Chapter 1704 Shake the Nine Realms
The Sky River Great Elders stretched out his hand, slamming it towards the Emperor of the Tianhe Realm as it streamed with lines of dark, blood-red light. There was a loud boom, and the Emperor's expression twisted. His aura surged in response.
However, he found that the blood-red characters swirling around him had melded into his own will, and had begun to mold his body.
His own aura was pulled out of him. The will of the Great Path of Destruction destroyed his flesh and spirit.
"No..." The Emperor's voice was shaking. Even though he was an upper-level Renhuang, he was still filled with deep fear. It had been a long difficult road to reach his current position as the Lord of an entire realm.
But now he had encountered his greatest difficulty.
"Your Highness!" The other people in the hall watched this scene in shock. Fear spread through them, and their hearts trembled.
"Go!" Someone shouted. Many figures tried to flee. The Sky River Great Elder had become a demon, a true demon. A terrible seal of demonic destruction had appeared on his forehead.
Go?
Where would they go?
The vast palace was filled with the airflow from the Great Path of Destruction. Blood red light wrapped around everything. The endless red characters were full of destructive power. Everyone was covered as they fled.
At that moment, the whole palace transformed into a blood-red furnace.
Outside the palace, everyone trembled as they beheld this scene. They did not dare go back in to look. They simply turned and fled.
The Sky River Great Elder had become a demon!
After so many years of forbearance, suppressing his desire for vengeance deep within his heart, he had finally exploded, becoming a demon with a single thought.
"I have offended you, elder. Please spare my life!" The Emperor's face twisted. He could feel his aura growing weaker. His will had completely collapsed. He knelt on the ground, though he seemed to have difficulty doing so.
"Save your pleas for the souls of the dead." The Sky River Great Elder's voice seemed to come from the abyss. In the past, he had taught here in the Tianhe Realm with no desire to conquer it. The palace had even sent the prince to Sky River Temple to cultivate. But in the end, the palace had sold them out, letting their 3,000 disciples die at the hands of the Shen clan. Almost all of them had died.
Forgiveness?
How could he forgive them?
A blood debt could only be repaid by blood.
At that moment, the Sky River Great Elder's blood-red eyes became even more demonic. His whole self seemed to be infected by negative emotions, making him violent and bloodthirsty. He could not control the overpowering divine item he had taken, which was the reason he had not used it before. Anyone who took it would bring disaster with them.
But he had never thought he would be the one to use it.
Boom!
There was a loud noise as the people in the city looked back towards the palace. They saw a blood-red storm of destruction filling the palace.
The destructive storm rose up into the clouds, dying the sky red. Its power rolled through the heavens. It began to spread out from its center point in the palace until the only thing in the sky above the city was destructive power.
Had he broken through to the next level?
He was refining the sky itself.
Terrible dark cracks appeared all around the storm, ripping through the air. A beam of blood-red light shot up into the clouds, and the people seemed to be able to see a line of light shoot through it and disappear.
"Did he leave?"
Everyone's hearts were beating fiercely. The clouds of destruction were still rolling outward, though they gradually calmed down. The people in the city stopped fleeing. They stared up into the sky in shock.
Had the Sky River Great Elder, the man who had once dominated and taught the Tianhe Realm, and been admired by everyone, started on the path of vengeance?
"He's gone," someone whispered.
"Yes, he has probably gone to the higher heavens."
Now that the palace had been destroyed, his next target for vengeance would probably be the Shen clan.
They were all thinking that the all-powerful Sky River Great Elder, who had been patient for so many years, a man who had cultivated up to the peak of the Renhuang plane, had been burdened with his humiliation for so many years due to the disaster he had faced. He had endured so much for so long.
They could understand why he had become a demon. Anyone who had experienced so much over the years would probably go crazy. But he had not been crazy before. He had born it patiently until today when he had erupted.
He had repressed his emotions until his anger, his desire for vengeance, and his ferocity had erupted.
"Has he broken through to the next level?"
"Of course. He is the Sky River Great Elder, and he should have done so earlier. The reason he didn't was just that the Shen clan had paralyzed him."
Everyone was discussing what had just happened.
"But even if he did reach the next level, can he withstand the Shen clan?"
Many people doubted it. But they were not sure.
At the very least, he had defeated a powerful figure from the Shen clan, forcing him to retreat in humiliation. Did this mean that now that the Sky River Great Elder was a demon, he had become even more powerful?
This was fated to be an interesting day.
The palace had been destroyed, the Sky River Great Elder had become a demon, and he had attacked the Central Emperor Realm.
On this day, corpses were piled up in the Shen clan's city, and countless people lost their lives.
On this day, many of the branches of the Shen clan were destroyed. The Sky River Great Elder had been an in-law of the Shen clan at one time, so he was very familiar with them.
On this day, many of the members of the Shen bloodline were killed.
What was terrifying was that the Shen clan did not help them, because they were afraid that if they did the Sky River Great Elder would attack them.
And what they feared came true: the Sky River Great Elder attacked the Shen clan. Blood stained the ground all around the Shen clan as a huge battle broke out there. In the end, the Sky River Great Elder was wounded and fled, but in order to accomplish this, both the clan lord of the Shen clan and Shen Ji were wounded as well.
In that battle, it was said that the heavens had collapsed, and the earth had split. The two great figures of the Shen clan had both had to resist the Sky River Great Elder and protect the other members of the Shen clan. Now that he had become a demon, the Sky River Great Elder did not show any mercy. The blood that flowed from his kills became a river.
In the end, he had not stayed but had fled in pain. No one knew if he would be able to make a comeback. An oppressive atmosphere hung over the Shen clan.
They would never have even dreamed that this disaster would come about due to something that had happened years ago.
This battle was the most terrible battle that had taken place in the Central Imperial Realm in many years.
One man had attacked the Shen clan.
The battle shook the whole Central Imperial Realm.
After all the top figures received news of this, their hearts were in turmoil. The Sky River Great Elder had become a demon and had attacked the Shen clan!
The Shen clan, who had once launched a war to destroy a realm, had paid a terrible price for what they had done years ago.
It was what they had done to him and the Tianhe Realm that had made the Sky River Great Elder so crazy. He had thoroughly become a demon and killed the members of the Shen clan indiscriminately.
This news did not only shock the Central Imperial Realm. It made its way to the other realms very quickly. Soon, all the top forces of the Nine Supreme Realms heard about it.
This affair had great effects. When Gu Tianxing of the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven had attacked the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty, it had attracted the attention of all the Nine Realms. Moreover, today's events had taken place in the Shen clan of the Central Imperial Realm.
In addition, the Heavenly Mandate Academy, which had already attracted the attention of the Nine Realms, was involved. The storm had been caused by the Shen clan trying to deal with them and take the Sky River Great Elder away.
...
The news came to the Heavenly Mandate Academy as well.
The cultivators of the Xiao clan brought the news to the Heavenly Mandate Realm, telling them of what had happened in the Tianhe Realm and the Shen clan.
Everyone at the academy was shocked. Lord Taixuan now understood the words that his old friend had said to him before he had left. "After this, you won't know me."
Apparently, he already knew what path he had started down: a road of vengeance with corpses piled high upon it.
His old friend had seen through him too clearly.
Now that he had become a demon, what would they do?
All the people of the Heavenly Mandate Academy were gathered together as Lord Taixuan had summoned them.
Now, Lord Taixuan had taken the Sky River Great Elder's place and become the headmaster of the academy instead of just an honored guest.
Previously, he would not have done that. He liked peace and quiet and would rather spend his time calmly cultivating.
But now his att.i.tude had changed. He suddenly wanted to do things, and be wild with the young people one more time.
Everyone was there, including the Xiao clan. The Dou tribe, the Yuanyang clan, and the cultivators of other realms were there as well, looking at Lord Taixuan.
"Everyone knows about what happened in the Shen clan," said Lord Taixuan to everyone. Everyone nodded. They had heard the news.
"Futian, you may speak," said Lord Taixuan to the man beside him.
Ye Futian nodded, then looked out at everyone. He bowed slightly and said, "I must apologize to everyone. It was selfish of me to found this academy and invite people from all the top forces here. I knew that I had offended people in the G.o.d's Relic, and so I hoped that having so many powerful people here would act as a deterrent. Thus, my master and Lord Taixuan have been drawn into this matter."
Everyone listened quietly. They naturally knew this, but they had come here on their own free will. There was nothing for him to apologize for.
"Moreover, there is something that I have not told any of you. The Sky River Great Elder is my master, and he was taken away by the Shen clan for my sake," continued Ye Futian. "However, despite that, everything is still the same as I said before. I founded this academy in order to teach. My selfishness is not for now, but for the future. Once the academy became strong enough, I would have handled this matter myself. But obviously, I was wrong. I underestimated how forceful the Shen clan would be. Even though we had so much power here, they still dared to come here in force. Their elder, Shen Ji, attacked the academy. The reason he dared be so wanton was that he had absolute confidence in himself and that no one would dare stand up to the Shen clan, even the other forces that had come here to cultivate. This was not him being arrogant; it was him being realistic. If the Shen clan dares to do this, in the future, the ruler of the Golden Divine Nation will dare it as well. But if they knew that someone like our master was here, would they have dared?"
Of course, they would not have.
He had been so forceful because of his absolute confidence. If someone else like the Sky River Great Elder had been there, someone who was willing to directly attack the Shen clan and kill so many of them that their blood flowed in rivers, would he have attacked?
The Shen clan knew that the Xiao clan and the Dou tribe would not dare to go to war with them just because they attacked Heavenly Mandate Academy.
"There are two paths for the academy's future. We can either scatter and be destroyed, or become the foremost academy in the 3,000 Realms of the Great Path," said Ye Futian. "The Shen clan will come at us with force. If we do nothing, we can only flee. If we want to become the greatest academy in the 3,000 Realms of the Great Path, I don't think that even all the forces of the Heavenly Mandate Realm are enough to bring about this future. So, today I ask all of you, do you want to go to the Shen clan with me?"
The foremost academy in the 3,000 Realms of the Great Path.
Go to the Shen clan with him.
Everyone sat there in silence.
A brilliant aura swept out from Ye Futian, making them all look surprised. Incomparably brilliant divine light shone in the sky as the aura of a perfect divine wheel stretched out.
Yu Sheng walked to Ye Futian's side, his demonic power rolling out from him. His perfect Divine Wheel erupted as well.
Then Gu Dongliu stepped forward.
The Swordmaster of Lihen came over as well, followed by Yaya.
All of them had Perfect Divine Wheels.
"One more!" Everyone looked at Yaya.
More people stepped out of the crowd, Long Chen, Jun, and Gao Huang came out one by one and stood by Ye Futian's side. Their Wheels of the Great Path shone brightly with radiant light, lighting up the heavens.
Everyone's hearts beat faster. Even the most powerful figures among them felt their hearts shake.
The foremost academy in the 3,000 Realms of the Great Path.
This was not just empty talk.
"If the Shen clan came to us to find some of our people, so we will go there and find some of theirs. We will announce to the world that they cannot bully the Heavenly Mandate Academy," said Lord Taixuan as he got to his feet. "If no one else is willing, Futian and I will go, and the academy will be dissolved."
...