Everyone turned their eyes to look at Ye Futian. The statue behind him seemed to have come alive, exuding the terrifying power of the great path. It seemed to have taken the form of an incredibly huge shadow, merging with the will of Ye Futian, who was standing before it. It was apparent that the 36 statues of the tomb were not only capable of exuding pressure on people, but also could lend their power to those they identified with and bring great pressure to bear. Ye Wuchen of the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State had been able to do so, and at the moment, Ye Futian became able to do so as well.
Saint Xihua walked forward as if he had not heard him. He turned his eyes to Huang Xi, and the Renhuang statue before Huang Xi grew increasingly bright. It became clear that that was where the entrance to the mausoleum might be.
Saint Xihua unleashed powerful pressure of the great path as well. While his powers might have been suppressed in the imperial mausoleum, he was nonetheless still a saint and was capable of anything a saint was capable of. Even though the statue might have exuded immense pressure that originated from the great path, it was still nonetheless the power of the great path. Being a saint himself, he saw no reason to fear it.
He was forbidden to attack Ye Futian, but if Ye Futian dared to use the borrowed power against him, then he would naturally need to retaliate. Even if Emperor Xia were to learned of what he did, he would have still played by the rules nonetheless.
“Any lineage of the ancients are up for grabs by any who are capable of doing so. You really think what you said qualified the Holy Zhi Palace to take the lineage of the imperial mausoleum?” Saint Xihua walked slowly to where Huang Xi was and said, “What a joke.”
With a saint taking the lead, none of the others saw the need to hold themselves back. They all attacked Huang Xi, and while there were many powerful ones from the Holy Zhi Palace present, it was still insufficient.
“Would you lend me a hand, sister Glass Saint?” Ye Futian said telepathically to the Glass Saint, who was standing not far away. The Glass Saint nodded and flashed, arriving before the statue and turning around to face Saint Xihua and the others. Her hair billowed as she held the Love Destroyer in her hand and looked incredibly dashing. Her stance with the sword looked stifling beautiful.
“Glass Saint, I’m afraid you won’t be able to take us all on your own.” Saint Xihua continued to move forward. The Sacred King and Saint Zhi stepped forward at the same time. Saint Zhi had kept a close eye on Ye Futian and it was finally the time to move, waiting for Ye Futian to hit him first.
It was indeed a good opportunity.
All three of them emanated immense pressure from the great path. Their spiritual will unnervingly strong. A formless force seemed to be fighting against the pressure of great path emanated from the statues.
“Sacred King, we’ll take the woman out first,” Saint Xihua said. He knew that there was no time to wait.
“Do it,” the Sacred King said with a sharp voice. Three saints moved at the same time, heading straight for the Glass Saint.
“Wuchen!” Ye Futian shouted. He cranked the statue’s will to the extreme and hovered before the statue. A huge shadow appeared as if the statue’s power had taken form. He punched and the space shook. Terrifying star power rained down at the three saints. Ye Wuchen’s Life Spirit sword rang and a sliver of terrifying sword will merged with the statue’s will, before launching out as sword pressure of the great path, cleaving the space apart.
A phoenix’s shadow appeared on the Sacred King and an extremely sharp golden phoenix sword appeared before the bird, launching forward with murderous intent.
“An ant trying to shake a tree, I see.” Saint Xihua and Saint Zhi attacked at the same time. Even though their powers were suppressed, their attacks were still frighteningly formidable nonetheless.
Ye Futian and Ye Wuchen were simply borrowing the power of saints while the three they were fighting were saints. The confrontation felt ridiculous.
Wild aura coursed. The attacks of both Ye Wuchen and Ye Futian were easily shot down right there and then. However, at that very moment, the Glass Saint’s sword moved. The ice powers of the great path made one’s blood feel like it was about to stop flowing. The chill seeped deep into the bone while the flash of the sword felt like a cold moon. It was an attack that tore through the spirit and any emotions, cutting the holy will as well as the body of flesh and blood carrying it.
None of the three saints let their guard down against the Glass Saint’s attacks and fought earnestly, fighting the power coming at them. However, they felt as if the statue had burst with even greater might of the great path. Ye Futian and Ye Wuchen did not expect themselves to be able to beat saints using only borrowed will of the statues, but if they were able to cut down the three saints’ powers considerably, it would have helped with the Glass Saints attack and stopped them.
The Renhuang statue at Huang Xi’s side grew increasingly bright and his body hovered before the statue. His spiritual will merged with the construct. The huge mausoleum shook and everyone’s eyes looked extremely intense. The tomb of Renhuang was possibly about to be opened.
All mighty ones moved quickly and headed for where Huang Xi was. However, at that moment, the might of the great path fell onto them. The ring of the nine symbols flashed and was brought down with the power of the great path, heading straight for Ji Mo, who had just lost an arm.
Boom. A loud boom was heard and Ji Mo’s body was so rattled that he spat up blood and looked ashen. His first attack ended up with him being taken an arm by Ye Wuchen. The next attack was launched by Gu Dongliu, and it was just as damaging.
“Get lost.” Gu Dongliu uttered a line and the nine symbols burst with intense light at the same time, merging with the power of the great path and shooting at the ones trying to get near Huang Xi. One mighty one after another was thrown back by the attack.
Ji Mo’s expression was extremely pale. He was one of the top geniuses in the Hall of Holy Light and had been titled a Heavenly Chosen One during the pilgrimage, yet he suffered such humiliation nonetheless. Furthermore, Gu Dongliu had never gotten along well with him during the pilgrimage.
Seeing how many insisted on moving forward, Gu Dongliu’s handsome face was filled to the brim with murderous intent. Many of them were from holy lands and he knew well that Ye Futian was in a bad position to act against them, as it would have ended with the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State suffering pressure that would break them. However, in such a situation, it became apparent that reasoning would not do if they wanted to keep the lineage of the Sovereign family; they needed to kill. As such, they saw no choice but kill one of them to serve as a warning.
He turned his eyes to Ji Mo and the nine symbols circled, merging the might of the great path from the statue into it. Sword will was imbued within the nine symbols. Ji Mo seemed to have noticed Gu Dongliu looking at him and felt the murderous intent from Gu Dongliu’s eyes. His expression turned grim all of a sudden.
“Anyone who dares move forward shall be cut down,” Gu Dongliu declared. The nine symbols seemed to have disappeared like extremely sharp swords. Ji Mo sensed the pressure and retreated hastily, giving up the ruins of Renhuang altogether.
The light of the nine symbols penetrated his body immediately, and at the very next moment, everyone saw Ji Mo’s body twitch lethargically for a bit in the air, before dropping from above. The top-notch genius from the Hall of Holy Light had been killed right there and then, before he was truly able to shine in the Nine States.
Ji Ya and Ji Mu were still fighting and their faces went pale as they saw Ji Mo perish. What they found even more baffling was that despite being ranked on the Sage and Saint Ranking, they had no edge whatsoever to speak of while fighting Yu Sheng and Hua Jieyu of the Holy Zhi Palace. It was especially apparent in the case of Ji Ya, as he was ranked second on the Sage Ranking.
One wondered how insane the power of the sages from the Holy Zhi Palace could be if they were to bring out their all.
“Open.”
Dazzling light sparkled and the place rumbled. Everyone turned their eyes to the center of the mausoleum and saw the incredibly huge Renhuang statue. A crack opened up in the middle and a door appeared. It was as they had speculated—that Renhuang statue was the true entrance to the tomb.
“Get in there, quick,” Huang Xi said. Ye Futian then gave the order, “Retreat.” The ones from the Holy Zhi Palace flashed in the Renhuang statue’s direction.
Roar. An earth-shattering roar was heard and the terrifying sound reverberated in the air. Huang Jiuge and many others from the Holy Zhi Palace were thrown behind and spat up blood.
They turned their heads and looked at another direction. One of the statues looked like an angry guardian. A ferocious shadow appeared in the air and there stood Liu Zong, with his Life Spirit merging with the shadow. Seeing how Ye Wuchen had communicated with the statues as well how Ye Futian and Gu Dongliu followed, he knew Ye Futian and the others knew something. As such, he tried to communicate with the statues instead of joining the fight, and he succeeded.
“Liu Zong.” Saint Xihua smirked. This was indeed someone fit to become a successor to Xihua Sacred Mountain. Liu Zong had succeeded in doing what Ye Futian and the others had done.
Ye Futian’s expression was grim. He had no time to deal with Liu Zong as he and Ye Wuchen had to work together with the Glass Saint. The attacks of the three enemy saints grew increasingly strong, especially the Zhou Sacred King. He fought up close with the Glass Saint, and a terrifying storm whipped up in the air.
“I’ll take care of him,” Gu Dongliu said. The light of the nine symbols streaked and went straight for Liu Zong, who looked back at Gu Dongliu. The light of Buddhahood coursed around him. He trained in multiple powers and the Buddhist skills were one of them. Boundless ancient mudra appeared and clashed with Gu Dongliu’s symbols. Both of them borrowed the power of the saints from the statues to fight each other.
“Jiuge, get in quick,” Ye Futian called. He had no thoughts of inheriting the lineage of the ruins. When he was in trouble all those years ago, many in the Barren State went to his aid and fought for him at the Holy Zhi Palace, and one of them being Huang Xi of the Sovereign family. When the Sacred War broke out later, Huang Xi brought his clan with him and moved into the Holy Zhi Palace. It was a relationship that needed no words to be spoken.
The simple line caused Huang Jiuge’s eyes to become somewhat red. He said nothing as he rushed for the place where Huang Xi was at.
Boom. Another boom was heard as the Glass Saint was thrown back. She borrowed the force from the shock and retreated like a flash of lightning to where the statue was at. The Sacred King burst with equal speed as he saw that, moving at an impossible speed.
Two beams of light disappeared and went inside the imperial mausoleum. Saint Xihua and Saint Zhi, who were slower due to fighting alongside the Zhou Sacred King, realized what happened and were about to leave, but Ye Futian and Ye Wuchen launched an attack at them. However, the two of them paid no heed, simply cranking up their imposing saintly powers then disposed of said attacks where they stood.
Ye Futian streaked through the air like a flash of lightning, seemingly having merged with the statue and launched with an attack. Ye Wuchen’s Life Spirit sword was shot out at the same time, forcing both Saint Xihua and Saint Zhi to slow down and deal with the attacks.
A boom was heard and Ye Futian slammed onto the statue, spitting out blood. Ye Wuchen’s Life Spirit was rattled enough that it retreated into his body, with blood seen at the corner of his mouth.
“Do you really think that the Glass Saint, the number one beauty of the Eastern State, needed your help at all?” Saint Xihua took a look at Ye Futian and said sarcastically.
Ye Futian’s eyes were ice-cold. It was apparent that the Glass Saint sold him out. The Glass Saint was the prettiest among the great figures of the Nine States and the lord of the Lapis Lazuli Holy Temple. She was not as meek and affectionate as she usually appeared to be. There was no way she could have simply let a chance like this slip by. If she was able to gain the lineage of Renhuang, she would be able to advance further and raze the entire Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty.
“Futian, get in there with Jiuge. Leave this to me.” At that moment, Huang Xi’s body was seen hovering before the Renhuang statue, seemingly having merged with the statue. He was addressing both Ye Futian and Huang Jiuge, who had just gotten to where they were.
“Uncle.” Ye Futian looked up.
“No time for debating. I’ll look after the ones from the Holy Zhi Palace,” Huang Xi said as he saw both Saint Xihua and Saint Zhi coming.
Ye Futian took a look at Huang Xi and clenched his fist, before calling, “Jiuge.”
“Father.” Huang Jiuge took a look at Huang Xi.
“Close.” Huang Xi’s voice was solemn and in an instant, the gate of the tomb was seen closing slowly.
“Go.” Ye Futian did not hesitate any further, taking Huang Jiuge and dashing for it. The faces of Saint Xihua and Saint Zhi changed slightly as they sped up, but they quickly saw a dazzling gigantic sword falling from above, right before the entrance. Both of them slowed as a result and saw the crack slowly closing. Ye Futian and Huang Jiuge took one last look outside.
“Huang Jiuge, the Sovereign family will be yours to oversee now. Don’t drag us through the mud.” Huang Xi’s voice was heard from inside the crack. He wore a smile and said, “Futian, I wanted to see you stand at the top of the Nine States personally, but it seems that I won’t be able to do so after all. I don’t regret siding with the Holy Zhi Palace.” The crack disappeared before he finished, and he had no idea if the two inside heard what he said. He had initially been able to get inside himself, but someone had to look after things outside. With the door staying open otherwise, they would have stood no chance. Saints were seen coming from far away.
Huang Xi’s spiritual will continued to burn and his body gradually grew intangible, as if he was about to completely merge with the statue. The entire mausoleum was shaking and the Renhuang statue looked as if it was about to be revived. True might of the great path showered the place. It was no longer a might of the great path, but the might of Renhuang.
Saint Xihua headed straight for Huang Xi. His body glowed with dazzling holy light and lashed out with a palm strike in danger, seemingly about to break the space before him as he hit the statue. At that very moment, the statue’s eyes opened all of a sudden and a fierce roar was heard.
“I’m the descendant of Renhuang.” An incredibly huge palm print launched as the line was heard. Saint Xihua’s body was thrown back and there were sounds of bones breaking in a crisp, clear manner.