The Legend of Futian

Old Man Yun looked at the platform and saw Emperor Qi declaring that he would allow Yun Qianyue to train under him. That promise held great significance, more so than passing the Palace Examination and being allowed to train under the Emperor.

What happened on that day caused Yun Qianyue’s status to skyrocket, enabling her to get close to the royal family.

This was something that the Yun Clan had wanted to do all this time, as they’d wanted to send younger members of their clan to train under the emperor.

That wish had finally come true, yet it was not something that had happened because of their efforts.

On the contrary, they had cast her out cruelly, sending her away as a sacrifice so that they would have a shot at achieving that.

Yun Qianyue would probably hate her family’s guts.

They took a look at Yun Mo, who had been thoroughly rid of his training. Revenge was out of the question without a doubt. If Ye Futian were to truly sit down and settle the matter with them, they probably would not have been able to emerge unscathed.

That lineup had overpowered even the Zuoqiu Clan and the Zhong Clan, making even the emperor himself appear. All of that showed how absolutely terrifying those people were. Their backing was so strong that even Emperor Qi, a lord of a territory in Heavenly Mandate Realm, had to show respect.

Yun Chong’s face was ashen, and he despaired, wondering how things had turned out this way.

Two figures walked in his direction—Yun Teng and Yun Ni.

Yun Teng still looked rather angry, judging from how they looked at the rest of the Yun Clan. He said coldly, “Qianyue’s father sacrificed himself for the clan. And now you people have sent Qianyue to the Zhong Clan to be a servant girl for the sake of the clan. It occurs to me all of a sudden that we’ve been getting close to the Zhong Clan, wanting to establish a connection between us and them. The clan might have been planning for this for a long time, waiting for the pieces to fall in the Palace Examination.”

Yun Teng looked rather sarcastic as he continued, “It is indeed ironic… The one who was cast away by the clan and saved by an outsider. If it had not been for Ye Futian, I’m sure you all would have been smiling from ear to ear instead, feeling not the slightest bit of remorse or sorrow, but only joy from seeing your goals accomplished. From this day forth, my family shall sever all ties with the Yun Clan of Luo City. I wish the clan great success and prosperity.”

Both Yun Teng and Yun Ni turned around and left right away, not at all reluctant.

Yun Ni would especially hate them for what they had done.

Her husband had died for the clan, and her daughter had changed her surname, and all of that had only resulted in her being cast away by the clan as a sacrifice. It was pathetic indeed.

It was fortunate that they had Sir Ye on their side.

She looked up at the silver-haired man up on the platform. Her eyes were filled only with gratitude.

She too was able to figure out that the clan had been planning this for a very long time. None of that had anything to do with Ye Futian being threatened by the Celestial Sword Li Clan. That incident was but a convenient excuse.

Even without Li Ruoshuang in the picture, the clan would have sent Qianyue away all the same, just so that Yun Mo was able to have a bright future.

At yet another corner, the people of the Celestial Sword Li Clan were feeling just as frustrated.

Emperor Qi had ordered for the Zuoqiu Clan to be subjected to investigations. The alliance was rendered null without a doubt. Both clans would want to have nothing to do with each other at that point. It was clear that they would have intended to sever all connections with each other just to avoid being punished by the emperor for having conspired with one another.

Other than that, Ye Futian had once reminded them, Li Ruoshuang of the Celestial Sword Li Clan had wanted to kill him once, going all the way to the Yun Clan to take him away and telling the Yun Clan to know their place.

Li Ruoshuang was the most extraordinary figure in their clan from that generation, and everyone wondered how the rest of her clan would deal with her.

If they were to simply ignore Ye Futian, that lineup of his was more than enough take them out as easy as pinching an ant to death. Furthermore, no one would have anything to say about it.

One wrong step and it would be the end of them.

Li Ruoshuang walked back to her clan and saw that all eyes in her clan were on her.

She was perceptive enough to tell that something was out of place. Those eyes did not look like they’d used to.

She frowned hard, and her mind cleared in an instant. She knew that those looks they were giving her had something to do with Ye Futian.

She had once been the pride of her clan, yet at that moment, her clan was probably afraid of being dragged into her mess, and they were thinking of what to do with her.

She felt a bone-chilling cold in her mind. Making minor sacrifices to safeguard major interests?

She had been reduced to a minor sacrifice to her clan.

She stopped and looked at all those faces before her, feeling as if they were those of strangers.

“What happened with the Renhuang mural at the ridge was my own doing, and I shall shoulder the responsibility all on my own. From this day forth, I, Li Ruoshuang, will no longer be a member of the Celestial Sword Li Clan. Everything I have done will have had nothing to do with the Celestial Sword Li Clan,” Li Ruoshuang said, making a snap decision right then and there.

It would have been very dangerous for her to return to her clan, as it was extremely possible for her clan to make her a scapegoat in order to keep their clan out of that mess.

As such, she made the decision to sever her connection with her clan instead.

She turned around after she finished saying all of that and began walking, intending to leave right away on her own.

“Thinking of just leaving like that?” A cold voice was heard. Ye Futian turned to look at Li Ruoshuang.

He’d heard that Li Ruoshuang was a decisive person, capable of making decisions quickly and follow through with them. She was also brutal and had shown no mercy when she intended to kill him back then. She’d gone to the Yun Clan just to take him away, and then he’d attempted to set the Yun Clan up just to offend the Zuoqiu Clan. All of her actions showed that she was merciless with her dealings.

At present, she had severed ties with her clan, intending to escape in one piece.

Li Ruoshuang stopped and turned around to look at Ye Futian, saying, “It was indeed you who destroyed the Renhuang mural, and it was completely normal that I put the blame on you in my anger. I’m willing to cut my hair as a token of apology.”

She then put her hand behind her head and held her hair. A sword materialized in her other hand, and she cut off her long hair right away. Her jet-black hair billowed in the air.

After Li Ruoshuang cut her hair, her then-shoulder-length hair was left hanging loose, giving her the frail grace of a woman and making her look pitiful and downtrodden, preventing others from making a move on her.

However, Ye Futian’s expression remained unchanged.

One’s state of mind was unusually steely when they had trained all the way to sainthood. Every single action a saint took would have come from their own will, and none would have thought that they had been wrong in doing anything. That action of cutting her hair off was but a ploy to buy time. Her pitiful appearance was only a tool to allow her to live.

Li Ruoshuang was indeed brutal.

However, Ye Futian’s expression remained as it had always been, without a single hint of moving in any way. It was as if he were saying, “You think doing this is going to appeal to my kindness?”

Li Ruoshuang had not looked like that at all when she’d ordered him killed.

“Is that mural something that belonged to you in the first place, Li Ruoshuang?” Ye Futian asked.

She was startled and speechless.

“That thing belonged to no one, and yet you sound so matter-of-fact nonetheless. Completely normal, huh?” Ye Futian jabbed at her sarcastically and continued, “I’m now offering you a chance. If you can take one hit from my sword and live, I’ll let you leave.”

One hit from his sword.

Li Ruoshuang’s expression became pointed. As a mighty one from the Celestial Sword Li Clan, she was trained in the way of the sword, and yet, Ye Futian was getting ready to deal with her using swords.

“So be it.” Li Ruoshuang nodded. Sword aura whipped about and gathered behind her as soon as she finished talking. Her Life Spirit appeared, and the sword will all around was solidified into a terrifying screen of swords, pulsing with the frightening light of the sword as they zipped about. Those were not swords meant for defense. They were swords meant for killing.

As a swordswoman, she knew well that the greatest defense available to wielders of swords was none other than offense.

Her swords burst in an instant without waiting for Ye Futian to do anything. She charged straight at Ye Futian in a decisive manner.

Ye Futian as only able to use one move with the swords.

Many around them praised her deep down, seeing how she moved. Regardless of her character, the fact that she was extremely talented had not changed at all. She was indeed someone born to be a cultivator.

Ye Futian remained unfazed as he watched Li Ruoshuang make her move. He took one step forward, and Swords of Kasyapa were conjured around him, zipping through the air. They burst through Li Ruoshuang’s river of swords one after another, moving forward in a special pattern, taking formations and coming at her like an autumn gale.

The Swords of Kasyapa reflected in Li Ruoshuang’s eyes continued to grow in size. She was thoroughly frightened and backed away in a hurry.

However, the Swords of Kasyapa were unnervingly fast, and they arrived before her in an instant, piercing the aura of swords all around her as they burst through her body.

Her body shuddered unceasingly within an instant. Her blood stained her clothes, and she looked pathetic.

The aura all over her was dispelled, and she grew increasingly weak. Wrinkles began to appear on her face. She lost her youthful appearance altogether, as if she had gotten ten years older within an instant. The life force within her body had all been destroyed by the sword wills.

She looked completely ashen as she reached out to sense the remaining aura in her body. She was not even able to stand still by then.

The sword wills were dispelled, and Ye Futian continued to eye Li Ruoshuang. There was hardly any pity in his eyes.

Li Ruoshuang looked up at him with a vicious look on her face. She stood and hobbled away without saying anything.

Despite being severely injured, her training disposed of, she still had hope that she would be able to train again.

Ye Futian turned around, not looking at her anymore.

“How many abilities are you versed in, sir?” Yun Qianyue, who was by his side, asked. She had only been asking Ye Futian to guide her in the ways of thunder.

Yet it was the way of Entropy and the Halberd of Time and Space that Ye Futian had defeated Zhong Qiu with.

At that moment, he’d showed his abilities with the sword as well.

Ye Futian did not correct the way she addressed him, thinking that she had probably gotten used to it.

“I’m versed in quite a few powers,” Ye Futian said and smiled.

He then looked at Emperor Qi, bowing and saying, “I’m truly sorry for getting you involved in what happened today, Your Majesty, and I’d like to beg your forgiveness.”

“You people have indeed caused me, an emperor, to lose a lot of face. But then again, it worked well to stimulate them for a bit.” Emperor Qi continued, “Since you have come all the way from the Crimson Dragon Realm and something wrong happened with the grand matrix of space, I’m sure that there are others of yours who are still out there. How about you train in the royal palace for a bit? What just happened here will have spread like wildfire soon enough. Other than that, I shall have my people to hasten the spread of the news. Doing so will allow those friends of yours who did not show today to find this place before long.”

“It is indeed best that we have your help, your majesty,” Ye Futian said. They were in Emperor Qi’s Territory, and if the emperor was willing to help, those who hadn’t showed that day would come soon enough.

“I’m not doing this for free. Please take your time to spar with the cultivators in the royal palace while you are training here. Have them experience what the strongest genius from the Lower Worlds is like, just to prevent them from developing a holier-than-thou attitude and thinking themselves to be peerless.”

Emperor Qi smiled as he elaborated. Many studied under him, and there were indeed some who possessed extreme talents among them, whom he’d taken in as personal students. Other than that, the emperor had descendants of his own, after all.

It was great that Ye Futian and the others around him were the strongest of geniuses to be found in the Crimson Dragon Realm, allowing them to spar with those of Emperor Qi at a similar age. Such training would allow them to have a better idea of who was stronger, and that would benefit their training further.

“Alright.” Ye Futian nodded. He saw no reason to refuse such a minor request.

“Let’s go,” Emperor Qi said, and one figure after another stepped out. The crowd all over the vast place felt like they had not gotten enough. While the Palace Examination was interrupted, everything that had happened after the examination was even more extraordinary.

They knew that from then on out, both the Zuoqiu Clan and the Zhong Clan, which had been standing on the pinnacle in Emperor Qi’s Territory, would fall into decline sooner or later, and the Zhong Clan would suffer even more.