Spring, Year 10018 of Divine Prefecture Calendar. Ye Futian, Palace Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State, had returned. Things became rather unsettling throughout the Nine States in an instant, and it was especially dire for the six holy lands that participated in the attempted razing of the Holy Zhi Palace. Many felt restless about the news.
The saint of the Hall of Holy Light was probably the only one capable of suppressing the Holy Zhi Palace. The remaining five, even Xihua Sacred Mountain, which had three saints in their ranks, were probably incapable of going up against the Holy Zhi Palace.
Presently, there were four saints in the Holy Zhi Palace. Yaya’s powers were unknown but Saint Jiang was ranked 12th on the Saint Ranking, capable of easily overpowering Saint Xihua. The Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty had two saints and they were somewhat weaker. The saints of the three holy lands of the Endless Ocean were even less powerful than the two in the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty.
That was how things were with Saint Plane figures. As for the sages, there was Ye Futian. No holy lands throughout the entire Nine States could say that they were capable of overpowering the Holy Zhi Palace.
Many spies from the six holy lands gathered in Zhongzhou City, keeping a close eye on the movements of the Holy Zhi Palace. The six holy lands would make preparations as soon as anything funny from the Holy Zhi Palace was detected. However, nothing happened after Ye Futian returned to the Holy Zhi Palace. It was as if he had never returned in the first place. Things were as quiet as a still lake. There were no cases of mobilizing grand armies to take out the other six as imagined by all throughout the Nine States.
The Holy Zhi Palace was already rebuilt and looked even grander and more magnificent than it had been before. Towering palaces stood proudly within the holy land’s vicinity. About a year had passed since the great battle had taken place at the palace. The Holy Zhi Palace was gradually restored in many ways. While there had been many people lost in that great battle, all the other key figures, with the exception of the Palace Lord’s wife, were still around. They had grown considerably since that great battle.
War, as well as life and death situations, were the best form of baptism that a cultivator could receive. No one doubted the fact that the Holy Zhi Palace would get increasingly powerful in the coming days. Ye Futian and all the people closest to him were still growing after all. Furthermore, they had taken quite a number of divine implements from the Sacred War.
Ye Futian settled down and began training in isolation after he returned. To him, the most important thing had always been training. He did not mobilize his forces to take out Xihua Sacred Mountain or the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty right away. The six holy lands would receive news of his return as soon as he returned, which would only make act on guard against him. If he were to mobilize his forces and strike them at such a juncture, he would probably end up achieving little to nothing.
Time passed and it had been over half a year since his return. Autumn had a bleak feeling to it. A figure clad in white was seen sitting at a palace within the Holy Sage Pavilion. Mystical aura seemed to be in the air around him. It seemed as if one would also be shrouded in the aura as soon as they got near, sensing the mighty power of rules and be rendered under its control.
Light footsteps were heard as two figures were seen standing not far away behind Ye Futian. They were a man and a woman. Both of them were of exceptional bearing. The man was handsome while the woman beautiful. They did not disturb Ye Futian and simply stood there, waiting without making a sound. Some time passed and the wind blew. Ye Futian opened his eyes and stood up.
“The medicines are ready. You can begin testing with them now,” Xu Chehan said while facing Ye Futian’s back. He then thought as he looked at Ye Futian’s silhouette that it was truly no longer possible for him to kill Ye Futian. But then again, he had no intentions of killing Ye Futian. Or rather, he held some feelings of gratitude for him. If it had not been for Ye Futian, Xu Chehan probably still would not understand his teacher’s good intentions as well as Little Butterfly’s thoughts.
“How are Yu Sheng and the condor doing?” Ye Futian turned around and asked Xu Chehan.
“Both of them are doing fine. The medicines that Yu Sheng is using were not of lesser strength compared to what you’ve tested with, but his physical body is incredibly strong. As for the condor, we’ve been finding out ways to boost his constitution,” Xu Chehan replied.
“Let’s go have a look then,” Ye Futian said. Xu Chehan and Little Butterfly both nodded. They took the lead and came before the medicine pool area, a place that was built as soon as Saint Jiang announced his intention to join the Holy Zhi Palace’s ranks. Ye Futian had built a Herb Palace for Saint Jiang as soon as he returned. Saint Jiang was naturally granted with the position of a saint elder of the Holy Zhi Palace, enjoying a privileged status. Ye Futian had no reason to afford anything other than the highest form of respect for a mighty one who was ranked 12th on the Saint Ranking, who was willing to join the ranks of the Holy Zhi Palace.
Even though the Herb Palace consisted only of three members, it was a place all on its own. However, the medicine pools were already built while Ye Futian was still in Qingzhou City, and furthermore, the pools were inside the Holy Sage Pavilion. As such, the Herb Palace was actually found within the vicinity of the Holy Sage Pavilion. Ye Futian voiced his intentions to find another place to get the Herb Palace built but was quickly shot down by Saint Jiang as the later deemed it too much of a hassle to move again. Furthermore, the Herb Palace had only three members and they were not taking up much space in the first place. The place was mainly set up for growing herbs after all.
They came to a pool and saw terrifying currents swirling within, like boundless lightning was flashing. A huge demonic beast was sitting in the pool, and it was none other than the Black Wind Condor. However, his black feathers were gleaming with a tinge of golden shimmer, every single feather looking as sharp as blades. Its eyes spoke of tremendous ferocity, like the eyes of demons. Its huge, sharp talons looked stout and powerful, shinning with a golden sheen as well. A common Black Wind Condor seemed to have been imbued with the power of the Roc.
“The herbs that the bird is using are all overseen by teacher. Other than herbs serving to temper its physical body and its spiritual powers, there is also the blood of precious demonic beasts, the blood of the Roc, as well as the blood of the golden dragon mixed within the herbs. Pills that are meant to help with demonic beast advancement are also used. Furthermore, due to possessing development on par with yours due to sharing a mental connection with you, its current powers are probably unmatched by any below the Saint Plane,” Little Butterfly elaborated.
“Thank you for the hard work,” Ye Futian said. It was not only him who was testing medicine in the Herb Palace. Yu Sheng, the bird, Jiuge, Wuchen, and all others were joining the ranks of medical testing, becoming the first batch of testers within the Holy Zhi Palace. It went without saying that they would not be tested using the most extreme herbs as Ye Futian had. Their individual conditions would be taken into consideration and strengthened accordingly. The pace of such strengthening was to be decided with the eventual results from Ye Futian’s sessions. Ye Futian was the first who succeeded. Saint Jiang needed to observe the final results of medical testing from him.
“Let’s go then,” Ye Futian said then walked to the pool prepped for him. His training was at mid-level Archmage Plane at the moment. The herbs used for testing had never been watered down even once, and they had been something that Saint Jiang had prepared a long time ago.
Ye Futian walked into the pool and a thundering rumble was soon heard from within the pool, sounding very terrifying. Ye Futian went through a whole new round of medical testing within the next 81 days.
Terrifying flashes of lightning were seen raging within the medicine pool area after the 81 days were over. Many looked in Ye Futian’s direction and saw destructive powers appearing above the area, like thundering calamity of the great path out to destroy everything as they were cast downwards. Many shuddered after sensing how terrifying said power was. Some power at work indeed.
The noises disappeared after a while and a silhouette was seen shooting up to the sky. Terrifying lightning raged about the air around him like beams of calamity. His silver hair billowed and every single strand felt like blades.
“It’s a success.” The people of the Holy Zhi Palace naturally knew what Ye Futian had been doing for the past several months.
Saint Jiang looked at Ye Futian’s silhouette from a tower and felt that there was finally one who succeeded. The medical testing processes were incredibly perilous. His final goal was to free all cultivators in the world from the looming danger of divine calamities, so he definitely had no intention of seeing anyone dying during the medical testing processes. The endeavors would have been utterly meaningless otherwise. As such, he needed to prove two matters: one, someone needed to be able to reach the goal limit that he had set, and two, it was to see if said someone who succeeded would have been able to ignore divine calamities as expected. Only by being able to prove those two matters that he would have been able to keep working in that direction, enabling the tester to keep breaking their personal limits and reaching the standard he set. At present, it was to see how far Ye Futian had come.
Ye Futian’s eyes opened slightly while he was in the air and gave several orders. Within that instant, a demonic beast was circling above the place within the Summer State where the Yue clan mighty ones were, which then was heard saying, “Ye Futian of the Holy Zhi Palace would like to invite senior Moon Saint to lead the army into Xihua Sacred Mountain.”
“Done,” the Moon Saint replied with a single word and mobilized the forces of the Yue clan.
At the very same moment, the Glass Saint and the mighty ones of the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple were within a dilapidated palace within a small city in the Eastern State. There was a demonic beast flying from far away at that moment, circling high above. The Glass Saint took a look at that demonic beast and knew right away that it belonged to Ye Futian. She sent word to the Holy Zhi Palace after he returned, telling him of her whereabouts, and then a demonic beast found a way to her.
“Let’s go. We’re heading to the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty,” the demonic beast uttered in human speech with a tinge of coldness in its voice, sounding like Ye Futian’s own voice.
The Glass Saint’s hair billowed and her eyes were on the demonic beast. She then shut her eyes and felt mystical tranquility in her mind.
So this day is finally here. Hopefully, Zhou Zhiming will end up dead today.
Ye Futian opened his eyes wide within the Holy Zhi Palace. His body hovered high in the air within the palace as he said with a brimming voice, “I’d like Saint Jiang and teacher to lead an army of sages to Xihua Sacred Mountain.”
“Will do,” Saint Jiang said plainly. At that moment, fighting spirit was sensed from every single person within the Holy Zhi Palace.
It’s payback time, huh? They had all been waiting for that day to come for a very long time. One figure after another took to the air. The army was gathered and ready to head towards Xihua Sacred Mountain.
Ye Futian flashed and appeared somewhere else. Yaya and the Village Chief were seen standing there, looking up at Ye Futian.
“How about a trip to the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty?” Ye Futian said to Yaya. Yaya’s clear eyes gazed on the silver-haired figure in the air and nodded lightly. That was her reply. She quickly took to the air and the Village Chief followed right behind here.
“Swordsmen of the Holy Zhi Palace, assemble,” Ye Futian said with a brimming voice. Sword will that reached the skies was felt in an instant. One swordsman after another took to the air and gathered around. Qin Zhuang, the Sword Demon, Xu Shang, Ye Wuchen, Xu Que and other swordsmen of the Holy Zhi Palace were all there.
“Let’s go. We’re heading to the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty,” Ye Futian then uttered.