High up in the sky, the clouds danced in the wind. Even from far away one could feel the pressure that stretched down from the air. This level of pressure was like that which would come from a real Saint.
The army was obviously pressing close, and would be there soon.
Xia Qingyuan looked up into the sky. This would be the first incident of the Battle of Empty Realm. And as far as Emperor Xia’s Realm was concerned, they needed to defeat Emperor Li’s main assault. That was why she had hoped Ye Futian would be there. Given his combat prowess, even fighting by himself he would be nearly untouchable, and would be worth as much as a thousand men.
But Ye Futian refused to fight. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she didn’t resent him for it. Li Yao had slain Hua Jieyu, and so the person who wanted Li Yao dead the most was Ye Futian. But the enemy he had chosen to act against was not Emperor Li’s Realm, but Demon Peacock City. He must have his own plan.
“War is coming. Emperor Li’s army presses upon our borders, and yet he wantonly refuses to return and fight. He may be an outstanding talent, but it is too much for him to ignore this battle,” said Gongsun Zhong. “Princess, by ignoring military discipline like this, Ye Futian has shown himself to be too arrogant.”
“I never would have thought Brother Ye would refuse to fight either, and I don’t know why he’s doing it,” said Xiao Sheng. “Princess, why not order someone else to take command of the forces of the Nine States?”
“You know war is coming, and yet you do not prepare for it, instead stirring up trouble here. What evil intentions are you hiding?” Gu Dongliu swept his gaze over them. Gongsun Zhong and Xiao Sheng had been born into some of the top forces of the Upper Realms, especially Xiao Sheng. He was the Princess’s cousin. The two of them had always followed the Princess’s lead, trying to become her confidants. He could see right through them.
But Xia Qingyuan regarded Ye Futian very highly. Was he standing in their way?
“Ye Futian has already arranged the Nine States’ forces quite well, so there’s no need to change them. Why don’t you go prepare your own battle matrices?” said Xia Qingyuan coldly. No joy or anger could be heard in her voice. It was like a winter that lasted thousands of years.
Everyone nodded, and naturally did not say too much. The cultivators of the Upper Realms went off to form up into a phalanx.
The strongest cultivators below the Saint level of the three realms would compete in the Battle of Empty Realm, and many of them had divine implements, and some of the divine implements were quite high level. And some of the cultivators were halfway to the Saint level themselves, and would achieve enlightenment with only a single step more.
A battle matrix like this had the attack power of a Saint. There was no single person in the world below the Saint level who could shake them.
The phalanxes formed up one by one. The battle matrices of the Sacred General of Tian and the Sacred General of Dou were the most powerful among the army. Even though the individual cultivators in them weren’t the strongest, they were among the strongest that had been selected from the army. They had been thoroughly honed until their ability to form matrices was the strongest. They could perform thousands of transformations. These two branches of the army were equally perfect wholes.
Relatively speaking, the troops from the Nine States were the weakest. They hadn’t had any training, and those among them were all Heavenly Chosen Ones, so there were no tacit understandings or arrangements between them. Other than the ones from the Holy Zhi Palace, they all worked as individual units.
“You are more suited for individual combat. After the battle starts, form squads of a few people and hunt down their cultivators who flee, or watch to see where the weak points in the enemy’s battle matrices are, and see when we have a chance to strike,” said Xia Qingyuan to Sword Saint and Gu Dongliu.
This was the task she was going to assign to Ye Futian, to act as the army’s sharp knife. With his near invincibility, even if he fell into the middle of the enemy army he would have the power to protect himself. He would not be easily killed by the enemy matrix because he was too weak.
“Yes, Princess.” Sword Saint nodded at her order. Since this was the Battle of Empty Realm, he would not disobey her order due to the danger.
Everyone in a great battle faced danger.
The vast army, carrying the power to crush heaven and earth, stood in the air above Emperor Xia’s City with their banners down. Princess Xia Qingyuan stood between the Sacred General of Tian and the Sacred General of Dou’s armies with cultivators of the Upper Realms before her. She looked up into the sky.
Up there, there were powerful armies coming from two directions. One army was a cohesive unit, while the other was like the armies of Emperor Xia’s Realm, divided up into individual camps. But at the same time it formed a whole.
Li Yao had come himself. He was in the center of the cohesive army, looking down. He called across the distance, “Xia Qingyuan, I once came to Emperor Xia’s Palace to propose a marriage. If you agree to enter Emperor Li’s Palace, I will give you the right to control the Empty Realm for a hundred years as a wedding gift. How does that sound?”
If Emperor Xia’s Realm and Emperor Li’s Realm formed a marriage alliance, it would certainly be possible for them to win control of the Empty Realm ten times in a row.
Xia Qingyuan’s eyes were cold. She swept her gaze up towards Li Yao, but did not answer him. As a woman, any response she could make to this humiliation would be meaningless. She could only meet him on the battlefield.
She looked at the army that Li Yao was in, and felt a familiar aura from the cultivators at the very front. It was like the aura of the cultivators the Li Yao had brought to Emperor Xia’s Palace to provoke them to war.
This was a group of human weapons, a group of undead soldiers who had been trained by the Imperial Advisor for the Dali Dynasty.
Seeing that Xia Qingyuan made no response, Li Yao waved his hand, and suddenly a powerful aura swept out from the army. The clouds all over the sky changed color, and Saintly power pressed down on the vast city.
The two armies went to war.
……..
In Demon Peacock City, Kong Xuan and Kong Zhan stood before the palace. A golden Rocs flashed over, piercing through the air and landing before them and saying, “Emperor Xia’s Realm and Emperor Li’s Realm are fighting at Emperor Xia’s City.”
“How many men did Emperor Li’s Realm send?” asked Kong Zhan.
“More than half their army. They can’t have left behind more than a third of their forces to garrison their realm,” answered the Roc. Emperor Li’s Realm could not have sent out their whole army, otherwise the Demon Peacock Emperor would launch a surprise attack and directly cut down their flags.
However, Emperor Li’s Realm had dared a lot. They had dared to dispatch a majority of their army on an attack. In the past, this kind of situation rarely occurred, in which two armies entered a direct confrontation like this.
Of course, Emperor Li’s Realm had not only dared this because they were brave. In reality, if the Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm dared send out their armies to attack Emperor Li’s City, then the armies from Emperor’s Li’s City might attack them here as well.
“Observe the battle, then come back and report,” said Kong Xuan. “And be careful to avoid that b*stard.”
These days no one dared go alone outside the city limits, since that man and that beast would launch surprise attacks from time to time.
“Yes, Your Highness.” The Roc turned and left. Kong Zhan and Kong Xuan looked pensive. Next two them were the leader-level demonic beasts of the great families. An arrogant figure among them said, “Your Highnesses, do you want to seize this opportunity?”
“What is your idea?” asked Kong Zhan.
“Emperor Li’s Realm and Emperor Xia’s Realm are at war. If we take the initiative we can attack either of them,” he answered.
“Your Highness, I don’t recommend attacking Emperor Li’s Realm,” said a gold-winged Roc.
“Why not?” asked Kong Xuan.
“If we launch a surprise attack on Emperor Li’s Realm, no matter if we win or lose we will become their enemies. If we win it will be good, but then we will have to face Emperor Xia’s Realm. And if we lose, Emperor Li’s Realm will change their target from Emperor Xia’s Realm to us,” said the Demonic Beast. “Instead, all we have to do now is wait and see. Let the two great forces fight, and wait for them to waste their power. In addition, that cultivator from Emperor Xia’s Realm has been so arrogant, and has humiliated you, Your Highness. Once they have expended their strength, won’t it be advantageous to ally Emperor Li’s Realm?”
Kong Xuan looked at the demonic beast. The proud young cultivator beside her looked at him strangely as well. He was a descendant of the head of the Golden Roc Clan leader, Jia Louwang, and was the leader of their army. His name was Jia Loufeng.
“Not bad,” she said to him. “You know how to think.”
Although demonic beasts could open their minds to wisdom, they were not as good as human beings at rational thinking.
Thus, in the Battle of Empty Realm, the Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm had won the least victories. This was not because they were weaker, but because they had often been tricked.
“Witch…” At that moment a voice came down from the sky.
“Shut up.” Kong Xuan raised her eyes to the sky. She was even more attractive when she was upset.
Her eyes were extremely cold. She had had enough of this.
“Master, this witch has a temper. That will have to be adjusted,” came the black wind condor’s voice again.
Kong Zhan’s eyes were cold. He looked up at Ye Futian and said, “Emperor Xia’s City is under attack. Presumably there won’t be anybody who will have time to worry about us now.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?” asked Jia Loufeng.
“Have many cultivators of the demonic families not died at his hands these past few days?” Kong Zhan’s eyes grew even colder.
“If we kill them, it will be easier to make an alliance with Emperor Li’s Realm later,” said the Roc who had spoken earlier. “The members of Jia Louwang’s clan are the fastest. And we have with us here we have one of his treasures…”
He turned to look at Jia Loufeng.
“He has an incredibly powerful treasure that he attacks with. Many cultivators once pursued him, and he killed them all with a single swipe of his halberd. We have unexpectedly failed to catch him time and time again,” said Kong Xuan.
“The young master’s speed is unparalleled, and he holds a valuable treasure. His attacks are extremely powerful. If the young master pursues him he won’t be able to escape,” continued the demonic beast.
“I am willing to serve you, Your Highness.” Jia Loufeng’s voice was calm. He was a descendant of Jia Louwang, and he commanded the Rocs in the Battle of Empty Realm. He was the strongest one there aside from Kong Xuan and Kong Zhan.
“Jia Loufeng will lead the Rocs to chase and pin him down, and you will lead two armies of demonic beasts in a secondary attack. Attack if you get a chance,” said Kong Zhan. Although they had no way to kill Ye Futian, they could send him into a full retreat with Jia Loufeng’s power.
Before they had not dared to pursue him too far, as they feared a counterattack by Emperor Xia’s Realm. But now that they were at war they had no scruples. Even if they did not kill Ye Futian, they could make him fear for his life.
“Alright,” nodded Kong Xuan.
“We will follow you, Your Highness,” said all the demonic beasts. All their eyes turned to Ye Futian up in the sky, and their murderous intent burned fiercely. They had already suffered Ye Futian for too long.
“They’ve finally taken the bait, boss,” the black wind condor transmitted to Ye Futian. Things were getting interesting.
Ye Futian’s face was expressionless. He turned and said, “Let’s go.”
On saying this, the black wind condor flapped its wings and left. They had dominated many demonic beasts over the past few days, but they still lacked demonic beast cultivators with any real power. There were not enough to complete their plan.
Right now he could easily cut down the banners in Demon Peacock Emperor City, but he did not intend to do so. He had a greater use for the demons of the Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm!