Chapter 382 - Plucking the Stars From the Sky
“Mr. Li, shall we depart…now?” Ziye took a deep breath. She was irrecoverably nervous.
“No rush. I’ll deal with some things first. Please, wait for a moment.”
Li Nianfan smiled. He looked at the hot steamer and said, “Oh, yeah. Goddess Ziye, if you like my puppet dough, I should give this steamer to you. Xiao Bai, help Goddess Ziye pack it up.”
It was common courtesy. Since Goddess Ziye gave him two seeds, he had to be polite and give something back.
Then, he took the two seeds into the storage room and started to cause a commotion while looking for something.
Soon, he walked out of the storage room with a small container. He slowly walked towards the backyard.
Ziye and the others looked at the small container. It had translucent liquid inside. It seemed ordinary but everyone felt their hearts race.
They could not forget about that.
‘That’s the growth serum. It must be the growth serum!’
Extraordinary people could look ordinary. The same could be said for treasures.
The growth serum looked like ordinary water. However… It was a legendary liquid that defied the laws of nature.
‘Awesome.
‘We’d probably be eating peaches and plums in no time.’
Everyone sat and waited. After a while, Li Nianfan walked out from the backyard. He satisfyingly smiled and said, “Alright, shall we…depart?”
Ziye suddenly stood up. She could not contain her excitement. She smiled and said, “Yeah, anytime.”
Li Nianfan felt sentimental that he was able to befriend such a kind Seventh Princess.
Then, everyone rode on clouds and slowly rose to the sky.
Ziye became the tour guide. She said, “Mr. Li, I stay at the Ice Palace in the Above Immortal Realm. That’s also where the Heavenly Gates of the Heavenly Palace is at. Later, we’ll pick an intersection route from the Immortal Realm. We can go directly from there.”
“Whatever you decide, Goddess Ziye.”
Li Nianfan smiled. He stepped on a golden cloud and flew in a direction.
He looked up to the sky as he rose. The sky was like a blanket, slowly descending upon him. He was curious where the Above Immortal Realm was at.
However, before he could observe anything closely, he felt a movement in the air. It was like bursting through ripples after resurfacing from beneath the water. They swam past an invisible border and peeked their heads out in the Above Immortal Realm.
They arrived at a vast field when they reappeared again.
The land was filled with grass and flowers. There were forests in the distance filled mostly with small trees.
Li Nianfan was slightly startled. He asked, “We’re here? We don’t need to fly anymore?”
Ziye said, “No need. The Heavenly Gates are gone. The restriction between the three realms is basically gone. Great cultivators can easily pass between the three realms now.”
“Yo, awesome. This is much more convenient. Good, good.”
Li Nianfan remembered when the Immortals would be struck by lightning whenever they went to the Immortal Realm. The lightning was not useful or effective but they still had to be struck. Transcending to the Above Immortal Realm also seemed difficult. It was much more convenient now that the bridge was wide open.
Everyone else silently glanced at Li Nianfan. They pursed their lips to stop themselves from cursing him out.
‘Of course, you think it’s good. The realm became like this because of you, right?’
‘Are you trying to compliment yourself?’
Ziye coughed and interrupted Li Nianfan and said, “Mr. Li, the Heavenly Palace is up there.”
“Up there?” Li Nianfan looked up in surprise. “Are we going to reach outer space?”
The clouds continued to rise.
He did not feel any obstacles at that time. He looked up at the sky and saw thick clouds. The clouds were as huge as an ocean. It was endless!
They passed through the clouds and opened their eyes again. They arrived in front of a huge gate.
The gate was broken. Only two pillars and half a sign were left.
Li Nianfan was slightly startled. “Southern Sky Gate?”
They walked into the Southern Sky Gate and stepped on the bridge above the Sky River. He looked at the palace amongst the clouds with a complex gaze. He had arrived at the Heavenly Palace.
Li Nianfan shook his head and said, “It looks like how I imagined it to be but something’s off. It isn’t majestic enough.”
The Heavenly Palace was beautiful and had clouds as paths. The basics were there but there was no Immortal Qi and magical phenomenon. The Heavenly Palace was very quiet. It was different from what he expected.
Buzz!
Suddenly, the quiet buildings beamed strands of light. The lifeless palace instantly became a light source. The Heavenly Palace was shining brightly.
The light beamed into thin air and formed a magical phenomenon. The Heavenly Palace became a holy and opulent place.
Splash!
The water of the Star River started to flow. There were no waves. Instead, in the river were endless stars.
The stars sparkled, decorating the river water. The colorful Star River was eye-catching.
Dang!
Immortal Music played softly from afar. A sky full of sunset halos shined. Then, a Rainbow Bridge appeared from South to North. Cranes were flying around the rainbow.
It was shiny, prestigious, and regal. Immortal Qi surrounded the palace as Immortal Music echoed.
The palace was like a pearl covered in dust, dust that was suddenly blown away.
“This…this is…”
Ziye, who was next to Li Nianfan, instantly widened her eyes. She gasped. She was so excited that she had goosebumps. It was as if she was back at the original Heavenly Palace.
She always felt like the Heavenly Palace would have hope if she brought the expert. She did not expect the nice surprises to come so early. A comment from the expert revived the lifeless Heavenly Palace.
Actually, the entire Heavenly Palace was a Spiritual Treasure. It was born from the realm. It was a Demon Palace at first, which Hongjun gave to the Jade Emperor. Then, it became the Heavenly Palace. After the catastrophe, the treasure ceased to function. It did not shine anymore and it would not be activated.
However, the expert arrived. ‘Did it start to present itself like crazy to impress the expert?’
1
“Haha, I knew it. This is how the Heavenly Palace should look like.” Li Nianfan was slightly surprised. Then, he had to ask, “This Heavenly Palace is so prideful. What if it became like that because I said something just now?”
Ziye felt her skin crawl because Li Nianfan showed off. She forced herself to reply, “Ha-ha… Stop joking, Mr. Li. Of course, n—not.”
A beautiful orange figure flew in their direction from afar. She looked startled by the sudden lights in the Heavenly Palace. She was excited and in disbelief.
‘What’s going on?
‘The Heavenly Palace is back in business?’
She quickly flew to the Southern Sky Gate and saw her Seventh Sister. Then, her heart instantly raced when she saw that her Seventh Sister was carefully standing next to a man. Her skin crawled. She almost turned around to flee.
‘It’s him, it’s that guy!
‘No wonder the lifeless Heavenly Palace works again.
‘Come on, Seventh Sister. Shouldn’t you warn me before bringing the expert here? At least let me be mentally prepared!’
She felt uneasy. However, she noticed that Li Nianfan had seen her, so she could only force herself to go.
‘Time for an improvisation test.’
The girl with the orange dress remained calm. She flew in gracefully like a beautiful Goddess. She glided in with her slim arms in the air as her orange dress blew in the wind. She waved and out came a halo around her. She was holy, graceful, and prestigious…
“Seventh Sister.”
She gracefully landed in front of everyone. She slightly bowed, smiled, and asked, “You brought guests today?”
“Second Sister,” greeted Ziye. Then, she introduced her to Li Nianfan. “Mr. Li, this is my Second Sister. Her name is Cheng Yi.”
‘She’s indeed the Second Princess. I finally got to see her in person.’
Li Nianfan already guessed who she was. He hurriedly saluted and smiled, “Greetings to Goddess Cheng Yi.”
Cheng Yi bowed politely at Li Nianfan. “Mr. Li, I heard about you from Zi. You are the great Deluxe Merit Saint so just call me Cheng.”
‘This lady is truly Ziye’s sister. Ziye feels like a bit of a brat compared to her sibling.’
Li Nianfan did not mind bonding with her. He nodded and said, “Lady Cheng.”
Ziye at the side hurriedly said, “Oh yeah, Mr. Li, you can call me Zi from now on, too. Otherwise, it’d be too formal.”
1
Li Nianfan smiled. “Ha, okay then.”
“I didn’t know we’ll be having guests today so I didn’t prepare much, so sorry about that,” Cheng Yi said while moving aside. “How about I bring you to look at the Heavenly Palace’s view, Mr. Li?”
“Nice.”
Li Nianfan nodded and followed Cheng Yi. They walked on the cloud path. Rainbow lights illuminated the path when they glided across it. They seemed to be reminding everyone that they were at the Heavenly Palace.
He smiled and said, “It’s much better with the lights, everything’s shiny and bright.”
Cheng Yi smiled and said, “As long as you like it, Mr. Li.”
The Heavenly Palace was big. Most of the buildings were connected with cloud bridges, or they needed to fly on clouds to get there. The layout was very interesting.
Li Nianfan visited a lot of the palaces out of curiosity. He realized that the people inside were turned to stone. They looked peaceful.
Cheng Yi brought Li Nianfan to a wide and high tower. She said, “Mr. Li, this is the observatory. There are a lot of observatories in the Heavenly Palace but the view here’s the best.”
It was evening and the sun was setting. A red cloud covered the sky and spread to the horizon.
The Heavenly Palace was called the Heavenly Palace because it was high up in the sky and they could look down upon the realms.
They could see the split realms from afar. The sky was separated—one part was a fiery sunset, and the other was a night sky.
For Li Nianfan, that was the endless universe.
Multiple stars and galaxies were aligned with the Heavenly Palace. They shined and glimmered, sometimes bright, sometimes dark. Sometimes they were far, sometimes they were near. A cool silver sphere hung high in the sky. Li Nianfan did not need an introduction to know that it must be the moon. It was also the legendary Moon Palace.
At that moment, nothing was out of reach.
Plucking the stars from the sky was no longer just a rumor.