After a long while...
Haotian finally let out a long breath, breaking that oppressive, deathly silence.
Then he said in a low voice:
"No matter what, we must never defy the Dao Ancestor's Imperial Edict."
"For now, we can only carry out his orders."
Haotian's voice was soft, his tone stripped of the majesty and dominance of a Heavenly Emperor.
His gaze was unfathomable as he looked beyond the Heavenly Court, toward the endless void.
His words sounded calm.
But within his heart, towering waves were already crashing and muffled thunder rolling.
The Dao Ancestor's Imperial Edict!
Those words were like an invisible mountain pressing down on his head-and on the entire Heavenly Court.
It was not that Haotian failed to understand the stakes.
He knew better than anyone that sending Marshal Tianpeng and General Juanlian was tantamount to using the Heavenly Court's foundations to plug the Buddhist School's holes.
But what of it?
The Dao Ancestor's words were the Heavenly Dao's words.
Whatever the Heavenly Dao demanded of him, he could only obey.
Though he, Haotian Shangdi, supposedly governed the Three Realms, in truth he was merely a pawn in the Dao Ancestor's hand.
At that moment, Haotian suddenly found it rather laughable.
The exalted lord of the Heavenly Court, nominally the holder of the highest authority in the Primordial Three Realms, could not even protect his own Righteous Gods.
This time, Yaochi said nothing more either.
She parted her lips, but in the end, merely let out a melancholy sigh.
That sigh was soft, so very soft, yet it carried more weight than any words.
For it meant that even she had resigned herself to fate.
The Lingxiao Treasure Hall once again fell into a suffocating, deathly silence.
The immortal melodies ceased, and the auspicious radiance faded.
Within