Chapter 2570: One Man’s Battle
In Tianyan City, the feast had concluded, but no one left the city.
As countless cultivators looked up into the sky, they saw in the area close to the City Lord’s Office that cultivators had descended successively from the sky. They came down with brilliant divine light and gathered in the City Lord’s Office.
Outside the City Lord’s Office, where the most crowd gathered, there was a sea of people with no end in sight. They all rushed to get a look inside the City Lord’s Office and saw that formation of camps had appeared in the sky above the City Lord’s Office. Each camp represented a peak force from the Divine Prefecture.
All the princ.i.p.alities in the Divine Prefecture had converged to Tianyan City with the greatest speed. They did not intend to give the Ziwei Segmentum any time for preparation. They did not want to repeat the Holy Land of Taichu’s mistakes and wanted to flatten the Ziwei Segmentum as soon as possible.
Princess Donghuang, Du You, and other cultivators from the Imperial Palace did not leave, however. They sat there, watching everything that took place in front of them. Not even when the powers of the Divine Prefecture were dealing with the Dark World and the Empty Divine Realm had acted this quickly.
The City Lord of Tianyan city did not sit down but stood there, waiting for the arrival of cultivators from all sides. This battle was unavoidable, and Ziwei Segmentum must be destroyed, just like Ye Futian must be destroyed as well. He would be the stepping stone for w.a.n.g Xiao, who was on his way to becoming an emperor. Slaying Ye Futian would dispel the remaining dark clouds over w.a.n.g Xiao’s head.
Watching the arrival of all the major forces, the City Lord of Tianyan was also looking solemn at this moment, and there was a slight disturbance in his heart. He cast a glance at w.a.n.g Xiao. Though he was defeated in the last battle, it would not affect his future. He, who was able to control the imperial arms, would be invincible under the Great Emperor.
Gradually, all the partic.i.p.ating forces from Divine Prefecture completed their a.s.sembly and gathered inside the City Lord’s Office. The entire Tianyan City was incredibly quiet. This would be the greatest war since the unification of the Divine Prefecture.
Unfortunately, they would not be witnessing it.
“Everyone is here. Let’s get ready to depart.” The City Lord of Tianyan surveyed the crowd, then said to Princess Donghuang next to him, “The Great Emperor is merciful and agreed not to act against Ziwei. But today, w.a.n.g Xiao will lead the cultivators of the Divine Prefecture to flatten the Ziwei Segmentum, ridding them of the Imperial Palace.”
His words had put w.a.n.g Xiao at an extremely high level by letting him be the head of all the powers of the Divine Prefecture. Furthermore, in the presence of so many top figures from the Divine Prefecture, he did not feel any impropriety in the slightest.
As the most powerful man under the Great Emperor, his grandson, w.a.n.g Xiao, was definitely qualified.
Princess Donghuang glanced in the direction where w.a.n.g Xiao was and said, “If so, you have my best wish to Tianyan City and all the forces of the Divine Prefecture to take down Ye Futian. However, there are countless living creatures within the Ziwei Segmentum, and they are innocent cultivators. As all of you go forth to conquer, refrain from killing indiscriminately, lest you hurt the innocents.”
“Your Royal Highness, rest a.s.sured, this time we will only slaughter the cultivators of Ziwei Imperial Palace and take down the Ziwei Segmentum. No innocent people will be harmed,” The City Lord of Tianyan said. Then, he looked at w.a.n.g Xiao and said, “w.a.n.g Xiao, remember well the words of the Princess.”
“Yes,” w.a.n.g Xiao nodded.
“Go and fetch the imperial arms so you can be on your way,” the City Lord of Tianyan said. Immediately w.a.n.g Xiao left, heading deeper into the City Lord’s Office. Inside the City Lord’s Office, there was a pa.s.sage to the Original Realm.
After a moment, the cultivators of Tianyan City saw an imperial glory and shot into the firmament in the direction of the City Lord’s Office. It was as if the sky had been pierced through. At the same time, an incomparable imperial might shrouded Tianyan City.
After another moment, the imperial glory disappeared. A brilliant spatial divine light appeared inside the City Lord’s Office. All those powerful formations disappeared from the City Lord’s Office to conquer the Original Realm.
…
In the Ziwei Segmentum and inside the Ziwei Imperial Palace, everyone was busy with their a.s.signments. Many cultivators had been sent away, temporarily leaving Ziwei Segmentum. Those below the realm of Upper Renhuang had been sent away to other parts of the Ziwei Segmentum. In case they lost, these people may still have a chance at survival.
Of course, all the key players of Ziwei Imperial Palace were still there. They planned to live and die with the Ziwei Imperial Palace.
Ye Futian was standing together with Hua Jieyu, inspecting Ziwei Imperial Palace. He looked at Zhuge Mingyue and said, “Second senior sister, how is the arrangement of everything?”
“Don’t worry. Everything has been arranged,” Zhuge Mingyue said with a smile. It seemed as if she did not feel any stress at all; she seemed quite at ease.
The other cultivators were there as well. They looked at Ye Futian with trust in their eyes.
Ye Futian felt the gaze from everyone, and there was a hint of guilty in his heart. He said with a smile, “Everyone has been through a hard time following me.”
There were not many peaceful days all along this journey.
“The cultivation world has always been like this. It’s the same everywhere. If not you, there would have been other calamities.” Lord Taixuan said, “When I was cultivating in Taixuan Mountain, I was also attacked. Then, I watched you endure these catastrophes because you have been growing. In the process of growth, there are many dangers and hards.h.i.+ps.”
“That’s right, every day of my life is a bonus after being saved from so many situations like this. They are nothing new and certainly nothing to worry about,” the Sky River Great Elder also piped up nonchalantly. They had been through so many dangers with their lives hanging by a thread that nothing was very significant.
They were not afraid of death. They just wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, following Ye Futian to go to the higher highs.
Ye Futian smiled and nodded. He then looked at Lord Chen and Murong Yu and said, “Ziwei Imperial Palace does not belong to me. If it is really sacked, you can choose to surrender. There is no need to consider in regards to me. It is better to be alive than dead.”
Those cultivators who were part of the Ziwei Imperial Palace before him did not have as deep a relations.h.i.+p with him as others. He would not force anyone else to die if he were defeated this time.
“The Palace Lord is the heir chosen by Ziwei the Great, and we are all descendants of Ziwei. We have followed the Palace Lord because the Palace Lord has inherited the will of the Great Emperor. Now that the forces of Divine Prefecture have come for the kill, there is absolutely no reason for us to surrender. Any suggestion of that is an insult to us,” Lord Chen said. His tone was not so friendly anymore.
Back then, Ye Futian had slew the original Palace Lord of Ziwei Imperial Palace so that the Ziwei Imperial Palace would surrender to him. Still, they didn’t submit because of fear alone. It was essential to note that Ye Futian had already inherited the will of Ziwei the Great at that time. Hence, their submission to the manifestation of the Great Emperor was understandable.
After all, the entire Ziwei Segmentum wors.h.i.+pped Ziwei the Great, and that was their belief.
But this time was different. Ye Futian would use the will of the Great Emperor to fight this battle. If he lost, the emperor’s will would be broken, and Ziwei would be destroyed. How could they possibly submit in that case?
“Although we are not a n.o.ble brood, we have chosen to stay, and we will follow the Palace Lord and live and die with the Imperial Palace,” Murong Yu also said.
Ye Futian looked at those faces, and warmth filled his heart. He proceeded, “As the Palace Lord of Ziwei Imperial Palace, I cannot guarantee anything else, but in this battle if the forces of Divine Prefecture want to invade the Ziwei Segmentum and raze Ziwei Imperial Palace to the ground, they will have to step over my dead body first.”
“Although Tianyan City came with the imperial arms, the Palace Lord can use the will of the Great Emperor to unite the heavens. Surely this battle will be won, and the people of the Divine Prefecture will not be able to sack Ziwei,” Lord Chen said.
Ye Futian nodded and said, “I have never felt the power of the imperial arms, so this battle is a battle of the unknown. Right now, I’m just planning for the worst-case scenario.”
With his current realm of strength, using the will of Ziwei the Great, he was also an invincible existence under the Great Emperor. In the Ziwei Segmentum, he could slay even those who had survived the second Divine Tribulation of the Great Path.
But this time, he would be facing the imperial arms.
With a wave of Ye Futian’s hand, a treasure mirror appeared. A divine consciousness entered into it, and the mirror flickered with light inside. An image appeared. In the boundless s.p.a.ce outside the Ziwei Segmentum, there was a place where the divine light was s.h.i.+ning radiantly, and a mighty group of cultivators was heading towards the Ziwei Segmentum.
“They are here.” Ye Futian said, “I’m going.”
After that, he levitated into the air and headed higher up into the sky.
“May the Palace Lord return in victory.” Lord Chen raised his head and looked at the departing figure of Ye Futian, bowing.
“May the Palace Lord return in victory.” One after another, voices resounded throughout Ziwei Imperial Palace. Inside the Imperial Palace, all the cultivators bowed, wis.h.i.+ng Ye Futian a triumphant return.
They knew that Ye Futian would either win or die in this battle. There was no third choice.
With Ye Futian’s personality, defeat meant death because he would not want to live to see the people from Divine Prefecture sack Ziwei Segmentum.
This was not a war between the Divine Prefecture and Ziwei Segmentum, but a war between the forces of the Divine Prefecture and Ye Futian.
Today’s Ziwei Segmentum, in front of such a mighty army of Divine Prefecture, could not withstand a prolonged battle. As soon as the army entered Ziwei Segmentum, Ziwei Imperial Palace would be razed to the ground in a short time.
This was a war for Ye Futian alone!
In the boundless starry sky, standing outside the Ziwei Segmentum, the entire Ziwei Segmentum seems to be shrouded by an endless light screen. All the stars in the Segmentum were linked as one, emitting infinite starlight that was continuously circulating.
At this time, rays of light dazzled, descending in one area and turning into formations. Each of these formations was extremely powerful, with a terrifying aura of the Great Path permeating from them. The men of each formation stood in the boundless s.p.a.ce, their eyes on the Segmentum before them. It was a spectacular sight.
Starlight flowed in the periphery of the Segmentum, circulating it as if to pave the sky with stars.
At this moment, their eyes were focused in one direction. In that direction, amid the flowing starlight, a gigantic elusive figure manifested. A very familiar figure in white garments and with white hair; it was was none other than Ye Futian.
At this moment, Ye Futian’s will had been merged with Ziwei Segmentum already and turned into a part of this endless starry sky.
Just as Lord Chen and the others had antic.i.p.ated, this war was a war for Ye Futian alone!