Chapter 41: The Dao Alliance Immortal Palace

A distant, mysterious place.

A towering tree, hundreds of millions of miles high, supported this secret realm. Not far from the tree was a lake exuding spiritual energy. Beside the lake sat cross-legged a cold, stern man wearing a tall crown and black imperial robes—none other than Prince Qinghuan. With each breath, he drew the spiritual energy from the lake into his body.

"Hmm?" Prince Qinghuan suddenly received a message from a servant and couldn't help but smile. "It seems Beiming has resolved his trouble. Truly impressive—he managed to survive under Daoist Kongsa and stall until Senior Brother Fuyi arrived."

"Now that I've become a two-step Daoist and taken some risks for opportunities, I could still survive under Daoist Kongsa. In a direct fight, I'd certainly lose, but with my treasures and by manipulating time and space, I could escape." Prince Qinghuan proudly took out a fist-sized seed. The seed was extraordinary, causing disturbances in the surrounding spacetime.

"Coming here and enduring all this hardship was worth it for this treasure. Now I need to think... how to get out!" Prince Qinghuan was somewhat troubled. "In this vast world, aside from me, there isn't a single other living being."

...

In the dark void.

A massive beast roared in the void, while on the other side stood Water Lord Huojin.

Water Lord Huojin fought in close quarters, his movements fierce and cruel, his hands sometimes turning into flowing water, surging with overwhelming power.

"Crack."

The beast, severely wounded and nearly powerless to resist, had its neck gripped by Water Lord Huojin's massive right hand.

"Submit or die!" Water Lord Huojin's eyes held a sinister killing intent.

"I will submit." The beast hesitated, then finally bowed its head.

Water Lord Huojin then produced a silver collar covered in divine runes. With a wave of his hand, the silver collar flew out and fastened around the beast's neck, then vanished without a trace.

The beast immediately became more docile.

"Hmm?" Water Lord Huojin frowned. "It seems Beiming's strength has grown considerably. Under Daoist Kongsa's pursuit, he still managed to stall until Daoist Fuyi came to rescue him? There's still a considerable gap between Beiming and me. No... no... I am the strongest. Qinghuan, Fengyi, Beiming—I will surpass them all."

"Whoosh." Water Lord Huojin waved his hand, stowing away the beast, then stepped into the void and vanished in a flash.

...

In a mortal world.

It was a mortal city, with patrolling soldiers, peddlers, commoners, and many beggars.

A thin, young man in a red robe with a shaved head strolled through the city.

"Little one."

The red-robed, shaven-headed young man suddenly approached a beggar child and said softly, "I can sense the endless anger, hatred, and resentment in your heart. I'll give you a chance. Seize it, and you may become the master of this kingdom, the strongest existence. Or you might fall into the abyss. Are you willing to accept?"

The beggar child stood dumbfounded. He looked around—other beggars and even passersby didn't seem to notice, as if no one had heard those treasonous words.

"I, master of the kingdom?" The child's voice was crisp, even trembling.

"Yes." The red-robed young man nodded.

"I am willing." The child gritted his teeth and knelt, kowtowing.

"Go."

The red-robed young man waved his hand, and a beam of light fell into the child's body. Then the young man vanished.

"Where did he go?" The child looked around but could no longer see the red-robed young man.

"My body?" The child immediately felt an incredible power within him. He lowered his head, extended a finger, and pierced the brick beneath him. Ecstasy filled him, then a dull ache in his head as a flood of information poured in—a cultivation method.

High in the sky.

The red-robed, shaven-headed young man, 'Daoist Fengyi,' looked down and nodded slightly. "I've already planted over thirty thousand seeds. Now let's see how this chaos world evolves."

Some cultivators need to take risks and adventure.

But not all cultivation requires risk. For instance, Daoist Fengyi pursued the path of heartforce cultivation.

Take Daoist Damo, who pursued the path of deduction. As a three-step Daoist, he was already among the top three in deduction across the endless territories. Once he stepped into four-step Daoist, it would be a qualitative change—he might become the number one in deduction across the endless territories. While his close combat prowess might not be overwhelmingly powerful, he would become one of the most troublesome figures in the entire endless territories.

If you try to kill him, he senses it early and evades.

If he wants to deal with you, he has you in the palm of his hand. That is the terror of the deduction path. However, Daoist Damo's path is clearly extremely difficult; otherwise, his deduction ability as a three-step Daoist wouldn't be so extraordinary. Because it's difficult, stepping into four-step Daoist is also very hard.

"Oh? Brother Beiming has overcome this crisis. Truly impressive." Daoist Fengyi nodded slightly. "Brother Fuyi is on the verge of merging with the Dao. I still fall short in heartforce cultivation."

...

Ji Ning's two recent messages transmitted through the Mangya Kingdom had informed many Daoists and Emperors of the Mangya Kingdom about his situation.

Even Woodflower Palace Master and others breathed a sigh of relief. They also understood that Beiming Daoist of the Sword Palace, now able to survive under Daoist Kongsa, would likely soon stand at the peak of this endless territory, becoming one of the most heaven-defying Daoists.

...

Outside Tianmu City, in the void.

Two figures emerged from nothingness—Emperor Tianmu and the blue-haired old man.

"Such a powerful sword intent." Emperor Tianmu said softly, "It's definitely at the Lord level."

"Lord-level sword intent? None of the three Lords of our endless territories specialize in the sword." The blue-haired old man was puzzled. "Could it really have come from Yuxing Sea?"

"Yes, it's likely a rare treasure flowing out of Yuxing Sea." Emperor Tianmu nodded. "Let me take a closer look."

Whoosh.

The surrounding void's time began to flow backward rapidly, but the process was disrupted by an invisible, terrifying force, and the spell dissipated.

"Can't reverse time." Emperor Tianmu frowned. "The previous sword intent was too powerful, disturbing this region of spacetime. I can't probe the past."

"Then let's look at what just happened." The blue-haired old man smiled.

"We can only see events after the eruption of power." Emperor Tianmu nodded. The Lord-level sword intent's power was too strong; the time reversal spell would be affected when rewinding to this point. The scenes before and during the activation of the Lord-level talisman could no longer be viewed. Only someone with extraordinary mastery of spacetime, like the Lord of the Mangya Kingdom, could do it.

The surrounding scene began to appear.

A broken sealing formation.

A white-robed youth waved his hand, collecting the treasures left by Daoist Kongsa.

"Those are Kongsa's treasures. Only Kongsa's relics remain?" Emperor Tianmu said softly. "The one who died in that strike was probably Kongsa."

Then the white-robed youth chatted with Daoist Fuyi and Daoist Tianfu.

"It seems the Lord-level talisman was activated by this kid." Emperor Tianmu pointed at Ji Ning's figure.

"Yes, from what they said, this kid should be from the Mangya Kingdom." The blue-haired old man nodded.

Emperor Tianmu shook his head and laughed. "That Lord of the Mangya Kingdom often abducts World-level cultivators from various places. He has a sharp eye and often picks some heaven-defying little fellows. This kid named Beiming is also a member of our Dao Alliance, yet he was still taken away."

"The Lord of the Mangya Kingdom knows his limits. He abducts very few, and only World-level cultivators." The blue-haired old man said.

"Come here." Emperor Tianmu suddenly turned to look into the distance.

Whoosh. Space twisted.

A figure appeared—a gray-robed old man. He bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Sect Leader."

"You monitor this Eternal Realm. Do you know what just happened?" Emperor Tianmu asked. This was Tianmu Sect's territory, so everything was under their observation.

"Reporting to Sect Leader, the white-robed youth is Beiming Daoist of the Heavenly Cang Palace. He purchased seven of the nine secret arts of Daoist Wanshen at the Dharma Realm, then bought a large number of rare treasures at the Feiyu Pavilion—precisely the treasures needed to cultivate the nine secret arts. Later, he exchanged the rare treasures 'Myriad Treasures Golden Fiend' and 'Heaven Crystal Sacred Blood Fruit' for a flying boat with a speed a hundred times the limit of the Heavenly Dao."

"It seems this little fellow has quite a few treasures." Emperor Tianmu praised with a smile.

"He actually had a Heaven Crystal Sacred Blood Fruit, tsk tsk..." The blue-haired old man also nodded.

The gray-robed old man continued: "Because outside the Feiyu Pavilion, he was ambushed by a disciple of Daoist Kongsa. He struck back and killed that three-step Daoist disciple in one blow. Then he was pursued by Daoist Kongsa... After failing to kill him, Daoist Kongsa sought help from Daoist Sijia. Soon, Daoist Fuyi and Daoist Tianfu also arrived but couldn't enter the sealing formation. As for what happened inside the formation, it couldn't be probed. It should be that Beiming Daoist used some killing move, and Daoist Kongsa and Daoist Sijia may both be dead."

"Kongsa is dead, but Sijia probably isn't." Emperor Tianmu said.

They had seen that only Daoist Kongsa's treasures remained.

"This little fellow is quite formidable and seems to have had great opportunities." Emperor Tianmu instructed, "Arrange to send a Immortal Palace token to Beiming Daoist. He is now qualified to enter the Dao Alliance Immortal Palace."

"Yes." The gray-robed old man respectfully acknowledged.