Chapter 323: Incredible Decisiveness
The immense power on display caused everyone to tremble.
Deep within the spatial nexus in the middle of the altar, a beam of divine light appeared, revealing a tall, strapping figure. He seemed capable of propping up the sky, crushing the land and sea, and causing all living ent.i.ties to prostrate in terror. Of course, he was the Crown Prince.
The emperor looked profoundly embarra.s.sed. He was supposed to be the leader of all the lands, the emperor of a sprawling dynasty, a ruler who had held sway for thousands of years. And yet, in the face of the Crown Prince, he was weak.
As an emperor, he should have innately been able to consolidate the destinies of everyone who lived under his rule. It was no fiction. It was the result of the true power of will, and was something every citizen in the empire was aware of. As the years pa.s.sed, the Sage Ancestor Dynasty would mysteriously gather that destiny, and imbue it into true imperial energy. After all, he was the ‘Son of Heaven’. It was nothing to be taken lightly.
It was a power that was on par with that of pure faith.
Unfortunately, the Crown Prince was now stronger than the grand destiny of the imperial dynasty. And it was hard to say exactly how that had come to be. Obviously, his strength came from a high-level plane in the universe, and was a power that was pure and boundless, as infinite as the starry sky itself.
WHIZZZ!
As the Crown Prince stepped out into the open, a pair of resplendent wings unfurled behind him, thousands of kilometers wide, translucent and seemingly formed from innumerable starry nexuses, a glorious silver river of stars.
“That….”
Chancellor True Dragon, Chancellor Sea G.o.d, Emperor Sage-Ancestor, and the nine other Great Sages were bowled over with shock.
“The fabled Wings of the Starry Sky!?” blurted one of the Great Sages from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral. “They can defend against interstellar tempests and gale storms, which are many times more powerful than spatial tempests! They’re made from the power of countless heavenly bodies! The Wings of the Starry Sky!”
The other Great Sages from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral began to chime in. “That’s exactly what they are. The Wings of the Starry Sky are an energy art pa.s.sed down from numerous immortal planes, countless years in the past. To date, no one has ever succeeded in fully cultivating them. The secrets to do so were lost in the most primeval times. According to the rumors, once you have the Wings of the Starry Sky, you don’t need to teleport around through s.p.a.ce. You can just fly from planet to planet with the true and real power of heavenly bodies. They’re even strong enough to cause a planet to tremble by their flapping.”
“So, this is the Crown Prince? How strong! Power like this is rare in heaven and earth.”
“No wonder our Quake-Dawn Cathedral supports him. He’s really a natural-born genius. What a pity we weren’t able to reel up the Yore-Wilds’ Heart fragment. If we had, I wonder what level of power he could have reached.”
The nine Great Sages exchanged awkward glances as they realized that their previous att.i.tude of looking down on the Crown Prince had actually been completely incorrect. Although he technically ranked far below them, considering that he had the Wings of the Starry Sky, it was obvious that he was far beyond them in terms of fighting capability. Maybe his cultivation level was low, but his inherent strength and potential vastly surpa.s.sed their own.
After all, throughout the generations, not a single genius from the Quake-Dawn Cathedral had ever done anything like this.
Joining their voices together into a thunderous chorus, the high-ranking members of the Crown Prince Society all said, “We offer respectful greetings upon your return, Crown Prince!”
The call stirred the members of the other powerful sects and aristocratic clans who were present, and they too began to call out greetings. As the Crown Prince looked around at all of them, his gaze caused them to tremble as if they were freezing, and they were filled with the desire to acknowledge allegiance to him.
There were many clans present who had once given rise to Great Sages. There was the Gu Clan, the w.a.n.g Clan, the Sun Clan, the Zhao Clan, the Gang Clan, and others…. They all claimed to have the blood of Great Sages in them, and yet, every single one offered obeisance to the Crown Prince. Of course, all of this was thanks to Yun Hailan. In a very short period of time, she had managed to gather a large contingent of powerful organizations, which of course left Yang Qi very lacking in terms of support.
Thankfully, Yang Qi had antic.i.p.ated such an outcome. He had already gathered all of his sworn siblings, and all of his allies, back in Sage Monarch City. There, they worked on their cultivation, safe from any harm.
Chancellor Sea G.o.d, Chancellor True Dragon, and Emperor Sage-Ancestor all watched what was happening, and it seemed completely unbelievable; the Crown Prince was actually far, far stronger than any of them had antic.i.p.ated could be possible. It completely and utterly defied their imaginations.
As all of this happened, six more Great Sages appeared on a nearby mountain peak. They were the experts from the Western Continent. The stakes at hand in the coming fight were incredible, and thus, they had also come to see how things played out.
One of them was the very same Great Sage Pure Emptiness that Yang Qi had tangled with some time past. Also present was the reigning emperor of the Sky-Heaven Dynasty. When they saw the Crown Prince, they all shook in fear.
“The Wings of the Starry Sky?” Great Sage Pure Emptiness murmured. “Yes, those are the Wings of the Starry Sky! I"ve only heard of them in stories, and yet, here they are in the possession of the Crown Prince. No wonder he was able to escape the demonfire of Great Sage Shroud-Heaven!”
The Sky-Heaven Dynasty, and in fact, all of the Western Continent, was essentially a subsidiary of the Hanging Mountain. Some time ago, the Crown Prince had killed Young Master Shroud-Heaven, and yet, it seemed that he had finally worked things out with the Hanging Mountain.
Originally, the people of the Western Continent had considered themselves enemies of the Crown Prince, but after all was said and done, weapons of war had been turned into gifts of jade and silk.
The six Great Sages from the Western Continent hated Yang Qi deeply. He had caused a huge scene there, kidnapping Lady-Princess Silvermoon, and stealing her city. That itself was a humiliation, but it was made even worse by the fact that Great Sage Pure Emptiness had been completely incapable of apprehending the culprit.
Because of that, they truly hoped to see Yang Qi slaughtered by the Crown Prince.
Even better would be a situation in which they killed each other, or at least ended up mutually wounded. They wouldn’t hesitate at all to hit the Crown Prince when he was down, and possibly even kill him.
But now, all such hopes seemed completely unrealistic. They could already tell they weren’t a match for him. There was no way he and Yang Qi would kill each other. The outcome of the upcoming conflict was a foregone conclusion, with the only question being how Yang Qi would die.
“Excellent. It"s wonderful that you all gathered here to welcome me,” the Crown Prince said. As of this moment, he looked every bit the emperor glancing down arrogantly at his congregated government officials. “You did quite well, Yun Hailan. It was not in vain that I helped you reach your current level.”
Yun Hailan nodded. Apparently worried that he might have forgotten about Yang Qi, the first thing she said was, “Crown Prince, now that you’re here, do you plan to go kill Yang Qi immediately? Or do you have other plans? Ghost Emperor Yama now supports him, sir. He"s not an individual to take lightly, and I"m afraid he’ll be very difficult to deal with. Perhaps you’d like to take some time to come up with a proper plan.”
“I"m aware of the situation. The chancellor set a hundred-day period, correct?” He smiled coldly. “Considering I’ll be the chancellor soon, why should I listen to him? In this world, no one can bind me with their words. Ghost Emperor Yama? Yes, he"s strong. But he and I are connected by destiny on many levels. Perhaps he"s been following Yang Qi, but he clearly views him as prey, and wants his energy art. I"m very familiar with the ghost emperor; once the fighting starts, he’ll just stand by and watch. Today, my first order of business is to kill Yang Qi.
“Immediately. Post haste! Without any delays!!!
“Thankfully, all of you have already a.s.sembled, which means you can all watch and see how I’ll have him slaughtered. Soon that brat will learn about the height of the heavens and the breadth of the earth.”
“Oh, by the way, Crown Prince,” Yun Hailan said, “there are two individuals who aren’t present. The chancellors of the Demi-Immortal and Sun Moon Inst.i.tute.”
Yun Hailan was obviously taking every opportunity possible to sow discord.
“Chancellor Demi-Immortal isn’t important. He’ll be retiring soon anyway, so let him do as he wishes. As for Chancellor Sun Moon, his refusal to come offer greetings is a sin of the most grievous nature, and therefore, he will be destroyed. In fact, I’ll kill him along with Yang Qi, and put an end to his inst.i.tute as well. There’s no need for it anymore.”
There was no doubt that the Crown Prince was both haughty and domineering.
Because the chancellor of the Sun Moon Inst.i.tute didn"t come to greet him, he planned to exterminate him? It was a shocking thing considering that his inst.i.tute had stood strong and tall in the Rich-Lush Continent for many years.
It was no joking matter. If the Crown Prince uttered such outlandish words in front of so many witnesses, but then didn’t follow through, it would be like slapping himself in the face.
The Crown Prince was the type of person who always followed through on his word, and therefore, it was obvious that the Sun Moon Inst.i.tute was doomed.
“Could it be that you all think I"m being too domineering?” he said, looking around. “Well, I am. I now bear the will of the host of immortals, and can tolerate no blasphemy. Hua Tianxiong of the Sun Moon Inst.i.tute took advantage of a moment in which I was practicing cultivation to join forces with Young Master Shroud-Heaven, and try to kill me. Sadly for him, he ended up dead. That enough is reason to put an end to the Sun Moon Inst.i.tute. Hear me well. I will turn Chancellor Sun Moon’s head into a drinking gla.s.s, and will hang his corpse on a tree. Then all of you can see for yourself what happens to people who defy me.”
Turning, he looked at Emperor Sage-Ancestor. “h.e.l.lo there, Emperor Sage-Ancestor. I must say, I’m surprised you came to offer greetings. But as the saying goes, a wise man submits to the circ.u.mstances. In doing so, you’ve spared the Sage Ancestor Dynasty from the fate of death.”
Emperor Sage-Ancestor’s subordinates, including the princes and ministers, all looked extremely embarra.s.sed. However, not a single one dared to say anything in front of the Crown Prince. It was like the old adage, when the emperor wants silence, not even the horses will neigh.
Generally speaking, Emperor Sage-Ancestor could probably have tried to fight the Crown Prince, but considering the Crown Prince had nine Great Sages flanking him, even the emperor felt weak at the knees.
To the grief of the Sage Ancestor Dynasty, their emperor had no choice but to bow his head.
At this point, the Crown Prince shifted his attention to the six Great Sages on the mountain peak some distance away. “The six of you are from the Western Continent, correct? Great Sage Shroud-Heaven and I had a bet going, and I won. For now, the Hanging Mountain holds no grudge against me. You hate Yang Qi as much as I do, so why not join me? You can keep an eye on Ghost Emperor Yama while Yanhaven is being destroyed. If you do, I promise you that the Western Continent will benefit greatly.”
“As you wish, Crown Prince,” replied Great Sage Pure Emptiness. “As you probably know, Great Sage Shroud-Heaven doesn’t hold sway over the Western Continent. We are led by a different Great Sage, and thus, your problems with Shroud-Heaven don’t concern us. In fact, we would love to join your great alliance of Great Sages.”
“Good. Let’s head to Yanhaven. It looks like the people of the Sun Moon Inst.i.tute have already gathered there, so I’ll just destroy them all at once. In this world, you either submit to me and prosper, or oppose me and perish.”