The Steward Demonic Emperor

Chapter 1163: One-sided

Proofreader: Papatonks

The three coming to the rescue halted, looking stunned. Murong Lie, Shangguan Feixiong and Ouyang Lingtian were missing for a century. Now they were Devil Palace’s Dharma Kings?

[I see…]

Danqing Shen glanced at Wine Sword Immortal, “No wonder a drunkard like you would side with Devil Palace. You were close with Murong Lie.”

“Come now, it’s totally normal for friends to visit each other, ha-ha-ha…” Wine Sword Immortal’s red nose wiggled as he laughed.

Danqing Shen nodded. Wine Sword Immortal was with the empire but he longed for something else, always having a soft spot for the Murong clan. 

[Maybe he became a Sword King in the first place so he could protect the Murong clan.]

For when the empire attacked southern lands at some point, as a Sword King, he could save them.

The seven Sword Kings faced five Dharma Kings and the sun and moon emissaries. The two sides were not an equal match to begin with, but with the three traitors added into the mix, the empire’s side would lose out. 

Emperor Baili Jingshi frowned, losing his cool for the first time, “Jingwei, what do we do?”

“Your Majesty, relax, we’re not at the end yet.”

Baili Jingwei looked bleak, gnashing his teeth and roaring, “Soldiers of the empire, attack! Kill them all!”

Roar~

At his order, thousands upon thousands of experts poured in from up, below, and everywhere around, filling the imperial capital with their bloodthirst as they made their way to the scaffold.

[I knew it was a trap.]

Zhuo Fan grinned. Danqing Shen and the others started, looking at the experts storming in and shot around the convicts to shield them.

Sss~

The imperial capital’s people gasped at the scene, filled with fear and running all over the place as their hearts hammered in their chests.

[Curses, we’ve come to see a show, not be part of it. Why must it be so chaotic? First the foreign Sword Kings’ betrayal, now the imperial army? Heavens above, I don’t want to be collateral damage!]

Wailing inside, the people ran off in seconds. The army cared naught for bugs, their targets being Devil Palace and the traitors.

Rumble~

Danqing Shen and the others watched the black clouds coming closer with heavy looks. Zhuo Fan took a deep breath and said, “This looks familiar. Did it happen in the last war?”

“Yes, Steward Zhuo, you used the same tactic on our Patriarch, now it’s used on you!”

Baili Jingwei sneered, “The empire may fall today, but I don’t care about the lands anymore, so long as I have your head! The three lands’ armies are invading and the empire might be surrounded, but before they arrive, you’ll be going to hell!”

Zhuo Fan smiled. Shangguan Feiyun and the others snickered, “The empire can fall, but as long as we remain, we can just rebuild another. It’ll just take a couple more thousand years and another empire will rise. While you will all die here, regardless how tough you are. The outcome has yet to be decided, Shangguan Feixiong!”

“Feiyun, don’t get too happy. You won’t get my head that easily!” Shangguan Feixiong sneered.

Shangguan Feiyun cackled, “Ha-ha-ha, anyone could say that but you, who always lost during our spars. Brother, you’ve gone senile, so let me relieve that head off your shoulders! Let me be a good example for the other Sword Kings!”

Shangguan Feiyun shot for Shangguan Feixiong while the others moved as well.

“Feiyun, don’t you know time changes everything?”

Shangguan Feixiong shouted as he charged as well. Murong Lie and the others followed suit, each with their own targets.

Thunder boomed and explosions flared as the fourteen auras clashed, making the world shake. 

Bam!

Shangguan Feiyun and Shangguan Feixiong met violently with their Soaring Sword Arts, unleashing incredible might when the red glows intersected. 

Shangguan Feiyun showed nothing but scorn, only to feel his side being grazed by a sword wave. His shock exploded just as his sleeve did. Then a power ran through his chest that sent his body back. He turned red as blood seeped out.

Shangguan Feiyun’s mouth shook, casting a disbelieving look on Shangguan Feixiong, “H-how? I lost… in one blow? I’ve always been the one winning in all our fights. How can…”

“Feiyun, I told you, time changes everything.”

Shangguan Feixiong smiled, “You have been vying for power the past century, yearning for eastern lands, while I focused on the sword, understanding Soaring Sword Art’s core while turning a deaf ear to the world outside. Your talent is better than mine, but your heart is unsteady, your mind clouded, that you made no progress in the last century. This is the gap between us.”

Shangguan Feiyun’s face twitched as he glared at his brother, still in denial, “No! I’m better than you in every way, that’s why I refused to acknowledge you as Clan Head when you were picked. Why now could you best me? I won’t allow it, I won’t…”

Bam!

Shangguan Feiyun raged with a red face, hearing a loud sound coming. He saw a shadow fly by and Baili Yuyun’s scorched face came into view, spitting blood at his side.

“How is this possible? Murong Lie was never this strong!”

“Baili Yuyun, you were there as well when Baili Yutian and the Three-headed Crow fought. Did you learn nothing from it?”

Whoosh~

Red flashed and Murong Lie popped in his face, eyes burning with grief, “How sad, a practitioner that could not see strength in another truly strong one. Are you really Baili? Your talents are better, sharing blood with the Invincible Sword, but none of you inherited his ambition for true strength. None of you are like him!” 

Baili Yuyun squinted, glaring at the red figure with fear. Shangguan Feiyun shouted, “You’re both Sword King level experts yet you got done in by Murong Lie so soon?”

“Because he’s beyond a Sword King.”

Baili Yuyun’s eyes were hard, “I noticed their eyes changed after Patriarch fought the 9th level spiritual beast, as if their level changed. After a hundred years of training, they rose higher, above a Sword King!”

[What?!]

Shangguan Feiyun turned to Shangguan Feixiong and his faint smile, “Among us three, I’m still the weakest, with the worst talent and had yet to change. Only my mindset grew, having found a new understanding of Soaring Sword Art. Now you should understand that first you’re a martial practitioner so you could reach the Dao. That’s what’s important. With a clouded heart, you can have all the martial prowess, but never could you touch upon the Dao!”

Shangguan Feiyun’s beard shook in anger, but his heart sank. He just realized that facing his brother he always despised, he had fallen so far behind…

It was entirely one-sided. The three having gone beyond Sword King level had no trouble dealing with the seven Sword Kings. They were pushed back all the time, unable to even squeeze a draw.

As for the soldiers of the empire, they kept pouring in for the scaffold, but Danqing Shen’s group of three fended them off. 

But not even they fathomed those three old guys would go through such a change in a century.

It shocked them to the core, then they looked at Zhuo Fan with a glimmer in their eyes. It was obvious he had a role to play in it…

“Jingwei, both sides have Sword Kings so why are they stronger than ours? We can barely hold on?” Baili Jingshi was sweating buckets, “If our Sword Kings fall, we have less ways of dealing with them!”

Baili Jingwei grimaced, glancing behind at the thunderclap in the distance,  his eyes glinting…