A rain of blood fell amidst complete silence.

King Heaventide’s army of subordinates were shaken to the core, and stood there in shock, almost as if they were frozen. Something momentous had occurred! They couldn’t believe what they had just seen. It seemed completely impossible that a heavenly king had perished in such a simplistic fashion. Based on their understanding, the Holytide Region didn’t have anyone strong enough to be a threat to King Heaventide. As a result, it really should have been impossible for the heavenly king to die. Yet it happened right in front of them!

It was easy to predict that King Heaventide perishing would cause a huge commotion in the Holytide Region. It would definitely shake the Imperial Region, and would almost certainly result in a violent tempest in the imperial capital. The rage of the emperor and the fury of King Heaventide’s clan would shake everything near and far. It really surpassed imagination.

The army forces were deeply flabbergasted. Also shocked were all of the other groups from the Holytide Region who had been watching things play out.

“That’s not possible!”

“K-King… King Heaventide was actually executed!”

“Three sword moves! All it took was three sword moves….”

“A Smoldering God! Sea-Sealing County also has a Smoldering God! And it’s an almighty expert even among Smoldering Gods!”

“I can’t believe that Sea-Sealing County has such impressive backing!”

All species in Sea-Sealing County who were capable of observing the fight were stunned to witness King Heaventide die right in front of them. It overwhelmed them and left them trembling in fear.

King Heaventide had given his life to ensure that all the other forces knew that Sea-Sealing County didn’t just have Dawning Suns. They also had… a Smoldering God!

***

Blood sprayed out of Seventh Prince’s mouth. He trembled, and his eyes went slack. All of a sudden, he felt even more uneasy than he had when that Dawning Sun detonated. The way Sea-Sealing County established their strength sent him a clear message. And that was… his schemes, his strategies, and his calm attitude were all useless in the face of someone with enough power.

He’d experienced a similar sensation when the Dawning Sun exploded. But even then, he’d still felt confident in himself. After all, his uncle would eventually come and crush all obstacles. He could never have guessed that things would actually turn out this way. How could he accept that a heavenly king had perished? How could he face this outcome?

Terror and bewilderment filled him like a storm, threatening to send him into an abyss of hopelessness. But he was Seventh Prince, after all. Even in the depths of despair, he would still struggle as hard as necessary to get a chance to fight back.

Sea-Sealing County. Xu Qing…. Maybe you do have a Smoldering God on your side that can slaughter heavenly kings. But that doesn’t have anything to do with me. This relates to humankind as a whole. My father won’t just let this slide. Whether for the dignity of humankind or his personal face, this… is going to cause a major upheaval!

Seventh Prince glared in the direction of the county capital. Ultimately, he suppressed his reluctance, defiance, and heartache. Taking out an ancient jade slip, he crushed it. That jade slip was not a product of modern times. It was a treasure from the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, and it was a life-saving asset of Seventh Prince’s. Its function was to teleport the user to the Imperial Region, regardless of where they were.

Items like that were extremely valuable and also extremely rare. They were disposable, so when one was used, there was one less in the world. Even back in the time period in which they were created, they were considered extraordinary precious treasures. Normally speaking, not even Seventh Prince would qualify to have an item like that. But given the battle credit earned by his mother’s clan, he had been able to take one from the imperial treasury.

“Things aren’t over between us, Sea-Sealing County. I’ll be waiting in the imperial capital… waiting for you to be reduced to ashes!”

An ancient light swept out from the broken jade slip, which surrounded Seventh Prince. He disappeared. He was the only one to leave, as the jade slip could only teleport one person. All of his followers were left behind in the Holytide Region.

***

As everyone trembled in response to Ninth Sib’s actions, the subordinates of King Heaventide were swept up in a maelstrom of terror and unease.

Down on the ground, King Heaventide’s black dragon moaned in anguish. With some struggle, it got to its feet and kowtowed to the sky. In response, a cold snort shattered the air. Ninth Sib emerged from the rift in heaven and hovered over the lands below. The black dragon ducked its head and remained in place unmoving. The humans in the army trembled.

Face expressionless, Ninth Sib looked at the army, then turned his attention to Xu Qing. His gaze caused anyone he looked at to bow with respect and fervor. Marquis Yao was no exception.

There were only two people who caused Ninth Sib’s gaze to pause momentarily.

The first was Master Seventh. Ninth Sib looked at him closely for a long moment, then nodded slightly. It was deliberate but so faint that, other than him and Master Seventh, no one noticed.

The second person was Xu Qing.

“You should be able to gain enlightenment of those three sword moves,” Ninth Sib said.

Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed. His heart was currently pounding. Although he had seen Ninth Sib in action before, the high commander had been too weak. As a result, Ninth Sib didn’t need to unleash his true battle prowess. In contrast, Crimson Mother had been too strong, making it fundamentally impossible to tell how mighty Ninth Sib really was. But it only took three sword moves for him to execute King Heaventide! All of a sudden, Xu Qing realized why the godchild had sealed Ninth Sib with more force than all of the other siblings. Ninth Sib was just too strong!

After the fight with Crimson Mother was over, and Li Zihua departed, Ninth Sib had obviously benefited as much as Xu Qing had. That said, Xu Qing knew that it wasn’t time to sit around pondering the situation. The most important thing right now was what to do with the huge army.

Thankfully, he had already discussed the matter with his Master and Marquis Yao. Thus, Xu Qing turned and stepped back to make way for someone.

It was Ningyan.

He was dressed in the robe of an imperial prince, with an imperial crown on his head. He pulsed with the bloodline fluctuations of the imperial clan, and had an incredibly grave expression on his face. Seeing that Xu Qing had stepped aside, he strode forward proudly until he was hovering in midair above the army.

“I am Guyue Ningyan, the reigning emperor’s twelfth son!”

When the cultivators in the army sensed Ningyan’s bloodline fluctuations, and then heard his words, they were visibly moved. That was especially the case considering that Ningyan was hovering right in front of the statue of an Ancient Emperor. To them, it was almost as if Ningyan and the statue of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity were one and the same.

“My brother, Seventh Prince, used imperial troops to benefit himself. He disregarded the needs of humankind and caused chaos in the Holytide Region. Therefore, I had no choice but to detonate one of my Dawning Suns to stop him.

“King Heaventide, despite being a heavenly king, was incredibly selfish. After suffering a huge defeat in battle, he tried to frame Sea-Sealing County to cover his mistakes and bully those weaker than him. Heaven and earth cannot tolerate such behavior. Thus, at my behest, he was executed! The causes and effects of karma all point back to me personally!”

This wasn’t exactly what Xu Qing had asked Ningyan to say. But Ningyan had taken inspiration from his instructions and had gone a bit further, as he believed that there were some things that he needed to take personal responsibility for.

Surprised, Xu Qing looked at Ningyan. Marquis Yao and Master Seventh did the same, their expressions both thoughtful and approving.

As for the huge army, they were even more shaken than before.

Taking a deep breath, Ningyan moved forward until he was right in front of the army. He was one person facing 10,000,000.

“Henceforth, you do not belong to Seventh Prince. Nor do you follow the orders of a heavenly king. You are warriors of humanity! You are your own masters!

“And your swords and sabers shouldn’t be pointed at fellow humans. They should be pointed toward the enemy! Our war with the Nightshades isn’t over. If you’re willing… then follow me and fight for humankind! Let us wage war on the Nightshades!”

Ningyan’s speech ended in a loud battle cry.

As the sound echoed out, the army stood there quietly for about ten breaths of time. But then someone clasped hands and bowed. Then another and another, until finally, every cultivator in the army of 10,000,000… bowed and joined their voices in a mighty shout.

“Yes, sir!”

Just as with the 10,000 troops led by the high commander, as long as there was a human government in existence, then status was very important. For example, if Ningyan had tried to motivate Sea-Sealing County, it wouldn’t have worked, as he wasn’t the governor. As for Xu Qing, though his words were law in Sea-Sealing County, he couldn’t do so much as get the army to offer greetings to him. Only an imperial prince had the status to deal with the imperial army.

As King Heaventide’s subordinates saluted Ningyan, the clouds seethed as a figure rushed through the sky at top speed. In the blink of an eye, that figure appeared in the sky over Sea-Sealing County.

It was none other than Grand Duke Holytide! Face pale, he appeared in front of Ninth Sib, toward whom he bowed formally.

“I am your humble servant An Mulan. Greetings, Prince Ninth of Moonrite!” 1

Grand Duke Holytide was acting very respectfully. In fact, his eyes showed a hint of fear. Given his words, it was very obvious… that he knew exactly who Ninth Sib was. And considering he knew that, it went without saying that he knew what had played out recently in the Moonrite Region.

In fact, it was likely that powerful experts throughout the Revered Ancient mainland had sensed what happened. After all, the red moon had vanished from Revered Ancient.

From the way Grand Duke Holytide glanced at Xu Qing, it was obvious that he had only just come to realize what happened. Deeply moved, he bowed to Ninth Sib, then took a deep breath and continued, “Holytide forces will follow the lead of Twelfth Prince. We will send out troops against the Nightshades. We will follow Twelfth Prince as his subordinates!”

Though his words were directed to Ningyan, he was looking at Xu Qing the entire time. Based on his experience and intuition, he… could see why Sea-Sealing County had publicly revealed their ties to Twelfth Prince.

A succession struggle is about to begin!

1. An Mulan: An does not make it onto the list of 100 most common surnames. It means “peace.” Mu means “wood.” Lan means “swelling water, billow, tide,” and is the same ‘tide’ character from Holytide. Incidentally, this Mulan is not the same as the famous Chinese heroine from legend, Hua Mulan. ☜