The Western Heavenly Realm. The Xihe Domain. The Lingyun Kingdom.

The ruins of Sunlight City.

“Made it at last…” Ever since word of the Heavenly Realm’s campaign had reached them, Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor and the Underworld Emperor had been traveling like madmen, and at last they had reached the one spacetime rift that could take them secretly back to the Sky Tower. When they had first entered the Heavenly Realm, with the strength they had then, they could never have managed a chain of teleports across such an enormous distance. But after walking so many roads of life and death, they had advanced a great deal. They were not Yue Yang, but they had still improved astonishingly, by leaps and bounds every day; they had long since been remade from the inside out and had risen to entirely new realms they would never have dared imagine before!

On wills as hard as steel, and by teleporting like madmen without sparing any effort, they reached their destination just before they collapsed from exhaustion and could not get up again.

Gao Peng, the Sky Prison King, was quietly waiting for them with a group of old men who had been imprisoned in the Heavenly Realm until Yue Yang broke open their prison and let them see daylight again.

In fact, in their first discussions, Gao Peng the Sky Prison King and the others had not wanted the “younger generation” — Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor, the Underworld Emperor, Ye Kong, Sea Fatty, Xue Tanglang, Tianra Prince — to take part in the Sky Tower’s life-and-death battle. They could not see the future. They did not know who would win in the end, and how powerful the Heavenly Realm legions were! They felt that if they threw every one of the young generation in, only to have them all wiped out in a single battle, it would be better to keep a few of the most outstanding hidden away, to leave the Sky Tower a seed from which it could carry on… Only Yue Yang’s return had changed their minds, by what he did.

Whether or not Yue Yang was willing to take charge of the Sky Tower, Gao Peng the Sky Prison King and the other old men already regarded him as the new Prison Emperor.

The argument Yue Yang had used to persuade them was very simple. It was a single sentence: The Sky Tower has to throw in everything it has, or it will be wiped out — there’s no other possibility!

Facing the powerful Central Divine Hall, which had schemed and planned for so many years, and facing invading legions surging in from across the whole Heavenly Realm, more than anyone could count, if the Sky Tower’s guardians held back even the smallest part of their strength, they would surely be wiped out.

Rather than save their strength in the hope of rising again someday, it was better to throw everything into one desperate bid. At least the second way still had a thread of hope — still some faint possibility.

“We’re not going back. These old bones of ours will stay here and fight. The Sky Tower has no need of us old men, who should long since have followed the Prison Emperor into the long sleep. Its rise, its future — they belong to you!” Gao Peng the Sky Prison King had decided to stay in the Heavenly Realm and look for the best moment to take the Heavenly Realm legions down with them. To Tianzhu and the others, who had come back in time for the decisive battle, he gave a small wave of his hand, signaling there was no need to try to talk him out of it. His mind was already made up.

“Seniors, then we’ll take our leave.” Tianzhu bowed to them.

This farewell might well be forever. But that too was the custom of the Sky Tower’s guardians, generation after generation: in death, the soul still stands guard. Back when Yue Yang had not yet grown strong, and the Nine Luminaries Empress had invaded with her whole clan, the old men of the Heaven Devil Hall had blown themselves up with the enemy without a moment’s hesitation to turn the tide…

If Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor and the Underworld Emperor ever saw Ye Kong, Sea Fatty and Xue Tanglang in mortal danger, they surely would not hesitate to do the same.

That was the spirit of sacrifice of the Sky Tower’s powers, and the will to guard that belonged to them. It was only because of this thing that went beyond life itself that the Sky Tower, beset by so many disasters, had survived to this day.

“Wait a moment.” Gao Peng the Sky Prison King tossed three treasures to Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor and the Underworld Emperor.

“This is…?” What landed in Tianzhu’s hand was the divine artifact Yue Yang had left for him — the ancient divine sword “Lihen.” In the Trial Grounds, before God-Slayer died his heroic death, Yue Yang had promised that remarkable man he would find the most fitting master for the divine sword he had held. In the past, Yue Yang, for his part, would certainly have kept the ancient divine sword for himself. But God-Slayer had shaken him too deeply, and the transmigrator had no wish to forget or erase the sword’s master. So he had decided to find the person best matched to the ancient divine sword — the one best able to carry on God-Slayer’s will and best suited to unleash Lihen’s power — and give it to him. That person was Tianzhu, the foremost madman of the Heaven Devil Hall!

There was no one in the world better suited to hold Lihen than Tianzhu.

It was not that Yue Yang could not have won Lihen’s acknowledgment. But his Sovereign Intent went far beyond God-Slayer’s sword intent, and the moment the sword accepted him as its master, it would inevitably erase God-Slayer’s memories and will. Rather than that, it was better to give it to Tianzhu and let Tianzhu become a second God-Slayer.

And with Tianzhu’s potential, plus God-Slayer’s inheritance, he was certain to achieve even greater things in the future.

“You’re the most fitting heir, and it’s what that little fellow Yue Yang wants. But the war hasn’t left you much time — three days at most. I hope that in the next three days you can take in as much of the inheritance as possible and comprehend a new realm!” Gao Peng the Sky Prison King told Tianzhu that he had only three days to comprehend.

If he could not take in the greatest part of the inheritance within three days, he probably would not make it back in time for the Sky Tower’s life-and-death battle… And without the divine sword Lihen in hand, how much help could the three of them really give Yue Yang if they went back on their own?

Tianzhu gripped the sword Lihen, and his whole body was trembling.

Nerves, excitement and wild joy very nearly knocked him flat — him, the foremost great Heaven Devil, who looked down on the whole world.

He gently stroked the spine of Lihen’s blade. With the most devout and grateful heart, he felt for the sword intent its previous master, God-Slayer, had left behind, and for the unique sword spirit that this ancient divine sword, the divine artifact Lihen, had forged drop by drop over endless years… At the same time, deep in his heart, he spoke his own wish, declared his own will, and showed his own Sovereign Intent, unlike anyone else’s!

“Rumble…“

In an instant, his heart and mind resonating with the sword spirit, Tianzhu sank into the divine sword’s endless memories. In that moment he saw not only Lihen’s birth but also its previous master, God-Slayer — his cultivation, his comprehension and his battles in life!

And in that same instant, Tianzhu felt his own heart beating together with the heart of that stranger named God-Slayer. The rhythms of their heartbeats drew closer and closer, until at last they merged into one, with no difference left between them.

Unlike Tianzhu, who inherited God-Slayer’s divine sword Lihen, what the Dragon Emperor received was not a divine artifact but the “Demon-Subduing Pestle” of a senior of the Eastern Demon Clan.

“This is a special treasure, completely different from a divine artifact, with its boundless power and its loyalty to its master. It not only has great destructive power — it’s also a ‘double-edged sword’ that can hurt its wielder as well as the enemy. Think it through carefully. If you hold this weapon, touched by a power of the East, you must have no demon in your heart. Otherwise, the first person it destroys will be you!” Gao Peng the Sky Prison King looked gravely at the Dragon Emperor. “A senior of yours used it once, and the result was that friend and foe were destroyed alike. That is the destructive will of this Demon-Subduing Pestle!”

“As one of a renegade clan of the East, there is not a day I do not long to return to the right path. Even if I use it only once — if it lets me return to my true self, that is what Long Xuan has dreamed of!” The Dragon Emperor received the Demon-Subduing Pestle with deep respect and raised the treasure above his head, to show his awe, and his reverence for his predecessor and for the top-tier power who had imbued the treasure with his power.

What the Underworld Emperor received was the quasi-divine artifact “Sky Prison,” a personal gift from Gao Peng the Sky Prison King.

It was the most powerful treasure Gao Peng the Sky Prison King could give. To raise the strength of the next generation, and to set himself entirely free, he had brought out the ultimate treasure that had once been his own.

“This is all there is. I have to say, as a senior, I’ve done a rather poor job of it!” Gao Peng shook his head with a wry smile.

“No!” Holding the quasi-divine artifact Sky Prison, the Underworld Emperor — whose knees had never once bent — dropped to them, moved. From eyes that had never once shed a tear, two lines of the tears he had always thought only weak humans would cry slid down his face. “Youming understands your meaning completely now! And Youming knows himself well enough — with his aptitude, he could never win a divine artifact’s acknowledgment. This is what suits me best… Senior, someday, when Youming too must return to the earth, Youming promises you he will find the best of the next generation to carry on your will!”

“Ha ha! As long as you don’t hold it against us old fellows for being stingy, that’s enough. You still have three days — work hard! This little bit of help is all we can give. I don’t know what kind of future that little fellow will lead you into, but whatever it is — good luck to you!”

Gao Peng the Sky Prison King laughed out loud. He turned back to stand with the other old men, and together they saluted Tianzhu, the Dragon Emperor and the Underworld Emperor, who were steeped in sword intent — most courteously, the way the Sky Tower’s powers greeted one another… In that moment, they were no longer revered seniors of the younger generation, but comrades-in-arms fighting side by side, all working to guard the Sky Tower!

Amid their laughter, they drifted away.

Their future might never come, but they had resolved to go down with the enemy, and they would be remembered in history forever.

Whether a thousand or ten thousand years from now, or long after those who come later have forgotten, the mark they left by existing and fighting can never be erased. Among the guardians of generation after generation, some may be famous down the ages and some may be quiet and unknown, recognized by no one, but what they did, and what they guarded, is no different.

Memory may break off and forget. But history does not treat these warriors differently. Whether famous down the ages or quiet and unknown, they are all warriors of the Sky Tower, all part of the will passed down through history, carrying on what came before and opening the way for what comes after.

Life does not lie in its length, and ability does not lie in its strength. All of them are brilliant stars shining with endless glory in the sky, and it is they who remember the long river of history and make it shine!

Beneath the ancient pine of the game world on the Sky Tower’s Longteng Continent, Grand Hall Master Dongfang, in the guise of a middle-aged scholar, held back his anger as he studied his board. He, who left nothing to chance, found that the shape of his game had changed again. The change was tiny and did not seem to affect the whole, but what he hated was that it was beyond anything he had expected. It stirred in him a feeling he was not at all used to and loathed to the extreme: something he could not control.

Pieces held firmly in my own hand — how could they possibly slip out of the control of the one moving them?

Who is secretly helping these pitiful pieces?

Without someone pushing from behind the scenes, pieces cannot go beyond the shape of the game… So who is it? The Divine Hall Supreme, waiting to profit like the fisherman? Surely he isn’t that foolish? At the most critical moment, to give the Sky Tower a breath of life? Impossible. The Divine Hall Supreme’s final aim is to seize the Ruins of the Gods. He would never do such a thing. The Sky Tower must be completely destroyed, or no one will ever get the Ruins of the Gods… If not him, then who? The Golden Emperor? No, the Golden Emperor has left!

Then who could it be?

The Demon Emperor?

The Demon Emperor, who hides himself so deep that even I cannot fathom what is on his mind — is he helping them in secret?

Or is it the Immovable Supreme, who is all harmony on the surface but never stops trying to wrest power from my hands? That old fellow is actually the more suspicious of the two!

“Whoever it is, as long as he is in my game, he is a piece, and no one can turn the game around — not even that Yue Titan, whose luck defies heaven!” Grand Hall Master Dongfang gave a cold laugh, and calm and confidence returned to his eyes, for he had quietly set down another piece in the game.

(End of Chapter 1278)