Tianyi lowered his hand and the earthquake plaguing the entire Impermanence Realm subsided. The Bodhi Tree still attempted to burrow back into the earth, but Tianyi had shackled it in place. No matter what it did, it could not break out of its spatiotemporal prison.
He was at an impasse. If Tianyi really wanted to, he could just pull the Bodhi Tree out, but that would most definitely cause the Impermanence Realm to shatter. For other cultivators, the Karmic Sin of destroying an entire realm would result in their death, but Tianyi could not be tainted by Karmic Sin, no matter how many atrocities he committed.
In essence, he would receive no repercussions if he did destroy the Impermanence Realm during the process of obtaining the Bodhi Tree. However, Tianyi did not want to destroy an innocent realm and all the lives within it. His conscience wouldn’t allow it. Sure, he likely caused untold amounts of deaths by accident, but he didn’t want to consciously snuff out so many lives. Hypocritical as it might be.
Tianyi didn’t plan on consulting Grand Elder Xia or the other decision makers within the Immortal Court for help. In their eyes, they might see the destruction of a high rank realm as a cheap price to pay for the Bodhi Tree, especially if Tianyi was the one doing it, since he would receive no Karmic Sin.
He flew toward the Bodhi Tree. When he was right next to it, he was practically a speck of dust. Yet, it was the Bodhi Tree that trembled in fear, like it was facing its natural predator.
Tianyi enveloped the entire Bodhi Tree with his immortal sense. However, no matter how much time passed or how he attempted to invade it, his immortal sense could not penetrate the tree’s bark. He frowned. If he could refine the Bodhi Tree and become its master, it would naturally not resist.
Alas, his attempt failed. Perhaps only a divinity could refine the Bodhi Tree.
Tianyi held his chin between his thumb and forefinger. ‘Unless it already has a master?’
It wasn’t impossible, but Tianyi didn’t think it was likely. ‘Maybe I should just devour the entire Impermanence Realm into my inner universe and transform it into a planet?’
As soon as the idea appeared in his mind, Tianyi shot it down. He didn’t want to suffer more heavenly punishment. No, thank you.
‘Perhaps I can only grind it out and hope my immortal sense can whittle it down,’ Tianyi thought. His immortal qi of primordial chaos exploded off of his body and enveloped the entire Bodhi Tree. Not just the part above the ground, but the roots below the surface. It turned the tree into a tree-shaped cosmos with countless shimmering stars.
From that day onward, all life in the Impermanence Realm would see a new scenery. It didn’t matter if they were in the central region, the fringes of the continent, or the very edge of the Impermanence Realm, where the boundaries distorted, they would see a tree-shaped cosmos.
It was jarring in the first few months, but people eventually grew used to it after a few years. Mount Underflame also became history. The once heated lands cooled and became habitable. Even more miraculously, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth that disappeared flourished.
This was a blessed land for warriors, but an even greater blessed land for the immortal families. The battles that had settled on the continent erupted once more. The three immortal families waged war against the other forces for ownership of the blessed land.
People called the land under the cosmic tree the Cosmic Shade Blessed Lands.
Tianyi paid zero attention to all the commotion below. The dense spiritual qi was the aftereffect of his immortal qi clashing against the Bodhi Tree. For denizens, it was a blessed land, but for Tianyi, it was nothing he couldn’t create with a wave of his hand.
Emperor Hall didn’t fight for the land either. The Immortal Embassy had the function of storing and releasing spiritual qi inside its halls. Although it couldn’t replenish the spiritual qi in the Impermanence Realm, Tianyi could resupply it infinitely all by his lonesome.
After eight years, Tianyi’s immortal qi finally penetrated the bark and entered the outer layers of the trunk. Once inside, he actually sensed another person’s willpower. ‘I didn’t expect that someone really refined it and became its master.’
Tianyi narrowed his eyes. He summoned Su Bojing.
“Young Master,” Su Bojing said as he appeared next to Tianyi.
“I need you to capture everyone who entered the Bodhi Tree eight years ago and bring them to me,” Tianyi said.
“At once,” Su Bojing said as he left to carry out Tianyi’s orders. Of course, he wouldn’t do it all by himself. If he had to do that, what use was Emperor Hall?
After Emperor Hall revealed their strength eight years ago, it became an untouchable force in the eyes of many. Those who knew about it and were not attached to any forces tried many methods to join. Unfortunately, few succeed. No one external knew what criteria Emperor Hall used to judge potential candidates. Anyone who joined and entered the scripture repository would become shocked and horrified. Although it was only the most external and lowest techniques, it was enough to compare to the techniques of top forces and maybe even surpass them.
Mo Ling walked out of the cave he was hiding in and flew into the air. He did not take any action to conceal himself. Naturally, one of the imperial protectors found him.
“Hihihi, are you ready to give up and turn yourself in? I waste so much time searching for you. I’m going to make you suffer before capturing you!”
“What an annoying laugh,” Mo Ling said. He didn’t know why, but all the imperial protectors he met had the same irritating laughter. Still, he wouldn’t spare any words for a soon-to-be-dead-man.
The air behind Mo Ling exploded, causing a sonic boom, as he shot toward the imperial protector.
“You—!”
The imperial protector never had a chance to finish his words as Mo Ling exploded his head with a punch. The blood, chunks of flesh, and bits of bones did not stain his body thanks to the wind coating him. After killing his first imperial protector, Mo Ling set his sight on the rest of the imperial protectors.
“STOP!”
Mo Ling just killed the eighth grandmaster, and he felt danger from above. He shot to the side and avoided a spearhead. When the figure slowed down, he saw a middle-aged man in armor. “Venerable? Are you an earth or sky venerable?”
The Emperor Hall venerable snorted. “If I was a sky venerable, how could you have dodged my strike?”
“Since that’s the case, die!” Mo Ling attacked the earth venerable with his fist. His movements were as esoteric as the wind, constantly appearing at improbable angles.
The earth venerable frowned and found himself in trouble. “Are you really Mo Ling? Even if you are a venerable, you should only be an early venerable, right?”
Mo Ling said nothing. Using the chance that the earth venerable was talking, he discovered a hole in the latter’s defense and landed a punch on his chest. Instead of flesh, Mo Ling felt his hand hitting something hard.
With a catastrophic boom, the earth venerable crashed into the ground and split the lands. Moments later, the earth venerable returned to the sky. Aside from some dust, he appeared unharmed. “How come you are so powerful? If it weren’t for this armor artifact I exchanged, I would have been seriously injured.”
Mo Ling frowned. He had heard about the power of artifacts, but this was the first time he experienced their usefulness firsthand. “Trouble.”
The earth venerable charged at Mo Ling again. Despite being knocked back several times by Mo Ling, he always stood up back without any injury. Mo Ling attempted to flee, but the earth venerable was faster than him. ‘If I delay any longer, reinforcements might arrive. I have no choice but to use my new move.’
He held his palms in front of his chest, as if he was cradling a ball. A vortex of wind gathered between his palms, but unlike before, there were ghastly screams. It could be because of the high wind speeds, but it could also be because of specters.
The earth venerable felt a chill crawl up his spine when he heard the noise, but he still charged toward Mo Ling. In his eyes, Mo Ling couldn’t hurt him with his armor artifact.
“Since you’re seeking death, I’ll grant it to you!” Mo Ling shouted when he saw the earth venerable’s actions. He released the technique, which the earth venerable ignored.
To the earth venerable’s horror, the wind sphere phased through his spear and armor, directly entering his body. Strangely, he did not feel his flesh rupture. Instead, he howled as his soul suffered unimaginable punishment. The punishment didn’t last long as his eyes dulled and plummeted to the ground, dead.
Mo Ling landed next to him. “It was much easier to kill him than expected. Is it because warriors don’t strengthen their souls like the spiritual or martial path?”
He shook his head. It didn’t matter. As the winner, he claimed the armor artifact from the earth venerable. After destroying his body, he flew away. While he was fighting the earth venerable, the imperial protectors had already fled. Soon, news of his ascension to the venerable level should reach the ears of Emperor Hall.
When Mo Ling arrived at the safe house he agreed to meet Chou Nu at, he discovered that she was not present. After a few days of waiting, he was sure something had happened. After contacting Thunderclap Academy and Peacock Valley, he learned that Xuan Queling had been kidnapped by Emperor Hall!