He stood up immediately after he finished speaking.
"I'll go back with you!"
Shangguan Lingxiu did not ask anything and spoke on her own.
"I miss grandma too …"
"Alright. Let's go then. "
With Yun Yang's current cultivation base, the barrier between the two realms was no longer an insurmountable barrier. He only needed to find a place that was close to the border between the two realms and travel between them.
Coincidentally, Yun Yang knew such a place very well. The Land of God's Bones was exactly such a place!
After making the arrangements, Yun Yang and Shangguan Lingxiu tore the space apart and left the Palace of Nine Supremes.
On the way back, Yun Yang had been pondering a question.
According to his cultivation base, he could have done it when he had ascended to the realm of a saint if he wanted to travel between the two realms. Why hadn't he done so yet?
Probably … probably what he was most afraid of wasn't a battle of life and death, nor was it a life-threatening crisis. What he was most afraid of was the memories that came back to him!
The clouds passed by him leisurely.
Yun Yang walked forward, his expression filled with sorrow and confusion.
When can I … revive all of you … reunite with all of you?
…
Yun Xiaoyao, who had not seen this place for a long time, was sitting alone in the backyard of King Xiaoyao's residence. He sat quietly under the plum tree in the pavilion, just like Yun Yang had done back then. There was a tea table in front of him, a pot of clear tea, and a wisp of sandalwood fragrance. His expression was indifferent, devoid of sorrow or joy.
Yun Xiaoyao basically sat here when he had nothing to do. When he was in the mood, he would make a couple of side dishes and drink by himself until midnight, or from midnight until dawn.
As the Unrivaled Expert of Tianxuan Continent, there were very few things that were worthy of his attention. Naturally, he did not need to be as tired as he used to be, nor did he need to run all over the place.
The Empire of Yutang, which had unified the world and pacified the four seas, was in the stage of recuperation. Other than the northern grassland that was still slightly unstable and the occasional remnants of the newly conquered territories, the rest of the world was basically at peace.
Therefore, Yun Xiaoyao rarely went out these few years.
Since he did not like socializing, did not like crowds, and hated to be disturbed by outsiders, the only thing he liked to do was to sit quietly in his own home and let the outside world change.
Especially recently, Yun Xiaoyao had not even stepped out of his residence for the past six months.
He hadn't even been to the palace for a long time.
Even when the emperor occasionally came to visit, Yun Xiaoyao would only say a few words before falling silent, until the emperor left on his own accord.
This situation had probably started since Yun Xiaoyao had a conflict with the emperor more than a year ago. Whenever the emperor came, Yun Xiaoyao would directly refuse to meet him. This repeated over and over again, and as time went by, His Majesty decided not to come anymore.
Among the people in the imperial court, only old marshals like Qiu Jianhan would occasionally come over to sit quietly with Yun Xiaoyao for a while, but it was difficult for them to find a topic to talk about. They would leave after a short while, most of them adding a sigh when they parted.
Lao Mei, who was serving at the side, sighed inwardly as well.
The person who understood King Yun the most in this world was none other than this elder brother.
He coldly watched as his highness poured and drank by himself. His expression was distant and he did not say a word. This was because he knew that anything he said would be useless. His highness missed his son, but no one could let him see his son who had already gone to another world.
Therefore, he did not say anything and only waited quietly.
After all, no one knew when the stalemate in the Tianxuan Continent would be broken.
…
Ever since Yun Yang had left the Tianxuan Continent and ascended to the upper realm, the emperor of the Empire of Yutang had appointed his grandson, Yu Qiankun, as the heir to the throne. It had only been a year or two, but he had been continuously delegating power to his grandson. In the end, it was the grandson who was in charge of the empire; His Majesty the emperor himself did not care much about matters anymore.
It was obvious that this emperor, who had been busy his entire life, was getting old and wanted to rest. If it were not for Yu Qiankun's young age, it would not have been rare for him to abdicate and become the overlord.
However, it was at this time that a commotion arose. The Divine Religion of Nine Supremes had suddenly sprung up among the people.
Yutang's Nine Supremes were renowned throughout the world. Yutang's Supreme Cloud was a legend of this world, no different from a living god. This religion borrowed Supreme Cloud's name and worshipped him as the highest form of belief. It expanded its disciples without restraint and covered the entire Empire of Yutang's territory in just over half a year.
What followed was a saying that the Empire of Yutang's upper class was not happy to hear – the imperial power was bestowed by God!
Without God, there would be no royalty. Lord Supreme Cloud was God, the Nine Supremes Lords were God.
The Empire of Yutang could only achieve its greatness because of Lord Supreme Cloud's unstinting support.
From this, a theory was formed – the divine power was greater than the imperial power.
This theory was quickly ingrained in the hearts of the people due to the Nine Supremes' many acts of saving the world. The battle between divine power and imperial power gradually began.
There was no doubt that the Nine Supremes held supreme authority in the Empire of Yutang, or even the entire world. This was also the reason why the Empire of Yutang could stand tall despite being besieged from all sides. This was something that no one could deny!
However, when the Nine Supremes were first founded, the Nine Supremes' leader, Supreme Earth, was the eldest prince of the Empire of Yutang. The four Supreme Supremes were Supreme Earth's wives and the current Empire of Yutang's heir was their only bloodline. Yun Yang was also the only son of the Empire of Yutang's King Yun Xiaoyao. Therefore, it could be said that the Nine Supremes were founded to serve the Empire of Yutang. Even if the words were harsh, it was the truth!
There were many changes later on. The Nine Supremes were wiped out in one day, leaving only Supreme Cloud, who propped up the crumbling Empire of Yutang with his own strength. Yun Yang, however, spared no effort in helping. Other than his patriotism and initial intention, it was also largely due to his friendship with the Nine Supremes. The only thing that was lacking was the divine power. Although Yun Yang, who eventually ascended to the upper realm, was already a living legend to the Tianxuan Continent, no one would believe it.
In spite of this, no one would believe it, or rather, most of the people were unwilling to believe it. They were more willing to believe that the Nine Supremes Lords were deities who had descended to save the world and pacify Tianxuan; it was not just limited to one family or one surname!
After all, this was what the public wanted!
As the top expert of the Empire of Yutang and even the entire Tianxuan Continent, Yun Xiaoyao was the direct and indirect party involved, be it for public or private reasons. Naturally, he would not pass his responsibility to the rest of the world in search of the Sect of Nine Supremes' leader.
Unexpectedly, no matter how hard Yun Xiaoyao searched, he could not find him.
Even when Yun Xiaoyao had mobilized the official forces, his personal friends, and many other forces to intervene, it was still futile.
Instead, it highlighted the mysterious level of the Sect of Nine Supremes, which had already reached a terrifying level.
Even Yun Xiaoyao was surprised by the situation.
There must be something fishy about this!
As the trend of the Divine Mandate of Monarchy grew stronger, the imperial authority was unwilling to fall into disarray. It was only natural for it to rise up and fight back. The first thing it did was to destroy all of the Nine Supremes' temples within the boundaries of the continent and issue the edict.
The Nine Supremes' contributions to the nation and its people were undeniable, but they were all Yutang royalty's subordinates. They had only gone through special training and possessed abilities that surpassed ordinary people.
At the end of the day, however, they were only the royalty's subordinates; they were not some living legend or living deity.
The appearance of this decision and notice enraged Yun Xiaoyao, who was searching for the Sect of Nine Supremes' whereabouts. He stopped the operation immediately!
He returned to the capital and met the emperor that very night, but the emperor was helpless about the matter.
With the way things had developed, it was impossible for the Sect of Nine Supremes to be allowed to escalate the matter. Otherwise, it would only be nurturing a tiger that would only invite trouble. After all, based on the current situation, the Sect of Nine Supremes would probably conquer the entire world within a few years. When that time came, it would be hard to tell who would be in charge.
How could the royalty sit and wait for death? Of course, they had to react actively!
Sealing the deeds of the Nine Supremes and demolishing the temples, the royalty would then create public opinion in the entire continent to guide the people to be loyal and patriotic. This was the most effective and immediate solution.
However, Yun Xiaoyao was resolutely against this method. That night, the two brothers parted on bad terms.
The royals' actions were still arranged in an orderly manner, destroying temples and spreading public opinion. The Nine Supremes were only the royal family's generals and family warriors, and their words and opinions were rampant.
Although the Sect of Nine Supremes was trying its best to fight against the royals, no matter how mysterious it was, it had just risen not too long ago after all. After losing its foundation, it was only a martial world force that was as scattered as sand. How could it compare to the power of a nation? Its momentum weakened bit by bit, gradually becoming less and less influential.
Seeing that the momentum was good, the royalty immediately released a biographical book called "The Legend of the Nine Supremes". It recorded the story of the Nine Supremes and the others being secretly selected by the royalty at the beginning. It involved tough training and layers of selection. Most of the thousand or so people were eliminated, leaving only nine who were trained well.
After that, they naturally began to receive orders from the royalty, going out to carry out missions, rushing thousands of miles to aid the battlefield, overturning the perilous situation … The missions were basically true events that everyone was familiar with.
These past events were the meritorious deeds of the Nine Supremes in the past. They were all real and not faked. The so-called path of growth, although it was a conjecture, was not far from reality. However, because of the addition of the royalty to coordinate and arrange missions and command the war, the Nine Supremes' standpoint had changed drastically.
As "The Legend of the Nine Supremes" was widely spread throughout the nation, the original reputation of the Nine Supremes had inevitably fallen. Many people had a self-recognition epiphany – so this was it. The Nine Supremes were only ordered by the royalty; the truly formidable one was still Yutang's royalty.
The Nine Supremes' role was significant, but it was only a god-making movement at the national level. Yutang's entire nation's power had molded the Nine Supremes into deities.
Now that this matter was exposed, it was only because of the Sect of Nine Supremes' appearance, intending to use these heroic deeds to disturb the people's hearts and threaten the nation's safety. The officials had only announced the truth to the public for safety's sake, thus letting the people know that the so-called Nine Supremes' protectors and all their actions were led and within the boundaries of what was normal. In the end, it was just the nation's soldiers carrying out their normal missions, nothing more.
Now that the situation had developed to this stage, more than ninety percent of the Nine Supremes' glorious achievements had been erased.
The Nine Supremes were no longer a human myth. Even the talk of heroes had gradually faded; what was more deeply rooted in the people's hearts was the national machine!
At this point, the Sect of Nine Supremes' momentum could be considered to have been completely stopped. However, the number of people who paid their respects to the Nine Supremes had also dwindled.
"It's just a few war machines …"
"Actually, they're the same as you and me, we're all soldiers of the military. It's just that we have a different division of labor."
Such comments were increasing in number.
"Looking back on the past, some of the wars that the Nine Supremes participated in back then were obviously late on purpose. Otherwise, how could they have displayed their heroic power to turn the tide? It's a pity for the many soldiers who died. They shouldn't have died in the first place. A general's success is built on the bones of thousands …"
"Sigh … if the Nine Supremes had gone a step earlier in that war back then, this old man's brothers wouldn't have died and this old man wouldn't have been crippled. So this is the truth, this is the truth …"
The change in the tide was getting more and more intense, gradually getting out of hand. The Nine Supremes slowly went from being revered by the people, existences that were akin to deities, to becoming a repulsive street … Curses were heard gradually.
In the beginning, the curses would still be reprimanded, but as time went on, the number of people cursing increased unknowingly …
The mentality of the people was actually very strange. When a person was worshipped as a hero by others and heard of their legends every day, even if they did not know them, even if they had never interacted with them, they would still praise them, respect them, and worship them. Others could not even curse them in front of them.
However, if everyone else was cursing this person, then even if they did not understand, did not know, did not know, did not know, did not know, did not know anything about that person … it did not stop them from cursing him as well. Although they did not know anything, when they cursed, they could make everyone feel as if they knew all the inside information …
Slowly, the Nine Supremes began to stink, especially Supreme Cloud. After all, he was the last of the Nine Supremes, the only survivor!
More delusions, more malice, of course, had to be linked to him!
Therefore, about a year and a half ago, the statue of Supreme Cloud that was erected in Tiantang Square, the last remaining statue of Supreme Cloud in the entire capital city, the last statue that was protected strictly by the military, could not withstand the tide-like anger of the people.
"Topple Supreme Cloud's statue!"
"This despicable person has deceived us for so many years!"
"It's him. In order to create his own legend, he caused countless innocent people to die in vain!"
"Topple it! Topple it! We must topple it! "
Somehow, the people surged into the square like a tidal wave, carrying hammers, sticks, axes … Countless people smashed the hundreds of feet tall statue of Supreme Cloud bit by bit, as if they were in a frenzy. Finally, it collapsed with a loud crash.
Then, the enraged people smashed the fallen statue into pieces!
That day …
Yun Xiaoyao, Qiu Jianhan, Leng Daoyin, Fang Qingtian, Old Mistress Shangguan, and the rest had all rushed to the scene, armed to the teeth. If they had wanted to stop or intervene, these hundreds of thousands of people would have been killed by Yun Xiaoyao right there and then …
However, when he saw the inexplicably frenzied crowd, Yun Xiaoyao, who had the most reason to intervene, did not do so.
He only glanced at Qiu Jianhan with a cold gaze; Qiu Jianhan shook his head, his white hair fluttering in the wind. Yun Xiaoyao then looked at Fang Qingtian and Leng Daoyin; both of them shook their heads in shame and lowered their heads. Finally, he looked at Old Mistress Shangguan, who snorted coldly and turned to leave.
In the end, Yun Xiaoyao turned his icy gaze towards the imperial city.
He watched coldly from the sidelines as the people surged in, watched as those with ulterior motives encouraged and shouted slogans, and then watched as the tens of thousands of people seethed, frenzied, and cursed …
He watched as his son's statue was smashed into the ground with clanking sounds. He watched as the stone fragments on the statue flew in all directions. He watched as the statue helplessly fell to the ground without a care for its image. The violent impact caused the entire earth to tremble …
From the beginning to the end, Yun Xiaoyao did not say a word.
Even when he saw his son's statue being smashed into pieces, he only gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and turned to leave.
His aura was icy cold.
Fang Qingtian and the rest had wanted to talk to him and discuss things, but Yun Xiaoyao's unapproachable attitude ignored them and left, his expression indifferent.
…
Forget about the sofa, the key was that there were so many floor-to-ceiling cabinets filled with blankets and mattresses … He had asked a few comrades to clean it for two days, and on the surface, there were signs of recovery, but the problem was that it had been raining continuously for the past few days, and there was no place to dry the blankets …
His wife had returned home at 11: 30 last night, but she was still discovered this morning … It was a long story … The people downstairs came looking for her, saying that our house was leaking, and so was their ceiling … The ceiling was probably going to be destroyed … Oh my god …
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