Chapter 1898: Journey (II)
“Si… Lord Sikong.”
Upon seeing Sikong Hanzhao and the group of Arbiters he brought, the purple-robed old man’s face turned even paler, and he hurriedly bowed in greeting.
Sikong Hanzhao waved his hand and said coldly, “No need to speak. I am already fully aware of what happened here.”
“Haha, so it’s Lord Sikong.” The leading dark profound practitioner laughed heartily and stepped forward. “I have long heard that the Arbiter Lord guarding this region is an old friend of the same clan. I was planning to pay a visit, but I never expected it to be at this moment…”
“Who is an old friend of the same clan with you!”
With an angry roar, Sikong Hanzhao halted the dark profound practitioner in his tracks. His eyes blazing with fury, he swept his arm down and ordered, “Seize them!”
The Arbiters behind him swiftly moved, their figures flashing with heavy authority, and subdued the thirteen caught-off-guard dark profound practitioners.
All thirteen dark profound practitioners turned pale with shock. The leader, not daring to resist strongly, stared with wide eyes and asked in confusion, “Lord Sikong, what… what are you doing?”
“Hmph!” Sikong Hanzhao said angrily. “On the day Emperor Yun ascended the throne, he issued a strict decree: profound practitioners of the Northern Domain and those of the three domains must let go of past grievances and not deceive one another. You have received great grace from Emperor Yun, yet you boldly defy Emperor Yun’s laws, and even utter arrogant words that defame the names of Emperor Yun and the dark profound practitioners. How can this be forgiven!”
“No! No! We regard Emperor Yun as heaven itself; how would we dare have the slightest rebellious heart!” The dark profound practitioner was horrified and cried out in panic. “We all once followed Emperor Yun and fought in bloody battles… Lord Sikong, we are of the same clan—clan members who once suffered bullying and oppression from the three domains together, bound by the same blood! How can you…”
“Still daring to utter nonsense and quibble!” Sikong Hanzhao extended his arm, and a Divine Sovereign momentum descended suddenly as his hand turned.
Crack!!
“Waaaahhh!!”
The bone-cracking sound, as loud as a rock avalanche, terrified the Purple Xuan Sect profound practitioners, turning their faces pale. The accompanying screams made their hearts tremble for a long time.
With that palm strike, Sikong Hanzhao completely shattered the leg bones of all thirteen dark profound practitioners.
He lowered his hand and said in a voice that shook the heart: “Emperor Yun’s law makes no distinction between high and low, no distinction of race. Whoever disobeys will never be forgiven!”
“Ah… hiss aah…” The dark profound practitioners all collapsed to their knees, drenched in sweat from the immense pain. “Lord Sikong, we… we admit our mistake… please… please, for the sake of kinship… forgive… forgive…”
“Break their limbs and hang them from the city tower of the Arbiter Office for nine days of public display! Anyone who pleads for them will share the same punishment!”
Under Sikong Hanzhao’s cruel order, sounds of breaking bones and screams rang out again. The arm bones of the thirteen dark profound practitioners were also shattered in unison.
Behind, some young profound practitioners of the Purple Xuan Sect were already pale with terror. Earlier, they had hated the thirteen dark profound practitioners to the bone, but at this moment, they felt a trace of pity.
“Drag them away!” Sikong Hanzhao turned around.
“Yes!” Two Arbiters used profound energy as restraints and dragged the thirteen dark profound practitioners like dead dogs toward the place of public hanging.
The surroundings were deathly silent, oppressive to the point of suffocation. The purple-robed old man’s beard trembled, and his heart churned with emotion. He stepped forward and bowed deeply. “Lord Sikong, thank you…”
“No need for thanks!” Sikong Hanzhao raised his hand sharply, his expression and tone still stiff and cold. “This is the duty of the Arbiters, a mission bestowed upon us by Emperor Yun.”
He turned his gaze and said coldly, “As for the conflicts of interest between your clans, even if it leads to the destruction of an entire clan, we Arbiters will never interfere. Do not trouble us with such matters.”
“But when it involves Emperor Yun’s law… let these thirteen evildoers serve as a warning. You all must conduct yourselves well!”
Facing Sikong Hanzhao’s pressure and cold words, the purple-robed old man was not fearful but instead let out a long sigh and bowed even deeper. “Emperor Yun’s merit in saving the world will not be forgotten even in the ages to come. Emperor Yun unifying the four domains is a blessing for all four domains.”
“From now on, our Purple Xuan Sect will regard Emperor Yun’s orders as heaven. If you Arbiters have any use for our Purple Xuan Sect, we will certainly…”
“No need!”
Sikong Hanzhao waved his hand behind him, soared into the air, and disappeared into the distance in an instant.
The entire process was extremely forceful, domineering, and swift.
It deeply impressed the image of the Arbiters into everyone’s soul.
The purple-robed old man gazed into the distance after the Arbiters for a long time, then suddenly turned and shouted excitedly, “Did you see that? Did you see that? Who among you still dares to say that the existence of the Arbiters hides ulterior motives? Who among you still dares to say that Emperor Yun will definitely shield the dark profound practitioners!”
Among the Purple Xuan Sect profound practitioners, a small half of them hung their heads in shame.
“It is… it is this junior’s ignorance and foolishness, a petty person’s suspicion.”
“From now on, whoever dares to speak recklessly about Emperor Yun and the Arbiters, I will certainly denounce them with all my might.”
“Emperor Yun truly deserves to be the supreme emperor who has subdued all the king realms of the four domains! This is a person truly worthy of the worship and reverence of all beings.”
…
“These Arbiters are really impressive.”
Yun Wuxin, who had witnessed the entire scene, couldn’t help but exclaim, then her tone shifted: “But those dark profound practitioners, they have their current status because of Father’s grace, yet they do things that disgrace Father’s reputation—truly detestable!”
Yun Che withdrew his divine perception that had been covering the distant space, his expression somewhat profound. “This large star region should have just started deploying Arbiters. To raise the Arbiters’ prestige in the shortest time and eliminate the instinctive wariness and repulsion these star realms have toward Arbiters, this ‘kill the chicken to warn the monkey’ approach is indeed the most effective.”
“Kill the chicken… to warn the monkey?” Yun Wuxin looked up in surprise.
Yun Che said with a faint smile, “However, the ‘monkey’ is real, but the ‘chicken’ is fake.”
After a brief thought, Yun Wuxin understood. She turned her beautiful eyes to the distance and said in surprise, “Those dark profound practitioners, they were… putting on an act?”
“That’s right.” Pleased with his daughter’s intelligence, Yun Che continued, “Under the current decree that dark profound practitioners and the three domains’ profound practitioners must forget past grudges and not offend each other, from the Arbiters’ standpoint, performing a scene of ‘severely punishing dark profound practitioners for the sake of the three domains’ within the three domains is far more effective than a scene of ‘severely punishing three-domain profound practitioners for the sake of dark profound practitioners’… even if it is completely fair with no bias.”
As she pondered her father’s words carefully, Yun Wuxin gradually understood in her heart.
It reinforced the warning of peaceful coexistence between the two groups, quickly established the Arbiters’ prestige, eliminated original repulsion, and also erased the potential impression in the minds of the three domains’ profound practitioners that “Emperor Yun, who was once the Demon Lord, must favor the dark profound practitioners”…
A single move achieving multiple gains.
“Father, are these measures you secretly arranged? That’s… impressive.” Yun Wuxin’s eyes sparkled, and the disgust she felt toward the thirteen dark profound practitioners turned into sympathy and admiration.
The broken bones and public hanging—none of that could be faked.
“This is a common tactic of your Aunt Chi Wuyue,” Yun Che said. “The same method cannot be used too many times, especially in neighboring star regions. Therefore, she should have at least hundreds of different but equally effective methods prepared.”
Yun Wuxin opened her lips in surprise, her admiration for Chi Wuyue rising further in her heart.
“Aunt Wuyue is really amazing.” She murmured with admiration. “Father, can I often go to Aunt Wuyue for advice… Would that disturb her?”
“There’s no need.” Yun Che shook his head slightly. “You wouldn’t be able to learn it.”
“Huh?” Yun Wuxin was puzzled.
Yun Che looked into the distance, his tone somewhat wistful. “Methods are secondary. The core is knowing what methods to use in different situations, from different standpoints, and when facing different people.”
“The path she has walked in this life, the human hearts and natures she has faced, are things other women in the world can never match or imagine.”
“An empress who can control the world with one hand… to become such a person, one must go through things that I hope you will never need to know.”
“…” Yun Wuxin was silent for a long time. She roughly understood her father’s words.
“Let’s go!” Yun Che flew forward.
“Where to? The next star realm?” Yun Wuxin followed behind her father, her speed already much faster than when she first entered the God Realm.
During this journey, Yun Che used the Great Dao Pagoda Art and the Life Miracle to temper Yun Wuxin’s body every day and assisted her in cultivation.
With the God Realm’s emperor by her side, although Yun Wuxin did not put in much effort, the speed of her profound way progress was far beyond what other profound practitioners of the same realm could ever hope for.
Not long after, Yun Che stopped.
Below was the location of this star realm’s Arbiter Office.
The thirteen dark profound practitioners whose bones had been broken were already hung high on the city tower.
Thirteen powerful Divine King auras deeply shook everyone, telling them the consequences of defying Emperor Yun’s law, and making them clearly see the Arbiters’ strength, fairness, and strictness—even though the Arbiter commander here was also a dark profound practitioner.
This scene was a thousand times more shocking and effective than any corrective or persuasive words.
The thirteen dark profound practitioners were suspended by thin steel cables, a scene so miserable that one could hardly bear to look.
Although their bones were broken, with their Divine King power, they could break free at any time. But in the eyes of others, under the authority of the Arbiters, they would not dare to do so.
Yun Che descended, not revealing his figure, and spoke faintly to them: “You’ve been wronged.”
The thirteen dark profound practitioners, hanging upside down like corpses, were struck as if by lightning. Their eyes widened simultaneously, and in their dazed vision from extreme shock, excitement, and disbelief, they saw Yun Che’s figure briefly appear.
It was only ten steps away from them.
At that moment, every cell in their bodies trembled wildly, and every drop of blood throbbed uncontrollably as if boiling.
“Demon… Emperor Yun… Lord Emperor Yun!”
Compared to “Emperor Yun,” they preferred the title “Demon Lord.”
Because “Emperor Yun” ruled the four domains, while “Demon Lord” belonged only to their Northern Divine Region, only to them, the dark profound practitioners.
“Not wronged… Compared to Emperor Yun’s great grace, this little sacrifice of ours is nothing.”
As he spoke, his eyes were full of tears.
To have the Demon Lord approach and offer words of comfort—let alone this small grievance, even if he died ten thousand times at this moment, he would have no regrets.
“To be shattered to pieces for Emperor Yun and the Northern Domain—that is only good fortune, not grievance,” another dark profound practitioner said in a trembling voice.
The loyalty and reverence of dark profound practitioners toward Yun Che far surpassed that of the other three domains.
Yun Che nodded to them, turned around, and left.
At this moment, the thirteen dark profound practitioners with broken bones felt not only no humiliation but almost no pain. After the overwhelming excitement gradually faded, what condensed in their hearts was only the regretless pride of serving the Demon Lord.
Yun Wuxin flew side by side with Yun Che, constantly turning her head to look seriously at her father’s profile, again and again.
“Did you secretly draw something on my face?” Yun Che suddenly turned to meet her gaze and said abruptly.
Yun Wuxin’s brows curved, and she said playfully, “I suddenly feel that I am really happy. Because I have a father I can admire for a lifetime.”
A momentary appearance and brief words moved the dark profound practitioners, who had clearly suffered great grievance, to such an extent.
She was used to his role as a father, and what she saw was always his appearance as a father. But on this journey, she was gradually and truly realizing that her father was also an emperor ruling over the world.
“Hmm…” Yun Che showed a look of approval. “You should definitely keep this mindset.”
“Hehe… Father, where are we going next?”
“The Ten Directions Canglan Realm, a southern domain king realm I told you about. You’ll need some time to adapt to the aura of a king realm, so be mentally prepared…”
“I know, I know! It’s the king realm where your He~ Consort~ is!”
“…”
“I now think that those who become Father’s consorts must all be very remarkable. Father, just take me directly. I want to go and see quickly.”
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