Chapter 83 Destiny

The Mahayana Stage Clan Chief's eyes were filled with despair.

The Old Dragon King sat on a spirit jade chair, his hands gripping the armrests.

Both of his legs were shaking.

The trembling spread from his ankles to the base of his thighs, his golden dragon scales rubbing against each other with a clicking sound.

"Ma-Revered Master... it's all over..."

The Old Dragon King cried out in his heart, tears welling in his eyes. "These are Immortal Emperors! And there's freaking seventeen of them!

This lineup is more than enough to flip the Immortal Domain upside down three times over. Even if you gave him ten heads, he couldn't think of a way to survive!"

Just then,

The old dragon Clan Chief, who had been forced back into his original form by the pressure, turned his head to look at the trembling Old Dragon King.

"Cho-Chosen Son..."

The Clan Chief's voice was hoarse. "You needn't panic... This Small World is protected by a grand array laid down by the Primordial Ancestor. Though it cannot withstand the combined assault of seventeen Emperor Realm experts... the Small World has been disturbed.

Our clan's Primordial Ancestor in the Dragon God Domain must have sensed it by now..."

"Just hold on a bit longer... just a little longer! Once the Primordial Ancestor casts his gaze upon this Lower Realm, never mind seventeen Emperor Realm experts—even if the Supremes of the Immortal and Devil Domains came in person, they would have to kneel!"

Hearing this, the Old Dragon King's legs suddenly stiffened.

He swallowed hard, suppressing the fear in his heart as his eyes darted around. Since this old loach said they had backing, as the "Chosen Son," he couldn't lose face in terms of Aura.

"Ahem!"

The Old Dragon King took a deep breath, sniffing back the snot that was about to run into his mouth.

He slapped the armrest and stood up. His legs were still shaking like jelly, but he puffed out his chest nonetheless.

"Th-This King... is not panicking at all!"

The Old Dragon King shouted at the top of his lungs, "What do those reckless minor gods outside amount to? This King has followed my Revered Master to battle across ten thousand worlds. What grand spectacles have I not seen?

A mere seventeen Emperor Realm experts dare to act presumptuously before this King?"

Despite his words, his legs were shaking uncontrollably, making his standing posture look quite comical.

"..."

Below,

Hundreds of Dragon Clan elders watched this "Chosen Son," who was boasting loudly while shaking like a leaf, and fell silent.

...

Elsewhere,

deep in the starry sky.

At the junction of the Devil and Immortal Domains, the ruins of Chiyan City had turned into a black hole.

The flow of time had become chaotic.

The Demon God Emperor Di Shitian and the Imperial Preceptor Jiang Wanyin had been fighting in this void for an unknown amount of time.

"Boom!"

Dark purple Demonic Lightning of Destruction collided with a red string in the void.

Even a momentary burst of their combat power could wipe out tens of millions of Small Worlds hidden within spatial folds.

Countless living beings were turned to ash in their sleep.

Di Shitian's million-foot-tall, six-winged demonic shadow drifted within the blood-red haze.

With every breath he took, the surrounding space collapsed in large swaths.

Jiang Wanyin stepped barefoot into the void; the silver bells on the red string around her ankle no longer chimed, instead emitting a dull thud.

Jiang Wanyin looked up at Di Shitian.

A drop of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"Drip."

The moment the blood fell into the void, the skies of the ten million worlds beneath the Divine Domain turned crimson.

The immortal mountains and blessed lands of the Immortal Domain, the Nine Serene Abysses of the Devil Domain, and those lower-tier realms with broken Laws—all began to rain blood at the same time.

All creation mourned,

and the Great Dao wailed.

This was a celestial phenomenon triggered by the injury of a Transcendent Realm expert.

Jiang Wanyin reached out a finger and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

A trace of fatigue flickered in her eyes, which had seen through countless eons.

"Di Shitian."

Jiang Wanyin spoke, "That old thing from the Dragon God Domain has likely sensed us by now.

If you and I continue this death match, neither of us will benefit from the shifting situation in this Lower Realm."

As her voice fell,

the blood-red sky suddenly froze.

Di Shitian's six-winged phantom shrank as he stood in the void, his eyes, like blood moons, staring at Jiang Wanyin.

"Jiang Wanyin..."

Di Shitian spoke, his voice appreciative, "I didn't expect that after several epochs, your cultivation would have advanced another half-step. In that last strike, if I hadn't used the Devil Domain's Origin, I might have truly suffered a great loss."

He turned his head,

his gaze piercing through the realm barriers to look at the Lower Realm's Original Realm and that purple-gold Small World hidden deep within.

"That old loach from the Dragon God Domain has always been protective and greedy. Since he's already cast his gaze there, it means he's determined to have that thing."

Di Shitian withdrew his gaze and looked at Jiang Wanyin, a cold, sharp arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

"In that case, continuing to waste time here will only allow others to reap the benefits."

He raised his hand, a wisp of Demonic Path Origin swirling around his fingertip. "Let us each split off a strand of Divine Sense and use the Method of Reincarnation to descend to the Lower Realm. In that broken world, we shall compete based on our own abilities. How about it?"

Jiang Wanyin looked at the wisp of demonic light on Di Shitian's fingertip and fell silent for a moment.

She knew that once she split her Divine Sense and descended, the game would be full of variables due to the restrictions of the Lower Realm's broken Laws.

But for now, this was the only way to break the deadlock.

"Agreed."

Jiang Wanyin nodded, and the silver bell on the red string around her ankle let out a chime.

In the next breath,

two streaks of light, one red and one purple, peeled away from the void, turning into two meteors that tore through the realm barriers and fell toward the Lower Realms of the Original Realm.

...

At the same time,

at the bottom of the God-Falling Abyss in the Central Continent.

The pressure from the seventeen Immortal and Devil Emperors outside was tearing the Small World apart, leaving it teetering on the brink of collapse.

In the deepest part of the heaven-reaching tower,

all was quiet.

Because it was the deepest part of the tower, time here was distorted to a ratio of one to ten thousand.

While only a few hours had passed outside, long years had gone by in here.

This time dilation gave Gu Heng a long-lost sense of leisure.

Chaotic Primordial Qi drifted within the tower's space.

In the center of the space,

Lin Qingyue sat cross-legged.

The Spiritual Qi fluctuations around her had reached a critical point, like a suppressed volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

"Buzz—"

With a soft sound, the space around Lin Qingyue cracked, and the Aura of an Immortal King radiated from her body.

The silver-white mark on her forehead grew dazzling, its light making her cold face appear even more unattainable.

Lin Qingyue opened her eyes. A trace of confusion flickered in them before they regained their clarity.

"You're awake?"

A voice came from beside her.

Lin Qingyue was startled and turned to look.

Gu Heng was leaning against a pillar formed of Chaotic Qi, playing with a wisp of the heaven-reaching tower's Origin Law in his hand as he looked at her with a half-smile.

"You... are still here?"

Lin Qingyue asked, her tone sounding surprised.

She sized up Gu Heng, her brow furrowing slightly.

She realized that the Aura on this man was very strange.

He was clearly standing right there, yet in her perception, that spot was like a bottomless black hole where nothing existed.

It was a sense of suppression originating from the very level of his existence.

It was the state of returning to one's true self that only comes after truly stepping into the Immortal Emperor Realm.

After Gu Heng's Breakthrough to Immortal Emperor, the Laws and the Great Dao within him had fused. His Aura was highly restrained, and he could control it at will.

Unless he wished it, even a Peak Immortal King would be unable to discern his true depths.

Seeing Lin Qingyue's puzzled expression, Gu Heng sighed.

He dispersed the Chaotic Law in his hand and walked over to her.

Looking at this woman who was as cold as an immortal yet seemed to carry heavy shackles, he thought of her destiny.

As the Personal Disciple of the Divine Court's Empress, she seemed to stand high above others.

But from the clues Gu Heng knew, every step this woman took was part of someone else's calculation.

It seemed that from the very beginning, she had never walked her own path.

Everything had been pre-arranged.

Her Cultivation Techniques, resources, and even her coming to this Lower Realm to enter the heaven-reaching tower.

"Are you resigned to this?"

Gu Heng spoke, his voice devoid of its usual playfulness, containing only calmness.

Lin Qingyue reflexively asked,

"What?"

"A destiny held hostage..."

Gu Heng looked into her eyes. "A destiny where you are treated as a pawn, where every step is planned for you, and where even your life, death, and future are not your own to decide. Are you... resigned to it?"

Lin Qingyue was stunned.

Her entire body stiffened, and the silver-white mark on her forehead dimmed for a moment.

She had never imagined that Gu Heng would ask such a direct question at a time like this—a question she herself didn't dare to examine too closely.

Inside the heaven-reaching tower, the air seemed to freeze.

After a long while,

Lin Qingyue lowered her gaze, avoiding Gu Heng's eyes, and spoke softly, her voice weary.

"I've grown used to it..."

Gu Heng was taken aback by those three words, his tone turning pitying.

"You've grown used to it?"

Lin Qingyue nodded.

She looked at her fair palm, where the newly broken-through Immortal King power flowed, yet it could not bring her the slightest bit of peace.

"From the moment I began cultivating, I never had a choice,"

she said softly, as if telling someone else's story. "My Revered Master would arrange everything for me. What techniques I cultivated, what pills I took, when I should break through... even who I should smile at and who I should be cold toward..."

"And now, coming to this Lower Realm and entering this heaven-reaching tower, although that was partly your arrangement..."

Lin Qingyue looked up, a hint of self-mockery in her cold eyes. "Perhaps, this is just my destiny.

If there were a choice, who would want to have their life arranged for them..."

Gu Heng was stunned.

It was true... put that way, everything made sense.

The destiny arranged by her Revered Master and that suffocating feeling of powerlessness had forced her to arm herself with a cold exterior.

Her so-called coldness was merely a defense mechanism.

She didn't want outsiders to know everything about her.

She knew her identity was special and that her Karma was too heavy, so she chose to isolate herself, not wanting to involve anyone else.

"I really envy you..."

Lin Qingyue suddenly spoke, a murmur so faint it could have been scattered by a breeze.

Gu Heng dithered for a moment, thinking he had misheard.

"What?"

"Nothing..."

Lin Qingyue immediately regained her cold demeanor and turned her head away.

But Gu Heng had heard her clearly.

She seemed to have said she envied him.

What did she envy about him?

Envy that he could do as he pleased? Envy that he could play with the powerhouses of the Upper Realm in the palm of his hand?

Gu Heng sighed, walked over to sit beside Lin Qingyue, and stretched.

"You think I want to be like this?"

"My journey has been fraught with danger. You think I've planned everything perfectly? I've just been recklessly testing the boundaries of life and death."

He looked at the Chaotic Qi drifting in the tower, a hint of world-weariness flashing in his eyes.

"If I could, who wouldn't want to marry a few... cough, no, who wouldn't want to find a quiet place, feel the breeze, and simply enjoy the scenery..."

Gu Heng nearly bit his tongue and quickly corrected himself.

"If one has enough cultivation, they wouldn't have to worry about being crushed to death one day by the stray Aura of some passing powerhouse."

He spoke, his voice tinged with lingering fear, "I will never forget when that Divine Envoy descended to the Lower Realm. Just a wisp of the Aura he casually released pinned the Qingxuan Old Ancestor and other Supreme experts of the Lower Realm to the ground, unable to move.

That fear of my life not being in my own hands is something I never want to experience a second time."

Lin Qingyue turned her head and studied Gu Heng for a long while.

In his eyes, she saw struggles and helplessness similar to her own.

"So, you have your own difficulties too?"

Lin Qingyue murmured, a hint of a smile actually appearing at the corner of her mouth.

At this moment, she suddenly felt that the man threatening her before her didn't seem quite so detestable anymore.

Fundamentally, they were the same kind of people—both struggling hard in this cruel cultivation world to break free from the shackles of destiny.

As she thought this,

Lin Qingyue seemed to sense something and released her Divine Sense, trying to perceive the situation outside.

Then,

as if she had seen something, a flash of shock crossed her eyes.

"Then... what about those seventeen Immortal Emperors outside...?"

"..."

Gu Heng pointed at the tower's internal space and whispered,

"Well, about that..."

"Maybe they're just here looking for something..."

"..."