Consequences

"Brother please reconsider, there must be an explanation!"

The East Sea Dragon Palace was in a huge commotion. Legions upon legions of soldiers had been recalled. They assembled in the waters above the dragon city amassing an enormous amount of power.

At Zulong's call, powerful immortals from his domain began gathering. At this point in time, trillions of True and Profound Immortals acted as foot soldiers while billions of Heavenly Immortals led them. Squadrons of triple crowned Heavenly Immortals stood as elite soldiers.

A staggering number of Golden Immortals and above experts had appeared as well. Yet once lofty both Golden and Great Unity Golden Immortals could only present themselves as minor figures, leaders of groups but nothing major.

Only the true mighty figures, Great Principle Chaos Immortals could lead divisions of the army and even they served under more prominent Primal Origin Chaos Immortals. The children of the Dragon Sovereign had obeyed their father and gathered in unison.

But there was a resenting voice. One that was grating on Zulong's nerves.

As Zulong halted his step at the courtyard of his palace, Qinglong trailed behind him with an urgent look on his face. The sheer aura emanating from them were explosive and almighty. Behind them, they left a trail of unconscious body.

Servants and ministers, each immortals in their own right could not keep their consciousness in the dragon's presence. Zulong at present was very much unrestrained. Only a select few could approach him and as his mood worsened, this few number shortened.

"There has to be an explanation. You and I have viewed nephew's memories, there was something going on," Qinglong urged.

Zulong however, was steadfast in his march. It was as if the azure dragon was little more than a buzzing bee unworthy of his attention. Qinglong swallowed a harsh bile and grabbed hold of his elder brother's shoulder.

"Zulong would you please listen to me," he cried out. "You and I both know this event is suspicious. We can talk it out with the Phoenix Sovereign, sister Zhuque and I can arrange it. There's no need to launch a…"

Whatever he was going to say next was drowned out by the abrupt violent turbulence of the water surrounding them. An oppressive aura fell upon the shoulder of the azure dragon, a mighty force far larger than anything he had ever felt before. But that wasn't entirely accurate

Rather, he had felt it before, just not fully concentrated on his person. He could feel the very nature of the universe around him diluting. Time stilled in its most literal sense, the wave of horrendous power washing over him would be enough to massacre a dozen Great Principle Chaos Immortals working together into atoms.

Qinglong was completely and utterly frozen, unable to do anything but accept Zulong's judgement. He was by no means weak, he was a Primal Zenith Chaos Immortal himself. He would go so far as to claim superiority over the original three thousand godfiends in terms of strength. Yet he could not resist Zulong in the slightest.

"You are my brother, flesh and blood brother," Zulong said. "That is the only reason you are not a smear on the floor."

The threat carried an enormous amount of malice. Bloodlust was practically oozing out of Zulong's sharp eyes. The glare the elder dragon sent the younger as he turned his head was one that could freeze the hottest of suns.

"How could you say that," Qinglong murmured. The shock of such threat from Zulong was like a club to the face. It was only the slight regret he saw on Zulong's face that eased him.

"My son," Zulong said. "I trusted her. If that peacock is so incompetent as to not even be able to control her own vassals? What point if there to negotiate?"

Qinglong understood. Zulong was far from dumb, even emotionally compromised he was still logical enough to recognise Zufeng as not being the direct cause based upon what Denglong had seen of Chongming. But that did not change that the phoenixes were at fault.

Since Zufeng could not control her own court, since her incompetence lead to his son's hospitalisation, what was the point of talking to her?

Qinglong had no response for Zulong. He could only look down at the floor, shaking in frustration.

"Evidently," Zulong began saying. "You are compromised. I forgive you for your transgression. But you are hereby forbidden from leaving the east sea until my return."

Qinglong nodded dimly muttering a soft, "understood.

As Zulong's form retreated towards the palace gate, Qinglong called out again.

"I am in charge of training our junior sisters in the starry skies. May I at least go there?" He asked.

Zulong took a moment to consider. He was furious with Qinglong and was heavily tempted to deny him. But thinking about it some more, he said;

"Go to the stars. But you are not permitted to enter the great wilderness, seas or continent besides the east sea. Failure to comply is treason," he declared looking back one last time.

"Understood your majesty," Qinglong said bowing. He remained in such a position even as Zulong rose towards the ocean surface to meet his army.

Qinglong watch him go and sighed. He could feel displeased glares behind his back though he did not mind them. He understood their reason and empathised. Hence he did not stay long and directly entered the starry skies.

…

Beyond the great wilderness, within the burning stars of the starry skies. Two sisters watched the world below them through a projector formed from a curtain of water.

"Hey sis, what do you think they're all doing?" Changxi asked mulching on some melon seeds.

Xihe hummed to herself watching the waves of sea creatures amassing above the east sea and south sea. They had just wanted to see what their senior brother Qinglong was doing and to see an army was the last thing they expected.

"Looks to be big trouble," Xihe said. "I'm worried."

She had a bad premonition not long ago but hadn't thought anything of it. She had those all the time and they amounted to nothing, just another side affect of being a being born of heaven and earth. The subtle course of destiny could be felt even if she's not trying.

"Do you think we should get involved?" Changxi asked. "Not only are we strong but we're mighty Great Principle Chaos Immortals, and it's also people familiar with us. Practically family."

'You reached Great Principle Chaos Immortal realm,' Xihe thought bitterly. She hadn't even sprouted a tree yet. "Little sister, I would want to help if we can. But we shouldn't be hasty," she advised

Changxi nodded obediently. "Thanks for correcting me, you always know so much," she chuckled.

Out of nowhere, Changxi flinched.

"What is it?" Xihe asked.

"Senior brother is back, he's outside the lunar star," she replied.

"Well what are you doing? Invite him in already!"

Changxi nodded and dropped the barrier around the lunar star. Qinglong entered the Lunar Palace. He joined both sisters in Wangshu's dining chamber. Idly he took note of the water curtain they were using.

"Master's old viewing mirror, was wondering where that went" he muttered.

"Senior brother," the two goddesses greeted. They divulged into small talks after that. Qinglong took care to answer some of Changxi's and XIhe's questions as he accompanied them. Even then, Xihe didn't find him helpful at all.

'Some outside perspective he turned out to be. Just kept regurgitating master's doctrine,' she thought to herself. It'll be rude of her to openly admit it not to mention Qinglong could squash her like a bug.

'It's not fair. It's not fair at all.'

Ignorant of her thoughts, Qinglong was deep in contemplation. He just didn't know what to do anymore.

…

Elsewhere, a pair of three legged golden feathered crows leapt around an astroid field. They radiated pure power as they easily smashed apart thick chunk of rock blocking their way and landed on another surface.

"This the one?" Di Jun asked Taiyi while morphing into the shape of a human

The other golden crow morphed into a young man wearing spectacles. He pulled out a piece of paper and observed the image within.

"Should be it," he replied.

Di Jun nodded and held his palm down. With a single command, he unleashed waves of concentrated fire like a laser beam. He burnt a hole into the astroid and reached down. Out he pulled a chunk of metal and twirled it in his hand.

"Right, let's go, they're waiting for us."

The two transformed back and flew into a distant star. Di Jun, always the sunny the fellow could not say no to those pitiful creatures in need to aid.

They landed in a village near a dead sun. This star was cold and the inhabitants weak. They too were creatures born in the starry skies but had long ago lost their strongest cultivators. Now they were stuck on a cold world.

Di Jun heated up the piece of metal until it became a ball of white light. Then he activated his own treasure, the Celestial River Diagram. From it, he formed a simple formation and created an artificial heat source.

"There you go," he said. "Though I have to ask, why didn't just ask us to take you somewhere else?"

"We cannot possibly trouble seniors, besides this star is our ancestral home, we cannot leave it," the village elder said.

Di Jun nodded. That evening, he celebrated with the villagers as if he were one of them. Drinking, playing, chatting, he was comfortable in getting to know them.

His younger brother however stayed out of it. The sun crow Taiyi sat outside on a boulder meditating instead. His icy demeanour acted as a great barrier for others to approach him.

He didn't mind Di Jun hanging out with others even if he personally didn't enjoy it. Let Di Jun handle that stuff, he'll support his brother from behind either way. No matter how ludicrous his goals become.

"There you are brother," Di Jun strolled up beside him. In his human form, Di Jun carried a sack full of gifts. Taiyi raised and eyebrow and chuckled

"Had fun?"

"Plenty. They built me a shrine so I'm getting karmic luck from worship now."

Taiyi nodded. "How long do you plan to loiter around here? The starry skies doesn't present much opportunities." 'We wasting time where we should be cultivating the Dao,' left unsaid.

"Hey, it's always nice to gather some support wherever you are," Di Jun shot back. "You should talk to someone sometime, and no I don't count."

Taiyi grunted in response. Instead, he looked up towards a distant Jianmu tree. The gateway leading from the great wilderness to the starry skies was still open and was the normal way people would travel to the starry skies.

Opening gateways through the void was an easy option for them. But the brothers had sensed an opportunity leading them westwards. And what was west but the Jianmu tree.

…

Phoenix roost was in a frenzy when Zufeng returned to her palace days ago. The chaotic accusations flung forth by Chongming were met with denial and anger. It was only when Zufeng returned did things ended up calming down.

But here, sitting on her throne, the once proud phoenix appeared extremely anxious. She had thrown out all her ministers for the day to not allow them to see her in this state.

She swallowed hard even as she bit through her finger nail. "Fuck, how did it go so wrong?" She was torn on what to do. Things had been so simple before.

"Sister," Zhuque tried to comfort the sovereign, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Have you any news as to who had done this?" Zufeng asked tiredly. Zhuque could only shake her head.

"I don't want to fight a war, not now of all times," the phoenix growled in frustration holding her head in her hands. She was speaking to no one in particular but even so, Zhuque felt incredibly guilty.

'I should've been more careful,' she told herself.

"Sister, they…" Zhuque tried to say. But Zufeng released a loud sigh.

"I know, I could feel them from a world away," Zufeng sighed. Her mind went back to her eggs hidden deep within the underground volcano. Fighting the dragon was the worst possible outcome. She wasn't strong enough to pull a victory through and she knew that.

She hated Chongming for not catching on what was going on sooner. She hated herself for not being more careful. Above all else, she wanted to tear apart the one responsible for bringing this mess upon her shoulders.

"YOU FILTHY FLAT HAIRED BEASTS, ROLL OUT HERE AND FACE JUDGEMENT!"

She heard Zulong's voice thunder from outside. Zhuque was left rambling upon hearing it. Zufeng had no doubt in mind that nobody else could keep their act together in a time like this.

In the next instant, the roof of her palace was blown off, smashed away from an irradiating power. Zufeng stood up from her throne and floated up with a resigned look.

Eye to eye, she met the murderous form of the Dragon Sovereign.