Chapter 863: Escalation, Beginning of Chaos

Not long after, news of the noble families being robbed by the major sects and the kingdoms behind them spread across the Sky Empire. Bringing the conflict between the two major powers to a completely different level compared to before.

No longer was it something that only involved the Hollow Thunder Family and the noble families under them, but instead something that had ended up affecting all the noble families. Making it hard for the imperial family to keep this matter limited to fights between the younger generations.

Unable to stop the Domain Lord Realm Experts from the two sides from fighting with each other outside of the capital city, where the noble families had managed to gain the upper hand due to the simple fact that they were stronger than the major sects and the kingdoms behind them, and this was even with some of the larger noble families on a similar level as the Hollow Thunder Family deciding not to involve themselves because the imperial family compensated them for part of what they had lost if they didn't and the simple fact that getting involved in the matter would draw them into the center of the current chaotic situation of the Sky Empire. Not something that any of the large noble families wanted if it could be avoided.

After all, even if they could get more from getting involved in the conflict, they also understood that a similar risk would be associated with this. Especially since the reason for most of the chaos taking place in the Sky Empire was due to the influence of the three religions.

Because of this, although the scale of the conflict had escalated after the major sects and large kingdoms behind them had decided to attack the secretive storage locations of the different noble families, it never escalated to the degree that it ended up involving anyone above the Third stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

Even then, the fact that the Domain Lord Realm Experts between the two major powers had started fighting with each other outside of the capital city, was still more than enough to make the rest of the powers in the Sky Empire start panicking about what might follow and if they would end up getting involved in the power struggle.

The main reason for this, being the fact that most of the Domain Lord Realm Experts in the Sky Empire were in the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm or below. The only reason that the situation was still somewhat under the control of the Sky Empire, was due to the simple reason that none of the Domain Lord Realm Experts on both sides had died as a result of the fighting. At most having been injured and forced to retreat as a result.

However, this would not last forever and the imperial family understood this very well. Enough that they began sending out some of their own Domain Lord Realm Experts to ensure that none of the Domain Lord Realm Experts fighting ended up dying.

Of course, doing this also allowed the three religions to cause more trouble now that less Domain Lord Realm Experts were around to keep watch over them.

Luckily for the imperial family, the three religions could not dedicate their full attention on causing chaos inside the Sky Empire, as they still had to deal with the church of the plague god, which was in the process of fully stabilizing itself inside the core region of the Sky Empire. Even if it was at the border of the core region, it would still provide a perfect entry for the church of the plague god to start spreading across the entire Sky Empire in the future, something that all three religions wanted to avoid.

In the end, the situation in the Sky Empire was barely be kept at a manageable level for the imperial family due to church of the plague god's presence.

Of course, due to this, the imperial family did not have luxury to send one of their Domain Lord Realm Experts over to the Star Shattering Sect after learning about them. Especially when considering that they only knew that the Star Shattering Sect had three Domain Lord Realm Experts of unknown strength, that was in the lower end of the Domain Lord Realm since the Star Shattering Sect was located at the border of the Sky Empire.

With all of this in mind, their assistance in the current chaotic situation wouldn't have any tangible benefit that would justify using the limited resources to get a completely unknown sect like the Star Shattering Sect to join them. Outside of preventing the three religions from convincing them to join them, something that was already extremely unlucky considering that the Star Shattering Sect was a sect.

As for the matter about Feng Chen killing a demonic cultivator that had reached the Third Demonic Transformation Realm... This was considered due to the Domain Lords of the Star Shattering Sect having teamed up to deal with it before it had been finished off in front of them by Feng Chen, who had chased after it to finish it off.

The general who had personally witnessed the strength of the Star Shattering Sect of course tried to speak up for them, but ended up being completely ignored after mentioning that the Star Shattering Sect had a Peak Domain Lord Realm Expert supporting them. Even making the imperial family worried whether his soul had suffered some kind of injury after fighting against the demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wasteland for over a month straight.

After all, while the imperial family might be able to believe that a sect with a few Domain Lords in the early stages of the realm could have appeared without their notice, they did not believe that a power with a Peak Domain Lord Realm Expert would be able to appear without their knowledge. Especially considering that the general in front of them had mentioned that the sect in question was native to the Sky Empire and not some power that had migrated over from another empire.

Not to mention, if the Star Shattering Sect had really migrated over from another empire, the imperial family would have already learnt about this, as a power with an expert at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm would have been known even outside the empire it was based inside of!

For this reason, the imperial family decided to ignore the Star Shattering Sect and instead focus all their attention towards the three religions and the problems they were causing all across the Sky Empire. Not to mention, the ancestor of the imperial family was worried that more powerful experts belonging to the three religions would show up now that he had revealed part of his strength when fighting off the two Soul Ascension Realm Experts a short time ago.

Unwilling to even let the rest of the powerful experts from the imperial family leave the capital city due to the possibility of the three religions setting up a trap.

Although the Sky Empire was more than strong enough to handle the loss of a few Domain Lord Realm Experts, the same could not be said for those that had already reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm, as they were far too rare and precious. Not only serving as a good way to project the power of the imperial family, but at the same time also being capable of assisting in fight between Soul Ascension Realm Expert that had just undergone the first or second tribulation.

...

"Hmph, looks like the imperial family is far too busy dealing with the three religions and doesn't care about the fight between us noble families and the major sects, as long as the battle is limited to those in the younger generation and the fighting outside of that doesn't result in death!"

"Indeed, I think we should increase our attacks on the major sects and make them pay for stealing from us... But the old master went into secluded cultivation the moment he returned from killing that Elder Green Wing from the Green Mountain Sect and haven't given any orders on what to do other than keep launching useless attacks towards those major sects and the kingdoms behind them, I really wonder what the old master plan is..."

At same time that the weaker experts form the different noble families and the major sects, and their supports were fighting with each other, two powerful elders from the Hollow Thunder Family that had been put in charge of guarding the entrance to the forbidden ground where the old master was staying were chatting with each other. From time to time turning to look back towards the forbidden ground behind them with confusion, wondering just what the old master was planning to do by going into secluded cultivation now of all times.

Even if they could avoid stronger experts joining the fighting for now, they also understood that this would not always be the case. Especially considering that the three religions would do everything in their power to ensure that the noble families and the major sects began fighting more seriously and with their powerful experts in the middle and later stages of the Domain Lord Realm.