Chapter 2533: Uncle Xia and Palace Lord Ye
After Ye Futian distributed the elixirs to the three of them, he then headed towards the starry sky with Renhuang Chen.
They came under the starry sky. Renhuang Chen sat cross-legged with the starry scepter placed across his lap. He closed his eyes and started to cultivate.
Ye Futian raised his head. Suddenly, above the firmament, imperial stars sprinkled down all of their divine brilliance as they landed on Renhuang Chen. This was not communicated by Renhuang Chen himself but was summoned by Ye Futian so that Renhuang Chen may better perceive the divine glory of the imperials stars.
At the same time, a phantom appeared in the starry sky; it turned out to be the face of Ziwei the Great. An infinite imperial majesty descended like the divine might.
This divine might also descended on Renhuang Chen as if the divine power of the entire starry sky was shrouding him. At the same time, Renhuang Chen felt a powerful oppressive force from the imperial majesty, which was precisely Ye Futian’s purpose—to allow Renhuang Chen to perceive the imperial majesty clearly.
Renhuang Chen bathed in the divine glory. Even his robe was now rendered in tremendous brilliance as the divine light flowed all around him. Ye Futian took a look at him before he turned to leave. At the same time, Renhuang Chen tossed a pill into his mouth.
This was all that Ye Futian could do. Renhuang Chen must rely on himself to comprehend everything else that came after. He had remained in the first stage of divine tribulation for many years, and there was great depth in his realm. However, he had never been able to find the aura of the second divine tribulation. Ye Futian hoped this starry sky world and the two elixirs could help him achieve that.
In the Starry Cultivation Court, many were focusing on Renhuang Chen. Everyone knew that Ye Futian had placed his hopes on him. Under the current circ.u.mstances, they were facing nothing but giant-level princ.i.p.alities, but in Ziwei Segementum, they lacked giant-level cultivators.
Renhuang Chen was the cultivator closest to impacting the second Divine Tribulation of the Great Path.
Later, Ye Futian gathered a group of cultivators to his side again. These cultivators were not the ones who had experienced the divine tribulations, but they were other important figures in the organization. There were cultivators from Ziwei Imperial Palace and some of his old allies like his big brother, third senior brother, Dou Zhao, Xiao Muyu, and some others. Among them were elders such as Lord Taixuan, Sky River Great Elder, Emperor Nan, and Xiao Dingtian.
Ye Futian had been cultivating alchemy in retreat. He was then preoccupied with the production of the elixirs and produced the first batch of elixirs. He personally refined the first batch of elixirs and distributed them to everyone. But after this, he planned to hand over the production of the elixirs to Daoist Monk Mu and the others, unless it was some special potion.
Elixirs below the grade of Sub-divine Elixir were relatively simple for Ye Futian, so he spent most of his time refining Sub-divine elixir. Many of these elixirs were refined in batches, but for Renhuang level cultivators, it was extremely precious nonetheless. Some of these elixirs had been long-lost, and their recipes came from the inheritance of the Elixir Emperor.
Ye Futian distributed the elixirs to everyone. Many cultivators in Ziwei Imperial Palace already had strong cultivation themselves, and many of them were in peak Renhuang realm. Now that they had obtained elixirs of such high grade, all of them were elated.
These people, as well as Blind Tie, Old Ma, and the others, had a great chance to elevate themselves to the Tribulation Plane.
Ziwei Segmentum, as it were, was not as strong as it could be. However, the rest of the cultivators all had great potentials, especially this upcoming generation of cultivators, such as Gu Dongliu, Ye Wuchen, Fang Huan, Dou Zhao. Many of them had followed Ye Futian and grew along with him for a long time. Although they had not yet reached peak level in their own cultivation, their foundation was solid enough. In addition, they cultivated while bathing under the imperial stars in the starry cultivation court. Several of Ye Futian’s disciples, like Fang Cun and the others, all possessed unlimited potential with natural bodies of the Great Path.
Now, with the help of the elixirs, as long as Ziwei Segmentum was given proper time to develop, they would not be weaker than any other princ.i.p.alities—except for those truly magnificent, Great Emperor-level forces.
Finally, Ye Futian received Lord Taixuan, Sky River Great Elder, Xiao Dingtian, and the clan chief of the Dou clan—basically the older generation that came out of the Original Realm—and took out quite a lot of elixirs to give to them. “My lord and grandmaster,” he said, “your cultivation is somewhat different. The path you walked on is different also, perhaps a bit more difficult than the rest. Even amongst false emperors, there is a distinction between weak and strong. We can only work with this imperfect heavenly path the best we can.”
Lord Taixuan and the others nodded. They knew that their foundations were a little shakier than the others, and they were quite sorry for this as well.
With an imperfect Great Path, they could not go as far as the others, and their combat effectiveness was also not as great. Although they broke through the realm of Renhuang, it was difficult for them to fight against Renhuang in the Ninth-Realm, because their Great Path was flawed.
The so-called false emperors were those destined never to become true emperors in this life.
“The elixir here is capable of building up the physical body and spiritual soul but will do nothing to the perception of the Great Path.” Ye Futian continued, “I heard that there are actually three realms in the realm of the false emperor, corresponding to the three tribulations. The only difference being that its combat effectiveness was considerably lesser. However, it is said that after the collapse of the heavenly path, there were cultivators who had cultivated to the top level of this realm, integrated with this imperfect Path, and their combat effectiveness was no lesser than those who had survived the second Divine Tribulation of the Great Path.”
Lord Taixuan and the others nodded, knowing that Ye Futian was trying to comfort them. In fact, they knew that it was too difficult to elevate in the realm they were in. Most of the cultivators who could reach the peak were cultivators with perfect Great Path.
Moreover, when it came to combat, in their current state, they were not as effective as peak Renhuang with a perfect Great Path. Even Ye Futian had said that if they cultivated to the extent that they could, they would only ever be at the level comparable to the existence of those who had survived the second Divine Tribulation of the Great Path.
It was the same as saying that their combat effectiveness was one whole level lower than their realm.
However, it was a rare opportunity to have a chance to continue to elevate themselves. If they were to rely on their cultivation, it would be a difficult task, but Ye Futian’s elixirs and this cultivating court should improve their chances.
“I’m visiting several other teachers.” Ye Futian said goodbye with a smile. He would never forget to share anything good with his teachers.
Qi Xuangang, Douzhan, and Hua Fengliu were a little bit lower in their cultivation and had all relocated to the Ziwei Imperial Palace as well. Although they may not be able to raise their cultivation to the top level, especially Hua Fengliu and Douzhan, at least Ye Futian would not allow their cultivation to be too poorly, even if it was to delay their aging process.
Of course, there were many other elders from the Nine States to think of, including Zhuge Qingfeng and the others. However, the making of these elixirs would be handed over to the alchemists a.s.sembled by Daoist Monk Mu in the future.
Having visited several of his teachers, Ye Futian came to another palace within the complex of Ziwei Imperial Palace. The person residing here was someone who had been kind to him before—Emperor Xia.
After chaos erupted in the Original Realm, and before leaving the Original Realm, Ye Futian brought all his family and friends to the Ziwei Segmentum. Because he worried about Emperor Xia’s safety in the turbulent realm, he took him to the Ziwei Segmentum and arranged a palace for Emperor Xia, his family, and a.s.sociates in the Ziwei Imperial Palace.
After all, Emperor Xia used to be the lord of an entire realm.
This particular palace was very s.p.a.cious, with many other halls attached to it. In addition to Emperor Xia, Yaya and Sword Master Lihen were cultivating here as well. They were Emperor Xia’s subordinates from before, but now they were acquaintances and old friends. Staying together meant that they could keep each other company.
They would often go to the Ziwei Segmentum to walk around and experience its people and culture. Ziwei Segmentum, as an independent body, was much larger than Emperor Xia’s Realm.
At this time, Emperor Xia was playing chess with Swordmaster of Lihen in the courtyard in front of the main hall. Seeing Ye Futian’s arrival, Emperor Xia merely glanced at him and ignored his presence altogether. The Swordmaster of Lihen smiled at Ye Futian and nodded to acknowledge him. “Futian.”
“Swordmaster,” Ye Futian responded with a smile, then looked at Emperor Xia and addressed him, “Uncle Xia.”
“I don’t deserve to be addressed like that.” Emperor Xia looked neither right nor left as he put down the chess piece in his hand; e never once looked at Ye Futian.
“Ahem…” Swordmaster of Lihen was a little embarra.s.sed and said, “I think I am losing this game. Emperor Xia, I have some issues regarding cultivation that I need to look at, so I’m going to take my leave now.”
“No, it’s not over yet. Keep going,” Emperor Xia replied quite demandingly. Although he could no longer defeat the Swordmaster of Lihen nowadays, he was once the liege of the swordmaster, and as such, he still held the upper hand in the relations.h.i.+p.
Swordmaster of Lihen smiled sheepishly and kept his head low as he continued with the game.
How could he not know the good and the bad between Emperor Xia and Ye Futian?
He was no fool. Many years ago, when he was still in Emperor Xia’s Realm, he thought that some things would come to fruition, but in the end, they didn’t pan out as expected.
Ye Futian could do nothing about it either, so he said, “Uncle Xia, I just refined some elixirs and am here to give them to you.”
“I have no need for them. Palace Lord Ye better not interrupt me playing chess.” Emperor Xia still did not look at Ye Futian. He replied coldly with an unfriendly tone.
Unable to do anything, Ye Futian looked at Swordmaster of Lihen for help.
“Give them to me,” Swordmaster of Lihen took the initiative to speak at this time. “I recently encountered some problems in cultivation, and these elixirs might help.”
“Yes, of course.” Ye Futian nodded. He proceeded to give three portions to Swordmaster of Lihen. Both of them understood for whom they were intended.
“Uncle Xia, where is Qingyuan? I have some elixirs to give her also,” said Ye Futian.
“She’s cultivating in retreat and is not receiving guests. Palace Lord Yet better come again another day,” Emperor Xia replied.
“I will leave after I have delivered the elixirs to her.” Ye Futian had no temper at all when facing Emperor Xia. After all, Emperor Xia was an elder who had done him favors before. Back then, in the Nine States, if it weren’t for Emperor Xia, he would have perished a long time ago.
“Just set it down,” Emperor Xia replied as if he was upset.
Ye Futian smiled awkwardly. But at this moment, he saw a beautiful figure coming at him. “I just happen to need some elixirs for cultivation,” said a voice.
Xia Qingyuan walked to Ye Futian and took the elixirs from him. She said with a smile, “Thank you.”
“Useless,” Emperor Xia muttered. Xia Qingyuan had always been his favorite, but at the moment, he wished she could be a little more strict.
But Xia Qingyuan didn’t care.
Ye Futian gave a wry smile when he heard her say, “thank you.” What these two words represented was a sense of distance. If it were before, Xia Qingyuan would have never said thank you to him.
“If there is nothing else, I will go cultivate now.” Xia Qingyuan looked at Ye Futian with those beautiful eyes of hers, and there was nothing unusual in them.
She was just overly polite.
And politeness created a sense of distance.
“Yes, go.” Ye Futian wanted to say something else but wasn’t sure what to say, so he could only give her a nod.
“Mmm,” Xia Qingyuan nodded lightly, then turned to leave.
Emperor Xia looked at her departing figure and sighed secretly in his heart. Then, with even more displeasure, he looked at Ye Futian and said, “In the future, Palace Lord Ye should refrain from coming here to disrupt my chess game.”
“I’ll visit Uncle Xia again when I have time.” Ye Futian didn’t take offense. He was indeed the one who wronged her, so how could he be mad?