Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao was laden with anxiety at the moment, following the people crowding into the City of Chaos. He seemed to be a little lost.

What had filled his mind was the image of the man in white clothes, who was strong, mysterious, and domineering.

He couldn’t stop thinking of that incredible sword strike.

He wondered which side won the world-shaking fight.

Although he didn’t know who won that fight, he made a guess. He was quite certain that the man in the white clothes would lose.

He clearly knew why this man should lose.

The problem was… Ye Xiao knew that he was well aware of it, but he seemed to forget about the reasons…

That was so weird.

‘I know why he would lose the fight, but… I forget about the reasons…’

He knew it, but he forgot about it. How was it possible?

The Dark Evil Spirit was behind him, anxiously moved away from the people who were crowded in Ye Xiao’s way. He was incredibly thoughtful for Ye Xiao at the moment.

He was much more than respectful now.

He wasn’t worshiping Ye Xiao, but he definitely had treated himself as a servant, even a slave now.

Ye Xiao didn’t do anything particularly, and the Dark Evil Spirit kept lowering himself step by step. At first, he thought, ‘I am a powerful cultivator in the clouds, and you are an ant.’ Then he thought, ‘I am a powerful cultivator, and you are a weak cultivator.’ And then he thought, ‘I am showing you respect to see you in equal positions.’ After that, he thought, ‘I must be very careful.’ And then, ‘I am much weaker than him. He is showing me some respect here.’ In the end, he thought, ‘Following him is the best luck in my life…’

Step by step, he pushed himself down from beyond the clouds.

However, Ye Xiao had no idea what was happening in the Dark Evil Spirit’s heart.

Ye Xiao was still lost in the thoughts of the delusion.

It seemed there was some special feeling inside him.

It seemed that man in the white clothes had a special connection to him!

He had no idea what the connection could be. He was totally clueless!

When they entered the City of Chaos, the Dark Evil Spirit started to behave himself. He tried well to stay low. They found an inn and settled down. They didn’t talk until they finally sat in their room. The Dark Evil Spirit made a long sigh.

“What is it?” Ye Xiao asked.

“There are too many superior cultivators in this city… There are too many superior monster cultivators.” The Dark Evil Spirit wiped the sweat on his forehead.

“Oh, I see.” Ye Xiao remembered how the Dark Evil Spirit hunted the peacock earlier, so he looked at the Dark Evil Spirit and said, “You are afraid that people will come to get you because of the peacock, aren’t you?”

The Dark Evil Spirit chuckled and rubbed his head. “Ah… The Monster Clans have a lot of superior cultivators, and they are all good at disguising. It is difficult to get away from them…”

Ye Xiao nodded and said, “You are not slow. You could run fast. Why do you have to hunt the peacock? I mean… You are such a big man. Why do you have to ride a peacock? Why can’t you find yourself a bear?”

The Dark Evil Spirit was sweating.

‘A bear?’

‘Look at me. I look like a black bear myself. I think that is the reason why they call me the Dark Evil Spirit. How can I ride a bear? Wouldn’t it make me a bear on a bear?’

The Dark Evil Spirit couldn’t even imagine the image of him on a bear that was like him…

However, he wouldn’t dare to say no. “Young Master, you are quite right.”

The first few words he said had made sure Ye Xiao was in the higher position.

The Dark Evil Spirit turned out to be the weaker one!

Ye Xiao had taken the absolute initiative.

Ye Xiao was sure about one thing. If somebody showed up and told the Dark Evil Spirit that Ye Xiao wasn’t from that Ye Clan—and showed him all the evidence to prove the point, then the Dark Evil Spirit would beat up whoever did it and hurl abuse at that person!

“Old Dark, what cultivation level are you at?” Ye Xiao casually asked.

Three days before, Ye Xiao would never dare to ask the Dark Evil Spirit this question and to call him Old Dark.

It was important for a man to know his own position. Sometimes it was right to stay humble. However, at this moment, Ye Xiao knew that things had completely changed. He knew that he had taken the upper position in this relationship now. If he didn’t make use of it now, he must be stupid!

“I am at the second level of the Divinity Origin Stage.” The Dark Evil Spirit looked pretty proud but tried to be humble while speaking. “In the itinerant cultivator power ranking list; which is called the Itinerant Storm Ranking of the Limitless Ocean, I am at three thousand, four hundred and eighty-seven.”

“Three thousand, four hundred and eighty-seven… The itinerant cultivator power ranking list of the Limitless Ocean…” Ye Xiao stared at the Dark Evil Spirit, who seemed to be quite proud, and couldn’t understand why.

‘That’s all? And you actually feel good about it?’

‘Really? Don’t you feel sorry for yourself? What are you thinking?’

‘Look at your face… Listen to yourself… I thought you were one of the top ten most powerful figures in the Human Realm Upon Heavens or something…’

“Fine. You are good. Impressive.” Ye Xiao made a sigh.

“There is something you don’t know, Young Master. The Limitless Ocean is full of powerful cultivators. Only cultivators beyond the lowest line in the Divinity Origin Stage could earn a position in the first ten thousand of the ranking list. I may not be one of the best, but I am certainly much better than the average.” The Dark Evil Spirit saw the look on Ye Xiao’s face. As an experienced cultivator in the martial world, he knew what Ye Xiao was thinking. That was why he wanted to explain it.

“Hmm. Fine. I get it… So you call it the Itinerant Storm Ranking. I wonder what is the official name of it? Is it an official ranking?” Ye Xiao asked.

“No. Only the World Ranking and the Hongchen Ranking are approved officially.” The Dark Evil Spirit said, “Cultivators on these two ranking systems are truly incredible!”

He stopped, carefully looked at Ye Xiao for a while, and then said, “The Hongchen Ranking is… It is created by the great Master Ye about a hundred thousand years ago, that all the forces in the Human Realm Upon Heavens recognized… Before that, there was only the World Ranking…”

When he mentioned the great Master Ye, the Dark Evil Spirit actually felt that he was going to groan for happiness.

He thought he was following the later generation of the great Master Ye!

‘The great Master Ye and the great Ye Clan have been hiding for a hundred thousand years. Now the young master in the great clan finally returned to the world, and I am the only one who stays with him! What a glory! This is such an honor of me and my family!’

‘Oh! My heavens…’

Ye Xiao nodded and blandly said, “I see what you mean. Thank you.”

The Dark Evil Spirit thought that he had received recognition, so he was touched.

Well, he didn’t know that Ye Xiao only thanked him for trying to explain everything, not for anything about the great Master Ye.

Ye Xiao was thinking, ‘Ye Hongchen? The great Master Ye? Is that man in white clothes the ancestor of that Ye Clan?’

‘What was Ye Hongchen?’

All the cultivators knew the answer, including the Dark Evil Spirit. However, Ye Xiao didn’t.

Ye Xiao knew that the Dark Evil Spirit knew the answer of the question that he wanted to know, but he couldn’t ask, because he was pretending to be a young master from that Ye Clan. It was reasonable that he didn’t know anything about the martial world because he was new to the martial world. However, if he didn’t know his own ancestor, it would be inappropriate, wouldn’t it?

Things about the great Master Ye, Ye Hongchen were quite important. He had to figure out the truth. To get to the answers, the fastest way was to ask the Dark Evil Spirit. He couldn’t directly ask the questions, but he could try to talk it out.

Ye Xiao took a deep breath and said, “Things about the past, especially things about the great Master Ye, are always secrets in our family clan… Heh heh… I only heard of something from the elders in the clan… I guess we have to fight for our own future… Relying on the fame from the old time won’t be good for us forever…”

The Dark Evil Spirit nodded and said, “That is quite right. The glory of the great Master Ye should be inherited by the later generations of the Ye Clan. It should shine again.”

Ye Xiao humphed and thought, ‘Ye Hongchen is the ancestor of the Ye Clan. He is the great Master Ye.’

Ye Xiao smiled and said, “Well, it is a shame that I don’t know much about the past of our clan. We are forbidden to…” Then he made a long sigh.

Well, it was better to silently leave it at that. The Dark Evil Spirit had surely gotten what Ye Xiao wanted him to know!

“That is quite right. What happened in the old days involved too many people… One-third of the Human Realm Upon Heavens was affected. It took the world thousands of years to return to peace…”

The Dark Evil Spirit seemed to be thinking of the old days. After a while, he said, “It is a good thing that the older generations in your clan keep the past a secret to you. Sometimes it is dangerous to know too much.”

Ye Xiao agreed and thought, ‘What a soft pillow when I am sleepy. You are such a good man, Dark Evil Spirit. You just know what I need so much.’

“Old Dark, if you do know anything, why don’t you tell me some? Perhaps, I should learn about some secrets about my own clan.” Ye Xiao pretended to be so keen, and said, “I believe it is helpful to me on the prime inheritor selection… Well, you know what I mean.”

The Dark Evil Spirit nodded and nodded. His face turned totally red.

He was so excited.

‘The prime inheritor!’

‘What does that mean?’

‘He is going to be the clan master of the great Ye Clan!’

‘Ah, ah, ah…’

‘I have to try my best… The young master just asked me to… This is the first thing I can do for him to show my loyalty. I am assisting the true king here. I am the young master’s right hand now. I did spend a lot of my savings, but it is worth the price!’

If Ye Xiao heard the voice in the Dark Evil Spirit’s heart, he would probably rolled up his eyes and said, “You are thinking too much Old Dark. It is not that complicated!”

“Let me start from the beginning then, Young Master.” The Dark Evil Spirit sat in front of Ye Xiao and started to talk while stooping down.

Ye Xiao nodded.

They both understood what it meant that the man stooped down.

He started to call Ye Xiao Young Master.

He was humble and flattering the young man.

In other words, the affiliation had been confirmed.

Ye Xiao was the leader, and the Dark Evil Spirit was the follower.

Ye Xiao had never thought that he would recruit the first follower in the Human Realm Upon Heavens by lies. He truly hadn’t thought of recruiting the Dark Evil Spirit!

The Dark Evil Spirit hadn’t thought that all the glory in his life started from a fraud. He was actually fooled into a great future!

He would definitely say yes to Ye Xiao! He had to!

“Ye Hongchen, the great Master Ye, is the greatest person, the supreme legend in the Human Realm Upon Heavens for hundreds of thousands of years.

“The stories about the great Master Ye are much greater than the stories of all the sky kings.

“The great Master Ye is much more a legend than the others because the stories about him are too mystical. According to what I have heard, the great Master Ye was an orphan, who grew up alone in misery. When he was five, he climbed up to a cliff to get some fruits to eat because he was starving. He slipped on the cliff and fell down, luckily fell on a mother dragon, who was incubating a dragon egg. The mother dragon didn’t eat him, only let him grow with the dragon baby. The dragon baby was the famous Golden Saint Dragon, who stayed with the great Master Ye and assisted him on conquering the world. The dragon grew up with him, as his friend, and also his brother.”

Ye Xiao started to shed cold sweat on the forehead.

‘Holy hell… Isn’t it just like a novel? Wasn’t he lucky?’

‘Falling on a mother dragon that was incubating her dragon baby in the egg when he was trying to pick some fruits? Wasn’t he perfectly careless? He survived and became a brother to a dragon… Come on… Even a novelist couldn’t make up such a story!’

“You may think that the great Master Ye had a successful future just because of the dragon on his side. When he first stepped on the soil of the martial world, he was weak. For some reason, there were people hunting him, and he was forced to fall down the Sky Edge Lake. He should have been drowned, but luckily ate a fruit in the lake. The fruit turned out to be the essence of a water spirit. After that, he got massively improved… He became impregnable to all poisons… Water was like solid land to him. He could breathe under the water like he was breathing the air.”

Ye Xiao took a breath. ‘No way… This is too fictional… This is just exactly like a novel… Falling down the cliff, he got a dragon brother. Falling into a lake, he got the essence of a water spirit. When is the lady showing up? Or is there another male character?’

“When the great Master Ye was about twenty years old, he saved a girl. The two of them fell in love afterward. However, the girl was from the family of a lord in the South Sky, who wouldn’t let his daughter marry a poor young man. It was a difficult time for the lovers.

“The great Master Ye worked so hard afterward. He kept rushing upward in the martial world. Before he was forty, he had already become one of the new influential figures in the Human Realm Upon Heavens. The lady’s family had fallen down in the martial world. In the end, they had to rely on the great Master Ye to stay in an upper position in the world. How unpredictable!”

“Well…” Ye Xiao was wordless.

‘Holy heavens… It is just too much a ridiculous story. Please tell me it is not a script of some really stupid play, because it sucks. Same plots have been written again and again in different novels. Are you telling me this is real? What a weird world! Again, anything is possible as long as you live long enough to see it!’

“The great Master Ye climbed up to his prime step by step. When he fought against an itinerant cultivator, he was ambushed. At the end of that fight, he fell to the cliff in the Dark Wind Valley. The cliff was ten thousand feet high, and he was severely injured when he fell off. Everybody thought that he was dead. However, on the bottom of the cliff, the great Master Ye got a phoenix egg and ate the nirvana grass beside the egg. That nirvana grass gave him the power of nirvana, so he could return from death again and again… Even death couldn’t defeat him…”

“The power of the dragon and the power of the phoenix became one inside him.”

Ye Xiao was completely wordless now. ‘I know that falling off a cliff may not kill people. Sometimes it helps to reach the greatness in cultivation. Li Wuliang is a good example. Well, Li Wuliang has suffered a lot for many years, hasn’t he? Is it really reasonable that the great Master Ye actually got all the good sides of it? Death can’t defeat him? Come on… Just tell me he is the almighty god!’

“The great Master Ye had a mysterious and legendary life, in which he was incredibly lucky as a man. In his wedding, he married all his wife and concubines at the same day. It was such a big scene that was epic in history. People who went to the Ye Clan to congratulate him crowded into the house.

“Obviously, the house wasn’t big enough, so the great Master Ye gave an order to his people on the wedding day to collect the essence of the soil and irons from within ten thousand miles to build this City of Chaos.

“Well, it had a different name back then. He named it City of No Killing!

“Whoever arrived at the City of No Killing, no matter how powerful they were, how influential they were, shouldn’t kill in the city! You can’t even kill the enemy who has killed your father in this city! All the killings should only take place outside the city. Otherwise, you will be punished!

“The great Master Ye made the law of the city himself.”

“After that, the great Master Ye kept rising in the martial world. He was reaching the peak of the martial world. He should have failed to break up a new stage, but the dragon and the phoenix sacrificed themselves to push him up. After that, the great Master Ye became another sky conqueror in the Human Realm Upon Heavens.”

“The great Master Ye became the sixth most influential cultivator in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, below the five sky kings.”

“However, the great Master Ye was never content with things as they were. He never wanted to be one of the most powerful men—he wanted to be the most powerful man. The peak of the world was only for one man.”

“The great Master Ye challenged the sky kings one by one. If he won, he became a new king. If he defeated all the five sky kings, he became the only king n the Human Realm Upon Heavens.”

“If he lost, the Ye Clan left the Human Realm Upon Heavens for a hundred thousand years. People of the Ye Clan should never set foot on the soil of the Human Realm Upon Heavens in a hundred thousand years…

“It was a lot to pay for the great Master Ye. He had become one of the most powerful men in the world, and the Ye Clan had become the most influential force in the world!”

“Many people thought that the great Master Ye was sure to win the five battles because he wouldn’t dare to make that promise if he didn’t have confidence…”

“However, it was unexpected that the great Master Ye failed when he just had the first round against the Glaze Sky King!”

“There was a reason for his failure. The great Master Ye’s brother, the Golden Saint Dragon had been cultivating the secret martial art of the dragons. The Golden Saint Dragon got severely injured when practicing the dangerous martial art. The great Master Ye gave up some of his own power to save the dragon, and that was why he was so easily defeated by the Glaze Sky King.

“Although he was defeated, he was still proud and domineering. He laughed so loud and said, ‘You won, I lost. That is it. It is our fates. So be it then. Well, when my people return to the Human Realm Upon Heavens, the world will be broken!’ …”

“After that, the great Master Ye kept his own words. He led his people away and hid for a hundred thousand years!”

“High-level cultivators in the Human Realm Upon Heavens all knew this story. It is known to all that if the great Master Ye didn’t sacrifice a part of his power to save the dragon, he would defeat all the five sky kings. That fight became a pain in the Glaze Sky King’s heart.

“Before that battle, he didn’t know what happened to the great Master Ye. The great Master Ye was too proud to tell the opponent what happened. Although the great Master Ye kept his words and left the world, the Glaze Sky King never said that he won that fight.”

“Some people said that the Glaze Sky King always sighed about it. He used to say, ‘The only regret in my life is the battle against Hongchen before the City of Chaos. I guess we will see the true most powerful man after a hundred thousand years.’ …”

“What he said was frank. The Glaze Sky King never thought that he won that fight. He wanted to fight Ye Hongchen again someday. If Ye Hongchen wins, the Glaze Sky King would love to give in the seat of the world’s most powerful man!”

The Dark Evil Spirit told the story like it was written by himself.

Ye Xiao was almost soaked in the scenes.

The story of the great Master Ye was definitely a legend. As he said, the great Master Ye was the greatest legend of the Human Realm Upon Heavens!

He surely was!

Even though he failed in the end, he failed because he was an honorable man. The seat of the world’s most powerful cultivator might be important to him, but his brother was more important than that!

That was enough to impress Ye Xiao!

The Dark Evil Spirit was never a well-educated person. The reason why he remembered the story so well was that this was the famous part of Ye Hongchen’s life. Everybody in the Human Realm Upon Heavens knew this part.

However, this small part of the story about Ye Hongchen had already shocked Ye Xiao.

He couldn’t believe a real person could actually have such a wonderful life.

Everything, every experience of the great Master Ye was a legend to ordinary people…

It was amazing!

“There was actually… people like this in the world. How lucky!” Ye Xiao sighed.

He surely was impressed. He thought he was the luckiest guy in the world, but now he knew that there was a man who was much luckier than himself. Ye Hongchen was certainly blessed by the great heavens.

They were both named Ye.

Did the great heavens only bless people who were named Ye?

“Young Master, what should we do next?” The Dark Evil Spirit asked. In his eyes, there was a fever. He seemed to be looking forward to something…

…