At the Azure Palace, just seconds after Hengsheng left.
Bang!
The Throne Hall gate snapped open.
After that, dozens of figures flew into the hall; they were all the core elders of the Azure Palace, with cultivation realms at least at the Grand Unity Realm. Their expressions reflected solemnity, ready for the fight.
But, once they got a clear sight within the hall, they could not spot any figure other than the Sea Lord.
Where is the enemy?
Cang Wuqing, whose face appeared to have a serious, big purple swelling on his cheek, which he got from Hengsheng's fist strike.
He was the last one to step into the hall. Anger filled him as he wanted to rip Hengsheng apart for what he did to his face, yet he also couldn't spot Hengsheng like the other elders.
"Your Majesty, has the enemy already fled?" Cang Wuqing slightly bowed and asked.
The Sea Lord, no longer sitting on the throne, stood in the middle of the hall. He did not answer Cang Wuqing immediately.
His mind was on something else; it drifted to the event that had happened earlier, before Hengsheng left.
He stared at the half-destroyed Azure Throne, which stood as evidence of the exchanged blows between him and Hengsheng in their attempt to reach a conclusion over the benefits they could not agree upon during the negotiation.
The exchange revealed more than he expected about the other side—and it shocked him.
He was wrong to think Hengsheng had possessed a mysterious method or any other means that gave him the confidence to appear before him.
The little exchange between him and Hengsheng revealed to him that the other side, who was only at the True Body Gate, and not even the peak stage of this cultivation realm, did possess the strength to cause harm to him, who was at the peak of the Grand Unity Realm.
This feat could only be heard of in myth. This Lan Hengsheng was indeed a Heavenly Defying genius.
His strength could rival a top-class Heavenly Defying genius like Ji Wushuang.
'No,' The Sea Lord thought.
Lan Hengsheng might be slightly stronger than Ji Wushuang if they were in the same cultivation realm. This assumption was based on what he had sensed from the exchange.
The Sea Lord thought he had made the right decision to repair the karma between him and the other side; if he had not, his fate would have been sealed.
After giving a moment to his thoughts for the event that unfolded earlier, he returned his focus to the present and turned to the opposite direction of the throne, where the dozens of core elders and Cang Wuqing were standing.
His gaze swept across them and stopped at a certain person. His gaze landed on Cang Wuqing.
Noticing the Sea Lord's gaze, Cang Wuqing quickly knelt and lowered his head.
"Wuqing, I hereby revoke all previous orders. You are no longer required to investigate the unknown Divine Artifact. And one more thing..." The Sea Lord paused, reflecting on Hengsheng's attitude before continuing.
"From this moment on, you are forbidden from ever stepping into the Southern Seas Region again," the Sea Lord ordered.
Cang Wuqing was confused by this order, but he did not dare to question the Sea Lord's decision. He bowed politely and replied,
"I understand... as you command." Cang Wuqing's tone was filled with respect.
The Sea Lord used this opportunity, while the core elders were gathered, to open a small conference, explain the peace deal he had with Hengsheng to them, and assign one of the elders to handle the matter.
The Sea Lord sent the elders and Wuqing back shortly after that.
As for him, he intended to return to his chamber to enter the cultivation section, aiming to attain the stage of Half-Step Dao Treader, and prepare for whatever might happen.
As someone who cultivated the Dao of Fate, he could catch the sign of the destiny turbulence, something about to happen, something big—something that would cause an impact on the entire Seventh Heaven.
Even if he had not cultivated the Fate Dao, he could have guessed from the appearance of two Heavenly-Defying geniuses that had emerged in the same era.
Destiny was about to turn toward chaos; an unpredictable period was coming.
To ensure his life was safe in this unpredictable period, he needed to attain greater strength.
He planned not to leave the session until he advanced his cultivation to a higher stage.
After all, his cultivation was the strongest armor he could depend on.
…
Ji Wushuang stared at the Azure Palace he had just left. He noticed the commotion; quite a number of Grand Unity experts were flying in the direction of the Throne Hall.
These experts also wore grim expressions, as if they were about to face a grave situation.
'Assassination?' he thought, before shaking his head, denying the possibility. From his memory, there was no such event as an assassination attempt on the faction leader during this period.
At least from what he knew, if there had been one, it should have caused more commotion, since those bloodsuckers always targeted the weaker ones first, not going straight for the stronger ones immediately.
'Maybe they finally found "it"?' Ji Wushuang thought with expectation.
'No, from their expressions, it is unlikely…' he thought. Countless thoughts crossed his mind.
"Master Ji…" a young female servant of the Azure Palace said. This interrupted Ji Wushuang's thought.
Ji Wushuang turned, his sharp gaze meeting the servant's, making her tremble. Not wasting time, he asked her to resume her footsteps.
"Continue leading the way," he said in an emotionless tone.
"Please follow me…" the young servant continued, leading Ji Wushuang to the guest residence.
Ji Wushuang recalled the reason why he was here in this faraway place, away from the main continent.
From his memory, he recalls that this was around the time when the Azure Palace had acquired one of the Heavenly Treasures—Tenth Heaven.
He had come for it, but unfortunately, he did not know the exact time or how they acquired it; that's why he chose to stay here, in this place, waiting quietly.
Waiting for the resonance to occur once the two Heavenly Treasures were close together—at that moment, he would act and take what should be his before leaving.
However, after staying in this place for more than nine years, there was no sign of the resonance occurring at all—not even a slight one—which meant the Tenth Heaven was not here, not even close by.
'This is weird… Maybe the future has changed again?' Ji Wushuang thought. His expression turned grim.
The change of the future had occurred more than once, ever since he had reset the timeline of the whole Nine Heaven Realm back to before he started cultivating, three hundred years ago.
The first time the Future Chang occurred was entirely due to his mistake—an attempt to demonstrate his mastery of controlling Heaven and Earth Qi to his clan, pretending to be a Heavenly-Defying genius, aiming to earn their support early in his new journey.
Everything went well—just as he planned—until the Future Change occurred, a major incident caused by his insignificant action.
He knew very well that the future would change because of his action, but he never knew it would turn into such a completely unforeseen incident.
One day, the enemy clan suddenly ambushed his clan's ancestral ground without any warning, with all the defensive formations mysteriously shutting down.
This had never happened before in the previous timeline.
Fortunately, this event occurred in the Third Heaven, where the strongest cultivators were only at the Peak of the Spiritual Foundation Realm.
With the techniques and countless years of experience of the Extreme Saint, he could easily handle the enemy clan's expert, even with his pitiful cultivation realm at the early stage of Qi Gathering cultivation.
Afterward, he and his Ji Clan discovered that one of the clan elders had betrayed them. Because Ji Wushuang had earned overwhelming support, a large portion of the clan's resource pool poured into him, leaving most of the clan's young underfed, including the elder's son.
Fueled by resentment, the elder made a terrible decision, an irrational one—he sold out his clan for a considerable sum of resources and also stole some of the Ji clan's treasures as he prepared to flee after the clan's destruction.
He was caught in the end.
Ji Wushuang, for the first time, realized the consequences of changing the future firsthand.
Even a slight action that didn't seem significant could trigger a major incident. A single change in someone else's decisions from the previous timeline could be enough to cause an unpredictable outcome in the future.
Ji Wushuang reminded himself that he should not underestimate causality; it wasn't considered one of the most dangerous Grand Dao for no reason.
After that, he became more careful with every action, trying to minimize the changes in the new timeline so he could make the most of his knowledge of the future.
Even so, the Future Changes just kept occurring one after another from time to time. Some, he could trace to a cause, but others he didn't even know what had led to the change—it was as if destiny itself was behind it.
The most dangerous Future Change incident that occurred right before he left the Third Heaven nearly caused him to lose the Formless Scripture—the Ninth-Ranked Heavenly Treasure that had been with him from the start of his cultivation path in the previous timeline.
While pondering the possibility that the future might change, he finally reached his residence.
Ji Wushuang left alone, entered a cultivation session, and decided to wait in this place for another year or two.
If the Tenth Heaven still did not appear, he would leave. He would assume that the future had changed and that someone else, not Azure Palace, had already acquired it, or it had never been found by anyone in this timeline in the first place.
There was also a major event he had to attend to soon on the Myriad Dynasty Continent.