Chapter 971: Descending
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the end of the year 10016 of the Divine Prefecture Calendar, Nine States did not have the holiday atmosphere of past years.
In the Barren State outside of Zhongzhou City in the endless sky there was a black eagle flying about, wings widespread as if it were patrolling.
Groups of cultivators travelling by levitation, entered the territory of Zhongzhou City.
These were cultivators who had travelled from all over the Nine States.
Just five or six years ago the people of Nine States had all but forgotten about the Barren State. There was no value in the holy land of the Barren State, so it was even excluded from Nine State Forum.
But today, this city at the center of Barren State had become the eye of the storm in the Nine States. Countless powerful people came from far away in the past several months just to witness the battle that was forthcoming in Zhongzhou City.
The Nine States had not had such a battle of this level for a hundred years, so how could it not attract this kind of attention?
It was rumored that the Hall of Holy Light, Xihua Sacred Mountain, and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty had all a.s.sembled an enormous army, but they did not immediately set off. According to some the Hall of Holy Light had dispatched saints to the three holy lands of Endless Ocean and urged them to send great armies in support and had agreed upon a time of action.
As if they had reached some kind of agreement, the three holy lands of the Endless Ocean also started calling in the powers of the islands in the territory, ready to make war with the Barren State.
Because several holy lands had agreed to send troops at the same time it also caused delays for some time. After all, the strength of the Holy Zhi Palace at the Barren State, along with the backings of the Yue Clan and the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple, made even a princ.i.p.ality as strong as the Hall of Holy Light dare not to challenge them alone. If only one force arrived, it was highly possible that the Holy Zhi Palace would welcome the fight straight away, and the ending would be highly unpredictable.
Finally, on the first day of the the year 10017 of the Divine Prefecture Calendar, the conglomerate of the great armies from the six holy lands of the Hall of Holy Light, the Xihua Sacred Mountain, the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty, the North Deep, the Ocean Palace, and the Celestial Cliffs, departed almost at the same time, clearly launching a pre-planned joint attack.
In Nine States, the turbulence had started.
As for the other holy lands, the speculation was that currently Zhongzhou City must be filled with people who were gathered from all the holy lands in Nine States, it was just that they had not reveal their ident.i.ties.
In addition to the great armies from the six great holy lands, Saint Zhi of Zhisheng Cliffs and Kong Yao had been staying at Zhongzhou City.
At this time, in a wine cellar in Zhongzhou City, there were a few people sitting quietly, drinking. Among them, there was an extraordinary elder who looked about fifty, full of spirits and enthusiasm. His eyes were bright and alert, but full of gentle smiles that gave him a very comfortable presence.
“Master, will the battle of the holy lands break out?” a young man asked the old man in front of him, who was another saint from the Yu State: Stone Saint.
Stone Saint kept an extremely low profile, almost never interested in what went on in the outside world. In the Yu State, the Zhisheng Cliffs had always been known as its first holy land. Although Stone Saint was also a cultivator of the Saint Plane, he was not well-known. Many said that the Stone Saint had no quarrel with the world, just concentrating on cultivation.
“The saints of Holy Zhi Palace have been evading the conflict, otherwise the Great Zhou Sacred King would have already made his move. As for this Sacred War, if the Yue Clan and the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple were involved, and the Moon Saint and Gla.s.s Saint both appeared on the battlefield, it is possible that it would erupt in a war of the saints.” Stone Saint said calmly. If the Sacred War really broke out it would not be the fall of only one or two people, but the destruction of large-scale of cultivators. In that environment, even the cultivators of the Saint Plane would not be able to suppress the need to get involved.
“Does the Master not have any thoughts on this?” the young man asked again.
“G.o.ds fighting, what more is there to think about? To partic.i.p.ate as cannon fodder?” Stone Saint gave his disciple a harsh stare, and suddenly the young man gave a surrendering smile. Indeed, in a fight of this scale if they rushed into it, no matter which side one decided to take on, they would all be cannon fodder.
Stone Saint drank up the wine in the cup, then looked up at the distance. He said: “The people from the holy lands of the Nine States should have all arrived. They also want the inheritance of Renhuang, but it is a hot potato, and not so easy to be had. Let’s go.”
As he finished speaking, he got up and walked out.
“Where is the Master going?” Those around the table also got up and tried to catch up with him.
“To the Holy Zhi Palace, of course,” The voice of Stone Saint was heard. Not only them, but countless others in Zhongzhou City also rushed toward the direction of the Holy Zhi Palace.
People in Zhongzhou City had heard the news that the major holy lands would join forces today to attack the Holy Zhi Palace.
Outside of Zhongzhou City there were demonic beasts patrolling every direction.
At this time, along the border of Zhongzhou City in the westerly direction, a mighty army descended. This legion of tens of thousands were all riding upon divine implements, with the saints personally spending their power to control the implements to lead the way. Otherwise it would be totally impossible for this army to arrive at the Holy Zhi Palace in just one day.
The person leading them was Saint Ji.
At this time, Saint Ji looked up into the sky. The other holy lands must be coming soon.
“Wait here.” Saint Ji ordered. The six great holy lands had agreed to the time to move toward the Holy Zhi Palace at the same time. Now that they had already entered the Zhongzhou City there was no need to worry, just wait for the appointed time and they could march directly toward the Holy Zhi Palace.
After some time, a beam of light shot from a distance with extreme speed, and it arrived in a blink of an eye. It was a cultivator of the Saint Plane.
“What is so urgent?” Saint Ji saw the person who came and frowned. The saint who had arrived was the cultivator of the Hall of Holy Light.
“A large number of cultivators from the Qi Clan came to the City of Holy Light, just in the area below the Hall of Holy Light, seemingly to box us in.” the messenger replied. Upon hearing these words, Saint Ji’s eyes became sharp with a terrible coldness.
Qi Clan of the Qi State, how dare they?
“Was there any exchange?” Saint Ji asked.
“Yes,” the messenger nodded, “but the people of Qi Clan denied that they were boxing us in. They just said that the cultivators of Qi Clan have long admired the cultivators of the Hall of Holy Light and have come to our Hall to visit the disciples of the Hall of Holy Light.”
Saint Ji’s eyes revealed great viciousness that was pure cold murder. The Qi Clan admiring the Hall of Holy Light for a long time? To pay tribute to the disciples of the Hall of Holy Light?
This was a pile of nonsense.
This was a naked threat from the Qi Clan, plain and simple.
They did not send people directly to partic.i.p.ate in the battle, and they did not want to make enemies with the holy lands at the same time, so they came up with such a plan to go for the quick.
To distract the attention of the Hall of Holy Light from the battle.
“I will leave some people here, you take the rest back,” Saint Ji’s voice was extremely cold as his eyes pa.s.sed through the army. He then divided them into groups and kept a group of elite cultivators from the Hall of Holy Light, and less than half of the cultivators from other areas in the region of the Hall of Holy Light.
Those who turned back would at least be enough to cope with the cultivators from the Qi Clan who gathered in a hurry at the Hall of Holy Light.
Saint Ji believed that the Qi Clan was more of a threatening force rather than one intent on attacking the Hall of Holy Light, otherwise it would have already happened.
He understood what that old man, Saint Qi, was thinking about- to kill with a borrowed sword.
As long as Ye Futian was alive, he would be a great threat to the Hall of Holy Light. Moreover, Qi Clan did not need to offend other holy land forces, and it did not even need to directly be involved on the battlefield. He was truly tricky old fox.
In the southerly region of Zhongzhou City, there were many humongous divine golden phoenixes descending. On the back of every divine phoenix there was a group of cultivators. Likewise, the Great Zhou Sacred King also did not bring all his people, but he brought with him his most elite troop, the Golden Phoenix Army.
In the southeastern region, the three great holy lands of the Endless Ocean had arrived together.
The demonic beasts in the outer area of Zhongzhou City continued to hover and flew toward the sky. When the six holy lands had all arrived, they set foot in this central city of the Barren State and marched toward the same direction.
The cultivators of the Hall of Holy Light continued to move forward. They pa.s.sed by a Buddhist Mountain in Zhongzhou City, and on top of the mountain there was a famous temple. When they pa.s.sed through, there was a golden glow on the top of mountain, and the light of Buddha was spreading far and wide. Many looked in that direction and saw a shocking scene: there were a hundred and eight Buddhists who turned into a giant Buddha, releasing a blazing light of Buddha like a big statue of Buddha.
Saint Ji glanced at the Buddhist Mountain. In the land of the Barren State, there was never the presence of such powerful monks.
Clearly, those were the people of the Vajra Region.
It was just 108 people. Even if it was the 108 Battling Monks of the Vajra Region, what could they do? How could they dream to subvert the situation?
When the cultivators of the Hall of Holy Light pa.s.sed by, an even more brilliant light of Buddha shone forth, and then the Buddha stepped into the void like an immense and boundless Buddha walking on top of Zhongzhou City, each step spanning a great distance, following the cultivators of the Hall of Holy Light.
This had made many cultivators from the Hall of Holy Light incredible displeased. What was the meaning of these Vajra Region cultivators? To follow them at every step.
In different directions, the six great army went to the Holy Zhi Palace, which led to the complete madness of the people in Zhongzhou City, who gathered and moved toward the direction of the Holy Zhi Palace in great terrible manner.
In this horrible flow of people, a handsome figure in white followed along.
He was a symbolic figure in the Barren State, the future Palace Lord chosen by the Holy Zhi Palace. But now he was mixed in the crowd like a common disciple of the Barren State, heading for the direction of the Holy Zhi Palace.
His return today was but for his peace of mind.
By the time he left, the two Palace Lords had died, so he left the Holy Zhi Palace and the Barren State to separate from the Nine States. He eventually went to the Jixia Holy Palace to cultivate, and then went to the Upper Worlds with Xia Qingyuan for the trial, and blessed with chance, he was chosen to be allowed to cultivate in the Upper Worlds.
But no matter what the grievances were back in the days, he still owed a favor to the palace that taught him, and would never forget the teachings of his Master.
Today, when the Holy Zhi Palace was in crisis, he could not stand by and do nothing.
No matter the outcome of this battle, it would be him returning the favor to the palace.
Barren State, the Holy Zhi Palace.
Ye Futian looked at the distance, and beside him, all the cultivators above the Sage Plane had gathered together, waiting.
They already knew that the six great holy coalition forces had descended, and were on their way to the Holy Zhi Palace. It would not take long for them to step into the s.p.a.ce above the Holy Zhi Palace.
Ye Futian slowly levitated, his eyes turning to look at everyone from the Holy Zhi Palace, there were many old friends and many new faces. He said, “The battle today may be more dangerous than the time when the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty had descended. But what I have said remains: I am the Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace. If I survive, so will the palace. If the palace should die, so will I.”
The eyes of the people fastened on Ye Futian, their eyes revealing extreme determination and a strong sense of war.
“And one more thing: if we win this battle, from then on in the Nine States no one will dare to bully to the Holy Zhi Palace, or any of our disciples.” Ye Futian’s voice was not loud, but everyone heard it clearly.