Heavenly Court

At the peak of the first sub-peak, a towering pavilion was erected, surrounded by layers of suspended celestial pavilions, designated as the disciple residence for the Celestial Sage Sanctuary.

At the peak of the second sub-peak, a massive tower reaching to the heavens stood tall, with similar pavilions rising around it, designated as the disciple residence for the Celestial Demon Pavilion.

At the peak of the third sub-peak, a dark, solemn, and majestic ancient demon coffin rose from the ground, accompanied by countless floating pavilions, designated as the disciple residence for the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Beyond these main structures, the system constructed countless ancillary facilities.

Alchemy rooms, refining chambers, scripture repositories, medicine halls, spirit beast gardens, training grounds, treasure vaults, and more.

For convenience, the system directly replicated the entire framework of the lower realm’s three territories, bringing it all up at once.

In an instant, a brand-new, grand, and sacred super-sect was fully formed.

Gu Changyuan hovered in midair, gazing down at everything below.

Four peaks, four main buildings, countless pavilions and courtyards—a new celestial force.

Gu Changyuan took a deep breath, feeling the dense immortal energy flowing into his body, sensing the power and potential contained within this newborn sanctuary.

Then, he spoke.

“From this moment onward.”

His gaze swept over the disciples below who looked up at him.

“This place shall be called the Heavenly Court.”

“The center is the Heavenly Palace, with three peaks standing separate, designated as the Mortal Court, Demon Court, and Fiend Court.”

“These three courts share the same origin, standing together as the lineage of the Heavenly Court, guarding this immortal domain, and laying the foundation of eons for all immortal life!”

The nearly thousand disciples below knelt on one knee in midair, their voices shaking the mountains and rivers, their momentum soaring:

“Hail the Founding of the Heavenly Court!”

...

The Heavenly Court was established; heaven and earth were settled.

Gu Changyuan descended slowly from the high sky, his feet landing on the white jade steps before the golden hall atop the main peak.

His gaze swept over the disciples who still looked up at him.

“Disperse now. Go choose your own dwellings. The Heavenly Court is vast, with plenty of rooms. Don’t start fighting over them.”

A light chuckle rippled through the crowd, the atmosphere clearly relaxed.

Indeed, the Heavenly Court was vast.

The Tianyuan Immortal Mountain, the Mortal Peak, the Demon Peak, the Fiend Peak—four peaks, countless pavilions and halls, with at least tens of thousands of rooms inside.

And they numbered fewer than a thousand. Not only could each person have one room, they could each have ten.

The disciples dispersed in twos and threes, flying toward different directions of the four peaks.

The residences for Gu Changyuan’s thirty core disciples had already been pre-assigned, all located within the central buildings of the three main peaks: the Mortal Peak, Demon Peak, and Fiend Peak.

This continued the structure of the former Celestial Sage Sanctuary, Celestial Demon Pavilion, and Heavenly Demon Sect.

But instead of occupying the peaks of nine summits, they now dwelled in a single pavilion atop one peak.

Considering that everyone had just entered the immortal realm and their physical bodies and Dao hearts still needed to adapt to the pure immortal energy, Gu Changyuan specifically ordered that all disciples need not rush to train and breakthrough. They only needed to rest and cultivate quietly.

Slowly refine their immortal bodies, absorb the immortal energy, stabilize their newly attained immortal realm cultivation, and solidify their Dao foundation.

Having arranged all the sect matters, Gu Changyuan walked alone toward the main meditation chamber behind the Heavenly Palace.

He raised his hand and waved, causing spiritual light to flow. In an instant, he replicated every furnishing from his old dwelling at the Nine Heavens’ Abyss Mountain and placed them here.

He walked slowly to the edge of the bed and sat down, gently leaning back, feeling the warm and comfortable touch of the spirit bed. He had just adjusted his posture when two figures sneaked in.

Gu Changyuan didn’t turn around, but his spiritual sense had already perceived everything.

The two figures crept along from the other end of the corridor, their steps as light as a thief’s, hugging the wall to avoid being discovered.

But in truth, there was no one else in this hall besides him.

Who were they hiding from?

Gu Changyuan curled the corner of his mouth with slight helplessness.

“Xiao Luo, Xiao Yue.”

He didn’t look back, his voice carrying a note of resigned amusement.

“What are you two doing?”

Mo Yingluo and Mo Yingyue’s faces peeked out from both sides of the doorframe, like two kittens caught red-handed in mischief.

Mo Yingyue’s face showed no trace of guilt, carrying an air of defiant pride as if to say, “Yes, it’s us!”

The two stepped into the room, one on the left, one on the right, their steps synchronizing surprisingly well.

Then, they sat down simultaneously on either side of Gu Changyuan.

At once, they reached out—one on each side—and hugged his arms.

Gu Changyuan’s arms were sandwiched between two soft entities. His body stiffened slightly, then quickly relaxed.

Seven days had been enough for him to grow accustomed to some things.

“Is something the matter?”

He tried to keep his tone calm.

“Are you missing anything in your room?”

Mo Yingluo shook her head, tightening her hold on his arm.

“We’ve already set up our room.”

She paused, tilting her head as if in thought.

“Not much to set up, really. There wasn’t much to begin with. We picked a top-floor room, put our things away, and came straight here.”

Mo Yingyue gave a small nod beside her, signaling that her sister had voiced what she herself was thinking.

Their rooms indeed had little to arrange.

Back at the Heavenly Demon Sect, their rooms were always the simplest: a bed, a table, a meditation cushion—nothing else.

It wasn’t due to a lack of resources, but because they didn’t need them.

What they needed was simple: a place to cultivate, a place to rest, and a place where they could see their master whenever they wanted.

As the two girls spoke, their hands began to grow restless.

Gu Changyuan felt a wave of helplessness inside.

“We’ve just arrived in the immortal realm. Don’t you have anything you want to do? Adapt to the immortal energy, solidify your cultivation, familiarize yourselves with the new environment?”

Mo Yingyue lifted her head, looking at Gu Changyuan’s profile. A mischievous smile curved at the corner of her mouth.

“We can do that here too.”

“Let us accompany you as you adapt, Master~”

...

Elsewhere.

After Zhuge Dancheng, Gongsun Xiangming, and Xuanyuan Feiyue returned to their respective family immortal estates, the three families’ immortal emperors and immortal kings, who had long been waiting, mobilized with full force. Their blades aimed straight at the various strongholds of the Tianheng Imperial Court.

The early reopening of the Nine Heavens’ immortal path and the shattering of the thousand-year seal were bound to draw the attention of the entire imperial court—especially Tianheng above. They would surely dispatch people or personally come to investigate.

Now, with all three families launching simultaneous offensives and sweeping clean across entire fronts, the imperial court’s deployment was thrown into chaos. Besieged on all sides and entangled in countless trivial affairs, the once imperious court forces were dealt a severe blow to the gut, grinding their faces in the dirt.

In an instant, war erupted across all fronts. Numerous hidden strongpoints, intelligence outposts, and resource transfer stations that the imperial court had painstakingly set up over a millennium were uprooted, one after another. Shields shattered, halls collapsed one by one.

Some outposts were assaulted while their occupants were still asleep, the imperial court cultivators not even having time to don their armor before they were slain.

Some outposts managed to rally and organize defenses, but the immortal emperors and immortal kings of the Zhuge, Gongsun, and Xuanyuan families moved in perfect coordination, striking from multiple angles and leaving the imperial court forces scrambling to cover their flanks.

In those destroyed outposts lay resources the imperial court had plundered from all corners.

Spirit stones, elixirs, magical artifacts, cultivation techniques, intelligence—all of it now fell into the hands of the four great families.

Some of the fallen imperial court members included Immortal Kings, Immortal Lords, and even a Celestial Guard who was slain. Their bodies were left amid the ruins as retribution for their invasion of the five families of Zhongzhou years ago.

Without Tianheng present, these imperial strongholds, which had been established in the human immortal realm over a millennium, crumbled effortlessly under the assault of the Immortal Emperor.

After sweeping through swiftly, they immediately departed, denying Tianheng any chance to capture them.