Chapter 1433 - Wiped Out
“.....” The Master of the Laws scrunched up her jade-line nose, and her bright eyes were full of fury.
None of the surrounding major powers recklessly spoke up. After a lengthy staring contest, the Master of the Laws’ fury gave way to chortling.
“What are you laughing at? Stop it!” said Ye Zichen, but his eyes lit up with mirth too.
“And here I thought you’d died at those demons’ hands. Look at you now! You’re still so lively and rambunctious. It really puts my heart at ease.” The Master of the Laws patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t put on airs, Lady Lin, Your Excellency,” said Ye Zichen. He suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
This beautiful young Master of the Laws certainly had her fair share of misfortune. She was the former Master of the Laws in the Lower Three Realms: Lin Ru.
Back when the demons invaded, she’d backed Ye Zichen, and her clansmen had dragged her back to their homeland and imprisoned her as punishment.
After returning to her clan, Lin Ru had cooperated and let them rehabilitate her, so they freed her before too long. However, her clansmen forbade her from ever returning to the Lower Three Realms.
She’d once asked her clansmen about what was happening down there, but all she got was dribs and drabs.
Neither of them would have guessed that they’d meet again in god race territory.
“How is Su Yan doing? I asked my clansmen to poke around, but it seems she’s no longer in the Lower Three Realms,” said Lin Ru.
“She’s up here too. She’s living in the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan.”
“Is that so? I’m glad you’re both still alive.” Lin Ru laughed, but the sound contained a fair bit of sympathy. Next, she turned and surveyed the wreckage of Spirit City. Over ninety percent of it had been ruined.
“I’ll report that the city was destroyed when the head of the Bai Family decided to blow himself up, but it’ll be difficult to avoid my clansmen showing up to investigate. Everyone, you’d best clean up as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I’ll wind up in trouble, and there’ll be little I can do for you.”
The great emperors nodded. Next, Lin Ru turned to Ye Zichen and smiled broadly. “I can’t stick around. They only let me out to find this kid and drag him back. We should have a chance to meet again soon, though; my grandpa might very well come looking for you in the near future.”
“Grandpa Lin!?” Ye Zichen exclaimed.
“Don’t get so nervous. He wants to talk to you, but only to tell you some things you don’t know, but really ought to know by now.”
“Of course I’m not nervous. This works out perfectly; I have quite a bit I’d like to ask him too.”
“I wish you well.” Lin Ru dragged the youth by the soldiers and vanished into thin air.
The major powers couldn’t help but exclaim, “I hadn’t realized that the Masters of the Laws were a clan, too.”
“The Liches, and now the Masters of the Laws. It seems our world is far bigger than we realized. There’s too much we don’t know.”
“That’s right.”
While the great emperors sighed with emotion, Ye Rong’s gaze was locked onto Ye Zichen.
Just now, when he’d disappeared, she’d really been scared out of her wits.
Suddenly, Zhao Qianhe gasped. “The God Emperor disappeared!”
The other major powers looked around, and indeed: there was no longer any trace of God Emperor Zhou Wu or the Divine Arbiter.
“He must have taken advantage of the confusion to flee,” sighed Chao Feng. “During the moments leading up to the blast, no one had time to keep an eye on him. With the Divine Arbiter, someone who’s condensed the Dao of Space’s dao heart, it would have been easy to just slip into the void and leave.”
…..
“Dammit! Dammit!” Back in the God Emperor’s Estate, Zhou Wu slammed his fists into the surrounding furniture, his expression hideously contorted. The Divine Arbiter stood quietly in the doorway, waiting for him to calm down.
“Master of the Laws, Sea of Innocence, Four Directions Palace, Star Altar!”
Losing the Bai Family had infuriated him. He had completely, totally lost his anger. Even worse, in the end, he’d had no choice but to rely on the Divine Arbiter and flee with his tail tucked between his legs, taking a spatial corridor back to Heavenly God City.
With the Master of the Laws standing with Ye Zichen and his allies, despite Zhou Wu’s skills, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't stand up to that group all on his own.
“Have Yuchi Hai and Huanghu Jian arrived yet?”
“I ordered them to Heavenly God City. They should get here soon,” said the Divine Arbiter.
The two men he requested were heads of their respective clans, and were subordinates Zhou Wu had wholeheartedly cultivated himself. At a time like this, he needed them to help hold down the fort in Heavenly God City. Otherwise, he was worried that Ye Zichen and his allies would turn their murderous attention to Heavenly God City. If that happened on short notice, Zhou Wu wouldn’t have enough experts on hand to hold them off.
“Your Majesty,” said the Divine Arbiter after a hesitant pause.
“What?”
“There are still Profound Pavilion forces in the city. Should we leave them there? And there’s the Upheaval Alliance, too, the faction Xuan Ji’s nephew built.”
“Leave them? Of course not! Kill them all!”
“Yes, sir!” Once she received her orders, the Divine Arbiter turned to leave, only for the God Emperor to suddenly call her back.
“Wait.”
“Do you have any other orders?” asked the Divine Arbiter.
“Leave the Profound Pavilion and the Upheaval Alliance as they are. Now that I’m thinking it over carefully, the current situation isn’t as bad as I initially thought. Although they wiped out the Bao Family, that was actually part of our plan. Bai Mingli and Bai Jinsheng were once Five Elements’ men, and I’ve never trusted them. I went to save them, but that was mostly because the Society of Saints got involved. Furthermore, at the end of the day, Chao Feng and the others set out to destroy the Bai Family, not to declare war on me or my estate.”
“Then your orders?” asked the Divine Arbiter.
“For now, do nothing. Let everything be as it was in the past. If Xuan Ji comes back and wants to leave the God Emperor’s Estate, let her. If she says nothing, we won’t say anything either. No need to go public with this. The yao and demons are eyeing us hungrily. Even if our conflicts were deeper, we have common enemies to face,” said Zhou Wu.
“But….”
“No ‘buts.’ This is no time to make a fuss or deepen our conflict. Carry out my orders. Also, in the near future, have someone construct a few smaller cities in the periphery, then have the Yuchi and Huangfu clans move in.”
“Yes, sir!”
…
In response to Chao Feng’s explanation, the other emperors nodded and surveyed the wreckage.
None had guessed that Bai Mingli would self-destruct as his clan faced destruction. The blast had killed every last one of his clansmen.
After today, the once flourishing Spirit City had become a city of the dead.
“Leave some people behind to clean up loose ends. That Master of the Laws helped us, so if cleaning up evidence will make things easier on her, we shouldn’t let her suffer needlessly.”
“Leave that to the Four Directions Palace,” said Xuan Ji with a laugh. “They’re the only ones who haven’t suffered any casualties. Everything’s over, but they’ve still yet to show their faces.”
“Alright, leave it to us,” said Bi’an helplessly.
Bi’an hadn’t planned for things to go this way. All of the Four Directions Palace’s forces were rushing here on his orders, but according to their earlier plan, they’d been stationed in Triumph City. It was far from Spirit City, so they needed time to get here.
Furthermore, none of them had guessed that in the end, Bai Mingli would self-destruct in an attempt to drag them down with him, bringing an end to this whole incident.
“I just told them that once they get here, they’ll be responsible for cleaning up the message. I also ordered them to bring the survivors back to the Eastern Divine Mountain and help them settle in.”
Zhao Qianhe sighed with emotion. “Just like that, the Bai Family, a force capable of contending with the Holy Lands, is gone.
“Don’t they still have branch families?” asked Ye Zichen.
“They’re gone,” said Ye Rong coldly. “From this moment on, the Bai Family is history.”
“Ye Rong….” Xuan Ji arched her brows.
“When I got here, I’d already ordered members of the Star Altar to go off and clean up the branch clans,” said Ye Rong. “Given the time, they ought to be done by now.”
The men present couldn’t help but gulp. Sometimes, when a woman truly steeled herself to be ruthless, she was far more vicious than a man.
Before long, the Four Directions Palace arrived and started cleaning up. The great emperors left the wreckage of the Bai Family home. The once dazzling clan had become nothing but history. The “right arm” Zhou Wu had painstakingly raised up had been chopped right off. The Bai Family was gone forever!