Volume 1, Chapter 347 – Fluctuation

At the border of the Central Heaven Domain, within a stretch of mountain ranges, a spatial rift slowly opened.

Shi Lan stepped out, with Tianbai close behind.

Rumble…

The instant the two of them stepped out of the spatial passage, dark clouds suddenly gathered across the clear sky for ten thousand miles, rolling in together with flashing lightning and peals of thunder.

Thunderclouds spread across several hundred miles, their rumbling deafening. Blazing lightning condensed into one thunder dragon after another, darting through the pitch-black clouds. It was a terrifying sight.

Shi Lan felt something stir within her and looked up at the sky.

This was the lightning tribulation for her immortal cultivation stepping into the Spirit Transformation Realm. It had not appeared within Langya Grotto-Heaven, evidently because Langya Grotto-Heaven had concealed the workings of heaven.

“Your Excellency, your injuries…”

Tianbai at her side also reacted, his brows knitting slightly in concern. Shi Lan’s injuries were not light at the moment.

“It’s nothing.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly. Her divine sense spread out, and after confirming that there were no signs of human habitation within several hundred miles, she relaxed a little.

The heavenly tribulation itself was nothing to fear. What worried her was that it might draw over some troublesome existence. The Central Heaven Domain was famed for hidden dragons and crouching tigers; she had long heard as much.

Judging by the usual patterns she remembered, compared to Chengtian Domain, the Central Heaven Domain might not literally be a place where Heaven-Man were everywhere and Nascent Soul Realm cultivators were less than dogs, but it probably was not far off.

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If she attracted some extraordinary figure, it would undoubtedly mean a great deal more trouble.

Rumble!

A thunder dragon plunged down from the clouds, like heavenly punishment descending upon the world to tear Shi Lan apart. Shi Lan raised a hand and sent Tianbai a hundred miles away. Then the Nascent Soul seated cross-legged atop the Dao Foundation within her sea of consciousness stepped out, soared into the heavens, bathed in lightning and thunder, and tempered itself.

With the support of the Secret Canon of Spirit Refinement, the strength of Shi Lan’s divine soul far surpassed that of cultivators at the same realm. For her, surviving the lightning tribulation was hardly any challenge at all.

That casual attitude seemed to provoke the thunder in the sky. The originally calm thunderclouds instantly turned incomparably violent. Blazing lightning flooded the whole world, causing even Shi Lan’s Nascent Soul to feel a searing pain.

As the blazing arcs of lightning rained down, Shi Lan instantly sensed a trace of danger. She did not recall her Nascent Soul. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and stared at the thunderclouds above, her expression dark and unreadable.

What are you acting fierce for?

The boundless black illusion slowly unfolded. As Shi Lan’s soul continued to grow stronger, the power of the Black Domain was also increasing day by day. Within the span of a few finger snaps, it had already covered a radius of several hundred miles, like a gigantic abyssal maw, even larger than the tribulation clouds in the sky.

The Black Domain slowly rose and swept upward into the heavens, wrapping up the entire tribulation cloud along with the lightning filling the sky, instantly biting a massive hollow out of the void.

Shi Lan lightly licked her lips, suppressed the lightning glimmering in her eyes, then sat down cross-legged and began suppressing the rampaging thunder-force deep within the Black Domain.

The thunder-force ran wild within her body, bringing a faint tingling pain, while also seeming to faintly awaken some hidden power buried deep within her.

Back when her Black Domain had first awakened, it had been activated by thunder-force during her clash with Shen Tianlan. Perhaps there was still some unknown ability hidden within her.

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…

…

In the Central Heaven Domain, outside the main gates of the Imperial Palace, a pitch-black warship was moored.

Two figures stood on the deck. At the front was a man in his forties with a stern expression. Between his brows was a faint blade scar hidden in the furrows of his forehead. Not far behind him stood a sturdily built young man. It was Tianwu Yangyu, who had rushed here without pause, crossing domain gates one after another at top speed.

At the moment, he wore an anxious expression. Looking at the tightly shut gates of the Imperial Palace, he could not help pacing back and forth, his footsteps thudding against the deck.

“What are you panicking for?!”

Hearing the restlessness at his ear, the blade scar between the middle-aged man’s brows deepened, and a chilling cold light flickered in his eyes.

Tianwu Yangyu’s heart jumped. He stopped in his tracks, pressed his lips together, and said bitterly, “Second Uncle, if that Ancient God King escapes this time, our clan will bear a grave fault…”

“The sky will not fall…”

The middle-aged man’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked from afar at the gates of the Imperial Palace, and he said no more.

Suddenly, two battle generals clad in black armor threaded with golden silk appeared before the gates of the Imperial Palace. Forming seals with both hands, they slowly pushed the gates open.

Boom—

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The gates, over ten thousand zhang high, slowly opened. The middle-aged man stepped forward, Dao marks appearing faintly beneath his feet, and in an instant he crossed into the Imperial Palace.

Tianwu Yangyu’s spirits lifted, and he hurried after him into the Imperial Palace.

After the two entered, the gates shut tightly once more, and the two battle generals in black armor with golden threads also vanished without a trace.

Once inside the Imperial Palace, Tianwu Yangyu could not help looking around. After all, a million years ago, this place had belonged to his ancestors.

The Tianwu Sovereign was undoubtedly the Sovereign with the most illustrious military achievements since the recent ancient era. Unfortunately, because he had fought campaign after campaign, he had not even lived ten thousand years before passing away.

Since childhood, Tianwu Yangyu had grown up listening to stories of his forefather within the clan. There were also rumors in the world that, had the Tianwu Sovereign not exhausted too much of his blood and qi through years of warfare, he might well have become the first Great Emperor after the end of the ancient era.

But these were only rumors in the end. The Tianwu Sovereign had long since passed away.

Tianwu Yangyu looked around. Everywhere his eyes fell, there were only immortal terraces and jade pavilions. In the sky, immortal mountains and floating islands could vaguely be seen rising and sinking. Endless heavenly springs wound through the void, casting down a seven-colored glazed radiance. In the spring water swam schools of golden long fish whose entire bodies were covered in dragon scales.

Spirit-gathering formations and arrays sealing the void had faintly been laid out all around. Tianwu Yangyu had entered the Imperial Palace for less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, yet he already felt his cultivation improve slightly. It was terrifying.

The middle-aged man walking ahead, however, had no mind for sightseeing. Leading Tianwu Yangyu with practiced ease, he bypassed countless pavilions and towers and headed straight for the center of the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace was simply too vast, and the void was sealed by great arrays. The two walked for nearly half a quarter hour before arriving before an ancient palace hall.

The middle-aged man did not slow in the slightest, bringing Tianwu Yangyu straight inside.

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Within the hall, Liu Yunzhen, dressed in green robes, stood at the higher level. Beneath the jade steps stood four figures. Around each of them drifted Emperor laws, and their auras were as terrifying as the heavens and cosmos themselves, vast and boundless.

Tianwu Yangyu did not dare look too closely. He knew the identities of the four before him. They were far beyond ordinary supreme Emperor-level powerhouses.

Within the Imperial Court, the Sovereign stood supreme, and beneath him were the Four Great Princes!

“Greetings, Heavenly Master.” The middle-aged man did not so much as glance at the Four Great Princes. He went straight to Liu Yunzhen and offered a half-bow.

The imperial clans were permitted, by honor of ancient times, to forgo kneeling even before the princes.

“There is no need for excessive courtesy, Yongmu. I already know the full course of this matter. The Sovereign is currently in the Yellow Springs and cannot return for the moment. We can only rely on ourselves…”

“The annals of the human race must not be lightly disturbed. I need—”

Liu Yunzhen shook his head slightly, but midway through speaking, his expression changed. He fixed his gaze steadily on the entrance to the great hall.

Tianwu Yangyu quietly turned his head to follow that line of sight, and he too froze on the spot.

At some unknown moment, an additional figure had appeared at the entrance of the hall. He merely stood there, yet it was as if he pressed down upon the myriad heavens of all ages. His aura was terrifying enough to chill the soul, and his gaze was calm as still water, concealing within it the weathering of countless unspoken years.

“I’ll go myself.”

Liu Yunzhen’s pupils contracted slightly. It was the first time he had sensed an emotional fluctuation from the person before him, though it had lasted only for an instant, so brief it had almost seemed like an illusion.