He looked at Sword Grandmaster Shang. "We need to find him now."
Sword Grandmaster Shang nodded. He and the Emperor shot away from the throne room, leaving the city in mere moments.
Around the Mainland, many powerful people reacted to the shaking of the world.
The Ruler's eyes widened. "Signs of the Treant awakening. Impossible! I must deduce this immediately."
Just as quickly as shock had come, an eerie silence filled the room.
In the Sword Region, the Ruler of the Sword Region stood atop the peak of a mountain.
When he felt the shaking, his eyes narrowed. "It seems that once again, the world shall suffer."
He was calm, but his words left no room for doubt. Great, terrible changes would soon occur.
The Ruler of the Spear Region sat in silence, gloom overcoming his face.
The Ruler of the Bow Region, sitting in a lively palace, lost his composure. "No way! Alright! Disperse!"
He quickly cleared the palace, leaving only a few behind.
The Temple Master merely looked at the sky, barely acknowledging it. He was the only one who didn't show any fear or regard, though it was unknown whether that was because he was confident, or because he was good at concealing his inner thoughts and emotions.
Besides the well known rulers, there were also a few other people in the world who understood this sign.
On an island outside of the Mainland, though not far away, a group of people known as Seekers existed. They worshipped the god of knowledge.
An old man sat in a deep cave.
He looked so old that anyone would have mistaken him for a corpse. He seemed moments away from turning into dust.
When the shaking occurred, he opened his eyes. They were dark and empty, but a feeling of evil permeated around the man.
Without doing anything, the man's eyes closed once again.
Elsewhere, a woman sitting on a golden throne, wearing a veil, sat calmly.
When the shaking occurred, those around her seemed to panic, but she remained silent.
Her face, covered by the veil, twisted, before returning. "We'll see." She muttered so that only she could hear it.
In another place, a man sat on a boat, fishing. He had a conical hat on his head.
When the shaking occurred, the waters raged.
The shaking here was much stronger than in other places. After all, he was on a lake within the Continent of Wu.
He fell off of his seat.
He raised his hat up.
"That's not good." Despite his actions, which indicated he would be an old man, the face below the hat was young, seemingly no older than 25.
Skymender himself also felt the shaking.
Unlike the others, he did not know what it meant. He could only assume that it meant nothing good.
Skymender continued onwards, nothing changing about the way he conducted himself. He was just as he had been for the past ten years. A few hours later, he suddenly felt a premonition.
Looking over, he felt as though he saw a vast tidal wave traveling directly towards him. Skymender could tell that this wave was not real, but an effect of him seeing through the false world.
This meant that someone or something powerful was approaching, and fast.
Skymender did not even bother to hold his sword, simply stopping his horse. Whatever this was, he would not be able to resist if it wanted to harm him. It would be embarrassing to try.
After a moment, he saw the fast moving Sword Grandmaster Shang, as well as the Emperor being carried along.
He breathed a sigh of relief. They shouldn't be coming to harm him.
Sword Grandmaster Shang stopped after reaching him, the Emperor stopping right in front of Skymender.
The Emperor looked at Skymender up and down. After a moment, he smiled.
Then, he shook his head, focus reaching his eyes. He looked back at Sword Grandmaster Shang.
Sword Grandmaster Shang nodded and left without hesitation.
This left Skymender and the Emperor alone.
The Emperor spoke first. "You have changed."
Naturally, it was easy to tell that Skymender changed just looking at him.
Skymender got off of his horse, sending it away. "I call it rebirth. I too have consumed a flower of mystical properties."
The Emperor once again looked him up and down. "Clearly with a better method."
Skymender nodded. "Indeed. But that method is one you wouldn't have survived, and even if I wanted to, it would be impossible for me to do it again."
Despite his calmness, Skymender was looking deeply at the Emperor.
Ever since he began to see through the false world, everything had looked different.
Some areas had black spots, as if space had been devoured, some things were blurry, including humans, and some seemed colorless.
However, the Emperor stood as usual, without a single blemish. This amazed Skymender.
Indeed, there was something special about him.
The Emperor spoke, breaking Skymender out of his short trance.
"It seems we both need to talk. I imagine both of our secrets are deep."
Skymender was hesitant.
The Emperor clearly noticed this. "How about this? I'll go first. If you feel that my information is valuable enough to hear yours in return, you tell me. If not, I'll leave."
The Emperor looked around, and crossed his legs, sitting on the ground. Skymender sat across from him.
The Emperor looked at the sky.
"In my first life, I ruled the world." The Emperor said.
Skymender was surprised to hear such a start, but saved his thoughts for later.
"I was unsurpassed. My skills were countless, my luck was unimaginable. My allies were numerous. I took over the Terra Continent, renaming it to what you know today. It was by sheer chance that I learned about the Mainland. Unlike in the following lives, I was told of this by a young fisherman, though he was anything but young."
"I sent my people to investigate, and we discovered that the Mainland was real. At that time, I was much older than I was when we set off this time. Despite that, I did not stop for a moment."