Realms In The Firmament

“My Honor Lord, the prime master is calling up all the superior cultivators in the West Hall to fight against the Xiao Monarch’s people. They are attacking the enemies in the most fierce way, putting their lives at risk to stop the enemy’s invasion! Although it is making a lot of people die out there in the battle, most of the men who got killed died outside the collecting area of the altars…”

The short fatty was on his knees in front of the Honor Demon and said in a heavy and anxious voice, “In other words, the souls of the dead men that should be collected for the altars are lost out there… The souls cannot make their way and gather into the altars… Please, we need a plan. We need an order from you, my Honor Lord.”

The Dark Robe Honor Demon stayed silent for a while and then said in a terribly spooky voice, “You want a plan? You want an order? What plan should I make? Tell me what orders can I give you now!”

“Well, that…” The short fatty was shocked to hear what the Honor Demon had said.

He was having a thought that was filled with grief. ‘Isn’t it the most important thing to you? Don’t you care about it the most? Isn’t it what you say that anything has to make way for it?’

‘Why are you acting like there is nothing you can do like it is not important as I think now?’

The Dark Robe Honor Demon closed his eyes and slowly said, “Tell my son that I want him to call his men back. Tell him… that I want all his men back.”

The short fatty was shocked for a while, and then hastily said, “Yes, my Honor Lord!”

Then he hurriedly left to deliver the message.

‘You just acted like there is nothing you can do. You just told me there is nothing you can do. You seemed to be helpless right there! Yet the next moment, you gave me an order, specifically telling me what to do… I… I feel like I am talking to two people at the same time. No, no, no… I feel like I am talking to one person, who has two different minds. I just can’t stop feeling weird about this… This is not right…’

The short fatty ran away like a shooting arrow, making his way to the main buildings of the West Hall.

“Lord Prime Master, the great Honor Lord said that he…”

“What? What did he say?” Zong Xingyu coldly answered, and turned around.

“The great Honor Lord said that… He wants you to stop attacking Xiao Monarch and his people right now. He wants you to let them in, and fight him back inside… This is not a good place to fight this battle… You know, this is not personal…”

“Wait a minute. I just want to know one thing from you. Who did you think he was when he told you to give me the order?” Zong Xingyu coldly interrupted the fatty and said, “Your great Honor Lord is the leader of the Demon Soul Dao. However, the Demon Soul Dao is not the West Hall. You know what? In the West Hall, there is only one man who gives orders! That is me! I am the prime master of the West Hall!”

“He has no rights to command me. He does not have the right to give me an order.” Zong Xingyu proudly turned over and stared at the short fatty in black clothes. With a cold voice, he said, “Please, go and tell your master that if he wants to say something, or if he wants to get something from me, he should come to me in person. Having others to deliver his message wouldn’t get him what he wants.”

The short fatty was shocked.

He would have never thought, not even in his deepest dreams, that Zong Xingyu would so toughly go against his father’s order. He was so tough and determined.

When he arrived, he had thought that he would encounter a problem in delivering the message successfully. He knew it was not an easy job to do. However, he believed that if he said it properly and explained everything clearly to Zong Xingyu, he could eventually get the job done. Therefore, he figured it was a bad idea to just tell Zong Xingyu to stop fighting the battle. That was why he didn’t tell Zong Xingyu to stop the battle. Instead, he just told the prime master to stop fighting for a while, and move the battle inside a certain area, somewhere inside the collecting area of the altars. It might cause some damage to their own force, but it wouldn’t be a big problem.

However, things did not turn as he expected. Unexpectedly, Zong Xingyu didn’t even give him the chance to talk. He just said no to everything, and decisively refused to talk. He rejected it, and it seemed like he had made up his mind!

The short fatty totally didn’t know what to do anymore, because Zong Xingyu had never been so tough before. He was totally lost.

Zong Xingyu could violate the order because he was the Honor Demon’s son. He could disobey the Honor Demon and everything would still turn out just fine.

There were no problems that could not be solved between a father and son. They would always figure something out. The fatty clearly knew the truth well.

Even if things went wrong and there was a big fight between the two leaders, it would still be fine eventually, but the short fatty was not in a good position to be safe from it. He was not even sure if there was a chance for him to talk his way out of it.

The short fatty looked at Zong Xingyu’s expressionless face. The prime master seemed to be so determined that there was no room for negotiation.

The short fatty made a long sigh, and he had to turn around to leave.

The short fatty returned and told the Dark Robe Honor Demon what his son had said. The Dark Robe Honor Demon raised up his head and stared at the sky for a while and said nothing. After a while, he eventually said in a cold and bland voice, “Well, it is only a piece of the demonic soul after all!”

The short fatty blinked. He was not sure about what the Dark Robe Honor Demon meant when he mentioned the piece of demonic soul

‘What… What did you just say? What does it mean? What do you mean by just a piece of a demonic soul?’

As he looked at the Honor Demon, the Honor Demon waved his sleeves with both arms and suddenly disappeared.

Zong Xingyu kept staring at the battle far away with a cold and determined face.

There was a fight over there. A fight that was still going on.

He wasn’t powerful enough to see everything in the battle, but he could roughly sense what was happening with his spiritual mind. The surroundings around the battle were shaking in every second…

His eyes seemed to be sharp and cold, but he was looking for something deep inside his heart…

He wasn’t focusing on the battle far away.

He was thinking about something else, and it was making his whole being unable to commit to what he really needed to do.

Suddenly, there was a fierce sound of wind blowing, and a cloud of dark fog appeared at the Ultimate Heaven’s Top.

Zong Xingyu’s body was shaking, but he didn’t look back. What a stubborn man!

He was powerful enough to sense his father’s presence.

However, at this moment, Zong Xingyu was like a stubborn kid who was mad at his father. He was definitely trying to annoy his father. ‘I know you are here. I know you want to say something. I know you are mad at me. I will not look at you. I just don’t want to.’

‘What can you do about it? What can you do about me?’

The dark fog was slowly forming into a human shape.

Zong Xingyu was waiting.

He was waiting and guessing what his father would say since this was the first time his father ever came to talk to him.

He kept guessing and many possibilities went through his mind. He felt sad, and he was shaking.

He felt that his eyes were wet with tears. He couldn’t stop the shedding of his tears.

However, what his father said was the last thing he would imagine.

“Do you know what you are doing?” The Honor Demon’s voice was cold, and it sounded as indifferent as usual.

“I do know what I am doing.” Zong Xingyu answered with rage.

“I don’t care what you are doing. Here is my question. Do you know what you are doing?” The Honor Demon’s voice sounded cold.

“Of course, I know!” Zong Xingyu wanted to let loose his anger. He then said, “How can you not know? Father, since that day when you…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence because the Honor Demon stopped him.

He coldly stared at his son and said, “Do not call me father!”

Zong Xingyu was shocked.

“Call me the great Honor Lord.” The Honor Demon looked at Zong Xingyu.

Zong Xingyu couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Demon Soul Dao. What do you think the Demon Soul means?” The Honor Demon looked at him.

Zong Xingyu could not think of an answer. His head was a mess. He didn’t know what to think, or what he should say. He didn’t even know where he was anymore.

“The Demon Soul Dao is the collection of countless demonic souls!”

“Whoever cultivates the demonic martial arts, and whoever gets through the demonic baptism will become a demonic soul.” The Honor Demon stared at Zong Xingyu with a pair of emotionless eyes and then said, “In other words, you are a piece of the demonic soul too. You are not an exception.”

“I am a piece of the demonic soul too?” Zong Xingyu staggered a few steps backward. Fresh blood came out from the corner of his mouth. He couldn’t believe it. He stared at his own father and said, “Did you say… Do you mean I am… I am…”

“That’s right. You are too.” The Honor Demon blandly said, “You are merely a piece of the demonic soul. That is all you are.”

Zong Xingyu’s head was blank.

“Forget about the natural bond between father and son. There is no bond at all. Do you really think we have been father and son for over ten thousand years? It is a lie! It means nothing!” The Honor Demon sneeringly looked at Zong Xingyu and said, “Do you really think that the natural bond between father and son is so important to you?”

Zong Xingyu was freaking out. He shouted at his father, “Do you even know what you are talking about? What do you mean there is no natural bond between father and son? What is this about whether the natural bond is important to me or not?”

“Because of this natural bond between father and son that you think there is, you dared to violate my order! Isn’t it?” The Honor Demon indifferently said, “Does it give you the courage to act against my will? Does it give you guts to disobey me? You think I will never punish you because you believe in the natural bond between father and son—do you? That is the reason why you dare to disobey me!”

“You are my son! That is the reason for all these problems. Or should I say, you were my son?” The Honor Demon’s words were like sharp blades stabbing deeply into Zong Xingyu’s heart.

His heart felt like it was pierced a thousand times.

“What do you mean I was your son? What do you mean?” Zong Xingyu started to shout crazily, and he said, “Don’t you remember the past? Our life! Our family! Don’t you remember? Have you forgotten it all?”

“We were a family. I can’t deny it. However, when you got through the demonic baptism, you should know that whatever familial bond we had was already gone!”

The Honor Demon coldly humphed and said, “You are a demon now. Why do you keep those stupid human feelings with you?”

“Here is my last warning. I am giving you this chance because I do remember the old days when we were still a family and the stupid bond that you are so faithful for.” The Honor Demon slowly flew up and said, “Call back your men now!”

“If you dare do anything that ruins my great plan, then you will be…”

“… a piece of demonic soul that you should have become long ago in the altar!”

Before he even said his last words, he had already disappeared.

Zong Xingyu stood in the same place like a statue. He didn’t move for a long time.

His lips were shaking, and blood ran out from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were colorless.

He stood at the Ultimate Heaven’s Top for a whole day. The wind and the rain touched his hair, and they all turned colorless. His thick and dark hair suddenly turned gray in a day.

He still looked tall and tough like usual but had the vibe of a man who had been stooped with age.

Something in his heart was broken.

He returned to the main hall of the West Hall and then gave an order which sounded the most uncompromising there had ever been.

“All the people in the West Hall shall march out! All the people in the West Hall should get to the battlefield as fast as they can once they receive this order! We must defend the West Hall! We must fight the enemies at least three hundred miles away from the main hall! If we lose then we will die!”

“If we can’t stop the enemies then we can at least die three hundred miles away from the main hall!”

“This is an immediate order!”

“In fifteen minutes, whoever hasn’t made it to the battle will be lethally punished!”

As the order was made, it was sent to every cultivator in the West Hall.

The sound of the ringing bell shocked the sky.

Countless people were rushing over to the battle as if they were running for life.

…