Chapter 1036: Descending from the 33rd Layer of Heaven
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The divine golden dragon pulled the carriage and entered Emperor Xia’s Palace. Emperor Xia was looking down from the Ninth Heaven Palace, yet the people from the Emperor Li’s Palace were unable to see him.
“What is the matter?” Someone asked with a brimming voice at said palace.
“Li Yao, the Crown Prince of Dali Dynasty, has reached the age of marriage. He has long heard the princess of Emperor Xia’s Realm, Xia Qingyuan, who is of superb talents and unparalleled appearance. As such, in the name of Emperor Li, the prince would like to ask Emperor Xia, here at Emperor Xia’s Palace, for her hand in marriage,” the powerful saint at his side replied to the voice in the palace, bowing courteously as he spoke.
He was not worried about what Emperor Xia would have done to him. Emperor Xia was a renhuang, emperor of the people, after all. When two realms fight, both parties shall not cut down the envoys. A renhuang would have definitely not done anything that would have tarnished his status.
Xia Qingyuan was at her residence and heard the voices coming from below. That person’s voice resounded throughout the heavens and everyone within the vicinity of Emperor Xia’s Palace, heard the words spoken telepathically clearly.
However, Xia Qingyuan’s expression was a calm one and he was unmoved at all. She knew what was going on and the marriage proposal was but an excuse; those people were there for something else.
“Li Yao, has your father told you to look at the mirror, before you departed?” A voice was heard from high above, plain and unfettered.
Li Yao did not mind Emperor Xia’s sarcastic remarks. He bowed and replied, “He did not, Emperor Xia.”
“Get out of my sight at once and tell Emperor Li this, if he dares to bring a ‘marriage proposal’ here again to insult Qingyuan, I shall cut down his envoys.” A solemn, majestic voice was heard from the palace above. Heavenly might spread all over the place all of the sudden, bearing onto the people from Emperor Li’s Palace. The 18 dragons howled and shuddered. They were almost about to lay prostrate.
Emperor Xia’s voice was an extremely overbearing one and took Li Yao’s marriage proposal to Xia Qingyuan as an insult to the princess herself. While the people from Emperor Li’s Realm were bearing the mighty pressure from Emperor Xia, their expression hardly looked any different, as if they have expected things to turn out as such.
Figures like the renhuang had zero tolerance for provocations. It was no secret that Emperor Xia doted on Xia Qingyuan, so much so that even Li Yao, the crown prince of Emperor Li’s Realm, did not seem to be a fitting match for his daughter in his eyes.
Furthermore, both realms had never actually been on good terms and had scuffles with each other every now and then.
“The crown prince and the princess met several times before and he had long admired her. As such, we were granted permission by Emperor Li to come all the way here. It is fine that you did not find the arrangement agreeable, but Emperor Xia, was it necessary to insult the crown prince of Emperor Li’s Realm?” The saint beside him then continued, “If you place the princess in such a high regard, then she would definitely be as superbly talented as told in rumors and unparalleled in all of Emperor Xia’s Realm. We have quite a number of superbly talented cultivators from Emperor Li’s Realm here today, and we would to request a sparring with the princess.”
“How dare you.” A cold, aloof, and very overbearing voice was heard. A proud silhouette was then seen standing tall in the air, appearing above those people. It was none other than the Sacred General of Qian of the Eight Sacred Generals. He glanced at the people from Emperor Li’s Realm and said coldly, “The princess is of unparalleled and esteemed status. She is not someone you people could simply ask for sparring matches with.”
“We would be fine with having someone capable of fighting in her stead and defeating our cultivators nonetheless,” the people of Emperor Li’s Realm said again, as if they were actually there to fight.
Emperor Xia remained seated calmly in his palace and said with a composed expression, “Get out.”
It was apparent that the emperor was chasing out the guests.
The mighty ones from Emperor Li’s Realm looked above and they were unable to see where Emperor Xia was. The saints dared not probe haphazardly with their spiritual powers.
While they were indeed boastful, they nonetheless actually did know where they stood—the Emperor Xia’s Palace, which was the absolute center of Emperor Xia’s Realm.
None of them dared to do anything that would have truly overstepping the border, as they were simply there to fulfill their tasks.
“If Emperor Xia do not like us here, then we shall wait outside Emperor Xia’s Palace for a battle. If there shall be no one emerging to fight us within three days, we shall leave at our own accord, without needing further orders from you, Emperor Xia,” a mighty one from Emperor Li’s Realm said with a brimming voice. They then retreated shortly after, leaving the palace.
As they stated earlier, despite stepping outside the palace, they did not leave the realm. They really set up camp outside Emperor Xia’s Palace, and that action alone was one of blatant provocation.
Even though the guests from Emperor Li’s Realm set up camp outside despite being ordered to leave the palace, Emperor Xia still could not have simply ordered for their execution.
A huge crowd was drawn outside of the palace due to the golden dragon carriage being around. No one was able to tell how many people actually gathered around there.
They all heard the conversation within Emperor Xia’s Palace earlier. There was simply no way a marriage proposal from the crown prince of Emperor Li’s Realm to Xia Qingyuan, could have not attracted any attention.
However, Emperor Xia had been incredibly overbearing, stating that if the other party were to bring the matter up again and insult the princess, he would have cut them down all the same, despite them being envoys.
It was apparent that Emperor Xia had taken Li Yao of Emperor Li’s Realm seriously, and furthermore, he had taken such an action to be an insult to his most beloved daughter, Xia Qingyuan. The way he saw it, Li Yao was beneath Xia Qingyuan.
That is our Emperor Xia indeed.
Many were wondering deep down that, just how important the princess was to Emperor Xia, that he had to treat even a crown prince of Emperor Li’s Realm in such a manner. Who would actually be qualified in Emperor Xia’s eyes then?
What happened at the palace quickly spread everywhere else. Mighty ones stepped out from Emperor Xia’s Palace soon enough, led by the Sacred General of Qian, heading towards to people from Emperor Li’s Realm. A group of exceptional youths were around the general.
Battles broke out soon as witnessed by countless there.
The ones who came from Emperor Li’s Realm were all pinnacle figures below the Saint Plane. While the mighty ones from Emperor Xia’s Palace were too, extremely formidable, but they nonetheless lost more matches than won. In short, they were completely overpowered.
What was even more astounding was that every single figure from Emperor Li’s Realm seemed to have been able to step into the level of Edge of Pinnacle below Saint Plane. All of them were unnervingly powerful and saintly powers were actually emanating from them.
Emperor Li’s Realm had actually deployed such a lineup to come provoke them.
There were also people who doubted if Emperor Li’s Realm had indeed been so terrifying, that they seemed to be able to easily overpower all of the genius who emerged from Emperor Xia’s Palace.
They heard that Emperor Li had established the Dali Dynasty and ruled all of Emperor Li’s Realm. All under the realm, whether they be from imperial lands or not, were subjected to absolute rule. As such, it would have definitely been far easier for Emperor Li’s Realm to mobilize capable men for specific tasks, than Emperor Xia’s Realm.
Emperor Xia sat quietly at his Ninth Heaven Palace above, his eyes pierced through the layers beneath and watched the battlefield.
A cloaked figure stood quietly by Emperor Xia’s side and gazed at the battlefield below as well.
“So the period of ten years is finally up then?” Emperor Xia, who had been sitting regally, asked.
The cloaked figure by his side nodded and said, “Your majesty, it would be after the end of this year. The armies of Tian and Dou had began to mobilize.”
“Right.” Emperor Xia nodded slightly. “So they are here to probe us then. It is no wonder that they are able to overpower our men. They came prepared after all.”
“Those people have been subjected to forced transformation of their foundations using saintly powers. Most of them would never be able to go any further, and they are little more than pawns of Emperor Li,” The cloaked figure commented. He was naturally able to tell that the group of people from Emperor Li’s Realm out to provoke them, were extremely powerful. They did not get to where they were from their own superb talents, they, who were all pinnacle sages, had also been subjected to inhumane means of infusing semi-saint-like powers. However, doing so would have been the same as shattering their future.
But then again, it was entirely possible that those people did not have what it would have taken to make it as saints, so they were selected to become machines of war instead.
“How about we mobilize Tian Ji?” The cloaked figure asked. If Tian Ji and Xia Qingyuan were to be there to fight them, there would not have been much of a problem.
Only people at the Edge of Pinnacle below Saint Plane level people—the semi-saints—would have been able to overpower those forcefully created mighty ones.
“No need to hurry. Have Tian Ji mobilize his men, but no need to act for now. Let the others feel what those people are capable of first. We might be meeting them in the battlefield soon enough. As for Qingyuan, tell her to stand down,” Emperor Xia gave his orders.
“Acknowledged.” The cloaked figure nodded and his silhouette turned ethereal, before disappearing altogether.
The news of the battles spread at blitzing speeds, kicking up quite a ruckus. It was especially so with the top notch forces, as they were the first to catch wind of the news.
Many mighty ones made their move, heading towards Emperor Xia’s Palace.
The battles outside Emperor Xia’s Palace continued for days. The cultivators from Emperor Li’s Realm continued to have the absolute edge and overpowered the sages from Emperor Xia’s Realm by a considerable margin. Countless were stunned at the strength of the cultivators from Emperor Li’s Realm.
But then again, the saints were somehow able to tell that something was off.
Many younger generations of many top notch forces gathered outside Emperor Xia’s Palace. People from the Divine Cloud Palace, the Qin Palace, the Xiao clan, the Jiutian Temple and many others were seen there, including some who were ranked on the Jiutian Ranking. Some among them even made their move, yet things remained unchanged. Most from Emperor Xia’s Realm continued to be overpowered, and only a handful had been able to win.
Those top notch figures kept their hands to themselves. The princess and the few of the most powerful figures of Emperor Xia’s Realm had yet to make a move as well. Xia Qingyuan was nowhere to be seen even then, as if none of that had anything to do with her.
Countless from the Upper Worlds discussed about that matter, and Ye Futian naturally caught wind of it. He then arrived outside Emperor Xia’s Palace.
He was there for one reason only—Li Yao.
Many noticed Ye Futian’s presence and discussed about him. He was then considered a renowned figure after all.
Ye Futian took a look at Li Yao, who was sitting on the carriage as soon as he came.
Li Yao was inexcusable for making that battle several years ago back in the Holy Zhi Palace being so brutal.
Saint Zhi and the nine mighty ones acted as they did because of Li Yao. If Saint Zhi had not made a move against him, Jieyu would not have died.
As such, it was within reason to hold Li Yao responsible for Jieyu’s passing, and Ye Futian was compelled to show up.
He was not the only one there. Gongsun Zhong, Qin Bai and others were there as well.
At that moment, high above the 33rd Layer of Heaven of Lihen Heaven.
A figure was sitting there quietly. Sword will of the great path flowed and circled around him.
Several people stood behind him and they were saying something, seemingly informing him of the happenings of Emperor Xia’s Realm as of late.
“The ones from Emperor Li’s Realm are very strong then?” The young man asked.
“There were seniors claiming that the people of Emperor Li’s Realm had been thrust into semi-saint level through forced means using saintly powers. Unless people at the Edge of Pinnacle below Saint Plane were to act, the chances of defeating them would be incredibly small,” the ones behind answered.
“Semi-saint eh?”
The young man mumbled to himself in a calm manner. He took one look and the sky and sword will gushed about, seemingly coalescing from the heavens.
“Sword.” The young man said with a brimming voice, penetrating the heavens. Thousands of swords seemed to have flown and arrived before the young man in mere moments.
He stepped forward and travelled using the swords. Sword aura burst as he made his move, tearing the space before him at breakneck speeds.
Many at Lihen Heaven turned his heads above to catch a glimpse of the mighty scene. Their minds were shuddering.
Looks like our big brother is only one step away from becoming a saint then?
Wang Chuan, the number one figure below Saint Plane at Lihen Heaven, finally descended from the 33rd Layer of Heaven on that day!