Am I still asleep?

Am I dreaming?

How long have I been sleeping?

It wasn’t that Tianyi doubted his mother’s talent, but becoming a divinity wasn’t that simple. Before he fell into a coma—the last time he saw Mengfei—he knew she was nowhere near becoming a divinity. Although only one realm separated the Origin Immortal Realm and the Divine Realm, that gap was wider than the gulf between an ordinary mortal and an immortal sovereign.

If he had slept for more than ten thousand years, it would have been more believable. But after synchronizing with the Nine Heavens Universe, he realized he had only been asleep for a few hundred years. Granted, he had never even slept for more than a month at a time, but sleeping for a much longer period and discovering that his mother had become a divinity seemed far more realistic.

Even the late Divinity Yanxu had lived for several hundred thousand years before reaching the Divine Realm—and even he took a shortcut. Of course, Tianyi and the Immortal Court only discovered this fact after defeating the Numinous Sword Sect.

Tianyi, the Concealed Emperor, and Perfected Huanglong had always wondered why Divinity Yanxu only used the Immortal Slaughtering Sword and Immortal Slaying Sword with the Immortal Extermination Formation. If he had used a third divine sword, the two divinities would have had a much harder time.

It was only after seeing the Immortal Ending Sword that they realized Divinity Yanxu’s sudden apotheosis must be related to it. How else could they explain why the Immortal Ending Sword retained its form but lost its quintessence?

Although it lost its quintessence, the Immortal Ending Sword was still powerful—far more so than any immortal artifact—but only in terms of sharpness and durability.

Unfortunately, the Immortal Court had not discovered the method by which Divinity Yanxu absorbed the quintessence of the Immortal Ending Sword to become a divinity. If they had, it would be a powerful trump card in case the Immortal Court ever suffered a similar disadvantage as the Numinous Sword Sect.

On the bright side, the Immortal Court discovered that the quintessence of the Immortal Ending Sword would slowly recover as long as it was placed on the Immortal Extermination Sword Formation Diagram with the Immortal Confining Sword, Immortal Slaughtering Sword, and Immortal Slaying Sword.

The only issue was that the recovery rate was extremely slow. At its current pace, the Immortal Ending Sword wouldn’t even recover ten percent of its quintessence after a million years—but it was better than nothing.

The Immortal Court had tried to increase the recovery rate, but aside from a divinity deliberately focusing all their effort to accelerate the process, nothing else worked. That wasn’t ideal, but the price was worth the return—and a divinity couldn’t focus solely on recovering a divine artifact. Each one had their duties.

Luckily, Tianyi had brought out the Immortal Confining Sword before he fell into a coma. Even if he had kept it inside the Nine Heavens Universe when he entered his coma, a few hundred years was nothing compared to the millions of years the Immortal Ending Sword would need to return to its peak.

Divinity Yanxu used the Immortal Ending Sword to become a divinity. What did Mengfei use?

“Mother, how did you become a divinity?” Tianyi couldn’t help but ask.

“Is it strange?” Mengfei asked.

‘Yes! Very strange!’ Tianyi screamed in his mind. Of course, he couldn’t voice his reply in such a hysterical manner. He nodded. “It’s quite strange.”

Mengfei didn’t immediately reply, letting Tianyi know that she was thinking. After a few moments, she spoke. “The Concealed Emperor and Divinity Jiang told me not to tell you this, but I think you can know.”

Tianyi became really curious. As one of the core elders of the Immortal Court, Tianyi had already been informed of Jiang Ziya’s ascension to divinity. Although it wasn’t outright stated, Tianyi had seen the hints suggesting Jiang Ziya was a reincarnated legendary figure from myth—one with a close relationship to the Lord of Primordial Origin. So, he wasn’t curious about Jiang Ziya, but about what they had told Mengfei to keep secret.

For a moment, he considered stopping his mother from speaking, but his curiosity won out. “What is it?”

Since Tianyi expressed his desire to know, Mengfei revealed the partial truth. “I partially refined and became the master of the Heaven Seal, which elevated me to the Divine Realm.”

Tianyi waited, but upon seeing Mengfei no longer speaking, he realized she was done. ‘That’s it?’

“What’s the Heaven Seal?”

“The Heaven Seal is known as the Mandate of Heaven. She who controls the Heaven Seal controls the world.”

Tianyi widened his eyes. Was there such a powerful thing?

“The first owner was Heavenly Emperor Di Jun. After he fell, the Heaven Seal split into six pieces. They were the Heaven Bearing Seal, the East Flower Seal, the Longevity Seal, the Calamity and Tribulation Seal, and the Starry Sky Seal,” Mengfei continued, her words neither hurried nor slow.

Tianyi’s eyes widened. He could still recall wondering why the Buzhou Immortal Sect had brought the Heaven Bearing Seal back into the prime timeline. Now, even if Mengfei hadn’t told him, he could put two and two together.

“The Immortal Court hasn’t gathered all six seals. Some are still lost, while another is known but in the possession of someone we cannot touch. Still, it was enough to recreate the Heaven Seal. Since the fall of Di Jun, this is the second time the Heaven Seal has reappeared in the world,” Mengfei finished.

Tianyi wanted to ask why. For something like the Heaven Seal, wouldn’t it have been better for the Concealed Emperor to refine it? Although allowing his mother to do it would give the Immortal Court another divinity, were they really so rushed to produce more divinities?

During the time Tianyi was asleep, the Immortal Court conducted two more Divine Ascension Ceremonies. In addition to the Kitchen God, the Immortal Court officially recognized Yun Xialan as the Gale Marchioness, who controlled part of the weather with the Cloud Goddess—along with the Gate God and the Medicine God.

Of note, the Medicine God was Yan Nie’s master, the former Monarch Pillrabbit.

However, although they were divinities, they were divinities of faith and could not compare to divinities who ascended to the Divine Realm through the laws.

Because of his questions, Tianyi asked.

“I was lucky. My Law of Heaven-Earth-Man is especially compatible with the Heaven Seal. Although I have not completely mastered it, I’ve gained the ability to foresee the future of certain individuals,” Mengfei paused for a moment. “No, it’s not to foresee, but to ascertain destiny. I feel like I can even manipulate destiny to a certain extent—but at an enormous cost.”

Tianyi’s jaw dropped. He had never heard of anything so overpowered. Maybe in novels—but this was reality. He could already imagine it.

A rebel force rises and challenges the Immortal Court, but before they can accomplish anything, their leader suddenly develops an inner devil or suffers some other misfortune. With the leader dead, the rebel force falls into turmoil.

Still, that didn’t fully answer Tianyi’s question. Even if Mengfei was compatible, that wasn’t enough reason to allow her to refine the Heaven Seal. He wanted to continue asking, but stopped—he realized Mengfei was deliberately evading the question.

Since that was the case, Tianyi didn’t want to put Mengfei in a tough spot, so he could only divert the topic. He coughed into his fist. “Did anything happen while I was incapacitated?”

Tianyi ignored the movement beneath his mother’s sleeve that looked suspiciously like a fist pump. ‘Note to self: beat up Yan Nie for badly influencing Mother.’

“The court claimed you were in secluded cultivation, and most people accepted it. The war was already over, and you had no other responsibilities.”

‘Are you saying that I’m an idler with no job?’ Of course, Tianyi only privately snarked in the safety of his own mind.

“The most concerned were Daoyi and your disciples. Upon hearing that you entered secluded cultivation, they didn’t pay much notice, but after a few months, they came looking when they couldn’t contact you.”

Tianyi’s eye twitched. ‘I know I don’t usually cultivate in seclusion for long periods, but I have a precedent!’

Then, he immediately recalled that precedent and ignored it. It was true he had gone into secluded cultivation for a hundred years, making his mother worry—but that was because she had never contacted him on the Xiyinet. During those one hundred years, if his disciple or Daoyi had messaged him, he would definitely have replied during one of his breaks.

“They were worried and wanted to transfer back. Daoyi usually doesn’t have many duties, so her request was approved. But your other disciples’ request was refused on the grounds that it would incur suspicion—especially during this delicate period. Although the Immortal Court’s divinities didn’t suffer any loss, the casualties among the immortals were too high,” Mengfei said.

Tianyi nodded in understanding. Although the Immortal Court’s losses might make some forces entertain unneeded thoughts, it wouldn’t matter if the Immortal Court’s divinities were still present. What they truly worried about was the Buddhists returning to take advantage of the situation.

“Since I’ve woken up, I should contact them and apologize for making them worry,” Tianyi said. He directly connected to the Xiyinet and messaged his wife, friends, and disciples. While contacting them, Tianyi didn’t stop talking with his mother. At his current level—no, with his current ability—there was no difference between conversing with one person or ten.

“I want to continue talking to you, but Minister Everpast has noticed you’ve awakened. He’s currently urging me to take you to him. After you entered a deep sleep, the connection between the Immortal Court and the Nine Heavens Universe was severed, which deeply impacted the Immortal Court’s operations.”

Just as Mengfei said this, Tianyi received an alert on the Xiyinet.

“Of course, if you feel something is wrong and need to rest, I can help delay it,” Mengfei said.

‘Why do I feel like you just want to speak to me more?’ Tianyi thought. He shook his head. “I feel fine. It just took me a long time to process the destructive intent unleashed by Divinity Yanxu. It was my mistake for being incapacitated and dragging down the Immortal Court’s operations. I’ll go to Minister Everpast and resolve the issues at once.”

Although Divinity Yanxu had tried to harm or even kill Tianyi through his soul, Tianyi’s soul had barely sustained any damage. Rather than say his coma was caused by injuries, it was closer to a state of being dazed. His mind couldn’t process the mystery contained in the attack.

If Tianyi settled down and recalled the Laws of Destruction and Fire contained in the attack, his progress would be very fast and smooth—at least to the peak of the Origin Immortal Realm.

Mengfei had no expression on her face, but Tianyi could still feel a faint unwillingness radiating from her body. Although unwilling, Mengfei still knew how to consider the bigger picture. After all, aside from Tianyi, her greatest concern was her master—and her master’s concern was the Buzhou Immortal Court. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have agreed to refine the Heaven Seal. For her, the Divine Realm or absolute authority held no attraction.

Soon, Tianyi appeared in front of Minister Everpast and various other ministers. He also saw Minister Huang, but compared to before the war, there was a layer of gloom hanging from his shoulders. It seemed he was still dealing with the aftereffects of losing so many immortals in the war against the Numinous Sword Sect.

Tianyi estimated it would take at least ten thousand years before the repercussions of the loss were forgotten or alleviated. However, that was not his jurisdiction or duty, so he didn’t worry about it. Besides, he was about to get busy soon.