Chapter 1713: Dark Clouds
The voices within the Northern Divine Region intensified as multiple auras of darkness surged in fury and passion. Gradually space itself began to tremble, causing the dark clouds overhead to roil in the skies above.
Yun Che raised his head, watching the dark clouds that were shaken into roiling yet again. He lifted his hands as his devilish voice covered the world. "Since this Devil Master has already inherited both the power and will of a Devil Emperor, how could I possibly allow this dark land to be bullied and humiliated?"
"If we concede today, it will be the shame of multiple generations."
"A million years is enough. We will make the Eastern Divine Region pay this time! We will let them pay for the humiliation every one of us has suffered for one million years!"
Yun Che's words couldn't be disobeyed, but nobody wanted to disobey them anyway. His supreme devilish mandate deeply engraved itself into the souls of every Northern Region profound practitioner.
As the supreme Devil Master of the Northern Divine Region, what he had declared was the Northern Divine Region's official proclamation... This land of darkness that had been sealed and suppressed for one million years had at last taken its first real step against fate.
While the Northern Divine Region had been silent for those million years, the world thought that this was their fate. The denizens themselves had also become accustomed and resigned to it as well. Regardless of whether they were qualified to stage a resistance, the mere idea had long been whittled away by the sheer length of their extensive dark history.
Yet behind that silence was a backlog of pent-up feelings.
If hope and opportunity truly appeared before them, then it would only take a small spark to incite their fury and set their blood aflame.
When the smothered anger and hatred accumulated throughout every passing generation was finally introduced to the breaking of their shackles and the hope of reversing their fate, the eruption of battlelust triggered afterwards would be unimaginable.
This very day, this very moment, each word said by the Devil Master's world-encompassing devilish voice would be firmly engraved into the Northern Divine Region's history. As for the Northern Divine Region's countless dark profound practitioners, they had become both witnesses and participants to a part of that history.
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The Northern Divine Region's widespread projections had disappeared but they left behind many with frenzied boiling blood who wished to fight right away, and that fervor lasted for a long time. They all charged into their sects, clans, and households... facing the possibility of going against fate, personal grudges and factional hostilities were no longer important. Even death had become something that could no longer induce fear.
If they were able to alter the Northern Divine Region's million year old fate with their blood as the sacrifice, there was no doubt that such glory would forever pass on to the later generations.
In the Soul Stealing Sacred Region, the various star realms had all quickly dispersed. The three king realms lead the upper star realms, causing the upper star realms to lead the middle star realms, and the middle star realms the lower.
Led by their own realm king's sect, all Northern Region profound practitioners who wished to participate in the battle to reverse their fate were gathering in a momentous fashion and shifting southward... The speed at which they mobilized was inconceivable.
They had not forgotten their huge advantage, however. Their escape route was solid!
If one was not a dark profound practitioner, they would not be able to enter the depths of the Northern Divine Region, nor could they stay for long. No matter the result of this war, they could retreat at any time... The family and children they wished to protect didn't have to worry about getting drawn into this grand war of fate reversal either.
Thus, those willing participants had no misgivings and were free of hesitation.
Every realm within the Northern Divine Region was swept up in a chaotic maelstrom of profound energy and the space above them faintly trembled. As their rage persisted, the rising eagerness to fight and their roused determination spread through every inch of the land. Instead of settling down, there was no end in sight to those thoughts as they escalated with each passing second.
One million years, it had been a whole one million years! The eternal darkness was finally descending upon the light so there was no reason to stay silent anymore.
"Of the forty thousand star realms in the God Realm, the Eastern Divine Region occupies nine thousand of them. Among these nine thousand star realms, there are close to five hundred upper star realms. Ignoring the king realms and the huge number of middle star realms, just those upper star realms alone would be a terrible force if they were to band together against a common enemy."
The Northern Divine Region shook as all of its star realms were swiftly gathering their forces. Inside the Soul Stealing Sacred Region, the Northern Divine Region's leaders were making their final arrangements.
"So our first move has to be quick. It's best to not give the Eastern Divine Region any time to react or even have the chance to detect the danger." Qianye Ying'er continued, "The three strongest upper star realms in the Eastern Region are Holy Eaves, Glazed Light, and Shrouding Sky."
"Especially the Holy Eaves Realm, it has the level nine Divine Master Luo Guxie, level eight Divine Master Luo Shangchen, level seven Divine Master Luo Changsheng, and its sect also has an extremely deep foundation. It is the greatest threat below the king realms."
"Additionally, the 'Three Millennia in Eternal Heaven' has directly given the Eastern Divine Region nineteen more Divine Masters and more than seven hundred Divine Sovereigns. Hmph! Those trash didn't bother to move at all during the crimson calamity incident but now they've actually become trouble for us."
"If we fight them outright, we obviously wouldn't be their match." There was not the slightest hint of worry on Chi Wuyao's charming face.
"Our first step isn't to destroy their forces, but to... destroy their faith."
"What would you do after?" Qianye Ying'er shot her a glance. "The same as before?"
"No." Chi Wuyao lightly smiled. "Just showing a Profound Imagery Stone projection is too slow and much too out of the way. A direct announcement is the simplest and most efficient method."
She stretched out a finger and looked at the dim light above her fingertips as her beautiful eyes bent into crescents. "The human heart is a thing that is easy to manipulate and sway as long as they 'see it with their own eyes'... am I right?"
The darkness in the Northern Divine Region surged and if the distant star regions were to look over, they would see numerous streaks of dark shadows moving toward what was originally the most empty space, toward the southern realm closest to the other three divine regions.
Due to the dark barrier and the information lockdown, the Northern Divine Region still seemed as tranquil as before, off the radar.
In the Snow Song Realm, the Eastern Divine Region's northern realm closest to the Northern Divine Region.
After the profound beast riot in the south concluded with the Azure Snow Ice Qilin fearfully taking the initiative to swear an oath of allegiance, the previously restless profound beasts had also soon become especially well-behaved, no longer daring to show the tiniest hint of unruliness.
It seemed like they too had also been frightened off by something.
These days, Mu Bingyun would frequently visit the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake and talk to her sister about recent events. When she was about to leave, she suddenly heard an incredibly muffled explosion.
She turned her head toward its source and her icy pupils slightly contracted.
It was unknown when it happened, but the northern skies had become a field of dusk.
This darkness also continued to spread, as if it wanted to swallow the entire firmament, and was also accompanied by a stifling dark pressure.
A large number of profound practitioners in many of Eastern Divine Region's northernmost star realms were looking northward. The horrifying sight they were seeing in the distant north was a terrifying devilish might.
"What... is that!?"
"Could it be the darkness mist released by the Northern Divine Region?"
"Wait! That's... a projection!?"
A dim star region slowly emerged inside the dark mist pervading the north. Within that star realm were innumerable flying fragments of a star realm which neatly described that it had recently been destroyed.
"Eastern Divine Region, Eternal Heaven Realm!" A deep, gloomy, and angry voice enveloped the north. This was the voice of Yama Emperor Yan Tianxiao projected by his unparalleled god emperor might which instantly pierced through millions of miles. "As a king realm of the Eastern Region, you've actually used the power of the Great Void Cauldron to destroy three innocent star realms in my North Region due to a personal grudge!"
"This crime is unforgivable!"
The Eastern Region profound practitioners gazing at the dark northern sky had all been struck dumb. At this time, the projection changed and the Great Void Cauldron was seen in the dark star region... There was a brief period of dead silence until the profound practitioners woke up from their reverie and took out their various Profound Imagery Stones to record the voice and projection that came from the northern devil region.
"My Northern Region has always been willing to stay within the darkness since time immemorial but do you all really think that you can bully us however you like?!"
The projection changed yet again. This time, it displayed the father and son duo that had stepped into the Northern Divine Region. However, when this scene flashed by, it did not reveal the reason why Zhou Xuzi brought Zhou Qingchen there.
Even so, just the fact that the Eternal Heaven God Emperor had appeared in the Northern Divine Region was enough to cause a huge commotion.
When the scene changed once more, what materialized was the fleeing Eternal Heaven God Emperor and Honorable Tai Yu, as well as the poisonous pledge said by the Eternal Heaven God Emperor to gather Eternal Heaven, and even the entire God Realm to destroy the Northern Divine Region.
Each word spouted by that malicious voice overflowed with hatred, making its listeners doubt that it had actually come from the Eternal Heaven God Emperor... In the eyes of the world, he was the most gentle and refined god emperor who was as impartial as a saint.
"Eternal Heaven God Emperor Zhou Xuzi, on behalf of my Devil Master, in the name of the Northern Region, I order you to kill yourself within seven days time to atone for your sins to our Northern Divine Region! Otherwise, with the rage instilled in our Northern Divine Region, we will make your Eternal Heaven Realm... make the entire Eastern Divine Region pay ten thousand-fold!"
When Yan Tianxiao's voice fell, the darkness and devilish might in the northern skies also quickly withdrew.
However, the voice and images that had been displayed earlier had left an imprint on countless profound practitioners, shaking their minds for a long time.
As the star realms closest to the Northern Divine Region, they would frequently encounter a few devil people escaping the Northern Divine Region for various types of reasons. They would always kill them on sight and feel proud for doing so.
In many star realms, the number of devil people one killed was a great feat that one could boast about for a lifetime.
But this was the first time they had seen such a vast devil projection from the Northern Divine Region!
It told them frightening news that shocked them so hard that they almost trembled from head to toe.
Right, huge news.
A threat from the Northern Divine Region?
What sort of a threat could the Northern Divine Region be? It would at the very least be devil people coming out to give them more padding on their achievements.
This news that had been personally seen and heard by the Eastern Region's northern realms exploded like thunder as it rapidly made its way throughout the other realms in the Eastern Region... and had even spread to the Western and Southern Divine Regions as well.
An enormous ripple fanned out everywhere it traveled.
This combined with the previous unbelievable rumor made way for countless growing speculations, heating the entire Eastern Divine Region.
"Turns out that the Eternal Heaven God Emperor really did go to the Northern Divine Region and he really did bring the Eternal Heaven Crown Prince there too.... The rumors back then were all true!"
"Wind does not blow from an empty cave without reason! And those rumors originated from the north so I always knew that they couldn't be false!"
"Does this mean that the Eternal Heaven Crown Prince really did die in the Northern Divine Region?"
"The Eternal Heaven Crown Prince dying from a cultivation backlash? Barely anyone believed such a laughable rumor when it came out! The rumors from before were all true!"
"The huge white cauldron on that projection is indeed the Eternal Heaven God Realm's Great Void Cauldron! The Eternal Heaven Crown Prince must have died in the Northern Divine Region. It's why the Eternal Heaven God Realm used the Great Void Cauldron's spatial divine powers to consecutively destroy three of the Northern Region's dark star realms in a moment of anger!"
"Why the Eternal Heaven God Emperor entered the Northern Divine Region isn't important. The Eternal Heaven God Realm has always hated those jealous devils so it absolutely cannot be because of personal greed or being in cahoots with those devils. One cannot live under the same sky as someone who killed their child and Zhou Qingchen was the only son of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor's first wife. No matter how refined and mild the Eternal Heaven God Emperor's personality is, it's impossible for him to forget this debt. His action was within reason."
"The Northern Divine Region actually has three innocent star realms? Hahahaha, what a farce! Those devils that should've long been destroyed actually have the cheek to call themselves 'innocent'? If not for the Northern Divine Region's dark yin energy barrier, they would've long since gone extinct!"
"It was destroyed well! As expected of the Eternal Heaven God Realm. Even the Northern Region's yin energy cannot stop the fury of our Eastern Region's king realm!"
"They actually want the Eternal Heaven God Emperor to commit suicide to atone for his sins? Hahahaha... this is the funniest joke I've ever heard in my entire life, hahahahahaha!"
"Hiss... the Eternal Heaven God Emperor's roar was filled with so much hatred. It looks like the Eternal Heaven God Realm picking a new crown prince so soon really is like what the rumors have been saying, they're making preparations to attack the Northern Divine Region."
"That group of lowly devil people would immediately be half crippled the moment they come out of the Northern Divine Region. It's fine if they obediently hide in their nest but they have the nerve to hoot at the Eternal Heaven God Realm, our Eastern Divine Region?!"
"What else could they do? After all, the only thing they can do after being locked in their pathetic cage for an eternity is bark furiously."
..............
Not long after, the rumors of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor using the Great Void Cauldron to enter the Northern Region, destroying three star realms in a fit of rage, and swearing to destroy the Northern Divine Region due to Eternal Heaven Crown Prince Zhou Qingchen truly having died in the Northern Divine Region rapidly spread to every realm within the Eastern Divine Region.
Moreover, this was not just a rumor. There were numerous imprints of this projection as proof. Whether it was the Great Void Cauldron, the Eternal Heaven father and son duo, the destruction of the Northern Divine Region's star realms, or the Eternal Heaven God Emperor's hate-filled words... all of that was clear to see.
No one felt the slightest bit of doubt for those rumors.
There was amazement, shock, and even excitement, cheers, and countless speculations but no one paid any heed to the anger and threat contained in that devilish voice which covered the sky.
Having been suppressed for a million years thus far and slowly decaying to the point where even the weakest profound practitioners of the three Divine Regions pitied them, how could the Northern Divine Region's threat that sounded like a dog barking from its cage... deserve to be called a threat?
When this explosive news broke out, all of the Eastern Divine Region's various realms were in heated discussion, completely oblivious to the shadow of darkness that was already closing in on them.