Plundering the Heavens

No one knew precisely how many hardships and deaths had befallen the Videha cultivators before they managed to arrive in front of the immortal’s hall. The excitement they felt was beyond words, and even though they were shocked to see so many corpses kneeling in front of the hall, they soon came back to their senses and realized the Yin Ghost Thralls were still chasing behind them like schools of fish. The group of Videha cultivators quickly made a decision to throw out dozens of live humans as a distraction so they could dash into the immortal’s hall.

BOOM !

The already half-opened gate of the immortal’s hall was pushed open and five shadows entered in unison. As they swept their gaze all around, however, their attention was drawn to one existence in particular.

The existence was within the blood-filled pond adorned with lotus flowers, beautiful and dainty. The lotus flowers began to gradually move to the sides to reveal a young-looking girl slowly rising upward, and the lotus flower’s petals flew out to form into a pink dress that hung down her body in an elegant and refined matter free from any worldly affairs.

All five Videha cultivators were shocked to see such a thing. “How can there be a living person within the immortal’s hall?”

The girl tilted her head and looked towards them with a gaze filled with confusion, as though she hadn’t completely awoken from her sleep. Her eyes were clear and quiet, and an unspeakable amount of suppression would fall upon wherever she looked. When her eyes fell upon the five Videha cultivators, the cultivators were frozen stiff and could only look back. Even the Yin Ghost Thralls seemed to have stopped, as though time itself had paused.

The girl looked at them for a long while before a hint of sorrow touched her face. “Seems like it’s not a dream.” She stepped out of the lotus pond with small, bare feet and slowly walked outside the immortal’s hall. As she walked past the five Golden Cores, she paused for a moment on her tiptoes and said, “Such a heavy scent of blood; no more killing!”

The feeling she exuded was like that of a favored neighbor girl behaving coquettishly with adults, yet even though these five Videha Golden Cores were clearly people who were vicious, cruel, and powerful, none of them dared to speak up in front of her. They were awed by the girl’s peculiar aura and only blankly nodded.

The girl smiled and made another request, “Good, then you shall all stay here and protect me!”

The five Golden Cores continued to stare blankly, only to nod and accept this seemingly strange request after a long while had passed. In front of this girl, there was even the thought of never refusing any of her requests—as though they should listen and agree to anything she said. It was not hypnosis, and in fact seemed to be something far more advanced and many times more powerful.

The girl was finally satisfied and walked outside the immortal’s hall. “There’s nothing more for you to do!” she declared to the Yin Ghost Thralls, who all bowed in unison and quietly left, leaving the area outside the immortal’s hall empty.

The girl’s footsteps didn’t stop there; she continued her walk, and as she drew closer to the outside of the stone cave, faint lights between the heavens and earth were drawn to her and sank into a point between her brows. These lights had all been a part of her spirit soul that had been scattered through all parts of the world using a secret skill, and now that she was taking back these strands of light, she’d be able to learn everything that had happened while she’d been in deep slumber.

As more soul lights returned, the expression on the little girl’s face became complicated and ever-changing. She would be angry at one point, only to be filled with sorrow the next; she’d appear disappointed, then be consoled. The aura around her changed as well, from quiet and cold one moment like an immortal who’d lived for millions of years and had seen everything during her lifetime, to a naive little girl who’d never touched any worldly affairs….

“Three hundred years too early!” she muttered to herself as she drew close to the stone cave’s exit. She could feel that many lights still hadn’t returned and her memories weren’t complete, but her expressions had already grown cold to the point that naive little girl had become the likes of a proud immortal. After walking out of the stone cave, she gave a wave of her sleeve and made a stepping motion, causing the thick fog to disappear inside her sleeves and a lotus platform to appear beneath her pale little feet to carry her up into the sky.

The exterior of the stone cave was still filled with innumerable Videha cultivators staying on guard, and their faces all filled with shock when she appeared. A countless number of battles filled the distant skies as Jambu’s catastrophe raged on, and with a single sweep of her eyes, it seemed as though the little girl had seen all the murders and destruction that had been caused thus far. A look of disappointment settled in the depths of her gaze and it was clear she was upset. “You are free to fight over the opportunities in the places designated by the Mysterious Coffin, but once the opportunities find their owners, there is no need to fight any longer!”

Her gaze moved directly to five Golden Cores guarding outside the Qingqiu Tomb. These five were all at the peak of Golden Core, and the sects or clans they belonged to were all at the top of Videha. The glance from the girl might have seemed rather casual, but it was as though she knew precisely who to speak to for her words to have the greatest effect.

When the Videha cultivators saw the appearance of the lotus girl, their pupils dilated and their faces became filled with shock. There was no answer, of course; although they understood this lotus girl was unique, that alone wasn’t enough to make them fearful. They were merely extremely curious towards this lotus girl and were trying to guess her identity and background.

The lotus girl looked at them and sighed, as though seeing exactly what they were thinking. “Why do you not understand? Even if you are able to steal all the opportunities for yourselves, who would be able to handle the results all these opportunities would bring about?” She then let out a long sigh and shot her gaze out into the empty sky.

Swoosh 

A vast light suddenly appeared within her watchful gaze, passing through an untold distance to see what she wished to see.

—

An indeterminate distance away from the Beast Exhausting Range, a thin and frail old monk sat within his room in the Spirit Mountain Temple. After suddenly feeling something, he looked in the direction of the lotus-dressed girl gazing his way and let out a low Buddhist chant.

In the southeastern cloud seas, the expression of a purple-robed cultivator inside the Fuyao Palace suddenly became stern and he looked towards where the lotus-dressed girl was.

The lotus-dressed girl looked nine times at nine different people in nine different locations, arousing their attention. These people had all been at different directions across all four continents within the land of Tianyuan, and even though the distance between each of them was incredibly vast, the lotus-dressed girl wanted to see them and so she could. This kind of extraordinary ability was enough for them to not dare take her lightly, to the point some were even able to somewhat guess her identity.

The Heaven’s Eye skill!

Anyone the user wanted to see would be seen. An Immortal-ranked technique that existed only in legends.

Once she gained the attention of these nine people, the lotus-dressed girl softly declared, “I shall represent the nine coffins to speak with you all!” Her body then became like smoke and shot up into the nine heavens above.

Nine more lights flew up into the sky all over the four continents of Tianyan. These people used every ounce of their ability to try to catch up to the speed of the lotus-dressed girl, heedless of the shock and awe it caused in the process. The cultivators who were embroiled in combat all halted, causing the flames of violence raging through the Jambu continent to become quiet for a time.

No one knew precisely what the lotus-dressed girl and the other nine extremely powerful masters discussed, but an hour afterwards, nine different orders were given and spread across all four continents at the fastest speed possible. The orders had been for all Tianyuan cultivators to stop all battles relating to the opportunities from the Mysterious Domain, and declared whoever had an opportunity shall keep it. The gravity of these nine orders was enough that not a single cultivator in all four continents dared to disobey.

Due to the sheer weight of these nine orders, they had a powerful impact as well. It was later referred to as the “Summit of Nine Heavens”, and the large-scale catastrophe that had been sweeping over the Jambu continent for three days abruptly stopped due to the appearance of the mysterious girl.

Of course, the schemes and battles for the opportunities didn’t stop completely. The Summit of Nine Heavens had halted the fights between large sects and clans on the surface, but subterfuge and schemes took their place. It was all like a giant wheel—once things had been set in motion, it was impossible to stop.

The lotus-dressed girl had been very satisfied when the nine orders were given and she muttered to herself, “Seems that under this realm’s rules, those who’ve managed to achieve such accomplishments aren’t stupid, nor are they lacking for courage. They are still able to distinguish what is most important….” After her assessment, the lotus-dressed girl seemed to be a bit confused and continued, “Since I’ve woken up three hundred years early, where should I go? Should I go back for some more sleep?” She hesitated for a few moments but eventually decided not to go back to sleep and made a different decision instead: “I’m going to have some fun!”

When she tried to think of a place to have some fun, however, she was at a loss. She could only keep wracking her brains, and after spending a great deal of time thinking on it, she suddenly recalled a very faint memory from when she’d been at the deepest point of her sleep. Someone had fed her a blood lotus seed, and it was precisely because of this blood lotus seed that she was able to wake up three hundred years early.

“I shall go find him….”

The lotus-dressed girl’s gaze swept towards a person tens of thousands of miles away. Once she determined his precise location, her physique became akin to light that returned back to the lotus pond within the immortal’s hall. She gathered all of the remaining soul lights, split a small portion off to add to one of the lotus roots within the pond so another body would form, and then showed a lively smile before flying off towards the eastern seas as a strand of light.