As soon as Die Yi finished speaking, before anyone could act, their surroundings suddenly began to shake.
"What's happening?" Xuari shouted.
Jing Tao waved his sleeve, shielding Xuari behind him. "Be careful, Great Prince!"
The ambient energy became chaotic. The Yin Ghost Qi lost its original rhythm, scattering and dissipating wildly in all directions. The shaking intensified until the space they were in began to crack. The cracks grew larger and larger until finally, the barrier could no longer be maintained and collapsed entirely.
Only with this collapse did they realize this was not an illusion created by an array formation, but a truly independent space. The force of the spatial collapse instantly dealt them a tremendous impact.
"Pfft!" "Pfft!" Xuari and Xuanyue were the first to falter, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Jing Tao and Jing Hu hurriedly performed secret arts to protect them.
Mo Tiange wasn't faring much better. If not for her instinctive act of throwing out a puppet to shield herself just before the space collapsed, she would have been knocked down like Xuari and Xuanyue. The puppet emitted a "crack" sound and lost its glow.
She waved the Heaven-Earth Fan in her hand. The Azure Dragon roared, spewing a mass of golden lightning that rapidly spread into a golden net, enveloping the two of them.
Qin Xi's sword array hummed, protecting the two of them so thoroughly that not a drop could leak through.
At that moment, the tearing force generated by the spatial collapse swept them all up. The immense power nearly ripped them apart.
After an unknown length of time, Mo Tiange regained consciousness from her dizziness, gasping for breath.
"Tian Ge," Qin Xi helped her up. "Are you alright?"
Mo Tiange shook her head and sat up.
"Cough, cough..." Xuari, Xuanyue, and the others also clambered to their feet.
Looking around, their surroundings were a chaotic pile of Immortal Jade—the Immortal Palace had also collapsed.
"Great-Great-Grandfather! Great-Great-Grandfather!" A young girl's clear voice reached their ears.
Both Xuari and Xuanyue were startled. Following the sound, they turned their gaze to see a young girl kneeling not far away, shaking Amber who lay flat on the ground.
"Miaomiao!" they exclaimed in unison, utterly astonished.
Xuari hurriedly stood up. "Miaomiao, how are you here?"
Jin Jing—or rather, the Third Princess of the Southern Sea, Xuanmiao—ignored her brother's question, her eyes fixed anxiously on Amber, whose aura was faint.
"Divine Monarch Great-Great-Grandfather, what's wrong?" Xuanyue, forgetting the question Xuari had just asked, quickly stood and ran towards Amber.
Xuari also came to his senses and ran to Amber's side simultaneously with Xuanyue, kneeling down. "Great-Great-Grandfather! Great-Great-Grandfather!"
"Heh..." Amber regained consciousness, waving his hand to stop the three from trying to help him up. He propped himself up and sat cross-legged on the ground.
"The restriction has been broken. You can leave now," he said, his face pale, struggling even to support himself, yet still carrying an air of proud nonchalance.
"Great-Great-Grandfather, come out with us!" Xuanmiao cried.
Xuari and Xuanyue nodded repeatedly.
But Amber smiled. "I cannot leave."
Xuanmiao was stunned. "Didn't Great-Great-Grandfather destroy the artifact spirit of the Immortal Palace? Since the restriction is broken, why can't you leave?"
Amber raised his hand. The bracelet on his wrist still flickered with light. "Just now, when you purified your bloodline, I was able to borrow your body to exert most of my power. Now the Six Paths Palace is destroyed, and the external restriction is broken. But what imprisons me is not merely a single Six Paths Palace."
"Is there really no other way?"
"Even if there were a way, would they permit it?" Amber smiled, looking up at the sky.
Mo Tiange didn't know their feelings, but she had never felt the presence of the Heavenly Dao as clearly as she did at this moment. Thinking of Amber's fate, she couldn't help but recall the words her master had once said: they were all puppets of the gods.
The three Qilin remained silent for a long time before Xuanyue murmured, "Had we known it would be like this, what would it matter if we were trapped here for life? In the end, we've only implicated Great-Great-Grandfather..."
"You are too soft-hearted," Amber sighed. "Your elder brother lacks sufficient intellect, while you lack sufficient temperament. Neither of you can outplay your little sister."
They both had Tier 10 great demons protecting them, yet they never discovered she was right beside them all along. And the two people they trusted most by their sides had been planted with her confidants. Amber curled his lips into a smile, looking towards Ni Qi, who stood guard beside Xuanmiao, and Die Yi, who had shed her haughtiness and walked over to pay her respects. But it didn't matter. They were all his descendants. Whoever won was the same.
"Divine Monarch Grandfather, what are you saying?" Xuari was still bewildered.
Jing Hu and Jing Tao, however, exchanged a glance and sighed simultaneously. They had both lost. The meaning of the Divine Monarch's words clearly indicated his support for the Third Princess's ascension. Who would have thought that after contending for over ten thousand years, they wouldn't lose to each other, but to the Third Princess they had never considered? Who could have imagined it? That Third Princess who always remained aloof from affairs would possess such cunning.
"Enough," Amber roused his spirits, adopting a solemn expression. "Time is short. There are some things I must tell you. Remember every single word clearly, understand?"
The three were taken aback. Xuanmiao asked, "Great-Great-Grandfather, what do you mean?"
"The Six Paths Palace is not so easy to deal with," Amber smiled. His face had always worn a smile, as if none of this mattered, but the words he spoke carried weariness. "My oil is exhausted, my lamp is dry. My time to pass away is imminent."
Everyone was stunned for a moment. After a pause, the three Qilin cried out in sorrow, "Great-Great-Grandfather!" The other demonic cultivators also wore expressions of grief.
"What are you all doing?" Amber, the person in question, wore an expression of utter calm. "Trapped here for over a hundred thousand years, I grew weary of it long ago. Without freedom, what use is endless longevity? Today, perishing together with the Six Paths Palace is instead a liberation."
Xuanyue was heartbroken. "If not for us, Great-Great-Grandfather wouldn't have..."
"Say no more," Amber raised his hand, stopping his self-reproach. "Don't waste time."
Xuanyue couldn't conceal his sorrow but obediently fell silent.
Amber flicked a finger. An invisible barrier appeared around them. He said, "Do not inquire about the things I have done. This is not something your current realm can meddle in. Even I was merely a moth flying into the flame, a futile effort."
"Great-Great-Grandfather," Xuari asked, puzzled, "if that's the case, why did you do it?"
Amber gave a bitter smile but didn't answer, continuing instead. "These past days, I've listened to you speak of the current situation. Based on my speculation, I'm afraid another great upheaval in the world is coming."
"Another?" Xuanmiao noticed he had said 'again'.
Amber nodded slowly. "You probably don't know this. Every hundred thousand or several hundred thousand years in the mortal realm, a great upheaval occurs, plunging the world into chaos and bringing suffering to all living beings. When the chaos reaches a certain degree, it will destroy heaven and earth, extinguishing all life."
"Ah!" The three exclaimed in shock.
Xuanyue was the first to think of the legends of the "Ancient Times" and "Primordial Times" he had heard during his travels in Yunzhong. The end of both those eras was accompanied by earth-shattering events.
"Is there no way to be spared?" Xuanmiao asked. "Our Xumi Sea does not participate in worldly conflicts. It was only after discovering clues this time and coming to seek Great-Great-Grandfather's legacy abode that we clashed with human cultivators. It wasn't intentional."
"Naturally, there is," Amber said. "Back before I was imprisoned, the world was already in great upheaval. To preserve a trace of our bloodline, I traveled far to the Southern Sea and created a small world within it—your Xumi Sea."
"Ah..." Xuanmiao gasped softly. She hadn't expected Xumi Sea to have originated this way.
"Living beings with profound Opportunity can be exempt from such a fate, surviving until the next epoch begins, giving rise to the next flourishing era," Amber said. "After you return this time, do not leave Xumi Sea again unless the world stabilizes once more."
"Great-Great-Grandfather..." The three were sorrowful.
Amber continued, "I understand your current predicament. Earlier, I already transformed Xuanmiao's body; she is now a true Qilin. Next, I will transform both of your bodies as well. Remember, when calamity strikes, you must work together with one heart, and avoid internal strife."
"Yes," Xuari and Xuanyue bowed their heads in assent. Having contended against each other for so many years, their initial fervor for the monarch's position had actually faded. It was more about not wanting the other to succeed. Now that Xuanmiao had first gained Great-Great-Grandfather's favor, they didn't feel much resentment.
"Good. Let's begin then," Amber said lightly. With a hand seal, two drops of essence blood flew from between his brows, slowly merging into the brows of Xuari and Xuanyue. They groaned softly as the pure Qilin bloodline stirred up raging waves and towering billows within their bodies.
Amber flicked his finger again, and the barrier dissipated. He looked towards Jing Hu and Jing Tao. "You two, come here."
Jing Hu and Jing Tao stepped forward, kneeling and kowtowing. "Divine Monarch."
Amber said, "They are currently purifying their bloodlines. Protect them well."
Jing Hu and Jing Tao were both shocked and overjoyed. "Yes, we juniors obey."
Waving his hand for them to step back, Amber looked towards Mo Tiange and Qin Xi. "And you two."
Mo Tiange was surprised, pointing at herself and Qin Xi. "Us?"
Amber nodded.
The two stepped forward and, at Amber's indication, sat down before him.
Amber once again cast a soundproofing barrier but kept looking at them without speaking.
"Senior, if you have any instructions, please speak freely," Qin Xi said.
Amber looked at him and suddenly said, "The Vermilion Bird aura on that bird comes from you, doesn't it?"
Qin Xi paused, then nodded in admission. "That's correct."
Amber asked again, "And where did your Vermilion Bird aura come from?"
Qin Xi didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Mo Tiange. His Vermilion Bird aura was related to both their experiences and also implicated the Azure Dragon aura. To explain one, he would have to explain both.
Mo Tiange nodded to him, indicating she had no objection. To an existence like Amber, what were their Opportunities? He himself was a Divine Beast. The Divine Beast aura that all cultivators in the world dreamed of was nothing noteworthy to him.
Qin Xi said, "This starts with my wife's experiences..." He recounted how Mo Tiange traveled far, obtained the Fusheng Sword, how he sought her out in Yunzhong, how the two entered the Guixu Sea Immortal Palace, discovered the Vermilion Bird Sacrificial Temple, and so on.
"So that's how it is," Amber said after listening, looking at them with a sigh. "For you to have found the Five Spirit Sacrificial Temples, your Opportunity is truly profound."
Hearing his tone, he clearly knew of the existence of the Five Spirit Sacrificial Temples. Mo Tiange quickly pressed further. "Senior knows of them? Are these Five Spirit Sacrificial Temples truly interconnected?"
"Mm," Amber said. "The sacrificial temples have existed for a very long time. After the destruction of the Primordial Era, they remained unknown until our world was on the brink of destruction, when they were discovered."
Mo Tiange couldn't wait to ask, "Then does Senior know what exactly is the origin of these sacrificial temples? What kind of secret do they hold?"
This time, Amber remained silent for even longer. Just as they were about to lose patience, they heard him whisper softly, "These five sacrificial temples conceal a secret of heaven-shaking proportions."