The Ethereal Domains

Chapter 1243: Route of Retreat; Resolve

Route of Retreat; Resolve . . .

On the next day.

The Moon Queen convened another high-level meeting to confirm and announce several matters officially.

"First, as the Saintess of Qiong-Hua Palace, Yue Gongxue knowingly violated the rules of the palace, and secretly gave her virginity to Cha Nantian. Eighteen years of imprisonment is merely a meager punishment for that sin. Since she intends to break away from the palace, we shall not waste any more time trying to ask for her stay. From this day, she is no longer a disciple of Qiong-Hua Palace. The rules of the palace do not have the power to restrain her will. From now on, Yue Gongxue and Qiong-Hua Palace are no longer related. What has happened is done. We shall all let it go!"

The first announcement was a matter of extreme severity and firmness. She didn't show any hesitation but only pursued to the brutal end.

Yue Shuang and Yue Han both thundered up in anger, nearly started a big fight right away. Luckily, the others kept holding them down and made them calm down. The two ladies managed to hold down the anger in their hearts in the end after all. [We wonder what else the Moon Queen could possibly say after the fxcking bullshxt she just let out! She better understand that we two are willing to start a fight inside the palace!]

"Yue Gongxue was, after all, born and raised in Qiong-Hua Palace. She used to be our Saintess. Even though she will no longer be one of us after marrying her man, Qiong-Hua Palace should not show any narrowness and indignity on this matter. Before the wedding ends, Qiong-Hua Palace isis still Yue Gongxue's family.

"The wedding should be held under the direction of the ancient tradition! No detail should be missed! Dowry, includes four Qiong-Hua Pearls, three Pure Lotus Seeds, one piece of Ice Essence Soul, ten thousand pieces of spiritual jade! Other than these, Yue Gongxue has the right to choose any three pieces of Qiong-Hua Palace's treasures, and take her maids away with her…"

The second announcement was also pretty mind-blowing.

Comparing to the strictness of the first, this one was extremely favoring. These two announcements had two completely different meanings, like one was heaven while the other was hell.

"After the wedding, Yue Gongxue is nobody else but the wife of Cha Nantian, daughter-in-law of Cha Clan. She is no longer a member of Qiong-Hua Palace. She has no relation with the palace, and should never make use of Qiong-Hua Palace's name to travel the martial world. Once caught in violation, she should be sentenced in the severe penalty!"

The third one was pretty confusing though. People had no words to say about it, except Cheng Bingmei. She must be quite happy about it at the moment.

After all, the biggest enemy in her life, Yue Gongxue, was going to disappear in her sight forever.

Not just that, the enemy was going to disappear in the rest of her life!

She wouldn't bother noticing if Yue Gongxue was alive or dead anymore.

Nor would she spend time on plotting and scheming anymore…

[What a stupid woman! She actually gave up on the crown of the Moon Queen for the so-called true love that only considered meaningful for mortals. She was so close to becoming the new queen. How foolish!]

"Four! The wedding should be the most significant event in a person's life. Thus, I hope that everyone in Qiong-Hua Palace can be happier to enjoy the joyous occasion and give our girl, Yue Gongxue, the warmest wishes!

"This is the first time, also the last time Qiong-Hua Palace ever holds a wedding! This shall be the only exception!"

When the Moon Queen said so, her face was seen in a big smile, but the elders all clearly felt the worry and anxiety were deep behind her eyes.

The elders were surprised about the Moon Queen being anxious, because they did have the same anxiety in their minds. [The Vice-prime Master and the Prime Enforcer haven't sent back a word. There is going to be a disaster in the martial world. What is the point to keep eyes on the petty things at such a critical time?]

[Since Yue Gongxue was determined to leave… we shall just let her go.]

[Nobody has the time to bother thinking more on this matter now…]

That was why nobody stood opposed to the wedding anymore. Even those who had strongly objected to it chose to remain silent at the moment.

What they were having in mind was wondering what was going on in the martial art at the moment.

They wonder to what end this unpredictable calamity would lead the world into.

After done with all the announcements, the Moon Queen uncurled the roll of paper in her hand that she had been holding tight since the beginning, blandly said, "Those who have no more duties to this meeting should be off. Now!"

The elders were all shocked when they saw the scroll in the Moon Queen's hands.

After a few seconds, all those stood below the position of elders were gone. Whoever stayed were at least elders of Qiong-Hua Palace.

The Moon Queen was sitting the highest spot on the chair, casting a look around the leaders of the sect. She was worried and heavy-laden. Suddenly, the mountainous stress was hovering down on everybody's heart.

They were all holding their breaths, waiting for the Moon Queen to speak.

The Moon Queen looked around their faces and finally said, "Here. I have some news from the replies of the two great halls, the two other great palaces, and the seven great sects."

The others were all frightened, ready to hear what came next at the same time.

"The West Hall says… None of their people has sent a word back. Nobody has made it back to their sect yet."

The Moon Queen finally continued talking, yet what she said had drawn the atmosphere into darkest hell.

Suddenly, they felt like a massive wave of murder came from nowhere suppressing them all.

Their eyes started to glow in dim lights, and everybody began to breathe heavily.

"According to the East Hall, no message received from their people in Heaven's Terrace. Nobody returned… To the date they sent the letter, their people had been missing for twenty-three days!"

The Moon Queen's cold eyes cast around the others' faces, and she blandly said, "The Prime Enforcer and Vice-prime Master lost contact twenty-four days ago. They were lost on the same day… Is it a coincidence or…"

Nobody made a sound.

"Cold Moon Palace has sent a message too. Their Prime Master, Yue Changtian led sixteen disciples to Heaven's Terrace, end up missing. No more message from him. None of them returned. Twenty-seven days already!"

"Saint Sunlight Sect says that their Prime Master Wu Huitian…"

The Moon Queen shared the replies from all the other dominant sects to everybody in the meeting. Two great halls, three great palaces, seven great sects… Nobody had returned from Heaven's Terrace! None of these sects had ever received a word from Heaven's Terrace!

Finally, all the messages were finished.

The Moon Queen was pacing around her armchair, blandly said in a cold tone, "I think you all heard clearly what the messages say. I believe you all know what is happening and how serious it could be…"

"Qing-Yun Realm has been in peace for tens of thousands of years indeed, but… maybe it is time for the world to be reformed, isn't it?" The Moon Queen asked, but had the answer in her heart. She laughed in self-mocking, and then started to speak in a furious tone, "I don't care what is going to happen in Qing-Yun Realm! I don't care how it will change! Qiong-Hua Palace will always be the same Qiong-Hua Palace!"

That was like bolts of lightning striking around the hall!

Everybody else was shocked and frightened.

"If Qiong-Hua Palace has to be involved into the calamity, we shall face it with all we have full-heartedly!"

The Moon Queen was casting cold and frosty light out of her pretty eyes.

"If Qiong-Hua Palace was doomed to end up collapsing in this disaster, I don't want any of you to beg for survival!

"We have always been ruling a piece of the land for centuries! We are beyond mortality! Even if the world is going to become the territory of one, we should still be the second reigning force in the world! If we can't achieve that, we should at least keep our dignity and not to bring shame to our forefathers!

"We would rather die with the palace!

"We live and die with the palace!

"Qiong-Hua Palace stands, our honor shining upon the sky; Qiong-Hua Palace falls, our dignity casting light in the history!

"Qiong-Hua Palace will never surrender!

"This is the attitude that we should hold up to from the beginning till the end!"

The Moon Queen's speech had boil everybody's blood!

"No more words to be said. All is clear. From now on, I will have only one answer to any question about the coming calamity we are about to confront."

She cast a look around everybody's face with cold eyes, spoke out word by word, "We give all in to fight!"

"We give all in to fight!"

All the ladies gave a loud positive response at once!

Although they were all women, at this moment, the rising aura of them all was more shocking and heroic than any men, strong enough to move anybody in the world!

"Prime Master, as it is what it is now, should we put off the arrangement of the wedding, or maybe we should scale it back. I am sure Xue-er will show her understanding when she realized what we are going through at the moment…" The Second Elder said, brows frowning.

Everybody else was enlightened.

[We are currently at a critical moment. If we are making such a huge event for Yue Gongxue's wedding, wouldn't it be too much of putting the cart before the horse? Maybe it is quite the opposite to what we should do at the moment, isn't it?]

The Moon Queen made a sigh lightly.

She blandly said, "What I am going to say, is absolute classified. None of you are allowed to leak the information in any way! If we can get through the calamity safe, what I am going to say will only be an unnecessary statement. But if we can't… Listen. If anybody dares to leak out anything about this, she will be expelled from the palace, and none of her relatives will hold the right to sleep their long sleep in our Divine Cemetery ever!"

The ladies were shocked.

"There was nothing about this calamity heard in the world. Suddenly, it started. For some days, nobody even noticed it's existence. Whoever is performing it must be powerful enough even to turn the world upside-down… Therefore, even though having faith in our sect Qiong-Hua Palace, I still can't be certain for a positive result. Nor can I face it with a relaxed mood."

She blandly continued, "In this critical time, I insist that we should hold a big wedding ceremony, because first of all, we need to show the world our unquestionable dominant power, to tell the world how destructive our counter-attack can be to those who dare to offend us, and second, we should tell the entire world that Yue Gongxue is no longer a member of Qiong-Hua Palace!"

"We may get through the calamity till things were settled, and by then, Yue Gongxue won't be one of us anymore. It is reasonable that we hold a proper wedding for her before anything unfortunate happens. If… If Qiong-Hua Palace doesn't get the fortune to survive the disaster…" The Moon Queen spoke in a deep voice, "If we all die before the end… Yue Gongxue, whom we are expelling from the sect, will become… the only remaining seed of Qiong-Hua Palace… She used to be our Saintess. Maybe she is weak in cultivation, but what she has mastered were all the best parts of Qiong-Hua Palace's martial arts. We all know that this is why I wouldn't let her go with Cha Nantian. I would never take the risk of leaking our secret martial arts to the world! However, things have changed. We may need her to keep the continuity of the great Qiong-Hua Palace!"

"No matter she is or not resentful and full of grudge about the palace, what she has… the significant knowledge in her head…" The Moon Queen took a long breath and said, "…is always the heritage of Qiong-Hua Palace!"

"That would be the last step we make! The most helpless one!"

The elders all took a tumble. They never thought that the Moon Queen would have had such a profound view of the future.

No matter what the calamity in the future would bring to Qiong-Hua Palace, the Moon Queen had prepared for it.

The inheritance of a great sect always went beyond the vicissitude of it, because it was much worse to lose inheritance than to end in collapse. If the inheritance were cut, the sect would lose the possibility to last any longer!

"I am afraid I am not the only person in the palace who are making way open for the future…" The Moon Queen spoke in a deep voice, "I hope that… what I said will be the what happens in the future."

The others nodded, with sullenness in the face.

It was an important issue for the palace to protect the inheritance. Whoever leaked the information would definitely become a sinner in the history of Qiong-Hua Palace, that would be ironed with the mark of a traitor for a lifetime!

"From now on, all members of Qiong-Hua Palace, including the elders and the grand elders… must keep in mind the names of the people to whom you have the most to complain about… because for the coming days, you will be practicing with the people you hated the most in the palace so that we can be more and more in unity and harmony. We shall give up all the personal animosity against any others, and prepared both your souls and bodies to confront the calamity before us!" The Moon Queen sounded strict. "Whoever dares to haggle over every petty thing during this critical time… I will be happy to see her death!"

The main hall was in sudden silence.

"Ladies, let's wait for more messages to come!"

The Moon Queen looked around the ladies with a profound look in the face and then walked away.

"The wedding is tomorrow. It is a good day! All must join the ceremony! We don't need the other sects to come for congratulation. Just cut it."

The last few words were resounding in the hall, yet the Moon Queen had already gone.

The ladies in the hall all looked sullen and anxious. Nobody dared to leave even after a long while.

…

When Yue Shuang and Yue Han arrived at the Moon Queen's residence, the Moon Queen was staring at the ice and snow of the mountains in the distance. All that filled her sight was desolation.

"Yue Gongxue will leave for Cha Clan with Cha Nantian. You two will protect them on the way… I am afraid there will be troubles… Please, elders, go with them on the same way back to Cha Clan. Make sure everything goes right." The Moon Queen didn't turn to look at them.

Yue Shuang nodded and said, "We certainly will. However…"

"What?" The Moon Queen blandly asked. That was just one word, yet it sounded powerful like the abruption of a volcano.

Yue Shuang hesitated and said, "We, all that have attended the meeting, understand what you have in your mind as we all heard your words… However, Yue Gongxue, as the bride, doesn't know a word of it. She will become an abandoned disciple, leave the sect to marry a man… Isn't it unfair for her to keep the truth from her?"

The Moon Queen fast turned around and stared at Yue Shuang.

In her eyes, there seemed to be tears, but also the flame of anger.

Yue Shuang was frightened, so she said, "Moon Queen! Why? Did I say anything wrong?"

The Moon Queen couldn't bear the emotion anymore, so she grabbed Yue Shuang's clothes and spoke in a sincere voice word by word, "Elder Shuang, I know you are asking this dumb question for the sake of her… even for the sake of Cha Clan… But… you know what…"

She paused and spoke in a low voice, but with the voice growling through her teeth, "Yue Gongxue… is my daughter!"

"She is my daughter! I brought her to the world after ten months of difficult pregnancy… I am her mother! Elder Shuang, I will give up everything to protect her! How would I do anything to hurt her?"

Her voice was no longer elegant and imposing as usual. She was more like a wounded animal, growling in pain for her beloved child.

Yue Shuang and Yue Han were both stunned!

[Yue Gongxue… is the Moon Queen's daughter?]

[What…]

[Is this even possible?]

[Isn't it unbelievable? Isn't it scary?]

"You have all the rights to have doubts about it, but I won't waste my time explaining it. I can only assure you that all I am doing is merely the best way to protect Xue-er. Don't you agree, elders?"

The Moon Queen bitterly laughed and continued, "Two halls, three palaces, and seven great sects have sent people to Heaven's Terrace. It made an incredibly powerful team… All these people together must be even stronger than the entire Qiong-Hua Palace. So many superior cultivators… actually all have gone missing at the same time… We can't be careless on this, can we? Isn't it obvious? Don't you see what is going to happen?"

"I am surely not as good as you at shouting out for fights and acting on impulse without consideration!" She fiercely said, "But when we are talking about self-protection, protecting the inheritance, playing schemes, cutting our hearts to achieve the greater thing for the palace…"

"You have to know that you are not a patch on me!" She shouted out the last words.

Yue Shuang and Yue Han both lowered their heads.

"Grievance… they say… Well, who can really escape from grievance in the history?" The Moon Queen furiously said, "Is there anybody who actually had a successful and fortunate life? If we can not even endure such grievance, then Qiong-Hua Palace deserves to die, and the only people we can blame are ourselves!

"Yue Gongxue is my daughter! And she has to accept the fate to be a daughter to me!

"She was the Saintess, so she had to bear the responsibility!

"In the past, at present, or in the future… she has to bear it!

"No excuses!

"Do you understand?

"Do you?"

She tried to lower her voice down and growled through her teeth like crazy. Finally, she got the opportunity to vent out all the grudge and sadness that had been buried inside her for all those years!

The growl of her made every of her word sound like bursting out from deep inside her heart with blasting!

She didn't know why she would lose control either. Nor had she thought that she would expose the biggest secret in her heart to someone else!

After all, she needed to let it out!

If not… she might never be going to have the chance anymore.

…

The next day.

It must be the most memorable, enjoyable, and cheerful day in Cha Nantian and Yue Gongxue's lives!

Qiong-Hua Palace had approved the marriage due to the Moon Queen's promise. Yue Gongxue was going to marry Cha Nantian officially.

The entire palace would wish them all the best!

However, they would also expel Yue Gongxue on the same day. Yue Gongxue and Qiong-Hua Palace wouldn't be related anymore after the wedding. Even though she would still be in touch with Qiong-Hua Palace, the palace would never admit her!

That meant Yue Gongxue got to do whatever she wanted after leaving Qiong-Hua Palace.

No matter what happened afterward—maybe she would become wealthy, powerful, dominant, or world-reigning… Qiong-Hua Palace would share no joy of it.

No matter what happened to her, death or life, honor or shame, she would never get any warmth from Qiong-Hua Palace.

She was no more than a stranger to the palace.

When Yue Gongxue heard the announcement, she nearly freaked out because of the sadness.

She was still recollecting the warmth of her master's arms… enjoying the tenderness…

Yet after just one night, her world was turned upside-down. She was no longer close to the Moon Queen anymore. In fact, she felt like just a stranger to her master and the palace!

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