A Martial Odyssey

As they continued their way, the group soon quieted down.

Yi Ping led the way and he was accompanied by Xian'Er and Nuwa. The very reason the group had been quiet because the most of the maidens that were in the group were looking shyly at Yi Ping and did not want to disturb this quiet moment.

Even the Goddess Aiel and Han Lin were unusual quiet. Moreover the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa was leading the way as she walked at a rapid pace.

Finally the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa laughed softly, "Here it is. This should be the epicenter of the Flower of Life formation."

Yi Ping asked as he looked at the surroundings, "But where is the formation?"

He could only see rows after rows of tall monument pillars but there was no sight of any celestial formation in place.

Nuwa had flashed immediately in front before stopping suddenly to sweep the debris to reveal a hieroglyphic drawing of a patterned circle in a cube as she said aloud, "Look! The Flower of Life!"

When Yi Ping had caught the sight of the hieroglyphic, he began to touch his forehead unconsciously.

This was immediately noticed by Lingfeng as she joking said, "The mark on your forehead bears some resemblance to the Flower of Life."

Nuwa smiled gently as she looked forlornly at Yi Ping, "Yi Ping's mark is the Trinity circle and it is spherical in shape, opening like a leaf. It doesn't resemble the Flower of Life at all…"

Lingfeng immediately chuckled softly, "I know…but I can't help it. Do you have to be so serious in correcting me huh?"

Nuwa groaned softly while Yi Ping shrugged his shoulders as he quickly asked a question to distract them, "So this is the Flower of Life? It is just a drawing on the ground. There is nothing weird about this."

At this moment, all the others were also crowding around Yi Ping and trying to figure out the same question as well.

Mei'Er and Han Lin said almost at the same time, "Why should anyone draw something here?"

Yu'Er nodded, "And what is the purpose?"

Nuwa smiled mysteriously, "What do you suppose?"

Lingfeng asked, "You know?"

Xian'Er smiled gently, "Lady Nuwa, can you tell us what it is?"

Nuwa looked at her, "It seems that the Lady Fantian has already forgotten much about her past."

Xian'Er smiled gently and did not seem to mind, "Yes, that is right."

Yi Ping asked hurriedly, "Nuwa, can you tell us something about this hieroglyphic drawing and its placement? I can sense a hidden formation within it but I can't be sure."

Nuwa smiled as she exerted a martial force on the tip of her fingers, "Everyone, gather around me for I am going to activate the formation now."

Everyone was startled as they quickly gathered around her.

Han Lin gasped, "Is it dangerous?"

Aiel winked at her, "Of course it is. We are at the 84th floor now…"

Lie Qing mused, "Then I am so afraid!"

Lele held onto Xian'Er as she muttered incoherently.

Xian'Er laughed softly, "Yi Ping is over there. You can go over there to seek his comfort…"

Yi Ping growled at them while observing Nuwa at the same time…

Nuwa laughed softly as she tapped her forehead with her fingers, "Alright, here we go…"

Yi Ping secretly asked Nuwa with his will, "Are you sure? What if the formation is dangerous? What is this formation? What it is?"

Nuwa willed back, "This is the Mirror of Transmigration. This formation will take us directly to the heart of this monument and take us to where the Flower of Life is located. Whether it is dangerous, we will know soon enough!"

Yi Ping was slightly startled while Lingfeng cursed, "Why you!…"

Because Lingfeng shared a link with Yi Ping, she was able to eavesdrop on Yi Ping and Nuwa.

Xian'Er smiled gently as she shook her head lightly. Like Lingfeng, she was able to eavesdrop on the secret exchange between Nuwa, Yi Ping and Lingfeng.

Her slight disapproval was instantly noticed by Yu'Er, Mei'Er and Ye Yin who could sense any subtle change immediately and they were looking at each other with a weak smile.

Lie Qing, Lele, Youxue and Yun Zi had seen the looks on their countenance and knew that something was up but they maintained their composure.

The Lord Supreme, the Universal Old Man, Skylord Jun and the rest were not blind by the subtle exchanges but they gave no indication that they were bothered by it. Rather, there were anticipations and excitements in their eyes!

Alice lifted her chin slightly as she said, "Let's go!"

Almost immediately, a beam of stellar bright light had burst out from the ground and its warm light began to disperse in all directions!

Those who had never experienced it before were gasping in astonishment.

Even Yi Ping gasped, "What is this light?"

The Universal Old Man laughed jovially, "You should know or else how are you able to reach the Celestial Realm?"

Lingfeng quickly said, "This beam of light will take us to another location of this place…"

No sooner had she explained it, an even brighter light interrupted had appeared and Yi Ping felt a throbbing sensation that shook his entire body. That was exactly the same experience that he had previously experienced when he first ascended to the Celestial Realm!

When he blinked his eyes again, he found himself in a gigantic hall and there were dozens of others and they were all fighting furiously with each other!

Their furious fighting resonant throughout and it was deafening!

Yi Ping felt as though the very fabric of space around them was tearing apart by their explosive conflicts!

And it seemed that they were fighting around a dazzling rainbow light in the middle which was dangling high above them!

The first thing that came into Yi Ping mind and everyone else was that the thing inside the dazzling rainbow light was the Flower of Life!

Yi Ping immediately sensed that a powerful warping formation was enveloping around the dazzling rainbow light and he could sense the powerful presence of an artifact from within!

When they had appeared, the fighting had immediately ceased, startled by their sudden appearances!

It took a brief moment for Yi Ping to recognize the Jade Emperor, the Celestial Liege and Ye Ling from among the fighters!

Lele gasped for she had recognized her grandpa the Jade Emperor, her brother the Celestial Liege and Ye Ling who were the Prime Celestials of the Celestial Palace, "Grandpa! Brother!"

Yi Si shouted excitedly, "Old Grandpa! I am here!"

The Jade Emperor who was wielding the Green Dragon Sacred Sword gasped, "Lele! Yi Si!" as he leapt backward to regroup with the Celestial Liege who was sheltering the injured Ye Ling from the other fighters!

And beside Ye Ling and the Celestial Liege was an old wizened man, the Martial Sage!

When the Martial Sage saw Xian'Er, he began to wave and he was shouting excitedly, "Xian'Er! You are here too?!"

Xian'Er was startled as she noticed his golden eyes, "He has ascended to the Celestial Realm?"

Mei'Er laughed, "Mistress, your admirer is actually here. He is really persistent!"

Yi Si asked curiously, "You know him? The Martial Sage?"

Mei'Er nodded, "But why is he here? I reckon only about twenty years have passed in the Mortal Realm…"

Yi Si smiled, "Same as me. I will tell you later! So the Maiden Xian'Er that he is always muttering is actually the Celestial Fairy. It seems that my father has a fierce competitor now."

Yi Ping growled softly but he quickly noted the golden eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Celestial Liege, Ye Ling and the Martial Sage and was bewildered as he thought, "They are all Celestials now?"

But as he looked at the Jade Emperor who was wielding the Green Dragon Sacred Sword, he noticed that the Jade Emperor possessed piercing golden eyes. From the looks of it, the Jade Emperor had already attained the Seventh Immortal Positioning!

And Yi Ping had also recognized that two of the fighters who were fighting the Jade Emperor were none other than Yun Dingzhong the Great Ascetic Heavenly King and Old Man Xuantian the Dark Primordial Heavenly King!

And immediately a burning anger aroused in his eyes when he recalled the way they had treated the Goddess Asura!

Asura cursed as she raised her divine staff, the Symphony of Destiny. "I will rip them apart…"

Alice tapped her shoulder gently as she whispered, "Asura, hold it first."

Asura trembled lightly while clenching her fists as she nodded lightly…

At the same time the Sacred Embodied Heavenly Goddess gasped, "Ancient Heavenly Sage King!"

Indeed, the Ancient Heavenly Sage King and the Western Paradise Heavenly King were also in the vicinity. They were surrounded by six attackers but all of them stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Yi Ping and his group!

Yi Ping was startled for he had recognized the familiar face of the Western Paradise Heavenly King and the Ancient Heavenly Sage King as the smoking debris from the earlier fight began to settle.

He immediately thought, "Why are they all here?"

The Ancient Heavenly Sage King turned pale almost immediately as he shouted, "Yu Ji (The Sacred Embodied Heavenly Goddess) why are you here? Get away from here!"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King smiled weakly to the Ancient Heavenly Sage King, "You can't seem to shake her off…"

And when he saw Yi Ping, he began to roar with laughter at the other Heavenly Kings who were surrounding him, "It seems that my help has come!"

But when he saw Xian'Er, he turned ashen immediately as he took a step back while muttering, "Fan…is it possible…"

The other six Heavenly Kings who were surrounding the Western Paradise Heavenly King and the Ancient Heavenly Sage King began to stare at Yi Ping and his group. One of them, a Heavenly King with red beard roared with laughter, "Very good! I, the Heavenly King of Furies will like to see how capable they are!"

Beside these groups, there were ten other fighters. From their glaring looks, they were all Heavenly Kings, the most powerful class of immortals!

A youthful immortal in white armor and wielding a white divine sword mocked, "What?! A group of celestials and lesser immortals actually have the luck to come this far and they have actually the tenacity to fight with us for the Flower of Life?"

Lingfeng immediately stepped forward as she snapped her fingers, "We have never said we are here for the Flower of Life! Go on, fight among yourself and we will continue on our way!"

Yi Ping was a little amused by Lingfeng the Heaveness. But he knew that she was buying them some time to discern allies and foes so he nodded lightly to give his approval.

Lingfeng smiled when she saw Yi Ping had given her the approval to go ahead.

Alice whispered to the group, "He is the Great Insight Heavenly King, one of the eleven prime Heavenly Kings and the one at the back, he is Lord of the Enigma Chaos. He isn't a Heavenly King but he is a first generation dark immortal and he is extremely formidable. His strength rivals that of the prime Heavenly King!"

The Great Insight Heavenly King smirked coldly as he appraised the Heaveness and Alice, "Young maiden. You don't know who you are talking to. Didn't Alice teach you any manners? Bow before me and I will spare you or you will be facing my wrath."

Lingfeng hummed coldly, "No, I won't."

The Great Insight Heavenly King laughed as he looked at Lingfeng with interest, "This is hmm…interesting…"

But he quickly looked over to Alice, Isa, Asura and Xiang, "Hey! Are you with the Unification Plan or not?"

Yi Ping was slightly startled for this was the second time he had heard of the Unification Plan and that was from Yun Dingzhong the last time!

Yun Dingzhong was shouting as he pointed to the direction of the Jade Emperor, "Aren't you that Yi Ping? Don't forget our deal. I have already given you the Goddess Asura. Come over to my side and help me to fight the Jade Emperor…"

The Goddess Asura flushed as she said sharply, "Rubbish!"

Yi Ping drawn out his Celestial Alice and the Fantian Sovereign Sword as he said solemnly, "What deal? That is only your wishful thoughts!"

Yun Dingzhong roared with anger, "Why you ungrateful bastard…"

All of a sudden the Lord of the Enigma Chaos shouted and his powerful shout exploded out, "This! This is the Fantian Sovereign Sword!"

The rest of the group was all looking at Yi Ping and the Fantian Sovereign Sword in utter disbelief!

The Great Insight Heavenly King laughed, "This is another prize that is equally worthy of conquest. Whoever has the Fantian Sovereign Sword will be the next Great God, the successor to the Great God Pangu!"

An old Heavenly King with a staff exclaimed, "I won't let you have the Fantian Sovereign Sword…"

The Great Insight Heavenly King who was nearest to Yi Ping's group laughed aloud, "We will see about it…"

With a startling blinking flash, he was immediately upon Yi Ping even before Skylord Jun could even finish mutter, "Brother Yi Ping, watch…"

And right behind him was five other Heavenly Kings!

But before the Great Insight Heavenly King could seize the Fantian Sovereign Sword, Yi Ping had slashed him with a tremendous force that sent him flying backward!

As the Great Insight Heavenly King was sent crashing onto the ground with an explosive impact, he cursed. "What the hell…his reflex is fast. I am too careless…It won't be fun if I am able to seize the Fantian Sovereign Sword so easily…"

As he regained his balance with lightning reflex, he was startled to see that the other five Heavenly Kings were sent flying with thunderous impact all around him by two unearthly maidens with an imposing air, one in velvet scarlet robe and another in a light blue robe!

These two maidens were none other the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa and Xian'Er the Celestial Fairy!

All six of the fallen Heavenly Kings and the rest of the group in the vicinity were stunned and they were all staring at Yi Ping, Xian'Er and Nuwa!

They had never encountered such imposing presence and they knew immediately that these two unearthly maidens were not any ordinary immortals!

Old Man Xuantian, Yun Dingzhong and several others exclaimed aloud at the same time, "The Eight Immortal Positioning! How is it possible?!"

For they were staring at the beaming scarlet scanning eyes of Yi Ping, Nuwa and Xian'Er!

The Great Insight Heavenly King gasped in disbelief, "Who are you?!"

The Goddess Celestial Alice stepped forward as she looked sternly at them, "You are asking who they are? Do you have eyes? They are the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa, the Great Goddess Fantian and the Great God Pangu. Why are you not bowing to pay your reverence obedience to them?"

The Heavenly King of Furies answered angrily, "Rubbish! He is the Great God Pangu? I am the one that will be the next Great God Pangu!"

No sooner had he said that, the Western Paradise Heavenly King had sped past to a few paces in front of Yi Ping, Xian'Er and Nuwa as he trembled, "Is that really you? The Great Goddess Fantian? I…I have never forgotten your likeness…"

All of a sudden the Western Paradise Heavenly King bent over to kneel in front of Xian'Er as he mustered his voice to say loudly, "Your loyal servant humbly welcomes the Great Goddess Fantian from Beyond! At long last, you have finally returned!"

Everyone was startled, including the Jade Emperor as they looked at each other. It was because other than the Western Paradise Heavenly King, not even the Jade Emperor had ever seen the mystical Great Goddess Fantian who along with the Great God Pangu had created the Three Known Realms!

The Great God Pangu was the world builder while the Great Goddess Fantian was the giver of life accordingly to the myths of the immortals!

But if the Western Paradise Heavenly King said so then it must be the truth for he would never humbled himself down to anyone, not even to the Jade Emperor!

The Jade Emperor muttered, "She is the Great Goddess Fantian?"

The Martial Sage was astonished as he laughed, "Xian'Er…she is really the Great Goddess Fantian? And the other maiden is the Great Goddess Nuwa the upholder of the Pillars of Heavens?"

Xian'Er looked gently at the Western Paradise Heavenly King, "Rise. Today, we are going to uphold the righteousness and punish the evildoers."

The Sacred Embodied Heavenly Goddess smiled, "So it seems that we are on the same side!…An idiot is still standing over there. What is he waiting for?"

The Ancient Heavenly Sage King smiled weakly, refusing to answer to her obvious hint.

Youxue muttered a soft whisper, "It seems that these Heavenly Kings are no different as any others. They are dense as well!"

Yunzi whispered, "Love is not something that can be forced…"

Youxue giggled softly, "Oh really?"

Lele laughed softly, "Yi Ping doesn't have any choice."

Lie Qing was being light hearted as well, "I rather we don't give him any choices or he will surely run away."

As the Western Paradise Heavenly King rose, the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa said in her soft but tranquil voice, "I am the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa. Today, I am not in the best of mood. Whoever dares to oppose me will be sundered by me. Seriously."

The Jade Emperor immediately shouted, "Yi Ping, Lele! Stay away from her! Do you know who she is? Since time memorials, the Righteous Force has opposes the Great Desolate Force. Don't let her get away or it will be disastrous for the Three Known Realms!"

Even Old Man Xuantian was shouting, "No matter if we are Dark Immortals or not, whatever our agenda is today, we must unite to bring her down first! We mustn't let her reveal the location of the Three Known Realms to the Desolate Immortals. Once the Desolate Immortals are back, a major catastrophe will befall the entire Three Known Realms to the point of no return!"

Yun Dingzhong rallied everyone with a thunderous shout, "Don't let Nuwa get her hands on the Flower of Life! Even if the Great Goddess Fantian is on her side!"

Yi Ping gave an explosive shout that resounded throughout the vast hall, "Enough! I won't let anyone lay a finger on the Lady Nuwa. If anyone wants to get the Lady Nuwa, they will have to get past me first! If might is right then I will prove my strength to you!"

The Great Goddess Nuwa was secretly startled and was pleased as she thought silently, "Pangu…Yi Ping…"

The Celestial Liege shrugged his shoulders to say while looking intently at Lie Qing, "So it seems that my brother-in-law is still as rush as in the past."

Lie Qing obviously knew that the Celestial Liege was looking at her but she pretended to look the other way.

Xian'Er said gently, "The Lady Nuwa may be a Desolate Immortal but she is one of us now. Anyone that tries to hurt her will also have to get past me as well."

The Western Paradise Heavenly King banged his golden rod on the ground with an earth shaking impact, "And anyone that wants to hurt the Great Goddess Fantian will have to get past me as well!"

All of a sudden the Lord of the Enigma Chaos roared with laughter as he stroked his long beard, "Maybe the Great Desolate Goddess Nuwa and the Great Goddess Fantian are really formidable. Even this fake Great God Pangu. But we are many. Moreover, it seems that their group is a mixture of Celestials and Immortals…"

He purposely let it drag and all the others immediately got his point.

The Heavenly King of Furies added coldly, "We can always target the weak members of their group. It is as easy as cutting them up like a piece of tofu."

All the other Heavenly Kings and prime immortals were nodding. It was because their sharp eyes and senses had long alerted them that this new latest arrival had plenty of divine weapons with them. Even though most of their divine weapons were still sheathed but there were no mistaking or hiding the divine animus of their divine weapons. These divine weapons could make a difference in their contest for supremacy and were in weak hands!

The Great Insight Heavenly King nodded, "Don't forget that we are all contesting for the ultimate prize, the Flower of Life! I am careless earlier and let down my guard."

Old Man Xuantian said, "I have never tasted the heart of a Desolate Immortal yet, let alone a Great Goddess."

The Jade Emperor said solemnly, "Xuantian, you have to get past me first."

Old Man Xuantian hummed coldly, "Are you out of your mind? Are you senile? Have you forgotten that these immortals hate you and can't wait to rip you apart? Have you forgotten what you have done in the Immortal Realm in the past?"

The Jade Emperor coughed weakly, "Even then, I will still want to kill Yun Dingzhong and you with my hands. I can never forget the way Xiaoqie died. Even if I were to perish today, I will not let the two of you off."

Yun Dingzhong laughed coldly, "Do you think that you are able to deal with the two of us at the same time? Even if you are now a Seventh Ranked Immortal, you are not able to deal with us at the same time. We know your weakness only too well!"

All of a sudden there was a shout from the Goddess Asura, "You! You kill my sister!"

The Jade Emperor coughed, "Asura, no! Don't come over!"

Lele had also rushed behind the Goddess Asura as she raised her long scythe, "Grandpa, you are not alone!"

The Lord of the Enigma Chaos shouted, "What are you all waiting for?"

At almost same time, the entire hallway exploded into pandemonium as everyone began to display their offensive and defensive stances at the same time, as the Heavenly Kings flashed to attack Yi Ping and his group!