The Celestial Emperor Kneels
Bang! Bang!
The tyrannical Celestial Emperor dropped directly to his knees on the ground.
This sudden event caught him completely off guard.
Before entering the courtyard, he had thought it was just an ordinary mortal dwelling.
But now, he realized he was drastically mistaken!
He stared dumbly at the scene before him, his heart gripped as if seized.
Utterly awestruck.
What his eyes beheld was something unheard of, unseen before.
Even having lived for thousands of years, braving more perilous realms than most had meals, he found this courtyard tens of thousands times more dreadful than the most dire domains.
Inside lurked monstrous primordial beasts, seeming to stare him down, ready to devour at any moment!
The reason he knelt was solely due to the overwhelming auras bearing down on him.
For mere auras to force one of Celestial Emperor's caliber to his knees was utterly horrifying!
After regaining his senses, he tried to resist but found himself incapable of any action.
He couldn't even blink!
This terrifying powerlessness left him both shocked and afraid.
It had been so long, he had forgotten when he last felt fear!
In the kitchen, Chen Ping'an and Su Ling placed the watermelon into the ice box.
Su Ling watched eagerly while Chen Ping'an began brewing tea.
Utterly oblivious to the kneeling figure at the gate.
Chen Ping'an soon finished brewing and poured a cup for Long Aotian.
These were his most prized tea leaves that he rarely indulged in himself.
But having received such a generous gift from Long Aotian, he felt obliged to serve his finest.
He poured himself a cup as well and called out to Su Ling, asking if she wanted tea.
Alas, the little rascal only cared about the watermelon, constantly asking Chen Ping'an if it was ready yet.
This actually concerned Chen Ping'an quite a bit.
Su Ling had never eaten watermelon before!
Just earlier when they passed the melon vendor, she excitedly asked what that was.
Chen Ping'an watched as Long Aotian took a sip of tea before pausing, his eyes lighting up briefly.
Unlike the demonic Mu Rong sisters' tea drinking, Long Aotian seemed a true tea connoisseur!
"How is it? The tea is good, isn't it?" Chen Ping'an asked proudly.
Although from the system's randomized items, this was premium Da Hong Pao!
Back on Earth, he could never afford such expensive tea leaves.
After that first sip, Long Aotian was dumbstruck.
Faced with Chen Ping'an's question, he was momentarily speechless.
Instead, he closed his eyes and looked inward at his dantian.
What was happening?!
From just that one sip, an extremely powerful energy surged into his dantian.
In that moment, his entire dantian felt an expanding pressure!
A sensation he had never experienced before!
"Could it be...a sign of breaking through my bottleneck to that realm?!"
He had lingered at the Great Traverse peak for many years without any feeling of impending breakthrough.
But he had read about breaking through to the Celestial Infant Realm in the jade slips left by previous patriarchs.
Before ascending to immortality, there was an intermediate Earth Immortal Realm.
At that moment of breaking through from the Great Traverse to Earth Immortal, the dantian would explode into a vast ocean.
Only by condensing an infant at the center could one reach Celestial Infant and become an immortal!
Bang! Bang!
At that moment, Long Aotian's eyes snapped open, his ears picking up his own heartbeat and the flow of blood.
He was overjoyed.
Seeing Long Aotian's silence, Chen Ping'an didn't ask further and patiently waited.
In that moment, he determined Long Aotian must be a veteran tea master.
An even more experienced one than himself.
Fine tea required slow, careful appreciation, not just one sip.
His main reason for thinking so was that the first thing Long Aotian did after opening his eyes was stare intently at the teacup!
Clearly indicating an advanced level in the tea arts.
Exquisite tea leaves demanded equally premium teaware, the true way.
His teapot was a fine porcelain drawn from the system's random items.
But these teacups were even more special - purchased from an antique shop owner for a few spirit herbs!
Chen Ping'an cherished these cups dearly, caressing them carefully every day.
After gazing at the cup for a moment, Long Aotian made his next move - downing the entire cup in one go.
However!
The next instant, an immense surge of energy blasted into his dantian!
The sheer volume of this energy startled him, never imagining it could be so terrifying!
In just that short time, he felt his dantian starting to swell painfully.
On the verge of erupting!
Long Aotian's eyes lit up brightly.
But seeing they were indoors, he quickly stood and respectfully bowed to Chen Ping'an, "Senior, thank you for this fortuitous opportunity, but I must step outside for a moment. I shall return shortly!"
As the jade slips recorded, at the moment of breakthrough not only would the dantian explode, but the body would erupt torrential energies rampaging in all directions.
With so many formidable presences in this courtyard, he feared provoking them at the moment of his breakthrough.
After the respectful words, Long Aotian headed outside.
Chen Ping'an was briefly dumbstruck.
Huh?
Watching Long Aotian hurry out, he blinked and followed.
In the courtyard, the artifact spirit still watched the Celestial Emperor from its corner.
Feeling quite strange about seeing the mighty ruler kowtowing for so long in this surreal scene.
This was the Celestial Emperor, after all!
The unmatched sovereign across ten thousand realms!
Yet there he knelt, for the entire time it took an incense stick to burn!
The artifact spirit wanted to help but dared not offend the other divine implements - this was their punishment of the intruder.
All it could do was watch.
Seeing the Celestial Emperor kneeling motionless like a statue, sweat drenching his brow, it couldn't help feeling pity.
Poor guy...
Then in the next moment, someone finally emerged from inside.
First was Long Aotian.
Spotting the kneeling figure at the gate, he briefly froze before sensing that person's aura.
His footsteps halted abruptly as he fell into a dumbfounded daze.
This!
What's going on?!
He sensed the Celestial Emperor's overwhelmingly powerful aura.
Unmatched by the other presences lurking in the courtyard's corners, but still terribly formidable.
Yet such a being now knelt before his senior's gate!
After a momentary shock, realizing he had no time, Long Aotian continued on his way.
As he passed the Celestial Emperor, he cupped his hands in greeting before quickly exiting.
As for the Celestial Emperor, finally seeing someone emerge brought a glimmer of hope to his parched eyes.
But to his disbelief, Long Aotian simply walked past without any intention of helping him.
Leaving him dumbstruck once more.
Fortunately, someone else then exited the house.
Yet upon seeing this person, even the Celestial Emperor's remaining breaths unconsciously stilled.
The Dao's embodiment?!