âZimo, youâve saved me once more,â
Ji Yaoxue beamed brightly and quipped, âI wonât be able to clear my debt to you in this lifetime.â
Su Zimo smiled as well. âThereâs no need to speak of such things between us.â
âEight meridian Foundation Establishment. Seems like youâve gotten quite a bit of opportunities in the depths of the ancient battlefield.â
âIndeed, Iâve gotten some.â
It had to be said that Su Zimo had truly benefited way too much in this ancient battlefield expedition.
Notwithstanding the inheritances and treasures, his cultivation realm gained through this one year in the ancient battlefield was already enough to make up for dozens of years of cultivation on Tianhuang Mainland!
Suddenly, Ji Yaoxueâs expression changed as she asked, âXiaoning and the others...â
Su Zimoâs group had six people when they left. Now that he was the only one who returned, Ji Yaoxue had a bad feeling about things.
âDonât worry,â
Su Zimo waved his hand. âAll of them received their own opportunities and joined some older and more powerful sects. In fact, some of them might have already left the Tianhuang North Region.â
Xiaoningâs Elixir Yang Sect was located far away in the Middle Continent.
Tianhuang Mainland was boundless and vast. If a Foundation Establishment Cultivator wanted to travel from the North Region to the Middle Continent, they would have to be on the road day and night for dozens of years even without resting.
That was also without taking into account the possible dangers they might encounter along the way.
In reality, it was something that was difficult even for Golden Cores too.
Only Nascent Souls could protect themselves well enough to attempt to travel out from the North Region and roam everywhere.
It was likely impossible for the siblings to meet one another in the near future after this separation.
That was the reason why Su Zimo wanted Night Spirit to stay by Xiaoningâs side and look after her.
As for little fatty, Leng Rou, Ji Chengtian and Shi Jian, they were worlds apart as well â it was unknown if he would still have the chance to meet them in this lifetime.
At that thought, Su Zimo could not help but feel slightly emotional and wistful.
âZimo, youâre still worried about Blood Crow Palace taking revenge, right?â
Ji Yaoxue was extremely smart and after slight contemplation, she understood why everyone went their separate ways.
Su Zimo had killed the young master of the Blood Crow Palace and even nearly caused the Palace Lord himself to die in the primordial ruins.
The feud between him and them was already irreconcilable.
That day, in the palace, right under the nose of the Emperor of Great Zhou, the Blood Crow King declared that all the disciples of Ethereal Peak would be buried along with the young master â it was obvious how arrogant he was and the amount of backing he had!
While it might be a huge calamity for Su Zimo personally, it was also one for Ethereal Peak.
Everyone else of Ethereal Peak could leave, but not him.
To turn his back and leave after creating such a mess, leaving Ethereal Peak and his eldest brother, Su Hong, in the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty without any care...
That was something that Su Zimoâs heart would not allow.
âZimo, donât worry. Iâll help you plead for mercy with father,â
Worried that Su Zimo might not take her words for real, Ji Yaoxue continued, âIf the Blood Crow Palace truly dares to do anything outrageous, the Great Zhou Dynasty will definitely not sit by idly and watch!â
âYes.â
Su Zimo smiled and nodded.
In reality, he knew and could read the situation clearer than anyone.
The attitude of the Emperor of Great Zhou towards the Blood Crow King at the sect competition had already made many things clear.
Even the Great Zhou Dynasty was wary of the Blood Crow Palaceâs Lord!
Or rather, it was cautious of the Witch race behind it, one of the Primordial Nine Races.
It was almost hopeless to think that the Great Zhou Dynasty would interfere in the matter.
âYaoxue, prepare yourself. Weâll head to the teleportation spot and return to the Great Zhou Dynasty!â
âAlright.â
...
With the year in the ancient battlefield about to end, many cultivators were returning to Tianhuang Mainland.
Some were ecstatic while some were worried.
Some cultivators even had a surreal feeling of escaping a great calamity.
They could only heal the trauma in their hearts gradually after returning to their sects in Tianhuang Mainland!
Right after, heavy news started spreading through the super sects of the cultivation world, akin to gigantic boulders tossed into the middle of lakes and creating massive waves!
âAfter a thousand years, the Saber Emperorâs inheritance was obtained by a cultivator and the Saber Mountain Spirit Sea vanished.â
âRight, more than a hundred cultivators of Poison Sect were killed by a single person and even Malevolent Earth Sect and Glass Palace were implicated!â
âHow savage! Who is he? What sect or faction is he from?â
âIâve got no idea. He didnât wear a sect badge. Some say that heâs a meek scholar while other say that he looks menacing.â
Glass Palace and Malevolent Earth Sect received the news almost instantly and their sect masters were enraged.
Both sects sent out multiple cultivators to scout out news of that cultivatorâs background and location.
Before the various sects managed to digest that news, an even more shocking piece of news was spread, causing a shock for the super sects and sending a wave across the entire cultivation world!
âThe Human Emperorâs Palace appeared!â
âThe successor of Divine Phoenix Island appeared at the Human Emperorâs Palace and fought against all the paragons of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects together!â
âThe paragons of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects worked together? Fufu, Divine Phoenix Islandâs successor sure is unlucky. He must have died without even a corpse left. Who managed to obtain the Human Emperorâs inheritance in the end?â
âThatâs where youâre wrong! He suppressed all the paragons of the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects singlehandedly and it was an extremely tragic and shocking battle!â
âWhat? What did you say?!â
âThe paragons of Asura Sect, Heaven Asura Sect, Purple Firmament Sect, Chaos Essence Sect, Clear Wind Temple, Illusion Fiend Cult and Formless Monastery are all dead! While the paragons of the other sects managed to survive and escape, some of them had their arms and roots crippled and it would be tough for them to shine in the future.â
The elders of the various sects received the news at almost the same time and were in shock and disbelief.
âWhat about the Sealers?â
âThere were more than ten Sealers from the immortal, Buddhist and fiend sects together! Are they all trashes? As Golden Cores, canât any of them kill a single Foundation Establishment Cultivator?â
âEven when five Sealers joined forces, they failed and died with regrets!â
âPsst! Even Sealers failed despite working together?â
âThe right hand of Divine Phoenix Islandâs successor is made from a divine phoenix bone and possess an immense might!â
âHe was severely injured together with the fiend sectâs Pure Maiden and they entered the Human Emperorâs Palace at the same time. Their fates are currently unknown.â
The elders went silent when they heard that.
A long time later, someone sighed deeply. âItâs a monster incarnate!â
âI donât think itâs exaggerated to claim that heâs the number one monster incarnate ever since the ancient times.â
...
At the same time.
In an unknown location in the Middle Continent, an ancient-looking palace stood erected.
A rosy-cheeked old man with a white crown and long robes stood in front of the palace entrance with one hand behind his back. His other hand was in front of him and his fingers were twitching; there was a gray fog that veiled his eyes, making him seem extremely mysterious.
âOld man, have you divined anything?â
Behind the old man was a gray-robed man who was slightly plump and had a pale, beardless fan. Holding a folding fan, he asked anxiously.
If Su Zimo was here, he would have recognized that this was Lin Xuanji whom he had encountered by chance at the primordial ruins.
The old man in front was the storyteller back in the capital of Great Zhou.
A long time later, the haze disappeared from the old manâs eyes as he frowned while shaking his head. âItâs true that the Human Emperorâs Palace appeared. However, I didnât manage to divine any news of that lad... strange.â
âDoes Divine Phoenix Island truly have such a monster incarnate?â
The two of them exchanged glances, feeling that there was something odd about this.
Sucking his lips, the old man replied, âNo matter what, the appearance of the Human Emperorâs Palace proves that this is going to be a golden era with countless paragons and monster incarnates created. Itâs very likely that weâll have a situation similar to the ancient era with multiple emperors arising.â
âOf course, with that, there will also be unimaginable trouble! Heh, letâs just wait and see.â