With a vacant stare, Qi Hai looked at the broken Sovereign Stele, then at the Path of Ingress leading straight into the central world. He raised his hand and almost slapped it down, but ultimately decided against the action.

Nephrite Major somehow already had a new celestial emperor on her throne, one who should’ve been in seclusion to refine the heavenly mandate. To fully refine a mandate required at least a thousand years!

In other words, apart from the dead Exalted and Truespirit celestial emperors, who’d earned the acknowledgment of their heavenly mandates, none of the others had mastered theirs in the truest sense. At most, they could borrow some strength from it.

However, the new generation of celestial emperors, including the now-deceased Zhao Changkong, had been groomed by their predecessors as their chosen heirs. From the moment they’d been born, they’d basked in their respective mandate’s nourishing warmth. Therefore, even if they’d been mere aether dao immortals before succeeding the throne, they would’ve quickly attained the origin dao realm once in full mastery of their mandates.

But unlike Zhao Changkong, neither Zhao Shenguang nor the other celestial emperors had benefited from similar advantages. Therefore, they would have to toil for a full millennium to refine their mandate and bring out its full strength.

Indeed, why else would the old imperial uncle have left the major’s ancestral vein in Lu Yun’s care?

But now… that oddity Zhao Shenguang had raised a fuss, demanding female immortals to wait upon him as soon as he’d arrived in Destiny City. Even more outrageously… he’d used Nephrite Major’s great treasure, the Path of Ingress, to break the Sovereign Stele and open the way to the central world!

In addition, the heavenly mandate’s light could be seen revolving around his figure, clear proof that he’d somehow refined it!

In terms of cultivation, he was a measly peerless immortal, an ordinary one bereft of formations of heaven and earth, someone who should’ve become obsolete in this brand-new era.

But for some strange, unimaginable reason, this kid was now the celestial emperor of Nephrite Major, and he’d even gotten his hands on the heavenly mandate and the court’s cherished treasure.

……

“Hahaha!” Zhao Shenguang laughed boisterously. “Ladies of Destiny City, are you swooning at this emperor’s graceful bearing yet…? Mommy, damn, what is that?!”

In his proudest, smuggest moment, his eyes happened to land on Ge Yanxia. He first froze for the duration of a breath, then shrieked with alarm, then… violently threw up on the spot.

“What is that thing? That, that lump, that pile, that thing’s not human and not a ghost. Men, take it away!” Suddenly remembering his lofty status, Zhao Shenguang wiped off his mouth, pointed at Ge Yanxia, and hollered loudly.

“Nephrite Celestial Emperor!” The lord of Destiny City walked out, somewhat displeased. “She is the master of the West Sea. Her status is as noble as yours.”

The city lord was barely holding in his irritation. For him, Zhao Fengyang was both a teacher and a friend. He’d met all of the emperor’s children, but the one he was least fond of happened to be Zhao Shenguang.

Sex was this fellow’s lifelong pursuit. He had a hundred dao partners in his harem, and stranger still… he was in the business of operating brothels. Be it the world of mortals or immortals, pleasure houses he’d personally established could be found everywhere.

Last time he’d come to Destiny City, he’d planned to open a brothel there, only to be kicked out by the city lord for his efforts. So now that this blackguard was here again, the city lord naturally didn’t bother to hide his annoyance.

On the other hand, he wasn’t particularly angry about the Path of Ingress smashing the Sovereign Stele. Rather, he very much approved of it.

“Master of the West Sea?” Zhao Shenguang blinked. “Dog of a West Sea Emperor?”

Snorts and stifled chuckles rose and fell in the crowd. Silverlight had just called the fur seal West Sea Dog Emperor, and now this curiosity of a Nephrite celestial emperor was adding fuel to the flames!

“You must be tired of living!” Furious, Ge Yanxia was about to strike when she suddenly realized she was being suppressed by the power of the land. Reeling from the pressure, she couldn’t help but shudder. Such was the power of a celestial mandate!

“Hmph!” Zhao Shenguang turned frosty. “West Sea Dog Emperor, West Sea Shaggy Seal! You freed the demon in Exalted Major and caused untold mayhem through the world, almost turning all of it into demonic soil! Not to mention, you also caused the deaths of the Truespirit and Exalted celestial emperors. How dare a lowly beast like you still set foot in my Nephrite Major? You court death!

“Men, take this sea bitch away!” His eyes gleamed with a tyrannical light, raging wrath palpable to the countless immortals nearby. Little did they know, the anger didn’t have much to do with the freed demon god or the two dead celestial emperors.

Rather… in that battle, many of his properties—his pleasure houses in Exalted Major—had been destroyed! His heart bled at the thought.

“At your command!”

Boom!

Four ear-splitting explosions rumbled through the sky. Visions of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise slowly took to the air. Together, they sealed off Ge Yanxia’s movements. At the same time, crystal cannons flashed into existence, their mouths glittering threateningly.

The Azure Dragon Phalanx, Vermilion Bird Phalanx, White Tiger Phalanx, and Black Tortoise Phalanx! These four great armies were the core of Nephrite Major’s strength! The soldiers stationed at the North Sea fortress at Dusk Province’s borders had been a mere subdivision of the Black Tortoise Phalanx!

The true Black Tortoise Phalanx was uniformly composed of august immortals. Together, they could manifest the Black Tortoise’s true self. Compared to Dusk Province’s Dusk Phalanx, it was so much more formidable, so much more daunting.

Add to that the other three armies… Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise— the formation shaped by all four sacred beasts made the very air tremble!

Deploying the power of the entire major, the heavenly mandate hovering over Zhao Shenguang bore down on Ge Yanxia. The four phalanxes launched their offensives at the same time.

Boundless in its grandeur, the divine power of the four sacred beasts crushed the fur seal like heavy mountains.

“Aaahhh!” Ge Yanxia screamed miserably, her body flattening into something that resembled black flatbread mashed into the ground. “Nephrite Celestial Emperor, I will have your head!!”

With a bloodcurdling scream, she opened her mouth and spat out a golden globe of light: the West Sea’s essence.

It immediately reshaped itself into a giant sword that ripped the sky open. As it did so, Ge Yanxia sacrificed part of her own flesh in a blood ritual and finally managed to flee Nephrite Major, leaving a mist of putrid blood in her wake.

“Ew, that’s so gross. That disgusting thing actually swallowed the West Sea’s essence. It’s going to be quite the trauma for whoever refines the essence next.” Zhao Shenguang chuckled.

The lord of Destiny City looked blankly at him, uncertain as to what he was supposed to say. As for Qi Hai, he hadn’t shown himself from start to finish, as if he’d fallen deeply asleep.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t forget the rest of you bastards!” Zhao Shenguang vented his spleen on the rest of the crowd. “You obviously know that repulsive fur seal is the demon god’s bitch, but here you are, happily rubbing shoulders with her. You were going to listen to that creature and block the way to the central world! You were going to destroy the future of your juniors! Or perhaps you, too, have sold yourselves to the demon god and want to sabotage the world of immortals?!”

Hum!

His heavenly mandate shook, amplifying his voice so that it resonated like the sound of the grand dao itself, so loud it could rouse the dead.