"Wait a second. I thought all cultivators in the Nine Heaven must abide by the rules of each heaven." Feng Yuxiang suddenly spoke.
"For example, the limit of cultivation in this world is the peak Spirit King. If someone who doesn't belong in this world appears, they would invoke Heavenly Tribulation. Will you be fine down here with your cultivation?"
Dong Ye nodded, "Only mortals abide by that rule. Immortals like me can ignore such a rule and come down here whenever we want. Even if we invoke a Heavenly Tribulation, it won't be strong enough to harm us. Though, it's a pain in the ass to come down here because we have to enter through the long route, so most of us won't bother unless absolutely necessary."
"Also, I am currently masking my presence, so the heavens don't even know I am here, and as long as I don't do anything crazy, it will remain that way. I am more worried about the Celestial Emperor than any Heavenly Tribulation because the Young Master won't be able to fight them at his current state."
"What's the situation with me and the Celestial—" Yuan halted his sentence midway.
"Never mind. I hope the Nameless Emperor's Tomb will have all of the answers."
Sometime later, Dong Ye's eyebrows suddenly twitched, and he spoke with a dejected face, "It's truly regrettable that I can only spend such a short time with you after spending so much time apart, but I must leave now, Young Master. Some people from the upper heavens have just arrived in this world, and to minimize the chances of your true identity being known, I must disappear. However, even though I won't be by your side, I will always be watching over you. If you are ever in deep trouble, you know how to contact me."
"But before I go, I must apologize to you, Young Master. There is so much that I want to say to you— to tell you, but I truly don't dare to mess with your fate."
Yuan shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I understand your feelings, and to be honest, I like it this way even if it's a little more inconvenient for me. My past, my purpose, and my goals… I will unveil them as I follow my own path."
After giving Yuan a slight nod, Dong Ye dissipated into thin air like smoke.
"An Immortal who has reached near the peak of cultivation… Who could've imagined that such a powerful individual would be willing to serve someone." Yuan mumbled out loud after Dong Ye disappeared.
"That's just how amazing your existence is, Young Master." Feng Yuxiang chuckled.
"Don't flatter me." He shook his head.
Meanwhile, somewhere within the Third Heaven, a large hole appeared in the sky moments before a group of individuals came out of it.
There were 21 people in this group, and all of them had the cultivation of a peak Spirit King, but the aura they emitted far surpassed what someone at their cultivation base could ever achieve.
"Fuck, the spiritual energy in this place is so trash. It feels like I am breathing in dust with every single breath." One of them immediately complained after taking his first breath.
"How do people live in such an environment?"
"Let's hurry and kill that criminal and get the hell out of here as soon as possible."
Most of these people agreed with the sentiment. However, one couldn't completely blame them for their behavior. The spiritual energy in the upper heavens was countless times purer than the ones down here, and as cultivators, they have reached the level where they don't need to breathe in air to live, just spiritual energy.
These people have lived their entire life thinking that their spiritual energy was the standard, so it wouldn't be weird for them to have such a strong reaction after suddenly being exposed to something much worse.
"Anyways, where are the Ji Family and the Seven Legacy Families? I was told that they'd be greeting us the moment we arrived."
"Perhaps they got the location wrong."
"I wouldn't be surprised if a world of this low standard housed such dumb people."
Unbeknownst to these people, the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family all had their memories stolen by Dong Ye, hence why nobody showed up to greet them.
After waiting around for a few moments, these people split up to look for the Seven Legacies Families themselves.
When they found the Seven Legacy Families, these people from the upper heavens immediately demanded for answers. However, they quickly realized that nobody from the Seven Legacy Families knew about their arrival.
This made them wonder if the people from the upper heavens had forgotten to notify the Seven Legacy Families.
But they soon realized the truth— that the Seven Legacy Families and the Ji Family had their memories erased for some reason.
"What's going on? Who would erase their memories?"
"I think a better question would be 'who could have the capability to do such a thing in this world'."
"I only know of one person in the Nine Heavens who could erase memories, but that person's been missing for hundreds of thousands of years."
"I also don't think it's him. Why would he be down here stealing memories from mortals, right?"
The people from the upper heavens quickly dismissed the phenomenon, mostly because they couldn't be bothered to investigate any further.
But then they realized another problem.
Without the Seven Legacy Families' help, how will they ever find the person they were looking for? Even finding a needle in a haystack would be easier than this task since they at least knew what a needle looked like. However, it was not as though they could leave without even trying.
In the end, these people decided to stay around for a little longer to wait for the others that have yet to arrive.
These 21 people were just the first batch of people amongst a dozen, after all.
"In the meantime, I am going to take a look around. As shitty as this place is, it's a rare chance to experience the lower heavens."
"Try not to get yourself killed. You'd immediately become a laughingstock if you died in a place like this."
"Hmph. Even if my cultivation is suppressed to being a mere Spirit King, what could possibly hurt me down here?" This individual sneered in a mocking manner before disappearing into the world.
Many people from the group followed suit, as they were also curious about the Third Heaven.