Chapter 481: Steel Seal
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Eh?"
Fang Yuan's eyes glistened as he saw a blood-coloured true dragon leap out from within Jade Capital City and charge towards the skies. It then opened up some sort of gigantic and invisible array.
"9 Heavenly Sky Net Array?"
As Fang Yuan thought, his heart was pounding, "Wow... I previously thought the dream master alliance's act of blood sacrificing numerous powerful beings to activate the 6 Extremes Earth Shattering Array was rare and costly enough, but now, Da Qian Imperial Court is even sacrificing the emperor... This blood-coloured true dragon is no doubt Emperor Zhao Ming!"
Emperor Zhao Ming had ruled for 10 over years. He was adroit and had a strong foundation. He was even the true dragon recognised by the heaven and earth.
Now that he was used as the key to activate the heavenly array, they were definitely after something big!
However, what Fang Yuan was curious about now was not about the backlash Da Qian would face. Instead, he was curious about who was the one who made the decision; who could possibly make the emperor Da Qian become a sacrificial offering?
...
"Kababoom!"
Sudden changes were occurring in the skies!
After the 9 Heavenly Sky Net Array was activated, not only did the heavenly violet lightning stop, even the dark clouds dispersed slowly to reveal a sky full of stars.
Although the dream masters were no longer the threat of heavenly tribulations, all of them felt extremely uneasy as they had a premonition that disaster was impending.
"The emperor is sacrificed? The emperor has dragon energy, there might be changes!"
The 5 Sages also immediately noticed the situation.
"It is indeed the 9 Heavenly Sky Net Array! Why would Sage Changli leave behind this two mutually conflicting arrays in his inheritance?"
"The one who's giving the orders in Imperial Court is Shang Hou?"
The Ancient One noticed something else instead, "Shang Hou is a distant relative of the royal family, he only entered the echelon of powerful beings through sheer luck and was ordered to manage all the dragon energy in this world. How could he have such prestige and might?"
"Hehe..."
Lord Yin laughed coldly, "I think this Shang Hou is really familiar looking, he is similar to an acquaintance I know!"
"Indeed, he is really similar to an old acquaintance!"
Evil Divine nodded his head and spat out the words one by one, "Great Ancestor of Da Qian! I can't believe you aren't dead!"
This powerful being who established the Da Qian dynasty was naturally a hero and an Energy Soul. Unfortunately for him, he did not reign for long.
From the conversation between these few sages, there seemed to be some hidden information withheld about the past events.
"During that time, three of us joined hands and killed the Great Ancestor of Da Qian. By right, his body and soul should have been totally annihilated... For that, we suffered from backlash and could not topple Da Qian in time and thus, we quickly secluded ourselves..."
Li Qingmian recounted rather hesitantly.
"Looks like a tinge of this person's spiritual will was not destroyed. It then absconded and reincarnated before entering the royal family again?"
"What a scourge indeed!"
Numerous spiritual wills had confirmed this Shang Hou's identity already. The old guy Shang Hou did not bother to hide it anymore as he carefreely floated out, "My old friends, long time no see! I'm so happy I can finally seek vengeance!"
"Sure enough, it's you, Great Ancestor of Da Qian!"
It was the first time Evil Divine lost the calm and indifferent look on his face, "This reincarnation technique of yours is really not bad! Even your mind and spiritual aura have changed! You are a totally different person now, no wonder we couldn't deduce it!"
"It's all smoke and mirrors!"
The Great Ancestor of Da Qian chortled, "What's the point of delving in this?"
"Heh... don't make it sound so nice, you think we don't know your ins and outs?"
Lord Yin's spiritual will suddenly spread across as it intended to divulge some secrets to the powerful beings at the Imperial Court's side, "This Great Ancestor of Da Qian of yours was originally a Prominent Divine dream master too. He is well-versed in enslavement techniques and the 'Spiritual Will Steel Seal' he created can enslave anybody to become his loyal slave!"
The moment Lord Yin divulged it, only a few lower-tiered cultivators appeared shocked. The rest of the powerful beings appeared expressionless as they looked at Lord Yin.
"Impossible!"
Lord Yin's face turned ashen, "They are all….. Steel Seal Puppets!?"
The other 4 sages were horrified too.
It was reasonable that the Imperial Court gained the liking of the commoners and managed to garner True Divines and True Elementals to their side.
However, it now seemed like these powerful beings were all long controlled by the Spiritual Will Steel Seal! This included all the grand secretaries, generals and priests!
"Spiritual Will Steel Seal?"
Fang Yuan pondered quickly. He then suddenly remembered a recording he saw on a secret text he purchased, "This seems to be briefly mentioned on a secret text I read before. This Spiritual Will Steel Seal Technique can segment spiritual will and turn one spiritual will into nine, forming nine child seals. The holder of the parent seal can do anything to those inflicted by the child seal. It is the most supreme controlling technique... However, not only is this technique extremely hard to cultivate, it has a limit too. It can only segment nine times and the victim has to be willing. At its peak, It controlled nine powerful beings and led to some blood brawls."
"But now..."
Fang Yuan looked at the powerful beings at Jade Capital City and felt his head went numb.
"Haha... I must thank you all for it!"
Shang Hou moved back a few steps. Numerous powerful beings defended him closely and fully surrounded him.
"If the three of you did not chase after me and almost annihilated me, how could I have made a breakthrough while I was between life and death and improved and turned my 9 Times Steel Will into 9 Times 9, 81 Times?"
"Superior Wu Zun, Qian Guiyi, Head of Hidden Dragon Guards... does the three of you still want to hold a candle for the devil?"
The Ancient One sneered and was immediately faced with three pairs of eyes filled with enmity and hatred. It was as though The Ancient One fell into an icy pit as he exclaimed, "Impossible!"
"Even the sages... are..."
Lord Yin's voice sounded dry as she suddenly realised something wrong had happened to this world.
"The three of us willingly submit to His Majesty, The Great Ancestor!"
The Head of Hidden Dragon Guards slowly spoke, "His Majesty, The Great Ancestor, is a brilliant hero, he is the only one who can bring back peace to the entire world! We are loyal to him and that is a matter of course, how can you treacherous rebels understand you?"
"Impossible!"
Seeing such, Fang Yuan shook his head, "If this Shang Hou could really enslave sages, what's there to fight? Da Qian Imperial Court would have long united and ruled everything."
"In the past, you created this spiritual will technique and quickly rose up during the turbulent times and established Da Qian. You are the true Fate Soul and we are not..."
Lord Yin spoke slowly to Shang Hou, "But, your greed knows no bound! You even unscrupulously enslaved other dream masters! After news of your deeds spread, we then chased after your life! If you wanted to seek vengeance, you would have long done it! Thus, there must still be some limitations now!"
"To enslave a sage, the sage has to fully cooperate and the consumption is too much, right?"
After all, the five of them were sages. After they momentarily lost their composure, they quickly regained it and started deducing.
"Hehe... since all of you are my old friends, I shall tell the truth. To control a sage, not only does the sage have to fully cooperate, one sage would already consume ten portions of my spiritual will. Also, it's a great burden on me..."
Shang Hou's eyes glistened, "After enslaving so many people, my soul is barely supporting it. Do you all want to try?"
Instantly, all the dream masters of the allied forces unconsciously kept a distance from each other. Even the sages began to suspect one another.
This Spiritual Will Steel Seal was the most deadly and powerful enslavement technique. Even though it only had 81 portions, it was already extremely terrifying and threatening.
After all, Imperial Court's side did not use up all its shares even with their three sages included. It was extremely possible that there were puppets under their control inside the 5 Grand Organisations!
"Originally, when you all wanted to topple Da Qian, I was still quite opposing of it."
Suddenly, Sage Baize slowly spoke, "But looks like you must die now or else there would be no peaceful day in this entire world forever!"
"Holy! How can such a horrifying technique exist in this world?"
Fang Yuan tensed up and looked at Elder Xi Chen who was at his side. He then immediately asked, "If such a divine technique spreads, wouldn't there be no peace in this world forever?"
"I'm not sure regarding its details..."
Even though the energy passage to the Dream Masters' Realm had opened up, such an unforeseen event attracted the full attention of the dream masters.
Elder Xi Chen sent back a message with a solemn look on his face, "I've only heard about it from my master. This Great Ancestor of Da Qian's talent is extremely unusual. After he reached the Prominent Divine stage, he even opened his own path. That's why he can cultivate this Spiritual Will Steel Seal. The cost of it is that, he has the weakest fighting power amongst sages and he has no hollows! From my deductions, he gambled everything that was gifted to him from the Dream Masters' Realm and also his ability to create living things on his Spiritual Will Steel Seal Technique."
"Even if that's the case, it is still extremely horrifying."
Fang Yuan looked towards the Head of Hidden Dragon Guards and immediately felt his skin crawl.
Even if one was afflicted by this Spiritual Will Steel Seal, his actions and even personality and thinking would still be the same as before. The only thing added was the thought of full-fledged loyalty to its owner. This itself was enough to make anyone shiver in fear.
After losing one's most precious freedom of soul, even if he looked like a human, in actual fact, he was only a puppet.
"Great!"
Shang Hou suddenly laughed from within the layers of defence, "Now that the opening of the Dream Masters' Realm is impending, do you all want to settle me first or connect the two worlds and obtain the gifts from that realm first?"
"Roar! Roar!"
Fang Yuan raised his head and looked to the skies.
He could see a translucent sky which was covering almost the entire world. A blood dragon was also soaring in it.
Shang Hou intentionally revealed his identity in order to drag time to allow the entire 9 Heavenly Sky Net Array to be fully activated!
"Now, you all shall receive my gift!"
Shang Hou chuckled oddly.
Suddenly, a fearful thought could be felt which made Fang Yuan immediately move back.
"Smelter! Extreme Darkness! What are you all doing?"
Within the dream masters' base, seven to eight powerful beings were emitting a red glow. Their faces changed drastically as they began to viciously attack their companions.
This included Elder Smelter and Elder Extreme Darkness!
"Head of Hidden Dragon Guards!"
As Fang Yuan was far away from them, he was not affected by it much. However, his expression appeared extremely unsettled.
"After being enslaved and controlled, unless the controller is killed, the seal cannot be removed!"
In mid-air, the 5 Sages looked at each other and suddenly turned into five light walls. They then trapped the eight powerful beings who renegaded like an ice mountain.
"Hehe, there's no use! Don't you all want to fully connect with the Dream Masters' Realm? I shall help you all!"
"Roar!"
The blood dragon fell from the void and opened up a strong connection with these eight powerful beings.
Furthermore, six earth dragons emerged and chased after the true dragon energy. They then changed directions and arrived on top of the allied forces' base before suddenly crashing on to it.
"The true dragon as the lead, the blood sacrifices as support! The two worlds converge and the door to the realm is everlasting!"
Under the curses, the blood dragoon and the six earth dragons suddenly merged into one and crashed onto the ground, setting off tons of smoke and dust.
"Rumble!!!"