The Steward Demonic Emperor
Chapter 1286: Bloody War

Proofreader: Papatonks

At their dark faces, Zhuo Fan shrugged with a smile, “Why act that way if I knew? As humans, none of us would willingly recruit another race to fight other humans. If this does occur, then the perpetrator should ask themself what they did to make it happen.”

“You just had to share your resources and high cultivation methods with the people of the Eight Emperors’ lands, giving them hope of rising to the top, and they would never resort to this. Where then is the virtue, the honor, in fighting for someone that won’t even feed them? You made it this way with your own actions.”

“No, the Sacred Mountains must live forever and for that to happen, no outsiders are allowed to invade. We are in the right!” He Yunshan spoke with conviction, “Zhuo Fan, I admit that you’re a rare talent, but you’re not one of us. The more amazing you are, the more you need to die so that we can remove all threats to the Sacred Mountains. This shall never change!”

“And thus you dug your own grave. When the water is stagnant, it will need to flow again. You’ve been at the top for too long. Your disciples have everything and lost everything. Without experience, without hardship, there’s no progress. This is the root cause for not having a single Sovereign despite all your Saints, not even a half Sovereign. You’re nothing but thugs hoarding resources with a bit more Yuan Qi than the rest. You are strangling the prospects of future generations. You all are the real criminals of humanity.”  

He Yunshan’s face twitched, “The Sacred Mountains train in the strongest cultivation methods, and we don’t move around as long as we have resources so that we ease our understanding of Dao. This is the fastest way to the Sovereign Stage. Instead of sharing resources thinly across everyone, we centralize the resources on the best talents, none of the resources will be wasted. Of course, these cultivators must support the Sacred Mountains as well. We must keep it in the family.”

“Ha-ha, excuses!”

Zhuo Fan sighed and shouted, “Shangguan Feixiong, with me!”

Whoosh!

Shangguan Feixiong flashed before him and Zhuo Fan patted his shoulder, “He’s of average talent, yet can fight most of your Saints as just an Emperor. Care to try?”

“As if that’s possible!”

He Yunshan sneered, “The difference in those stages is insurmountable. Not even the Eight Emperors could harm a Saint.”

“We shall see.”

He pushed Shangguan Feixiong forward and the latter moved forward. He Yunshan looked at a disciple and that disciple stepped out – immediately summoning his Sacred Body.

“He’s the worst Saint of ours. I’ll be easy on you, so…”

Boom!

A shocking explosion cut off his smug declaration. A scarlet glow ran through the disciple’s Sacred Body, punching a large hole in it.

The disciple coughed blood and slumped to the ground while his Sacred Body vanished.

“What?”

Everyone gapped, watching the red sword image return to Shangguan Feixiong’s body.

“Soaring Sword Mark! Much obliged!”

Shangguan Feixiong returned to Zhuo Fan, bowing.

The elders were dumbstruck. 

[How did an Emperor do that?]

The Dragon Sovereign laughed, “Steward Zhuo has amazing people. My elder said your men are incredible, far beyond average and can contend with our dragons, if not overcome them. Now that I see it, I’m convinced, ha-ha-ha…”

“Thank you Dragon Sovereign!”

Zhuo Fan smiled, turning to the dumbstruck elders, “He’s my weakest as well, but through his experiences, he came to make his own sword art. Dao and martial arts are a combination beyond anyone’s imagination. Cooped up in your precious mountains, hoarding resources is actually an utter waste. If you had any bit of wisdom, you’d have shared them instead of stealing them from normal cultivators.”

He Yunshan glared at Zhuo Fan and left, “Zhuo Fan, Dragon Sovereign, see you on the battlefield!”

“He won’t give up until it’s too late. Stuck with his own idea despite having no argument. Then let them witness our alliance’s might until he cries, he-he.”

The Dragon Sovereign said, “Steward Zhuo, besides us, many spiritual beasts have answered the call of the sacred beasts, coming over. We’re going to erase the Sacred Mountains from this world.”

Zhuo Fan nodded, “Humans are such hypocrites. They want an eternal win, but hate all that’s evil, making up some grand excuse in the end. When all facades are stripped away, they play the devil. Ha-ha-ha, I’m ashamed to call myself human.” 

“Would you like to be a part of us then? You inherited Dragon Ancestor’s refined body and Qilin’s arm. You’re no longer a human.” 

“Even so, I still want to be humane.”

“Why?” Dragon Sovereign asked, “Didn’t you just mock humanity’s character?”

“Yeah, but there are some…”

Zhuo Fan smiled and looked at all the people in the city, “I am no longer alone, ha-ha-ha…”

The Sacred Mountains returned to prepare for war. The elders were dark, with the elder with long beard saying to He Yunshan, “Old fellow, are we really going to war? Does Zhuo Fan have anything to do with Sir Shui Jing…”

“Most likely not. He must’ve got the help of the dragons to ruin the 6th Sacred Mountain. There’s no connection with Sir Shui Jing.”

“Why so certain?”

He Yunshan paused in his flight, “They say Sir Shui Jing is like a ghost, incredible and elusive. He alone can wipe out our Seven Sacred Mountains, so why go to dragons for help? Dragon Sovereign’s appearance proved that Zhuo Fan has the dragons’ support and not Sir Shui Jing’s.”

“That makes sense!”

The elder with a long beard sighed, “But the dragons aren’t much better either. We’ve lost the Eight Emperors’ lands, our best front lines, and we now have no choice but to fight in the open. We’ll suffer greatly!”

“We still have to go to war.”

He Yunshan clenched his fist, his eyes firm, “We’d have hopes of salvaging this if it were mere revenge or about the Sacred Mountains’ dignity, but you heard Zhuo Fan’s plan. The punk wants to share everything that makes the Sacred Mountains dominant in the Sacred Domain. Losing this war means losing our hold on the Sacred Domain. We can never allow this to happen.”

They all nodded.

[You want our riches? In your dreams…]

The six Mountain Lords rushed back to their mountains to prepare. With the Eight Emperors’ lands no longer theirs to block the dragons’ advance, the Sacred Mountains would become the main battlefield.

Shortly thereafter, the war began. 

With so many people fighting in such a small area, the war could only be a bloody one.

This was the first ever Sacred Domain war. With all beings now fighting, the Eight Emperors’ lands, dragons, Sacred Mountains, and spiritual beasts. 

With each deafening quake, along with terrifying shockwaves, the weaker cultivators and dragons fell to their deaths, the first victims of the disaster.

The Seven Sacred Mountains placed a guardian formation and formed their defenses while Zhuo Fan and the Dragon Sovereign commanded a raging charge.

The Seven Sacred Mountains had plenty of experts though, with only the dragons having the power to handle three of the mountains. But as they were defended, the dragons were at a disadvantage, suffering grave losses. Zhuo Fan didn’t mind, slowly chipping them away as they fought.

He waited for the spiritual beast army to arrive and showcase their true power.

With the Nine Serenities Secret Records in his hand, he knew all arrays. In just half a month, Zhuo Fan stripped the six Sacred Mountains’ defensive arrays.

The savage beasts ran amok across their mountains, killing anything on sight along with the dragons.

The Sacred Mountains army crumbled.

Zhuo Fan’s side held supremacy with their unstoppable power. The lofty Sacred Mountains that had stood above in the Sacred Domain for millions of years were about to fall.

In the clamor of the battlefield, nine shadows appeared above, each holding piercing eyes and thick aura, beyond what any Saint on the Sacred Mountains could achieve…