"This is...."
Inside the Imperial Palace, the Emperor sat upon the fabled dragon throne in the Taihe Hall, a seat which, it was said, had been untouched since the previous dynasty’s collapse. As the universally recognized sovereign of the world, this was his first ti taking the seat.
No sooner had he taken his place than he felt a wondrous difference: within that aura, it seed as if sothing had been fulfilled, sothing that until now had been absent from Capital City.
He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but he had a vague feeling: "Could it be the destiny aura ntioned by the Empress Dowager?"
Inside King Xiang Palace, standing upside-down beneath the Taihe Hall, King Xiang felt the sa sensation. With his eyes closed, he reflected on the ti when he, leading his mightiest army, nearly conquered Yundu. What had driven his fervent pursuit back then?
It seed he had also been drawn by this so-called righteous destiny aura.
It wasn’t that he lacked obsession with this place; instead, he and the current Emperor simply remained calm, aware that this place was montarily untouchable.
What he hadn’t expected was that the Heavenly Master Mansion would actively invite them to the Imperial Palace!
What did this an?
Submission? Or perhaps a lure?
Having already decided to attack the Northern Territory co spring, to charge at the ancient forces that had governed the world for countless years, why was this mysterious power showing goodwill towards him now? What were they plotting?
"I am quite curious, as an Emperor, being invited as a guest of honor, will it influence the grand selection?" King Xiang inquired with curiosity.
In his cycle of reincarnation, there was no Sorcerer Dynasty, so he found this enigmatic power particularly intriguing.
"According to history, the Emperor has the right to set challenges. The people from the Heavenly Master Mansion havn’t ntioned this to , so I, too, am curious whether I will really be asked to pose a question during the second trial," said the Emperor with a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
The destiny aura of Yundu filled his last void. Now being back in Capital City felt unfamiliar, yet... would the Heavenly Master Mansion really give up this place to him?
Just the thought seed unlikely—at the very least, not as a gift.
Then... what exactly did they want?
"The second trial?" King Xiang unusually verbose, asked, "Then what is the first trial?"
"The Four Symbols Gate..." The Emperor explained the rules of the Four Symbols Gate, to which King Xiang listened with so astonishnt: "Zi Yue? The one you personally recruited?"
"That one is not simple," the Emperor said pensively. "Pursued by the Sorcerer Dynasty for tens of thousands of years yet surviving to this day, even without the protection of the Great Jin Dynasty, the Heavenly Master Mansion couldn’t touch her. What’s more interesting is..."
"Interesting?" King Xiang asked, puzzled, "What do you an?"
"In recent years, wherever there’s a renowned figure in this world, you can find Zi Yue’s shadow!"
"Ah?" King Xiang’s interest piqued even more. "How so?"
"A thousand years ago, it is said that an ancestor of the Shen Family t a noble person, after which that originally unremarkable man beca the previous generation’s totem of the Shen Family. Ten thousand years ago, when the Ancient Worm invaded the Eastern Sea, it was the Array Masters Clan that stemd its advance, and it is known to that the ancestor of that clan started rising after eting Zi Yue."
"To ntion more recent events, two hundred years ago, Liu Yu only broke through his family’s hidden doors and beca the Twilight Successor after encountering her. And then there’s this ti’s Chen Qing..."
"You didn’t include yourself?" King Xiang joked.
The Emperor fell silent. Truth be told, he didn’t feel like Zi Yue had helped him much, but there seed to be smoother sailing in the years when Zi Yue was by his side. He hesitated to ntion this, feeling as if to believe in it would an accepting that destiny was controlled by soone else.
Everything I have now, I’ve earned myself, through strength and opportunity, definitely not the result of soone else’s manipulation!
Seeing that the other party wasn’t speaking, King Xiang didn’t bother himself and instead changed the subject, "For the Four Symbols Gate challenge, the contestants choose which gate to challenge, right? There will probably be no shortage of challenges at the Zi Yue Gate."
"I think those who choose her will probably suffer," the Emperor smiled. "But there may indeed be many who choose her, Zhang Zhiyun and Murong Ziyi are popular candidates, as long as one does not overestimate themselves, I reckon no one would deliberately challenge them."
King Xiang nodded. There were three trials in the Heavenly Master selection, and conserving energy was crucial. To challenge stronger gates out of false pride was not bravery; it was stupidity.
"That Zhang Xiaoyun..."
"Is a clear trap," the Emperor asserted directly. "Unless the Zhang family is foolish, they wouldn’t let soone with no combat ability guard the gate. That young man must have an ace up his sleeve."
"But I can’t feel anything..." King Xiang frowned. When they were first picked up at the Eastern City gate, it was Zhang Xiaoyun who greeted them. This young man seed like an ordinary person without any trace of strength, whether by intuition or by sensing power, he could not detect any strength in Zhang Xiaoyun.
"That’s why I say, the Heavenly Master Mansion is not simple..." the Emperor smiled. "This ti inviting witnesses from all over the world, even those monsters from the Northern Territory have been invited, they might have the intention to display their power. In these turbulent tis, the Heavenly Master Mansion, silent for ten thousand years, finally can’t help but move."
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"You’re really coming with ?"
Zi Yue looked at Chen Qing beside her with tightly furrowed brows.
"Isn’t this out of concern for you?" Chen Qing smiled. "I followed you here because I was worried about you, how could I possibly let you go alone to that Heavenly Master Mansion to test artifices?"
"Ah... that’s really touching," Zi Yue pursed her lips. She couldn’t tell if Chen Qing was sincere or feigning concern; Chen Qing didn’t seem truly sentintal, yet... his actions were always protective, especially that ti at King Xiang Palace, when he protected Murong Yunji, that honestly surprised her.
She didn’t know if it was genuine or pretense, but if a person could act all their life, they might also be truly righteous and noble.
"No need to be touched, I’m also curious," Chen Qing said with a smile. "The Sorcerer Dynasty is said to represent the pinnacle of the era of magicians, I originally thought it ant the realm of mortals, which is why I didn’t take the remnants from Yundu seriously at first, but now, it seems my initial thoughts were wrong."
"Scared by that sudden invitation?" Zi Yue asked with a smile.
"Indeed, I was frightened," Chen Qing nodded. "If it was man-made, I could still understand it; after all, in this world, hiding so beings capable of using ancient forces is indeed possible, like that Sacred Dancer, didn’t she forcibly descend? But what I fear is that the force behind this sudden sending of invitations is not an individual, but a technology."
"Technology... huh..." Zi Yue understood his point; an individual’s power was just that, personal strength, but if it were a technology, it would signify the strength of an entire force, which was an entirely different matter...
"Now, coupled with the incomprehensible mory loss in Yundu, where even Sacred Dancers were not spared, I’m starting to suspect that the Sorcerer Dynasty of the past possessed sothing quite beyond its ti."
"Perhaps..." Zi Yue nodded. "After all... forbidden powers from beyond the heavens were unreachable by even the third version of ancient powers."
"But you have mastered it," Chen Qing looked at her. "Do you really not rember? That chubby guy just said, you’re the Artifice King, an artificer... I rember that’s sothing from a future version, isn’t it? How co I’ve never heard you ntion it before?"
"I forgot..." Zi Yue said with her head bowed, her expression complex.
Chen Qing: "....."
"How much do you rember now?"
"I’ve rembered so of it," Zi Yue said, looking towards the vast Heavenly Master Mansion ahead. "Once I’m inside, I might recall even more. Are you sure you want to enter with ?"
Zi Yue turned around, her gaze half-mocking, half-smiling at Chen Qing, "Maybe... when I rember everything, I might not necessarily be on your side, you know?"
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