A Martial Odyssey

The Jade Emperor was fighting furiously alone against Old Man Xuantian the Dark Primordial Heavenly King and Yun Dingzhong the Great Ascetic Heavenly King at the same time.

Their exchanges were so fierce that none of the others could really approach them as they crashed onto the monument walls and leaving behind structural damages!

Lele, Lie Qing, Asura, the Celestial Liege, the Martial Sage, Yi Si and Ye Ling were not able to aid the Jade Emperor as they were fighting against four other Heavenly Kings at the same time!

Very quickly, Ye Ling and the Martial Sage had sustained serious injuries and had collapsed on the ground as ripples of martial force exploded around them!

The Martial Sage was trembling as he coughed out blood, "My golden body was broken so quickly. I am such a disgrace…Xian'Er…"

The Celestial Liege shouted, "Ye Ling!"

But because of this distraction, a Heavenly King seized the opportunity to deliver a crashing blow on his left shoulder that sent him flunking backward like an arrow!

This Heavenly King was actually the Nirvana Heavenly Queen who hummed coldly, "So this is your Celestial Force? Compare to the Jade Emperor, it is too puny!"

The Celestial Liege coughed out blood and knew that his left shoulder was broken by her hit!

Because of this, their tight formation was breeched and they were in danger of being overwhelmed in the next instant!

Lie Qing gasped but she was being flanked by two Heavenly Kings and was barely able to fend for herself!

Even the Goddess Asura was on the defensive against the two other Heavenly Kings who switched between Lele, Lie Qing, Yi Si and her!

Lie Qing knew that they were now facing four Heavenly Kings and they were in mortal dangers. All the others were engaged and even Yi Ping was running to and fro to assist the others!

She could only shout panicky to Lele, "Now is not the time to be on the defensive!"

Lele gritted her teeth as she evaded out of the way of a Heavenly King before she raised her shimmering Divine Echo to implode the vicinity with several energy projectiles, "I am trying…"

Yi Si whispered, "Mother, don't worry about me. I am just a burden…"

Lele beamed with tears, "No, you are not!"

One of the four Heavenly Kings, the Heavenly Pagoda King said. "We are not as malevolent as the other Heavenly Kings or else we would have wiped out your group. Be wise and give up your futile resistances. We are only opposing the Jade Emperor for breaking the sacred agreement…"

Asura hummed coldly as she lifted her Symphony of Destiny to strike him but he caught her blow with both his hands crossed over his head!

This gesture caused the Heavenly Pagoda King to bend his knees as his surroundings exploded with both their divine forces!

But the Heavenly Pagoda King was otherwise unharmed as he cursed, "Asura! Why are you on the side of the Jade Emperor? Have you forgotten that we are on the same side previously? You, who are one of the hundred and eight holy of holiness is destined to inherit the mantle of the Great Goddess, how dare you raise your weapon against the Kings of Heavens? Are you mad?!!"

Asura replied coldly, "Yes I am indeed mad. I want to fight all of you from the very start but the Jade Emperor has stopped me. I have bade my time ever since. Just because the Jade Emperor broke the sacred love and have loved my sister, you want to remove him? What about the chaos that ensured after the ousting of the Jade Emperor? Or do you want me to say that all of you are only concern who is the one that should be the next emperor of the Immortal Realm?"

The Heavenly Pagoda King was startled, "The Regalia Fairy is your sister? But she is just a lowly immortal…"

Asura interrupted, "Indeed she is my sister! So what if she is just a lowly immortal? In my eyes, she is my esteem sister!"

At the beginning of time, they were birth from the same heavenly essence and from the same vein. But their destinies were very different. The Goddess Asura was the stronger of the two and was an immortal of the fifth immortal positioning. But her sister, the Regalia Fairy Xiaoqie was only of the second immortal positioning and could never ascend to the upper heavens.

But they were very close and shared the same bond despite the vast distances.

Time passed, the Goddess Asura was initiated to the Goddess Theocracy and was appointed as one of the hundred and eight holy of holiness. As for her sister, she was appointed the Regalia Fairy of the Second Heavens and she too, was initiated into the Goddess Theocracy.

But the destiny of her sister soon changed when she accidentally bumped into the Jade Emperor in the lofty mountains of the Second Heavens. At that time, the Regalia Fairy did not know who he was and all she knew was that he was undertaking his cultivations in these mountains. He did not tell her who he was either but she knew that he must be a highly attained immortal for she had never seen anyone as aged and as wise as him.

She was soon very impressed by him and she began to visit him daily to enquiry the mysteries of the heavens. It was because she longed to visit her sister who was in the Seventh Heavens.

But one day, he simply left and her heart was filled with an empty void.

Time once again passed, she was summoned to the Heavenly Palace of the Second Heavens to attend to the entourage of the Jade Emperor. It was only then that she finally knew that he was none other than the Emperor of the Encompassing Heavens, the Jade Emperor!

The Jade Emperor had naturally recognized her and knew that her heart was faltering. He advised her to cultivate the way and avoided the matters of the heart.

But the Regalia Fairy was undeterred, "That is my personal affairs. You shouldn't probe into my heart. If I have transgressed the sacred laws then it is you who has caused it. I am undeterred. As long as the heavens and the earth stand, my heart will never change!"

The Jade Emperor was startled by her reply and her haunting words that made a lasting impression on him.

Since then he did his best to avoid her but whenever he was in the Second Heavens, he would think of her. Eventually, they did meet again and were not able to contain their passions for each other.

Their ill-fated rendezvous were discovered by the others. The Great Ascetic Heavenly King Yun Dingzhong and the Dark Primordial Heavenly King Old Man Xuantian seized the opportunity to use the Regalia Fairy to oust the Jade Emperor.

In that fateful ousting, the Regalia Fairy had chosen to sacrifice herself rather than be humiliated or used by them to threaten the Jade Emperor.

No one really knew what happened on that fateful day but it was said that the Jade Emperor was also killed.

That was what the Goddess Asura was led to believe.

From that day on, the first of the immortal wars waged among the immortal factions and clans to determine the next emperor of the Immortal Realm.

This first immortal war lasted for a long time until one day, the Great Goddess Fantian forcefully summoned all the Heavenly Kings and the first generation immortals to the Divinity Mountains of the Ninth Heavens!

The Heaven Kings knew that their actions had provoked the irk of the mysterious Great Goddess Fantian at which none of them had ever seen before!

Their hearts trembled because they knew that the Great Goddess Fantian was mythology goddess of the immortals, their life giver and in the secret lore of the first generation immortals was also a Ninth Positioning Immortal!

Summoned by the Great Goddess Fantian, all the Heavenly Kings were never seen again by the rest of the immortals until recently!

That was because the Great Goddess Fantian had sealed them with the Seal of Heavens, an infinity prison that they could not break free for exactly ten thousand years!

From that time onward, the Immortal Realm was split into many factions. Three of the most powerful factions were the Zen Immortals, the Arhat Immortals and the Autonomous Immortals!

Later on, the Arhat Immortals and many of the Autonomous Immortals would lose a war with the Zen Immortals for supremacy of the Immortal Realms, paving the way for the Zen Immortals that was led by the Eternal Goddess the Goddess Celestial Alice of the Goddess Theocracy to dictate the affairs of the Immortal Realm, the Celestial Realm and the Lower Realm!

But now the Heavenly Kings were all back and they were just in time to witness the appearance of the Stellar Sanctuary!

Naturally most of them were powerful enough to forcefully descend to the Celestial Realm to seek the mysteries of the Stellar Sanctuary for themselves and had an opportunity to inherit the mantle of the Great God Pangu!

If they could obtain the power of the Great God Pangu then naturally they would be the next emperor of the Immortal Realm and not even the Great Goddess Fantian could be able to seal them any longer!

Moreover, they knew that the Great Goddess Fantian was no longer around now. That was because there was a heavy price to use the Seal of Heavens; it was a self-sacrificing blood act!

And they knew that the Great Goddess Fantian was no more because they had all felt the pain of her demise in their hearts. As first generation immortals, they were the closest to perfect and were like the children of the Great Goddess Fantian.

Before the Great Goddess Fantian departed, she had appeared to the Western Paradise Heavenly King to say. "Among all the Heavenly Kings, you may be the most combative but you are also the most unmoved. Your heart seeks not the glory of things, not of the fleeing proudness of men but you are haughty in your own ways. Therefore I shed my divine veil for you so that you will know who I am. So that when the Great God Pangu finally descends into this world again, you will be shown true enlightenment and your attainment will greatly increase among your brethren. So know this…"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King stuttered, "Great Goddess Fantian, please enlighten me! Teach and instruct me what to do and I will be faithful…"

The Great Goddess Fantian said, "This is what you must do…impart your Golden Invincible Force…"

And she said again, "In time to come, you will find yourself a worthy disciple in this maiden. She may be haughty and difficult to discipline but her heart is pure. She will give her heart and love only for the Great God Pangu. She will aid the one and only Great God Pangu…"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King was startled, "The one and only Great God Pangu…"

The Great Goddess Fantian nodded gently, "He is the beginning and the end. There is only one true Great God Pangu. He will be back eventually but…"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King murmured after her, "But?…"

The Great Goddess Fantian did not reply for a long while. Finally she seemed to look to the Heavens with a heavy heart, "But I may not be around by then. I do not have his great wisdom or has his noble heart or else I won't be using such a foolish way to resolve this crisis. Even a Great Goddess is not able to weave a thousand years in the future, let alone ten thousand years…"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King could feel her melancholy heart and he was trembling!

He felt like tearing his hair and wailed for the sorrows of the Great Goddess Fantian was terrible to bear!

But at the same time, all his strength had departed from him!

The Great Goddess Fantian's eyes were melancholy and so was her voice but she quickly said to comfort the Western Paradise Heavenly King, "I have already chosen my successor. She will be the next Great Goddess Fantian if my soul cannot be reincarnated from the Great Beyond. She will take my place to love the Great God Pangu. She will be able to recognize him immediately…because my divine tear is in her heart. Her soul will be beautiful. I have watched over her when she is small…"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King was shaking all over but he managed to squeeze the last ounce of his strength out to tremble out weakly, "Who…is she?…May…I know her…name?…"

The Great Goddess Fantian lit a smile, "She is the…Heaveness!"

The Western Paradise Heavenly King gasped her name, "The…Heaveness!…How…do…I know…recognize…her…"

But the Great Goddess Fantian was no more. Her divine spirit was lit up by divine fire and her spirit had scattered into millions of tiny glowing divine sparks!

From that day onward, all the first immortals were sealed by the Great Goddess Fantian except for the Jade Emperor who escaped the judgement of the Seal of the Heavens.

Except for the Western Paradise Heavenly King, none of them had any opportunity to witness the divine likeness of the Great Goddess Fantian. That was because the tremendous gap between them and the Great Goddess Fantian was exceedingly!

Most of the Heavenly Kings were in the Sixth Immortal Positioning. To reach the Seventh Immortal Positioning required an almost impossible amount of time and enlightenment. Even Alice took more than ten thousand years of perfect cultivation to attain it!

Therefore, one can imagine the vast trek between the Seventh Immortal Positioning and the Eighth Immortal Positioning!

And the Eighth and the Ninth Immortal Positioning!

Time may be a prerequisite to further the immortal practitioner's attainment but this was different from attaining enlightenment. The higher the immortal ranking was, the more difficult to fathom attain perfect enlightenment in the next immortal ranking!

That required nothing short of a miracle beyond the Sixth Immortal Positioning!

That was why earlier when the Heavenly Kings realized that the Jade Emperor and the Western Paradise Heavenly King were the first of the first generation immortals to attain the Seventh Positioning, they were in disbelief and were startled!

Or else with so many opposing Heavenly Kings uniting to fight against the Jade Emperor and the Western Paradise Heavenly King, it was impossible for them to persist for so long till the arrival of Yi Ping and his group!

And they were further shocked to find out that there were more practitioners of the Seventh and Eighth Immortal Positioning in this newly arrival group!

Naturally, Yi Ping's group caused all the fighting factions to unite. It was because it was obvious that his group posed a great threat to them in obtaining the Flower of Life!

At the moment, another Heavenly King, the Marshal Heavenly King with a kick and a blow had quickly sent Asura to scurry backward as he shouted, "How dare you a group of acephalous mob even dream of contesting against us for the Flower of Life! This is unthinkable in the past!"

The Goddess Asura gasped for breath as she slide several steps backward with sudden explosive impact for every step that she had taken before she finally hummed coldly, "In the past, it is indeed unthinkable! Even though you are a first generation immortal but you are struck in the Sixth Immortal Positioning while I am on the Seventh Immortal Positioning now! I am afraid that it may take you a while to defeat even an acephalous mob such as me. Shame on you!"

The Marshal Heavenly King was furious as he blinked instantly upon her in the next instant as he rained down dozens of explosive tremendous blows, with a dozen strikes that landed on the Goddess Asura despite her best efforts to defend herself with her divine staff!

He shouted, "Do you even know what is the Flower of Life in the first place?! You are just a lowly immortal! Do you even know what is the true purpose of the Stellar Sanctuary in the first place?!"

The Goddess Asura coughed out a bout of golden blood but she continued to fight back with defiance in her eyes, "I do not know? Then do you know?"

The Marshal Heavenly King shouted angrily, "I do not know? Rubbish! The Flower of Life is the genesis of life and it is the true map of the Stellar Sanctuary! And the true purpose of the Stellar Sanctuary…"

All of a sudden the Heavenly Pagoda King flashed next to the Marshal Heavenly King and interrupted his next strike on the Goddess Asura as he looked into him coldly, "You have said too much! You shouldn't have revealed it. They do not know a thing!"

The Goddess Asura, Lele, Lie Qing, the Celestial Liege and Yi Si were startled at the new revelations.

Asura quickly muttered, "The genesis of life? The true map of the Stellar Sanctuary? The true purpose of the Stellar Sanctuary?…"