Chapter 2647: Glory of Yore
A tremendous piece of news came from the land of the Divine Prefecture—Donghuang Imperial Palace and the Devil World were in the middle of a peace talk to stop the war.
For this reason, the Divine Prefecture was willing to give up the North Cliff Region and leave it to the people of the Devil World as a place of cultivation. The Divine Prefecture would forfeit it without further interference and withdraw their troops.
At the same time, the cultivators of the North Cliff Region may freely choose to move away or stay. During this process, the people from the Devil World may not do anything to the cultivators in the North Cliff Region.
Donghuang Imperial Palace had obtained the truce at the expense of ceding one of the 18 regions of the Divine Prefecture, the North Cliff Region.
This decision had caused a great uproar in the Divine Prefecture, and it was the source of much contention.
Already, some people in the Divine Prefecture had begun to question the judgment of Donghuang the Great. Hundreds of years ago, Donghuang the Great came out of nowhere and ruled the land of the Divine Prefecture with his outstanding talent. Now, hundreds of years later, Donghuang the Great had decided to give up the territory of the North Cliff Region.
Was this really the Great Emperor that they once knew?
Could this mean that, even without Emperor Ye Qing, Donghuang the Great was equally cautious about the Devil Emperor?
Many other rumors were also circulating on the land of the Divine Prefecture, undermining the authority of Donghuang the Great.
Of course, some claimed that the North Cliff Region had already been occupied by the three major legions of the Devil World. The place had turned into a battlefield, and any more fighting would be pointless; it would only bring more deaths and suffering, perpetuating the great disasters to other continents in the North Cliff Region.
This was the true reason why Donghuang the Great had to set aside his pride and hand over the North Cliff Region—to allow the cultivators in the North Cliff Region a chance to extricate themselves.
However, no one knew for sure the actual thought process that went through Donghuang the Great's head.
It was just that the Divine Prefecture had already lost its right to govern, and now with the North Cliff Region fallen into the hands of the Devil World, it seemed that over the years, the Divine Prefecture had made one concession after another. Was this still the same Divine Prefecture that they used to know?
Was Donghuang the Great the same great emperor as he once was?
Other than that, there was another ponderous news the came out of the Divine Prefecture.
Rumor had it that Wang Xiao of Tianyan City was no longer Wang Xiao.
This news came out of the North Cliff Region, and the Evil Sage of the Empty Divine Realm was the one who first made such a claim. He had seen Wang Xiao's demise with his own eyes, whose soul and spirit were scattered at his time of death.
However, Tianyan City did not make any response regarding this rumor.
In light of such shocking news, cultivators from the Divine Prefecture had made subsequent inquiries to Tianyan City. All of them were from top principalities and included people from the Ancient God Clans. They were most interested in the veracity of this claim.
If it weren't Wang Xiao, then who could it be?
With the passage of time and the continued silence of Tianyan City, the suspicion grew stronger. Many cultivators from the Divine Prefecture finally decided to set off for Tianyan City to see Wang Xiao and determine the fact for themselves.
On a certain day, Wang Xiao finally made a public appearance and announced that he was the reincarnation of Tianyan the Great.
For a time, this explosive news caused great commotion in the Divine Prefecture, and the world was in shock.
Tianyan the Great, the Great Emperor of armoring in ancient times, had returned.
At the time, all the cultivators who were present were stunned, including the top figures. Without exception, they were speechless and unsure as to what to say. This news was too sensational: the Great Emperor of Tianyan City was reborn through Wang Xiao and had appeared once again in the world.
What would this mean to the Divine Prefecture?
Would the six Great Emperors in the world pay any attention to it?
However, there was not a peep from any of the six emperors. Even Donghuang Imperial Palace in the Divine Prefecture was unusually quiet. Although Donghuang the Great dispatched an envoy from the Imperial Palace to Tianyan City to ask, it was so casual that it seemed as if they didn't really grasp the gravity of a great emperor's return.
This kind of nonchalance also made countless people wonder just exactly what was Donghuang the Great thinking?
If Tianyan the Great had recuperated his peak strength, would he compete with Donghuang the Great for the right to control the Divine Prefecture?
The Ancient God Clans were never under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial palace; they were no more than one of the principalities that happened to located in the Divine Prefecture. Moreover, their heritage far preceded the establishment of Donghuang Imperial Palace, as they had been commanding the lands of the Divine Prefecture countless years ago as a much older entity than Donghuang the Great himself.
No one would expect Tianyan the Great to surrender under the power of Donghuang the Great. This was the Great Emperor of armoring from the ancient days. If he had returned fully to his former glory, how could he succumb to any others?
After that, the Human Realm also dispatched an emissary to Tianyan City to congratulate the return of Tianyan the Great. The return of a great emperor from ancient times was viewed as a blessing to the cultivation world.
It seemed that everything was moving in a positive direction.
Tianyan the Great did not make any response whatsoever. He was an old monster who had lived for a great many years. He was someone from the ancient days who was now coming back through reincarnation. This, in itself, was a very sensitive issue. Especially now that they were in a time of chaos, he knew very well that if he got too close to any one side, it might make him a target to other forces.
The presence of a great emperor would disrupt the balance of the world. He wanted to wait until his cultivation had been fully restored to its peak level, as it was the only way to preserve the existing balance without affecting those great ruling emperors in the present world. Or, he could wait until the situation became clearer when he was very confident that picking a side would not translate into total obliteration of him or his people.
Therefore, Tianyan the Great announced that Ye Futian of Ziwei Imperial Palace was instrumental in the slaughters in Tianyan City, which killed numerous cultivators inside the city. For that, he needed to be brought to justice.
In addition, he also announced that Ziwei Imperial Palace was not worthy of occupying a territory, lording over the Original Realm. Instead, Tianyan City would take over Ziwei Imperial Palace and replace it.
After the news came out, the Divine Prefecture was in mayhem again and was shaken to its core.
Tianyan the Great had decided to attack Ziwei Segmentum, not only because of the confrontations that happened with the Ziwei Segmentum but there were other deeper implications. For example, he could move Tianyan City into Ziwei Segmentum in the future and take over the control of it, thus ruling over all of the Original Realm.
This way, he would neither belong to the Divine Prefecture nor compete with Donghuang Imperial Palace for control over the Divine Prefecture.
He coveted the Original Realm.
For this reason, many principalities actually responded to his call of arms, including all the Ancient God Clans, who were supportive of Tianyan the Great. They were willing to follow him to the Ziwei Segmentum to destroy Ziwei and get rid of Ye Futian.
As if they had, once again, forgotten what happened once upon a time.
After all, this time, it was the return of Tianyan the Great, and Ye Futian would die without question.
Finally, the end was upon Ziwei and Ye Futian.
People in the Divine Prefecture were quite sorry to hear this news. Ye Futian's strength was widely witnessed and proven. It was said that he was the one who killed Wang Xiao while Wang Xiao was wielding the imperial arms on the battlefield. Furthermore, he suppressed the City Lord of Tianyan, demonstrating how powerful he was. Truly, he could be said to be a world-famous genius talent.
Given time, Ye Futian could very well embark on the road to become a great emperor himself. However, the return of an ancient emperor would cut off his path to becoming an emperor, not to mention this ancient emperor meant to do away with Ye Futian. This time, Ye Futian might not be able to escape.
Naturally, Ye Futian received the news quickly in Ziwei Imperial Palace. How could such important news concerning him be overlooked?
Many had contacted him as soon as they got wind of the words, and Xi Chiyao was also there, who informed him right away.
As the news spread through Ziwei Imperial Palace, many cultivators felt a sense of hopelessness, like the dark clouds were hovering over their heads again. It had not been an easy journey for Ziwei Segmentum, as they had been through so many catastrophes and disasters, under siege time and time again.
Now that a Great Emperor had been resurrected, his first order of business was to destroy them. This made them feel unjustifiably persecuted.
This time, would they be heading to ruins?
Who could block the might of a Great Emperor?
Even though Tianyan the Great hadn't fully recuperated all his strength as the Great Emperor, he was once an ancient emperor who was armed with imperial arms. It was probably impossible to stop him, no matter what.
Ye Futian had heard the chatters on the outside and thought that whatever was destined would come sooner rather than later. He had hoped it would be later, but the truth was exposed before schedule. The Evil Sage, Mo Qingge, guessed correctly. Now that the identity of Tianyan the Great had been revealed, there was no incentive for him to hide the truth from anyone anymore. So, now he decided to act proactively by seeking the destruction of Ziwei Segmentum and him.
As he stepped forward, Ye Futian came to the main hall in Ziwei Imperial Palace, where many cultivators had already gathered. Their attention turned to Ye Futian once they saw him approach.
"Palace Lord," Lord Chen called out.
"They are on their way here," said Ye Futian. The clan lord of the Shen Clan had also joined the army dispatched from Tianyan City. The Shen Clan was under his control, so he was very keen on what was happening. No movements from the other side could escape his sight.
Although everyone was puzzled, they didn't ask anything further. Ye Futian would have his own way of dealing with things.
"I knew already when I was in the North Cliff Region, that why I chose to leave. After that, I went back to the village to talk to the teacher. The teacher said that he would keep an eye on this side." Ye Futian tried to calm everyone down and continued, "However, I am not very sure of the situation regarding the teacher, and Tianyan the Great has truly been reborn and returned, so the outcome of this battle is unknown. If Tianyan the Great cannot be blocked, all of you should leave immediately through the teleportation grand matrix and give up Ziwei Imperial Palace."
"We will live and die with Ziwei Imperial Palace," Lord Chen and the others said.
"There is no need to do that; save yourselves." Ye Futian gave a wave with his hand. He didn't like a useless sacrifice. Although it was noble in sentiment, it had no real substance. If the outcome was destined, he hoped to save as many of them as possible.
Now, it all depended on whether or not he could stop the onslaught.
"Lord Chen, you are the Supreme Elder; you are responsible for making sure this happens." Ye Futian looked at Lord Chen and added, "This is an order."
Lord Chen looked at Ye Futian, then nodded and acquiesced, "Yes, Palace Lord."
Seeing that everyone's heads were hung, Ye Futian smiled and said, "Don't be so pessimistic. I've experienced this kind of thing many times before, and every time I survived. It's the same this time. I am not so easily taken."
He shrugged as he spoke, looking unconcerned and carefree. Many looked at his relaxed pose, but their hearts remained heavy.
The opponent this time was more terrifying than any he faced before; the resurrected Great Emperor of yore.
"They have departed already and entered the land of the Original Realm as we speak. I am heading over there now. Lord Chen, remember my order," Ye Futian said, then his figure flashed and disappeared from where he was.
Everyone in the Ziwei Imperial Palace raised their heads to watch that departing figure in the sky, and their hearts were unspeakably heavy.
It didn't take long for a brilliant starry light screen to light up in Ziwei Segmentum, which covered the entire expanse of the Segmentum. In the land of the Original Realm, a mighty army appeared, and its soldiers meant to overpower Ziwei.
This time, the one who led the troops was Tianyan the Great himself!