Chapter 1,341 – Opening Ceremony

The Peregrine Ocean’s herbal scent permeated the dense mist, surpassing yesterday’s visit to the docks. The fog wasn’t harmful, though an unusual sense of déjà vu hit Zac as he descended the mountain. Zac only needed to leave the First District to confirm the source of the immense amounts of Imperial Faith wasn’t an influx from the land or the countless memory lanterns.

A shocking number of cultivators filled the streets. The Transformation Docks had only been bustling as far as cultivation societies went. With people spending months to years in seclusion between their outings, the number of people you’d run into was generally significantly lower than in mortal cities. Today, Zac could barely take a step without bumping into someone, and the crowd was almost exclusively low-grade cultivators.

‘Could all these people have come from the suburbs?’ Zac asked without much confidence in his voice. He doubted E-grade cultivators could afford even the smallest residences in a place like the Transformation Docks.

‘There’s quite a few with imperfect spirituality in the crowd—what you’d see in the Lower Planes. They should be permanent residents of Inner Worlds and brought out to generate Faith,’ Esmeralda said. ‘The walk is probably part of it to elicit a sense of pilgrimage.’

Zac could see what Esmeralda meant. The bubbling excitement was plain as day. For some, this would be the first time many of these citizens had ever left the confines of their small worlds. An Early Monarch couldn’t comfortably fit more than a few hundred people, while a Peak Monarch could sustain at least a large city. Those living inside B-grade cultivators had it better.

Autarchs could carry around whole countries, and their domains were directly connected to the Heavens. Their Inner Worlds would still heavily gravitate toward whatever path the Autarch practiced, but the inhabitants wouldn’t suffer from missing foundations like Esmeralda mentioned. With so many high-grade cultivators participating, there was an incalculable number of citizens released into the open.

The massive crowd confirmed the ceremony wasn’t as simple as a ribbon-cutting event. Zac stayed to the side to witness the sea of people snaking toward the central square. It wasn’t enough to make his decision to participate waver. He was waiting until the last minute before donning his presence-masking hood. Further obscured by Esmeralda’s spatial domain, Zac joined the crowd.

The plan to blend into the crowd failed the moment Zac stepped foot onto the square. The seal on his hand lit up on its own, and an array teleported Zac to one of the floating plateaus right at the front. The sealbearers from the docks were already present and seated, and Zac recognized dozens of participants he’d encountered during the challenges.

For instance, Xiphos was seated at the front. He was in the middle of a conversation with his neighbor and only shot Zac a quick glance when he appeared. There was no sign of Kaltosa Lu or his butler. Zac had expected as much, seeing as the Mercurial Court’s pillar still only had two halos.

Zac took great comfort in knowing he’d delayed the elemental enough to force him to choose between finishing his thread of fate and participating in the opening ceremony. He didn’t hold much hope it was sufficient to make Kaltosa Lu succumb to the Peregrine Ocean, but missing out should delay his arrival and lead to a worse outcome.

Jumping down from the platform would have made Zac stick out, so he calmly walked toward the empty seats at the back of the platform. Zac only had time to take a few steps before he felt another set of eyes on him. Zac traced the sensation, and the surprise almost made him lose his composure.

Picking a seat seemingly at random, Zac found himself in the last row next to a man with a vacant expression. It was Janos, dressed as a scholar while cradling a metal sphere in his lap. The tool had gone through a series of changes since Zac saw it last. Most notably, it was slowly absorbing the Imperial Faith of the surroundings. It had even taken on some of the Peregrine Ocean’s aura.

Zac hadn’t noticed the illusionist’s presence at all during his first sweep. It didn’t necessarily mean that Janos’ abilities had grown stronger, though his aura had undeniably grown more robust. Illusions worked better on unprepared targets, and Zac certainly hadn’t expected to run into his subordinate here.

He hadn’t forgotten that Janos was a Realmsinger of the Mercurial Court, but he’d somewhat suspected Janos would stop midway. The zones had become more dangerous the closer they moved to the continent’s edges, and there were still plenty of opportunities in the safer regions. Not only had the demon proven him wrong, but Janos had even kept a pace matching Zac’s human half.

Even so, Zac could sense something was wrong with the demon’s gaze. It was like Janos struggled to place who Zac was. The illusionist’s line between reality and illusion had blurred after being trapped in the Ensolus Ruins, and his time on the Left Imperial Expanse might have worsened his condition.

‘Are you okay?’ Zac asked when he saw the spark of recognition on his subordinate’s face.

‘I keep falling asleep, but the dream will eventually end,’ Janos slowly answered, his gaze shifting from Zac to the Mercurial Court’s pillar. ‘It’s almost time.’

Zac didn’t get the chance to ask what Janos meant. He’d waited as long as possible, and it was about time for the ceremony to begin. A swirl of golden flames sprouted in the empty space where a stage should have stood. It commanded Zac’s full attention, and sitting at the back of the platform didn’t mar the experience. The flame bent perception and space to give everyone a perfect, unobstructed view.

Silence descended. A million eyes watched as the flame exploded into a gargantuan pathway that reached the memory domain’s ceiling. On the other side was a starry sky different from what Zac had seen over the past month. It was full of color, and it wasn’t empty. There were countless vessels and fortresses blotting the sky, all of them emitting a vast, heroic aura.

The winds of war poured through the gate and fused with the ambient Faith. The Transformation Docks had gone from being a holy site into a city in the midst of a holy crusade. The more energy poured through, the better Zac could grasp the immensity and scale of the army stationed on the other side. The Centurion Base couldn’t hold a candle to some of the structures.

Was this the defensive perimeter guarding the continent’s outer border? It would explain why there’d been no sign of the familiar fortress standing at its center.

The Left Imperial Palace didn’t quite look identical to the battle-worn remnant of Zac’s vision. Its unblemished, towering walls looked like they could suppress the Earth. They represented an absolute divide, to the point that spying on the interiors proved impossible. Another addition was the nine majestic flames burning on its bastions, one for each Outer Court.

The greatest difference from Zac’s vision was the gargantuan structure raised in the fortress’s center, surpassing even the palace’s restrictions. It was so large Zac’s mind couldn’t properly take it in. Unimaginable spatial compression had been used to place it atop the entrance of the Ultom Courts. It only reached twice the height of the walls before disappearing into a gate similar to the window on the central square, but it was clearly the base of a massive tower.

The Ultom Courts might have been hidden inside the Fifth Pillar’s base, but its Heaven-transcending aura was still on open display. Except, it had been made part of the Limitless Empire’s glory, pushing it to transcendent heights. Zac was already overwhelmed by the scene, and he was given no time to rest.

The gates on the Left Imperial Palace opened to let out an enormous war chariot covered in runes burning with blinding Imperial Faith. Its aura was so overwhelming that it overshadowed the six dragons pulling it, and they were nothing like the little mixed-blood whelpling Zac fought inside the Tower of Eternity.

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These dragons should be genuine Primordial Beasts with bloodlines pure enough to overwhelm most Autarchs at the same stage, yet they pulled the chariot toward the Transformation Docks without any sign of complaint. If anything, they conveyed pride at being chosen.

Reality bent as the chariot soared through the foreign sky. The familiar tiles of the Imperial Road appeared beneath its wheels, and the brutal defensive perimeter was replaced by a constant flicker of different worlds.

The chariot passed through battlefields where valiant soldiers suppressed the onslaught of the Empire’s enemies. Lofty mountains with unyielding composure were followed by sprawling cities burning with the flame of civilization. The chariot brought about winds of change. Its journey was a pilgrimage much like the one outside.

‘Such pageantry,’ Esmeralda scoffed, unable to hide the awe in her voice.

Zac was no better. He could barely think under the influence of the Limitless Empire’s boundless might. He had to resist getting swept away, and the struggle intensified the closer the chariot drew. The deeply ingrained memories of his three identities all resonated with the ceremony, blurring the critical lines between present and past.

The other elites on the platform faced no such issue. They welcomed the blessing, becoming beacons of devout worship from having their Faith affirmed through might. There was no need to mention the massive crowd gathered below. The square was alight by the flames of fanaticism, and Zac felt like the Imperial Faith was on the precipice of evolving to something greater.