Heaven Realm.
Beneath a spiritual waterfall, four figures sat cross-legged, their bodies continually battered by the cascading water. Judging by their relaxed expressions, they were serving a punishment.
All four were young, two men and two women. The men were handsome, the women possessed ethereal grace and exquisite beauty.
They were the divine scions of the Heaven Clan's four lineages, as well as companions who had grown up together.
"Long Xiao, this is all your fault! You got Yun Yun and me punished too. What a sin!" A blond man glared at the white-robed man beside him and complained.
"Brother Chu, you can't put it like that. Weren't you curious about who was imprisoned beneath the God-Suppressing Tower too? I was going to sneak in with Ling'er for a look. You were the one who insisted on coming."
The white-robed young man called Long Xiao laughed, showing not the slightest guilt at the other man's complaints.
They had all been childhood friends, so naturally, they wouldn't fall out over something so trivial. Sitting here under the spiritual waterfall was simply rather boring.
Xia Yun Yun, who sat beside Chu Yuxuan, rolled her eyes. "Enough. We followed them in because we were curious ourselves. Why are you blaming Long Xiao and Ling'er?"
"Hey, what are you doing? Yun Yun, you're my fiancée! How can you turn your elbow outward and side with someone else? The God-Suppressing Tower is forbidden ground in the Heaven Realm. They say everyone imprisoned inside is unimaginably terrifying. I only followed them because I was worried about Long Xiao and Ling'er's safety!" Faced with Xia Yun Yun's reproach, Chu Yuxuan couldn't help protesting.
Xia Yun Yun merely snorted. "Hmph. What's done is done. Talking won't help."
Seeing that Xia Yun Yun wouldn't spare his dignity, Chu Yuxuan could only turn to the white-robed woman beside Long Xiao. "Ling'er, you really need to rein Long Xiao in. He doesn't even respect me as his big brother anymore."
"I do whatever Brother Long Xiao says."
At his words, Bai Ling'er's face blossomed into a sweet smile. She was Long Xiao's fiancée and had admired him since childhood. She had also insisted on following him into the God-Suppressing Tower.
"Hahaha! How could my Ling'er possibly listen to you? Don't worry. Once our punishment is over, I'll treat you both to drinks." Long Xiao patted Chu Yuxuan's shoulder and laughed heartily.
"That's more like it."
In the void, four imposing figures appeared atop the clouds.
These four were the Divine Lords of the Heaven Clan's four lineages. Each stood supreme across the myriad heavens and worlds, looking down upon all beneath them.
The four being punished below were their children.
"Alas, these youngsters still show no remorse. Why not send them to some barren planes to gain experience and let them taste the poverty and suffering of mortals? What do you think?"
Long Xiao's father posed the question to the other three.
After a moment's contemplation, all three nodded.
Then a majestic voice exploded in the minds of Long Xiao and his companions.
"Since the four of you have shown insufficient remorse, you will descend to the lower realm immediately for one year of tempering."
"Huh?" All four cried out together.
A year in the lower realm?
Something this good? Did Dad and the others finally get their brains switched on?
In truth, they had wanted to do this for ages. Those old fossils had finally opened their eyes.
They had been born in a blaze of glory, with golden keys in their mouths. Whatever resources they wanted from the myriad worlds were theirs for the taking.
The Heaven Clan was the undisputed foremost divine clan in the Great Thousand Divine Cosmos, with unfathomably deep reserves. Even keeping a low profile was difficult.
Pain! Such pain.
Every time they traveled through the myriad worlds, invincible protectors accompanied them. It wasn't fun at all.
Long Xiao, Chu Yuxuan, and the others exchanged glances, unable to conceal their excitement. Men, after all, loved roaming far and wide almost as much as showing off in front of girls.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, four women flew toward them.
The moment the four Divine Lords saw who was coming, their heads began to ache. Trouble had arrived. Those four spendthrift women were here to interfere again.
As soon as the four women arrived, they ignored the four men standing nearby and each tossed a ring to her own child.
"Little Long, Mother has prepared plenty of treasures for you. Stay safe, and remember to miss me while you're away!"
"Xuan'er, there are a hundred billion spirit stones in here. Come back for more if that isn't enough. Treat Yun Yun well."
"Little Ling'er, do you have enough ninth-grade pills and tenth-grade pills on you? If not, Mother will give you a few hundred more."
"Yun Yun, this is everything Mother owns. Take it. There are things inside you would never expect."
As the women chattered away, Long Xiao's father, Long Jian, reached the end of his patience. He simply couldn't bear to watch any longer.
Steeling himself, he stepped forward and rebuked the four women. "Enough! This is tempering. Do you understand? Tempering! If you pamper them excessively like this, how will they ever experience the suffering of the mortal world?"
At his words, all four women turned toward Long Jian in unison, their gazes icy.
"Hmm? Do you have a problem?" Long Jian's wife asked coldly, utterly unconcerned.
"Xue'er, I... of course I don't have a problem. But they do!"
His imposing air undiminished, Long Jian pointed at the three men behind him, then retreated to his original spot.
He rolled his eyes at the other three.
You turn mute the moment you see these women? You won't speak up for me? Can't you show some backbone for once?
"No, no, no! We have no objections whatsoever."
The other three frantically shook their heads in unison.
Although they were supreme experts across the myriad heavens, there was no helping it: they feared their wives. Who hadn't enjoyed a glorious youth? Unfortunately, the days when their wives indulged their every wish were long gone.
"Ah, forget it, forget it. All of you, get lost already."
Seeing the four children below watching as though enjoying a show, Long Jian didn't even wait for them to get ready. With a wave of his hand, he threw them into a spatial passage.
Even after Long Jian had done this, Bai Ling'er's father, Bai Feng, remained uneasy. It didn't matter if something happened to Long Jian's son, but nothing could happen to his daughter.
With a casual gesture, he summoned a sword-bearing woman in blue.
"Xing Yue pays her respects to the four Divine Lords and their four ladies."
Bai Feng nodded, then instructed her, "Xing Yue, go protect the four of them."
"Yes, Divine Lord."
Xing Yue bowed respectfully, then turned and walked into the spatial passage.
As the spatial passage closed, Long Jian was somewhat absentminded. He had casually locked onto a plane called the Dou* Continent and tossed them out.
That plane's coordinates lay within the Great Thousand Star Domain, while their Heaven Realm was in the Northern Dipper Star Domain.
It was quite far away, and few people there should know of the Heaven Realm. That made it the ideal place for tempering: they wouldn't be able to throw their weight around using their identities.
Inside the spatial passage, the group stayed aboard a star-domain warship.
Long Xiao was pondering a few things.
His soul had actually come from Blue Star and transmigrated into the newborn Long Xiao. He wasn't sure whether that counted as possessing someone else's body. In any case, he had already been here for twenty years.
He remembered lying in bed at the time, reading a book called "Dou***." He seemed to have been particularly fond of one of its female leads-extremely fond-but he couldn't remember her at all. (Take note of this, or you'll ask later how his feelings for the queen arose.)
He still remembered everything else about Blue Star. Only the contents of that book remained utterly beyond his recall.
"Brother Long Xiao, what are you thinking about?" Bai Ling'er took Long Xiao's hand and asked softly.
Long Xiao turned to look at that exquisite face.
Ling'er had been by his side since childhood. They were very close and had been betrothed since they were little.
"I'm wondering what it will feel like to descend to the lower realm with you and roam to the ends of the earth, swords in hand."
Long Xiao affectionately tapped Bai Ling'er's nose, making her blush and lower her head.
"There's a spatial storm at the exit! Long Xiao, Ling'er, be careful!" Chu Yuxuan's startled cry suddenly rang in their ears.
P.S. If you're going to read, just read. Stop going on about disliking this or that. This book was written specifically for Queen Medusa. I'll write it however I want. If you want particular content, pick up a pen and write it yourself.
Before you continue