The Legend of Futian

The Lord of Tianyan City seemed to have courted a rebuff. He darted Du You a glance, thinking the direct disciple of Donghuang the Great was really proud, but with a good reason.

After all, Du You did not need to curry favor with anyone across the Land of the Divine Prefecture.

The Practitioners of Tianyan City were more or less pissed off, but they did not show it.

"Nowadays, young heroes keep coming forth in large numbers. We have found several great talents in the first round of the Armorer Competition." Seeing Du You not responding to him, the Lord of Tianyan City looked at the nine platforms, where the nine competition courts were displayed.

"Yeah, it's much better than 100 years ago," replied someone from the City Lord Office.

"The Divine Prefecture was still a chaotic world 400 years ago. The Great Emperor united the world and imparted the Way to the Divine Prefecture. After hundreds of years of recovery and the impartation of the Way, and the cultivation of various top forces, the young generation has benefitted a lot, and outstanding people keep showing up. They will certainly surpass the old generation," said the Lord of Tianyan City, subtly complimenting Donghuang the Great.

But he also told the truth.

The Divine Prefecture was left in chaos after those turbulent days. Too many powerful people died in the war. However, after the recovery in the past hundreds of years, another period of great prosperity was coming.

Some great geniuses got killed in those turbulent days before they could reach their heyday. Many extraordinary people were destined to be unable to reach their peak.

At this point, the Divine Prefecture was growing and becoming more and more powerful.

"I agree, City Lord. I bet there are many great talents in the City Lord Office of Tianyan City," said a man with a smile.

"Yeah, quite a few excellent young people have shown up in the past few years. You will see them in the Armorer Competition. Please don't hesitate to instruct them if you have anything to say about their performance," said the Lord of Tianyan City with a smile.

"The City Lord Office is so skilled in making weapons. You really can be our master in this regard. I'm afraid we don't get to comment on anything." Shaking his head, a man said, "But I'm quite glad to see how grand this event is. With so much enthusiasm about weapon-making in Tianyan City, the Divine Prefecture will never be short of good armorers. That's certainly not a concern for you. Tianyan City has contributed substantially to the weapon-making in the Divine Prefecture."

"I'm flattered." The Lord of Tianyan City said, "Besides me, everyone here is responsible for imparting the Way on behalf of the Divine Prefecture, too, and many outstanding people have been cultivated this way. They are the future of the Divine Prefecture."

"We family forces might think more for ourselves, but the holy lands aiming to impart the Way in the Divine Prefecture are doubtless selfless. However, some people are trying to harm and destroy such forces now," said a man out of the blue, charging some subtle tension into the air.

That sounded a casual comment, but he was obviously implying something.

Ye Futian looked at that man in the crowd. He was from the Haotian Clan living in the Nantian Domain. It was a force of the Ancient God Clan.

With a long history, the Ancient God Clan was not afraid of Ye Futian; thus, the man had made that comment in the Armorer Competition.

So, Xi Chiyao was right. He was afraid those forces were using the Armorer Fest to deal with the Ziwei Segmentum. However, on the other hand, should he feel honored that various forces from the Divine Prefecture were taking the Ziwei Segmentum so seriously?

"I feel sorry for the Holy Land of Taichu, too." The Lord of Tianyan City said, "Your Highness, the Holy Land of Taichu was eliminated. And the Taichu Saint Emperor died. It's a big loss for the Divine Prefecture."

Donghuang Diyuan remained very calm. Some forces went to the imperial palace to ask for their help when the Holy Land of Taichu had just been eliminated. They wanted the imperial palace to eliminate the Ziwei Segmentum.

"My father has a history with Four Corner Village, and he also has a promise to keep. Since he promised the Original Realm in the old days, it was inappropriate for him to meddle in. Besides, the Holy Land of Taichu and some forces of the Divine Prefecture discussed eliminating the Ziwei Segmentum befoe, plus the old grievances, it's kind of a problem between the forces of the Divine Prefecture and Ye Futian. It's also an ordeal for the forces of the Divine Prefecture," said Donghuang Diyuan in a plain tone.

The forces of the Divine Prefecture wanted to subdue Ye Futian, but they got threatened by him instead. Therefore, they wanted help from the imperial palace.

It was not out of good intention that those people wanted to kill Ye Futian. They simply wanted to loot.

As to those extensive talks, they should not be taken seriously at all.

Ye Futian's identity had not got exposed yet when forces like the Dark World and the Empty Divine Realm were fighting him, and he was regarded as a member of the Original Realm, which also belonged to the Divine Prefecture.

However, what did those forces of the Divine Prefecture do?

They intended to destroy the Heavenly Realm and rob the treasures of the nine regions, and they wanted to eliminate the Lost Clan, too.

Did they do those things to impart the Way?

Of course not. Those were just out of some selfish motives.

The same happened when they wanted to eliminate the Ziwei Segmentum. Since it was out of selfish motives, they were in no position to drag the imperial palace into the fight with the justice talk.

Princess Donghuang's speech was quite thought-provoking. The word of Donghuang the Great was his bond. Since he promised he would never attack Ye Futian, he would not mind seeing the latter grow stronger, unless Ye Futian violated the rules of the Divine Prefecture, such as killing a lot of people, fighting the Domain Chief's Manors of the Divine Prefecture, and declaring war on the Divine Prefecture.

"Enlightened Master said he would not meddle in the grudge between Ye Futian and the forces of the Divine Prefecture. It's your problem, so don't expect the imperial palace to solve it for you. Of course, if Ye Futian violates any rule of the Divine Prefecture, the imperial palace will certainly do something about it, and I will take his life away, too," said Du You in a cold voice. He seemed to be the odd man out there.

The forces of the Divine Prefecture obviously all had their own plans. They were not affiliated with the imperial palace. Neither were they governed by the imperial palace directly. Therefore, they were all making their own calculations.

Du You's speech was not as friendly as Donghuang Diyuan's. He even sounded a little harsh without giving face to any of the forces. Obviously, he was quite pissed off because those forces seemed to be asking for the imperial palace's help, but it was actually a threat.

Although he disliked Ye Futian, too, it did not mean he would be nice to those forces.

"That's right, Your Highness. Ye Futian went too far by eliminating the Holy Land of Taichu. Crime doesn't pay. He will be punished." The Lord of Tianyan City said in a plain voice, "Let's forget about this for now. It's such a buzzkill. We will go back to it after the Armorer Competition."

"Exactly. Let's enjoy the fest now," echoed someone, looking back at the nine weapon-making courts on the platforms.

Ye Futian heard everything. He was very quiet; it was as if all that had nothing to do with him. But his guess was kind of proved. It was exactly as Xi Chiyao thought—they would take advantage of the occasion of the Armorer Competition to talk about how to deal with the Ziwei Segmentum.

So, Lord Chen and Jieyu should get prepared.

That being said, everyone's attention was still on the Armorer Competition. This fest aroused unbelievable enthusiasm in them.

The first round of competition ended very soon. A winner was selected in each of the nine courts. Although it was impossible to be one hundred percent fair, it was quite fair already. Indeed, the second-best armorer from some court who got eliminated could be better than the best one from a different court. Such "unfairness" was inevitable.

But in the end, the nine best armorers would go to the City Lord Office to have another round of competition. Not until then would there be a champion.

Certainly, if any of those who had got eliminated were a really great armorer, the City Lord Office would notice and recruit him into it as well.

The Armorer Competition went on. The winners of the nine courts were called into the City Lord Office and received by the City Lord. Some whose cultivation level was relatively lower were quite excited to see so many big shots in the City Lord Office.

Those were the strongest ones in the Divine Prefecture!