Awe, dread, greed, envy, one after the other, those emotions and vices stretched the deities' eyes. The fairies and those prominent-background peach pages all backpedaled, not stopping until their backs hit a wall. Sweat broke from their foreheads as stories of old surfaced in their minds.
Their elders, however, soon suppressed any dread they should have felt. Greed and envy overshadowed all else. Loyalties collapsed, individualism soared, and without exception, they stepped forward—unable to resist the temptation those four pupils and heterochromatic eyes triggered in them.
Killing intent filled the hall. The Imperial Chancellor and Grand Preceptor no longer cared for the God Empress. They didn't want to share. When the one chance to become the one true Master of Heaven and Earth stood before them, why should they?
Three seconds, three seconds was all it took for the situation to spiral out of control. Imperial clansmen, consorts and officials all forgot their places. The God Empress didn��t doubt that whoever made the first move would trigger a berserk clash. But as she stared at those four pupils, she couldn't blame them.
Harun didn't mind. Although he didn't understand why his eyes bore such a fatal temptation to those Heavenly Gods and Empyrean Monarchs, if he was destined to die, then at the very least, they should all follow him to the grave.
Of course, if they could come to an agreement and temporarily step back, all the better. After all, trading his life for this sorry lot...wasn't worth it.
But as Harun readied to welcome the assault, the God Empress clenched her fists and swept the budding rebels with her chilling gaze.
"Officials, sisters, children, should a fight break out now, the one most likely to come out on top is I. Our hegemonic clans' Dao Reserves aside, only the Golden Crow Ancestor can suppress me. So this can only end in two ways:
First, you join hands and kill me—then slaughter one another.
Second, you refuse to unite, and I trample your corpses, ruin the 33 Heavens' foundation to claim the Double Pupils and rule a wasteland," Dilnaz started, making the Gods' eyelids tremble, and their teeth clench harder.
"However, can those Dao Reserves nearing their final Cosmic Tribulation watch us torch the world of their predecessors?
Can Golden Crow watch us ruin the Highest Heaven he, his fallen subordinates, and his wife the Three-Legged Crow, shed blood and tears for? Do not let a moment of greed distract you from the big picture. One wrong move, only one, and tomorrow onward, we are the sinners of our clans," Dilnaz declared, and akin to an unbreakable wall, her words butted against the officials and Empyrean clansmen's greed, stopping them all where they stood.
Indeed, in the spur of the moment, they'd all forgotten a critical truth. The Golden Crow Ancestor was too proud to oppress a junior and rob his destiny—too proud to fight for titles and glory—too proud to bring the tiniest shame to his name for the greatest of benefits.
However, should they endanger the 33 Heavens' peace—as they were very well about to—the God of War's scorching blade would incinerate them all. And thenceforth, the world would belong to the Golden Crows. What then would become of their clans? For the sake of stability, how many of their own would be slaughtered?
Restraint...they had to show restraint!
With one speech, the God Empress dulled the deities' cupidity, forcing them all to begrudgingly step back. Sharp and direct, eminent but cool-headed. In the instant she opened her mouth, Harun realized that while Rajan might have been the one that put the peaches in his pouch, if anyone caused him to die early, it would be Dilnaz.
"Moreover, directly robbing even the most ordinary of inborn abilities triggers a Defiance Tribulation. The greater the gap between thief and victim, the stronger the tribulation is. Assuming you could take the Sovereign Pupils, do any of you here have confidence in surviving the ensuing tribulation?
Better share what one cannot hold, than fight for the ruin of all. Guards, put him in the Extreme Yin Prison. Tonight, each hegemonic clan prepares a proposal, and tomorrow, we will handle his case," Dilnaz ordered, and two imperial guards walked in to seize Harun, and bring him to the Extreme Yin Prison.
The only force able to contend with the Divine Army, though they bore human looks—imperial guards all belonged to the Armament clan—divine weapons born servants to the Empyreans' wills. Their loyalty followed an unbreakable hierarchical pattern: emperor, crown prince, empress, elders, princes and so on. In the absence of the first two, Dilnaz had full control of them—hence why she could obtain the support of so many top officials.
"That's also fine. But one day—no—one night. What can I possibly do in one night?" Harun wondered as the guards dragged him toward his new quarters. For an instant, he considered trying his new set off double pupils on the deities and hoping for the best. Perhaps he could suppress them all long enough to escape?
But even if he was willing to throw himself into a desperate gamble, his eyes had yet to stabilize. And assuming they did, could they allow a Celestial Kin to wrestle with Heavenly Gods and Monarchs? Brute force wouldn't get him out of this pit.
"I believe that any feast past this point is meaningless. We have all seen what we're capable of before supreme benefit. But I do not blame you. The Sovereign Pupils belong to the ruler of an era and can open the gate to the Dao Emperor Realm. In this age where no God Emperor reigns, their appeal has never been stronger.
But again, I advise caution. You may leave," Dilnaz said, and walked out of the banquet hall. Some felt ashamed, others grew fearful. But more secretly plotted how to get their hands on the Sovereign Pupils. If not for themselves, then at least for their most valued descendant.
...
An underground prison where the worst of criminals landed, the Extreme Yin Prison was built in dark-blue stones that produced waves of frigid air. The temperature in the prison's cells hovered between -200 and -160 celsius, something even celestials would have a hard time digesting. Worse, as the name implied, the frigid air carried Extreme Yin Essence that made any thought about cultivation impossible.
The main distinction between Qi and Essence is that Qi is invisible and cultivable by all, whereas Essence has a color, a glow, and not everyone can cultivate it.
The Golden Crows, for example, cultivate Solar Essence, using it to strengthen their flesh, sword arts and Daoist magic. But should a Flood Dragon attempt to cultivate the same, they were likely to burn to ashes.
Though scarce, with the right constitution and scripture, some could cultivate Lesser Yin, Pure Yin and Greater Yin Essence. But the world had yet to produce anyone capable of safely taking Extreme Yin into their bodies. Any attempt at cultivating that berserk, poisonous force resulted in crystalized blood and frozen bones.
Or at least, that was the common assumption. But as Harun stepped into the Extreme Yin Prison, while the guards who came equipped with unique armors struggled to endure the poisonous yin, Harun felt like a fish in water. For the first time since he started cultivating it, the Decaying Flower in his Divine Consciousness stirred, trembling with excitement as if it'd finally landed where it belonged.
Even without Harun's call, the Decaying Flower started devouring the dark-blue Yin Essence in the prison. Knowing that a sudden drop in pressure would alert the guards, Harun stopped his Yin consumption. Rows of cells crowded the floor, with hundreds of criminals quivering under the abuse of the Extreme Yin.
But while it seemed that the prison only had one floor, as they followed the Yin Essence patterns, Harun's senses butted against an invisible wall, showing that the prison hid more than met the eye.
The guards led him to his cell where two figures already stood. A ragged middle-aged man with wild, unkempt hair, and a delicate youth with the white hair and icy-blue eyes of the Empyreans.
Confused, Harun glanced at the guards' faces. On the road here, no cell contained over two captives. Why was his the exception? If anything, considering his value, shouldn't his cell be empty?
Stranger still, although they ignored the ragged man, the guards' eyes widened at the youth. As soon as they brought Harun in, the youth, who quivered in a corner, glared at them and barked:
"What, you're not just having me share my cell with one, but two criminals?"
Though the harsh-sounding voice was clearly masculine, the youth's traits put women to shame and would make some men question their orientations. Harun ignored the youth, studying the guards' expressions only.
Their initial stupor vanished, and disregarding the Empyrean's bark, they opened the cell, pushing Harun in.
"Huh, interesting…" Harun inwardly said. The cell surprisingly had three meditation cushions. Harun claimed the only remaining one and paid his two partners no attention.
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Damn it!" The boy roared, but seeing that the guards were dead-set on snubbing him, he didn't waste more breath and switched his attention to Harun.
When their gazes met, the boy's eyes narrowed, then expanded with utter fright. Like the fairies and prominent-background pages, he first pressed his back against the wall. However, his reaction quickly grew more extreme.
"Haha...ah...AAAAAARGH! Gold and Purple Double Pupils! The Serpent Emperor is back! The Serpent Emperor is back! Help! Help! The Gluttonous Sheep Fucker is back! Someone save me!" The boy squealed and rushed toward the bars, ignoring the cold to bang his fists against the frigid iron.
Unprepared for such a blow, Harun staggered, fell on his back, then absentmindedly crawled toward the Empyrean boy—he only grew more desperate.
"Please don't screw me! Please don't screw me! My cookie is not edible!" The hysteric boy waved his hands before his face and closed his eyes to avoid Harun's. And from a harsh-sounding male, his voice turned into that of a desperate gal facing a horde of insatiable demons.