In the center of the Longyue Continent, inside a remote secret realm called the Immortal Mystery Domain, a vast mountain range rises into the sky.
That night the dark was the color of blood.
Rain came down in sheets.
Lightning tore the sky, and thunder rolled after it.
On the main peak of Immortal Palace Holy Mountain, fire and slaughter filled the halls.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Behind the main peak, at the summit of the ridge, on a cliff known as the Forbidden Zone, two men fought in the storm.
Lightning flashed across the night and lit the earth, as if the sky itself were mourning the duel.
One man held a longsword.
He was broad-shouldered, with a firm face, black hair, and white clothes.
His sword work was sharp and clean.
The other had blazing red hair, red clothes, and a flame-shaped curved blade.
Both were first-rate masters.
Neither spoke.
Their whole minds were on this fight to the death.
They moved as fast as lightning, and their swords came on as fierce as fire.
The flowers, grass, and trees around them had long since been burned to ash.
Both men were already wounded in several places.
The black-haired man was slowly falling behind.
The red-haired man looked half mad.
His loose red hair streamed like flame, and the strikes of his flame-shaped sword rolled in waves.
In the pouring rain he seemed wrapped in a ball of fierce red fire.
“Bang!”
They crashed together.
Their weapons locked.
As they came close, both men thrust out a palm at the same time.
A shocking red light burst from the red-haired man’s eyes, and a violent boom exploded from his palms.
The black-haired man’s eyes went wide.
He cried out as he was blasted away and slammed into the ground like a kite with a cut string.
He landed at the very edge of the cliff and spat a mouthful of blood.
He gasped for breath and could not stand.
Behind him the drop was sheer.
The red-haired man walked toward him step by step, sword in hand.
His face was cold.
His eyes were deep.
His wet red hair whipped in the wind and rain.
Covered in blood, he looked like a red-haired demon.
“Wuyin!
You have betrayed us and raised a rebellion.
You broke the oath of the seven great immortal clans.
Do you know what that will cost you?!” The black-haired man gasped, clutching his aching chest.
The red-haired man said nothing at first.
Blood kept running off his flame-shaped sword.
Then he said, cold and even, “Xiubo, since I raised an army in revolt, I had already thought this through.
Things have come this far.
I will fight you fairly and let fate decide who lives.”
The black-haired man knew his old friend would not turn back.
He forced himself to his feet.
Looking at that ghostly face, he remembered many years they had shared.
Grief rose in him.
He burst into tears, and at the same time he threw his head back and laughed.
The red-haired man watched him cry and laugh.
His eyes stayed cold.
There was not a hint of hesitation.
He gripped the flame-shaped sword, sprang forward, and drove the blade straight at his opponent.
The black-haired man raised his sword and sent out sword energy, but he was too late.
The flame-shaped sword punched through his chest.
Blood burst from his mouth at once, and his whole body was thrown into the air.
He hung there with the sheer cliff and the bottomless drop behind him.
The red-haired man took one last look at the man fate had set against him, then pulled the sword free.
The black-haired man screamed.
Blood sprayed out in a pillar as he fell off the cliff.
A huge bolt of lightning tore the sky and lit the red-haired man’s blood-soaked face.
The bolt struck him square and hard.
Thunder followed at once.
Sparks flew.
Blue electric light coiled around his body.
He clenched his teeth and roared, “Even if Heaven names this a grave sin, I will defy Heaven!”
A burst of fiery energy exploded from his body.
He stretched out, and the force of it actually blew the lightning apart.
The ground under him was smashed into a wide black crater.
To live through a strike of Heaven’s lightning showed how terrifying his power already was.
He looked down at the cliff where the other man had fallen.
A trace of sadness passed through his eyes.
Then his face darkened, like a demon standing in the night sky.
He swung his sword, flung the blood from the blade, and turned to walk down the mountain.
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White palaces and pavilions rose one after another through the mountains.
These were the airy halls people called the celestial palaces.
Ringed by peaks and wrapped in mist, they should have been a place of quiet music, elegance, and peace.
Tonight swords were out and blood ran like a river.
Shouts, screams, and the crash of fighting rose and fell.
Inside one palace, a five-year-old boy huddled behind a screen in his bedroom, shaking.
His guards fought the rebels outside.
Cries of pain rang all around.
Blood and torn pieces of bodies lay scattered on the floor.
For this sheltered boy, his warm home had become a living hell.
Soon the guards were too few.
They fell where they stood.
Men in black smashed down the screen and rushed from the outer hall into the inner room.
Their eyes were fierce as they stared at the boy curled up on the bed.
“This is Mo Xiubo’s only son.
Wipe him out!
Kill him!”
The boy was so frightened he could not move.
He saw three men in black rush forward with blood-stained swords, ready to cut him down.
Looking closer, he saw that each of them wore a red, flame-like mark on his belt.
He was too stunned even to call for help.
He stared at the men coming toward him, frozen.
Suddenly a sharp sound rang out outside.
A white figure wrapped in blue light flashed into the inner room.
The three men in black spun around and saw the white figure close on them in a rush.
She moved like a dancing cloud, black hair flying.
The blue light flared.
A phantom wave of swords roared in.
The three men went pale and threw up their blades in a desperate guard.
The sword waves did not stop.
In an instant they struck several vital points on each body.
Blood burst from all three.
They screamed and died on the spot.
The boy opened his eyes and saw the three attackers on the ground.
The blue light faded.
A young woman in white stood in the inner room.
She wore a long dress as white as snow.
Her skin was as white as snow and as smooth as jade.
Her lips were as red as crimson pearls.
She was extremely beautiful.
Her black hair fell over her delicate shoulders like a waterfall.
She was tall and slender, with a full bust, a slender waist, and long, beautiful legs.
She was a stunningly beautiful young woman.
But her face was covered in sweat now, and she looked worn.
Her white clothes were stained with blood.
Her high and full breasts rose and fell without pause under her clothes as she breathed.
The slender hands gripping the longsword trembled a little.
“Mother!”
The boy lit up as if he had found a rope out of the dark.
He ran off the bed and threw himself into the beautiful young woman’s arms.
At once her soft, warm, fragrant body filled his senses, as if no evil in the world could reach him again.
But the soft white clothes were soaked in blood, and a faint smell of blood made him shudder.
“Xing’er, the situation is critical.
Your father is nowhere to be found, and your mother is finding it harder and harder to hold these villains off.” The beautiful woman held her beloved son tight in her arms.
Worry showed on her lovely face.
She said softly, “Before your father left, he said that if anything happened, he would leave you a way to live… Xing’er, do you feel anything strange about your body?”
The boy shook his head, blank.
He did not yet understand what his mother meant.
“Go down the mountain path behind you now.
It is a hidden trail.
Your mother will hold the bad men back.
No one should catch you for a while.
When you reach the foot of the mountain, go to the town and find Wang Xiangu.
Someone there will help you escape.”
“Mommy, I don’t want to!
I don’t want to leave you.
Mommy, I want to stay with you.”
The boy cried out in a rush, afraid the mother beside him would be taken from him.
Just then footsteps sounded again outside the inner hall.
Another wave of enemies had come.
The beautiful woman let out a soft sigh.
Her slender waist swayed a little as she swept the boy up and carried him toward the back hall.
As she moved, her waist was as slender as a snake, her breasts full and firm, and her long, shapely bare legs shifted under the white dress.
Those fair, pink-white legs were glossy and exquisitely beautiful.
A short stretch of path led down the mountain.
The beautiful woman set the boy down, held his small shoulders, and looked at her beloved son with firm eyes.
She took out a string of jade pendants and pressed them into his hands.
She said softly, “Xing’er, you must listen to your mother.
I will kill all those evil people who came.
Then your father and I will find you again.
Right now you must gather a man’s courage and stay with Wang Xiangu down the mountain for a while.
We will come to pick you up soon.
Do you understand?”
The boy took the jade pendant.
It showed a fairy-like figure wrapped in two clouds.
It still carried the sweet fragrance of his mother, and a faint blue light seemed to flash across the stone.
He looked at his mother’s beautiful, gentle face, biting his lip.
His eyes were already full of tears and fear.
But he quickly clenched his teeth, wiped the tears away, and nodded hard.
The beautiful woman smiled in relief.
Her smile was as beautiful as a flower, truly stunning, with nothing to match it.
She hugged the boy tight again and kissed his face deeply with her lush red lips.
The kiss was sweet and heady, and her soft body was warm and fragrant.
She took one last deep look at her beloved son, then stood, turned, gripped her longsword, and went back toward the front hall with her white robes fluttering.
His heart was in chaos.
He clutched the jade pendant and tucked it into his inner pocket.
He turned and hurried down the mountain path.
As he walked he could not stop crying.
Only a day ago they had been a happy family in the celestial palace.
His father was heroic and strong.
His mother was beautiful and gentle.
In the blink of an eye he had to leave alone and walk into the dark.
He was only a five-year-old child.
The path down the mountain was steep and hard.
After only a few steps, already shaken, he lost his footing and fell heavily on the stairs.
He tumbled down several steps before he stopped.
His head and feet were cut and bruised in several places.
“Waaah… Mom… Dad…” The boy sobbed on the ground.
Just then a huge black shadow dropped from the sky, bringing a gust of cold wind, and landed beside him.
Fear made him shake.
He got up and stared at the huge black shadow in front of him, like a god standing in the night.
Looking closer, the shadow seemed to be a tall person in a wide purple-black robe, with a black hood over the head.
The face could not be seen in the dark.
The figure held a strange cane shaped like a crow’s head, and a dim, murky aura leaked from it.
“Who… who are you…!” the boy cried, trembling.
The tall dark figure said nothing.
It grabbed the boy as easily as a chick.
Before he could struggle, his pressure points were pressed, and he fell asleep at once.
The shadowy figure looked toward the Immortal Palace, swallowed in flame and still locked in fierce battle.
A sinister smile crept across the dark face hidden under the hood.
“Hmph… Immortal Palace…”
The figure gave a few cold chuckles, then leapt into the air and vanished like black smoke into the misty mountains, carrying the boy.
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Dear readers, this story unfolds on a continent called Longyue.
Its level of life and craft is roughly that of Earth in the Ming Dynasty.
Longyue is vast and fertile.
Nations still exist and sometimes go to war, but on the whole it is a peaceful and prosperous age.
Legend says that two thousand years ago, an ancient demon known as the Netherworld Demon Emperor came to this Longyue Continent.
He led his demonic followers across the land and attacked its people.
At that time the righteous path had not yet risen, and the immortal path had not yet taken root.
In a short span, lives were ruined.
Demons and monsters slaughtered everywhere.
The continent was laid waste, and people lived in constant fear and misery.
Then seven immortals appeared from the distant East.
It is said they were sent by an unnamed will from the Nine Heavens.
They were extraordinary, powerful heroes.
They led the people of Longyue to rise and fight.
After decades of bitter war, they at last defeated the demonic cult of the Netherworld Demon Emperor.
In the end the Netherworld Demon Emperor was killed by the combined strength of the seven immortals, and peace returned to Longyue.
The seven immortals did not go back to the East.
They settled on the Longyue Continent, married local people, and had descendants.
Some lines slowly became great families.
Some became nobles of nations.
Some became martial sects.
Some, unwilling to show their faces, became hermits and lived in seclusion.
Time passed and the world changed.
Two thousand years later, those seven immortal heroes had long become legend.
What most ordinary people do not know is that even in this age of peace, remnants and underlings of the Netherworld Demon Emperor have kept stirring trouble and spreading evil.
Still, some descendants of the immortal heroes remain.
As secret guardians of the human world, they have gone on hunting down the Demon Emperor’s followers and other villains.
They live on the mountain range called Immortal Palace Holy Mountain, in the Immortal Mystery Domain.
They are the descendants of the seven immortal heroes who defeated the Demon Emperor, and of those heroes’ followers.
They are known as the Secret Immortal Palace.
People in the mortal world know very little about them, only that they live long, look striking, have outstanding martial skill, and are versed in profound arts.
They rarely go down the mountain to meddle in mortal affairs.
But eighteen years ago a tragic war broke out here.
Later generations called it the Heavenly Star Rebellion.
Eighteen years ago, on a stormy night, the Tianxing Sect — one of the seven lines descended from the immortals — led a great force of unidentified warriors in black to invade the Immortal Palace.
The sect leader of the Tianxing Sect was a young prodigy named Wei Wuyin.
He had red hair, a tall and powerful build, and a handsome face, with an air of imperial authority.
In recent years the Tianxing Sect had grown stronger and drawn many talented people to its banner.
Ning Yuanhong, Master of the Immortal Palace, was a famous figure who had walked the martial world for many years.
He would not sit still and wait to die.
He led the people of the Immortal Palace in a fierce battle against the invading Tianxing Sect on the mountaintop, lasting several days and nights.
At that time a peerless master, Mo Xiubo, leader of the Imperial Sword Sect, was also a guest at the Immortal Palace.
Mo Xiubo, leader of the Imperial Sword Sect, had married Ning Xuefei, the only daughter of Ning Yuanhong, known as the Number One Beauty of Longyue.
The two were a perfect match and were called a divine couple.
Ning Xuefei is the sole heir of the honored Immortal Palace and Ning Yuanhong’s only daughter.
She is extremely gifted and has mastered the Immortal Palace’s mysterious and powerful art, the Xuanhua Divine Skill.
She is an unmatched master within the palace.
On top of that she is naturally beautiful, with skin as white as snow, a graceful figure, and a face that stops the heart.
When she traveled the martial world, she was known as the most beautiful woman in Longyue.
Mo Xiubo’s marriage to Ning Xuefei also bound the Imperial Sword Sect and the Immortal Palace together.
As the palace’s son-in-law, Mo Xiubo happened to be visiting with his wife when the attack came.
The Imperial Sword Sect was also a sect founded by one of the seven immortals who defeated the Demon Emperor.
Unlike other such sects, which rarely interfere in human affairs, the Imperial Sword Sect sits in the capital and keeps close ties with high officials and nobles of the court.
But no one expected this: Wei Wuyin, sect leader of the Tianxing Sect, was an unmatched genius whose martial arts had already passed the level of those before him.
Young as he was, his unique secret art, the Heaven-Breaking Art, had reached a state of perfection.
Almost no one could stand against it.
He defeated several Immortal Palace masters in a row and at last killed Mo Xiubo, leader of the Imperial Sword Sect.
Then he led the Tianxing Sect in a slaughter of the Immortal Palace.
In the end Ning Yuanhong, Palace Master of the Immortal Palace, had no choice but to surrender to Wei Wuyin.
Ruthless as he was, Wei Wuyin did not wipe the Immortal Palace out to the last person.
After killing Mo Xiubo, he forced Ning Yuanhong to give him Ning Xuefei — the Number One Beauty of Longyue, and Ning Yuanhong’s only daughter — in marriage, and he took the seat of Palace Master for himself.
Ning Xuefei was shattered by the sudden death of her beloved husband and by the disappearance of her only son in the chaos of battle, a child who was likely in grave danger.
Her heart broke.
Grief filled her, and she hated Wei Wuyin to the bone.
But for the lives of everyone in the Immortal Palace, and for the continuation of the Ning family bloodline, she had no choice.
After her father comforted her, she agreed to Wei Wuyin’s demand.
After the Heavenly Star Rebellion, Wei Wuyin married Ning Xuefei as he had wished.
At the same time he changed the order of the palace and seized it, taking all its power and property.
Soon Ning Yuanhong was pushed aside and died of a broken, suppressed heart.
Wei Wuyin kept expanding the Immortal Palace’s power and purged and attacked the Mo family’s Imperial Sword Sect.
With its leader dead and no one to take the seat, the sect vanished within a few years and ceased to exist.
From then on the Immortal Palace and the Tianxing Sect became one.
Wei Wuyin planted the Tianxing Sect’s people among the Immortal Palace members and took charge of all its affairs.
Later it was called the Heavenly Star Immortal Palace.
Wei Wuyin styled himself the Immortal Palace Emperor, and Ning Xuefei became the Immortal Palace Holy Empress.
Wei Wuyin’s Heaven-Breaking Art grew stronger the more he practiced it.
Over the years he killed several masters and famous figures.
In a short time Wei Wuyin, whose martial arts no one could match, became known across the land.
His Heavenly Star Immortal Palace spread through the world, with many disciples and followers and countless experts.
Other sects and factions could not stand against him, and he was already beginning to look like a man who might unify the martial world.