Chapter 1837 The Hearts of Men
The College Chief of Tianshen Academy was called Jian Ao. Although he had a pretty good idea why Ye Futian held back, he still purposely said to the person beside him, "If I recall correctly, Ye Futian previously trained in Tianshen Academy for a period of time?"
"Hmm. Back then, after Ye Futian emerged from the God's relic, he landed in a tight spot, and his life was on the line. Our Tianshen Academy stepped out and allowed him to enter the academy to train, helping him to escape his predicament," a member of the Tianshen Academy said. His tone was filled with dissatisfaction.
Ye Futian only cared for his alliance members. If he had acted sooner, the disciples of the Tianshen Academy would not have encountered their current crisis. Fewer of their members would have fallen in the first place.
Jian Ao nodded his head slightly and said, "Before the Dark Court and the Evil Emperor Realm invaded the Original Realm, the situation in the Original Realm was already extremely chaotic. The Heavenly Mandate Academy formed an alliance with many forces. Ye Futian had previously trained in Tianshen Academy for a period of time, but he cannot be considered a disciple of the academy. Now, on this battlefield, although we are on the same side, having different priorities is also normal. There isn't much that we can comment on. We can only lament that the disciples of the Tianshen Academy have weaker cultivation than others. If they can make it out alive, you all will need to push them harder in the future."
"College Chief Jian is truly righteous." Shen Gao from Shen clan said, "This is a battle to determine who the Original Realm belongs to. It is extremely important for our Divine Prefecture. Ye Futian's alliance members are all safe. He would rather remain on guard over there than lend aid to other parts of the battlefield. From the looks of it, he places the interests of his alliance members over the outcome of the war. However, this is also normal. The more severe the losses to our forces, the more beneficial it is for the allied forces of the Heavenly Mandate Academy."
These words were somewhat condemning.
This war was personally led by Princess Donghuang. In order to claim the rights for control over the Original Realm, she had gathered cultivators from various forces to participate in the battle. If Ye Futian had prioritized his own interests, had intentionally held back from giving his all, and ignored the outcome of the battle, what would the Princess think?
How would the major figures who had arrived from the Divine Prefecture think?
At least from the looks of it, Ye Futian indeed had the reserves to join other battles and provide a greater opportunity for the Divine Prefecture.
Many people glanced over at Princess Donghuang. They wanted to speculate the mind of the princess. However, Princess Donghuang merely lifted her head and looked towards the screen in the heavens. Her flawless face was as calm as still water. There was not a ripple of emotion on it. She had not been stirred by the words of others at all.
This caused Shen Gao and the others to sigh inside. Even though Princess Donghuang was young, her emotions were not visible. She had superb control over her feelings. No one could make out a hint of emotion from her face. The only daughter of the Great Emperor must have known how to control her expressions.
At the very least, she could not let the ones below tell what she was thinking and then manipulate her thoughts.
On the battlefield, Ye Futian's divine sword clashed with his opponents' roulette ritual implement across a vast distance. Extremely powerful Sword Will circulated around Ye Futian's body. He controlled the divine sword from afar with his will.
His figure stood tall in mid-air, his clothes fluttering in the wind. His eyes were closed, and his facial expression was solemn. He gestured a sword seal with his finger and pointed it out in mid-air.
In an instant, across the distance, the divine sword emitted astonishing sword light. Sword Will filled the sky around the divine sword. The Cleave of All Things ripped apart the space as it charged towards the opponent.
The cultivator's Divine Wheel of the Great Path appeared behind him. Countless roulettes spun around in the sky. They sliced apart the space and collided with the Cleave of All Things technique. An extremely high-pitched sound instantly exploded through the space.
An astonishing storm of the Great Path flowed in reverse. The rampaging spatial storm swept towards the opponent's body. The power that slashed through the space seemed to also charge towards the opponent.
Myriads of sword light wrapped around the space and became a river of swords. The vast might of the sword astonished the cultivators of the Tianshen Academy. Was this Ye Futian's ability? The opponent that they could not handle, the Renhuang who was massacring amongst them, was now being suppressed by Ye Futian from a distance with swords.
Buzz. The Sword Will on Ye Futian's body flourished. His silver hair danced around like sharp swords, hiding his face. From a distance, the murderous Sword Will became a river of swords in space that was majestic beyond comparison.
The Sword Will that filled the sky flowed in reverse as it slaughtered its way towards the opponent. The roulette in front of the cultivator expanded as he took a defensive stance, and his figure retreated backwards.
Swoosh. Sword Will cleaved off one of his opponent's arms. The person let out a dull groan. Ignoring the intense pain coming from his arm, his opponent's body was bathed in the Divine Light of Space. He took a step back and immediately left the battlefield, flying off into the distance.
The divine swords hummed as they vibrated. They did not pursue the opponent, instead returning to the battlefield where Jian Qingzhu was.
Jian Qingzhu was surrounded by a few possessors of flawless Divine Wheels. He was under immense pressure.
The dazzling divine swords swept across the space, breaking through the opponents' encirclement. They immediately eliminated one of the cultivators with a second-tier Divine Wheel. The Scroll of the Great Path on Jian Qingzhu's body released a brilliant might of Way. It pressured his opponents to step back, causing them to spread out across the battlefield.
Their expressions changed as they looked at the divine swords floating in the air as well as Ye Futian in the distance.
"Retreat," the leader said decisively as he then retreated backward. Those beside him followed behind and moved towards other parts of the battlefield.
Since they could not deal with him, they would naturally not risk their lives doing so. Ye Futian controlled the divine swords from a distance. This made them feel severely threatened.
After his opponents left, the divine swords flew back and returned to Ye Futian's side.
Jian Qingzhu's gaze followed the track of the divine swords returning and saw Ye Futian. He nodded slightly in appreciation of Ye Futian's help.
Ye Futian nodded in response too. Then, he retracted his gaze. In reality, Ye Futian helped Jian Qingzhu, not because of the Tianshen Academy; it was purely because they were on the same side now, and he was capable of lending aid. Since that was the case, Ye Futian did not mind saving the cultivators of the Tianshen Academy. He didn't expect them to return the favor too.
Similarly, Ye Futian did not expect the elders of the Tianshen Academy to have a change of attitude in terms of how they treated him. From their behavior last time, Ye Futian had clearly understood that they would, at most, be strangers. Hence, he had never thought of establishing a good relationship with them. He wouldn't expect them to show appreciation for his aid too.
He attacked simply because he wanted to. That was all to it.
"Why did he let the enemy go?" exclaimed a Renhuang from the Tianshen Academy, who was injured and drenched in blood. He witnessed how his companions were slaughtered in front of his eyes; he himself was almost killed too. His emotions were unstable now. He had an intense murderous intent in his eyes.
With the might of that divine sword, if Ye Futian was willing, he could possibly kill the opponents instead of letting them escape.
However, Ye Futian did not go all out; he merely sent out a sword.
Nobody had answers to this question; they weren't qualified to question Ye Futian either. After all, they were all saved by Ye Futian. What right did they have to question Ye Futian of his intention of letting the other party escape?
However, a few of them still held grudges in their hearts. They glanced in the direction where Ye Futian was.
They were on the same side on this battlefield, but Ye Futian had held back when helping them.
Just now, if Ye Futian had attacked the enemy earlier, or if Ye Futian had personally come over instead of controlling a sword from afar, the outcome of the battle would be completely different.
However, Ye Futian did not do so.
Actually, Ye Futian noticed the dissatisfaction of the cultivators of the Tianshen Academy, but he was well-aware that the hearts of men were complicated. Of course, he didn't care about their thoughts at all. Their attitude was insignificant to him.
Due to the presence of Ye Futian in this region, the Divine Prefecture side held the advantage. However, the situation was not the same in other places. In the distance, the cultivators of the Holy Land of Taichu were experiencing a severe challenge. Their opponents were similarly the cultivators from the Evil Emperor Realm. The abilities of these opponents were terrifying. Mu Qingke, who had fought with Ye Futian last time at the Heavenly Mandate Academy, was here too. However, right now, he was actually being suppressed by an opponent. His opponent was an extremely powerful figure who had trained at Empty Mountain. He originated from one of the top forces from the Empty Divine Realm. Hence, he had joined this battle this time with his clan members.
Aside from the battlefield where the cultivators of the Holy Land of Taichu were, the same situation was also happening at other parts of the battlefield. The cultivators from the top forces of the Divine Prefecture side were all being attacked by enemies who were on par with them.
Ye Futian's party formed a small-scale troop. After they defeated their opponents, they advanced in the direction where the main battles were happening.
At the moment, a group of cultivators passed by in the sky. When they saw Ye Futian's party, they revealed bizarre expressions. There were actually cultivators from the Divine Prefecture who were so free and were not being attacked?
The leader of the group who crossed paths with Ye Futian was a woman. Her bearing was valiant, and she demonstrated the temperament of a royal. She emanated the might of a female Renhuang; her Divine Wheel of the Great Path was flawless.
She glanced at Ye Futian. This Renhuang is rather handsome, she thought to herself. However, the next moment, her gaze was tainted with murderous intent. She uttered, "Kill them."
As soon as she had spoken, a dazzling pair of divine wings of the void stretched out from her back. After her wings were spread out, countless golden spatial lines enveloped the space. The other cultivators in her group also appeared in different directions and pounced downwards. Divine halos showered down from the sky, enveloping Ye Futian and his party in them. The spatial lines formed a hunting web. The spatial lines were as sharp as blades as they cut the space into fragments.
When Ye Futian saw this scene, he thought that the cultivators of the Empty Divine Realm seemed to have a greater understanding regarding spatial techniques compared to other cultivators. It was their natural talent.
"Be careful," Ye Futian said. Once he said this, cold air flowed around him and converged into the spatial hunting web. This caused a cold, frosty aura to permeate the hunting web. Its movements and the speed that it descended slowed down.
Buzz. Ye Futian's body became a bolt of lightning. He wielded the divine sword as he charged forward. The frightening pillar of sword light immediately broke through the golden hunting web. Ye Futian's figure shot straight up as he charged towards the leading woman.
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at the light of the divine sword. Her divine wings immediately slashed downwards. Each feather became the sharpest blade that slashed down on the space.
Swoosh. Swoosh. A chilling will approached her, and her wings were covered in frost. The divine sword cut through space and blasted on the wings. However, the divine wings were surprisingly tough. The divine sword was not able to slice through them. The wings were most likely fortified with a treasured item.
An extremely cold Yin frost current immediately covered the divine wings. It then invaded the opponent's body. The woman felt an icy chill over her spiritual soul. It was as though she was being frozen alive.
Splat. The divine wings were outstretched as they sliced towards Ye Futian's body. If she were frozen, she would not survive.
Unfortunately, as she thought of retreating, she saw the light of a cold moon. Time and space seemed to have stopped.
The divine sword radiated an unparalleled divine light. It pierced directly through her body. She was killed in an instant!