"It won’t be that easy to kill me.”
With a wave of his hand, a smooth mirror suddenly appeared before Dongyang Yun. It expanded, and their attacks landed on the mirror instead.
"The Cyclic Mirror is indeed in his hands!”
Before they could react, Dongyang Yun instantly soared into the sky, flying out of the heavenly pattern formation. If it weren't for the Cyclic Mirror, he would have died.
"Kill him!”
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The people from the Decimo Dao Palace followed Dongyang Yun into the sky. Tianming immediately broke through the formation once more so that the elders could catch up.
Weisheng Yunxi’s strength was instantly revealed. As an empyrean saint, she was much faster than Dongyang Yun. Even if he managed to escape a certain distance, all she needed was a few minutes to catch him. Behind Weisheng Yunxi, Ye Yi, Bai Mo, and Li Wudi followed closely. As soon as Weisheng Yunxi managed to entangle Dongyang Yun in a fight, they would arrive immediately.
"He’s dead meat!” shouted the South Hall King, Qin Jiufu.
"The palace lord has almost caught up to him! ”
"Tonight we’ll attack the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation, yet Dongyang Yun is bold enough to kill in Dazzling City!”
"If we kill him and take his head back, we’ll be able to break the Sun-Moon Imperial Formation without attacking!” the Life Hall King, Situ Qinghe cruelly suggested. Dongyang Yun must pay for all the lives in the lake.
Just as Weisheng Yunxi was about to catch Dongyang Yun, he suddenly turned around and dripped his blood onto a thick heavenly pattern tome.
A huge world appeared behind him, trapping everyone within.
"This is a five star heavenly pattern tome, the Thousandfold Illusion Tome.”
There was helplessness in Bai Mo’s voice.
The strongest patternscribes in the entire Theocracy merely had four stars, which only proved how valuable this five star heavenly pattern tome was. Even if one had money, it wouldn’t necessarily be available. This must be a treasure handed down since ancient times. This sort of heavenly pattern tome could indeed give Dongyang Yun time to escape, saving his life.
Tianming didn't know how the others were doing. The world before his eyes was illusory. Every time he used his Insightful Eye to break an illusion, he would immediately be trapped in another so he couldn’t escape at all. It wasn’t until he had experienced a thousand layers that he finally broke free from the tome. The first thing he saw was a lone Weisheng Yunxi; the others were still trapped in the white mist behind them.
"Palace Lord, aren’t we going after him?” asked Tianming.
"He’s already escaped. The five star heavenly pattern tome and the Cyclic Mirror were enough to save his life,” Weisheng Yunxi said hoarsely.
Struggling with her anger, she turned to Tianming and added, "Tianming, I'm sorry. I didn’t want you to see something like this, especially since you’re so young. It’ll only add to your burdens. The honorable martial world is actually so sinister in nature. There’s often no justice in the world, and incompetence brings the greatest pain. You shouldn't have to bear it with us," she said sadly.
"Palace Lord, I'm fine. Now that this has already happened, neither you nor I can do anything about it. The blame doesn’t lie with us, but those utterly unconscionable people. The outcome is still unclear. There’s no way these things will continue happening once the Theocrats are dead!" Tianming sounded murderous.
"Yes.”
At that moment, the power of the Thousandfold Illusion Tome gradually dissipated, and everyone else walked out of the illusion.
"We won’t be able to catch him now. He can run, but we’ll get him sooner or later. Dongyang Yun must return to the imperial city tonight. I don't believe he still has another five star heavenly pattern tome!” Weisheng Yunxi said.
"In that case, let’s return and completely eliminate those bastards!” said Ye Yi, his eyes red.
Everything that’s happened today had provoked fury within them. They had originally intended to take their time killing Jiang Ling and Dongyang Yun. But now, Dongyang Yun not only had the Cyclic Mirror, but he even continued to commit sin. The dao palace could no longer slowly eat away at the Theocrats like they could before.
"Everyone, there may be a price for taking justice into our own hands. There’s bound to be sacrifice and bloodshed. However, for the sake of the nation and the people, for the sake of the peace and contentment of future generations, perhaps our blood means less pain for the people. It’s all worth it, right?”
Weisheng Yunxi stood before the rest, her eyes blurred with tears. Although she could no longer see, there was fire within her eyes. It was a look that said she was unafraid of death.
"You’re right!”
Although they weren’t young anymore, their passion and heroism were enough to move Tianming. There would always be certain great men in this world who weren’t afraid of death, let alone ridicule and contempt. They were willing to fight with their lives to uphold their morals and righteousness. As long as they had a clear conscience, they had neither complaint nor regret. It was the sort of man Tianming aspired to be.
"Tianming, the palace lord is a good woman. We mustn’t allow this to upset her any longer.” Li Wudi patted Tianming on the shoulder, his eyes fiery.
"Yes.” Tianming nodded.
In fact, he understood that the elders of the Decimo Dao Palace were all kind folk. On the other hand, the Theocrats were crafty old foxes without scruples. Would they really be able to slaughter Dongyang Yun and Jiang Ling tonight?
……
Night fell. There was yet another rumble of thunder and crackle of lightning. In that instant, the dark night turned bright as day as a sheet of lightning covered half the sky. Then, it began heavily raining, as if the heavens were on the Decimo Dao Palace’s side.
It was early in the night, yet the rain was already pouring down and the dark clouds seemed to hover above their heads. There was a dense curtain of rain in front of Tianming that shrouded his vision. The darkness was like a gigantic beast that swallowed the Divine Capital whole. The broken eaves and walls of the Divine Capital were submerged in the rain; the streets and lanes quickly became rivers. From time to time, a rotting corpse would be swept away by the surging waters. Those corpses bumped against the surfaces as they entered the drainage system and headed toward the sea.
Three rays of lightning flickered once more. The moment the white light lit up the sky, a legion of millions charged out of the Decimo Dao Palace, each soldier controlling at least one beast. They rushed into the rain and galloped past the broken walls of the Divine Capital.
The ground rumbled as the gigantic beasts whizzed through the capital, splashing muddy water all over the streets. Lightning flickered yet again, illuminating the faces of the black-armored soldiers and reflecting from the drops of rain sliding down their cheeks. In front of the group of people, a white-haired young man stood on a two-headed dragon, commanding ten thousand men as they charged for the Imperial City.
"We won’t stop until they die!”
Standing atop Lan Huang's body, Tianming stared at the gloomy Imperial City in the distance, the images he had seen earlier that day reappearing in his head. Though he wanted to forget them, he couldn’t.
"I killed Lin Xiaoting for revenge. I fought in the Grand-Orient Realm to change my destiny. And today, I’m fighting for justice and righteousness.”
Tianming was growing toward becoming a peerless character. He didn't know what the future would be like; he only knew that he would blaze his own path, even if it meant ignoring life and death.
"Exterminate the Theocrats and the imperial dao lies ahead.”
He was only one among the million soldiers, and was surrounded by fiery gazes. The dao palace warriors were people on the same path as him.
Those with a different dao could go their separate ways. But if they were like-minded, they could live and die together.
Tianming looked ahead as the Imperial City drew closer and closer. Up ahead was the Grand Sky Gate.
"Nineshades Clan!”
They were devils who crawled up from hell, and it was time to send them back to where they came from.
……
Outside the Grand Sky Gate.
The rain raged, and the sky was so dark they couldn’t even see their own fingers. Only the roaring of the beasts from both sides could be heard over the deluge. Outside the Grand Sky Gate stood more than a million lifebound beasts.
"Your Royal Highness.” Among the warriors of the Decimo Dao Palace came a cold female voice.
"The palace lord personally showed up?” Jiang Ling revealed a hint of joy as he brought the core members of his party to meet Weisheng Yunxi.
Together with Weisheng Yunxi were the powerhouses of the Decimo Dao Palace, including Li Wudi. They stepped out of the ruins and came up to Jiang Ling. Beside him stood the patriarchs of the Ancient Clans, and the sect masters of the nine major sects. The strongest among them were seventh-level sky saints, at best.
On the other hand, Weisheng Yunxi was already an empyrean saint, while Ye Yi, Bai Mo, the other Hall Kings and Astral Kings, and the newly-arrived Li Wudi were certainly stronger than Jiang Ling. In terms of warriors, the Seven Astral Legions of the Decimo Dao Palace were certainly superior to Jiang Ling’s ad hoc army. Jiang Ling himself appeared even weaker, especially when facing Weisheng Yunxi. If she were more domineering, he might not even be able to hold his head up in her presence.
"I never expected the palace lord would personally lead the Seven Astral Legions. I’m very grateful for the care you have for the world and the trust you have in me,” Jiang Ling said politely.
"Let’s leave the praise aside for the moment. I have something to ask you,” replied Weisheng Yunxi.
"Go ahead, Palace Lord.”
"Are you aware that the Cyclic Mirror wasn’t stolen by Li Muyang forty years ago, but has always been in the hands of the Theocrats?” asked Weisheng Yunxi, her gaze indifferent.
"How can that be? Is that a joke?” Jiang Ling appeared startled.
"I’m not joking! The Cyclic Mirror has been passed on to Dongyang Yun!” said Weisheng Yunxi.
“That’s impossible. Back then, my father was so furious he even heavily punished the Ancient Qilin Clan, and in the past forty years, I’ve never seen him use it. What you’re saying is impossible.” Jiang Ling shook his head with certainty.
"Is that so? But today we visited Dazzling City and saw a million corpses with our own eyes. We also found Dongyang Yun. Unfortunately, he managed to escape with the Cyclic Mirror using the Thousandfold Illusion Tome. There’s no mistake. All of us saw the Cyclic Mirror,” Weisheng Yunxi said.
He used a Thousandfold Illusion Tome?”
Jiang Ling was obviously shocked. There weren’t many who were aware of the fact that Dongyang Yun owned such a tome, but he was one of those few.
If Weisheng Yunxi was able to name his five-star heavenly pattern tome, what did that mean?
Everything she said was true!