Realms In The Firmament

BOOOOM!!! It sounded as if the entire world was shaking.

A large mountain was crushed into pieces as countless broken rocks flew into the air, creating clouds of dust obscuring everything.

Suddenly, with a shout, a figure broke out from the dust clouds. This figure, who was emitting a dazzling light like thunder and lightning in a stormy night, was quickly flying forward. His tremendous speed produced a long streak of dust trailing him with the shape of a Chinese Dragon crawling forward.

Behind this figure, a crowd of people flew through the clouds, creating countless long streaks of dust. They were madly chasing after the person in front, as if they have lost their minds!

"The three largest factions had ganged together. A total of 3496 cultivators chasing me through thirty-seven thousand miles! Aha… You guys are really taking great efforts to eliminate me!"

A loud explosion echoed out as Ye Xiao - the man flying in front, suddenly stopped on an enormous rock, before quickly turning around with a wild laughter. An extremely sharp sword light flew out of his hand at full speed, like a flashing streak of lightning in the firmament.

It was the last of the power he had!

The light flew into the crowd like a lightning strike, causing pitiful cries to burst out. But as one fell, another rose. Some of them bled in the skies before falling to the ground, all the while swinging their hands and feet!

Ye Xiao, who was now bleeding profusely, was rendered unable to fly because of his previous strike.

"Sitting like a lofty mountain, standing like a great rainbow; acting like a storm surging, moving like a thunderbolt."

Sitting, standing, acting, moving, the four lines are excellent descriptions about the cultivators who have reached the Dao Origin Stage.

Although Ye Xiao was among the most powerful Dao Origin cultivators, after this last amazing sword strike, he had become nothing but a spent bullet. At the moment, he was like a lamp out of oil - he had no energy left for flight. When he landed, the rocks under his feet were quickly stained with his blood!

Panting heavily, Ye Xiao's eyes were still filled with scorn as he sneered, "Humph, even if I have reached the end of my life today, even if this Monarch is doomed to fall, do you really think that there will be many of you who will survive here?"

The rock where he stood was on the peak of a huge mountain.

When Ye Xiao looked back, he was like a king in the sky, looking down with imperceptible stateliness even in this imminent predicament!

Fearing Ye Xiao's aggression, the hundreds of cultivators chasing him stood still in front of him! They were looking at him with misgivings in their eyes. Far behind them, beyond the limits of one's eyesight, there was a path. It was the path they had travelled along which was currently made of countless corpses. Suddenly, an unexpected howling wind came over, and a few decapitated heads with open eyes were blown and sent rolling.

The cost they paid for Ye Xiao's death was obviously shown by this path of carnage which was built of flesh and blood, covering thousands of miles over mountains and rivers!

Although the Xiao Monarch was clearly at the end of his rope, and although the surrounding people knew that the Xiao Monarch would find it impossible to get away, for the moment, none of them still dared to take a step forward!

All of them clearly knew that, at this moment, whoever dared to take a step forward, would instantly get killed, get buried along with the dead, and go to hell with Ye Xiao!

No matter who, there would be no exception!

It was a clear point with no room for any doubt.

Because the guy standing in front of them, was the Xiao Monarch!

Laughing out loud at all the heroes under the firmament, he was the monarch of the universe!

The Xiao Monarch was a legend in the realms of the firmament!

The 3496 cultivators from the three factions had set up huge traps and used countless approaches to hunt him down, travelled thirty-seven thousand miles and destroyed nearly every mountain and river they had passed, however, Ye Xiao, on his own, had unexpectedly killed almost all the 3496 cultivators behind him, leaving countless broken lands and piles of dead cultivators' bodies wherever he went!

Who could dare to look down upon such a formidable man?

Even when he had reached his end, nobody would dare to challenge his sword!

"Xiao Monarch! We wouldn't have ganged together to hunt you down like this if it were not for your perverseness against us." A sage-like old man in the crowd sighed, completely exhausted, "I just don't understand why… our well known Xiao Monarch… would suddenly declare war against us and try to kill us. What you did has led to losses on both sides. Since it won't do you any good, why are you doing this?"

Although the three factions finally had the chance to slaughter their shared enemy, Ye Xiao, the cost they had paid for it was totally unbearable. They had lost almost ninety percent of their warriors in this battle. The losses they had suffered were so massive, to the point where they would find it impossible to revitalize themselves within the next one thousand years.

The three factions would lose their top faction status in the Qing-Yun Realm once other factions begin to rise - it must be the worst situation for them. Besides, there were still the Palaces and the Temples aiming for their heads like tigers stalking their prey!

After everything that occurred, they were still muddle-headed. They still couldn't understand what the problem was with this horrible Xiao Monarch?! This was truly harming others without benefiting oneself!

Had the domineering Xiao Monarch, who persisted his old ways and had never cared about anything, gone crazy?

Ye Xiao sneered, "So you don't get it? You really don't get it? Aha…"

He looked down at the huge pit on his chest through which his entrails could be seen and actually stretched his wounded body. He chillingly said, "No matter what dirty business you three factions did, I didn't give a damn about it. Except you forcibly occupied all the cultivation resources, changed the energy sources and monopolized all valuable practice materials! You kept other people from cultivating themselves so that only you three factions could practice in the Qing-Yun Realm… Your actions are so overbearing, even going as far as breaking people's futures. I just detested this! Since I detested it, I must discipline it!"

"No, Xiao Monarch! You are wrong! Only the virtuous should own the treasures in this world. Those who want to cultivate themselves should follow the law of the jungle. We did nothing wrong!"

"What -hah!" Ye Xiao laughed out as he coughed, "The virtuous you were saying? That is right. The treasures in the world belong to anyone. No matter who, the one who seizes them has the right to own them. On that I agree. However, you slaughtered millions of innocent people just because you wanted to control the miraculous mountains, using those souls of the dead as sacrificial offerings to build the power vein! You made large wealthy towns turn into wastelands filled with death and coldness. Then you would cover up your crime with a claim that those places were suffering with pestilences, and you had to do that to save the rest of the realm… How many times did you mindlessly murder a whole town and distort facts in these years? How dare you claim to be virtuous? Such bloody virtuous! HAHAHAHA!!"

He wildly laughed as he spoke. He had an undisguised tone that was full of provocation.

"All cultivation resources are yours. Anyone who dares to take some will get no mercy, and all his relatives will also be killed - no one lives! You guys acted excessively first, I am just fighting back the same way. How difficult could it be to understand?"

He bended his mouth and smiled sarcastically.

After Ye Xiao spoke, the three leaders of the crowd - the heads of the three factions, had hideous expressions.

"So that's it… The reason you fought against us is simply to fight for justice… to defend cultivators against our injustice? Aha, what a noble man, Xiao Monarch! Even so, after your death today, who on earth would stand up and face us? We three factions may have suffered a great loss, but we are not destroyed. After no more than a thousand years, we will fully recover! What a pity. After today, there will no longer be a famous Xiao Monarch!" The sage-like old man sneered.

"As long as I am still alive, I will never let you proceed with it! If I die… the world would have nothing to do with me." Ye Xiao smiled indifferently, "As long as I can still breathe, the only thing I would like to do, is to wipe all of you bastards out!"

Even though he was speaking with disdain, he still felt sorry in his heart because he couldn't wipe out the three factions to avenge his brother!

It was his life's greatest regret!

"I see. We get it." The old man nodded slowly with a crazy murderous look, "Enough talking, we will end your life! We won't let you stay alive!"

Grinding his teeth, he waved his hand as he shouted, "Go! Kill him! Whatever the cost!"

All the warriors attacked at the same time with their full power! Hundreds of the warriors risked their lives by using all of their power in this final attack. Countless lights and noises mixed together with countless strong powers, striking Ye Xiao like a huge storm!

The power created by the three factions together had really shook the earth and the sky. All that could be seen was dust flying up in the air as the land underneath seemed to crack. The mountain where Ye Xiao previously stood was instantly crushed into pieces as dust now covered everything. With countless broken rocks flying up, the mountains in between them were completely destroyed all at once.

Ye Xiao laughed out loud. After this one-month long battle, he was truly too exhausted. Even moving a single step felt like climbing the highest of mountains. He could do nothing to defend himself against all these destructive attacks, so he looked carelessly at his enemies with a smile on his face.

At this instant, he and the mountain below his feet were about to be hit by this immense tidal wave of attacks!

His voice reverberated through the air right before he was hit.

"It is a pity that I was fighting alone and failed to kill all of you! If I am given a second chance, I promise, I will cut down all your heads… Fighting alone and letting you bastards get away with your lives is my lifelong regret!"

At the last moment of his life, the unbeatable loner Xiao Monarch finally realized his greatest weakness!

He was solitary!

Even though he had already become one of the supreme masters in this world, when facing the force of the three largest factions, he himself was simply not enough!

BOOOM! An extremely loud explosion turned the entire sky-high solid mountain into a dust rain of pebbles and rocks.

Dust overflowed and rocks rolled.

The Xiao Monarch left his last words with his last breath,

"I don't regret my life even though it was so tough, but I hate that I couldn't wipe the evil out. If only I had an afterlife to wield my sword again, I would slaughter all evil so that I could laugh out loud under the firmament."

In the mist, the sage-like old man looked at the mess; he murmured with a sullen expression, "Even if you realized it… you would still never stand a chance… and now, you will never know of the truth…"

He sneered, "If only I had an afterlife to wield my sword again, I would slaughter all evil so that I could laugh out loud under the firmament… Humph, what a pity, Xiao Monarch, there is no such thing as an afterlife!"

"Off we go!" The old man waved his hand. All the warriors turned back and left.

No one had noticed that the moment when the Xiao Monarch died, a thin purple light had flashed briefly in the sky.

As the wild wind was howling, all the dust was blown away. The mountain had long disappeared, and there were only the broken rocks on the ground.

Only in the air was there a faintly discernible voice.

"If only I had an afterlife to wield my sword again, I would slaughter all evil so that I could laugh out loud under the firmament…"

...

Ye Xiao suddenly woke up!

His entire body was screaming in agony. But while he was focusing on the pain, his mind fell into the endless confusion!

"What is going on? Wasn't I fighting against the three factions? Didn't I die? My body was destroyed and my spirit was extinguished. My soul has already dissipated. How could I still survive after facing that destructive attack…" He opened his eyes and a luxurious room entered his vision. Then, he felt like he was lying on a soft bed…

"I… didn't die?"

He had suffered such immensely powerful attacks while having absolutely no power to fight back or even resist. He was surely smashed to pieces. How could he still be alive?

Ye Xiao couldn't help but scratch his head, "Oh right, my body… Wait a second!"

His eyes almost fell out of their sockets as he stared in shock at his stretched out arms.

Hands with white skin and long bony fingers; they were even lovelier than those beautiful hands a girl possessed…

"These are not my hands!" Ye Xiao was in a daze as he stared at his hands.

The next moment, he quickly sat up, grabbed the mirror beside the bed and lifted it up to his face. And then he cried out.

In the mirror, he saw an unknown youth who was about 16 years old, with white skin and sharp eyebrows. It was a handsome guy with red lips that looked as pretty as a lady's .

"Beautiful…"

He stopped with a click of his tongue. He realized that it was not the right word to describe a guy, so he decided to correct himself.

"Very handsome…" He nodded, "That's better… But what the hell's going on?"

Then he felt an excruciating pain in his head. A memory forcefully flowed into his mind like a tidal wave, almost making him lose his consciousness once again.

Ye Xiao grasped his head while gasping for air. Only when he had finally absorbed the whole memory did he calm himself down.

"Oh, I see…"

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