Once Jin Yue finished speaking, she suddenly felt the world descend into a strange silence, even the air itself seemed to have congealed as it stopped flowing completely.
She raised her head in suspicion but all she saw was Xia Qingyue’s unmoving back, followed by a long period of silence.
“God Empress?” She tried calling out to her in a soft voice.
But the only response she received was the same stifling silence that had descended on the room.
An inexplicable sense of uneasiness suddenly appeared in Jin Yue’s heart. Her lips moved but in this moment, she did not dare to give voice to her question.
After an indeterminate period of time had passed, Xia Qingyue’s voice finally rang in her ears, “The words that you just said to me, repeat them again.”
“Ah… yes,” Jin Yue hurriedly responded as she repeated herself nervously, “Sir Yun Che said: This is the grand congratulatory gift that Floating Cloud’s Xiao Che has given to the god empress for her wedding.”
Her heart wildly thumped in her chest and her voice was laced with a restless apprehension. Her sole fear was that she had misspoken a single word.
“Where is he?” She asked.
“He?” Jin Yue’s wits had become rather addled due to her nervousness, “Is the God Empress referring to Sir Yun Che?”
“……”
“He… he is seated in the outer seats,” Jin Yue replied with even more nervousness. At this moment, she suddenly thought of the reaction Xia Qingyue had had when she had first heard the name “Yun Che”, and her heart gave a fierce lurch.
Xia Qingyue turned around, her beautiful eyes coming to rest on the jade box that Jin Yue had been holding aloft, “Jin Yue, pass it to me.”
“…Yes.” Jin Yue walked forward and very carefully placed the jade box in Xia Qingyue’s hands.
Her appearance seemed as passive and indifferent as usual, but when she opened the jade box, Jing Yue saw that her jade fingers were trembling slightly.
The jade box was constructed from Moonlight Stone, its appearance lustrous and flawless, and the moment that Xia Qingyue took it in her hands, its luster dimmed against her fair skin, which was more lustrous and glossy than white jade itself.
The jade box was opened but there was nothing inside.
“There’s nothing inside,” Xia Qingyue said in a soft voice.
“Ah?” Jin Yue was stunned upon hearing that. She hurriedly lifted her face towards the jade box and upon seeing it, her pretty face lost all of its color. She said in anxious voice, “How… how can it be empty? I personally witnessed Sir Yun Che placing something into this box. Furthermore… furthermore, this jade box has always been in your servant’s hands, and no one has even come into contact with it before you…”
“…What did he put inside?” Xia Qingyue asked as a long and slender finger moved around lightly inside the jade box and her crescent brows twitched nearly imperceptibly.
“It… it was a rolled up scroll of paper. This servant… truly, personally witnessed him putting it inside…” Jin Yue was so nervous that she had started to tremble.
“…” Xia Qingyue lapsed into a brief period of silence before lightly covering up the jade box, “There are traces of a recent dimensional distortion around the edges of the jade box. The object that was placed inside was seized by someone with an extremely superlative ability to control dimensional energy.”
“….”
She did not get stunned or flustered by this turn of events. Nor did she become anxious or angry. From start to finish, she had been extremely calm and placid, it was as if a ripple would never appear in her emotions.
“Ah?” Jin Yue’s mouth opened wide, she was at a complete loss.
“You may leave.” She turned around yet again.
“God… God Empress…”
“You may leave. This isn’t your fault.” One could not hear any emotion in her voice. So at least, there was no recrimination in her voice either.
“Understood… this servant will take her leave.” Jin Yue retreated two steps before she left, filled with anxiety and fright.
The Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace once again became a sea of calm.
She stood there quietly as she slowly closed her eyes. The moment her beautiful pair of eyes closed, the world within the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace immediately lost its most gorgeous and beautiful luster.
Within that silent world, she remained still for a very long time, and it was as if time itself had come to a standstill.
Until the sound of footsteps broke that quiet tranquility.
“Heh heh, Qingyue, it’s about to begin, so prepare yourself.”
The Moon God Emperor strode over, a heartfelt smile on his face. This might perhaps be the happiest day of his entire life.
As the Moon God Emperor’s voice fell, Xia Qingyue’s beautiful eyes opened as she slowly turned around, “Foster father, can Qingyue make one request?”
“Oh?” Shock and wonder appeared on the Moon God Emperor’s face.
“Could foster father please bestow the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace upon Qingyue?” She spoke slowly, each word as light as a cottony cloud.
“Hahahaha,” the Moon God Emperor let out a hearty laugh as excitement actually appeared on his face. “Qingyue, in all the years you’ve been here, this is the first time you’ve requested something from me. Great, this is simply great.”
“It won’t be too long before the entire Moon God Realm belongs to you, much less something as trifling as the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace!” Qingyue’s request had caused the Moon God Emperor’s already excellent mood to improve even further, “But since you want it, then I’ll give it you right now.”
Before his voice had even fallen, the Moon God Emperor made a big gesture with his arm as a lustrous white-colored divine light shone out from him before being expelled from his body completely. In an instant, all the lights within the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace grew dim.
The Moon God Emperor made a different gesture and that pillar of divine light was already flying towards Xia Qingyue, before merging into her body. In nearly the same instant, the lustrous lights that had been extinguished for a short period of time flared back to life, causing the internal world of the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace to be blanketed in a sea of shining white.
The Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace was publicly acknowledged within the God Realm as the fastest profound warship in existence, and it was also the most precious treasure of the Moon God Realm. In the past it had always belonged only to the successive Moon God Emperors. But right now, Xia Qingyue had only said a single short sentence, and he had not hesitated in the slightest but had simply given it to her… Furthermore, he seemed to have done it with the utmost joy.
“I thank foster father for granting my request,” she said as she made a slight curtsy.
“Heh heh, as long as you’re happy. You don’t need to thank me for anything ever,” the Moon God Emperor said with a faint smile before he turned around and said, “The wedding ceremony will begin in about five minutes, so make your final preparations. This will be the most important day for the Moon God Realm over the coming years.”
“Foster father,” Xia Qingyue suddenly blurted out as she stopped the departing Moon God Emperor in his tracks, “Qingyue has something to say. I beg that you remember this always.”
“…Oh?” The Moon God Emperor swiveled towards her as puzzlement appeared on his face. He could clearly sense that there was something strange about the current Xia Qingyue. But, it was perhaps due to the atmosphere surrounding today’s event, so it did not arouse too much surprise or suspicion in him.
“In the future, no matter what happens, Qingyue… will never ever let down the Moon God Realm.”
After she said those words, she closed her eyes. Perhaps, it was in order to not let the Moon God Emperor see the disorder that shone deep in her eyes.
“…” The Moon God Emperor’s brows twitched as he said, “Qingyue, you…”
“Qingyue only wants foster father to forever remember those words…. No matter what happens in the future, I beg that foster father remembers these words,” she continued, every word was exceedingly soft, as if she was inside a dream.
Suspicion blossomed in his heart as the Moon God Emperor stood there with a blank expression on his face. But in the end, he did not question her but laughed happily instead, “Qingyue, with these words of yours, even if ‘that prophecy’ made by the Heavenly Mystery Realm happens tomorrow, I no longer have any regrets.”
The Moon God Emperor left but Xia Qingyue remained where she was standing, silent and still. Both of her eyes were tightly closed and they did not open for a long while.
Half of her world was filled with a boundless pale white light and the other half was a filled with a seemingly infinite void, she stood at the junction between those two worlds… Gradually, even her own figure was swallowed up by those two worlds, and all that remained was a patch of pale white emptiness
…………
Star God Realm, Heavenly Slaughter Star God Palace.
“Big Sister!”
Caizhi’s light and airy voice rang out in the distance before she appeared before Jasmine, her small face flushed red with excitement.
“Why are you so excited?” Jasmine asked as she glanced at her.
“Big Sister, I finally know what kind of person the Moon God Emperor’s new god empress is! It’s actually someone who possesses the ‘Heart of Snow Glazed Glass’!” Caizhi said with much excitement. “The legendary Heart of Glazed Glass! To think that it’s appeared once more.”
Yet Jasmine’s reaction was incomparably cool and indifferent, “Oh is it? Hmph! No wonder that old villain Yue Wuya…”
Jasmine had only completed half her sentence before she suddenly stopped. Her eyes turned towards Caizhi as she asked, “Do you know what that god empress’ name is?”
“Of course I know,” Caizhi said with a nod of her head. “The Moon God Emperor called her ‘Qingyue’.”
“…” Jasmine’s entire body went completely rigid before she suddenly thrust herself to her feet.
“Ah!?” Jasmine’s suddenly restless and roiling aura gave Caizhi a big shock, “Big Sis, you… what’s wrong?”
Jasmine’s brows sank extremely low as she tightly grabbed on to Caizhi’s arm as she instantly pulled her to her feet, “Follow me!”
“Ah? Where… where to?”
“The Moon God Realm!”
…………
The time that signaled the start of the wedding ceremony grew closer and closer, and all of the heroes of the Eastern Divine Region had begun to wait with bated breath.
At this time, two people walked into the outer seats side by side.
There were millions of people seated in the outer seats, their voices created a clamorous din and their auras mixed together riotously, but when these two people arrived, they attracted countless gazes.
Because their Moon God Robes were marked with a white-golden Divine Moon Mark which radiated a formless nobility and oppressive might.
Even though these people were all seated in the outer seats, every single one of them was the biggest fish in their respective star realms, and not a single one of them had an ordinary background. But as these two people walked into their midst, they held their heads high and looked down on everyone around them, assuming a stance that these people were beneath their dignity.
It was as if two arrogant emperors, who lorded over all creation and looked down on the masses, had arrived in their midst.
Wherever they passed, it caused the powerful individuals of the Eastern Divine Region, who were near them, to shiver.
From the distance, a young profound practitioner, who looked at the two people walking past, said with much discontent, “Who are these two people? They seem awfully puffed up.”
“You are not to speak nonsense!” The old man beside him hurriedly suppressed his voice with the greatest speed before saying in a low voice, “Those two people are the emperor’s children!”
“The emperor’s… emperor’s children!?” the young profound practitioner said in a greatly shocked voice.
“The Moon God Robes they are wearing and the Divine Moon Mark inscribed in those clothes are the symbols of their status as the children of a god emperor.” The old man said in a deep voice, “The aura of their life force is only about one hundred years so they should be the two youngest sons of the Moon God Emperor!”
“That’s strange, what are these two princes doing in the outer seats?”
The figures of both men were similar, the one on the left had long narrow eyes, his grave and stern face radiating power and prestige, while the one on the right walked with a crooked smile on his face, a face which radiated an arrogance that seemed to have been inborn. The auras of the two men’s life forces were around one hundred years, but the profound energy that roiled about their bodies caused fear and apprehension to appear in the hearts of everyone around them.
Third level of the Divine King Realm!
Hundred year old Divine Kings were genuine geniuses, even in the context of a king realm. Besides, they were also the incomparably exalted scions of a god emperor!
Three hundred sixty-first Prince Yue Huan!
Three hundred sixty-second Prince Yue Jinxi!
These were the outer seats where the middle and lower star realms were seated. So no matter whether it was profound strength or status, they were like emperors descending from the heavens. Everywhere they went, the gathered profound practitioners they walked past all kept quiet in fear, and trembled.
At the same time, everyone was wondering why they had come to such a place.
The two men walked past the rows of seats under the furtive scrutiny of countless eyes. They walked to where the Snow Song and Flame God Realms were seated before coming to stop behind Yun Che.
“You are Yun Che, aren’t you?”
The prince who had an arrogant look on his face, Yue Jinxi, measured Yun Che with a glance. His eyes narrowed slightly as he completely ignored the people around Yun Che.
Yun Che turned his body slightly as his gaze swept over the two men. He said in a cold and indifferent voice, “That’s me.”
“Hmph, I had thought that the famous ‘Conferred God Number One’ and ‘child of the heavens’ would be seated in either the main hall or the outer hall. Who would have thought that he would actually be seated in the outer seats. It has really caused this prince to run around while trying to find you.”
“However, given your background, being seated here is actually quite appropriate.”
The moment Yue Jinxi started talking, every word and every single glance and expression he made were filled with arrogance. As the child of a god emperor, he naturally had the capital and qualifications to be more domineering and haughty than anyone else. Even given Yun Che’s status as the “Conferred God Number One”, in Yue Jinxi’s eyes, he was only worth a couple more glances.
He put heavy emphasis on the two words “this prince” to deliberately impress his status upon Yun Che.
Yun Che’s gaze swept across the Divine Moon Marks on their clothes, but he did not give them a second glance. He slowly and leisurely filled up the jade cup in his hand before he asked Huo Rulie, “Who are these two fools?”
