Tianyi's ears perked up when he heard Monarch Soulfish's words. 'Tower Lord? As in Emperor Begonia, the founder, and leader of the fallen Begonia Tower?'

The records clearly stated that the Buzhou Immortal Sect killed Emperor Begonia, so why was he still alive? He didn't doubt the veracity of Monarch Soulfish's words because he could feel the pressure from the difference in strength.

Oh, wait, in the Silent Lightning Timeline, the Cultivator Alliance destroyed Begonia Tower. By the time Begonia Tower was destroyed in his timeline, the Saintly Scholar School had already conquered the Mortal Continent. Was that the reason?

"Not good."

Tianyi didn't even have time to finish his talk before he felt himself slow down, and something hit him. He turned around to see hundreds of begonia flowers flying toward him. He could see them, but everything felt like it was on fast forward, and his body was moving through a quagmire like he had laggy internet.

Additionally, he could feel his emotions going out of control. He could feel fear rising, anger clouding his judgment, greed for the Soul Pagoda pushing him, and many many more. Tianyi forcibly suppressed these rampant emotions and desires.

It was not that his willpower was absolute or superior to immortal emperors, but his consciousness was too strong. Most of it was in the Nine Heavens Universe, and only a percentage was in his current body.

Tianyi felt a bit embarrassed. It was not too long ago that he said only someone at the Divinity Realm's soul technique could affect him. Yet, wasn't he being affected by a soul technique now?

'Does this count as a face slap?' Tianyi couldn't help but think. The only difference was that instead of getting his face slapped by a protagonist in the same or weaker realm, it was getting slapped by someone stronger.

Tianyi expelled the unnecessary thoughts. He doubted he could defeat Emperor Begonia if he used the full power of the Law of Spacetime. Since he couldn't defeat his foe, then it was time to leave.

Emperor Begonia's eyes flashed with shock. He had confidence that anyone weaker than an Immortal Emperor would fall under his soul attacks. Soul techniques were different from qi and martial techniques. Once the soul was affected, it was possible for them to be defeated or directly possibly die. Of course, this depended on the individual cultivator. Even if they couldn't reach such a point, weakening hundreds or even thousands of opponents was no problem.

That's why, for an army, the most terrible opponent were soul cultivators.

Therefore, upon meeting a soul cultivator, immediately run if your realm was lower or your willpower was lacking. Of course, all things had exceptions, like Tianyi or Elder Meng.

"Want to run? Naive!" Emperor Begonia said. His hands reached out, and thirteen streaks of light flew out.

The thirteen lights covered the surrounding thousand kilometers and merged into the air, stabilizing the space and preventing Tianyi from teleporting. He couldn't even hide in the layers of space either.

'Is it the Law of Space?' Tianyi immediately rejected the thought. Compared to the Law of Space, the lockdown that Emperor Begonia created was just that, a lockdown. It was closer to freezing everything and not the esoteric profundities of space.

He continued to withstand the barrage of attacks from Emperor Begonia while trying to think of a solution. His clothes had already become tatters and his mask broken, but it didn't matter to Tianyi.

His flesh was the strongest defensive artifact he had. Unless he could attain an immortal artifact of the Extremity Immortal Realm, it was useless to him. Spending all that effort was not worth it since he could reconstruct his body as long as the Nine Heavens Universe existed. So, his mask and clothes were only at the rank of true immortal artifacts.

What Tianyi worried about was his connection to the Nine Heavens Universe. However, that was still stable too. His connection point was inside his own body, so Emperor Begonia's spatial lockdown was useless.

Even if it was another immortal monarch that mastered the Law of Space, they could still use spatial techniques within their body. The only difference was that for them, it would be pointless.

After making sure that he still had an escape route, Tianyi breathed a sigh of relief. Since he still had a retreat, he needed to gather more information on this mysterious Emperor Begonia. If Emperor Begonia hadn't died here, there was a possibility that he would be alive in his own timeline too.

Even if he wasn't, it was a good chance to sharpen himself.

The Chaos Measuring Ruler appeared in Tianyi's hand, and he charged toward Emperor Begonia. He abandoned his defense and allowed Emperor Begonia's attacks to hit him, but at most, they would damage his clothes.

Black immortal qi with tiny dots of light appeared atop the ruler, and so did a robe of similar nature, the cosmic mantle. With the addition of the cosmic mantle, the effectiveness of Emperor Begonia's ranged attack was greatly reduced. When they touched the cosmic mantle, they couldn't move any further and could only wait until the energy powering them dried up.

Although Tianyi was only covered in a thin layer, with the cosmic mantle on, the attacks had to travel hundreds of thousands of kilometers to reach him. Even the effectiveness of Emperor Begonia's soul attack was reduced.

Tianyi slashed out with his Chaos Measuring Ruler. It was as if a thin black line had been drawn onto everything. The next thing Emperor Begonia knew, a thin mark appeared on his robes. Tianyi's attack had cut through space using a massive amount of immortal qi.

If Emperor Begonia had taken it on with his flesh, he would have been injured, but his defensive artifact blocked Tianyi's attack, and the spatial disturbance was immediately eliminated by his six emotions and seven desires domain. He took this chance to counterattack.

To unleash such an attack, a massive amount of qi must have been expended. Emperor Begonia calculated it should be around half to ninety percent of an average immortal monarch's qi reserves.

Emperor Begonia formed several hand seals, and Tianyi was encased in a massive begonia flower bud. From Tianyi's body, tiny motes of immortal qi of primordial chaos started to be drawn out.

The immortal emperor frowned. Tianyi's immortal qi was too destructive, and he had to double down on his effort in his attack to prevent the flower from dissolving after absorbing Tianyi's qi.

At first, it was illusionary, but the more qi the bud absorbed, the more real it became. The moment the flower bloomed, that would be the time of death for anyone caught inside.

Emperor Begonia frowned. He expected Tianyi to struggle. Anyone caught inside would be assaulted by his soul methods, but he didn't believe Tianyi didn't even have the ability to resist. His eyes narrowed when the rate of absorption increased.

Nevertheless, he still continued the technique while raising his guard. When the begonia bud transformed from illusionary to real, it started to bloom. As the petals started to unfurl, Emperor Begonia noticed a black color corrupting the base and edge of the flower.

He tried to stop it and discover what was wrong, but he discovered that if he did anything else, the flower would immediately explode. He had thought Tianyi wouldn't have much qi left, but he was wrong. He didn't think much of it before since Tianyi was caught in his technique.

But now, Emperor Begonia realized he had underestimated Tianyi. The amount of energy in the begonia flower had equal to that of an average immortal emperor. If the begonia exploded, Emperor Begonia could not guarantee to escape unharmed.

Emperor Begonia didn't know what Tianyi was thinking. His act was practically self-detonation using another means. They hadn't fought for long, was he already pushed to this point of being ready to perish together?

How could Emperor Begonia know that Tianyi was unafraid of such an explosion?

While delaying the burst of the begonia flower, Emperor Begonia started to retreat. He glanced at the last remaining member of Begonia Tower and the Soul Pagoda. He gritted his teeth and flew towards them. He grabbed Monarch Soulfish and entered the Soul Pagoda before controlling it to flee as far as possible.

Monarch Soulfish watched the battle with wide eyes.

As a soul cultivator who mastered the Law of Illusion, he could clearly feel the offensive soul domain. Even a soul monarch like himself had no confidence in dealing with it, but the greater shock was how strong Tianyi's body was. In his eyes, Tianyi was far too slow under the assault of Emperor Begonia.

However, that was meaningless in front of Tianyi's fleshly prowess. Monarch Soulfish doubted his physical attacks could exceed Emperor Begonia, so wouldn't that mean that no matter what, he couldn't harm Tianyi at all?

The shock turned to horror when Tianyi finally attacked. That simple slash was too terrifying. Ignoring the fact that it only damaged Emperor Begonia's defensive artifact, the range was far too wide.

At least in terms of armies, Tianyi's danger wasn't any lower than a soul cultivator's.

He sighed in relief when he saw Emperor Begonia seal Tianyi in an illusionary flower bud. He had already guessed that Emperor Begonia had always known about the Soul Pagoda and lent it to him for some unknown purpose, perhaps to draw away the eyes of the Cultivator Alliance?

But whatever reason, it was still much better than Tianyi grabbing the Soul Pagoda. He had already prepared himself to return the Soul Pagoda, no matter how reluctant he was. He could already foresee the increased difficulty of reviving Chun, but so what? This was his purpose in life, and he would accomplish it no matter what.

Monarch Soulfish felt a hint of danger. He could see the begonia flower blooming, and everything seemed to be according to the Tower Lord's plan, but his heart could not settle down. He decided to trust his senses, so he flew towards the Soul Pagoda. Even if he couldn't take it, he needed to retrieve Chun's incomplete soul.

Suddenly, for whatever reason, Emperor Begonia grabbed him and brought him inside the Soul Pagoda.

Just as Monarch Soulfish reoriented himself, a cataclysmic explosion occurred outside the Soul Pagoda, blasting the immortal artifact with waves upon waves of explosions. The treasured light emitting from the pagoda started to dim as Emperor Begonia controlled it to block the attack.

Monarch Soulfish couldn't focus and didn't care about the explosion or the Soul Pagoda right now. All he could think about was Chun. He flew towards Chun's soul container and quickly wrapped it in a layer of protective qi.

Emperor Begonia only glanced at him and didn't say another word. He flew outside after the explosion subsided. After a moment of hesitation, Monarch Soulfish followed behind. Once outside, his jaws dropped.

As far as his eye could see, the seawater had disappeared, and in its place, a gigantic crater over a thousand kilometers wide. He could feel the dense spiritual qi resulting from the destruction of the spiritual vein. The increased density was only a side effect of the destruction, the spiritual vein would dry up soon, and the spiritual qi density would be even lower than before.

"Just what happened?" Monarch Soulfish couldn't help but mutter.

"Careful," Emperor Begonia said.

Monarch Soulfish frowned. He knew that Tianyi mastered the Law of Space, but he could also tell that Emperor Begonia sealed the space and prevented him from escaping. He didn't think that Tianyi could have escaped, but he still obeyed and searched warily.

Just as the seawater came rushing back in and covered the seafloor, Monarch Soulfish snapped his head in a certain direction. There, a portal opened, and Tianyi stepped out. Unlike the last time Monarch Soulfish saw him, Tianyi's robes were like new, and even his mask returned to its former state.

Monarch Soulfish's brows furrowed. "Tower Lord, should we attack together?"

"No, it's no longer possible."

Monarch Soulfish didn't understand, but he soon did. In the distance, a painting of the Buzhou Immortal Sect appeared. Then a figure with snow-white hair and white robes stepped out of the painting, Elder Zhang Cuiying, Empress Voidink!

"Emperor Begonia, I didn't expect you to still be alive."

Emperor Begonia's expression didn't change. Instead, he said, "Let's go."

He waved his hand and brought Monarch Soulfish into the Soul Pagoda and left. After several tense moments, Monarch Soulfish released a sigh of relief. He didn't know if Empress Voidink and Tianyi had any relationship, but if the two teamed up, he didn't have the confidence to defeat or escape from Tianyi.

"Qiu, I didn't expect you to reach this step after the fall of Begonia Tower. Had I known, I would have groomed you when Begonia Tower still existed," Emperor Begonia said.

Monarch Soulfish didn't change his expression. He wasn't a kid anymore, and what's the point of what-ifs?

Emperor Begonia didn't continue speaking regrets anymore. "Right now, the Huang Realm will pay attention to our existence, and frankly speaking, you are a bit too weak right now. If your opponents were weaker than you, it would be fine. As it is now, you will have problems."

"What does Tower Lord suggest?" Qiu asked. He could already detect Tower Lord's meaning.

"I have a technique that can train your body. It won't raise your attack, but it will add another life-saving method for you." Emperor Begonia said.

Monarch Soulfish furrowed his brows. "What price do I need to pay?"

"I want you to promise me that when the time comes, you will help me attack the Buzhou Immortal Sect," Emperor Begonia said.

"Buzhou Immortal Sect?" Monarch Soulfish repeated. If Emperor Begonia said Cultivator Alliance, he could still understand, but Buzhou Immortal Sect?

"Do you think it's strange?" Emperor Begonia asked. "What if I told you that the Cultivator Alliance is nothing more than a hidden force of the Buzhou Immortal Sect?"