Outside Qiwu Hall, clouds steamed and rosy light gathered; the gnarled, vigorous branches of the crimson-flame divine wood flowed with red luster in the dusk.
The moment Yun Qing stepped onto the plaza paved with Nine-Heaven Snow-Jade, he saw a lone figure in black embroidered with gold standing beneath the divine wood, broad sleeves stirred by the wind and snapping — Yun Huang.
He gazed up at the sky, the line of his profile cold and remote in the fading light, the pressure wreathing him warping space itself, as though waiting for something, or merely gazing upon this heaven and earth once under his sway.
"You've come." Yun Huang did not turn, his pale-golden eyes still on the firmament, his voice clear and cold as struck jade-chimes.
Yun Qing's steps paused; recalling the "you'll know soon enough" he had said earlier, he did not speak to disturb him, but walked slowly to a spot a little behind Yun Huang's side and likewise raised his head.
The two brothers — one like a blazing sun hung in the sky, radiant beyond measure; one like an ancient abyss, a sunken peak, still water running deep — formed, in this hour of gathering dusk, a picture of great tension.
No words were needed; a formless accord flowed in the silence. The Yunxiao Guards around had long since withdrawn far off, holding their breath and bowing their heads, not daring to disturb the quiet of this little world; only the sound of the wind passed the ear.
In that very instant—
"Booong————!"
A bell-toll, far-off, vast, as though come from remote antiquity, exploded fiercely!
This bell-sound came without warning from beyond the Nine Heavens! It crashed overbearingly into the depths of every living being's soul, carrying a supreme rhythm that shook the very Dao-foundation, as if the Great Dao itself had come, the laws resonating in chorus!
"Boong—" "Boong—" "Boong—!"
Nine bell-tolls in succession, each grander than the last, each more shaking! Mountains and rivers trembled for it; the sea of clouds surged with it!
The bell-sound spread to every corner of the Tianyuan Continent. Whether an old monster sealed in seclusion for a thousand years or a child just setting foot on the Dao, whether in the flourishing heartland of a great sect or in some desolate, lifeless waste, every living being's soul shook violently and looked up uncontrollably at the firmament!
The next moment, beneath countless shocked, excited, fervent gazes—
Above the Nine Heavens, purple vapor rolled thirty thousand li, golden radiance spanned three thousand domains! An indescribably vast scroll, like the Heavenly Dao opening its eye, stretched across the myriad worlds of all the heavens!
Golden light dazzled, laws coiled, a chaos-aura pervaded; beneath its supreme majesty, even true immortals must bow their heads!
Upon the scroll, two lines of archaic seal-script immortal characters, holding a supreme Dao-rhythm, slowly surfaced like a brand of the Great Dao, their meaning self-evident, their sound self-sounding, proclaiming to the cosmos:
"The Nine Empyreans hang the board to answer the immortal hour; the prodigies of ten thousand domains pay court to the azure clouds!"
The instant the verse was formed, heaven and earth resonated! Rosy light blazed, the Dao-sound rolled grand!
"The Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings! The Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings have opened!" An old monster whose lifespan was near its end tore the void in his excitement, old tears streaming. "A golden age! This is a true golden age of the great contention!"
"Ascend the board! I will ascend the board!" Countless young prodigies' eyes blazed with light, the blood boiling within them, battle-intent soaring to the empyrean.
The whole Tianyuan Continent fell utterly into a frenzy.
In the markets of the Southern Jambu Continent, a rogue cultivator hawking wares threw down his stall to cheer; in a secret realm of the Northern Kuru Continent, a recluse who asked nothing of the world broke from his barrier and came out; before a sect gate on the Western Godana Continent, disciples thronged their elders, gazing at the horizon, all trembling with excitement.
In the Eastern Domain, upon a tavern in a bustling immortal city, a white-haired elder stroked his beard and explained aloud to the cultivators crowding round: "Do you know the origin of these Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings? This is a board set by the Heavenly Dao. It has no fixed day of opening; only when an age of great flourishing descends, when prodigies come forth in throngs, does it arise to answer the times! To ascend the board is to walk a smooth road on the Dao for the rest of one's days! As the saying goes: 'The Great Dao, shining clear, judges victory and defeat; upon the azure-cloud road, one proves one's immortal form!'"
"But what good is ascending the board, exactly? How does it smooth one's whole Dao-road?!" a young cultivator pressed eagerly.
An old rogue cultivator at the next table answered: "Little one, the profit of ascending the board is heaven-defying! Never mind rewards like ancient inheritances and secret-realm keys — which of those deep-founded sects and clans lacks for those? What those great figures value is that, once you ascend, the person wins the Heavenly Dao's favor and the sect enjoys a feedback of fortune-luck! It's those two words — fortune-luck! The more prodigies a clan seats on the board, the more its fortune flourishes; it can even call down heaven-and-earth spirit-veins to shelter a whole domain."
Hearing this, the white-haired elder from before took up the thread and, all mystery, pointed at the sky: "Do you know — the very topmost 'Yun' up there rose to first among the Four Ancient Clans precisely by generation after generation of prodigies fighting their way up the Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings!"
The crowd was in an uproar, the fervor in their eyes fiercer still. So this was not merely a personal chance, but a springboard for the rise of a whole clan or sect!
This continent's powers were tangled root and branch: the "Four Ancient Clans" whose lineage came from remote antiquity; the "Three Sects of the Dao Gate" that held the reins of the righteous path; the "Two Immortal Dynasties" that dominated their regions; and powers not to be slighted, such as the Yao World, the Buddha Land, and the Demon Domain.
And the Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings stood above every power of this world, run by the Heavenly Dao's own laws — a supreme grand event that selected the children of fortune!
At this moment, from the core regions of these colossi that held this world's authority, mighty ripples of aura erupted one after another.
In Zhongzhou, the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty, deep within the imperial city — a middle-aged man in a nine-dragon robe, his aura deep as an abyss and vast as the sea, opened his eyes, his gaze piercing hall after hall to the horizon: "The Azure-Cloud Rankings... Convey Our decree: every subject of Our Great Xia under three hundred years of bone-age may contend for the board! Command the Crown Prince and the Third Prince to leave seclusion at once!"
In the Eastern Domain, besides the Yun Clan, there was also the "Green Lotus Sword Sect," one of the Three Sects. Within its Sword Mound, ten thousand swords cried as one. A hemp-robed elder stroked an ancient sword humming at his side and sighed lightly: "The way of the sword shall rise. Let me see how far this generation's young ones can go."
In the Western Domain, the Myriad-Buddha Holy Land. Sanskrit chants rolled; an eminent monk of solemn, treasured mien pressed his palms together: "Amitabha. The mortal world of ten thousand fathoms is also a place to temper the heart. Buddha Son — go down the mountain."
In the Southern Wilds, the Yao race's ancestral court. Dragon-roars and phoenix-cries; a vast figure stood atop a peak, its voice shaking the wilds: "Sons! Let those humans see the might of our Yao race's prodigies!"
In the Northern Frontier, beneath the glaciers, the gate of the mysterious "Ice God Palace" opened quietly, chill air dispersing ten thousand li.
In the East-Defense Tavern, a young cultivator's spirit surged. "Senior! Please stop keeping us in suspense! How on earth does one qualify to take part?"
"Heh, don't rush, boy. Every living being of this world under three hundred years of immortal-age may take part!"
The elder's voice was resonant: "The Heavenly Dao will first sift out the ten-thousand-odd topmost prodigies and bestow the Azure-Cloud mark. That brand, shown at the center of the brow, is the initial token of entry. Once the Nine Empyrean Azure-Cloud Rankings truly open, those without a mark may challenge those who bear one; win, and you seize the mark! Past years have seen no lack of hidden prodigies who could veil the secrets of Heaven cutting in midway, so the rankings are not fixed — they may shift at any time through battle or chance. At last, in the instant the Azure-Cloud Rankings formally close, the order is fixed!"
As if to prove the elder's words no lie, above the firmament, that vast golden scroll — having proclaimed the news that the Azure-Cloud Rankings would open — did not at once disperse; instead its radiance flowed, taking on four colors of yellow, mystery-black, azure, and crimson, and abruptly split into four streams of light spanning heaven and earth!
Heaven! Earth! Mystery! Yellow!