It didn’t take long before Qingyi finally caught sight of the Alliance Leader’s Palace.
In fact, from the moment he stepped off the dock, the colossal structure was already visible in the distance, dominating the horizon.
Honestly, it looked more like a city-colony than a palace.
The central tower pierced the clouds with its thousand floors, and the entire plex sprawled wide enough to house more than fifty million residents.
Surrounding the palace stood the central facilities of the Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance Academy, where countless disciples honed their skills day after day.
Tianjin could have flown there in the blink of an eye, but he preferred to walk alongside Qingyi.
Together, they traversed ancient forests and cities populated mostly by the disciples’ families. They also passed through vast industrial centers, where towering smokestacks belched endless columns of smoke, forging war equipment without pause.
The Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance had begun as a pletely artificial place.
However, after hundreds of thousands of years and countless generations, it had grown into a nation unto itself, with its own customs and culture.
Today, it stood as an organized, disciplined society, where devotion to the martial alliance served as a mon standard among the countless citizens who lived within its borders.
It didn’t take Qingyi long to realize this.
From the moment they left the docks, every gaze that fell upon them brimmed with pure reverence, and heads bowed the instant people noticed Tianjin’s presence.
"Father-in-law truly did a good job of making everyone see him as a god," Qingyi remarked, watching the crowds part like water to make way for them.
"I did nothing." Tianjin shook his head, his eyes fixed on the path ahead. "I merely gave them protection, dignity, and a future. The rest came naturally.
A man may kill a thousand innocents for money, but only the hope of a future will make him sacrifice himself for a thousand innocents."
Hearing this, Qingyi nodded silently, keeping his thoughts to himself.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the grounds of the Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance’s Talent Academy.
This section largely resembled a cluster of sects.
Several palaces stood scattered across the area, each focused on a distinct type of cultivation.
The Sword Palace was the most renowned, followed by the Fist Palace and the Soul Palace.
Beyond these three, thirty other palaces trained everyone from powerful warriors to skilled engineers.
Each of the thirty-three palaces was led by a powerful Celestial Emperor, all of them reporting directly to Tianjin.
"That’s the Sword Palace." Tianjin pointed to an imposing structure in the distance. "Qianyao must know the current master of that palace. When she was a little girl, the two of them were close friends, separated only by my quest for a cure.
After the death of the Divine Sword Fairy, she rose to bee the heiress disciple of the Sword Palace and now holds the position of master."
Hearing this, Qianyao paused, letting the words sink in.
She had been twelve years old when they placed her into a deep sleep, frozen in time. Back then, she still had very few close friends.
All of them were now great transcendental experts who had lived for over a hundred thousand years, while she herself was still in her twenties.
Of course, she didn’t worry much about something so trivial.
Scratching her delicate chin, she cast her thoughts back, trying to recall the girl her father had mentioned.
"That brat with more muscles than brains?" Qianyao’s golden eyes widened, an amused smile curving her lips.
It was, in fact, her best friend—the one she’d met after fleeing the palace, just an ordinary peasant girl, an orphan from birth.
The girl had carried a large wooden sword everywhere she went, and even though she’d been abandoned, with no support or future, she’d declared with unshakable conviction that one day she would bee the new master of the Sword Palace.
Qianyao had found her amusing and, in the end, brought her to live in her father’s palace.
"Yes." Tianjin nodded. "After sending you and a fragment of my will to the immortal heavens, I took a closer look at her talent and discovered that she was, in reality, a rough diamond.
I trained her personally, thinking she would bee your guardian once I healed you. But she ended up going far beyond what I expected, hahaha."
Qingyi and Qianyao laughed along with him, shaking their heads.
"Now that I think about it, father-in-law, there’s something I want to discuss with you." Qingyi raised his head, confirming that the space around them remained securely sealed.
Even so, he signaled for Tianjin to add a new seal, making sure that not even the golden guards could catch a single word.
"Are you already aware that the Primordial Demon Empress has been resurrected?" he asked, his voice low and firm.
For a moment, Tianjin froze, his step faltering slightly. "Are you sure about that?"
Obviously, even though she came from a later era than his own, he knew of the Primordial Demon Empress.
She had been the leader of the original demonic path—the orthodox demonic path.
It was with her death, and the ascension of the Heavenly Demon as emperor of the demonic people, that all the hatred against demons had begun.
The demonic energy, once pure, had grown putrid, and the demonic people, under a twisted leadership, had also sunk into unorthodox methods.
"Yes. She’s already made contact with me." Qingyi nodded. "Well, through one of her subordinates, Mo Shouming."
"I know him. He once came to me for help in reviving his master, but in the end, we failed." Tianjin nodded, his expression turning grave. "What is your relationship with her? Why are you telling me this?"
"She is my destined wife," Qingyi replied. "She should arrive at the Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance soon, if she hasn’t already. Should she be discovered, I ask that father-in-law protect her. She is still regaining her strength."
"Destined wife?" Tianjin’s gaze shifted from Qingyi, to the Heaven-Defying Thunder Sword, then to Qianyao and Rou’er, a wry smile pulling at his lips.
"Do you know how many men would turn green with envy just looking at you? Talent, beauty, and inparable women throwing themselves into your arms... My younger self could never pare."
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