73 The Ancient Celestials (1/2)
At the mere mention of the Heavenly Relic, Old Matriarch Wen and Old Yang instantly knew that she harbored no good intents. Therefore they immediately attacked her!
Throughout the years, they had collaborated on numerous times against many much more powerful opponents. The deadly combination of Old Yang's Dragon Claws and Old Matriarch Wen's Eternal Explosive Hands were powerful enough to cripple any opponent. And today, they were using these two secret techniques at the same time!
The maiden in scarlet fluttered her velvet cloak, rising her slender fingers as she moved quietly between her two opponents. There was a red blinding flash as Old Matriarch Wen and Old Yang cried out aloud at the same time; there were blood in their eyes and they were rolling on the ground in agony!
Old Yang was trembling in disbelief, ”What manner of sorcery is this?! What skill is this?”
He could not believe that anyone could strike so fast that even with his years of fighting experiences that he could not see how she had executed her strokes!
The maiden in scarlet enthralling replied softly and unhurriedly, ”This is my Starlight Divine Finger. This is but a small punishment for trying to hurt my sisters and my beloved.”
She smiled and took a glance at Yi Ping, who was standing in a flustered manner.
Lingfeng had purged out most of the venomous toxins from his body and she was sitting in a mediation pose with her eyes closed. Her battle with the venoms had not ended though and there was beads cold sweat on her forehead!
Xiao Youxue was also looking flustered and her cold demeanor had vanished. She appeared coy and called out, ”Sister Xingyue, you are finally here! It is a good thing that you are here or we will meet with mishaps!”
The maiden in scarlet whose real name was Shen Xingyue said, ”I have warned you all not to take any actions on your own. You have no idea how many strong opponents there are in the martial fraternity. What if you have met a Dark Celestial?”
Xiao Youxue pointed at the corpse of the Venomous Evil and said, ”We have already met one. He is just so and so. Yi Ping had already dealt with him.”
Shen Xingyue looked quietly at Yi Ping and Lingfeng before sighing to Youxue, ”You call their situation something that you are in control of? What about the injuries on your arm?”
Youxue protested, ”Injuries are common occurrence in a fight or else next time when we have met with a better exponent, we won't be at a complete loss. Every fight that is won is experienced gained!”
Shen Xingyue continued to sigh softly to herself but it was clearly audible to everyone, ”But when you have lost even once, all your experiences will come to naught.”
But before Youxue could protest further, Old Matriarch Wen was already cursing aloud. ”You are so despicable, resorting to such underhand means to blind us! You are a completely disgrace on the martial honor of the martial fraternity! I will surely shame your name to the entire fraternity!”
Shen Xingyue said gently, ”Up to you. I don't care…”
But before she could finish, Old Matriarch Wen and Old Yang had stood up again to attack her once again. This time all their strokes were even more deadly than any of their previous strokes as they disregard their defenses; even if they were to die, they must bring her down as well!
Shen Xingyue brandished her Blue Heavens Divine Sword and there were a brilliant bluish white flash as cold beaming piercing sword energies rippled through. Immediately, Old Matriarch Wen and Old Yang collapsed onto the ground, never to get up again!
Shen Xingyue said softly, ”This is your just desserts.”
Yi Ping went up to her and was trembling, ”Xingyue, why are you here? Do you know if Lele is alright?”
He pointed at the dead body of Sikong Zhai and his eyes were watery, ”This old man here, he has claimed to have killed a maiden from the Celestial Palace. Other than Lele, who else could she be?”
Yunzi was solemn as she said, ”It shouldn't be Lele. There are many others like Lele in the Celestial Palace.”
Yi Ping muttered, ”But there are few maidens like Lele that can come and go in the Celestial Palace…”
Shen Xingyue interrupted softly, ”I doubt it is Lele. It is because I have just seen her just a few days ago.”
Yi Ping was startled, ”Where is she and where are the others?”
Shen Xingyue said, ”That is why I am searching for you so franticly. They have decided to make their way to the Celestial Palace to obtain the Heavenly Relic. I couldn't stop them.”
Yi Ping was stunned, ”They are going to the Celestial Palace?! Why didn't you stop them? Lele is a traitor of the Celestial Palace and the Celestial Palace won't be kind to traitors…”
Shen Xingyue sighed softly, ”Do you think I didn't try? You expect me to subdue them using force or diplomacy? I have tried both means and it didn't work.”
Yi Ping was silent.
She was right. If Lele the Joyful Goddess wanted to do something, nothing could stop her from doing so. Moreover, there were still Lie Qing the Heavenly Temptress, Shui Yixian the Celestial Fairy, Shui Yujian the Eclipse Heaven Goddess and Shui Meijian the Axis Heaven Goddess.
Yi Ping murmured with a throbbing headache, ”Why didn't Lie Qing and Yixian stop her?”
Shen Xingyue said, ”They didn't know how long it will take to find the Heavenly Relic. They also didn't know how long it will take you to find Lingfeng. The only place they know where the Heavenly Relic can be located is at the Celestial Palace. They want to save you some troubles and they have perfectly good intentions.”
Yi Ping smiled bitterly, ”Now I have perfectly plenty of troubles. Quick, we must hurry!”
He was reluctant to go to the Celestial Palace and he had repeatedly warned Lele not to go back there. It was because a year ago, he had fought with the Celestial Liege who was a Prime Celestial from the Celestial Palace and it was a fight that still dreaded him to this day!
By now, Lingfeng had opened her eyes and she had walked weakly beside YI Ping, saying gently to him. ”Let's hurry then.”
When Yi Ping saw her weakened state, his heart was aching and he said. ”Lingfeng, are you alright? Why don't you find a haven to recuperate first? I will surely get back to you in no time…”
Lingfeng shook her head gently, ”I am as worry for the rest as much as you do. My physical condition is nothing to worry about. Have you forgotten that I am protected by my Divine Invigorate Skill?”
She paused before looking melancholy at him, ”We have been through much together…are you are thinking of leaving me alone and go off to fight the Celestial Palace alone?”
Yi Ping sighed heavily, ”You didn't tell me when you go off to look for the Heavenly Relic either.”
Lingfeng hummed coldly, ”This is just trivial. Why did you put that in your heart? I know you are a petty man! I know that you don't feel comfortable in taking the Heavenly Relic from the others. That is why I have asked Yunzi and Youxue to come along. Do you know why Lele and the others have also taken the initiative to go to the Celestial Palace on their own? It is because they know that you are reluctant to risk anyone of us. But do you know that anyone of us will be glad to give up our lives for you and the other sisters?”
Yi Ping was startled and he was quiet all of a sudden.
Six months ago, Yunzi and Youxue had successful overcome the Divine Calamity with the guidance of Lingfeng the Heaveness, Yixian the Celestial Fairy and Lie Qing the Heavenly Temptress.
It was not easy for them though and they had almost lost their lives.
Yi Ping had taken the Divine Calamity at the same time as them, taking the blunt for them. This time round, he was truly a Celestial and did not resist the Divine Force unlike the last time.
Lingfeng was the only one left that did not attempt the Divine Calamity. She did not have to for she had awakened as a Celestial on her own.
She was the Heaveness and her true name represented the Heavens of this realm. In this realm, the Divine Calamity would not be able to affect her and she had all of eternity to ponder over the mysteries of the universe.
Her race was the Ancient Celestials who aspired to be Celestial Sages for they knew of another realm that existed above this realm. That place was to be called the Celestial Realm.
Eventually, the Ancient Celestials discovered the means to traverse to the Celestial Realm. To traverse to the Celestial Realm, they had to ascend. To ascend, they had to undergone the tribulations of the Divine Wrath and many of the Ancient Celestials perished during the tribulations.
Before the Ancient Celestials departed, they left behind their heart intricate formulas and other divine skills so that one day, the mortals would gain the knowledge of attaining as a Celestial and ascended to the Celestial Realm.
A long time had passed in the Celestial Realm and the Ancient Celestials were eventually joined by other Celestials from the lower realm. But it was not before long they had found that the Celestial Realm was not the Heavenly Realm that they were looking for but a transiting realm to yet another realm, the God Realm!
The Celestials were at a complete loss how to reach the God Realm. The only clues to reach the God Realm were in the Stellar Sanctuary and the Astronomic Stellar Formation. Already many Celestials had been killed in an attempt to storm these two places.
The Celestials did not have a choice for them to take the risk for many of them had reached the limits of their state of divinity. Without a breakthrough and without a new divine intricacy formula, sooner or later they would be killed by the Divine Wrath which got more powerful after each tribulation.
Eventually, there were just a few of the Ancient Celestials that were left and even their Divine Wrath tribulation had transformed into the Heavenly Wrath, which was even more terrifying than the Divine Wrath!
Knowing that the next time the Heavenly Wrath were to strike would also be their last, the Heaveness, the Universal Old Man and the Great Sage Lord took a calculated risk to descend to the lower realm in an attempt to find fresh clues that would help unravel the mysteries of the Stellar Sanctuary. It was because during an expedition to the Stellar Sanctuary, they had found clues that the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos, the only one that had successfully ascended to the God Realm had made a trip to the lower realm for a search.
The trip to the lower realm was not easy and not without great risk for no one had ever attempted it before except for the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos. He had left behind the means to do so in the Stellar Sanctuary via the Cosmos Stellar Formation.
The Cosmos Stellar Formation was complex even to the three Ancient Celestials and their hearts sunk. But left with no other choice and finding it meaningless to meditate for another millennium years, they decided to attempt the Cosmos Stellar Formation.
During the attempt, the Great Lord Sage lost his life as he sacrificed himself to bring the Heaveness and the Universal Old Man to the lower realm.
His death was a great blow to them, especially the Heaveness. It was because they had known each other for as long as they could remember and had been through numerous tribulations. She had also admired him for a long time…