Mirage Palace.
In the present Chenping Continent, it was the oldest immortal sect, if not the single oldest.
Legend had it that Mirage Palace had already stood proudly at the pinnacle of the Chenping Continent long before Heavenly Summit Mountain ever dominated this land.
But those histories were so ancient that in this age they had been almost entirely forgotten.
A sect that once shone so brilliantly, that had given birth to four Immortal Ascension Realm great powers, had been wiped out.
This news left Chen Yan, who had been drinking tea and listening to storytellers in a teahouse only moments earlier, with a split sensation that reality and illusion had completely separated.
How could this be possible?
Chen Yan stood at the gate, listening to the teahouse patrons gossip.
It was common knowledge that two Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators from Heavenly Summit Mountain had paid a visit to Mirage Palace.
Even so, less than half an hour after Mirage Palace received the summons from Heavenly Summit Mountain, Lingxuan and Pure Dust had already arrived at Mirage Palace.
What happened inside Mirage Palace after that, no one knew; the world’s rumors were all just conjecture.
The most widely accepted theory was that the two Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators from Heavenly Summit Mountain had gone to demand back fragments of the Heavenly Summit Mirror.
Just like two months ago, when Realman Lingxuan Gu Jing visited Star Heaven Sect.
But in the end, the negotiations between Realman Lingxuan and Pure Dust with Realman Sun-Eroding completely collapsed, and the two Immortal Ascension great powers from Heavenly Summit Mountain fought Liang Huan of Mirage Palace, resulting in Mirage Palace’s destruction.
From the outcome, Heavenly Summit Mountain’s two Ascenders had achieved a decisive victory.
As for the current condition of Realman Sun-Eroding, no one knew.
Chen Yan casually found a table in front of the teahouse and sat down again, then sank into his own thoughts.
He understood the methods of the Realms Above Immortality—those realms above Immortal Ascension were not on the same level as the Nine Realms Below Immortality.
Like Su Hongzhen’s corrupted Dao Basis in the Fallen Sword Mountain Range once did: without any containment, it could have plunged the entire Chenping Continent into deathly silence within days.
However, Su Hongzhen was a “half-step True Immortal” who barely touched realms above Immortal Ascension; Gu Jing and Qiu Siruo’s strength probably wasn’t as terrifying as Su Hongzhen’s.
Still, for practitioners of the Realms Above Immortality, destroying Mirage Palace should have been effortless.
Any of the existing Realms Above Immortality Realmen in the world, absent interference from other Ascenders, had the ability to level several major sects in a short time.
But they would not do so, and they would never, lightly, take action in person.
With Chen Yan’s understanding of the current cultivation landscape on the Chenping Continent and the strength of Ascenders, the existence of Ascension Realm cultivators was equivalent to nuclear weapons.
Kong Yang and Liang Huan, and the rest, all had sects backing them, and they wanted to preserve the present era as best they could, to maintain stability in the Chenping Continent’s cultivation world.
But the two from Heavenly Summit Mountain were different.
They had come to overturn the table.
Gu Jing and Qiu Siruo didn’t care how the Chenping Continent of this era fared.
Their objective was to use the Heavenly Summit Mirror to reset history, to change the past in which Heavenly Summit Mountain was destroyed.
That was why they were so wanton.
When Realman Lingxuan and Pure Dust wanted to strike and destroy Mirage Palace, Liang Huan lacked the power to stop them.
But even so, it would not be simple for Gu Jing and Qiu Siruo to kill Realman Sun-Eroding.
Moreover, besides the Abyssal Tower, Mirage Palace had another immortal artifact in Realman Sun-Eroding’s possession.
Not only Chen Yan, but Caiyun, Xu Zhou, and Realman Shuangyu were all stunned when they learned the news.
These Ascenders understood what Heavenly Summit Mountain intended and thus knew Lingxuan and Pure Dust might overturn the table.
They did not expect it to happen so suddenly, without warning, and so swiftly.
…
Caijun Tower.
Kong Yang slowly opened his eyes, expression indifferent, neither sorrowful nor joyful.
As an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, he had seen a vague thread of cause and effect before Mirage Palace’s destruction.
A great catastrophe would strike the Western Region.
However, Kong Yang had not expected the disaster to be so great.
Mirage Palace had been destroyed, and as for Realman Sun-Eroding…
He was still alive.
Kong Yang touched the small bronze tower at his sleeve.
Liang Huan’s survival was absolutely bad news for Kong Yang.
Especially now that Mirage Palace was destroyed, Realman Sun-Eroding no longer had any restraint, and he had long held resentment over Kong Yang’s earlier seizure of Mirage Palace’s Abyssal Tower.
They could be said to be mutually hostile; if Heavenly Summit Mountain’s two had not destroyed Mirage Palace first, eventually Mirage Palace would have entered full-scale war with Kongshan Sect.
With Mirage Palace gone, Liang Huan had no scruples left.
Kong Yang hoped Liang Huan would recognize the bigger picture; the most pressing matter was to deal with the two from Heavenly Summit Mountain, not to pick a fight with him.
Suddenly, Kong Yang sensed a strange fluctuation within the Caijun Tower’s spiritual energy.
He knew what this meant. Using his spiritual sense to connect to that odd fluctuation, he guided the tower’s spiritual energy to slowly form a projection.
It was a seductive female cultivator in a light-blue Wind Ravine Valley daoist robe, graceful and alluring in posture.
“Long time no see, True Person Kong.”
Realman Shuangyu, Yin Xia.
A few years ago, when the Realmen who had recently returned to the Immortal Ascension Realm gathered on Heavenly Summit Mountain, Caijun had quarreled with Sun-Eroding and Xu Zhou.
At that time, Yin Xia, who had grudge with Lingxiao Temple, weighed the pros and cons and decisively sided with Kong Yang.
“Realman Yin.”
Kong Yang, seated on a meditation cushion, spoke slowly. He was not surprised that Realman Shuangyu would visit via a projection formed from the world’s spiritual energy.
“You must already know what happened,” Yin Xia said sternly, then her eyes narrowed:
“Before those two from Heavenly Summit Mountain come, strike first.”
Kong Yang did not respond immediately to her words. He lowered his gaze, then lightly tapped his long fingers twice.
He then looked up at the projection of Realman Shuangyu floating above the Caijun Tower’s interior.
“What chance of victory is there?”
Kong Yang asked flatly.
As Kong Yang questioned, even if he, Shuangyu, Xu Zhou, and Sun-Eroding joined forces, the chance of victory was very slim.
The reason was simple.
From the start, Gu Jing and Qiu Siruo had not intended to survive.
Their goal was to use the Heavenly Summit Mirror to reset the history from sixty thousand years ago, the history in which Heavenly Summit Mountain was destroyed. That meant the current era was nothing more than an illusion to them.