Chapter 882: The World Mourns

Yu Fuli's words astounded one and all.

What if the heavens were a collective? One representative of the heavens alone had been so powerful as to make them all despair. If there were more, how would they survive?

"You need not despair," Yu Fuli continued, his voice steady. "I have shown the world that the heavens are not invincible. They have fallen once; they can fall again. I hope you will all shoulder the weight of this realm's survival."

Everyone straightened and saluted solemnly. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Yu Fuli smiled faintly. "That said, your time is limited. Now that the heavens have fallen, the world away will respond quickly. The next representative of the heavens may arrive sooner than you would expect.

"The world away?" someone asked.

Yu Fuli nodded. "Twenty thousand years ago, an ancestral dragon led a group of powerful cultivators toward the world away. Unfortunately, they returned empty-handed, save for a piece of useful intelligence. During his journey, the ancestral dragon noticed traces of the heavens' presence and concluded that the heavens reside in the world away, the other shore of the celestial firmament."

"The cursed effigies summoned across the eras likewise come from the world away. Do they come from the same place as the heavens?" someone asked curiously.

Yu Fuli thought for a moment. "You'll have to explore that train of thought yourself."

"Understood!" everyone replied.

"Before I depart, allow me to bestow upon you all a piece of my cultivation insight.

As he spoke, Yu Fuli raised a hand. His already dim and fragile form faded further. A small purple sphere materialized at his fingertips, one which exploded into drops of liquid that shot into everyone's mindscapes.

Xiao Nanfeng found his drop of liquid exploding into a long text.

"The Yuqing Yin Body," Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"The Jade Emperor's Frame?"

"The Insights of the Heavenly Sovereign..."

"The Art of Fishing!"

Everyone's eyes opened wide. What Yu Fuli granted the cultivators seemed to be what they were most lacking in.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Everyone bowed.

"Don't hold a funeral for me. Some people might find it unsettling," Yu Fuli said with a wry smile.

Everyone glanced at each other, confused. Who would dare feel unsettled by the Heavenly Emperor's funeral? Even so, sensing his firm resolve, they didn't dare protest.

"Understood!" they responded, bowing again.

"I have said all that I wish to say. From now on, this celestial realm, this world of ours—I leave in your hands." Yu Fuli smiled warmly.

With those final words, his body disintegrated into countless specks of light that vanished without a trace.

"Farewell, Heavenly Emperor!" The entire gathering, including Xiao Nanfeng, solemnly bowed to Yu Fuli.

"Farewell, Heavenly Emperor!" Everyone on the plaza bowed deeply, then what seemed like the entire world.

Just then, the overcast skies turned blood-red.

Thunder rolled across the continents as torrents of bloody rain began to fall, not only over the Sieve of Heaven but over the entire world.

"The mourning of the world?" someone exclaimed.

"After the calamity of each era, the world itself mourns the loss of the mortal population with heavy rainfall. This time, however, the mortals haven't been wiped out. Is the world mourning for the Heavenly Emperor instead?" someone speculated in shock.

"The world weeping for the Heavenly Emperor..." Everyone was dumbfounded.

The blood rain fell in torrents as an inexplicable sorrow swept across the world, accompanied by an ethereal lamentation.

As one, the people of the world suddenly cried out, "Farewell, Heavenly Emperor!"

"Farewell, Heavenly Emperor!"

A mournful resonance stirred every soul, filling their eyes with tears.

Even on the ruined plaza before the Heavenly Palace, people were weeping openly, Xiao Nanfeng among them.

He wiped his tears, puzzled. He was grieving for Yu Fuli, but he knew how reserved he was. He wouldn't normally cry. What was going on now?

Looking around, he noticed that everyone else was crying, too. He glanced skyward, suspecting that this was some mystical phenomenon—an emotional resonance triggered by the world.

With a deep breath, Xiao Nanfeng lowered his head and bowed deeply toward the spot where Yu Fuli had vanished.

Suddenly, the Sieve of Heaven began to collapse. Floating islands crumbled, rivers dried up, and the once-majestic realm fractured into countless pieces.

Now that Yu Fuli was gone, Xiao Nanfeng didn't want to stay here any longer. He turned to leave.

The Divine Emperor and Liu Miaoyin both possessed charms of heavenly law. To avoid other cultivators from recognizing what they possessed, Xiao Nanfeng had requested that they stay away.

There were far too many cultivators at the Sieve of Heaven now, with potential dangers roaming among them. Yu Fuli had given him a manual; out of respect for Yu Fuli, he would gladly accept what he was given and not seek anything else, at least not at the moment.

But just because he didn't intend to make a move didn't mean that others would follow the same principle.

While Yu Fuli was alive and ruled the world, everyone was subject to law and order. Now that he was dead, these cultivators had no such reservations.

Suddenly, a fight broke out outside the Heavenly Palace, and a storm was unleashed atop Mt. Kunlun.

Some among them were officials of the Imperial Court, Immortal Emperors, and hierarchs and sect masters. They might have disdained ordinary treasures, but Yu Fuli's were surely worth fighting for.

Yu Fuli had the best treasures in the entire world. Now that he was dead, they didn't have to worry about any repercussions from him.

A storm was unleashed in the Sieve of Heaven as Xiao Nanfeng and some other cultivators fled.

As they left, the Superior asked from his mindscape, "Don't you want Yu Fuli's relics?"

"I respect him, and don't wish to fight for them—at least not at the moment."

"You're lucky to have avoided this conflict," the Superior said.

"What do you mean, Senior?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"Yu Fuli gave away everything he had. To you, he gave a manual. Those relics were left for specific individuals as well, the three Qing Grandmasters among them. Do you really think these cultivators will be able to leave with them?

Xiao nanfeng's eyes widened. He nodded firmly as he prepared to leave. However, as he departed, he sensed danger and stopped abruptly, turning to look around.

Three figures were trailing him from a distance.

"Show yourselves. I can see you," he said coldly.

In an instant, the three figures appeared before him. They wore white robes and obscured their faces with fog, exuding an air of murderous intent.

"Why are you leaving, Xiao Nanfeng? Don't you want Yu Fuli's relics?" a white-robed man sneered.

"Who are you?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"Enough talk. Let's take him down!" another figure shouted.

"Very well!"

The three attacked without further warning.

Before they could reach Xiao Nanfeng, however, a shadow streaked forward and struck the lead assailant with a devastating punch, sending him flying. Then, the figure struck at the other two cultivators as well.

"Ye Sanshui? What's he doing here?" the other two cultivators exclaimed.

Ye Sanshui rapidly took down the second cultivator, then the third.

He chased after the first cultivator as Tu Feng and the Demon Child appeared from two different directions.

Tu Feng's nine fox tails slammed into one assailant, sending him flying.

"Tu Feng? Shouldn't you be dead?!" the man shouted in shock.

"You really are talkative, aren't you?" Tu Feng retorted, continuing his assault.

Meanwhile, the Demon Child unleashed a storm of sword energy on his opponent.

The three attackers were all overwhelmed within moments. Ye Sanshui struck especially fiercely, leaving one white-robed attacker gravely injured.

Xiao Nanfeng hovered in the air while a group of Dazheng cultivators surrounded him.

"Your Majesty, we were delayed. If Third Uncle hadn't brought us here, it would have taken some more time before we caught up," Ye Dafu reported.

"It's a pity you failed to make it to His Majesty's final distribution of gifts, but it matters not. I shall grant you what techniques he has made accessible to me," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"Understood!" Ye Dafu replied, nodding.

The Divine Emperor and Liu Miaoyin had emerged from secluded cultivation, so the Demon Child and Tu Feng had no need to remain in the respective capitals any longer. According to Xiao Nanfeng's orders, they had headed toward other divine empires to enforce the Covenant.

Over the course of the day, more fortune had been amassed by every empire around the world. In case Yu Fuli would have need of it all, everyone continued to guard the various empires and divine empires in their vicinity.

Only when Yu Fuli's fragment of will reappeared did they end their surveillance and head to the Sieve of Heaven as quickly as they could—but in the end, they were too late.

Xiao Nanfeng had been intending to meet up with them as he emerged from the Sieve of Heaven, only to encounter three assailants along the way.

The three white-robed cultivators were all early-stage Boundless Immortals.

Very quickly, Ye Sanshui crippled the first among them.

"Take him!" Ye Sanshui shouted, tossing the defeated white-robed cultivator to a golden cultivator as he rushed toward the Demon Child's fight.

The other two cultivators blanched and turned to flee.

"Hold it!" Ye Sanshui and the others shouted.

However, against Boundless Immortals intent on fleeing, even they had little recourse.

"Don't bother giving chase. There may yet be ambushes in the vicinity. We should return for the moment," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Understood!" everyone replied.

The cultivators left with Xiao Nanfeng and the Boundless Immortal they had just caught.