When an Emperor stands, the earth stills. When an Emperor rises, the sky listens. When an Emperor moves, the heavens must follow! Tian Taizong's standing momentum was slow yet indomitable. Subtly, an exquisite momentum-building Martial Art accumulated within his fleshy body causing every cell in his body to pulse and burn with physical might, every drop of blood seamlessly coalesced into an intricate world-splitting river, and every breath carried the sound of majestic thunder.
The 'false' throne beneath him crumbled into dust. Tian Taizong gazed into the Dark Void. "Seven. Three. Only four left."
"...!" Su Nianzu and Jia Yang's expressions changed, their pupils dilated, and their gazes honed onto the planet Imperial Sky and the Heaven's Sky Palace that proudly existed within. Their instincts howled, provoking their well-developed fight-or-flight response. It was the same instincts that often produced the feeling of a deadly crisis! Instincts that had saved their lives more than once!
Peng Yue opened her eyes, abruptly ending her recuperative efforts, as she sensed the fluctuation of an imposing aura emerging from the depths of Heaven's Sky Palace. Her fists subconsciously clenched tightly. What was this frightening presence?
Zhen Yang kept the Imperial Advisor restrained. He was asked to keep this middle-aged woman alive by his Yue'er, and he was a man who kept his promises without fail. That said, the devastation and slaughter he'd unleashed were brutal to an extreme. Suddenly, a fluctuation emerged from the planet Imperial Sky. This planet supposedly housed their target and City Lord Su had warned against nearing or attacking against the planet.
Without any hesitation, he tightened his hold on the Imperial Advisor's throat causing her to release a stifled and pained choking cough, and executed an Ascension Movement Art, returning to Peng Yue's side within the blink of an Ascended's eye. Then, and only then, did he inspect the Imperial Sky with an Ocular Spell. His irises turned golden with spiritual manifestations of nine types of bright gold swords swimming within his pupils. Before his sharp gaze, the world could only undress itself and reveal the truth.
"We're leaving!" Peng Yue abruptly announced. Forming a one-handed hand-seal, the earthen-yellow barrier around her turned into a small shuttle sufficient to fit four people. Zhen Yang's movements were natural, entering the shuttle with the Imperial Advisor held captive, and the barrier jetted away at mind-boggling speeds! Within half a blink of an Ascended's eye, the shuttle was already out of the Aeternal Sky Starfield's territory. It was frighteningly swift!
The other Ascended beings from the Endless Voyage Realm were still reacting as the two Worldly Saints decisively took their retreat. Their reactions weren't delayed or slow, simply the thoughts and actions of the two Worldly Saints vastly exceeded theirs. Those with a greater instinctual sense of self-preservation were already unleashing movement arts while erecting defensive wards.
They all decisively abandoned their captured planets, realms, and lunar satellites without hesitation. It was as if they were instructed to do so! To be exact, they were!
Su Nianzu's dilated pupils regained their state of normalcy. "Worldly Saint!" Those two words implied more than ten things.
Jia Yang nodded solemnly. "City Lord Liu was correct; this Tian Taizong is a profound schemer. But I don't get it, why act now? He's already lost so many forces and resources. Is he unable to wait any longer?" They weren't ordinary cultivators, so their thoughts were equally as unordinary, and they immediately grasped an issue with the timing.
"..." Su Nianzu was silent until an inhaling breath coincided with his realization!
At almost the same time, Jia Yang's eyes widened. The two of them didn't need to exchange glances or words, both coming to the same conclusion.
The planet known as Imperial Sky harbored many secrets and unique landmarks. One of those landmarks was called the Sky Judgment Mountain. It was a forbidden zone that not even the Imperial Clan's core members could enter. Moreover, it wasn't a secret as to why. It was known that twenty thousand years, during Tian Taizong's domination of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region's top forces, the Liu Clan had given birth to an Earthly Saint, the third of the era, and organized a rebellion to overthrow Tian Taizong's ever-growing rule and efforts of complete and total conquering.
She was superbly talented. It was unexpected as well since the Liu Clan was one of the Noble Clans that helped assist the Imperial Clan in their eventual rise. The act was equivalent to a coup d'etat against the ruling nation. The battle was expected to be heaven-shaking, with some powerful and ancient forces siding with the Liu Clan that had once helped the Imperial Clan or outright submitted themselves!
The epic battle that was expected to decide the fate of the stellar region and perhaps the rest of the seventeen stellar regions was not as eventful as many thought. Within three exchanges, simply three moves, the Liu Clan's Earthly Saint which was regarded as innately gifted for cultivation with a high combat strength, the light of a potentially new age, was suppressed completely.
Defeated. Completely, utterly, and easily defeated! The world was shaken to its core. The gap between them was as vast as the sky and the earth. They simply were on two entirely different levels. It was only then that the cultivation world learned that each Earthly Saint had chasm-like differences between them!
The Sky Judgment Mountain was Tian Taizong's warning to all others with rebellious thoughts, snuffing them out in their cradle as the Liu Clan's Earthly Saint was sentenced to twenty thousand years of imprisonment. It was constant and never forgotten. This was especially so since Tian Taizong had even allowed the Liu Clan to remain, wiping out every last other rebellious force besides the main perpetrators. It was as if it was a lesson! A lifelong, never-ending lesson!
At the moment, three women made their way here. Liu Yinlan was a little absentminded as she observed the mountain that reached heights of twenty-thousand feet exactly. Supposedly, each foot of height represented twenty thousand years of unchangeable imprisonment. She knew of this mountain all these years, but she didn't think her sister was here!
She had tried to send individuals to investigate before, but they all returned with inconclusive findings. This was the case even if she executed a bloodline scrying spell through an Incarnation. It was only after entering the Ancient Sealed Region with her actual body, possessing her Worldly Saint cultivation base, that was she able to find traces of her sister here. It was faint yet unmistakable. Throughout the entire Ancient Sealed Region, this was the only location of her aura.
For the last twenty thousand years, she's been here! Only here! An indescribable pain stung her heart. The urge to destroy the world while simultaneously unleashing a flood of tears pounded against her heart. However, she kept all of these emotions in with all her might.
"She's here," Zhangjie Wushu held a double-handed hand-seal before her chest as she declared. Her eyes lacked any pupils or irises, only containing a sea of violet-gold light. "She's alive. Moreover, she's..." Suddenly, an odd expression of being taken aback by her discoveries formed on her face.
"How long will it take to bring her out of here?" Liu Yinlan didn't try to execute any sensory spells for fear of alerting Tian Taizong, especially after learning of his Domain of Mysticism.
Hu Meifang was observing the mountain intently. She was a Silver Moon Librarian, her knowledge of formations and arrays might not match Zhangjie Wushu's, but she was far beyond the typical Worldly Saint standard, especially when it came to certain details.
"The feeling here... it's hollow?" Hu Meifang commented with a tone of befuddlement. There was something inside the mountain, a living person, there was no doubt of that, but there didn't seem to be any substantially restrictive formations or arrays. It didn't seem like a prison!
At this moment, Tian Taizong had risen from his throne! His billowing aura sent the clouds and seas into a frenzy!
"Don't move!" Zhangjie Wushu howled. She removed her double-handed hand-seal, her expression faintly growing pale, and she performed one hundred and eight hand-seals in rapid succession. Suddenly, the three of them went illusory as runes enveloped them in a pyramid formation. The majestic aura washed over them as if it were water flowing through an insubstantial, ethereal ghostly being.
Hu Meifang and Liu Yinlan didn't dare to move. They didn't dare to even breathe. They stayed there as still as statues, not even their blood flowed.
Tian Taizong's aura soon moved, leaving only a remnant presence that lingered like the fear of thunder in a child's heart. Zhangjie Wushu inclined her head upwards, and as she did, her pupils constricted in horror.
The other two couldn't sense what had happened. But Hu Meifang's eyes widened to their limits as her eyes shook. The urge to yelp rose from her chest but she kept it in. Before her, a young, silver-eyed, tall, and unearthly handsome man was standing before her! He was no more than three feet away, yet she hadn't sensed a single thing about him!
Wei Wuyin was taken aback slightly as he eyed the hastily formed Mystic Formation of Zhangjie Wushu. It contained some unfathomable profundities and concepts within. He could tell that each mystic rune was carefully cultivated earlier and inlaid with a spell. When they combined and were unleashed, it was no different than one hundred and eight Earthly Saints at the 1st Runic Ascendant State executing a combination-type Ascension Art. It was intermixed with concealment, sensory dissonance, illusory, and a few other types of spells.
It had revealed his Void Image! Why? Because it affected the Void! Wei Wuyin realized he was exposed, looking at the shaken Hu Meifang, her voluptuous body holding back every urge to shout or send a spiritual transmission to the other two. He smiled at her and placed his right index finger over his lips, smilingly 'mouthing' a shushing gesture.
Shortly after, he wrote a series of characters in the air. Hu Meifang's eyes widened even further. Then, his figure vanished without a trace. After a short while, Zhangjie Wushu canceled her obscuring formation, retrieving her runes back into her Internal World. She looked at Hu Meifang who seemed to have seen a ghost, even paler than she was.
"Silver Moon Hu, he left." Despite saying that, she tried to hold back her lingering feelings.
Hu Meifang jolted from her daze. She turned to Zhangjie Wushu in total disbelief. Did she not see? Did she not notice?
"Let's hurry!" Liu Yinlan urged. She wanted to save her sister more than anything. Nothing else mattered.
Hu Meifang couldn't help but look at Liu Yinlan.
Zhangjie Wushu didn't have time to deal with Hu Meifang's shock. "I don't think this is designed as a prison. There is a subspace within the mountain guarded by formations, but from its fluctuations, it is more reminiscent of a cultivated World Realm of an miniscule size. Give me eight seconds. I'll get us in without alerting anything or anyone." She was already bringing out a few formation flags, including an abacus and a paper fan.
Liu Yinlan tensed. Her heart was pounding with the intensity of an elephant's stampede. Nearly twenty thousand years! A long-awaited familial reunion!
"Do it!"
Unbeknownst to them, Imperial Sky abruptly vanished from the Aeternal Sky Starfield at the instant that Tian Taizong's aura flooded it! Simultaneously, the Aeternal Sky Domain welcomed the descent of its Divine Emperor! The eternal pillar that held up heaven in their hearts!
