Chapter 1367 – Glory and Decline
The battle ended.
The void was in complete disorder.
The area millions of kilometers around was completely reduced to a pile of rubble. All the surrounding planets had been destroyed, dust floated in space, the broken shards of the planets, the fragmented planetary cores, the chaotic power of laws, and the tides of strength surged everywhere. It would take another few million years for this part of space to get back to normal.
The [Cloud Top Cauldron] transported Ye Qingyu and the others safely back to the astronomical continent.
The battle here had ended.
He had already laid out these plans in advance. The armies of the Underworld Star Domain, the Dark Purple Star Domain, and the others that were once part of the King of Sovereigns from an alternate timeline and had descended to invade and steal the fortunes of the Vast Thousand Star Domains were all now under his control. He had planted Bai Yunxing, Jin Ling'er, and the others in all these planets and star domains as part of his plan. And now, he had benefited tremendously.
Huge cheers rang out in waves like a tsunami.
Ye Qingyu felt an indescribable sense of pride as he looked at the troops who had joined him on this expedition.
This was the strength of the Vast Thousand Star Domains, and the strength of his hometown.
Later on, no matter how many years had passed, each time the future generations in the Vast Thousand Star Domains remembered the battle in which the very existence of the Vast Thousand Star Domains was on the line, they would not only remember the battle fought by Imperial God Emperor Ye Qingyu, but they would also remember the troops who went to space and used their blood and lives to defend the fate of this emerging star domain, their families, their homes, and their honor as martial artists.
"Long Live the Emperor!"
"Hurrah!"
Excited shouts and cheers echoes everywhere.
Although these warriors had not stepped onto the battlefield of the King of Sovereigns, they witnessed how Ye Qingyu had powerfully defeated the King of Destruction, the Abandoned Fiendgod, and the Wisp God of Consciousness through the projections from Ursa Major and the mirror techniques installed by Li Xiaofei and the other Kings of Sovereigns. They saw how planets could be annihilated at a mental command, and how the Kings of Sovereigns drew on their divine abilities to use planets like chess pieces to form formations. Through these Kings of Sovereigns, who were as powerful as fiendgods, these warriors finally understood how powerful and almighty their tutelary deity was.
They had already destroyed and eliminated all enemies on the astronomical continent and won the battle.
They were the most loyal and brave warriors of the Imperial God Emperor.
They were the sharpest and most piercing long swords that the Imperial God Emperor referred to.
They used their actions to prove that they were worthy of being subjects of such a great Emperor.
"We… are going home!" Ye Qingyu said, and his voice could be heard throughout the astronomical continent.
"We will bring the consciousness and blood of the martyred back with us. Every single brave soldier of the Vast Thousand Star Domains shall live on forever," he said as he used his power of laws to move the astronomical continent toward the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
He was so powerful that he didn't need to worry about the proximity of the astronomical continent to the Vast Thousand Star Domains affecting the orbit of the Vast Thousand Star Domains. The astronomical continent stopped when it was several million kilometers away from the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
Ye Qingyu created a path.
A silver warship carried the soldiers who had victoriously returned home to the Dark Realm.
The Heaven Wasteland Empire and the Immortal Empire had received news of their victorious return in advance and had already prepared a victory ceremony. A grand and large-scale ceremony was held along the defensive lines of the Dark Realm's Great Wall. Empress of the Immortal Empire Yu Xiaoxing stood on the city walls with a smile on her face. She looked like the most beautiful flower that had bloomed in a flourishing age and gave off an invincible aura.
The path meandered downward and the soldiers finally returned from their battle away from home.
Countless relatives of these soldiers looked out eagerly for their loved ones.
The tense atmosphere that had hung in the air over the past few days had finally dissipated.
No one knew who started to cheer, but soon enough, loud cheers rang out thunderously and quickly spread along the Great Wall. The twenty-thousand-kilometer-long Great Wall seemed to come alive as it let out an unprecedented, long howl that sounded like a divine dragon moving along the western frontier of the Dark Realm.
This was a historic victory for the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
In fact, it was a glorious victory for all times.
The troops who had participated in the expedition entered the naval ports of the Great Wall and the various military garrisons were already prepared to welcome the troops.
Everything happened in an orderly manner.
The victory ceremony reached its climax when Ye Qingyu and the others made their appearance.
Countless people went into a frenzy.
Anyone who had the chance to see the most legendary figure from the Vast Thousand Star Domains even from a distance would be so excited that they would cry tears of joy. There were so many variations of the legend of the Imperial God Emperor, and this battle in space would take its place in history as part of his legend.
The celebrations lasted for an entire year.
The excitement slowly started to die down a year later.
Another piece of news started to spread wildly across the Vast Thousand Domains.
It was said that the Heaven Wasteland Empire and the Immortal Empire would merge to become one entity.
This made sense since the founder of both the Immortal Empire and the Heaven Wasteland Empire was none other than the Imperial God Emperor. Now that the enemy of the Vast Thousand Star Domains had been vanquished in space and the threat of Invaders no longer existed, they were on the cusp of stepping into an age of peace.
Thus, there would be a need to merge the two largest empires of the Vast Thousand Star Domains—in fact, over the past two thousand years, these two empires had worked so closely together to prepare for the battle in space that they functioned like one entity. There were already signs of this merger happening a long time ago.
Naturally, the merging of two empires would involve reformation, redrawing the boundaries, reorganizing the imperial subjects, and so on, and it would be a while before they could fully merge.
However, the news of this impending merger was soon overshadowed by another piece of news.
The Imperial God Emperor was about to get married.
The day these two empires merged would also be when his wedding would be held.
The Immortal Dojo soon verified that this news was indeed true.
The entire Vast Thousand Star Domains was in an uproar.
This was undoubtedly great news.
The beautiful love stories of the Imperial God Empire, the Empress of the Heaven Wasteland Domain, and the Emperor of Darkness had spread amongst the people who lived across the various domains. Neither empire made any efforts to suppress these stories, and many poets, scholars, and historians had researched and celebrated their love stories, and even published materials related to this. These then became great love stories that moved countless men and women.
All this while, there had been a lot of speculation on which woman was the Imperial God Emperor's true love.
Different people would have a different preference based on where they resided. Most of those from the Immortal Empire supported Emperor of Darkness Song Xiaojun. Since a large majority of those from the Immortal Empire were Dark Ones who had been suppressed for a long time, they felt a sense of connection to Song Xiaojun, who was also a Dark One herself. Those from the Heaven Wasteland Empire naturally were loyal to and supported their Empress Yu Xiaoxing.
This matter had caused several intense debates.
The supporters of both camps would cheer for their preferred empress and would clash intensely over their ideological difference, but there had never been an official stance on this matter.
The answer was finally revealed today.
Based on the news received from various sources, the Empress of the Heaven Wasteland Empire and the Emperor of Darkness would both be wedded to the Imperial God Emperor.
The supporters of both camps were extremely excited and content with this result.
Both camps felt as though they had won.
Besides the official merging of both empires and the preparation for the wedding, the members of the public had also started to organize various commemorative events, while the major martial sects, families, and those experts from the Immortal Dojo also submitted proposals and secretly made preparations themselves.
Time passed by. Many years gradually passed since the great battle in space.
The Vast Thousand Star Domains had also suffered losses during the battle in space and they had lost more than a third of their men. Many martyred spirits would remain on the battlefield forever and their families would mourn this loss forever. The scars and pain that were brought about because of war could not be avoided, but the empire provided for the families of the martyred so well that this gradually soothed their pain. Ye Qingyu had also emphasized on multiple occasions that the families of the martyred were to receive beneficial treatment.
The Vast Thousand Star Domains entered an unprecedented golden age.
Ye Qingyu's prestige and authority within the Vast Thousand Star Domains did not fall, but rather, increased every day. This was especially so since the military had started to streamline its policies and also started to withdraw the troops. This led to many elite and veteran soldiers bringing their eyewitness accounts of what had happened during the battle in space back to their hometowns. It was like seeds of admiration floating toward the various domains and planets. They brought their admiration of Ye Qinguy and the legendary war stories back to their hometowns, and after these stories spread amongst the people, the ordinary folks who did not live past a hundred years of age also understood the threats that the Vast Thousand Star Domains had once faced and also knew who had sacrificed so much to defend this world.
Admiration could spread from one person to another.
Admiration could also be accumulated.
Shrines dedicated to Ye Qingyu appeared in every domain and planet, and many artistic statues and figurines of him could be found throughout the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
At the Immortal Dojo—
Ye Qingyu was dressed in white robes and stood barefoot next to the divine temple, his hair falling loosely over his shoulders.
Song Xiaojun and Yu Xiaoxing, who were also dressed in simple loose white robes, stood beside him.
These two most outstanding beauties of their generation had withdrawn from the dazzling spotlight that was always on them because of their statuses. They had also let go of the heavy and cruel burden that this generation and world had placed upon their shoulders. They looked calm and composed because time had been kind to them and they had finally found the happiness and calmness within themselves.
"Brother Qingyu, a penny for your thoughts?" Yu Xiaoxing cocked her head and asked with a smile as she looked at Ye Qingyu.
Song Xiaojun also looked at him.
These two beautiful and intelligent women could tell that Ye Qingyu seemed to get more distracted as their wedding drew closer.
"I was wondering where my two friends, Nan Tieyi and Hu Bugui, disappeared to," he said with a sigh. "I had initially assumed that the Chaos Demon Emperor and the Ferryman of the Netherworld would know where they had gone, but that didn't turn out to be the case. I'm now so powerful that I can easily sense every part of the Vast Thousand Star Domains, but I'm still unable to detect their presence. Could they have gone to a foreign domain or planet?"
"If you can't detect their presence that means that they are definitely not within the Vast Thousand Star Domains," Song Xiaojun said with certainty. "The Yellow Springs River back then was controlled by the Ferryman of the Netherworld, and the Chaos Demon Emperor is the true owner of the Reincarnation Hall, so if they both don't know where Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi have gone, this means that something strange must have happened then."
Ye Qingyu nodded and said, "Brother Liu Shaji spends his time traveling across the various domains and has refused to give up hope… Sigh, when I think back to how we got along so well the moment we first met at the Clear River Domain and fought alongside each other like true brothers, I also remember that we made a pact that, if either of us were to get married, we would not go home until we were completely drunk. Yet now, I don't know where they have disappeared to and they might be suffering or in pain, so this… is troubling me."
