The Empress's Gift

"Senior, as the saying goes, the waves behind drive on those ahead in the Yangtze; new generations surpass the old. There's no use saying more. Let's continue."

As Ji Jingtian spoke, his presence reached its peak. He raised both hands and traced a clockwise circle in front of him. A purple halo appeared before him.

At the center of the halo was the emperor weapon rewarded by the Heavenly Dao Ancient Tablet, the Void Refining Pot. He then supported the halo with his right hand and raised it above his head.

The halo transformed into a massive purple ring covered in intricate patterns, and the Void Refining Pot also radiated a purple light, as though it would refine everything.

Seeing this, the Sword Emperor Taibai stood in the air, his presence surging. White light flashed in his right hand, and a peerless emperor sword appeared in it.

The moment the emperor sword appeared, a surge of heaven-shaking Sword Qi filled the surroundings. He pointed the sword at the sky, and a beam of white light shot from its tip, forming a massive sphere of white light tinged with gold.

Both sides had now unleashed the strongest move their current cultivation allowed. Ji Jingtian was the first to speak. "Void Exile."

With those words, the halo erupted with light, and a vast amount of energy gathered toward the Void Refining Pot. The pot and the purple halo then transformed into a circular spatial rift.

Like an alternate dimension, it swept toward the Sword Emperor Taibai with a powerful suction force.

By now, the Sword Emperor Taibai's massive sphere of white light edged with gold had also taken shape. "Secret art-Fall of the Sword!" he roared at Ji Jingtian. A beam of white sword light shot toward him.

Boom... Boom... The sword light and the circular spatial rift collided, erupting in a dazzling flash. Space itself tottered under the two terrifying forces, seemingly on the verge of shattering.

When the light faded, the Sword Emperor Taibai's face was pale, while a trace of blood hung at the corner of Ji Jingtian's mouth. He was clearly injured.

"You lost," the Sword Emperor Taibai said calmly.

Ji Jingtian looked at the Sword Emperor Taibai, his face expressionless. He seemed to be pondering something. After a long while, he said, "Senior, I lost. This battle has shown me my own shortcomings. After I return, I'll enter seclusion and make up for them."

He then bowed slightly. Seeing this, the Sword Emperor Taibai smiled faintly and said, "This child is worth teaching." His figure slowly vanished.

Ji Jingtian's name then settled at eighty-eighth place on the Eternal Rankings. The people of the Nine Heavens were astonished. "Is the Ji Family's divine son really that awesome? These are the strongest taboo prodigies from ancient times to the present, yet he made the rankings and even placed eighty-eighth. It looks like the Ji Family's divine son has a chance of becoming an emperor in this life."

Another stubborn fellow objected, "Become an emperor? Have you forgotten the first and second places on the Heavenly Dao Ancient Tablet? The final rankings for Goddess Qingcheng and the Yuan Clan's divine son's challenges haven't even come out yet."

"Besides, everyone on the Eternal Rankings took part when they were under sixteen. What about those under sixteen who didn't take part? And those over sixteen?"

"You should know that the Heavenly Dao Ancient Tablet doesn't appear in every epoch. It only emerges in a golden age. Got that, bumpkin?"

Meanwhile, Tai'a Qingcheng also arrived at the Inner Heaven and Earth of the contender ranked forty-eighth.

The Nine-Tailed Empress was a Supreme Emperor of the Qingqiu Clan, one of the Demon Race's royal clans. She attained the Dao at the end of the Immortal Ancient era. In the Immortal Ancient Emperor War that followed, she fought five Supreme Emperors alone, burning her essence blood and lifespan to severely wound three and take two down with her before she died.

Before becoming an emperor, she had also been a taboo prodigy, unparalleled through the ages and peerless in grace. People of her era even said that if the Nine-Tailed Empress had not fallen, there would have been one more Mythical Emperor in the world, and she might even have become an immortal. What a pity.

When Tai'a Qingcheng arrived, there was an exquisitely beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure and fair skin. Her black hair was smooth as silk, and her large, alluring eyes seemed capable of stealing a person's soul. In particular, the snowy peaks on her chest seemed ready to burst forth, as though they would tear through her clothes.

Looking at Tai'a Qingcheng, she smiled seductively. "What a pretty little sister. I'm afraid you'll be even more beautiful than me when you grow up."

"Senior, I am Tai'a Qingcheng. I have come to advance in the rankings. Please do not hold back, Senior. Fight me with all your strength," Tai'a Qingcheng said calmly.

"Why call me Senior? Call me Sister." The Nine-Tailed Empress pursed her enticing lips in displeasure.

"Ah... oh, Sister." Tai'a Qingcheng was taken aback at first, then softly addressed her again.

"Who among those who come to advance in the Eternal Rankings isn't a taboo prodigy? And you've made it all the way here, which shows just how gifted you are."

"I was once a taboo prodigy like you, and I rose through the rankings to my current position. Later, after becoming an emperor, I fell in a great battle."

As she spoke, the Nine-Tailed Empress's mood suddenly sank. But in an instant, she returned to her former self and said, "Everyone has their own fate. Now then, let's begin, Sister Qingcheng."

A broad fan appeared in her hand. "Be careful, Sister. This is my emperor weapon, the Bewitching Demon Fan." She gave it a gentle wave with her right hand, and a breeze drifted throughout the Inner Heaven and Earth.

The breeze carried waves of fragrance. Before Tai'a Qingcheng could react, she smelled it and suddenly felt her heart race. Her mind became unsettled, and then her whole body was unable to move.

Just then, Tai'a Qingcheng relied on her willpower to move two fingers slightly and summon her emperor weapon, the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Stone. It flew in front of her and emitted waves of light. She slowly regained her ability to move, breaking the Nine-Tailed Empress's secret art, and then steadied her mind.

"Oh my, you're quite impressive, Sister Qingcheng. The secret art I cast using my Bewitching Demon Fan and Bewitchment Scripture together can charm a person's heart and disturb their mind.

"Once unleashed, this art catches people completely off guard. Even experts at a higher realm than me are left at my mercy if they fall victim to it. Yet you actually broke it. Impressive. But the next move won't be so easy."

"Bewitching the Nine Heavens!" As the Nine-Tailed Empress gave a delicate shout, six people identical to her appeared in the sky. Each held something different: one had a sword, another a pipa, another a flute, another a xiao... They circled and danced through the air above Tai'a Qingcheng.

Tai'a Qingcheng frowned slightly. The six began to dance and play the instruments they held, and an even more terrifying force of bewitchment than before assailed her.

Beads of sweat appeared on Tai'a Qingcheng's smooth, bright forehead. She knew that unless she broke this bewitchment art, she could not fight with peace of mind.

Her thoughts were already in turmoil, and her heart was racing. Then the sounds played by the six figures turned into countless powerful waves of sound and light that flew toward her. At that moment, she could only dodge them on instinct.

She seized an opportunity to dodge sideways behind the Nine-Tailed Empress, then suddenly controlled the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Stone, bringing it down in front of the empress.

Seven-colored light shone on the Nine-Tailed Empress's face, and she stood rooted to the spot in a daze. The six figures in the sky each displayed an expression of anger, worry, pensiveness, sorrow, fear, or shock. They stopped playing and stood in the air.

The Nine-Tailed Empress came to her senses and looked in surprise at Tai'a Qingcheng and the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Stone beside her. Then she said, "What a fine emperor weapon. It can actually control a person's seven emotions and six desires.

"It can even control the six clones I conjured. You should know that my clones have neither thoughts nor feelings. Sister Qingcheng, this item is more powerful than both my Bewitching Demon Fan and my Bewitchment Scripture."

"If you combined that emperor weapon with my Bewitchment Scripture, hehehe, I'm afraid there would be few people in this world who could defeat you."

"Now, watch my final move."

"Nine-Tailed Seal!"

A gigantic white nine-tailed fox appeared in the air, its nine enormous tails plunging straight down from the sky into the ground.

A square barrier of light appeared within the nine tails, sealing Tai'a Qingcheng inside. It was like a small space of its own.

"Sister Qingcheng, this seal of mine will cause your spiritual power to drain away rapidly and be used by me.

"And none of your attacks will work inside the seal. They'll only make your spiritual power drain faster."

Tai'a Qingcheng wasted no words. She raised her right hand and called out softly, "World in the Palm!"

A massive golden hand appeared beneath the nine tails, its back facing down and its palm facing up. It grasped the Nine-Tailed Seal.

The World in the Palm gripped it tightly, while the Nine-Tailed Seal held firm against its pressure. The two sides were evenly matched, neither able to overcome the other.

The Nine-Tailed Empress flew above the nine-tailed white fox and formed technique seals, trying to make the Nine-Tailed Seal break free of Tai'a Qingcheng's World in the Palm.

But Tai'a Qingcheng was also channeling spiritual power into her right hand at great speed. A terrifying amount of spiritual power surged madly into it.

Tai'a Qingcheng then cried softly, "Break!" She clenched her hand, and the massive golden hand clenched with it.

Crack. A sound like shattering glass rang out, followed by a tremendous explosion. The extraordinarily terrifying blast of air opened several cracks in the space of the Inner Heaven and Earth.

Bang...

After the explosion, Tai'a Qingcheng's spiritual power was completely exhausted. She no longer had the strength to fight.

The Nine-Tailed Empress was in much the same condition. She panted delicately, the snowy peaks on her chest rising and falling as though they were about to bounce free.

The Nine-Tailed Empress looked at Tai'a Qingcheng, her face pale, and said, "Sister Qingcheng, how about we call this battle a draw? Neither of us has the strength to fight anymore." "All right, Sister, we'll call it a draw," Tai'a Qingcheng answered weakly.

The Nine-Tailed Empress slowly walked up to Tai'a Qingcheng and touched her forehead with a slender jade-like finger. "I am someone who has already fallen. Consider this Bewitchment Scripture a gift from me upon our meeting. I hope it will be of help to you in the future. This battle ended in a draw, so you will take my place in the rankings. As for me, I will vanish from this world."

"I hope that if you meet the younger generation of the Qingqiu Clan in the future, you can look after them for me." As she finished speaking, her figure was already slowly fading.

The Nine-Tailed Empress then smiled, a smile that bewitched all living beings.

"Fortunately, the Eternal Rankings left a soul imprint for us back then. Only then was I able to meet you. If you and I had lived in the same era, we would definitely have been the best of sisters. Perhaps I wouldn't have fallen, either. Sigh..."

"I have to go, Sister. The Immortal Road stretches into the distant unknown, so take care of yourself. May you have hope of attaining longevity in the future..."

With those words, the Nine-Tailed Empress's figure dissolved into specks of starlight.

Tai'a Qingcheng silently watched the place where the Nine-Tailed Empress had vanished and said, "I will, Sister." She then turned into a streak of golden light and flew out.