Realms In The Firmament

…

The legendary contest was well finished. Ye Xiao held a feast to celebrate it for those who successfully took the legendary positions. It was the first grand get-together of the Monarch’s Hall.

Everybody in the Monarch’s Hall joined the feast that was full of food and drinks.

The old men stood in front of a window in silence.

“The Monarch’s Hall is still weak, but it has taken shape now.”

“He has his own force that was under his direct control now.”

“After all these fights, he must have marked down those who weren’t good at cooperating and those who were cold-blooded…”

“As long as this group of people keeps growing stronger, the Monarch’s Hall will rise sooner or later.”

“What to do?”

“Exactly. What should we do now?”

…

The Monarch’s Hall had been making noises in the martial world since day one, but it was like a joke to the powerful forces in the world. Even though it had destroyed the Gray Parasol Sword Sect, still nobody truly cared about it.

The name of the Monarch’s Hall had appeared in some reports of the other forces, but it was never an important matter to them. There were dozens of new forces in the world, and the Monarch’s Hall was only one of them.

In fact, the Hall of Life and Death seemed to be more often heard than the Monarch’s Hall.

“Do something about those new forces. Oppress them, beat them, tame them. Those who do not obey should be defeated, destroyed, or swallowed.” It was an order from the leadership of the Hall of Returning Nature.

“Those that do not seem to be threats to us should be allowed to grow. However, always keep watching them. If they dare to disobey us, punish them.”

That was the order of the Brotherhood Alliance.

“Do not waste time on them before they can truly threaten us.” It was the House of Chaotic Storms.

Even Master Bai, Bai Chen, who was known to be a wise man with profound views, did not notice the threat from the Monarch’s Hall.

He did not see a great force was growing right before his eyes.

His intelligence system was obviously not as good as he thought.

If the man who was in charge of the intelligence system told Master Bai that the leader of the Monarch’s Hall was Ye Xiao, who was called the Xiao Monarch, Master Bai definitely knew who he was, and the House of Chaotic Storms would pay enough attention to this new organization. In that case, the Monarch’s Hall might be destroyed soon.

However, nobody paid enough attention to the Monarch’s Hall at the moment. Nobody in the House of Chaotic Storms cared about the Hall of Life and Death. Nobody cared about a young man who was named Ye Xiao.

They just neglected this guy.

The great forces in the world didn’t pay attention to the Monarch’s Hall. Those who were weaker than these forces were living difficulty under the oppression of those great forces. These medium and small forces would love to seize other forces’ territory to relieve themselves from the oppression…

Monarch’s Hall seemed to be an easy target, so it became more and more noticeable for the medium-scale forces.

A new organization was like delicious food on the plate for those forces.

That was exactly how things develop in a chaotic city!

The City of Chaos was in chaos. The forces kept fighting each other. The Hall of Life and Death kept saving people from the battles and recruiting new members from the city. The medium-scale forces started to watch the Monarch’s Hall with greed and hostility. The prime master of the Gray Parasol Sword Sect had led his people to come for revenge from where their sect took root…

One person had entered the City of Chaos with only four followers at the time of chaos.

Someday, in the City of Chaos.

A young man in white clothes, who looked handsome and elegant, was watching the couplets on the gate of the City of Chaos.

His eyes were full of complicated feelings.

After a while, the young man smiled.

“One hundred thousand years have passed. I wonder who still remembers that the City of Chaos belongs to us, the Ye Clan?

“Do they still keep their vows, the Seven Golden Lotuses? Do they remember their vows?

“It has been one hundred thousand years. It is time for the Ye Clan to return. I happen to be the one who can represent the Ye Clan when the days of glory starts. This is the biggest opportunity of my life.”

“The glory days of the Ye Clan will come along me!”

“I am here now! I am Ye Changqing!”

The white-clothed young man showed a profound gaze in his eyes. He blandly smiled. He was confident and arrogant. He blandly said, “Let’s go!”

“We will go through this gate and claim what belongs to us!”

“Our honor!”

“Our everything!”

Blood was splashing.

It was a battlefield, where there were killings and blood.

Ye Xiao kept both hands behind his back, standing right up in the air. He gazed down at the battle. In his eyes, there was only indifference.

The Dark Evil Spirit and Bai Long were standing on both sides with him.

It was the third battle of the Monarch’s Hall in three days.

The Monarch’s Hall was expanding fast, and it aroused some other forces’ attention. On the first day of the three days, the Monarch’s Hall encountered the attacks of the Green Wolf Sect. The Green Wolf Sect had underestimated the Monarch’s Hall, so it failed to cause damage to the Monarch’s Hall. Instead, they got slaughtered by the Monarch’s Hall. When the Monarch’s Hall was celebrating the first victory in the battle, another sect started the second battle! It was the Scorpio Sect!

The battle was started with the Scorpio Sect’s sneak attacks. The Monarch’s Hall was in a feast celebrating the victory from the last fight, but Ye Xiao seemed to see the next fight coming. He had arranged some men to guard the Monarch’s Hall, and the Scorpio Sect was ambushed when they thought they were winning!

Ye Xiao was living a second life. He was not only stronger than before but also wiser. He had learned a lot from Ye Nantian about war. Although he was not a greater general than Ye Nantian, he was good enough to win most of the battles. Besides, Zuo Wuji had taught him many schemes. That was how Ye Xiao could foresee the fights to come!

When the Green Wolf Sect attacked, Ye Xiao started to think. The Green Wolf Sect was a small sect, which was weaker than the Monarch’s Hall, and even weaker than the Dark Wind Mountain. The leader of the Green Wolf Sect must be tricked to start the fight.

Whoever persuaded the Green Wolf Sect must be waiting for an opportunity to make an attack somewhere. The perfect moment to start a sneak attack must be the time when the Monarch’s Hall was having a celebration!

Therefore, Ye Xiao arranged some people to wait for the enemies, and eventually defeated the Scorpio Sect!

After the fight against the Scorpio Sect, Ye Xiao noticed another strange thing. The Scorpio Sect was stronger than the Green Wolf Sect, but not powerful enough to defeat the Monarch’s Hall. If the Scorpio Sect had done some research about it, they wouldn’t easily start the sneak attack. In fact, even if the Scorpio Sect successfully hit the Monarch’s Hall by the sneak attack, it was still going to lose the fight!

Since the Scorpio Sect knew how to use the Green Wolf Sect as a bait, it should be smart enough to investigate about the Monarch’s Hall. In that case, there must be another force behind the Scorpio Sect, who had helped the Scorpio Sect but waited for the Scorpio Sect’s failure. What it wanted was to use the Scorpio Sect to weaken the Monarch’s Hall in the end!

Ye Xiao was right. After the fight against the Scorpio Sect in the night, on the third day, the third force appeared in the battle. The Monarch’s Hall encountered the most difficult fight since the beginning.

The enemy was a sect who ranked fourth in the Second-Class Sects Ranking List in the Limitless Ocean, the Black Water Sect. It was a second-class sect, just like the Scorpio Sect and the Dark Wind Mountain, but it had been ruling in the second-class sects for years. The Dark Wind Mountain and the Scorpio Sect were much weaker than it. It was just a little weaker than the first-class sects, which had a long history.

Compared to the Black Water Sect, the Monarch’s Hall did not have a chance to win this battle.

Ye Xiao wasn’t surprised. If the Black Water Sect wasn’t so powerful, the Scorpio Sect wouldn’t believe it.

The expected battle was still tough for the Monarch’s Hall.

A long broad saber light shined up the sky. Qiu Luo became a long rainbow in the sky with his saber. He put down three enemies within seconds and saved one man on the Monarch’s Hall’s side from the enemies’ attacks. Qiu Luo saved a man, but he didn’t stop. With his saber in hand, he rushed into a group of five enemies afterward.

With a series of cracking sounds, Qiu Luo made a big shout and jumped up to the sky. His saber attack shined with coldness, and there was blood dripping down off his blade.

With one saber attack, he won the fight. Two of the five enemies staggered backward, while one of them slowly fell down to the floor with one hand covering the bloody hole in the chest.

“Brother!” The four others were crazy when they saw one man dying. Their eyes were red, and they rushed toward Qiu Luo immediately. They were apparently giving the last strikes.

Qiu Luo’s first saber attack had killed three men, and he saved one of his guys at the same time. With the fierce saber attack, he rushed into a group of five. It seemed he won the second fight, because he had killed one of the five men, but he knew that he had underestimated the five. He didn’t win yet. The four survivors of the five started to fight back. Qiu Luo had just made a big move, and he needed to rest for one second now. He was going to be defeated!

While Qiu Luo was in danger, the Great Thunder, Lei Dongtian arrived with a shout. Over thirty men in the Tiger Unit showed up under his leadership. They stopped the four enemies immediately. On the other side, some sneaky sword attacks were approaching the enemies. They were like snakes crawling to the enemies.

Yin Changqing, the leader of the Snake Unit had come to help.

The men of the Snake Unit were selected by Yin Changqing. These people were so sneaky and cold-blooded that the other units felt annoyed about them often.

They were all vicious and dangerous people, which included their leader, Yin Changqing.

They were all powerful cultivators, but they never stood for a frontal fight. They always made sneaky moves to hurt the opponents in some unexpected ways. They were cold-blooded, vicious, sneaky, and deadly. They kept hiding themselves and always took leave after an attack, leaving no chance for the enemy to fight back.

People who knew them would always sigh about it. ‘Things of one kind come together. Men as well. Yin Changqing, what a bright and right-minded name, yet he is such a sneaky man who is just like a poisonous snake. His people are also some poisonous snakes.’

The Snake Unit was a unique force on the battlefield. These people did not fight as toughly as the other units but were more deadly than the other units.

The Snake Unit could be compared to the most powerful unit among the twelve, the Tiger Unit!

Bu Xiangfeng, Meng Youjiang and his wife, Gui Lingxiao, and Ren Zhixi, who were the five Saint Origin Stage cultivators of the Monarch’s Hall, hadn’t appeared for the battle yet.

The five of them were watching the enemies who were also waiting outside the battlefield.

The strongest enemies hadn’t joined the fight yet, but with the special sensation of the Saint Origin Stage cultivators, Bu Xiangfeng knew that there were six enemies who were in the Saint Origin Stage.

When the Saint Origin Stage enemies attacked, somebody must rush ahead to resist it. The Monarch’s Hall couldn’t allow their own men to be killed by the Saint Origin Stage enemies!

“We don’t need a reason. We don’t need to know why. We don’t need to hesitate… It is just a fight!” Ye Xiao coldly watched the enemies who hadn’t joined the battle. Those were the main power of the Black Water Sect.

“They started this, for a big fight, for plundering, for encroaching…”

“This is the Limitless Ocean!”

“This is the Human Realm Upon Heavens!”

Bu Xiangfeng said, and Meng Youjiang followed.

“Nobody cares about the reasons.”

“The strongest gets all the respect!”

Only four units of the twelve units had joined the battle, while the other eight were still waiting.

The Black Water Sect was powerful, and they had a lot of high-level cultivators. But, they didn’t have a lot of people to use on the battlefield, a lot less than the Monarch’s Hall.

As the fight went on, the people of the Black Water Sect started to feel weird about it.

There was always death in a fight. People died in a battle. The Black Water Sect had been losing their men as the battle went on. Those who died immediately were neglected, but those who were severely injured would be saved and carried back. It was a normal situation on a battlefield. However, the Monarch’s Hall wasn’t the same. It was abnormal on the Monarch’s Hall’s side.

People of the Monarch’s Hall were fighting with honor and bravery. They fought like their lives didn’t matter. Sometimes they would rather get themselves severely injured to kill one of the enemies. It was quite a good battle strategy for the weaker side to fight against the stronger. However… Whenever their men were injured, they would be sent back. When people were sent back from the battlefield, it meant they needed to rest for a long time before they could fight again. However, the Monarch’s Hall kept sending their severely injured people back to the battlefield… and those men seemed unharmed at all…

All the people of the Monarch’s Hall could return to the battlefield after being severely injured after killing one or some of the Black Water Sect’s men. Nobody died! They did not fear being wounded at all, so they protected each other by using their own bodies as shields.

The wounded ones would be sent back to get treatment.

As the fight went on, the Monarch’s Hall looked like a mess, because their people were all severely injured. However, they hadn’t truly lost one life yet. Their men kept coming back to the battle after the treatment as if nothing had ever happened to them.

The Black Water Sect had lost over two hundred men now!

That was abnormal!

“This is weird. Something is wrong. They must have something that can instantly cure their injuries.” Somebody on the Black Water Sect’s side was enlightened.

“It was not a rumor.” An elder said, “It was said that the Hall of Life and Death could cure dying men, and that is why many people choose to join them after returning from death. I thought it was just a rumor because that would be insanely unbelievable. I thought the Monarch’s Hall was lying about it to scare the other forces. It turns out to be true. They don’t fear getting injured, because they could always return to a healthy condition. We can’t undertake a protracted fight against such an enemy. We must make our best strike to defeat them as soon as we can!”

“That is correct!” The prime master of the Black Water Sect lit up his eyes and waved his hand. “Attack! All of you! Destroy the Monarch’s Hall now… Keep the marvelous doctor’s life though! Catch him alive! I need him! As long as we control this guy, we will be ruling the Limitless Ocean!”

“Yes! Master!”

The order was given, and the Black Water Sect started their full-scale attack. Countless men rushed ahead in order to destroy the Monarch’s Hall.

Six men of them were leading the attack. They were like six flying cranes flying along with the air flows. Before they approached, their power had caused oppression on Ye Xiao!

Ye Xiao had been greatly improved, he was in the Divinity Origin Stage already, but he was still much weaker than the Saint Origin Stage cultivators. That was something he could never neglect in a battle!

“Kill!”

Meng Youjiang made a shout and rushed forward to the enemies.

Bu Xiangfeng and the others followed him out. The eight units of the twelve all joined the battle as well!

The Monarch’s Hall had sent all their people out, except the Dark Evil Spirit and Bai Long. These two stayed with Ye Xiao as his guards.

The decisive battle was started!

People of both sides had noticed that some people whose clothes had the sign of the Monarch’s Hall flew to the battle and disappeared among the crowd!

The decisive battle was full of blood and flesh.

The two sides crashed, and over ten Saint Origin Stage cultivators attacked at the same time, which caused waves of blood.

Bu Xiangfeng hadn’t sworn to follow Ye Xiao yet, so his Farewell Sword wasn’t fixed. What he used at the moment was just a normal sword. Even though he just had a normal sword to use, he played it as if the attacks were the roar of demons and thunders. He kept killing his way into the crowd, like a steamboat sailing into the sea, stirring up huge waves.

Wherever he stepped over, the enemies got cut apart like a cornfield.

Nothing stopped him!

A Saint Origin Stage cultivator of the Black Water Sect shouted at Bu Xiangfeng. “Bu Xiangfeng, don’t you dare! You watch what you deserve now!”

Bu Xiangfeng laughed and said, “I am right here!”

And then he jumped up to the sky and became a storm of colorful sword lights, rushing over to the man. The man did not hesitate to rush over as well and tried to crash Bu Xiangfeng.

With a big breaking explosive sound, it was done. Bu Xiangfeng was rolling up to the sky and then spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood sprayed into the air. The Saint Origin Stage enemy didn’t move at all.

Did Bu Xiangfeng lose?

It seemed he was wrecked!

No, he didn’t! The Black Water Sect cultivator, who didn’t move a bit, was dead! Blood burst out from his head, throat, and chest. A lot of fine lines of blood shooting out from his body and then he exploded into a pile of cracked pieces of flesh!

Before he died, he only had time to speak a few words. “Bu Xiangfeng… You… Your…”

That was all. Before he finished talking, he exploded. Nobody knew what he was trying to say.

This Saint Origin Stage cultivator was specially selected to deal with Bu Xiangfeng, who was pretty powerful. The leaders of the Black Water Sect were quite sure that this man could defeat Bu Xiangfeng.

In fact, that man was at level five of the Saint Origin Stage, known to be two levels higher than Bu Xiangfeng!

He was the most powerful cultivator in the Black Water Sect.

In fact, he could be the most powerful man in the Monarch’s Hall if he decided to join them!

However, a powerful cultivator lost his life in the fight against Bu Xiangfeng, even though he was so confident to win the fight!

It astonished everybody in the battle!

That was unbelievable!

Bu Xiangfeng had rolled up to the sky like a ball, spitting out blood. Afterward, he started to fall. When he fell down about three hundred feet, he regained balance in the sky. He made a turn ahead, holding the sword in his hand, rushing into the crowd of enemies again! He was killing it!

Ye Xiao had watched everything that just happened, and he couldn’t stop praising Bu Xiangfeng’s capability.

As he stayed in the City of Chaos longer, he knew better about the level systems of the cultivators in the Human Realm Upon Heavens. The more he knew, the more confused he was. Bu Xiangfeng was the best in the Monarch’s Hall, he shouldn’t be that incredible. Even though he had improved greatly, he was only at level three of the Saint Origin Stage.

When he was at level one, he was already the third most powerful itinerant cultivator in the world. Many Saint Origin Stage cultivators at a much higher level didn’t get that highly ranked!

Was there any secret about the level system?

Ye Xiao was certain that Bu Xiangfeng had a secret that made him powerful enough to easily kill those who were at a higher level than him. Whatever it was, it helped him win a battle that he couldn’t fully operate in his own power!

After Ye Xiao reached the Divinity Origin Stage, when he could see through all Divinity Origin Stage cultivators with his bare eyes, nobody in the Divinity Origin Stage could compare him. He was full of confidence, and he could finally look down upon all heroes in the world. However, at this moment, he was alarmed. The cultivation level was not the only thing that decided one’s real power. If Bu Xiangfeng had a secret that enhanced him so much, then the others had too. He couldn’t help doubting that perhaps, he was still unable to neglect all the Divinity Origin Stage cultivators yet!

“Perhaps, I am overrating myself, but that is not important. The most important thing is that Bu Xiangfeng can actually become one of the most powerful itinerant cultivators, and those at higher levels are actually much weaker!”

Ye Xiao murmured to himself.

He thought, ‘If Bu Xiangfeng could kill those who are at higher levels than him now, how powerful must he be when he gets the Farewell Sword back? He could be invincible among all the Divinity Origin Stage cultivators! If… If he reached the next stage, is there anybody who could defeat him? I am not sure about it… It is definitely a possibility…’

He was thinking of Bu Xiangfeng’s real power, and he started to think of the possibility that Bu Xiangfeng became stronger in the future. He wondered how much the Farewell Sword could enhance Bu Xiangfeng. Now he was paying full attention to Bu Xiangfeng, but he missed something that was also extremely weird!

Meng Youjiang and his wife were fighting two Saint Origin Stage cultivators of the Black Water Sect. The two enemies were at higher levels than Meng Youjiang and his wife, but the couple was good at fighting side by side, so the two sides were equal in the fight. Somewhere else, three Saint Origin Stage enemies were fighting the last two Saint Origin Stage cultivators of the Monarch’s Hall. All of a sudden, the three Saint Origin Stage enemies were all dead.

They just died. How weird!

The two Saint Origin Stage cultivators of the Monarch’s Hall were Gui Lingxiao and Ren Zhixi. The two of them roared and rushed forward. Before they touched the enemies, the three enemies actually got killed after a fierce dash…

Three Divinity Origin Stage cultivators were standing around, who suddenly made three slashing attacks…

Gui Lingxiao and Ren Zhixi were shocked.

The three Divinity Origin Stage made three slashes, and the three Saint Origin Stage cultivators were actually killed! Their heads were cut off!

Gui Lingxiao and Ren Zhixi were shocked and terrified, so they made a weird exclamation. The two of them fell off the sky and hit the floor after getting shocked. Before they felt the pain, they still thought they were in a dream.

They thought they must have dreamed when they jumped up to the sky!

‘What did I just see?’

‘How was that possible?’

‘How did that happen?’

‘It was like… A tiger suddenly jumped over a rabbit, trying to swallow the poor thing with a huge mouth. The next moment, the rabbit actually swallowed the tiger instead!’

‘That was so weird!’

In fact, that was not all. Meng Youjiang and his wife also got shocked…

They were fighting two level-three Saint Origin Stage cultivators, and the fight was in a tie. Both sides wanted to end the fight with a victory as soon as possible, so both sides were doing the best they could.

Meng Youjiang and his wife were good at cooperating, but the enemies were at a higher level than the couple. It was impossible for the couple to win the fight in a short time. However, they had to try, because the enemy had more Saint Origin Stage cultivators than the Monarch’s Hall. Gui Lingxiao and Ren Zhixi were fighting three Saint Origin Stage cultivators at a time.

At a very intense moment, when the couple was doing their best to attack, they actually cut the two Saint Origin Stage enemies into halves!

That was unexpected and weird!

Was it due to their good luck?

The couple was two Saint Origin Stage cultivators as well, so they knew how powerful the enemies were. They were sure that their attack could never kill the enemies so easily!

The enemies were so powerful, but they suddenly slowed down and got killed!

How come?

Meng Youjiang and his wife were both confused. The enemies’ dead bodies had turned cold, and Meng Youjiang still didn’t realize how it happened. After a while, when the couple looked around, the situation had completely changed!

…