monster cultivator and her path was different from that of humans until she managed to condense a monster core.

Shi and Lady Onion, on the other hand, were still unaware of anything related to what was happening…

Finally, the Great Northern Emperor looked at Song Shuhang with curiosity. He held his chin and said, “Little friend Song, as far as I know, there shouldn’t be a difference between the illusory cores of ordinary cultivators and those of the Divine Beast Department. This is also the first time I’ve ever heard of anything like what you’re saying, a giant whale-shaped illusory core?”

“Ah?” It was now Song Shuhang’s turn to be dumbfounded.

Cultivators who practiced the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯ did not have such a mutation?

So what had happened to his illusory core?

Could it be that Senior White’s modified ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯ was special?

Alternatively, was it because he had directly skipped quite a few things and experienced the ‘divinity show’, the Profound Sage Speech, and condensed his Sage Seal when he transcended the heavenly tribulation of the Fourth Stage, thus causing his illusory core to mutate?

Or perhaps it was because of both of those things having happened that his illusory core mutated…

Regardless, at this moment, Song Shuhang understood that his illusory core was definitely different from that of others.

The Great Northern Emperor said, “I’ve always felt like you were quite an interesting little fellow. Sure enough, you’re indeed special.”

Not only was Song Shuhang’s light of virtue related to Fairy ＠#%×, his ghost spirit was even the daughter of Cheng Lin and a valiant man surnamed ‘Ye’—the Great Northern Emperor still believed that Ye Si was the child of some powerful man surnamed ‘Ye’ who had done it with Cheng Lin.

These two of his friends were coincidentally brought together to little friend Song through fate, as you would expect from @#%× and Cheng Lin.

Then he checked Song Shuhang’s state—and sure enough, inside his origin dantian, there was a fat whale illusory core lazily lying around, motionless.

The core which took the shape of a giant whale really did appear to have been based on Sage Monarch Melon Eater’s ancestor. That divine beast should have been called ‘Divine Whale, or maybe ‘Whale God’.

It was really a situation where the illusory core had taken the form of a divine beast. The Great Northern Emperor, who had lived ever since the ancient era, had never encountered such a thing.

[I wonder what it will end up looking like once Shuhang reaches the Fifth Stage realm and condenses a golden core… Will he directly condense a seven or eight-pattern golden core? Or could it even directly turn into a supreme golden core with nine dragon patterns? Or perhaps, simply a whale-shaped golden core would be condensed?] The Great Northern Emperor found himself very curious.

It was unfortunate that little friend Song had only just transcended the tribulation of the Fourth Stage and it was still going to be quite a while before he transcended the tribulation of the Fifth Stage.

However, I could probably try to lay a firmer foundation for him while he’s at the Fourth Stage so that he can ascend to the Fifth Stage much faster, the Great Northern Emperor thought to himself.

As an Immortal, the great emperor rarely encountered anything that could interest him.

As a consequence, the great formation which the great emperor was setting up underwent some changes. The location reserved for Song Shuhang had become much more complicated.

In this way, when Sage Monarch Melon Eater went through the ‘body abandoning’ ceremony, Shuhang would be able to gain greater benefits.

❄️❄️❄️

Half an hour later.

The Great Northern Emperor clapped his hands and said, “Done!”

With the Great Northern Emperor’s strength, he could set up ordinary formations with a single thought.

However, this ‘body abandoning’ formation was a bit special. In addition, as the great emperor had changed some details in the formation halfway through, the entire large formation took him quite a while to complete.

At this moment, below everybody’s feet, there was a roughly ten-kilometer-wide formation.

The Great Northern Emperor used his magical powers to conceal the formation. With this, the formation won’t leak any of its aura, making it such that ordinary people would be unable to detect it.

“Sage Monarch Melon Eater, you can go to the very center of the formation… After you complete the ‘body abandoning’ ceremony, I’ll take your fleshly body and extract the blood essence from it,” said the Great Northern Emperor.

“No problem,” Sage Monarch Melon Eater said. “But Senior, can you extract the blood essence from my body after I leave?”

To watch one’s own body be cut and robbed of its blood essence would simply cause one’s heart to feel really stifled.

The Great Northern Emperor replied, “Relax, I won’t let you see any part of it.”

The great emperor would definitely not refuse such a reasonable and small condition. He was a very amiable Immortal. At least when he was with friends, he had always been more reasonable.

“As for you, little girl, you can go stand at the Southern center,” the Great Northern Emperor said. Then, he stretched out his hands and lifted Su Clan’s Sixteen up into the air, sending her towards the Southern center.

However, in the middle of doing this, the Great Northern Emperor suddenly paused. “Eh?”

“Hm?” Su Clan’s Sixteen looked at the great emperor in confusion.

The Great Northern Emperor exclaimed out in surprise, “Eeehhh?!”

Song Shuhang quickly asked, “Is something wrong? Senior?” It couldn’t be that there was a problem with Su Clan’s Sixteen, right?

“This is really outside my expectations, hahaha,” The Great Northern Emperor suddenly laughed as he turned towards Song Shuhang and gave him a wink. “It seems that I’ve still looked down on you, little friend Song.”

“Huh?” Song Shuhang was at a loss, what did this have to do with him?

“There’s no need to say anything more. Little girl, with your identity, the Southern center is not suitable for you. Let’s change your location. You can go to the Eastern center, there you can greatly increase your strength, it is quite good.” After the Great Northern Emperor said this, he once again stretched out his hand.

A gentle force supported Su Clan’s Sixteen as she descended towards the Eastern center of the formation.

Su Clan’s Sixteen felt moved and said, “Thank you, great emperor.”

The Great Northern Emperor said, “Don’t mention it, it wasn’t much work at all.”

After dealing with Su Clan’s Sixteen, the great emperor looked at the several other little fellow daoists who were beside Song. He wanted to see if there was anything special about these little friends.

A monster bird, huh. There seems to be nothing special about it no matter how I look at it, the Great Northern Emperor thought to himself.

Moreover, the talent of the monster bird was also very ordinary.

“Little monster, what is your relationship with little friend Song?” the Great Northern Emperor asked.

“I am Teacher’s disciple, Virtuous Buddhist Sabersman!” Little Cai replied loudly.

“Oh, you’re actually his disciple. Not bad… Virtuous Buddhist Sabersman, have I heard of this daoist name?” The Great Northern Emperor held his chin as he fell into thought for some time.

However, after thinking about it for a long time, he couldn’t remember where he heard the name.

Anyway, with the daoist name of this little monster bird sounding familiar to him, he also treated her with quite some interest.

“Alright, you can go to the South, the South belongs to the Vermillion Bird. Although you’re merely a little monster bird, you’re a bird nonetheless,” the Great Northern Emperor said. Afterward, he stretched out his hand and sent Little Cai to the Southern center.

Next, he looked at Loli Shi.

She was a very cute human girl with above average talents. She was already at the Second Stage realm despite her young age, and her foundation was also very solid.

The Great Northern Emperor asked, “Is this little girl also your disciple?”

Song Shuhang shook his head and said, “Shi is a junior from Fairy Lychee’s sect. She can be considered my junior sister.”

[Junior sister… there really doesn’t seem to be anything special about her.] The Great Northern Emperor pinched his chin, but when he heard the words ‘Fairy Lychee’, his heart suddenly moved.

This was a feeling that only those at the Immortal level could experience. Although it was his first time hearing the name ‘Fairy Lychee’, he was already able to feel that there was a connection between the person behind the name and himself.

The Great Northern Emperor looked at Song Shuhang and asked, “Who is Fairy Lychee?”

“She’s a beautiful senior of our group,” Song Shuhang replied, but when it came to introducing Fairy Lychee, he couldn’t seem to sum it up in a few words.

“I feel that this Fairy Lychee and I have some karmic ties,” said the Great Northern Emperor.

“That can’t be… You have never met Fairy Lychee before, right?” Song Shuhang said, but just as he said that, he suddenly realized something.

Fairy Lychee also had a fairly interesting identity… She was Cheng Lin’s twin. The path of Immortality that Jade Lake Empress Cheng Lin took was to nurture new life.

On one occasion, when the Jade Lake Emperor gave birth to a new child, she had given birth to another girl at the same time, and that extra girl was Fairy Lychee.

Fairy Lychee had truly come to be through a ‘buy one get one free’ deal.

The Great Northern Emperor asked, “Did something come to mind?”

Song Shuhang nodded, he then used the ‘secret voice transmission method’ to communicate with the great emperor—he did this because it involved Fairy Lychee’s privacy, so it was better not to publicize it.

[Fairy Lychee is the younger twin sister of Empress Cheng Lin.] Song Shuhang transmitted this to the Great Northern Emperor.