A Martial Odyssey

Chapter 152：The Great Ascetic Heavenly King



They were now facing a tall imposing steep cliff.

Yi Ping sighed softly, “It seems that we have taken a wrong turn.”

The golden Kirin cub bellowed aloud as though it was agreeing with him.

Yi Ping looked quietly at the group of heavenly maidens, the Universal Old Man and Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage who were all nodding in agreement.

Han Lin said, “If that old man did not keep pestering me and making such a big din, we would not have taken the wrong turn!”

Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage said angrily, “You still haven’t returned the Green Dragon Sacred Sword to me!”

Han Lin protested weakly, “It is not that I did not try to return it to you…”

She had thrown the Green Dragon Sacred Sword on the ground when Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage had asked for it but he had failed to pull it; it seemed that the Green Dragon Sacred Sword refused to acknowledge him as its master anymore!

The Goddess Aiel heaved a soft sigh, “Since the divine sword has picked Han Lin as its mistress then we can only respect its choice. There is really nothing left for us to do.”

Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage muttered, “Xiaoci, you are on her side?”

The Goddess Aiel flashed him an annoyance look before saying exasperatingly, “Yes I am on her side. It is not because I am her protégé mistress. It is not because I am siding with her. Look at you, you are an eminent celestial practitioner yet you can’t handle a little loss?”

Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage protested weakly, “But Xiaoci…”

The Goddess Aiel said sternly, “No but. As Ascendant Custodian of the Holy Ascension Sect, I command you to keep quiet.”

The Universal Old Man began to laugh jovially, “You seem to have made Ai upset.”

Lady Winter Plum was looking at the Universal Old Man quietly. She was the protégé mistress of the Three Plum Sect and had traveled together with the celestial practitioners of the Holy Ascension Sect as they made their way through the Stellar Sanctuary.

She had traveled with four of her most beloved and cherished protégés. All of them were intelligent and kind hearted maidens that had followed her for centuries.

Their sudden deaths had saddened her greatly and until now she had not come to terms with their demises yet. She really did not expect that Chu Mingfan who styled himself as the Reverend Sacred Sage would be so despicable!

She had actually taken a liking to him!

He was a dashing scholarly celestial practitioner and had a reputation as one of the eight original founders of the Holy Ascension Sect. Not only that, his martial strength was said to be on par with the Lord Supreme and he was the second highest ranking Ascendant of the Holy Ascension Sect.

In his company were Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage, the Ascension Goddess, the Eclipse Heaven Goddess, the Axis Heaven Goddess and the Fiery Phoenix. All of them were highly attained celestial practitioners from the Holy Ascension Sect and he was their leader!

Therefore it was not surprising that she had been impressed by him!

Because she was with these highly attained celestials, their venture into the Stellar Sanctuary proved to be quick and the trials were overcome quickly.

When they had reached the vast plains of the Stellar Sanctuary, Chu Mingfan had suggested that she followed him to recon the woods ahead.

Not knowing his true purpose, she had agreed readily.

But when she had reached the dense woods, Chu Mingfan had suddenly turned around and forced her to lean against a tree.

She was startled but before she could ask further, he had suddenly kissed her on her lips.

But because she had taken a liking for Chu Mingfan, she only managed a weak protest.

Chu Mingfan muttered softly to her, “You are so beautiful.”

Before she had realized it, Chu Mingfan had loosened her silken knots that fastened her skirt and had slipped her long silk robe to the ground.

She was alarmed but she was unable to free herself from his aromatic kisses.

She started to struggle again when Chu Mingfan had slipped his hands into her body lingerie but her body was burning so hot that she could not muster any strength!

Chu Mingfan whispered gently to her as he stripped her naked, “You are like a heavenly fairy. You are so desirable. Today, I will make you mine.”

And that day, Chu Mingfan had made her his.

But just when she was anticipating with delight on their further exploits in the Stellar Sanctuary, Chu Mingfan had revealed his true intentions and committed treachery against their group!

She was stunned by his betrayal and how he had made sport out of her!

Chu Mingfan had made it clear to them that he was only interested in obliterating the best celestial practitioners of the Pangu Race and his ultimate aim was to obtain the divine swords of the Holy Ascension Sect for his ‘true master.’

But who his ‘true master’ was, he did not make it known to them.

Since then, she had learnt a painful lesson that would etch deeply into her memories forever.

The Universal Old Man had said quietly to her, “Be strong. The path to true enlightenment is still long!”

At this moment she was quietly looking at the Universal Old Man. It was because she had recognized him as the mysterious celestial practitioner that was with the Heaveness who had once encouraged her with the same words when she was just an ordinary celestial practitioner in the Mortal Realm.

The Universal Old Man did not seem to have recognized her but she had recognized him despite his beardless look now. It was because he had a distinct mannerism that had left upon her a deep impression.

She thought, “Can’t he tell that the Sagess Ai or should I call her the Goddess Aiel now, quite obviously she seems to have eyes only for Yi Ping? But why is he so persistent? He is not as blind and dumb as he appears to be but why?”

Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage began to panic as he called out gently to the Goddess Aiel, “Xiaoci, don’t be upset alright? I will keep my mouth shut.”

The Goddess Aiel seemed to be appeased a little as she said, “I guess that we have to find another route now.”

Yi Ping nodded as he said gently while looking at all the maidens, “We just have to find another route. I remember that there is a fork not far from here. Shall we go?”

Yang Min immediately gave a quick smile as she looked lovingly at Yi Ping, “I remember that there is a small creek there as well.”

Yunzi smiled to her, “I remember as well!”

Yang Min was also smiling when she was looking at Yunzi.

All the maidens were chatting happily and looking at Yi Ping at the same time!

Yi Ping was looking at them awkwardly especially but he was also secretly delighted to be reunited with all of them again. It was because he had been through several perilous exploits with all of them and in his dreams it was constantly replayed!

Shui Yixian, Lie Qing, Lele as Revelation Star, Luminous Star, Melody Star…

Xiao Youxue, Dugu Yunzi as the Endor Vixen Fairy, Celestial Ocean Heavenly Maiden…

Ji Lingfeng, Shen Xingyue as the Heaveness, Dark Enchantress…

Shui Yu’Er, Shui Mei’Er as the Eclipse Heaven Goddess and the Axis Heaven Goddess…

And in the Celestial Realm, he had met Shi Shi, Ye Yin the Ascension Goddess, Jing’Er, Han Lin, Yang Min, the Goddess Aiel, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy!

And right now they were all looking at him affectionately!

Yu’Er suddenly asked shyly, “Other than the mark on your forehead, why is that you seem to be so different now? Maybe different is not the word or rather, your mannerism now resembles someone I know a long time ago.”

Mei’Er nodded as she chipped in with a delighted smile, “The White Sage! You have finally remembered!”

Even Shen Xingyue was intrigued. She had meant to ask this privately for quite some time but did not have a chance to do so. But now since Yu’Er had initiated it, she decided to ask as well. “You are really the White Sage?”

Yi Ping looked at Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Xingyue with a gentle look before he nodded awkwardly; it was because he had remembered vividly how the three of them had fought over him with disastrous results!

In the past when Yu’Er and Mei’Er were the Eclipse Heaven Goddess and the Axis Heaven Goddess, they were secretly smitten with the White Sage when he had visited the Ascension Sect. The White Sage may be a junior celestial practitioner but he had impressed upon them with his profound wisdom.

However, they were too shy to initiate contact with him and could only admire him from a distant. After all they were highly eminent celestial practitioners and it was impossible for them to have relationship with anyone. Moreover it was unthinkable for them to hinder the White Sage ascension to the Celestial Realm by blogging him down with troubles of the heart!

They could only secretly wish him the best with their most heartfelt affections. That was their purest love for him!

But today they were reunited with him again and by an unlikely destiny, they were now his consorts!

Yu’Er as the Eclipse Heaven Goddess was musing in delight how irony it had been, “If that is my destiny that I will be married to him then so be it!”

Mei’Er as the Axis Heaven Goddess was also contemplating, “I am so happy! If I were to choose again, I will surely choose this life over my previous life! Master Yi Ping…”

Shen Xingyue was looking dreamily at Yi Ping as she muttered, “So you have remembered now…”

Yi Ping sighed softly as he nodded gently, “I am sorry. I have always wanted to say sorry to you…”

Shen Xingyue began to laugh but at the same time she was also sobbing uncontrollable, “You should! You owe me so much! You have actually run away from our wedding to become a priest. I hate you with all my heart!”

Ye Yin was startled.

It was because she had heard that Shen Xingyue who was known previously as the Dark Enchanter had a fiancé who had abandoned her on her wedding day, leaving her humiliated and heartbroken at his unfaithfulness.

She had never expected that her fiancé was actually the White Sage!

All of a sudden a thought struck her, “The White Sage…the Dark Enchantress…surely it is not a coincidence at all…”

There was a beaming tear in her eyes as she sighed softly, “I didn’t know that my little protégé sister has such an unhappy past. I used to dislike her because I have thought that she would be my greatest rival…”

She took a glance at Lie Qing who was watching quietly as she thought, “Hm, Lie Qing so it is you that is destined to be my greatest rival. Just how strong are you? If one of us will die then will it be me? Will Yi Ping grieves more for me or for you?”

All of a sudden Lingfeng clapped as she looked at Yi Ping coldly, “If you are really my grand protégé then surely you can remember what I have taught you? You can still remember the initial rites of our sect?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly before he recited, “Respect for the Way is virtue, the Way creates all things and shapes all things with virtue, the Way is separable and inseparable, having no beginning and end, ever omnipresent…”

He paused briefly before continuing, “Seek the Way, stay away from vanity and arrogant, do not seek reputation or fame, refrain from indulgence in music, lust and food, speaks true words, help those in need, be generous with your possessions, protect the weak, rescue those in crisis, assist those in poverty, give without expecting reciprocation…”

Lingfeng gasped as she quickly covered her mouth and there was beaming tears in her eyes!

Yi Ping continued, “All living things live and die under Heavens but only the Way is eternal. It is the Way that carries man’s heart. That is also the initial intricacy heart formula of the Emptiness Translucence…”

He glanced at the Universal Old Man before taking a look at Lingfeng, “In the past, I don’t understand why my two protégé masters refuse to tell me who they are and why they had to leave. But now I do now. I do know now…”

Lingfeng smiled alluringly, “That is enough. I don’t want you to say it aloud or else I will surely kick you hard.”

The Universal Old Man looked at Lingfeng blankly, “My Heaveness, can you explain to me? I don’t quite get it.”

The Goddess Aiel whispered softly to him, “You unromantic oaf! It doesn’t matter if you are able to understand or not. It is strictly between the two of them!”

The Universal Old Man began to rub his chin, “Oh?”

Lingfeng turned away shyly and no one could see her face except for her back as she said with trembling voice, “It doesn’t matter anymore. We are man and wife now! All the things, all the emotions that I had felt that it was impossible for me to experience in the past…uh never mind…I am content now!”

Yi Ping rubbed his nose as he called after her, “Lingfeng…”

Lingfeng said quietly without turning back, “I still prefer the Yi Ping that I know…”

Lele had suddenly tiptoed in front of Yi Ping as she encircled him quickly as she lifted her eyes to inspect him before smiling nervously, “Really, you are the White Sage? You remember everything?”

Yi Ping looked beguilingly at Lele as he sighed softly, “I am such a fool. Among the three sisters, only you have memories of the past…”

Lele gasped, “You know?”

He glanced at Yixian and Lie Qing who were both looking lovingly at him before looking at Lele again, “You may have hidden it well but the expressions of your eyes have betrayed you.”

Lele said melancholy, “As if I want to remember the past!”

She looked at Yixian before she said melancholy, “My sister sacrificed her everything, all her attainment for me…I don’t want to fight with her over you anymore. Do you know how grief my heart is when I have recalled my past memories and know what she had done for me?”

Yi Ping took a tumbling step toward Yixian as he muttered, “Yunxiao…Revelation Star…Xian’Er, I have let you down…”

Yixian shook her head gently with a smile, “You have done so much for me already. I have nothing more to ask. We should really cherish what we have now and not dwell in the past.”

Yi Ping was filled with gratitude for her and his eyes were beaming.

He turned to look at Lie Qing, “Qing’Er, I don’t know how many times you have saved me…thank you!”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “You must remember it always in your heart or else I would be upset!”

Yi Ping turned to look at Youxue and Yunzi, before looking at the rest of the maidens again, “Let’s go! This is not the end yet!”

Yunzi asked all of a sudden, “What about Maiden Ziyan? Or shall we call her the Goddess Celestial Alice?”

Yi Ping said quietly as he looked at the lofty mountains, “She is somewhere on the top. I will surely find her and stop her from further killings.”

Yunzi looked at the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy before she said quietly, “Maybe she doesn’t want to show up because of them. So what if you are able to find her? Do you think that the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy will let her off?”

The Goddess Isa scoffed uncomfortably, “If she is willing to apologize to me and kneel before me, I may consider letting her off.”

The Goddess of Mercy thought to herself, “Isa, Isa don’t be so hasty to speak your mind first. Can’t you tell that this Maiden Yunzi is trying to sound you out first?”

She quickly said, “Maiden Yunzi, you must know that we are not here to make enemies out of the Goddess Theocracy or the Goddess Celestial Alice. The fact remains that we have intentionally broken the sacred transgression of the Goddess Theocracy and the punishment for this sacred transgression is death. Not even the Goddess Celestial Alice herself can change this edict because she has invoked the name of the Great God Pangu.”

The Goddess Isa mused, “Right, right. It is not like Alice will spare us either. Either way, a fight between us is inevitable.”

Yi Ping muttered, “I rather not. She had saved Ye Yin, Xingyue, Yu’Er, Mei’Er and had brought Yunzi to me. Maybe she doesn’t want to fight us…”

The Goddess Isa interrupted with a smile as she eyed the Goddess of Mercy, “Maybe she is afraid of us! She obviously knows that she is not a match for us!”

The Goddess of Mercy smiled weakly as she thought, “She is still as conceit as ever. No wonder I can never get along with her.”

She said with sarcasm, “Or maybe she is waiting to be reunited with the Goddess Asura and the rest of the Goddess Theocracy. If they join hand in hand then they may not lose to us.”

The Goddess Isa looked at her as she thought, “No wonder I dislike her so much. She is ever so sarcastic.”

Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Ye Yin who were gifted with empathy skills were all smiling weakly. It was because they could sense that the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were anything but temporary allies; they were just co-operating because they had a common interest!

Lie Qing sighed softly, “This Goddess Isa is not as subtle as the Goddess of Mercy. In fact, she is a terrible bad actress. Or rather, she totally lacks any tact. I am beginning to like her. This Goddess of Mercy on the other hand adapts rather quickly. She is a much more dangerous opponent. What is her true intention? I hope that I am mistaken about her but friends and foes are hard to tell especially when this ‘new friend’ just dropped from the sky. I would rather put my faith on that Goddess Celestial Alice than this Goddess of Mercy.”

When she recalled the Goddess Asura, she thought. “I don’t trust that Goddess Asura either.”

Just as Yi Ping was sighing how he could resolve their feuds, the Goddess Isa said melancholy to him. “Ping’Er, are you on my side or not?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “Yes surely…”

The Goddess Isa snapped her fingers as she proclaimed happily, “Then you have agreed to help me against the Goddess Celestial Alice?”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “That is not what I have meant. I will rather that there will be no fighting.”

The Goddess Isa responded angrily by unsheathing her divine sword threatening, “You still don't get it at all!”

Everyone began to turn ashen as they panicky surrounded the Goddess Isa so as to pacify her!

The Universal Old Man panicky said, “Cool it first. I am sure Yi Ping will surely help you…”

Yi Ping panicky said, “I mean surely there is a better solution than fighting…”

Lie Qing sighed softly to herself, “Ping’Er, how are you going to rein her in the future given her fiery temper? This is one maiden that won’t be pacified by mere words.”

The Goddess Isa thrust her divine sword into the ground with a thunderous impact as she said coldly, “I hope so!...”

But before she could continue further, the entire ground began to shake violently as though an earthquake had struck the vicinity!

She was startled as she panicky said, “I didn’t do anything! Not me!”

Lele said unhappily, “All of things, you have to start an earthquake! Are you thinking of getting us all killed?”

Yang Min interrupted her by pointing at the impassable cliff earlier, “Look everyone!”

The impassable cliff was crumbling right before their very eyes, revealing the shape of a gigantic sitting long beard man and between his legs was a large archway!

Yi Ping was astonished as he watched, “What is that?”

The Goddess of Mercy smiled, “What a lucky find. It seems that we have found one of the hidden entrances that will bring us closer to the top!”

Yi Ping was startled, “There is a shortcut to the top?”

The Goddess Aiel and Lingfeng began to giggle.

Lingfeng looked at Yi Ping with a solemn expression, “Do you really think it is possible for us to climb hundreds of mountains in such a short time? Don’t forget that we are inside the Stellar Sanctuary and everything that you are seeing is actually part illusion and part formation.”

Yi Ping gasped with a sudden realization, “That is right! I should have thought of that earlier. The outlines of the mountains are just the surface of the Stellar Sanctuary!”

Lele clapped her hands, “So what are we waiting for? Let’s us go immediately!”

The Goddess Isa said unhappily, “I refuse.”

Yi Ping was startled as he looked at her, “What is wrong?”

The Goddess of Mercy growled softly, “I refuse to as well!”

Yi Ping was stunned!

Lele demanded to know immediately, “What is wrong with the two of you? We should make haste immediately but the two of you are hindering us!”

Lingfeng said coolly, “Such a shortcut is an extremely rare find here. If we don’t enter via this way, there is no promise that we can find another entrance anytime soon.”

Han Lin added mischievously, “Maybe they are afraid.”

The Goddess Aiel smiled weakly, “Han Lin…”

Yi Ping sighed softly as he turned to ask the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy, “What is wrong?”

The Goddess Isa became flustered, “Why don’t you ask the Goddess of Mercy?”

But when Yi Ping looked at the Goddess of Mercy, she was looking shyly away!

Yi Ping stammered, “What is wrong?”

All the others except for the Goddess Aiel were equally puzzled too!

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage muttered, “This is indeed a golden opportunity. What is wrong with both of you?”

The Goddess Aiel sighed softly as she shook her head, “Don’t worry. They are just mindful of their dignity to walk between the legs of someone. After all, they are two of the highest ranking immortals in the Immortal Realm.”

When she had said that, several of the maidens including the Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage were all laughing jovially!

All of a sudden Yi Ping said quietly as he looked at the surroundings, “Who is there?”

There was a deep resounding laughter, “It seems that I have been discovered. Alas, I have already tried my best to suppress my laughter…”

The Goddess of Mercy, the Goddess Isa, Yixian, Lingfeng, Ye Yin were all startled; there was an intruder nearby and yet he had escaped their notice?

A wrinkled old man with a white plum fan had suddenly appeared.

He was not tall and was slightly shorter than most of the maidens so he had to gaze at everyone by lifting his head slightly.

At the sight of this wrinkled old man, the Goddess Aiel, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy had turned completely pale!

The Goddess Aiel quickly said, “Be careful!”

The Goddess of Mercy warned quickly, “Be wary. He is an immortal practitioner!”

She added coldly to the wrinkled old man, “You are still not dead yet?”

The wizened old man hummed coldly, “Obviously not. Not until all my enemies are dead first of course.”

The Goddess Isa asked, “You are here to to be done with all of us?”

The wizened old man seemingly looked at Lele and Han Lin before muttering, “I have seen an auspicious celestial omen earlier that got my curiosity. The Green Dragon Sacred Sword is an immortal sword of the Jade Emperor. So you are his successor?”

He pointed at Han Lin and Lele, “Come with me if you want to preserve your lives. Do you know that you are in the company of wolves?”

Han Lin replied coldly, “Weird! Just because you have asked me to follow you, do you think that I will? I say, you are the wolf!”

Lele yawned softly, “Han Lin, I agree with you! I am the Joyful Goddess of the Celestial Palace. Do you dare to exchange a few strokes with me?”

The Goddess Isa immediately said, “Maiden Huan Le, this is not advisable!”

The wizened old man seemed to be surprised by the hostility of Han Lin and Lele as he raised his eyebrows, “They are all your friends?”

Yi Ping immediately readied a defensive posture as he interrupted, “Senior, I am Yi Ping. Who are you?”

Yixian, Lele, Lie Qing, Ye Yin, Mei’Er, Yu’Er, Lady Winter Plum, Shen Xingyue, the Celeste Wind Maiden, Jing’Er, Shi Shi, Youxue, Yunzi, Yang Min, Han Lin, the Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage had all immediately readied a defensive stance too!

The Goddess Aiel was trembling with fear!

The Universal Old Man said to the Goddess Aiel, “Ai, he is only one. We don’t have to be afraid of him!”

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage was puzzled too, “Xiaoci, what is wrong?”

The Goddess Aiel whispered fearfully, “He is one of the seven Heavenly Kings of the Jade Emperor. He is who we call the Great Ascetic Heavenly King…”

The wizened old man snapped his fingers to say, “I prefer to be known simply as Yun Dingzhong…”

Yi Ping was immediately on his guard; it was because when the wizened old man had snapped his fingers, he could feel a wavering energy force passing through to him!

He quickly mustered his Absolute Equilibrium Force to counteract this force on the sly as he thought, “His martial force seems to be the same as my Absolute Equilibrium Force?”

Just as everyone was mustering their martial strength to put up resistance against the martial display of the wizened old man, he had suddenly vanished from view by echoing, “If it is the other Heavenly Kings then you may not be as fortunate. I suggest that you have better go under the legs of that statue, the sooner the better before I have decided to change my mind!”

The Goddess Isa immediately turned around as she dragged Yi Ping along with her, “Quick! There is no time to lose anymore!”

Yi Ping was forced to march to the archway with her!

The Goddess of Mercy was already at the archway as she warned everyone, “What are you all waiting for? Do you think that these immortals will not lust after your divine weapons? Do you really think he is being merciful? Once he gets rid of the other immortals in this vicinity, you bet he will be after us!”

Lie Qing muttered weakly, “Just a few moments ago, they would rather die than enter that archway…”



Ch152 End
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Chapter 154: The Esper Formation



When the Esper Formation was suddenly activated, blue explosive lights were seen bursting in all directions!

When the Celestial Fairy Yixian raised her Divine Emerald Force to receive the incoming blast, she was startled at the ferocity of these incoming blasts as it exploded thunderous in front of her!

If it was before, not even the Absolute Defense Stance of her Divine Emerald Skill was able to hold the furious blasts off.

But Yixian was different and stronger now. She had managed to evolve her Icy Heavenly Tears to the Eternal Heavenly Tears. Because the requisite of the Divine Emerald Force was the intricate energy of the Icy Heavenly Tears and the Eternal Heavenly Tears was the pureness form of the Icy Heavenly Tears intricacy energy, her Divine Emerald Skill was enhanced by several notches!

And on her forehead were five blue tiny insignia that marked her awakened Heaven Eyes that further empowered her martial strength!

A dozen beams of lights struck against her Divine Emerald Force as it exploded with violent burst of thunderous impact but the Celestial Fairy Yixian continued to stand firmly on her ground!

“Careful!” She shouted a warning to Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Youxue who were also executing the Divine Emerald Skill.

The Eclipse Heaven Goddess Yu’Er gasped softly at the sight of these frightening and deadly blue beam strafing!

The Axis Eclipse Heaven Goddess Mei’Er was also startled as she cried out, “Sister! Be careful!”

They dare not be careless as they imbued their divine swords with the martial force of the Divine Emerald Skill as they deflected one energy projectile after another!

Yu’Er raised her Harp Whisperer Divine Sword expertly as she parried one energy volley after another while gasping breathlessly, “So this is the Esper Formation?”

The two sisters were worried about the other maidens that were behind them. Even though they had tried to persist but they were forced to take several steps back as the martial explosion was really powerful!

Mei’Er gasped out in pain when she was hit by the aftershock of an exploding blue energy projectile but she quickly swung her Lyrical Whisperer to deflect another incoming explosive energy burst!

Youxue had surrounded herself with the Dominating Force and at the same time she was also displaying the Divine Emerald Skill. However it was obvious that her Divine Emerald Skill was not as powerful as the Celestial Fairy Yixian, Yu’Er and Mei’Er as evidenced by the furious impact of the explosive energy projectiles!

The Divine Emerald Skill was a martial force that could neutralize the blunt of attacks and especially effective against martial force.

Because Youxue was not able to neutralize the deadly explosive impact of the energy projectiles, it was evidenced that the level of her Divine Emerald Skill was less effective than Yixian, Yu’Er and Mei’Er!

However unlike Yu’Er and Mei’Er, Youxue continued to hold her own; it was because she was protected by the strength of her Dominating Force and her Golden Impervious Body!

Yixian gasped to Youxue, “Youxue, step aside!”

Youxue smiled weakly as she broke into cold sweat, “I am alright…”

In the meantime, the Goddess of Mercy had countered against the beaming light projectiles of the Esper Formation with her Heavens Sundering Mirror with bursting energy projectiles on her own!

“This is nothing to be afraid of…” She hummed coldly.

As for the Celeste Wind Maiden and Shen Xingyue, they were executing their swiftness skill as they evaded one energy projectile after the other. When it became apparent that they could no longer evade, they would parry with their divine swords!

Most of the other maidens were also evading the energy projectiles. Only when they had left with no other choice would they tried to parry the energy projectiles but it was a choice that they rarely exercise; it was because to do so was a painful and terrible experience!

Jing’Er and Lady Winter Plum had coughed out blood as they tried to parry an energy projectile in desperation with their swords and they soon received scathing injuries!

The Universal Old Man had broken into heavy perspiration as he calmly stood between them as he exploded the air with his Ultrapowerful Force, “Be careful! Behind me quick!”

Lady Winter Plum gasped, “You are sure?”

The Universal Old Man did not pay any attention to her as he was preparing another bout of vital energy as he mustered his martial power again to quickly unleash another explosive martial force of his Ultrapowerful Force to counteract the energy projectiles!

Lady Winter Plum muttered with heartfelt appreciation, “Thank you…”

But she quickly called out in alarm, “Watch out!”

At the same time Yunzi had imbued her divine with deadly sword energies as she whirled it in front of her, deflecting the energy volleys away from her harmlessly!

The Goddess of Mercy was startled at her martial display and her sword energies skill as she thought, “Who is she? She can actually enhance the intensity of her sword energies to the same level as the Esper Formation? I thought that she is just an ordinary celestial practitioner…how wrong I am. What if she is to awaken her Heaven Eyes? Won’t she be a dangerous opponent in the future?”

But before she had recovered from her surprise, she was even more startled to see the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin evading all the energy projectiles with the slightest movement and she was doing it with her eyes closed!
She was startled, “Is this the Invisible Eye Secret Technique?! She has actually perfected it?!”

She quickly looked around her and quickly noticed that another maiden, Lie Qing was equally formidable. Surrounded by ten hovering wisps of bluish spheres, she had stepped next to the Celestial Fairy Yixian in a dangerous maneuver…

“Surely she is not thinking of tanking against the might of the Esper Formation…that will be too insane…”

To her surprise when Lie Qing was bombarded by dozens of explosive energy outburst, she had emerged unscathed!

The Goddess of Mercy was stunned as she thought, “This…is that the Invincible Divine Force?! Impossible…one, two, nine, ten! That is already an immortal level attainment yet she is just a celestial practitioner?! Who is she and how did she knows the Invincible Divine Force?”

All of her sudden she did not feel that her Heavens Sundering Mirror would be useful against this Heavenly Temptress Lie Qing and Ascension Goddess Ye Yin!

She sighed softly, “Guess that I have to dirty my hands against them…”

She was not worried; it was because she was confident of her martial strength!

All of a sudden she was alarmed as she noticed their dark swords, “These two swords! Impossible!”

But she had no time to contemplate for the time being as the formidability of the Esper Formation had increased several folds, leaving her in a state of breathlessness!

Luckily it did not last long and the Esper Formation had stopped!

But when it had stopped, many of their group had stumbled onto the ground either from sheer exhaustion or from their injuries!

But that was not all!

Amidst the dissipating mushroom dust cloud, the dark outline of a monstrous giant with beaming red eyes had suddenly appeared in front of them!

There was no sight of either the Goddess Isa or the Goddess Celestial Alice to the visible eyes!

Yi Ping was standing in front of the towering monstrous giant; it was even bigger than the Demon Bull King that they had previously fought!

Out of their group, only the Celestial Fairy Yixian, the Eclipse Heaven Goddess Yu’Er, the Axis Heaven Goddess Mei’Er, the Heavenly Temptress Lie Qing, the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin, the Joyful Goddess Lele, the Celeste Wind Maiden Qian, Dugu Yunzi, Xiao Youxue, the Heaveness Lingfeng, the Goddess Aiel and the Goddess of Mercy were still standing but they were all panting breathlessly as they had just overcome the Esper Formation!

When Yi Ping turned his back around, he was shocked to find Han Lin, Shi Shi, Jing’Er, Lady Winter Plum, the Universal Old Man, Old Vanquisher Sage and Yang Min on the ground!

The Heaveness Lingfeng was trembling weakly; despite her epitome swiftness movement skill, she had taken a few hits from the Esper Formation. Luckily, she was more or less protected by her Celestium Silk!

She muttered softly to the Universal Old Man, “Old man, are you alright?”

The Universal Old Man coughed weakly, “Not to worry. I am alright. I only need a little rest…”

He quickly looked at Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage, “Are you alright?”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage hummed coldly, “I am also alright. It takes more than that to kill me!”

The Goddess Aiel said quietly to them, “Stop the bickering. It is lucky that the worst of this Esper Formation is over. If it is activated a second time then, then most of us will be goner. Now we ought to think how we are going to fight that beastly monster that is in front of us!”

The Ascension Goddess Ye Yin had already rushed forward, “Yi Ping! I am coming to aid you!”

Among all the maidens, she had used the least martial strength and was the first to recover from the attacks of the Esper Formation!

Lele was cursing enchantingly with her divine voice as she raised her Divine Echo Sword which had been superheated by the earlier blasts, “This is so infuriating! Ping’Er…careful! There a giant in front of you…”

She tried to take a step forward but she soon stumbled forward painfully; she had tried her best to neutralize the furious energy impacts with her Celestial Force but even for her, it was too much for her!

But Yi Ping was raising his arm in front of him while shouting panicky, “Isa, Alice…Isa…Ziyan! Where are you?”

He seemed to be oblivious to the hovering giant threat that was gaining momentum upon him!

The entire ground beneath Yi Ping had sunk as he tried furiously to muster his martial strength to move forward but against the powerful martial windforce that were generating in front of him, he could only take small steps at a time!

The sharp eyes of the Goddess of Mercy had noticed that in the place of the Universal Harmonic Chain, a monstrous giant had taken its place. She had quickly concluded that if she wanted to seize the Universal Harmonic Chain, she had to destroy this monstrous giant first!

The Universal Harmonic Chain!

Her heart was pounding rapidly. It was not because the Universal Harmonic Chain was an immortal artefact that caused her to have this reaction. Granted that divine artefacts were extremely rare in the Immortal Realm and that immortal artefacts were even harder to obtain therefore it would seem that even the most highly attained immortals would be tempted to seize it for themselves!

The Goddess Aiel was also muttering silently as she stared blankly at the monstrous giant!

The rest of the group except for Yi Ping had already noticed from the startled expressions of the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Aiel that this Universal Harmonic Chain was not an ordinary immortal artefact.

What exactly was this Universal Harmonic Chain and what could possible cause the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Aiel to have such startled expressions?

The Goddess of Mercy had her Heavens Sunder Mirror and her artefect was a renowned immortal artefact to be feared!

But this Universal Harmonic Chain seemed to be above the Heavens Sunder Mirror?

It was because all immortal artefacts were grouped into three main grades; good, superior and ultimate!

While the Heavens Sunder Mirror was a superior grade immortal Artefact, the Universal Harmonic Chain was an ultimate grade immortal artefact!

Just how rare was an ultimate grade immortal artefact?

Extremely rare!

In the Immortal Realm, the birth of immortal artefacts would occur after absorbing sufficient spiritual essence from the heavens and earth. The birth of an ultimate artefact would always be accompanied by many great signs and significant omens for many months until the birth of the ultimate artefact!

Just before the Universal Harmonic Chain had fully ascended, hundreds of immortal sects had already gathered their immortal practitioners at its birthing place to await its arrival!

The immortals had an unbroken rule; the first person that could seize the immortal artefect would have it!

Therefore thousands of immortal practitioners including the Goddess of Mercy had arrived months before the exact birth of the immortal artefact. Because none of them knew the exact birthing time of the unknown immortal artefact, everyone would rather be early than late!

In order to get into the best position to seize this unknown artefact which was named the Universal Harmonic Chain later, all the immortal practitioners began to form multiple alliances as they fought one another either openly or with great subtle!

No one wanted to miss out on such an omnipotent immortal artefact, especially one that only appeared every tens of thousands years apart!

Just before this unknown artefact could ascend upon the Immortal Realm, many of the squabbles began to escalate into major fights!

Finally when this unknown artefact had emerged from the heavens in a burning fireball, the heavens and earth began to shake in anticipation of its appearance!

The Goddess of Mercy was expecting the shape of this unknown ultimate grade immortal artefact to be in the form of a super class immortal weapon. She was naturally a little disappointed that the appearance would be that of a beautiful pink sapphire necklace. What good would a necklace be?

They would discover that they were all wrong or had miscalculated!

It was because all calculations and divinations proved them all wrong when this ultimate immortal artefact turned up to be a super class immortal artefact with unknown powers!

The name of this new super class immortal artefact was quickly divined to be the Universal Harmonic Chain, an immortal artefact that was impervious to all external forces and that it was closely related to the Stellar Sanctuary Core Artefect that was in the possession of the Goddess Theocracy!

As everyone began to fight for control of this Universal Harmonic Chain by dissolving the powerful intricate formations that were surrounding it, it had suddenly exploded into brilliant light and disappeared into the heavens without a single trace!

All the sacrifices were in vain!

The Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Aiel were presented that day but they had never expected that the Universal Harmonic Chain to have disappeared and would be in the Stellar Sanctuary!

Now that she had seen the Universal Harmonic Chain today, she cursed softly that she would have realized that. And from the looks of the Universal Harmonic Chain, it seemed that it had become even more refined and was exuding an inner radiant!

There was no doubt that this Universal Harmonic Chain had undergone several transformations in the Stellar Sanctuary and had finally reached attainment!

Like the celestial and immortal practitioners, the immortal artefacts also have several evolution stages to attain; Origin, Awakening and Metamorphosis!

The Goddess Aiel seemed to have realized that as well as she gasped softly!

Lele seemed to have been mesmerized by the Universal Harmonic Chain earlier. She seemed to feel a close affinity with this beautiful pink sapphire necklace. She had been practicing the Holy Pureness, a secret heart intricacy skill that was taught to her by her grandpa.

The Holy Pureness had altogether nine staging and the highest that she could go was the eighth. She did not think she could go beyond the eighth staging and so did her grandpa.

Her grandpa had told her once before, “I didn’t think that you can reach the eighth staging of this Holy Pureness Heart Intricacy Skill but you have. Even the best practitioners that I know can only reach the seventh staging…”

He sighed softly, “I don’t know if it is a blessing or a bad thing…”

Lele laughed softly, “Naturally it is a good thing. The higher staging it is, the better!”

Her grandpa looked at her blankly before saying solemnly, “There are only two types of practitioners that I know that can reach the seventh staging. Those very naïve or those hopelessly mental.”

Lele raised her eyebrows as she protested weakly, “Grandpa, is that supposed to be a compliment or a slap in my face?”

Her grandpa laughed jovially, “What do you think?”

And now Lele had a strange sensational gut feeling with her Holy Pureness!

She immediately thought, “Does it means that if I can seize this Universal Harmonic Chain then I can advance my Holy Pureness to the ultimate staging?”

With this in mind, she had immediately shown an interest in the Universal Harmonic Chain!

But before she could step forward to seize the Universal Harmonic Chain for herself, the Esper Formation had triggered and started to level its vicinity into oblivion!

Sensing danger, Lele had immediately threw her long scythe upside down into the ground as a shield while she brandished her Divine Echo to fend off any energy projectiles that she could not evade!

Lie Qing was initially worried for Lele because she had immediately realized the scale of the multitude of these incoming energy projectiles!

But when she seen that Lele’s long scythe did not disintegrate and upon getting hit, she was startled to see her weapon turn silvery!

She thought, “Don’t tell me that Lele’s scythe is also made from the Heavenly Relic?”

But her attention had quickly returned to fend off the high velocity energy projectiles!

If it was not for the combined efforts of Yixian, Youxue, the Goddess of Mercy and Lie Qing that were fending most of the energy attacks from the Esper Formation then it would really be disastrous for their group!

When the Esper Formation had stopped and even before the smoking debris had totally cleared, a monstrous giant had taken the place of the Universal Harmonic Chain!

They were all stunned at the sight of the monstrous giant!

It was because they knew that one hit from the monstrous giant, they would be killed instantly and moreover, this monster was really too big and they were all asking the same question, “Can we evade its attack?”

Yi Ping was asking the same question too. He shook his head as he gasped hold of the two Celestial Alices while thinking, “The arm of this giant is too wide. If we think that we can evade it then it will only be our wishful thinking. I can only go headlong with it…alas, Alice, Isa, are you alright?”

But before he could muster his martial strength to spring forward, his keen sight had caught two shadowy figures in the thick smoking debris!

They were indeed the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa!

The Goddess Celestial Alice had wrapped her golden and green peacock silken robe around her as blistering wisps enveloped around her!

At the same time the golden jadeite armor of the Goddess Isa was also enveloped with smearing smoke!

Yi Ping’s heart began to pound at their sight but at the same time he was filled with great anxiety because of the towering monstrous giant that was just hovering within striking range in front of them!

Just as he took a single step forward, the Goddess Isa gasped to him. “Yi Ping, don’t take another step forward…”

She did not have the time to finish her sentence because the fist of the monstrous giant had suddenly smashed toward her!

The Goddess Isa flipped two times with amazing agility before leaping on the top of the knuckle of the monstrous giant as she slashed the monstrous giant with her divine sword!

The Goddess Celestial Alice was also being attacked by a barrage of attacks from the other fist of the monstrous giant too!

She gasped softly as she evaded with great dexterous, “Isa, I am not going to let you seize the Universal Harmonic Chain. With your current attainment, it is not possible for you to exert control over it!”

The Goddess Isa hummed coldly, “If I am not able to exert control over it then can you? If I don’t try, how do you know? What a joke!”

They were interrupted by the bellowing howls of the monstrous giant as it sent waves after waves of smashing fists at them and creating explosive martial shockwaves as its fists struck the ground!

Yi Ping was startled at how mobile this monstrous giant was and the speed of its attacks!

But the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa were even more agile as they flipped with in mid-air with amazing dexterity as they evaded and slashed against the monstrous giant at the same time!

In just a blink of an eye, they had performed a series of attacks, flip-flops, evades and leap attacks at the same time!

Yi Ping was stunned at the speed of their movements and their attacks!

In the next blink of an eye, the Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess had also dashed into the midst of the formidable martial outburst!

Yi Ping had been tanking and taking the blunt of the hits from the Esper Formation earlier. It was a lucky thing that he had a formidable endurance and he was standing simply because of his sheer mental fortitude!

He was immediately alarmed when the Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin had suddenly dashed past him to take on the monstrous giant!

The Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess had emerged from the aftermath of the Esper Formation unscathed with their martial strengths barely affected!

Yi Ping forced himself to take another painful step forward as he called alarmingly to them, “Maiden Gusu! Ye Yin! It is far too dangerous for you!”

Barely had he shouted, Lele had also dashed past him to confront the monstrous giant!

This time Yi Ping coughed out blood as he called out to Lele, “Lele, stay back! It is too dangerous for you!”

Lele had reacted much slower than the Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess because she had expended plenty of her martial strength earlier but for reasons that she could not explain herself but when she had seen the Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess dashing forward, she knew that she had to seize this Universal Harmonic Chain for herself!

Lie Qing was stunned too when Lele had suddenly dash forward too!

Lie Qing was the only person left in Yi Ping’s group other than the Goddess of Mercy and the Ascension Goddess that had remained unscathed from the Esper Formation but she was not moved by the immortal artefact or the monstrous giant to act yet.

It was because she had always been a passive exponent that preferred the others to act first or else she would not be the Heavenly Temptress Lie Qing that she was renowned for!

Unless there was a need, she would prefer not to display her martial skills and take any unnecessary risks to endanger herself. Moreover there were two super exponents that were fighting the monstrous giant at the moment so she was not too worried for the time being!

But Lele had leapt to attack the monstrous giant therefore it became another thing now!

Yixian immediately turned to look at Lie Qing with pleading eyes and Lie Qing immediately said, “I will go aid Lele…”

When Yi Ping had heard it he was immediately grateful as he said weakly, “Qing’Er, be careful too!”

Lie Qing nodded as she dashed forward with lightning speed!

Yi Ping quickly turned his attention to the fight and he had almost got a heart attack!

It was because the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa were fighting with each other at the same time too!

That was not all; the Goddess of Mercy had also raised her Heavens Sundering Mirror against the Goddess Celestial Alice, “Alice! Finally today you will fall into my hands!”

She had raised her Heavens Sunder Mirror; immediately there was a brilliant reflection that came from her mirror that sent several brilliant rays of light toward the Goddess Celestial Alice!

The Goddess Celestial Alice hummed coldly as she lifted her skirt as she somersaulted thrice in mid-air as she avoided the slamming punch from the monstrous giant, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy at the same time!

As she somersaulted she had raised her Astronomic Eulogy Divine Sword as she said coldly, “You have forced my hand so don’t blame me! Third Seal!”

Three out of seven of the orbs along the blade of her divine sword began to glow brilliantly!

As she raised her divine sword, there was a sudden implosion from the ground as her divine sword was suddenly imbued with a startling burst of martial power!

At the same time she had crossed swords with the Goddess Isa, sent the Goddess of Mercy stumbling backward and thunderous implosions had exploded when she had slashed furiously at the monstrous giant!

All these occurred in a blink of an eye!

Yi Ping was in awe of the terrifying speed of the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy!

This was the first time that he had also seen the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa fighting with such earnest and they had displayed several mind blogging killing techniques!

Lele, Lie Qing and the Ascension Goddess were flung aside by the martial shockwaves of these three immortal practitioners and the monstrous giant as they stumbled back to where Yi Ping was!

Lele heaved a soft sigh, “I cannot even get close to them!”

The Ascension Goddess smiled weakly, “Oh well, let them fight!”

Lie Qing said coolly, “That should be the case actually!”

Yi Ping coughed weakly as he said unhappily, “Lele, Ye Yin, Qing’Er…don’t do that again!”

Ye Yin looked at him as she laughed softly, “So, you are worried for me?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “I am worried for all of you…”

All of a sudden there were several bursting martial shockwaves that erupted in their direction!

Yi Ping quickly exercised his martial power to execute the Ultrapowerful Force to counteract the opposing force but by now, Yixian, Youxue, Yu’Er and Mei’Er had already recovered some of their martial strength and were in front of them as they displayed the Divine Emerald Force to shield them from the martial shockwaves!

Lele laughed softly, “Sisters, I want the Universal Harmonic Chain! It is such a pretty necklace and I have decided that I should own it!”

Yixian smiled weakly, “Lele, that is an immortal artefact and it seems that the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa are all fighting over it. Maybe we should just observe first, alright?”

The Goddess Aiel had quietly walked next to Yi Ping and Lele as she muttered quietly, “…the immortal artefact that had caused so many immortals to lose their lives…”

At the same time Yang Min, Shi Shi, Jing’Er, Han Lin, the Celestial Wind Maiden, Lady Winter Plum, Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage and the Universal Old Man had all gathered around Yi Ping…

Yang Min asked Yi Ping softly, “Yi Ping, are you alright?”

Yi Ping nodded quietly as he continued to look at the intense fight that was taking place!

The three immortal practitioners were moving like phantom shadows!

All in all since the end of the Esper Formation, only a short ten blinks of an eye had passed and the three of them had already exchanged hundreds of strokes!

The monstrous giant was bellowing loudly and there were numerous afflictions on its body!

Yi Ping did not expect that the monstrous giant to take so much damage in such a short time!

In fact it appeared that the monstrous giant was about to break apart at any time as thunderous explosive impacts ripped across its body one after another!

The Goddess Celestial Alice hummed coldly to the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa as she fended off their lightning fast attacks, “I will give the two of you another chance. Support me and prosper or perish if you have decided to oppose me!”

The Goddess of Mercy stabbed her with several changing finger stances, “Fat hope!”

The Goddess Isa hummed coldly as she charged at the Goddess Celestial Alice, “I won’t be at your mercy. Not before and ever! Twenty-Fourth Constellation Stroke!”

In that single charge a burst of energetic burst of overwhelming martial burst had erupted around her; it was so strong that the monstrous giant was knocked back!

The Goddess Celestial Alice raised her palm to knock back the Goddess of Mercy while evading the clumsy attacks of the monstrous giant as she replied coldly to the Goddess Isa, “Then don’t blame me for not giving you any chance. The Universal Harmonic Chain belongs to the Goddess Theocracy…”

All of a sudden the Goddess Celestial Alice gasped softly because the Goddess Isa had suddenly changed her attack stance to four beaming sword energy bursts!

Yixian gasped, “The Unanimous Quadruplet Hits!”

She had a taste of the special attack technique of the Goddess Isa when they had a duel previously and she knew how formidable this sword technique was!

Can the Goddess Celestial Alice neutralize this stance especially when she was fighting two other deadly opponents?

The Goddess of Mercy said coldly as she raised her fingers to the back of the Goddess Celestial Alice, “Isa, good! I will attack her back! She is already faltering even though her mouth is hard!”

The Goddess Celestial Alice hummed, “Oh yes…”

But at the moment the monstrous giant made another roaring attack on her!

She quickly evaded the attacks of the monstrous giant by flip-flopping several times but she was clearly caught in the midst of both the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy!

Although the monstrous giant was blocking her with its huge palm, nevertheless The Goddess of Isa burst straight for the Goddess Celestial Alice as she burst straight through to it!

The monstrous giant howled in pain as its granite fingers shattered!

The Goddess Celestial Alice swung her sword to counter the Unanimous Quadruplet Hits of the Goddess Isa immediately but by the third stroke, she was already faltering as she was also fighting the Goddess of Mercy with her left hand at the same time too!

Yi Ping immediately gave a loud martial shout when he saw that the Goddess Celestial Alice had been cornered, “No!!!”

But the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa cried out together, “Now!”

The Goddess Isa had pierced her sword through the right shoulder of the Goddess Celestial Alice and at the same time the Goddess of Mercy had struck the left shoulder of the Goddess Celestial Alice with a thunderous cracking impact!

The Goddess Celestial Alice coughed out blood as she was slammed onto the ground with a thunderous impact that caused the ground around her to explode with thunderous outbursts!

Yi Ping gasped panicky, “Maiden Ziyan!”

But at the same time the monstrous giant had taken advantage of their fights to swing its fist at the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Isa, slamming them onto the ground in a similar manner like the Goddess Celestial Alice!

Yi Ping was now wobbly as his head began to spin when he heard their agonizing cries, “Isa, Maiden Gusu…why…”

They had disappeared into a plummet of dust and debris; the direct hit of the monstrous giant had hit them so hard that Yi Ping knew that he would be killed instantly and even flattened if he was the one that was being hit!

Yunzi was stunned as she gasped, “They must have hated Maiden Ziyan so much that they would disregard their own lives…”

All of a sudden she interrupted herself as she sent her White Phoenix Divine Sword to spin as a flying sword and struck the body of the monstrous giant with a thunderous impact as she said panicky, “The monster is coming straight for us now!”

Yang Min gasped softly, “Do we run or fight now?”

Yi Ping was filled with teething rage and he was trembling nonstop, “I will fight!”

Han Lin was shocked, “Yi Ping, you can’t. Not in your present state. You don’t even have any strength to stand properly!”

The Universal Old Man urged, “Leave to fight another day. I know how you feel. The Heaveness and I have lost many companions in this way but we must first learn our limits.”

The Heaveness Lingfeng said quietly as grabbed him and infused him with her internal strength, “Yi Ping, I will fight alongside with you…”

Yi Ping gasped as he looked at Lingfeng who gave him an alluring smile, “Lingfeng…”

The Celestial Fairy Yixian smiled, “Ping’Er, we are all here together.”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er were also saying at the same time, “Yes, we are all here together.”

Yu’Er added, “I don’t believe that we cannot bring this freaking monster down!”

Youxue nodded, “That’s right!”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “I don’t mind challenges!”

Lele clapped her hands, “So what are we waiting for? Xiao Qian, Ye Yin, Xingyue…go and distract the giant for us while we will seize the opportunity to attack!”

The Ascension Goddess Ye Yin groaned softly; she seemed to be cursing softly…

The Celeste Wind Maiden hummed coldly, “Why should I do your biddings?”

Shen Xingyue sighed softly as she took broad stride forward as she eyed the monstrous giant that was taking booming steps toward them, “Here we go…”

Yi Ping called out, “Everyone, be careful!”

Shi Shi had also said at the same time, “Sisters be careful!”

Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage was cursing himself, “I am so useless…”

The Universal Old Man was also sighing wearily, “The same goes for me as well…”

Lady Winter Plum said quietly, “No you are not. It is just that we have run afoul of the deadly Esper Formation that had sapped much of our martial strength. Do you think that the rest of us here are not blaming ourselves for not having the strength to fight?”

The Universal Old Man began to look at Lady Winter Plum in a new light as he muttered, “True, true…”

Jing’Er, Yang Min, Shi Shi, the Goddess Aiel and Han Lin were also looking at Lady Winter Plum with teary nods and expressions…

Yi Ping had raised his divine swords to say, “Maiden Ziyan, Isa, Maiden Gusu…don’t die, I am coming!”



Ch154 End
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Chapter 156: Uneasy Truce



A sizable group of practitioners had gathered around a small bonfire that was lit in the middle of the winding passage.

The atmosphere was tense and they were all looking uneasy at each other.

“I…lie to you, I…lie about the Celestial Realm, I…lie about the Immortal Realm to all of you when we have first met in the Astronomic Stellar Formation…a dying person won’t care much about their future attainment anymore, don’t you agree too?”

“But I knew it…”

A delicate heavenly maiden with three pink petals on her forehead was looking melancholy at Yi Ping. She appeared to be hesitating as she held her golden and green silken robe tightly around her…

This heavenly maiden that broke the deadly silence was the Goddess Celestial Alice who was also the Eternal Goddess of the Goddess Theocracy.

She was impossibly forbidden to behold and her presence was equally intimidating.

But Yi Ping was able to hold his gaze as he looked gently at her, “Maiden Ziyan…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice said quietly, “Celestial Alice. That is my name.”

Yi Ping muttered softly, “Maiden Alice…”

She whispered softly as she looked at the mark on his forehead, “I knew it…that you are the Dark Cosmos Lord…”

Another forbidden heavenly maiden met the gaze of the Goddess Celestial Alice defiantly as she said coldly, “I know it better than you do. I know it no matter how much he has changed. Why can’t you let him off? Have you forgotten that you are the one that had murdered him?”

This forbidden heavenly maiden was the Goddess Isa!

The Goddess Celestial Alice sighed softly as she looked intently at Yi Ping, “No, I didn’t. I did try to stop him. I couldn’t stop him…”

She lowered her gaze as she looked blankly for a while, “If I did manage to stop him then why do you think that I would be in the Astronomic Stellar Formation?”

When Yi Ping had remembered that Maiden Ziyan had tried to end her life, his emotions became distressed and a sharp pain could be felt in his heart as he asked. “Maiden Alice, why did you try to end your life that time?”

Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Ye Yin and everyone that was in the Astronomic Stellar Formation that time were all curious as well as they exchanged curious looks with one another!

Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Ye Yin who could sense the empathy of others far better than others were still not able to read the thoughts of the Goddess Celestial Alice.

The Goddess Celestial Alice remained unfathomable to them!

The Goddess Aiel was clearly shocked as she gasped, “The Eternal Goddess will actually try to end her life?”

Even the Goddess of Mercy was also shocked!

The Goddess Isa hummed coldly but from her startled expressions there were no denying that she was also shocked!

The Goddess Celestial Alice sighed softly, “I have thought that would be my ended destiny.”

She lifted her eyes to look at Yi Ping, “When I saw the Celestial Alice that is with you, I knew that he was no longer alive anymore. That is because he has made a promise to me that once he has accomplished what he is destined for, he will surely come to free me from the Astronomic Stellar Formation. I have been waiting for him for thousands of years for him to return. When I know that he is no longer around, I have also lost my will to live…”

When Yi Ping had heard her, it was as though his heart had just been struck by a thunderbolt!

Han Lin, Lady Winter Plum, Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Jing’Er covered their mouths as their eyes watered. Maybe it was because they were more sentimental than the others.

But the other maidens, the Universal Old Man and Old Venerable Vanquishing Sage were also trying hard to suppress their emotions!

Was that what the mortals called undying love?

To be together unto death?

Yi Ping clenched his fists tightly as he began to tremble. Finally he interrupted her, “…is that why you want to end your life…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice nodded slowly as she said, “By now, surely you have figured out my past. I don’t wish to lie to you anymore…”

The Goddess Isa could not resist adding, “To think that the Eternal Goddess would be capable of lying!”

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled weakly, “At that time, I didn’t think of trying to further my practice anymore. I am…thinking of leaving a beautiful memory for myself.”

The Goddess Isa whispered hesitatingly, “Then what changes your mind?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice answered melancholy, “I am so close to losing my life then. Only when Yi Ping had grabbed my hand back then, only then did I realize that he is the reincarnation of the person that I have always been waiting for. But then it appeared to be too late for me…”

She closed her eyes as she recalled that fateful moment, “I was given a lending hand by my two Golden Kirins…”

The golden Kirin cub began to leap around the Goddess Celestial Alice!

Yunzi immediately said, “This…little Kirin belongs to you?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice patted the head of the golden Kirin cub as she smiled gently, “That is right. His name is Xiao Ping!”

The Goddess of Mercy almost choked when she had heard that and there were some giggles around Yi Ping!

Yi Ping was so startled to learn of the golden Kirin cub’s name was the same as his that he turned flustered!

The Goddess Celestial Alice chuckled softly when she had seen Yi Ping’s expression before she became solemn all of a sudden, “At that time I have thought that I was a goner. It was because I am in no condition to undertake my heavenly tribulation. But all of a sudden I have found the will to live again…”

The Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were examining her with startled expressions.

The Goddess Isa interrupted cautiously, “You have really overcome your heavenly tribulation? You have really advanced to the Seventh Cosmos Position?”

She was asking the obvious; she had heard previously that the Goddess Celestial Alice had already reached the forbidden level of the Seventh Cosmos Position but she wanted to hear it from her own ears.

The Goddess of Mercy took a glance at Yi Ping as she muttered, “Only the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos has ever attained past the Greater Cosmos Positioning to the mystical Seventh Cosmos Positioning. Not even the Jade Emperor and the other thirty-three sovereign lords are able to accomplish this feat…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice lifted her eyes to look at them, “And I am the second now.”

The Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were naturally not too happy to learn of it. It was because they both at the Greater Cosmos Positioning, the same as the Goddess Celestial Alice previously. But now she had actually elevated to a higher state of divinity than them so they were naturally displeased.

The Goddess of Mercy replied sarcastically, “Not for long, I am sure!”

Everyone else was smiling weakly at their squabbles. It was because they could see that the Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were all extremely pale; their injuries were not light at all and they had literally just pulled themselves from the verges of death. If they were not practitioners of the Greater Cosmos Positioning and above which gave them a state that was similar to the Indestructible Body then the earlier battle would have shattered their bones!

Yi Ping was sighing softly as he said gently to the Goddess of Mercy, “Maiden Gusu…”

The lips of the Goddess of Mercy seemed to move a little but Yi Ping had already realized what she had wanted to say so he quickly said, “…Maiden Xiang’Er, you ought to take care of yourself and not be moved by negative emotions. Alright?”

The Goddess of Mercy immediately nodded submissively!

The Goddess of Isa was about to say something too when Yi Ping said gently to her, “Isa, do you think you can calm down too? Maybe we can hear Maiden Alice out first?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice looked shyly at Yi Ping; the flushes on her face were no mistaking to everyone!

She asked coyly, “Will you like to know why I am here or will you like to know about the Stellar Sanctuary? Or me?”

The last words of the Goddess Celestial Alice caught Yi Ping completely by surprise as he smiled weakly to consider.

The Heaveness Lingfeng coughed softly all of a sudden as she stared briefly at Yi Ping before saying, “Oh excuse me!”

She was not the only one who seemed displeased; Ye Yin and Shen Xingyue who were listening intently were displaying gloomy expressions on their beautiful faces!

The Universal Old Man was clearly in awe of the Goddess Celestial Alice as he stammered, “Or the Immortal Practice…”

Even Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage seemed to have put aside his rivalry with the Universal Old Man as he stammered out, “Yes…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice replied coolly, “It is forbidden to reveal Heaven’s secrets to those that are not predestined. Even if I reveal it to you, your future attainments may well suffer.”

Almost immediately, the Universal Old Man, Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage, Youxue, Ye Yin, Lie Qing and Han Lin had a disappointing look on their face!

But the Goddess Celestial Alice smiled as she said unhurriedly, “Do not despair. I may not reveal the exact Divine Practice to you until you have awakened your Heaven Eyes or until you have reached the Immortal Realm but I can reveal to you the names of the divine stages.”

All of a sudden, everyone was muttering excitingly!

It was because the insight of the names of the divine stages was itself a great clue therefore it did not escape their notice!

Yi Ping was also mindful of the two phrases that were used by the Goddess Celestial Alice, the ‘Heaven Eyes’ and ‘until you have reached the Immortal Realm’.

He thought, “Is that a clue that we have to either awaken our Heaven Eyes or to reach the Immortal Realm before everything can be revealed to us?”

At the same time he had noticed that Yunzi, Ye Yin, Lie Qing and Yang Min were all looking at him; it was as though they seemed to be saying to him, “Yi Ping, did you hear that?”

The Universal Old Man grumbled, “It seems that the Goddess Celestial Alice is more magnanimous than the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy who seem reluctant to share anything…”

The Goddess Isa lifted her eyes to stare at the Universal Old Man before she interrupted coldly, “If you just want the names of the divine stages, why didn’t you ask earlier?”

The Goddess of Mercy hummed coldly as well, “Some people may have mouths on their face but they don’t know how to use it other than eating and drinking. Some things are right in front of them but they can’t see it. Even if the methods and intricate heart formulas of the Divine Practice are known to them, they can’t see it.”

The Universal Old Man smiled weakly, “There is no need to be so upset. It is just a casual remark…”

Lingfeng hummed coldly, “One of these days, your casual remarks will cause your downfall.”

Yi Ping said quietly out of the blue, “In the past, the sages have given the people wise counsel on how to become one with the heavens and the earth but it seem that only a few are willing to listen.”

All the maidens were looking at Yi Ping now. It was because they could see that he was very different now. That different was particular obvious from the moment he had awakened as the White Sage in the Stellar Sanctuary!

That did not escape the notice of the Goddess Celestial Alice because her next question to him was to ask, “You seem to be different now. Very different.”

Yi Ping smiled weakly as he continued to listen…

The Goddess Celestial Alice said, “And I don’t mean just because you have awakened your Heaven Eyes, you are different now. You seem to be…”

She paused briefly to look at everyone, “….seem to be wiser now and not dense anymore!”

Lingfeng laughed softly as she teased Yi Ping, “He is also a martial prodigy!”

Shen Xingyue broke into a smile, “I have never heard of any practitioner that can advance as quickly as him either!”

Yixian nodded as she said gently, “Martial advancement and cultivation attainment are hard to progress at the same time. It requires a delicate balance.”

Youxue nodded. Her martial advances were phenomenal but the same could not be said for her cultivation attainment which had hit a wall!

Even though Yi Ping’s martial skills were weaker than her, he had advanced now to a point that he was now one of the most powerful celestial fighters in the Celestial Realm in a relative short time! At the same time, Yi Ping had awakened his Heaven Eyes and his state of divinity had breech one boundary after another!

Therefore if Yi Ping was not a prodigy, what was he?

The Goddess Aiel also chipped in, “However I am different, I wish that he will be dense…”

She looked shyly at all the other maidens before adding, “Then he won’t have so any troubles!”

Yu’Er, Mei’Er and Jing’Er chuckled softly!

Mei’Er said playfully, “I for one prefer the dense Master Yi Ping!”

Yu’Er laughed jovially, “Same here!”

It was because Yu’Er and Mei’Er had shared many adventures with Yi Ping and none at all with the White Sage!

Yi Ping began to rub his nose as he gave a long sigh, “Maybe…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled gently before she said, “You seem a little trouble. Maybe I can resolve it for you?”

Yi Ping was startled, “You can?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice nodded, “You must be thinking why sometimes you seem to have flashbacks of another person and you have felt you are that person in the flashback because everything is so vivid. But at the same time you can’t remember anything else, am I right?”

Yi Ping was taken aback, “You know?”

He raised his trembling fingers as though he wanted to say something but he began to hesitate…

The Goddess Celestial Alice replied coolly, “You are you and not anyone so you don’t have to bother with your past lives. I can tell you as a matter of fact that it is nearly impossible for anyone to have all the memories of their past lives. That is rule number one. Rule number two; it is possible to experience flashbacks of your past reincarnations only if you can still remember the intense emotions that you have felt back then. Rule number three, most people are incapable of visualizing a mental picture of their intense emotions. Only a few highly attained practitioners are capable of it and you are one of them.”

All of a sudden Yi Ping became enlightened as he gasped, “I have got it!”

The intense emotions that he had felt for these maidens previously had caused him to have these flashbacks!

That only mean one thing; the White Sage and the Dark Chaos Lord must have felt intense emotions for these maidens at that time!

A feeling of intense regret, immerse remorse and an overwhelming helplessness to change circumstances!

His thoughts were interrupted by the Goddess Celestial Alice as she asked softly, “You have really got it?”

Yi Ping nodded with beaming eyes, “No wonder, there is a saying that a marriage is preordained for three lives…”

But he quickly kept quiet because he had noticed that all the other maidens were suddenly looking at him.

The Goddess Celestial Alice grasped her right shoulder painfully as she said weakly, “Really?...”

All of a sudden she smiled weakly as she looked at the Goddess Isa, “So all these years we have been fighting futilely?”

The Goddess Isa asked coldly, “What do you mean?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice looked at all the other maidens slowly, “Surely you are not blinded to the obvious?”

The Goddess Isa began to give a melancholy sigh as she laughed coldly, “Maybe you are right. I have always thought that we are the one and only couple but he had passed on now. In the end, he belongs to no one. Isn’t it an irony that his present incarnation seems to belong to everyone?”

The Goddess of Mercy interrupted weakly, “That is your business and none of my business. I don’t care if he has already many other consorts. I intend to keep my pledge for him!”

The Goddess Isa muttered, “You…”

The Goddess of Mercy said matter of fact, “If you can’t put your past aside then there will be no future for you.”

The Goddess Isa took a glance at Alice…

Yi Ping asked of a sudden, “Maiden Alice, why are you here? I mean in this place?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice looked a little disappointed, “So that is your first question? Fine, I will answer it.”

The Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquishing Sage were also disappointed. It was because they were eager to learn more about the names of the various divine stages of the Immortal Practice than other matters.

But Yi Ping was in no hurry.

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled wryly, “I don’t know how you found this place but for me, it had taken me quite a while to find the entrance. Naturally the entrance that you have found may not be the same entrance as I have found. I was after the Universal Harmonic Chain. I have successfully divined that it is near the vicinity. Alas…”

She took a glance at Lele who quickly displayed an innocuous expression, “But alas, all my efforts are in vain. But I am not wrong about you. You have indeed shown yourself to have the potential to be an immortal practitioner.”

Lele could not hide her delightful expression when she had heard that, “Oh really? I must be someone special!”

Lie Qing immediately coughed weakly while Ye Yin the Ascension Goddess raised her eyebrows.

Yi Ping asked, “This Universal Harmonic Chain, is important?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice nodded, “There must be a reason why the Universal Harmonic Chain is being drawn into the Stellar Sanctuary. As you can see, even the Stellar Sanctuary protects this immortal artefact by warding it in the Esper Formation. When you have arrived, I have managed to disable the Esper Formation and on the verge of seizing the Universal Harmonic Chain…”

She took a look at the Goddess Isa, “But the sudden arrival of your group has once again triggered the Esper Formation…”

The Goddess Isa was flustered as she lowered her gaze, “I am sorry, everyone…”

It was because she had almost killed everyone with her rash actions!

When the Esper Formation was re-activated, twelve hovering energy orbs sprang up from its epicenter and began to rain blue beaming energy bolts in all directions!

The Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa and Yi Ping were the hardest hit because they were the closest to the epicenter!

The Goddess Celestial Alice looked at Yi Ping intently, “Why didn’t you evade the energy attacks?”

In a few blinks of an eye, she had witnessed Yi Ping raising his divine swords as he parried dozens of energy attacks!

That was almost an impossible feat because the high energy projectile was extremely violent and powerful but Yi Ping had endured until right to the very end when the Esper Formation had ended!

At that time she really did not think that Yi Ping would survive without any protection!

Yi Ping said, “If I were to evade then more of the energy projectiles would hit my companions behind me. I really don’t want anyone to come to harm or to lose anyone here.”

It was impossible for Yi Ping to block all the energy projectiles that were created by the twelve hovering energy spheres but he did his best to block all the direct energy projectiles!

It was the first time that everyone had experienced the Esper Formation and because it also just ended as quickly as it was activated quickly, no one other than the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa could really understand the agonizing sacrifice that what Yi Ping had done for everyone!

The Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa had experienced the full impact of the Esper Formation and had gone under but Yi Ping had clearly persisted by not evading any of the energy projectiles!

The Goddess Celestial Alice muttered softly, “You may not be the original Dark Chaos Lord but your endurance and strength have clearly surpassed him!”

Even the Goddess Isa was nodding. It was because she had found it hard to believe also!

The Goddess Celestial Alice asked, “Can I feel your pulse?”

The Goddess Isa asked at the same time, “May I too as well?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly as he extended his hand forward, “I can’t be compared to the Dark Chaos Lord…”

But no sooner had Yi Ping extended his hands to both of them, the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess Isa were gasping at the same time!

The Goddess Celestial Alice gasped out shockingly, “Who are you?!”

The Goddess Isa was trembling as she took a step back, “You…”

The Goddess of Mercy was intrigued so she took the pulse of Yi Ping and she too, reacted shockingly, “Impossible…you…”

Yi Ping was startled by their reactions…



Ch156 End
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Chapter 158: The Divine Practice



The atmosphere was tense as everyone was looking intently at the Goddess Celestial Alice and waiting eagerly for the secrets of the divine to be revealed!

Everyone was feeling excited and they had crowded around the Goddess Celestial Alice in a circular seating arrangement!

Yi Ping, the Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage were suddenly feeling hot despite the level of their internal strength training. It was because they had found themselves jostling next to so many extraordinary beautiful maidens!

Lady Winter Plum was clinging close to the Universal Old Man as she murmured softly, “Excuse me…”

The Universal Old Man was flustering because he had suddenly noticed that he had body contact with her bosoms and he was looking at the same target as Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage!

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage was not only cuddled by these heavenly maidens, he had also a good eye view of the Goddess Aiel who was cladded revealingly.

He found himself drooling…

Yi Ping was not faring better than them; he was cuddled tightly by Yu’Er and Mei’Er but by now he had already gotten used to it. The reason why he was flustering was because he was looking at Alice up close. Even her extremely pale complexion that was caused by her grievous injuries could not hide her astonishing beauty and peerless elegance!

Lingfeng and Ye Yin were obviously displeased to see the current expressions on these three men!

Lingfeng said coldly, “I wonder what is going on in the minds of these three dirty old men?”

Lele protested immediately, “Yi Ping isn’t old!”

The Goddess Aiel gasped as she quickly closed up her legs and crossed her arms over her bosoms, “Don’t look…”

Her skirt was really too short and her silken bodice was too transparent!

Shen Xingyue said coolly, “Don’t put Ping’Er in the same league as them. If he thinking dirty, he would surely have nosebleed but he is not…”

But no sooner had she said that, Yi Ping had a sudden nosebleed when he had noticed Aiel!

Ye Yin was displeased, “It seems that someone has his imagination ran wild too.”

The Universal Old Man and Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage quickly made a feeble quick protest, “We didn’t…”

The Universal Old Man said with a straight face, “I am a highly cultivated Ancient Celestial…”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage smiled weakly, “Same here…”

Yi Ping was flushing so red that he began to stammer, “I…I…”

Youxue said coldly, “Why are all the men here turning into eunuchs all of a sudden?”

Mei’Er laughed jovially, “Because….because they are all so simple minded!”

Yu’Er joined in the tease merrily, “Um! I got it. Men are simple minded!”

Ye Yin muttered softly, “I never have fondness of men, you know. I have seen too many men who are willing to sacrifice their pride, dignity and even their love ones to advance themselves. They only know how to bully women…”

Lie Qing almost choked when she had heard that, “Like real. I remember that you have used the Forget Affection Wine on Yi Ping. Just who is bullying who?”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage was startled, “What? You have given the Forget Affection Wine to him? Is there any leftover…”

The Forget Affection Wine was extremely precious and had the added effect of refining the practitioner’s internal energy. It was so precious that not even the elders of the Holy Ascension are able to savor it.

Ye Yin the Ascension Goddess was suddenly flushing shyly, “Go ask Yi Ping and the Celestial Fairy. They have finished it!”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage gulped his own saliva as he turned to look at Yi Ping and Yixian who had suddenly turned extremely rigid when they had remembered that embarrassing night…

More so for the Celestial Fairy because she had lost her first time to Yi Ping that night. But she was also beaming with happiness when she had recalled that night…

She turned to smile at Yi Ping, “Ping’Er…”

Yi Ping quickly answered gently, “Xian’Er, yes?”

But Yixian simply continued to smile gently at him, “Ping’Er, Ping’Er, my Ping’Er…”

Everyone could see from her sparking golden eyes, all her love and affections for Yi Ping…

Ye Yin the Ascension Goddess was grinning at him, “We didn’t have any private time for a long time. Do you think you want to have a little drink with me?”

Yi Ping was already flustered and only more so now when he noticed Yixian and Ye Yin were looking at him. But at the same time, he was also delighted even though he knew that this was not the appropriate time to think about the matters of the heart.

But he was human after all…

Lie Qing laughed shyly as she noticed that Yi Ping were completely mesmerized by Yixian and Ye Yin, “I guess…I have to work harder now. What do you say, Sister Youxue and Sister Lingfeng?”

Youxue simply smiled, “I think that is a lovely thing...”

She was thinking of her own time with Yi Ping…

The Heaveness Lingfeng gave an alluring look before replying, “Don’t drag me in. I just want to kick him! Or else he would feel he will feel too lucky and forget his place! Hmph!”

Yi Ping had heard her and he quickly replied, “Lingfeng, you have been kicking me since day one. You forget that you are the Heaveness now. How unbecoming of you…”

Lingfeng raised her thin eyebrows as she expressed a pretended shock look, “Hmph! Holy Maiden or Heaveness, I will never grow tired of kicking you. Not now, not ever!”

She lifted her fingers to snap once before she broke into an alluring smile at Yi Ping which caused him to sudden go wobbly, “You…since day one, you have been following me like a pest. If you are not asking for a kick then why are you following me?”

Yi Ping knew that he would never be able to win an argument over her. So he just smiled bitterly!

All of a sudden the Goddess Celestial Alice was giggling and there was hint of tears in her eyes.

Her laughter was infectious that even the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were also smiling!

She asked, “Are you all always like this? It is so interesting. You must really share with me all your interesting stories. I will like to know all the tiniest details!”

Yi Ping said awkwardly, “I will surely tell you if you really would like to know. But maybe not down to all the tiniest details…”

He was now flushing so red that all the maidens, including the Universal Old Man and Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage were all laughing jovially much to his embarrassment!

All of a sudden Alice became solemn as she said, “I really want to experience this love…”

But she quickly changed the conversation by saying, “You know, it is really unthinkable for any immortal maidens to share the same man yet all of you seem to be able to get so well? That is because the Dual Celestial is between one man and one woman. There is no multiple Dual Celestial. Or else I would not have fought with Isa…”

The Goddess Isa smiled weakly, “That is all in the past now.”

Yunzi looked tenderly at the Goddess Celestial Alice, “Thank you! Or else I would not be able to be reunited with Yi Ping in the Stellar Sanctuary. But I have a question. Didn’t the Goddess Aiel says that the Great God Pangu will have three consorts to share the Three Known Realm with him?”

Yang Min was about to ask the same question too but since Yunzi had taken the initiative to ask, she was glad.

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled shyly, “That is the flaw with this prophecy because it is unthinkable for most of the immortals. Whoever the Great God Pangu chooses to Dual Celestial with, that maiden will be very lucky. But come to think of this…”

She began to look tenderly at Yi Ping as she continues, “…who knows what the Great God Yi Ping has for us?”

Yi Ping immediately protested weakly, “I…am not a Great God!”

She smiled, “Maybe not now but in future, you will be.”

Shen Xingyue hummed coldly, “Like father, like son!”

The Goddess of Mercy immediately asked curiously, “What do you mean?”

Shen Xingyue said angelically, “Maybe the Immortal Realm don’t practice polygamy but it is common in the Mortal Realm. Take the father of the White Sage for example, he has three wives and nine concubines!”

Shen Xingyue was the only one that knows the White Sage family history intimately. It was because they were supposed to be engaged to each other…

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “My real father, is faithful to my mother…”

Shen Xingyue whispered, “But you don’t really look like the faithful one…”

Yi Ping smiled even more bitterly, “I have thought that we are hearing about the Divine Practice…”

All of a sudden he had noticed that Alice/Ziyan was looking extremely weak so he panicky said, “Maybe we can let Maiden Ziyan have a little rest first…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled weakly, “No, I am alright. You don’t have to worry.”

She inhaled softly before saying, “As celestial practitioners, there are altogether nine tribulations to overcome…”

Immediately there were mutterings from the group as puzzled looks were exchanged!

It was because they were all taught that there were just seven celestial divinities to overcome before they could ascend as full Celestials!

Genesis, Enlighten, Emotion, Transverse, Seventh Sense, Crisis and Ascend…

Yunzi was the first to say, “No, she’s right. There are indeed nine tribulations to overcome. We have forgotten about the first tribulation which is the Divine Calamity that we have to first overcome…”

Yixian nodded gently as she said woefully, “And the ninth tribulation is just after the Ascend, just after we have ascended to the Celestial Realm!”

At the same time there were many woeful expressions from the group as they recalled their own experiences when they had ascended to the Celestial Realm…

Shi Shi and Yang Min were particular upset when they remembered their own experiences when they had finally ascended. They had thought that it would be just the start of a whole new celestial experience in the Celestial Realm but instead the Celestial Realm was to become their nightmares…

Yi Ping was trembling lightly when he had recalled their hallowing experiences and how he had almost lost everyone…

The Goddess Celestial Alice continued, “Some practitioners have it easy for the first and the ninth tribulation while some others have it hard. It doesn’t change the fact that it is still a divine tribulation to be overcome. All the nine heavenly tribulations are equally perilous. Any misstep along the way is fatal!”

Yi Ping nodded at this understanding as he absorbed this knowledge eagerly!

She continued with deliberate, “The real celestial practice will only begin after a practitioner has first overcome the Divine Calamity. Basically a practitioner has to prove that they would be worthy to be a celestial practitioner. This may be the first of the heavenly tribulation but many who have failed are also the strongest in their generation.”

Yi Ping sighed softly, “That is right. Strength has nothing to do with overcoming the Divine Calamity.”

The heart intricate skills of the various clans were an initiation to be a celestial practitioner. If they fully grasped the higher state of divinity present in their intricate heart formula skills then they would have overcome their Divine Calamity after a short time.

In that forgotten time before the Great Descendant, numerous celestial clans had thrived in the Mortal Realm. In that forgotten time, Yi Ping’s previous incarnation the White Sage was from that era!

But after the Great Descendant which witnessed the destruction of the majority of the celestial clans, the few remaining celestial clans had chosen to cut their ties with each other and from the rest of the mundane fraternity or disguising their clans into martial clans.

In time, the secret celestial clans were to embark on their own limited knowledge to overcome the Divine Calamity.

Without interaction with the other celestial clans, many of the practitioners embarked on a false belief that might were right, triggering their Divine Calamities only when their martial levels reached the peak.

Without fighting other worthy exponents, without killing, without bullying…how many of the hopeful celestial practitioners could reach the peak of perfection of their martial skills?

But they did not know that it took great restraint not to abuse their martial skills. The Divine Calamity was a heavenly wrath that too, would restraint if they restraint. But if they did not, not many would be able to overcome the Divine Calamity.

Many had perished in this manner without understanding the reason why…

Or they were turned into Dark Celestials…

The Celestial Fairy Yixian and the Heavenly Temptress Lie Qing were thinking of their own experience when they had first faced the Divine Calamity for the very first time…

Shen Xingyue the Fiery Phoenix managed a weak smile as she eyed Yi Ping while thinking, “Ping’Er do you know that when you are the White Sage, you have overcome the Divine Calamity effortlessly?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice calmly explained the Divine Calamity to them.

She added, “There is another Divine Calamity called the Great Descendant; it is when the opposite is true. It is the only time that Dark Celestials can hope to ascend to the Celestial Realm and when celestial practitioner can kill another celestial practitioner without incurring Heaven’s wrath and without turning into Dark Celestial.”

Yi Ping heaved a long sigh…

It was because many of the maidens that he had known now had actually perished during this dark period…

The Celeste Wind Maiden said quietly, “In the Celestial Realm, even without any Great Descendant, the Dark Celestials and the Golden Celestials have been fighting for supremacy for an unknown time. Nowadays, many of the celestial clans are actually a mix group.”

She shivered a little.

It was because the Golden Celestials had always been wary of the Dark Celestials. But the Celestial Mistress alias the Goddess Aiel had taken her in.

She used to be a Dark Celestial and she had often wondered about her fate, “Can a Dark Celestial cultivates as an immortal practitioner?”

She smiled coldly. From what she could see now, the Immortal Realm was equally as messy as the Celestial Realm with its own intrigues.

Alice said quietly, “In whatever divinity a practitioner will choose eventually, be it as a Golden Celestial or a Dark Celestial, they would be able to attain as an immortal practitioner. But it is better to cultivate as a Golden Celestial than a Dark Celestial. It is because the path of a Dark Celestial is far too hard and not many can hope to ascend to the Celestial Realm.”

Yi Ping nodded, “Indeed…”

But he was thinking, “Unless the timing is wrong…”

It was because the Heavens balanced between good and the dark continuously. During the Dark Descendant, it was the Dark Celestials that were thriving. Woes to the orthodox celestial practitioners that found themselves on the wrong side during this time…

Alice nodded as she continued, “After the first heavenly tribulation of the Divine Calamity is overcome and the practitioners transcend as Celestials, they would be able to overcome the limitation of life and death. And as Celestials, they have to overcome seven stages of celestial divinities, Genesis, Enlighten, Emotion, Transverse, Seventh Sense, Crisis and Ascend in order to transcend to the Celestial Realm. Each of these divine stages has a lower, medium and upper tier.”

Yi Ping and his group nodded as they muttered among themselves. Indeed that was what they had known.

“Genesis is the initiate awakening and the start of your Divine Practice.”

“Enlighten is when you finally realized the separation between heaven and the earth, reaching enlightenment and opening yourself to further cultivation.”

“Emotion is cosmos loneliness and it is the stage that is the most difficult to overcome for the emotional mortals.”

“Transverse it the limitation of your physical body. Overcoming it gives you enhance speed and endurance.”

“The Seventh Sense is the awakening of your seventh sense and your innate sense. It is also difficult. A long period of peaceful meditation is required to overcome it and it can also drive many practitioners to insanity.”

Shi Shi, Jing’Er, Yang Min, Lady Winter Plum, Ye Yin and Shen Xingyue nodded slowly.

They had witnessed many of their fellow celestials succumbed to a change of personality or insanity in this stage. This was a divine stage that opened the practitioners to hallucinations as they tried to awaken their seventh sense…

“Crisis is the time when the practitioner has to overcome the Divine Calamity again. But this time, the Divine Calamity is many times more powerful and it will occur three times. It is because at this point of time the practitioner is attempting to overcome Heaven’s limitations on them to ascend to the Celestial Realm. At this point of time the Divine Calamity will find any opportunity to stop the practitioner. After overcoming the divine stage of Crisis, the eyes of the practitioner will turn to gray. It is the sign of the darkness before the light.”

Again many in Yi Ping’s group that had overcome the divine stage of Crisis previously began to shudder. Many of the high level celestial practitioners had actually perished at this point because they had expended their martial strength or were injured during a confrontation; it was because their enemies would surely come to disrupt them during this divine crisis and to prevent them from reaching the Ascend Level!

Therefore most of the practitioners would rather live in isolation and be on their alert for any sign of the Divine Calamity. Once this divine sign had taken place, they knew that they had only seven days to prepare for it!

“After overcoming the Crisis Level, the practitioner will finally attain the Ascend Level. At this point of time, they will be very close to ascending as True Celestials to the Celestial Realm. At the middle tier of the Ascend, the eyes of the practitioner will slowly lit up and finally become golden at the upper Ascend Level. After overcoming a final Divine Calamity, only then will the practitioner began the final ascension to the Celestial Realm!”

Everyone shuddered when they had recalled the Divine Calamity. It was never easy and no matter how powerful they were, the Divine Calamity would always test them to their limits!

She added, “The heavenly tribulations for these seven divine stages can take many forms and the practitioners have to exercise caution at all times. Finally the last major heavenly tribulation will take place after the celestial practitioner has transcended to the Celestial Realm.”

Yi Ping suddenly asked, “So there are nine major heavenly tribulations? But if we discount away the first and the ninth heavenly tribulations, there are actually twenty-one tribulations to overcome because each of the celestial stage has three tiers.”

Alice smiled, “That may be right for the celestial practitioners. But we the immortal practitioners are looking at time from a different perspective. To us, we consider the celestial stage as one major heavenly tribulation to overcome over a period of time.”

Yi Ping was enlightened as he clapped his hands, “I got it!”

Everyone was excited now because they knew that the Goddess Celestial Alice was going to explain to them the Immortal Practice soon enough!

The Universal Old Man however had grown impatient as he stammered, “The Immortal Practice is the next thing that all the True Celestials are seeking all these years but it had remained elusive. We don’t even know if we are practicing it the correct way. Only a hundred or so of the Ancient Celestials are left in the Celestial Realm now…”

Alice gave him a comforting smile before saying, “To become an immortal practitioner, you have to reach the Pure Golden Eyes stage. Before the Ascend, the eyes of the celestial practitioner will turn grey. After the Ascend, the eyes of the celestial practitioner will turn golden. That is the sign of attainment.”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage stammered, “Does it mean that the Ancient Celestials have been practicing wrongly?...”

The Universal Old Man was also stammering, “There are five to the divine stages of the Ancient Celestials; the Crimson Level, Gray Level, Golden Level, Green-Golden Level and the Red-Blue Level!”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage, the Universal Old Man and the Heaveness were all at the Red-Blue Level now.
In normal circumstances, the Ancient Celestials had normal golden eyes but they were able to use their internal strength to change the colors of their eyes. By doing so, their martial strength would also increase.

After the Green-Golden Level, they were able to revert the colors of their eyes to their original self and could disguise their own divinity. That was something that the current Golden Celestials were not able to accomplish.

However even so, they knew that this special latent ability of the Ancient Celestials was not the real Immortal Practice!

Alice nodded gently but she had an amused smile, “Judging by the names of the divine stages, it seems that the Ancient Celestials have found a secret way to initiate the secrets of the Heaven Eyes.”

The Universal Old Man gasped, “So that is the purpose…I didn’t know…”

Alice stole a glance at the Goddess Aiel, “Aiel, is that you who leak the Unifying Mystical Intricacy Eyes Formula of the Goddess Theocracy to the celestial practitioners?”

The Goddess Aiel turned ashen immediately as she fell on her knees in fright, “Forgive me! At that time I have accidentally revealed the Unifying Mystical Eyes to the celestial practitioners. Because I don’t want to let them know that I am an immortal practitioner, I have taught them the Unifying Mystical Eyes. In no way did I ever reveal any other immortal secrets…”

Han Lin, Jing’Er and the Celeste Wind Maiden turned pale immediately!

Han Lin panicky defended her, “Our mistress only knows how to nap, drink, eat…she has never taught us anything useful…”

Yi Ping quickly pleaded to Alice panicky, “Alice, please don’t punish Aiel. She doesn’t mean it…”

The Goddess Aiel was moved by Yi Ping’s gesture but she insisted, “No, I know that I really shouldn’t have done that…”

At the same time the Universal Old Man and Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage were also saying panicky, “Forgive Aiel. She only meant well…”

Alice said coolly to Aiel, “Indeed. You really shouldn’t have done that. But who says anything about punishing you?”

Yi Ping was relieved to hear that as he helped Aiel up.

Aiel heaved a soft sigh of relief…

But Alice said coolly, “But do you know that because you have taught the Unifying Mystical Eyes to the Ancient Celestials, it actually does more harm than good? It is because it is after all, still an immortal skill. It will be a difficult skill to begin for many and those who have problems having breakthrough in this skill may find their future attainment affected…”

The Goddess Aiel was flushing now. It was because she had never thought of that before. She was original an immortal practitioner and her Heaven Eyes was awakened by default. The Unifying Mystical Eyes Skill was just a mean for her to understand her Heaven Eyes better and to advance it!

When she was banished to the Mortal Realm, she had found it convenient to use the Unifying Mystical Eyes Skill to gain temporary burst of martial strength to compensate her loss of her Heaven Eyes…

The Goddess Isa was staring blankly at the Goddess Aiel in disbelief, “You…oh heavens! I can’t believe that you have actually ruined the entire generation of celestial practitioners…”

Even the Goddess of Mercy almost fainted from shock at what the Goddess Aiel had done!

Aiel whined softly, “I…but I did help so many of the Pangu Race to ascend as Ancient Celestials…”

Alice said quietly, “What is done cannot be undone. It is a lucky thing that the present generation of celestial practitioners is generally weaker than the Pangu Race or it will be disastrous if they were to attempt the Unifying Mystical Eyes on their own.”

Aiel muttered, “Sorry…it is my terrible mistake…I don’t know how I am able to atone for it…I cause the deaths of so many…”

All of a sudden Yi Ping said with an arousing righteous air, “Aiel, it may not be a bad thing.”

Aiel looked up to him tearfully, “You don’t have to comfort me. I know I have committed an unforgiven thing.”

But Yi Ping smiled, “If you have the heart to repeat and realized your mistake then why think so much? Others may not forgive you but you can start by forgiving yourself first and to make amends.”

Aiel looked up at him as her lovely eyes widened…

Yi Ping continued to smile at her as he pointed to Lingfeng, “Through your mistake, some of the Ancient Celestials like the Heaveness and among others have aided many others to reach enlightenment.”

Lingfeng smiled alluringly, “Finally for once he is talking sense. That is right. So Aiel, there are many others that you have indirectly aided. So you don’t have to feel too terrible.”

The Universal Old Man was also comforting her, “I may not have awakened my Heaven Eyes yet but I have frightened off many opponents with the Unifying Mystical Eyes!”

Han Lin, Jing’Er and the Celeste Wind Maiden were jousting around her as they comforted her, “Mistress, cheers up!”

Yunzi, Shi Shi, Yang Min, Yu’Er and Mei’Er had also joined in to comfort her!

Aiel took a heartfelt appreciative look at everyone before she muttered, “Everyone…”

All of a sudden she laughed jovially, “Thanks! But first…”

She began to look sternly at Han Lin, “Just now, did you just say that I only know how to eat, drink and sleep?”

Han Lin started to protest weakly, “You meanie! I am just trying to help you…you are so ungrateful!...”

Everyone was laughing jovially along with them…

Alice, Isa and the Goddess of Mercy Gusu Xiang had also broken into jovial laughter. This was the first time that Yi Ping had seen them laughing so jovially and he was completely captivated by their mesmerizing expressions but he was not the only one; because their states of divinities were much higher than Yi Ping and his entire group, all their little movements were extremely enthralling to behold to everyone.

But soon everyone became tense again when Alice had suddenly coughed weakly.

She smiled weakly, “That is fun...I have never experienced such joyful thrills before. Perhaps it is not a bad thing after all…”

Yi Ping smiled, “There will be plenty of time next time.”

Alice nodded gently but her tone soon became solemn, “Before I reveal the divine names of this Immortal Practice to you, you must use your wisdom to discern its validity. It is because this Immortal Practice is left behind by the Dark Chaos Lord who is the first mortal to transverse to the Ninth Heavens, which is what is also known as the Immortal Realm.”

The Goddess Isa nodded melancholy at the thoughts of the Dark Chaos Lord…

She stole a glance at Yi Ping who had noticed that she was looking at him.

Yi Ping muttered, “Isa…”

She immediately turned shyly away!

In the meantime all the others were gasping excitingly. This was the moment that they were all waiting for!

“Like the Divine Practice, the Immortal Practice also has seven staging level. They are the Intricacy Focus, Linker Spirits, Revelation, Heaven Eyes, Primordial Core, Divine Crisis and Celestial Unison.”

Everyone began to mutter among themselves. Finally they had a clue to the various names of the Immortal Practice!

“Intricacy Focus!”

Intricacy Focus was the first of the immortal stage. But what did it mean?

The Heaveness Lingfeng was the first to suggest, “Hmmm, it seems like it is a clue to channel all the intricacy energies into one?”

The Celestial Fairy Yixian agreed, “It appears to be so!”

The Universal Old Man and Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage were beaming to each other.

The Universal Old Man laughed jovially, “What do you think?”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage was laughing too, “I think I got it but you may not get it!”

The Universal Old Man grumbled unhappily, “Who says so? I am more afraid that you have not got it!”

He began to smile at the Heaveness as though he was hinting her something.

Lingfeng flashed him an unhappy look, “Why are you always looking at me for answers? Why don’t you use your brain for once?”

The Universal Old Man began to fluster, “I do the experiment and you do the thinking. Isn’t that the norm for us?”

Lingfeng smiled weakly and so did Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage!

Lele had already committed the names of the Immortal Practice into her memory and she was already trying to make sense of the Immortal Practice…

Lie Qing began to stroke her long braided hair, “The Heaven Eyes is the fourth stage of the Immortal Staging. What happens to those that have already awakened their Heaven Eyes?”

Alice replied coolly, “They can begin at the Primordial Core immediately. But I will advise that they spend some time to meditate upon the lower immortal stages first. It is because it will lessen the risks for the higher immortal stages.”

Aiel immediately apologized again, “I’m really sorry…”

Lingfeng smiled gently at her, “Don’t keep apologizing or we will be upset!”

Yixian gave her an affectionate smile, “Cheers up, alright?”

Aiel heaved a soft sign…

Lie Qing made a quick analyze, “So we now have two groups. One group will start with the Intricacy Focus and another group will start with the Primordial Core.”

She smiled enchantingly at Yi Ping, “So I guess that those who are in the Primordial Core are Yi Ping, Lingfeng, Yixian and Lele…”

Lele was so happy that she was in the same divine staging as Yi Ping that she had clapped her hands, “Ping’Er, let me guide you!”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “Sister, I hope that you don’t lead Yi Ping into deviant phenomenon first!”

Lele laughed gleefully, “He is in safe hands with me.”

The Goddess Isa said quietly, “Only Yi Ping, Lingfeng and Yixian are in the Primordial Core stage. Lele is not.”

Lele was flabbergasted as she panicky asked, “What do you mean?”

The Goddess Isa smiled weakly, “Don’t you know? Don’t you feel it? You are almost a True Immortal now.”

Lele was startled, “I…what?”

The Goddess Isa explained, “You have already overcome the Divine Crisis and you are now at the very last stage of the Celestial Unison. If nothing goes wrong, you will be able to transcend to the Immortal Realm very soon.”

Indeed Lele had accidentally overcome the Divine Crisis earlier when they had stepped into the Inner Stellar Sanctuary!

The Goddess of Mercy nodded as she said weakly, “That is right. Moreover she has absorbed the Universal Harmonic Chain into her. This immortal artefact has also aided her to overcome her last hurdle, the Celestial Unison. At most she has only three months left in the Celestial Realm. It would be much quicker if she is not in the Stellar Sanctuary. It is because transcending to the Immortal Realm can’t take place here.”

Yi Ping smiled, “That is a good thing for Lele!...”

But to his utter surprise, Lele had suddenly stood up and walked away tearfully!

Yi Ping and many others were stunned!

Yi Ping muttered, “Did I say anything wrong?”

Yixian said quietly, “No you didn’t. But Lele does not want to leave you or anyone of us behind. She had already left her baby daughter behind. Once is already enough. Twice is too much.”

Yunzi muttered, “Lele…”

Shen Xingyue said as she disappeared into the darkness of the passage way, “Wait here. I will go after her. It is too dangerous for her to be wandering on her own!”

Lie Qing and Ye Yin immediately exclaimed after her, “I am going too!”

Yi Ping, Yu’Er and Mei’Er had also disappeared in the direction of where Lele was last seen without saying a word!

Yi Ping tried to suppress the emotional tears in his heart as he thought anxiously, “Lele, do you know that you are equally important to me? I know that you are scare, scare of loneliness. I understand, I really understand how you feel…alas…”

Lingfeng was sighing melancholy in her heart as she took a forlorn look at his back, “I have realized that long ago that I don’t wish to be an immortal anymore. I just want to be with you, Yi Ping…”

Alice said quietly to the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy, “Isa, Xiang, tell me more about Maiden Lele.”

Isa muttered, “Why do you want to know about her?”

Alice replied quietly, “Her advancements are simply too rapid. Don’t you feel that it is all too strange? And why did the Harmonic Universal Chain chooses her? I have an uneasy feeling that something is about to be happened in the Immortal Realm soon.”

The Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy began to exchange weakly.

Finally the Goddess Isa smiled weakly, “I think you didn’t know about the Jade Emperor and the Great Ascetic Heavenly King yet. We saw Yun Dingzhong…”

The Goddess Celestial Alice was startled but she soon regained her compose as she smiled weakly, “And I saw the Dark Primordial Heavenly King with Chu Mingfan…”

The Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy were startled as they exclaimed together, “Old Man Xuantian is also alive?”

They had turned completely ashen!

It was because if the Great Ascetic Heavenly King and the Dark Primordial Heavenly king were in a group then then it would be extremely difficult to beat them!

The Goddess Isa said panicky, “Then the helper that Yun Dingzhong is waiting for must be the Old Man Xuantian!”

The Goddess Aiel smiled bitterly, “Our influence in the Celestial Realm is weak. Moreover these two are high level immortals. Where are our helpers…”

All of a sudden the Goddess of Mercy, the Goddess Isa and the Goddess Celestial Alice said at the same time as they all thought of one immortal practitioner that may be help to them, “The Goddess Asura!”

The Goddess Isa smiled bitterly, “I never expected that I want to see her again so soon. But first let us hope that she is not killed first.”

The Goddess of Mercy was smiling weakly of that irritating opponent of hers, “I have never expected that I will be praying for her safety…”

Alice turned to look at everyone, “A major fight on the way soon. In our present condition, we are incapable of protecting you. Therefore I have a request that I hope that you can accede to…”



Ch158 End
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Chapter 160: Farewell



When Yi Ping and his group reappeared again to rejoin the main group, they exuded a beaming radiance and the delightful expressions that they had were like light that lifted the darkness!

The other maidens from the main group were startled to see them coming back with such delightful mood that they were envious!

Yixian smiled, “Ping’Er, what takes you so long to come back?”

Youxue sighed softly, “Now I really regret not going after Lele!”

Lingfeng was happy to see them in such high spirits. She was a little worried for Lele and Yi Ping when it took them so long to return. So it seemed that her worries were misplaced!

She yawned softly, “So our dashing hero is finally back.”

Shi Shi smiled, “Welcome back!”

The Goddess Celestial Alice, the Goddess Isa, the Goddess Aiel and the Goddess of Mercy were obviously startled to see them in such exuberant spirits and radiating a delightful happiness that seemed to be infectious!

Han Lin, Jing’Er, the Celeste Wind Maiden, Lady Winter Plum and Yang Min were smiling too!

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage muttered, “Such enviable people.”

Lingfeng startled by his enveloping righteous animus!

She smiled to herself, stealing a glance at Yixian at the same time, “It seems that he has finally reached enlightenment…”

Yixian was looking beaming at Yi Ping, “He has finally reach enlightenment and has finally put everything aside. He has finally returned to his old self…”

When Yi Ping had caught the sight of everyone again, he sighed softly in his heart. “It is really not easy for everyone to reach this point. Whether I am the White Sage or the Dark Chaos Lord, it isn’t important anymore. If it is our destiny to be at the same place and time, then I should make atonement for the past or at the very least, help end the feuds that have started long ago...”

When he had thought of this, his eyes became spirited and his mood light!

Alice and Isa were quietly observing Yi Ping and they were secretly startled. It was because they had recalled seeing this light-spirited expression that was constantly accompanying the Dark Chaos Lord which was his trademark countenance!

Alice had remembered that she had thought of the Dark Chaos Lord as an arrogant badass fellow when she had her first meeting with him. To add fuel to fire, he was so bold to even name his sword after her. How Insolence of him and infuriating!

Needless to say, her impression of him was horribly bad in the beginning…

The Universal Old Man hastily called out excitingly, “Ping’Er, come over here quickly. The Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy have just taught us a way to gauge our divine practice. You don’t want to miss this!”

Yi Ping was beside the Universal Old Man in an instant as he asked excitedly, “Protégé Master, really?”

The rest of the maidens rejoined the main group and immediately the entire group was jovial and alive!

“Where did you go?”

“What sweet nothings did Yi Ping says to Lele? Lele looks absolutely happy compared to earlier…”

“Did something interesting happen?”

Yi Ping smiled weakly as everyone began to crowd around him.

He raised his voice to make himself heard above the ruckus, “There is a way to gauge our divine progression?”

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled weakly at Yi Ping as she nodded…

The Goddess of Mercy quickly said, “Alice, you take a rest first. Your injuries are the worse here…”

The Goddess Isa knew what the Goddess of Mercy was going to say, so she said weakly. “That is right. Let the Goddess of Mercy explained to the newly arrivals…”

Both Isa and Alice nodded approvingly.

Even the golden Kirin cub was howling to show its approval!

Yi Ping nodded at them gently, “Alice, Isa…”

His heart ached at their present condition but he had kept it to himself.

Indeed their injuries were not light.

Even for immortals of their caliber, they may not survive what the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy had gone through!

They had literally taken the blunt of the Esper Formation and were later smashed hard onto the celestium floor. The very reasons that they had survived were because Alice was protected by her divine robe and her celestium silk while Isa was protected by her newly restored celestium armor!

The Goddess of Mercy forced a weak smile as she looked at Yi Ping…

Yi Ping smiled, “Maiden Xiang…”

The Goddess of Mercy said playfully, “I will like you to call me Xiang’Er!”

Yi Ping hesitated for a while because he had suddenly noticed many of the maidens were groaning with displeasure with their eyes but he coolly said, “Xiang’Er, can you show us the details?”

The Goddess of Mercy raised both of her hands in front of Yi Ping. All of a sudden the tips of her fingers began to glow with a dim golden light!

She smiled, “This is the basic Deific Divine Skill.”

Yi Ping was startled as he appraised her curiously.

The Goddess of Mercy smiled as she explained, “From my right hand to my left hand, there are altogether ten fingers. Each of the light on my finger represents a state of divinity.”

Yi Ping understood immediately but he asked, “But there are only seven states of immortal divinities, am I right? Where does the three extra comes from?”

The Universal Old Man began to laugh heartily, “You haven’t figure out, am I right?”

Lingfeng said unhappily, “Hey! You also didn’t figure out earlier. None of us did!”

The Universal Old Man protested weakly, “I am just trying to pull a quick one on Ping’Er, what is wrong with you?”

Yi Ping rubbed his nose as he made a guess, “I surmise that at the beginning of this intricacy practice, we have to gain the practice of getting the first of the fingers to glow first. Only then can we truly use this divine skill to track our immortal practice. The second finger will only glow once a celestial practitioner has accumulated enough cultivation to begin the Immortal Practice? The third to the ninth finger represents the different various stages of the Immortal Practice? And the tenth marks the full attainment of the Immortal Practice?”

The Goddess of Mercy stammered astonishingly, “You know?!”

Everyone was also gasping!

Yi Ping smiled weakly, “I am just making a lucky guess. That is all.”

The Universal Old Man muttered, “Oh well, I got a smart protégé. Like protégé master, like protégé…”

Lingfeng coughed coldly, “My foot!”

The Goddess of Mercy smiled weakly, “So here is the intricacy formula of the Deific Divine Skill…”

Shen Xingyue, Lie Qing, Ye Yin, Mei’Er and Yu’Er gathered excitingly around the Goddess of Mercy to receive the instructions of the Deific Divine Skill…

Lele was beaming alluring to Yi Ping, “You have better progress fast or else I won’t forgive you!”

Yi Ping answered coolly, “I will. Stay safe…”

The Goddess of Mercy began to recite to them the intricacy formula of the Deific Divine Skill…

But no sooner had she finished reciting the Deific Divine Skill, the Goddess Celestial Alice rose up hastily to say, “There is no time to lose anymore. We must make haste now. We may not be able win against the Dark Primordial Heavenly King and the Great Ascetic Heavenly King right now but we may be able to get ahead of them. It is their first time in the Stellar Sanctuary and they may not be as familiar as us.”

Yi Ping was startled, “Now?”

It was obvious to him that Alice, Isa and Gusu Xiang were in no condition to continue their way. The traps and monsters in the unknown Stellar Sanctuary were simply overwhelming…

Alice turned around to ask the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy, “Isa, Goddess of Mercy. Are you strong enough to walk?”

Isa replied weakly, “Definitely better than you.”

The Goddess of Mercy laughed weakly, “Speak for yourself first!”

Alice nodded, “I have recovered a tenth of my martial strength so that is enough for me.”

Yi Ping clenched his fist quietly. He had only respect for their determination…

Deep inside, he wanted to protest but he knew that she was right. If they do not hurry, their opponents may catch up with them. Just one glance at the Great Ascetic Heavenly King, he knew that he was not an easy opponent to defeat at all. If the Dark Primordial Heavenly King was with him, then they really had little chance!

Yi Ping may not experience the martial strength of the Great Ascetic Heavenly King yet but he had a firsthand experience of the fight between the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Asura. He knew that the Great Ascetic Heavenly King was leagues above them!

And most of his group had been badly hurt by the Esper Formation and the artefact manifest monster…

All of a sudden Yi Ping had noticed that the mood of his group had become extremely solemn!

It did not escape the notice of Lele, Shen Xingyue, Lie Qing, Yu’Er, Ye Yin and Mei’Er!

Lie Qing immediately asked, “Did something happen while we are not here? What is wrong with all of you?”

Ye Yin, Yu’Er and Mei’Er were stunned at the sudden atmosphere. Their empathy skills were the strongest in the group and they were extremely sensitive. It was as though something was already being planned in their absence!

Jing’Er took a forlorn look at Yi Ping, “Hero Yi Ping, it is time for us to part.”

Yi Ping was shaken, “Jing’Er, what happens?”

Jing’Er stole a look at the Goddess Aiel and the Goddess Celestial Alice, “Nothing happens. I just don’t want to be your hindrance…”

Yi Ping quickly interrupted her, “No you are not…”

Jing’Er smiled gently, “And I am not the only one that is leaving too.”

Yi Ping took a step back, stumped by the announcement!

But he quickly composed himself to say as he took a look at everyone, “But this is the Stellar Sanctuary. No one can leave once they are in it…”

Alice said, “Yes and no. I have the artefact core of the Stellar Sanctuary with me. I can use the warping formation to forcefully expel practitioners out of the Stellar Sanctuary.”

Yi Ping was startled, “Really?!”

Alice nodded weakly, “But it can only be used once. I have waited till I have sufficient internal strength to do so. Those that wants to leave now, now is the perfect time to do so before it is too late.”

Yi Ping was trembling, “Therefore, some of you have already decided to leave because you don’t want to be my hindrance? Is that so?”

Yang Min said gently, “That is right!”

Yi Ping laughed melancholy, “Good! Good! Then let’s us all leave together! I don’t really care for the martial secrets or for the celestial treasures of the Stellar Sanctuary anyway!”

The Goddess of Mercy said quietly, “No, we can’t.”

Yi Ping was stupefied, “Why is that so?”

The Goddess of Mercy replied melancholy, “Because this warping formation does not work for the true immortals like us. We have to face the wrath of the Great God Pangu should we decide to enter the Stellar Sanctuary. Moreover…”

She took a guilty look at the Goddess Celestial Alice, “We have made a terrible mistake and we must atone for it. The only way to stop the forthcoming divine calamity is to reach the very top and hope that everything can still be reversible.”

Alice nodded…

Yi Ping asked, “What kind of a forthcoming divine calamity?”

He hoped that she would not tell him that the mysteries of heavens cannot be revealed…

Alice said quietly as she moved her fingers to calculate again, “Earlier, I did a quick divination…”

Isa whispered softly for the benefit of those who were not presented earlier, “The Goddess Celestial Alice is extremely gifted in divinations, the best in the Immortal Realm in which she has no equal. More so when she has attained the Seventh Cosmos Positioning.”

Alice said weakly, “This is the seventh time the Stellar Sanctuary has appeared in the Celestial Realm. I have often wondered how long the Stellar Sanctuary will continue to appear. The appearance of the Stellar Sanctuary is an imbalance in itself and many of the immortals are right to fear it…”

She sighed softly, “But everyone just wants to enter the Stellar Sanctuary to seize the leftover divine power of the Great God Pangu and to loot the numerous treasures of the Stellar Sanctuary. But no one has succeeded. Many of the immortals are of the view that the very reason why the Stellar Sanctuary has descended onto the Celestial Realm; it is for only the most powerful immortals to descend and attempt.”

“However for whatever reasons, everything is only guesswork. That is why I have sealed the Stellar Sanctuary…”

She looked at the Goddess Isa, “…finally I had relented for him…”

The Goddess Isa nodded melancholy…

She muttered softly, “I still do not know what I have done is right or wrong. It is because it is impossible to know Heavens’ Will. But I have drawn out a conclusion, a terrible conclusion.”

Yi Ping asked nervously, “What is it?”

“A terrible conclusion that no one will possibly believe. A reversal of the Stellar Sanctuary will happen…a correction to the imbalance appearance of the Stellar Sanctuary. I believe that the Dark Descendant will soon happen. Whether it will happen in the Celestial Realm or the Immortal Realm, either way is unthinkable!”

Yi Ping was trembling and he was seized with dread, “The Dark Descendant…it is happening again…”

Celestials will kill Celestials, Immortals will kill Immortals to gain quick attainment!...

A new order will begin anew again…

Alice said, “Yi Ping, this is not your battle. You don’t have to accompany us. After all, it may not be true. No matter, it is my duty to stop the immortals from interfering with the celestials in the Stellar Sanctuary.”

Yi Ping said quietly, “I understand. But I am staying.”

There was silence…

Yixian said coolly, “I am staying too.”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “Of course I am staying too!”

Ye Yin said, “I am staying too.”

Yu’Er and Mei’Er chorus together, “I am staying too!”

Lele quickly said, “Hmph! Count me in too!”

The Goddess Aiel laughed softly, “Lele, I don’t think the warping formation works for you at all. You are half-immortal now.”

Lele groaned miserably, “Actually I want to leave now…”

Old Venerable Vanquisher Sage said solemnly, “It is not that I am afraid. I must quickly go back to the Holy Ascension Sect to reveal the known names of the Immortal Practice. Moreover with the immortals that are now here in the Stellar Sanctuary, not many of the Celestials will be able to survive this time. There is bound to be chaos. I must warn everyone to get ready.”

He inhaled a soft sigh as he looked at the Goddess Aiel, “Ai…take care…”

Aiel replied quietly, “You too…”

Lady Winter Plum said melancholy as she looked at the Universal Old Man, “I must return to my own sect and exposed Chu Mingfan! Moreover…”

She lowered her gaze, “In the end, I am still too weak for the Stellar Sanctuary. Even then…”

She beamed positively as she smiled at the Universal Old Man who did not seem to notice her, “I have gained plenty of experiences, including the knowledge of the names of the Immortal Practice.”

She tapped the Universal Old Man lightly, startling him. “Hey! Don’t die!”

The Universal Old Man was startled, “Me?”

He was suddenly flustered because he was not used to getting this type of attention. He stammered, “Why me and not Yi Ping?”

She laughed softly, “That is because you are my idol. Long ago, you have helped me…”

The Universal Old Man stared at this heavenly maiden, “I did?...”

She pretended to be upset, “Seems like you are really getting old. I will tell you next time. If you don’t mind, you can come to my humble abode at the Three Plum Sect.”

The Universal Old Man smiled awkwardly, “Where is it?”

Lady Winter Plum sighed miserably…

The Heaveness Lingfeng was cursing silently before she said exasperatedly, “Like protégé, like protégé master! You are hopeless!”

Yi Ping smiled weakly at her…

Lingfeng winked at Yi Ping, “Don’t look at me like this. I am staying. Someone has to be your guide to get you out of trouble in the Stellar Sanctuary.”

Yi Ping rubbed his nose, “It will be perfectly boring if someone isn’t here to give me her advice…”

Lingfeng resisted throwing at him one of her hundreds of secret projectiles. Instead she lifted her leg and sent her footwear into his face!

Yi Ping smiled miserably, “That is too sneaky…”

He sighed softly, “I can’t believe that I can’t see that coming…”

Lingfeng laughed softly, “Don’t rub your nose when you are talking to me. It is perfectly dangerous to do so!”

Yunzi smiled, “I am staying.”

Youxue gave a sleepy smile, “I am staying too.”

Even though Yunzi and Youxue said little but their expressions already spoke volumes of their undying love for Yi Ping!

Yi Ping knew that it was impossible to persuade them so he did not attempt to.

The Celeste Wind Maiden said quietly as she looked at Yi Ping, “I am leaving. The Celestial Aiel Sect needs me.”

She smiled at Ye Yin, “Let hope that you can pull through. I am hoping for a duel with you.”

Ye Yin smiled, “Anytime!”

Yi Ping was startled that Xiao Qian was also leaving. She was really a powerful fighter. But what right did he have to stop her from leaving?

He guessed that Han Lin was also leaving…

But Han Lin said, “Mistress, I am staying!”

The Goddess Celestial Aiel rebuked her solemnly, “Han Lin, we may not survive this trip. You very well know this. I know that you miss me but ever since Yi Ping had helped me to unseal my Heaven Eyes, I am an immortal now…”

Han Lin protested immediately, “Fat hope! I am not staying wholly because of you.”

She started to look at Yi Ping with a weird expression, “Huh, don’t misunderstood. I am also not staying…because of you…”

Everyone knew that she was lying, including Yi Ping.

Yi Ping muttered, “Han Lin…”

Han Lin looked at Yi Ping in the eyes but said nothing…

Shi Shi interrupted them, “Ping’Er, I will accompany my protégé sisters Yang Min and Jing’Er. We have plenty of catching up to do. Take good care of yourself…”

Yi Ping muttered, “Shi Shi…”

Shi Shi was the first heavenly maiden that they had met in the Celestial Realm and she had helped them a lot.

She smiled, “Ping’Er, don’t you worry for me. I am an Ancient Celestial now and moreover, you have given such a good divine sword. I can surely protect myself.”

Yi Ping nodded…

He was a little sad that so many were leaving but at the same time he was glad. It was because they will be safer outside than in the Stellar Sanctuary.

Yang Min looked up to him, her expressions were beholding. “Yi Ping, I will never forget about you. Please come back safe and sound or I will never forgive you!”

Yi Ping muttered, “Yang Min…”

All of a sudden Yang Min fell into his embrace as she cried out, “You must…”

Everyone was moved…



Ch160 End
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Chapter 162: The Iron Formation



The entire passageway was shaking resounding with metallic echoes which was piercingly cold in the hearts of everyone!

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, “There are so many passages to choose from that I have taken a random passage…”

Youxue was smiling weakly and comforting Yi Ping at the same time, “We are practicing the Deific Divine Skill while on the move. None of us really pay any heed to where we are going.”

Yixian muttered weakly, “It is my fault…”

Alice said weakly to her, “Not really. The nearer we are to finding an entrance to the next floor, the more dangerous it is.”

Lingfeng nodded nervously, “Whether it is life or death gate, we still have to face it eventually.”

The Universal Old Man immediately said, “There is still time to turn back. There are several passages behind us. Combat trials are not rewarding at all and will only weaken us further.”

The hallway of this passage was large. Even if the seventeen of them were to stand shoulder to shoulder, the width of this passage would fit them comfortably. It was because it was meant to fit gargantuan creatures!

Yi Ping had already danced to the foremost front as he readied the Celestial Alice in a defensive position, “I will delay the enemies ahead. If our enemies are too much…”

He stole a glance at Alice, Isa and Xiang, “…please flee. I will buy everyone the time.”

The Heavenly Temptress Lie Qing and the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin leapt next to Yi Ping as they said together, “Yi Ping, we will fight with you!”

Lele had unsheathed the Divine Echo while the Celestial Yixian had also unsheathed her Heavenly Tears Divine Sword!

Yunzi had raised her White Phoenix Divine Sword in a defensive stance while Youxue had stepped protectively in front of her.

Lingfeng, the Goddess Aiel, the Universal Old Man, Han Lin, Yu’Er and Mei’Er had formed a defensive line behind Yunzi but in front of the Goddess Isa, the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy!

The Goddess Isa, the Goddess Celestial Alice and the Goddess of Mercy were sighing softly that today that they actually need others to fight their battles for them. They were secretly moved in their hearts even though they were expressionless and emotionless…

All of a sudden dozens of Iron Golems which were a head taller than Yi Ping had suddenly appeared, wielding short swords and shields!

Lingfeng gasped, “This is the deadly Iron Formation!”

The sight of so many Iron Golems marching together struck awe in the hearts of everyone!

The first thought that came into the minds of everyone was, “Can we win?”

Youxue immediately said, “There are exactly eighty-five of them!”

Yi Ping was startled that Youxue was able to count so fast!

Yunzi nodded and added, “It seems that there are five Iron Golems for each of us here.”

Lingfeng smiled weakly, “Right. If our group is bigger, more of these Iron Golems will be here. This is a fifth degree formation and the numbers of spawning mobs are a multiple of five.”

Shen Xingyue sighed softly, “No wonder numbers in strength have no effect in the Stellar Sanctuary and will only be a hindrance.”

Lingfeng warned solemnly, “Be careful. These Iron Golems are impervious to most attacks. We should flee while we can…”

But Yi Ping had already charged headlong into one of the Iron Golems and had slashed it apart with an exploding burst of his martial power!

Lingfeng was startled as she gasped to herself, “He can cut this monster apart with his martial strength…”

Even Alice, Isa and Xiang were slightly taken aback as evidenced by their expressions but they were soon praying hard for Yi Ping. It was because they knew that there was a limit to the number of martial power burst that Yi Ping could muster. Moreover this Iron Golem was caught unaware by him and had accidentally exposed an opening…

Yi Ping was startled by his sudden increase of martial strength when he had exercised his martial power. He had expected his martial strength to suffer due to excessive use of his martial power earlier against the Esper Formation and the artefact manifest monster.

Yet now with a sudden burst of his martial power, he had ripped this Iron Golem apart!

That was not the only change that had happened to him!

When he had exercised his martial power, the sense of fatigue had temporary departed from him and he felt so lightweight!

But he had no time to think because three other Iron Golems had attacked him on all sides, startling him!

It was because he had suddenly realized that he was being fooled by these slow moving Iron Golems; their attacks were on him in a blink of an eye!

YI Ping immediately raised the Celestial Alice as he blocked two of the attackers and exercised the Ultrapowerful Force with his left hand as he struck the third attacker on the chest with a powerful impact, sending it slightly off-balanced!

He was startled that the Iron Golem was able to take the blunt of the powerful Ultrapowerful Force without any ill-effect!

This Iron Golem immediately punched Yi Ping with its shield in retaliation and sent him flying backward!

These Iron Golems had an impervious body therefore they did not even need to defend itself and could focus on attacking!

Yixian, Lele, Lie Qing, Ye Yin, Shen Xingyue, Yixian, Yu’Er and Mei’Er immediately gasped after Yi Ping as they flew hastily to aid him!

Shen Xingyue had raised her Blue Heavens as she flashed and attacked one of the Iron Golem, repeatedly slashing it and causing sparks to blaze from the Iron Golem!

She was confident of her martial strength and the piercing sharpness of her Blue Heavens until she realized that she was only scratching the surface of the Iron Golem!

In desperation she displayed the Big Dipper Hands, causing the air around her to explode thunderously with her martial force. This had the effect of causing the Iron Golem to stumble slightly backward!

An opening!

She mustered all her martial strength as she pierced through the Iron Golem with her Blue Heavens, sliding her divine sword past the heavy shield and the exposed armor of the Iron Golem!

Just as she had thought that victory was hers to claim, the same Iron Golem had slammed her aside with its heavy shield!

Shen Xingyue coughed out blood as she was swept aside, leaving her stunned!

If she was not protected by her Divine Rejuvenation Force, she would have been killed instantly!

These Iron Golems were all capable of one hit kill any of the practitioners using their shields or swords!

She broke into a cold sweat as she realized that these monsters were not alive at all and would not even feel any pain!

She looked up only to see that the sword wound that she had just given the Iron Golem did not even have any effect on its mobility at all!

She was stunned as she thought, “Don’t tell me that I have to use the Big Dipper Hands to weaken their defenses each time. If these freaking monsters did not die first, I would have died of exhaustion first…”

Her Divine Rejuvenate Force was a powerful divine skill that could protect her and weaken her opponent at the same time. The drawback for this skill was that it was also extremely draining to use but it compensated itself by having the ability to feed the surrounding life forces of her opponents by gathering their martial force to herself.

But these Iron Golems did not emanate any life force and were non-living entity!

If she wanted to use the Divine Rejuvenate Force, then she had to pay for its heavy cost herself!

She quickly picked herself up and took several steps back even as several attacks were made against her, “Alas! Even a divine beast is easier for me than these Iron Golems…”

But she was not the only one having a hard time!

Lie Qing had sent several sword energy bursts at a group of Iron Golems and she was expecting for them to come apart but to her stunned surprise, these Iron Golems had absorbed her sword energies with nothing more than a few crack lines on them!

Lele had flown with lightning speed against one of the Iron Golem that Lie Qing had just struck with her Pandora Sword Energies. She immediately displayed half a dozen of fierce piercing and hacking attacks that were enhanced by her Celestial Force as she broke an Iron Golem apart!

They had taken down two Iron Golems!

But none of them could smile because there were still eighty-three more left!

Lele inhaled deeply as she broke through the encirclements of Iron Golems, “Lucky! I was almost trapped by them! This is so tiring!”

She quickly turned to urge Lie Qing, “Sister, hurry and assist me with your sword energy attacks!”

Lie Qing blinked her eyes at Lele’s request as she muttered, “Someone please kill me…”

Sword energy attacks were not only demanding but taxing on the practitioner!

The Celestial Fairy Yixian was faring a little better. She had just hacked off the sword arm of an Iron Golem by executing several displays of the Icicle Sword Energies at point blank and was blocking the advance of five Iron Golems with the Absolute Defense Stance of her Divine Emerald Skill!

There were several golden halos that beamed across the blade of her Heavenly Tear Divine Sword when she displayed the Heaven Forward Stance as she pierced through the Iron Golem whose arm that she had just hacked off!

In that single split second, she had exercised her Eternal Heavenly Tears to her fullness martial power and becoming one with her divine sword as she sent bursting chilling sword energies to explode outward!

Immediately splintering cracks started to appear in the body of the Iron Golem as it exploded in all directions with a thunderous cold piercing explosion!

Three Iron Golems down and eighty-two more to go!

The Celestial Fairy Yixian continued to display several defensive and offensive stances against more of the Iron Golems!

There was no hint of her current emotions even though this fight was demanding and extracted a lot from her. She was as emotionless as these Iron Golems and continued to fight her best!

“The Iron Golems are many but they are too big and not all can fight me at the same time. I just need to make sure that there is always a room for me to maneuver.” Those were her only thoughts!

Ye Yin was cursing softly.

It took her several attempts as she hacked an Iron Golem with her Heavenly Despairing Divine Sword before she kicked the Iron Golem apart with a thunderous implosion!

Four Iron Golems down and eighty-one to go!

At the same time she had evaded several Iron Golems by moving rapidly!

She did not stay in a single position. To stand her ground would mean suicide for anyone, including for her!

“This…this is getting nowhere. They are too many…to think that I can be reduced to such a pathetic state!”

Mei’Er and Yu’Er combined their swordplay together as they took out one Iron Golem finally. But like the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin, it had taken them considerable effort!

Five Iron Golems down and eighty more to go!

Youxue and Yunzi had come to Yi Ping’s aid!

Youxue said warily, ““Ping’Er…these Iron Golems are impervious to exterior forces and even sword energies. We can’t hold them much longer. Maybe fleeing is a better option now!”

Yi Ping nodded, “Youxue, Yunzi, flee first. I hold them back!”

Leaning back to back against him, Yunzi said quietly as she raised her divine sword to slash an Iron Golem aside, “Ping’Er, I have a technique that may be useful. Maybe I can try it.”

But Yi Ping said solemnly as he split the Celestial Alice into two divine swords protectively around her, “No Yunzi. I know you are talking about the Inverting Eternal Occurrence.”

Yunzi gasped, “You know?”

The Inverting Eternal Occurrence was the most powerful sword technique and formation of the Immortal Saint of Swords!

Yi Ping answered breathlessly, “Since you are the chosen and you can even display the Ley Negative Sword Techniques, it is not hard to guess that the Immortal Saint of Swords has also imparted to you the Inverting Eternal Occurrence. Indeed, it may be the only sword technique that can injure these Iron Golems but I plead with you. Please don’t use it! It is obvious that the Inverting Eternal Occurrence is a sword technique from the Immortal Realm. You will be consumed by it if you use it. I really don’t want anything to happen to you…”

Yunzi kept quiet.

Indeed Yi Ping had been right!

But if she did not use it then it would only be a matter of time before their whole party would be wiped out!

At the same time the Universal Old Man, the Heaveness Lingfeng, the Goddess Aiel and Han Lin were fighting a dozen of the Iron Golems that had broken through the defense lines of the main defenders.

Lingfeng said panicky, “We mustn’t let them reach Alice, Isa and Xiang. We got to protect them!”

The Goddess Aiel raised her martial power as she struggled against five Iron Golems who were hacking at her with short swords while raising their shields to batter her at the same time!

She panicky stepped back as she broke into cold sweat, “Help...”

Han Lin interrupted the nearest Iron Golem that was almost on the Goddess Aiel, “Mistress, aren’t you an immortal? Why are you so weak?”

The Goddess Aiel smiled weakly, “Han Lin, now is not the time for this. Pay your full attention to our opponents first.”

But she could not resist adding, “I am a peaceful immortal. That’s why.”

The Universal Old Man had suddenly come to the aid of the Goddess Aiel, “Watch out!”

The Goddess Aiel gasped softly as an imminent sword attack was knocked aside by the Universal Old Man’s Ultrapowerful Force!

She had turned ashen, “Thank you…”

All of a sudden on the frontline, Yi Ping had given a great martial shout and it was immediately followed by several martial shockwaves!

Everyone was startled and as they looked in the direction of where Yi Ping was.

Where Yi Ping was standing, two more Iron Golems had suddenly collapsed into a pile of iron pieces next to him!

Before they could see what was really happening, Yi Ping had sprang forward again as he slashed apart two more Iron Golems seemingly like slicing tofu!

In a blink of an eye, he had executed hit, evade, movement, jump, block, parry as he raised his two divine swords to slash through the columns of Iron Golems!

Twelve Iron Golems immediately exploded into iron fragments and fell apart, one after the other!

Yixian gasped, “The Perfect Swordplay!”

But Yi Ping’s Perfect Swordplay seemed to be even faster than usual and he had cut down the Iron Golem without being slowing down!

Even for immortals, taking down one of the Iron Golems would take considerable effort especially that all these Iron Golems were like solid armor and their shield guard technique caused them to be temporary impervious to even their divine swords.

In short, unless they could find an opening and had exercised their full martial strength, they could not even pierce through the body of these Iron Golems!

And even if they could do it, they still had to expend considerable skill, mental willpower and martial strength to avoid the sharp exploding fragments when an Iron Golem finally ‘died’!

Yi Ping gave another martial shout all of a sudden; he had suddenly slashed across a company of Iron Golems with the Heavens Encompassing Stroke with the Celestial Antonym Alice and destroying five of the Iron Golems with a single technique!

Now the Celestial Antonym Alice was the heavier of the Celestial Alice. The divine power of the Celestial Antonym Alice was its ability to enhance heavy martial power techniques and this caused the power of the Heavens Encompassing Stroke to be enhanced as though it was the Ultimate Heavens Encompassing Strike!

Everyone was astonished and did not know what was exactly happening right now!

It was because…

Just as Yi Ping was getting desperate and his martial strength was faltering, he had suddenly realized that these Iron Golems were not as simple as he had initial thought.

They were all in the super exponent class and if anyone thought that these Iron Golems were slow moving then they were surely making a great mistake!

It was because these Iron Golems were actually counterattacking with the principle of immobile against the mobile; the first to attack would have opening and instead of becoming the first to strike would become the first to be strike!

To explain it in greater detail, the first second of a strike was the strongest and it was also when the martial strength was the strongest. After extending it out, the strength and accuracy began to weaken!

Therefore these Iron Golems would immediately counterattack with its short swords with devastating effects when the opponent’s ability to defend had also weakened as a result of an extended attack!

Now this was very similar to the quick draw techniques of the Virtuous Palace and the techniques that the Ascension Goddess Ye Yin was using!

Faced with such deadly and organized martial formation, everyone’s offensives were not able to bring into full play!

Yi Ping broke into a cold sweat as he raised the Celestial Antonym Alice and the Celestial Synonym Alice as he attacked and fended in quick successive while desperately thinking of a solution!

Just as he muttered out to Youxue and Yunzi, “Run! These Iron Golems are too overwhelming…” Alice had suddenly whispered to him via her Great Divine Whisper, “Yi Ping, don’t be afraid. Surely you can do better than this. If the Dark Chaos Lord is here, what will he do? If we are fighting with you, what will we do?”

Yi Ping was startled as he thought, “What will Alice, Isa and Xiang do?”

“What will the Dark Chaos Lord do?”

What Alice meant to say to him was obvious. If they were not in their pathetic state, they would surely be able to overcome this Iron Formation!

But how?

Yi Ping immediately focused with his Absolute Spirits, fighting off the Iron Golems while thinking what Alice had just said to him…

He began to recall his first encounter with the Goddess Isa; he was in the midst of a battle with the Martial Deviant Clan and her allies that numbered into thousands. She had shown up without fear and had even destroyed the Eight Trigram Formless Formation of the Brilliant Access Clan effortlessly by going after a single target at a time!

Yi Ping furrowed his eyes thoughtfully when he had remembered that scene…

Alice whispered alluringly to him, “Is that the best that you are do? Do you still remember how you have stopped the Black Kirin? These Iron Golems are far weaker than that Black Kirin. They may be many but they are after all just mere numbers. You have the divine strength of the Kirin’s blood and the Essential Righteous Energy of the Great God Pangu. Are you even using them?”

She paused briefly before adding, “And the martial strength of your Seventh Heaven Cosmos Positioning is not to be underestimated. Are you using them? Is this your limit already? Then I am really disappointed in you!”

Yi Ping began to tremble lightly at her words…

She continued, “Why are you hesitating? Use all you can. Surely you can do better than that. The Esper Formation is much more difficult than this and you have persisted!”

Yi Ping smiled bitterly at the mention of the Esper Formation. Precisely because he had did his best against the Esper Formation that he was now drained…

Alice whispered gently, “Remember your first strike!”

Her whispering soon became melancholy, “I don’t want to be a consort to a loser. The man of my heart has to be a hero!”

Yi Ping gritted his teeth!

In all his battles he had never hesitated before, doing his best until he had dropped dead. But after he had stepped into the Stellar Sanctuary, he had learnt caution and restraint!

If he had to fight then he had to fight as like before!

One tiny doubt or holding back was a big discount to the strength of the martial practitioner. In the past because Yi Ping had no hesitations, he was able to go beyond his limits many times and his progressions were rapid.

But it was easy said than done. Only an exceptional person like Yi Ping was able to fight his best under the most severe of conditions!

Fear, fatigue, mental stress, injuries, courage, endurance were just a few factors that affected the peak performance of a practitioner. To sum it up, there were hundreds of reasons and conditioning to be taken into factor!

Yi Ping gave a loud martial shout as he mustered his martial strength again!

His eyes had turned a deep beautiful golden as he drawn upon the martial strength of the Seventh Heaven Cosmos!

At the same time, he forgot his fatigue and pain as he mustered his entire martial power with his Boundless Divine Force!

At first he had difficulty mustering it to its peak because he had already used too much of his martial power in earlier battles but at the most crucial mustering, he had succeeded and an overwhelming martial force began to envelop around him!

Yi Ping was startled because it seemed that the martial power of Boundless Divine Force had advanced and was even stronger than before!

He did not know that when he was using his martial power to cancel out the explosive projectiles of the Esper Formation, he had unwittingly distributed the Essential Righteous Energy into all his vital energy channels!

In a way the Esper Formation had unwittingly aided him by distributing and reabsorbing the Essential Righteous Energy into his martial power!

If Yi Ping did not distribute it in time, he could only use the Essential Righteous Energy when he projected his martial power as an added martial strength.

But instead now, by distributing the Essential Righteous Energy into his various vital energy channels, his strength, power, internal strength, reflexes, speed, precision and senses had all enhanced!

But there was no time for Yi Ping to utilize his new potential at the moment.

But again because of this, Yi Ping had forced himself to drawn upon this new potential much earlier. Because his willpower was absolute, he could do so and once again, broke another martial limit and it had the effect of increasing his seven martial levels tremendously!

That was when everyone was startled when suddenly two of the Iron Golems were slashed apart by Yi Ping like tofu and exploding into shattering iron fragments!

That was not all.

Before his party could really reacted what was actually happening, Yi Ping had displayed the Perfect Swordplay in a continuous flux of startling sword movements, blocking and attacking at the same time as he rampaged through tens of Iron Golems and destroying twelve more of the Iron Golems!

The Universal Old Man gasped shockingly as he glanced at Yi Ping, “What is it? He is like a Warrior-God…”

Even the Goddess Celestial Alice was stunned!

She began to tremble as she collapsed into the embraces of the Goddess Isa and the Goddess of Mercy.

The Goddess Isa was stunned as she asked Alice, “What did you really say to him that caused him to become…so…”

She paused to find words before adding, “…so freaking awesome all of a sudden?”

The Goddess of Mercy was like jelly as she watched Yi Ping. Like Alice, she almost could not stand straight as she gasped shockingly, “Not just freaking awesome. His martial level is now on par with the Heavenly Kings!”

She stared at Alice, “What actually did you say to him?”

Alice replied shyly, “I say I will divorce him if he is not going to buck up.”

The Goddess Isa exclaimed enviously, “Oh really?”

Everyone was shocked at the sudden martial display of Yi Ping as another fourteen Iron Golems were destroyed in just a few blinks of an eye!

This created several opening and space for them as they hastily stepped out of danger and gave them the opportunity to give each other aid!

Yixian said sternly, “Yu’Er, Mei’Er, Lele, Lie Qing, Youxue, Yunzi! Don’t waste this chance that Ping’Er has created for us. Continue to hold them back! Xingyue...Ye Yin...”

Shen Xingyue immediately understood Yixian’s intention, ”I will go help the back!”

Ye Yin however was surrounded by several Iron Golems and were in a dangerous position therefore she had not heard Yixian...

Shen Xingyue had flashed to the back as she slashed against an Iron Golem that was almost on Han Lin!

Han Lin heaved a soft sigh of relief, “Thank goodness you are here!”

Lingfeng was smiling weakly, “What takes you so long…”

Shen Xingyue smiled weakly, “I almost got trapped…”

All of a sudden five more Iron Golems were destroyed by Yi Ping’s Heavens Encompassing Stroke and exploded with a thunderous martial burst of shockwaves!

The Goddess Aiel was stunned, “What is going on? I think I am going to faint…”

Lie Qing was also stunned, “Is that my Yi Ping?”

Ye Yin was looking at Yi Ping delightedly, “My righteous hero…my protégé master is right…I am right…”

While everyone was gasping with shock, Yi Ping was struggling with his faltering strength!

His speed attacks, his movements and the released of his martial power were taking a toll on his body!

He could feel his trembling arms and shaking hands already!

But his first thought was not on giving it up as he hacked two more Iron Golem into pieces, “There are still so many. I need more strength and speed!”

The reasons that he could hack these Iron Golems to pieces were not because of his martial strength only but also because he had increased his attacking speed!

Earlier in a blink of an eye, he could hack an Iron Golem six times but now in the same blink of an eye, he was able to hack and slash twelve times!

A thought suddenly came into Yi Ping, “The Asper Continuum Horizon Hand!”

“What if I can make use of the martial speed of the Asper Continuum Horizon Hand to increase my speed of my swordplay attacks? Can I?”

Without even pausing to consider a second longer, Yi Ping had already expended his remaining martial strength for the Asper Continuum Horizon. He knew that he was nearing his limit because his vital flow was now reversing and black blood was now foaming from his mouth but he did not care anymore!

He muttered, “Is that the best that my Seventh Cosmos Positioning can do…”

A burst of golden radiance had suddenly burst forth from his shoulder!

But instead of splitting his martial power into martial force to execute his palm attacks, Yi Ping used that martial force to lift himself up as he continued to rampage through the columns of Iron Golems with the continuous attack flux of his Perfect Swordplay!

It seemed like his sword attack had suddenly split into four with each slash!

Instead of requiring twelve slashes to destroy an Iron Golem, Yi Ping now required three slashes!

Instead of destroying the usual two Iron Golems in a blink of an eye, Yi Ping had destroyed eight Iron Golems!

Everyone was gasping!

Lele stared at Yi Ping, “What swordplay is it?!”

This improvisation version of the Perfect Swordplay was still unnamed!

The Asper Continuum Horizon Hand was short lived and could only persist for three quick blink of an eye. But that was enough for Yi Ping to take down twenty-four of these Iron Golems!

Yi Ping coughed out blood as he staggered dully!

He had unfortunately reached his limit!

“Is that the best that I can do…” He muttered weakly to himself, “This is not the result that I want…”

Altogether he had taken down fifty-six of the Iron Golems all by himself!

“You have already done very well. Leave the rest to us.”

A gentle hand was also supporting him!

Yi Ping looked up to see that it was Yixian who was supporting him gently!

Yixian smiled gently to Yi Ping, “Look in front of you!”

Her eyes were beaming not with sadness but with hope!

Yi Ping strained to focus his eyesight and he was startled to see the last group of the Iron Golems had fallen by the combined assault of Lele, Lie Qing, Lingfeng, Yunzi, Ye Yin, Shen Xingyue, Yu’Er and Mei’Er!

Inspired by Yi Ping and because the number of Iron Golems had also been greatly reduced, everyone had launched a fierce counterattack!

They had won!

They had destroyed the Iron Formation utterly!

Yi Ping soon found himself surrounded by everyone as everyone began to ask him excitedly, “Yi Ping, what swordplay is that? You have become so strong now!”

Lele and Yunzi were secretly thinking on their own, “I have almost used that technique…”

He smiled gently at them because he was glad that they were all alright and his blood was fired by their concerns for him!

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled gently, “You have all forgotten something. If you don’t want to claim your rewards then I am going to lay claims to it!”

The Goddess Isa laughed softly, “I am about to say that too.”

Everyone gasped!

At the center of the passage was a dark metallic ore.

Everyone was gasping, “The Heavenly Relic!”

This was no ordinary Heavenly Relic!

From the look of it, it looked like a superior Heavenly Relic. The darker the ore, the more refine it was when it was made into a divine artefact!

Ye Yin smiled, “What a rare drop. From the look of it, this Heavenly Relic may be able to be refined into a divine sword!”

Yunzi smiled, “What a rare find. But we have seventeen of us here so how are we going to divide it in a fair manner? What about next time?”

It was a tease but Yunzi was right!

Even if many of them already had a divine sword on their own, the desire to own another divine sword was strong even though they could only divine harmonized with only one divine sword!

Yixian said quietly, “Even though we are many but we have all look up to Yi Ping as our leader. Why don’t we let Yi Ping decides how to distribute this loot and future loot? What does the newly arrival have to say about this?”

She smiled gently at Ye Yin, Shen Xingyue, Yu’Er, Mei’Er, the Goddess of Mercy and the Goddess Celestial Alice.

Yu’Er smiled, “Of course I am perfectly alright with it!”

Mei’Er winked at Yi Ping, “Naturally we are alright with it. But I am not sure about the rest who are not so close with Yi Ping!”

The Goddess of Mercy said shyly, “Who says I am not close to him? I am alright with Yi Ping being the leader and distributing the loot on our behalf. I don’t really care much for these pathetic loots other than the ones on the top levels.”

The Goddess Celestial Alice smiled, “Indeed there are plenty of enticing loots at the upper levels. Since the majority of you have already picked Yi Ping as the leader, this shouldn’t be a contentious issue at all.”

Ye Yin, Shen Xingyue and the Goddess Isa were smiling. They had no disagreement with letting Yi Ping taking the leadership role!

Yi Ping said awkwardly after he had kept the dark ore, “Let’s us hurry. This place isn’t safe to stay.”

Everyone nodded as they exchanged encouraging looks with each other!

“Let’s go!”

And they were all soon on the move!

Yixian whispered to him, “Ping’Er, you…are alright? You really don’t want to take a rest?”

Lingfeng laughing softly, “He is a wooden block and won’t feel pain or tired. We shouldn’t show him too much concern lest he will forget his place!”

Though she had said that, she was quietly transferring her internal strength to him via her Divine Invigorating Force.

At the same time Shen Xingyue was also by his side to aid him with her Divine Rejuvenation Force.

Yi Ping muttered, “Xian’Er, Xingyue…”

All of a sudden they halted in their steps!

It was because the passage had expanded into a huge hallway and there were four passages in front of them!

Indeed in front of them were four imposing shimmering gates but no one could see beyond it!

Youxue asked, “Which way should we take now?”

Yi Ping was pondering the same question too!

Alice immediately said, “This is easy.”

Yi Ping was startled, “You know the way Alice?”

Alice shook her head, “But I do know where these passages will be leading us.”

Yi Ping asked, “Oh?”

Alice pointed to the passage on the extreme left side, “This passage is the easiest. It will lead us one level up the Stellar Sanctuary. The next passage will lead us three levels up the Stellar Sanctuary. The one next to it will lead us six levels ahead while the passage on the right will lead us nine levels up the Stellar Sanctuary.”

The Heaveness Lingfeng exchanged a quick look with the Universal Old Man before she stepped forward to ask, “How do you know? We have been to the Stellar Sanctuary so many times and we always thought that these passages are an endless split?”

The Universal Old Man stammered, “That is right! What makes you say so?”

Alice smiled gently, “You must know that on our very first trip, I have already been to the ninety level of the Stellar Sanctuary. But of course that is not why I am familiar with the layout of the Stellar Sanctuary…”

Everyone was gasping as they interrupted her with looks of disbelief, “The ninety level of the Stellar Sanctuary!?”

It was because they were all still on the lower levels of the Stellar Sanctuary and they had all almost died from it!

Alice smiled weakly, “But that is already my limit. Moreover it is easier to explore the Stellar Sanctuary on my own than with a big group which will increase the difficulty tremendously. From the Artefact Core of the Stellar Sanctuary, I know that the way up to the Stellar Sanctuary has a fixed pattern after a defense formation is overcome and it is always numbered one, three, six and nine.”

Lingfeng gasped with understanding, “So that is why.”

The Universal Old Man laughed heartily, “So where we are now? I am a little lost.”

It was because this place had no marking to indicate its level as it was a hidden in the mountains!

Alice said coolly, “This is actually the twentieth level. Till now, I am surprised that your group is able to find this place. That is because it is easier to find the next level of the Stellar Sanctuary than to find the secret passage that enables the practitioner to skip a full ten levels. Even for me, it is impossible for me to find it all the time or else this place won’t be a trial for both immortals and celestials alike.”

It seemed that every tenth level was the magic number!

Yi Ping had remembered that they had skipped a full tenth level as well…

Youxue muttered, “So this is the twentieth level. So where passage should we take now?”

Most of them were waiting for Yi Ping to make a decision but they were mostly looking at the passage on their left which was the one that could lead them one level ahead in the Stellar Sanctuary. It was because they were all drained from the earlier battle and they could only imagine how difficult it would be if they advance to the higher levels of the Stellar Sanctuary!

More than half of their group were now invalids and without any martial strength, including Yi Ping!

The Celestial Fairy Yixian asked gently, “Ping’Er, what do you say? After all, you are the leader.”

But Yi Ping was staring at the four shimmering passage as he muttered, “There are four passages here because the entire Stellar Sanctuary is arranged according to the trigram formation, am I right?”

Lingfeng laughed jovially at him, “You illiterate fellow. A trigram has eight openings and not four!”

Yi Ping rubbed his nose weakly, “Actually I do know. But what I am trying to say is that there shouldn’t be four passages here but five!”

Lingfeng asked, “What do you mean?”

Yi Ping said quietly as he looked at the imposing empty wall on the most extreme right side, “What is inside the trigram formation? It is the five element formation. The inner workings of the Stellar Sanctuary have to be structured accordingly to the five elements. So there must be a fifth passage here!”

He had drawn out the Celestial Alice and had slashed across the white celestium wall with a mighty burst of his martial force!

Immediately the hallway was shrouded in a cloud of dust but what was behind the wall that Yi Ping had just struck was equally startling!

A fifth passageway had been revealed!

Alice gasped, “How did you know?”

The Heaveness Lingfeng was also dumbfounded, “A secret passageway!”

Yi Ping replied quietly, “If I am not wrong then this secret passage will lead us eighteen levels ahead to the thirty-eight level of the Stellar Sanctuary!”

Yunzi smiled, “But surely we are not going to take this passage, am I right?”

Lingfeng stared at Yi Ping, “When have you become so smart all of a sudden?”

Lie Qing laughed softly, “Because he is a badass rascal!”

Lele, Ye Yin and Shen Xingyue were exchanging startled looks!

Yu’Er muttered, “Why is that I have such a bad feeling about this?”

Mei’Er was looking at Yi Ping, “Surely not! Or he will be such a bad leader!”

Yi Ping smiled weakly at Yu’Er and Mei’Er, “Only Yu’Er and Mei’Er can read my mind…”

Lingfeng gave Yi Ping a hard kick, “You are crazy!”

Han Lin immediately protested, “I request that we have a re-nomination of the party leader immediately!”

The Goddess Aiel was smiling weakly, “I am going to faint...”



Ch162 End
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