Volume 1, Chapter 134 – The Attention of Three Immortal Ascension Experts

While Gu Han was planning for the future at Yaochi Immortal Palace…

In Central Province, the storm sparked by the incident at Falling Star Valley was rapidly escalating.

By the fourth day after Lingxu Blessed Paradise disappeared, word had reached the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets.

Atop the Stargazing Platform of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets,

an elderly man with snow-white hair and beard sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, clad in a purple-gold Daoist robe.

Before him stood neither astrolabe nor divination sticks, only a crystal-like sphere floating in midair.

Within the sphere, stars flared and faded, while the trajectories of the Great Dao flickered in and out of view.

He was Old Man Tianji, one of Central Province’s three great Immortal Ascension experts, renowned for divining heavenly secrets and discerning the workings of fate.

“Ancestor.”

A refined middle-aged cultivator stood respectfully below the platform. He was Yuchenzi, the current Pavilion Master of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets.

“A secret realm called Lingxu Blessed Paradise suddenly disappeared from Falling Star Valley several days ago. It appears someone ‘erased’ it from that location.”

“There were no traces of spatial ruptures or collapsing Laws at the scene. It was as if it had never existed.”

At his words, Old Man Tianji slowly opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward Falling Star Valley.

Starlight shimmered in his eyes, as though his gaze could pierce the endless void and reveal the truth of what had happened there.

A moment later, Old Man Tianji’s brows drew together.

“It wasn’t erased. Someone ‘moved it.’”

“Moved it?”

Yuchenzi’s heart jolted. He immediately lowered his voice and asked with care,

“Then… were you able to determine whose work it was, Ancestor? Could it have been the Sovereign Longteng? Or Sacred Lord Yaoguang?”

“Neither…”

Old Man Tianji replied calmly.

Yuchenzi shuddered at those words.

“Then you mean…”

“There are two possibilities.”

Old Man Tianji fixed his gaze on a star within the crystal sphere that had suddenly begun to glow brightly.

“First, an Immortal Ascension expert from one of the other four regions intervened. Second…”

He paused, an uncharacteristic gravity flashing in his eyes.

“That secret realm was placed there by someone to begin with, and its owner has simply reclaimed it now.”

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Yuchenzi sucked in a sharp breath.

Lingxu Blessed Paradise had existed in Central Province for nearly ten thousand years and had always been publicly regarded as an unclaimed secret realm. How had it suddenly become someone’s property?

“Then, Ancestor, can you divine who was responsible?”

Yuchenzi asked.

Old Man Tianji remained silent for a long while before slowly shaking his head.

“The heavenly secrets are in chaos, shrouded beneath layer upon layer of mist.”

He looked south. For the first time, confusion appeared in those eyes that had seen through the ways of the world.

“A ‘variable’ has emerged and disrupted the predetermined course of fate.”

“A variable?” Yuchenzi asked, perplexed.

“A year ago, a new Immortal Ascension expert arose in the Southern Region, then vanished without a trace.”

Old Man Tianji spoke evenly.

“At the time, I tried to divine that person’s origins and background, but all I saw was emptiness.”

“Now, it seems that person has appeared.”

“The Southern Region? A new Immortal Ascension expert?”

Understanding dawned on Yuchenzi.

“Are you referring to the ‘Yaochi Empress’ who has caused such a stir in the Southern Region lately, Ancestor?”

“Yaochi Empress…”

Old Man Tianji softly repeated the title, then chuckled.

“If those two girls, Qingxuan and Lingshuang, found out, I’m afraid they wouldn’t be pleased.”

Yuchenzi did not dare respond.

As an Immortal Ascension expert who had lived for more than eighty thousand years on Canglan Continent, their ancestor was indeed entitled to call them that.

Who on Canglan Continent had not heard of those two Empresses?

Both were famously domineering and forceful, and fiercely protective of the title “Empress.”

Now someone in the Southern Region had also claimed the title, and another woman at that…

“Ancestor, do we need to do anything?”

Yuchenzi asked for instructions.

Old Man Tianji pondered for a moment before slowly replying,

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“Since she has already appeared, send someone to the Southern Region with a congratulatory gift in honor of the ‘Yaochi Empress.’”

“There is no need to investigate the secret realm any further. Central Province has no shortage of secret realms. Losing one or two makes little difference.”

“Yes.”

Yuchenzi accepted the order, then asked,

“What about the Sovereign Longteng and Sacred Lord Yaoguang…”

“They will make their own judgments.”

Old Man Tianji closed his eyes again.

“If anyone comes to visit in the near future, tell them I will be entering seclusion for a time.”

Yuchenzi’s heart tightened, and he respectfully withdrew.

Silence returned to the Stargazing Platform.

Old Man Tianji sat alone before the sphere of light, his fingers absently tracing its surface.

The paths of the stars within the sphere continually shifted and reassembled with his movements, eventually converging into a hazy vision…

A woman whose features could not be discerned stood amid the clouds. Behind her, a bright moon and a blazing sun hung in the sky together, their light complementing each other.

“The sun and moon sharing one sky…”

Old Man Tianji murmured softly.

At the same time, at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple in the Western Region,

Buddha Lord Wufa sat upright upon a lotus platform inside the solemn Mahavira Hall, radiant Buddha light surrounding him as ethereal Sanskrit chants lingered in the air.

An elderly monk below the dais reported respectfully,

“Buddha Lord, the Buddha Son has sent word from the Southern Region. That Immortal Ascension expert has appeared.”

“And she suppressed Venerable Tianqiong’s remnant soul…”

At those words, Wufa slowly opened his eyes.

“The Southern Region… Immortal Ascension!”

“Indeed. The cultivators of the Southern Region now revere her as the ‘Yaochi Empress.’”

“Empress…”

Wufa shook his head faintly.

“Have the two in the Eastern and Northern Regions shown any reaction?”

“Not yet.”

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“Mm.”

Wufa inclined his head.

“Pass down my order. Disciples of the Buddhist sects are not to set foot in the Southern Region for the time being.”

“Yes.”

The elderly monk acknowledged the order, then asked hesitantly,

“Buddha Lord, Venerable Tianqiong was, after all, a senior from sixty thousand years ago. Should we perhaps…”

“Tianqiong failed his Tribulation Transcendence all those years ago. His obsession turned demonic, and he slaughtered countless living beings. Fortunately, the Sovereign Longteng suppressed him.”

Wufa spoke calmly.

“Now that benefactor has dispersed him once more, she has also prevented him from bringing calamity to the world again. This is an act of merit.”

Understanding dawned on the elderly monk. He bowed once more and withdrew.

Wufa was left alone in the hall.

He looked east, then south, Buddha light swirling in his eyes as though he had glimpsed something.

After pondering for a long while, Wufa slowly shook his head and closed his eyes again.

“Amitabha. Let all things take their natural course.”

In the Northern Region, upon the Frozen Tundra,

Empress Lingshuang stood atop an ice cliff ten thousand zhang high, clad in an ice-blue palace gown as she gazed down upon the endless snowfields below.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, her bearing as cold and aloof as ice, even more biting than the winds of the far north.

“Your Majesty.”

A female general knelt on one knee and reported respectfully,

“That Immortal Ascension expert in the Southern Region has appeared…”

“Our spies there have also reported that Luoshui, Empress Qingxuan’s first disciple, has appeared in the Southern Region.”

“She has finally appeared?”

The corner of Empress Lingshuang’s lips curved into a cold, mocking smile.

“That woman Qingxuan even sent someone to the Southern Region?”

She turned, cold light flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

“What is the Immortal Ascension expert in the Southern Region called?”

“Your Majesty, her name is Gu Han. The cultivators of the Southern Region all call her the Yaochi Empress.”

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“Yaochi Empress…”

Empress Lingshuang gave a cold snort.

The female general did not dare respond.

It was an open secret throughout Canglan Continent that Empress Lingshuang and Empress Qingxuan were at odds.

One ruled the north and the other the east. Both were supreme experts who held dominion over an entire region. They had competed against each other for tens of thousands of years, and neither would yield to the other.

Now another Empress had arisen in the Southern Region. It was only natural for Empress Lingshuang to be displeased.

“Prepare a ‘gift.’”

Empress Lingshuang spoke suddenly.

“I would like to see just how capable this Gu Han truly is.”

The female general’s heart tightened. “You mean…”

“We’re going to the Southern Region!”

Empress Lingshuang’s voice was icy.

“I will personally meet this ‘Yaochi Empress.’”

“But Your Majesty, wouldn’t going in person be a little too…”

The female general hesitated.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Empress Lingshuang waved a hand.

“Hasn’t that woman Qingxuan already sent someone to the Southern Region?”

“Then I will go in person and see whether this Gu Han is worthy of my attention.”

She paused, a hint of amusement flashing in her eyes.

“Besides, I’m curious to know what that woman Qingxuan is plotting this time.”

The female general did not dare raise any further objections. She accepted the order and withdrew.

Atop the ice cliff, Empress Lingshuang stood alone in the freezing wind, her gaze fixed on the distant south.

“Yaochi Empress…”

She murmured to herself, a hint of battle intent flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

“Do not disappoint me.”