Chapter 282 - The Imperial Consort
“Imperial Consort’s boat?”
Zhong Yue quickly sped up and rushed toward Qiu Jin'er. The imperial consort's decorated pleasure boat was getting closer; it wasn't big, but definitely not small either, it was exquisitely decorated as if it were the finest work of art from the best artist. The carvings and structures of the boat were incredibly lively; however, it gave a dark and gloomy feel when it was seen from afar.
Qiu Jin'er was still in a drunken state; her conscience was controlled by divine wine, even her Yuan Shen was inebriated and was unable to control its inhibitions. Luckily enough, she was staggering as she walked and her speed wasn't fast, it didn't take long for Zhong Yue to catch up to her and he carried the young girl in his arms.
Qiu Jin'er chortled happily, and she suddenly wrapped her hands around Zhong Yue's face and kissed him on the cheek.
"Junior martial sister, it's not a good time to play around." Zhong Yue was touched, but he suddenly stiffened up his muscles as his natural senses alerted him that something perilous was approaching.
The imperial consort's decorated pleasure boat sailed over. The golden boat was suffused with a godly aura. There were countless skeletons donned in golden armor standing on the sides of the boat, standing guard over the imperial consort even after their deaths.
“Presumptuous bugs! How dare you come close to the imperial consort!”
Along with the condemnation from a golden armored skeleton, a surge of powerful psyche blasted over and erupted in their psyche ocean, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er muffled a deep groan!
Qiu Jin'er couldn't withstand the pressure, and she fell into the dark abyss of unconsciousness, while Zhong Yue visualized the Sui Sovereign in his psyche ocean to suppress the eruption; right when he was about to fall back, a white skeletal hand lunged out from the boat and reached over for them.
The skeletal hand was utterly terrifying, the godly aura it carried locked down at Zhong Yue and suppressed him from moving a single inch!
Ah shit, drinking always messes things up!
Zhong Yue exerted himself to resist the godly aura and cast out the Golden Peng Sword, slashing it over at the skeletal hand while he called for Xin Huo in his psyche ocean, "Xin Huo, what do we do now!?" Xin Huo's face turned solemn, and he said in a deep voice, "Now, the only choice we have is to release the Divine Wing Saber in my copper lamp, but even so, it's still uncertain whether or not we can escape…."
All of a sudden, another surge of psyche swept across the space from the golden boat, "Auric Imperial Guard, stop. They are my people. You shouldn't act rashly; go and invite them over."
The skeletal hand returned to the golden boat, and abruptly, a pathway paved by a red carpet was rolled down from the golden boat and stopped at Zhong Yue's feet. The golden armored skeletons walked down and stood at attention beside the pathway, bowed and surged their psyche out, "Please, may the guest board the boat."
Your people?
Zhong Yue was bewildered, he recollected his thoughts and braced himself, boarding the imperial consort’s decorated pleasure boat while carrying Qiu Jin’er in his arms.
Is this imperial consort also a human? Or otherwise, why is she saying that we are of the same kind? Also, these skeletons should have died at least fifty thousand years ago, but why are they acting as if they are still alive?
He walked on the red carpet pathway and observed the golden armored skeletons. From the golden armor and the aura they carried, these skeletons should all be female gods!
The divine auras they carried were all appallingly strong, even the godly aura contained in a single phalange could crush Zhong Yue away like a petty bug. Even standing beside the golden armored skeletons was a dangerous enough affair!
Which was why even Xin Huo said that he wasn’t certain that they could make it out alive.
Fortunately, the skeletons had suppressed their divine auras as they heard that he was of the same kind as the imperial consort, leaving Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er unharmed.
Zhong Yue boarded the golden boat, the godly aura in the boat was even more intense as it caused his scalp to tingle and his body to shudder, but the aura seemed to be curbed by another force, making it within his level of tolerance.
Now we can't run anymore even if we want to, as long as the suppression on the godly aura in the golden boat is lifted, the godly aura alone would have crushed me into a pile of dead meat.
Just when the thought crossed his mind, his frame of mind was eased and relaxed down. The decorated pleasure boat had a sumptuous jade palace carved with the patterns of dragons and phoenixes; Zhong Yue carried Qiu Jin'er and entered the building. He glanced around and saw that the whole jade palace was fabulously decorated; every single detail was carefully taken care of, and the entire building felt like work of art in and of itself. It carried an imperially sumptuous air, and it was equipped with all kinds of stationeries, musical instruments, and every other conceivable paraphernalia meant for leisure.
However, there was one defect — and that was the skeletons on the boat that added a nefarious air to the serene ambiance!
The white skeletons stood in the jade palace, the winter-white chiffons swept across their skulls, and Zhong Yue's brows thumped. He lifted his head up and looked at the alluring white skeleton that sat in the middle – she wore an exquisite blouse adorned with moon-like patterns, and various beautiful ornaments. Meanwhile, the other skeletons stood at her flanks serving her. It was clear that she was the imperial consort!
Zhong Yue glanced at her, and his heart skipped a beat, the torso of the imperial consort was of a human, but her lower body was that of a snake!
Furthermore, there was an eye socket for the divine third eye on the imperial consort’s forehead!
Fuxi! The imperial consort is of the Fuxi Celestial Race!
Zhong Yue's heart palpitated in shock, the imperial consort slowly stood up from her seat, and suddenly, the image before him vigorously swayed as if time were flowing backward. Everything in the jade palace shone with bright rays, and the skeletons seemed to go back in time to transform into beautiful ladies, replete with flesh and soul, returning to the prime of their lives.
The imperial consort also came to life. She turned into a goddess before him, a beautiful countenance that was unrivaled by the others – every smile every move she made was incredibly enthralling.
"I never thought that I'd have the chance to meet with one of our kind even 10000 years after my death. Please, there is no need to restrain your true nature, sit down."
The imperial consort smiled and walked gracefully to the side of a table and sat down. It felt as if she were an empress that dominated the world without even trying to impose such manners. She said dolefully, "Time was never a friend to anyone, no matter how strong or how powerful you are ... whether you stood at the peak of the universe or the bottom of all existence ... time will eventually come to collect its dues. Little boy, has our race waned to such an extent? The bloodline in you all, I can barely detect them … and yet, the great preceptor had chosen you, it seems like our race had really fallen from our former grace."
There were goddess servant maids taking the chairs over to them, and filled a cup of tea for both Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er.
Zhong Yue placed Qiu Jin'er in a chair before he sat down, he thanked the goddess servant maid for the tea and replied, "Our celestial race has indeed become as so. I'm not sure whether or not there are any more of the pureblood Fuxi Celestial Race outside of the Ancestral Star. Also, I wasn't chosen by Senior Xin Huo either. I heard that there are the pureblood Fuxi Celestials in the Zi Wei Divine Court."
Xin Huo leaped out from his psyche ocean and gazed curiously at the imperial consort, and he said, "You've heard of me?"
“Of course I have.”
The imperial consort gestured for Zhong Yue to drink the tea before saying, "The preceptor that existed since the start of the era of the Fire Order, passing down the heritage of the Heavenly Monarchs from generation to generation. Xin Huo, the preceptor who lived through two eras, of course I know who you are. However, your wish of finding a pureblood Fuxi Celestial in the Zi Wei Divine Court is destined to end in disappointment; you wouldn't be able to find the one you are looking for in the Zi Wei Divine Court."
Xin Huo was disappointed, he said, “The heritage I hold must be passed down to a pureblood Fuxi Celestial; no matter what, I’ll have to search for the chosen one in the Zi Wei Divine Court.”
The imperial consort gazed at him with deep meanings concealed in her eyes, "When you reach there, you will know that appreciating the one before you is better than searching endlessly in futility."
The little flame then asked, "Do you know what happened that caused the Fuxi Celestial Race to waned to such an extent?"
She shook her head in response, "The event took place before my death and was only settled after I died. Although our celestial race was destined to fall, there are many things I wasn't able to say, knowing too much will bring more danger to you all. You all are still too weak now, even knowing the tip of the iceberg will bring you death, you can only look for the answers yourself. Look."
She touched gently on the teacup, and from the teacup, light wheels rose into the air with a giant sitting in the center of them. Every single light wheel was revolving with many sun and stars around it; there was a total of six light wheels that formed the galaxy – it looked incredibly marvelous.
"This is the Six Path World where the Ancestral Star is located. The universe now is not the same as the Sui Sovereign's era of the Fire Order, nor the Fuxi's era of the Earth Order. The universe is now divided into 3000 Six Path Worlds. The Six Path World where Ancestral Star is located was the first and strongest. My husband, the Reincarnation Monarch commanded the Ancestral Star of the Six Path World. But as the Six Path Reincarnation of our Six Path World was broken away, there remained only five paths. That is when the Ancestral Star was taken out from the 3000 Six Path World and became relegated as a deserted star."
The hot steam from the teacup engulfed the image of the Six Path World away while the imperial consort's beautiful eyes shifted and she mumbled softly, “The glory we once had was now nothing but a memory. The Six Path Reincarnation of this Six Path World was broken to leave only five paths out of the six. The Fuxi Celestial Race was destined to fall….”
Zhong Yue couldn't help but ask, “Who broke away the Six Paths Reincarnation? Can the Qi Practitioners still cultivate the sixth wheel?”
“The sixth path is in your atman, what stops you from cultivating it?”
The imperial consort's eyes dimmed, and she said, “As for who was the one that broke the Six Path Reincarnation … just finish your cup of tea. It is time for you to leave.”
Just when Zhong Yue was about to ask again, the whole palace dimmed down and a white chiffon swept across the imperial consort’s face, when the chiffon passed, the beautiful goddess turned back into a skeleton, sitting in her seat not moving at all.
He glanced around; the other goddess servant maids had also turned back into the skeletons.
The lusters on the decorated pleasure boat faded away, and the atmosphere turned dreary and desolate, it felt like as if the meeting with the imperial consort was just a figment of his imagination.
However, there were two cups of tea on the table with hot steam still wafting out of them.
That wasn't a dream. It was the imperial consort that had exhausted all of her remnant power to enlighten me … probably, her love for Fuxi Celestial Race before her death had turned into an unyielding obsession…."
Sadness and sorrow engulfed Zhong Yue's heart. He suddenly felt his face getting wet, and he raised his hand up only to find tears flowing down his cheek.
"Just what exactly happened for our race to become like this…?"
Zhong Yue raised his cup of tea and saluted the skeleton before he drank it all.
Just when he drank the cup of tea, the final vestiges of inebriation were instantly cast away, and the spiritual energy in his body became stronger gathered in his psyche ocean. It played a melodious song in his psyche ocean that cleared many of the doubts he came across in his cultivation journey.
The song played in his head as if a goddess were singing, recounting the ancient stories that became lost in the sea of time.
“This cup of tea is very beneficial to your cultivation!” Xin Huo exclaimed and said.
Qiu Jin'er was still yet to awake, Zhong Yue pinched open the young girl's mouth and gently poured her cup of tea into her mouth. After a few moments, Qiu Jin'er awakened from her stupor, and she glanced at the surroundings in puzzlement as she mumbled, "Senior martial brother, where are we? I dreamt that I was drunk and saw a beautiful sister, we talked a lot, and she taught me a cultivation technique, it was called the【Nuwa Visualization Art】, but now it seems like a dream … Ey? There is really a cultivation technique in my mind?”
Zhong Yue stood up and said, “Junior martial sister, let’s go, we shouldn’t disrupt our ancestors’ slumber.”
Qiu Jin'er was puzzled, Zhong Yue bowed at the beautiful skeleton, and she followed suit. They walked out of the jade palace and alighted from the golden boat.
The imperial consort's boat then sailed away and disappeared into the vast ocean. Zhong Yue knew that the peerlessly beautiful lady he met on the golden boat was now forever gone from this world. From today onward, she would be a forgotten relic in history.