“What?” Celestial Ascension’s Ling Tianxiao exclaimed in shock. The other sect masters appeared equally stunned.

An immortal was actually descending?

Although it was publicly known among the holy lands that each had an immortal ancestor somewhere in the mortal world, none of them had actually met them. The other ancestors also never mentioned them directly, so they had never truly believed in their existence. But now, an immortal was actually descending from the upper world.

The sect masters quickly activated their communication talismans, quickly sending messages back to their home sects. They needed to inform their own ancestors to contact the upper world immediately. If this news was true, they also needed their own immortals to descend; otherwise, the Heavenly Palace might seize this opportunity to suppress them all.

Tian Wuji observed their barely concealed panic with a placid expression, though internally he was smiling with satisfaction. He could read their thoughts as clearly as if they were written on their faces, but it was all too late. The Heavenly Palace had made preparations for descent long ago, and their immortal would arrive in just three days.

For an immortal to descend to the mortal world, extensive preparations had to be made.

Even if he had now revealed this information, the other sects wouldn’t be able to summon an immortal from their parent sects in less than a week. By then, his Heavenly Palace would have already… just thinking about it…

Ling Tianxiao shot a venomous glare at Tian Wuji.

He knew the Heavenly Palace sect master very well and could see right through that smug look. Damn it all! He had thought his sect was the only one secretly preparing for an immortal to descend. He scanned the room cautiously, wondering how many others besides the Heavenly Palace had been making similar arrangements behind closed doors.

Well, whatever the case, his Celestial Ascension Holy Land had begun their preparations long ago. Their immortal would descend in just three days.

Tian Wuji continued studying the others, gauging their reactions.

In truth, the main reason he had revealed this sensitive information was because one of the ancestors had specifically instructed him to leak it so he could measure the responses of the other sect masters and determine if they too were expecting an immortal.

From their reactions, he guessed they were not prepared… though he couldn’t completely trust this assessment. They were all tribulation realm experts with level nine minds. Hiding reactions and fabricating emotions was mere child’s play to cultivators of their caliber.

“Damn it, this is a failure,” he thought to himself.

…

Tianling floated before a huge glowing core.

She thought to herself that this was her last resort. Since the energy she had absorbed wasn’t sufficient for her needs, she was going to refine the world itself to breakthrough to the immortal realm.

Although she despised using this disgusting method developed by that masochistic demon god she had no choice left.

Since she didn’t have much time, she would only refine half of the world core. She didn’t want the world to collapse entirely and have the heavenly dao treasure and heavenly dao body disappear into the chaos.

She estimated that in just one day, she should be able to enter the entry level of the Earth Immortal Realm, also accounting for the boost from the treasure she had acquired. With this power, she should be able to break through the barrier protecting the sect and capture those two.

The only thing she feared were those powerful figures from the central continent, but they didn’t seem to have any intention of moving against her and appeared to be waiting for something.

Well, their loss.

Once she refined half of the world core, they wouldn’t pose a danger to her anymore. Nothing would.

…

The empress frowned.

This was truly dire. Neither Xiang Yu nor Li Yao were ready to confront the demon in their current state. Going to challenge her now would be nothing short of suicide. But what other methods were there? If the world collapsed, they would collapse with it.

“It’s okay, no need to worry,” Xiang Yu spoke calmly.

[Do you have something in mind?] the empress asked, her tone hopeful. Xiang Yu had always been clever. She wondered what solution he might have conceived this time.

“No, we’ll just stick to the plan,” he replied casually.

[Huh?] the empress responded in confusion. Didn’t he grasp the severity of their predicament? If the core was refined, there wouldn’t be any plan left to follow. There wouldn’t be anything left at all.

[Can you elaborate?] she pressed.

“If the world collapses, won’t everything be sucked out into the chaos?” Xiang Yu asked.

[That’s right,] the empress confirmed, still not seeing where he was heading with this line of reasoning.

“Then won’t the heavenly dao treasure be lost as well?” he continued, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

[Ahh,] the empress nodded suddenly, understanding dawning in her eyes.

“She was panicking a lot when I was with her,” Xiang Yu explained. “She was terrified that I would destroy my body and the treasure within it.”

[So if the world collapses, you won’t be able to survive in the chaos, and neither will the treasure.]

“Exactly,” Xiang Yu nodded. “So she’ll probably not let the world collapse completely. She likely just wants enough power to be able to breakthrough the barrier. And seeing how she’s resorted to this method instead of waiting it out, she seems tight on time. My guess is that she will refine half of the world core, then attack us tomorrow.”

The empress nodded thoughtfully.

His assessment indeed made sense. Still, she remained a little nervous as she couldn’t perform divination on this particular enemy, which she found troubling. She wondered if this was one of her enemies making trouble, or if it was just coincidence and they happened to possess a treasure that could block her divination.

She released a soft sigh. Well, they would soon see.

Worst-case scenario, she could use all her remaining power to jump with these two to another world. As long as they survived, they should be able to help her recover her strength, especially Xiang Yu.

The world core observed their expressions. They seemed to have already put the issue behind them.

[It’s okay, you can trust me,] the empress said with a reassuring smile, gently patting the world core.

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