Chapter 120
Since breaking into the Ancestor Realm, the reserves in Soren’s dantian had moved into another dimension.
Tearing the void across that distance cost him a rounding error.
Arcturus and Bruce were another story.
Neither could have chained spatial jumps all the way to the Falling Cherry Spirit Domain.
Spatial lockdown barriers sat between domains, built to hobble Emperor Realm experts, forcing them to fly the long way and keeping void-tearing inside their own borders.
Even with those locks removed, hauling themselves through that many jumps would have left both of them in the dirt like beaten dogs.
"No need."
"Business first."
Soren swept a glance over the land below and looked away.
"The place we want is about three thousand miles from here."
Touching the ancient stele had given him the mechanics behind its formation.
Arcturus had no way of pinpointing where the coordinates had migrated, Soren could have the Strategy Encyclopedia lock the radius.
Even if the coordinate shifted again, he wouldn’t need to crawl back to the vault in the Great Desolate Beast Domain to check.
The Encyclopedia would update on its own.
Watching Soren move with that certainty, Arcturus swallowed the next round of flattery he’d been assembling.
Then he sucked in a cold breath.
That confidence, that total absence of doubt.
This Demon Ancestor ran deeper than he’d imagined.
How in the world did he fix the entrance at three thousand miles?
My Sky Sparrow lineage has guarded those coordinates for a million years, and we still don’t have a method for tracking them in real time.
"Demon Ancestor, your methods are divine!"
"This humble one prostrates himself in admiration!"
"To follow at your side in this life is truly this humble one’s..."
"Wait for me, Demon Ancestor!"
Before he could finish bobbing through the speech, he looked up to find Soren and Bruce already stepping into a freshly torn rift.
He put on a burst of speed and slipped through a heartbeat before the fissure snapped shut.
When the three came out of the void, they were floating above another sprawling city.
Panicked shouting drifted up from the streets.
They were hovering right beside the Falling Cherry Imperial Palace.
An Upper-Tier Spirit Emperor tore the void and stepped out with his Grand Mistress at his side.
He took one look at Soren and visibly jolted.
Then he recovered and bowed low, asking after their purpose with enormous deference.
Tone, posture, the whole performance, it was Arcturus on the day Soren descended on the Great Desolate Beast Domain, note for note.
Arcturus’s lip twitched.
He felt like he was looking in a mirror.
Son of a bitch, this old bastard is stealing my act.
He had thought his bootlicking sat at the summit of the craft.
He hadn’t expected to meet a man with even less shame.
The Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor opened with a barrage of greetings, flattery, and praise thick enough to spread on bread.
Then, to make his goodwill unmistakable, he and the Grand Mistress dropped to one knee in midair and bowed.
They begged Soren to honor the Imperial Palace with his presence at a banquet.
Bruce shuffled half a step closer to Soren.
He whispered.
"Master, why did that Grand Mistress come out wrapped in a bedsheet?"
Soren was speechless.
Feeling the silence coming off his Master, Bruce scratched his head.
"Hehe."
"Have to say, though, her face is pretty."
The Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor was an Emperor Realm powerhouse.
He heard every word with perfect clarity.
He pressed himself lower in midair. "If the Demon Ancestor has taken a liking to my Grand Mistress, this humble one will present her to you gladly!"
"I ask only that the Demon Ancestor grant this humble one and the Falling Cherry Spirit Domain a chance!"
"Let us stand under the Demon Ancestor’s banner!"
"We will serve you until death!"
"May the Demon Ancestor reign ten thousand years!"
The Grand Mistress knelt after him, graceful as a falling ribbon.
She lowered her head.
Her voice came out soft and sweet.
"This servant is willing to be the Demon Ancestor’s dog."
"I will use everything I have learned in my life to serve the Demon Ancestor to his complete satisfaction."
"May the Demon Ancestor reign ten thousand years!"
Off to the side, Arcturus stood cursing under his breath.
How is this old bastard thinking further ahead than I am?
And isn’t that a bit much? Handing over your own woman just like that?
Still, credit where it was due.
The Grand Mistress of the Falling Cherry Spirit Domain was a genuine beauty, head to toe, she carried a soft, yielding air.
Nothing like the females of the Beast race.
Arcturus shuddered.
Oh, hell.
What if the Demon Ancestor is actually tempted?
If Soren took the offer, then Arcturus, who bent the knee first, was about to be shoved into the shade by a newcomer.
No, absolutely not.
Arcturus sank into genuine agony.
The stakes were not small.
The whole point of Soren’s trip here was the entrance coordinates to the Kun-Heaven Nether Sea.
They were on the verge of cracking it open.
And a Spirit Emperor pops up out of nowhere to swear fealty.
The man was begging to join at any price, groveling with fear and reverence from the first second.
What if Soren decided this one understood the times and deserved to be valued?
What if Soren handed him a share of the Kun-Heaven Nether Sea?
What if his share came out bigger than Arcturus’s own?
Th-th-that...
Wouldn’t that mean I’m completely finished?
Soren looked at the Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor and his Grand Mistress and said nothing.
He understood better than anyone that this had nothing to do with submission.
They had no way of knowing he’d come for the Kun-Heaven Nether Sea’s entrance coordinates.
But they were desperate to know why he was here.
They were afraid he’d detected the forbidden barrier draining Exalted Continent’s destiny.
So the Spirit Emperor had staged the whole grovel from the opening line.
A probe was buried inside the performance.
If Soren hadn’t come for the formation or the stolen destiny, they could take the easy road and let the fake submission ride.
They’d cater to him, keep him comfortable, wear his vigilance down day by day.
They’d wait until the destiny could be drawn out and fused into their own bodies, until their strength matched his or exceeded it.