709 Calm before the Storm

One day after another passed in Zhaixing House. Mu Chuan and Chen Yuan looked up at the person dressed in white at the top of Zhaixing House. Mu Chuan then said, "He has been doing nothing but training these days. I wonder what's going on in his head?"

Chen Yuan shook his head. Ye Futian seemed to be in a never-ending trance since the day he started training in Zhaixing House, without talking to anyone nor sleeping. Even Chen Yuan had no idea what was going on in Ye Futian's mind. But it was apparent that Ye Futian had no intentions of leaving the Barren State, or he would have left already.

Hua Jieyu was also looking at Ye Futian from another direction. She had no idea what was going on in Ye Futian's mind, but she nonetheless was able to relate to how Ye Futian felt. She knew Ye Futian too well, which meant she knew what his character was like, as well as what his Third Brother meant to him. That figure who stood before him and defended him back in Eastern Barren Territory held an extremely significant place in his mind. Yet, his Third Brother had now gone to the Holy Zhi Palace, and it was probably a trip he would never return from.

Ye Futian closed his eyes on top of the mountain. Mystical energies filled his surroundings, making the entire space indescribably heavy. His eyes popped wide open all of a sudden. Tiny, broken stones rose from the ground before him. However, each and every stone seemed to have been imbued with the power of rules, and they all grew incredibly heavy, covered with a layer of light of rules as if they were shining stars. A flash shot out from his eyes, and in a split second, every single piece of those stones shot at a peak far away at breakneck speed.

Boom... A thunderous rumble was heard as the peak crumbled before him.

The rumble traveled all the way to the top of Zhaixing House. That bombarded peak exploded violently, with half of it gone when the dust settled. Many below turned their head up to look at the top of Zhaixing House. It was not a place anyone could have simply gone up to, and everyone wondered what was happening, seeing the peak being blasted to pieces.

Who is training up there? Mu Chuan and Chen Yuan had their eyes thrown wide open, before turning to look at each other in shock.

"The power of rules of the stars. The Zhaixing House and the Starry School were of the same lineage, where all learned to master the power of the stars laid down by the saint. Ye Futian has now mastered the power of rules of the stars. What do you have more to say, old fellow?" Chen Yuan said.

"Too bad that the timing is rather off." Mu Chuan sighed. He had to acknowledge Ye Futian's talents now. Or rather, he was forced to when he witnessed what Ye Futian was capable of back in the Law Battles.

Ye Futian had come to develop the use of the power of rules of the stars, a territory of sages when he was still a noble. Furthermore, it seemed to be a very, very mature one. It was anyone's guess if he had killed Zhan Xiao back then using the power of rules of the stars.

"Shouldn't he rest for a bit?" Chen Yuan looked at Ye Futian and said. The young man was seen standing up, then headed to the edge of the sky above the Zhaixing House. He turned his attention to where they were and said, "Headmaster, Chief Mu, it's time for me to leave."

"Where are you going?" Chen Yuan stared at Ye Futian and asked. So he finally has an answer now, huh?

"Crouching Dragon Mountain," Ye Futian answered.

"You'd be walking to your death if you did that," Chen Yuan said as he looked at Ye Futian. Regardless of how talented Ye Futian was, as well as the fact that he had come to comprehend the power of rules and killed Zhan Xiao, all that hardly mattered now.

"I will leave Zhaixing House, and then Senior Yuan Hong will come pick me up as to not drag the chief into this." With things as they were then, there was no way he would have simply left on his own. If someone were to see him and went after him, he would have been taken down before he was even able to reach Crouching Dragon Mountain.

"You've been recuperating here at Zhaixing House. If you were to head back, do you really think no one would notice?" Mu Chuan looked at Ye Futian and said, "I won't stop you if you want to head back to Crouching Dragon Mountain. Just wait for Yuan Hong to pick you up. People from those two sacred grounds won't come after Zhaixing House just because I let you stay around."

Ye Futian glanced at Mu Chuan and found his words reasonable. So long as Zhaixing House did not get involved in this, people of those two sacred grounds would not have stooped so low as to go against Zhaixing House.

The Black Wind Condor guided Yuan Hong to Zhaixing House several days later, picking up Ye Futian and leaving. Chen Yuan left with them as well.

The Barren State was shaken to the core that day when Ye Futian made it back to Crouching Dragon Mountain. Everyone knew that Ye Futian, who had disappeared for a while, was back on Crouching Dragon Mountain. Both the Holy Zhi Palace and Zhisheng Cliffs were looking for him.

Ye Futian went straight to see Zhuge Qingfeng and Zhuge Mingyue as soon as he returned to Crouching Dragon Mountain. Zhuge Mingyue smiled when she saw him, yet her smile was one no longer as composed as it used to be. At the moment, Gu Dongliu had gone to the Holy Zhi Palace and Ye Futian had returned.

"Why do you need to do this? Your Third Brother has decided to give himself up. What are you returning here for?" Zhuge Qingfeng looked at Ye Futian and said.

"Third Brother did intend to give himself up, but Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace still have no intentions of letting me walk, no?" Ye Futian added, "If I just walk away like that, would peace return to the Zhuge family and Taihang Mountain?" Despite having returned, the people of Zhisheng Cliffs did not do anything themselves; they had the Holy Zhi Palace do the dirty work instead. But then again, with Zhan Xiao dead and Kong Yao having suffered losses in two battles, there was no way Zhisheng Cliffs would not have come prepared.

Ye Futian thought as much himself. The people of Zhisheng Cliffs took themselves to be outside the loop, watching the show and whatever was going to happen from outside in a jesting manner.

Zhuge Qingfeng, of course, knew what Ye Futian meant. He looked at Ye Futian silently and said, "But what can you change coming back here?"

"The worst outcome from all of this would be to quell the rage of both Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace before we got more people into this." Ye Futian turned to Zhuge Qingfeng and said, "What is the Holy Zhi Palace's stance in all of this?"

Ye Futian felt heavy inside. While the Holy Zhi Palace did try to stop him at White Cloud City, he did not wish for the Holy Zhi Palace to get more involved. However, the Holy Zhi Palace had become totally involved, shattering their very last hope.

"How much can the stance of the Holy Zhi Palace change from what it was before?" Zhuge Qingfeng then added, "They do not wish to see the Barren State in chaos and the power of the state diminished. Their actions of taking down both Gu Dongliu and you for Zhisheng Cliffs were done so to quell Zhisheng Cliff's anger, so as to prevent that anger from spreading to the Zhuge family and Taihang Mountain."

"So that is to say that the Holy Zhi Palace still has a line they wouldn't cross then." Ye Futian said casually, "Is there really no other way around this?"

"Both Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace are now standing at the same side. How are we going to do anything about this? Things would be in our favor if the entire Barren State were to be on your side. But even so, if Zhisheng Cliffs insisted on taking you in, so there is still little anyone can do to stop that," Zhuge Qingfeng said and sighed. "The only one who would be able to break through such a deadlock is the Holy Zhi Palace." He felt rather despaired as he said so. Even a figure ranked sixth on the Barren Sky Ranking was still capable of feeling despair.

"Only they can break through this, huh?" Ye Futian looked up at the sky and asked, "Any news about Third Brother?"

"None," Zhuge Qingfeng shook his head and answered.

"If someone from the Holy Zhi Palace came, please tell them this, uncle: if Third Brother is still safe inside the Holy Zhi Palace, I will then head for the Holy Zhi Palace within the month," Ye Futian said and turned around to leave.

Zhuge Qingfeng looked at Ye Futian leaving. He has still decided to surrender himself to the Holy Zhi Palace, then. Adamant and without regret, just like his Third Brother.

Too bad that it would be a trip he would never return from.

Someone from the Holy Zhi Palace soon came to the Zhuge family estate to take Ye Futian, and Zhuge Qingfeng told them what he had been told. The people of the Holy Zhi Palace left. A month's time was not long, and both them and Zhisheng Cliffs had at least that much time to spare. The Holy Zhi Palace had no intentions of waging a war, and Kong Yao from Zhisheng Cliffs was in no hurry. If Ye Futian had given his word, then all they had to do was wait.

The news spread throughout the entire Barren State and everyone sighed. Even top-class geniuses like Gu Dongliu and Ye Futian were unable to escape? Both of them eventually had to surrender themselves.

Barren State turned quiet after the news was out. There was nothing going on. It was as if everyone was waiting as well.

Ye Futian entered the Holy Zhi Palace within the month. Everything turned quiet on that day, unlike the two great battles which yielded no results before. A great battle could have broken out for the third time, or things would have simply ended quietly.

…

City Lord Office of Alchemy City.

Xue Ye and Luo Fan kept standing right outside You Chi's bedchambers. You Xi held her baby in the bedchambers; a daughter born from her and Xue Ye. Despite the great event of the daughter of the city giving birth to a baby girl, there were no celebrations of any kind to be had. The reason of which was all too obvious to everyone from the City Lord Office.

You Chi looked at his daughter and then his granddaughter before turning around to glare at Xue Ye. He said, "I'd have refused to have the wedding go on if I knew all of this would happen."

"Is there any point saying all that now?" You Xi said gently as she looked at her daughter.

"I even lent the divine implement to Ye Futian. Haven't I done enough? With both Zhisheng Cliffs and the Holy Zhi Palace in this, what can I, the boss of Alchemy City, do? And there is still that thing with the Emperor family," You Chi yapped away feeling very displeased.

"What are you telling me all of this for?" You Xi's voice was just as gentle.

"Daughters indeed don't side with their daddies when they've grown up," You Chi said feeling very frustrated. "If they like standing around so much, let them stand all they want. I'm not yielding to anything."

Xue Ye and Luo Fan remained standing outside as if they had heard nothing.

You Chi, the one who ranked eighth on the Barren Sky Ranking, City Lord of Alchemy City, and in possession of a divine implement. If he had gotten himself involved in this, he might have been able to change the course of the outcome. At the very least, he would have been able to do something to affect how things were now.

…

West Mountain Dragon clan, Divine Sky City, Eastern region of Barren State.

A girl, 18 or 19, was seen yelling in some corner of the estate, "I want to go look for Brother Futian at Crouching Dragon Mountain."

"Do you intend to walk to your death?" Long Ao glared at her daughter and said.

"I don't care." Long Ling'er shouted, "Uncle will protect me."

"Ling'er, stop kicking up a fuss," Madam Long tried to persuade her. It was not that they did not want to help Ye Futian; it was simply that things at hand were simply too great for them to be able to do anything. It was Madam Long who recommended Ye Futian to the Starry School. She had admired Ye Futian all that time. If Ye Futian was unable to survive this ordeal, then it was simply because fate was against him.

At the moment, there were many things happening with many forces throughout the Barren State other than just Alchemy City and West Mountain, and all of them had to do with Ye Futian one way or another.

A noble capable of moving all forces throughout the entire Barren State, there was probably no other like him. Bai Luli was probably the only one who had such influence before Ye Futian came into the picture.