Translator: Silavin & Imperfectluck
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Once the Thousand Leaves Sect could control the Heaven Grade Puppets, they would instantly become a First-Class Sect. They would have nothing to fear then from a trifling Sky Illumination Palace. Every Sect within a radius of a hundred thousand kilometres would have to look up to and respect Thousand Leaves Sect or perish.
However, Ye Hen never expected that Shi Cang Ying would be so underhanded and wicked as to send his subordinates to capture Yang Kai’s friends. Once Yang Kai’s friends were captured, of course Yang Kai would never let it be. The Thousand Leaves Sect also wouldn’t be able to ever get its lost Secret Arts and Secret Techniques then, which would truly be the end of the Thousand Leaves Sect.
Ye Hen felt both panic and anger as he considered all this, “Shi Cang Ying, if you’re really thinking about the Sect’s future, then immediately call those people back.”
Shi Cang Ying coldly snorted, “It’s already too late!”
Shi Cang Ying could already guess why all the Masters outside had come here when he heard about the news, so he secretly told his loyal followers to wait in hiding for his command. When he saw that Ye Hen was unwilling to give Yang Kai up, he had secretly given the command to capture Yang Kai’s friends, so it was too late to mention it now.
“You…” Ye Hen felt some hot blood rushing up to his throat. He almost spat it out in his anger as he pointed at Shi Cang Ying and ground his teeth, “Do you know what a huge mistake you’re making!? If anything at all happens to Yang Kai’s friends, this Sect Master will make you take full responsibility!”
Shi Cang Ying’s expression darkened as he said, “This Shi’s intentions are solely for the sake of the Sect, which Heaven can bear witness to. Even if our Ancestors were standing here, now, they would also feel that this Shi is making the right decision!”
Ye Hen finally spat out some blood when he saw that Shi Cang Ying was so unwilling to back down.
Shi Cang Yang glanced at him coldly and calmly declared, “Sect Master, you’re getting old and you’re no longer suited to lead Thousand Leaves Sect. Your stubborn and antiquated way of thinking will only cause Thousand Leaves Sect to stop making any progress.”
Everyone’s expressions really changed when they heard this. They realized that Shi Cang Ying wanted to take this opportunity to seize power for himself. The Elders all had panicked expressions and didn’t know what to do.
Du Xian angrily shouted, “Old Dog Shi, how dare you do something so treacherous? Today, I shall clean up the Sect on my Master’s behalf!”
He was standing behind Ye Hen as he witnessed everything clearly. Although he also didn’t know why Ye Hen valued Yang Kai so much, Ye Hen was still his Master. Of course, Du Xian felt his heart ache when his Master had been angered so much by Shi Cang Ying to the point where he even coughed up blood.
As he spoke, a longsword with a chilling light suddenly appeared in his hand. The sword flashed as he directly stabbed the sword towards Shi Cang Ying.
Shi Cang Ying stood where he was with a condescending expression. He reached out with his hand and viciously slapped, “As a Sect disciple, you dare to attack a Senior and make a move against this King? Ye Hen really has raised such a fine disciple!”
As he spoke, the Source Qi from his hand crashed against the sword.
There was a boom as the sword shattered and a palm print struck Du Xian’s body, causing him to spit out blood and fly backwards.
This all happened in just the blink of an eye. Although there was a Sect Defending Array between them, Qiu Ze and the others could see everything quite clearly. They all began to smile sarcastically. They had banded together to make things difficult for Thousand Leaves Sect today while expecting a hard battle, but they hadn’t expected that Thousand Leaves Sect would start to fall apart from the inside before they even did anything. The Sect Master and Vice Sect Master kept arguing, while a disciple attacked first without respect for a Senior and was injured.
At this rate, it seemed that they could conquer Thousand Leaves Sect without even needing to do anything apart from stand here and watch the good show.
When everyone thought about this, they all had expressions as if things were already over.
“Sect Master Shi is courageous and just. This Qiu is impressed!” Qiu Ze smiled towards Shi Cang Ying and cupped his fists from afar. Qiu Ze was already calling Shi Cang Ying ‘Sect Master’, making it obvious that he felt Ye Hen had no power to overturn the situation.
When Shi Cang Ying heard this, he also cupped his fists in return, “Palace Lord Qiu is exaggerating. This Shi is simply thinking for the sake of his Sect, unlike a certain person whose eyes are clouded as he dares to go against Heaven and bring trouble to his own Sect.”
Qiu Ze said, “This King feels that Thousand Leaves Sect will definitely have a bright future under Sect Master Shi’s leadership.”
Shi Cang Ying smiled lightly and took a humble tone, “I’ll have to ask Palace Lord Qiu to take care of my Sect often in the future.”
His words made it evident that he would often be interacting with Sky Illumination Palace and subordinating himself to them in the future. Ye Hen spat out some more blood when he heard this as he angrily roared, “Shi Cang Ying, you will regret this. The ten thousand year foundation that our Ancestors left us will all be ruined in your hands. What face will you have to see our Ancestors on the day that you die?”
Shi Cang Yang laughed coldly, “I wonder who it will be that doesn’t have face to see our Ancestors? This Shi has nothing to feel guilty about. Even if my soul goes to hell, our Ancestors won’t blame me for anything!”
Ye Hen’s face was pale white and his aura seemed quite withered. However, he gritted his teeth and didn’t say a word as he glared at Shi Cang Ying with such hatred that it seemed he wanted to devour the latter.
Meanwhile, Qiu Ze nodded in satisfaction, “Sect Master Shi should first give us that boy Yang Kai. We’ve waited here for quite some time already.”
“But of course.” Shi Cang Ying smiled slightly, “Calculating the time, they should be here soon.”
He then glanced towards a certain direction and smiled, “See, they’re here as expected.”
When everyone heard him say this, they all glanced in that direction. Ye Hen felt even more panicked as he secretly circulated his Source Qi to prepare for any moment that Shi Cang Ying was distracted to attack. No matter what, Ye Hen wouldn’t allow Yang Kai’s friends to be given over.
However, Ye Hen’s expression flickered and he furrowed his brow when he peered into the distance.
Shi Cang Ying had a strange expression as well as it seemed he too noticed that something was off.
A beam of light crookedly flew over from the direction everyone was staring and a moment later, the beam of light landed in front of everyone to reveal a Second-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator. This man seemed to be around fifty years old, and was one of the loyal followers of Shi Cang Ying, as well as an elite of Thousand Leaves Sect’s progressive faction.
But at this moment, this Elder was actually covered in blood with a wretched appearance. Not only that, but his aura was also fluctuating unstably, so it was obvious to all that he was seriously injured.
Ye Hen couldn’t help but stare in confusion when he saw this Elder. Shi Cang Ying’s expression greatly changed as well as he hurried over and supported his follower and asked, “What happened? Who injured you? Didn’t you go to capture those five? Where are the others?”
When the Elder heard this, he exclaimed with fear, “There was a Master at the Third-Order Dao Source Realm. We couldn’t defeat that person. Seventh Elder and Ninth Elder were captured…”
“What?” Shi Cang Ying’s expression greatly changed, “They were captured?”
He barely dared to believe what his ears just heard. His expression was one of ‘are you kidding me?’ as he looked at the injured Elder.
Shi Cang Ying obviously knew the cultivation level of Yang Kai’s friends. They were all at the First-Order Dao Source Realm, with one person being in the Origin King Realm. How could such weaklings possibly be any opponent for his three subordinates? However, the current situation was that two had been captured, while the third escaped here while being seriously injured.
If it wasn’t for the fact that this Elder had always been really loyal to him, Shi Cang Ying almost would have suspected that he was lying to try and rattle him.
“Who captured them?” Shi Cang Ying asked with astonishment.
“A woman!”
“Woman?” Shi Cang Ying had a thoroughly surprised expression as he seemed to think of something that caused him to grit his teeth, “They were just pretending to be weak?”
He was under the impression that Chi Yue had concealed her true cultivation level, which was why his three loyal Elders had been unable to win and were captured.
However, the Elder shook his head, “No, I’ve never seen that woman before. I don’t even know when she arrived in the Sect.”
“Never seen her before?” Shi Cang Ying was even more confused. He then immediately became angry, “Even if she is a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Master, the three of you shouldn’t have been defeated in such a pathetic manner, right?”
Shi Cang Ying seemed to be so angry that he was almost on the verge of cursing at the Elder for being a useless piece of trash.
The Elder answered pitifully, “That woman is definitely at the peak of the Dao Source Realm. There was also… also some slight Emperor Intent contained in her attacks. If it wasn’t for that, even if we couldn’t win, we obviously wouldn’t have been defeated by her in a single moment.”
“Emperor Intent?” Shi Cang Ying was really astonished now.
Having Emperor Intent in her attacks meant that she already understood some secrets of the Emperor Realm. In other words, as long as that woman had enough time, she would definitely break through to the Emperor Realm!
Thousand Leaves Sect could not afford to antagonize a future Emperor Realm Master.
Shi Cang Ying instantly felt like his heart was in chaos as he contemplatively looked at Ye Hen. He felt that Ye Hen must have arranged for that woman to protect Yang Kai’s friends, but then he immediately knew his thoughts were mistaken when he looked over, because Ye Hen also had a look of confusion on his face. It was obvious that he didn’t know when this mysterious peak Dao Source Realm woman had appeared.
The Sect Master and Vice Sect Master had no idea that such a Master had arrived in their Thousand Leaves Sect. It was likely that nobody would believe them if they swore to it.
Qiu Ze suddenly chuckled coldly, “Sect Master Shi, your subordinates seem to be a bit unreliable. They can’t even capture some trivial ants.”
Shi Cang Ying was feeling frustrated to begin with, so he instantly became angry upon hearing the sarcasm, “Palace Lord Qiu simply needs to watch our Sect’s matters without speaking too much about them.”
Qiu Ze snorted and slowly stood up from the rickshaw. He then walked over towards the Sect Defending Array while saying, “Originally, this Qiu didn’t want to get involved in your noble Sect’s affairs; however, this matter is related to the great forces in this area, so this King as a leader of the forces within a hundred thousand kilometres cannot ignore it, can he?”
Right after he spoke, an unimaginable aura suddenly shot out explosively from his body. At that instant, it seemed as if all the space around him froze over as the World Principles began to shake.
Everyone enveloped by this power felt as if a large mountain was pressing down on them, making it difficult to breathe or use the power in their bodies.
Visible ripples even appeared on the Thousand Leaves Sect’s Defending Array because of this power.
At this instant, Qiu Ze seemed to become the ruler of this land who could decide everyone’s life or death at his whim, with no one able to resist him.
“E… Emperor… Realm!” White Clouds Tower’s Mu Guan’s legs started to tremble. He almost kneeled as his eyes shook violently as he stared in disbelief at Qiu Ze.
The others also had shocked and pale expressions.
This was even more so for Ruan Hong Bo of Sky Peak Temple. Blood seemed to instantly drain out of his face. Before, he hadn’t cared much about Qiu Ze, since they were both Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivators. Although rumours said that Qiu Ze had been in retreat for the past ten years to study the secrets of the Emperor Realm, Qiu Ze hadn’t shown any signs of success, so as long as he didn’t succeed, everyone would still be equals.
Earlier, Ruan Hong Bo had been quite displeased to see Qiu Ze acting all high and mighty, feeling the latter was far too arrogant. If Qiu Ze was already behaving like this before reaching the Emperor Realm, just how much worse would his behaviour become after he became an Emperor?
However, he now knew why Qiu Ze hadn’t even glanced at him from the start. It turned out that Qiu Ze had already made a breakthrough to the Emperor Realm at some unknown time.
