Volume 8, Chapter 497 – Heavenly Stele

“I said it’s a secret! Manager Liu, you should understand the rules of the auction house better than anyone, shouldn’t you?”

Qi Huang was visibly displeased. She couldn’t fathom why this woman was so insistent on digging to the bottom of things.

“Young master, please calm your anger! The rules are indeed as you say, but as I’ve just explained, these are all rare treasures, most of them unique within the Western Radiance Dynasty. If they were obtained through legitimate means, we’d have no qualms about auctioning them. But if their origins are unclear… well, you understand the consequences once they’re put up for sale.”

Liu Yingyue cautiously reminded her.

Qi Huang’s expression shifted. She finally realized, while precious treasures were desirable, if they were too rare, their exposure would immediately alert their original owners.

Qi Huang wasn’t afraid of Ye Donglai, but she had no intention of revealing her true background. After a brief hesitation, she relented: “Thank you for the reminder, Manager Liu. I’ll hold off on auctioning these for now.”

“Rest assured, young master. Yingyue has never seen these items today.” Liu Yingyue tactfully played along.

‘Looks like I’ll have to take these treasures to another country to auction them.’ Qi Huang mused to herself.

After bidding farewell to Liu Yingyue, Qi Huang sought out Huang Di to get an update on recent developments.

“The situation is getting worse by the day.” Huang Di’s expression was grave as he transmitted his thoughts.

“What’s happened?” Qi Huang’s heart tightened slightly.

“Big brother, you know as well as I do. Ever since Yaoyao robbed most of the Western Radiance Dynasty’s sects of their Nine Nether Demon Cats, the entire cultivation world has been starved for cat tears. And now, with the Golden Fortune Auction House continuously selling them, we’ve naturally become the prime suspect. The cultivators investigating us are growing stronger by the day. It’s getting harder for me to handle.”

Huang Di’s tone was heavy.

“I knew this would happen!” Qi Huang took a deep breath.

“Then what should we do now? Cut ties with Manager Liu? If we keep working with her, problems will arise sooner or later. We can run if needed, but what about her? She’s just an ordinary person.”

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Huang Di sounded anxious.

“Stop cooperating? That would cut off our income. And why would this fairy, a mighty Heavenly Tribulation Realm expert, need to flee?”

Qi Huang brimmed with confidence.

“But I—”

Huang Di hesitated, his face twisting awkwardly. What he wanted to say was that he was only at the peak of the Incarnation Realm.

“Ah, my apologies. I forgot about your cultivation level.”

Qi Huang suddenly realized. With a thought, two to three hundred Ghost Tomatoes materialized on the table.

“Your divine sense is at the peak of the Incarnation Realm. After consuming these, you should break through to the Divine Realm. From then on, unless one of those three true Divine Realm experts comes knocking, you’ll be able to handle any trouble with ease.”

As she spoke, she handed over the Tongming Comb.

“Thank you, big brother!”

Huang Di’s lips trembled with gratitude.

“No need for thanks. We’re practically the same person.”

Qi Huang waved it off casually. Over time, she had come to understand one thing clearly, the main body and its incarnations were bound by shared interests. Glory for one meant glory for all; loss for one meant loss for all. So when it mattered, she couldn’t afford to be stingy. Right now, if she couldn’t ensure the Golden Fortune Auction House’s safety, her future source of steady income would vanish.

“For now, bear with it. Once I ascend to immortality, I’ll publicly reveal Yaoyao’s existence. Then, under her name, I’ll openly claim all the Nine Nether Demon Cats in the Western Radiance Dynasty, no, the entire cultivation continent! Let’s see what those cultivators can do about it!”

Qi Huang smirked darkly. Since reaching the Heavenly Tribulation Realm in divine sense hadn’t triggered any heavenly retribution, she could freely grow stronger without worry. And since she only cultivated her divine sense and not her physical body, she wouldn’t collapse space like Lu Yao had. That meant she could stay in this cultivation world no matter how powerful she became.

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Returning to the Honghua Sect, Qi Huang found herself without Anemia Paste, so she temporarily halted her training in the ‘Doppelgänger Method’ with her main body. Instead, she poured all her energy into finding a solution to her feminization, sleeping day and night without rest.

Heaven rewards the diligent. That night, Qi Huang finally glimpsed Cheng Ling’s memories again, and once more saw Lu Yao, who had ascended to the immortal realm.

In the depths of the starry sky, terrifying shockwaves bloomed like fireworks, annihilating asteroids and smaller planets in their wake. The two figures clashing were none other than Lu Yao and that Du Jie.

Du Jie panted heavily. Over the past hour, he had exhausted all the celestial bodies within hundreds of thousands of miles as weapons, yet the female zombie before him showed no signs of fatigue. On the contrary, she was growing stronger by the minute. All because her body was absorbing Yin energy from both worlds at an absurdly exaggerated rate, like water rushing through a breach in a dam.

Two worlds, the cultivation realm and the immortal realm. The spatial rift between them hadn’t yet closed, allowing Lu Yao to draw Yin energy from her original world.

“Impossible! How are you doing this? How can you absorb Yin energy so quickly?!”

Du Jie gritted his teeth. In all his years, he had never encountered something so bizarre. Since when did malevolent entities grow stronger the longer they fought?

“Sorry, it’s innate.” Lu Yao’s tone was flat. The truth was something only she knew, it was all due to that teardrop of condensed resentment beneath her right eye.

“I admit I underestimated you. I should’ve used my strongest attacks from the start. If I let you grow unchecked, the entire myriad worlds will suffer.”

Du Jie’s expression turned solemn.

“Spare me the hypocrisy! That descendant of yours in the lower realm forced his ‘Heaven-Mending’ on mortals against their will for his own selfish gains. And now you’re using the ‘myriad worlds’ as justification? This is what you immortals are like? How enlightening.”

Lu Yao’s laugh was cold.

“Apologies, but in the eyes of immortals, mortals don’t count as people.”

Du Jie’s gaze held undisguised disdain.

“Ah, the ugly truth finally comes out. Good. Now I won’t feel the slightest guilt killing you.”

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Lu Yao actually seemed relieved.

“Who kills whom remains to be seen! Centuries ago, I consulted Tianjizi. He said the ‘Mortal Calamity’ of my Heavenly Tribulation wasn’t yet resolved, that today would be my demise. But I refuse to believe it!”

Du Jie spoke as if to himself.

“Tianjizi?”

Lu Yao frowned.

“Tianjizi are immortals who can perceive the will of the Heavenly Dao. They know the past and divine the future, rarely are they wrong. But today, I’ll prove him mistaken.”

With that, Du Jie roared:

“Heavenly Stele, MANIFEST!”

In that instant, a stele roughly ten feet tall materialized before him!

Lu Yao focused her gaze. The stele was similar in size to the Immortal Stele she’d seen before, but its material was clearly different, and so were the words carved into it. The one in the cultivation world had read: “Ancestor Du Jie, the Ancient Immortal’s Legacy.”

This one, however, read:

“Ancestor Du Qing, the Celestial Being’s Legacy.”

‘Celestial Being? Something above immortals?’ Lu Yao couldn’t help but speculate.

“Blood Sacrifice, First Form: Devour the Heavens!”

Du Jie bellowed, flicking a streak of blood onto the stele.

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The Heavenly Stele began to rotate, distorting space itself. A terrifying gravitational wave radiated outward, pulling in all stellar debris within millions of miles.

Lu Yao was caught in the pull. Her body lurched uncontrollably toward the stele.

“The cultivation world has its Immortal Stele, the immortal realm has its Heavenly Stele. Now witness the difference!”

Du Jie’s laughter was maniacal.

Lu Yao bit her lip, struggling with all her might. Her limbs flailed as if swimming, though they were in the void between stars, the faint traces of air leaking from the cultivation world provided some resistance. But how could such meager resistance compare to the stele’s overwhelming pull?

Slowly, inexorably, she was dragged toward it, along with the very air around her.

The Heavenly Stele, having absorbed countless celestial fragments, had now swelled to the size of a star. Its gravitational force grew even more terrifying, devouring everything within its reach.

“Hmph!”

Lu Yao snorted. With a single hand outstretched, violent Yin energy surged forth, only to be sucked straight into the stele.

As the Yin energy corroded its surface, the stele began shedding layer after layer. Yet with each new influx of matter, it barely maintained its size.

But Lu Yao had the Yin energy of multiple worlds fueling her. Her power skyrocketed, the Yin energy she unleashed growing denser until it shrouded space for tens of thousands of miles.

Finally, the stele’s replenishment could no longer keep up with the corrosion. Its mass plummeted, its gravitational pull weakening.

Lu Yao steadied herself and declared coldly:

“The Heavenly Stele… is nothing more than this!”