Chapter 949: Inner Demon
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
All from the Nine States had heard of the Sacred King’s infatuation with the Glass Saint and that he had been chasing after her since young. However, the true feud between both figures was only known to the older generations who had been training for a long time, as well as people of the Eastern State. It went all the way back to the decline of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and the rise of the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple.
The Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple seemed to be on friendly terms and had maintained peace for many years. In actuality, however, the relations between the holy lands of the Nine States were rather peculiar and complicated. The Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty had been the absolute force in all of the Eastern State once upon a time. The rise of both Xihua Sacred Mountain and the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple had taken considerable influence from the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty. There was no way that there was no beef between them. However, their temperaments as saints were exceptional. No one would have been able to guess what was really going on when all of them sat at the same table. But then again, with the ongoing Sacred War, the old scores were dug out as well.
The alliance between Xihua Sacred Mountain and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty involved terms regarding the Glass Saint. The two forces were move against the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple. They would not have yielded the Holy Zhi Palace to Zhisheng Cliffs just like that otherwise. All three holy lands had their own agendas, and the Zhou Sacred King’s involved the Glass Saint and the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple.
Similarly, the Glass Saint had chosen to turn against the Zhou Sacred King and take Ye Futian’s side not only because she admired Ye Futian’s talents. She was doing it because she knew well that if the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State were to fall under the alliance of the three holy lands, the Zhou Sacred King would come for her next. It was not just a year or two that the Sacred King had been eyeing her.
Many had little idea of what happened in the Eastern State a very long time ago, and they stared at the two saints with puzzled eyes. The two saints, who stood at the pinnacle of the Eastern State, turned hostile against each other in an instant, and the language used was extremely unflinching and pointed.
The Sacred King said that he had built a Lapis Lazuli Palace within the royal palace of the Sacred Dynasty, specifically for the Glass Saint, while the Glass said that she would not rest until the Sacred King was dead. The ones around them were puzzled as to what that meant.
Ye Futian shot a puzzled look at their direction as well, and came to realize something. The Barren State had been isolated from the Nine States for too long to know much about what happened in the Eastern State. It was something that not even the elders of the Barren State would have known, and there was no way Ye Futian would have known as well.
He only heard that the Zhou Sacred King has had a thing for the number one beauty of the Eastern State—the Glass Saint—for a long time, and that it had been so since they were young.
The Glass Saint’s expression turned even colder after hearing that the Sacred King had built her a Lapis Lazuli Palace in the royal palace, losing all the warmth and beauty that she usually had. She exuded intense murderous intent and her hair billowed. An extremely cold will burst from her as she stepped forward, freezing her surroundings, seemingly about to freeze the perilous aura in the imperial mausoleum as well. She did not tangle with the Sacred King any further and continued to move forward.
The mighty ones led by Xia Qingyuan and Li Yao at the forefront rushed at the huge puppet at the top of the stairs at the moment. A flash of sword seemingly shot out of nowhere and a strike from the palm blocking the sky, heading straight for the huge puppet, destroying it. The sweeping pressure disappeared in an instant, and all straightened themselves up as they moved.
The Sacred King walked beside the Glass Saint and did not care about the coldness being exuded from her. He intended to walk abreast with her. He then said, “I know that it is hard for you to put what happened all those years ago behind us and it affected your thoughts. I, too, have never forgotten you all these years. If you’re able to let go of your obsession and become my queen, we will be able to reach further heights by training together. You and me once stood at the top of Eastern State and we were known to be a match made in heaven. I, Zhou Zhiming, reigned supreme among a generation in the Eastern State, and you were the only one who was able to stand by my side. Many wished for us to become a couple like none other.”
The disgust within the Glass Saint’s cold eyes was even more intense than it had been before. She was born into a renowned clan of the Eastern State, and she reigned supreme in both talent and appearance. The lord of the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple had held her in great regard when she was young, taking her into the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple and making her a personal student. It had been something that shook the Eastern State all those years ago.
She had been engaged back then, and her fiance had been an extremely well-known genius as well. Their families had been friends for generations and it seemed that they were truly a match made in heaven. But then again, while they might have been of great renown, they still paled in comparison to the prince of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty, who was known everywhere—Zhou Zhiming.
The Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple’s lord intended to take her as a personal student after she became famous, and that attracted Zhou Zhiming’s attention. He began to pursue her madly after he first saw her, asking for her hand in marriage from her family, intending to make her his queen. However, the Sacred King of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty was actually at odds with the lord of the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple back then. Their feud ran very deep. The very reason why the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty had taken notice of her was because of said feud as well. Under such circumstances, there was no way she would have agreed to the proposal. In order to avoid further trouble, she and her family had decided to get things over with quickly by getting the wedding over with and having her marrying her fiance.
She was in her wedding attire that day and she looked absolutely stunning. She had great hopes for the future. While she did not exactly like her fiance in that way, their families had been good friends for generations, and as such, she did not resent the arrangement. Furthermore, she was to enter the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple to train after the wedding. However, she had not expected that day to be her nightmare.
She was taken away from her family by the ones who were there to pick her up for the wedding, yet she entered the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty instead of her fiance’s home. Her fiance and the family that her family had been friends with for generations sold her to the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty.
She still remembered the time when Zhou Zhiming was all high and mighty in the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and bestowed her with the title of her would-be queen in the future, promising her great wealth and intended to marry her. Her response was simply to take one of the dowry that her family had prepared for her—a divine implement—and thrust it into her heart, refusing to suffer such humiliation and chose death instead.
It was fortunate for her that her teacher heard of the news and crashed into the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty demanding her returning, taking her away right in front of Zhou Zhiming’s father back to the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple. She was revived and she lived. However, while she lived, her family, including the guests, guards and subordinates—over 3000 of them—were killed, dying at the hands of the Golden Phoenix Armies’ hands. None of them from her family survived except one woman: the servant girl that accompanied her when she was married. Said servant girl was none other than Jiang Yuechan, the mighty one ranked on the Sage Ranking, who was at her side.
When her training bore solid fruit in later days, she took Jiang Yuechan with her and eliminated her former fiance’s family. She cut down the head of her former fiance without any mercy. In the days that followed, she became the Glass Saint that she was known as in the present day.
“The incident that happened back then caused the lives of both my father and your teacher. Two of the greatest figures of the Eastern State perished in a clash of the titans battle. Wouldn’t that be enough to put the feud we had behind us?” The Sacred King looked calm as he continued, “Furthermore, you wanted me dead back then and severed my path to sainthood, causing me to break into the Saint Plane tens of years later. You almost killed mem, yet did I ever blame you for that?”
“Get lost,” the Glass Saint said coldly. Her body turned as cold as frost after being reminded by Zhou Zhiming of their past. She was not naive enough to think that someone like Zhou Zhiming had truly been obsessed over her out of love. He was only doing it because she had refused his advances many times back then. Her utter refusal to submit to him hit the unparalleled genius who had been titled “crown prince” at a very young age. It all led to her family being slaughtered. It was all a testament to his determination to see what he set out to do done and that no one shall stand in his way.
She had once got in the way of him attaining sainthood and she had also almost ended up killing him several times. Zhou Zhiming probably came to fear her more than he loved her. She knew very well that to Zhou Zhiming, she was but an obsession; an obsession he would never be able to truly rid himself of.
If she had actually agreed to his proposal, moving into the Lapis Lazuli Palace of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and becoming his woman, his wish would have been fulfilled and his head cleared by then. As he came to possess her, he would have cut her down soon after. Zhou Zhiming was her inner demon, and in the same vein, she was, too, Zhou Zhiming’s inner demon.
She was unable to truly rest until Zhou Zhiming ended up dead.
Zhou Zhiming’s expression turned cold after hearing her scornful word. He, who was still in the air, turned to shoot a cold stare at Ye Futian, who was not far away. He said, “Do you think you’ll be able to take me on just by participating in this Sacred War? Ye Futian of the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State? He will be dead before long and your wish of driving a wedge in how things are now, it will be nothing more than a dream. It’s truly a pity that you, the number beauty in the Eastern State, one that will remain stunning even when compared to the rest of the Nine States, and furthermore, extremely talented, will have to lower yourself to get along with a runt. Are you really thinking of borrowing his power to achieve your goal?
“He can hardly keep himself alive and the saints of the Holy Zhi Palace are nowhere to be found. How will you get out of the predicament you find yourself in now?” the Sacred King said coldly. In another direction, Saint Xihua slowed down as well, and many felt something was about to happen. Are the two saints really getting ready to take on the Glass Saint right here in the imperial mausoleum?
The Sacred King’s eyes were incredibly intense as he took a look at Ye Futian. “Sister Glass Saint?” Don’t make me laugh.
Ye Futian naturally sensed the Sacred King’s eyes on him and heard their conversation. Apparently, the feud between the Zhou Sacred King and the Glass Saint ran deeper than he had expected. Hua Jieyu had once joked that the Sacred King would suffer an emotional trauma so terrifying that it would ruin his training if Ye Futian could actually make the Glass Saint his. Ye Futian had thought it to be little more than a joke. But from the way things looked at the moment, it seemed to be something that might actually happen.
The Sacred King seemed determined to make the Glass Saint his, one way or another. That was something that he had kept well hidden and did not show in his daily facade. As for the sarcastic jab from the Sacred King, Ye Futian hardly took it to heart and he felt next to nothing about it.
“Zhou Zhiming,” Ye Futian smiled and said, “Sacred King, you really have one hell of an imposing name. But I wonder if you’re really living up to it?”
The Sacred King turned his eyes to Ye Futian. His eyes were filled with murderous intent, as if he was looking at a dead man. If it had not been for the presence of Xia Qingyuan and the people from other holy lands, he might have actually snapped and ended Ye Futian right there and then. Saint Zhi looked rather pathetic in comparison, as he was really reluctant to do anything substantial.
“So, are the leaders of two holy lands today are going to gang up on a girl?” Ye Futian saw Saint Xihua and the Sacred King at the Glass Saint’s flanks, as if they were having her surrounded. He did not expect the two to actually be so brutal, getting down to business right there in the imperial mausoleum.
Both Saint Xihua and the Sacred King were of a higher rank than the Glass Saint on the Saint Ranking. If both of them were to act against her at the same time, she would definitely be at a severe disadvantage.
“Since when do I need to heed your opinion about my way of going about things?” Saint Xihua took a look at Ye Futian and said coldly, “Although Emperor Xia declared that saints are forbidden to move against people below the Saint Plane, if someone actively provokes the saints, then I guess Emperor Xia will be able to understand what happens afterward.”
They were already on bad terms with each other and there was no need for facades. If the Glass Saint was determined to get herself into this, then they would simply ally themselves and take on the Glass Saint, showing decisiveness like none other!