"How long are we going to be trapped here?!" Hu Meifang complained exasperatedly with her hands on her hips while staring at the sky. Despite her modest clothing, her hand placement caused the cloth to accentuate her excessively sensual figure. Alongside her middle-aged, mature, and scholarly temperament, she was a mouthwatering sight-angry or otherwise.
They had been stuck here on planet Imperial Sky for several days now, and while she hadn't fussed too much, it was slowly taxing her mentality. When has she, a Worldly Saint of her status and strength, ever been imprisoned against her will in her lifetime?
Zhangjie Wushu sat cross-legged in silence with an unfolded scroll on her lap. There were dense and tiny characters that glistened with a scholarly light. She was reading each line carefully as her pristinely trimmed fingernail trailed each character. She was seemingly at ease and exhibited no signs of stress.
A few hundred meters away was a pale, heavily breathing figure. The sounds of her breathing were unsteady and her aura was as turbulent as a chaotic thunderstorm. If one inspected her body, they'd discover that her cultivated Mystic Power had been thoroughly exhausted, and her innate energies were depressingly low in quantity.
This was Liu Yinlan.
Shortly after Zhangjie Wushu declared that she couldn't breach the impregnable layer of power over the mountain, Liu Yinlan went absolutely mad. She launched numerous Ascension Arts and tried to forcefully breach by relying on her Spatial Arts. She succeeded.
Unfortunately for her, after bypassing Tian Taizong's power through forceful means, a level of strength fueled by Sprouting Stage level Imperial Power, she met another layer that was considerably higher level. It belonged to the genuine Authority of Imperial Law. Additionally, inviolable Spatial and Temporal Laws greatly reduced her effective strength. She couldn't breach regardless of her efforts. All her attempts concluded with unquestionable failure.
She learned harshly that day the true harrowing strength of Laws. As a cultivator with a Spatial Soul, she was handicapped so heavily that it was embarrassing for a World Emperor.
Zhangjie Wushu had given up trying to use formations or arrays to breach the layer of law aura. There was no point in her mind. Whether it was Tian Taizong or someone else, they had them captured thoroughly in an inescapable net that they waltzed right in. Even if they escaped by some godly luck, if Su Nianzu, Zhen Yang, Jia Yang, and Peng Yue were unable to deal with the outside situation, their fates were as good as decided as captives. With the situation of the Endless Voyage Realm's descent, the Ancient Sealed Region was a genuine cage.
Where could they run to? Where could they hide?
Moreover, the power blocking the mountain was no longer at the Sprouting Stage, but a genuine developed Law of the Three Thousand Realms at the Authority Stage. This was something even Original Magistrates or Mystic Overlords, those at the Heavenly Saint Phase or Ascended Saint Phase respectively, wouldn't have. This was the true power of the heavens. It was inviolable, intangible, and profound.
Zhangjie Wushu was always practical in her considerations and pragmatic with her thoughts. If Tian Taizong was behind this trap that could seal three World Emperors, then her life and death were largely determined by her bottom line. If needed, she wouldn't mind using her body to secure a path to life. While the matter was shameful and disgusting, she simply didn't wish to die with so much life to live.
Who did?
She was a World Emperor and while she wasn't young, she definitely wasn't old. She had thousands upon thousands of years to live with unexhausted potential. If she ascended to the Heavenly Saint Phase or Ascended Saint Phase, possibilities in the world continue to expand.
She didn't think Tian Taizong would be the merciful sort or the type that could be bribed easily given how terrifyingly powerful he'd become and the grudge he had with the Zhangjie Clan.
If it was someone else, she would offer hefty compensation for her life. If all else failed, she had long since decided to display her greatest means and slice off a good pound of flesh before her unwilling death. If she couldn't continue living as a scholar, she'd rather die as a warrior.
Hu Meifang's shout elicited a glance toward Zhangjie Wushu. The Silver Moon Librarian was obviously shouting to the sky to attract the attention of whoever had them trapped. Her brazen attitude caused Zhangjie Wushu to frown. She understood Liu Yinlan's actions given how frantic and urgent she felt to see her sister again after twenty thousand years, but Hu Meifang was exhibiting uneducated, spoiled, and haughty heiress energy as if she was questioning someone that she expected to respond to her frustrations. As if they cared...
Zhangjie Wushu had never seen Hu Meifang act in such a nonsensical and unrealistic way before, and her opinion of Hu Meifang tanked accordingly.
"Hey! Hey!" Hu Meifang kept shouting at the sky. Zhangjie Wushu ignored her and glanced at the heavily breathing Liu Yinlan. Every breath desperately tried to siphon the ambient energies and essences, but the imperial aura within the atmosphere prevented any from entering her body, and her Internal World was unable to be interacted with due to an inviolable rule set by the Minor Law of Space.
Moreover, none of them could even use their talismans and life-saving treasures due to them being sealed by this power. Typically, keeping things in one Internal World was no different than a Saint Ring with instant readiness, yet this type of counter gave Zhangjie Wushu a lesson on readiness. She would never leave her life-saving talismans, tools, and means in her Internal World.
Despite having unleashed her full strength days ago, Liu Yinlan was still completely tapped of strength and energy. This was to be expected. After all, every iota of mystic power was profoundly difficult to recover, and without her products or the ambient energies and essence of the world, there was no hope of doing so. Her actions of exhausting her entire dantian's worth was an extraordinary sight to see though. At least in Zhangjie Wushu's entire life, she'd never seen a World Emperor exhaust all their mystic power.
Furthermore, her power was abnormally concentrated yet she couldn't breach the barrier around the mountain.
"It's been almost a week!" Hu Meifang pouted.
"Why are you wasting your breath?!" A hoarse voice filled with grim anger erupted from Liu Yinlan. "Do you think Jia Yang is going to come and save you?! Huh?!" Liu Yinlan was at her limits of patience. Her eyes gazed longingly at the Sky Judgment Mountain.
She had never felt so close yet so extremely far from her sister in her entire life. It was agonizing to the soul and she held back her urge to cry. Gnashing her teeth until they bled, she cursed Tian Taizong! She cursed him in eighteen different ways!
She regretted it all.
She should have waited.
She should have fought against Tian Taizong directly, but she was terrified of her sister being used as a hostage, and so were the other World Emperors of the Endless Voyage Realm. If Liu Yinlan was blackmailed at a critical moment, the situation could become unpredictable. Despite giving Tian Taizong every ounce of respect, he was still stronger than they expected!
She hated Tian Taizong!!
"Fuck you!" Liu Yinlan was unable to suppress her rage as she hoarsely shouted with all her strength. The last remnants of her strength also held back her tears, and with all of it gone, her eyes glistened with wetness as two clear streams cascaded down her face. Her voice made unbearably disheartening noises as she sniffed loudly. She didn't even have the strength to wipe her nose or eyes.
Twenty thousand years, all her effort, all her training and scheming and painful, degrading decisions, and this was the result.
This...
"..." Hu Meifang and Zhangjie Wushu were astonished. A World Emperor, a genuine Worldly Saint, was crying without caring about her image. Hu Meifang was unable to understand the difficulties that Liu Yinlan went through trying to save her sister or how much she sacrificed because of Tian Taizong.
The only details she did know was that Liu Yinlan joined the Endless Voyage Realm as a Destined in a frenzied panic and staunch determination, eventually becoming a True Destined Voyager and later the Leader of the Void Voyage Sect. She was originally a mother of four and she had to leave her family behind to join the Endless Voyage Realm. Meanwhile, the Liu Clan was experiencing heavy suppression by the Imperial Clan. They were on the verge of enslavement or eradication. Supposedly, Liu Yinlan joining the Endless Voyage Realm caused the Liu Clan's destiny to change.
"Sniff...I'm...so-sorry..." When the path forward collapses, regardless of one's strength or status, it will always be revealed that at the core a cultivator was nothing more than human. Liu Yinlan was a woman, a mother, and a human. How could she not cry after exhausting all her options? The mere thought of failure, the thought of allowing Tian Taizong to capture her, torture her, or worse...all of it ate away at her soul and dissolved every ounce of her mental defenses.
Hu Meifang's heart ached. She couldn't hold back anymore as she looked at the sky, "You said your name is Wei Wuyin, right?! You said that you'll deal with Tian Taizong, right?! I know you're here!"
"..." Her words caused Zhangjie Wushu and Liu Yinlan's thoughts to stall as they looked at her in shock.
Hu Meifang's breathing hastened and she looked at Zhangjie Wushu, glanced briefly at Liu Yinlan, and then returned her focus to the female scholar. "Wei Wuyin was here earlier. He told me to stay put and wait. He didn't want me to expose him either, and that he would deal with Tian Taizong and return for me."
Hu Meifang caused Zhangjie Wushu to rise, "Wei Wuyin said that?" They knew that Wei Wuyin, this profoundly mysterious mortal that entered the Time Vortex after becoming a True Destined Voyager and then giving the honor of it away, was a ruler of a starfield in this world and reportedly a World Saint Alchemist. It was hard to genuinely verify it given the absurdity of a mortal Worldly Saint Alchemist beneath a hundred was as outrageous as an ant shattering a planet, but given how outstanding that young man was, Zhangjie Wushu was inclined to believe it.
Unlike the World Emperors outside, the trio of women had no idea of Wei Wuyin's dominant display. They still held their doubts. But Hu Meifang didn't. She couldn't sense Wei Wuyin earlier at all despite her cultivation and he spoke to her in a way the other two hadn't noticed.
How could a mere mortal do such a thing? In her eyes, Wei Wuyin was an Ascended being in disguise, likely some old monster that was falling to others. Regardless of what was real or not, him being a Worldly Saint Alchemist likely had some truth to it, and given his astonishing unearthly handsomeness and how direct he was, she was willing to wait.
Moreover, she wasn't stupid. If Tian Taizong wasn't dealt with, they were all dead anyway. The only matter left to decide would be if Tian Taizong wanted to execute any vile methods on their bodies before ending their lives. She would much rather believe in Wei Wuyin with all her heart, even more so since Liu Yinlan's tragic failure of an breaching attempt meant she had no chance of escaping.
"He did," she answered Zhangjie Wushu with a nod.
"What else did he say?" Zhangjie Wushi asked, feeling like there was more to it.
"He...told me that..." Hu Meifang was a little hesitant, but then she threw all of it away and answered, "He said he'll invite me to a private 'Dao Discussion' after everything was done."
"..." Zhangjie Wushu's eyes widened slightly. Dao Discussion, especially prefixed by private, was a euphemism for Dual Cultivation in the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone. She couldn't help but give Hu Meifang's voluptuous body a look, and she sighed with relief. As long as it wasn't Tian Taizong, this was good. Moreover, lust was easy to capitalize on to survive.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuyin quietly observed all this as a Void Image in the sky a few hundred feet in the air. He inwardly groaned. She wasn't supposed to say that.
Suddenly, he inclined his head to glance a little higher into the sky. Then, the Void Image began to dissipate into nothingness.
A Void Portal manifested in the sky!
From the Void Portal, a single figure walked through!
