After their conversation, the Heng Emperor let out a soft sigh. "I'll have to entrust the matters of the Desert Sea to you, fellow Daoist..."
Chu Mu raised a brow, instinctively recalling that voice steeped in exhaustion. After hesitating for a moment, he probed, "Fellow Daoist, are you currently trapped here, or...?"
The Heng Emperor said, "I broke free of its restraints. It should have noticed. For a short time, it will be difficult for me to leave this place for too long."
As his words fell, the dragon-robed figure standing in the void slowly faded into illusion. After several breaths, it turned into scattered starlight and vanished.
Chu Mu fell into thought. But after only a moment, he forcibly suppressed these distracting thoughts and looked again at the manifestation of the Heavenly Heart projection before him.
What had originally been an illusory thing had, after hundreds of thousands of years of Great Heng's nourishment, become a tangible existence.
Turning falsehood into truth—within a certain sense, this projection had clearly become just that.
It could perhaps even be regarded as a separate entity of the Heavenly Heart.
"The Upper Realm..."
Chu Mu gently stroked its jade-like, tangible surface, sensing that aura of the Upper Realm. His usually tranquil mind, like an ancient well without ripples, stirred with faint waves.
Through countless years, there had been innumerable things sought yet unattained.
Now, he too had become one of those who sought in vain.
Unfortunately, the Ascension Passage was right before his eyes, yet as distant as the ends of the earth.
But only moments later, those faint ripples subsided.
This was, after all, Sky Palace's Ascension Passage.
Every Sky Palace cultivator had an imprint planted within them and became a puppet of the Heavenly Heart.
It was not difficult to guess