Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
In the past year, Ling Xiao You JunQi would launch an attack on TongTian Palace every now and then. In reality, the number of injured was only in the tens, and the TongTian Emperor had informed You XiaoMo they were all dead. This was no small loss to TongTian Palace.
However, Ling Xiao didn't do this just to cause trouble for the TongTian Palace. Each attack was with a goal in mind: getting a handle on the TongTian Palace's structure.
The TongTian Emperor had managed to figure this out, after a while, but even if he increased the guard, he still couldn't stop Ling Xiao's footsteps. The number of casualties increased exponentially.
It was only now, after figuring out the gist of the TongTian Palace's structure, that he dared act as he did today.
The TongTian Palace was very different from other powers. Apart from the TongTian Emperor, who was a transcendent Sacred level practitioner, he had several other sacred level practitioners under his command and even more divine level practitioners. Considering their overall power, not even an clan like the Vermillion Blood clan dared go against them.
But that didn't mean no one dared.
You XiaoMo had been locked away in the TongTian Palace for a year. In this year, a lot had happened in the TongTian Continent.
Black Spider had grown rapidly. Though many people knew of them before, but now they were engaging in all these black transactions under broad daylight. This was because the Black Spider's leader had appeared, and he was a scared level practitioner, too. They suddenly evolved into one of the fourteen – including the TongTian Palace – superpowers in the TongTian Continent.
However, no one knew who the leader of Black Spider was.
This caused a huge uproar in XiJing, because the Black Spider's base was in XiJing, yet the Four Ancient Beast Clans hadn't heard anything about this. It was easy to imagine their shock.
Then, over in the Southern Continent, Fu CangQiong's eldest student, Zuo Yan successfully ascended into a Sacred level one star elite. From then on, the Cang Alliance had two sacred level powerhouses, dealing a huge blow to the Vermillion Blood Clan, who was beaten back in their many battles.
Rumor had it that You ZhenTian, in an attempt to even the playing field, had arranged for his clan's elites to advance as well. However, haste makes waste, and the more impatient you were, the more likely you were to fail. Plus, if it was so easy for sacred level powerhouses to advance, then there wouldn't be so many who were stuck at the peak of Divine level seven star. Thus, there had been no good news for them so far.
And finally, there was ZhongTian, and the biggest thing that had happened in ZhongTian had to do with You XiaoMo's situation.
In the past, the TongTian Palace didn't dare overstep their boundaries. After all, if the tests were dangerous, then who'd enter? They just wanted to get a good result and gain renown, not risk their life. Otherwise, the TongTian Palace could kiss their believers goodbye.
Thus, TongTian Palace didn't dare take people in broad daylight. Usually, they used all sorts of events to hide their real intentions.
However, for some reason, they directly announced You XiaoMo and the other mages' deaths in the second test, not even offering a body. This was rather suspicious, and had a direct influence on the Mage Assemblage that was occuring a year later, since it was also hosted by the TongTian Palace.
Later on, Ling Xiao used this as a chance to spread rumors about the TongTian Palace, saying that the TongTian Palace was scheming something evil and required living people as lab rats. Those who had managed to place in their competitions and become members of the TongTian Palace had all died, thus why they were never seen again.
Though most people didn't believe it, the power of rumors was a strong one, especially for the people of the XiaoYao Academy and the two big Guilds.
It should be known that the reason why many mages became students of the XiaoYao Academy or joined the two big guilds was because of their belief in the TongTian Palace. Their belief lay with the powerful.
However, if one day, they were suddenly told that all of TongTian Palace's people had been killed and the TongTian Palace was an evil place, many people would be unwilling to believe this; they would be conflicted.
Afterwards, a lot of people conducted investigations on this and found that the majority of people who entered the TongTian Palace were never seen again, and this information was spread, causing panic in XiaoYao Academy.
The mages that had placed top three in the test this time were preparing to leave for the TongTian Palace in a few days, but after this debacle, they all hesitated.
No matter what, Ling Xiao's plan of throwing dirty water on the TongTian Palace's name had succeeded. Compared to one's life, what value did faith hold? The stronger the individual, the more they valued their life, so matter if this was real or not, their suspicion towards the TongTian Palace would be etched in their hearts.
The TongTian Palace sent a single representative to address this issue.
After all, the TongTian Emperor relied on the faith the elites of the TongTian Continent. If this incident caused people to stop believing, then it would negatively impact the TongTian Emperor.
Probably because of how much belief this cost them, TongTian Palace, which rarely appeared in front of others, specially had a messenger go and explain this incident. To describe it with a single word, they were very 'serious'.
However, Ling Xiao had long since predicted this move of theirs, so he tore out the messenger's soul in front of the public and slowly burned his soul with fire while still keeping him alive.
At first, the messenger was stubborn, refusing to speak no matter what, but later on, probably because he couldn't take it anymore, his tongue wagged and he spilled the truth, including how the mages that placed in the tests were usually imprisoned, and some were killed. However, before he could finish speaking, a dark beam shot out from who knows where and destroyed the messenger's soul.
Originally what the messenger had said was shocking enough. If he wasn't silenced like that, then they might've been able to defend themselves, saying that they had been forced, but this strike practically settled the matter of the TongTian Palace plotting something evil.
Afterwards, no matter how the TongTian Palace tried to explain, less and less people believed in them.
The populace's belief in the TongTian Palace disappeared rapidly as the news of what they did spread. Some people saw the dark fog that covered the top of the TongTian Palace, and the dark red structure didn't seem nearly as holy as it once did, more like a demon in the shadows, cold and threatening.
After that, Ling Xiao gathered a group of elites and began plotting an attack on the TongTian Palace, amongst them, TianGou's battle-thirsty practitioners. In the year You XiaoMo had been imprisoned, Ling Xiao had managed to gain the acceptance of TianGou's members, including the most troublesome, TianGui.
Apart from that, to express the Cang Alliance's sincerity, Fu CangQiong had his eldest disciple, Zuo Yan, help Ling Xiao. He personally had to stay on guard against You ZhenTian, and thus couldn't leave the Southern Continent.
The Demon Phoenix Clan had also sent people to help. Originally, Ji he's line objected, and their grand elder Ji Wen also wasn't willing to make enemies with the TongTian Palace for You XiaoMo. Though they were in You XiaoMo's debt, this cost was too large. However, when XiaoJi told them that he was You XiaoMo's contract beast, everything changed.
Contracts were nothing to joke about. No matter if it was a lifebound contract or a normal contract.
Lifebound contracts were a contract that tied the lives of the two together. If one died, unless the other had an immensely powerful willpower, the other would die as well. This was also why Ling Xiao was certain that You XiaoMo was alright.
As for normal contracts, if the master died, the contracted demon beast wouldn't die, but would take great damage, possibly even to the point of destroying the foundations of their body. There was no need to discuss any longer with that cat out of the bag. Ji Wen sent two powerful generals of the Demon Phoenix Clan to help Ling Xiao.
Last but not least was the Psychic Black Turtle Clan. The little turtle had bit You XiaoMo's finger back then, taking a drop of his Blood Essence, but since You XiaoMo hadn't been a willing participant, it was a one sided contract. That meant that if something happened to the little turtle, You XiaoMo would be fine. If something happened to You XiaoMo, then it would effect the little turtle.
This truth almost had them erupting with anger. The little turtle had randomly made a contract with someone they hadn't even known for a year, and it was an unbalanced contract as well. The Black Turtle Clan couldn't leave things be like this.
On the other side, knowing that the Demon Phoenix Clan and the Black Turtle Clan were supporting Ling Xiao, the rather clueless True Dragon Clan thought that the two Ancient Beast Clans were taking a risk betting on You XiaoMo's potential. After considering, they decided to take a risk as well. Plus, they were rather worried about the TongTian Palace's situation as well.
Thus, apart from the QiLin Clan, the other three Ancient Beast Clans all decided to support Ling Xiao.
Once the news was out, the entire TongTian Continent went into uproar. Now, apart from a very small minority, the others all believed Ling Xiao.
However, this news was let loose afterwards, because Ling Xiao was planning a surprise attack on the TongTian Palace. Seven sacred level and seven divine level powerhouses was a formation with power that hadn't been witnessed in tens of thousands of years.
The TongTian Palace didn't think that Ling Xiao had this sort of ability, and really had been unprepared for the attack. Even the TongTian Emperor had appeared, but Ling Xiao managed to stall him.
In this year, the one who had experienced the greatest change was Ling Xiao.
His cultivation base had grown from five stars to six stars, just one star from seven. Not even You JunQi knew what had happened. He only knew that Ling Xiao suddenly went into secluded cultivation three months back.
Two months after that, when he returned, his white robe looked like it had been soaked in blood, and his aura was terrifying, as if he was about to fall apart. His eyes were cold and sharp; it seemed almost like he had become an entirely different person.