Chapter 525: A Single Tear
The preparations for escape began soon.
When Lu Heng once again stepped into the eerie world, the gods of the Heavenly Court collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Heng's previous mysterious disappearance left them without a leader. Although Sword King Huo Feng assured everyone not to worry about the Wolf God, Huo Feng didn't disclose the specific whereabouts of the Heavenly Lord to the group. Therefore, the gods of the Heavenly Court remained concerned.
Especially with the onset of the Earthly Catastrophe, the entire Celestial Desolation Realm turned into scorched earth, intensifying this anxiety to its utmost.
The relentless power of annihilation that continuously eradicated the Celestial Desolation Realm is capable of slaying even cultivators who have employed the Life Deviation Technique, exhibiting a truly terrifying peculiarity. Such an impact has even reached this eerie realm.
While Lu Heng returned, he didn't say much, but merely informed Candle Dragon and Jiu Mie of the existence of the final battle.
The gods of the Heavenly Court naturally follow Lu Heng's orders regarding their whereabouts. However, friends like Candle Dragon and Jiu Mie are not subordinates; Lu Heng respects their choices.
However, the choices of everyone are no different from Lu Heng's, even the impulsive Ao Tianxing opted to accompany Lu Heng to seek refuge in the Starry Sky Tomb, rather than choosing to sacrifice himself in the final battle.
Ultimately, the reason behind this is that everyone wholeheartedly trusts Lu Heng and believes that he will eventually lead them to a triumphant return.
As for the vast land of the Celestial Desolation Realm… It is not just the rising generation like Ao Tianxing, even ancient beasts like Candle Dragon and Nine Phoenix have little attachment to it. After all, they have long grown accustomed to the reality of tumultuous wanderings and desperate escapes in numerous Earthly Catastrophes.
Having never witnessed the ancient splendor of the Heavenly Court, their attachment to this world is not as profound as those ancient deities such as Chi You.
Facing the final battle, Nuwa and other ancient deities were unwilling to live in misery, choosing instead to engage in a decisive battle across the seven realms, safeguarding the last glory of the ancient Heavenly Court.
However, for individuals like Candle Dragon and Nine Phoenix, survival in the Celestial Desolation Realm is no different from surviving in the Earth Spirit Realm. If the Celestial Desolation Realm were to crumble, so be it. As long as they follow Lu Heng and escape this catastrophic ending, when Lu Heng returns and annihilates the enemies of the seven realms, there will be plenty of places to settle in this vast realm.
Therefore, no one objected to the plan of escape, and it was swiftly put into action.
The power of annihilation in the Celestial Desolation Realm is stirring, and apart from a few individuals such as Lu Heng, anyone else who departs from the eerie world will be instantly annihilated.
Facing the adversity, Lu Heng finally invoked the Cloud Sea Sky Palace, which had been suspended within his spiritual consciousness all along.
Lu Heng, initially unaware of the origins and condition of this vast palace, could only sense its primordial and ancient aura.
However, during the time he spent cultivating underground, he seemed to catch glimpses of fragments from the river of time and recalled certain fragments of memories from past lives.
And this Cloud Sea Sky Palace, which has always been hovering within Lu Heng's spiritual consciousness, is the manifestation of Lu Heng's cultivation foundation in his previous life, and it is also the Heavenly Court that he once established on Earth.
In his previous life, after comprehending the great Dao from the Fu Xi Treasure Trove, he was not stingy. He embarked on a missionary journey on Earth, even sharing the spiritual energy contained within the Fu Xi Treasure Trove with all beings on Earth. All creatures with innate spiritual talents and understanding of the Dao cultivated and comprehended under Lu Heng's guidance, becoming part of the Heavenly Court.
Those were the glorious years when all living beings prospered. Even though Lu Heng can only recall fragments of memories now, those brief moments still warm his heart.
Later, Lu Heng's cultivation reached its pinnacle and amidst the vast river of timeless void, he caught a glimpse of an indescribable gleam of lightning, comprehending the ways of celestial thunder.
Therefore, Lu Heng shed his original cultivation foundation and transformed it into an eternal Cloud Sea Sky Palace. He charted a new path and recommenced his cultivation from scratch. Only then did he transcend all beings and phenomenon, attaining the state that only Emperor Fu Xi had reached in the past.
Thus, this also attracted the fierce enmity of adversaries from Heaven beyond Heaven.
Lu Heng engaged in several consecutive battles within the Starry Sky Tomb, even penetrating the infinitely terrifying realm of Heaven beyond Heaven. In these battles, he slew supremely formidable opponents who were on par with the Emperor.
In the midst of such arduous battling, Lu Heng's Cloud Sea Sky Palace became the final refuge for Earth's cultivators. Each invasion by formidable adversaries was considered a catastrophe for the Earth.
The only solace was that those formidable adversaries from Heaven beyond Heaven held utter disdain even towards cultivators from various celestial realms, let alone the mundane beings on Earth who had never embarked on the path of cultivation.
Although cultivators within the Cloud Sea Sky Palace perished one after another, and Lu Heng's Heavenly Court narrowly escaped obliteration on several occasions, the mortal beings on Earth ultimately managed to eke out a survival.
While the mortal beings on Earth sought refuge by migrating to the Moon, Lu Heng, at last, mustered his final strength and led the gods of the Heavenly Court in a charge into Heaven beyond Heaven, confronting the boundless terror that loomed over the celestial realms.
However, the memories that followed were lost to Lu Heng.
The terror of Heaven beyond Heaven is so profound that even the river of time, which chronicles all things, cannot retrace the memories.
It is a horror that stands above all realms, an existence that cannot be touched even through the manipulation of time and space. It reigns supreme over all realms.
Lu Heng's only awareness is that his incursion into Heaven beyond Heaven resulted in his ultimate demise, where he was on the brink of perishing. By relying on a remnant soul of heavenly thunder, he narrowly escaped to the Celestial Desolation Realm and came back to life for a second existence. It took countless millions of years for him to fully recover.
As for the once bustling Heavenly Court, where gods once thrived and talents abounded, it now lay completely empty. Within the Cloud Sea Sky Palace, only remnants of the divine power of those deities lingered.
And their souls, on the other hand, were all utterly void.
Even Lu Heng's parents were among them…
Originally, Lu Heng had no intention of resorting to the power of the Cloud Sea Sky Palace. For him, this enigmatic and unfathomable realm was nothing but a monument brimming with infinite sorrow.
Each golden phantom meandering within the Heavenly Court represents his former subordinates, loved ones, and friends.
He wanted to seal it away forever, to prevent the world from disturbing those golden divine specters.
However, such a notion is no longer viable.
In order to safely escape the Celestial Desolation Realm with the gods of the Heavenly Court and avoid being annihilated by the cataclysmic forces beyond, Lu Heng had no choice but to open the Cloud Sea Sky Palace for these cultivators to take refuge in.
And such an outcome will result in the gradual disappearance of the golden phantoms who fought side by side with Lu Heng millions of years ago.
Because their residual divine power will imbue the newly established deities.
This will greatly enhance the power of the Heavenly Court, however…
Lu Heng stood below Mount Buzhou for over two months.
He remained standing before the eerie great rift, silently gazing into the center of the chasm without uttering a word.
The ruler of the Nine Li tribe, Chi You, once claimed that beneath Mount Buzhou lies dormant a dreadful multitude of malevolent spirits, which shall emerge upon the final battle.
However, in the present Mount Buzhou, he cannot perceive even the slightest hint of anomaly.
In the end, after a period of two months, Lu Heng fell into silence, only then departing from Mount Buzhou and returning once more to the abode of the divine beings of the Heavenly Court.
This time, he no longer remained silent, directly revealing the magnificent presence of the Cloud Sea Sky Palace, bringing forth once again the colossal Heavenly Court that once illuminated a world of starry seas.
Meanwhile, within the Cloud Sea Sky Palace, the gods of the Heavenly Court, filled with astonishment and reverence, received the imperial decree from Lu Heng and successively occupied the divine positions within.
As the golden silhouettes disappeared within the Heavenly Court, Lu Heng, standing on the ground, was momentarily dazed, as if he heard numerous laughter that felt both familiar and yet strangely unfamiliar.
He could no longer recall those voices, but they sounded so familiar, as if they had once been very close friends or family.
All the voices bid him farewell, filled with joy and happiness. It seemed that the reunion with Lu Heng brought them immense joy.
Thereafter, they gradually faded away into the distance.
On the gradually silent earth, the Heavenly Lord looked up quietly, with his eyes slightly closed. The only tear that flowed from the corner of his eyes was a testament to his awakening in this lifetime.
