"Here they come!"
"Look, the martial artists from the Black Water Empire are here!"
"Eh, only one person?"
"Ye Zhen?"
The Five Countries Conference had always been attended by all five countries over the years, and this time the martial artists from the Black Water Empire had not yet appeared, which was unusual for the martial artists from the other four countries.
Upon hearing that the martial artists from the Black Water Empire had arrived, everyone turned towards the direction of the newcomer, but upon seeing that only Ye Zhen had come alone, everyone was visibly stunned.
This was especially true for the team leaders of the various countries, who were also unequivocally stunned.
The Spirit Summoning Realm martial artists attending the Five Countries Conference mostly did not recognize Ye Zhen, but their team leaders all knew him, even harboring a deep-seated...hatred for Ye Zhen!
Especially Southern Barbarian Elder Wuwei, who, upon seeing Ye Zhen, immediately started gesticulating wildly to the twelve Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioners around him.
The next moment, anger swiftly took over the faces of all Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioners, including the two other Southern Barbarian Elders who had accompanied Wuwei for protection, who were all righteously indignant and extremely furious!
Five years ago, nearly all of the next generation’s talents from the Southern Barbarian Tribe had died at Ye Zhen’s hands—how could they not be furious?
The collective anger of these Southern Barbarian martial artists also carried severe consequences.
Each Southern Barbarian martial artist had at least four demon servants, and some had as many as eight or nine! The demon servants brought by the Southern Barbarian Elders numbered at least eight, and each servant was a demon beast of Upper-grade Earth Level.
As a result, the number of demon servants brought by the martial artists from the Southern Barbarian Tribe amounted to nearly eighty.
In an instant, the anger of the Southern Barbarian martial artists was transmitted to their demon servants!
Roar, growl, howl, hiss, buzz...
Almost simultaneously, nearly eighty demon servants ranging from Lower-grade Earth Level to Upper-grade Earth Level roared in anger, expressing their masters’ fury.
The roar was so loud that it shook the heavens, and the winds and clouds changed colors—if the roars could kill, Ye Zhen would have been killed dozens of times over.
Amid the torrent of roars, the martial artists from the Phantom Divine Empire, Gu’an Empire, and Sword Origin Empire all turned pale, with some Spirit Summoning Realm martial artists showing visible signs of fright, many of whom were startled into retreating repeatedly by the roars.
Seeing this, the Southern Barbarian Elders all burst into hearty laughter, feeling triumphant that the Southern Barbarian Tribe was so imposing. This time, they were sure to seize the War Soul Blood Flag!
In their moment of pride, the Southern Barbarian martial artists did not restrain themselves, allowing their demon servants to grow increasingly excited and emit deafening roars of rage, their presence unmatched.
In the sky, just as the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten suddenly flew up to the middle of the mountainside at a hundred meters, it let out an unusually deep tiger’s roar, and at the moment the roar was emitted, the "King" pattern on its forehead and the black patterns on its limbs simultaneously flickered.
"Roar!"
Amid the roar, all the roars of the demon beasts instantly ceased, as if their throats had been choked off—abruptly cut off. Moreover, some demon beasts of Lower-grade Earth Level among the Southern Barbarian Spirit Practitioners immediately collapsed to the ground in utter terror, defecating and urinating uncontrollably, while the Mid-grade Earth Level demon beasts simultaneously knelt to the ground.
Even those Upper-grade Earth Level demon beasts revealed fear in their large beastly eyes, continuously crowding backward as if encountering some terrifying entity.
The Southern Barbarian martial artists were instantly stunned!
The three Southern Barbarian Elders, including Wuwei, somewhat unwillingly tried to incite their demon servants to roar and confront the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten.
However, no matter how they tried to urge their own demon servants, those massive beasts could only emit extremely faint cries, and those too were short-lived.
The Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten dominated the skies like a king, its tiger eyes sweeping through the area and causing the Lower and Mid-lower-grade Earth Level demon beasts to tremble uncontrollably.
This scene made Ye Zhen, who was riding on the back of the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten, quite appear quite like a Beast King.
However, Ye Zhen himself was also quite surprised by the scene.
In terms of demon beast tiers, the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten was merely an Upper-grade Earth Level demon beast, which at most should have intimidated the Lower and Mid-lower-grade Earth Level demon beasts, far from causing them to collapse in terror, let alone causing fear in the same tier Upper-grade Earth Level demon beasts.
According to Ye Zhen’s speculation, this must have something to do with the part of the black light from the Black Dragon Left Eye that the Kitten had absorbed in the Black Dragon Secret Palace.
In a moment, the watching faces of the Southern Barbarian Elders went pale as they looked at Ye Zhen, but the Spirit Summoning Realm martial artists from the Phantom Divine Empire, Gu’an Empire, and Sword Origin Empire looked at Ye Zhen with immense respect!
This respect had nothing to do with hatred, only with righteousness!
The Southern Barbarians had always been regarded as barbarians, undying and unshunnable like blood-sucking bugs, despised and detested by the Four Central Plains Countries.
Especially for those martial artists who had just been terrified into retreating by the heaven-reaching beast roars, they each felt extremely satisfied, almost wishing to let out a long cry to express their feelings.
Unlike the respect of these Spirit Summoning martial artists, the expressions of the team leaders from the various countries became somewhat somber, even worried!
Under normal circumstances, what should have appeared now was the delegation from the Black Water Empire participating in the Five Countries Conference, consisting of twelve Spirit Summoning Realm martial artists and a Guard Elder.
But only Ye Zhen had appeared!
This in itself was not too strange.
However, after the Eastern Expedition, all the martial artists in the Black Dragon Domain knew that the War Soul Blood Flag was continuously held in Ye Zhen’s hand. During the Eastern Expedition, the Sect Master of Sword Origin Sect, Yu Ruhai, had even organized an ambush against Ye Zhen once, aiming to snatch the War Soul Blood Flag.
Adding this factor, the situation became somewhat eerie.
Whether it was Xie Lvu, the elders of Sword Origin Sect like Shen Yi, or Elder Huo from Gu’an Kingdom, all had a vaguely ominous feeling.
"Elder Ye, why have you come alone? Where are the martial artists from your country who are participating in the Five Countries Conference?" Elder Huo Changdong asked.
During the Eastern Expedition, although Gu’an Kingdom continually made small moves behind the scenes, they had not completely fallen out with Black Water Empire and continued to maintain a friendly relationship with Black Water Kingdom, so he took the initiative to ask.
As for addressing Ye Zhen as ’Elder,’ the reason was simple: not long after the start of the Eastern Expedition, Sect Leader Guo Qijing of Qiyun Sect had declared to all that Ye Zhen was specially promoted as the ninth Sect Elder of Qiyun Sect.
Ye Zhen did not immediately answer Elder Huo from Gu’an Kingdom’s question but instead swept his gaze, which seemed almost tangible, over the faces of the team-leading elders present.
Not to mention others, even Xie Lvu, the Law Enforcement Elder from Qingluo Sect of Phantom Divine Empire, had to lower his head and avoid Ye Zhen’s piercing gaze.
As for the Elders of the Southern Barbarian Tribe, although they dared to meet Ye Zhen’s gaze, each one of them felt extremely uneasy.
The fact that Ye Zhen’s mount had intimidated all the demon beasts they had brought spoke volumes to them, who dealt with demon beasts year-round.
As his gaze swept over many Soul Sea Realm experts, Ye Zhen suddenly took out an item from his bosom and briskly unfurled a blood-red flag that fluttered in the wind, exuding an aura of iron-blooded slaughter.
"War Soul Blood Flag?"
"War Soul Blood Flag?"
"How the War Soul Blood Flag is still in your possession?"
Cries of alarm sounded simultaneously, and the eyes of the Southern Barbarian martial artists widened, as they had coveted the War Soul Blood Flag for five years already.
"I came here today to tell everyone something! From today onward, there is no need to hold the Five Countries Conference anymore. As for this War Soul Blood Flag, from now on, it belongs to Black Water Empire, and you no longer need to fight over it!"
Silence!
As Ye Zhen’s words fell, a deathly silence suddenly descended over the entire Battlefield of Demon Souls, and the next moment, this silence was explosively shattered!
"Why?"
"Why will there be no more Five Countries Conference? Why does the War Soul Blood Flag belong to your Black Water Empire now?" Elder Shen Yi of the Sword Origin Sect roared.
If the War Soul Blood Flag permanently belonged to Black Water Empire, then the most terrified would have to be the Sword Origin Empire. As long as the War Soul Blood Flag was in the hands of Black Water Empire, the battle that could lead to their nation’s destruction could descend at any moment.
The roar of Shen Yi acted like a fuse, causing the elders of the other Four Countries to point at Ye Zhen and start furiously cursing, each more vehement than the last.
Yet there Ye Zhen stood, entirely calm and collected, not showing the slightest anger. As he listened, he even closed his eyes and started to feign sleep.
This scene made the elders of various nations realize something was amiss. As the shouts and curses gradually ceased, Ye Zhen once again opened his eyes.
"Are you all done?"
"What I want to tell you is that the statement I just made was merely an offhand notification, yes, just a notification and not to explain anything to you.
As for the reason, you can figure it out yourselves!
The Battlefield of Demon Souls is about to open, yet the War Soul Blood Flag still remains in my hands. What does this signify? Even a dumb donkey could figure it out!"
Although Ye Zhen’s words contained some disrespect, by this point, no one got angry; everyone was digesting the massive amount of information embedded in the few sentences Ye Zhen had spoken.
"Ah, besides that, I have another piece of news to notify all of you!" Suddenly, Ye Zhen extended a finger.
"Once the Battlefield of Demon Souls opens, no one is allowed to enter it!" Speaking thus, Ye Zhen grinned, revealing a set of shining white teeth, "Of course, this is just a warning to the martial artists from the Central Plains Three Countries. As for those from the Southern Barbarian Tribe, do as you please.
If they aren’t afraid of having another swath of their elite martial artists cut down!"
Threat!
Ye Zhen’s last sentence was a stark threat!
The faces of the protective elders from all nations, including those of the Southern Barbarian Elders, all shifted to a state of alarmed uncertainty.
The entire Battlefield of Demon Souls once again fell silent, as the protective elders of the various countries exchanged looks, each one trying to figure out what exactly Ye Zhen meant.
The situation was too complex.
The War Soul Blood Flag was right before their eyes, yet Ye Zhen was barring them from entering the Battlefield of Demon Souls.
Or rather, their target was the War Soul Blood Flag, but with the flag waving right before their eyes, everyone had an extremely strange feeling, not understanding what Ye Zhen was really up to!
The so-called ’wealth blinds the eyes.’
The allure of the War Soul Blood Flag to the Southern Barbarians was simply too great.
Moreover, the Southern Barbarian Tribe was informationally isolated and had little awareness of Ye Zhen’s renown over the past few years. Thus, after a deathly silence, the first to jump out was the Southern Barbarian Elder Wuwei.
"Gentlemen, the War Soul Blood Flag is right before our eyes; why not rush up all at once, kill Ye Zhen first, and then decide the ownership of the War Soul Blood Flag?" Southern Barbarian Elder Wuwei suddenly raised his arm and cried out loud!
(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)

Comments

Loading...