By the time the few of them arrived at the front hall, the country emperor of East Tsui, Yu Cang, was already inside waiting for them. When he saw the three of them walking in, he immediately got to his feet and bowed toward Yi Qing. "Yu Cang greets the Celestial Emperor." He was unbelievably humble. Nobody would have guessed that he was the same man who was filled with such righteous anger before.
The three of them ignored him and continued walking straight. Shen Ying took the main seat as she slumped down on her chair, one arm resting on the armrest. Yi Qing stayed by her side and retrieved pastries for her to munch on out of habit. He placed it on the side table beside Shen Ying.
Lonemoon, on the other hand, took a seat closest to him on the lower platform. He glanced at the uncomfortable Yu Cang and smiled. "Young Emperor Yu, to what do we owe this honor? Did your disciples misinform us? Were you looking for Celestial Emperor Lan Hua?" He mentioned this on purpose. "How about I ask him to come over now?"
"No, no, no!" Yu Cang was perspiring. He quickly denied it. "Young Emperor, you're mistaken. I... I came to look for Celestial Emperor Yi Qing."
"That's strange..." Lonemoon smiled. "If I'm not mistaken, didn't Young Emperor Yu announce in front of all the country emperors and immortal friends from other continents that you only knew Celestial Emperor Lan Hua, and not Celestial Emperor Yi Qing?"
"Yes... Yes, I did remark indiscreetly. Please forgive me, Celestial Emperor." Yu Cang's legs turned to jelly, and he fell to his knees. "No matter how the Celestial Emperor wants to deal with me, I will accept my punishment."
Lonemoon paused. Logically, if he could afford to cause so much trouble before, he should be quite a proud person. Why was he giving in so easily? What's more, he fell to his knees to admit his wrongs without much more. Suddenly, Lonemoon realized that what Yu Cang was about to ask of them was not going to be simple.
"But all of these was a folly on my part. It has nothing to do with the people of East Tsui, nor with the people of the Bo Sea." Yu Cang raised his head and looked very seriously at the man who was now handing more food over to Shen Ying. Yi Qing did not even spare him a glance. Yu Cang hesitated, then turned toward Lonemoon instead. "The matter I am here for today is extremely important. It concerns the entire immortal realm. I have no choice but to ask Celestial Emperor Yi Qing for help."
"Oh?" Lonemoon was getting curious now. "What is it that Che- I mean, Yi Qing can handle that I cannot?"
Yu Cang's expression changed. As if he thought about something, he hesitated and lowered his voice. "Reporting to Celestial Emperor – my East Tsui is located on an island further east of the Bo Sea. It's considered a more prosperous piece of land compared to the other countries'. There are many immortals there. But in recent years, no more immortals have been ascending. At the start, we did not know the reason. We thought that the cultivators in the lower realm were just not training adequately."
He looked up and glanced at the three of them, then he lowered his gaze again and continued. "Recently, we received a letter from one of the City Lords, City Lord Chang Qing. He said that his nephew in the lower realm had great potential as a cultivator. In fact, the City Lord had already calculated his fate and discovered that his nephew was bound to ascend to immortality. Yet, for some reason, while he was going through the tribulation, his cultivation level fell. He was stopped from ascending. It was only then that I realized that this entire situation was strange."
Lonemoon frowned and studied Yu Cang. "Cultivators are going against the course of nature after all. Any tiny change – even a hint of a mental demon in one's heart – would affect a person's ascension. How can he say that his nephew is fated to ascend?" That was of course apart from Shen Ying, the cheat. "What's more, many people were stopped mid-way while ascending. That's considered a common occurrence. What's so strange about it? Even if nobody ascends in a few years, that's..." Normal.
"No, there must be something wrong in the lower realm," Yu Cang replied anxiously. He had not finished. "The East Tsui has never before seen a couple of years go by without anyone ascending! And listen to me..." He stole a glance at Yi Qing, gritted his teeth and continued, "I heard that a strange blue realm gate appeared recently between the immortal realm and demonic realm. I also heard that it has something to do with the lower realm. So... may your subordinate boldly guess that there are problems with the realm gate connecting the East Tsui with the lower realm? That's probably why cultivators from the lower realm cannot ascend."
"Realm gates?" Lonemoon fell silent as he felt his chest tightened. He turned around to face Chef.
"There are no problems!" Chef seemed to have guessed what Lonemoon was about to ask him. He shook his head, and said, "I've checked." Then, he poured a cup of tea for Shen Ying. The last time he repaired the plane tree, he checked that realm gate. There was nothing out of the ordinary with it.
"Celestial Emperor Yi Qing, City Lord Chang Qing's nephew must have fallen for another reason," Yu Cang tried harder to explain when he noticed that Yi Qing was not believing him. "Sacred Arrival Realm, where he's from, is always filled with Spirit Qi. Many immortals in East Tsui came from that particular realm. But in recent years, no cultivators have ascended. Although a few years isn't long,,, one day in the immortal realms is equivalent to 100 years in the lower realm. That means that tens of thousands of years have passed, yet nobody has ascended. How can you say that's normal!"
All of this sounded very logical, but...
"Young Emperor Yu, you seem to have forgotten that the location of the immortal ascension stage is not fixed, even if there are cultivators ascending. Your East Tsui might not have any new cultivators ascending, but for all we know, they've been ascending to other continents." This was not like childbirth after all. Nobody could decide where they wanted these cultivators to ascend. Lonemoon narrowed his eyes and studied Yu Cang. "Or are you saying... Young Emperor Yu is sure that there's something wrong with the lower realm because you regularly receive news about where these cultivators are ascending to?"
Yu Cang paled. He immediately looked guilty. Eyes darting about, he gritted his teeth and cupped his fists. "Please forgive me, Celestial Emperor. Your subordinate... indeed has his methods."
He raised his head to look at Lonemoon, then glanced at Yi Qing, who still did not spare him even a single glance up till then. Guiltily, he said, "When your subordinate was in the Yu Lin Immortal Territory, I came across an ancient array which could form a sort of connection between cultivators who were from the same realm. I set up this array in each of the cities in East Tsui, to allow those cultivators who just ascended to meet with their own people as soon as possible. It's also because of this... that East Tsui has always been doing so well."
Lonemoon scanned him from head to toe. Was this the reason why he has not been fired?
"Celestial Emperor Yi Qing!" Yu Cang pleaded with him. "Our powers are weak compared to yours. We have no means to investigate the reason behind this phenomenon. This is an extremely important matter and you are of a divine race. I am sure you would know a thing or two about it. Please, would the Celestial Emperor come with me to East Tsui to look into-"
"No!" Before he could finish speaking, Yi Qing turned him down. He still had to train himself to marry Master. Why would he go!
"Celestial... Celestial Emperor?" Yu Cang trembled. He did not think that Yi Qing would turn him down so decisively. He turned to Lonemoon for held. "Young Emperor Lonemoon..."
"Why don't you return back first?" Lonemoon made no promises. "We will see what we can do about this matter."
"But I..." Yu Cang wanted to plead even further.
But Lonemoon had already turned around and waved his hand. "Someone, come and send Young Emperor Yu out."
Yu Cang had no choice. He scanned the three of them once more and then walked out reluctantly.
Only after he exited the Heavenly Palace did Lonemoon face Chef. "Chef, what do you think?"
Yi Qing frowned. He peeled a fruit as he replied, "His story was full of gaps and he did not tell us the complete truth. But there really might be such a problem."
"I think so too." Lonemoon nodded. "This Yu person is definitely hiding something. The strangest thing is his posture toward the lower realm!"
Yi Qing finally looked up at Lonemoon.
"By right, after one ascends to immortality, he should be nonchalant about whatever happens in the lower realm." Lonemoon frowned. "People who have gone through the tribulations themselves before ascending to immortality would have first completed everything they wanted to do in the lower realm, to ensure a smooth journey into the immortal realm. Or they could have the ability to bring theirs along with them, just like Roasted Chicken Gal and her spouse."
"Eh? Is that so?" Shen Ying raised her head as she munched her fruit.
"I'm not talking to you. Shut up!" Cheats should not get themselves involved in discussions involving normal people. "Eat your fruit."
"..." Oh. Go on.
"In other words..." Lonemoon turned back to Chef. "Most of the immortals in the immortal realm would not be so concerned with matters involving the lower realms. They would not even bother about whether people from the lower realm are ascending. What's more, the array he was talking about seemed strange to me. Chef, on this plane... is there really such an array that can control where people ascend?"
"Yes!" Chef answered confidently. "The Mystic Spirit Array can temporarily open a realm gate, connecting the two realms. But this is an array belonging to the divine race. I don't think immortals have enough power to conjure such an array. There's no doubt, however, that this array can control the position where the realm gate appears."
Lonemoon's expression darkened. He thought of something, then summoned Yu Hong in to give her some instructions. A moment later, Yu Hong brought a name list into the hall.
"Elder Lonemoon, this is the list of earth immortals who have recently ascended to the Bo Sea in these ten years."
"Mm." Lonemoon opened the roll and looked at the data for the last five years. Indeed, there were about the same number of earth immortals ascending to each of the countries – each country received about ten or so new immortals each year. Only East Tsui's column was empty. They did not have even one new immortal. "What Yu Cang said about there being no cultivators ascending to East Tsui was true. Could it be because of the invaders?" Lonemoon frowned and glanced at the foodie. "Shen Ying, what do you think?"
Shen Ying stared blankly back at him. Suddenly, she stopped chewing and pointed at the name list in his hands.
"Er, I'd look from the start."
Huh? What did she mean?
He looked down at the top of the name list, then his eyes widened.
"Holy shit!"