(I, Goddess Nexus, by the power bestowed upon me by the 13 Sovereigns, hereby issue the 8th Tier High-Level Certificate for The Eternal Sect. Your status has been updated in the global registry.)
The token in front of him flashed blindingly bright. The metadata inside was overwritten in a nanosecond.
(From this moment forth, your sect is recognized as a regional power. You will receive resource stipends, mission requests, and diplomatic envoys according to your new sect details. Do not resist the upgrade. Efficiency is mandatory.)
"I don't want your resources!" Shen Huai roared, his voice shaking the dimensional walls of the hall. "I want to be left alone! I want people to think we are farmers!"
(The rewards for the annihilation of the Ghost Bone Sanctuary including 50 million spirit stones, three localized spirit veins, and a Federation-grade defensive array are being transmitted to your sect's designated location via Trans-Spatial Teleportation Formation. Arrival in T-minus 10 seconds.)
"Nexus!" Shen Huai yelled.
(End of transmission. Glory to Humanity.)
The light on the token died. It dropped from the air, clattering onto the obsidian floor with a mundane, plastic sound that felt insultingly anti-climactic.
Shen Huai stood there, his chest heaving. Around him, the beautiful, breathing cosmos he had projected began to destabilize.
A star system to his right turned red and exploded, scattering astral dust across the throne room.
He looked down at his hands. He was a Divine Sovereign. He could rewind time in a small area. He could shatter void barriers. But he could not stop a Federation AI from updating a database.
"Eighth Tier," he whispered, the words tasting like ash. "Eighth Tier means the Empire will send tax collectors. It means other sects will come to 'challenge' us for ranking. It means... paperwork."
He looked at the roof of his hall, his gaze piercing through the stone, through the sky, and staring directly at the invisible digital network of the Goddess Nexus orbiting the planet.
"Stupid machine," he hissed, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, primal violet light. "If you weren't maintaining the planetary shield against the actual deep-space horrors, I would fly up there and format your hard drive myself."
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the raging ocean of spiritual energy inside him. He needed to compose himself. He sat back down on the throne.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Outside the main hall, in the courtyard, the sound of heavy crates impacting the ground echoed.
The "rewards" had arrived. 50 million spirit stones. To a normal sect, this was a fortune that would cause wars. To Shen Huai, who used planets as marbles, it was clutter.
He looked at the token on the floor. 6th Tier.
Somewhere out there, Lin Feng and Jian Tian were holding 7th Tier tokens.
Shen Huai slumped back into his throne, the grandeur of the galaxy fading into a gloomy, grey twilight.
"I send them out for one month ," he sighed, the sound echoing endlessly in the vast hall. "One month. And they accidentally saved the world and ruined my retirement."
He picked up the token and tossed it back into his ring.
"When they get back," he grumbled, closing his eyes as a new, darker nebula formed around his head, "I'm going to make them copy the 'Scripture of Silence and Low Profile' ten thousand times. In ancient Sanskrit. With a brush made of lead."
The Divine Sovereign Shen Huai, master of the cosmos, sat in his upgraded 8th-tier sect, and for the first time in a while, he felt a headache coming on.
The shifting sands of the Eastern Desolation were a sea of relentless gold, stretching toward a horizon that blurred with the rising heat of three separate suns.
Through this scorching expanse, a figure moved with a steady, rhythmic gait that spoke of a man who had walked across world-veins and shattered star-gates.
Yan Wuhe , known to the high heavens as the Immortal Emperor , looked less like a ruler of realms and more like a wandering god of war.
He was dressed in black general's robes, the heavy silk embroidered with subtle, dark-on-dark runes that absorbed the sunlight rather than reflecting it.
His hair was cut short, a stark contrast to the flowing manes of most cultivators,
framing a face that was devastatingly handsome sharp,
high cheekbones, a jawline carved from obsidian, and eyes that held the weary weight of a thousand victories.
Across his back, a heavy blade remained sheathed, its presence alone enough to suppress the local spirit-beasts into a terrified silence for miles.
Suddenly, a crisp, mechanical chime resonated within his consciousness.
(Ding! Host, please do not be in despair. It is not easy to find him. Even for me, last time, I was unable to find his trace for many, many years...)
Yan Wuhe's footsteps faltered. His eyes sharpened, cutting through the shimmering heat-haze like a cold blade.
"Hey," he muttered, his voice low and gravelly, "What did you just say? 'Last time'?"
The air around him hummed as his internal energy spiked. "Did you hide something from me? Have we searched for him before? Answer me!"
The silence that followed was deafening. The Great strongest training System , usually so talkative and insistent on tasks, went utterly mute. It had realized its error a slip of data,
a leak of a past timeline that should have been overwritten. It effectively "shut down," retreating into the deepest core of Yan Wuhe's soul to avoid the Emperor's wrath.
Yan Wuhe stood still for a long moment, then let out a breath that was half-sigh, half-growl, even his immortal wolf inside himself growled at the system.
He sank down, sitting directly on the scorching sand, heedless of the temperature that would have incinerated a lesser man.
He buried his face in his hands, his broad shoulders slumped in a rare display of vulnerability.
His mind drifted back to that day in the Western Region's Forbidden Forest . It was supposed to be a standard mission to practice the 9 sun blade technique that he learned from his system in top of the mountain of western region's forbidden forest,
he had stumbled upon a clearing that felt like it existed outside of time.
There, he had seen Huai.
He hadn't seen the man's full face only the silhouette of a youth standing at a treetop branch hiding in the void, and those eyes.
Light brown, clear as a mountain spring, yet deep enough to hold the secrets of the beginning of the universe.
In that one glance, Yan Wuhe, a man who had lived through eons and remained untouched by the beauty of goddesses, felt his heart shatter and reassemble itself in a completely different shape.
He didn't know the man's name. He didn't know his sect. He only knew, through the frantic warnings of his own System,
that he was looking at an Immortal Sovereignthe owner of the "Strongest System," a being whose existence was a forbidden variable in the Great Path.
Since that day, Yan Wuhe had been a man possessed. His System had issued a legendary-rank task,
[The Eternal Pursuit: Find the Sovereign of the Mist].
He had scoured the Western Region until every leaf in the Forbidden Forest was mapped. He had torn through the snowy peaks of the
Northern Region,
challenging every hidden sect leader and looking for a trace of those light brown eyes. Now, he was wandering the Eastern deserts, following rumors of "unnatural phenomena" and "hidden masters," only to find nothing but dust and mirages.
"How can someone so powerful just... evaporate?" he whispered to the wind.
The despair was a cold weight in his chest. As an Immortal Emperor, the world was at his feet; he could command armies and move mountains.
But in the face of Huai, he felt like a mortal child chasing the moon. The more he searched, the more he realized that Huai wasn't just hiding; he simply didn't belong to the world Yan Wuhe understood.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that graceful figure standing on the tree branch. He felt the pull of a destiny that his System seemed to remember but he had forgotten.
"Last time..." Yan Wuhe repeated, his fingers digging into the sand. "If I found you once, I will find you again. I don't care if I have to flip this entire plane upside down."
He stood up, the black silk of his robes snapping in the desert wind. His despair was slowly hardening into a terrifying, singular obsession. He didn't need the System's guidance anymore. If Huai was a ghost, he would become a hunter of spirits.
If Huai was a god, he would climb the heavens until he reached the same throne.
The Eastern Region's suns began to set, casting long, jagged shadows across the dunes. Yan Wuhe gripped the strap of his blade and began to walk again.
Somewhere, behind the veil of a 9th-tier sect's illusion or tucked away in a corner of the world he hadn't reached, those light brown eyes were waiting. And he would not stop until he was standing in their light once more.
While wuhe was trying to find the person he wanted to see again for at least a moment. Those light brown eyes now looking at the moon from his balcony of his own pavilion.
Huai likes to look at the moon , because of his last terrifying life experiences he always felt happy by watching this things like a gentle moon hanging in the sky or a huge sun waking up after a long sleep at night...
Huai looked at those sceneries with floating eyes .he admired the beauty of nature...
But there are other people of the eternal sect who was now facing a completely different situation from the one that Lin feng faces....
At a beautiful city called Azure mist city , a city under one of the high level 8th tier sect called Azure mist sect .
A beautiful girl in white uniform walking leisurely on the street to find an inn to stay,but to her surprise the whole Street is completely clear .
only some people at the level of qi sensing or something qi condensation lower level cultivators were wandering on the road.
She came to a inn called Azure Lotus inn. The same name as the city. She entered the inn
Her beautiful face immediately attracted the receptionist of the inn.
She came towards the reception and the receptionist asked her , " welcome young miss to our inn , what kinda room do you want miss ? We have 4 categories , heaven , earth, human and black level rooms..."
Before he continues the girl took out 200 low grade spirit stones and gave it to the receptionist and asked, " how many days can I stay at the heaven grade one ? And I have a question I want to ask , is it okey for you to answer ?"
The receptionist looked at the huge amount of spirit stones then said hurriedly, " young miss ! By this amount you can stay at the heaven grade room for total 20 days , food and drinks are included. And you can ask any questions you have in mind , I'll answer."
" Why the high level cultivators are missing in the city ?"
The receptionist," maybe you are new to our city miss . Tommorow is the day when young miss of the azure mist sect will marry someone from another 8th grade sect called thunder light sect."
The receptionist said with enthusiasm.
" And all the high ranking cultivators gone to Azure Lotus sect's nearby are for that reason to celebrate her wedding tomorrow."
" But young miss I heard a news from our inn's owner who is an outer elder of the azure mist sect that , young miss was forced to marry that guy from thunder light sect ..."
The girl nodded then gone back to her . She was wearing a white sect uniform with the word Fire written on her uniform,and a core disciple's sect token with the word eternal hanging from her waist.
She is Huo Ling'er, who left the sect for training instructed by the sect leader ,her brother Huai .