Chapter 408: The Million Cultivators Army, A Sage Ruler’s Reverence
“My dear Queen, why have you come?”
Chu Kuangren flashed Gu Linglong a warm smile.
“I’ve abdicated my Royal Azure Dynasty throne.”
The first statement that came out from Gu Linglong gave Chu Kuangren no time to react. He frowned, visibly in shock. “Have those people forced you to abdicate?”
Chu Kuangren’s tone sounded quite cold.
He was now unparalleled in this world, and he and Linglong were husband and wife by first marriage. It would not surprise him if the people from the Royal Azure Dynasty had taken this opportunity to force Linglong down the throne. After all, many of them were eyeing the throne.
“No, I did it voluntarily.”
Gu Linglong smiled and said, “I’m here to accompany you.”
“Oh, I see. Why don’t you remain in the Black Heaven Sect then? After this is all over, you can become the first lady here. It doesn’t sound as glamorous as Your Majesty the Queen, but I reckon it won’t be too bad either.”
Chu Kuangren proposed while stroking his chin.
“But, is there an ‘after’ for all of us here?” Gu Linglong asked. Like the others, she felt that the chances for the Black Heaven Sect to pull through this were slim too.
“Of course. Don’t just look at the chaos that they’re creating out there, saying that our sect is struggling to cope with this. Let me tell you, I’ve been eating and sleeping very well these past few days. It’s just a small problem. We’ll get through it.”
Chu Kuangren smiled as he replied. Confidence was gleaming through his eyes.
“Hehe.” Gu Linglong could not help but chuckle. “If those orthodoxies could hear you say that right now, I can’t begin to imagine just how angry they’d be.”
Chu Kuangren continued his light-hearted conversation with Gu Linglong.
He seemed to be enjoying himself despite everything that was happening.
Meanwhile, the outside world was just as he had described – a state of chaos.
The Heavenly Golden Palace, Bottomless Chasm, Sacred Palace of Death, Craggy Ocean Tower, and Acheron Manor — all the six almighty unknown lands had gathered their troops and was already marching towards the Black Heaven Sect alongside the various other great orthodoxies who had joined forces with them.
How many people did they have?
The Thirty-Six Oceanic Islands alone had almost a hundred thousand or more people. Those fleets of Fairy boats exuded an incredibly terrifying aura as they sailed towards their target.
Aside from them, the Overlord Sage Tribe, Linghu clan, Sky Emperor Palace, and Eight Wind Palace had sent out quite a few cultivators themselves too. They had even sent their own Sages. The size of their troop may not be as magnificent as the Thirty-Six Oceanic Islands, but it was still a force to be reckoned with.
Conversely, the six unknown lands sent a much smaller-sized troop.
The six unknown lands only had less than a thousand in strength combined. It seemed puny in comparison to those few hundred thousand-strong cultivator-army.
Nevertheless, everyone knew that these one thousand people were the main driving forces of this troop!
Of these one thousand people, even the weakest cultivation base was an Honorable!
Besides that, all six unknown lands’ Sect Leaders were included in their troops too. These six people were all at the pinnacle of Sages, Sage Rulers!!
This million-strong army marched towards the Black Heaven Sect with great strength.
Wherever they pa.s.sed, drum sounds would rumble the sky, and battle intents pierced through the clouds. This sight gave every witnessing cultivator gooseb.u.mps.
Inside this coalition army.
One of the Fairy boats looked especially unique.
It formed a stark contrast with the other Fairy boats. Compared to the others that had several dozen thousands of people on them, this Fairy boat was not just much more majestic in size, but there were only a few people on it as well.
It was the Heavenly Golden Palace’s Fairy boat.
Meanwhile, at this point in time, the Sect Leaders of the six unknown lands were gathered. They seemed to be discussing some serious matter.
“After we kill Chu Kuangren, I don’t want anything other than that G.o.dly Phoenix that I heard is in the Black Heaven Sect. I call dibs on it.”
The Craggy Ocean Tower Lord began to speak.
The rest of them raised an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you asking for too much? You said you want to keep a divine beast like the G.o.dly Phoenix all to yourself?” Master Daoist Yun Tao exclaimed in discontentment.
“That’s right. The G.o.dly Phoenix cannot belong to you alone.”
The Acheron Manor Lord had spoken up too.
“We, the Craggy Ocean Tower, are most skilled in training strange beasts. Besides us, who else among you guys have confidence in taming the G.o.dly Phoenix?”
Craggy Ocean Tower Lord said resolutely.
“We may not be able to tame the G.o.dly Phoenix, but its carca.s.s will still be worth a lot.” The Sacred Palace Tower Lord flashed him an evil grin.
Everybody’s eyes lit up when they heard that.
The divine beast’s feathers, skin, bones, and blood were all rare treasures.
“Fine, the divine beast’s carca.s.s shall belong to you guys, but I want the divine beast’s soul. Does that work?” Craggy Ocean Tower Lord said.
Since he could not obtain the G.o.dly Phoenix in one piece, he ought to bring back its soul instead and refine it into a Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul. It was still not a bad option for him.
At that, the rest of them exchanged glances.
“Sure.”
“You’ve gotten yourself a cheap bargain then, Craggy Ocean Tower.”
“We, the Bottomless Chasm, want the Empyrean Neptune’s Trident Halberd!” A middle-aged man, who had a golden scale on top of his forehead, said. He was the Great Bottomless Chasm Dweller.
He was also the Scaled Tribe’s First Scale King.
He heard about the Empyrean Neptune’s Trident Halberd from the Thirty-Six Oceanic Islands, and he had long yearned for this fabled Emperor Weapon for a very long time.
“An Emperor Weapon… The Bottomless Chasm is really demanding a lot here.”
“It originally belonged to us Scaled Tribe anyway.”
“Fine then. If that’s the case, Acheron Manor wants all the cultivation techniques in the Black Heaven Sect, including those few Emperor Techniques that Chu Kuangren has,” the Acheron Manor Lord said.
“I want one of those Emperor Techniques too.”
“I shall have the Opportunities of Fortune from the Qian Imperial Palace then.”
“No way we’re letting you have that all for yourself.”
The few Sage Rulers were engaged in a heated discussion.
Who could believe that they were already distributing parts of the Black Heaven Sect!
It felt as though they already had this victory in hand!
Truth was, they did indeed believe they would win too. After all, the six great unknown lands had already unleashed their full force. Adding that to the million cultivator-army, how could a mere Black Heaven Sect handle such a great force?!
No matter how powerful Chu Kuangren was, he would never turn this one around.
“My fellow friends, mind I remind all of you, that our primary aim here is to kill Chu Kuangren! The rest doesn’t really matter, but Chu Kuangren must die regardless. I hope you all can bear this in mind.”
Sage Ruler Zhang Guang said.
Chu Kuangren was their biggest threat this time, and the Black Heaven Sect was only a secondary target in this operation. Killing Chu Kuangren was their primary motive.
If Chu Kuangren did not die, all their efforts in this operation would be in vain.
“We totally understand this,” Master Daoist Yun Tao said.
“I’ve brought along the Nine Profound Heavens Fire Forcefield for this operation. Once we’ve entered Black Heaven Sect’s territory, I’ll cast this item and envelope the entire Black Heaven Sect. Not even Sage Rulers can think of escaping this.”
Acheron Manor Lord smiled gently. The Nine Profound Heavens Fire Forcefield that he mentioned was a Boundary-Emperor Weapon used to restrain people. It was one of Acheron Manor’s prized possessions, and he had brought this item out just to defeat Chu Kuangren this time.
“Ah, that’s good.”
Sage Ruler Zhang Guang nodded.
To defeat Chu Kuangren this time, they had not only brought thousands of their own people, but they had prepared all kinds of tactics too.
There were quite a few people beside these six Sage Rulers, and listening to the exchange between the few of those Sages had left them speechless.
These six great Sage Rulers had spent so much effort and time just to defeat someone below Sage’s level. If word of this got out, who would believe it?!
However, this was the fact.
“Chu Kuangren, you must die. If you don’t, the rest of the world will never have a chance to show their potential.” Sage Ruler Zhang Guang stared into the distance, toward the Black Heaven Sect’s direction, and said. His eyes were gleaming with mixed emotions.
Did he hate Chu Kuangren?
Of course, a certain degree of hatred was there. After all, Chu Kuangren was the one who slew one of his spiritual thought clones, but it was actually not too big of a deal at all.
Compared to hate, he now revered Chu Kuangren more.
Yes.
He revered him.
He believed that the rest of the Sage Rulers felt the same way as he did. They should have similar mixed emotions about their enemy.
Throughout the ages, there had never been a person quite like Chu Kuangren. His brilliance had astonished the entire era.
They had a feeling that even if they had successfully killed Chu Kuangren this time, his name would still be repeatedly mentioned in the history books in the days to come.
Chu Kuangren had already… made his mark in this world!