Kongxuan City was the largest city in the Empty Realm with cultivators from various realms found there. It was a very bustling trade city.
Due to having great path fragments unearthed, the city was known to be a mine of treasures. That, coupled with powerful cultivators gathered from all corners, all sorts of trades were taken place in the city, as great path fragments were of different attributes after all and the ones from the Empty Realm were of the Great Path of Space.
The Jiuxiao Tower was an extremely renowned place in Kongxuan City. Many powerful saints were there and the place was getting cleared out.
“Mighty ones from the Dali Dynasty.” Many murmured and mighty ones gathered from all corners. Saintly, golden dragons were seen pulling carriages and a group of people appeared making a lavish entrance. The one who was taking the lead was dressed extravagantly and was of superior bearing. That was none other than Li Yao of the Dali Dynasty.
They quickly settled at the top of the Jiuxiao Tower and waited silently.
The ones who witnessed the scene knew what was going on. The people who were able to make Li Yao and his entourage wait would have definitely been people of the two remaining forces.
As expected, another group of mighty ones were soon seen coming through the air.
“Xia Qingyuan, princess of Emperor Xia’s Realm and two sacred generals.” Many turned their heads in her direction. Despite being dressed in men’s clothing, her beauty nonetheless shone through. That was the very first time many laid eyes on the extremely renowned princess from Emperor Xia’s Realm.
As for the group of people at Xia Qingyuan’s side—Ye Futian, Xiao Sheng, Tian Ji and the others—few there knew much of them. They were at the Empty Realm after all and those people would have only heard of the very top notch figures. They naturally knew little to nothing about those at Sage Plane, but the sages from Emperor Xia’s Realm were perceived to be among the very best nonetheless.
A smile was seen in Li Yao’s eyes when Xia Qingyuan appeared. He then said, “It’s been a while, princess, and you look extraordinary as ever. It’s a pity that I’ve never gotten to see you dressed in women’s clothing, and I wonder if there would be a day when I get to see that, princess.”
Xia Qingyuan’s group descended on the top of the Jiuxiao Tower and took a look at Li Yao coldly, saying nothing in return.
“It’s entire fine to not respond at all, Princess Qingyuan. My goal in this year’s Battle of Empty Realm is to see you get dressed in women’s clothing after all,” Li Yao continued with a smile.
“How insolent of you,” Tian Ji berated him with a cold voice and many mighty ones at Xia Qingyuan’s side looked cold as well. Li Yao had been to Emperor Xia’s Palace to ask for trouble a while ago. With the Battle of Empty Realm about to take place, he had gotten even more unbridled.
“That is, if you manage to live through the fight,” Xia Qingyuan said with a bone-chilling tone.
“Please rest assured, Princess Qingyuan. I value my life very, very much.” Eagerness was seen in Li Yao’s eyes. Xia Qingyuan was not the only one present in that year’s Battle of Empty Realm; the princess of the Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm, Kong Xuan, was there as well. It was a coincidence both princesses were his peers and he found that very delightful.
Powerful demonic aura was sensed from faraway. The sky trembled and countless turned their heads in that direction. They then saw sacred beasts and great monsters appearing in the air, emanating stifling pressure.
An incredibly dazzling Roc was seen in that direction, glittering with holy light and looking very dazzling. Every single feather seemed to be things created from gold. Its wings were spread wide as it flew and circled above the Jiuxiao Tower.
There were a man and a woman, both of which looked extravagant, seen standing on the back of the Roc, which was of sacred beast level.
The appearances of both figures were extremely exceptional. The man looked demonically alluring and his skin looked as far as that of a woman. He could have been even described to be beautiful.
The woman by his side looked undeniably stunning, with a perfect, extremely sexy figure. She had stunning looks to go with her demonic figure, looking alluring yet not overly so. There was hardly any flaws to be found on her.
They were the descendants of the Demon Peacock Emperor, Kong Zhan and Kong Xuan, who were twins.
Ye Futian looked up at both of them. Judging from looks alone, Kong Zhan’s appearance probably rivaled that of Ye Futian. Kong Xuan’s appearance was on par with that of Yao Xi, yet she was of a totally different kind of beauty.
“I have heard of sacred beasts being able to take human forms. Both of them are not even saints yet, but how come they possess the ability to take human forms?” Ye Futian asked Yaya, who was by his side, telepathically.
“The Demon Peacock Emperor is the emperor of the demonic realm. He has unparalleled methods and he is of Renhuang Plane himself. As such, he is long versed in the creation of the world, making him no different from humans, the most intelligent of all beings. Thus, his descendants possess the innate ability to shapeshift.” Yaya explained to Ye Futian telepathically. “The Demon Emperor don’t even need to be involved. In truth, the Demon Saint, who is already capable of taking human form, is already capable of such feat. As such, you could see many demonic beasts in the air actually appear in human forms instead.”
“Alright, got it.” Ye Futian nodded.
“It is not someone only demons could do, as humans could actually do the same. Descendants of extremely powerful people possessed innate extreme talents. The greater the ancestor’s powers, the more apparent such signs show in the descendants. Truly extremely powerful figures could just impart their powers to their descendants, or simply meld the great path into their own Life Spirit, which was then passed onto their descendants. Said descendants would then continue to awaken stronger talents as their training grew,” Yaya continued to elaborate.
Ye Futian was awed by her words. So is that to say that my World Tree Life Spirit…harbors the power of great path, which could conjure all things in the world then?
What level would be my ancestor would have been at then?
From the looks of things so far, there had never been anyone else who possessed Life Spirits similar to Ye Futian’s, and he dared not bring that up to anyone else as well.
“Knowing a man by repute is indeed inferior to seeing a man in the flesh indeed. Both are indeed superb.” Li Yao then smiled and said, “I’m rather curious then, between Princess Kong Xuan and Princess Qingyuan, who would be the one with superior appearance indeed.”
The demonic eyes of both Kong Zhan and Kong Xuan looked cold as they glanced at Li Yao. Terrifying demonic aura burst from behind them and their eyes turned to look extremely ferocious.
“I shall take your head apart and feast on your heart. I wonder what the heart of the crown prince of Dali would have tasted like indeed.” A demonic figure whose eyes shone with frightening cold light behind Kong Xuan, eyed Li Yao in an eerie manner.
“Looks like an animal that has not yet truly evolved then.” Li Yao glanced at the demonic beast condescendingly and said, “A proposal then. If either Princess Qingyuan and Princess Kong Xuan is willing to serve me, then Dali Dynasty shall share dominion over Empty Realm with the one who is willing to do so. How about that?”
“Looks like you have a death wish.”
Two voices were heard at the same time. It seemed like Kong Zhan and Kong Xuan, shared a telepathic link as twins. Both of them said at the same time as they glared at Li Yao coldly.
“Your highness, I shall tear this insolent one apart bit by bit.” Another demonic beast was heard saying as they glared at Li Yao coldly. He dared disrespect Her Highness Kong Xuan after all.
“If you like babbling so much, I shall skip the chatter.” Xia Qingyuan then said coldly, “Let’s get on with the sacrifice to the flag then.”
“Well, since you’re in such a hurry, Princess Qingyuan, let’s set the time for flag battle to be three days later then,” Li Yao said.
“That will do,” Xia Qingyuan replied.
“Three days later then,” Kong Zhan responded as well.
“Who would you choose to fight in the flag battle, Princess Qingyuan?” Li Yao looked at Xia Qingyuan and said, “I’ve heard that Wang Chuan of Lihen Heaven has already made it to Saint Plane and he is not here today. Quite a pity I’d say, I wanted to take my revenge at the Battle of Empty Realm after all.”
He sounded rather lazy and relaxed. It was a good thing for him that Wang Chuan had not been able to participate in the battle. There was no way he would have felt that to be a pity.
Furthermore, it seemed that there were hardly any swordsmen from Lihen Heaven showing up.
“Whether Wang Chuan shows or not, the outcome would remain the same, ” Xia Qingyuan said.
“Is that so?” Li Yao scanned the people around Xia Qingyuan and said, “I’ve had a taste outside of Emperor Xia’s Palace a while ago. Tian Ji, son of Sacred General of Tian, Gongsun Zhong of Divine Cloud Valley, Xuanyuan Ao of Xuanyuan Palace…doesn’t seem like much to me. Who would be the strongest below Saint Plane at the moment in Emperor Xia’s Realm, other than you, Princess Qingyuan, I wonder.”
The eyes of countless youths behind Li Yao looked heated. They were all top notch figures from Emperor Li’s Realm. They were determined to kill several important figures from Emperor Xia’s Realm and Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm.
There were a few who cast their gaze at Ye Futian. Li Yao was perceptive enough to take notice and looked at Ye Futian as well.
“So this is the guy who challenged Wang Chuan of Lihen Heaven a while ago then?” Li Yao turned to look at Ye Futian and said, “We meet yet again.”
He had actually met Ye Futian many times.
Ye Futian glared at Li Yao with unmistakable killing intent.
“Seems like you’re not the only one. There seems to be many coming from the lower worlds, even the guy who had acquired the Renhuang lineage before, I see.” Li Yao turned his cold eyes at Huang Jiuge. It was Li Yao who discovered the Renhuang lineage back then, and yet he ended up handing the place to someone else in a silver platter instead.
“Well, since you’re here, how about you stay for a bit? I see that you have superb talent so here is another choice, how about joining Emperor Li’s Realm then? I’d be happy to brush our scuffles before away,” Li Yao said to Ye Futian.
“Let’s go, princess,” Ye Futian said to Xia Qingyuan and ignored Li Yao altogether.
“Didn’t you ask me about Saint Zhi outside of Emperor Xia’s Palace? I was the one who made him did what he did. I’ve taken both his son and wife to Emperor Li’s Realm. If you’re willing to come to my side, I’d be happy to offer them to you.” Li Yao narrowed his eyes. So that genius in the Nine States back then is now an important figure serving Xia Qingyuan now then?
Li Yao had marked Ye Futian to be a target and he deemed Ye Futian someone he needed to dispose of as soon as possible.
“We’ll meet three days later,” Xia Qingyuan said coldly, before turning around and left with the mighty ones at her side.
“Let’s go,” Kong Xuan said as well. The Roc took one look at Li Yao with its golden eyes and took to the air. The mighty ones from the Demon Peacock Emperor’s Realm left as well.
Li Yao’s eyes were devoid of the smirking and jesting demeanor about them after those people left. His expression became rather serious and said in a serious tone, “Xia Qingyuan is indeed indomitable. I never expected Kong Zhan and Kong Yao of the demonic realm to be such as well. If they prove to be that resilient as well, it seems like we’d have a difficult battle to fight up ahead.”
His provoking words and condescending demeanor were not truly what they appeared to be. On the contrary, Li Yao was taking the upcoming battle with utmost seriousness.
It was the first important task entrusted to him by his father, and it would have played an important role in determining the course of his future. He was unable to afford to lose.
“There is no need to be overly concerned, your highness. Teacher has gotten amply prepared this time and we tested what they were capable of outside of Emperor Xia’s Palace. We’d definitely be able to win this,” a youth was heard saying by his side.
“Yeah, and keep a close eye on Ye Futian. If he were to participate in the flag battle three days later, we’d need to be careful with our selection. If the chance presents itself, we’ll have to take him out first.” Li Yao’s voice was cold. His intuition was telling him that Ye Futian was extremely dangerous.
Furthermore, Ye Futian held intense enmity towards him. Killing intent was almost spilling from Ye Futian’s eyes, looking very determined to end Li Yao.
While Li Yao did not care all that much, it was not a comfortable feeling being glared at like that after all, so he still needed to get rid of Ye Futian as soon as possible.
“Rest assured, your highness.” The people behind him nodded one after another. They were all genius level figures of the Dali Dynasty, and they had absolute confidence in their respective powers!