Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"..."

A piercing feeling stabbed into his heart, causing it to throb uncontrollably. Emotionally, he grew unstable. Lips trembling, he clenched his fists and closed his eyes. This was the first time in his life that he felt such desolation and loneliness in the entirety of his life.

"You’ve been with me essentially my entire life...I..." A sequence of memories flashed through his mind, including the time he and Pinaka faced titanic water dragons at the Water Veil Sect. With one arrow, they pierced a hole into the sky! The time when she voiced her fearlessness in death, displaying no regret for her choice in staying with Yan Zaizen passed their agreed upon time.

"...Pinaka..." As these memories surged indescribable emotions within his heart and mind, his control over the heavens crumbled leading to the collapse of his domain. The war axe transformed into shining dust within his hand. No longer under the influence of Yan Zaizen’s domain, Mei regained her consciousness. Her expression revealed confusion, and then shock as she turned to Yan Zaizen.

To her, she didn’t know what had happened. It was as if she had fallen into a daydream all of a sudden.

"Si-Sir..." Mei was somewhat confused, skeptical that Yan Zaizen had utilized some soul art on her when she hadn’t noticed. However, Yan Zaizen’s soul aura was particularly weak and incapable of being hidden from her sense. An Advanced Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t have such an ability, so she felt it was nonsense. Shaking her head, she recalled Yan Zaizen’s earlier ignorance that infuriated her and turned away. She continued flying.

Yan Zaizen followed mindlessly. Unlike before, he kept up with her pace and stayed behind her. His mind felt muddled, the memories of Pinaka unable to be suppressed no matter what he tried.

He recalled her irresponsibly brazen action of entering the Inter-Heavenly Spatial Formation and traveling across three heavens without hesitation. Despite the dangers, she had returned to him. Then, the time on Earth. In his life, those were his best days. She could feel, she was no different than a true mortal, and they had engaged in many mischievous acts. Thinking about those days, he couldn’t help but smile in happiness.

"I swear...I’ll get you back." He looked up at the sky and saw the moon and sun above. "Didn’t I make a promise before? I still haven’t fulfilled that yet, so you can’t leave me."

They continued traveling for quite some time.

Yan Zaizen was finally capable of calming his heart and mind, realizing he was no longer suitable to comprehend the heavenly laws, he directed his focus elsewhere. "What realm is this?" Yan Zaizen asked Mei.

When Mei heard this, she turned her head in shock and surprise. It was so intense that her eyes widened and her mouth was wide open. Yan Zaizen couldn’t help but think that if she kept flying with her mouth open, something could fly in it.

"You don’t know?!" Mei found this truly unbelievable! Who was this guy?

Yan Zaizen felt slightly awkward being stared at like that. It wasn’t that he was an idiot, but when he was sent here, no one explained anything except something about the Gate of Heaven. Supposedly, this Gate of Heaven was the method to enter the Fortune Cemetery or the Heavenly Origin Grounds. However, there was nothing else he knew about this Gate of Heaven or Fortune Cemetery.

He didn’t know where it was, how to enter, or any other details.

Witnessing Yan Zaizen’s awkwardness, she felt as if she was sent to an alternate universe. She couldn’t help but pinch herself to see if she was dreaming this entire event.

"Haaa...This is the Paradise Sword Realm. THE Paradise Sword Realm." As she said this, her eyes flickered with pride and disdain. It was like she had become a young miss of some great family spouting off her background to Yan Zaizen, a peasant in her eyes.

Yan Zaizen felt displeased, but he didn’t take any action. After all, Mei to him was an insignificant character, so how could he lower himself in being petty?

"The Paradise Sword Realm?" Yan Zaizen was only familiar with the 27th Heaven myriad realms, but the 17th Heaven was as unknown as the 7th Heaven to him. He only knew a little, but nothing more. As for the Paradise Sword Realm, he wasn’t sure of the importance of this realm, but he assumed it held some profound significance.

"You don’t even know about the Paradise Sword Realm is? Where in the heavens are you from?" Mei disbelief at this point had already exceeded all the disbelief she could muster or have mustered in her short life.

"I’m from the 27th Heaven," he casually answered.

Mei’s eyes narrowed, unsure if Yan Zaizen was joking or not. After all, to cross between heavens, one needed a Heavenly Creation expert to do so. She found it hard to believe someone like Yan Zaizen had the backing of someone at that level. If he did, then she wouldn’t be escorting him, a palace elder or someone greater would’ve taken the duty.

Ignoring Mei’s suspicions, "The Immortal City, why is it called that?"

"...I see." She softly sighed, "The Paradise Sword Realm is the home to the Paradise Sword Heavenly God! It holds the Paradise Sword Palace, the number one force beneath heaven! It would be better to say, the hegemon of the heaven is the Paradise Sword Palace! As for the Immortal City, it is the location of the Gate of Heaven! Regardless of what Era, even during ancient times, the Immortal City has always stood tall!" She was like an ardent fan proclaiming the wonders of her city, completely giving a fervid description of the city.

She talked about the Paradise Sword Palace and Realm, how one-sidedly wonderful they were, and the traits of the Immortal City. She even called it a true Immortal City! As she droned on, recalling all the details she could recall with enthusiasm that Yan Zaizen found slightly too intense, Yan Zaizen felt his horizons expand.

He learned that the Paradise Sword Palace only accepted females as disciples! His eyes flickered as he recalled the Graceful Sword Realm that displayed extreme oppression towards males and their worth. "It’s possible a member who believed of this to a fanatical degree arrived there, believing in the unintentional propaganda of female superiority. After all...the leader of the heaven they existed beneath only allowed women within their sects...there had to be a reason for this."

As he realized that, even if that wasn’t the intention of the Paradise Sword Realm, it was probably an unconscious belief to those who grew up in a world such as this. There would always be those who took their personal beliefs and understanding of the world too far.

"I wonder if there are realms that are the opposite..." After being exposed to so many different cultures and societies, he felt that it wasn’t too unlikely for it to be the case.

"Oh?" Yan Zaizen drew himself away from his thoughts and looked ahead. "WHAT?!?!" Yan Zaizen halted immediately, his eyes wide in disbelief and shock. "This...this?" Blinking, he was so fiercely taken aback that his energy went berserk, he directly coughed out several wads of blood!

Mei didn’t halt. She kept traveling until she heard Yan Zaizen spit blood. Turning around, she was shocked. Her brows furrowed. This person was supposed to be under her guide, if something happened to him, how could she account for it? Traveling back, she placed her hand on his shoulder and sent true-essence into his body to help alleviate his injuries.

Yan Zaizen was so shocked that he didn’t even recognize Mei’s action, his eyes staring ahead. Mei, on the other hand, was confused as she sent her true-essence into Yan Zaizen’s body, she didn’t sense any wounds as if the damage never occurred. She removed her hands, looking at Yan Zaizen with a faint trace of disgust. The only reason to randomly spew blood is so she would touch his body, at least...that was the belief in her mind.

To Yan Zaizen, his breathing became labored, and his body felt restless. "How did I not see this before?!" His voice was a little high.

"See what?!" Mei again, still filled with a faint trace of disgust, asked in curiosity. She turned around to see what Yan Zaizen was staring at, but it was just the open sky. To her, she saw only that - the sky.

"What? You can’t see that?!" Yan Zaizen pointed forwards with trembling fingers. He was unable to keep his composure. It wasn’t due to fear, but utter disbelief and shock!

"See what? The sky?!" At this point, she felt that Yan Zaizen was playing tricks on her and felt annoyed. "We have to go, Sir. Please follow me." She ignored Yan Zaizen’s antics and continued to fly en route to the Immortal City.

"She...really doesn’t see?" Yan Zaizen felt like he was going crazy. He looked up once more.

There was an EYE!