When the Empress Had the Strictest Master: The Day They Entered the Immortal Palace

Whoosh...

However, in the next instant.

Xin'er saw the gloom on her partner's face vanish as suddenly as a page turning. Instead, he forced out a spring-breeze smile and turned toward the side.

"Senior Gu, all the heroes have entered the Immortal Palace. Why have you not set off?"

Within view, Gu Qingying sat atop the Cloud Leopard, her cascading black hair swaying in the wind. Seven-colored tassels hung from her slender waist like clouds of rainbow mist, divine radiance coiling around her and drawing the eye unconsciously toward her.

Hearing this, Gu Qingying lifted her eyes and looked over, her voice like a breeze stirring a flute.

"No particular reason. It is only because of this spirit pet of mine."

What??

As soon as she said that, Cang Yuhang looked incredulously at the Cloud Leopard beneath her.

"Because of it?"

He even thought he had misheard.

Quite a few cultivators from small and medium-sized factions arriving one after another from the outskirts also paused briefly, their faces full of disbelief.

"Qinghan has possessed great fortune since childhood and can often avoid misfortune and seek good luck. Since it does not wish to enter too early this time, I have allowed it to have its way."

Gu Qingying spoke honestly.

"So that was it?"

The surrounding cultivators hesitated slightly, standing before the towering Immortal Palace without knowing whether to advance or retreat.

Cang Yuhang looked surprised on the surface, but inwardly he dismissed it.

This Cloud Leopard did not possess even a trace of auspicious beast bloodline, nor was it blessed by divine light or favorable omens. Could it truly avoid danger and seek fortune?

Could a mere Half-Saint spirit pet possess keener judgment than the Saint Kings and Great Saints who had already entered the palace?

He did not believe it at all!

Quite a few people from Human Emperor Hall had already gone inside. Would they not understand the place connected to their own people?

With that thought, he reluctantly moved his gaze away from Goddess Gu, waved his hand, and prepared to lead his group into the palace after the others.

Who would have thought that at precisely that moment, an accident would occur.

Bang!

Bang... bang...

Everyone outside the palace looked up at the sound and saw that those cultivators seeking a momentary shortcut, intending to fly directly to the top of the Immortal Palace, were almost without exception brutally crushed by some force the instant they entered from the sky.

Their bodies exploded into blood mist. So many people died without even letting out a scream.

This horrifying sight made many cultivators from major factions, who were still suspended in the air and had not yet entered, stare until their eyes nearly split. As if they had seen ghosts, they instantly pulled away from the Immortal Palace.

Meanwhile, everyone present, including Cang Yuhang, now looked at the Cloud Leopard as though it were some rare curiosity.

This made the Cloud Leopard roll its eyes.

"What is going on? Why are those passing through the lower level unharmed?"

A Human World assassin Saint disguised as an independent cultivator saw the bloody scene ahead and asked uncertainly.

"It is said that during the Primordial Era, before that Human Emperor attained the Dao, he established a frontline outpost in the Eastern Wasteland to resist the invasions and hunts of the primordial races."

Several divine monks from the Western Desert returned after leaving, their words carrying a note of warning.

"According to the legends, that frontline was both an outpost and a Weapon-Refining Grounds. Perhaps it is here in the Southern Region?"

Upon hearing this, cultivators from top-tier orthodoxies descended from the sky one after another. Their backs chilled with lingering fear, and they regarded this place as though facing a formidable enemy.

If this place truly was an outpost and Weapon-Refining Grounds established by the Human Emperor, then it was surely fraught with danger.

They did not understand the nature of the trials within the palace at all. If they triggered some taboo, they might end up like those cultivators who had rashly entered the palace earlier and been crushed into blood mist.

"The records in the Demon Emperor Hall also mention that Weapon-Refining Grounds, but its description seems somewhat different from the form of this Immortal Palace..."

The one who spoke was a marquis from the Demon Emperor Hall.

As he spoke, he began to sound doubtful.

"Could that Weapon-Refining Grounds have changed later?"

"In this era of ours, turmoil is constant. Many records from before the Primordial Era have suffered breaks in transmission, making it difficult to know the full picture."

The master of the Taixuan Sect sighed.

"Find the people from Human Emperor Hall. They definitely know something. Not one of the cultivators from Human Emperor Hall who entered the palace earlier came to harm!"

At this moment, the Flood Demon, who had recently been active among all the major groups, stepped out to speak as well.

His voice rumbled, and a fierce light flashed in his eyes.

"I clearly saw quite a few Human Emperor Hall cultivators staying outside just now, sneaking around. Who knows what they were doing behind everyone's backs!"

"What?! Such a thing happened?"

At such a moment, the Flood Demon's words were like a massive stone thrown into a pond, stirring wave after wave.

Everyone present erupted into uproar.

"Hehe, little brat, where are you trying to hide?! What exactly is going on? Tell us truthfully!"

An Ancient Demon unleashed a divine ability. His huge hand instantly expanded, blotting out the sky and sun, and seized a plainly dressed cultivator in the distance. Then, relying on his Saint King cultivation, far beyond the other's, he broke the man's breath-concealing secret technique with a single finger.

"The aura on this man originates from the same source as the Human Emperor Hall cultivators. His identity cannot be faked."

The Ancient Demon scrutinized him with eyes as large as bronze bells.

Whoosh...

Everyone's gazes converged on him. The cultivator's face turned pale as gold paper, and his body trembled without stop.

He was merely an insignificant steward of Human Emperor Hall. How could he ever have seen such a scene, becoming the target of everyone's attention?

"Speak! Tell us everything you know!"

The Ancient Demon shouted, his spittle splashing onto the faces of several people nearby.

In response, the cultivator's lips quivered a few times, but not a single word came out. He had some backbone after all, and actually intended to hold out until death?!

"Hehe, with your mere Immortal Third Realm cultivation, even if you refuse to speak, I can still suppress your Immortal Platform within the sea of consciousness and search your memories as easily as taking something from a bag!"

The Ancient Demon sneered.

Hearing that, the cultivator finally panicked completely and could only reveal a few scattered details.

"This place truly was the Human Emperor's Weapon-Refining Grounds in the past. It does not actually look as it does from outside. Including the bottom floor, it is a ten-story tower, and the inside forms a world of its own...

The Human Emperor's attainments in those years reached the depths of Fortune. His methods of training troops were inherited from the Ancient Heavenly Court. He divided this tower into ten layers of heaven and earth, corresponding to different cultivation realms, to temper the human soldiers and generals under his command and resist the primordial races..."

"Trials on every floor, corresponding to different realms... This Human Emperor truly had grand ambitions. Was this really only for tempering soldiers and generals, rather than selecting successors?"

On the Cloud Leopard's back, Gu Qingying could not help but sigh as she heard these secrets.

"How can we enter safely?"

A Saint nearby asked.

"Entering from the bottom floor is the safest. If... if you truly do not wish to do that, you can choose a floor matching your cultivation and enter the tower directly..."

The minor steward from Human Emperor Hall explained the details of entering the tower.

"Is that all?"

Some cultivators had been bitten by a snake once and still feared a rope. They remained uneasy and pressed him for answers.

"Th-that is really all..."

"Then what were you sneaking around for just now?"

The Flood Demon stepped forward and glared at him.

"Th-this... this truly cannot be said..."

The steward's face was ashen.

"Hehe, if you will not tell us, can we not simply see for ourselves?"

The Ancient Demon sneered and directly used a secret technique to probe the other's sea of consciousness. Yet in the very next instant, with a bang, the Immortal Platform within the Human Emperor Hall steward's head exploded, splattering red and white matter all over him.

"Damn it, that memory had a restriction placed on it. It seems Human Emperor Hall truly has some major scheme this time..."

The Ancient Demon cursed furiously, while the expressions of everyone around him shifted unpredictably.

"Damn it, there were so many Human Emperor Hall cultivators left outside earlier, but now not a single one can be found..."

Someone flew back from a corner of the outskirts, having searched in vain.

"Are we entering this tower or not?"

An old relic from an ancient aristocratic family of the Northern Plains asked in a deep voice.

Yet no one around him answered.

In an instant, the area outside the entire "Immortal Palace" fell silent.

"Hahahaha! Since you have all become so vigilant, and the formation has now been completed, we might as well lay everything out in the open..."

Suddenly, hearty laughter traveled through the air from tens of thousands of miles away, drawing nearer from afar.

Master, Does Reincarnation Exist in This World?

Within the mountain ranges on the outskirts.

Li Qingjue tilted her head back and studied the Immortal Palace, which spilled immortal light, towered into the clouds, and cast its radiance across the nine heavens. Her heart was deeply shaken.

This was the first time in her life that she had witnessed such a grand spectacle.

Before such a majestic divine miracle, her current Life Spring cultivation made her smaller than even an ant. Yet the "breath" within her that had carried her this far had not suffered any blow.

Beyond her shock, there was only yearning and anticipation.

If one day she reached a level where she could create such a divine miracle, then she should be able to struggle through the mortal world toward Undying and wait for her brother's return, right?

"Master, do immortals truly exist in this world?"

As her thoughts turned, she unconsciously touched the Bronze Ring.

Within the ring, Tan Lin's remnant soul was gradually merging with another batch of soul fragments that had once again been stripped from the outside world. Hearing his young disciple's question, he considered it before answering.

"They do, and they do not."

Li Qingjue blinked her clear, lake-like eyes, half understanding and half confused.

"Then... Master, does Reincarnation exist in this world?"

After that, she asked the question she most wanted answered.

Although she had always felt uneasy about the answer and instinctively wanted to avoid it, for some reason, today she still asked her master.

Hearing this, Tan Lin fell silent inside the ring for a moment before slowly speaking.

"If you believe, it exists. If you do not, it does not."

If you believe, it exists... If you do not, it does not...

Li Qingjue turned those words over and over in her mind. Her little face abruptly grew several shades paler, and her body swayed as she nearly lost her footing.

How intelligent was she?

How could she fail to understand what those words meant?

If Reincarnation truly existed, then even if you did not believe in it, it would still be there...

But fortunately, her mind was no longer what it had been a few months ago. In the next instant, with a single thought, she temporarily overcame today's hurdle.

Her master believing otherwise did not truly mean that Reincarnation did not exist in this world!

Within the void, Tan Lin watched the confusion in his young disciple's eyes swiftly replaced by resolve, and a trace of approval appeared in his gaze.

How strict had his usual instruction of her been?

Yet even so, her thoughts, her mind, and her talent had still not been overly constrained.