From This Day Forth, the Eastern Sea Has Only Penglai

The news of the Celestial Court's destruction spread throughout the Great Wilderness in no time.

Dongwang Gong had fallen.

The million-strong immortal army had suffered a crushing defeat.

Purple Palace Isle's island-protecting grand formation had been shattered by Luxuan's three punches.

The Celestial Court's treasure vault, accumulated over countless years, had been wholly taken over by Penglai.

Any one of these events alone would have been enough to shake the Eastern Sea.

Yet they had all happened on the same day.

The entire Great Wilderness grew much quieter.

Especially those great powers of the Violet Cloud Palace who had personally witnessed Hongjun appoint Dongwang Gong as the leader of the male immortals.

Their feelings were even more complicated.

Who could have imagined it?

The leader of the male immortals, still basking in boundless glory after the first sermon, had so quickly become a thing of the past.

More importantly—

The one who had truly made his name by stepping upon the Celestial Court's corpse—

Had not even attended the second sermon at the Violet Cloud Palace.

Luxuan.

Lord of Penglai.

For the first time, this name truly spread from the Eastern Sea throughout the Great Wilderness.

Sun Star.

After Di Jun and Grand Unity learned the news, they fell into rare silence for a long while.

Kunlun Mountain.

The three streams of clear qi likewise gazed toward the Eastern Sea from afar.

At Longevity Mountain, Northern Darkness, and places across the west, innate great powers also began reassessing Penglai's position within the Great Wilderness.

Of course.

Luxuan did not care about those gazes.

At that moment, he was dealing with a more practical issue.

The Celestial Court was gone.

What would become of the Eastern Sea?

After Dongwang Gong founded the Celestial Court, vast numbers of immortal islands and independent immortal forces had been incorporated into its system.

Now that its core had suddenly vanished—

Chaos was the most likely outcome.

In merely a few decades.

Some former Celestial Court cultivators had begun fighting over territory.

Others, already harboring ill intent, seized the chance to plunder spiritual veins and resources.

If those people were allowed to continue making trouble.

What would ultimately suffer would still be the entire Eastern Sea.

Luxuan did not like meddling in other people's affairs.

Nor was he interested in building some enormous organization like Dongwang Gong's, registering how many people lived in whose cave abode every day.

But since he had destroyed the Celestial Court himself.

At the very least, the mess it left behind could not become a long-term nuisance.

Thus.

Above Purple Palace Isle.

For the first time, Luxuan proactively sent his voice throughout the entire Eastern Sea.

His voice was not particularly domineering.

Yet it spread across hundreds of millions of miles of sea through the power of a Primordial Golden Immortal.

"The Celestial Court has been destroyed."

"From this day forth."

"Cultivators formerly under the Celestial Court who wish to leave the Eastern Sea may depart as they please."

"Those who wish to remain will not be forcibly taken under Penglai's banner."

"Your original cultivation grounds shall remain your own."

"But there is one rule."

"You may not use the Celestial Court's fall as an excuse to seize others' cave abodes or spiritual veins."

"Nor may you slaughter the living beings of the Eastern Sea at will."

"Those who violate this."

"Will be dealt with by Penglai."

Once the message spread.

Many independent immortals who had been anxious instead breathed a collective sigh of relief.

What had they feared most?

That after Luxuan destroyed the Celestial Court.

He would establish another force even stricter than the Celestial Court.

Having only just escaped Dongwang Gong.

They would then face an even stronger Luxuan.

Yet Penglai had no such intention at all.

No incorporation.

No registration.

No demands for tribute.

Wherever you wished to cultivate, you could continue cultivating there.

As long as you did not take advantage of the chaos to rob or kill.

No one would interfere with you.

The rules were so simple that some cultivators accustomed to the Celestial Court's many restrictions felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Is that all?"

"It really seems that's all."

"Penglai doesn't want us to hand over spirit materials?"

"Nothing like that was mentioned."

"What about immortal registration?"

"Luxuan fought the Celestial Court in the first place because he refused to register as an immortal. Do you think he would do that?"

The many independent immortals considered it among themselves.

And it really was true.

Thus.

The Eastern Sea's chaos, which might otherwise have lasted thousands of years, subsided with astonishing speed.

Of course, there were always those who refused to believe until they hit a wall.

Three hundred years after the Celestial Court's destruction.

Three former Celestial Court Taiyi cultivators took advantage of the disorder to occupy a large spiritual island, driving away the several hundred independent immortals who had originally cultivated there.

The news had only just spread.

The next day.

A streak of green sword light came from Penglai's direction.

Qiongxiao came alone.

With a Mystic Origin Immortal-Slaying Sword in hand.

The three Taiyi cultivators did not last half an hour.

Two were severely wounded.

The last had his physical body severed on the spot.

The spiritual island was returned to its original owners.

In the fourth century.

Cultivators in another region of the Eastern Sea forcibly seized a spiritual vein.

This time, Bixiao went.

The moment the Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors flashed.

The other side did not even need to offer an explanation.

That very day, they returned everything they had seized.

They even added a spiritual treasure as compensation.

In the fifth century.

A former Celestial Court Great Luo faction attempted to swallow more than a dozen surrounding immortal islands.

Zhao Gongming personally took action.

The Twenty-Four Heavens pressed down.

That Great Luo did not even make it out of his cave abode's gate.

After those three incidents.

The entire Eastern Sea became completely quiet.

Everyone understood Penglai's rules.

Ordinarily, it would not interfere.

But if things truly went too far.

Someone would come.

And most likely, it would not even be Luxuan himself.

Because you might not even be worthy of his attention.

Gradually.

Eastern Sea cultivators began forming a very strange tacit understanding.

The Celestial Court was gone.

Penglai had not declared itself ruler of the Eastern Sea either.

Yet whenever matters involving broad interests arose, the various forces would still instinctively look to Penglai's stance first.

Quite a few independent immortals even discussed it in private.

"Who exactly has the final say in the Eastern Sea now?"

Someone answered with remarkable bluntness.

"In name, no one governs it."

"But if something truly happens?"

"Look to Penglai."

Those few short words.

Were already enough to explain everything.

Meanwhile, on Purple Palace Isle.

The enormous violet-gold dao banner that had once hung at the highest point of the Celestial Court had been taken down.

Under Luxuan's Space Great Dao, great swathes of immortal palaces were collected away in batches.

As for the ordinary sea regions originally occupied by the Celestial Court.

Luxuan kept only several truly large immortal veins and Purple Palace Isle itself.

Every other place was restored to an ownerless state.

Whoever had originally cultivated there.

Could continue cultivating there.

It saved trouble.

And brought peace of mind.

Bixiao stood before the Celestial Court's main palace, which had been nearly half emptied.

She looked at the last few palaces.

"Master."

"Are we really moving all of them?"

"Yes."

"Then what about Purple Palace Isle?"

Luxuan glanced at the former core of the Celestial Court beneath his feet.

"Purple Palace Isle itself is not bad."

"Leave it for now."

"In the future, it can serve as one of Penglai's outposts beyond its borders."

Zhao Gongming looked around.

"The Celestial Court operated here for many years. There are still quite a few large immortal veins nearby."

Luxuan nodded.

"Move what can be moved."

"Leave what cannot be moved where it is."

"This place needn't be destroyed."

"It will come in handy someday."

Yunxiao looked toward the distant Eastern Sea.

After the Celestial Court's downfall,

this stretch of sea was clearly much quieter than before.

She turned to Luxuan.

"Master."

"Are we returning to Penglai next?"

"Yes."

Luxuan's gaze fell upon the vast quantities of spirit veins, spirit roots, and immortal materials that had already been collected.

In this battle,

his personal cultivation had broken through to the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.

All four disciples had gained tremendous growth through real combat.

They had also directly devoured the Celestial Court's accumulation from countless years.

The spoils were already more than plentiful.

And there was no point in continuing to pile these things inside storage space.

What truly needed to be done

was to turn them into Penglai's own foundation.

Bixiao had clearly thought of this as well.

"Master."

"If we move all these spirit veins back, will Penglai grow larger again?"

Luxuan looked toward the immortal isle's origin deep within the Eastern Sea, a place only he could clearly sense.

A trace of anticipation surfaced in his eyes as well.

"Whether it will or not,"

"we'll know once we move them back and try."

As his words fell,

his sleeve swept lightly.

A vast amount of Celestial Court resources and all four disciples vanished from above Purple Palace Isle at once.

The next moment,

deep within Penglai,

the immortal isle's origin, silent for many years, began to tremble violently for the first time at the arrival of this enormous, almost exaggerated trove of resources.