The Fall of A Kingdom

Not even a hundred days after Yaan returned to the Bloody Totem Province, a truly shocking, empire-shaking piece of news spread throughout the 5,000 kingdoms like wildfire.

The Kingdom of Reptil had fallen!

An entire kingdom had fallen, literally overnight!

The Kingdom of Reptil was renowned for being the kingdom with the greatest number of cold-blooded humans within the empire. The Kingdom itself was actually ruled by a joint treaty between seven different reptil immortal tribes, each of which cooperated and shared the land fairly.

Reptils were the bloodline humans most far removed from ordinary humans. They had cold blood, scaly skin, slit eyes, but most importantly, they experienced very little feelings of empathy and compassion. They shared a collective feeling of unity amongst their familial units, but that was the beginning and end of their feelings of 'love' for one another.

Understandably, other humans and reptils did not typically get along well when living amongst one another. They were too different, both emotionally and ideologically, and honestly, many people found them uncomfortable to be around. They could easily betray you in the blink of an eye. It was often said that a reptils' loyalty could be bought or sold for a 5% profit margin, they were…cold blooded.

Because of this disconnect, not many people grieved for the trillions of lives which were lost after the centre of the kingdom was obliterated in a freak accident. To think that a Rank 9 beast would just so happen to crash into the very centre of the kingdom, destroying the seven crucial tribes and instantly turning a fully functioning kingdom into a land of chaos and death!

But in reality, the chaos never came. The chaos which should have arose following the Kingdom of Reptil's expected downfall was actually suppressed by the War Flower Empire itself! The empire stated that this kingdom should retain its original borders, and the other kingdoms and tribes could not take advantage of the situation…

However, the empire was not just being sympathetic of the Kingdom of Reptil's plight. A decree was passed down, stating that the now uncontrolled kingdom would be fought over using a large-scale flower war!

In a flower war, a set of conditions and stakes were established before beginning the battle. This minimised senseless losses, whilst giving all parties the opportunity to vie for supremacy.

Only, this particular decree was strange…extremely strange.

It was stated that only Rank 6 and below beings were permitted to take part in this battle over the rights to the kingdom's major scroll!

Immortals could not directly intervene!

The rules were simple. Starting in three months time, each of the kingdoms which bordered the Kingdom of Reptil would be permitted to send in their warriors below the Immortal Step. They could also use beasts, astral spirits, and any other living creature, so long as it was not an immortal being.

The major scroll had been tied to a flag pole, tens of miles in the air in the centre of the ruined kingdom. Whichever kingdom retrieved the scroll and returned it to their own kingdom would be declared the victor.

Many immortals felt stunned when they heard this ruleset. Why would something so important, such as the fate of an entire kingdom, be placed into the hands of mere mortals?

Well, the answer was very simple, but nobody would ever be able to guess the absurd truth.

Out of the seven kingdoms bordering the Kingdom of Lunar Song, the Kingdom of Reptil was regarded as the most worthless by the War Flower Emperor. So, when the War Flower Emperor received an order from the Blood Plane Lord to destroy one of the kingdoms bordering the Kingdom of Lunar Song, then to set up this flower war competition, she chose to sacrifice the Kingdom of Reptil without the slightest hint of hesitation.

Destroying a kingdom was only a minor matter to the War Flower Emperor. It was not even important enough for her to bother asking the Blood Plane Lord why he wanted a kingdom to be destroyed.

There were 12 firmly defined empires on the Blood Plane, of which the War Flower Empire was the smallest and most recently conceived. Destroying a single kingdom within the smallest empire was not a big deal.

The divinities ruled the four planes, all other beings were simply their chess pieces and pawns. Lives, lands, entire races…sacrificing any of these things could be done without a second thought when there was reason to do so and something to be gained.

When Yaan learned of this unexpected 'calamity', which he instantly recognised as an absolute blessing for him, he felt incredulous…so incredulous that he even felt it a bit suspicious.

Wasn't this just too perfect? This timing, this form of warfare, wasn't it all geared towards helping him progress through this period of cultivation that he had been struggling with?

After thinking this, he shook his head, laughing at himself.

Thinking that the War Flower Emperor, an almighty being who had almost certainly stepped beyond the realms of immortals, would control a Rank 9 beast into destroying an entire kingdom, just to give him some assistance with his cultivation?

Even Yaan felt like such a thing was too ridiculous. There was no way that this could be the case.

Yaan did not immediately enter the fray. The war wasn't set to begin for another three months, and besides, he was in no rush to be the first person to dive into the battlefield.

Immortals were not allowed to step foot in the ruined kingdom from now until the end of the war, whilst mortals could only enter once the competition officially began.

Yaan began to gather information.

From the border of the Kingdom of Lunar Song to the flag pole erected within the centre of the ruined Kingdom of Reptil, it was a distance of approximately three million miles.

The Kingdom of Reptil was a much larger kingdom than the Kingdom of Lunar Song. It was so large in fact, that even after thousands of tribes were wiped out overnight, there were still over a hundred thousand tribes remaining…of course, the tribes that had been destroyed were all the largest and strongest tribes in the kingdom.

The reptil people did not understand why others were being given the chance to taken command over their kingdom, but at least they did have a small advantage.

The conflict to decide on the kingdom's new ruler would last for at most three years. If the major scroll had not been retrieved after three years, it would be considered the reptils' victory.

But that was not enough to quell the dissent amongst the few surviving reptil immortals when they were informed that they would either be required to stay within the confines of their own tribe for this whole three year period, or alternatively, they could choose to leave the kingdom before the battle commenced in three months time.

Well, nobody cared about their feelings, and they had nobody to complain to anyway. The decree was set; this bloody competition was assured to take place.

Yaan didn't seek out the Lunar Song Tribe right away. He intended to wait for some time, seeing how the first month of the battle played out. If it seemed that the Lunar Song Tribe would be willing to put their past grievances behind them and accept him as their lead competitor, then he would take the risk and reveal himself.

But in the end, this was unnecessary, because an immortal from the Lunar Song Tribe came to visit Yaan personally, one month before the flower war was set to commence.

It was the Lunar Song Tribe's First Immortal King, the strongest immortal in the tribe. He was the owner of the kingdom's major scroll, and the only one of the four immortals whom Yaan had not already met.

"So you learned of my return anyway…" Yaan sighed, now feeling in retrospect that his efforts to conceal his traces were a bit pathetic.

"Our tribe has eyes throughout the kingdom. You were seen when you first entered and you were seen dozens of times over the following few days. The repeated transportation of prisoners towards this forest was also proof of your return."

The elderly immortal was tall and quite slender for a body temperer. His grey beard was thin and sharp, whilst his brows, hairline and other facial hair all matched his hair, giving him a visually aesthetically pleasant feeling. He smiled when he greeted Yaan, showing no malice, nor any difficultly in being polite towards the person who had killed countless of his tribe's promising younger generation.

Seeing such a demeanour, Yaan got the feeling that this person should be very old. He was able to overlook and ignore the chaotic happenings throughout his tribe. To an old monster like him, these sorts of winds would blow over now and again, but they never left behind any lasting damage.

"You want me to fight for your tribe in the flower war competition…" Yaan spoke slowly. The old man nodded.

"But more accurately speaking, you will officially be fighting 'for the kingdom'. There is no distinction between those of different tribes, renegades, and even exiles. It is a very unique situation that I have not seen before now."

Yaan nodded, then after pondering for a moment, he asked:

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will cut off your arms."

"And if I still refuse?"

"I will cut off your legs."

"…I see."

Yaan chuckled lightly, feeling like this person was surprisingly easy to deal with.

"Then I agree. But if you want me to be of greater use to you…"

"Name what you want. If I can find it, and if it really will improve your chances of obtaining the major scroll, then I will give you anything you need." The old immortal replied immediately.

Yaan's gaze flashed briefly. Those were the words of a rich man with many business connections!

"I have an issue with my rational mind. My soul emits endless slaughter, plaguing my thoughts, weakening me, and…making me a liability to any comrades."

"I thought as much." The immortal nodded slowly. "It seems that currently, you are using a method to stabilise the situation for a period of time, in exchange for facing an even greater backlash at other times."

Yaan was impressed that he could see through Rui's spell so easily, though he wasn't trying to conceal his soul right now. In fact, he wanted this old immortal to see just how dire his Slaughter Soul's situation had become, because then, he might take this matter more seriously.

The elderly immortal asked Yaan for more details, and Yaan answered each question as accurately as he could. He felt like he was being examined by a doctor, and as it turned out, this old immortal really did start off as a cultivator doctor in his younger years! He had some expertise in this area, so Yaan had high hopes.

Unfortunately, there was no 'cure' to such a fundamental issue with his soul, other than the obvious solution of forming a Myriad Sage Grade Sea of Consciousness.

"The best I can do for you is these pills. Take one if the slaughterous desire is endangering yourself or others."

The immortal took out a bottle of 50 pills. They were all simple Rank 5 pills, but Yaan's eyes lit up when he realised that they were all Pinnacle Grade quality pills!

All refined medicines had a basic rank, but depending upon the expertise of the refiner and their ability in refining the said pill, the quality could vary drastically.

A 'Perfect Grade' pill was a pill without a single trace of impurity, meaning that nothing aside from the pure medicinal effect was contained within the pill. Such pills were practically legends, since removing 100% of all impurities was basically not possible.

Pinnacle Grade pills were just one stage down from this, they had a purity of 99.9%!

For some pills, the quality of the pill actually didn't matter much, since the impurities would not impact its effect.

But these specific pills were designed to create a serene mental state within the user, meaning that every impurity was a step away from that perfectly serene state!

So, although these pills were just Rank 5, the quality of the pills made them extremely useful for Yaan.

"Thank you, senior. " Yaan politely accepted the gift with a smile. Even though the immortal was only giving him these pills to ensure that he didn't end up murdering his own allies, they were still very useful to him.

The two spoke some more, and in the end, Yaan managed to coax some more resources from the wisened immortal as an upfront payment for his contribution in the coming flower war.

Since Yaan would be fighting with his life on the line just to obtain a major scroll for someone else's sake, he naturally needed to be compensated.

Well, really, he planned to take this flower war as a chance to rampantly slaughter the cultivators from enemy kingdoms. He could kill endlessly without any repercussions, aside from the retaliation of the other participants within the ruined kingdom…but would Yaan fear those people? Of course not!

And if he really did manage to grab the scroll, that would be even better. It would force every warrior to rush towards him and fight him to the death!

As for the possibility of keeping the scroll for himself and forming his own kingdom afterwards…

As an exile, Yaan had no idea if he was permitted to do such a thing, but he knew that only immortals could bind the major scrolls at least. Anyway, he didn't want to form a kingdom, he was too far away from being able to create, sustain and manage such a behemoth of an organisation.

Anyway, Yaan couldn't care less about who won or lost this war, he only saw it as an opportunity to kill - to cultivate.

Yaan decided to spend the remaining time preparing, going through every piece of information that he could find regarding the Kingdom of Reptil and the nine kingdoms which surrounded it.