The Solar King hadn’t arrived yet, but of his Four Kings and Eight Generals, the Lion King and Golden Crown King were already here.
Aside from the Silent King and the Jester, nearly the entirety of the Solar King’s inner circle had shown up. Which said everything about how badly the Central Divine Hall wanted the Divine Codex.
Ming Rihao seized the moment to cram Yue Yang with more background.
Of the Four Kings, the Silent King stood for devotion.
Rumor had it that this “Silent King” among the Four Kings possessed a monstrous faith talent and a prayer domain — that in raw strength, he was not inferior even to a hall master of the Central Divine Hall’s inner or outer halls. Ming Rihao gave a pointed hint: if he himself had to go one-on-one with the strongest, the Silent King, even he wouldn’t be able to easily take him down. The Silent King, who had yet to show his face here, was different from the Lion King, the Golden Crown King, and the Two-Faced King: from the Solar King’s earliest years, the Silent King had been at his side as a serving-boy, growing up alongside him. He was the Solar King’s most trusted lieutenant — arguably the pillar of the entire Sun God Palace.
Among the ones who had come, the Lion King — who stood for courage — and the Golden Crown King — who stood for honor — had both joined the Solar King’s ranks earlier than the Two-Faced King, who had come in eight thousand years ago. Which made both of them more senior.
And, in strength, probably a hair ahead of the Two-Faced King.
“A single lion, a single golden crown, and one big scythe — that’s supposed to intimidate us?” The Rage Domain Emperor roared with laughter.
“The Rage Domain Emperor’s valor is unmatched. Even with the numbers on our side, we would not lightly speak of victory over you.” The Two-Faced King’s smile was dark, coiling. “This one has a very fine suggestion, if the Rage Domain Emperor would consider it. You and the Radiance Domain Emperor have always been at odds — both sides would gladly finish the other off. Today is the perfect chance. Should the Rage Domain Emperor be willing to accept, then we will offer our fullest assistance in killing the Radiance Domain Emperor for you. Our Solar King only wants the Divine Codex; even the divine body can be gifted to the Rage Domain Emperor without argument. What does the Rage Domain Emperor say to those terms?”
“Bah!” The Rage Domain Emperor howled like thunder. “The Radiance Domain Emperor and I may be sworn enemies, but I would never rely on outsiders’ hands. Trying to sow dissension in the middle of a standoff so we tear each other apart — that scheme is childishly amateur.”
“Rage Domain Emperor — do I take that as a refusal?” The Two-Faced King asked coolly, entirely unruffled.
“Even a fool would not accept a condition that ridiculous. Even if I joined forces with you and killed the Radiance Domain Emperor, you would be sitting on the mountain watching us tigers fight — you’d sweep up as the fisherman while we drowned. I saw through this cheap trick from the first breath. You want to bait me into your con? Dream on!” The Rage Domain Emperor bellowed, and even as he did, he ratcheted his energy up — blood-red halos boiled around him, coalescing into a terrifying, churning tidal sea of blood.
“Then, Radiance Domain Emperor — what are your thoughts? If you’d accept, we can join hands to eliminate the Rage Domain Emperor. Same terms. May the ancient gods above look on — we do not go back on our word, or may the divine curse fall on us!” The Two-Faced King, shameless, turned to the Radiance Domain Emperor next and asked.
“Do I look like a fool to you?” The Radiance Domain Emperor’s holy aura flared around him as he asked it back.
“Not particularly!” The Two-Faced King sighed a little.
“You’re right. I don’t. But I am one!” The Radiance Domain Emperor did not finish the sentence before he had condensed a light-orb blazing with sun-fierce authority and hurled it. It slammed into the Rage Domain Emperor’s forearms.
“Conspiring with a tiger for its skin — you’ll die with no grave to bury in.” The Rage Domain Emperor’s fury erupted. Instead of retreating, he pressed forward, forcing the light-orb back and driving it back at the Radiance Domain Emperor’s face.
“The one dying will be you. I already made a private agreement with the Solar King.” The Radiance Domain Emperor’s sneer came out coldly.
The Two-Faced King translated instantly. Flash-shifted into the fight.
Joined the Radiance Domain Emperor.
The two of them together bracketed the Rage Domain Emperor.
The rest — the Poet, the wild-tribe savage, the Fat Man, the white-bearded elder, the Hanged Man, the Dwarf — the Eight Generals — half-surrounded Yue Yang, Blue Wolf, and the surviving group. In their estimation, this bunch was very small fry. If necessary, their only purpose was as sacrifice-blood to open the Divine Codex’s passage. Otherwise they’d already be dead.
There was one exception in their handling: they treated the Titan Young Lord slightly differently.
He was the young lord of an Upper Realm great clan.
Best to erase him entirely, leave no trace behind — otherwise the fallout could easily follow them home. Before the Solar King had officially entered the Divine Codex, this young lord could not be killed. And with strength this low, killing him wasn’t necessary — he posed no threat.
Every surviving Sky-rank cultivator ducked into the interior world of the Star Realm Stone.
Outside, in the stone world, the Rage Domain Emperor, the Radiance Domain Emperor, and the Two-Faced King smashed the place into ruin.
Fortunately, however wrecked the outer stone world got, the inner space wasn’t experiencing so much as a ripple of the energy shock. It was, for now, a safe zone. The Star Realm Stone Gate at the entry was standing unmoved under wave after wave of world-ending energy blasts — utterly undamaged. This was the foundation of the stone world; until the stone world itself was destroyed, this gate would not fall.
Unlike everyone else — who was riveted on the outside fight and its outcome — the Freedom Queen was not paying attention to that at all. Her eyes were on the half-body divine form, and she was quietly weeping.
“Is she your mother?” Yue Yang asked, at approximately the worst possible moment.
“How could she possibly…” Ming Rihao didn’t wait for the Freedom Queen to answer — he almost passed out. How does his mind even work?
“Then why are you crying so hard?” Yue Yang, for his part, didn’t get it. A goddess had made a great “sacrifice” for the masses. You should be happy for her. Why cry? And so hard?
The Freedom Queen, for the first time in her life, felt the urge to strangle Yue Yang.
Bad enough sticking his nose in.
Not even allowed to cry now?
And guessing without a shred of context — really, this was too much!
Thankfully the Freedom Queen’s composure was extraordinarily good — kind and forgiving — she didn’t hold it against him. Otherwise, another person might well have flown at Yue Yang with murderous intent!
The Lion King and Golden Crown King, who had spoken earlier, still hadn’t physically shown themselves. However, Yue Yang — sharp-eyed as he was — suddenly noticed two “ordinary people” in ordinary clothing entering the space.
Ordinary to what degree?
Like roadside pebbles.
The kind of face you’d forget you’d ever seen. If these two stood in the middle of Greenvalley City’s main street, even Steward Ye and Gold-Tooth — men with photographic recall — would fail to place them. They gave off that specific quality of the passers-by you brushed shoulders with on the street, entirely unconnected to your life, entirely not worth noticing, and even if you had noticed them, you’d forget in the fastest possible time.
Most damning of all — their appearance, their dress, their build were, in fact, completely different from one another. But even with Yue Yang’s eyes, he still could not detect any difference between them.
Nothing anomalous.
Which was itself the biggest anomaly.
Because remember — Yue Yang possessed the Heavenly Eye of Wisdom, an eye that could see through the truth of anything in existence.
If even that eye could not distinguish these two “ordinary people” from each other, then even without saying it, no one else in the room could either…
Both men were of average height. Ordinary faces.
Clothing plain to the point of shabby.
Not a single feature you’d think twice about.
The sort of person who was less noticeable than a pebble by the roadside — the sort of person for whom you could stand on any street corner and point out a thousand indistinguishable duplicates.
And yet — these were the men who, precisely because they were so “ordinary,” were now walking with the natural ease of farmers heading down to their fields through a stone world where reality-shattering shock waves were flying in all directions, as though the energy waves from the domain emperors’ and the Two-Faced King’s fight simply weren’t there. When the other Sky-rank cultivators saw them, all of them stared in slack-jawed disbelief. Some of them, at the sight of these two not-ordinary “ordinary people,” actually fainted from fear.
Because in the hand of the man on the left, there was a person.
The Revenge Domain Emperor.
The Revenge Domain Emperor was no longer the composed, dominant figure who had lightly held Tianzhu and the others at bay outside. He was gravely wounded and unconscious… eyes shut, a caved-in impact-crater over his chest, all four limbs slack and drooping, eyes closed, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, sliding down his cheeks, striking the ground drop by drop.
Because of the entrance of these two ordinary people, the Rage Domain Emperor, the Radiance Domain Emperor, and the Two-Faced King all stopped fighting.
“Which of them is the Solar King?” Yue Yang’s face changed. He was quick to send Ming Rihao a private mind-to-mind. The Heavenly Eye of Wisdom, for the first time, could not see through an enemy’s true form.
“I don’t know!” Ming Rihao shook his head bitterly.
His whole body was trying to relax and was failing — every muscle was quietly locked and taut.
The aura he couldn’t quite fully suppress was pressing against Yue Yang’s Creation Domain, which was working to conceal him. If not for that, it would have leaked out already, and the enemy would have spotted, hidden inside this crowd, the true powerhouse — Ming Rihao. Ming Rihao was doubled over, head low, shoulders drawn up, and he had shut his own eyes tight — he did not dare look at the two “ordinary people” with his eyes, terrified that whichever of them was the Solar King would sense it and pick him out.
That the Solar King would come — this Yue Yang and Ming Rihao had already speculated.
What they had not remotely imagined —
Was that the Solar King would come this fast.
Nobody had made him aware of the party. Nobody had unmasked Ming Rihao. Why had the Solar King arrived this early?
Wasn’t he supposed to sail in leisurely once the Divine Codex passage was truly opened and the Rage and Radiance Domain Emperors had fought each other to a mutual dead end?
It was all wrong.
“Greetings, everyone. In truth, we came here today not wishing to prematurely disturb your affairs. It is only that we needed to fulfill the wish of a dear friend, and had no choice but to arrive ahead of time. If there is any inconvenience, we beg your indulgence.” The ordinary-looking man carrying the unconscious Revenge Domain Emperor by the hand offered this polite explanation to the room, apologized, and then — from where, no one saw — produced another man, gravely wounded and barely breathing, held in his hand the same way as the Revenge Domain Emperor.
“…” The others reacted little; they did not recognize the newcomer. But Yue Yang’s pupils contracted.
That barely-breathing man —
Was Dugu Changfeng — the Lone Wind young lord of the Lone Family, one of the Upper Heavenly Realm’s four great clans — the snake-hair demon man who had invited Yue Yang to the meeting at White River City.
Yue Yang’s gaze went cold in an instant.
Bitter as frost.
Now he understood. The one really doing the fishing wasn’t only him — it was also the master of the Sun God Palace. The Solar King.
This unassuming, terrifying man was, absolutely, the single largest — the largest, the largest — rival he had faced in his life… perhaps even more terrifying than Ji Wuri. Ji Wuri hadn’t fully clocked Yue Yang’s existence yet, but the Solar King had already surfaced at his feet, with the smug composure of the fisherman collecting his catch.
Where exactly did I show a crack?
That, Yue Yang could not yet reason out!
But of one thing he was certain: the Solar King wasn’t only here for the Divine Codex. He had his eye on Yue Yang personally.
(End of Chapter 964)