At those words, Jiang Wanwan looked out at the sea of clouds streaming past the window and fell silent for a moment.
Outside the immortal palace, the clouds and mist gradually thinned. On the distant horizon, the outline of a magnificent immortal city was growing clearer in the morning light.
"Whew!"
Jiang Wanwan withdrew her gaze, looked at Zhu Zhuqing, and smiled.
"Very curious?"
"Yes!" Anticipation flashed in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes as she nodded vigorously.
"A Great Emperor clan is, naturally, the bloodline left behind by the Void Emperor, one of the Eastern Wasteland's greatest powers. As for the Void Emperor..."
"His life was far too legendary to recount in a few moments."
As she spoke, Jiang Wanwan looked at the city on the distant horizon. "Come find me once we've settled in today. I'll tell you then."
"Settled in? What do you mean?" Zhu Zhuqing asked in confusion.
Jiang Wanwan smiled. "Because White Emperor City... is here!"
Jiang Wanwan stroked Zhu Zhuqing's head and pointed at the magnificent immortal city drawing ever closer outside the window. "Get ready, Zhu Zhuqing."
"Welcome to-White Emperor City."
"From this day onward, you belong to the Heavenly Court."
The Moon-Escaping Immortal Palace slowly descended through the clouds toward the silvery-white immortal city.
In the boundless sky above White Emperor City stood towers of jade and palaces of precious stone-the White Jade Capital.
Deep within the White Jade Capital stood the Star-Picking Tower.
A figure reclined against a cloud couch.
He wore casual moon-white robes, his loose hair framing him like an unadorned moon. A few white strands fell over his forehead, and the sun and moon seemed to revolve within his golden Double Pupils.
In his hand, he toyed with an ancient-looking ring.
The ring was a muted black-gold throughout, its design simple, with only a divine dragon coiled around its band. The dragon's head was raised high, every scale on its body rendered in exquisite detail.
Two points of dazzling golden light shone in the dragon's eyes...
Looking at the black-gold, dragon-carved Haotian "Realm" in his hand, Lin Hao shook his head.
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
A gentle voice sounded.
The woman wore a pale-purple flowing immortal dress with wide sleeves. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, her cool elegance like that of the Guanghan Fairy. Her features bore a sixty-percent resemblance to the future Ji Ziyue, yet held a greater measure of serenity and noble grace.
She was Ji Ziyi, the Ji Family's greatest genius in a thousand years, their imperial daughter, and now one of the Heavenly Court's imperial consorts.
She stilled the zither strings beneath her hands and looked at Lin Hao curiously.
Hearing her, Lin Hao did not answer, instead slipping the Haotian Realm back onto his index finger.
Only then did he turn, resting his head quite naturally on Ji Ziyi's lap.
Ji Ziyi pressed her red lips together slightly but did not move away.
She extended her slender, jade-like hands, placing her fingertips against Lin Hao's temples and gently massaging them.
"Providence... still isn't enough," Lin Hao murmured with his eyes closed.
Ji Ziyi lowered her head, looking at his closed eyelids. "Your Majesty, you're already so powerful. Throughout all of history, how many could stand shoulder to shoulder with you?"
"Why are you always in such a hurry?"
Powerful? Lin Hao silently asked himself.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the world, he was.
His current cultivation did indeed stand at the very pinnacle of this world. Across the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, none could withstand his edge.
Even against the Undying Heavenly Emperor, who had lurked behind the scenes for endless ages, Lin Hao was confident he could fight him using the Double Pupils Treasure Technique.
After all, Double Pupils were inherently a path of invincibility!
But what of it?
As a transmigrator, Lin Hao knew all too well.
Above Great Emperors were Red Dust Immortals.
Above Red Dust Immortals were Immortal Kings.
Above Immortal Kings were Quasi-Immortal Emperors and Immortal Emperors!
And there was the Weird Plateau, which plunged the myriad heavens and worlds into ruin, and the ten great weird progenitors lurking within...
Had he, Lin Hao, been reborn into this life merely to wait for Heavenly Emperor Huang, Shi Hao, Heavenly Emperor Ye, Ye Fan, and the "war correspondent" Chu Loli to save him?
Of those who became Great Emperors, which was not proud and lofty, convinced that with them here, none could rival them?
Entrusting his own fate to another's hands was not his, Lin Hao's, Dao.
He could not accept it!
So he still wanted to grow stronger, stronger yet!
Moreover, the system's appearance proved that even his future self would probably face moments when he was powerless...
At these thoughts, Lin Hao gently shook his head again, suppressing them.
He opened his eyes, a vision flashing through his Double Pupils before vanishing. Looking at the exquisite face so close to his own, he changed the subject.
"Ziyi, how was the harvest this time?"
At his question, Ji Ziyi's tone carried a hint of helplessness. "Your Majesty, seventy to eighty percent of the world's providence has already gathered in the Heavenly Court and merged into the Haotian Realm."
"The imperial clans, sacred lands, ancient lineages..."
"Anyone blessed with abundant providence has either long since come under Your Majesty's command, or their fate is already deeply bound to the Heavenly Court's providence."
"To find new, powerful sources of providence as easily as we once did is now harder than hard."
"I see..."
Lin Hao nodded, his expression calm. "No matter. This was never something we could rush. There are plenty of days ahead."
Time was on his side.
After all, Ye Fan had yet to ride the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin to the Big Dipper.
"Oh, right." Ji Ziyi seemed to recall something. "Your Majesty, this time, Wanwan did find a little 'surprise' among the countless trillions of mortal beings."
"Oh? A surprise?" Lin Hao raised his brows slightly.
Ji Ziyi nodded, picked up an immortal fruit, and gently held it between her lips. Lowering her head to feed it to Lin Hao, she said:
"Wanwan found a woman with 'purple' providence among the vast sea of mortals."
"Purple providence? Favored by the Heavenly Dao?"
A trace of surprise crossed Lin Hao's eyes. "To think a daughter of providence like that could emerge among mortals. Not bad."
"Where is she now?"
Ji Ziyi gently loosened the ribbon at her waist. "Wanwan has already taken her in. She's traveling to White Emperor City aboard the Moon-Escaping Immortal Palace."
"Once the matron has taught her the rules, I'll bring her to have an audience with Your Majesty."
Lin Hao lightly pecked Ji Ziyi's red lips and nodded. "Good. Take some extra care with her. If she truly is worthy of nurturing, the Heavenly Court will not begrudge its resources."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Ji Ziyi answered softly. Her flowing immortal dress slipped off, and she fell limply into Lin Hao's arms.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Ji Ziyi lay on the cloud couch, her skin flushed, her body drenched in fragrant sweat, and her hair disheveled.
Watching Lin Hao rise, she asked hoarsely, "Your Majesty, where are you going?"
"For a stroll around White Emperor City." Lin Hao stretched, his moon-white robes fluttering gently in the breeze. He gazed toward the white-jade immortal city, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes.
"And while I'm there, I'll visit an old friend. That Big Black Dog."
"Big Black Dog?"
Ji Ziyi immediately understood. "You're... going to see Senior Black Empress?"
In the entire Heavenly Court, someone this Heavenly Emperor would call an "old friend," who spent year after year hanging around White Emperor City, and whose characteristics were so distinctive...
Who else could it be but Black Empress, the mysterious, thick-skinned, black-hearted dog Lin Hao had brought back, who liked collecting human pets?
"Yes, that lazy Big Black Dog."
Lin Hao chuckled and cursed. "It's been a while. I'll go see where he's swindling people now."
As he spoke, Lin Hao took a step and vanished from the Star-Picking Tower, leaving only faint ripples in space that slowly settled before Ji Ziyi.