After the three ceremonial bows, the women escorted the bride to the bridal room, while the men stayed to toast Yan Nie on his marriage in the reception hall. By the end of the hour, Yan Nie felt like he had downed over a hundred shots, but it wasn’t the alcohol that made him drunk but the atmosphere.
“Congratulations on your marriage.”
Yan Nie turned to see Tianyi raising a cup. His smile didn’t lessen as he knocked his refilled cup against Tianyi’s cup, causing a crisp clink to sound. “Thank you.”
As if on cue, the torrent of people wishing him well slowed down. Yan clicked his tongue after downing another cup. “Your status is really handy. Once you come, they don’t dare to toast to me anymore.”
Tianyi rolled his eyes. “Don’t act like you aren’t happy. I was afraid that you’d be mad because my presence stopped the people from toasting you. Anyway, do you have any plans for your honeymoon?”
“I do have some ideas.”
“Such as?” Tianyi probed.
Yan Nie didn’t answer. Instead, he changed the topic. “I heard that after you got married to Daoyi, you two didn’t have a honeymoon period because of the war. Don’t tell me you are fishing for ideas. Haven’t you thought of any ideas since then?”
Tianyi did have this idea, but he would never admit it. “What are you talking about? I plan to take Daoyi to tour the lower realms once everything has settled. Hmpf."
A smirk appeared on Tianyi’s face as he looked at Yan Nie. “How about it? Can your honeymoon compare to mine? At most, you can take Yun Xialan to the realms connected to the Huang Realm, not outside of it like me.”
The corner of Yan Nie’s eye twitched. “What’s so good about the lower realms? The Huang Realm still has many wondrous locations I can visit.”
“That’s true, but they aren’t really that wondrous to me. I pretty much know about all of them since, you know.”
Yan Nie’s eye twitched even more. The twitch even spread to his cheek. “Why do I feel like you are bragging?”
“You’re imagining things,” Tianyi said, but he couldn’t hide the upward curl at the edge of his lips. However, that curl soon reversed.
“What’s wrong?”
Tianyi shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
He excused himself soon after. Yan Nie didn’t think it was nothing. He could guess something happened from Tianyi’s expression, but he didn’t have time to pursue it as people crowded around him, congratulating him. He didn’t pursue the matter. If the situation became dire, wouldn’t Tianyi tell him?
For now, it was better to focus on his wedding. Yan Nie accepted every person who came to toast him. When midnight’s bell rang, his face had already flushed red. He had to lean on his cousins to make it to the bridal chambers. Otherwise, he might trip and fall.
Luckily, Yan Nie quickly sobered up on the way there, although his face was still slightly flushed and the smell of alcohol lingered around him. The female guests were already waiting outside the chambers. Under everyone’s gaze, Yan Nie opened the doors to reveal Yun Xialan sitting on the bed with the veil covering her face.
“Hurry and lift the veils so you can show everyone how beautiful your wife is.”
“Yeah, hurry up, Brother Yan!”
“Don’t tell us you want to hide your wife forever?!”
Spurred by the guests’ words and impatience, Yan Nie walked over and lifted Yun Xialan’s veil. The moment of revelation caused a silence to befall the guests. It only lasted a moment as they congratulated Yan Nie on marrying a beautiful wife. There were even a few people who couldn’t hide the envy in their voices.
Yan Nie couldn’t even find a hint of Yun Xialan’s boyish charm from their childhood. He even questioned how he could ever think that Yun Xialan was a boy.
“Makeup sure changes a person,” Daoyi said as she walked up and stood next to Tianyi.
“En,” Tianyi said. He was staring at Yun Xialan, but anyone could see that his mind was elsewhere.
“What’s wrong?”
Tianyi shook his head. “I’ll tell you later. It’s best not to ruin Yan Nie’s mood.”
Daoyi’s brows furrowed. She couldn’t think of anything that would ruin Yan Nie’s mood. Most of his friends and families had already arrived, and nothing happened to them. The only thing that she could think of that would ruin Yan Nie’s mood would be Xi Ri undergoing the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation now instead of attending the wedding.
‘Wait, Xi Ri,’ Daoyi thought. She looked at Tianyi, who entered a daze again. If she guessed correctly, something must have happened to Xi Ri.
After Yan Nie unveiled Yun Xialan’s enthralling face, he closed the doors. None of the people waited outside. Even if they didn’t spread their immortal sense, the two newlyweds wouldn’t feel comfortable ‘doing’ it with people nearby, right?
The only thing of note was that Tianyi’s group didn’t stay for the night and left. Had he not left a few gifts, people might have speculated that the Nine Heavens Emperor and Divine Flame Monarch had a falling out.
There was always the rumor that the Nine Heavens Emperor and Divine Flame Monarch had some sort of friendship. Some said that the friendship started when the two fought during the war on the Earth Continent. Of course, others said that Yan Nie had already known the true nature of the Anti-Earth Alliance by then, and that the two’s fight was nothing more than an act.
A few even speculated that the two became friends when they were still weak and hadn’t even reached the Core Formation Realm. Although more rumors said it was a rivalry at first because of a woman. That rivalry turned into friendship. Although Tianyi was an immortal emperor now, he still kept his friendship with Yan Nie because he appreciated the latter’s potential.
Otherwise, the two wouldn’t be able to continue being friends. Once a gap in strength happened, the two parties would start to distance themselves.
Anyway, rumors shrouded the two’s past. Now that Tianyi had appeared at Yan Nie’s wedding, it was no longer a rumor.
Tianyi watched Xi Ri’s expression darken as black miasma wafted from his body. He immediately extradited himself from the spacetime folds and appeared a few meters away from his cousin. He didn’t touch Xi Ri’s body for fear of triggering a backlash. Even a mere touch from an outsider might increase the difficulty of the tribulation.
“It hasn’t even been a week. Why is Xi Ri struggling so much?” Tianyi asked, but no one could answer him. Only the Heavenly Dao could answer Tianyi, but that was impossible.
After the Immortal Court conquered the entire Huang Realm and started upgrading it, they gained the ability to influence and guide the actions of the Heavenly Dao. However, guiding and influencing were different from controlling. For example, the Immortal Court couldn’t stop the Huang Realm from dispatching heavenly punishment against Tianyi if he did something that warranted it.
No matter Tianyi’s thoughts, he could do nothing but watch Xi Ri’s Inner Devil Tribulation. Seconds later, the space behind him rippled as Daoyi stepped out. Tianyi’s conduit didn’t let his disciples here and just sent them back to Nine Heavens Peak.
“Can you do anything?” Tianyi asked.
Of the two, Daoyi possessed superior soul methods. If she wanted to, she could become an immortal monarch at any moment, but she wanted to comprehend the Law of Life and Death and use that as a foundation to become an immortal monarch.
Daoyi had already almost completely mastered the Law of Life, and was just one breath away. However, that last step was an insurmountable moat that blocked many immortals, much less Daoyi. However, she wasn’t in a rush. She was still young and had much more time. She had already decided to give up if she could not master the Law of Life in a few thousand years. If she couldn’t master the Law of Life and Death in ten or so thousand years after mastering the Law of Life, she would also give up.
Not everyone was as monstrous or perverted as Tianyi. Sometimes, Daoyi wondered how Tianyi’s mind worked. Even now, his comprehension of the myriad laws hadn’t stopped. He must be the immortal that mastered the most laws, right?
Daoyi shook her head. “Unknown. If I probe his soul, it might only worsen his problem. The only thing we can do is wait.”
Tianyi sighed. He already knew that, but he still clung onto a tiny bit of hope. Knowing that there was nothing to do but wait, Tianyi and Daoyi did just that.
When Daoyi returned, it was already the second day of Xi Ri’s Inner Devil Tribulation. Two days turned to three, and three days eventually turned to seven. During this time, Xi Ri’s eyebrows constantly twitched and his expression changed nonstop. Sometimes it appeared as if he was laughing, other times, he showed wrath more explosive than an eruption. Sadness colder than the arctic, despair deeper than the abyss, a smile more beautiful than a million stars, Xi Ri showed every emotion possible.
Tianyi clenched his hands. The longer Xi Ri could last, the higher chance of succeeding in his Inner Devil Tribulation. He also experienced an abnormally long Inner Devil Tribulation, but Tianyi’s experience was abnormal. Most true immortals only needed to withstand seven days of the Inner Devil Tribulation to pass if they couldn’t break out of it in time.
“Xi Ri!” Tianyi said with happiness when he saw Xi Ri open his eyes. However, that happiness didn’t last long when he sensed Xi Ri’s soul dissipating from his body.
Alas, Xi Ri had become an earth immortal, a failed immortal. There were two types of earth immortals, those that failed the lightning tribulation and those that failed the Inner Devil Tribulation. Earth immortals that failed their lightning tribulations are actually souls without bodies. As bodiless souls, they used different methods to reconstruct their body, whether by creating a new one or possessing one. However, that was only delaying the inevitable, and they would still die.
Cultivators that passed the lightning tribulation but failed the Inner Devil Tribulation are different. Because they passed the lightning tribulation, their body transformed into that of a true immortal. However, since they failed the Inner Devil Tribulation, their souls are still mortal. How could a mortal’s soul sustain an immortal’s body?
The immortal body constantly puts pressure on the soul, causing it to dissipate. The process was similar to how a true immortal whose willpower could sustain their will to live, causing them to dissipate into nourishment for heaven and earth. Likewise, earth immortals that failed their Inner Devil Tribulation will become nourishment for the world.
“Xi Ri…” Tianyi said again, but Xi Ri ignored him. His cold eyes made Tianyi pause as he flew back toward Appointment Peak.
Tianyi looked at Daoyi, who was also helpless. “Is there no way to stop the dissipation of his soul?”
“Because the body is too strong, it actually traps the soul inside it. Once his soul leaves his body, it would instantly dissipate, not even giving him a chance to reincarnate,” Tianyi said with a sigh. “If he had failed the lightning tribulation, he would at least have a chance at reincarnation. Unlike now.”
Daoyi also sighed.
“We shouldn’t give up hope,” Tianyi said. “After becoming the sole hegemon of the Huang Realm, the Immortal Court has released a lot of its hidden knowledge. Perhaps there’s a way to save Xi Ri. We just have to look.”
Tianyi waved his hand, and a necklace appeared in his palm. “I originally prepared this for Xingyun if she failed her Inner Devil Tribulation. It can slow down the dissipation of the soul. I’ll give this one to Xi Ri and just find another one for Xingyun later.”
As for Xingyun failing her lightning tribulation, Tianyi didn’t think it was possible with her Condensed Mountain Physique.
