Chapter 128

Chapter 128: The Divine Official!

The robed elder spoke as he ran, and in the blink of an eye, he had vanished into the distant horizon.

Ye Tianming did not have his puppets continue the chase. Instead, he turned and rode his sword through the air with Zhantai Zhan, heading into the distance. The most pressing matter was to escort this senior out of this universe.

In the distance, the robed elder saw that Ye Tianming had not sent the puppets after him, and he immediately let out a sigh of relief. His face was pale and his nerves were still rattled, because he had never imagined that Ye Tianming would actually be able to refine Nalan Ling and the others into puppets.

Puppets at the Circle-Breaking Realm!

It was clear that Ye Tianming had obtained some great opportunity inside that special ruin, and moreover, he could sense that Ye Tianming’s strength had also improved tremendously.

The robed elder reined in his thoughts, turned, and disappeared into the horizon. This matter had to be reported to the academy and the major clans and sects immediately.

Guanxuan Academy, the Cabinet.

Bai Ci was still serving as acting Chief Minister, overseeing the Cabinet. As for Yang Jia, he had been in secluded cultivation in preparation for the upcoming Universe Grand Tournament, since he absolutely could not afford to lose again this time.

Because the entire universe was waiting for his battle with Ye Tianming!

Before Bai Ci, a woman in blue robes was respectfully delivering her report.

After a long while, Bai Ci looked up at the woman in blue. “All of them were refined into puppets?”

The woman in blue nodded. “Yes. Also, Ye Tianming’s strength has improved greatly. He is now at the Supreme Immortal Realm, though his true combat power is unknown.”

Bai Ci set down the brush in his hand, rose, and slowly walked to the entrance of the hall, gazing out at the horizon in silence.

The woman in blue continued, “Those clans and sects have been defying the Young Master’s orders, secretly moving against Ye Tianming.”

Bai Ci let out a cold laugh. “They want the Law of All Beings.”

The woman in blue said with some concern, “If that law falls into their hands…….”

Bai Ci slowly closed his eyes. “If it falls into their hands, unless the Guanxuan Sword Master appears, no one will be able to keep them in check. And now that Nalan Ling and the others have been refined into puppets by Ye Tianming, they have every justification to go after him openly.”

The woman in blue furrowed her brow. “Cabinet Master, we must stop them.”

Bai Ci opened his eyes. “We will not.”

The woman in blue froze.

Bai Ci turned to look at her. “Do you think Ye Tianming is an ordinary person?”

The woman in blue shook her head. “Of course not. The one standing behind him is unfathomably powerful……. I imagine they also understand that whoever stands behind Ye Tianming is no ordinary figure. So why are they still doing this?”

“Arrogance!”

Bai Ci said slowly, “Over the years, these clans and sects have grown far too quickly under the shelter of Guanxuan Academy. Not just within the Guanxuan Universe — even across the entire universe, civilizations from other universes give them face and dare not offend them. How could they not become arrogant?”

The woman in blue said gravely, “They must be kept in check.”

Bai Ci said softly, “Only a Young Master who has truly grown into his power can keep them in check!”

The woman in blue suddenly opened her palm, and a sound-transmission talisman appeared in her hand. A moment later, she looked at Bai Ci. “The Nalan Clan and the other clans and sects are moving against Ye Tianming…… are you truly not going to stop them?”

Bai Ci looked out beyond the hall and said slowly, “Letting them wear each other down — that’s just fine.”

The woman in blue said gravely, “Cabinet Master, the Young Master has given an order that Ye Tianming must be kept alive…….”

Bai Ci suddenly asked, “In this Universe Grand Tournament, if the Young Master loses, what then?”

The woman in blue froze. “That…… seems rather unlikely, doesn’t it?”

Bai Ci shook his head. “Without Ye Tianming, the Young Master would naturally win without question. But Ye Tianming……. he holds the ‘Law of All Beings’ in his hands. The Young Master has no guarantee of victory. So if the Nalan Clan and the others truly eliminate Ye Tianming, that is not necessarily a bad thing…… And if the one behind Ye Tianming can eliminate the powerful figures from those clans and sects, that would also be fine. If they all die, that would be even better.”

The woman in blue said gravely, “Cabinet Master, I believe the Cabinet should walk the righteous path and abide by Guanxuan law.”

Bai Ci glanced at her. “Walking the righteous path is something the Young Master will do. These dark and dirty deeds — that is for us to handle. Understood?”

The woman in blue said nothing.

Bai Ci said softly, “Throughout history, those who hold power have always had a glorious image. Do you know why? Because there are people behind them doing the dirty work…… Pass the order down: the Guanxuan Divine Guard is not to interfere with those clans and sects. Let them act freely…….”

Half an hour later, Ye Tianming brought Zhantai Zhan to a desolate wasteland. At the edge of his vision, a heaven-reaching stone pillar stood between heaven and earth, its top nowhere to be seen — an utterly awe-inspiring and magnificent sight.

Ye Tianming looked at the heaven-reaching stone pillar and said softly, “Miss Zhan, the entrance to the True World is at the top of that pillar?”

Zhantai Zhan said, “Yes. Take me up.”

Ye Tianming was about to ride his sword upward when Zhantai Zhan suddenly said, “Walk.”

Ye Tianming turned to look at her, somewhat puzzled. Zhantai Zhan said, “There are two types of restrictions here. If you force your way up on your sword, you will be forcibly cut down.”

Ye Tianming nodded. “Alright.”

Along the edge of the heaven-reaching stone pillar, there was a narrow path of green stone that wound its way upward along the pillar.

Ye Tianming followed Zhantai Zhan onto the path. Zhantai Zhan looked down at the stone path beneath her feet. “Do you know what kind of path this is?”

Ye Tianming looked down at the stone path beneath him, and only now did he notice that it was covered with strange and mysterious runes.

He turned to look at Zhantai Zhan. “Miss Zhan, this is…?”

Zhantai Zhan said, “The Grand Dao Heavenly Stairway.”

Ye Tianming shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

Zhantai Zhan said, “The people of the lower universe are able to enter the boundary between the illusory and the real because the Guanxuan Sword Master and others broke through the true Grand Dao of the lower realm back in those days. But to truly enter the True World above, one must walk this Grand Dao Heavenly Stairway.”

Ye Tianming was somewhat curious. “Senior, what is the true Grand Dao?”

Zhantai Zhan glanced at him. “No need to rush into that.”

Ye Tianming nodded. “Understood.”

It was clear that the so-called true Grand Dao was still far beyond his reach. He had not actually thought too much about the future — what he was focused on now was raising his own strength, and then facing Yang Jia in battle.

Zhantai Zhan’s gaze fell once again on the path beneath her feet. “Back then, the Guanxuan Sword Master personally sealed the true Grand Dao laws within this Grand Dao Heavenly Stairway. From that point on, this stairway became an ordinary heavenly path that anyone could walk……”

As she spoke, her eyes slowly closed. “The Grand Dao of this Guanxuan Sword Master is not yet perfect. There are still flaws, still contradictions……”

Ye Tianming looked down at the path beneath him and slowly closed his eyes. Before long, he sensed two completely different Grand Daos. One of them felt familiar to him — somewhat similar to his own dark arts…… That was clearly the Guanxuan Sword Master’s Grand Dao.

Order!

The other Grand Dao was unfamiliar, and deeply obscure — impossible to describe or define.

Zhantai Zhan suddenly said, “You can sense it?”

Ye Tianming opened his eyes and looked at her. “Yes.”

Zhantai Zhan glanced at him and said nothing.

The two continued walking upward.

Along the way, Ye Tianming suddenly asked out of curiosity, “Miss Zhan, you must be an incredibly remarkable person in the True World, right?”

Zhantai Zhan said, “I am not from the True World.”

Ye Tianming was taken aback. “You are not from the True World?”

Zhantai Zhan gave a slight nod but said nothing more, only glancing at him.

Seeing that she had nothing more to say, Ye Tianming did not press further.

For the rest of the journey, neither of them spoke again. Ye Tianming simply walked quietly by Zhantai Zhan’s side.

About an hour later, the two arrived at the end of the Grand Dao Heavenly Stairway. At that end stood an enormous white jade mountain gate, thousands of zhang wide, built entirely of white jade — a breathtaking and magnificent sight.

“Boom!”

At that moment, within the mountain gate, countless auras suddenly surged. Wave after wave of terrifying Grand Dao pressure came crashing down like a tide, sweeping across everything.

Ye Tianming’s expression changed instantly. On instinct, he pulled Zhantai Zhan behind him and stared warily into the mountain gate.

Zhantai Zhan glanced at him and said nothing.

Just then, tens of thousands of armored warriors suddenly charged out from within the mountain gate. Each of these armored warriors radiated an aura of unfathomable depth — utterly terrifying.

And behind them stretched a spacetime corridor with no visible end, one that had forcibly torn open the entire True World.

Such a savage act of carving a spacetime corridor through the True World naturally drew the intervention of the “Heavenly Court,” which maintained order in the True World. Three thousand kinds of Grand Dao auras spread across heaven and earth, and at the same time, a voice suddenly rang out from the heavens, “Armored Guard……. you have violated the ‘Old Covenant’ and trespassed into the True World without permission……”

Within that voice was an unprecedented gravity, along with a trace of wariness.

At that moment, from within the spacetime tunnel, an armored warrior suddenly swept his sleeve, and a blood-red banner ten thousand zhang tall flew out. The moment it appeared, a terrifying battle intent instantly spread across the entire True World, suppressing all things.

At the same time, the banner released a ring of light that completely enveloped the space within a radius of one million li.

“The War Banner!”

In the shadows, powerful figures cried out in shock.

The armored warrior swept his gaze across the surroundings, utterly domineering. “Any who step within the circle shall be regarded as declaring war!”

The True World: “…….”

The three thousand Grand Dao auras halted outside the ring of light and drew no closer.

At the entrance to the True World, Ye Tianming stared at those warriors, his expression more solemn than it had ever been. He could not sense these people at all. He knew that the strength of every warrior before him had already surpassed his current understanding.

At that moment, the armored warriors suddenly knelt down in unison. “We pay our respects to the Divine Official.”

Divine Official?

Ye Tianming was momentarily stunned. The next instant, he snapped his head around to look at Zhantai Zhan beside him. “Miss Zhan…….”

Zhantai Zhan said nothing. She walked toward the distance. At that moment, an elder dressed in divine robes suddenly shattered the void and appeared before Zhantai Zhan. The elder in divine robes bowed deeply, his voice trembling, “Divine Official, your subordinate has arrived late. Please forgive me, Divine Official!”

Zhantai Zhan said nothing. Instead, she turned to look at Ye Tianming not far away and extended her hand, as if to once again invite him to come with her. At that moment, the elder in divine robes also turned his gaze to Ye Tianming. Upon seeing him, the elder was briefly stunned, then said with some excitement, “Divine Official, this young man is so outstanding — he must be the destined one Yang Jia that you have gone through so much hardship to find, yes? Congratulations, Divine Official, congratulations!”

Not far away, upon hearing the elder’s words, Ye Tianming was momentarily taken aback. Then he looked at Zhantai Zhan and laughed. “So Miss Zhan, you came here to find Yang Jia as well!”

Zhantai Zhan was about to say something, but not far away, the young man waved his hand. “Miss Zhan, thank you for your guidance during this time. I’ll be on my way.”

With that, the young man turned and walked away without looking back.

Zhantai Zhan stood there, frozen.

The next instant, she snapped her head around to look at the elder in divine robes.

Boom!

The elder’s physical body exploded directly.

Elder in divine robes: “???”