"Wait..." Seeing that she was about to leave, Seventh Grandfather hurried forward to stop her.
Xi Yue halted, an inexplicable unease rising in her heart. Was Seventh Grandfather about to settle accounts now that the harvest was in?
Instead, Seventh Grandfather approached with a chuckle and handed her a Heaven and Earth Bag. "There are two Eight Treasure Chickens in here. You must have exhausted yourself after contemplating for so long. Take them back and replenish your strength."
The corner of Xi Yue's mouth twitched. This did not seem right.
Still, she accepted it. After all, who could turn down good food?
"Thank you, Seventh Grandfather." She smiled sweetly, her eyes clear.
Seventh Grandfather waved a hand and led her out of the Ancestral Temple.
"What? You want to go to the Lower Realm?" Xu Mingxuan yelped, scarcely believing his ears.
What madness had gotten into his daughter this time?
The cultivation environment there was far worse than in Boundless Heaven. She was in the golden period of her cultivation now. What if going there held her back?
"The environment there is better suited to tempering oneself," Xi Yue said calmly. This flimsy excuse was all she could come up with.
Granted, that was not entirely wrong. The laws of the Lower Realm were incomplete, which did offer cultivators certain benefits.
But that certainly was not her real reason. Still, she could hardly tell him she was after an Immortal King Weapon or the Precious Arts of the Ten Fiends, could she?
Xu Mingxuan said nothing, simply watching Xi Yue. Father and daughter stared at each other until, at last, Xu Mingxuan broke first.
"Fine, fine. Go if you want. Have your Third Granduncle accompany you. He seems to have plenty of free time anyway." Xu Mingxuan waved a hand casually, putting on a look of distaste.
He had thought it through. Xi Yue would not act recklessly on a whim; she must have her own plans. A young phoenix would eventually spread its wings and soar high, braving the heavens alone.
He could not stop that. True powerhouses fought their way through blood and bone. Perhaps that environment really could forge an unrivaled expert.
Xi Yue's mouth twitched. Her father clearly still minded her sneaking out a while ago, and Third Granduncle had earned a share of his resentment along with her.
"I'll contact the Mending Heaven Dao. They have an established lineage in the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, so they can look after you," Xu Mingxuan said.
The Mending Heaven Dao was an immortal great sect whose lineage spanned the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. It had endured since ancient times and shared considerable ties with the Xu Family.
In fact, the Xu Family enjoyed good relations with many ancient families and immortal great sects. When it came to connections, they surpassed the Wang Family by an immeasurable margin.
"Third Granduncle, open up! It's my father!" Xi Yue shouted, her delicate fists pounding on the door.
Xu Tianheng's face immediately darkened at her voice. Why was this little menace back again?
For some reason, another ominous premonition crept over him, as though disaster were about to descend.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, Xi Yue's first words upon entering made him shudder:
"Third Granduncle, take me to the Three Thousand Dao Provinces, won't you?"
Seeing his blank expression, Xi Yue promptly added, "Don't worry, my father agreed this time. And he was the one who told you to come with me."
Only then did Xu Tianheng relax a little, though he still felt troubled. The environment there could not begin to compare with Boundless Heaven. Was this little menace not simply looking for hardship?
"Fine. There really is no dealing with you. I'll accompany you." He gave a long sigh and finally agreed to go.
"Qing Shuang, would you like to come with me?" Xi Yue asked her maid.
Though Qing Shuang was nominally her maid, Xi Yue would not force her if she did not want to go. Everyone had their own path to walk, after all, and she did not want to interfere too much.
"Wherever you go, Miss, I'll go." Qing Shuang grabbed Xi Yue's sleeve and threw herself at her like a sloth, all but dangling from her body.
At the edge of Boundless Heaven, a warship passed through the realm barrier and traveled through the starry sky, soon reaching the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.
Qing Shuang looked around wide-eyed with wonder. This was her first time leaving Boundless Heaven and entering another realm.
"The laws here are sparse, and the spiritual essence is thin. It's much worse than Boundless Heaven," Qing Shuang said disdainfully after taking in a breath of spiritual essence.
A sharp rap on the head promptly greeted her.
"Don't talk nonsense," Xi Yue scolded.
The Three Thousand Provinces could be called the most unusual region in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. Deep within No-Man's Land stood the Imperial Pass, the gateway to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, with the Heavenly Abyss stretching across it.
Its highest-level combat strength was extraordinary as well. There were several supreme-level beings, and even four Remnant Immortals.
Though weakened now, they still stood within the immortal realm, powerful enough to look down upon beings of the mortal realm and scorn them all.
Besides them, there was also the Five Elements Mountain, which could contend with a Remnant Immortal and could, for now, be counted as one itself.
"Sooner or later, I'll slaughter you Remnant Immortals." Xi Yue resolved to settle accounts.
Though the four Remnant Immortals had no feud with her, she had been born on the side of the Nine Heavens. Naturally, she could feel no affection for these Remnant Immortals who had brought calamity upon heaven and earth.
After all, the Seven Border Wasteland Kings had suffered grievously at their hands. Their lifetime of glory had been wantonly smeared, and even their descendants had been branded as Sin Blood and banished to the prison of the Lower Realm.
What was more, they had joined forces to attack the Female Kunpeng, planting the Immortal-Breaking Curse and causing her death.
Now that Xi Yue had forged a karmic connection with the Kunpeng King, these grudges would certainly be settled someday.
"This region was once incomparably glorious and produced peerless experts. Even in its decline, it must not be underestimated," Xu Tianheng said. He knew some of the secrets of those bygone days.
"They say the peerless supreme expert Ye Qianyu came from this region," he added after a moment's thought.
Qing Shuang's heart jolted at his words.
She had heard that name. According to the rumors, he had nearly become an immortal and had survived the tribulation of immortal ascension. Sadly, something had gone wrong at the final moment.
To think he had come from this realm!
An ancient crimson-gold warship cleaved through the sky like a dazzling blaze that could burn the heavens.
"Is that... a warship?!" Someone spotted it and immediately cried out.
"Which great power does that warship belong to?"
"I've never seen it before. I've never heard of a force like that."
"Look! They're heading toward Heaven Mending Province!"
Everyone was startled by those words. Could they be going after the Heaven Mending Sect? That would be far too audacious!
The Heaven Mending Sect was renowned throughout the Upper Realm's Three Thousand Provinces. Its unfathomable depths placed it among the foremost lineages of the Upper Realm.
Word had also spread that the Heaven Mending Sect had recently formed ties with the Immortal Palace, and its holy maiden Yue Chan was particularly close to the Immortal Palace Successor.
Now that this warship was heading straight for Heaven Mending Province, could it be planning to wage war against the Heaven Mending Sect?
The news swiftly swept across hundreds of provinces, causing an uproar. Some bold cultivators immediately set out for Heaven Mending Province, hoping to witness this heaven-shaking clash!
At the Heaven Mending Sect, several Heavenly God elders waited. They had received orders from the sect leader to welcome a few honored guests.
This left them puzzled. What sort of honored guests required them to come out and receive them?
Naturally, they knew nothing of the secrets of the Nine Heavens. Only certain sect-leader-level beings were qualified to know such things.
Before long, an ancient warship descended before the Heaven Mending Sect's mountain gate, its vast, age-old aura washing over them.
"Honored guests, please come inside so we may speak." A Heavenly God elder approached the warship and spoke amiably.
As his words fell, three streaks of light descended from the warship and arrived before him in an instant.
The elder was immediately startled. Standing before him were a middle-aged man and two young women.
The middle-aged man's aura was deep and steady, yet carried a forceful pressure that made the elder afraid to look straight at him.
This was undoubtedly a terrifying being, no weaker than the sect leader!
The two young women were extraordinary as well, with peerless beauty and bearing. Despite their youth, their auras surged like mighty rivers.
The taller young woman was especially transcendent. Her eyes shone brilliantly, as though all the stars of the heavens were imprinted within them, with the sun and moon blazing together.