The Holy Light Empire was also situated along the central axis of the boundless and vast Holy Light Great World. Looking from afar, city after city, ten thousand fathoms high, towered into the clouds. Cultivator after cultivator flew on their swords among the high-rise buildings of the cities. Those cultivators were every one of them in the Divine Ability Realm; some were in the Golden Core state, and there were even figures crossing into the eighth or ninth level of the Divine Ability Realm. Occasionally, one could even spot giants of the Longevity Secret Realm, figures of the first level Ten Thousand Lives Realm and the second level Undying Body.
In the Xuanhuang Great World, Golden Core experts were very rare. When cultivators flew out, they were sparsely scattered between heaven and earth. Yet within the Holy Light Great World, city after city was built entirely by cultivators.
This was an empire of cultivators.
There were almost no ordinary people.
Those below the Physical Body Realm could barely be seen; who knew where they were serving as slaves, doing hard labor, or being penned up like ants.
Compared to this "Holy Light Empire," the "Great Xuan Empire" of the Xuanhuang Great World was simply a dirt corner in the countryside, or perhaps not even that.
Within those cities, there were also countless folded dimensions. Inside those folded dimensions lay massive cities shrouded in clouds and mist, evidently the territories of certain great families. This scene actually bore some resemblance to the Immortal Realm described in certain ancient orthodox Daoist scriptures.
However, currently, among the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds, those ranked extremely high possessed a strength that, while not comparable to the Immortal Realm, was exceedingly immense.
The Holy Light Great World ranked tenth, just making the top tier. But considering that the Limitless Great World was ranked outside the top few hundreds, one could imagine how heavy this tenth-place ranking was—a weighty significance.
Within a layer of folded space, endless palaces and cities were built once more. That space had layers of soft crystal walls; constructing a city inside was very comfortable. Situated high above, one could perfectly see everything outside clearly, yet the people outside could not clearly see anything within this space.
"Old Ancestor, the Imperial Clan Court just sent news that the Third Prince has died. Xuan Ying and Xuan Xia failed their mission and also died." Deep within a main city in this space, a towering figure stood firmly, his back facing the doorway. Entering through that grand doorway were two mythical figures who had cultivated to the third level of the Longevity Secret Realm. Yet, facing that figure, these two dropped to their knees with a thud, prostrating themselves with their rears raised high, completely losing the dignity and confidence an expert of the Cave Heaven Realm ought to possess. They seemed like slaves who had been kept in captivity for their entire lives.
"What? What exactly is going on? Explain it to me in detail! I also felt that I had lost a clone. Before Xuan Ying and Xuan Xia left, I drew a spiritual talisman for them. But they encountered a powerful figure. That figure was called the Human Emperor Pen, a Peerless Dao Artifact of the ancient era. That clone of mine was not his match, yet Xuan Ying and Xuan Xia narrowly escaped disaster. How is it that even the Third Prince fell victim to a deadly hand? What is the news from the Imperial Clan Court's side? Who knows what level of fury the Emperor will reach once he finds out?"
As that towering figure spoke, there was not the slightest fluctuation of emotion, seemingly like an otherworldly creature. But upon hearing this voice, the two Cave Heaven Realm experts giving the report prostrated even closer to the ground, remaining perfectly motionless, trembling so much they could not speak.
For they were facing the Holy Light Empire, a supreme expert of a great family, the Xuan family's Old Ancestor, Xuan Wugu. A master of the ninth level of the Longevity Secret Realm, who had survived the Immortal Realm's lightning punishment and cultivated to the Void Immortal Realm! If such a figure formed a single thought to kill them, he could instantly cause Cave Heaven Realm experts to completely collapse! Placed in a position of death, he truly possessed the power of life and death in a single word.
"Reporting to the Old Ancestor, the Imperial Clan Court has already taken the Third Prince's origin life tablet to see His Majesty. His Majesty flew into a thunderous rage and ordered the experts of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau to join forces and divine the heavenly secrets. They have already calculated what happened in the future; he was killed in the Xuanhuang Great World by someone named Fang Han. However, regarding the specifics of this Fang Han, the Imperial Astronomy Bureau's experts could not deduce a single thing!"
"Oh? Even pooling their efforts, the Imperial Astronomy Bureau could not divine anything about this Fang Han? What exactly is this Fang Han? Could he be an Immortal Envoy? Only an Immortal Envoy cannot be divined. You must know, that group in the Imperial Astronomy Bureau are all figures who have cultivated the Great Divination Technique to its pinnacle; their combat power might be very poor, but their divination of heavenly secrets is extremely accurate."
Old Ancestor Xuan Wugu muttered to himself.
The two people prostrated on the ground didn't even dare to breathe loudly or reply; they knew this was the Old Ancestor speaking to himself, leaving no room for them to answer. One careless move, and if the Old Ancestor laid blame, they would die instantly.
Right while Old Ancestor Xuan Wugu was divining, suddenly, there was a commotion in the void.
"Hmm?"
Xuan Wugu reached out a hand and grabbed; as his fingertips drifted, numerous spaces naturally tore open. His hand reached directly into the distant starry space, grasping a vast expanse of golden light in his hand. Pulling it back, a golden feather appeared in his palm.
"A feather of the Golden-Winged Great Roc Bird? Is it that demon saint Yue Chao from the Limitless Great World? What could it be that he actually spared no expense to expend a feather from his own body to come and deliver a message to me?"
Old Ancestor Xuan Wugu's eyes flashed.
"Bang!"
This golden feather suddenly exploded, and a surge of world power rushed out. Above it, a tiny world condensed into shape, and standing within that world was a man clothed in gold; it was indeed none other than the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint, one of the Eight Great Demon Saints.
"Fellow Daoist Xuan Wugu, I trust you have been well since we last met," said the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint.
"If you have something to say, just say it." Xuan Wugu's voice was ice-cold and lofty, like a senior addressing a junior. Which was appropriate; he had surpassed the Immortal Realm's lightning punishment and was already an expert of the Void Immortal Realm. From now on, free from disasters and calamities, he only waited to comprehend the laws of life and death, and then he could shatter the void and ascend to the Immortal Realm to be free and unfettered. Naturally, he maintained a psychological superiority over the World King Realm's Heaven-Transcending Great Saint.
"Fellow Daoist Xuan Wugu, are you divining the matter regarding your juniors, Xuan Ying and Xuan Xia, being killed by someone? I have come to report this news," the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint smiled.
"Oh? Speak."
"The one who killed them is named Fang Han. Speaking of which, he has a bit of history with you, Xuan Wugu. He is the successor of the Yellow Springs Great Emperor and has obtained the Yellow Springs Diagram. You were defeated by the Yellow Springs Great Emperor in the Heaven Martial Treasury back then; now you can take your revenge…" the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint said with a beaming smile.
"Enough!" Xuan Wugu suddenly flared up in anger, as if the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint had brought up the most humiliating event in his heart. That world formed by the golden feather instantly collapsed. The face of the gold-clothed man inside changed: "Xuan Wugu, I came with good intentions to inform you, why must you destroy my primal spirit? This feather of mine is a baleful feather completely refined after eight thousand years of cultivation!"
"Hmph! A dragon has its reverse scale; touch it and you shall be killed. Yue Chao, you come bearing news, thinking I will give you some sort of benefit in return? Then you thought wrong. How could I not know what your mind contemplates? You want me to go there, kill Fang Han, and then end up severely wounding both myself and that Human Emperor Pen, while you reap the benefits from the middle. If I still did not understand this tiny bit of malicious intent of yours, what kind of a Void Immortal would I be? A Void Immortal is an Immortal. I will let you know what a true Immortal is!"
Xuan Wugu's voice was chilling, imbued with a ghastly killing intent.
"Xuan Wugu, if you act like this, who will ever deliver information to you in the future!" The gold-clothed man, the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint, let out a shrill voice, struggling to break free from the demonic grasp.
But, this was entirely useless.
A cold sneer emanated from Xuan Wugu's face, and with one palm, he crushed this golden feather. As if not enough, his palm plunged deep into the void once more. Tracing the trajectory of that flying golden feather, he watched the endless interstellar space compress upon his palm, finally locking onto the Limitless Great World. The Limitless Great World gradually shrank, revealing a massive holy tree. Upon the holy tree was a bird's nest woven from white grass, and rising within the bird's nest was a traveling palace. Seated in the center of the traveling palace was a man—it was indeed the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint. At this moment, his face showed anger.
However, immediately after, a gigantic hand of light broke through the void, launching a full-power strike falling straight towards the top of his head.
He let out an angry road, sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood, and collided with the hand of light. Both annihilated each other into invisibility. Yet the massive world within the Heaven-Transcending Great Saint shook and collapsed everywhere, seemingly on the brink of total breakdown.
"Xuan Wugu, you shall die a horrible death!"
He issued an angry curse.
"Next time you infuriate my reverse scale again, I will pluck the feathers from your bird body clean off one by one, turning you into a meat fowl, a meat fowl, do you understand?" Xuan Wugu's voice rippled through the bird's nest.
"Alright, you may rise. Recently, I have to make a trip to the Xuanhuang Great World." Xuan Wugu waved his hand, and those two people crawled out from the ground.
In front of him, experts of the Cave Heaven Realm could only crawl out. It was evident just how majestic this Old Ancestor was.
"Old Ancestor, His Majesty is very likely to fall into a thunderous rage over the Third Prince's death. This matter concerns our Xuan family. If a decree descends while the Old Ancestor is away, how should we handle it?"
"His Majesty will notify me directly," Xuan Wugu said. "This is also no big deal. I simply must go and kill someone." Waiting until the two people had truly crawled out, his expression turned incredibly cold as a scene surfaced in his mind.
In the vast and boundless Heaven Martial Treasury, a figure robed in yellow, as tall and grand as a mountain, stood amidst primal chaos qi, like an Ancient God born out of the unformed primal chaos of antiquity.
That figure akin to an Ancient God of primal chaos cast his gaze downwards. Lying on the ground was a person whose face actually bore some resemblance to Xuan Wugu; it was exactly Xuan Wugu of several thousands of years ago.
"Boy, kneel and kowtow. I will spare your life. Although you have cultivated to the Mixed Hole Realm, the eighth level of Longevity, in my eyes, you are still an ant. Even if you cultivated to become a Heavenly Immortal, you remain an ant. With such low cultivation, I, the Yellow Springs Great Emperor, truly am unwilling to kill you and dirty my hands. But you offended me, and I cannot easily forgive you. Kowtow."
Those humiliating words repeatedly echoed in Xuan Wugu's mind.
"Yellow Springs Great Emperor, you are dead, killed by the Immortal Realm. Good riddance, wonderfully dead! But, I will kill your successor, kill him completely!"