The Legend of Futian

The wills of several titans rolled out with frightening force. Over half of the Heavenly Mandate City was able to sense that terrifying pressure of the Great Path, which felt like pressure from the heavens, and the Heavenly Mandate Academy was at the center.

Countless cultivators looked at the sky right away, wondering what had happened.

The people of the Heavenly Mandate Realm were no longer surprised by such phenomena anymore. There had been too many extremely formidable people in recent years. Many of them were from the realm itself, and there had even been super battles before. Everyone knew that the Origin Realm was a realm within a realm, so they were no longer be as shocked as they used to be.

However, they noted that the terrifying pressure seemed to have emanated from the Heavenly Mandate Academy, and they wondered: since when had so many terrifying people gathered at the academy?

There were cultivators somewhere else in the city, and one of them emanated a terrifying aura. He looked up, and his eyes seemed to have seen right through space and watched right above the academy, looking into what was going inside. He couldn’t help but frown somewhat.

There seemed to be two very powerful cultivators added to the side of the academy, and those two were people he had never seen before, whom he deduced to be from other realms.

The wills of both parties clashed and parted. Back at the academy, Ye Futian looked at Emperor Nan. Old Ma then mumbled, “there seem to be many forces within this city.”

“Right.” Emperor Nan nodded. “There are indeed several forces.”

“So, that was them?” Ye Futian then asked Emperor Nan, who shook his head instead.”I could only say that they’re in this as well.”

“The Dark Court forces came before, then those of the Divine Prefecture. Yet those of Divine Prefecture are just like those of the Dark Court, as both wanted to destroy and plunder the Heavenly Mandate Realm. In the eyes of such cultivators, the Nine Supreme Imperial Realms were like a treasure trove. But they didn’t just go all out right away, only voicing their intention to take the Heavenly Mandate Academy, so as to take control of the realm first.”

Emperor Nan elaborated further, causing Ye Futian to feel cold deep inside. The Dark Court came to the Origin Realm, and the cultivators from the Divine Prefecture should have repelled the ones from the Dark Court. Yet, that was not how things went. The forces from the Divine Prefecture all had their own agendas, and they were all thinking about plundering the realm as well.

The Heavenly Mandate Academy had long become the symbol of the Heavenly Mandate Realm. With the Violet Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty annihilated, the 10,000 Divine Mountain, the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven, and the forces of the Demon Realm had all aligned with the Heavenly Mandate Academy. Brahma’s Pure Sky had actually long lost its influence, and the Heavenly Mandate Academy became the undisputed ruling force of the realm. Seizing the academy would be equaled to seizing the entire Heavenly Mandate Realm, and those forces would be able to do as they pleased by then.

“That is to say that there are a lot of forces who are in this then?” Ye Futian asked.

Emperor Nan nodded. “A battle broke out above the academy just a month ago. Many forces joined that battle, and Lord Taixuan put his life on the line to repel them. He succeeded in intimidating them, causing them to give up for the time being.”

“My current level of powers meant that going all out would be of little help. It was due to reinforcements from all sides coming to the academy’s aid that ended up intimidating those people, preventing those foreign forces from slaughtering everyone there. Now, be it the Dou tribe, the Xiao Clan, or the Yuanyang Clan, everyone was having a hard time. Our former enemies are now leaning on all of them,” said a voice.

Lord Taixuan and the others were walking up to them. Lord Taixuan then added, “the Origin Realm is going to see change, and everything may be reshuffled. Unlike the years before, this is reshuffling in its truest sense, and I have no way of telling if the Heavenly Mandate Academy would be able to stay around in the realm.”

It was apparent that Lord Taixuan was feeling pessimistic about things. There were simply too many foreign forces coming in, and some were indeed very terrifying. Worse still, from the looks of the recent turn of events, the Origin Realm might become a battlefield.

There was no telling how many innocent lives from the Origin Realm would be lost.

“That one that just hit us is in this. Are they from the Divine Prefecture too?” Ye Futian asked.

“Yeah, a titan from the Divine Prefecture indeed. The leading figure is extremely powerful, every bit on par with Emperor Nan.” Lord Taixuan nodded. Emperor Nan confirmed what he just said.

Ye Futian sighed. He had learned this firsthand many years ago. Be it the Song Imperial Palace, the Holy Land of Taichu, the Shen Clan of the Upper Worlds, or the Sun God Mountain, all looked down on the Origin Realm. The way they saw it, the Origin Realm was a lower world and one that was sealed.

As such, they showed little restraint and did as they pleased. After making their move against the Heavenly Mandate Academy, they dared to stay in Heavenly Mandate City itself, probably knowing that the academy wouldn’t dare to do anything against them.

Ye Futian then turned his eyes at Duan Tianxiong and said, “Could you look into their background for us, senior?”

Duan Tianxiong was the lord of the ancient royal family of Duan, reigning supreme somewhere. He was of Middle Third Heavens of the Shangqing Domain. His breadth of knowledge meant that he would know a lot better about the many forces from the Divine Prefecture.

“Sure.” Duan Tianxiong spread his will out, enveloping the entire place and coming right above the place where that other party was. The cultivators over there frowned, especially the leading figure. He looked far away and saw a spectral face up in the sky, which was none other than that of Duan Tianxiong. He then said with a booming voice, “I’m of the Duan Clan of Shangqing Domain. May I know where you are from, sir?”

The leading figure had a terrifying presence. He looked up at that face and replied casually, “Mithraism of the Tongtian Domain.”

Duan Tianxiong looked at the figure and then gradually disappeared. He then told Ye Futian back at the academy, “Mithraism of the Tongtian Domain of the 18 domains. They are not quite considered top-notch among those found in the Divine Prefecture. Middle class, I’d say. According to what I could speculate, that would be on par with the ancient royal family of Duan. The Mithraism Hierophant is the more powerful among them, and he probably is here personally.”

“Understood.” Ye Futian nodded. He then looked at the ones around him, especially those considered top-notch.

The allied forces of the Heavenly Mandate Academy were anything but weak, and one of the reasons they were bullied was because the foreign forces were more numerous, and they didn’t care much for the native forces. Other than that, the Heavenly Mandate Academy had a lot of enemies and restraints. The academy was right there in the city and had a lot of cultivators in it. In contrast, the foreign forces had all brought only a group of their own people, which meant they had little to care about.

At present, the one very top-notch figure by his side was Lord Taixuan, whose injuries were to such extent that he could be taken out of the equation. Other than Lord Taixuan, there was also Emperor Nan, the Sky River Great Elder, the Palace Lord of the Divine Palace, as well as Old Ma. Even without Duan Tianxiong, they would still stand a chance of killing one top-notch figure.

“Are there any other top-notch figures other than the Mithraism Hierophant, or are there any other forces affiliated with them?” Ye Futian then asked Duan Tianxiong telepathically. Duan Tianxiong’s pupils contracted slightly as he stared at Ye Futian. He could tell from Ye Futian’s words what Ye Futian meant.

“Probably none.” Duan Tianxiong then answered, “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

“Old Ma is versed with spatial powers, meaning that he could lock down the battlefield. I’m thinking, in that case, the rest of you seniors will be able to get the fight done quickly,” Ye Futian answered telepathically.

Duan Tianxiong’s eyes glittered. Theoretically speaking, with so many formidable ones taking on a single person, they should be able to securely deal a crushing blow if they were to go all out, which meant that it would indeed be possible for them to fight and get rid of the enemy quickly.

Furthermore, the Heavenly Mandate City was not actually huge, and there were other top-notch forces around. There was then the concern about the other forces coming to the aid of those of Mithraism if they were to act against the members of that cult.

It would be a lot of trouble heading their way if they were not to kill the enemy.

“Have you thought about what happens if we fail?” Duan Tianxiong asked.

“We would have still succeeded in intimidating them even if we fail. They weren’t that concerned when they acted out against the Heavenly Mandate Academy back then,” Ye Futian said without much care. There were no other forces back at Shangqing Domain that dared to touch the Four Corner Village without hesitation. If the other forces from Divine Prefecture were to look into it, they would be as wary of the Four Corner Village as well.

After all, the battle which the master fought right outside of the village brought an absolute intimidation factor.

Duan Tianxiong played the scenario out in his mind. If they were to act at the same time, they would give the enemy a lesson that they wouldn’t forget, even they were to fail. That would prevent the enemy from retaliating without hesitation in the future.

If the operation were to succeed, that would be the end of Mithraism, and there would no longer be any loose ends. There were concerns with the Imperial Palace, but since it was the other party that attacked in the first place, there was nothing much the Imperial Palace could say about it.

As such, although Ye Futian’s thoughts were bold, they were doable.

“If you really do intend to do this, I can help you stall the other forces and buy you some time,” Duan Tianxiong said. The other forces will definitely show up if they were to act. He would be able to buy Ye Futian and the others some time if he were to stall those other forces. If they succeed in killing the hierophant, they would be able to shock everyone around.

“Thank you,” Ye Futian said. Both communicated telepathically, yet Emperor Nan and the others were perceptive enough to tell more or less what was going on and that Ye Futian seemed to be in some kind of discussion.

Ye Futian communicated his thoughts to them telepathically afterward, causing Emperor Nan, Lord Taixuan, and the others to take a good look at him. What he proposed was a bold move. With so many powerful foreign forces showing up and so many forces having taken them on before, that move would have probably triggered something and was indeed risky.

However, it was worth a try nonetheless.

Intimidating the foreign forces aside, they saw it imperative to take revenge for the serious injuries that they had inflicted on Lord Taixuan.

“This is feasible,” Emperor Nan voiced his agreement. Emperor Nan had been something deemed capable of slaying gods many years ago. He had been behaving himself for many years, especially after his daughter, Nan Luoshen, was born. With the Origin Realm now in peril, he deemed that it was time to cast away some of his restraints.