The Concealed Emperor and Perfected Huanglong retracted their powers and appeared next to Tianyi. As the one more familiar with him, the Concealed Emperor asked, “Did Divinity Yanxu enter your inner universe?”

Tianyi nodded.

“If he had fled instead of entering your inner universe, he would at least have a modicum of hope to escape, but now”—the Concealed Emperor shook his head—“once inside, there’s no hope at all.”

Even Perfected Huanglong did not deny the Concealed Emperor’s words. Although they had not experienced it themselves, they would not deny the miraculousness of the Nine Heavens Universe. Because they understood this, they never entered the Nine Heavens Universe with their true bodies. Even when Tianyi opened a cross-universe portal, the Concealed Emperor was careful to linger as little as possible in the Nine Heavens Universe.

It was not that they didn’t trust Tianyi, but entering his inner universe gave away too much initiative. Once inside, even divinities would not be able to leave unless Tianyi willed it. Tianyi might not be able to kill them, but it was completely possible to trap them in a desolate corner for eons.

And that was only considering Tianyi’s current power.

The Concealed Emperor had no doubt that Tianyi would eventually reach the divine level. In fact, he had already entered the Divine Realm in some aspects. He might even exceed many of the peak divinities of yore in those aspects.

When his power grew to match his potential, he would have few opponents at the Divine Realm in the universe. If it was inside his inner universe, he would be invincible.

“How is it? How long will it take you to kill Yanxu?” the Concealed Emperor asked.

“It’ll take some time. I can’t act as easily because of the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation Diagram and Immortal Slaughtering Sword in his possession, but it’s only a matter of time. I plan to hone my swordsmanship against him while I whittle away at him,” Tianyi said.

The Concealed Emperor nodded. “Don’t underestimate him, and remember to prioritize the Immortal Exterminating Sword Formation Diagram and Immortal Slaughtering Sword. Once we find the remaining Immortal Ending Sword, it will be a trump card that can be used in other systems and the True Nothingness.”

“I know,” Tianyi said. Just because divinities could refine divine artifacts didn’t mean they could destroy them, especially a powerful artifact like the four Immortal Exterminating Swords. He didn’t know about the formation diagram, but as something that can be used with the four Immortal Exterminating Swords, its quality must not be inferior.

The only resistance Tianyi thought Divinity Yanxu could display was to send the divine artifacts away, hoping to bury them in the endless void forever. However, the entire Nine Heavens Universe was his territory, and such an act was meaningless.

“Be careful.” With those words, the Concealed Emperor disappeared. He had returned to the Primordial Realm. Although Jiang Ziya had also become a divinity, his existence was top secret. On the surface, no divinity was guarding the Primordial Realm, so he had to return.

Perfected Huanglong did not leave. He entered the Numinous Realm and prepared to deal with the Allheaven Jianmu Formation. Although he had to take it slow to avoid damaging the Numinous Realm and incurring Karmic Sin, it was only a matter of time before the Allheaven Jianmu Formation fell apart. The Numinous Sword Sect frantically attempted to contact Divinity Yanxu, but they knew that they had lost in their hearts.

Tianyi did not forget his original intentions. Although most of his mind was focused on fighting Divinity Yanxu, he still spared some thoughts to capture the Jianmu Immortals. Once he dragged them out of the Allheaven Jianmu Formation, the Heavenly Dao did not target them, but they lost a lot of their advantages. Their Jianmu immortal qi was only at the level of a venerable’s or saint’s true qi. Their mastery of the worldly laws might surpass saints, but their weak qi dragged them down. In a way, they resembled earth immortals.

However, Tianyi did not study the Jianmu Immortals for now. Most of his mind was focused on Divinity Yanxu. He played an auxiliary role in the following operations against the doomed Numinous Sword Sect.

Once Perfected Huanglong broke the Allheaven Jianmu Tree Formation, he immediately took action to kill all the sword sovereigns and a select few sword emperors. It seemed like bullying the weak, but this was war. As long as the sword sovereigns did not take any detrimental actions, Perfected Huanglong would be content to allow the Immortal Court’s army to take care of them, but would they really obediently die? Even a rabbit would bite once pushed into a corner, much less the belligerent sword immortals. That didn’t mean Perfected Huanglong left none of them alive to temper the Immortal Court’s army. Just look at the remaining sword emperors and monarchs.

Although Perfected Huanglong wanted to use the survivors to hone the Immortal Court, he didn’t want to waste too much time, so all the sword immortals were killed within a month. The Immortal Court did not exterminate all the members of the Numinous Sword Sect, especially those who had not become immortals. Killing mortals would incur Karmic Sin. This naturally included cultivators who had not reached the Immortal Realm. Only, the higher the cultivation, the lower the Karmic Sin gained from killing them en masse. Still, the Immortal Court did not want to stain themselves with Karmic Sin, but they wouldn’t allow them to go free, either.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

If they were allowed to go free, they would undoubtedly carry the legacy of the Numinous Sword Sect. Even if the Immortal Court destroyed the Numinous Sword Sect’s inheritance, they would still pose a danger as long as they inherited the fallen force’s will.

That’s why many forces would cut the grass by the roots, even if they had to incur Karmic Sin. However, the Immortal Court had a better option.

Tianyi transported all the remnants into the Nine Heavens Universe and dropped them onto a barren planet. After a thousand or a hundred generations, the chances of them inheriting the Numinous Sword Sect’s hatred would plummet—especially with Tianyi’s deliberate manipulation.

After they forgot about everything, it was not impossible for them to become the Immortal Court’s talent reserve.

The Immortal Court removed not only the remnants of the Numinous Sword Sect but also erased all traces of them in the Numinous Realm. From now on, people would only know of the former hegemon through historic texts and legends. No longer would proof of their existence remain.

After taking care of the Numinous Sword Sect, the Immortal Court summoned all the first-rank forces of the Numinous Realm. It was not a discussion, but a simple declaration. They, the Immortal Court, would merge the Numinous Realm into the Primordial Realm. During this time, they would have to take care and stabilize the land.

Two of the first-rank forces had already surrendered to the Immortal Court, so they naturally obeyed. The others, whether they were for or against the Numinous Sword Sect, did not dare to disobey. The destruction of the Numinous Sword Sect was still fresh in their minds. Unlike the Numinous Sword Sect, they didn’t even have a divinity, which directly deprived them of the right to resist.

After announcing their decision, it was Tianyi’s time to shine. Once again, he was worked to the bone like a mule. Although the Numinous Realm was closer to the Primordial Realm than the three half-immortal-rank realms of the former Divine Beast Pseudo-System, it took Tianyi much more effort to move it because of its higher rank and size.

Not only that, but the time it would take to integrate with the Primordial Realm would be much longer than when the Huang Realm upgraded to the Primordial Realm. The current estimation was around a million years, give or take a hundred thousand years or so. It was not that Tianyi or the Immortal Court couldn’t speed up the process, but doing so would harm both the Primordial Realm and the Numinous Realm. The end result would also be lesser than if they took it slow.

During this time, an accident happened. Tianyi suddenly became unresponsive! Luckily, the formation had already been set up, and Tianyi’s absence did not affect the overall situation too much. The Immortal Court only needed to dispatch more immortals to control the formation.

His sudden coma alarmed many of the high echelon of the Immortal Court. The Concealed Emperor even appeared in person to diagnose what happened to Tianyi. Although the divinity could not awaken Tianyi, he could ascertain that Tianyi’s life was not in danger.

There was a second lucky point. Tianyi’s mother, Xi Mengfei, was currently occupied and could not distract herself. With the three divinities’ deliberate concealment, she did not know that something had happened to Tianyi and thus did not cause any trouble.

Tianyi’s incapacitation greatly hindered many of the Immortal Court’s plans, especially his ability to teleport across the universe. Although they did not lose contact with the other pantheons, their ability to cooperate was greatly affected. Originally, the Immortal Court only wanted temporary portals in order to limit the risk, but now they were considering having Tianyi create permanent portals in case another accident happened again.

The Immortal Court did its best to hide Tianyi’s state, but obviously, they couldn’t hide the fact that something had happened to Tianyi. So they released news that Tianyi had entered secluded cultivation in preparation for breaking through.

What kind of breakthrough would an immortal sovereign seek? Naturally, it was to reach the Divine Realm! If Tianyi was preparing for such an important step, it was obvious that he would be distracted and could no longer fulfill his regular duties. More importantly, it gave them a valid excuse, and even if Tianyi did not reach the Divine Realm, few would suspect something was amiss. After all, if an immortal sovereign could reach the Divine Realm from a single serious secluded cultivation, there would not be so few divinities.

Hundreds of years later, Tianyi’s closed eyelids fluttered. Suddenly, they snapped open. The wide-eyed Tianyi was about to enter a defensive state, but when he took in the surroundings, he froze. “Mother, what are you doing?”

Tianyi found himself lying atop a bed, but that wasn’t the important part. His head was actually resting on his mother’s lap. It was the legendary lap pillow.

“I’m giving you a lap pillow.”

At Mengfei’s frank admission, Tianyi wanted to curse. “Why?”

She tilted her head. “I read in a book that boys like it when the women in their life do this.”

‘When did this become known knowledge? I thought I had purged all that needless information! Gah, how long was I affected by Yanxu’s sword strike? Goddammit, if he wasn’t dead, I would have tortured him for allowing such useless information to enter Mother’s eyes!’ Tianyi thought. Still, he did his best to control his voice. “No. I think the situation is a bit different. Women should only do this for their young children or their life partner.”

Mengfei still didn’t understand. “Aren’t you still my child? And you’re still young.”

Tianyi covered his face. “Mother, I’m tens of thousands of years old. I think I lost the qualification to be called a child after age fifteen.”

“No matter what, you will always be my precious little baby.”

Tianyi felt something in his chest crack. He raised a finger. Ultimately, he decided that silence was the better part of valor. He sat up, leaving Mengfei’s thighs.

He turned around and looked at his mother. He opened his mouth, but he suddenly noticed something different that caused his words to halt in his throat. Mengfei showed a modicum of disappointment at Tianyi leaving her lap, but she didn’t mind. She would have more chances to use the knowledge she learned about taking care of sick children.

“Mother, are you a divinity?”