Chapter 122
A quiet yet tense atmosphere hovered over the Xia Empire for the next following days as more and more flying artifacts entered the eerie gray skies above the capital.
“They should be starting soon,” Zhao Xieren said as she looked outside the window towards the noble district.
“Yes, we’ll know what will happen soon,” Qian Yu said.
Silently, everyone waited for the day to pass by.
In a large open area in the centermost part of the capital, a thousand or so people, in small groups of 4 or 5, were seen. Some sat in regular chairs, others in their flying artifacts, and a few were standing.
“Silence, silence!” A man yelled out, calming down the chaotic field. He was oddly out of place, as the only man without a group of others besides him. Furthermore, he was in the center of everyone.
“Thank you, overseer from the World Congress,” a middle aged but tired voice rang out.
“It is nothing, emperor of Xia,” the man replied.
“Very well, let us begin,” the overseer announced, seeing that peace had been achieved.
“What is there to talk about? It must be the Xia Empire’s fault!” a large man with thick metal armor said.
A large commotion arose as the man spoke.
“Ambassador of the Chen Empire! Do not sprout such nonsense!” The Xia Emperor roared.
“Nonsense?” How is this nonsense? Our crown prince died and many of our elites and geniuses were killed. Do you think I’m joking?” The Chen Empire ambassador gripped his fists.
“His majesty has also expressed the same opinion. While many of our own representatives from the Yuan Empire died, Xia Shuren managed to live. He was also the one who organized everything,” a green robed man said.
“Y-you! Are you saying my son is the culprit who planned all this!?” Veins appeared on the Xia Emperor’s head as he pointed at the green robed ambassador from the Yuan Empire.
“That is what we believe. We believe those assassins were sent by Xia Shuren,” the Yuan Empire ambassador sternly replied.
“How else could over 300 assassins in the Martial Fighter realm enter the private territory and be so successful? Much less them being able to run away and disappear without a trace after their attacks,” the Yuan Empire ambassador continued.
“There is no evidence that we are connected with those assassins. They were all Martial Fighters cultivating sky grade cultivation techniques or lower. Their identities are untraceable!” the Xia Empire retorted.
“That is besides the point. The matter at hand is that it happened under the control of the Xia Empire in the Xia Capital and it is therefore the fault of the Xia Empire,” the Yuan Empire ambassador said.
“You…” the Xia Emperor was at a loss for words. Indeed, if they had better security, this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.
“Fine, that is true. We are at fault for letting this occur but it does not mean we planned this,” the Xia Emperor sighed.
“What matters now is not the past but the present,” the Chen Empire ambassador started talking again.
“What do you mean by that? What do you want?” the Xia Emperor turned his attention towards the other ambassador.
“It’s simple. Blood for blood, life for life,” the Chen Empire ambassador said.
*Bam!* The Xia Emperor punched the table in front of him as he stood up.
“YOU WANT MY SON’S LIFE?” a howl rang through the capital.
“That will clear us of our suspicions. Additionally, there is also the princess from the Jiang Empire as well,” the Chen Empire ambassador added on.
“YOU DARE?” A 4th voice resounded out.
“Hmph, it is also suspicious that Jiang Wuying managed to survive as well,” the Chen Empire ambassador said to the Jiang Empire ambassador.
“Our princess has already suffered enough. You are clearly out of your mind,” the Jiang Empire ambassador took a deep breath and calmed down.
“Well, if you guys don’t want to agree… we won’t hesitate to get our revenge through waging war on both your countries,” the Chen Empire ambassador said.
“War?” “A war?” The commotion suddenly became louder than ever as expressions of surprise could be seen almost everywhere.
“We also hold the same determination,” the Yuan Empire ambassador said calmly as if they had already expected it.
“War? You guys must be crazy!” the Xia Empire said.
“The Southern Ice Continent has been peaceful for the last hundreds of thousands and now you want to change this?” the Jiang Empire ambassador stated.
“So what? Are we meant to take this lying down? This is an insult to our honor and country!” the Chen Empire ambassador replied.
“There are naturally other ways we could solve this,” the Xia Emperor tried to reason with them.
“The lives of those who died cannot be simply measured like that,” the Chen Empire ambassador shook his head.
“It’s simple. Either the lives of those from the banquet who survived or we will proceed with war,” the Yuan Empire ambassador said.
“Y-you!” the Jiang Empire ambassador was enraged again.
Veins appeared on the Xia Emperor’s forehead as he heard the requests. He loved his son and had groomed him with all his heart. He could never agree to their demands, and they knew that he would never too.
“Fine, if it’s war you want, then so be it!” the Xia Emperor yelled as he gave in. There were too many suspicious things. Tensions had already been high between the countries with the recent discovery of the spirit vein and now, there was the sudden decisiveness for war from the Yuan and Chen Empire. Furthermore, there was still the matter of the banquet. It had only been a few days and they barely had any time to investigate the matter. Alas, if other countries wanted to invade his country, he couldn’t just sit back.
“Your majesty!” the Jiang Empire ambassador looked at the Xia Emperor.
“... very well, I will inform the Jiang Emperor then,” the Jiang Empire ambassador sighed.
Meanwhile, the overseer had been silent as he observed everything. Yet a sigh was released from his mouth as the gathering continued. ‘A war? At a time like this? I must inform the congress and have them stop this war as soon as possible,’ he gripped his fists.
The news swept through the Xia capital quickly before spreading through the rest of the country and then the continent.
In the year 816 of the 4th era, the Yuan and Chen Empires had created an alliance and declared war on the Jiang and Xia Empire who had created their own alliance.
Gloomy expressions hung on the faces of Qian Yu and the four girls as they quietly thought to themselves.
‘A war huh…’ Qian Yu sighed. A mixture of feelings had already swept his body. He was inexperienced and had no clue what to expect from a war but if one thing was sure, he knew there would be a lot of deaths and destruction.
“Do you two plan to fight? If you guys don’t, we could always leave the continent,” Bai Jia broke the silence as she looked at Qian Yu and Zhao Xieren.
“I could always provide asylum for you guys,” Bai Jia said. With the country going to war, sects naturally sent out their own disciples to protect the country. Failing to do so would be seen as betraying the sect and country which would also mean losing their identities.
“Or you can just go rogue like me. It’s not something you're not used to,” Sun Hong quietly said.
The two stayed quiet for a while before Zhao Xieren first spoke up, “I’ve lived here all my life… I want to protect it.”
Qian Yu on the other hand, continued to stare into the ceiling, unsure of his decision.
He wasn’t like Zhao Xieren who had strong attachments such as her heritage and family. But, he still had attachments towards the people and important memories here. It was his home and he had pretty much stayed here his whole life.
Yet Zhao Xieren’s voice stirred him forward more. Naturally, if she wanted to fight, he couldn’t just abandon her and let her go to the frontlines on her own.
However, a guilty expression appeared on his face as he looked at the girls. Besides Zhao Xieren, none of the other three were from the Xia Empire and he had to take in their considerations as well.
Noticing Qian Yu’s face, Zhen Yue worriedly said, “Master… it’s okay, just do whatever you want.”
“Yes, don’t worry about us,” Sun Hong continued.
“We’ll support whatever you want to do,” Bai Jia added.
“Y-you three…” Qian Yu muttered.
“Then, like Zhao Xieren, I want to help protect our country as well,” a sudden sense of patriotism filled Qian Yu as he made up his mind.
“If that is what you’ve decided then we won’t say no more,” Bai Jia smiled.
“Well, now that we’ve decided, shall we go out and get something to eat,” Qian Yu smiled, tired of the depressing atmosphere.
‘Yes that sounds like a great idea!’ Tian Xinyi suddenly appeared and jumped on his head.
“All you think about is food!” Qian Yu laughed.
‘Hmph! Of course, food is the best!’ she playfully jumped around.
Slowly, smiles appeared on the girls' faces as they saw Tian Xinyi.
A lone man stood atop a tall mountain as he looked at the Xia Capital. With a large tattered brown robe, he looked to be a beggar, a scary one however, if one saw his face. He had a short trim of gray hair with a few wrinkles on his face but his eyes portrayed a crazy light as his right eye moved around randomly.
He opened his arms upwards as a craze laugh rang throughout the silent white mountain, “Oh Great One! Let us welcome forward the new era!”
[End of Volume 3]
Author’s Note: Alright, I did say we would go to 3 chapters a week for this month but I need some time for some input about the progression so next chapter will be on Friday. Following that, it’ll return to Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Anyways, let me know what you guys think about this volume like always :3
Won’t say too much about the next volume but it’ll have a pretty different focus than this one. Next chapter on Friday. Map of the world will also be posted around then.