It was the day of the Realm War.
The Elysium Battlefield was situated at the center of Heaven’s Elysium. It was a dignified and holy building colored in white and gold, looking grander than the First Grand-Orient Battlefield. This was the most popular battlefield in the entire Grand-Orient Realm, with Realm Wars held within it over ninety times.
The Elysium Battlefield was packed early in the morning, filled with Heaven’s Elysium’s elders and disciples. The place was so packed that you could only see heads moving within the crowd, and even experts could only stand to watch.
The Realm War was held once a decade. As the host, Heaven’s Elysium had to face challenges from the four sects’ disciples to determine the ownership of the Grand-Orient Sword. So how could it not be lively?
Although, to be honest, there was nothing exciting about this battle after the Onyx Sect’s submission. The opponents were all too weak, making the Realm War dull. But yesterday, word of the Throughgate battle had spread out. It spoke of how a descendant of the Li Saint Clan, a rumored pentabane, had defeated the Cloudmist Sword School’s Sikong Tianchen.
Someone like him, who was shrouded in hatred, naturally attracted the entire Heaven’s Elysium’s interest. The entirety of Heaven's Elysium had been talking about Li Tianming since last night!
“I saw how he defeated Sikong Tianchen at the Throughgate!”
“I heard that Sikong Tianchen could be ranked among the top five in this generation of Grand-Orient Realm’s geniuses?”
“Fifth, at best.”
“It only makes sense that he’s a pentabane, defeating a Heavenly Will stage in the Unity stage. I even heard that this person killed the prime disciple, Yuwen Shendu, before the Realm Wars!”
“Now that’s interesting. I even heard Yi Tianzi specially designed a game for Li Tianming. How exciting!”
“Let’s just hope that this Li Tianming isn’t too weak. Otherwise, the Realm War will be boring.”
“That’s right. There’s no fun in crushing weaklings. I hope he has some ability to create some tension before being crushed by our elysian children! HAHA!”
“I heard that the tradition of the Realm War might come to an end. We should cherish it while we can.”
“Although the disciples of the Cloudmist Sword School are too weak this time, we get to see two onyx disciples! I’m rather interested in their fighting methods.”
“You see that?! That’s the Southsky Sect’s Weisheng Ruosu, a great beauty! That air around her is rare. Why don’t you guys take a guess?”
“Guess that?”
“Guess how many babies she’ll go home with!”
“Hahaha!”
Laughter swept across the entire battlefield like a storm of joy. Then again, it wasn’t surprising, because every Realm War had the same ending. For the past six hundred years, there wasn’t any suspense in it at all. Heaven’s Elysium’s elysian children had only grown stronger over time. There was a wide gap between them and the other four sects.
“Speaking of which, the Li Saint Clan ruled the Grand-Orient Realm for ten thousand years. Our Heaven’s Elysium has only ruled it for a thousand. With Li Tianming currently the junior sect master of the Grand-Orient Sect, he probably wants to cleanse the humiliation.”
“Isn’t that rubbish?”
“Satisfy him, then. I hope he can defeat two elysian children, so as to make it more interesting.”
“The current Li Saint Clan is only meant to be stepped on.”
“It’s a miracle that a clan that relied on bloodline talent managed to come this far. Only our Heaven’s Elysium relies on true skill.”
The audience was full of mockery and laughter, but it was the norm for Realm Wars. The elders and disciples of the Southsky Sect and Grand-Orient Sect were in the guest zone. The guest zone was small, unlike the host zone, which held nearly two hundred elysian elders, looking majestic on a high platform.
Above the elysian elders were the thrones of the Four Cardinal Kings, one larger than the other, which represented Heaven’s Elysium’s prestige. Naturally, the throne above them would be the ‘Elysian Emperor Throne’!
The Four Cardinal Kings and elysian elders were already in their seats, which meant that the Realm War would soon begin! What was shameless was that the Onyx Sect and Cloudmist Sword School should be in the guest zone. But the Onyx Emperor, Onyx Empress, and Sikong Jiansheng were seated in the host zone along with the elders of their sects. It was a sign that they had become subservient to Heaven’s Elysium.
The Onyx Emperor, Onyx Empress, and Sikong Jiansheng were happily chatting with the four Cardinal Kings. But Sikong Jiansheng still felt ashamed, because Heaven’s Elysium didn’t pay any attention to his expression as they blatantly commented about Sikong Tianchen being weak. After all, there was no dignity in someone who knelt. Even the lowly disciples of Heaven’s Elysium dared to speak arrogantly before him, as long as they weren’t doing it face-to-face.
As a result, Heaven’s Elysium’s momentum was skyrocketing. Although Weisheng Tianlan and the rest were provided with seats, the seats were cramped and they might as well stand. In this regard, Heaven’s Elysium wasn’t dignified at all for trying to embarrass them. After all, everyone knows that respecting your opponent is the same as respecting yourself.
Then again, that only meant that they had never considered the fact that Tianming could fight with their elysian children. Tianming had been watching and listening to everything in his surroundings. He looked in the direction of the golden seats, where the six elysian children and two onyx disciples stood in their positions, with rage burning in his heart.
Standing behind him were Weisheng Ruosu, Weisheng Qingluan, Zhao Lingzhou, and Shangguan Yunfeng. But facing the mockery from the audience, they found it a little unbearable.
“I won’t lose! I won’t be afraid!” Zhao Lingzhou gnashed his teeth. His fists were tightly balled together and his eyes were bloodshot. He could only use this method to help him withstand the enormous pressure. But even so, the ridicule from the audience made him feel flustered without even fighting.
This scene reminded Tianming of the heavy rain back in the Flameyellow Stadium. He narrowed his eyes into slits as he waited for someone. In summary, the whole battlefield was waiting for someone.
At this moment, an old man wearing a white and gold robe suddenly appeared and landed on the highest throne. In that split second, silence swept the battlefield. The three hundred thousand Heaven’s Elysium disciples dropped to their knees along with the Four Cardinal Kings and elders as they yelled out in unison, “We pay our respect to the Elysian Emperor!”
This old man was the ruler of the Grand-Orient Realm! Tianming took a glance at him. To be honest, the man didn’t seem old at all. He appeared middle-aged, but his temperament and aura drew respect from everyone. He was a mild-looking man that didn’t seem like Jun Dongyao at all. His eyes were calm, like the deep sea, and his white robe and beard made him look like a compassionate god. Just sitting there, his presence was enough to intimidate heaven and earth.
“Dismiss.” No one had expected his voice to be so gentle. There wasn’t any trace of oppression, and it felt comfortable.
Tianming could tell that this Elysian Emperor was on a whole other level than anyone he had seen, including Jun Dongyao, Weisheng Tianlan, and Yuwen Taiji. And now, he was going to challenge Heaven's Elysium under the eyes of this Elysian Emperor!
The arrival of the Elysian Emperor signified that the battle would soon begin. But Tianming was wondering if someone was still missing. When he thought about it, he saw a boy and girl, who had entered together with the Elysian Emperor. The only difference was that they had entered from below, keeping a low profile.
The boy shared a similar temperament with the Elysian Emperor, which made others feel comfortable about him. The one thing that made Tianming uncomfortable was that he held the girl’s hand with a doting smile on his face. It had been four months since Tianming last saw that girl—she was Elysian Long, Yueling Long.
Over the past four months, Tianming’s status had risen dramatically. But he also knew that Yueling Long’s status in Heaven’s Elysium had also shot up. It was all because she had become lovers with someone by the name of Jun Niancang, the Elysian Emperor’s youngest son.
Since they were here, they should know about his presence as well. So Yueling Long was looking across the Elysium Battlefield with her gaze locked onto Tianming. When she saw him, the smile on her face disappeared, replaced by killing intent.
Tianming didn’t know how flabbergasted Yueling Long had felt when she’d heard about Tianming’s existence from Ling Yichen. That was the only unexpected factor in her rise. When she looked at Tianming at this moment, she still felt as if she was dreaming.
Last night, if it weren’t for Jun Niancang stopping her, she would’ve already gone to look for Tianming. In just four months, the nobody in her eyes had grown to be someone at her level; he didn’t even need a decade!
So when she heard the news, her scalp had gone numb. She’d always thought she was the only person who had managed to change her destiny, rising from the bottom of the food chain to the top of the pyramid in Heaven’s Elysium. But now there was another person who had gone further than her in the pyramid. Even his cultivation was faster than hers!
Furthermore, it was someone who had said that he would behead her. What a massive twist of fate! And Tianming had become a sore spot for her, so much so that her gaze became distorted when she saw him. The turbulent waves in her heart had all turned into torrential murderous intent. Her fists were tightly clenched.
“Long’er, you don’t have to be too worried about it. He’s only cultivating this fast because he’s a pentabane. But he won’t be able to go far, since he’s come to the Realm War. So all you need to do is to defeat him and destroy his dream of going further. In the future, you’ll be the only one who managed to change your destiny, so why bother letting something like this mess up your mind?” Jun Niancang said as he gently patted her shoulder.
“I know, Big Brother Niancang. I was frightened yesterday and had my mentality messed up the entire night, to be honest about it. But no more, because I’m truly fortunate. Even without the Realm Wars, who knows who’ll win if we fight a year from now? And if I kill him right here, there won’t be any more changes, right?” Long’er asked.
“That’s right. Furthermore, even if the Grand-Orient Sect has ten thousand more pentabanes, they’ll all perish.”
“Why?”
“Because the Grand-Orient Sect will soon disappear.”