KaiserBlak
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Chapter 563: Progress
🕑 Added 2025-02-05 14:00:22 +0000 UTCTianyi sat atop his throne in the throne hall of Nine Heavens Palace. His eyes were closed, and he was leaning back, as if resting, but his eyelashes flickered occasionally. It was as if he would awaken from his rest at any moment but never quite reached that point.
The space inside the throne hall also flickered. Sometimes, portions would darken or brighten as if it was dawn or dusk, in complete contrast against the other parts of the hall. It appeared as if every part of the hall was experiencing a different time of day.
Not only that, vestiges of people would appear in the hall. Jinshu, Leng Junfeng, Ming Xingyun, Su Bojing, Xi Ri, Yan Nie, and even Daoyi. They were only phantoms, but the light in their eyes was extremely clear and bright, as if they were the people themselves. The only exception was when Mengfei’s phantom appeared. Her face was shrouded in a layer of mist and only her eyes were revealed.
Contrary to the other phantoms, she did not move about as if stuck in the past, but stayed in one place and stared at Tianyi. Even when she disappeared and reappeared, she would remain in the same place, while the phantoms of the other people would appear all over the hall.
The phenomenon wasn’t limited to the throne hall, but the entire Nine Heavens Palace. In fact, if Tianyi had not consciously limited it to Nine Heavens Palace, the phenomenon would encompass the entire Nine Heavens Peak and then some.
Even so, Su Bojing and the other servant-disciples had to leave the Nine Heavens Palace, lest they be affected by Tianyi’s comprehension of the Law of Spacetime. Although they were safe, they felt regretful, especially those servant-disciples who wanted to progress further on the immortal path.
It was a rare chance to be exposed to the mechanism of the Law of Spacetime. They did not hope to comprehend the Law of Spacetime, or the Law of Space and the Law of Time. They only wanted to comprehend a fragment of the concepts under those three laws. If they could accomplish such a feat, maybe an elder would take a fancy to them and take them as disciples.
Although they had status as servant-disciples of Nine Heavens Peak, those who wanted to advance were not content. Status was good, but it could not help them raise their cultivation base much. Their salary was a bit higher than other servant-disciples, but it was not comparable to true core or inner disciples who regularly had the guidance of lecturers and access to the Immortal Scripture Repository.
A few servant-disciples wanted to try their luck and snuck in Nine Heavens Palace despite the warnings. Alas, those that snuck in suffered various tragic fates.
The lucky ones would walk out with only a fraction of their lifespan remaining. The unlucky ones naturally died. Some died because time passed too quickly in the spacetime distortion created by Tianyi, causing their lifespan to dry up. A few even had their time regressed to before they were conceived, effectively erasing their existence. No matter their gains, it did nothing if they died.
As for those that suffered no misfortune? They sought death again.
There was a chance for some of them to walk out a few years older or younger, but because they survived, they had a fluke mentality. They walked in again to seek fortune, but how could they be lucky every time?
After seeing only a few of them escape with their lives, the servant-disciples’ ambitious hearts were quelled. Most of those with ambitions had died, and those that remained sunk back into mediocrity.
Of course, Tianyi would only learn of this decades later. By then, he couldn’t even save them if he wanted. Although he could reverse time, he could only bring back their bodies. The departed souls had already entered the Six Paths of Samsara if they hadn’t been destroyed.
When Tianyi opened his eyes, the spacetime distortions vanished. They left no traces on the world, as if they were nothing more than a fantasy, a fantasy that disappeared with the dreamer’s awakening.
He looked at his hands and clenched them. If his previous mastery of the Law of Spacetime was only ten percent. Now, it was at least twenty-five percent. With his newfound mastery, Tianyi couldn’t wait to test it against an opponent.
Tianyi immediately thought of the people who he could test his newfound strength against. The first person he sparred with once he entered the Immortal Realm was the former head elder of the war hall, the current Immortal Minister of War, Huang Feihong.
He rejected that candidate. It wasn’t that Tianyi looked down on him, but Minister Huang really couldn’t be his sparring opponent now. The latter likely had dozens of millenia more experience than him, but he could not make up for the difference in raw power. Not to mention that Tianyi wasn’t confident enough that he wouldn’t accidentally grievously injure the latter by mistake, or if he got too into it.
That one prerequisite eliminated many candidates. The only ones who qualified had to have the cultivation base of an extremity immortal or above.
The first one Tianyi thought of was naturally Grand Elder Xia, but Tianyi felt too embarrassed to ask Grand Elder Xia, who helped him a lot. After all, his sparring opponent would likely be ravaged by him. Grand Elder Zhang Cuiying was a no-go too. He still remembered that her dao companion was killed by the Dragon Emperor, and he inherited some of the Dragon Emperor’s traits. Plus, he wasn’t that close to her.
He wasn’t close to the other immortal emperors either. Unlike Grand Elder Xia or Zhang, those immortal emperors held important bureaucratic positions and had no time to spar with him. If the ministers like Minister Vastlight were busy, much less needed to be said for Minister Everpast.
Tianyi naturally wouldn’t bother his mother for such a thing. It was not that she was not qualified or did not have the time, but Tianyi didn’t want to hurt her. Granted, it may be arrogance on his part, but he didn’t think even his mother would remain unscathed against him if he went all out.
The demons no longer had any emperors, and Tianyi didn’t want to find some monarchs to bully. Although he didn’t feel like it, he knew he was a pillar of the Immortal Court now. If he took action, it might give the demons the wrong idea and destroy what little integration that occurred.
He didn’t discount the idea of going to the Numinous Sword Sect and fighting Emperor Southsword or Sword Sovereign Yanxu. But like with the demons, it was a delicate time right now, and his presence could ignite a situation that could easily escalate out of control.
As for why Tianyi didn’t think of fighting Bao Ling, it was not that Tianyi didn’t believe in himself, but his intuition told him it would be dangerous. After fighting—if you could call it a fight—the Sūryaḥ Buddha, Tianyi felt like Bao Ling had the characteristic of a divinity. In terms of difficulty and mysteriousness, Bao Ling might be the biggest obstacle for the Immortal Court to conquer the Numinous Sword Sect.
“I guess that leaves only two choices,” Tianyi said to himself.
***
Ba Shifang and Donghai Longzi stood in the space outside of the Nine Heavens System. While Donghai Longzi had a look of anticipation on his face, Ba Shifang was the complete opposite. His entire body radiated dread, because he knew what the end result was going to be without even thinking about it.
A second later, the energy in the air gathered and condensed into a man garbed in purple with a golden coronet adorning his hair. It was a newly formed conduit. Within the Nine Heavens Universe, he could create a body anywhere and anytime he wanted. This was his universe, and he was naturally not restricted by the rules of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes!” Donghai Longzi said.
“No,” Ba Shifang said.
Tianyi glared at Ba Shifang. “Stop being so reluctant. Do you think my protection during the war was free?”
Ba Shifang raised his hands. Still, he got ready. Although he technically was no longer Tianyi’s clone, it didn’t mean that he had totally separated. In essence, he was under Tianyi’s wing. While enjoying the shade provided, he had to do his duties.
“Alright, let me get ready,” Ba Shifang said.
Without a word, he summoned his qi and manifested the Five Element Planetary Titan. Donghai Longzi also got ready. His humanoid form disappeared as his body elongated until a gargantuan black dragon with two suns for eyes appeared. Neither side had the illusion that they would win, especially in the Nine Heavens Universe.
‘Hey, hey, this is only a spar, why are you going all out?’ Tianyi thought. However, his actions weren’t slow.
Although it seemed that he wasn’t doing anything, he had already taken action. The best proof was that Donghai Longzi’s and the Five Element Planetary Titan’s claws and fist phased through him.
Once the two saw this, they increased the intensity of their attacks. Black lightning crackled from the black dragon’s claws, causing space to distort. However, it also passed harmlessly. Next came Ba Shifang’s attack. The Five Element Planetary Titan released five immortal lights that anchored the space. Not only that, but with Tianyi as the core, gravity multiplied by over a thousand times. The Five Element Planetary Titan raised its hand up, grasping a sword, and cleaved.
But just like Donghai Longzi’s claws, the Five Element Planetary Titan’s sword passed harmlessly through Tianyi’s body.
The two attempted to force Tianyi out, but their attempts resulted in nothing.
Donghai Longzi specialized in destruction and possessed greater offense, but it meant nothing if he couldn’t land an attack on his target. Ba Shifang was the opposite. His attacks were powerful, but they paled in comparison to his defensive power and ability to alter the surrounding environment. Naturally, it was hard for the two to combine their abilities perfectly.
Their teamwork did not result in one plus one being greater than two. If anything, it would be good if it stayed at two.
Obviously, the two recognize this fact. So, Donghai Longzi stepped back and allowed Ba Shifang to shine. Between the two of them, Ba Shifang was more likely to break Tianyi’s technique. Although the Law of Destruction was powerful, it was still weaker than the Law of Spacetime and the Law of Five Phases.
The five immortal lights increased in density and radiance. Tianyi also felt the gravity multiply in strength. Although it didn’t affect him now, it may in the future. However, he only waited and watched. After all, this was a spar to test his current abilities.
Using the power of the five immortal lights, Ba Shifang condensed a formation that replicated a planet. That wasn’t the end, as he condensed the planet. Although its size shrunk, the density and gravitational force exponentially increased.
“Planetary Collapse - Black Hole Creation.”
Just like how Tianyi took inspiration from his Five Element Planetary Titan, Ba Shifang also took inspiration from how Tianyi’s Constellation Cessation expanded into black holes due to the gravity not being able to contain the density. His method was different, but it had its own perks.
A hint of excitement appeared on Ba Shifang’s face. His technique didn’t just seal the spacetime around Tianyi, but the surrounding spacetime. No matter how powerful Tianyi’s method, he had to rely on the surrounding spacetime, right? As long as he could neutralize the surrounding spacetime, it would interfere with Tianyi’s method, making him more susceptible to attacks.
Alas, he had gotten too excited too early.
Ba Shifang only felt the aura of destruction before his Black Hole Seal (Tentative Name) destabilized. Although the sealing effect was powerful, it could still be destroyed before it was completed. Granted, the amount of power needed was far above most monarchs.
“Longzi, what are you doing?! If you want to attack, let me finish the seal first! Didn’t we discuss this beforehand?!”
Tianyi had already explained to them beforehand that he would not use any techniques that did not relate to the Law of Spacetime because he was gauging his progress. In addition, he promised to limit his strength to an immortal monarch, at least in terms of energy usage. So, the only one who could do this was Donghai Longzi.
“It’s not me!”
Upon hearing Donghai Longzi’s shout, Ba Shifang frowned. Not because he didn’t believe him, but because he could see that Donghai Longzi really wasn’t doing anything. But why did he feel Donghai Longzi’s aura within his Black Hole Seal?
He didn’t have to wait for long as cracks appeared on his Black Hole Seal. Not a second later, it exploded. Fragments shot. Some landed on the Five Element Planetary Titan and Donghai Longzi’s body, but they were only strong enough to leave scratches at best. Not to mention they soon decomposed in immortal light again.
However, neither Ba Shifang nor Donghai Longzi paid attention because two figures attracted their attention. They saw a perfect replica of themselves standing beside Tianyi. Donghai Longzi’s replica lowered his arm and the aura of destruction dissipated.
Comments
Irakli Jishkariani
Hmm it seems sovereign is unaffected by tianyi's ability. She maintains awareness
Zaim İpek
This is an interesting new ability. I wonder how it works.
