Chapter 1222.2: Fall of the Sky Empire (Part 2)

"Indeed, they won't be able to hold on for that much longer and will soon be forced to escape if they still want to keep their life." Appearing behind the emperor of the Sky Empire, an old man that seemed to be having a difficult time standing up straight quietly said this as he similarly looked at the battle taking place above the sky of the capital city.

"Ancestor! You shouldn't be moving around like this in your current state!" Seeing the old man, the emperor of the Sky Empire instantly panicked as he rushed over to support the old man. At the same time giving away the fact that the frail looking old man was none other than the old ancestor of the Sky Empire's imperial family, a powerful cultivator at the Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm.

Different from his past awe-inspiring image deserving of a powerful ancestor at the Soul Ascension Realm, his current state looked no different than a mortal in his twilight years.

"Hmph! You little brat, you don't need to worry about me, I'm just here to see how the empire I founded is going to end." Pushing away the emperor, the old ancestor of the imperial family walked up to the artifact showing the fight taking place between the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators from the invading empires and the three cardinals from the three major religions.

"Hehe, those three archived their dream of taking control of my empire after so long, but none of them have the strength to intimidate those outsiders! Haha, it really feels great to see them being beaten to death by those outsiders!" Laughing happily to himself as he saw the desperate situation of the three cardinals, the old ancestor of the imperial family could not help feeling happy knowing that his empire wouldn't end up in the hands of those three.

"But if those three lose, the territory of our Sky Empire will be divided up by the invading empires. If we want to rebuild the Sky Empire in the future, it will be far harder than-"

"Don't worry about it, we managed to escape with the majority of the family and didn't lose much of our strength. After I recover my strength again, it won't be hard for our family to establish a new empire. Even if we start out with a smaller territory compared to the past, we can always expand when we have enough strength." Interrupting the emperor of a soon to be fallen empire, the old ancestor reassured him that there wasn't anything to worry about.

Indeed, even thought the imperial family of the Sky Empire had lost all of their territory and were forced to hide away while their ancestor recovered, they didn't lose any of their Soul Ascension Realm cultivators... And with the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators of the imperial family still around, the imperial family of the Sky Empire had a chance to rise again in the future.

"I understand..." Knowing that his ancestor spoke the truth, the emperor reluctantly nodded his head.

Although what his ancestor said was indeed the truth, he also understood that it would take thousands of years for the Sky Empire to be rebuilt from scratch. Possibly even longer considering that they would also have to deal with the pressure of the surrounding empire who didn't want to see the rebirth of the Sky Empire.

Maybe we should start in the outer parts of the continent where there is less competition before working our back towards the core region...

Thinking this to himself as he began to silently plan how to reestablish the Sky Empire after the recovery of his ancestor, the emperor of the Sky Empire turned his attention back towards the image of the fight above the capital city projected by the artifact. Curious about whether or not the three cardinals had the ability to escape from the encirclement that had formed around the capital city.

After all, compared to the weaker Soul Ascension Realm cultivators who didn't pose much of a threat to the invading empires, the three cardinals were different.

Not only were they more powerful, but they also might establish a new branch of their religion in the future and target their empire.

Though this did not happen often, as most of the people who failed to protect the branch they were in charge of and escaped by themselves were dealt by the higher ups of the religion and never appeared again, none of the invading empires wanted to take the chance. Planning to eliminate them and prevent future problems.

However, contrary to what the emperor from the Sky Empire and the other experts observing the struggle of the three cardinals thought would happen, the three cardinals didn't escape after the three-day mark and instead continued staying above the capital city of the Sky Empire. Using all of their strength in holding back the large number of First Tribulation Realm Soul Ascension Realm cultivators attacking them.

Of course, this didn't come without problems, as all three of them began to grow weaker. Having a harder time facing off against the five Soul Ascension Realm cultivators who attacked them only to be interrupted when one of them ran out of energy and was replaced by another Soul Ascension Realm cultivator waiting on the side.

Holding off against this kind of attack for three days straight was the limit for the two cardinals who had managed to reach the Peak of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm with their divine technique if they still wanted to stand a chance of escaping the capital city. Meaning that they had essentially given up their path of escape to continue trying to hold on for a few days longer.

At the same time, though the third cardinal was stronger and could delay escaping for a few more days, it became obvious that he had no intention of doing so in the eye of the observing Soul Ascension Realm cultivators after seeing the actions of the two weaker cardinals.

"What are they planning? Do they perhaps want to fight to the death defending their branch?"

"Fight to the death? Hmph! I doubt it, they should be planning something..."

"Planning something? What could they be planning?"

"Yeah, there isn't much those three can do with all of us here."

As the stronger Soul Ascension Realm cultivators realized that the three cardinals had no intention of running away and instead seemed to be dragging things out, they couldn't help hesitating on what to do.

Part of the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators thought that they might be secretly planning something and decided to play it safe and observe the situation first, while another part of the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators just thought the three wanted to fight to the death defending their branch. After all, it wasn't uncommon for something like that to happen when it came to religions. At the same time, it was also during moments like this that they would be the most dangerous.

In the end, both sides of the observing Soul Ascension Realm cultivators were unwilling to interfere with the fight between the three cardinals and the weaker Soul Ascension Realm cultivators, some of the fearing that they might walk into a trap, while the other part feared dealing with a crazy zealot on the brink of death.

The destruction of the Sky Empire that seemed to be just around the corner inevitably ended up dragging on for another two days before the two weaker cardinals who had managed to reach the Peak of the Second Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm couldn't hold on any longer and were unable to fully defend themselves against the continues barrage of attacks-

"Aaaah-!"

Ultimately resulting in the cardinal belonging to the Cult of the Scarlet Moon being cut down. Instantly increasing the pressure on the other two, as the five Soul Ascension Realm cultivators joined the other two groups in dealing with the remaining two cardinals.

"Ah! Damn it all!"

FWOOOOSH-!

Knowing very well that he had no way to hold on for any longer after seeing three of the five Soul Ascension Realm cultivators who had just killed the cardinal from the Cult of the Scarlet Moon, the cardinal, who was a Follower of the Fire God, cursed loudly before his entire body transformed into a giant flame that directly swallowed the five nearby Soul Ascension Realm cultivators-

"Get back! He's go- Ahhh!"

"Nooo!"

"Don't- Ahh-!"

Giving the five no chance to react as all of them were engulfed by the flame. Killing them before they had a chance to resist. Instantly causing the remaining Soul Ascension Realm cultivators present to freeze on the spot as they looked in the direction where the cardinal who was a Follower of the Fire God had once been.

In a single instant, he had used some kind of self-destruction technique to incinerate the body and souls of five Soul Ascension Realm cultivators. Killing them before they had a chance to fight back, while at the same time killing himself in the process!