The Legend of Futian

That was where Ye Futian’s bedchambers were and only those he deemed the closest to him were allowed to visit directly. Even though Xia Qingyuan was a princess, she still needed to get someone to send word instead of simply barging into the place. Xia Qingyuan was not the sovereign of Emperor Xia’s Realm yet.

Xia Qingyuan took one look at him after seeing his cold eyes. This ba*sard is still as cocky as ever. Doesn’t he know that he just returned from the gates of death?

“I have some matters to discuss with you.” Xia Qingyuan dropped to the ground and turned her eyes at everyone else, saying, “Leave us be.” Zhuge Mingyue and Beitang Xing’er took one look at Xia Qingyuan before turning around and leaving. Loulan Xue left as well. Xia Qingyuan’s men stood guard outside.

Ye Futian did not stand up. If Xia Qingyuan had sent someone to send word, he would have greeted her standing up, yet he saw no reason to be polite, given how rude Xia Qingyuan was.

“You are really making yourself at home indeed, Princess,” Ye Futian said plainly. He, the master of the place, had not even said anything before Xia Qingyuan dismissed his guests like she owned the place. Xia Qingyuan did not reply. While her contact with Ye Futian had been limited, she had gotten used to Ye Futian’s attitude. He was a man with extreme pride, just like her. However, he was indeed qualified to be so prideful.

Xia Qingyuan walked before Ye Futian and sat down, saying, “Do you not want to know why Saint Zhi dared to exchange lives with you?”

Ye Futian looked up. His eyes very sharp. Jieyu perished in that battle where the seven holy lands had the Holy Zhi Palace surrounded. However, if it had not been for the nine mysterious mighty ones appearing at the end of the battle and Saint Zhi making a move against him, Jieyu would not have died. He would not even have needed to reveal his imperial will to win that Sacred War. No one knew why a saint had wanted to exchange lives with him.

If Saint Zhi had been cornered and there was no way he could have came out alive, then it would have made sense that he chose to die with Ye Futian. That was how things went with Zhou Yanwang. However, that was not the case with Saint Zhi. His move went against human nature. Ye Futian knew that there probably were people of the Upper Worlds involved. Ye Futian kept his eyes on Xia Qingyuan, waiting for her to continue.

“Saint Zhi had a son who was of Noble Plane training, one who was born between Saint Zhi and one of his concubines. He did not die in the battle when the Holy Zhi Palace razed Zhisheng Cliffs. Both mother and son were gone,” Xia Qingyuan said.

“Who?” Ye Futian asked.

“No one in Emperor Xia’s Realm has the gall to pull something like that. Do you know who found the imperial mausoleum in the first place?” Xia Qingyuan asked.

“People from Emperor Li’s Realm,” Ye Futian answered coldly.

“Be it my father or Emperor Li, they have forces that answered only to them, and their descendants would have nurtured their own people. That nine mysterious mighty ones were the people of Li Yao, the prince of Emperor Li’s Realm.” Xia Qingyuan then continued, “Li Yao found Saint Zhi and promised to take his son to Emperor Li’s Realm for further training. Saint Zhi had no way out of it, so he did what he did as he had nothing to lose. Li Yao is the one responsible for your wife’s death.”

“Emperor Li’s Realm, Li Yao.” Ye Futian looked unusually calm, yet the names were etched deep into his bone. It was no wonder why that fight had been such a fanfare, with all nine of them being people at the pinnacle of the Sage Plane and armed with a set of divine implements. It would not be a surprise if they had been descendants of Renhuang as well. Those divine implements meant little to people like Li Yao.

While Ye Futian’s current powers enabled him to claim to be invincible among the sages, there was no way he could have been able to kill Li Yao. It was not just him. Even if Xia Qingyuan wanted Li Yao dead, it would be incredibly difficult as well. Her opponent would have been the son of Renhuang after all, which meant that he was of similar status to Xia Qingyuan.

“Do you feel exhilarated, having destroyed the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and the Xihua Sacred Mountain consecutively, then forcing the three holy lands of Endless Ocean to disband?” Xia Qingyuan continued to ask while looking at him.

“What do you mean by that?” Ye Futian asked, looking at Xia Qingyuan.

“The saints of the three holy lands of the Endless Ocean made a request to the Upper Worlds, offering compensation and suing for peace, apologizing for what they did in the Sacred War,” Xia Qingyuan said.

The three holy lands of the Endless Ocean balked. It was apparent that they were frightened after seeing what happened with the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and Xihua Sacred Mountain. They had no choice but to disband, yet their lineages for ages would not be wiped with just one order to disband. Furthermore, judging from Emperor Xia’s attitude, he probably had high hopes for Ye Futian, which led him to place a lockdown on the news. As such, even though they were saints, they were incapable of getting out of Emperor Xia’s Realm, and they would have had to face retaliation from Ye Futian sooner or later.

It would have been a better option to sue for peace instead of thinking of ways to kill Ye Futian. The risk with the former was just too great. It would have ended with their deaths instead of Ye Futian’s after all.

There was another way to deal with such predicaments, and that was to attach themselves to other greater powers of the Upper Worlds. Still, it remained to be seen if those forces dared to take on Ye Futian, who seemed to have limitless potential.

With things being as such, there was no doubt that suing for peace would have been the best option. They suffered huge losses in that Sacred War. There were too many of their mighty ones killed in that war. However, given how the war was something they started, they had no one to blame but themselves. Even though they might have resented Ye Futian deep down, they had to consider their futures.

“Apologize and sue for peace?” Ye Futian smirked sarcastically. “Do you think I’ll agree to that, Princess?”

“The three holy lands of the Endless Ocean had little enmity with the Holy Zhi Palace. From what I know, they participated in the Sacred War because Saint Ji promised to hand over the divine implement that watched over the Endless Ocean—the Halberd of Time and Space—back to the forces of the Endless Ocean, once they won the war. Furthermore, any holy land that acquired imperial implements agreed to compensate with some divine implements of theirs, letting the three holy lands of Endless Ocean decide among themselves how to distribute them. Do you really need to kill them all?” Xia Qingyuan elaborated coldly. Ye Futian had destroyed three holy lands and there was no way he would let the Hall of Holy Light off. If the ones from the Endless Ocean were to be added to the list, seven holy lands would have ended up razed. To the people of the Nine States, that would have been a great loss. But then again, her father did say that Ye Futian alone was worth more than those in throughout the Nine States. However, it was still a better option to keep more holy lands around intact.

“There is one nameless cemetery built in the Holy Zhi Palace to commemorate those who have fallen in service to the Holy Zhi Palace in the war. Tell them what you told me instead, Princess,” Ye Futian replied just as coldly. “But then again, if that was an order from Emperor Xia himself, then I have had to follow.”

Xia Qingyuan’s incredibly beautiful eyes stared at Ye Futian. He was indeed the first person who dared to talk back to her.

“The Halberd of Time and Space once belonged to the Ocean King, the master of the Endless Ocean. Now that you’ve obtained it, it can be said that you’ve acquired the lineage of the Ocean King. What if I told you that you could become the master of the Endless Ocean and have the three holy lands of the Endless Ocean serve you?” Xia Qingyuan’s voice remained cold, but she had nonetheless made compromises as well. Having Ye Futian become the new overlord of the Endless Ocean would be better than having all of the Endless Ocean’s holy lands razed.

“Not enough,” Ye Futian replied plainly.

“Any other conditions then?” Xia Qingyuan asked coldly.

“I want the people of the three holy lands of Endless Ocean to come to the Holy Zhi Palace and declare their fealty. Furthermore, I want the saints of the holy lands of the Endless Ocean to lead the visit to that cemetery in the Holy Zhi Palace that I mentioned and make their apologies personally.” Ye Futiant then continued coldly, “But then again, this is my personal opinion about things. I’d need to ask the people of the Holy Zhi Palace themselves if they agree to such an arrangement. If they do not find it agreeable, I do not see it correct for even me, the Palace Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace, to just impose my decision on them.”

Xia Qingyuan stared at Ye Futian and saw those deep eyes of his staring back at her without any hint of flinching at all.

“One final matter. Due to the matter with the Sacred War, the Nine States Forum was not held last year. As such, we’d like to have one organized and let the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State serve as host. What do you think?” Xia Qingyuan asked.

“No problem,” Ye Futian answered without hesitation.

The Barren State had been weak for many years. Even though they had now risen, that was solely at the top level of things, where the saints and the pinnacle of the sages lied. Exceptional ones among the lower levels were still in short supply. It was not something that could have been accomplished in a short span of time. Under such a background, accomplishing such a feat required the efforts of generations.

There was no doubt that the Nine States Forum would have served as a very good environment to help the cultivators of the Barren State and the Holy Zhi Palace train better. It was something that would have benefited the Barren State, so he saw no reason to refuse.

Other than that, he had his reasons to make compromises with Xia Qingyuan and let the holy lands of the Endless Ocean swear fealty to him. He intended to delve into the training resources of the Endless Ocean’s three holy lands and use them to further the training of those in the Holy Zhi Palace. With the help of Saint Jiang on top of all that, the Holy Zhi Palace would not have fallen behind the rest of the Nine States at any level, after working at it for decades.

“If the three holy lands find my conditions agreeable and he people of the Holy Zhi Palace agree to such arrangements, then the day of the three holy lands swearing fealty to the Holy Zhi Palace shall be held on the same day, where the Nine States Forum is held,” Ye Futian added.

Xia Qingyuan then asked, “Don’t you think that would be too brutal?”

“If they have the intention to swear loyalty, then they need to show that they mean business. There’s no point faking such matters after all,” Ye Futian replied.

Xia Qingyuan wanted to teach him a lesson very badly, seeing his calm expression. However, both the battle in the imperial mausoleum and that battle of the Sacred War seemed to have made it clear to her—she was no match for Ye Futian. Seeing how Hua Jieyu perished in that battle personally, she had originally come to pity Ye Futian. However, her conversation with the ba*sard before her stripped her of all compassion she had for him.

“Time?” Xia Qingyuan asked.

“The first day of next year,” Ye Futian replied.

Xia Qingyuan stood up and turned around, her back facing Ye Futian, saying, “If you weren’t so overbearing, you would have been more approachable.”

“Farewell, Princess,” Ye Futian looked up and said plainly. Xia Qingyuan clenched her fists somewhat tightly, before walking off without turning around.

Zhuge Mingyue and Beitang Xing’er did not actually leave; they were simply waiting outside. They saw Xia Qingyuan walked out with a frosty expression and then said, “Let’s go.” She then took the sky and left.

Zhuge Mingyue wore a puzzled look on her face. What did little brother do this time to piss Xia Qingyuan off like that? Damn, couldn’t he just make less trouble for others? It would be in everyone’s benefit if he were to just play nice with the Princess. She is Emperor Xia’s daughter after all.

“Loulan, go gather the lords to the Holy Sage Pavilion. We have matters to discuss,” Ye Futian said. Loulan Xue was not all that far away. She acknowledged her orders and headed for the other palaces and pavilions.

Ye Futian stood up and walked outside the compound. Be it the matter of the three holy lands of the Endless Ocean or that of the Nine States Forum, he needed the advice and opinions from the other lords to get preparations done. He needed to ask the people of all the other palaces and pavilions to decide how to proceed with the aforementioned matters.