416 Empress

In a world far beyond the mortal realm, there existed a planet.

The planet was covered in many shades of colors and people could be seen flying out of it on various magical tools and vehicles.

This planet also had a moon that revolved around it. This moon emitted a pale green light from it and illuminated the planet with it. The strange thing was the sun that existed in the solar system was a dark blue color as well.

The light of the sun barely reached the planet and most of the light was provided by the pale green moon. There were forests, deserts, seas and snow mountains on the planet. But the most impressive part was not that but rather the massive amount of buildings that covered nearly half of the planet's surface.

There was a common symbol on each of the buildings and even on the ground itself. The symbol was that of a serpent biting its own tail. But the serpent didn't look like a normal one, but had the features of a dragon having a dragonic head.

If one looked up at the moon from the surface of the planet they would see another shocking sight. The moon had the symbol of the serpent present on it too. The serpent was emerald green in color and glowed with a stunning allure.

Among these countless buildings, cultivators could be seen going about their duties. Some flew to their destination, some teleported, while some just walked.

There existed an exquisite temple upon the top of the peak of the tallest mountain on the planet, far from the dense buildings. The temple was built directly into the mountain and the rest of the mountain was covered in a forest.

The mountain was rather peculiar in that, even at such a tall height there was no snow falling on it, despite the fact that the other mountains around it were covered in snow. At the foot of this very mountain, an old woman was standing.

Her hair was black but her face was still covered in wrinkles. She looked up at the peak and sighed.

She hesitated a bit before starting to climb the mountain. Despite being old her speed was astonishing and it was as if the space itself shrunk below her feet. With a single step, she would cover tens of kilometers but even then the mountain still stayed the same.

One could tell from this just how tall the mountain was. If one looked at the clouds, they would find that they were quite far down from the peak. The woman continued to climb and was at the level of the clouds now. The dense clouds masked one's vision and made it difficult to see.

~Boom~

The woman had just entered the cloudy forest when suddenly an explosion happened. She didn't seem fazed by it and quickly dodged it.

"Hmph! Stop this!" She spoke.

~Hisss~

From behind the foggy forest, a giant head appeared. Its features were still hidden, but the glowing red eyes could not be missed.

"The mountain is forbidden for entry! No one is allowed!" A deadly voice came from the giant head.

~gulp~

The woman gulped in fear as she finally witnessed what the voice belonged to. It was a massive snake, just head of which was bigger than tens of elephants combined.

"It is urgent! Tell the Empress… 'his' presence was detected." The old woman spoke.

~Hiss~

The hissing sound of the snake instilled fear into the old woman's bones, but she still held on.

"Whose presence?" The snake questioned.

The old woman took out an octagonal mirror from her spatial storage tool and showed it to the snake.

As soon as the snake saw it, his pupils went wide and it recoiled from terror.

"HIM! YOU FOUND HIM!" The serpent spoke in a mixture of terror and excitement.

"Yes! We finally found his signs! Now, please let me meet the empress!" The old woman pleaded.

The snake paused for a bit before nodding his head. It moved to the side and spoke, "go ahead then… I'll inform the rest to let you proceed unobstructed."

"Thank you, Senior." The old woman cupped her hands in respect before heading forward.

The Serpent looked towards the peak and let out a low hiss. But there was a strange power contained in it such that it traveled very far and reached the entire mountain.

The old woman did not hear this and simply continued on her journey. It took her a day, but she finally reached the exquisite temple at the top of the mountain peak.

The woman took her first step upon the temple grounds and stopped. She kneeled on the ground and kowtowed ten times and stayed in the same position without moving.

An entire day passed before a voice was heard. The voice was cold and yet it was as if bells were chiming together with it.

"Who are you?" The voice questioned.

The voice belonged to a woman and held a fierce aura within it.

"I am the fifty-seventh generation ancestor, may the Holy Empress grant me an audience." The old woman responded with utter respect.

Her head was still planted upon the floor, and she did not dare even an inch.

"Come…" The woman's voice spoke.

"Yes, Empress!" The old woman replied before standing up.

She walked forward and passed through a grove of trees before reaching the main part of the temple.

There were lanterns glowing in everywhere and fireflies floated around. Under the mystifying glow of the moon, a woman stood at the entrance of the temple. She had red hair and a face that was so beautiful any mortal whether a man or woman would die out of pleasure upon seeing it.

Her eyes emerald green with slit like pupils similar to that of a snake. Her nails were a similar color and her dress as well. Faint scales could also be seen glimmering on the fluttering dress.

The dazzling beauty looked at the old woman with a petrifying gaze.

"Speak…"