After hearing that, Godric sank into deep thought. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know the white-haired elder had a point. But asking him to lower himself and seek shelter with an old mortal enemy was not something he could swallow easily.
Then he looked out the window again. He saw the Celestial Palace disciples outside—all of them sallow and worn thin, still not fully back from the shock. He saw the state of his own heavily wounded body. He saw how close the future of Celestial Palace had come to breaking apart. Bit by bit, the pride and refusal he had been clutching were ground down by what stood right in front of him.
He knew it now: there was no other choice left for him. If he stayed in the Fourteenth Firmament and tried to hold his ground, there was only one end waiting for him. If he took the remnants of the Celestial Palace and fled from place to place, the other forces would still strip them apart bit by bit until nothing was left.
The only road that still led anywhere was to go to the Luminous Sanctuary and seek shelter under the Celestial Basilica. Even if it meant swallowing that humiliation—even if it meant living by other people’s expressions—he still had to preserve the flame seed of the Celestial Palace first and wait for a chance to rise again someday.
“There really isn’t any other way?” Godric’s voice came out low, with that last bit of resistance still hanging on.
The white-haired elder let out a long breath. “I don’t want to take this step either, Hall Master, but with how things stand now, we’ve already been driven into a dead end. If you’re unwilling to join the Celestial Basilica, then the only advice I can give is to dissolve the Celestial Palace and let the disciples run for their lives on their own.
That might still save some of them… but if it comes to that, then the ten-thousand-year foundation of the Celestial Palace will be wiped out completely, and you will become the sinner of the Celestial Palace for all ages.”
That single sentence crushed the last line he had left to retreat behind. He closed his eyes, and a cloudy tear slid from the corner of one eye. On a man who had held power for thousands of years, it looked like something that had never shown itself before. A long while later, he slowly opened his eyes again. The struggle and refusal in them had drained away, leaving behind only a cold resolve.
“Fine… we’ll do as you said.” Godric spoke one word at a time, his voice rough. “Pass the order down. We abandon the mountain gate of the Celestial Palace. All remaining disciples are to head for the Teleportation Array on the rear mountain at once. No one is to carry excess supplies. Travel light. Move at full speed to the Luminous Sanctuary and seek refuge with the Celestial Basilica!”
“This subordinate obeys…” The white-haired elder bowed and accepted the order. Something finally eased in his eyes, and he quickly turned to go pass the command along.
A short while later, every Celestial Palace disciple learned they were going to seek shelter with the Celestial Basilica. They were caught off guard, but they all understood what kind of corner they had been driven into. No one objected. They only stood there in silence, and the weight in the air pressed down until it was hard to breathe.
Godric led the remaining disciples toward the rear mountain. When he looked at the Teleportation Array ahead of them—its surface carved with ancient celestial runes—too many things rose at once behind his eyes.
Back then, the Celestial Palace had built this Teleportation Array as a way out in case a powerful enemy ever came knocking. It led straight to the edge of the Luminous Sanctuary. It had cost an enormous amount of rare materials to forge, and in all these ten thousand years, it had never once been used. He had never expected that on this day, it would become the Celestial Palace’s road of escape.
“Open the Teleportation Array. Everyone goes in one by one. No pushing!” The white-haired elder shouted the order. Several Celestial Palace disciples skilled in formations immediately stepped forward and poured in celestial elixir.
A deep hum rolled out. The runes across the Teleportation Array lit up, and golden light shot into the sky. It widened into an enormous gate of light, and through the other side, the white and sacred sea of clouds of the Luminous Sanctuary could just barely be seen.
Godric looked at the little more than 200 Celestial Palace disciples left behind him. Then he looked at the four True Immortal elders, every one of them covered in wounds. He drew in a long breath and said in a low voice, “What happened to us today—this humiliation and this hardship—every one of you will carve it into your bones.
When we reach the Luminous Sanctuary, we’ll be living under someone else’s roof for a while… some slights are unavoidable… all of you will swallow them… as long as the green hills remain, there’ll be wood to burn sooner or later. As long as we’re still alive—as long as the Celestial Palace’s flame seed doesn’t go out—then one day we take back everything that belongs to us and settle this blood debt!”
“We obey Hall Master!” The remaining Celestial Palace disciples answered in one voice. The sound was weak, but something in it still held. Godric gave a small nod. “Let’s go…”
After saying that, he stepped into the Teleportation Array first. Light flared up and swallowed him whole. One disciple after another stepped into the Teleportation Array and vanished into the light. When the last disciple stepped into the Teleportation Array, its light suddenly flared. Then it slowly dimmed, until it went completely dark.
The Celestial Palace stood empty. Only the night wind howled through, stirring the dust over the ruins, like it was still telling the story of what had once stood there and what was left of it now.
At the foot of Saintlight Peak in the Luminous Sanctuary, Godric arrived there with more than two hundred disciples.
“Who dares trespass in Celestial Basilica territory?!” Dozens of figures appeared around them in an instant and boxed them in on every side. They were the Celestial Basilica’s guards. Every one of them carried a golden spear, and the force coming off them was heavy and sharp.
Godric drew in a breath, stepped forward, and cupped his fist. “I am Godric, the Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Palace. I have brought my disciples here to request an audience with the Hall Master of the Celestial Basilica!”
The Guard Captain at the front frowned and looked him up and down. “The Lord of the Basilica?” His gaze swept over the battered disciples behind Godric, and something in his eyes shifted. “You all… what happened to you?”
A bitter smile crossed Godric’s face. He didn’t hide anything. “The demons invaded, and the Celestial Palace fell. We had nowhere left to go, so we came to seek refuge with the Celestial Basilica. Please report this to the Hall Master. Tell him… Godric requests an audience.”
The Guard Captain stayed silent for a moment, then gave a short nod. “Wait here…”
The Guard Captain turned and left, his figure vanishing into the holy radiance. Godric stayed where he was and waited in silence. Behind him, the disciples kept glancing at the Basilica guards around them. Every look carried the same tight strain. None of them knew what was waiting for them: acceptance or being driven out; a way to live or the end of the road.
Time dragged forward, second by second. At last, the holy radiance flared again, and the Guard Captain returned. He gave Godric a slight bow, and when he spoke, his tone carried more respect. “The Hall Master will see you. Everyone… come with me…”
The weight pressing on Godric finally loosened, and he let out a long breath. He looked back at the disciples behind him, then gave a small nod. “Let’s go…”
More than 200 of them followed behind the Guard Captain and stepped into Saintlight Peak. What waited ahead was a fate none of them could see.
