Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao gave the order, and no one dared to go against it. All of them started to set off.

Ye Xiao led his people and got on the road first.

“Every team should gather one hundred men each, let’s do this in groups!”

“I will see you all in two days in front of the Cry Soul Cliff in the Big Dream Mountain! Whoever is left behind will automatically be dismissed in my army. Whoever is killed on the way should just leave us! As long as we are breathing, we can kill the demons!”

“All of you, do not use the Dao Origin Stage thunder and wind movement technique because we have to hide!”

“This is the first battle we are going to fight which concerns the future of the Qing-Yun Realm. I hope that you all have the very best luck in any fights you are going to have! Take care!”

The entire valley fell into silence after what Ye Xiao said.

Groups of men stood in an orderly fashion. After looking at each other for a while, they started to send each other off. “Brothers, take care!”

After that, they all set off. They didn’t even look back.

None of them knew how many of these new brothers they had just made friends with could survive the battle. No one could guarantee if they could survive the battle themselves.

However, the battle was unavoidable. It was about to happen!

Countless teams were like countless sharp arrows shooting into the darkness of the night. They went into the mountains, disappearing in the darkest shadow before dawn brought the first ray of sunlight.

“My three masters.” Ye Xiao just walked a few steps forward to say goodbye to the three elders. In fact, he still wanted to give them the fruits because he wasn’t sure what would happen to the three old men.

However, before Ye Xiao approached. The three great elders already got away while laughing out loud, disappearing in the dark of the night.

“Xiao Xiao, do not fail us. Don’t forget what we want you to do!” The three old men said before they vanished. They disappeared so quickly that the disciples could not even respond.

“We are old. We don’t have much time in this world.”

“Even if we ate the Divine Yin Yang Fruits and improve our cultivation power, it would only be a waste. Our dear disciple can use it to build his own army and bring them up to the Human Realm Upon Heavens with him!”

“What should we choose?”

The three old men had clear minds. They would rather not eat the fruits.

“I have plenty of it!” Ye Xiao chased after them for a few steps and shouted anxiously in the end.

The three old men all looked comforted as they were already moving in the air. They all laughed loudly and said, “Keep every one of them then!”

They then disappeared.

Ye Xiao saw the three old men ascend to the sky and disappear. In his eyes, there was only respect and worship for them.

Ye Xiao once had the same feeling for Ye Nantian and Song Jue. Now everything was different. Perhaps—These three old folks were the only ones who were sincerely kind to him because they refused to take such valuable things and left all of it to him.

They never thought of their own needs.

They knew that Ye Xiao had a lot of the Divine Yin Yang Fruits, but they still didn’t want to take even one from him.

They were his enemies in his previous life. However, they were now his family in his present life.

The heaven’s will was always meant to tease good men. However, the arrangement of the heaven’s will had brought him warmth this time. He couldn’t even feel such warmth from Jun Yinglian and Xuan Bing. It was a feeling that he badly longed for in his life!

At that moment, Ye Xiao started to recollect the memories of the days when he lived in the Cold Moon Palace and got along with the people in the sect. He could clearly see his memories in front of him one after another. Yue Changtian used to spend a lot of time on Ye Xiao because Wu Huitian and Yun Xiran would sneakily attack him all the time. Yue Changtian broke the sect off from the three factions alliance.

The three great elders spent a lot of time on him. They patiently gave him lessons and even consumed their life energies for him.

Zhan Yunfei and Zhu Jiutian put their own lives at risk to fight for him…

“There is hatred and there is gratitude in the martial world… There is warmth and there is regret in the path of life…”

Ye Xiao’s eyes were full of complicated emotions. After a while, he took a deep breath. He flicked his sleeves; he suddenly jumped up from the floor and dashed away as he shouted without stopping.

Jun Yinglian, Xuan Bing, Yue Shuang, and Yue Han all started to move after Ye Xiao. They were all gone in the blink of an eye.

The Moon Queen sensed something when Ye Xiao was about to rush out. He glanced at her.

She had been watching everything quietly.

She had lived many years, and she surely could see how deep Ye Xiao was connected to the three old men. She also saw how the three great elder gave up something truly valuable for Ye Xiao. She only felt jealous.

“That is supposed to be my grandson. He is the blood of my blood, my family. Why are things like this now? Is it the heaven’s will? Is it? Or is it not?”

The Moon Queen quietly stood there for a long time and then made a long sigh before leading the people of the Qiong-Hua Palace away.

However, she had made a decision deep in her heart. Once the war was over, and if she was still alive. She would go to the Oracle District and ask Yue Gongxue and Ye Nantian, whether they wanted this good son or not!

“What on earth are you thinking?”

Perhaps, there was nothing she could do to fix her relationship with Ye Xiao —or was there?

After a long time of observation, the Moon Queen was sure that Ye Xiao was an honorable man who valued friends and families greatly! He was caring to his brothers, thoughtful to his sisters, tender to his lovers, and loyal to his friends!

He was even nice and easy-going to his concubines and subordinates. He never set himself high upon the masses like he was the best. He was like the head of the family. He cared for every member of the family with all of his heart.

He was such a responsible man.

He was a good man.

“That is a good kid over there.” The Moon Queen couldn’t help sighing.

“Heaven’s will do tease on us.”

…

The area where the union of the sects in the Qing-Yun Realm still looked the same with the camps making smoke every day. The people there camped and made smoke rise up when the sun was about to set to show everyone that they were still camping there.

Sometimes people there shouted during their free time.

It seemed like the base of the union was still busy.

However, the superior cultivators had all gone.

The people who stayed were men that were below level five of Dream Origin Stage.

These people could do nothing in the fight against the Demon Soul Dao at all. They wouldn’t even have the chance to serve as cannon fodder. The only thing that could be done to them was to send them back home.

Ye Xiao once warned everybody, but these men didn’t listen. However, they knew that they would be a burden for their own men if they went to the battle because they were too weak. Even though they didn’t fear death, they couldn’t risk others’ lives!

Life and death weren’t big problems for people who were living in the martial world. The only thing that they didn’t want to do was to hurt their own men. They were weak. If they insisted to go to the battle, they might cause the others’ death. They wouldn’t care if they died themselves, but they would never compromise the others.

That was why they all listened to Ye Xiao in the end. Ye Xiao dismissed them, and they started to find somewhere to hide by themselves. They had to hide and not show up until the war was over!

However, there was one thing Ye Xiao didn’t think of. These people actually contacted each other and returned to the base. After Ye Xiao and the other on-duty cultivators were gone, these men all came back to the base of the union.

There were over ten thousand people returning to the camps.

They drank, talked, laughed, and ate just like usual.

That was some happy life.

“We are weak. We don’t stand a chance to actually do anything to help our brothers in the battle. We won’t be able to kill any demons.”

“However, are we really going to just get away from this?”

“I have thought about it earlier. Lord Xiao Monarch hunted the undercover cultivators from the secret organization some days ago. It was a great success. I am sure it was. However, what happened back then tells me that the secret organization knows about our base. In other words, our base of the union has been exposed. Xiao Monarch and the others are off for the battles. This place is empty. No, not before we all leave. If the demons send their people over and notice this place being empty, what would they think? They will know something was wrong!”

“The enemy is unbelievably powerful. Otherwise, the Lord Xiao Monarch wouldn’t want us to dismiss and find somewhere to hide!”

“Lord Xiao Monarch has been thoughtful for us. He always considers our needs. He is a good man, but we are good men too. We can’t go there and fight for him, but we can stay here and cover the secret for him.”

“This place must be an important spot zone for the Demon Soul Dao. They will send people over to check on us anytime. It is dangerous to stay here as well. If the enemies come and attack, we will die.”

“However, we will stay here for one more day, and those people that the Demon Soul Dao had sent will stay one more day undercover.”

“Maybe that one day will bring Xiao Monarch the victory!”

“Brothers, you can leave if there is anything else concerning you. Nobody will laugh at you. Those who don’t fear death should stay with me. We will drink and eat just like we did before!”

“That’s right. We have no brothers elsewhere. Life and death are small problems. I say we should spend more time staying with brothers!”

“The battle of slaughtering demons isn’t our fight. We can’t join that fight. However, we can help by staying here! When we grow old, we can have something to tell our grandsons!”

“That’s right…”

“Hahahaha…”

…

A special summoning was put out, and over ten thousand people had returned and stayed in the base. A few people didn’t go back since they didn’t get invited.

Honestly speaking, these men who stayed in the base had to endure much bigger mental pressure than those who went to the battle with Ye Xiao.

However, these tough men actually held the base ever since the day they were told to go back home.

They just got drunk every single day.

They knew how weak they were. The strongest among them was only at level five of Dream Origin Stage.

A single demon from the Demon Soul Dao could have wiped them out easily.

That was why they chose to get drunk. It wouldn’t make any difference whether they were drunk or sober, so they decided to have fun while they still could…

…

Ye Xiao and his people were heading quickly into an area filled with trees and mountains.

They were like countless shooting lights flickering past the forests.

Everyone was wearing black clothes, and their face was covered. They looked just like the cultivators from the Demon Soul Dao.

Even though some of them didn’t cover their faces, they were still disguised. All of them were like sneaky arrows shooting over to the Big Dream Mountain.

Jun Yinglian was on Ye Xiao’s left side while Xuan Bing was on his right. Yue Shuang and Yue Han were behind them. About eighty people from the Sky Ice were after the two sisters. The others were all moving in teams. They hide in the dark shadows, fleeting fast toward the Bing Dream Mountain.

The Big Dream Mountain.

It was a place that felt just like its name. Clouds and mist surrounded the mountain all the time, making people feel like it was a dreamland in a fantasy.

The mountain was located in the God Fall District. Its three sides were surrounded with water while one of its sides was connected to the Sky Cyan Forest.

In the daytime, the whole area was hot. The water’s steam kept rising in the air, and it could blur anyone’s sight. As the steam rose up to the sky, it became raindrops and fell to the ground. It stayed the same all year round, misty, foggy, and rainy.

It was said that a god once traveled to this place in ancient time. He saw the beautiful views of this place and was unable to tear himself away from this wonderful place. Soon, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, a thousand years had passed.

The god was touched, so he made a poem saying, “A big dream in my life, a thousand years passed, slipping away. Trees seem to be small in the dream, yet they thrust up to the heavens in reality. Time stops in the dream, yet the world has lived centuries. As long as the wonderful scene stays, it is heaven here forever!”

Anyone who knew literature could see how bad the poem was. It didn’t seem to be some masterwork of a god, did it?

However, the one dream in a thousand years story spread widely in history. That was why people called this mountain the Big Dream Mountain.

It was a place filled with poetic charm, idyllic scene, mountains, and water!

However, it was now the covert foothold of the demons.

It was actually the place where the demons trained their cold-blooded killers to spread genocide all over the world!

Ye Xiao and his people had been hurrying to get there for a full day.

They had arrived at the seaside. They looked forward to the ocean and saw nothing but the rolling mist and fog over the sea.

In the sky, it was all foggy. Even though Ye Xiao was such a powerful cultivator, he could not see through the thick fog any further.

The waves were clapping in the sea and, there wasn’t even one small boat on the shore.

Ye Xiao sent out his spiritual mind to do some searching. He then bitterly smiled and said, “I’ve searched for hundreds of miles, and there is not even one living person…”

Jun Yinglian humphed and said, “This is foreseeable. How would the creatures of the Demon Soul Dao spare the lives of the innocent people who might disclose their secret? I believe this place has been a dead zone for over ten thousand years!”

“Let’s rest here. We will start to cross the sea and head towards the battle once our men had caught up with us!”

Ye Xiao took a deep breath. With fierce killing intent in his eyes—he said, “The Big Dream Mountain covers a huge area… The only thing we know is that one of the Demon Soul Dao’s bases is located in the Big Dream Mountain. I am afraid we have to reach the Big Dream Mountain before we can try to figure out everything around that area.”

“We shouldn’t alert the enemy, in case anything unpalatable happens.”

“Certainly.”

That night, when Ye Xiao and the others were sitting in meditation, he sensed some strange fog flying over from the sea. As he checked on it, he realized that the fog was virulently poisonous!