Starfall Region, border city.
The flames of war were extinguished with the arrival of the imperial edict. Those Wu Clan members, who had previously been driven away by the combined forces of the Starfall Region and the Azure Cloud region, walked proudly outside the border city, constantly shouting provocations at the cultivators flying on their swords above the city walls. Just a short while ago, they had clearly tucked their tails between their legs and fled in disgrace.
At this moment, the cultivators, who had only recently been cheering for victory, had only despair and unwillingness in their eyes.
Prince Mi Zhunqi of the Starfall Region, with a gloomy expression, held an imperial edict, on which was written:
[The Emperor's grace is vast and mighty. The Human Emperor cannot bear to see the people of the borderlands suffer, and specially permits the twelve border regions to evacuate...]
Li Kuanghua had the most explosive temper. She still had blood on her clothes, the blood of the chieftain she had killed on the battlefield not long ago. She cursed loudly, "To hell with the Emperor's 'vast and mighty grace'! We clearly had the advantage. So many people's lives were left forever on the battlefield, and with his one damned imperial edict, he makes us afraid to fight anymore, isolated and without support, that bastard Human Emperor!"
"Disciple, don't be rude!"
Ye Xiu frowned, walked up to Mi Zhunqi, snatched the imperial edict, and with a surge of his spirit power, simply burned it. "It seems our Human Emperor is a spineless coward. No wonder in over two hundred thousand years, the Azure Dynasty has hardly made any progress. Lord Commandery Prince, what do you think should be done next?"
Mi Zhunqi looked at the rising flames of the imperial edict, and he let out a long sigh.
This imperial edict caught everyone off guard. Before this, he had even been preparing to wait for victory in Starfall Region and then lead all the righteous warriors to support other regions. He had seen hope!
And now...
He took a deep breath. "Starfall Region holds my Mi family's ancestral estate. The Mi family has existed here for twenty thousand years. That such a legacy is about to be destroyed in my hands, I truly don't know how to face my ancestors. Uncle Feng, what will you do? Will you evacuate?"
"I don't know."
Feng Chunlin shook his head. He and the others walked outside. The scene at the border filled them with despair.
Everyone was evacuating!
Cultivators in the distance were fleeing in panic. On the ground knelt an old man, covered in blood and still bearing wounds. He was holding an urn containing ashes. His aged face was blurred with dirt and grime. He desperately grabbed the pant leg of a cultivator walking past him, and he shouted hoarsely, "Don't go! We've already fought our way into the Endless Forest! Stay here, and we'll fight together, we'll fight our way into the Endless Forest together!"
"Old fellow, what right do we have to fight anymore? Stop grabbing me. The Imperial City has issued the order. We have no support!" The cultivator originally wanted to kick the old man down, but seeing him holding the urn, he gritted his teeth and pulled the old man up. "Come on, we're all men here. Let's evacuate first. One day..."
This cultivator originally wanted to say, "Preserve our strength, and one day we'll fight our way back," but feeling the old man's increasingly weak body, he swallowed his words, and simply pulled the old man along in the evacuation.
He could still hear the old man's low, sorrowful weeping beside his ear. "Brother, I can't go. None of us can go! My wife, my children, they were all killed in the village by the Wu Clan. I still need to take revenge. I still need to guard our village for my fellow villagers. We can't go! On the evacuation route, the people from the village will starve to death. They won't survive..."
The passing cultivators heard the old man's cries. They gradually halted their steps. Everyone lowered their eyes.
At this moment, they suddenly remembered why they had joined this war. The world was so vast, and they possessed cultivation. They could go anywhere. They didn't have to fight to the death. Was it really as simple as just for those meager resources? Who the hell would risk their life for that?
No matter how selfish they might be, they might even admit to being bad people.
But they knew that this was their land. Those damned members of the Wu Clan had set foot on their land, killed their people, and destroyed all the hopes they had once held in this land. They had to take up the butcher's knife!
But now...
"Aih."
The surrounding cultivators were left with only a long sigh. Then, they once again set out to flee. That imperial edict was not asking them to withdraw; it had destroyed all their confidence. Few people would fight a hopeless battle. They had to admit, they were cowards today, and the day they would stand up again would be far, far away.
"Damn it, damn it! Damn it!!!"
Li Kuanghua roared in the great hall. Just a few days ago, this hall had been filled with the laughter of Nascent Soul Ancestors after a great victory. But now, the hall was shrouded in gloom, and they were silent. In the entire great hall, only Li Kuanghua's roars and the sounds of smashing things remained!
That imperial edict...
It had also shattered their Dao hearts. They were also powerless to stop it. They could roam the heavens and earth with their divine sense, their spirit power was boundless, but they could not salvage the bent spines of their companions, nor could they restore the people's hearts.
They had once seen hope, but the disaster did not come from the enemy.