Within the Main Lands, the air was so tense, one could cut it with a knife.
Everyone looked at Usan.
Then they looked towards the other seven gazing at him from a distance.
Like this, they simply exchanged between the two different sides until one of them broke the suffocating silence.
Their hostile auras filled up the horizon.
Each one of them had a contrasting, unique appearance.
One of them had flaming red hair and tight crimson clothing.
A vicious, crude-looking spear was in his hand, rippling with waves of heat. The tip of the weapon roared with bright red flames.
An excited smirk was on his youthful face.
“Silver! Have you come to settle your accounts? I’ll be more than glad to take you on first.”
Surprisingly, the man didn’t have any hate or anger in his tone.
It was like he was enjoying the situation at hand.
If it wasn’t obvious, this was the Sun’s Spear.
“Why have you come back?” one of them said in a disdainful tone. “We were kind enough to rule for exile. This is how you repay generosity?”
The one who spoke was a middle-aged woman with long poison-green hair, tied together with a zanzi hair pin, and blood-red eyes.
Noxious fumes of dark green and purple oozed from her figure. Even the other six didn’t get too close to her.
Naturally, this was the Miasma Queen, Patriarch of the Death Lung Sect.
Everyone waited for Usan’s response. But the man didn’t answer instantly.
The audience seats weren’t packed yet.
There was still time for the entirety of Ilali to come and view the debacle.
“Answer, brat!” a bald, black-eyed, severe-looking man shouted, causing thousands of lower ranking cultivators to faint instantly.
His bodily structure wasn’t the bulkiest, but his unshakable aura was unmistakable.
This was the ‘Unmoving Mountain’.
Despite their attempts to make him speak, Usan was unflinchingly quiet.
Eventually, though, Unforgiven Shadows’ first words were spoken.
“I haven’t come for war or revenge.”
“Ha! The brat speaks of war! Do you have any idea how small you are? You’re a pebble among mountains,” a white bearded, blue-eyed, black-haired man mocked derisively.
On his back was an oversized brush pen used for calligraphy – the bristles of which had a golden sheen – taller than a person.
‘Myriad Brush’.
“Imagine coming all this way and so dramatically, just to get exiled again,” another added. “That’d be funny!” he laughed.
The man in question had loose grey hair that fell to shin-length. He wore layered platinum robes, and to his side, was a lavish scabbard holding what looked like an odachi.
‘Felling Wind’.
“That beast… I know it. Wild Fang told me about the Monolith Lion years ago. You killed him didn’t you?!”
Sapphire eyes, azure robe, tanned skin and short blue hair. Cerulean Dragon had a mixture of disbelief and wrath in his eyes.
To his sides, draconic Rank 4 Spirit Beasts flew around him.
Silence.
Instantly, the demeanors of everyone changed towards the Unforgiven.
Now, they readied their weapons, but didn’t attack.
There were too many people around.
Usan did not respond to their comments, his gaze fixed to one particular person.
The Luminous Light Rank 5 cultivator.
‘North Star’.
Everything about the man radiated royalty.
Silver hair, pulsing with light, golden eyes, alabaster skin and a luminous robe that glowed with ornate patterns.
As of now, a look of absolute disgust was on the man’s face.
A few minutes passed as the eight of them were simply hovering over the air.
Usan looked to the side.
By now, two-thirds of Ilali had gathered to watch the event.
Hundreds of thousands of people stretched across the landscapes, and the numbers were steadily rising.
The horizon had been filled with faces.
Young, old, male, female, strong, weak.
The only reason everything hadn’t spiraled into chaos, was because of the Rank 5’s keeping the situation calm.
But an altercation looked painfully eminent.
The Rank 5’s put different Sound Negating Formations around the region, but Unforgiven’s voice pierced through those.
He wanted people to hear.
Silently, Liam was watching from below the canopy of shadows Usan had deployed on the lion.
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about the current ordeal.
So many people!
So many Rank 5’s!
Liam had to use his mental defense spells just to stay conscious.
Several acolytes had already fallen asleep.
Liam was sure that if Usan stayed silent for a moment longer, the seven Rank 5 cultivators would start attacking him.
“Speak. You’ve prolonged your stay unnecessarily,” Miasma Queen hissed, her crimson eyes suddenly constricted like a reptilian’s.
“Ilali deserves the truth,” Usan said suddenly.
Everyone below looked at him with a mix of confusion, fear and caution.
Those above looked at him with just anger.
“What ‘truth’?” Felling Wind furrowed his saber-like brows.
The seven were losing their patience.
Usan paused.
Then, he turned around to address the entirety of Ilali.
“Have these lands not suffered enough?” Usan said with a bit of emotion in his voice.
“It may seem like it’s flourishing.”
“But the deaths caused by both the Imperial Legion and the Dual Empire have marred this country’s history.”
“How many islands were sunk to the depths of the ocean?”
“How many children died in those wars?”
“How many wives, fathers, brothers?”
“Generations were erased!”
Usan’s tone got angrier the more he spoke.
Those gathered listened intently, feeling anger rise up as they remembered the wars.
The younger ones didn’t share the same sentiment… but they were raised in Ilali.
Remnants of the war still remained, areas that no one could grow anything on, nor live upon for long periods of time. Even after centuries had passed.
“And pursuing war would only make things worse! Your demeanor is that of a pouty child not getting what they want,” Myriad Brush insulted.
Usan exploded into sonorous laughter.
“Am I, now? Then I’ll assume you don’t know about the Sacrosanct Tree?”
…Sancro-what?
Simultaneously, everyone watching raised their brows in confusion.
Except Usan… and North Star.
The latter had a venomous look on his face. 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂
Usan looked towards North Star with a broad grin.
“Isn’t that right… brother? Did father promise you the next Miracle Fruit? Or do our sisters take precedence?”