The Legend of Futian

Gu Dongliu stared at Kong Yao. So Zhisheng Cliffs won’t even let our little brother off, eh?

“He has left Barren State,” Gu Dongliu said. “I haven’t brought any sacred relics with me this time. With Zhan Xiao dead and the killing of the sages long past, you can all put the blame on me. So, would Zhisheng Cliffs want a sacred relic? Or would you people make do with Ye Futian?”

Kong Yao looked at Gu Dongliu and said, “Gu Dongliu, if you headed for Zhisheng Cliffs earlier, you might have ended up being a Son of the place, and there would have been no need for you to stand against Zhisheng Cliffs. Now, your threats mean nothing. I’m going to the sacred relic, and I’m taking Ye Futian as well.”

“It was you who started all this. But you brothers indeed cherished one another, and you became the very reason why Ye Futian got himself into this and stirred up all that trouble. He roped the Zhuge family, Taihang Mountain, Alchemy City, and Tingxue House into this, all so that you, his Third Brother, can live. If that is the case with him and you now surrendering yourself, it wouldn’t matter where he is now. So long as you’re around, would he be far off?”

“As for the sacred relic, we’ll take you back to Zhisheng Cliffs after we’re done with all this. You will spill its whereabouts, whether you like it or now,” Kong Yao said coldly. His words provoked Gu Dongliu enough to have his eyes filled with thick murderous intent.

“Kong Yao, you are, at the very least, someone ranked ninth on Sage Ranking out of all nine states. You’re even the number one below the Saint Plane. Don’t you ever feel any guilt doing all this?” Du Dongliu glared at him and asked.

“No, I don’t,” Kong Yao said without any hesitation. Gu Dongliu said nothing more. He was only hoping that his little brother had already escaped.

The news was heard in the Barren State soon that Gu Dongliu was taken to the Holy Zhi Palace and handed over to the people of Zhisheng Cliffs. The Holy Zhi Palace released more news saying that they would let Ye Futian return to the Holy Zhi Palace to end the war. The Zhuge family, Taihang Mountain, Tingxue House, and the other forces would have had further complications to deal with otherwise.

It was apparent that the Holy Zhi Palace did not wish for Zhisheng Cliffs to end forces, like the Zhuge family and Taihang Mountain, but they had to take Ye Futian in. It was an indisputable fact, as both Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace had no intention of letting him run loose.

Countless people in the Barren State were exasperated. With the Holy Zhi Palace stepping in, things changed drastically and it was too late for anything to go back to how it once had been. It was said that Ye Futian had fled. He was nowhere to be found in both Crouching Dragon Mountain nor Taihang Mountain. No one knew where he was and no one knew if he would have returned. Many speculated that Ye Futian was probably gone for good this time. After all, it was too late to turn back the clock now. If they were Ye Futian, they would have given up some things just to keep themselves alive. With his talents, there would always be a chance for revenge in the future.

…

The east side of Taihang Mountain was near the eastern regions of the Barren State.

The Zhaixing House was somewhere in that region. Ye Futian woke up somewhere in the Zhaixing House. He opened his eyes and felt rather tired. That battle back there thoroughly exhausted him. As he went cranking up the will of the emperor to the extreme and even went burning the powers of his Life Palace. All energies within his body were almost burnt up without a speck of power left. He had relied on nothing more than the self-repair abilities of his Life Spirit to regenerate his strength, allowing him to wake up. However, he was still extremely weak at the moment.

“Third Brother,” Ye Futian called with a low voice as he woke. He sat up and saw Hua Jieyu by his side.

“Jieyu, where are we?” Ye Futian asked.

“Zhaixing House.” Hua Jieyu answered, “When we fled eastward that day, we passed by Zhaixing House’s territory and met the chief of Zhaixing House. He was the one who let us in.”

“Zhaixing House.” Ye Futian felt rather peculiar with the name. Mu Chuan actually bothered helping me? This was where I took his Polearm of Divine Destruction all those years ago. Didn’t that old fart Mu Chuan not like me, and bickered with Headmaster Chen Yuan all the time?

“Where is Third Brother?” Ye Futian asked.

“He should have returned to Crouching Dragon Mountain. He said nothing would happen to him and he had us leave,” Hua Jieyu explained softly.

“Jieyu, why bother lying to yourself?” Ye Futian said looking at Hua Jieyu. Nothing would have happened to him, really?

Ye Futian killed Zhan Xiao and his Third Brother knocked him unconscious, before having Hua Jieyu spirit him away. There was simply no need to say much about why Gu Dongliu did so. His Third Brother wanted to shoulder everything himself while having both of them flee as far as possible.

Hua Jieyu lowered her head. She had indeed been lying to herself at times, which was she simply was unable to keep calm about things.

“Yu Sheng, how is he?” Ye Futian appeared very calm.

“He is training these days to recover from his injuries,” Hua Jieyu said. The exhaustion Yu Sheng suffered that day when he practically turned into a demon to fight was not that far off from what Ye Futian had suffered. One could have even said that they were fortunate to be able to survive that battle at Taihang Mountain.

“Any news about Senior Xu Shang?” Ye Futian asked further. There were too many things on his mind, too many people he was concerned about.

“My, my, look at yourself. Do you really think you’re in a place to be concerned for others now?” A voice was heard somewhere. Mu Chuan, chief of Zhaixing House, walked in and said to Ye Futian, “Relax, Xu Shang is live, though he is pretty badly injured. But the City Lord of White Cloud City also suffered quite a bad stab wound. Both of them left on a truce.”

Ye Futian sighed in relief and said, “Thank you, sir. But why would you bother saving me?”

“Saving you?” Mu Chuan said coldly, “I’m only concerned for that piece of treasure that was the pride of the Zhaixing House. When are you going to return Polearm of Divine Destruction to me?”

“Mu Chuan, do you have any decency left in you?” A voice was heard berating him somewhere else. Ye Futian then saw Chen Yuan walking in, glared at Mu Chuan and added, “The Polearm of Divine Destruction now belongs to Ye Futian. Are you really still thinking about getting it back?”

“Headmaster.” Ye Futian felt rather surprised. He did not expect to see the headmaster in Zhaixing House at all.

“Futian, take as much rest as you need. When your injuries have recovered, I’ll get you out of the Barren State.” Chen Yuan looked at Ye Futian and said, “As for the affairs of the Barren State, I’d advise you to keep your hands to yourself.”

“Leaving Barren State, huh?” Ye Futian mumbled to himself. Will I be able to leave with Barren State in shambles?

“Headmaster, just tell me honestly. How are things in the Barren State now? WDid any other mighty ones from Zhisheng Cliffs show up after Zhan Xiao was dead? How is my Third Brother doing now? And news, from Crouching Dragon Mountain and Taihang Mountain.” Ye Futian went blasting him with questions.

“You want to hear the truth?” Chen Yuan stared at Ye Futian. What happened to the Barren State now was already common knowledge. If Ye Futian wanted to find anything out, there was simply no hiding of anything from him.

“Of course.” Ye Futian nodded.

“After your Third Brother killed Zhan Xiao, the mighty ones from Zhisheng Cliffs arrived at the Holy Zhi Palace and insisted to have the Holy Zhi Palace interfere with things. The big shots of the place then went to Crouching Dragon Mountain and other forces. Finally, your Third Brother went straight to the Holy Zhi Palace himself, wanting to end all of that conflict once and for all.” Chen Yuan added, “But the Holy Zhi Palace and Zhisheng Cliffs wanted more than just your Third Brother; they wanted you as well.”

Ye Futian went silent hearing all that. Gu Dongliu had indeed wanted to shoulder everything himself, but even then, both Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace refused to just let Ye Futian go.

“I was the one who killed Zhan Xiao,” Ye Futian said.

Chen Yuan and Mu Chuan were both shaken to the core hearing that, especially Chen Yuan. He knew secrets about Ye Futian. As such, Chen Yuan believed Ye Futian when the young man said he said he was the one who killed Zhan Xiao. However, the news still proved to be a startling one.

Ye Futian was just a noble and Zhan Xiao was a Son of Zhisheng Cliffs, an upper-level sage. It was insanely unreasonable to have Ye Futian killing Zhan Xiao.

“This can’t be true.” Mu Chuan felt rather reluctant to believe what he had just heard.

“My Third Brother knocked me unconscious after that battle and had Jieyu spirited me away. He then went to the Holy Zhi Palace alone. He wanted to shoulder everything for me.” Ye Futian did not care one bit if Mu Chuan believed anything he said.

“If your Third Brother was willing to go that far just to let you flee, I don’t see any reason for you to surrender yourself,” Chen Yuan looked at Ye Futian and said. Someone with talents like Ye Futian did not deserve to just die like that. His future was connected to more than just the Barren State; it was connected to all nine states, and probably far beyond that.

Ye Futian looked at Chen Yuan. He was able to relate to the headmaster’s thoughts. But he would have never been able to forgive himself, if he were to just flee like that. His guilt would have followed him for the rest of his life.

Mu Chuan, who was hearing the ongoing conversation from the sides, knew from there that Ye Futian was not lying about anything. Chen Yuan apparently believed what he said, which meant that Ye Futian had meant not known to most people that allowed him to surpass the limits of planes. Furthermore, the fact that he was able to kill Zhan Xiao meant that Ye Futian had developed matured power of rules.

“I’ll go check on Yu Sheng,” Ye Futian said and got up. He then said to Mu Chuan, “Sir, if I don’t end up dead and when the day comes where the Polearm of Divine Destruction was no longer of use to me, I’ll return it to you.”

Mu Chuan was completely startled. Ye Futian’s talents were such that there would definitely be a day where the Polearm of Divine Destruction would no longer be able to serve him. It was not some kind of bluff. The Polearm of Divine Destruction was just a ritual implement that had once been used by a saint. If the day where Ye Futian was to achieve sainthood would come, there would indeed be no more need for that piece of equipment.

Ye Futian left where he was and went to check on Yu Sheng and Yi Qingxuan. They were really having peace and quiet in the Zhaixing House. While Chief Mu Chuan had a sharp tongue, he treated them well. He would not have let Chen Yuan show up there otherwise, and would have informed Zhisheng Cliffs or the Holy Zhi Palace. There were many instances where what one did was far more important than what one said.

Ye Futian went to sit with his legs crossed on top of Zhaixing House. The wind blew and he closed his eyes, melding his spiritual will within the wind, within the world around him. That space would have been frozen just so long as he triggered his will.

“Rules. So this is the power of rules, huh?” Ye Futian mumbled quietly to himself. The wind blew again. That gentle breeze suddenly turned into a gale as sharp as knives, cutting up the space they occupied. Comprehension of one led to the comprehension of all.

Ye Futian had stepped foot into that territory and had developed comprehension of matured rules of incredibly high levels: space-type power of rules. That meant that some of the simplest rules would have been nothing to him. He could have developed comprehension of them in no time. All that was needed was for the strength of his spiritual powers to reach new heights. He would have then become a true sage.

In actuality, however, what he was right there was hardly different from being a sage. Ye Futian’s spirit and vigor restored considerably several days later. The powers within his body felt more ample than it had been before. He felt himself to have grown far stronger than he had been.

He had spent the past few days training on top of Zhaixing House, so much so that he did not sleep nor rest at night, and he said little to nothing to anyone. Everyone was able to feel what he was going through and nobody went bothering him. They were feeling rather contradictory about things. On one hand, they hoped Ye Futian would have eventually choose to leave. But if he were to simply leave like that, they would be somewhat disappointed!