The Legend of Futian

When Ye Futian was still training in Dali Dynasty, the countless beings went about their lives as usual in the vast, seemingly boundless Emperor Xia’s Realm.

There was a seemingly endless dessert at the western end of Emperor Xia’s Realm, with one city after another built from dirt in it and there were countless people training in the cities.

That region was known for being chaotic. There were no top notch forces ruling over the place and as such, many barbaric forces continued to grow by practicing and living in their barbaric ways.

There was a dirt city at the center of the seemingly endless dessert region, which produced three extremely powerful figures little more than a year ago, who gathered people and ruled over the dirt city.

Many claimed that all three of them were saints.

However, the three were unusually low profiled and never appeared in public, making them all the more mysterious.

Still, there continued to be people who wanted to meet and train with those three mighty ones. Many brought precious gifts when they went to meet them.

On that day, there was a figure who wore conical hat who came to meet the three in the cave where they trained in.

A group of people walked under the hot sun in silence. The cultivator with the hat and two other muscled cultivators who bared their upper bodies continued on their way.

“Do you really have sacred spirit stones to offer with you?” The muscled man asked the young man with the hat.

“How many lives do you think I have for daring to lie to the revered ones? I’m going on this trip to get myself a teacher,” the young man with the hat replied. The other two nodded without asking anything further. They initially intended to offer the stones personally, but the young man with the hat refused, being on guard against them and insisting to offer the stones himself. As such, they had no choice but to bring him along.

They came before a cave of cultivation which looked like a mountain in dirt-yellow colors on the outside. However, the place was actually totally different on the inside, looking extravagant and was decorated such that the place looked like majestic palaces.

They walked all the way to the depths of the palace and a regal figure was seen sitting on top of the steps above. There were precious beverages laid before him and he was attended to by voluptuous, alluring women. There were two other figures who sat by his side and they too, enjoyed themselves as well.

“We heard that you have sacred spirit stones with you, no?” The man at the forefront asked the ones who came.

The young man took his hat off and nodded, before extending his hand and showing a piece of dazzling sacred spirit stone. It was a surprisingly huge piece and of very high quality.

The regal figure on the chair locked his gaze at the stone, then stared the smiling young man below and said, “Who are you?”

The aura on the young man shifted and the expressions of those men changed, looking extremely serious.

The aura of that young man continued to change, becoming increasingly powerful.

“It’s been quite an effort to find you saints. It’s rather surprising to find that you still know how to enjoy yourself after coming to the Upper Worlds,” the young man said with a smile. The aura that he emanated was that of the saints.

The figure at the forefront was shaken to the core. The other two at his side stood up. Their aura bursting intensely.

“Out, all of you.” The mighty one who was addressed as a saint by the young man ordered. All the others left the scene while he glared at that young man, asking, “Who the hell are you?”

“I come in peace, seeking cooperation from you, saint. This piece of sacred spirit stone is a token of my sincerity.” The young man offered the stone again and said.

“You’re rather poor at disguises. So this is how you show that you’re sincere? By disguising who you really are?” It was apparent that he knew that the young man was not showing his real face.

“I could say the same about you. The human face mask that you’re wearing is just as poorly made,” the young man jabbed sarcastically. Terrifyingly powerful aura shrouded the entire cave, and the other stepped forward.

The young man glanced at the three and the strength of his aura continued to rise. He then said coldly, “Saint Xihua, you’d better think things through, given how I actually dare to show up here in front of you. If you want to do it the hard way, I’d suggest that you think of the consequences.”

The figure at the forefront was none other than the saint lord of Xihua Sacred Mountain, Saint Xihua. There was no need to say much about the identities of the other two.

After leaving the Nine States back then, all three of them came to train in the Upper Worlds. Ye Futian’s name became known all over the place later, becoming like the sun at high noon. They did not care to linger at the core regions of Emperor Xia’s Realm and so they came to the western edges to train in seclusion, to advance their plane of training further.

“What are you after?” Saint Xihua no longer asked about the young man’s identity, and had instead inquired his intentions.

“I’m sure you have never expected Ye Futian to rise to fame that quickly. He is now held in high regard by the princess and even his majesty took a liking to him. Well, it’s not all that to difficult to comprehend why you’re forced to hide your face from the world.” The young man continued his sarcastic jab. “But then again, do you think all you do here is of any use, saint? You’re only being kept around by his majesty because he did not bother to lift a finger against you people. But as Ye Futian’s status continue to rise, how long do you think you could continue living like this?”

Saint Xihua’s face was ashen. He had of course remembered the time when Emperor Xia gathered and talked with them. He had long suspected that he was possibly being watched.

“You should believe what I said, given how I’m able to locate you after all.” The young man continued, “As for my intentions coming here, it’s pretty simple. Both the Sword Saint of the Void and the Glass Saint are now training in the Upper Worlds. The Nine States are left rather powerless. Why don’t you ally with those of the Hall of Holy Light and kill the saints of the Holy Zhi Palace? The sacred war is not over with them around. Even his majesty would have to admit to that.”

“Saint Jiang is at Barren State now and there are still other saints around. Saint Ji was placed under house arrest by Emperor Xia, so there was no way he would have dared step outside. Even without the Sword Saint of the Void and the Glass Saint around, do you think you could actually the Barren State as they are now?” Saint Xihua retorted coldly.

“Didn’t you see that I’ve brought a piece of sacred spirit stone with me? That should be enough to allow you to recruit saints to help you people out. There are bound to be those who would get moving, when the price is right. Furthermore, all of this are still within the boundaries set by his majesty’s rules, so long as you do not go on a killing spree against those below Saint Plane.” The young man continued, “Even if you were to fail, all of you would still be able to escape right away. The stone would still be yours, and you’re free to use it to further your training.”

“Of course, you are free to refuse if you want to, saint. But, Ye Futian would then know of your whereabouts sooner than he should have,” the young man said.

Saint Xihua looked extremely glum at that point. Whether he liked it or not, he had to agree to it.

“What are you getting from doing all of this?” Saint Xihua asked coldly. He wanted to know of the young man’s identity and his reasons for doing all of that.

Judging from his powers, is he having a grudge against the people of the Barren State?

All of that seems to be utterly pointless.

“I’m not getting much of anything out of this. It’s all just a game to me. Just pretend that you have never met me. I’d need to see results within a month, or get ready to see Ye Futian showing up at your door with his men otherwise. By the way, don’t mention anything about me if anything were to go south. It seems that you’ve sired an offspring after coming to the Upper Worlds, so you’ve seemingly plan things out indeed. If anything were to happen to you, I’d look after your kid in your stead.” The young man smiled, before putting on his hat and left.

It was but truly but a game to him.

Saint Xihua’s face was all pale as he saw the aura of that young man continued to dissipate. Several shrieks of terror were heard from outside. Saint Xihua knew that there were people who were being silenced.

Even if he had never even seen the true face of that man, the mysterious young man chose to simply just silence other unrelated ones around regardless, as well as threatening him to never mention anything about seeing him. It was an unnerving level of caution being practiced right there, leaving no tracks behind at all.

If he were to act against the Barren State, then it would have all been him acting for his own sake. He had a score to settle with the Holy Zhi Palace to begin with after all.

That was probably what that young man had his eyes on.

Saint Xihua felt himself shivering all over at that moment. If there were to be someone who dared to pull something like that under the reign of Emperor Xia, then the man who dared to do so would have been of very terrifying background.

…

Xia Qingyuan received news half a month later that Saint Xihua had returned to the Nine States of the Lower Worlds.

She caught wind in her residence that there were someone who leaked that information, and that her father had sent people to notify him.

There were things that Emperor Xia found inconvenient to interfere after all.

“Relay my orders. Summon the ones at the Cottage Villa to the royal palace. We shall head to the Lower Worlds from the royal palace.” Xia Qingyuan said. She then rose right away and made for the teleportation grand matrix.

The battle was already raging when Xia Qingyuan and the others arrived at the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State.

The battles between saints took place right above the Holy Zhi Palace. Other than Saint Xihua, there was another saint at second level of Saint Plane taking on Saint Jiang.

The three saints of Xihua Sacred Mountain and two other saints of the Hall of Holy Light were taking on Douzhan and the others.

Saint Ji of the Hall of Holy Light was placed under house arrest, and the mighty ones of the Hall of Holy Light never dared to step outside ever since. They came to deem that it would have been more advantageous to strike first instead of simply continue to wait around. As such, the saints agreed to Saint Xihua’s proposal.

Saint Xihua and his men naturally took notice of Xia Qingyuan’s presence. They all felt cold deep down. It was apparent that the princess had picked her side.

“Princess, are we going to help them out?” Some mighty ones at Xia Qingyuan’s side asked telepathically.

“They are able to take care of themselves at the moment,” Xia Qingyuan replied. When Divine Cloud Valley crafted divine implements for the mighty ones of the Nine States, several really potent ones were sent to the Lower Worlds.

The Black Wind Condor showed up at Xia Qingyuan’s side at the moment.

As such, Ye Futian naturally caught wind of the news.

The Black Wind Condor then turned its eyes at Xia Qingyuan and said, “Could you order your men to act?”

Xia Qingyuan looked at the bird and knew right away that it was Ye Futian who was talking to him. She had long subjugated the bird, robbing it of the gall to be insolent around her.

“The rules of the sacred war of the Nine States were laid down by father.” Xia Qingyuan looked at the bird, and the huge eyes of the bird continued to stare at her.

Xia Qingyuan turned her eyes away and said to him telepathically with a cold expression, “If there were to be anyone who was caught in a life and death situation, I shall make an exception. Right now, they could still take care of things themselves.”

“Thank you, princess.” The Black Wind Condor answered telepathically.

Those huge eyes of the bird turned around to glare at Saint Xihua and the others. So this Saint Xihua had actually managed to get another saint down to the Lower Worlds, and help to assault the Holy Zhi Palace of the Barren State then.

Seems like Saint Xihua and the Hall of Holy Light would always be disasters waiting to happen if they were to be left unattended to then.

“When would you be ending your training in Dali?” Xia Qingyuan asked again.

“No idea.” The bird replied and dived forward, intending to join in the fray.

Xia Qingyuan’s eyes flashed with a hint of anger as she saw the Black Wind Condor fly away. That ba**ard.

She heard last that the imperial advisor of Dali was being very nice to Ye Futian and had not doubted him in the slightest. At the moment, he was getting ready to break into Saint Plane in Dali Imperial City.

Xia Qingyuan was rather irked deep down hearing all of that.