Chapter 800- Immortal Court Convoy
~~ The Interruption — Immortal Court Arrives
The crowd, the spectators, the thousands of cultivators and citizens watching from below, erupted. The cheers, the applause, the excited chatter, filled the sky.
"The last three! The siblings! They did it!"
"That young man! His sword! He defeated a Body Integration elder with Soul Formation cultivation!"
"And his sisters! The Foundation Establishment girl blocked a Nascent Soul mercenary!"
"Prodigies! All three of them!"
Shen Mu, his plain blade lowered, his breath, the heavy, recovering breath, was there. His eyes, on the ships above, found Tianlong. The gold-crimson eyes, the calm, the knowing, the amused eyes, were there.
’You are watching. You are always watching. And I am going to kill you.’
The internal thought, the cold, determined, past-life-fueled thought, was there. But beneath it, the strategy, the calculating, patient strategy, was there.
’Not yet. Not now. I need to be smarter. In the past life, I confronted him directly. I died. In this life, I will let others fight my battles. I will let the world become his enemy. And then, when he is alone, when he is surrounded, when he is weak — I will strike.’
His eyes, still on Tianlong, held the patience. The cold, patient, murderous patience.
’Wait. Just wait. The pieces are moving. The Immortal Court—’
The ray came.
From nowhere. From the sky above. A beam, the golden, imperial, formation-array beam, materialized. The air, the spiritual energy, split. The portal, the spatial rift, the golden, imperial portal of the Immortal Court, tore through the sky.
Three figures materialized.
They stood. On the air, their feet on nothing, their bodies suspended by imperial qi. Their robes, the golden and white of the Immortal Court, the celestial bureaucracy that governed the upper realm’s affairs, were there. Their hands, behind their backs, were there. Their eyes — black. Completely black. No whites. No pupils. Just black. The sign, the unmistakable sign, of the Immortal Court’s enforcers.
The crowd went silent. The fear, the immediate, instinctive, overwhelming fear of the Immortal Court’s name, was there.
"I am the prince of the Immortal Court," the center figure said. His voice was cold. Arrogant. The voice of a being whose authority came from the highest power in the realm. "We have arrived to observe the tournament."
Shen Mu, his gold-flecked brown eyes, on the three figures, was there. His internal thoughts, the racing, memory-fueled, revenge-planning thoughts, were there.
’The Immortal Court. Even they showed up. In the past life, these Immortal Court bastards were too arrogant. They looked down on everyone. They provoked Tianlong. Tianlong, being the arrogant beast he was, attacked them directly. That led to Tianlong becoming the enemy of the entire Immortal Court.’
’Of course, in the past life, Tianlong blamed everything on me. Told them I was the one who orchestrated the conflict. That I was the one who provoked the fight. The Immortal Court believed him, and I became their enemy too. Both of us, fighting the Court and each other.’
’But this time... this time, I will not intervene. I will not provoke them. I will let them become Tianlong’s enemy on their own. I will wait. I will watch. And when the Immortal Court and Tianlong clash, I will be the one who benefits.’
The smile, the small, private, calculating smile, was on his lips.
’In the past life, I rushed. I confronted. I died. This time, I wait. I let the wolves eat each other. And I pick the bones.’
~~ The Confrontation — Fear and Submission
The Immortal Court prince, his black eyes, scanned the tournament field. His expression, the bored, aristocratic, above-it-all expression of a man who considered everyone present beneath him, was there.
Emperor Yun, descending from the flagship, approached. The formal, diplomatic greeting of a provincial emperor to the Immortal Court, was there. Princess Yuexin, behind him, her violet and white robes, her composed face, was there. Empress Lihwa, behind her daughter, her emerald robes, her bitten lips, was there.
"Welcome, Your Highness," Emperor Yun said. His voice was warm. The diplomatic warmth, the slightly strained warmth of a host who had not expected this guest, was there. "The Immortal Court honors us with—"
The prince, his black eyes, on the princess, interrupted.
"This is the princess?" he said. His voice was flat. The assessment, the male, evaluative assessment, was there. His eyes, on Yuexin’s body, swept. Her face, her figure, her cultivation. "She looks fuckable. I might take her to warm my bed."
The words, the crude, arrogant, utterly disrespectful words, dropped. Like a stone in still water. The ripples, the shock, the outrage, the fear — all spread.
"Your Highness!" a guard, the Azure Cloud guard, yelled. His voice, the furious, protective voice of a soldier hearing his princess insulted, was there. "How dare you speak to the princess like that!"
The prince, his black eyes, on the guard, was there. The gesture, the minimal, casual, almost lazy gesture of his finger, was there. The qi, the Immortal Court qi, the overwhelming, authority-backed qi, struck. The guard, his body, was crushed. The impact, the invisible, divine-powered impact, drove him into the ground. The crater, the body-shaped crater in the jade platform, was there. The guard, groaning, bleeding, was there.
The crowd, the spectators, the soldiers — all recoiled. The fear, the absolute, paralyzing, soul-deep fear of the Immortal Court’s power, was there.
Emperor Yun, his kind face, the anger, the barely controlled, emperor-level anger, was there. But his voice, when he spoke, was measured.
"You should mind your words, young prince," Emperor Yun said. His voice was firm. Diplomatic. The voice of a man walking a tightrope between dignity and survival. "You do not know. Emperor Tianlong is here too."
The words, the name, the weight-dropping, atmosphere-shifting name, were there.
The Immortal Court prince, his black eyes, on Emperor Yun, was there. The expression, the sneer, the dismissive, aristocratic sneer, was there.
"Tianlong?" he said. His voice was mocking. "That old geezer? Isn’t he called the Breeding Immortal? What nonsense name is that. I bet he can’t even stay on the bed more than—"
He halted.
The word, the unfinished word, hung in the air. His mouth, the open, mid-sentence mouth, was frozen. His body, the standing, arrogant body, was rigid.
He blinked. Once. Twice.
He breathed. The breath, the shallow, rapid, panicked breath, was there.
Sweat. On his face. The beads, the sudden, impossible, sweat-on-an-Immortal-Court-prince’s-face beads, were there. The perspiration, the cold, fear-induced perspiration, was there.
His hand, his right hand, went to his chest. The fingers, the trembling fingers, clawed at his robes. The heart, the racing, pounding, impossible heart, was there. The heartbeat, the accelerated, terror-driven heartbeat, was there.
’What... what is this? What is happening to me?’
His internal thoughts, the confused, panicked, terrified thoughts, were there. The sensation, the strange, overwhelming, primal sensation of being in the presence of a predator, was there. The fear, the bone-deep, soul-deep, cultivation-deep fear, was there.
He looked. At Tianlong.
The Emperor, the golden, crimson-eyed Emperor, was there. Sitting. On the deck of the flagship. His gold-crimson eyes, on the Immortal Court prince, were narrowed. Just narrowed. That was all. Just the eyes, the slightly narrowed, calmly focused eyes.
But the qi. The divine, transcendent, absolute-domain qi, was there.
|| [ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]||
|| Absolute Domain activated.||
|| Ability: Fear Inducement||
|| Target: All beings with cultivation lower than the host.||
|| Effect: Mana pressure applied. Spiritual energy suppressed. Ego disrupted via psychological rewrite.||
|| Current target: Immortal Court Prince (Cultivation: Middle Divine Integration)||
|| Suppression rate: 87%. Fear level: Critical.||