The Overworld Is Just a Colony, the Fiancé She Once Loved Most
The Overworld Is Just a Colony, the Fiancé She Once Loved Most
After the beast tide erupted from the Ancient Sky Domain, the cultivators across the Middle State and even the entire Sky Blue Realm were terrified, believing a horrifying calamity was about to descend upon them.
Boundless demonic qi surged out from within, as if some peerless demon was about to emerge into the world. After all, according to the records of this place, this was the land where a demonic weapon was sealed.
Perhaps the seal had already been broken, and the peerless demon was about to sweep across the lands, bringing catastrophe to all living beings.
Countless cultivators trembled, worried, and panicked. But after a long period of anxious waiting, they were shocked to discover that absolutely nothing had happened.
On the contrary, the demonic qi within the secret domain grew fainter and fainter, as if the peerless demon about to emerge had been sealed away once more. This immediately caused a huge sensation.
Some doubted the authenticity of the secret domain’s records, but many signs indicated that a great many people had indeed died here. Many ruined relics and ancient cities were filled with corpses.
Such records were not wrong.
In the end, many cultivators reached a unanimous conclusion.
That young lord who came from the Beyond had actually descended to the Overworld to seal the demonic weapon for them. Many cultivators had personally seen that young lord enter through the secret domain’s entrance that day.
And half a month after the secret domain opened, that young lord departed with his people—which was exactly when the demonic qi began to weaken. It matched far too well; the timelines overlapped perfectly.
Thinking of this, countless cultivators were overwhelmed with gratitude, and some even erected statues of that young lord across the Middle State to thank him for his kindness.
Of course, Gu Changge definitely knew nothing about this.
Had he known, he probably couldn’t have helped but laugh out loud. This imagination of theirs was truly unmatched—simply inconceivable.
Why wouldn’t they think that he had gone to break the seal and conveniently take the divine weapon for himself?
At this moment, he was already on his way back to the Beyond with Ming Lao and the others.
Weng!
Radiant light surged, opening up a stable Space Tunnel before their eyes—though inside, it looked more like a magnificent, ancient palace.
“So this is how we go to the Beyond?”
It was the first time Lin Qiuhan and Su Qingge had ever witnessed such a method, and they were somewhat shocked. It was completely different from what they had imagined.
They had thought they would directly tear open a rift and endure tribulation lightning, like cultivators breaking through the void to ascend.
Instead, a passage simply appeared before them, as if it had been opened specifically for Gu Changge.
“This is the Gu Family’s Sanctum of Reception. It is responsible for welcoming the Young Master back to the family. It can traverse countless worlds and dimensional planes, tearing through universes as it travels.”
Ming Lao explained to the two of them. After leaving the Overworld, his form of address for Gu Changge had changed.
From Gongzi to Young Master.
This was a stark shift in status and authority.
“The Sanctum of Reception... traversing worlds and dimensional planes, tearing through universes...”
Su Qingge’s eyes were filled with shock. Gu Changge had never explained these things to her before, only saying that she would naturally come to understand what the Beyond was in the future.
Now, she somewhat understood.
For cultivators of the Overworld, breaking through the barrier was already incredibly difficult, let alone traveling through this vast expanse of Dimensional Worlds—that was simply impossible.
Such methods were truly astonishing.
“Gongzi’s family is so powerful...” Lin Qiuhan was also so shocked by such methods that she couldn’t speak. They had truly been frogs at the bottom of a well before.
Aside from amazement, she felt nothing but amazement. There was no other emotion left in her.
Ming Lao quite agreed with their sentiments.
The Families of Immortals, the Cults of Immortality, the Unrivaled Celestial Dynasties, the Ancient Immortal Races... these were practically the powers standing at the very pinnacle of the Beyond.
There were those that could stand shoulder to shoulder with them, but finding any that surpassed or looked down upon them was nearly impossible.
Because such powers had been passed down for an unfathomably long time—over endless eons, they were as countless as the sands of the Ganges—and even they themselves were unclear about each other’s true depths.
As far as he knew, tens of millions of years ago there had been an Immortal War, one that slaughtered across hundreds of millions of miles of churning seas, and no one knew how many Overworlds were annihilated in it.
Countless Overworld beings were caught in the crossfire, reduced to dust in an instant.
Such was the terrifying might of these colossal powers of the Beyond.
“This old man was fortunate back then. When I ascended to the Beyond, I encountered an elder of the Young Master’s family. Otherwise, who knows in what remote corner I’d be mining ore for some other power right now...”
Ming Lao’s words left both Su Qingge and Lin Qiuhan stunned, utterly astonished.
Mining ore in some remote corner?
The Prime Ancestor of the Lin Family, such a legendary figure in the Overworld, was treated like this after arriving in the Beyond?
No wonder, in the eyes of the Beyond’s cultivators, the beings of the Overworld were no different from ants.
The way Gu Changge treated them could hardly even be described as merely excellent.
Then, Ming Lao spoke to the two women again. “Gongzi is the Young Master of a Family of Immortals. What does a mere Sanctum of Reception amount to?”
“You must understand, even in the boundless Beyond, the Young Master’s status is of the highest tier. What’s more, the Young Master is also a Direct Disciple of the Skyward Schloss. With these two layers of identity combined, no one is more exalted than the Young Master.”
“For you to follow at the Young Master’s side is your supreme honor. Countless noble ladies of the Beyond desire such a position yet cannot obtain it...”
“You should broaden your horizons as well, and not bring shame upon the Young Master.”
These were things that needed to be made clear, so they naturally had to be said. With Gongzi’s status, he could hardly explain such matters to them personally.
So it was most appropriate for these words to come from him.
Hearing this, Su Qingge and Lin Qiuhan nodded repeatedly like chicks pecking at rice, their hearts deeply shaken.
Back in the Overworld, they could naturally already sense Gu Changge’s terrifying might.
Describing it as overwhelming power and influence would not have been an exaggeration.
But now... they realized that even “overwhelming power and influence” could hardly capture this feeling.
Especially Su Qingge. During this recent period, she had discovered that the memories of her second soul had awakened considerably.
Most of them were vague fragments of information about the Beyond.
It seemed she, too, shared a deep connection with the Beyond.
She planned to find an opportunity to tell Gu Changge about this matter.
“Let’s go. It will still take some time to return to the family.”
At that moment, Gu Changge, whose gaze carried a trace of something unusual, finally spoke to the two women, then took the lead in stepping into the Sanctum of Reception.
Weng!
Soon, everyone had entered.
The stable passage rapidly closed behind them. The interior of the Sanctum of Reception was vast and open, and they could see the sight of it traversing through the boundless expanse of space.
Outside, spacetime surged and universes were torn apart as it sped toward the very center of the Beyond.
Gu Changge gazed at the surging, vast worlds outside, while in his heart he sorted through his memories of the Beyond.
The scope of the Beyond was actually quite broad.
In his view, it was more like a conglomeration of countless Dimensional Worlds, large and small.
At the center of the Beyond, orthodoxies stood in great numbers and ten thousand races coexisted—an extremely prosperous and vast region.
Nearly every ancient orthodoxy or race ruled over numerous planes and worlds.
They were already traveling within the Beyond now.
However, this region was still the fringe of the Beyond, where dense world force still lingered.
Many worlds drew close to or repelled one another. Cultivators without great divine abilities could not possibly survive in these crevices—they would be crushed into dust in an instant, body and soul annihilated on the spot.
This was also why ascending from the Overworld was so difficult. Only artifacts like the Sanctum of Reception could travel between the barriers of so many worlds.
And as the Sanctum of Reception journeyed toward the center of the Beyond, they would pass many worlds along the way—worlds of a higher level than the Sky Blue Realm, and closer to the Beyond’s center.
The more powerful the orthodoxy, the vaster the territory it occupied, and naturally, the more Overworlds it governed.
In Gu Changge’s eyes, this kind of distribution was just like colonies.
And the colossal powers at the center of the Beyond—such as the Families of Immortals and the immortal orthodoxies—sat at the very top of the food chain. Even their subsidiary ancient powers were too numerous to count.
And each of those ancient powers possessed numerous colonial planes of their own.
Layer upon layer of dependence, roots intertwined in a tangled mess.
This was also why, in the eyes of many Beyond cultivators, powerful cultivators who ascended from the Overworld held a status inferior even to ordinary native cultivators of the Beyond.
It was a matter of class. This disparity had long since become deeply entrenched.
Of course, the ancient worlds located in the central region of the Beyond could not be judged by the same standard.
“This setup really does fit the ascension genre’s stacking-boxes trope. It’s just that my background already places me in the very top sliver of the ascension-genre pyramid.”
Thinking of this, Gu Changge was quite satisfied with his current situation.
Whether in terms of talent, background, or cultivation... from every angle, he stood at the very highest level.
This truly felt great.
Especially this trip to the Overworld, which had netted him a great haul of benefits. He planned to slowly digest them after returning to the family.
...
Meanwhile, in the Beyond.
The Unrivaled Celestial Dynasty, the Immortal Capital!
As the Celestial Dynasty that had stood the longest in the Beyond—even if the River of Time itself decayed, it would not.
It ruled over endless territories and was faintly regarded as the foremost Celestial Dynasty of the Beyond.
Within a resplendent, magnificent, and ancient grand hall, a breathtakingly beautiful woman dressed in golden imperial robes, her bearing elegant and unmatched, stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
Her features were like a painting, her imperial robes fluttering, her sleeves wide, yet they could not conceal her graceful, proud figure.
Strands of hair partially veiled half of her immortal countenance, yet she remained heart-stoppingly beautiful.
She did not utter a word, her expression cold. Merely standing there, she seemed to exude a terrifying might that could make heaven and earth change color.
Beneath her feet, the floor revealed a sky full of stars, a universe in miniature.
Holding the sun and moon in her grasp, treading upon the cosmos beneath her feet.
Such was her grandeur!
This was none other than the Fourth Princess of the current Unrivaled Celestial Dynasty.
Yue Mingkong.
“Imperial Brother, it is time for you to yield the position of Crown Heir.”
The imperial-robed woman spoke, her voice very calm.
She gazed at the man slumped on the ground before her, his face ashen, as if without the slightest trace of emotion.
Beside the man stood numerous ministers, their faces pale, cold sweat covering their foreheads at this moment, not daring to utter a single word.
In just half a year, this Princess Mingkong had employed numerous thunderous methods to depose the former Crown Heir—her own elder brother.
Every step she took was flawless, perfect to the extreme, leaving everyone trembling.
Even the reigning Sovereign of the Celestial Dynasty had personally come forward, praising her endlessly.
She made everyone understand that though she was a woman, she was in no way inferior to any man—even the position of Crown Heir, she could hold.
In a royal family where the law of the jungle reigned, she had fought her way out, earning everyone’s involuntary admiration.
Moreover, the Fourth Princess’s talent was peerlessly rare, and her current cultivation had already surpassed that of her elder siblings.
One day, she would become the Unrivaled Empress!
This was the thought in the minds of all the ministers below!
“Men, escort my Imperial Brother down...”
At this moment, sweeping a glance over the wretched man before her, Yue Mingkong’s expression was utterly cold as she gave the order.
“From this day forth, I am the Crown Heir! Under the vast heavens, all shall be imperial soil!”
“Court dismissed!”
After Yue Mingkong finished speaking, her eyelids drooped slightly, her expression deep and cold, exuding a heart-palpitating air.
The assembled ministers were all trembling with trepidation as they quietly withdrew. No one could fathom her thoughts.
Though a woman, the terrifying might she exuded left all of them quaking in fear.
“Half a year...”
“By now, you should be returning from the Overworld, shouldn’t you? The fiancé I once loved most...”
She murmured to herself. Though her words carried deep affection, within her eyes was bone-deep cold.