**Chapter 1897: The Journey (One)**
"Why are you opposing the Order Guardians! Lord Cloud Emperor is a hero who saved the world, and the Order Guardians are directly under Lord Cloud Emperor's command. They maintain order in their domains and protect the peace of their realms!"
"You are all deluded, brainwashed people! Lord Cloud Emperor is clearly the most evil demon, always has been a demon! He has killed so many people, bloodied countless star realms, destroyed so many clans. The so-called Order Guardians are nothing but a tool for conveniently controlling us! Yet you still defend him!"
"Those calamities were Lord Cloud Emperor's revenge for the betrayal he suffered! Can you not see the ugliness behind those destroyed royal realms? The fact that Lord Cloud Emperor once saved the world is an undeniable truth!"
"For revenge, he can bring calamity upon innocents? Because he once saved the world, can he freely unleash disaster and slaughter life?"
"Those star realms that initially strongly opposed the Order Guardians, after the Order Guardians were stationed there, which one did not eventually become filled with awe and respect? You are the stubborn and obstinate one! Dare you say those words in front of the Order Guardians?"
"I… I dare not, but no matter how great Lord Cloud Emperor's power, he cannot twist my convictions! As the saying goes, the heavens have a cycle of retribution. One day, a hero will slay Lord Cloud Emperor, the chief of demons, and cleanse the Three God Realms of darkness and defilement! By then, you sycophants will all be sinners!"
…
This was a mid-level star realm on the edge of the Southern Domain. Two fellow disciples were engaged in a heated argument.
Yun Wuxin had seen many similar scenes during this journey. Regarding her father, there were those who admired, feared, and praised him, but also many who harbored hatred and resentment.
This time, Yun Wuxin was instantly angered. She clenched her teeth and said indignantly, "This scoundrel dares to curse my father! How detestable!"
Yun Che, however, just smiled. "Wuxin, based on what you've seen and heard during this time, do you think I am a good person or a bad person to this world?"
Yun Wuxin answered without thinking: "Father is of course a good person! If it weren't for Father, this world would have long become a hell. Those who say Father is a demon are just rotten people who measure others by saintly standards and themselves by whoring standards! If they had to personally experience everything Father went through, they would know how benevolent and merciful Father is, hm!"
She glared at the person below who had cursed that her father would be "slain by a hero," and continued with unabated anger: "People like that… I… anyway, I really want to shove his head into the dirt and give it a good wash, maybe for ten days and nights!"
"Hahaha!" Yun Wuxin's attempt to sound fierce but failing miserably made him laugh heartily.
"Aren't you angry at all?" Yun Wuxin looked at her father, her cheeks slightly puffed.
"Angry? At him?" Yun Che shook his head and laughed. "If I were to appear before him right now, his so-called toughness and convictions would instantly collapse. He'd probably be so frightened his liver, spleen, and gallbladder would rupture. If I wanted him dead, I wouldn't even need to lift a finger or speak a single word. Even if he were the son of a sect master, his sect would kill him without hesitation and do everything possible to apologize to me."
"For a person like that to stir even a trace of my emotions would make me, as Cloud Emperor, far too unworthy."
Hearing her father's words, Yun Wuxin's anger gradually subsided, and she fell into thought.
"Speech is their freedom, but judgment requires qualification," Yun Che said with a smile. "In this world, there has never been absolute good or evil. Most of it is defined by others."
"And in this era, the only person who can truly define whether I am good or evil is in fact just one person."
Yun Wuxin was drawn by her father's words, focusing intently and listening with curiosity.
"And that person is myself."
Yun Che smiled calmly and openly.
"Father says he is good, so he is good? Father says he is evil, so he is evil?" Yun Wuxin seemed to understand but not quite.
"Yes," Yun Che nodded lightly.
"Because…" Yun Wuxin thought for a moment and seemed to grasp it: "Father is the supreme overlord, the victor who has conquered all?"
"Mm." Yun Che nodded again. "Back when the Dragon God Realm was supreme, the Dragon Emperor's command was a heavenly edict, and the Dragon God Realm's will was the direction of heaven's intent. All profound practitioners in the God Realm revered, longed for, worshipped, and praised them."
"But now, the Dragon God Realm has become the Sinful Dragon Realm. Under your Aunt Chi Wuyue's orchestration, the once supreme and holy Dragon Emperor and Dragon God are now reviled and scorned. Even the remnants of the Dragon God bloodline are only met with cold stares and pity."
"And this vast difference came to pass in just a few short years."
Yun Che raised his right hand. This palm had not been stained with blood for some time; it was clean and white, untainted by dust.
"In this world, besides myself, no one has the right to define my good or evil. But I can arbitrarily define anyone in this era."
"The strong are revered, and the weak simply have no right to determine their own fate. This is not some profound principle of governance; it is merely… the most basic law of survival in any world, any plane."
Her father's words entered her heart and mind. Now, when she looked at the person below who was speaking recklessly about her father, she felt no anger at all.
"Father, do you want me to work harder, to become someone whose fate won't be defined by others?" Yun Wuxin asked.
"No." Yun Che shook his head again. He placed his raised hand gently on Yun Wuxin's shoulder. "You don't need to, because you are my daughter."
"If you strive to become a strong person, I will be happy and provide any help you want. If you don't want to, even if you choose to be ordinary for life, I will still smile and watch you be ordinary."
Yun Wuxin: "…"
"I have had enough of pain, loss, fleeing, helplessness, being manipulated… I struggled with all my might to reach this point, donning the title of Emperor that I don't even like, all so that the people I love can freely choose and enjoy the life they want. As long as they don't want, don't wish, or don't like, no one can force them."
Yun Wuxin's lips parted slightly. After a long while, her eyes glistened with tears, and she said softly, "Father, like this, I will one day be completely spoiled."
"Hahaha, if you really want to learn to be bad, you can ask your Aunt Qianye." Yun Che laughed half-jokingly.
…
Here, it was another mid-level star realm. The overly concentrated thunder element in the air indicated that most of the profound practitioners here cultivated thunder-type profound arts.
Under a few unstable thunderclouds, there were several restless dark auras.
"Friends from the Northern Domain, don't go too far! Although this mine is small, it has belonged to our Purple Mystery Sect for three hundred years! All the sects and profound practitioners of this vast thunder region can testify!"
The old man in purple robes was full of anger, but his words were extremely restrained. Behind him were over a hundred fellow sect members also dressed in purple.
Ahead of them were thirteen men in black, exuding astonishing dark mist.
Although the group calling themselves the "Purple Mystery Sect" had an absolute numerical advantage, these thirteen Dark Profound practitioners were all at the Divine King level — a force they could never hope to contend with.
"Considering that you are friends who have traveled far from the Northern Domain, and in accordance with Lord Cloud Emperor's will to treat Northern Domain profound practitioners as close kin, we made an exception to let you in. Yet you have the ambition of wolves, wanting to take over our nest! Aren't you afraid…"
"Afraid? Of what?" The leading Dark Profound practitioner sneered, interrupting the old man's angry speech. He raised his arm, admiring the dark light mist dancing in his palm. "Don't forget, Lord Cloud Emperor was once the great Demon Lord of our Northern Domain Demon Clan! His protection over us will be as eternal as the darkness."
"And you are just the losers under the feet of the Demon Lord, us Dark Profound practitioners!"
"We have been bullied by you for a million years, and now that you have become the losers, you dream of peaceful coexistence? Nothing in this world is that cheap!"
"If you don't want to give up this mine, there is another option." The Dark Profound practitioner on the right said arrogantly. "After we thirteen brothers establish a sect here, your Purple Mystery Sect will pay an annual tribute of three thousand tons of purple crystal ore."
"This is your final way out. If you don't want the Purple Mystery Sect to be erased from the world, don't be ungrateful!"
"You!" The old man in purple grew even angrier, his facial muscles twisting with rage. But the insurmountable gap in strength kept him from daring to truly break ties.
It was common knowledge that the Cloud Emperor was the Demon Lord, that the Cloud Emperor rose from the Northern God Domain, and that the Cloud Emperor led the Northern God Domain to trample the Three Domains.
That he would protect and favor the Northern Domain and Dark Profound practitioners seemed natural and reasonable to everyone.
Taking a deep breath, the old man in purple suppressed his overwhelming anger: "Don't forget, all the sects of this Great Wasteland Thunder Domain are closely allied. If you dare to bully us, our allied sects will not stand idly by!"
"Is that so? Then go ahead and try." The Dark Profound practitioners seemed to find this amusing, all sneering scornfully. "Do you think the people of this Great Wasteland Thunder Domain are as foolish and clueless as your Purple Mystery Sect?"
"You…"
The old man in purple was about to say something more, but the middle-aged man behind him sighed and said painfully, "Uncle Master, forget it. Accept it. Abandoning this mine is just a loss. We must protect the sect."
"In the end, the Cloud Emperor is the one who elevated the demon people to power, and he himself is a demon. He will only protect demons, alas."
"Master," a young man said quietly, "the sect has reported everything to the newly established Order Guardian Bureau. Perhaps the Order Guardians will intervene."
"It's useless." The middle-aged man shook his head. "The Order Guardian commander here is also a Dark Profound practitioner from the Northern Domain. If not for this backing, how would these demons dare to act so arrogantly?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a thunderous roar descended from the distant sky:
"Who dares to act wildly against order within my jurisdiction!"
The roar carried the might of a Divine Sovereign, shaking everyone's hearts and nearly splitting their eardrums.
Everyone looked up. As a storm swept through, a dozen figures rapidly approached. The leader was a man in black with a knife-like face and fierce eyes. The black light within his eyes clearly marked him as a Dark Profound practitioner.
Sikong Hanzhao, the supreme commander of the Order Guardian Bureau governing this star realm, a Dark Divine Sovereign from an upper-level star realm of the Northern God Domain.