Great Upheaval

In the Heavenly realm...

A castle so majestic could be seen hovering thousands of miles above the sky by everyone living in the Heavenly realm. However, no one dared to provoke the people nor the people with association to this place. For this place was currently home to the most powerful being in this universe, Heavenly Emperor Yinjing and his imperial court. After the "great" battle against Lord Vanos, Emperor Yinjing took the opportunity to solidify his rule amongst the heavenly realm experts. Those that opposed of him were mercilessly eliminated while those that supported him gained many riches and were made retainers to his overgrowing empire. However, for the last few years, people have noticed Emperor Yinjing aging at a rapid pace. His once lush black hair was now white, while his body had begun to grow thinner. What was once a majestic being had now become a shriveled old man. However, even in such a pitiful state, Heavenly Emperor Yinjing was still an expert amongst expert. One should not be fooled by his current appearance. After all, he was still one of the most powerful beings to ever exist in this universe. In the upper realm, a divine immortal could only be counted with the fingers on two hands. However, Emperor Yinjing was a divine deity, and people of his caliber could not even be counted using fingers on a single hand in this current era. Since the age of creation, there have been less than ten beings that have reached this stage. Only one reached Supreme Lord, and that was Supreme Lord Vanos.

While Heavenly Emperor Yinjing was celebrating his daughter Zhi Ruo's birthday, he suddenly received a message from one of his trusted retainers, Dai Jong who was currently on a mission. "IMPOSSIBLE, this can't be!" Before he could fully absorb the information, he collapsed and fainted.

His daughter was his pride. He held nothing back when it came to his daughter and spoiled her with everything she wanted. As a result, she was envied by her older brothers and sisters. Those vying for the throne saw her as their mortal enemies, while those who saw her as the pillar of the next generation flocked to her, attempting to curry her favor.

From a young age she was able to cultivate and reach stages that no one else her age could. Heck, even some immortal beings could not comprehend how she could reach these stage. However only the court knew. She was born with a special physique that made it possible for her to absorb divine energy, a more superior form of spiritual energy. This allowed her cultivation speed to be almost limitless. Although she could be considered a one of a kind genius that is only born once every million years, she still lacked compared to a certain someone. This person was obviously Supreme Lord Vanos. No one could forget that war hundreds of years ago. Lord Vanos was pitted against hundreds of thousands of supreme warriors, but in the end, they all fell under his attacks and were defeated. Even with his physical body destroyed, he was still able to escape from so many experts.

When everyone heard Emperor Yinjing's voice, all these experts attending the birthday party were shocked by his sudden change. Moments ago he was just blessing his daughter and had a lively face, but in mere seconds he collapsed and fainted after screaming.

"DADDY," Xiaowei screamed, leaving behind her previous proud and overbearing aura, she ran towards her father who was currently collapsed on the floor. "Why is everyone just standing there! Hurry and get the Imperial doctor! My father's condition are worsening. If anything happens to him you will all be responsible!" Everyone at the scene didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'Just moments ago we were blessing you to a bountiful life without any obstacles or sufferings!'

A few minutes later, the Imperial Doctor rushed to the scene and hurriedly checked on Heavenly Emperor Yinjing. His wives, concubines, sons, daughters and nobles were standing in tow with varying expressions. Some looked worried, while others had a slight gleeful expression on their faces. However, no one dared to make a sound as they awaited for the imperial doctor's diagnoses. After carefully checking Emperor Yinjing's body, the Imperial doctor, with a relieved expression on his face said, "Emperor Yinjing had fallen unconscious due to excessive shock. There is no current harm to him and he should be able to recover. However, this humble one believes Emperor Yinjing needs immediate rest." What was once a lively party was now muddled by an unfortunate event. However, Xiaowei could care less about the party. The only thing plaguing her mind was her father's condition. What she cared most for at the current moment was her father who gave her everything. Without her father's unconditional love and aid she could not fathom how life would have turned out.

A few days later, inside the majestic imperial castle, specifically the imperial chambers, Heavenly Emperor Yinjing began to wake up. For the past few days, princess Xiaowei was waiting by his side in case his condition worsened. Noticing that he finally woke up, Xiaowei ran towards his bed, curious to what could cause him so much shock. "Father are you okay? How did this happen to you." Before Emperor Yinjing could comprehend his current predicament, his daughter jumped up and hugged him tightly. This made him feel warm inside and prideful for having such a filial daughter, unlike those unfilial sons and daughters with their never ending greed and schemes, always constantly vying for the throne and trying to one up one another other.

"It's okay, your father isn't in any life threatening situation. I was just shocked at the news I received from my retainer, Dai Jong." Hearing her father's response, Xiaowei's previous concern slowly dissappeared but now she was curious about the piece of news Dai Jong sent her father. 'What kind of news could shock him so much that he fell unconscious?'

"Daddy, how serious is the news?", asked Xiaowei. Emperor Yinjing's face suddenly became gloomy and said," Extremely serious. Lord Vanos's soul has gone missing in the lower realms. Although my retainers were able to locate his soul in the mortal realm, they were unable to pinpoint his actual whereabouts within the Mortal Realm. However, as long as he still hasn't regained his physical body, my soul masters would be able to sense him. For so many years we knew he was down there, but no matter how hard we looked we still could not find him. His capabilities are too heaven-defying. Sigh...even after falling into such a state, that bastard is still able to evade us for all these years."

Princess Xiaowei was currently confused, unable to fully comprehend her father's inner conflict. "Daddy, isn't Lord Vanos's soul disappearing a good thing. Doesn't that mean he had finally met his doom?"

"No Xiaowei'er, if he was defeated, his soul would have fallen to the under-realm, and the Devil Lords would have notified us already. The only explanation is that he has finally regained his physical body or something even more powerful than him had devoured his soul. If such a being devoured his soul a few hundreds of years ago, I wouldn't have been shocked, as Lord Vanos would have been in an extremely weak state at that point. But for it to happen recently means that the being that consumed Lord Vanos would have had to be extremely formidable. Maybe even more formidable than me"

Suddenly laughing, Emperor Yinjing screamed, "HAHA that's impossible! Someone that strong in the Mortal Realm. How ridiculous does that sound! What we have been fearing most....."

"Lord Vanos has returned"

Realizing how serious the matter was, Xiaowei was extremely shocked. She always thought that her father was the most supreme being in the world, but hearing her legendary father being weaker than someone was almost unacceptable. In the end, she was still too naive. This was mainly contributed to her age. Although she was peerless amongst her peers, she was still only sixteen years old. Even after hearing stories about Lord Vanos, she still underestimated his capabilities, believing that her father would be able to defeat such a being. She thought that his victory must have been contributed to magical devices and schemes in order to prevail against her father and the many other experts.

"We knew that Lord Vanos was getting stronger the last few years and was about to reform his body. His soul itself should be as strong as my current self. Why do you think I've been aging so much lately? For the last hundreds of years, his looming shadow had led my cultivation way astray. Unfortunately, I am unable to breakthrough as long as I know that Lord Vanos is still alive. This has caused me to be at the peak of the Divine Deity realm, just one step away from the Supreme Lord stage for all these years," Emperor Yinjing lamented in a regretful manner.

Princess Xiaowei began feeling an inner hatred against Lord Vanos. "If only he had died during the battle against those experts and my father, my father's cultivation would not have been tainted and he would have been able to advance." Clenching her fist with a determined expression on her face, she vowed that she would take revenge for her father one day and restore his cultivation way by utterly destroying Lord Vanos.

While she was in thought, Emperor Yinjing suddenly spoke,"Xiaowei'er assemble the imperial court and call all the nobles to come immediately. This is an extremely dangerous situation. Inform them that if they do not attend this meeting, there families will be annihilated." Although Emperor Yinjing was known for his ruthlessness in the past, he had become less overbearing with the birth of his children. His sudden overbearing attitude shocked Princess Xiaowei'er as she had never witnessed her father's harsh words before. However, she knew that something this serious was not up for debate.

The next hour...

In the Heavenly Imperial court stood hundreds of representatives belonging to the prestigious and noble families of the Heavenly Empire. Although previously confused by their sudden assembly, as they stood in the imperial court, only solemn expressions could be seen on their faces. For the emperor to make such a threat meant this matter was serious. Unfortunately, none of them could comprehend how serious it was.

When everyone was assembled, Emperor Yinjing began his speech,"Everyone it has come to my attention that Lord Vanos has regained his physical body. Wh-"

"IMPOSSIBLE,"

Before Emperor Yinjing could finish his speech, someone in the audience screamed causing everyone to look at him and the imperial soldiers to raise their weapons at him. Realizing the situation he was in, the noble was scared sh*tless and fell to the ground pleading for his his majesty's forgiveness.

"How dare you speak without the Emperor's approval. Are you trying to challenge his majesty's authority. The punishment for such an offense should be death by hanging!"

The imperial soldiers were preparing to restrain the man, when a voice instilled with spiritual energy rebounded throughout the room.

"ENOUGH!"

Looking towards the pitiful noble, Emperor Yinjing recognized the man as one of the combatants that survived the battle against Lord Vanos all those years ago. Initially, Emperor Yinjing was angered by the sudden interruption, but after realizing the man had also went through life and death with him against such a monster, his anger slowly subsided. He even began sympathizing with the man and felt somewhat of a camaraderie.

"Earl Wang, how many years has it been? How is your wife and children?"

Everyone standing there had a stupefied expression on their face when Emperor Yinjing spoke those words. After a few seconds of confusion, many of them had a wise expression as if they understood what the emperor meant by those words. 'Was the emperor also planning to execute the Earl's family?' Although initially annoyed by the noble's outburst, everyone around the poor Earl began to give him pitiful looks. Even the imperial soldiers looked at him with pity. Also misunderstanding the situation, Earl Wang fell down on all fours, while sobbing pathetically.

Not daring to look directly into Emperor Yinjing's eyes, Earl Wang pleaded. "Please I beg of your Royal Majesty, I was in the wrong. My family had nothing to do with this affair. Please don't bring them into it. I shall cripple my own cultivation to show you my utmost loyalty towards your majesty."

Just before Earl Wang was about to cripple his own cultivation, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking upwards with snot and tears flowing down his face, he saw Emperor Yinjing who had an expression as if he was constipated.

"Who said anyone was getting executed! I just wanted to know how you were doing. But no worries , seeing how pitiful you currently are, I'll forgive your previous offense. Anyways, it is good to see that you are still doing well Earl Wang. I think you deserve a promotion. From this day onward you shall be known as Duke Wang."

Leaving the dumbfounded 'Duke' Wang who was now lifelessly laying on the ground, Emperor Yinjing looked towards his court once again, and said, "I know this sudden news may be hard for many of you to come to terms with, but the worst that we have feared has arrived. Lord Vanos has regained his physical body and will soon take his revenge against us. We must prepare ourselves"

Although initially envious at Duke Wang's promotion, when these nobles heard Emperor Yinjing's words, many of their faces began to pale as they slowly comprehended the situation in shock. 'Lord Vanos regained his physical body and is going to return and destroy us!' As their expressions turned from shock to fear. Lord Yinjing's voice could be heard again.

"If we don't want what was repeated hundreds of years ago, we must completely eliminate him this time. Although Lord Vanos was able to regain his physical body, that doesn't mean he has become stronger than what he was those few hundred years ago."

Although initially distressed by the news, hearing Emperor Yinjing's words allowed many of the nobles to rationally think about the situation again. 'That's right! It's been hundreds of years since then and many of us have become even more powerful. We might actually have a chance now!'

"We must immediately search for Lord Vanos. However, you must under no circumstances reveal yourselves. Only with all our forces combined can we stand a chance against such a being. Anyone who dares to disobey this order and confronts him alone will be considered offending the royal family and will have their family executed."

"You all are now dismissed!"

Once everyone was dismissed, they immediately sent news back to their clans and sects to inform them of the event. This shocking revelation would go on to create great upheavals in the heavenly realm for many weeks.

What nobody knew was that Lord Vanos was already no longer part of this world....