Tianming was drawn to the Golden Dragon made entirely of gold. The hardness of its metallic body seemed comparable to saintly beastial weapons, making it seem immortal.
In every sense, this was a real dragon, with deer-like horns, a camel’s head, rabbit eyes, a snake-like body, a shen belly, fish scales, eagle claws, tiger palms, and cow ears. Compared to the Blizzard Spirit Dragon and Purplewing Batdrake, it was obviously of superior pedigree.
Of all the dragons that Tianming had seen, the only one that could be compared to this Golden Dragon was Ye Shaoqing's fifth-order saint beast, the Azureflame Dragon. Comparatively speaking, this Golden Dragon was larger in size and more regal in appearance. Obviously, its beastmaster was a powerful man.
When the Golden Dragon descended, the powerhouses from Heaven’s Elysium appeared one after another, led by a man in golden robes who was both tall and powerful, with skin and hair that possessed a golden luster.
His eyes resembled golden divine rays, so few dared look him in the eye. He was Jun Dongyao. Since Tianming had perused the information on Heaven’s Elysium, he recognized him.
Heaven’s Elysium was led by the Elysium Emperor, Jun Shengxiao, who was considered a supreme existence and wielded great power within the Grand-Orient Realm. Beneath the Elysium Emperor were two hundred elders, as well as the Four Cardinal Kings.
The Four Cardinal Kings were in charge of the halls in the north, south, east, and west of Heaven’s Elysium. Among them, the East Cardinal King, who controlled the East Hall, was Jun Dongyao. Besides being the East Cardinal King, Jun Dongyao was also the firstborn son of the Elysium Emperor. Among his descendants, only Jun Dongyao had become one of the Four Cardinal Kings.
Jun Dongyao was peers with Ye Shaoqing, Yuwen Taiji, and Weisheng Tianlan. In their younger days, they were all geniuses among geniuses and had participated in the Realm Wars. Naturally, Jun Donyao had emerged victorious.
Now that Heaven’s Elysium dominated the Grand-Orient Realm, this was more of a show of power than a welcome. After all, they came with guns blazing.
"Dear friends from the four great sects, welcome to Heaven’s Elysium. May your top talents have an interesting and wonderful experience.” Jun Dongyao’s voice reverberated through the street. Several elysium elders couldn't help laughing.
Once every ten years, these so-called geniuses would suffer a mental breakdown under the hands of their elysium children and crawl back to where they came from. Seize the Grand-Orient Sword? Dream on. However, this time was different. Now that one more sect had surrendered, there was less excitement to the Realm Wars.
When Jun Dongyao finished speaking, those from the Onyx Sect and Cloudmist Sword School greeted him, talking and laughing. However, Weisheng Tianlan didn’t join them. It was obvious the Onyx Sect and Cloudmist Sword School were bootlicking, something he couldn't bring himself to do. Outsiders understood it as resistance on his part.
"Onyx Emperor, Onyx Empress, and Brother Sikong, please come along." After a brief conversation, Jun Dongyao set foot on his Golden Dragon and began leading the way.
"Thank you, East Cardinal King." Sikong Jiansheng and the Onyx Sect Masters quickly caught up with him.
"Let’s go." Behind Onyx and Cloudmist Sword School, Huangfu Fengyun and Weisheng Tianlan prepared to leave for Heaven’s Elysium.
Unexpectedly, the East Cardinal King looked at them in confusion with a hint of mockery. "Weisheng Tianlan, Huangfu Fengyun, you’re not invited. Why would you follow us? You’re a bit shameless, aren’t you?"
The people from Heaven’s Elysium, Onyx Sect and Cloudmist Sword School roared with laughter, in particular the elders of Cloudmist Sword School. If the Grand-Orient Sect and Southsky Sect had been polite and bowed their heads last night, they wouldn’t suffer such humiliation.
Since the first Realm Wars, the teams from the four sects would gather at Heaven City before being greeted by Heaven’s Elysium’s representatives. If there were a large number of young talents participating in them, the Throughpath battle would be held. But even so, the juniors were sent to the Throughpath, while elders like Weisheng Tianlan would stand at the top of Heaven’s Elysium to watch the battle, since it made a good vantage point. This had always been the unspoken rule of the Realm Wars. Shouldn’t Heaven’s Elysium show the bare minimum in terms of etiquette?
"What do you mean by this?" Weisheng Tianlan frowned.
"I don’t mean anything. There’s no space for you in Heaven’s Elysium," laughed Jun Dongyao.
Their arrogant, contemptuous laughter poked at Weisheng Tianlan’s dignity.
"How low of Heaven’s Elysium! We come from afar, yet you lack even the most basic etiquette. What’s the difference between you and a third-rate sect?" scoffed Weisheng Tianlan.
Everyone present today were men of dignity. The contention within the Grand-Orient Realm was based on true strength. For a great sect like Heaven’s Elysium to behave so evoked disdain. Even Weisheng Tianlan would compete openly instead of engaging in these meaningless underhanded tactics.
"Us, a third-rate sect? Hahaha, aren’t you embarrassed to bring that up? You send a few losers to participate in the grand Realm Wars, and they’re not going to make it up Throughpath anyway, so there’s no point wasting seats. Southsky Sect, Grand-Orient Sect, you might as well circle the foot of the mountain a few times, consider your task completed, and leave."
A gentleman like Weisheng Tianlan had no way of dealing with Jun Dongyao, a true scoundrel with no notion of dignity. It was humiliating for a sect master to be mocked by the Cardinal King in front of the other elders and his disciples. However, the Realm Wars were originally held to challenge Heaven’s Elysium for control over Grand-Orient Realm, so such treatment was only to be expected.
Before, they would only humiliate the juniors, but today, Heaven’s Elysium had disgraced Weisheng Tianlan and the Grand-Orient Sect before the battle had even begun. In fact, this was sort of an indication. After dealing with the Onyx Sect, Heaven’s Elysium now wielded unprecedented power. Sooner or later, the Southsky Sect and Grand-Orient Sect would have to surrender. With Heaven’s Elysium’s current power, they had no plans to compete with the other four major sects. Their ambitions were obvious—what they wanted was to dominate the entire Grand-Orient Realm and make the other four sects their vassals.
Onlookers laughed as Jun Dongyao and the others left without the Southsky Sect and Grand-Orient Sect.
"Jun Dongyao has become more and more shameless. It’s no wonder he no longer possesses the same heaven-defying talent he had in his younger days. Have you caught up to him yet?" asked Ye Shaoqing.
"So what if I have? He humiliated me in the past and has now left me with no dignity to speak of," said Weisheng Tianlan. Now that he was a sect master, his status was different. Being laughed at meant disgrace for the entire sect.
"But what can we do? We can only hope the young ones recover the dignity we’ve lost by having their elysium children beg for mercy," laughed Ye Shaoqing.
They all rolled their eyes at him.
"Ye Shaoqing, take a good look at the three disciples behind you. You should recognize reality and stop dreaming,” scoffed Southsky Sect’s first elder Gu Qiuyu.
"Elder Gu, you seem to have a lot to say. Unfortunately, speaking on your knees must be painful,” Ye Shaoqing shrugged.
"Who’s kneeling!" fumed Gu Qiuyu.
"Oh, stop quarreling. Since they don't welcome us, we’ll send our seven disciples directly to the Throughpath and wait below,” said Weisheng Tianlan.
"It seems we’ve been left with no other option," sighed Huangfu Fengyun.
There was no way they would leave without participating in the Realm Wars. Both teams steered their lifebound beasts towards the foot of the Throughpath.
On the Aircloud Godcrane, Ye Shaoqing asked, "Are you upset to have been humiliated before the battle has even begun?"
"I’m so angry I can’t wait!" Tianming caught sight of Heaven’s Elysium, sitting on the plateau like a holy shrine: towering and commanding like a city of gods built on clouds. He wasn’t as calm as he appeared.
Why could Jun Dongyao direct such sarcasm towards Weisheng Tianlan and Ye Shaoqing? It was all because generations of Grand-Orient prime disciples and southsky disciples had been humiliated, crawling back home in the most miserable state. The Grand-Orient Sect never recaptured the Grand-Orient Sword, which had once belonged to the Li Saint Clan, in tens of thousands of years. Just the thought had him burning with passion.
"Lao Ye, won’t it be unfair if we manage to pass through the Throughpath and participate in Realm Wars while the elders stay below?" asked Tianming.
"Don’t worry. As long as any one of you obtains a place among the seven participants, they’ll have to come down and pick us up," sneered Ye Shaoqing.
"Why?"
"The Throughpath screens participants for the Realm Wars, but in fact, this was designed by Heaven’s Elysium and not considered part of the Realm Wars. That’s why they dare fool around. However, once you’re a participant in the Realm Wars, the Theocracy of the Ancients requires that each major sect has someone monitoring, otherwise the battle can’t begin. Since Heaven’s Elysium is in possession of the Grand-Orient Sword, they must hold the Realm Wars on time. Delay, and the Theocracy of Ancients might cause trouble. Although there’s a possibility that one from the Theocracy of Ancients is present, they still strike fear into the hearts of the entire Grand-Orient Realm. Do you understand?”
"I see. In that case, just wait for them to come down and meet you," Tianming smiled.
"Tianming, today has been very upsetting, so go out there and do us justice." Ye Shaoqing patted him on the shoulder.
"I’ll try my best," said Tianming.
"There’s one thing I’d like your help with."
"Just tell me what to do."
"Weisheng Tianlan is my friend, so as long as his children are participating, please take care of them and do your best to ensure their safety, regardless of whether it’s the Throughpath or Realm Wars."
"You have my word. If I bump into them, I won’t stand idly by,” Tianming nodded.
With Tianming’s word given, Ye Shaoqing was relieved.
"Very well then. If you want to consolidate your position in the Grand-Orient Realm, Weisheng Tianlan is our only ally, so you must earn his appreciation. Got it?"
"Yes!"
The road ahead was sure to be bumpy. However, what Tianming wanted was to bulldoze his way through, turning the narrow, winding path into a broad, open road. He would fight and create a future for himself.