Chapter 3088: The Order of the Darkness Temple Hall Master
Yuqing said in a deep voice, "The former Heavenly Lord is a figure of such high virtue and prestige, and the migration of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization to the Sword Realm is a matter of life and death for an entire civilization. For you, a junior, to negotiate this—don't you think it's absurd? Can the former Heavenly Lord truly entrust his life and death to you?"
"It would indeed be more appropriate for the Ancestral Master to negotiate with the former Heavenly Lord."
Zhang Ruochen looked at Luo Ji and said, "The former Heavenly Lord and King Yu may not trust us, but you have seen the Sword Realm with your own eyes. You won't deceive them."
Luo Ji caught the implication in Zhang Ruochen's words and asked, "You're not coming with us to the Heavenly Beginning Civilization?"
Zhang Ruochen naturally couldn't tell Luo Ji about Wu Yue's matter. He said, "If the Ancestral Master and you go, it will be easier to convince the former Heavenly Lord than if I went. Once you've settled things there, I'll immediately take action on my end. I still have very important matters to attend to here in the Hell Realm, so we have to split up for now."
After Yuqing and Luo Ji left, Zhang Ruochen restrained his aura and flew toward the Rakshasa Clan Ancestral Realm.
He was still over a hundred million miles away from the Ancestral Realm when he was blocked by formation inscriptions. In the void, planets were arranged in a mysterious pattern, forming a fortress of formations.
Steel-built war cities floated above the atmosphere, and countless cultivators were rapidly assembling.
The Rakshasa Clan had activated such a high level of defense, clearly not due to the battle between the Dragon Lord and Feima King. The defensive perimeter had already been in place before that.
...
One day earlier.
Yuling Shen, clad in a three-colored, hundred-scale divine garment, stood by the misty, ethereal Sacred Lake, quietly listening to Ailian Jun's report on the recent events in the Hundred Clans Royal City.
The Darkness Temple's army had entered the city, aggressively annexing the Rakshasa Clan's properties within the Hundred Clans Royal City, spilling blood in rivers, which infuriated her.
But the Darkness Temple Hall Master's ascent of the Wolf Clan's sacred site, the Seven Peaks Continuous Mountain, stirred a sense of shared grief and fear in her, filling her with deep apprehension.
Ailian Jun continued, "Furthermore, seventy-two life-bearing planets, including Kongyue Star, Zhixing Star, and Huangshi Star, have been completely slaughtered by the cultivators under the Darkness Temple. All Rakshasa Clan members have been turned into soul food."
"The lords of those major planets and some Saint-level cultivators were captured alive and are now being humiliated and toyed with in the streets of the Hundred Clans Royal City by the Darkness Temple's cultivators, like slaves."
Yuling Shen deeply regretted ever listening to that junior Zhang Ruochen, foolishly thinking she could contend with the Darkness Temple.
Now, the Darkness Temple's retaliation had come.
But if she hadn't acted back then, she would have had to sit idly by and let the Darkness Temple slowly devour the Hundred Clans Royal City. How could she hand over the legacy of her ancestors so easily?
In the end, the decision back then wasn't wrong; she just hadn't anticipated that the Darkness Temple would place such importance on the Sword Realm. Not only had Wu Yue gone personally, but even the Darkness Temple Hall Master had gone.
The victor is king, the loser a bandit!
Ailian Jun said, "Master, we must make a decision quickly. Otherwise, their next step will surely be to attack the Night Rain Sea and destroy our clan's territories in the outer worlds. Then, the casualties won't be just this much; it will truly cripple us."
Yuling Shen lived up to her name—her skin was like jade, her eyes full of spiritual charm, and her figure so voluptuous and graceful that any man in the world would be tempted at the sight of her.
She parted her red lips and said, "The Darkness Temple Hall Master, Boundless Divine Venerable, is stationed in the Hundred Clans Royal City, yet he has not made a move. He merely lets his subordinates deal with the Rakshasa Clan. Clearly, he doesn't intend to declare war on the Rakshasa Clan but to force them into submission. He wants me to go and kneel before him, confessing my guilt to the Darkness Temple."
"From now on, the Rakshasa Clan will belong to the Darkness Temple."
"And by controlling the Rakshasa Clan, he effectively gains control of the entire Hundred Clans Royal City."
Ailian Jun knew his master was in a bad mood and dared not look up. He said in a low voice, "Since the Darkness Temple has this intention, we have some bargaining chips. Is it time to awaken the two ancestors?"
Yuling Shen sighed, "I have already been to the Ancient Ink Sea, but the two ancestors did not respond. Perhaps they have already..."
The injuries the two ancestors had sustained back then were too severe.
That was why Yuling Shen had her suspicions, but she couldn't bear to say the rest out loud.
Ailian Jun felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his face turning pale.
The two ancestors had always been the Rakshasa Clan's backbone. In fact, a major reason the Darkness Temple Hall Master hadn't acted rashly was likely because of them.
If the two ancestors had already fallen, it would be a catastrophic disaster for the Rakshasa Clan.
Moreover, in front of her disciple, Yuling Shen had always been unattainable, like a goddess in the clouds, never showing any sign of weakness. But just now, she had sighed.
This revealed just how helpless and fragile she felt inside.
Yuling Shen's gaze suddenly turned icy cold, instantly freezing the Sacred Lake. She said, "This matter must not be leaked to anyone."
"Your disciple wouldn't dare."
Ailian Jun was so shaken by Yuling Shen's divine might that he immediately knelt on one knee.
"Master, what about Senior Uncle Night Sky?" Ailian Jun asked cautiously.
The Rakshasa Clan had another Tai Xu realm great god, the Night Sky Divine Lord that Ailian Jun referred to.
Yuling Shen said, "Back then, he strongly disagreed with me cooperating with Zhang Ruochen, believing I was trusting a child and shouldn't make an enemy of the Darkness Temple. Now that this has happened, he will likely blame me entirely. If I'm not mistaken, given his nature, he is probably already kneeling before Boundless, selling me out to secure a way out for himself and the Rakshasa Clan."
Ailian Jun's eyes grew even dimmer.
Speaking of the Night Sky Divine Lord, Yuling Shen's eyes were full of disdain.
His cultivation was indeed powerful, but he had long lost the spirit and drive of his youth. He would never reach the Infinite Realm in this lifetime.
Yuling Shen had seen too many gods who, upon reaching the divine realm and gaining over a hundred thousand years of life, became lax and fearful of death.
Gods who could keep pushing forward without changing their original intentions were exceedingly rare.
The Ancestral Realm's World Lord walked quickly, standing across the frozen Sacred Lake, and gave Yuling Shen a bitter smile. "The Darkness Temple's envoy has arrived. They insist on seeing you."
Yuling Shen said, "Then let them see me."
The big-headed cloth doll "Shidi" and the human-skin lantern were already waiting in the divine hall, their divine might field radiating outward, suppressing all the Rakshasa Clan cultivators in the hall, who knelt trembling in fear.
In the past, they would have shown some respect to the Rakshasa Clan and not been so overbearing in their Ancestral Realm.
The big-headed cloth doll looked at the Rakshasa Clan's gods one by one, laughing incessantly, causing the gods to tremble in fear, feeling as if it might pounce on them at any moment and devour them alive.
"If Yuling Shen doesn't show herself soon, I'll catch a true god to whet my appetite."
The big-headed cloth doll extended a furry hand, and spiritual power threads shot from its fingertips, binding a Rakshasa Clan mid-level god and pulling him toward itself.
The Rakshasa Clan's gods all made a move, but the big-headed cloth doll's spiritual power field firmly suppressed them, making it impossible for them to move.
"Stop!"
A divine light flew out, severing the spiritual power threads between the big-headed cloth doll and the Rakshasa Clan mid-level god.
The mid-level god, whose face had been pale with fear, recovered and looked joyfully at Yuling Shen, who had descended into the hall.
The big-headed cloth doll stopped its attack, sizing up Yuling Shen, and laughed even louder. "Finally showed up. I thought you were going to abandon the Rakshasa Clan and flee to the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain to avoid trouble!"
Yuling Shen was cold and stern, her divine might overpowering the big-headed cloth doll and the human-skin lantern. "Speak. What are the Darkness Temple's conditions?"
"Straight to the point! Yuling Shen has far more backbone than the Night Sky Divine Lord."
The human-skin lantern's voice was dark and hoarse. "By order of the Hall Master: The Rakshasa Clan shall compensate the Darkness Temple with ten great worlds, one thousand mineral and life-bearing planets, and thirty million divine stones. The position of clan leader shall be held by the Night Sky Divine Lord."
"The former clan leader of the Rakshasa Clan and the former Ancestral Realm World Lord are guilty beyond redemption and shall suffer the punishment of source extraction and soul refinement, to deter all insolent fools who disrespect the darkness."
"The guilty god, Han Yuling, shall seal her own cultivation and enter the Darkness Temple to repent for ten thousand years. If she repents and believes in the darkness, she may regain her freedom after ten thousand years."
"If she refuses, in ten days, the entire Rakshasa Clan, from top to bottom, will be listed as soul food, and the Hell Realm will feast on them together."
"Boom!"
The divine hall exploded with rage. All the Rakshasa Clan gods glared angrily at the human-skin lantern and the big-headed cloth doll. More than a few gods were ready to self-destruct their divine sources and die together with them.
This was too much. The Rakshasa Clan now only had thirty-eight great worlds left, and the Darkness Temple wanted to take ten of them at once.
Not to mention the abundant resources these ten worlds contained, what about the countless trillions of Rakshasa Clan members living there?
Would they all become slaves and soul food for the Darkness Temple?
Compensating thirty million divine stones would not only drain the Rakshasa Clan dry but also plunge them into massive debt, forcing them into generational servitude to repay it.
Executing the clan leader and the Ancestral Realm World Lord was absolutely unacceptable.
The big-headed cloth doll used its powerful spiritual power to suppress the will of the Rakshasa Clan gods who wanted to self-destruct their divine sources, smiling at Yuling Shen. "I know it's hard for you to agree, so the Hall Master has given you ten days to think it over."
"In ten days, if Yuling Shen hasn't sealed her own cultivation and come to the Hundred Clans Royal City to confess and apologize, the Hall Master, in his wisdom and might, will naturally follow through. The Hell Realm will feast on them together!"
"The Rakshasa Clan will be no different from those penned livestock. Their only purpose in living will be to be eaten."
Yuling Shen's gaze had already turned to freezing point.
A high-level god roared, "Can the Darkness Temple really dominate the entire Hell Realm? What about the Destiny Temple, Fengdu Ghost City, and the Yama Clan? Will they allow you to bully the Rakshasa Clan like this?"
"Don't you know what Zhang Ruochen did in the Darkness Temple? The Rakshasa Clan has been too close to Zhang Ruochen. The Destiny Temple and Fengdu Ghost City will eventually settle accounts with you. Without the Darkness Temple's protection, you're waiting for your clan to be wiped out!"
The human-skin lantern added, "Yuling Shen, out of respect for the two ancestors of the Rakshasa Clan, the Hall Master has already been generous enough with you. If you know what's good for you, stop doing foolish things."
"If you think you can take the Rakshasa Clan's Ancestral Realm and flee into the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, first consider whether your cultivation is truly enough to escape."
"If you think you can defect to the Heavenly Court, that's a path to death."
Yuling Shen nearly made a move but held herself back, her red lips seeming to bite out blood as she watched the big-headed cloth doll and the human-skin lantern laugh and leave.
...
A lively Feitian Fish has returned. Tomorrow, I'll continue live-streaming code-writing on Douyin, striving to maintain two chapters a day. Of course, if there's force majeure...