The black rock was vastly smaller than the building around it. But as the building fell apart, the rock completely ignored the beams of light sent out by the Saint-Emperor and the Vile-Emperor, and continued downward toward the Eternal Immortal Domains.
As it descended, it burst into intensely hot flames!
The suddenness of the development caused the faces of the Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor to fall. Both of them could tell that the rock didn’t come from the fan… it came from the enormous sovereign who loomed over the Eternal Immortal Domains!
“Dammit!” Eyes radiating anxiety, the Saint-Emperor burst into motion, heading directly toward the black rock. The Vile-Emperor also began to advance. However, at the same time, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, and then pushed it out toward the Saint-Emperor.
The Saint-Emperor immediately vanished, reappearing some distance away with a look of rage on his face.
“What are you doing, Vile-Emperor?!?!”
“What am I doing? Either one of us could use a chunk of that sovereign’s flesh for augury purposes. It could contain secrets about how to break through to the Sovereign Realm! You think I’ll just let you have it?!” Chuckling coldly, he began to rush toward the chunk of black stone.
Killing intent sprang up in the eyes of the Saint-Emperor as he too began to rush toward the rock again. Moments later, the two of them began to launch Daoist magics back and forth against each other as the black rock continued to speed downward. As it did, the rock suddenly split open and began to spew out a dark liquid, as well as something that sounded like a howling voice!
Then, a boom rang out as the rock and the liquid slammed into the surface of the Eternal Sea. As a massive wave rolled out, the rock began to sink down to the bottom of the sea.
The Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor rushed down into the sea to follow it, causing more massive waves to roll out across the surface of the water. Even the immortal domains trembled as a result of what was happening.
Thankfully, the process didn’t last for very long. Moments later, both of the emperors emerged from the sea, grim looks on their faces as they exchanged murderous glances.
“You’d better compensate me for this, Saint-Emperor!”
“It got away! You should be the one compensating me!” They stared at each other icily for a few breaths of time, then turned and left the Eternal Sea to return to their respective immortal domains to search for clues about where the black rock was.
No one except for the two emperors knew exactly what it was they were searching for. After all, few people qualified to have been able to observe what happened with the black meteorite. Furthermore, the aura emanating from the teetering fan up above had completely attracted the attention of the celestials and demigods!
Much talk spread through the immortal domains of the two dynasties during the following weeks.
“Back when the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was surrounded and about to be defeated by the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, the Saint-Emperor suddenly reached the Archaean Realm. It was all because he found a palace that had been floating in the void for countless years!”
“No one knows exactly what he found inside of that palace, but after coming out from it, he was in the Archaean Realm!”
“According to the ancient records I’ve read, every ten thousand years or so, a ruined object from beyond the heavens will fall into the Eternal Immortal Domains. They’re always objects of good fortune for us cultivators!”
Quite a few cultivators began to eye the damaged fan with deep hope.
Demigods and celestials alike were all convinced that there was an archaean aura in the fan, which indicated… that there was a high likelihood that it could provide assistance in reaching the Archaean Realm!
Bai Xiaochun heard a lot of talk about the fan. Furthermore, now that he was a celestial, he had access to ancient records that most other cultivators could never peruse.
“According to the legends, that enormous sovereign destroyed all of the tens of thousands of realms that once existed in the starry sky….
“In that moment, the entire starry sky turned dark as countless worlds were exterminated. Nothing remained alive. The only things left behind were endless wilds and ruins, never-ending amounts of dust and bone….
“Occasionally, some of those ruins will float past the Eternal Immortal Domains…. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, they become good fortune for the cultivators of the Eternal Immortal Domains!”
After studying the jade slip carefully, Bai Xiaochun was quite certain about the origin and nature of the fan.
“An archaean aura…. a damaged world treasure!” He looked up at the huge fan with excitement. From the way it was visibly teetering back and forth, anyone could see that before long, it would fall off the sovereign’s hand and then continue on its way through the starry sky!
For unknown reasons, neither the Saint-Emperor nor the Vile-Emperor seemed inclined to try to keep the fan. Nor did they issue any orders for their subordinates to explore it and search for good fortune. And without their help, not even celestials could possibly reach the fan!
The celestials from the two dynasties spent half a month waiting in eager anticipation, during which time neither the Saint-Emperor nor the Vile-Emperor even made public appearances.
A few more days went by, and finally, the Saint-Emperor returned. When he did, he sent his divine sense out into Saint-Emperor City and summoned the court officials for an audience.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but there was definitely something grim to his expression. As the officials gathered in the imperial palace, they could see that, and began to get nervous.
Even Bai Xiaochun was acting especially cautious. Thankfully, he hadn’t done anything to arouse public wrath recently, which made him a bit more confident.
The Saint-Emperor currently stood in front of the Dragon Throne, looking around at the gathered cultivators. He didn’t bother with the warm expression he usually wore. It almost seemed like he had taken off a mask to reveal his true expression. His eyes were cold, and his cultivation base emitted powerful fluctuations that weighed down heavily on all of the cultivators in the imperial palace.
Gu Tianjun and the other celestials exchanged glances, their hearts pounding with sensations of foreboding.
The imperial palace was completely silent as the Saint-Emperor looked at his subordinates, and mentally reviewed everything he had done in the past half month. Unfortunately, no matter what he did, no clues had turned up.
As far as the damaged fan went, although it contained good fortune, it was nothing that the Saint-Emperor cared too much for. Furthermore, the black rock was a bad omen that he didn’t want to have much to do with.
However, it demanded an investigation. Only after performing that investigation had he returned and summoned his subordinates to make arrangements to send people to the fan!
“Gu Tianjun. Sima Yunhua.” In response to his words, Gu Tianjun and the scholarly celestial both stepped forward and clasped hands respectfully.
“I would like to trouble the two of you to take a trip to the damaged fan up in the sky. If there is good fortune to be had, the two of you will have a chance to get it.” As Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua both looked up, the Saint-Emperor suddenly transmitted some words into their minds that only they could hear.
“Furthermore, you will check to see whether the damaged fan has anything to do with the gigantic sovereign! A chunk of the sovereign’s flesh and blood fell in the form of a stone, which landed in the Eternal Sea and then vanished.”
In response to his words, serious expressions overtook the faces of Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua.
Bai Xiaochun maintained full vigilance as this happened. Although he wasn’t sure what the Saint-Emperor had just said to Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua, he had the feeling that it had something to with the fan, which only seemed to grow more and more mysterious.
As he pondered the situation, the Saint-Emperor began to list the names of some of the demigods who would assist Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua in their venture. Eventually, his gaze came to fall on Bai Xiaochun, who was trying to remain hidden toward the back of the crowd. Thinking about all of the official requests he had received half a month ago, the Saint-Emperor snorted coldly in his heart.
“Duke Heavenspan has become a celestial, so therefore, has earned the title of King Heavenspan. He will also participate in this mission.”
Bai Xiaochun’s heart leapt into his throat. A few days ago, he would have been excited by this opportunity, but now, he had a very ill premonition.
“Saint-Emperor, Your Majesty, um, I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately and–”
At this point, the Saint-Emperor turned and began to walk off.
“The matter’s settled!” he said with decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron. “In three days, I’ll personally send all of you off!”
