Tianyi raised his guard as he observed the unknown cultivator in front of him. For some reason, he felt that the supposed Concealed Emperor felt familiar to him. Suddenly, it struck him.

"Senior Immortal Court Spirit?"

The man in jade-green robes raised an eyebrow. "You can tell? No wonder His Majesty told me to meet you."

"His Majesty?" Tianyi asked. "You mean the Concealed Emperor?"

Immortal Court Spirit nodded. "You could say that."

"What do you mean by that?"

"To be more precise, the Concealed Emperor of another timeline ordered me to meet you here," Immortal Court Spirit replied.

"From another timeline? Does that mean the Concealed Emperor is actually the Concealed Sovereign?" Tianyi asked with shock. Actually, now that he thought about it. With how deep the foundation the Buzhuo Immortal Sect had, it should have been more obvious.

"I don't know," Immortal Court Spirit replied. "All timelines may not have a Concealed Emperor, but everyone will have me, the Immortal Court Spirit."

"Then is the timeline I came from the main timeline?"

"I don't know. No one can know which timeline is the main one until the branch one dies. But I can tell you now that the timeline you came from is superior to this one. Do you have any other questions?" Immortal Court Spirit patiently asked.

"This ruin is something you threw out as bait, right?"

Immortal Court Spirit stared at Tianyi. "Don't you already know?"

'As I thought,' Tianyi opened his mouth once more. "Then since when have you been paying attention to me, and how much do you know?"

"I don't know how long the other me or the Concealed Emperor has been paying attention to you. After all, you don't exist in this timeline. As for your other question, I don't know. I only know what you did since you've come here," Immortal Court Spirit answered frankly.

Tianyi scratched his head. 'That doesn't tell me jack.'

"Now, are you done with your questions?" Immortal Court Spirit asked.

Tianyi opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He turned towards Daoyi. She opened her mouth and asked, "Why did you set this up to meet us here?"

"To hide from Xia Meng's eyes," Immortal Court Spirit replied.

It took a moment for Tianyi to recall that Sect Master Xia's given name was Meng. "You and he aren't on the same side?"

Immortal Court Spirit shook his head. "This isn't quite accurate. I'm loyal to the Concealed Emperor. I help Xia Meng because he is the current Sect Master. But my master's orders this time will be detrimental to Xia Meng."

Tianyi instantly raised his guard.

"You don't have to be so cautious, it's a good thing for you," Immortal Court Spirit said. "I'm here to help you return."

"How do I know you aren't lying to me? I'm an outsider after all," Tianyi said as he stood protectively in front of Daoyi.

"I was told to deliver a message for you."

"A message?" Tianyi asked but still kept his guard up.

This time, Immortal Court Spirit's expression turned strange. "The message is, "Yi'er, I've already arranged everything. When you return, I'll hold the marriage ceremony."

Tianyi opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. 'Maybe I should delay returning.'

He looked towards Daoyi as if to ask her opinion. "Well, we have been dating for years. It's more than enough to get married by mortals standards. Plus, we have lived in the same house, er-palace for years."

Tianyi looked up. 'Maybe I should just leave Daoyi here and leave for a bit.'

In the end, Tianyi didn't do that and looked at Immortal Court Spirit. "Alright, how do we go back?"

"In the whole entire Three Thousand Realms System, there is only one place that can reliably shuttle passengers through timelines, the River of Time. But it's normally impossible to access it," Immortal Court Spirit said.

"Then how do we access it?"

"The River of Time is connected to the Six Paths of Samsara, and to access the Six Paths of Samsara, you need to enter the Nether Realm," Immortal Court Spirit said.

"But the Nether Realm is sealed off. It's impossible to access it," Tianyi said.

"In your timeline, maybe. But as long as I pay a sufficient price, I can force open an entrance into the Nether Realm," Immortal Court Spirit said.

Tianyi held his chin. "I believe you, but I don't think that is all you require. Otherwise, you wouldn't have secretly met me without Sect Master Xia's knowledge. What do you need me to do?"

"There's something you need to take back to your timeline, the Three Lives Stone," Immortal Court Spirit. "It's a divine artifact that records the past, present, and future lives of all beings in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. Normally, you could never grab hold of it due to Empress Ping guarding it. But she doesn't exist in this timeline."

Empress Ping, the ruler of the Nether Realm. She held absolute control over the Six Paths of Samsara.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Isn't the Three Lives Stone integral to the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System? What would happen to this timeline if I took it?" Immortal Court Spirit only smiled. "It would damage the foundation and speed up the destruction, huh? No wonder you used such a roundabout way to contact me. What about you? Aren't you afraid of being destroyed?"

Immortal Court Spirit shrugged. "I'm just one of many. Each one of me is connected. I wouldn't be destroyed, I'll merge with another me. Since this timeline will be destroyed anyway, why not make use of it and redistribute the resources to benefit the superior timeline?"

"Couldn't you have sent someone else to grab the Three Lives Stone, like Grand Elder Zhang?" Tianyi asked.

"That's impossible. I actually don't know why His Majesty chose you, but he told me you could safely deliver the Three Lives Stone back to your timeline," Immortal Court Spirit said. Despite not knowing, his eyes carried no curiosity.

An ability Tianyi had that an immortal emperor like Grand Elder Zhang didn't. It could only be his Nine Heavens Universe.

Tianyi shared a look with Daoyi before looking back at Immortal Court Spirit. "Alright,"

Immortal Court Spirit smiled. "I'll give you the location of the Nether Realm. You normally can't access it without using the Law of Space."

Tianyi nodded. If everyone could access it, wouldn't it be noisy every day from people coming to seek their departed? Especially immortals.

Immortal Court Spirit threw something Tianyi, which he caught. When he looked at what was in his hand, he saw a black jade badge with the words "Heaven Bearing" sculpted on it. Furthermore, he sensed the Law of Death contained within it.

Tianyi looked at Immortal Court Spirit in confusion. He said, "It's the Heaven Bearing Great Emperor's seal, the Heaven Bearing Seal. Although it was only an empty title with Empress Ping's presence, having it will allow you to navigate the Nether Realm with minimal obstruction.

In the Primordial Era, the Immortal Court had six Great Emperors. The greatest of them all was the Jade Emperor, who controlled the three realms.

The other six emperors were the East Great Emperor of Greenflower, who controlled all species and assisted the Jade Emperor in controlling the growth of lifeforms in the three realms; the Antarctic Great Emperor of Longevity ruled all spirits and assisted the Jade Emperor in ruling over the blessings and misfortunes of the three realms; the West Great Emperor of Curved Array, who controls all lightning and assists the Jade Emperor in managing the three talents of heaven, earth, and man, and military affairs; North Great Emperor of Polaris who rules the myriad stars and assists the Jade Emperor in managing the sun, moon, and stars, and regulate the four seasons; and the Great Emperor of Heaven Bearing, who controls the Nether Realm and Six Paths of Samsara, and controls the birthrate.

"You actually had this?" Tianyi asked in shock. "You wouldn't happen to have the other emperor's seal, would you?"

"Stop being so greedy. It can be considered your payment if you bring back the Three Lives Stone. The Heaven Bearing Seal contains the Law of Death and Law of Life."

Tianyi felt his lips twitch. When his mother first got the Longevity Oracle Mirror, it was broken, and when he got the Kunlun Mirror, it was also not in its best state. And it took a lucky chance and strength to get them, so when did divine artifacts become so commonplace?

Actually, it was closer to robbing the protagonist, but the point still stands.

"How many artifacts does the Buzhou Immortal Sect have?"

"You don't need to know," Immortal Court Spirit said. "So, when are you prepared to go to the Nether Realm?"

"Right now," Tianyi said.

"So soon?" Immortal Court Spirit asked.

Tianyi nodded. "It should be a great place for cultivation. Since it's been sealed, there should be a lot of good things inside that no one has picked up."

Immortal Court Spirit felt the corner of his lips, which had never moved in over a hundred thousand years, twitch. "As long as you complete His Majesty's mission, you can do whatever you want. But, I should warn you that although there aren't any immortals inside, there might be powerful corpses or ghosts more powerful than immortal emperors."

Tianyi nodded.

After this, Tianyi waited for the end of the agreed time and left the Immortal Court's ruin. Tianyi had no time to care about the others, and all his thoughts were on the Nether Realm. Since the Immortal Court Spirit could communicate with other timelines, it meant all the information gathered in this timeline would disseminate. He kind of felt ridiculous thinking of helping by gathering information.

On the way back, Tianyi stored Daoyi in his inner universe and disappeared from the immortal boat. He didn't appear anywhere else in the Huang Realm but directly above the Huang Realm in the Vast Void.

He looked at the Concealed Immortal Palace with some curiosity. He had entered Heaven, Earth, Man Trinity Immortal Palace and Inkpoem Immortal Palace, but he had never entered Concealed Immortal Palace.

Tianyi entered the Concealed Immortal Palace, its doors opening and allowing him entrance. He only stopped when he entered the core space. He sat down and began to refine the immortal palace into his own artifact.

It didn't take long, not because of Tianyi's skill, but because the previous owner voluntarily shifted the control to him. 'This means I get to keep this when I return, right? I mean, I'm going to use this to enter the Nether Realm, and I can't return it once the entrance closes, right? Mhm, I'll take it as a yes.'

Having gained complete control of the Concealed Immortal Palace, Tianyi pondered whether he should rename it the Nine Heavens Palace but decided it was a question best left for when he returned. He controlled the Concealed Immortal Palace to leave its original position and fly downward.

Tianyi slowly passed through the myriad realms of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. Along the way, he peered into several high-grade, middle-grade, and low-grade realms. However, he also saw realms formed from pure energy, such a realm only with fire or lightning. Such realms possessed no life at all.

Finally, Tianyi arrived at the center of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, but strangely, there was nothing at the center, just empty space. But Tianyi knew that the Nether Realm existed here, so he sent word to Immortal Court Spirit that he had arrived, and it was time to open the backdoor for him.

----------------------------------------

Sect Master furrowed his brows when he learned that Tianyi had not returned with the others and, instead, mysteriously disappeared. He tried to search for Tianyi but could not discover any trace of him.

'Did he leave the Huang Realm?" Sect Master Xia wondered. But to leave the Huang Realm, he would know since the Buzhou Immortal Sect could monitor who enters and leaves—unless Tianyi had inside aid, but that would be impossible.

Just as that thought occurred to him, a messenger quickly entered. "Sect Master, the Concealed Palace was stolen!"

"What?!" Sect Master Xia shouted as he stood up. "That's impossible. Even if someone snuck in, the alarms would have sounded!"

However, worse news came afterward as the ground started to tremble. It was impossible for the headquarters of the Buzhou Immortal Sect to experience an earthquake. With a mind full of questions, Sect Master left his mansion and flew into the sky.

There, he saw other immortals staring at the Buzhou Mountain Range in horror and confusion, like headless chickens. More and more messengers arrived for Sect Master Xia. He slowly learned that it wasn't only the BUzhou Immortal Sect that experienced such a phenomenon, but the whole Heaven Continent. No, the entire Huang Realm.

The members of the Eight Pillar Sect were already flying towards the Heaven Continent to find the source of the calamity, but Sect Master Xia couldn't care at this point. He flew into Broken Heaven Valley with the other head elders.

Once inside, he saw the Immortal Court filled with dense energy. He quickly flew towards Spirit Heaven Palace, where he saw the Concealed Emperor sitting on the throne.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing?!"

Immortal Court Spirit opened his eyes and spared Sect Master Xia a glance. He opened his mouth and said one word.

"Sorry."

With the Broken Heaven Valley as the origin, the entire Huang Realm shattered. From now on, in the Silent Lightning Timeline's Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, there was only one immortal-grade realm, the Numinous Realm.