Imperial God Emperor

Chapter 953 - Revisiting the Greater One Sect

All of the objectives of coming to Flowing Light City had been fulfilled.

However, as he stood on top of the city wall, Ye Qingyu felt a little troubled.

After defeating the army of the Demon Spider Race the last time, Chen Zhengliang and other righteous forces were around to clean up the mess and stabilize the situation in Flowing Light City. Instead, after Miao Wuhen's death this time, the Greater One Sect's army had fled in panic, leaving nobody who could stabilize the situation. This was compounded by the fact that there were, at present, countless refugees in the city and all kinds of bandits outside. If there was no one who could maintain order, Flowing Light City would soon become a hellhole. As they say, even the kindest of rabbits would start to bite humans when faced with hunger and threats to their survival. The consequences of a refugee riot would be unimaginable.

This was a point which Ye Qingyu did not think of when he initially rushed here to rescue and kill.

"Unfortunately, this isn't the Heaven Wasteland Domain, otherwise the army of the Heaven Wasteland Empire would be able to come in and ease the situation, and things wouldn't be so troublesome."

It sounded like a wonderful thing that a single person had subdued an entire city.

However, maintaining order thereafter was the biggest problem.

Ye Qingyu certainly would not remain in Flowing Light City for too long.

"In the Clear River Domain at present, Human Race sects have been suffering disastrous losses, the Greater One Sect was too full of wild ambitions, while the Immortal God Emperor Sect was trapped in the Wei River Mountain Range. It seems that only the Hundred Spirits Sect and Hu Bugui and the others can serve to stabilize this city. After battling against the Heaven Desire Demon Sect, the Hundred Spirits Sect's mountain gate has basically been destroyed and the mountain-protecting formation has been broken, and they're no longer safe in the Hundred Flowers Valley." Ye Qingyu thought deeply while standing on top of the city wall, "Liu Shaji would be a suitable choice if he was around. I'd thought that he'd rebuild the White Lotus Sword Sect after the battle back then, but this wasn't the case. What could he be up to these days?"

Just then, he heard footsteps beside himself.

Heng Yuge came to the top of the city wall, carrying Leng Yuxi.

Being a core elite disciple of the Immortal God Emperor Sect after all, she was exceedingly intelligent and could immediately discern what Ye Qingyu was worrying about when she saw him frowning.

In truth, she had not been idling off. Just a while ago, she had realized the same thing as Ye Qingyu and did a couple of things - she found a few city officials and prestigious warriors to temporarily maintain order together. With Ye Qingyu around, nobody dared to ignore her words. However, she knew very well that this could only be a temporary measure, since Flowing Light City was too big for such a small bunch of people to manage in the long term.

"Perhaps we can get Master Cheng and the others of the Hundred Spirits Sect to take charge of Flowing Light City." She suggested the same idea that Ye Qingyu had. "Flowing Light City has abundant formations and resources, while the army of the Greater One Sect left behind plenty of usable strategic materials when they retreated. This city will be much safer for the Hundred Spirits Sect than the Hundred Flowers Valley, and it'll be a choice that satisfies both sides."

Ye Qingyu nodded. "This is the only way currently. However, I still need to discuss it with Master Cheng, and cannot force her against her will." Although the Hundred Flowers Valley had been destroyed and there was no longer any value in protecting it, it was nevertheless not easy to get such a culturally-rich sect to abandon its ancestral mountain gate.

News spread quickly.

Ye Qingyu spent a day clearing up Flowing Light City in and out. He destroyed the final remnants of Greater One Sect forces and several hidden arrays within the city, then set up new arrays and personally eradicated all bandits and barbaric races within ten thousand kilometers of the city, all to guarantee the safety of the city to the maximum extent.

In little time, peace abruptly became a reality within ten thousand kilometers of Flowing Light City.

A legend about a white-robed deity began to spread among the refugees.

Meanwhile, many forces which had wild ambitions and sought to profiteer during troubled times quickly became well-behaved and dared not cause any more trouble. Having seen for themselves the all-destroying might of the silver-colored sword qi which fell from Heaven, they were afraid that provoking this mysterious white-robed deity would undermine the power they had laboriously built up.

In the evening, the Hundred Flowers Valley received a message.

The Hundred Spirits Sect accepted Ye Qingyu's plan and agreed to move to Flowing Light City.

This outcome allowed Ye Qingyu to feel relieved.

However, he also understood that this could not be the long-term plan.

"Things would be a lot easier if the Clear River Domain can be incorporated into the Heaven Wasteland Domain, just like the Ancient Sky Dragon Domain," Ye Qingyu mused. However, he knew that it would be much, much harder for the Heaven Wasteland Empire to take charge of the Clear River Domain than when it took over the Ancient Sky Dragon Domain, which had reached the end of its life cycle and became a burden that nobody else wanted to trouble themselves with. Instead, the Clear River Domain was at the height of its life cycle, and although it was considerably inferior to the Heaven Wasteland Domain in various aspects, it was nevertheless an independent domain which those large forces of the Vast Thousands Domains had not been able to take over and could only achieve their objectives in via the Greater One Sect. The Heaven Wasteland Domain, which had still not gained a foothold in the Vast Thousand Domains, certainly stood even less of a chance.

This was just an idea.

However, there was an even more important reason.

And that was, from the beginning until now, there was something which Ye Qingyu felt to be very, very strange.

He could never figure out what was the secret concealed by the Clear River Domain which could cause the mysterious force of the Road of Chaos to spare no expense in supporting the Greater One Sect and helping it to rise again. It must be known that, unlike the Heaven Wasteland Domain, the Clear River Domain was not a new domain and had been visible among the Vast Thousand Domains for a long, long time. Its territory was not as large and its potential was not as high as the Heaven Wasteland Domain's, and thus, objectively speaking, it was not worthy of fanatical investment and contention for by the large force of the Road of Chaos, yet this was the complete opposite of the current reality.

Nobody would do something that provided no return.

For a few days, Ye Qingyu had been wondering what exactly that mysterious force was seeking from the Clear River Domain for it to support the Greater One Sect so madly.

At night.

An advance squad from the Hundred Spirits Sect arrived in Flowing Light City.

They were led by the senior sister Shen Menghua and comprised of fifty disciples of considerable strength.

Master Cheng had stayed back to settle a few funeral affairs and would arrive in three days or so.

According to Shen Menghua, the Hundred Spirits Sect was preparing to seal the mountain and the Hundred Flowers Valley completely before sinking it underground. Thereafter, nobody would stay back to guard it. This could be considered a new way of protecting the mountain gate. The process of moving the entire sect to Flowing Light City required a few items to be prepared, and so three days of time was necessary. Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi would also be coming - the latter had no intention of returning to the Wei River Mountain Range, indicating his great confidence in the foundation of the Immortal God Emperor Sect.

Three days later.

As scheduled, a large contingent from the Hundred Spirits Sect arrived.

Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi were part of it.

Flowing Light City could finally, albeit barely, be considered to be under the charge of top-level aces.

Everything began to fall into order.

Ye Qingyu did not have to manage city affairs any longer.

While walking around the city alone, he discovered a few more things which puzzled him.

"Where will you be going next, brother Ye Qingyu?" Nan Tieyi asked.

Ye Qingyu thought for a while before answering, "I'd wanted to go to the Wei River Mountain Range to visit Bai Yuanxing, Jin Ling'er, and the gang, but since there's no danger there, and also because I discovered a few oddities while fighting against Miao Wuhen, I'm thus preparing to take a trip to the Greater One Mountain Range, which isn't too far from here and won't take too long to return from."

"Woof, I wanna go too." The silly dog Little Nine leaped onto Ye Qingyu's shoulders and shook its tail fawningly.

Ye Qingyu nodded.

He had originally already planned to bring this silly dog along, because it could prove useful in some ways.

Hu Bugui also expressed his wish to follow along but was tactfully refused by Ye Qingyu.

Without him around, the top-level battle strength of Flowing Light City would be reduced by more than half, and in the slight chance that the Greater One Army launched a counter-offensive, Nan Tieyi would be left to hold things together alone. While the female disciples of the Hundred Spirits Sect could passably maintain order in the city, they were some ways off from fighting against enemies.

After realizing this himself, Hu Bugui did not insist.

Half a day later.

In the Greater One Mountain Range.

Four years had passed. The Greater One Mountain Range, however, had not regained yuan qi as Ye Qingyu had anticipated.

It was turned into a land of death during the large battle back then. Now, four years later, a faint smell of blood continued to pervade the air, while remnants of power left behind after the experts battled were occasionally noticed. Although the water of the lake which was turned red back then had now returned to normal, the rocks and vegetation at the bottom of the lake had been terrifyingly dabbed in red, and occasionally, a giant bone-piercing and blood-sucking fish would leap out of the lake's surface, causing a huge wave!

The universal power of laws remained somewhat chaotic here.

"This is abnormal. Reasonably speaking, the battle traces and destruction left behind by experts at the Immortal Step realm or thereabouts should have disappeared after four years."

Ye Qingyu swept across the Void, somewhat shocked.

He felt that the depths of the Greater One Mountain Range, where the eight peaks were back then, possessed a heart-palpitating dark evil force which was highly obscure and indistinct, albeit noticeable enough to capture his utmost attention. This kind of power happened to tally with a few oddities which he had discovered in Flowing Light City and a few things he had encountered four years back.

He made a conjecture inwardly.

However, he did not want to believe it.

He continued to advance forward.

Given his current strength, his movement could not be hindered despite the deathly qi that filled the air.

Soon, the eight peaks indistinctly came into sight in the distant sky.

However, a hint of surprise showed on his face.

"Strange. The mountain gate of the Greater One Sect has become dilapidated like an ancient ruin. What's going on?"

Seeing the state of the Greater One Eight Peaks, he felt astonished like never before.

Unlike what he had imagined, the eight peaks continued to look as ruined as after the Storm Sword Duel gathering, and had not been repaired and tidied up at all. There was no sign of people, as if it had been desolate for several hundred years. Among them, two peaks were already drooping, while the palaces and statues had collapsed and were covered in dust, and weeds grew everywhere. This was a scene akin to a forgotten, ruined land. It certainly did not make sense that the Greater One Sect would not repair their own mountain gate after returning to the Clear River Domain with sufficient power to make a clean sweep of the entire domain.