Suppressing Peach Mountain

"Guards!"

Haotian gritted his teeth, each word falling like an icy awl. "Take Yao Ji from Lingxiao Hall, cast her into the Mortal Realm, and suppress her beneath Peach Mountain!"

"By Imperial Edict!"

Two Golden-Armored God Generals stepped forth in response. Holding Locking Immortal Chains, they strode toward Yao Ji.

The instant the icy chains touched her shoulders, a faint golden spiritual radiance rose from her immortal robes. Yet Yao Ji dispersed it herself—she was unwilling to resist, and even less willing to let these chains damage the Heavenly Court's dignity.

"Yao Ji, what else do you have to say?"

Haotian's voice had regained its calm, so calm that neither joy nor anger could be heard in it.

Yao Ji slowly straightened her back. Though she was about to be imprisoned, she remained as proud and aloof as ever.

She cast one final glance at the vast sea of clouds beyond Lingxiao Hall. It had once been the place where she and Haotian played together, yet now it had become an unreachable past.

She bent her knees and offered one final bow to the imperial throne, her voice soft but every word clear.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing my life, allowing me to watch over my homeland in the Mortal Realm, and watch over... my children."

After saying this, she did not look back. She allowed the Locking Immortal Chains to bind her Pipa Bones and, escorted by the Golden-Armored God Generals, walked step by step toward the outside of Lingxiao Hall.

That slender white figure receded through the magnificent immortal palace, finally vanishing into the rosy light beyond the South Heaven Gate.

For a moment, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall was deathly still.

The immortals and gods looked at one another, but none dared speak.

Only Haotian, at the