Chapter 722: Returning to the Eastern Barren Territory

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Outside the Holy Zhi Palace, countless eyes fell on Ye Futian.

The brutal battles had finally come to an end. Many had given everything they had in those battles, and great figures of untold numbers came to stand by Ye Futian’s side, fighting for his sake. It was probably one of the reasons Chunyang passed on the position of the Palace Lord to him.

Throughout the entire Barren State as of that moment, only Ye Futian had been capable of consolidating the Barren State and the Holy Zhi Palace. The battles fought there ruined the Holy Zhi Palace’s reputation. Chunyang wanted to atone for what he did. As he put it himself, he was willing to do anything for the sake of the Holy Zhi Palace. Even in death, his plans had been laid in the hopes of making the Holy Zhi Palace thrive.

“Where is my Third Brother?” Ye Futian asked.

“He is in the Holy Zhi Palace. I’ll take him here,” the Sword Demon said.

“Thank you, elder.” Ye Futian nodded. He had been very grateful to the Sword Demon for not participating in the battles. He was, after all, the lord of the Sword Palace. From a certain perspective, he should have sided with the Holy Zhi Palace.

“Eldest Brother.” Ye Futian turned to look at the Sword Saint, who was putting his blade away. He looked very frail. All of his powers seemed to have been sucked dry. Ye Futian helped him up and the Sword Saint smiled, saying, “It’s alright, little brother.”

Ye Futian lowered his head and turned around, looking at Sage Douzhan, Hua Qingqing, and the others.

“Teacher.” Ye Futian looked at the frail Sage Douzhan and felt incredibly sorrowful.

A peaceful smile was seen on Sage Douzhan’s face as he said, “Futian, what do you think?”

“I feel all over the place.” Ye Futian naturally understood that his teacher was asking about the matter of him becoming Palace Lord.

“I understand. Get some rest when all of this blows over.” Sage Douzhan naturally understood what his student had been going through. Everything happened too suddenly. However, he still hoped that Ye Futian was able to agree to it. While it was indeed Chunyang and Liu Chan who had been in the wrong and they were the source of the disaster seen that day, it was not the same to say that the entire Holy Zhi Palace was at fault. He still had a lot of feelings for the Holy Zhi Palace. Ye Futian had turned into the linchpin holding the Holy Zhi Palace and many forces throughout the Barren State together.

“Did anyone allow you all to leave?” A cold voice sounded, breaking the peace. Many turned to look at the direction where the voice came from. It was You Chi talking. He stopped Yan Wuji, head of the Sword Saint Villa, from sneaking out of the place. Yan Wuji, Di Kai and the others were all exposed at the same time. Many stared at them and everyone looked troubled.

They had sided with Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace. However, with Ye Futian being made the next Palace Lord and Zhisheng Cliffs retreating, the scene before them looked like a living nightmare. Both sides were hardly on the same level at the moment.

Ye Futian looked at all of them with an extremely cold expression. While Chunyang and Liu Chan had their own principles for doing what they did for the sake of the Holy Zhi Palace, trying to prevent a greater crisis befalling the Barren State by making him and his Third Brother scapegoats to bring the mess to an end, those people had nothing but their own interests in mind, wanting to take out the Zhuge family and Taihang Mountain.

“Make your move here. Aren’t you afraid that you’ll get others involved?” Yan Wuji threatened coldly.

“If you people even had a line that you wouldn’t cross, your families might have suffered less,” You Chi said with an equally cold tone. Who do you think you are, threatening us?

“You Chi.” Yan Wuji’s expression turned bone-chillingly cold.

“If they had the guts to show up in the first place, I see no reason to have them leave this place alive,” Ye Futian said coldly. Zhuge Qingfeng, Yuan Hong, You Chi, Xu Shang, Huang Xi, Qingdeng, Chen Yuan all stepped forward, surrounding them. There was no need to talk about principles at this point. The Lord of the Ice Temple, Sage Daozang and many other mighty ones came to stand in front of Ye Futian and the others with him, preventing them from getting harmed by those on the other side.

“Let’s do this,” You Chi said coldly. As someone ranked eighth on the Barren Sky Ranking, it was apparent that he was no pushover. Things had come this far and none of those people were allowed to leave, or they would have come back to bite them in the future.

“Eldest Brother, Little Brother.” Gu Dongliu’s voice was heard. Ye Futian turned around and saw the Sword Demon bringing Gu Dongliu to him. There were many wounds on Gu Dongliu’s body and he looked frail. It was apparent that Zhisheng Cliffs had not been treating him well for fear that he would escape.

“Zhisheng Cliffs.” Ye Futian’s eyes looked incredibly cold. Although Zhan Xiao was the one who had been responsible for everything, the overbearing attitude of Kong Yao and Zhisheng Cliffs was something he would never forget. Many mighty great apes in Taihang Mountain were killed by the mighty ones from Zhisheng Cliffs that Zhan Xiao brought with him, after all.

Zhuge Mingyue walked to his side. Both she and Gu Dongliu smiled at each other while looking rather sad. It was fortunate, however, that the disaster was over.

“You Chi, Zhuge Qingfeng, do you have to go this far?” A roaring voice sounded, and Yan Wuji was no longer breathing after he said that.

“The Nantian House is willing to submit to the Holy Zhi Palace,” the head of Nantian House said.

“The Holy Zhi Palace doesn’t need you,” the Sword Demon said coldly. A scream was heard soon enough. The lord of the Sacred Fire Sect was unable to last long and soon had his throat slit by Xu Shang, who was wandering around in the battlefield.

The people surrounding them looked at the slaughter taking place without sympathy. They sowed their seeds when they decided to align with Kong Yao of Zhisheng Cliffs. If Zhisheng Cliffs emerged victorious, they would have been able to earn themselves a powerful ally. But now that Zhisheng Cliffs retreated, there was simply no way they would be able to come out of their predicament unscathed. Four of the mighty ones ranked in high places in the Barren Sky Ranking soon lost their lives in the Holy Zhi Palace. The surviving figures on the Barren Sky Ranking had been reduced in that day’s battles.

“I should go get some rest.” The weight in Sage Douzhan’s heart was settle and he fell right there and then. It was apparent that he was had only been able to stand for so long due to his powerful will.

“Teacher.”

“Brother.”

Many came up to them. Sage Jingang lifted him up. Sage Douzhan’s eyes were completely shut and he looked very peaceful.

“He needs to spend some days recuperating.” Sage Jingang said, “I’ll take him to Battle Sage Palace.”

“Right.” Ye Futian nodded. Sage Jingang then took Sage Douzhan with him and left.

“Qingqing, we should go get some rest too,” Monk Qingdeng said to Hua Qingqing.

“Yeah.” Hua Qingqing nodded and turned to look at Ye Futian, who was bowing to Monk Qingdeng saying, “Thank you, elder.”

Monk Qingdeng put his palms together and left with Hua Qingqing.

Ye Futian came to Hua Jieyu’s side and picked her up. She was in a coma. He looked at her with gentle eyes.

“I will ask my teacher to come out of isolation and treat everyone,” Phoenix said to Ye Futian. The teacher she meant was naturally not Sage Daozang; it was the Undying Sage, who was also known as the Undying Old Man.

“Thank you.” Ye Futian thanked her from the bottom of his heart. He turned to look at the others and bowed. He said nothing, but he took all of their sentiments, his debt to all of them, to heart.

“Futian, you have any plans in mind?” Zhuge Qingfeng looked at Ye Futian and asked.

“I’m thinking of taking Jieyu back to the Eastern Barren Territory for a while until she wakes up,” Ye Futian said. He felt washed all over with exhaustion. He was barely able to keep his strength up and he was forcing himself to pick up Hua Jieyu’s body. Furthermore, his exhaustion was more than just a physical thing.

“Right.” Zhuge Qingfeng nodded. “It’s best for you all to go get some rest. Mingyue and Dongliu will accompany you to recuperate in the Eastern Barren Territory.”

“Senior Xu, do you know where Xu Que and the others are?” Ye Futian turned around and asked Xu Shang. Xu Que would have contacted Tingxue House.

“Rest assured that I’ll have them go see you,” Xu Shang said.

“Right.” Ye Futian felt at ease.

“Grandpa Yuan,” Ye Futian called. Yuan Hong’s massive body was seen stepping out. Ye Futian took Hua Jieyu with him and sat on his shoulders.

“Eldest Brother, Second Sister, Third Brother,” Ye Futian called and all of them left with Ye Futian for the Eastern Barren Territory.

The Sword Demon and Daozang looked at each other as they watched Ye Futian leave. They sighed in their hearts. Ye Futian did not agree to become the Palace Lord right there and then. It was apparent that he was unable to let go of his grudge with the Holy Zhi Palace just yet. He may not have resented the Holy Zhi Palace, but it was still difficult for him to become a Palace Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace so suddenly. Furthermore, Hua Jieyu was severely injured and was in a coma. He needed time to take in all of that.

“If I had only been able to emerge from isolation sooner, maybe none of this would have happened.” Sage Wanxiang sighed as well. While Liu Chan had been the one calling the shots, if he had been able to come out earlier and get to know Ye Futian personally, he might have been able to calculate his fate. Perhaps Liu Chan would have taken a different approach. Or perhaps, if he had not calculated Bai Luli’s talents or the ordeal of the Holy Zhi Palace would have been put through, the trajectory of things might have been different instead.

Astrologers earned the enmity of the heavens by peering into celestial secrets, which was why astrologers often ended up dying bad deaths.

It’s better to reduce the use of astrology to calculate fates in the future then. Everything in the world is eventually required to move according to the great patterns and rules, instead of deliberately changing certain facets due to having prior knowledge of certain matters. The end results are often disastrous, just like how it is with the Holy Zhi Palace now.

…

The news regarding the battles taken place in the Holy Zhi Palace spread all over the Barren State quickly, shaking the entire Barren State. It had been many, many years since the last time such a disaster befell the Barren State. The war had even gotten saints involved and required Renhuang to descend upon the world again.

The two Palace Lords from the Holy Sage Pavilion perished, ending the war with their own lives in return for peace throughout the Barren State. At the same time, it was also said that Ye Futian was to become the next Palace Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace.

Ye Futian was able to defeat Bai Luli, who ranked tenth on the Barren Sky Ranking, while he was still a noble. Such was his fearsome talents. Many were awed, trying to imagine what the battle would have looked like. They knew that from that day onwards, Ye Futian was the true undisputed number one genius throughout the Barren State. No one had imagined that he, as a noble, would have been given the seat of Palace Lord. Just what did the previous Palace Lord see to make such a decision?

Those who knew Ye Futian trembled in their minds. A new era had begun with the ending of the previous one.

A legendary figure demonstrated what he was capable of. What future awaits him indeed.

Will Ye Futian agree to take the place of Palace Lord of the Holy Zhi Palace?

Other than that, the Sword Saint Villa, the Emperor family, Nantian House, and the Sacred Fire Sect all went through cleansing. Only the You clan of the two top-notch forces who had been with Alchemy City for many years were left standing. Many sighed at the turn of events. The four top-notch forces which had once stood at the top of everything lost everything in one day. Their leaders were all killed and it was a rather sad thing. All of that stemmed from little more than a single thought’s difference.

No one would have imagined Crouching Dragon Mountain to be able to fend off Zhisheng Cliff’s invasion, and no one would have been able to know that things would eventually turn out how they did. It was anyone’s guess how many years it would take for the Barren State to regain its former power after that war. Furthermore, Emperor Xia gave the Barren State little time to prepare. If no saints emerged from the Barren State by the time the next Battle of Saints was held, the Holy Zhi Palace would be taken apart. No one knew what such a future would hold.

Perhaps only time would be able to tell anyone anything.