Realms In The Firmament

All of a sudden, the Honor Demon got furious. A cloud of dark qi started to rise around him. In a savage voice, he shouted and said, “F*ck!”

“Ye Xiao, I want to kill you! I want your body! Your spiritual power! Your soul! I will lock your spiritual soul for tens of thousands of years, and I will burn it every day with the great demonic fire! I am going to torture you! You f*cking son of a b*tch! How dare you ruin my great plan…”

Boom!—with a cracking sound, a whirlwind flew up from nowhere and then something rushed out immediately.

Somewhere far away in the sky, suddenly the clouds started to surge.

All the people in the world, whoever heard the man’s angry shout, strong or weak, all trembled because of fear.

That moment, they felt like they just went through a huge graveyard and got blown by a chilling creepy wind.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon was watching the sixty-three men who kept the nine altars running. He was watching them secretly.

After a while, he closed his eyes and said to himself, “This should be enough… I think…”

His black robe was fluttering, and he started to walk out slowly.

As the Dark Robe Honor Demon was walking out, another person, who was wearing a purple robe hastily entered the room and stopped right in front of the Honor Demon.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon stopped but didn’t look at the man in a purple robe. “What is it?”

“Father, we have a new message. Xiao Monarch has destroyed the East Hall, and he is coming to the West Hall with his people.”

It was Zong Xingyu, the current prime master of the West Hall.

He was also the only son of the Dark Robe Honor Demon, Zong Yuankai.

At this moment, Zong Xingyu looked pretty anxious. That was not all. In fact, he seemed to have a complaint in his heart.

“Hmm. I know.” The Dark Robe Honor Demon coldly nodded with an expressionless face, and he casually went on walking out again.

“Father!” Zong Xingyu stopped him and anxiously said, “I don’t understand! Why should we watch the East Hall die? Why couldn’t we send backup? The East Hall and the West Hall should face any troubles together! We are on the same boat!”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon humphed and said, “The East Hall is the East Hall, and the West Hall is the West Hall. We are never on the same boat! All you need to do is to take good care of the West Hall. Do not worry about others.”

Zong Xingyu anxiously said, “We built the East Hall too. Father, you worked so hard for it! Tens of thousands of years! And I’m just supposed to accept the destruction of it… I… I truly couldn’t…”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon coldly stared at Zong Xingyu and didn’t say a word.

“I need to know the reason. I have to know why.” Zong Xingyu insisted.

“Reason? What reason do you want?” The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s eyes flickered with ghostly light. “Is this your first day in the martial world? Why is your head filled with such stupid questions? No reasons are needed in the martial world. We don’t need a reason. We own the power.”

“We do have the power!” Zong Xingyu was a bit hot-blooded, and he said, “Even though our outer forces are all dead, we still have the power! Maybe we couldn’t keep the East Hall fully unharmed, but we can at least save the leaders of the East Hall! We can absolutely make that happen!”

“If we do our best if we sent our best people, perhaps, we can kill Ye Xiao and his men in the battle of the East Hall!”

“We can do it!”

“However… Father… You chose to watch the East Hall being slaughtered! You let the massacre happen!”

“I do not understand! No, I don’t! Please tell me why, could you?” Zong Xingyu was in pain, and said, “Father, you spent so many years in building the East Hall. Why do you have to abandon it like it is a worn-out shoe?”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon stared at Zong Xingyu with cold sharp eyes and said, “You said it yourself, did you not? It is me! I spent those years to build it! Didn’t I? It is mine, isn’t it?”

Zong Xingyu heard his father’s words, which didn’t seem to make sense. He raised up his head staring at his father’s cold and merciless face, and he felt lost. After a while, he said in a hoarse voice, “That is right! It is true! The East Hall is yours! You built it! Does that mean you can just do whatever you want with it? Does that mean you can just destroy it as you wish?”

Zong Xingyu didn’t sound well, because he was desperate already.

“Yes! I can!”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s eyes were cold. Every word he said sounded so cold like it just came out from a crack of ice. The Dark Robe Honor Demon was like an ice sculpture from an ice mountain which had been snowy for thousands of years.

Zong Xingyu was shocked and shivered helplessly. He felt so powerless at this moment.

He didn’t know what he should say now, and there were no words he could think of anymore. He felt exhausted and lost.

He looked at his father with dull and lightless eyes. He then said in an unsteady voice, “Even… Even Wu Fa died in that fight… He died… Ye Xiao killed him…”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s eyes were like two bottomless ponds. He stared at his son but didn’t say a word.

“The entire… The entire East Hall… Everyone… Every single person… Superior cultivators… Average disciples… All died. They were all killed. The East Hall has become just a name in history…” Zong Xingyu continued talking.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon still didn’t say a word. He was just silent as if he was a part of the void.

“Now the enemies are gathering up, marching toward the West Hall… They are here to kill every single one of us…” Zong Xingyu seemed to be lost in it.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s eyes flickered. That was the only change that could be seen on his face.

Zong Xingyu didn’t waste such an opportunity, so he suddenly turned excited, and said loudly, “Do you want to… Do you want to sacrifice the West Hall too? Just like what you did to the East Hall?”

When he said these words, his face was all red. He had lost control.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon didn’t say a word. This time, his eyes didn’t blink.

Zong Xingyu stared at his father with anger in his eyes, and said, “You built everything up by yourself. We won’t say no as long as it is your decision!”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon finally moved. He turned around; he tilted his head and stared at his son with a weird expression in his eyes.

Well, there was nothing soft or warm in his eyes.

Zong Xingyu could feel the indifference and strangeness in his father’s eyes.

He couldn’t believe that his father stared at him as if his father was staring at a stranger!

Their connection was lost; he couldn’t feel the bond between them anymore.

Every time he got close to his father, he always had this strong feeling of strangeness. It had been happening for years.

It seemed to him that his father was forgetting the relation between them bit by bit. It seemed like the man had been leaving himself behind step by step.

It seemed… It seemed like he had been losing the sensation of a human being!

He was losing all of his feelings!

Zong Xingyu felt a severe pain deep in the bottom of his heart. He murmured and said, “We won’t say no. We have no rights to complain… However, father, did any of us ever cross your mind? In the West Hall, there is your son, your daughter-in-law, your grandsons, your great grandsons… You have your family living in the West Hall… Do you not remember this?”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon indifferently nodded and blandly said, “I do remember. In the West Hall, not the East Hall… In the West Hall, I have my son, my grandson, and the others. I remember.”

When he spoke, he seemed to be so indifferent.

In fact, he was sneering deep in his heart when he said these words. He even wanted to laugh.

‘Family?’

‘Hah!’

‘Family, huh?’

‘What is the point? How is family useful to the great plan of the demonic future? What could it do to help?’

If the answer to this question did not agree with his ideals then the Dark Robe Honor Demon surely could just speak it out indifferently, because it was nothing he truly cared about!

Zong Xingyu’s heart was hit by a chill.

In front of Zong Yuankai, Zong Xingyu was a son. However, he was also a knowledgeable old man who had experienced a lot in this cruel world. When the man was being sincere, he would know it. When the man was being indifferent, he would know it as well! He could tell!

He turned around and looked at the dark and ghastly place that had the nine spooky altars with flames in different colors…

There was a strong hint of disgust and hate in his eyes.

His eyes showed tremendous pain from the bottom of his heart as he looked around those people who had no reaction from seeing him and only focused on pouring energy into the altars.

He kept staring at those people. He felt their pain, but he still stayed focused.

Many of those sixty-three people used to hold him in the arms when he was just a little boy… They were close to him… Many of them had protected him with all their hearts and their lives when he needed them…

Those people had been looking after him, fighting for him with their lives. They never allowed anyone to hurt Zong Xingyu!

He was the most precious treasure for every single one of them!

Those people were all his father’s brothers. They were his uncles! He respected them, loved them. He learned to not fear anything in the world because of these people! They were the reason why he could face any difficulties fearlessly!

However, he didn’t know when they all changed. They became quiet, old, slow, ugly… He couldn’t see any of them in those walking corpses.

They used to be his uncles, who were so close to him. However, they eventually became like some strangers. When they saw him, they acted like he was nothing. One after another, they disappeared from the outer world. These influential cultivators of the world suddenly became sculptures that sat still all the time.

He had to hold a funeral for each of these great cultivators when they entered this place.

He knew that they were still alive, but he had to hold the funerals. He did not like it at first because he did not understand why he had to hold a funeral for men who were not yet dead.

However, he got used to it as time went by. Day after day, he got to know the truth, and he understood it.

Whoever entered this place… Whoever started to sit around the altars in this terrible place was just a dead man.

They would not talk.

They would not drink.

They would not eat.

In fact, they would not even move their eyeballs. Every day, they just sat there, pouring their energy into the altars. They were supporting these ghastly altars with their lives, souls, and spiritual energy!

Nobody knew how much Zong Xingyu hated these altars and this spooky place.

The altars took away everything soft and warm in his world!

Zong Xingyu sentimentally looked at the sixty-three men who sat on the floor like zombies. His voice became louder and louder, and it sounded like he was having a brawl. Every shout he made sounded like thunder since he was such a powerful cultivator; his shout could be heard within hundreds of miles.

He was not in a brawl, because nobody was fighting him. In fact, he was trying to seize the only hope he could see in his desperation, hoping that these uncles of him could wake up when they heard his words!

However, the sixty-three men turned a deaf ear to him. They didn’t move even for a bit; they didn’t even turn their eyeballs.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon quietly watched his son going mad. He knew what Zong Xingyu was trying to do, and he had been trying so hard not to kill his own son. He kept talking to himself, ‘This is my son… He is my son… My only son…’

‘I can not kill my own son! I can’t!’

However, the tyrannical soul of him was too strong to be controlled.

He did not truly think as he felt. He felt disgusted because the feeling came from his soul. Because of the disgust from his soul that filled his heart, he extremely hated this little human being who was boldly talking so loudly in front of him and challenging his authority…

If not his own mind kept murmuring to himself, reminding himself that the human being was his son, he would have killed Zong Xingyu. There was a fight between himself and the demonic soul of him!

“Stop shouting like that.” The Dark Robe Honor Demon finally spoke coldly, saying, “They can not hear anything. You are wasting your time. They will not hear you.”

“But they are still alive! As long as they are alive, there is hope!” Zong Xingyu responded with anger.

“Alive… Hope…” The Dark Robe Honor Demon shook his head and suddenly chuckled. “Heh heh heh heh heh…”

The creepy sound of his laugh had frightened Zong Xingyu. His heart was filled by a strong sense of fear that he had never felt before.

“Do you really know what being alive is like?” The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s eyes had ghostly flames inside of them. Those eyes were staring at his own son. He then said, “Well, if they are like you, then they are more or less alive.”

Zong Xingyu took a deep and long breath. His heart was beating faster and faster for no reason. He asked, “Well, then… Father… Are you… Are you still alive?” He didn’t know why he asked that.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon’s cold and calm eyes suddenly became two sharp piercing swords. He suddenly turned around and stared at his son in the eyes. A cloud of dense dark qi was coming out from his eyes. The dark qi came out from his eyes and became some black lotus flowers, flying up in the air one by one.

There was a hint of coldness and indifference in his eyes.

Zong Xingyu took a step back because of fear. His eyes were full of dread, and he didn’t know why he felt that way.

“Do you want me to die?” The Dark Robe Honor Demon kept staring at Zong Xingyu in the eyes.

Zong Xingyu hastily shook his head; he hysterically exclaimed and said, “No! no, no… I did not mean that… How could I? No, I do not…”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon kept staring at Zong Xingyu in the eyes without even blinking.

Zong Xingyu was lost because of panic and he could help it.

After a while, the Dark Robe Honor Demon closed his eyes, and once his eyes were closed, Zong Xingyu was suddenly freed from that horrible feeling.

He started to return to his senses slowly.

“Father, I know… I know that you are doing something great… I know your plan is going to affect the future of the world…” Zong Xingyu started to murmur while he looked extremely in pain. “All these years, I have been supporting you with all I have… But… But there was a time when I couldn’t remember the father that I once knew. I can’t feel the father that I once knew anymore. The only time I see the father I knew is when I’m dreaming. I always remember when I was a kid, you would slap me on the bum when I didn’t behave…”

“You would bind up my wounds when I got hurt… When I was bullied while traveling the martial world, you would get angry and scold me for not being strong enough…”

“You had watched me set off from home with your hands behind your back…”

The more Zong Xingyu talked, the more grief he felt. “I still remember the last time you called my name, Xingyu… It was seven thousand three hundred and twenty-seven years ago… That was the last time…”

“What is it? What changed you? What made you become like this?” Zong Xingyu asked with anger and frustration.

“I am your son! I am your own blood!”

Zong Xingyu started to shed tears.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon stood aside just like a sculpture. A hint of something different flashed in his eyes, but then it was gone. He blandly said, “We are in the middle of a war against our biggest enemy. It is not a good time to talk about this. We will talk more of this once we win the war.”

He was still taking a perfunctory attitude. Nothing was clear. Everything stayed the same!

The light of hope that had risen up in Zong Xingyu’s eyes was eventually gone.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Afterward, he said in a soft voice, “We are indeed in the middle of a war. Things are not quite positive on our side. The Xiao Monarch is leading a huge group of good men toward the West Hall. They will arrive soon. The last battle is going to start soon. May I ask what we should do now, father?”

When he started to talk, he still sounded a little fevered, but he became more peaceful as he spoke more. In the end, he spoke like it was just a conversation according to official principles.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon blandly said, “This battle is unavoidable. Let them in!”

“Let them in?” Zong Xingyu raised up his head, looking at his own father. He couldn’t believe it, so he asked again, “Really? Are we not going to at least try something to stop them? Are we really just going to let them in?”

“That is correct.” The Dark Robe Honor Demon started to pace slowly, and blandly said, “We will destroy them all inside the West Hall once and for all. They will surely die, and there will be no problem for us in the future!”

As he said these words, he sounded so overwhelming and confident.

However, Zong Xingyu found it difficult to accept the plan, so he said, “But… Even though we just let them in, even though we do not fight, I am afraid they are going to kill tens of thousands of our people on their way inside!”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon slightly turned aside and said, “survival of the fittest is the iron rule of the martial world. What? Is this your first day living in the martial world?”

Zong Xingyu gritted his teeth and responded with courage, “Well, then… I am afraid I can not follow such an order!”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon flew out like a piece of dark cloud. His voice echoed back in the air. “It will not make any difference anyway.”

He was as cold and indifferent as usual. He was emotionless.

The Dark Robe Honor Demon was gone.