Everything went still. All the chatter, the arguments and the fighting died down in an instant. An oppressive aura came from the east. It was pure and untainted, unlike the heavy aura that swept through them from the temple. This one had its dark bits, but it was mostly light and regal. Those with keen senses noticed the Saintly presence interwoven into it.
Those in the Heavenly Step Realm fel to one knee, forced to lower themselves before the aura. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't free themselves from the confinement.
The mouse faced man quite the moment he felt the aura. Liaang Heng felt submission from his bloodline, tugging him to do the same. On its own, his body slowly cracked itself into a kneeling position. He wouldn't have that. Weakness may have been synonymous with his name, but a coward? He was not. He fought against the seductive urge to kneel and cracked himself back into a standing position.
The mouse faced man didn't have as mu h of a willpower, even aided by his Heavenly Door Realm cultivation, he fell to one knee.
In the skies near the temple, Bai Yunru and the others finished their lengthy discussion. A disagreement came when they discussed about the distribution of the treasures. Thus, every one split into groups of three. Bai Yunru, Tang Pengfei and Kun Hui, formed one group while the rest formed their own groups.
"He is here," Bai Yunru's cold voice sounded in Tang Pengfei and Kun Hui's ears.
"Who- oh," Tang Pengfri's eyes hardened.
Things suddenly became a bit more complicated now that Long Wei decided to take part.
"Who's who?" Kun Hui asked.
The Kunpeng Clan rarely had interactions with the Imperial Clan, which in turn made them a bit ignorant on the various aura's Imperial Clan Members had. Bai Yunru and Tang Pengfei had met Long Wei in more than one occasion. Some could even say they were close a few years ago when Long Wei was under ten years old.
Politics had a way of changing people and ripping away the innocence they held when younger. They went through that process over the years. He and Tang Pengfei found it miraculous that their friendship ran deeper than artifical benefits.
"Long Wei," Bai Yunru said.
Kun Hui froze. The Crown Prince of the Imperial Haven Expanse. With raw talent alone, Long Wei wrestled away the status as Crown Prince from his older brother, another fearsome talent that recently broke into the God Realm. Many couldn't fathom the reason at all. Why give that title to a young man who still needed a few hundred thousand years to become worthy of it. Others thought it was the Emperor's way of training his children in the fastest way possible. Their had been a total of ten Princes that Held the Crown Prince Title and each one of them grew to become powerful God Realm Experts. Long Wei was simply the youngest and weakest to be given that title. All the others earned that title once they surpassed the Golden Immortal Realm.
From the East, Long Wei's handsome figure came into the view of thousands upon thousands of cultivators. He didn't fly like the others, rather he stood upon the air as if it was solid ground and gently walked along it. He had his hands behind his back, enjoying nature's gifts as he floated through the air. Behind him, Jinwu flew with a nervous expression on his face. And next to him was the little kid, Feng Li.
This was the first time Feng Li experienced true flight and it was nothing short of what he expected it to be. Within his heart,he jumped for joy. Some of the crazy turns they did seduced bits of adrenaline and poured it into his blood stream. It felt so exhilarating and freeing. There were times when he wanted toilet the inner child in him free and scream in joy throughout the journey.
Long Wei's walked at a seemingly slow pace. And to the normal eye it was so. But each step ate away more than a few hundred meters of distance. Within a few steps he was right in front of Bai Yunru. Feng Li arrived the moment Long Wei reached in front of Bai Yunru.
Jinwu Xiaodan trailed after him in an explosion of golden light.
"It's been a while," Long Wei said with a smile.
"Hm," Bai Yunru nodded.
"I thought you'd go to the Heaven Mending Sect instead?" Tang Pengfei asked, "That's where you always wanted to go."
"Sects? They weren't my thing until a few wees ago. Imperial Father wanted me to learn more about how our world functions so he thought it great to send me here," Long Wei said, "You are the last person I expected to be here."
The light in Tang Pengfei's eyes dimmed. His initial plan wasn't the Spectral Haven Sect, rather he wanted to join a Sect in the neighboring Expanse. He met a girl there. They fell in love. And as with most tragedies, disaster struck.
" Plans changed," Tang Pengfei's reply was a bit dry.
Long Wei picked up on the sudden change of mood. Each person truly went through various experiences in this life. A constant cycle of change that never left the pitiful beings existing in it a chance to breath.
"And such is life," Long Wei said.
"Hm," Bai Yunru agreed.
Feng Li felt suffocated by the blazing Saint Realm Auras around him. To think he managed to survive a short ten second chase against such a being. Red seemed through his beige skin and sweaty pearls formed along the sides of his face. His hair became moist and matted against his forehead.
Long Wei noticed his odd actions and eased the pressure by Strengthening the void Qi membrane that kept him afloat.
The temple trembled and the last of its massive aura receded. Next came loud rumbling noises. Followed by screeching creaks of metal against metal. The gigantic doors at the base of the temple flew wide open.