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Chapter 624: Venting
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 13:00:18 +0000 UTCVice-Minister Silkrain felt like he was the guilty party, quivering under the gaze of the judge. He forced the thought out of his mind. He wasn’t the guilty one—Grand Elder Nine Heavens was!
He forced himself to a full stand. He smoothed out the wrinkles in his robes, attempting to look as dignified as possible. That was false. What he needed to smooth out was his shaking heart. As proof, his hand trembled underneath his sleeves.
The vice-minister did not attempt to flee despite his fear. For what he represented was not just himself, but the Ministry of Justice of the Heavenly Immortal Court. He was an agent of absolute justice in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
Finally, after a long moment of silence, Vice-Minister Silkrain forced himself to break it. “Grand Elder Nine Heavens, we need you to stop this storm and come to Justice Peak to receive punishment.”
“Hmm?” It was only a simple hum, but Vice-Minister Silkrain felt as if someone had taken a hammer to his heart.
“No, it’s just a formality!” he swiftly added. “Nine Heavens Peak is your territory, and you can do as you like, but it’s still an unwritten rule to not make it dangerous, especially in the area surrounding it. Because of the storm, many immortals have gotten hurt, and a few died. You just need to stop the storm and come to Justice Peak. We’ll just announce to the world that the matter has concluded.”
Tianyi still didn’t say anything and continued to stare at the vice-minister.
The gaze and silence sent Vice-Minister Silkrain into a panic. It wasn’t that he had never experienced the pressure of a stronger cultivator before, but Tianyi’s pressure was different. It didn’t feel like an individual’s pressure, but closer to an entire world. If he had to make a comparison, it reminded him of the coercion of the Heavenly Dao he felt during his heavenly tribulations.
“Grand Elder Nine Heavens, this is related to the image of the Heavenly Immortal Court. As the peak force of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, we must act as a bastion to all beings.” Vice-Minister Silkrain’s heart beat faster when he saw the unmoved face. He took out his trump card. “This is related to the Heavenly Empress’s prestige. Your mother just ascended to the throne, and she can’t afford to have her face shaken because of this incident.”
He was talking nonsense, of course. Out of all the ministers and vice-ministers, only he cared about the storm surrounding Nine Heavens Peak. Perhaps it was because the Immortal Court defeated the Numinous Sword Sect, and the Heavenly Empress’s Ascension Ceremony had just ended, but no one caused any trouble. Everyone was very honest, leaving him no room to show his skills. At this time, Tianyi became very conspicuous.
Vice-Minister Silkrain stopped talking, not because he wanted to, but because he felt an invisible hand clamp around his throat. He looked up in fear.
Previously, Tianyi’s eyes were a pair of stagnant water. Now, a galaxy appeared in his pupils. At the very center of the galaxy was a solar system with eight planets. The eight planets orbited at dizzying rates while the sun constantly brightened and dimmed. No sense of order at all.
Moments passed. With each second, Vice-Minister Silkrain felt a greater shortness of breath.
“You know, I was holding back my anger because I knew I was causing trouble,” Tianyi began. His tone was calm and completely different from what the vice-minister of justice expected. Tianyi’s next words made his body tremble. “But then you mentioned Mother. The entire reason I’m doing my best to suppress my anger is because of her.”
Vice-Minister Silkrain’s eyes widened. Was he wrong? Grand Elder Nine Heavens was relatively mysterious among the powerful immortals of the Heavenly Immortal Court, but it was a generally accepted fact that he was close with the Heavenly Empress. Reality seemed different than he expected.
His mind went into overdrive. Perhaps the reason why the storm appeared was not without reason, but that Grand Elder Nine Heavens was unhappy that his mother became the Heavenly Empress. Further supporting his conjecture was the fact that the Heavenly Empress clearly wanted to summon someone and confer them a divine position. That someone had to be Tianyi. However, the Heavenly Empress had a problem and did not make him a divine emperor.
The truth was revealed!
He could understand. If he was originally slated to become a divine emperor but lost the chance for no reason, he would be even more furious than Tianyi. That didn’t mean he would not attempt to stop it and punish the perpetrator.
Vice-Minister Silkrain realized the ‘truth’ too late. Facing Tianyi’s wrath, he could only endure it.
His vision shifted, and before he realized it, he found himself standing in emptiness. Except for the infinite stars in the far reaches, there was no light. Neither the sky nor the earth existed here, and it lacked the spiritual qi generated by the world. Even the temperature was a little bit low, and the vice-minister discovered that he could not breathe in this unknown space. However, that wasn’t a problem, since immortals like himself could subsist on qi alone.
‘I’m in the Vast Void?’ Vice-Minister Silkrain thought. He realized the horror of Tianyi’s power. If Tianyi could teleport him without any notice, didn’t that mean he could assassinate him without warning? He didn’t even need to take action himself. All Tianyi needed to do was teleport him to a dangerous location and let him die in unwillingness.
“I heard you were a new immortal emperor. You are quite hardworking. Before even consolidating your power, you already rushed to do your duties.”
Vice-Minister Silkrain’s neck turned like a rusty screw. He could see Tianyi standing a few meters away. His expression was calm, but his eyes were spewing fire. “That’s bad. As a cultivator, the most important thing is power, not authority. Without power, how can you hold on to authority? Just look at our situation. Even if I let you chain me, would you dare?”
The vice-minister didn’t speak. He felt like there was a trap in his words, but Tianyi didn’t care and continued.
“As a grand elder of the Heavenly Immortal Court, it’s my duty to make you realize this, but this includes changing your view of the world, and that’s too troublesome. So, I have another idea: to train your power so that you can match your authority.” Without waiting for Vice-Minister Silkrain’s answer, a sword appeared in his hand, and he teleported in front of the vice-minister.
Vice-Minister Silkrain acted on reflex. A sword appeared in his hand, and he raised it to block the incoming slash. It was not until now that he realized Tianyi had lifted the invisible shackles locking him in place.
To his surprise, Tianyi’s slash was weaker than expected. But how was that possible?
Tianyi did not give him much time to think as he unleashed a series of blows. Soon, Vice-Minister Silkrain discovered that Tianyi was using the exact same speed and power as himself. Although he didn’t know what Tianyi was scheming, there was no way he would stand there and let someone chop him up.
They exchanged over fifty blows, but suddenly, Vice-Minister Silkrain saw Tianyi’s sword stabbing toward him. It held the same speed as before, but he understood in his heart that no matter how hard he tried to block it or dodge, it would not affect the outcome.
Tianyi’s sword slipped past the hole in his defense and into his body. Upon contact, a powerful force exploded, destroying his internals. Vice-Minister Silkrain roared in pain, and he felt his body growing weaker. He glared at Tianyi. At the moment of death, he cared not for the difference in power. He just wanted to express his hatred.
As the strength left his body, he felt his eyelids growing heavier. No matter how hard he tried, they slowly shut. After closing his eyes, Vice-Minister Silkrain felt his body return to its peak. His eyes snapped open, just to see Tianyi slashing down at him.
“Being distracted is no good,” Tianyi said.
Vice-Minister Silkrain could only force down his confusion and continue deflecting Tianyi’s sword. Because of the strange sense of déjà vu, Vice-Minister Silkrain defended against Tianyi’s slashes more easily. Even the thrust that killed him before was blocked.
Just as he thought he would be able to continue to defend, Tianyi made a strange circling motion. Before Vice-Minister could even react, Tianyi decapitated him from behind. Once again, he closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he discovered that he had returned to the moment when Tianyi first attacked him.
“What’s wrong? Are you planning on leveling your defensive sword skills?” Tianyi asked when he saw Vice-Minister Silkrain breaking into a cold sweat. “As a sword immortal, how embarrassing!”
Vice-Minister Silkrain didn’t reply. He couldn’t help but analyze the situation. Rumor had it that Grand Elder Nine Heavens held supreme mastery over spacetime, but reverting time to before he was injured was too powerful, right? He would rather believe that he was trapped in a powerful illusion.
He tried all methods of breaking the illusion to the point that he focused less on Tianyi’s attack. Although he could still feel the murderous intent, Vice-Minister Silkrain discovered that Tianyi would not kill him. Anger hadn’t eroded his mind to that point.
The problem was that Tianyi also detected this. “It seems you don’t think I will really kill you? You’re right.”
Tianyi’s admission made Vice-Minister Silkrain raise his guard.
“Careful. If you don’t defend well, you’re going to suffer.” Without wasting another word, Tianyi attacked. He still displayed the same amount of speed and strength, but his technique became more complex and varied, targeting all the vice-minister’s weak points.
“AHHH!” Vice-Minister Silkrain screamed. Before, Tianyi’s attacks had always focused on the hole in his defense, with the aim of killing in one strike. This time, he went for minor injuries. Despite receiving a minor injury by all accounts, he felt as if someone had pulled all his internal organs out through that minor cut.
Sweat dripped down the vice-minister’s cheeks as he stared fearfully at Tianyi. Although it only took a split second, it felt like an hour to him.
Tianyi did not stop his attacks just because of his apprehension. The sword in his hand blurred, leaving only the glowing tip behind. Combined with their movements, it resembled long trails of raindrops. Upon seeing this move, Vice-Minister Silkrain’s eyes widened once more.
What Tianyi displayed was the Silk Rain Sword Art, and he was the creator. He had compiled the sword art and put it in the Immortal Scripture Treasury, so it wasn’t a shock for others to know it. What shocked him was that he could feel the superior mystery contained in Tianyi’s display of the Silk Rain Sword Art. It made him feel that his years of hard work and accomplishment were but a poor imitation.
Shame and anger filled Vice-Minister Silkrain’s chest. He could accept someone being more powerful than him, being killed, and being humiliated, but he would never accept someone telling him that his life’s work was a joke—worthless. The Silk Rain Sword Art was the culmination of his immortal path, his way forward.
So he lost his mind to break the illusion and attacked Tianyi. Alas, he was like a minnow attempting to swim against raging river currents. No matter what he did, Tianyi’s sword would always brush past his defenses. When the latter had dealt enough injuries, he would give the final blow, resetting the fight back to the beginning.
Vice-Minister Silkrain did not know how long this cycle continued. All he knew was fighting and fighting. Even death could not allow him to escape this samsara. He couldn’t even give up because once he did so, a torture worse than death would await him.
As this painful cycle repeated again and again, Vice-Minister Silkrain could only comply. He was so weak in front of Tianyi that he couldn’t even decide his own life and death. His only hope to escape this was for his soul to collapse, unable to withstand the strain it experienced from repeated deaths.
At least, Vice-Minister Silkrain thought so. The end came out of nowhere. One moment, he was still fending off Tianyi’s sword strikes; the next moment, he discovered that he had returned to Nine Heavens Palace. The only difference was that no one sat on the throne.
Even if it was an illusion, Vice-Minister Silkrain was not willing to miss this precious chance. He fled the grand hall. When he stepped out, he felt sunlight gently caressing his cheeks. Tears slid down his cheeks. The light had never felt so warm and comforting.
The warmth disappeared as a cold sweat covered his back. He had forgotten he was on Nine Heavens Peak for a second. In order to feel safe, he had to escape back to Justice Peak. Once he was finally back in the safety of his office, Vice-Minister Silkrain asked around and discovered that he had disappeared for nine years!
Although nine years was long, it didn’t matter to the long lives of immortals. It also gave him some trouble, as he lost a lot of authority because of his absence. Before, he would have looked for Tianyi to find trouble, but now, he wanted to hole up and do his work honestly. He never wanted to see Tianyi again.
No, what shocked him was that it felt too short. His sense of time had distorted, but he was sure over a century had passed in that hellish cycle. Just what had happened, and where did Tianyi go?
