Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wuhen had a sudden thought. He was glad that Su Yu had taken him in.
After all, if he were to one day face this ground of hot-blooded youths, he might have suffered a worse fate. Thinking of this, as he looked towards Su Yu, he felt even more respectful towards him.
One could clearly observe the extent of Su Yu’s charisma by his ability to empower and embolden the group of people who had, only a short while ago, given up all hope and were ready to escape. The charisma that Su Yu had, which gave him the ability to influence tens of thousands of people and earn their respect definitely came from Su Yu’s innate personality.
Such a character will definitely achieve quite a lot, even in the Central Prefecture! Wuhen thought to himself, while he secretly gave Su Yu a worthy appraisal.
The response from the crowd shook the heavens and the earth. Su Yu was suddenly the most authoritative figure. He was even akin to an invincible commander!
His mighty gaze swept across the endless horizon. “Alright, those who are willing to serve your home, your friends, and your women, follow me! We will use our courage and our wills to kill all of our enemies!” Su Yu’s shout was as if a thunderbolt had just struck past.
“Kill!”
“Kill! Kill!”
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
The shouting in unison was like a massive flood that swept across the skies and resonated hundreds of miles away. Thereafter, the skies thundered, as if thousands upon thousands of horses were galloping through the air. From afar, huge dark clouds were charging towards the northern area with a strong aura.
In the north continent. One of the subsidiaries of the empire in the Center Area, the Palace Master’s Manor.
The exterior perimeter of the manor was heavily secured in all four directions by purple-clothed and red-clothed guards. Each guard held a sharp blade in his hands, while frosty cold expressions filled all of their serious-looking faces. The aura that surrounded them was extremely intense.
Within the manor, members of the empire wore clothes of various colors. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry and were relaying all sorts of information to one another. People were moving in and out of the manor in order to transmit the latest information regarding the battles that were happening in the continent.
“Palace Master Nan Guang, what is the situation of the battles today?” In the palace, a red-robed old man, who looked very serious, asked a question.
While he spoke, a huge green birthmark could be seen moving up and down at the corner of his mouth. A middle-aged woman in purple clothing was sitting next to him.
She had a normal appearance. Her eyes shone brightly as she rapidly scanned the reports that were continuously arriving. She looked very focused and was meticulous in carrying out the task.
“Inspector Bai Yun, please allow me to organize the information.” The middle-aged woman lifted her head to meet his gaze before returning to her work fervently.
The red-robed old man with a birthmark at the corner of his mouth was the Empire of Darkness’ inspector. He was in charge of inspecting the four main subsidiaries of the empire.
“Alright, you must be very detailed in your readings. As soon as you find out the latest information, you must immediately report it to me.” Inspector Bai Yun sat down with a grand gesture, carrying himself as if he was an important commander.
Palace Master Nan Guang frowned slightly, as she was aware that Inspector Bai Yun was not happy with her performance. However, the battles were happening so swiftly, so it was difficult for her to find the experienced ones needed to serve this inspector well.
“Yes.” A simple reply came from Nan Guang as she immersed herself in her reading once again. After all, she had to come up with some strategies.
Although Inspector Bai Yun appeared to be calm and composed, he felt unsettled in his heart. After sitting down for only a short while, he stood up again and placed his hands behind his back, then started pacing in the hall. He now seemed very worried and disturbed.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “Something major has happened!” Nan Guang, who was the one that the shout emitted from, lifted her head immediately.
Inspector Bai Yun swiftly looked over and commanded, “Speak! What is the battle situation?”
Nan Guang had a horrid expression on her face and spoke in a deep voice. “I am afraid that we will have to abandon the north continent’s Sub Palace in three days’ time.”
“What do you mean?” Inspector Bai Yun’s face sank.
Palace Master Nan Guang retrieved a few pieces of jade silk. “Based on the latest information that we have obtained, the enemy’s army has already made their way into the Sub Palace’s ten regions. Some of the surrounding regions will inevitably fall into their hands very soon.”
“How is the enemy’s army this fast? Does this mean that the only force that was still holding them off, the Phoenix Cabinet, has already fallen?” Inspector Bai Yun’s facial expression continued to change.
He then said, “The majority of the enemy’s army has always targeted the Phoenix Cabinet. Now that they are changing the directions and heading towards the south, it must mean that the Phoenix Cabinet has fallen.”
Hearing this, Palace Master Nan Guang felt her heart sink as well. “The Phoenix Cabinet’s existence was supposedly heavily protected. Its strength lied in its strong defenses that not even a Grade Two Fairy could break through. If it were not for an internal spy’s assisting the enemy, they would not have been destroyed so easily!”
She then added, “Previously, the otherworldly army had not been able to take them down, even after such a long time. So, why did it suddenly fall apart now? There must be something odd going on!”
Palace Master Nan Guang felt something was amiss. “We had better retreat from this place soon. The north continent’s Sub Palace does not have as strong of a defense as the Phoenix Cabinet. If the enemy were to make their way in, it would probably take them only two days to half a month to enter the heart of the region. By then, there would be a very great numbers of casualties.”
However, Inspector Bai Yun did not seem to even consider this as an option. “We will not retreat! This is an order from the Seven Lords Palace!” he shouted.
Palace Master Nan Guang’s facial expression changed. “Seven Lords Palace? Have they all awakened?”
Outsiders would perhaps only know about the Seven Lords of Darkness in the Empire of Darkness. Very few would have known that there was the existence of the mysterious Seven Lords Palace in the Empire of Darkness. Those who existed in the Seven Lords Palace were the previous batches of the Seven Lords of Darkness.
Once the Seven Lords of Darkness passed the primes of their youth, they would automatically exit the group. As they still held the titles of the Emperor’s famed disciples, it was not appropriate for them to hold positions in the empire. This was done in order to prevent them from fighting for power within the empire.
Once they exited the group, they would join the Seven Lords Palace. They would then cultivate safely within it and not become involved with the matters of the world, that was, unless a great catastrophe occurred, of course.
Now that the continent was facing an imminent threat, the legendary Seven Lords Palace had finally been opened. No one knew how strong these previous Seven Lords of Darkness really were. However, everyone did know that each of them had very prominent qualities among their generation.
This was especially the case since the last three years had seen a drastic change in the environment’s Spiritual Energy, which had increased by more than ten times its original power! Still, no one knew if they had broken through as Fairies.
For the time being, the Emperor was still sequestered and there had been no news from him. As such, the Seven Lords Palace would undoubtedly become the main deciding power for all of the empire’s current matters.
“You’re right. This is an order from the Seven Lords Palace. The north continent is the only remaining section of the Empire of Darkness. The other locations have all been destroyed. If the north continent was to also be destroyed, there would be nothing left of the Empire of Darkness! Therefore, you must all fight to your deaths and never retreat, even in the face of the enemy!” shouted Inspector Bai Yun.
Hearing this, Palace Master Nan Guang’s face turned white. She bit her red lips, as she felt both anger and unwillingness rise in her heart. She then shouted, “The Seven Lords Palace wants us to wait for our deaths here!”
Inspector Bai Yun raised his brows slightly as he focused his gaze on her. “Eh? Do you dare to question the Seven Lords Palace? As the Palace Master of the south continent, you escaped the fighting and deserved the punishment of death. The Seven Lords Palace spared you because of your loyalty to the empire, which was why they ordered you to replace Ling Xiaotian as the north continent’s Palace Master. You are only able to live now because of the Seven Lords Palace’s mercy. How can you still harbor feelings of unwillingness?”
Was the Seven Lords Palace active since three years ago? Palace Master Nan Guang suddenly understood why she was had been relocated from the south continent to the north continent.
However, Palace Master Nan Guang had still had her reservations. But right now, she could not voice the difficulties faced by the north continent.
Disregarding Ling Xiao Tian’s disappearance, the problem of five regions out of the ten that had been emptied gave her enough of a headache as it were. Half of the ten great Sub Palace Masters had been killed.
The first Deputy Palace Master Shen Kong, the second Deputy Palace Master Liu Li, the third Deputy Palace Master An Fang, Deputy Palace Master Xiao Guang, and Deputy Palace Master Zhang Jian had all died. The only ones remaining were Feng Qing, Xue Yao, and Hua Zhi, who were the lower ranked Deputy Palace Masters.
The most disturbing part was that all of the Deputy Palace Masters were killed by one person. This person was the Deputy Palace Master who had gone missing, Deputy Palace Master Yin Yu!
“In that year, if not for the actions of Inspector Bai He and Lord Bai Luo, Deputy Palace Master Yin Yu would not have gone missing to this day. He was the true genius and was no less talented than any of the geniuses among the Seven Lords of Darkness.”
By now, with the news of the deaths of Bai Luo and Shen Ying, the incident that happened years ago no longer mattered. One would know in his own heart the truth of the matter.
Inspector Bai Yun then asked, “So what if he is here? He is a mere person from the younger generation and could not possibly make any difference in the situation at hand.”
Inspector Bai Yun did not take this seriously. “Let us discuss what to do now. No matter what happens, we cannot retreat! It is still too early for that. We still need time to observe if the enemy has shifted to the south. Even if that were the case, it would still take time for them to enter the heart of this region…”
“Report!” All of a sudden, an urgent voice could be heard, coming from the outside.
A young man, dressed in green, who looked very different from the other informants around him, was holding a blue flame as he rushed over. As he made his way, all of the other guards and informants stepped aside in surprise.
Inspector Bai Yun’s brows jumped wildly. “A Blue Spirit Message, the most urgent form of messages!”
Nan Guang’s heart sank. “Why would it be this kind of a message?”
Information was categorized into three types, according to color. These colors were yellow, green, and blue.
Blue represented the highest level of information. In contrast, yellow was the lowest level, which indicated important information about the enemy army’s movements. Green was in the middle and covered important information, such as the fact that the enemy army was moving southwards. This particular level was overseen by Nan Guang and could only be viewed by the Palace Master.
As it was the highest level, blue level Information had not been since the otherworldly experts had invaded the north continent! Now that it had appeared, it meant that grave danger was before them! As they understood this clearly, Inspector Bai Yun and Palace Master Nan Guang had very grave facial expressions.
As the young man held the flame in his hand and rushed over to them, he looked very frightened. Palace Master Nan Guang caught the flame with her hand and started imbuing Vital Energy into it.
The flame then gradually died out. However, the flame seemed to be replaced by the stars of flame, which started forming a picture in the air. In the picture, rivers of blood had formed and the light of flame filled the air.
Under the bright light, a floor that was filled with corpses could be seen. A fierce shout was heard and people were running away as tears streamed down their faces.
Brush.
The light screen suddenly turned red. One of the youths who could not escape in time had his neck chopped off. His fresh blood splattered all over the place and covered the light screen.
Amid the chaos of the scene, everyone could see a bloody figure, who was laughing fiercely as he stepped onto the light screen. Then, with a cracking sound, the light screen broke into pieces.
The hellish scene sent chills down everyone’s spines. Palace Master Nan Guang was especially stunned.
She said, “That was the Fengqing region… Deputy Palace Master Feng Qing just died in the battle…” She had clearly recognized the person whose head was just chopped off as being Deputy Palace Master Feng Qing!
“How could the enemy advance so quickly?” Inspector Bai Yun sucked in a breath of cold air. “However, we still have time. The Fengqing region is an outer area, after all. It will still take some time for them to reach the heart of the region…”
“Report!” Right then, another urgent voice came from the corners of the sky. From afar, another young man, who was also dressed in green, was holding a blue-colored flame in his hand.
“Blue Spirit Message…” Palace Master Nan Guang’s face once again turned white.
Very quickly, the blue flame was passed into her palm. Her palm shook as she extinguished the flame and another light screen appeared.
Bloody light, flames, corpses, and a river of blood… Sounds of crying, shouting, and a fierce laughter rang yet again through everyone’s ears.
“Xueyao Region… Gone…” Palace Master Nan Guang felt as if needles were poking into her heart.
Inspector Bai Yun sucked in another breath of cold air. “How is this possible? The Xueyao Region is at the other end of the continent. Could the enemy be attacking from both sides at the same time?”
“Report!”
“Report!”
Two urgent yells came from outside. Right then, everyone’s facial expressions changed. This was because, from afar, they could roughly see many more figures approaching!
There were a total of eight people headed straight for them, all carrying urgent reports…
“Zhangjian Region, destroyed.”
“Shenkong Region, destroyed.”
“Liuli Region, destroyed.”
“Anfang Region, destroyed.”
…
Finally, as Nan Guang held a ball of blue flame, her palm was shaking so violently, she lost the power to crush it. At the same time, eight out of ten regions had been destroyed!
