Chapter 1225: Three Troublemakers
Following the fall of the Sky Empire, the situation around the capital city remained chaotic for the next few days as the different invading empires swept through the place and devoured everything of value, while an increasing number of lone Soul Ascension Realm cultivators arrived and tried their best to get their hands on some of the treasures hidden around the capital city.
Although attempts like this were unsuccessful most of the time due to the invading empires working together to stop anyone else from taking what they had deemed to be theirs, a few lucky Soul Ascension Realm cultivators still managed to snatch away a few treasures every now and then.
Unfortunately for these Soul Ascension Realm cultivators, the most precious treasures and artifacts were still stored inside the capital itself. Meaning that the invading empires were still able to monopolize most of the resources left behind by the major powers of the Sky Empire.
However, this did not discourage these Soul Ascension Realm cultivators, as some of the smarter ones among them decided to leave the capital city and start searching for the hidden lairs of these major powers hidden across the territory of the Sky Empire.
Though it was harder for them to find these kinds of secret locations that had been set up to store treasures and artifacts to rebuild these major powers in case they encountered a disaster like the today, these Soul Ascension Realm cultivators still managed to see some success after a few weeks of scouring through the Sky Empire. Taking full advantage of the fact that the different invading empires were currently busy cleaning up the situation in the capital city and had no time to prevent them from doing what they wanted inside the now destroyed Sky Empire.
In the end, the only places that these Soul Ascension Realm cultivators didn't search through were the areas outside the core territory of the Sky Empire. Not just because the outer regions of the Sky Empire had nothing useful in it, but also because the outer regions still had fallen under the control of the different invading empires... And the only outer regions not under the control of these invading empires had fallen under the Star Shattering Sect's control.
Even if they weren't aware of the Star Shattering Sect before their arrival, they at least managed to learn that it was a sect with more than one Soul Ascension Realm cultivator watching over. More than enough to make them avoid the territory of the Star Shattering Sect and instead focus their search for hidden treasure vaults towards the core territory of the Sky Empire.
At the end of the day, this resulted in the territory of the Star Shattering Sect remaining peaceful as the Sky Empire that had stood tall for over ten thousand years collapsed.
It was during this period of chaos as everyone were scouring through the core territory of the collapsed Sky Empire for treasures, that three figures silently appeared in the sky above the capital city without any of the Soul Ascension Realm cultivators from the invading empires noticing them.
"Hmph! To think none of those three managed to hold on... How useless!"
Seeing the chaotic situation below and the dried blood covering large parts of the capital city, one of the three figures could not help frowning as he said this.
"Indeed, they should have found a way to hold on for a few days."
"Yeah... Now we ended up wasting our time coming here. Not only that, but we even had to pay that old man from the Explorer Union to teleport us closer to this place!"
Nodding their heads in agreement with what the first person said, the other two also weighed in on the situation.
During their short conversation, it became obvious that the three were none other than the people that the three cardinals had been waiting for during their last struggle above the capital city.
"Given that those three are already dead and our religions don't have any way to interfere in a situation regarding a border empire that has already collapsed, we should head back... But... I really don't like seeing these ants wantonly desecrating the sacred ground of my lord..." As the three people belonging to different religions were about to leave after learning that they had been too late, one of the three suddenly said this as he lifted his hand in the direction of the sacred ground belonging to the Order of the Sky God inside the capital city-
RUMBLEEE-!
And before the people currently in the process of robbing the place for anything of value had a chance to react, a massive hand covering the entire sacred ground appeared in the sky before descending towards the sacred ground-
BOOOOOM-!
Flattening the entire sacred ground while killing everyone inside of it. Including a handful of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators.
"Huh...?"
"Wha-!? What is happening!?"
"The sacred ground of the Order of the Sky God disappeared...?"
The cultivators who witnessed this scene, be it Soul Ascension Realm cultivators or ordinary Qi Condensation Realm cultivators who were still trying to cope with the recent fall of the Sky Empire, all of them felt an unknown sense of fear stemming from the depths of their souls as they saw the enormous hand descending from the sky. Akin to a mortal looking up at a god.
"Hehe, you really decided to move! You people from the Order of the Sky God are always so reckless... What if those old fellows come after you for acting out of hand in a border empire? Don't forget, this place falls under the management of the Blue Sea Empire!"
"Hmph! This place is no longer a border empire, but merely a chaotic region without anyone in charge of it. Did you forget that the little Sky Empire was destroyed? Even if the people from the Blue Sea Empire wants to cause trouble, there is nothing they can do about it!"
"This... Hm... Indeed! That works! Hehe, guess a little punishment towards those ants should be fine..."
RUUUMMBLLE-!
BOOOOOM-!
Not even a second after he finished saying this, two new hands similar to the last one appeared in the sky above the two remaining sacred grounds before descending and flattening the two other sacred grounds. Killing everyone inside, be it weaker Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators or powerful Soul Ascension Realm cultivators.
In a single instant, the number of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators under the invading empires had been reduced by more than fifteen. Instantly causing everyone inside the capital city to panic as the different invading empires still left with Soul Ascension Realm cultivators wasted no time in retreating from the capital before rushing back towards their own territory. None of them dared to stay inside the capital city for a second longer, as the losses they had incurred from the three massive hands that had descended from the sky were enough to leave their empires unable to do anything for the next few thousand years.
In a more unfortunate situation where the strongest ancestor of a certain empire had appeared to rob one of the sacred grounds personally for his empire, the empire in question was left in a state worse than the Onyx Empire that had already retreated all of its forces back into its borders in preparation for a possible attack from these invading empires.
Considering everything that had happened and how much these invading empires had lost in a matter of a few seconds; it was unlikely that any of them had the energy to spare when it came to invading the Onyx Empire.
Instead, it was more likely that they would give up the territory that they had conquered in the Sky Empire and focus all of their strength on defending themselves from possible attacks from their neighbors. After all, there was no small number of Soul Ascension Realm cultivators not belonging to the invading empires observing the situation taking place in the capital city. Meaning it would be impossible to prevent information about what had happened from spreading.
"Hehe, looks like things are going to become quite chaotic in this place over the next few years." Observing the escaping Soul Ascension Realm cultivators belonging to the invading empires and knowing how bad their future days would get after information of what had happened spread, the person among the three who struck out first to flatten the sacred ground under the Order of the Sky God, could not help laughing happily to himself-
Rumble~
However, before he could finish laughing at the situation of the invading empires, a terrifying divine sense spread swept over the three of them.
"Oh?" Feeling the terrifying divine sense, the person from the Order of the Sky God could not help briefly narrowing his eyes. "Looks like we were detected by one of the border guards from the Blue Sea Empire. Let's leave before things get troublesome!"
"Good idea!"
"Just what I wanted to say, I really don't want to wait for one of their ancestors to show up an punish us..."
Hearing what he said, the other two didn't hesitate, as all three of them soon disappeared from the scene before the owner of the terrifying divine sense had a chance to rush over and stop them.t