Sovereign of the Three Realms

Emperor Peerless completely understood their mindset as he was also a wandering cultivator. Fists spoke the loudest when dealing with their kind. Neither empathy, camaraderie, logic, or gratitude would work on them. They were a bunch of stinking rocks. Words would never penetrate their thick skulls. The best way to get their cooperation was to beat them into submission or win them over with bribes. It was futile to try anything else.

Emperor Peerless naturally wouldn’t bribe them. Force was his method of choice.

“Old He, what exactly are the rules that you speak of? I’m so very curious,” he asked blandly.

He Fenghui smiled ruefully as he begged for forgiveness. “Esteemed senior, please stop making fun of this junior. How could there be rules in a place like this? Strength is king! Anything you say will be taken as law here!” 

Emperor Peerless pointed at Gu Xintang. “Captain Gu is my friend. He came all the way here, yet you wish to teach him manners? You wanted to teach him the meaning of death?”

“My sincerest apologies! How could we have known that Captain Gu was backed by such a large patron? We are very sorry! Truly!” He Fenghui replied in a self-deprecating way. “Esteemed senior, we assure you that Captain Gu will be our esteemed guest from now on! This will not happen again!”

Gu Xintang was extremely invigorated. He could finally hold his head high. The fear within the eyes of these villainous inmates gave him a sense of jubilation and gratification. So this is what it feels like to have someone behind my back. He sighed deeply 

The one-eyed man walked up to Gu Xintang with a dejected manner. “Captain Gu, you are absolutely correct. Old Zhao is truly blind. Feel free to hit me or yell at me if it pleases you. I only ask for your magnanimity and forgiveness.”

Gu Xintang snorted. “One-Eyed Zhao, seeing that you are so sincere, I shall forgive you just this once. How dare you raise your voice at me just because you have the Ten Ultimates behind you? You’re just swaggering around with borrowed influence, understood?” 

“Y-yes. I apologize for overstepping my boundaries! I deserve to be scolded for being too overzealous in my guard dog duties! A lesson learned is a lesson earned!” One-Eyed Zhao bowed submissively and resorted to flattery. He was glad that Gu Xintang had chosen to scold him. He would’ve been even more worried if the captain hadn’t scolded or beaten him, because it meant that the captain had harbored a grudge. If that happened, there was an enormous possibility that he might suddenly disappear in the Sable Cells one day.

Gu Xintang couldn’t kill any of the Ten Ultimates, but the same couldn’t be said for One-Eyed Zhao. Nobody expected the captain to have a great emperor as a friend. He was clearly pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger! 

“Esteemed senior, may I ask what brought you to the Ten Colossal Zone? Is there anything I can assist you with?” He Fenghui asked courteously. 

“I’m looking for someone,” the emperor replied blandly. However, he suddenly turned hostile again when he thought about Jiang Chen. “Old He, you’d better call back your two companions right now. If something happens to my friend, I’ll slaughter each and every one of you, down to the last chicken and dog in this place.”

Color drained from He Fenghui’s face. He could tell that the emperor wasn’t joking.  He immediately gave orders to his men. “Quick! Go get Situ Ling and Wu Xutao! Stop them from making a grave mistake!” 

Just when his men were about to leave, Situ Ling and Wu Xutao returned in a foul mood.  Situ Ling yelled for reinforcements as he ran. “Give us two more men! That brat is too slippery! He uses a very strange art that makes it impossible to catch him! No, we need at least four to subdue him! Strangely enough, he seems to be looking for someone…” 

The tense atmosphere made him suspect that something was up. “Oi! What are you waiting for? Are you guys deaf or are you mute?” he complained. 

“If we don’t stop that kid soon, he’s going to overturn the entire zone!” Wu Xutao immediately added. When they got closer, the atmosphere became even more bizarre.

“Hey! Why are you…” Halfway through his sentence, Situ Ling finally noticed the unusual expressions on the crowd’s face. It almost seemed like they were… showing respect to the enemy?

What in the world was going on?

They weren’t complete idiots. Their hearts tightened upon taking notice of the unusual scene.

He Fenghui smiled wryly. “Situ, Old Wu, come make your greetings to the esteemed great emperor.”

Esteemed great emperor? The two were utterly dumbfounded. Their mouths struggled to form proper words. When they finally regained composure, they snuck a glance at Emperor Peerless.

“Esteemed great emperor?” They were certain that this was no mistake when they saw how respectful He Fenghui and the others were. These vicious men would never be so courteous if otherwise.

“Greetings, esteemed great emperor.” Situ Ling and Wu Xufeng greeted awkwardly.

“How’s my friend?” Emperor Peerless asked blandly.

“Haii… we couldn’t even catch up to him. Your friend is just too quick. We were completely stumped.” Situ Ling smiled wryly.

“Both of us joined strength and still failed to stop him. Esteemed senior, is he your disciple? His speed is extraordinary!” Wu Xutao complimented unreservedly.  

The emperor smiled. “How could I possibly have the right to teach him? Stop talking nonsense. He has a master that’s much stronger than me!”

Stronger than me? What exactly did that mean? An expert stronger than a great emperor? Was that even possible? These men were content with being king in the Ten Ultimates. As time went on, it was only natural that they’d become a little ignorant.

Was there really a realm beyond great emperor? What could it be? The legendary empyrean realm? Were there really empyrean experts in the Divine Abyss Continent?  At their cultivation level, there was no way they could confirm if the empyrean realm was real.

“Esteemed senior, you said that his master is even stronger than you? Is his master an empyrean cultivator?” He Fenghui sucked in a breath of cold air and asked cautiously.

“Mm. Maybe even beyond that.” Emperor Peerless sighed softly. “That’s enough. My turn to ask questions. The origin realm cultivator, you didn’t do anything to him, right?” 

“What origin realm cultivator?” This was a perplexing question.

“Stop pretending. I’m talking about the one which all of you are fighting over.” The emperor’s face darkened.

“Y-you… do you mean the origin realm cultivator that was sent here by the Heavensfall Society?” He Fenghui was flabbergasted.

“Why? Have you already…” The emperor flashed a sinister look. His voice was cold and forbidding as killing intent gleamed in his eyes. 

“Nonono. We are still… fattening him up. However, he doesn’t seem to appreciate our kindness. We’ve given him food and cultivation resources, but he doesn’t seem to want any. He probably wants to rebel until the very end.” He Fenghui replied apologetically. 

“Bullshit! How dare you decorate your malicious actions as kindness?” Emperor Peerless flew into rage. “You were going to fatten him up for slaughter! You better pray hard that he’s still alive. Otherwise, not even the entire Moon God Sect will be able to save you!”

The crowd was ashen with regret. He Fenghui breathed a sigh of relief. “It's fortunate that he’s still alive. His body is currently a little frail, but he still breathes. Esteemed Senior, could it be that… he's somehow connected to the empyrean expert too?”

“Why else would he catch your eye?” Emperor Peerless snapped.

He Fenghui wore a wry expression as his heart beat furiously. It had been an extremely close call. If anything happened to that man, not even ten lives would be enough.

……

Jiang Chen was on his knees inside one of the cells in Ten Ultimates. His father was lying on the floor in front of him. He was in a very weakened state and barely had any breath left. Jiang Chen’s heart tightened, making tears rain from his eyes when he saw how haggard his father was. They’d been separated for almost ten years. His once vigorous and able-bodied father had gone through so much torment that he was now on death’s doorstep.

He felt a sudden urge to slaughter everyone in the area, but quickly regained his calm. First, he transferred some energy into his father to help restore his father’s qi. After that, he fed his father a pill to restore vitality.

Jiang Feng slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face.

“Where is this place? Who are you?” His voice was rough and hoarse. A thought suddenly struck him and he immediately pushed Jiang Chen away. “You vicious and evil bastards! Are you still trying to fatten me up for slaughter? I’d sooner die than let that happen!”

Jiang Chen sobbed even harder upon seeing his father’s reaction. “Father, it’s been ten years. It’s this unfilial son’s fault for not coming to get you sooner!”

Jiang Feng shook with complete disbelief. “W-who are you?”

“Father, it was you who left me a letter, telling me that you’ve gone on a journey in search of mother. You told me not to follow you to the Upper Eight Regions, and that you’d kill yourself if I did. Have you forgotten all of this?”

Jiang Feng began to shake involuntarily. His chapped lips trembled nonstop. One could easily tell how agitated he was. His consciousness hadn’t fully recovered yet, but he knew that those specific details had only shared only between him and his son. The face in front of him was completely foreign, but the voice, manner of speech, and details, clearly pointed towards the fact that it was his son! This was clearly no imposter!

“Chen’er, is it really you? Am I dreaming?” Jiang Feng was in a very feeble state, but he couldn’t help but want to get up and get a closer look at Jiang Chen.

“Father, you’re not dreaming! I’ve come a very long way and went through every painstaking lead to finally locate you through your friend, Liu Zhen. The fates have bound us together. Nobody could’ve stopped us from reuniting!” Jiang Chen was also very agitated. He was elated to finally see his father again!