Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Feng was calm as he looked at the Great Void Sect members, “Indeed, all of you knew about this beforehand. No wonder the Zheng Yi Holy Man and Xuan Lin Holy Man were not surprised when they saw that they were being discriminated by the Crucible of the Divine Lands. Even when Emperor Xia was the target of his assassination attempt, and was hurt, they did not find it weird.”
The Emperor of the Dead revealed a sarcastic smile on his face, “Of course they know about it. The alternate plane of space that Wen Chiyang hid in was very mysterious. Furthermore, the cloud demon and him both lived very simply. Xia Fangyu could not find that place based on his own abilities, so how did Xia Fangyu know where exactly the alternate plane of space was?”
“Supreme Heavenly Mirror. It can only be the Supreme Heavenly Mirror.” The Emperor of the Dead smiled, “We have to thank Xia Fangyu for this. Because he found Wen Chiyang’s location in that alternate plane of space with the help of the Supreme Heavenly Mirror, I was warned that I can’t underestimate the abilities of the Supreme Heavenly Mirror. Thus, I expended a lot of effort to find a Middle World that’s connected to the Void Battleground to serve as the foundation of the Hall of the Dead.”
The Qing Yi Holy Woman’s gaze turned cold. The Emperor of the Dead looked at her and shook his head in laughter, “What, do you need me to prove this to all of you?”
As he pointed, streaks and streaks of greyish radiance gathered in void space before turning into a Life and Death Netherworld Dao Fruit that was half-black and half-white.
On the half-black side of the Dao Fruit, a glow was emitted, and a human figure surfaced gradually. It was the figure of a middle-aged man who was decked in black. He seemed mature and his aura seemed as vast as the ocean.
His figure appeared from the black half of the Dao Fruit. In the next moment, he moved to the white half of the Dao Fruit.
As he reached the white half, the figure of this middle-aged man turned from an illusion to reality. Lin Feng nodded his head and said as he saw this middle-aged man, “Emperor Xia.”
Although he appeared different from the images of him that circulated normally, without his black dragon robe and crown, everyone around could recognize that this middle-aged man was indeed one of the human emperors of the Antiquity Age, Emperor Xia, Xia Fangyu.
Lin Feng could clearly feel that after this middle-aged man revealed himself, the Crucible of the Divine Lands within the Two Elements of Creation Formation shook violently.
Previously, in the face of the Emperor of the Dead, the Crucible of the Divine Lands also revealed an intense hatred, far deeper than the hatred towards Catastrophe, the Zheng Yi Holy Man and Xiao Yan.
But this violent shaking movement of the Crucible of the Divine Lands was even more intense.
Yan Nanlai, the Qing Yi Holy Woman and the rest all sighed as they watched Emperor Xia, who had converted into an evil soul.
After learning that Emperor Xia was assassinated by the Emperor of the Dead and died in his hands, regardless whether it was Lin Feng or everyone else from the Great Void Sect, they were already psychologically prepared. Emperor Xia might have suffered the same misfortune as the Spiritual Sky Elder and the others – being cultivated into an evil soul that was kept as a puppet.
The Emperor of the Dead said, “To be fair, Emperor Xia is indeed quite powerful and is one of the most satisfying collection that I have. And because his powers are great, I can only command him to resist my enemies. However, I can’t control his mindset. But reading his past memories is nothing difficult.
As he said till here, the Emperor of the Dead laughed, “Moreover, since you have the Crucible of the Divine Lands, you should know that I have been keeping tabs on Xia Fangyu for some time already. Before I killed him, I had already developed a deep understanding of what he’s like. I am even more aware of his personality and background as compared to the Great Void Sect.”
The Emperor Xia that appeared in front of everyone wore an indifferent look and his face was as black as ash. But as he stood in the space created by Catastrophe and sensed the aura left behind by Wen Chiyang, his pupils moved a little and revealed a complex glow that was difficult to be interpreted.
“Oh, I forgot to say that the reason why he looks so dead now is because I told him the fate of his clan members.” The Emperor of the Dead said in a very relaxed tone, “He is totally untroubled now. If he can emerge from this zombie state of his, he might have the opportunity to improve. But he doesn’t seem to have the will or desire to do so anymore.”
The Emperor of the Dead stood up and came beside Emperor Xia. He patted his shoulders and said indifferently, “Whether the cloud demon wanted to kill him to avenge her sister, I am unsure. But I am sure that he is reminded of his son’s death. It’s just that as long as Wen Chiyang lived, he could not avenge his son.”
“When Wen Chiyang died after fighting Shen Yuan, although it was difficult to verify it as only his natal light on Mount Baiyun had extinguished, Emperor Xia could no longer hold in his urge.”
The Emperor of the Dead returned to his black dragon throne and laughed, “What a joke, what a joke. Wen Chiyang sacrificed his life for the Divine Lands. Before his corpse even turned cold, he was betrayed by the Supreme Heavenly Mirror and his own clan member killed his wife.”
“If not for the fact that Wen Chiyang left behind a strong protective spell for her, his son would have been killed too.”
“Xia Fangyu thought that because the cloud demon was pregnant, it would not be difficult to kill her. After killing the cloud demon, he could then deal with Shen Yuan. But he never thought that after killing the cloud demon, he was injured himself too. This allowed Shen Yuan to escape back into the Barren Expanses, where he concealed himself and all traces of him were lost.”
The Emperor of the Dead shook his head and looked at Yan Nanlai and the rest sarcastically, “This is the emperor that all of you respect?”
“This is not even the most ridiculous part.” The Emperor of the Dead laughed, “Where do you think the most hilarious part of this entire thing is? It’s right here!”
He pointed to the red, chaotic space around everyone and said, “As time passed, Shen Yuan healed from his injury and made a comeback. Who ended him then? Who took responsibility for the actions of Yan Xinghe and Xia Fangyu? It’s Wen Chiyang!”
The Emperor of the Dead laughed, “But it’s a pity that Wen Chiyang died in vain once again.”
He turned his attention towards Yan Nanlai and Lin Feng, scanning them, “What I am most interested in is whether Wen Chiyang is aware of what happened afterwards?”
Lin Feng remained calm and pointed with his finger. A light projection appeared in void space. It reflected the experiences of Wen Chiyang after he entered the Netherworld Sea.
As the light projection flashed quickly, Yan Nanlai, the Qing Yi Holy Woman, Qing Ning Holy Man and Wu Mengqi did not speak at all. They remained very serious.
After the entire light projection flashed finished, it stopped at the scene where Wen Chiyang had completely combined with Catastrophe and summoned the entire Netherworld Sea to the Divine Lands.
Lin Feng said gently, “To him, whether it was a victory or defeat then, he was going to die. And his choice was to accept death. But he didn’t know that besides shedding blood, he had to shed tears too.”
The Emperor of the Dead was slightly stunned. After a moment, he shook his head and laughed, “Not knowing the truth is a form of blessing to him from a certain perspective. But there’s more sorrow for him too.”
He looked at Yan Nanlai and said, “Fellow disciples for thousands of years? And there’s only a conflict in their opinions? Since a young age, they followed the same master and cultivated together?”
“It’s this junior of his that he trusted so much that harmed him.” The Emperor of the Dead lifted his head slightly and looked at void space. “This is the first time that I want to resurrect any enemy. But it’s a pity that he’s been completely destroyed. Otherwise, I would really like to ask him how he feels looking at all this.”
The Emperor of the Dead looked at Yan Nanlai and asked, “Besides Xia Fangyu who perished in my hands as well as the experiences of Wen Chiyang after he entered the Netherworld Sea, all of you should know the rest of the things from the past till now. I really want to know if all of you still look up to Emperor Xia now?”
Yan Nanlai was silent, before he replied a while later, “Emperor Xia is a benevolent emperor, but his only weakness is that he’s too emotional. Even my ancestors did not expect that he will find trouble with the cloud demon, which let Shen Yuan escaped.”
Xiao Yan snorted, “So, you mean that everything is the fault of Emperor Xia and nothing has to do with all of you? Does this mean that if your hands are not stained with blood, this backstabbing matter has nothing to do with all of you entirely?”
Yan Nanlai said in a deep voice, “Grandmaster Chiyang is a courageous and fearless man. His contributions are unrivalled, and he is indeed a role model for us juniors.”
“I have to admit that his predicament is very pitiful, and I can’t accept his eventual fate so readily. But to be logical, I will have made the same choice as him.”
Yan Nanlai’s expression turned serious, “The cloud demon is from the demon clan. When Grandmaster Chiyang was alive, she wouldn’t do anything to rile us humans. But after Grandmaster Chiyang passed on, her enmity with Emperor Xia still remained. The conflict between both parties might have worsened. Regardless, Emperor Xia was still the pillar of the human clan. Regardless whether it’s the Great Void Sect or the rest of the Divine Lands, it’s only right that we support Emperor Xia.”
“The cloud demon is helpless against the entire Divine Lands. To exact revenge, she has to turn to the demon tribe. She herself is a demon that has extraordinary powers. Who knew if Grandmaster Chiyang had told her anything regarding the human clan or the Great Void Sect after they married. If she turned to the demon clan, the consequences might have been very dire.”
Yan Nanlai shut his eyes slightly and no one could see the guilt in his eyes. He only wore a resolute look, “Although I feel that we did let Grandmaster Chiyang down, we can’t let the cloud demon go!”
“The safety of the Divine Lands precedes everything else. The cloud demon was definitely an unstable factor that we can’t keep, because she might become our enemy.”
The Emperor of the Dead laughed, “So, Wen Chiyang believed in Yan Xinghe and from Yan Xinghe on till today, none of you actually believed Wen Chiyang? Even I know that even though Wen Chiyang was an emotional person, he had always been restrained by his responsibility to the Divine Lands and Great Void Sect. For such a person, do you think he would have neglected what would happen if he had revealed anything confidential about the Divine Lands to the cloud demon?”
“If not for the fact that Wen Chiyang wanted to prevent an internal conflict within the Great Void Sect and suppress the powers of the demons, he wouldn’t have left Mount Baiyun then. Besides the Great Void Holy Man, who else could have let him go?”
Yan Nanlai and the rest remained silent. After a short while, Yan Nanlai shook his head, “He did not want to take a risk.”
“This is the most hilarious thing that I’ve heard today.” The Emperor of the Dead laughed, “On one hand, he enjoyed the power and responsibility that Wen Chiyang possessed and on another hand, he ostracized him.”
The Emperor of the Dead sat on the black dragon throne and tapped on the handle of the throne, “And the interesting is this, your ancestor Yan Xinghe trusted Xia Fangyu more than he trusted his own senior, Wen Chiyang. But the eventual result was that Xia Fangyu decided to seek revenge and let go of Shen Yuan. Wen Chiyang then had to clean up this mess for all of you once again.”