Chapter 822: The Sacred King’s Obsession
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Great Phoenix Hall stood proudly at the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty of the Eastern State.
The Sacred King was draped in a golden phoenix robe above the very high steps outside the Great Phoenix Hall. His black hair draped over his shoulders as he kept his hands behind his back. A clear aura of pride exuded from his person.
Many mighty ones stood at the steps beneath him, which had images of phoenixes carved on them. They were all top-cla.s.s sages coming from all corners of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty. There were many square matrices beneath the steps, looking as if they were armies standing by awaiting orders.
Their surroundings were unnervingly quiet. Everyone’s eyes were on the Sacred King, waiting for his orders.
“How many major forces are not here yet?” the Sacred King asked.
“My king, the Black Thunder Clan and the Flying Snow Sword Clan are not here yet. There were several other n.o.bles who needed to gather their men, so they are late. However, everything is underway,” someone reported.
“Tell them they are to show within a month no matter what. They don’t need to be here if they aren’t able to do so,” the Sacred King said plainly. As speculated by the people of the Holy Zhi Palace, while the Holy Zhi Palace was merely a sacred ground for training, the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty was a sovereignty, which meant that they held absolute rulers.h.i.+p.
The Sacred King was the absolute king of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty. No one dared to defy him.
“Yes, my king.” Someone took the order.
“I have another matter to report. There is news from the Barren State that many forces gathered and are heading to the Holy Zhi Palace to serve as reinforcements. Should we interfere?” someone else reported.
“No need for that.” The Sacred King said plainly, “If they intend to cause a storm, then we’ll simply crush them all.”
“Yes, my King.”
None were surprised. When Zhisheng Cliffs had imposed themselves in the Barren State, they had tried means of gathering forces of the Barren State to achieve their goals. However, the Sacred King was, after all, a king. His bearing dictated that he should not have to resort to tricks like those executed by Kong Yao of Zhisheng Cliffs.
Anyone who dared stand in his way was to be crushed.
The Sacred King’s wrath called forth a bloodbath that would stain the lands of the Barren State.
“There are more sages than n.o.bles coming from all of the forces this time. However, I need more than an army of sages. I need an army of n.o.bles as well,” the Sacred King said plainly. Everyone was startled. Their king had indeed intended to raze the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State, from the sages to every last one of the n.o.bles.
n.o.bles were to serve as reserves in this case. If even the n.o.bles were all dead, the Barren State would turn worthless and powerless, and there would be no way for them to rise again.
“Yes, my King.” All of the Sacred King’s people had their orders. However, the forces partic.i.p.ating in this a.s.sault had their own agendas. As they were fighting a sacred war, ma.s.sive casualties among their own were inevitable, even if they were able to raze the entire Barren State. As such, they left as many of their future generations behind as possible. However, the Sacred King disagreed. He had them brought their n.o.bles to bear on their enemies as well.
Everything was deemed to be the fault of Ye Futian, the idiot. He might have been a rare genius, but a genius who had yet to blossom was nothing. What he did, which infuriated the Sacred King, was akin to digging his own grave.
“We will gather here again, a month from now, to attack the Barren State,” the Sacred King said and then left.
“All hail the Sacred King.” Everyone present bowed to pay their respects. They only dispersed after the Sacred King was no longer seen.
The Sacred King came to one of the bedchambers, which had been lavishly decorated and was named the Lapis Lazuli Palace. It was the bedchamber of Si, a favorite concubine of the Sacred King. With the exception of some servant girls, no one else was allowed to step foot in there.
Many who were close to the Sacred King didn’t even know who Si actually was. They only speculated that she was a beauty like none other, whose unparalleled charm mesmerized the Sacred King.
At the moment, a woman wearing lavish clothes was seen in the Lapis Lazuli Palace. Her clothing shone like Lapis Lazuli yet seemed to be as thin as a cicada’s wings. The vague style of clothing made the woman’s perfect figure look all the more alluring.
“Sacred King.” The woman walked forward. Her slender legs and skin that showed between the fabric looked incredibly seductive. Even her eyes seemed to be capable of sucking people’s souls away.
However, the Sacred King simply stood quietly as he looked at her. If anyone from the outside were able to see her, they would have thought her looks to somewhat resemble the Gla.s.s Saint, the number one beauty in the Eastern State. Furthermore, the way her hair was done and the accessories she wore on them were near identical to those worn by the Gla.s.s Saint. However, she lacked the graceful, regal air of the Gla.s.s Saint, and was overflowing with seductive charm capable of poisoning the hearts of men.
Regardless of how striking the resemblance between her and the Gla.s.s Saint was, and how pretty she was, she was still not the Gla.s.s Saint. She was little more than a replacement.
The woman leaned onto the Sacred King. Her fragrant scent and fiery body were more than capable of making a man’s blood boil. However, the Sacred King was calm and composed still. He looked at her eyes and took her by the hips, walking towards the bed.
When the Barren State was no more and he had gotten his hands on the Sword Matrix of the Void, making him the man to master the number one matrix in all of the Nine States, he would set out to complete a wish that he had been unable to act upon a long time ago.
He might have had the world in his hands, but there was one lingering obsession in his mind, which had stalled his training for a considerable amount of time.
That obsession was none other than to make the Gla.s.s Saint, the number beauty of the Eastern State, his.
…
Ye Futian was high above a training ground in the Holy Zhi Palace, looking at the people train below.
The Sword Demon and Xu Shang had taken some of the mighty ones from the Sword Palace and several top-notch swordsmen from Tingxue House to train there. Other than that, there was also a swordsman from Tombkeeper Village, who was at the pinnacle of the Sage plane. They were training to use a sword matrix. The Village Chief and Yang Xiao were present to guide training.
There were nine of them, with the weakest being at a lower archmage level. There were three who were at an upper archmage level, four at a middle archmage level, and two at the lower archmage level.
They all took their corners and formed a matrix. There was a huge sword in the middle. That was the Divine Sword. A sword diagram appeared in their surroundings, and there was a true sword-type ritual implement in every corner in the diagram ringing about.
All of those swords were top-notch sage ritual implements, and all of them were given by You Chi.
The sword diagram grew increasingly bright as they went about activating the matrix. Beams of light from the swords shot into the heavens. Sword aura gathered in a frenzy around them, looking incredibly dazzling.
The sword matrix originated from nine sword diagrams. They were being trained by nine swordsmen, and with the help of the Divine Sword and many top-notch sage ritual implements used, the matrix would definitely bring frightening power to bear.
There was no use fretting about the numbers of mighty ones in the sacred war, as they were already at a disadvantage. As such, the only way for them to level the playing field was by amplifying each individual’s power, bringing out the greatest potential in every single fighter on their side.
Yang Xiao flashed and came to Ye Futian’s side, saying, “They’re all top-cla.s.s cultivators and have an unparalleled capacity for comprehension. They should be able to master changes of the sword matrix soon enough. Let’s go see how the others are doing.”
“Thank you for your effort,” Ye Futian said. The ones who were most versed in the art of matrices were Yang Xiao, him, and the Village Chief. The Chess Saint had been the one who was most versed in the art of matrices in all of the Nine States, and Yang Xiao had been his eldest student. His background, coupled with his impressive abilities in the art of matrices, had given them an edge over the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty in terms of use of matrices.
Wars were to be fought using what was most advantageous to one’s side and bringing that advantage to greatest use. As such, Ye Futian tasked Yang Xiao mainly with teaching the art of matrices to the sages. Jiu Gongzi, on the other hand, was made to guide the n.o.bles.
Both took to the air and Ye Futian said, “The people of Xihua Sacred Mountain have arrived in the Barren State. They are at Zhongzhou City. Liu Zong is there as well.”
“Yeah.” Yang Xiao nodded quietly as if Liu Zong was but the name of a stranger.
“The Barren State is now faced with a sacred war and we’ve gotten our hands full with that alone. We cannot afford to fight Liu Zong now,” Ye Futian elaborated honestly. He knew well why Yang Xiao had come to train in the Barren State.
Yang Xiao knew that. He hated Liu Zong immensely, and only by joining hands with Ye Futian would he get his chance at revenge in the future.
“There’s no need for more words. I know well enough,” Yang Xiao replied. The incident did not only involve Liu Zong. Xihua Sacred Mountain had given its consent to Liu Zong to do what he did as well. There was only one thing Yang Xiao needed to do at the moment, and that was to have the Barren State win the sacred war, and with that, to have the Holy Zhi Palace be renowned throughout the Nine States, so much so that it would surpa.s.s both the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and Xihua Sacred Mountain in status.
He would then have his chance of taking revenge.
Currently, “vengeance” was the last thing in Yang Xiao’s mind.
“Futian.” A voice was heard. Ye Futian turned around and saw a girl was coming his way.
“Phoenix,” Ye Futian called.
“My teacher is here,” Phoenix said.
Ye Futian was stunned for a bit, before smiling and said, “Thank you, Phoenix.”
With the Undying Old Man around, casualties in the Barren State would be reduced somewhat. So long as an injured one did not end up dying immediately on the battlefield, the Undying Old Man’s expertise in related rules would be enough to save them.
Such abilities were of utmost importance in the sacred war.
“What’s with the formalities?” Phoenix replied.
“You have a point. We’re family, after all.” Ye Futian smiled and said, “Come with us to see how my teacher and the others are doing with their training. We’ll go meet your teacher after that.”
“Sure.” Phoenix nodded and they came to a training ground. Sage Douzhan, Sage Jingang, Yuan Hong, and others who were of exceptional physical prowess all were seen training there.
There were even more people to be found in that training ground. There were 36 of them, and they were all training in the art of martial arts matrix.
The matrix was known as the Heavenly Battle Matrix, a matrix capable of melding the force of 36 people into a single ent.i.ty, which was transformed into an immensely powerful Heavenly Battle Aura. The burst of power was controlled by three core members. Its power was unmatched and it was capable of both offense and defense.
Almost all of the top-cla.s.s members of the Battle Sage Palace and the Golden Great Apes were found there. There were also several mighty ones from Tombkeeper Village who excelled in physical arts joining the ones to form the Heavenly Battle Matrix.
Sage Douzhan and Yuan Hong were among the ones who were capable of shaking the heavens and the earth when they battled. With the Heavenly Battle Matrix being formed by 36 very powerful mighty ones, Ye Futian came to look forward to the power that the matrix was capable of bringing to bear on their enemies.
They visited Sage Daozang next.
Ye Futian and Phoenix left after checking them out for a while. Yang Xiao remained there to guide them in their training in matrices.
Ye Futian returned to the Holy Sage Pavilion. Sage Wanxiang was seen greeting the Undying Old Man.
“Elder,” Ye Futian went up and greeted the old man with a smile. He owed a huge favor to the Undying Old Man. When Hua Jieyu was in a coma, it was the Undying Old Man who attended to her.
The Undying Old Man looked at Ye Futian, then smiled and said, “It seems that I’ve made the right decision to have Phoenix come to the Holy Zhi Palace to train all those years ago. Her talents are exceptional, and her training would only be held back if she continued to train with me. It puts me at great ease to have her roam the Nine States with you. Now, I’m just hoping that we can get through this ordeal.”
It was apparent that he knew about the Nine State Forum.
“I grow increasingly confident with all of you coming from all corners of the Barren State, seniors. The Holy Zhi Palace will definitely prevail against the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty,” Ye Futian said.
“The Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty called all forces within their territory. We cannot afford to be careless.” A voice was heard from afar. Ye Futian looked in their direction. He saw a group of people coming to him, and he smiled in response.
“Now that even you are here, Palace Lord Yun, my confidence grows even more,” Ye Futian smiled and said. The one who showed was none other than the lord of the Ice Temple, who brought mighty ones from their temple with her. Yun Shuisheng was there with them as well.