Two days later.
The residence arranged by the Yunhuang imperial family was located in the northeast corner of the central palace. It was originally an imperial villa. It didn't cover a large area, but its charm lay in its tranquility.
Gu Changyuan leaned back in a rattan chair, his eyes slightly closed. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled shadows on his face.
The four girls sat by a stone table not far from Gu Changyuan, relaxing and killing time.
Gu Changyuan suddenly opened his eyes and sat up straight in the rattan chair.
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the overlapping tree canopies, through the clouds above Twilight Cloud City, through the sky of the Nine Heavens Realm, and landing upon the highest heavens.
A familiar aura.
A spiritual fluctuation, unfamiliar yet carrying a trace of familiarity, came from the direction of the realm wall. It was rapidly, precisely, and unscrupulously passing through the Heavenly Dao barrier of the Nine Heavens Realm.
Nearly a hundred years ago, in the sky above the Zhuge family in the Central Continent, he had felt this aura for the first time.
At that time, four Immortal Kings had arrived. He had kept them to serve as sparring partners for his disciples. Even now, they were still trapped in the God-Binding Coffins, bound by chains and unable to move.
After a hundred years, they had finally come again.
The corners of Gu Changyuan's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a hint of a smile. It was the smile of a hunter watching his prey step into a trap, filled with anticipation.
Seeing their master suddenly stand up and look at the sky again, Ye Qingxue, Bai Ling'er, and Yue Lingxi stopped what they were doing at the same time.
Looking at their master's posture of gazing up at the sky, they felt a sense of deja vu.
But that was nearly a hundred years ago.
Could it be that the Upper Realm's Imperial Court had sent people again? It couldn't be such a coincidence, right? Every time they sent someone, they happened to appear right where their master was?
Weren't the people from the Imperial Court being a bit too arrogant?
Gu Changyuan still waited for the teleportation array to be fully deployed and for the people from the upper realm to close the channel before making his move.
He couldn't alert the enemy, he couldn't give them a chance to escape, and he couldn't let the other end of the teleportation channel notice any anomalies here.
He wanted to wait for them all to come over, wait for the channel to close, and wait for them to think they had landed safely.
And then—close the door and beat the dogs.
Since you are already here, there is no need to hide.
He spoke slowly, his voice echoing through the nine heavens and resounding throughout the entire Twilight Cloud City.
He raised his right hand and squeezed hard toward the highest heavens.
In an instant, violent spiritual energy vibrated intensely in the sky above. Clouds rolled and fierce winds howled, causing all the cultivators in Twilight Cloud City to stop and look up in awe, not even daring to breathe loudly.
The people of the Yunhuang imperial family were also alarmed by such a huge commotion. The reigning monarch, several princes and princesses, as well as several imperial ancestors, flew out of the palace one after another. Their gazes all landed on the sky above, their eyes full of shock and confusion.
The three small black dots were grabbed by that invisible giant hand and plummeted from high in the sky, drawing three straight lines.
There was no dodging, no resisting, and absolutely no room for struggle.
From the realm wall to the Nine Heavens Realm, from the highest point of the Nine Heavens Realm to the sky above Twilight Cloud City, their insufferable arrogance was crushed to pieces by a single hand at this moment.
Gu Changyuan's figure flashed, and he slowly ascended into the air with his four disciples, landing steadily not far from the three Immortal Kings with a calm expression.
The three Immortal Kings were still in a state of bewilderment at this moment.
The leader among them wore golden light armor, with the emblem of the Imperial Court engraved on his chest and a golden phoenix with spread wings engraved on his right arm. The phoenix's head was held high, and its claws were like hooks.
It was the symbol of a Heavenly Guard.
The two Immortal Kings beside him wore dark red robes, clearly regular Immortal Kings of the Imperial Court.
In recent years, the Imperial Court's actions in the Wanluo Immortal Realm had decreased a lot compared to before.
Four Immortal Kings had been sent down a hundred years ago. It had been nearly a century now, long past their mission deadline, yet they had delayed their return.
When the Heavenly Guard of the Upper Realm's Imperial Court checked their traces, they found that they were still active in the Nine Heavens Realm, yet they had delayed sending back any mission progress.
Therefore, a Heavenly Guard was selected and dispatched, bringing two Immortal Kings along to the Nine Heavens Realm.
They had two purposes for this trip: First, to check the specific situation of those four Immortal Kings and see if they had seriously completed the mission assigned by the Imperial Court.
If they found that those four Immortal Kings had been living a comfortable and easy life in the lower realm for the past century, refusing to return to the Imperial Court, or even not advancing the mission at all.
This Heavenly Guard would directly take action and execute the four of them as a warning to others.
If they had truly encountered difficulties that were hard to resolve and couldn't complete the mission smoothly, they would also choose to lend a helping hand, uniting with the four to complete the Imperial Court's directive as soon as possible.
Second, it was regarding the matter of the Yunhuang Immortal Dynasty. Some time ago, the Imperial Court had once again demanded a batch of rare resources and cultivation paradises from the Yunhuang Immortal Dynasty.
However, the resources submitted by the Yunhuang Immortal Dynasty this time were much less than what the Imperial Court had demanded, clearly showing an intent to brush them off.
Therefore, the Imperial Court sent the three of them directly to the lower realm to thoroughly bathe the Yunhuang Dynasty in blood, using this to serve as a warning to the upper realm's Yunhuang Immortal Dynasty.
To let them know that the majesty of the Imperial Court could not be provoked, and that daring to brush off the Imperial Court would require paying a bitter price.
But they absolutely never expected that right after coming down through the teleportation array, before they even had time to figure out the situation in the lower realm, they would suddenly be struck down by a single blow.
Those three Immortal Kings steadied their figures from the crash site. Spiritual energy circulated madly within their bodies, expelling the residual shockwaves of that massive force from their meridians.
The Heavenly Guard adjusted his skewed light armor, a flash of anger passing through his eyes.
For an existence at the Immortal King level to be swatted down from the sky like a fly in the lower realm, if this matter were to spread back to the Imperial Court, what face would he have left to hold his head high in front of his colleagues?
A Grand Ancestor of the Yunhuang imperial family, along with several ancestors of the lower realm, cast their gazes upon the three people who had fallen from the sky.
When they saw the Imperial Court insignia on their clothing, their eyes were instantly filled with shock and solemnity.
Seeing the appearance of the few people from the Yunhuang imperial family, a relaxed expression appeared on the faces of the three Immortal Kings.
Since you are all here, that saves us a lot of trouble.
The Heavenly Guard's voice was calm, without any awe-inspiring murderous look. He even wore a faint smile, as if he were saying the weather is quite nice today.
The resources submitted by the Yunhuang Immortal Dynasty did not meet the requirements. The Imperial Court is very disappointed.
We have come this time to bathe the Yunhuang Dynasty in blood, as a warning to those above.
If you want to blame someone, you can only blame your founding ancestor above for not appreciating favors.
The people of the Yunhuang imperial family all showed expressions of utter fury.
To say the word bloodbath so casually, as if talking about some trivial matter, showed they simply did not put the lower realm dynasty in their eyes at all.
The Grand Ancestor's fists cracked as he clenched them. Veins bulged on his withered face, and his murky old eyes burst with a fury that seemed about to combust.
Gu Changyuan looked at those three Immortal Kings, his disappointment undisguised on his face.
Only three, he didn't know if that would be enough.
He had waited in the Nine Heavens Realm for almost a hundred years. From the time the Imperial Court first sent people to the lower realm until now, most of his disciples had reached the peak of the Half-Immortal cultivation level.
Although they didn't lack actual combat experience, they lacked the kind of tempering that truly toed the line between life and death.
What he needed were opponents who were strong enough, numerous enough, and capable enough to let his disciples go all out.
He had finally waited until the Imperial Court sent people again, but in the end, there were only three. This made him feel that there weren't enough to go around.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
