Above the nine heavens stood the [Azure Divine Court].
Immortal mist wreathed this place all day long, with countless streams of auspicious light shining around palaces that floated amid a vast sea of clouds.
Immortal birds and spirit beasts flitted among them, while magnificent towers and jade halls radiated an undying brilliance. It was truly a supreme immortal realm, far removed from worldly affairs.
And yet.
If someone possessed of great Divine Abilities opened their mystic sight here, they would see an entirely different, strange spectacle-
Beneath the Divine Court, in the boundless mortal world concealed by thick clouds, countless wisps of pale yellow mist, invisible to mortal eyes, rose in mighty torrents like rivers flowing into the sea.
Mixed into this mist were the fortune and faith of ordinary living beings, all of which ultimately flowed into the Divine Court towering above them.
At the center of the Divine Court, atop a white jade platform at its highest point.
A imposing figure clad in ritual robes sat there.
A layer of radiance veiled his face. With every long, measured breath, he swallowed all the pale yellow mist gathering from across the sky, turning it into nourishment for his Dao Foundation.
At this quiet, solemn moment.
The sound of someone cutting through the air shattered the Divine Court's tranquility.
A male immortal wearing a ceremonial crown crossed the sea of clouds and stumbled onto the platform. Without even pausing to straighten his appearance, he fell to his knees, his voice filled with terror:
"Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened!"
"[Heaven's Punishment]... stirred again just now!!"
It was little wonder that this normally composed immortal had lost his composure so completely.
Within the Azure Divine Court, there was not a single immortal who did not regard those words as a deadly