NOVPUBTianyi lay slovenly on the prayer mat. He had long given up on sitting on it and directly put his back on it. Although he would still be able to control it outside the grand hall, it would be much more difficult if he left the prayer mat. So, for the past few thousand years, he remained in the same exact location. Naturally, he would immediately resume a respectable position once anyone entered.
So, there he lay, holding the Xiyinet on his chest with his hand over it. Although he wasn’t holding the screen in front of his face, his eyes still flickered as if there was a screen. Tianyi was using his immortal sense to surf the Xiyinet.
At this time, a blue snake crawled out of Tianyi’s sleeve and wrapped itself around his forearm. Upon closer inspection, the “snake” had four legs and two nubs growing out of its head. It flickered out its tongue like a real snake, but it licked Tianyi’s finger like a dog.
“Didn’t I just feed you a while ago?”
At Tianyi’s words, it flew into the air and tilted its head with puppy-dog eyes.
“You, ah, you,” Tianyi said helplessly. “There’s no helping it. Just this time, okay?”
Tianyi raised his free hand and a red marble appeared between his fingers. Based on appearance alone, it looked like a piece of candy, but when the blue snake saw it, its eyes lit up with delight. It opened its jaws and lunged at the marble.
But before it could succeed, another creature also lunged at the candy. It had a snake-like head, mammalian body, two arms, two legs, and a long, bushy tail. Black scales covered the top of the creature all the way from the head to the tail, leaving only the underside exposed. A single horn jutted out of its forehead.
The squirrel-like reptile was faster, and clamped its jaws around the red candy, but when it moved, the red candy remained in the air, unmoved. It was as if the red candy was nothing more than a projection.
Taking the chance in the reptilian squirrel’s surprise, the blue snake successfully swallowed the red candy. A clear smile appeared on its face as it entered Tianyi’s sleeve to digest the candy.
Dandan ignored the blue snake’s retreat and stared at Tianyi with aggrieved eyes, as if it had just been bullied.
Tianyi rolled his eyes and poked his first spiritual beast’s nose. “Have you forgotten how we entered a contract?”
Dandan tilted its head, as if wondering what was wrong.
A hint of anger rose up in Tianyi’s chest. “Did you forget the period where you and I first met? You hit me like a cannonball and treated me like a blood bank!”
The Pill Qilin lowered its head and whimpered, as if to say, “Why’re you sweating the small details? Aren’t you the great Nine Heavens Sovereign? What’s a few drops of blood?”
“A few drops? I spat mouthfuls,” Tianyi said. “And don’t think I don’t know you can speak. You’re already at the demon king level. Is it reasonable for you to still be mute?”
Upon watching Dandan continue to play dumb, Tianyi ignored it. He grabbed Dandan by its tail and threw him back into the Nine Heavens Universe. After that, he used his hand to caress the blue snake under his sleeve.
The blue snake wasn’t a snake, but an infant Azure Dragon. He had managed to recreate an Azure Dragon egg using the research results from cloning himself, but it was stillborn, with no signs of hatching. Although the egg had no problem, no soul was gestated by the embryo.
Tianyi had planned to leave it there until he could successfully nurture it. After all, he had not forgotten his dreams when he was still a child. He wanted a dragon for a mount.
He thought it would take until he could successfully complete the Six Paths of Samsara, but he didn’t expect a soul to appear when only formed a rudimentary skeleton of the Six Paths of Samsara. After some investigation, Tianyi discovered the truth.
Although it was only a rudimentary reincarnation cycle, it still encompassed the known Nine Heavens Universe. With the existence of the Six Paths of Samsara, the number of births increased and the population could finally maintain a stable rate. When life dies, they will enter the underworld in Fourth Heaven to undergo reincarnation. There weren’t any underworld officials, and it was solely managed by Sitian, the former Youdu Spirit from another timeline.
This scope naturally included the demons Tianyi captured in the previous Divine Beast-Human War. Like the humans, they could propagate, but the chance was incredibly small. Coupled with the barren land Tianyi threw them onto, most of their offspring died before they could become true demons.
Before the Six Paths of Reincarnation, their souls would scatter, but after it came into existence, they were pulled into Fourth Heaven, where their souls would be washed in the Seven Emotions and Six Desires River before undergoing reincarnation. It just so happened one of them was lucky enough to be sent into the Azure Dragon egg.
Naturally, the souls would forget their past life after entering the Seven Emotions and Six Desires River, so Tianyi wouldn’t have to worry about the Azure Dragon remembering his past life and recalling any negative information or mindset instilled by the stranded demons.
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Tianyi named his second spiritual beast, Ao Yi. Ao, because it was the surname of the mythological Dragon Clan, and Yi was taken from his own name.
He continued to lie back for decades. Occasionally, Ao Yi would come out asking for the Dragon Blood Pill, and Tianyi would comply. Dandan would also come out to compete for it. Most of the time, Tianyi blocked, but occasionally, he would generously give Dandan a pill, too.
Other than that, he continued to surf the Xiyinet. That stopped when Minister Vastlight entered the grand hall. “Grand Elder Nine Heavens, have we arrived?”
“Not quite, but close.” It was Tianyi who summoned the immortal emperor. He waved his hand, and a circle appeared in the hall. It depicted a black space, but at the center was a shining star. With their eyesight, they could see a celestial mountain at the very center of the star. It was the Herakles System.
“I tried to probe it, but my senses became hazy the deeper I went,” Tianyi said.
After entering the True Nothingness, immortals could not release their immortal sense out of their body. Perhaps only a divinity’s divine sense could accomplish the act. Tianyi was the same, but he discovered that he could release his heaven intent. If he repeated the act in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms Systems, the Heavenly Dao would immediately send heavenly punishment to smite him.
Tianyi called this sense, formed from heaven intent, universe sense.
Judging from his test, the Herakles System should not have a Heavenly Dao, or it would have reacted much more violently, right? Or maybe it was just biding its time and waiting for him to appear before taking action.
“Hmm?” Tianyi let out.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think they’ve noticed my probe. I sense a lot of people gathering,” Tianyi said. While speaking, he held his chin. ‘The only explanation I have for them to mobilize is that they noticed me. If that’s the case, do the Olympians control the Heavenly Dao of the Herakles System?’
Tianyi narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He’ll have to investigate after entering. The closer the Jade Void Palace came to the Herakles System, the more sure Tianyi was that the Olympians noticed him.
As the divine palace neared the Herakles System, all the immortals gathered in the hall. Once they were closer, all the immortals could see the features of the alien system. Compared to the overall size of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, it was much smaller, but that didn’t mean it was inferior.
He didn’t know about when the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System was still the Primordial World, but the Herakles System had one giant landmass, with a towering mountain in the center. True, it was small, but it was more densely packed. It had a vitality that any one realm could never compare to.
Before they entered the system boundary, a crackling light beamed from the peak of the central mountain. The light streamed toward the Jade Void Palace, but when it was just shy of touching the palace, it stopped. It surged and rumbled, transforming into a set of steps guiding the divine palace toward the mountain.
Tianyi narrowed his eyes. He felt a force acting on the Jade Void Palace, pulling it forward. Of course, the force wasn’t strong and he could easily pull away. However, they were guests, and they didn’t have anything to fear. Besides, it wasn’t like the Jade Void Palace was their only trump card.
So, he let go and allowed the force to pull the Jade Void Palace to the mountaintop.
The immortals within tensed up as they neared the mountain. Even within the divine palace, they could feel a powerful pressure. The pressure wasn’t purposely acting on them, but they could not help but feel nervous. It was their natural reaction in the presence of a higher level being. The Concealed Emperor also had the same pressure, but he deliberately reined it in. But it seemed the divinities of the Herakles System had no such custom.
Of course, the passive pressure was far from enough to immobilize immortals. Only mortals would not be able to withstand the divine pressure.
The Jade Void Palace docked at an outstretched cliff jutting out from the mountain. Near the cliff was a group of welcomers. From Tianyi’s senses, he could sense that all of them had divine heritage, but the only strong one was Hyllus and another man. The man had soft brown curls, a slim physique, and wore the traditional garment of his people, which left his arms and legs bare.
He wasn’t the only one, as most of the welcomers wore similar garments. Compared to the dress of Tianyi and the others, they were practically in their underwear. One true immortal couldn’t help but gulp when he saw so many women exposing nearly half their skin. Although Hyllus and the others did show up in the Immortal Court, only a few people knew about or saw them. It was only because these immortals were chosen as part of the delegation did they know about the wider world.
Even if they knew about the wider world, experiencing it personally and having the knowledge were two different concepts.
Tianyi stared at the unique features of the welcoming party and sighed. He had lived in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System for so long that he almost forgot how different westerners looked. He stood up. “Come, let’s go meet our host.”
Minister Vastlight walked side by side with Tianyi as they exited the palace. The immortals followed out behind them.
Hyllus laughed and walked forward. “This time, it’s my turn to welcome you. Do you want to leave your palace here or do you want to use it as your residence? But if you do, I can’t show you the hospitality of the Olympians.”
“If that’s the case, it would be rude of us to refuse,” Tianyi said. He turned toward the Jade Void Palace and waved his sleeve. The divine palace disappeared.
Hyllus and the other demigods did not show any surprise. Instead, he brought Tianyi and the immortals toward the guest residence prepared for the Immortal Court ahead of time. “That palace is for the Numinous Sword Sect, if they arrive.”
Tianyi and Minister Vastlight nodded. Before they left, they didn’t detect any movements from the Numinous Sword Sect. Their foundation wasn’t as deep as the Immortal Court. They did not have a divine palace or ship to traverse the True Emptiness, so Divinity Yanxu had to lead a delegation, but did he dare leave the Numinous Sword Sect unguarded?
Tianyi didn’t think so.
After entering, Tianyi looked at everything with novelty. He wasn’t the only one as the other immortals showed similar expressions, but they still kept themselves composed and didn’t make a joke of themselves.
“Do you want to rest for a day first?” Hyllus asked. “It’s still some time before the date of the gathering, so the god king will not show himself yet. Of course, we won’t neglect you either. I can host a banquet or show you around the Herakles System.”
Tianyi shared a look with Minister Vastlight.
“In that case, I’ll trouble Prince Hyllus. We have been staying in the Jade Void Palace for millennia, and it’s good to experience some liveliness.”
“Haha, just what I like!”
