In the highest room of the palace in the center of Beginner City, a woman lay on a luxurious sofa. Her name was Ziye. Her features had returned to the prime of her life. The women of her generation hated her, and the women of her junior generation envied her. The source of all this was her cultivation base. As a nascent soul grandmaster, Ziye possessed a maximum lifespan of three thousand and six hundred years.
Never had the widow mother thought she would reach such heights. In the Demon Cage Realm, she was once the daughter of one of humanity’s strongest cultivators, Azure Leaf City Lord. However, Azure Leaf City fell along with her father, and she fell from one of the proud daughters of heavens to an ordinary cultivator without backing.
In humanity’s new stronghold, Fan City, Ziye fell in love with Lushu, a loose cultivator. He was a rising star, said to exceed her father in cultivation base and strength, but he died out of nowhere one day. All he left behind was a child for her, Jinshu.
Jinshu was an exceptional child. He was upstanding since young and never complained, understanding her plight. To her relief and worry, Jinshu inherited his father’s cultivation talent. Ziye worried that he would one day die without warning, just like her departed husband. Thankfully, her worry did not come true.
When Jinshu grew up, a major change occurred in the Demon Cage Realm. The Vast Heaven God reappeared in the Demon Cage Realm and whisked the humans away to a paradisiacal land with no monsters or demons. Not only that, but the Vast Heaven God also accepted her son as a disciple.
Thanks to his status as the Vast Heaven God’s disciple and own growing strength, Jinshu was able to forcibly boost her cultivation to the Nascent Sou Realm through sheer resources. Ziye didn’t harbor any hopes of entering the Immortal Realm. She knew her own talent, and surpassing her father’s strength was only a possibility.
Jinshu had wanted to raise her cultivation to the Unity Realm, but Ziye rejected it. Entering the Unity Realm would not increase her lifespan, so she saw no point. She was already satisfied with her current lifespan.
Many of her old acquaintances had also increased their longevity thanks to the superior cultivation environment on Sixth Heaven, where they lived. And it wasn’t like they only relied on absorbing the abundant spiritual qi to cultivate. Many of those who wanted to seek the immortal path also had jobs.
Years after the great migration, the Vast Heaven God created a game known as [Cultivation Online]. The [Players] were cultivators outside the Nine Heavens, the world the Sixth Heaven resided in. The people hired by the Vast Heaven God were divided into three groups: [NPCs], [Moderators], and [Admins].
NPCs, or Non-Playable Characters, had the lowest wage. They had to act out certain roles in Cultivation Online, such as a shopkeeper or blacksmith. Moderators and admins were vastly different. They were to solve any issue that cropped up in Cultivation Online, such as a player abusing some feature or loophole. They also maintained the fairness of the hunting grounds and bosses, preventing any one [Guild] from monopolizing it for too long. Well, at least to a certain point.
The players were all geniuses far beyond the natives of the Demon Cage Realm, and any action taken by the former would be easily rebuffed. In order to carry out their duties, the admins and moderators were given special privileges.
It was intoxicating.
Moderators possessed the power of a peak Transcending Mortality Saint, while admins had the power of immortals. Thanks to her connection with Jinshu, Ziye was chosen as an admin.
Upon first using her privileges, Ziye entered an illusion that she was all powerful. She used her newfound powers to kill the players that caused trouble and refused to comply with the rules. With her might established, none of the players dare to offend her on the surface.
Ziye enjoyed the feeling. Had it not been for Jinshu, who visited her using his status as a player, she might not have sobered up from her illusion. If she allowed the power to hinder her judgment and corrupt her, she would lose her position as an admin. Though the players would not be able to kill her, there are other methods of gaining revenge.
Power that ultimately belonged to external sources could not be relied upon. And even if she truly had the power of an immortal, Ziye didn’t think she would be able to contend with the Vast Heaven God. So, after killing the players to establish her might, she rarely killed again.
After that, her life settled down. Aside from dealing from some player-caused trouble, she lived an idyllic life. The players and even most descendants of those that migrated from the Demon Cage Realm no longer knew her as Ziye, but the Beginner City Lord. Life became dull, and the only spice in life would be when Jinshu would visit her.
He had been doing that a lot lately. Although Jinshu didn’t say why, Ziye guessed the reason. She didn’t know her exact lifespan, but she estimated it would not be longer than a hundred years.
Suddenly, Ziye opened her eyes. She stood up and looked outside the windows. The white clouds resembled feathers as they drifted in the blue sky. It was a fair weather day, but strangely, she saw two suns. One was the normal sun she saw every day on Sixth Heaven, but the other was smaller, yet its light seemed even more intense.
“What is going on?” Ziye muttered.
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Tianyi observed as the Stellar Silence reached its peak and transformed into a nova. Inside the Nine Heaven Universe, the amount of power he could call upon was hundreds of times more than in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. The best display was when he used Planetary Purgatory. When the spell finished, it directly created a planet, and when he cast Stellar Silence, it created a nova that exceeded the power of Constellation Cessation outside the Nine Heavens Universe.
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When the Dragon Emperor called Tianyi an illusion after he brought out the divine dragon scale, it wasn’t the truth, but it couldn’t be said to be a lie, either.
The first Tianyi that fought the Dragon Emperor was one of his conduits. If Tianyi’s conduits were divided into three tiers: first, second, and third, with first being the strongest and third being the weakest, then the conduit that fought the Dragon Emperor would be considered a second-tier conduit. After the Dragon Emperor brought out the divine dragon scale, Tianyi no longer planned to use a conduit. He took direct action as the universe itself.
The second self that appeareed was nothing more than a fabrication he created in order to continue the sword and saber duel with the Dragon Emperor, but since the latter used the brute strength of a pseudo divinity to suppress him, Tianyi gave up.
Speaking of swordsmanship, he originally wanted to test how much he gained from that short duel with Bao Ling. The results terrified him and made him more aware of Bao Ling’s abnormality. He actually tied with the Dragon Emperor, who was famed for three attributes.
Number one, his self-created cultivation method, the Dragon Emperor Fist. With it, he gained a body of a dragon and even peak martial immortals would be wary of clashing head on against him. Second, his saber skills. In fact, when the Dragon Emperor had not yet achieved the body of a true dragon, it was his saber skills that made him enough. Even before becoming a true immortal, he achieved saber intent as a Transcending Mortality Saint. Third, his domineering character, which eventually led to his death.
Honestly, it surprised Tianyi. In the first clash, Tianyi considered the two of them equal. He wasn’t like Bao Ling, who could create a new swordplay on the spot to deal with a specific foe, but that didn’t mean his swordsmanship couldn’t improve mid battle. After returning from the Jade and Numinous Conference, Tianyi did digest the gains from battling Bao Ling, but without actual combat, there were still some unforeseen flaws in his swordsmanship. The fight with the Dragon Emperor just so happened to iron out these flaws.
If he was honest, Tianyi would have liked to fight longer, but who told the Dragon Emperor to bring out a cheat item? He just wanted to scare the Dragon Emperor a bit. He wasn’t going to really pierce his brain with that thrust. A sparring opponent like him was hard to come by, especially since he was trapped in the Nine Heavens Universe.
The nova that appeared would still take a few days before burning out. That is, if Tianyi stopped supplying energy to it. Not a second later, a burning figure flew out of the lava. The figure shone like radiant gold, but his body was a mess. The handsome gold scales that covered his entire body had melted and melded together. Hot steam wafted from his body, even in the glacial void. Even the eyes had gone white from blindness.
The only part intact was the golden scale in the middle of the Dragon Emperor’s forehead.
The Dragon Emperor shot into the distance as fast as possible. Tianyi could let the Dragon Emperor flee if he wanted to, and the Dragon Emperor would be like Sun Wukong, trapped within the Tathagata Buddha’s palm. But he wouldn’t.
After all, he and the Dragon Emperor shared quite the history together. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that half of Tianyi’s enemies were caused by the Dragon Emperor. In addition, Tianyi wanted the divine dragon scale on the Dragon Emperor’s head.
Normally, Tianyi disdained to steal treasure from other people, even if he wanted them. However, he was going to kill the Dragon Emperor, so this can be considered his reward, right?
He took action. He didn’t plan to use Constellation Cessation. Using Stellar Silence already resulted in a phenomenon that could be seen from the Nine Heavens System, and using an even stronger technique would cause it to remain for years. Of course, he could forcibly end it, but that would just be wasting energy. Better to just let it dissipate naturally.
The Dragon Emperor pushed his speed to the maximum, so much so that it left a long trail of golden light. Still, he could not avoid the Planetary Purgatory Tianyi unleashed. Only this time, Tianyi didn’t use them as fuel for Stellar Silence and detonate them. However, the visual impact was arguably worse, as the Dragon Emperor had to dodge planets literally shooting at him.
“Who are you!? You, an exalted god, don’t even dare to show yourself in front of me? Can you only hide and only use sneak attacks? Coward! No wonder it took the Buzhuo Immortal Court so long to unify the Huang Realm. It’s because of your cowardice! Even with absolute superiority, you hide behind a bastard’s facade!”
In the Vast Void of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, Tianyi blinked as he heard the Dragon Emperor’s rant. ‘This guy, just what scenario did he imagine?’
Still, Tianyi didn’t plan on showing himself. It was more fun to see the enraged expression on that uppity emperor’s face. Still, he upped his attacks. He started detonating the planets, but not to the same extent as the first one. They still shone brightly in the sky, but only for a brief moment.
The Dragon Emperor escaped from the blast radius of another Stellar Silence. His life force flickered weakly, and it was clear that if this continued, he would fall. He roared in anger and unwillingness. “Immortal Court, this is not over between you and I!”
Tianyi wondered what the Dragon Emperor planned to do, self-detonate and create more Dragon Emperor clones? Unfortunately, that was impossible in the Nine Heavens Universe.
He soon realized what the Dragon Emperor planned moments later. His aura and the aura of the divine dragon scale began to synchronize. The Dragon Emperor planned to merge with the divine dragon’s scale and raise his strength to the Origin Immortal Realm, or possibly to the level of a pseudo divinity. Although Tianyi had the confidence to kill a pseudo divinity in the Nine Heavens Realm, he wanted the divine dragon scale, so he would never allow the Dragon Emperor to succeed.
Tianyi used his ultimate technique, Nebulous Negation.
At once, immortal qi of destruction leaked from the Dragon Emperor’s body. The divine dragon scale didn’t lose any essence because Tianyi hadn’t understood it yet. He could force it, but that would destroy the point. Anyway, without the Dragon Emperor’s immortal qi of destruction, the merging process slowed, but he didn’t stop there. Blood red mist also leaked from the Dragon Emperor’s body. Compared to the immortal qi, the dragon bloodline was the true bridge that linked the divine dragon scale.
The Dragon Emperor struggled, of course, but under the absolute control Tianyi had over the Nine Heavens Universe, he was like an ant attempting to stop a raging river.
“No, no,” the Dragon Emperor whispered weakly. His body lay prone in the void. The golden scales had receded, leaving behind a mangled body that would soon become a corpse. Not only had the skin melted, but the muscles also turned to liquid, revealing golden bones.
Slowly, no sound left the Dragon Emperor’s lips. He had turned into a corpse with the only life force emanating from him was because of the divine dragon scale. A sickening plop and stretched skin later, the divine dragon scale flew off of the corpse’s forehead and disappeared into space.
Tianyi sighed. He didn’t feel pity about the Dragon Emperor’s death at his hand, but there would always be a complicated feeling whenever he witnessed the passing of a legend. The same feeling occurred when he wiped the Eight Pillar Sect off the face of the Earth Continent.
“Huh?”