A Martial Odyssey

At the peak of the Unmoving Mountains where the Holy Ascension Sect was, oceans of drifting clouds were rolling rapidly as strong winds blew furiously!

Just below on a gigantic flat platform, countless celestial practitioners from hundreds of celestial clans had gathered for the first observed celestial ascension that would happen!

The numbers itself was staggering!

What was the Divine Wrath that was lying in wait for a celestial practitioner in order to reach the Immortal Realm?

That was the question that was in everyone's minds!

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage the new protégé master of the Holy Ascension Sect inhaled deeply as he looked at the numerous celestial practitioners that had gathered, "This is the first time that we have more than half of the celestial clans that are in the Celestial Realm to be presented here."

This may be the holy ground of the most powerful orthodox celestial sect the Holy Ascension Sect but today he was not the most important cultivation practitioner here. Nor were the many celestial leaders here.

In fact he had taken a seat along the sheltered walls of the stone pavilions with the other celestial leaders and their protégés!

They were all waiting for the most important person to arrive.

Finally she had arrived!

From afar, an unearthly breathtaking blonde maiden in a silver scale robe was walking calmly. Behind her were a contingency of protégés from the Celestial Aiel Sect, the Erudite Sect and the Infinity Sword Celestial Clan!

The sight of this unearthly breathtaking blonde maiden had all the thousands of celestials scurrying to their feet before they bowed on the ground with great reverence!

It was because this unearthly breathtaking blonde maiden was not a celestial practitioner but an immortal. Not only an immortal but an immortal of the Seventh Immortal Positioning and she was the Ruler of the Celestial Realm!

She was none other than the Goddess Isa.

She smiled as she arranged her Impervious Dragon Silver Robe under the dazzling sunrays, under the thundering resonates of reverences of her praises and name!

She smiled wryly as she looked keenly at her surroundings before her soft whispers resounded in the ears of everyone, "Rise! Rise! Enough of the praises. I am more than flattered enough!"

Behind her were the Celeste Wind Maiden the new protégé mistress of the Celestial Aiel Sect, Han Lin, Jing'Er the Lunar Heaven Fairy, Shi Shi the Stellar Heaven Fairy and Yang Min the Exalted Heaven Fairy.

Not far away from the Goddess Isa were Yun Zi the new leader of the Infinity Sword Celestial Clan. Also accompanying her was the Lady Winter Plum, Lady Snowflake the mistress of the Erudite and Ziyue her protégé.

Han Lin smiled and said, "Oh Isa! They are singing your praises! Why ask them to stop when we are not even at the steps of the platform yet!"

Isa looked at her and said coldly, "You should learn from Yun Zi. I can't believe that you are about to contest the Divine Wrath today…"

Han Lin shrugged her shoulders and smiled jovially, "What? Who says a person that is about to contest a Divine Calamity has to be quiet? Sister Jing'Er, am I right?"

Jing'Er smiled weakly and said, "The Divine Calamity is life and death to many practitioners. Most practitioners will prefer to meditate quietly and clear their thoughts from distractions…"

Han Lin giggled, "Why so solemn about it? I am not anxious. So why should you? Maybe Sister Yun Zi is not anxious as well, right?"

Yun Zi replied with a lit smile, "Actually I am anxious but your calmness is soothing to me."

Han Lin laughed jovially, "You see?"

Shi Shi smiled, "I think Han Lin must be excited to see Yi Ping and Aiel again."

Yang Min nodded with a wry smile, "Lucky her! Among the sisters, only Yunzi and Han Lin have the highest cultivation potential to make this attempt."

But she was immediately solemn, "The final Divine Wrath is more deadly than any Divine Wrath that a celestial practitioner has yet to face. Be very careful!"

Jing'Er nodded and cautioned Han Lin, "It is not too late to back off now and take your chance in the Great Wilderness. Perhaps with your attainment, you will be able to reach the First Heaven of the Immortal Realm…"

Han Lin yawned softly, "Nay! The bestial monsters there are too scary. I don't intend to be another Dark Chaos Lord or to face those scary monsters again. I have enough of them in the Stellar Sanctuary. I know that I am not a combat type. I will rather take my chance with the Divine Wrath!"

Jing'Er sighed softly, "Alas, the real reason is your laziness Han Lin. Perhaps I should call you Lazy Han Lin."

Han Lin disapproved immediately, "Aiel is the laziest here, you know. With a protégé mistress like her, even her protégés will be lazy."

Yang Min laughed softly, "Don't let her overheard you. She will be screaming at you for a long time."

Han Lin laughed softly, "I am glad that she isn't around now to overhear me. Moreover if she is around, I will surely fail in my ascension. She will be such a huge distraction!"

Jing'Er said weakly, "We shouldn't be gossiping about our mistress here."

She looked at the rest of the curious onlookers and said, "After all, there are others here."

The Goddess Isa had turned around all of a sudden and returned a smile, "Aiel, alas! Hmph! She is indeed lazy. I have never seen anyone that can sleep like her! It is a lucky thing that she starts off as an immortal. I can't imagine her ascending to anywhere except for more troubles!"

But she quickly smiled, "If she don't work hard soon then she will probably lose her position pretty soon."

Han Lin shrugged her shoulders and said, "She is probably just content to be a consort of Yi Ping and just dreaming her way through her fantasies. She isn't bothered with any of us because in her dreams, she is just supreme!"

"Curse you Han Lin!"

Han Lin was startled because all of a sudden, she had heard a familiar shout and it was Aiel!

"I was away just a little while and you are already speaking bad about me! To think that I was so anxious for you! You ungrateful fellow!"

Indeed it was Aiel!

She was standing at the other side of the platform!

Han Lin blinked her eyes and muttered bleary, "Mistress, is that really you? It is really you!"

Aiel laughed in the strong winds, "Lucky I have asked Yi Ping to allow me to come with him!"

Isa, Jing'Er, Shi Shi, Yunzi, Yang Min and Han Lin almost all asked at the same time, "Where is he?!"

The Goddess Aiel smiled wryly before she pointed backward.

Indeed in just a little while, they could see Yi Ping walking up the platform and behind him were Xian'Er alias the Great Goddess Fantian, the Celestial Goddess Alice, Youxue, the Heaveness Lingfeng and Lie Qing!

All the thousands of celestials froze because the animus aura of this new group was so breathtaking. It was as though time had frozen in place and they were so captivated that they could not even move their little fingers!

Old Reverend Vanquisher Sage had clearly recognized Yi Ping but at the same time, he could not believe that this forbidding practitioner was the same Yi Ping that he had known!

Like all the other celestials, he was not able to move at all and could only stand rigidly!

"Yi Ping! Ping'Er! Yi Ping, Yi Ping!" Isa, Jing'Er, Shi Shi, Yunzi, Yang Min and Han Lin chorus one after each other!

The Celeste Wind Maiden lowered her eyes shyly as did Ziyue. It was because they could not find courage to profess their hearts to him. He was now in a totally different league now and beyond them…

Yi Ping grinned broadly. He was never this happy. He whispered gently to their ears, "I am here!"

This square platform spanned twenty miles by twenty miles but in a blink of an eye, Yi Ping had already sped to them as he patted and embraced Isa, Jing'Er, Shi Shi, Yunzi, Yang Min and Han Lin!

Yunzi was startled as she withheld her tears, "You are really here? I have thought that I have to wait until I could ascend before I could see you once more…"

Yi Ping smiled gently, "Xian'Er has foretold that today is the day of your Divine Calamity. So I am here to give you a helping hand. It is a good thing that I have arrived in a nick of time!"

Lingfeng flurried gently behind them as she smiled to them, "He has sacrificed many precious artefacts just to descend to the lower realm. We cannot afford to sacrifice more. The others that remain in the Immortal Realm regard their best wishes to you and they sorely miss you!"

Aiel sighed softly, "I have sacrificed a little of my attainment to descend as well. Han Lin, are you happy now?"

Han Lin laughed softly, "Very happy! I am so glad to see you! But don't ever do it again!"

Aiel growled softly, "You think that there will be a next time? Fat chance!"

Yi Ping laughed heartily as he said, "Aiel will always be Aiel. Han Lin will always be Han Lin. Some things never change."

Lingfeng, Lie Qing and Youxue had already crowded around Yunzi and Shi Shi as they said together, "Sister Yun and Sister Shi Shi!"

Youxue said with soft remembrances, "We have been through so much. Finally we have met again! Sister Shi Shi, we will wait for you!"

Lie Qing nodded as she smiled mesmerizingly, "Our sisterhood and friendship are everlasting!"

Xian'Er held Yunzi's hands and smiled gently, "Sister Yun, I am so glad to see you again!"

Yunzi murmured, "Everyone…"

Shi Shi smiled serenely, "I will practice hard! I have missed everyone so much too!"

All of a sudden Yi Ping had walked to the downcast Lady Winter Plum and said gently, "My protégé teacher and brother the Universal Old Man hopes that you are well. He is expecting you in the Immortal Realm. He wants me to say to you that no matter how long or how arduous it takes, he will wait for you. If you are willing to wait for him that long and if you have not ascended, he will surely look for you in the Celestial Realm. He is not able to come because he is training to be an immortal practitioner now."

All the sudden the Lady Winter Plum was heartened as her countenance shone brightly!

She immediately replied shyly, "Please help me to tell him that it is a promise then! Either way, we will wait for each other!"

Yi Ping nodded, "I will."

Suddenly he turned around to address solemnly, "Yunzi and Han Lin. It is time for you to face the Divine Wrath. The rest of us can only be observers. We cannot interfere or else it will be disastrous for you. We will be your guardians to ensure that you will not be disturbed by anyone. I want you to succeed in your ascension!"

Yunzi and Han Lin nodded. They said at the same time, "We will!"

Yi Ping nodded and he turned to say to Xian'Er, Alice, Lingfeng, Aiel, Youxue and Lie Qing, "Everyone, I need your help."

Immediately Xian'Er, Alice, Lingfeng, Aiel, Youxue and Lie Qing had scattered to six different positions as they unsheathed their divine swords!

The Heaveness Lingfeng's divine sword was invisible but her divine sword was still shown as rainbow hues surrounded her invisible blade when held under the basking sun!

Yi Ping had also unsheathed his two divine swords, the Celestial Alice and the Fantian Sovereign!

He said with urgent, "Except for Yunzi and Han Lin, everyone please step back as far away as possible! There is no time to wait. We are going to enable the Seven Heavens Stars Formation."

Yunzi smiled as she unsheathed her divine sword, "You have learnt a new formation in the Immortal Realm?"

Yi Ping nodded as the winds began to beat strongly and everyone could see that the entire heavens had turned dark and purple lightning were zapping in arcs!

Han Lin turned ashen as she looked at the lightning storm fearfully, "Lightning Calamity…"

Yi Ping said quietly, "The chance to ascend is only thirty-percent. If you have a divine sword, the chance will be upped to forty percent. I won't allow you to fail the divine ascension."

When he had finished speaking, he had quietly merged his two divine swords into the Heaven Defying Divine Sword as a yellow lightning burst forth from the heavens and struck his sword!

At the same time, Xian'Er, Alice, Lingfeng, Lie Qing, Youxue and Aiel were generating sword energies bursts from their divine swords as they displayed the Seven Heavens Star Formation!

Yi Ping held the golden lightning with all his power as he thundered loudly to the heavens, "O' heavens hear me out!"

The entire platform began to tremble as strong winds and purple lightning began to strike all around furiously!

Yi Ping did not fumble but instead he held onto his sword as he gathered the energies of the others in the Seven Heavens Star Formation while channeling the Universal Creation Force. He was steadfast as he said aloud, "I am going to create a miracle here today!"

All of a sudden a silver lining broke the dark heavens and a rainbow had shone forth!

Yunzi and Han Lin were startled at the sight!

At the same time seven beaming white lights had shone upon Yi Ping, Xian'Er, Alice, Lingfeng, Lie Qing, Youxue and Aiel as it returned them to the heavens!

It was followed by two other beaming white lights as it spirited Yunzi and Han Lin upward to the heavens!

Yunzi and Han Lin were stunned!

It was because their Divine Calamity had become a Benevolent Divine Wrath!

Xian'Er voice could be heard explaining, "That is because they have done untold goodness. Therefore even the Heaven is kind to them!"

Immediately the entire heavens become bright again and an auspicious rainbow cloud could be seen drifting above the platform!

A resonating voice identified as Yi Ping could be heard by everyone as it slowly faded, "From on now, whoever wishes to ascend can attempt the Divine Calamity on this platform. This auspicious cloud will be here as an auspicious omen to aid anyone that is attempting to overcome their Divine Calamity. As long as I live, this auspicious cloud will be here…"