Chapter 503 |
Congzhen had received Wanxiang’s message — only that single line — and then there was no more news. She believed her mother had met with calamity.
Wanxiang had indeed suffered an ordeal, but not as severe as Congzhen imagined; at least she was still alive now.
After that day, Wanxiang suddenly found herself isolated. The like-minded Miro Heavenly Sovereign and Hunyuan Heavenly Sovereign avoided her; even those who had been affiliated with the Wanxiang Sect began to distance themselves. Openly, they leaned toward Daoyuan’s faction.
Though the sects still showed restraint with one another, it was only the calm before the storm — the undercurrent of mutual strangling had already begun to surface.
Wanxiang sat withered in the Immortal Hall for eighty-one days, feeling deeply that she could not allow matters to be driven to such extremes. She left the Wanxiang Sect openly and flew toward the Primordial Immortal Hall.
Now the only one who could give her answers was the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign himself; she had to ask him what he truly meant.
Was she to stand idly by while Daoyuan destroyed the immortal realm’s foundation built over countless epochs?
That one sentence was what she passed to Congzhen before entering the Primordial Immortal Hall — she hoped the mages would watch and wait, not wade in and hasten the collapse of an already sinking situation.
She had prepared herself to go and never return.
That kind of calm used to be the anchor for all immortals; now, to Wanxiang’s eyes, it was glaringly offensive.
“Primordial Heavenly Sovereign, I believe you owe me an explanation.”
— — —
“Wanxiang has entered the Primordial Immortal Hall,” Daoyuan reported.
Within Daoyuan’s sect, six Heavenly Sovereigns openly gathered. At this point there was no need to hide anything — especially with the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign tacitly permitting it.
Fenghun Heavenly Sovereign did not conceal his displeasure with Wanxiang: “Stupid! We are correct. We alone can decide the immortals’ future. Wanxiang is courting her own ruin.”
Another Heavenly Sovereign said, “Wanxiang has always been different from us. She’s a Heavenly Sovereign yet stayed so close to those mages. But thankfully for us — otherwise the mages would never have wandered into our nets. Shall we deal with the Wanxiang Sect early?”
Daoyuan fell silent for a moment. Remembering the power Nehem and Maxison had displayed that day, a sliver of worry rose in his heart, but he knew he must not show it — if he did, the others present would betray him in an instant.
Besides, he told himself, I may not lose.
“Not for now,” Daoyuan said. “After all, she is still one of the immortals. I do not wish to needlessly create more killings. Once we succeed, they will naturally know how to choose.”
“Pity we couldn’t intercept her last words. I hope those mages aren’t so timid,” Fenghun said with hatred. “She actually left her direct bloodline among the mages — Wanxiang, hah.”
Daoyuan said nothing in reply. Now, rather than him driving the plan, the plan was sweeping him forward. After forcibly calming his mind, he asked, “Have you all handled the sealing of the Desire Realm / Form Realm Demon Suppression Abyss?”
Voices answered in chorus: “Ready to be unsealed at any time.”
Daoyuan nodded. “They’re on their way as well. Our great enterprise is about to begin.”
After that conversation they revealed their intentions completely. They began to intervene and seize the authority that once belonged to the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign, reshaping the Immortal Realm according to their design. Mortals in the Desire Realm were frequently possessed by demonic parasites, yet no support reports reached the upper realms. Immortals of the Form Realm sensed something wrong, but these six represented more than ninety percent of the Immortal Realm’s power — there was no right even to resist.
Immortal civilization plunged into turbulence. Though the sky was still clear and spiritual energy remained abundant, everyone could feel that a terrifying storm was coming.
— — —
The second year passed in haste. The mages did not waver; their pace of advance accelerated. Still, they did not completely ignore Wanxiang’s words — the seven Sanctum-level starships kept fifty percent of their energy in reserve, ready to summon Prometheus at a critical moment.
In the minds of all mages, Prometheus remained the strongest. With him present, there were few problems the mages could not solve. Indeed, even if the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign were a false tenth-tier life, Prometheus would not be any weaker; as for the other Heavenly Sovereigns — even Daoyuan — the True Spirit Mages present were enough to handle them.
From their current position they could already glimpse the radiant energy emitted by the Zhou Tian Star Dou Array. Those energies acted as carriers for transmitting immortal techniques, combining into a wondrous immortal formation. From a distance it truly looked as if it were partitioning the void, preparing to transcend.
Moreover, the formation’s radiation range was fixed; it did not expand simply because energy accumulated.
As the fleet drew nearer, the odd sensation grew clearer. If Daoyuan’s ascension required the Immortal Realm’s collective power, this scene would be normal. But according to Wanxiang, Daoyuan’s ascension was his own self-transcendence — a subtraction, not an addition. That made the formation suspicious.
It looked like it divided and gathered spiritual energy — but everyone knew that with a slight alteration it could become a terrifying killing formation.
The fleet’s alert level immediately rose to the highest. Six months later, the mages reached the outer perimeter of the Zhou Tian Star Dou Array. At that time a Heavenly Sovereign appeared and glided down: a purple Taoist robe, a primordial spirit extending sixty thousand kilometers. He cleaved open a huge gate on the Array and then bowed with folded hands, calling out loudly, “This is Fenghun — I respectfully welcome the True Spirit Mages to observe the ceremony.”
The True Spirit Mages aboard the fleet exchanged glances. Randolph stepped forward, crossing into the void and standing at the fore of the Graviton. He did not show his true form, replying instead through a projection: “Fenghun? I am Randolph.”
The two had briefly clashed across space before, but from Fenghun’s face there was no trace of enmity now; he smiled amiably. “I’ve admired Randolph the True Spirit Mage for a long time. Why not spar together another day?”
Randolph gave no reply and did not take the bait. He asked plainly, “When will Daoyuan Heavenly Sovereign ascend?”
Fenghun likewise avoided the topic of sparring. He made a slight inviting gesture and said, “Please, enter briefly and wait. When all the guests have arrived, that will be the time of ascension.”