The Heavenly Court Is Reestablished; Haotian Takes the Throne; All Harbor Their Own Designs

Thirty-Three Heavens, the Ninefold Heavenly Palace—the Yao Race Heavenly Court of old was now nothing but shattered walls and crumbling ruins.

Glazed tiles lay broken like stardust, while more than half the Jade Palaces and Towers had collapsed. The Lingxiao Treasure Hall, once radiant across the heavens, was now reduced to a charred foundation and several enormous pillars on the verge of toppling.

Haotian and Yaochi stood amid the wreckage. The exhilaration of having just ascended to imperial status was washed away by the sight before them, leaving behind only an icy chill.

Even with grand ambitions filling Haotian's chest, he could not help clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.

As Heavenly Emperor, he nominally governed the Great Desolation Mountains and Rivers, revered by all living beings—yet he did not even have a palace in which to settle and establish himself!

With the Heavenly Court in such ruins, let alone commanding the Group of Immortals, even ordinary mountain cultivators would likely sneer at the sight.

"The mighty Heavenly Court has actually fallen to this state..." Yaochi's delicate brows were tightly furrowed, her slender hand gripping a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root whose radiance was held within—the Innate Ren Shui Peach Tree.

The frustration in Haotian's heart surged almost tangibly. Virtue unequal to one's position would surely invite disaster; East King Duke's example still stood before their eyes.

He and Yaochi had once been merely two attendants in the Violet Firmament Palace. Though they possessed Mid Quasi-Saint cultivation, in the eyes of the Great Divine Ability Users of the Great Desolation, their foundations were ultimately too shallow to bear the weight of the Heavenly Emperor Position.

And if he could not securely hold the Heavenly Emperor Position, then Dao Ancestor Hongjun's favor, the blessings of the Heavenly Dao—all of it