Meng Wuzhen’s anger pierced through the clouds, riding over the tide.
“Send a message to the Dark Hall! Get ready! I want everybody out for the next battle! I want the Monarch’s Hall crushed! I want Ye Xiao ripped into pieces!”
That was exactly what Ye Xiao expected.
The great forces always hid their true power under the table. People could only see a small part of their true power. They all had a hidden force that they wouldn’t use unless they had to!
The Dark Hall was the hidden force of the Hall of Returning Nature, the real power of Meng Wuzhen!
In fact, there were only nine people in the Dark Hall!
These nine people were cultivators who could shake the entire martial world!
The Flower King was nothing compared to any of the nine people if he hadn’t improved a lot with Ye Xiao’s help. Chihuo used to be only one step away from the Undead Stage, but even so, he still couldn’t defeat any of these nine people!
These were horrible monsters!
…
Ten days were gone.
Ling Wuxie came to the Monarch’s Hall and took his dan beads. After that, he left the city immediately.
The seven great ancestors of the Seven Lotus Clans were missing. They went out together, but nobody knew their whereabouts!
In the ten days, people of the Monarch’s Hall had mostly recovered. They were at least seventy percent as powerful as they used to be.
After the big fight, these survivors had improved their mind power a great deal. They had recovered after the ten days, and they had improved quite a lot in cultivation. They didn’t stop improving yet. In another word, only less than ten percent of the people of the Monarch’s Hall survived, but these ten percent became even more powerful! The Monarch’s Hall was actually stronger than before!
The Hall of Returning Nature was full of fury. The Monarch’s Hall was too!
Neither of them could forgive the other! There was so much hate!
Perhaps, one thing, a little bit of stimulation could lead to a big war!
One day.
The headquarters of the Hall of Returning Nature was in a fuss. A message spread to the world!
The Jade Phoenix, one of the head managers, was assassinated near the headquarters of the Hall of Returning Nature. She was saved by her own people and nearly died on the way back to the Hall of Returning Nature.
Information from the witnesses indicated that the assassin was wearing all black clothes. The assassin was tall and slim, holding a sword which gave people a feeling of farewell.
The evidence pointed at the Great Executor of the Monarch’s Sword, Bu Xiangfeng!
Further evidence indicated that the Jade Phoenix said something before she was attacked. She was in shock. “Bu Xiangfeng! Your… Your power…”
The assassin put her down with one strike, and then immediately flew away.
The assassin did not say even a word!
He flew away like a bird, riding the wind. Nobody saw him after that. After one sword attack, he just left, without checking if he had successfully killed the target of not!
What an assassin!
One hit, and he left.
If it missed, he was gone anyway!
After that, Young Lord Meng of the Hall of Returning Nature kicked over a table because of the anger!
His anger frightened everybody around him!
“Ye Xiao! You are not the only one who is good at assassination! We can do it too!”
Meng Wuzhen was furious.
…
“We didn’t do it. The assassin isn’t Bu Xiangfeng!” Xuan Bing said.
Xuan Bing was holding the meeting in the Monarch’s Hall. She was sitting on the high chair on the south side.
Yue Shuang and Yue Han were beside her, one on the left, the other on the right. Since Xuan Bing became the new commander of the Monarch’s Hall, the three ladies had been staying together.
The others were Chihuo, the Flower King, Bu Xiangfeng, Meng Youjiang, Qiu Luo, and Qu Wuliang.
Ye Xiao was present. There were only ten people in the meeting, but these ten were the most important people in the Monarch’s Hall!
Ye Xiao was sitting on the north side, opposite to Xuan Bing. He was sitting on a huge chair, which was made from purple crystal. There was even an energy-gathering power formation under the chair, so there was a purple mist rising up, which made it dark around Ye Xiao. It made him look like a king looking down upon his people.
Xuan Bing specially arranged a platform on the north side of the meeting room. It was thirty feet higher than the south side. On the edge of the south side, the floor slightly rose up.
Ye Xiao owned a big area on the north side.
People who were having the meeting had to sit lower. When they looked at Ye Xiao, they had to look up. However, they couldn’t see clearly, because Ye Xiao was in a cloud of mist.
That was his prestige!
“A great man makes strict rules. A great man must be upon all the others!”
They all agreed…
After the war against the Hall of Returning Nature, Ye Xiao had become an absolute legend in the Monarch’s Hall!
Nobody could easily get close to a legend!
People worshiped gods, but nobody ever saw a god!
Mystery was the most powerful curtain!
“Master has shown his incredible power. I have to be cautious from now on. I should be careful.” The Flower King said.
Everybody else agreed with him.
They only started to use this meeting room. It was new. Ye Xiao sat on his chair, entangled by the purple qi. He didn’t say a word, just sat there. In the end, he made the decision.
Xuan Bing ran the meeting. People wanted her to do it.
She wasn’t perfect, but she had done a good job being the leader of a big sect in the old days. Even Chihuo couldn’t do better, nor Meng Youjiang who used to own an entire mountain.
Most of the others were independent in the past.
“It must be somebody else who killed the Jade Phoenix. Whoever did that must want us to have a fight with the Hall of Returning Nature again. Somebody wanted to sit there and watch us die.”
Xuan Bing sat on the chair of the host. She looked cold as usual. Her sharp eyes were like a blow of cold wind from the ice mountain.
Even Chihuo, the Flower King, Meng Youjiang, and Bu Xiangfeng felt a chill in their souls when they had an eye contact with Xuan Bing.
They just shivered!
“There are a lot of people in the world who can stick a hand into the business between the Hall of Returning Nature and us. In fact, if we have a fight again, everybody else gets the benefit.”
Xuan Bing’s mind was clear. “The Brotherhood Alliance, the House of Chaotic Storms, the Xuan Bing, the new Great Ye Army… It could be any of them. In fact, there are forces that are far away from us that can get benefit from our war… The royal forces of the five Sky Kings. They would love to build a stable force of their own.”
Xuan Bing said, “However, with or without the assassination, we won’t be friends with the Hall of Returning Nature! We will start the war again. It is only a matter of time.
“We don’t have as many people as we did. We won the war, but it was difficult. We can’t even keep the Monarch’s Hall running normally. The Hall of Returning Nature lost the battle, but they were still a powerful organization. It didn’t hurt their foundation. They couldn’t come and attack us in a short time though. Anyway, it takes time to start a second war.
“The assassination was planned to provoke Meng Wuzhen. Somebody wanted Meng Wuzhen to start the war earlier!
“The target was the Jade Phoenix, one of the Three Phoenixes of the Hall of Returning Nature. The lady was nice and thoughtful. She is always careful. Nobody, even in the five Sky King’s royal forces, could compare her! Meng Wuzhen liked her the most! She was the best assistant he had! She belongs to Meng Wuzhen!
“Killing the Jade Phoenix would be stabbing a knife into Meng Wuzhen’s heart.
“Attacking the Jade Phoenix was to hurt Meng Wuzhen in his soft part. Meng Wuzhen would definitely hate us even more, and it would also weaken him a great deal.
“The assassination was such a dirty move. Whoever did this, he didn’t even try to hide it from us… No matter what it is, we and the Hall of Returning Nature are already enemies. No matter what the truth is, we won’t be able to explain. That was an obvious move!
“He knew Meng Wuzhen’s weakness. He did it at the perfect timing. He left no trace for the Hall of Returning Nature! We won’t go to explain ourselves, and nobody would believe us anyway.
“The world would believe that Bu Xiangfeng did the assassination!
“The Jade Phoenix was hurt. Meng Wuzhen must have lost control. It broke his plan, also his clear mind. Whoever did that, he did it well… In the Limitless Ocean, there are only two people who could do that.”
“Who are they?” Chihuo asked.
Xuan Bing took a deep breath and said, “Shangguan Lingxiao is one. He built the strong foundation of the Brotherhood Alliance almost on his own!”
Xuan Bing said the name, the others nodded.
Shangguan Lingxiao was powerful, experienced, and smart. He definitely could do that!
Nobody would doubt that.
“Bai Chen was the other one. He is always casual and wise as if nothing could disturb him. When he wants to do something, he always does it perfectly!”
Xuan Bing looked afraid.
Xuan Bing knew Master Bai. He was a legend!
In the Qing-Yun Realm, Master Bai and his House of Chaotic Storms shook the world even after he left. Nobody dared to talk about him. Hearing the name of the House of Chaotic Storms gave people a chill in the heart.
Xuan Bing heard a lot about Master Bai from Ye Xiao. She knew how he manipulated the Land of Han-Yang, controlling the rise and fall of the world. A history of a world seemed to be just smoke in the air for him.
In the Human Realm Upon Heavens.
How long since Master Bai came back to this world?
He built everything from nothing. Within a short time, the House of Chaotic Storms became one of the most powerful forces in the Limitless Ocean. He could turn over the world with the power in his hands.
The most horrible thing about this man was that he always got things to develop in the way he wanted.
The assassination on the Jade Phoenix was an example.
The assassin must be Bu Xiangfeng, and the world believed it was Bu Xiangfeng. Denying it wouldn’t change anything!
Nobody could change it! It became a fact!
“In fact, Ye Changqing’s rise and fall was a plan of Shangguan Lingxiao and Master Bai. They didn’t work together, but they happened to want the same result. The return of the Heaven’s Leaf became difficult because of these two men! The name of the Great Master Ye became less powerful because of it!
“Even though the people of the Heaven’s Leaf kept coming to support Ye Yunduan, the power of the Great Ye Clan couldn’t rise in a short time.”
Xuan Bing said a lot, and the others just nodded.
That was right. The Seven Golden Lotuses used to look forward to the return of the Heaven’s Leaf.
When they tested Ye Xiao and found the blood of the Heaven’s Leaf, they were so happy. They were so confident all of a sudden! They couldn’t hold down the excitement in their heart!
However, because of the fake Master Yunduan, the Seven Lotus Clan lost their faith in the Great Ye Clan. Master Bai and Shangguan Lingxiao wanted that. The Seven Lotus Clans wanted to follow the true powerful descendant of the Great Ye Clan, but what if the Heaven’s Leaf wasn’t as good as they expected?
The two wise men had destroyed the Heaven’s Leaf!
Ye Xiao was listening to Xuan Bing, and he kept nodding.
He didn’t give Xuan Bing any advice for the meeting. Xuan Bing did her own work to prepare for the meeting…
The conclusion she had was exactly what Ye Xiao had in mind.
“I am sure the assassination was the brilliant work of one of these two men. Shangguan Lingxiao is a sharp-minded person, but he is more passive. He wouldn’t do anything extreme if he didn’t have to. After all, it was the West Sky King behind the Hall of Returning Nature. Shangguan Lingxiao might not want to get involved so soon. He wouldn’t want to mess with a Sky King and us at the same time. That aside, he wouldn’t want to get the Brotherhood Alliance into this war.
“Therefore, I think Master Bai, Bai Chen of the House of Chaotic Storms was more suspicious!
“If we think deeper, he must have made the plan after we showed the world our power, which could compare the Hall of Returning Nature. What was it that he wanted? The House of Chaotic Storms and the Hall of Returning Nature are enemies. However, neither of them is our friend!”
Xuan Bing said, “We are not dealing with the Hall of Returning Nature now! In fact, we are facing the House of Chaotic Storms, which is even more dangerous!
“They wouldn’t take a move if they didn’t have to, but if they did, they did it sharp!”
Xuan Bing said, “We have to be careful. We need a plan. We can’t fear the enemies. We fight, and we kill. However, we must be cautious when the enemy is scheming.”
Chihuo said, “What should we do? We have to fight the House of Chaotic Storms, which is even more dangerous than the Hall of Returning Nature.”
Xuan Bing took a deep breath and said, “That is why we are having a headache. We must fight one, but we have to keep an eye on the other at the same time.
“When the Hall of Returning Nature comes with anger, we must fight in full power, because we aren’t powerful enough. If the House of Chaotic Storms comes at the same time…”
Xuan Bing frowned.
They knew everything now, but they couldn’t come up with any ideas on how to deal with it.
They were powerless. Even if they had a plan, they didn’t have enough people to do it!
They slowly looked at Ye Xiao one by one.
The One Meter Higher Sky, the Xiao Monarch, the hero, was the only person who could make the impossible possible!
He was totally covered by the purple qi. His voice suddenly sounded. “We have to fight. However, we must know how to fight. The Hall of Returning Nature wants to crush us once and for all. We are not going to give them the chance. Why would we?
“We didn’t have to fight the war as they wanted it to be. We still don’t. We should downscale the battle!” Ye Xiao blandly said, “If the battle is small, we don’t need as many people as they are. Even if they have one million men, so what? Can they break the shield of the fortress of trees?”
The others were all shocked. They said, “Brilliant!”
Suddenly, they felt relieved and started laughing.
Ye Xiao had a plan that nobody else could do, not even the five Sky Kings!
Only the Monarch’s Hall could do it.
The Monarch’s Hall had the Hall of Life and Death!
The fortress of trees was built unbreakable. As long as the Monarch’s Hall didn’t get out for the battle, everybody could just stay inside and continued the cultivation!
No matter how many enemies were outside, nobody could break the shield of the unbreakable fortress!
The Purple Dragon King and the Golden Phoenix King hadn’t succeeded anyway!
If the Monarch’s Hall felt good about having a small fight, they could go out and start it. If they didn’t want to, nobody could force them out!
The enemies were free to attack the Hall of Life and Death.
The Great Formation of Stars had become stronger and stronger. The automatic counterattack of the shield would definitely damage the enemy!
People might think that the Monarch’s Hall people were cowards, but the Monarch’s Hall would survive. The House of Chaotic Storms and the Hall of Returning Nature had great power to support them behind. The Monarch’s Hall didn’t. They had to use the fortress and made it an advantage of them!
They didn’t have many people anymore, and that meant the fortress could hold them all. It could only hold less than five thousand people!
The Monarch’s Hall didn’t have many people! It was big enough!
The Monarch’s Hall only had a little more than four thousand people!
“The war is coming soon. We have the fortress of trees, but we still have to be cautious.” Ye Xiao blandly said, “Tell everybody to keep improving!
“I believe the great loss we suffered earlier is an alert. If we have to face the battle after all, we accept our fates!”
Ye Xiao blandly said, “Only a small part of the Hall of Returning Nature’s real power almost destroyed us. What if the five Sky Kings come to us? We must keep improving as fast as we can. We have to be powerful ourselves!”
After that, Ye Xiao stood up and left.
Xuan Bing stayed quiet for a while and said, “Let’s call it a day.”
Everything was settled. There was nothing more to say.
Xuan Bing and the other two ladies followed Ye Xiao out.
The six people who stayed behind were blank. They looked at each other and didn’t know what to say!
Bu Xiangfeng was sweating. Meng Youjiang’s face turned pretty red like he was drunk all of a sudden. Qiu Luo looked calm, but he was grabbing the handle of his weapon. Li Wuliang was gasping. The Flower King was excited. Chihuo looked ambitious!
Ye Xiao had alerted them all with just a word.
He talked like it was nothing.
However, it was shockingly powerful.
“What if the five Sky Kings come to us?”
It terrified these people!
After a while, the Flower King calmed down and blandly smiled. “Chihuo, everybody, I think you all understand what he said, don’t you?”
Chihuo didn’t say a word, but nodded.
“Our view is shallow. A little bit of the Lord Monarch’s great plan has shocked us to hell!” The Flower King smiled. His face was getting redder because he was excited. “We will fight the five Sky Kings!
“In fact, Lord Monarch has never cared about the Limitless Ocean! The battles in the Limitless Ocean, against the Hall of Returning Nature, the House of Chaotic Storms, the Brotherhood Alliance, are just practice! That is all!”
“This is not what we are eventually after!” The Flower King smiled.
“Brothers, we were itinerant cultivators. We wanted somewhere to stay, but nobody wanted to have us. Who doesn’t want to be remembered by history? Who doesn’t want to create his own greatness? Who doesn’t want to be admired? Who doesn’t want to manipulate the world?
“We didn’t have the possibility! We didn’t even have anything to die for. Today, Lord Monarch gave us a goal. To get the goal, it will be more difficult to climb to the heavens!
“It is difficult… but, Lord Monarch gives us hope!
“If the five Sky Kings can reach the top of the world, why can’t we? People of the Monarch’s Hall are monarchs. We can get the world from their hands!
“We survive, and we reach the top together!”
The Flower King said, “Do you understand?”
“We do.”
The others felt their blood boiling.
Bu Xiangfeng took a long breath and said, “Now I know why he named the organization the Monarch’s Hall. It wasn’t just about his title.
“He wants us to be monarchs. He wants every one of us to become kings!
“I see!”
Bu Xiangfeng was trying to hold down the excitement. “I know why he want the Five Kings to be reserved!
“He hasn’t chosen the five men yet! This is why!”
Everybody was excited.
It had been a long time since Ye Xiao told them about the Five Kings. They felt like hearing him speak again.
“The better one gets the higher position! The weaker one loses the higher position! If you are good, you should join the competition! Even if you are just a cook, you can reach the top of the Monarch’s Hall! If you are powerful enough, you can be the leader of the unit, one of the Seven Stars, the head of a department, and even one of the Five Kings!”
Everybody’s eyes lit up.
They finally understood what the Five Kings meant.
Five Kings…
Whoever defeated the five Sky Kings would take their positions! That was clear!
That was obvious!
People of the Monarch’s Hall were all monarchs! Why?
How big the Human Realm Upon Heavens was?
Nobody knew! It was too big!
People in the Monarch’s Hall were powerful cultivators! When the Monarch’s Hall reached the top of the world, how powerful were these people in the outside world?
They would all become rulers of different areas of the world!
They were monarchs!
“Sacrifice for Wealth; Kill for Power!”
The Flower King smiled and said.
Everybody’s eyes turned red!
If it was in other organizations, even in the Hall of Returning Nature, or the House of Chaotic Storms, if the leader said something like Ye Xiao had just said, the people might not feel so confident. What Ye Xiao had said was that they were going to be fighting against everybody else in the Human Realm Upon Heavens.
The Monarch’s Hall was special!
The Monarch’s Hall had the Hall of Life and Death.
Saving a life from death was not a big deal. The unbreakable shield wasn’t attacking. The cultivating environment inside the Hall of Life and Death was incredible! It made supreme cultivators!
Cultivating one year inside the Hall of Life and Death meant cultivating outside for a few years!
The improvement would get faster and faster!
When the Hall of Returning Nature came to attack, they wouldn’t have to go out and fight. They could try to have some fights and stayed most of the time cultivating inside the Hall of Returning Nature. When they were powerful enough to defeat the enemies, they would be out and finished them! They improved fast!
Within a short time, there would be thousands of Undead Stage cultivators in the Monarch’s Hall. These men were at least at Saint Origin Stage now. They were going to become Immortality Stage cultivators soon. Many of them would reach an incredible level!
They just needed time, and it was possible to defeat the five Sky Kings someday!
Nobody dared to even have such an idea, yet these men believed they could do it. They were thrilled!
“Guys, if we want to be monarchs…” The Flower King smiled. “What we have now, this is not enough. You know I am right.
“Some youngsters may replace our positions soon…”
He smiled and said, “I don’t know what you think. I don’t want to be replaced. I am going to cultivate now.”
After that, he left fast.
“Cultivating! Cultivating!”
The other five people were enlightened, so they all left quickly.
At this moment, they realized time was running!
They could be caught up by the young people if they wasted time on meaningless talks…
In the Hall of Life and Death, every second was valuable! Wasting time in this place was shameful!
…
Ye Xiao watched the six men leaving for cultivation, and he smiled.
The message would spread in the Monarch’s Hall soon, and everybody would be thrilled, so they would cultivate even harder…
Ye Xiao nodded and entered the Boundless Space.
Erhuo put its tail on the dragon egg and phoenix egg as usual. It didn’t dare to move. It had to use the essential qi of the world to stop the little creatures from getting out.
It was such a difficult job.
If the little things hatched and Ye Xiao wasn’t there for them, things wouldn’t be good.
The Blood-bond had to be made when they first saw the world. Otherwise, the Blood-bond wouldn’t be perfect!
Things kept happening one by one. Ye Xiao broke through the barrier and got to a new level, the fourth level of the East-rising Purple Qi, and then he was lost in the trial for three months. As he came back, he went to the battlefield as soon as he could. After the victory, he had to give treatments to everybody who was hurt. In the end, he had to deal with Ling Wuxie. He just didn’t have time for Erhuo!
“Meow…” Erhuo shouted.
‘Why is he still not here?’
‘I am not going to make it any longer…’
‘I am holding the two powerful lives from hatching… Come on, come back!’
‘If the two little things saw me when they first open their eyes… Well, I really don’t want it. Who do you think I am? They aren’t qualified for making a Blood-bond with me. They just can’t!’
Erhuo should be good enough to suppress the two things, but… Erhuo was exhausted! People kept getting hurt in the fights, so they needed a massive amount of dan beads… Erhuo had been working really hard to keep making dan beads. Ye Xiao gave the wounded men diagnosis, and Erhuo had to make the dan beads for them. Besides, Erhuo had spent a lot of time making those Agerasia Dan beads. It hadn’t made such fine dan beads for a long time, but it had to do it this time!
When Erhuo was complaining about it…
Ye Xiao came!
“Meow!” Erhuo meowed.
‘My stupid master… Finally, you are here.’
‘Oh, my heavens…’
When Ye Xiao entered the Boundless Space, Erhuo felt relieved and flew out like a snow-white piece of cloth. In fact, it was pushed away by a strong power.
At the same time, the energy of life kept rising up from the two eggs.
Beyond the two eggs, there were some colorful clouds! It seemed the colorful clouds were waiting for something to come out!
The next moment, some indescribable scent was filling the entire Boundless Space.
