Shattered space, sundered air, gushing mana, excruciatingly intense gravity, screeching energy, and a raging storm of distorted sound followed as the spear Wu Yu sent moved through the void, aiming directly at the figure sitting atop a high-elevated throne overlooking the world that was so majestic, so mighty, so imposing that every breath of his would cause the mind to tremble, the soul to shake, and instill subservience to the weak-willed and prideful alike.
Tian Taizong!
Within the incredibly vast Sealed Regions, across both active and abandoned stellar regions, that name was not unknown to any soul. It signified and embodied absolute dominance that had etched itself into the annals of history for twenty thousand years! A consummate ruler that established an entire era!
Yet the spear was just as imposing, just as sky-encompassing as that name! It was backed by Wu Yu's full cultivation base cultivated thus far, from the mastered Blood Origin Method, nine Mystic Runes, the 3rd Grand Transformation, and the unawakened Exalted Heaven World Rune! All of his tempered energies, his extremely refined Mystic Power, were on full display in a single move! If this was launched at any starfield within the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, only death and destruction would remain.
That statement left no doubt, with the evidence as clear as the stars in the night sky, glittering and existing, leaving no room for refutation.
The Heaven's Sky Palace began to rumble, the walls adorned with gorgeous paintings, historic murals, and lifelike busts that presented the Tian Clan's long-standing legacy sustained damage as the faint light of mystic energy flashed to protect them failingly!
"..." The Divine Emperor's eyes were closed, his hands clasped upon the armrest of his throne, his posture lazy yet equally domineering. The spear crossed inch by inch, piercing through space and time, arriving at his chest with a sharp, brilliant light of Imperial Heaven Power!
But then...
Those eyes opened.
When they did, it was as if they projected the vast starry cosmos, endless and limitless, as if all of creation beneath the sky was within his gaze, beneath his rule, and at his behest. This was an unfathomably high degree of power! A power unfurled from his gaze, pure and unfettered, undaunted by the changes of the myriad worlds and hearts of man, and it seized all of creation. With a single direct thought, it was as if it could command the world to twist and bend to its will.
The spear reached two feet from the Divine Emperor's chest but came to a sudden, incomprehensible stop. There was no screech or forceful power, simply a full halt!
Wu Yu's starry eyes glittered as the stars within began to move swiftly about. "Law!" His thoughts were almost tangible as if the entire world could hear it. As if responding, the sides of the Divine Emperor's lips lifted slightly. It was as if he was being benevolent and granting happiness to the entire world by being amused.
Wu Yu recognized this power instantly! The power of Law! The Imperial Law! The spear's radiantly sharp glow dimmed considerably. It was clear the spear was being weakened by every passing picosecond. As the power gushed toward him, stirring winds, mana, energy, and essence in a frenzy, causing his robes to flutter wildly about, Wu Yu felt his knees shiver as the urge to kneel was summoned from his soul.
As a cultivator of the Imperial Heaven Qi Method, his Imperial Mystic Soul howled as it felt the oppressive will besiege it from within and without, conjuring a will of submission as it did. While he was like a King, a Grand Monarch of the ages, before an Emperor that grasped Imperial Authority, it was as if he had been reduced to a prince who lost the game for the throne, sent off to man the borders of a country as a mere King in name!
"Your cultivation base is still from that lineage. Must you-" the Divine Emperor began, seeming to take the initiative to seize the conversation in his grasp. From all perspectives, he held the advantage. Wu Yu's self-respect hinged purely on his desire to order him to fall by a single word. In a way, he was showing mercy by simply allowing Wu Yu to understand the difference between them.
"Just that?" Yet Wu Yu interrupted as his starry form gave way to a smirk, causing his long-grown and spikey hair to flutter as an incomprehensible wind kicked up. "Unfortunately, you're not MY Emperor."
suddenly unleashed a radiance so incomparably bright that it could blind stars. The entire room was flooded with sharp light that started to leak from the formations. No! It didn't leak, it pierced through!
Tian Xiaocheng was outside, the inner chambers of the Divine Emperor were sealed off and she was unable to enter. Her beautifully delicate brow was slightly furrowed as she stood beside the door. At this point, a woman with a subtle yet exceptional bearing had joined her.
The Imperial Advisor!
Suddenly, Tian Xiaocheng and the Imperial Advisor's eyes flickered intensely as they felt a sensation of indescribable crisis. They were Earthly Saints so their reactions were not slow in the slightest! They jetted back, and the spear lights piercing through the door erupted out.
Despite their reactions being exceptionally fast, Tian Xiaocheng's strength and speed were roughly a notch below the Imperial Advisor. While Tian Xiaocheng was an astounding talent, she was young in comparison to the Imperial Advisor who had served the Divine Emperor since his invincible conquest of the world.
She was a little too slow.
A spurt of spear light touched her abdomen. Hot blood erupted. Her eyes widened. The Imperial Advisor reached out, seemingly stretching against time and space as she touched Tian Xiaocheng, pulling her back and taking the spear light out of her in one incredibly seamless move. They flickered away like shadows, disappearing from the palace and planet entirely.
The Heaven's Sky Palace trembled incessantly! If the inhabitants hadn't been evacuated beforehand, the entire spear light would've swept through and claimed a large portion of the Imperial Clan's Lineage!
Back in the throne room of the Divine Emperor, the radiance faded. There were only two men. Wu Yu's 3rd Grand Transformation had ceased, and not willingly. He had expended all his Imperial Heaven Power! Despite that, he stood incredibly tall, his pale complexion giving no sign of weakness, but a degree of internal pride that was matchless.
"I am his extension; only my Emperor has the right to sit on the throne above me." What was domineering? This was domineering!
Tian Taizong's figure became increasingly visible as a handsome man, exuding a rare, tangible, charismatic, and masculine energy that befit an emperor of the ages! His tall stature which was just slightly shorter than Wei Wuyin was covered by a voluminous robe embroidered with stars and five-clawed dragons that stood on and traversed these stars as if they were rocks beneath their feet.
The stars were their ground!
The sky was their hearts!
The heavens were their domain!
His hair was a healthy shade of grey with eyes exuded a starry depiction of the night sky, as if it embodied the sky itself, vast as the cosmos and equally as imposing. He had a faint resemblance to Tian Yinwu, yet it was clear that Tian Yinwu had only taken a few of his masculine traits, giving him a great resemblance to his mother who was a beauty of the ages as well! They perfectly congealed into a handsome young man who often was compared with Wei Wuyin.
The Divine Emperor was unharmed, not the slightest sight of paleness on his face nor the slight dirt on his robes; however, the throne he sat on had been obliterated as the high-rise, elevated ground it stood on was leveled by the spear. He now stood on the same level as Wu Yu.
At the moment, his eyes and focus were entirely on Wu Yu. He was silent, looking angry and domineering without needing to exert even a frown on his facial expression.
Wu Yu remained undaunted by his gaze, saying fearlessly: "Your aura of the Imperial Law is a little inferior. It has essence, but it's lacking when compared to its true authority." As Wu Yu said this, there was not the slightest lie that escaped his lips and at his current state, it was easy to tell from his fluctuation that he earnestly believed this!
Why?
Because of Wei Wuyin!
While Tian Taizong had the Imperial Law, it wasn't at the Minor Authority! The stages of Laws were divided into three phases: Conception, Nurturing, and Sprouting. After that, they bloomed into a full-blown Minor Authority of Laws!
One of the requirements to become a Heavenly Saint was to possess a Nurturing Phase Seed of Law at 9% nurtured! It acted as the bridge between the Mystic Dao and the Soul! But this was purely a minimum requirement to acquire the rights to ascend stably and was not a flat-out sign of success as a myriad of other factors needed to be achieved as well.
However, Tian Taizong's Imperial Law was only at the Nurturing Stage but it was just shy of 9%! There was a massive difference of intensity between them, as Tian Taizong felt like an ant ruling over a colony versus Wei Wuyin who was a Titan King ruling over a massive kingdom. The disparity was so drastic that Wu Yu felt only a tiny prickling sensation earlier!
As for the 'essence' comment? That was entirely true! Tian Taizong had the essence of the Imperial Law as it was an authentic Seed of Law! Not an Artificial Seed of Law! The power he wielded was also all his, not like Tian Yinwu or Yun Che who used external runes to exert the authority of a Heavenly Saint or beyond.
"..." The two, one Divine Emperor and one Grand Knight, stared silently, observing each other.
Suddenly, the Divine Emperor's cosmic eyes dispersed. The outrageously enchanting pair of hazel-gold eyes of the Tian Clan revealed themselves. Then, he smiled. The smile took Wu Yu's soul by surprise, as if the imperialistic and despotic aura of his had dispersed in an instant, leading the way to a middle-aged, handsome man who was free and unfettered.
After a few brief seconds of silence, Tian Taizong showed a pair of perfect pearly white teeth in a toothy smile as he released a boisterous laugh that shook the empty Heaven's Sky Palace. Wu Yu sighed in his heart.
"He's quite direct, isn't he?" Tian Taizong stretched his wary bones, creaking sounds erupted as if he hadn't moved in thousands of years. The sound resembled rumbling thunder and sundering lightning, his aura flexing in a wavy pattern that distorted the surrounding essence, energies, and mana.
Wu Yu suddenly felt a weakness emerge from the depths of his body and soul, his slightly pale expression grew ghastly white. He grinned still, "Unlike you, his Majesty doesn't need to scheme eighteen ways to hell to do something, using those around him and even offering such great 'gifts'"; just do it-that's what he told me."
Tian Taizong's brows lifted in surprise, an expression he hadn't revealed to anyone in thousands of years as the Divine Emperor. Then, entirely unbothered by the veiled insult and cursing in those words, he chuckled: "I can't say I don't prefer it." He looked down at the devastated ruins of his 'throne'. To others, this throne that stood above the world was the representation of incomparable glory and envied by quintillions, but who knew of his suffering at this peak, the curse that it brought?
Heaven's Sky Palace?What a joke.
Tian Taizong shook his head with a complex light in his hazel-gold eyes, "But if he had just declared war as I alluded to, invaded the palace, I could've done it myself with some time. I even opened the way for you. I kind of feel like I wasted countless years due to the impatience of a junior."
Wu Yu shook his head as he kept standing tall despite his ghastly pale complexion as if his pride wouldn't allow his spine to waver or his knees to buckle before this man. "Again, pointless."
"You're not wrong. Still, haaa." The Divine Emperor sighed smilingly, revealing a little bit of his imperialistic charm once again, but this time in a light-hearted way that felt truly free. "How did you do it though?" He could no longer hold his curiosity. After all, Wu Yu had shattered the dastardly throne! Not even Wu Yu at his full strength, no, not even the Worldly Saint Xu Yu could even if he ignited his Mystic Soul and executed his array of self-damaging, power-increasing arts while expanding his lifeforce could do that!
"Before we get to that," Wu Yu restrained his weakness and his itching curiosity as he summoned forth Wei Wuyin's orders, "You're to divorce her immediately, you'll figure out a way to make it proper and acceptable."
Tian Taizong's eyebrow lifted slightly, slowly lowering them into a frown, and then he thoughtfully sighed in the end.
Wu Yu wasn't finished, "You'll end all binding oaths with the World Sects, Noble Clans, and Mystic Associations mutually."
Tian Taizong faintly smiled, "Can't he just do so himself?"
"..." Wu Yu.
Tian Taizong shook his head as if saying how unnecessary it was. However, it seems he truly intended to take over and replicate his feat all those years ago.
Wu Yu didn't stop! "I want to know everything-nothing held back."
Tian Taizong's expression changed at that point, becoming the Divine Emperor that was revered by the countless souls of the Sealed Region. "Are you sure you want to know?" It was as if he was offering a warning, as if saying that knowing would change the way one viewed their entire reality!
"The truth. All of it." Wu Yu strongly demanded without hesitation.
The Divine Emperor stared into Wu Yu's incomparably firm gaze, "Then, listen."
The multi-era expanding story about the Sky and the Heaven, the Heaven and the Sky, the Grand Knight and the Divine Emperor began to reveal itself to the entire world for the first time in tens of thousands of years!
The truth about the Sealed Regions!
