In the air, Xia Fan’s body has been stretched out. His arms, his legs, and his head were wrapped with vines coming from different directions. He had already wet himself, the color drained from his face. With his eyes shut, he cried and he begged, “I’m sorry! I was wrong!”
Xia Fan had first seen Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu by the lake in the City of Qingzhou. Back then, the young Ye Futian was just an insignificant plaything to Xia Fan. On Mount Tianyao, he had played with Ye Futian’s life and now, he was receiving his punishment.
Ye Futian remained emotionless at Xia Fan’s miserable condition.
The vines exerted strength and began to pull.
“AHHH…!” Xia Fan screamed in pain. There was only one scream. The blood rained down from the sky but Ye Futian did not stay to watch. He turned to pick up Hua Jieyu, who had been carried to him by the vines, and walked towards Nandou Wenyin and Tang Wan. To them, he said, “Let’s return to the Guqin Gardens.”
The vibrations within his body had stopped. The emperor-like silhouette had faded into just a shadow. The light that radiated from him had also dimmed. Ye Futian withdrew his Life Spirits. He did not want to think of anything else. There was only one thing on his mind: he must live on. Grandmaster had traded his life for Ye Futian’s. Yi Xiang and the crane fought to keep him alive. He had to stay alive.
“Let’s go,” nodded Tang Wan. She had so many questions right now but knew that this was not the time to ask. Their little group rose into the sky and headed in the direction of the Guqin Gardens at top speed.
Not long after Ye Futian and the others left, another group of people arrived at the empty field. Leading the group were Chief Xia Feng of the East Sea Prefecture and Vice Headmaster Han Mo of the School of the Emperor Star. Following behind them were powerful cultivators from the Nandou clan. When Xia Feng saw the corpses of his people scattered on the ground, his expression darkened. How did things turn out this way? How was Nandou Wenyin capable of this? Where was his son?
Xia Feng looked through the sea of bodies but could not find Xia Fan. Finally, his eyes fell on the sight before him. His heart squeezed violently. Shaking with every step he took, he walked over to the head. On its face was a look of indescribable fear. The intent of sword erupted from Xia Feng.
Han Mo and members of Nandou clan were frozen with shock. What had happened? There shouldn’t have been any problems in taking down Nandou Wenyin and Ye Futian with such a powerful line-up. Could someone have come to their aid?
“My condolences, Brother Xia. What’s important now is to find the person who did this and avenge your son,” said Han Mo. Xia Feng tried to contain his pain. With a blood-thirsty look on his face, he felt the fluctuations in the air and said, “The fluctuations of Spiritual Qi have yet to dissipate. They couldn’t have gotten far. They must have gone back to the Guqin Gardens. Let’s go after them.”
Han Mo blinked and realized that Xia Feng had a point. “Alright, we will definitely make them pay for this. An eye for an eye,” he said.
“When I catch him, I’ll definitely kill him and his whole family, everyone related to him,” said Xia Feng. His voice was demon-like and sent shivers down the back of others. Afterward, he was lifted into the air and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into the shadow of a sword.
BOOM! An explosion sounded from afar. In the skies, a golden light approached at an incredible speed. It was impossible to tell what it was. It was just too fast, faster than their perception.
“Be careful!” screamed Han Mo. The golden light descended from the skies above.
BOOM! Another loud noise sounded. The ground cracked open. Han Mo and the others looked down onto the ground, only to see Xia Fan. The man that had just been in the air seconds ago, now had a long golden spear stuck in his body. The spear had pierced directly through his body, nailing Xia Feng into the ground. The powerful Xia Feng have no idea who had attacked him.
Xia Feng’s eyes rounded as he continued to spit up blood. He couldn’t move, being nailed into the ground. His hands were still shaking. In the moment, he was no longer thinking of revenge. All he felt was pain and hopelessness.
Han Mo and the members of the Nandou clan were shaking in their shoes. What was going on?
Not far ahead, there seemed to be a figure coming closer. The figure seemed to be moving very slowly but in the blink of an eye, he had gotten much closer to the group. It was a white-haired elder. His hunched body made him look very old. He came closer with his hands behind his back. Upon seeing the elder, everyone shook with fear. Did the elder do this?
“Whose family are you guys trying to kill?” asked the elder. His eyes fell towards Xia Feng and the group led by Han Mo.
“Senior, who are you?” asked Han Mo with a tremor in his voice.
“Me?” The elder looked at Han Mo and a scary wind storm hit. A dim golden light was hidden in the eye of the storm, moving towards Han Mo and the rest.
“Run!” shouted Han Mo. He tried to escape by flying but stopped when he saw the storm form into an all-consuming black hole. It pulled them into the storm. Everything in the area was a mess. The black hole storm kept pulling people in.
“Senior, who on earth are you? Why are you doing this?” asked a member of the Nandou clan.
The elder stood quietly. He made no movements and just looked at the clan member and said, “The person you are trying is my Young Master.”
The clan member was shocked. He shook his head, “That’s not possible.” If Ye Futian came from such a strong background, why did he come to Donghai City without his family? Why did he want to study at Donghai Academy? Why did he study music from the Guqin Devil?
Han Mo suddenly thought back to when Ye Futian spoke into thin air at the Nandou Palace. At that time, everyone thought his actions were peculiar but now, everything made sense. What the elder said might actually be true. Han Mo’s heart was pounding.
“Senior, we’re just following the emperor’s orders. We don’t really want to cause any harm to Ye Futian. Please forgive us,” begged Han Mo. He felt desperate. If he had known that such a scary character was protecting Ye Futian, he never would have taken part in any of this.
“The emperor’s order? What’s that?” asked the elder. He looked at Han Mo. Han Mo had a feeling that the almighty emperor amounted to nothing in the eyes of the elder.
“You said that my Young Master is being chased down and sentenced to death because he defied the emperor’s imperial order. So, what should be the punishment for killing my Young Master?” the elder continued to ask. Han Mo’s face paled. Defying the imperial order was a capital offense but if Ye Futian was of a higher power than the emperor of the Nandou Nation, then what would the punishment for trying to kill Ye Futian be?
There could only be death!
“Can you explain this situation to me before I die?” Han Mo had lost all hope.
“Alright,” nodded the elder. “My Young Master is…”
When the elder finished what he had to say, Xia Feng, Han Mo, and the members of the Nandou clan were all in deep shock. They had just received some inconceivable news.
“That’s impossible!” shouted a clan member. How was this possible? How on earth was this even possible? Who had the Nandou clan rejected?
“You shall all die now,” said the elder. The fearsome storm continued to pull everyone in, consuming the group of people from the East Sea Prefecture. They had no way of withstanding its power. The bodies were crushed into ashes. The same went for Xia Feng who was still pinned to the ground. The long spear returned to its original form of Spiritual Qi and disappeared.
“If things were like this, then why didn’t you make your move back at the Nandou Palace?” screamed Han Mo.
The elder slowly lifted his head to look at the sky, then he sighed heavily.
“The one who wants the crown, bears the crown!”
After these words, the storm washed over everything in the area. Han Mo, Xia Feng, and the group of Nandou clan members were no more. The only thing that remained was their ashes, becoming one with the dust.
The elder spun around and kneeled down facing the direction Ye Futian had departed in. He bowed, his forehead meeting with the ground. Indeed, it was he who told Ye Futian to go to the Nandou Palace. How could Ye Futian allow anyone to touch his woman? But the elder never came out to help Ye Futian. Even when Xia Feng caught up to him he did not reveal himself. Unless Ye Futian was actually going to die, he had no plans in doing so. He knew that this resulted in injuries and deaths, but what was a little sacrifice?
On the road to greatness, Ye Futian needed to learn what the meaning of courage, responsibility, hardship, pain, and even hopelessness was. He had to understand that he could rely on no one but himself. In order to control everything, he needed the ultimate power.
Even if Ye Futian were to hate him for his ruthlessness, the elder would have no regrets. He was willing to be the bad guy and carry the sin.
He did all of this because this was his duty.
Year 10000 of the Divine Prefecture Calendar was about to end, Ye Futian should have grown up by now. The elder believed that there would be a day that Ye Futian would become the brightest, most outstanding existence in all of the Divine Prefectures of the East. There would be no other like him because he was “their” child.
Slowly, he rose from the ground and in a flash, the elder disappeared from where he once stood. So quick, as if he was never there.
Not long after his departure, a group of people arrived. Confusion filled their faces as they looked around at the bodies on the ground. They saw people headed in this direction and then witnessed fog emitting from this area. The fog was so thick, they were unable to see what went on.
What on earth had happened here and who were these corpses on the ground?
…
A group of powerful cultivators arrived at the Nandou Palace. And their leader, Minister Zuo.
When Minister Zuo saw the condition the celebration venue was in, his expression darkened. To the small group of people who had remained at the venue Minister Zuo asked, “What happened here? Where are Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu?”
The members of the Nandou clan already knew who he was. They bowed and replied, “Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu disobeyed the order of the emperor, so Minister Hua and the members of our clan are hunting them down.”
Minister Zuo’s heart pounded. Was he really too late?
“Are they hurt?” Minister Zuo asked.
“Ye Futian’s injuries were minor but Hua Jieyu threatened suicide, so her condition can’t be too good,” answered a clan member. Hearing these words, Minister Zuo knew that things had gotten to the point of no return. He lifted his head to look up at the sky and suddenly burst into laughter. “I attempted to change fate but, in the end, it was all for nothing.”
He did his best to aid Emperor Luo but it was difficult to know what the emperor was truly thinking. Minister Zuo had previously told the fortune of the nation and it was determined that the nation was destined for failure and the emperor’s position was unstable. Then, after he found out about the emperor’s imperial order, he told another fortune and knew that blood would be spilled.
Emperor Luo’s imperial order had not changed the fate of Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu, but the fate of Nandou Nation instead!