"Yes, young master."
Cai Di said with certainty, "If Shadow hadn't been there, we wouldn't have been able to bring it back. This Stone Stele looks ordinary, but it can't be stored in a Storage Ring. Not even a Storage Ring at the immortal artifact level can hold it."
The fact that it couldn't be stored in a Storage Ring was what truly shocked Cai Di.
A Storage Ring contained a tiny space created through a special method of refining the void into a mustard seed. This space was nowhere near comparable to the real world outside.
Ordinary Storage Rings had limits on what they could hold. For example, a regular cultivator's Storage Ring, which was only mortal-grade, couldn't contain an immortal artifact.
The Storage Ring in Ao Xie's possession was undoubtedly the finest one in the Crystal Dragon Palace—a seventh-grade immortal artifact. Yet it still couldn't hold this Stone Stele, which showed just how extraordinary it was.
After listening, Chen Xiao examined the Stone Stele again. This half-stele stood about two zhang tall and was roughly one zhang wide. Apart from the extremely ancient characters on it, there was nothing unusual about it.
He nodded and said, "All right. This thing is just a useless piece of junk, not some treasure. You've never seen it before, understand?"
Then Chen Xiao waved his hand. The Storage Ring on his finger flashed faintly, and the Stone Stele vanished.
Cai Di and Ao Xie opened their mouths. They stared at the Storage Ring on Chen Xiao's finger, but in the end, neither said a word. Their eyes could easily tell that the ring was only a magical treasure, yet it had somehow taken in a Stone Stele that even a seventh-grade immortal artifact couldn't contain.
"Dreammeng, tell the servants to prepare two courtyards for Ao Xie and Shadow," Chen Xiao said with a smile, paying no attention to Cai Di and Ao Xie's expressions.
In truth, the Storage Ring in Chen Xiao's hand was just a decoy. He had already put the Stone Stele into the Golden Immortal Kingdom. The Golden Immortal Kingdom was the personal kingdom of a Golden Immortal, not a magic treasure, so it wasn't subject to such restrictions.
Besides, at first glance, Chen Xiao had already noticed that this half-stele bore a striking resemblance to the half-stone bridge in the Golden Immortal Kingdom. There seemed to be some kind of connection between them.
When he put the half-stele into the Golden Immortal Kingdom, it gave the five little ones quite a scare. They scurried far away, clearly sensing that the half-stele had some kind of subtle power over them.
Moon-Gazing City was now in utter chaos. Messenger jade slips of every kind and color streamed out of the city, reporting what had happened there.
In an instant, this little city in the Xuhe Realm of Glazed Heaven once again became the center of attention throughout the Xuhe Realm and even Glazed Heaven itself.
The Nangong Family, one of the top aristocratic clans in Glazed Heaven, had actually arranged for a branch of its descendants to lie low in Moon-Gazing City for hundreds of years. Who would believe they had no ulterior motive?
The moment Nangong Xiangque and Nangong Xiangluan appeared, the Nangong Clan's identity could no longer be concealed.
The unlucky Nangong Xiangluan had already been silently taken out by Shadow, while Nangong Xiangque and Nangong Xianglu had also been poisoned by Cai Di with an especially vicious toxin that detonated their Nascent Souls.
The self-destruction of two Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivators was enough to blow the already-inactive grand formation sky-high. More than thirty percent of the cultivators from various factions who had come to investigate were killed in the blast.
The Nangong Clan might call itself the Southern Overlord, but now, even if they had mouths all over their bodies, they couldn't explain themselves.
In short, the Nangong Clan's centuries-long scheme in Moon-Gazing City had been wiped out in a single stroke.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Chen Xiao anymore.
Moon-Gazing City was now in turmoil. The local clans had all shut their doors, afraid of bringing trouble upon themselves. The City Lord's Mansion had even activated its golden light formation, with the City-Suppressing Seal hovering high above it.
Some cultivators had originally hoped to enlist the Chen Family's help in Moon-Gazing City to investigate. But the moment they saw the six-grade immortal artifact, the Town-Suppressing Seal, they all pulled their heads back into their shells.
This Town-Suppressing Seal represented not only the Chen Family's status in Moon-Gazing City, but also the authority of the rulers of Glazed Heaven, the Glazed Heaven Palace.
In Glazed Heaven, no faction dared provoke the Glazed Heaven Palace or challenge its authority. Even the Nangong Clan was nothing but an ant in the eyes of the Glazed Heaven Palace.
At that moment, Chen Xiao—the troublemaker stirring up storms on all sides—sat in his room, his divine sense slowly scanning the list of recent tribulation-takers in the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book.
Chen Xiao was now at the fifth turn of the Red Cloud Realm and could have five Tribulation Disciples. So far, he had only recruited Ao Xie and Shadow, leaving three slots open.
Suddenly, an inexplicable pang stirred in Chen Xiao's heart. An intense surge of fury rose within him.
A blood-red lightning mark appeared on the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book, which had originally been pale gold, and every name on the list of tribulation-takers vanished.
"What's going on?!"
Chen Xiao's heart jolted. He forcibly suppressed the inexplicable fury in his chest and was just about to search for its cause when the scene before his eyes abruptly changed.
This was a land laid waste, blood flowing in rivers and washing over the severed limbs scattered across the ground.
As far as the eye could see, crimson was the land's only color. The setting sun hanging in the distance seemed to have been dyed red by the glow of blood.
A thin, pale man held a blood-red saber. His clothes had long been stained red with blood, and droplets trickled slowly from his long hair.
The man's expression was calm as he walked step by step toward an old man with a head of white hair. His eyes were as placid as water, revealing no trace of killing intent. The old man facing him was deathly pale, his eyes hollow and lifeless.
"Yang Que, when you slaughtered my entire Lian Family, you should have known this day would come."
The man slowly raised the long saber in his hand and pointed it at the old man's head.
"Lian Shang, you slaughtered thirty million people of the Great Yang Kingdom for the sake of your personal vendetta. Aren't you afraid the heavens will punish you?!"
The old man, Yang Que, slowly came to his senses. Then he let out a shrill, hysterical roar.
"Heaven's punishment?"
Lian Shang raised his head and glanced at the sky. Then he pointed his saber straight upward and said in a voice filled with desolation, "Azure Heaven... does He have eyes?"
Azure Heaven... does He have eyes?
Azure Heaven... does He have eyes?
"My Lian Clan served the Great Yang Kingdom for hundreds of years. We saved it from peril time and again, and expanded its territory, accomplishing deeds that would endure for generations! But what came of it? What came of it?!"
"And you—the emperor of the Great Yang Kingdom—actually framed my Lian Clan for rebellion over a woman, a shameless, wanton woman! The people of the Yang Kingdom couldn't tell right from wrong, and devoured my entire family alive, bite by bite!"
Bang!
A wave of blood-red energy suddenly burst from Lian Shang, blasting Yang Que's body away.
Blood burst from Yang Que's mouth. His eyes stayed fixed on Lian Shang.
Boom!
Just then, thick clouds rolled across the sky. Purple-black lightning roared within them, and a pair of enormous blood-red eyes slowly emerged.
"Azure Heaven... Hahahaha! Heaven has opened its eyes! It's come to strike down a murderous madman like you!"
Seeing the Eye of Heavenly Punishment descend, Yang Que suddenly let out a wild, frenzied cry.