The Legend of Futian

The resources in the former Void Realm—a part of the Nine Supreme Imperial Realms—had been thoroughly looted. Everything had been turned inside out.

The Dark World, the Empty Divine Realm, and forces from the Divine Prefecture had not spared the lands of the Nine Realms.

Once the lands of the Nine Realms had been plundered, in the following few decades, all the major worlds began to shift their focus on the new continents and relics that emerged in the Original Realm. Gradually, they started moving outward so that the lands of the Nine Realms nowadays lived in the shadow of their former glory, now a barren wasteland.

Ever since the Heavenly Mandate Academy was destroyed by the City Lord of Tianyan, and Heavenly Mandate was relocated to Ziwei Segmentum, the Heavenly Mandate Realm and the Heavenly Mandate City began their inescapable decline. There were not many powerful cultivators in Heavenly Mandate City today, and the resources for cultivation were particularly lacking. Even if there were young people with outstanding talents, they would not get the nurturing they needed to develop their full potentials.

The former site of the Heavenly Mandate Academy had long been nothing but ruins. People often came here to mourn and commemorate the glorious days of Heavenly Mandate. Back then, the Heavenly Mandate Academy ruled over the Nine Realms, and Ye Futian was known as the king of the Original Realm. How mighty the Heavenly Mandate Academy was once, and who could have predicted that it would have become what it was now?

Even today, people often came to the ruins of what was left of the Heavenly Mandate Academy and look at the ruins while remembering the past.

At this time, in the ruins, a group of people appeared. It seemed as if they were busy working on something in that location.

Next to the ruins, there were some crowds scattered here and there. In one of them, there were an old man and a boy. The old man looked more than 50 years of age, while the young boy was about fifteen or sixteen, still looking a little childish.

"Grandson, this is the place I wanted to show you," the old man touched the boy's head and said with a smile.

"Grandpa, isn't this the ruin? Why are we here?" The boy raised his head. His innocent eyes were filled with some confusion and curiosity.

"Yes, it is a ruin here now, but before you were born, when I was still a boy, this was the most glorious holy land in the world." The old man looked at the ruins and spoke emotionally. He seemed to be remembering those glorious days.

How they missed the Heavenly Mandate Academy of yore!

"The most glorious holy land in the world!" The boy was a little puzzled. The Heavenly Mandate Realm he knew was a chaotic world. He had no idea what the Heavenly Mandate Realm was like at all before he was born. After all, when the Heavenly Mandate Academy was most prosperous was some 50 or 60 years ago.

The Heavenly Mandate Academy and the Heavenly Mandate Realm existed only in history.

"Looking back, he founded the Heavenly Mandate Academy to preach to the world and brought the most glorious era to the Heavenly Mandate Realm. But those hateful foreign forces invaded us, which led to the destruction of Heavenly Mandate, so he had no choice but to leave. Now, no one knows if he's alive or dead." The old man looked at the ruins, and he was full of intense emotions. Once, he was also a member of the academy, although he was just the most ordinary disciple on the peripheral.

However, he was proud because he was part of something great. No matter when or where, he could always stand tall and tell others that he was a disciple of the Heavenly Mandate Academy.

"You mean, Diety Ye?!" the boy thought of a name and whispered.

"That's right. He is the Deity Ye that you guys talked about." The old man said with a smile, "In the Heavenly Mandate Realm, he is, indeed, a deity."

A different kind of light lit up on the boy's face. Among the younger generations of the Heavenly Mandate Realm, that legendary figure had been turned into a myth referred to by many as "Deity Ye."

"Grandpa, how is Deity Ye now?" the boy asked.

"Deity Ye went to a place far away, and even Grandpa has no idea what happened to him." The old man looked up into the sky. He had witnessed with his own eyes that battle once upon a time when all the powers from the Upper Worlds of the Divine Prefecture had encircled and suppressed them. Even Donghuang Imperial Palace—a ruling principality in the Divine Prefecture—had stood on the opposite side so that there was nothing much that Ye Futian could do.

A legend of their time was forced to leave Heavenly Mandate.

"Will he come back?" the boy asked.

"Probably not. Not anymore." The old man sighed silently in his heart.

"Elder, who is the one that you call Deity Ye?" a voice asked. The old man looked to his side and saw several young people approaching. Their temperament was superb. The old man could tell with a simple glance that these four young people were unusual.

"Deity Ye is the title given to the former College Chief of Heavenly Mandate Academy, Ye Futian. It was created by some youngsters in the later generations of the Heavenly Mandate Realm." The old man asked, "And you are?"

"Is that so?" The young man in the lead displayed a gentle smile and said, "Perhaps, Deity Ye will come back."

Before he spoke, a group of people in front had actually started rebuilding the structures. This sight caused the old man to frown. He walked up to look at them and asked, "What are you doing?"

This was the old site of Heavenly Mandate Academy, and someone wanted to build other structures here?

"Sir, please be patient," the young man next to him said. The old man looked at him again and continued, "I know you are no ordinary common folk, but this place is the site of the Heavenly Mandate Academy founded by Deity Ye; it has great significance to the people of Heavenly Mandate Realm. If you want to build a mansion, you can find some other place to do that. If you are building here, I'm afraid it will anger the entire Heavenly Mandate Realm."

"Is that so?" The young man asked with a smile. "Deity Ye held such a lofty position in Heavenly Mandate Realm?"

"Without question," the old man's eyes were solemn.

"Then, there was even more reason to rebuild here." The young man said with a smile, looking in front of him. The old man's expression was getting unfriendly as he said, "Do you insist on choosing this site?"

"Elder," the young man turned his attention to the old man and said, "Don't you get it? Your deity is coming back!"

The young man's words made the old man tremble all over. His face turned red. It seemed as if he was extremely excited, as he looked at the man in the eye and asked, "Don't' toy with me. Are you serious?"

"What they are building is the Heavenly Mandate Academy." The young man pointed to the front and said. It turned out that he was Ye Futian's disciple—Fang Cun.

Naturally, the other three were Little Ling, Tie Tou, and Duo Yu.

The old man clenched his fists, and his expression was quite emotional, and he couldn't speak for some time. He took his grandson by the hand and started running with all his might.

The Deity of the Heavenly Mandate Realm was returning soon!

Construction of buildings by cultivators in the Renhuang Realm was extremely expedient, not to mention there were multiple Renhuang working on it at the same time. Tall buildings and magnanimous halls soon rose from the ground. In one day, new and magnificent structures appeared on the old site of the Heavenly Mandate Academy. The building stretched for hundreds of miles.

Soon, people from the Heavenly Mandate City were gathering in the location of the Heavenly Mandate Academy. Everything they were seeing in front of them was simply like a dream.

Today, there were even rumors that Ye Futian would be returning.

However, many people didn't quite believe it.

People from the older generations knew what happened back then. How could he return after he had made enemies with so many top forces in the Upper Worlds?

The legendary story of Ye Futian and Heavenly Mandate Academy seemed to be fairytales from another time; even the memory of it was a little blurred now. But that era was the most glorious age in the history of the Heavenly Mandate Realm.

"Those people are very strong in their cultivation. Who are they exactly?" Someone looked at the cultivators busy working on those newly-built structures and noticed they were all Renhuang cultivators.

"Just observe. We will figure it out soon enough." Many of the cultivators of the Heavenly Mandate City stopped outside to watch. In the following days, the buildings were getting more magnificent and impressive and far surpassed the original size of the previous Heavenly Mandate Academy. However, none of those cultivators seemed to be finishing any time soon.

There were even peak Renhuang who seemed to be working on a spatial teleportation matrix.

Gradually, the cultivators outside of the Heavenly Mandate Realm had gotten wind of this news as well and rushed over to see for themselves. This included those forces in other realms that had also received the same information.

Half a month later, even more cultivators appeared outside the old site of the Heavenly Mandate Academy.

At this time, not far from the old site of the Heavenly Mandate Academy, a group of cultivators appeared in the sky above. This group of people had an incredibly powerful aura as their eyes looked forward and their brows furrowed.

The person in the lead was Jian Ao—the former College Chief of Tianshen Academy.

Back then, when Ye Futian unified the Nine Realms, Jian Ao and the others submitted to him in defeat. However, when Heavenly Mandate Academy was in peril and forced to leave, Jian Ao told Princess Donghuang that they were forced into submission and not out of their own free will; they had betrayed Heavenly Mandate Academy in the end.

Later, they returned to the Central Emperor Realm, and the group of cultivators who had rebelled allied their own and gradually rebuilt their forces in the Central Emperor Realm. After the forces of the Divine Prefecture had finally finished their plundering and pillaging of the Nine Realms, they shifted their attention elsewhere. Jian Ao and the others became powerful forces in the Central Emperor Realm once more.

But recently, they had gotten the news that someone was rebuilding the Heavenly Mandate Academy, so they came to see it for themselves.

"Go and find out from which principalities they are from." Jian Ao spoke to the person next to him, and immediately the cultivators from Tianshen Academy went forward until he came to the outside of the reconstructed Heavenly Mandate Academy. The aura of Upper Renhuang was released from him as he asked, loud and clear, "What are you building?"

However, no one paid any attention to him, as every one of these cultivators was preoccupied with their own business. Their blatant disregard for him caused the man to frown.

"If there's nothing else, please stay out of the way," a cultivator inside said lightly as he glanced at the other man; he completely paid him no mind.

At the same time, in the reconstructed academy, a spatial divine light suddenly pierced through the sky. It was the spatial teleportation grand matrix.

The spatial divine light seemed to have opened up a channel between the firmament and the Lower Worlds, as a divine light appeared to form a pillar of light in the space.

"This..." The hearts of the cultivators in Heavenly Mandate City were palpitating. What a terrifying teleportation grand matrix! And just who was to be teleported?

Buzz! The divine light descended, and a group of mighty cultivators appeared in the sky above. As soon as these people appeared, everyone who was watching from the outside held their breath collectively. What powerful auras were from these Renhuang cultivators, and many of them were in peak Renhuang no less.

In the distance, Jian Ao saw the appearance of those cultivators, and his heart suddenly twitched. He saw many familiar faces. Some of them were once latecomers who were junior to him.

Dou Zhao from the Dou tribe, Xiao Muyu from the Xiao clan, Yuan Hong from the Yuanyang clan—all ghosts of the past from the Nine Realms.

More importantly, their auras had become extremely horrific.

The divine light was still descending, as another group of cultivators appeared, with familiar faces as well. Gu Dongliu was among this group with an even stronger aura.

A terrifying divine might came pressing down and shrouded the boundless space. Seeing those faces, the cultivators on the outside were instantly electrified.

Was it really them who came back?

At this time, an extremely brilliant divine light fell from the sky, as a figure with a white garment and white hair appeared in the sky above. As soon as he appeared, many older cultivators of the Heavenly Mandate Realm froze. Burning tears filled their eyes.

He came back.

This legendary man of Heavenly Mandate Realm was back.

Jian Ao and the others, however, turned terribly pale. Their bodies felt a deep and involuntary fear. It was as their hearts were beating violently in their chests.

They turned around, wanting to escape. The aura of the Great Path of Space

fluctuated, and they wished they had not come here.

However, they discovered that several people were blocking their way, and the same powerful spatial light screen had already cordoned off this space, blocking Jian Ao's way out.

At the same time, a supreme pressure came down above the firmament, directly enveloping Jian Ao and the others. Frankly, Jian Ao had goosebumps all over his body, and he felt suffocated.

This aura was truly terrifying.