There are no ancestors at all; I made them all up.

Chapter 43 Shocking change!

The next day, the rain stopped and the sky cleared.

Chen Qing stood in the Jiaowei Qinlu, looking up at the sky.

Above Yujing, several floating celestial palaces drifted slowly, like stars adorning the sky.

His gaze settled on one of them.

The palace, like a white jade ring, surrounds a verdant hill, with a waterfall cascading down its summit, refracting a rainbow of colors in the morning light.

"Cloudy Immortal Palace." Chen Qing's voice deepened slightly. "Elder Lü, is my spirit bone really inside? Wasn't it said that once a spirit bone is dug out, it should be implanted into someone else's body? Why is mine placed separately?"

Inside the room, Lü Feng's withered fingers hovered over the scorched-tail zither as he replied, "My spies have been investigating for many years and have confirmed that it was sealed in the Nine Nether Cold Jade Box in the Jade Pavilion of the Immortal Palace. Such treatment suggests that your spiritual bone is more precious than I imagined."

"You said it yourself, that's where the Heavenly Empress cultivates in seclusion! How can she be involved in everything!" Chen Qing's heart sank. "Is there any way to break this deadlock?"

Lu Feng shook his head and said, "The defenses of Yunmiao Palace are unparalleled in the capital. Let alone a living person, even a wisp of alien spiritual energy that gets within a hundred miles of the palace will be instantly killed by the 'Zhou Tian Xing Dou Jin'!"

Chen Qing felt as if a huge rock was pressing on his heart: "No one can get in?" Now that things had come to this, he could roughly guess that his spiritual bone might really be something special, but precisely because of this, leaving it out there was always a hidden danger.

"Yes." Lü Feng changed the subject. "On the occasion of the Heavenly Empress's birthday or a grand sacrificial ceremony, the Celestial Palace would open the side hall 'Listening Platform' and summon musicians to play celestial music to entertain the gods. I have been there seven times."

"Is it too late to learn the piano now?" A glimmer of light had just appeared in Chen Qing's eyes when Lü Feng's next words extinguished it again—

"But Shuyu Pavilion is located in the core forbidden area of ​​the Immortal Palace. Not to mention musicians, even princes and princesses, without Yunmiao's order, whoever enters it will... perish both body and soul!"

The courtyard fell into a deathly silence.

Chen Qing stared at the palace in the clouds for a long time before saying, "So, behind Li Xiao, there's the Empress? Was she involved in framing me back then? That's quite an old feud."

Lu Feng walked into the courtyard, facing the direction of Yunmiao Immortal Palace, and said, "Actually, there is another person who can freely enter and exit the forbidden area of ​​the Immortal Palace, including... Shuyu Pavilion."

"Who?" Chen Qing suddenly turned his head.

Lu Feng slowly uttered three words: "Tenth Princess".

Chen Qing was taken aback for a moment, then frowned: "Because of the Immortal Emperor's special permission?"

Lü Feng nodded.

Chen Qing said, "Since you have the favor of the Celestial Emperor, how dare the Heavenly Empress suppress you?"

“For someone at that level, the affections of children are ultimately no match for the opportunity to seek the Dao.” Lu Feng shook his head and sighed: “The Heavenly Empress has been with the Immortal Emperor for ten thousand years, how could she not know her place? The reason she dares to act this way is that she understands that in the face of seeking the Dao and achieving immortality, even the closest of kin are nothing but fleeting clouds.”

He paused, then added, "If the princess had already... by the time the Immortal Emperor emerged from seclusion, she would have been nothing more than a fleeting karmic connection on his path of cultivation."

These words, spoken casually, sent a chill down Chen Qing's spine.

He suddenly understood why the princess wanted him to stay away from this place of trouble.

Faced with such a powerful celestial dynasty, the life, death, honor, and disgrace of an individual are truly as insignificant as ants.

After calming himself down, Chen Qing asked, "Elder Lü, how does the princess freely enter and leave the Immortal Forbidden Zone?"

Lu Feng replied, "The Celestial Emperor once bestowed upon the princess the 'Formless Decree,' granting her free access to the thirty-six forbidden areas of the Celestial Palaces, which has always been a thorn in the side of the Empress."

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Qing made a decision: "Then the plan is simple. First, let the princess leave the villa, then enter the Immortal Palace to retrieve the spirit bone! I wonder if there's any progress on the ingredients needed for the prescription?"

Lü Feng then said, "The results will be available soon..."

Chen Qing nodded, then suddenly asked, "Elder Lü, do you know if there is anyone in or around Yujing who uses the pseudonym 'Xuanming'?"

Lu Feng's expression changed slightly, but he shook his head and said, "Do not mention other people's names here."

At this moment.

Da da da--

A burst of brisk footsteps came from afar.

"Lord Lü! I'm back!"

A flash of silver light appeared, and a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old hopped into the courtyard. He was handsome with delicate features, except for a few fine silver scales on either side of his nose, which rippled slightly with his breath.

Hearing the voice, a smile appeared on Lü Feng's gaunt face: "Yin Lin'er, have you found her?"

"It's nothing!" The young man raised his chin smugly, speaking rapidly: "The Thousand-Year Snow Lotus is hidden in a secret compartment of the Hundred Herbs Hall in the south of the city, the Profound Yin Cold Marrow was just transported from the Northern Cold Continent to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion last night, and the Nine-Turn Rejuvenating Grass..." He smiled slyly, "...that one in the Zhao family's herb garden in the west of the city will bloom at midnight tonight!"

Chen Qing's eyes lit up: "So fast?" The boy suddenly fell silent, his silver scales trembled slightly, and he retreated warily behind Lü Feng, his nostrils twitching.

"It's alright." Lü Feng gently patted the young man's shoulder. "Young Master Chen is family."

The boy relaxed his shoulders, but then his face fell: "The other medicinal herbs are fine, but this Crimson Stone..." His face suddenly fell, "I searched the whole city but couldn't find it. Finally, I found out at the Strange Things Shop that the last piece was sent to the Cloud Misty Immortal Palace three years ago."

Chen Qing's expression hardened.

This has now become a dead end.

"However—" the boy suddenly changed the subject: "I heard from the black market that Xu Yuan Fu Li will be passing through the southern border of Yu Jing in half a month! There are many rare and precious treasures on that mountain, maybe we'll find some!"

"Xuyuan Fuli?"

Chen Qing's heart stirred.

That sacred mountain that connects the past and the present?!
"The Floating Li Gathering at Xuyuan is a grand banquet," the young man said excitedly, gesturing wildly. "It's said that if you can match a couplet with an immortal outside the mountain, or present a brilliant Daoist treatise, you can enter the banquet and claim a treasure! Last time, someone traded a piece of 'The Treatise on the Response of the Great Void' for a ten-thousand-year-old spirit crystal!"

"A floating wine cup banquet?" Chen Qing recalled a record he had seen in an ancient book—

Wherever Xu Yuan Fu Li passed through, cultivators would ascend the peaks to attend banquets, drinking from crystal goblets shrouded in the void, listening to celestial music from the heavens, and plucking stars and grasping the moon—indulging in extreme extravagance, reaching the pinnacle of its glory.

“It is indeed an opportunity.” Lu Feng pondered for a moment and said, “Logically speaking, if we can offer something that satisfies the current Lord of Xuyuan Mountain, we can obtain the treasure. However, the rules on that mountain are strange and unpredictable, and the road to the mountain is extremely dangerous.”

Chen Qing pondered for a moment.

"Half a month, but my stay is only seven days. That means I need to leave my Dao trace at least once more to have any chance of meeting the time requirement, and even once might not be enough..."

He still has three Dao marks on his hands, which can be replenished upon waking, so that's not a problem. Besides, Chen Qing had originally planned to search for this mountain, leave something behind, and verify his guesses.

Having thought of this, he made his decision: "Brother Silverscale, do you know the exact time of the banquet on the mountain?"

"They said it would be midnight." The boy scratched his head. "You want to climb the mountain? You're not capable enough to even attend a banquet. There are man-eating monsters on the mountain..."

“It’s alright, climbing a mountain is always easier than storming a celestial palace,” Chen Qing said calmly. “But that’s all for half a month from now. The most urgent matter is still the elixir formula…”

"Alright then..."

Lu Feng nodded and was speaking, but before he could finish, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently without warning!
"Boom - boom -!"

A muffled, deafening roar came from the depths of the earth's veins, instantly engulfing the entire Jade Capital City!

The bluestone path undulated like waves, the old tree in the courtyard shook violently, and withered leaves fell like rain!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Immediately afterwards, a tremendous pulsating sound, as if from the heavens above, descended with a thunderous roar, like the beating of a god's drum!
Chen Qing felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, his blood surging, and his vision blurring!
He frantically circulated his Taihe Qi to barely stabilize himself, and then suddenly looked up to see the crimson clouds in the sky, which were like blood, staining half of the sky!
In the easternmost direction, purple energy soared into the sky, condensing into nine colossal dragons, each ten thousand feet tall, roaring and churning in the sea of ​​clouds, their cries shattering the floating clouds!
At the edge of the Western Wilderness, a towering, pitch-black sword mound rose from the ground, with countless ancient swords humming in unison, their chilling sword energy piercing the sky!

On the shores of the South China Sea, towering waves surge up a wall of water thousands of feet high. Above the wall of water, the faint outline of an ancient and magnificent underwater palace can be seen slowly rising, its doors seemingly open yet closed!

"This is……"

Before and after his transmigration, Chen Qing had never seen such a terrifying celestial phenomenon!

"It's coming!" Beside him, Lü Feng, who should have been blind, suddenly "looked" towards the center of Jade Capital City, the deepest part of the Nine-Layered Palace! His empty eye sockets contracted violently, his face was extremely solemn, and his hands gripped the Jiao Wei Qin in his arms tightly, the qin groaning under the weight!

Chen Qing's heart skipped a beat, guessing what was going on, but she still couldn't help asking, "What's coming?!"

"Your Majesty..." Lü Feng's voice trembled with an almost dreamlike quality: "...we are about to break through the Heavenly Gate!"

"Really?! At this time?"

Chen Qing suddenly turned his head and stared at the nine-tiered palace!

The Primordial Immortal Emperor is about to ascend!
I... I actually witnessed the ascension of an Immortal Emperor!?
next moment!
A dazzling golden light shot into the sky from the depths of the palace!

Wherever the golden light passed, space shattered like fragile glass!

Hundreds of millions of golden runes flowed and disappeared within the pillar of light, radiating supreme pressure!

The entire city of Yujing trembled under the golden light, and countless cultivators felt their bodies heavy under the pressure, as if they were carrying a high mountain on their backs!
Amidst the golden light, a blurry yet majestic phantom slowly coalesced!
The phantom was dressed in imperial robes and wore a crown. Its face was indistinct, but its eyes were like two burning suns, overlooking the entire territory of the Immortal Dynasty!

A mighty will, surpassing all living beings and seeking to break free from the shackles of this world, swept across the eight wastelands like a tsunami!

He slowly raised one hand, palm up, as if to support the entire world!
　Here are two! I hope you'll support me if you happen to read this! Please save it! Follow me! Thank you so much, I'm a newbie!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)