Imperial God Emperor

The Sinners were innocent!

These four words caused Ye Qingyu's heart to beat wildly.

He hadn't met any Sinners since he entered the Dark Realm, but he knew that the sinner's blood flowed within him. Based on those words, he would even be considered a demon amongst the sinners and would be named the worst sinner of all.

The 'Sinners' were almost a taboo topic within the Dark Realm.

They were charged with the toughest part of the resistance against the Invaders and were the lowest social class in the Dark Realm. They were considered to be even worse than the Alien Dark Ones and they were born to be war machines; the only reason for their existence was to fight. They would use their lives, their blood and bones to defend this world from danger.

Since ancient times, it was determined that the Sinners' ancestors had committed a huge, unforgivable crime, and the ancient wise men of the other races joined forces to leave a generational curse within their bodies. They would never be forgiven and they would have to pay for their crimes with their lives, generation after generation.

As for the Guardians' camp, they could enjoy the peaceful days that came at the cost of the Sinners' lives.

If anyone within the Dark Realm dared to utter the words 'the Sinners are innocent', this person would immediately be shunned and would be considered the enemy of the Guardians' camp. It would be blasphemous to even suggest this and this saying had to be squashed at all costs.

No wonder Lin Xuan had immediately paled when he was asked about the Fire Province and turned to leave. It also made sense why he was so conflicted and hesitant earlier even though he wasn't left with much choice.

It turned out that these were the words he wanted to say.

After Lin Xuan spoke, he watched Ye Qingyu's reaction intently.

When he saw that Ye Qingyu didn't seem too surprised nor fly into a rage immediately, he was slightly astonished and exclaimed, "My Lord... why do you not seem surprised?"

Ye Qingyu smiled and said, "Your Grace, you had already told me that it was an astounding secret earlier, so I had mentally steeled myself... please continue."

Marquis Tingtao was still unable to wrap his head around Ye Qingyu's reaction, but since he had already revealed so much, there was no turning back. He nodded and continued, "I know that this is a ridiculous idea and it sounds like heresy, but this was something that myself and my elite soldiers saw in the Expansion Way of the Universe at the Fire Province. I was extremely astonished and rushed to report this to the King of Zhenyuan, but we didn't expect that a massacre was about to happen..."

A barely perceptible flash of light circulated in Ye Qingyu's eyes.

Expansion Way of the Universe?

This was a rare and magical phenomenon.

There were many explanations for this phenomenon and basically, it was the physical manifestation of the universal mysteries of heaven and earth, with heaven as the backdrop and earth as the drawing board. It was the most visual display of the mysteries of the universe; there were many ancient wise men who had managed to attain immortality because they had witnessed the Expansion Way of the Universe, and several ordinary lifeforms had become experts with the powers of Great Emperors, all because they had gained enlightenment in one night after seeing the Expansion Way of the Universe. There weren't many occasions of miraculous events occurring because of the Expansion Way of the Universe, but these fascinating miracles were indeed recorded in the history of the Vast Thousand Domains.

The Expansion Way of the Universe revealed most but not all of the profound Great Daos of the universe. It would also reveal certain events of the past, as though time had turned back. What was even more magical about the Expansion Way was that the ancient events that it would reveal tended to be very ancient and quite important.

"What did you see?" Ye Qingyu asked curiously.

He suddenly felt as though some things were starting to make sense.

"I saw the Great Emperors going to battle and the heavens shattering; I saw the ancestors of the various races who were like the legendary fiendgods, raising their hands to shatter planets and their every exhaling was like a galaxy. I saw a bloody and fierce battle as all the ancestors of the various races went to battle. they destroyed galaxies and shattered planets. I saw countless living creatures dying..." Lin Xuan's expression was a little dazed as though he was reliving the memory of when he had witnessed the Expansion Way of the Universe. He muttered, "I saw, I saw something that was even more powerful than a Martial Emperor..."

"What?" Ye Qingyu jumped to his feet and asked incredulously, "Something that was even more powerful than a Martial Emperor? How could it be... what could be more powerful than a Martial Emperor?"

This time, he was truly astonished.

A Martial Emperor was the highest and most powerful person that could exist and bore the heaven's mandate. This was a well-known fact. The Martial Emperor was known as the manifestation of heaven's will and was known to be absolutely invincible since ancient times, so how could there be something more powerful than a Martial Emperor? This was impossible...

"I couldn't believe it either, but I personally saw the ancestors of the various races, the supreme Martial Emperors who have only existed in legends. They were not from the same era, but they appeared together at the same time, joining forces to battle against a matchless and elegant figure. They fought bitterly, but those hundreds of Martial Emperors were not even a match against that one person..."

Marquis Tingtao's voice was full of incredulity.

It was as though he was reliving the shock and astonishment he had initially felt when he saw the Expansion Way.

Ye Qingyu was equally stunned.

The ancestors of the various races appeared at the same time despite not having existed in the same era to attack the same being. This sounded extremely far-fetched. Hundreds of Martial Emperors appearing together must have been incredibly terrifying, and if the event had truly happened, it must have happened eons ago, and it was a thing of the past. What kind of existence could resist the joint attacks of hundreds of Martial Emperors?

Could there really be an existence that was more powerful than a Martial Emperor?

"At long last, countless ancestors of the various races perished and they suffered great losses while that matchless figure was also injured. At the same time, his followers and the experts who fought for him were captured. Ultimately, the matchless figure chose to Dao-dissolve and thousands of rays of Great Dao light burst from his body to enter the bodies of his followers. This helped in turning them into Immortals..."

Marquis Tingtao sounded like he was in a trance and spoke like he was sleep talking.

He continued, "After that figure Dao-dissolved, the battle ended. The ancestors of the various races who barely managed to escape with their lives found that they were not able to destroy the followers of that matchless figure, so these Martial Emperors used their blood to exert a mysterious technique and imprinted all these followers with a curse. They forced them to bear the sinner's blood, handing down this bad blood to their sons and grandsons for generations to come. This cursed blood within them would never wear off and as time passed, these followers became known as the Sinners and were sent to defend the frontiers of the Dark Realm..."

Ye Qingyu finally understood that these were the origins of the Sinners.

If the Expansion Way of the Universe had shown the truth, then this event must have happened when the Dark Realm was first formed. In the beginning, there were no Guardians, Alien Dark Ones and Sinners, and this event had led to the formation of these social classes within the Dark Realm.

Ye Qingyu believed Marquis Tingtao's words because there was no way that the Expansion Way could be showing a false event.

However...

"Even if you saw all these via the Expansion Way, there's no way to determine whether the Sinners are innocent either, right?" Ye Qingyu asked in confusion.

The events that the Marquis Tingtao described did not prove anything.

"Obviously, these scenes weren't enough to prove anything, but these weren't only pictures; we also heard voices. I heard the matchless figure admonishing the ancestors of the various races for their betrayal, and his followers angrily rebuked the ancestors of the various races, calling them 'the sinners of this world'. I heard the ancestors of the various races fly into a rage and chose to exact revenge by casting a curse upon all these followers, turning them into the Sinners. They even threatened these followers, and told them that if they did not resist the Invaders, they would turn the entire world into a living hell..."

Marquis Tingtao continued to relive the experience.

The scenes from the Expansion Way of the Universe were extremely clear and there was a form of supreme power contained within them. Dao sounds had rumbled while the power of laws had surged, causing heaven and earth to shift. This was definitely not a man-made phenomenon and even a top-level Quasi-emperor could not create such a powerful manifestation.

Ye Qingyu grew even more astonished.

Was this the secret that the Guardians were keeping?

Wang Jianru had also mentioned that the true sinners were the noblemen of the Royal City, and she thought that the true heroes were the Sinners of the Unmoving City of Darkness. However, as a powerful figure of the Unmoving City of Darkness, her opinions might have been coloured by her own bias. There were many historical events that were fraught with controversy—both parties may have formed their own understanding and reasoning of certain events. However, now that he had heard the same words from an esteemed Marquis from the Guardians' camp, he immediately believed it to be the truth.

Ye Qingyu started to mull over the implications of this news.

This information was enough to overturn the glorious Guardians' camp. Once this news was made public, it would definitely bring forth chaos within the Guardians' camp. This was why the King of Zhenyuan had to kill all of the soldiers under Marquis Tingtao at all costs.

Ye Qingyu was also almost certain that the King of Zhenyuan wasn't acting alone, but this could possibly be the will of the entire Guardians' camp. However, he wasn't sure if Nie Tiankong knew about this.

He still found it odd that Lin Xuan wasn't killed the moment he returned to Royal City.

If all of the noblemen of Royal City had joined forces, Lin Xuan would have never lived till that day—in fact, Lin Xuan should have never been able to make it back to Royal City at all.

There had to be other secrets that even he wasn't aware of.

"Marquis Lin Xuan, when did you see the Expansion Way of the Universe?" Ye Qingyu asked. He was starting to feel concerned.

"We had only just entered the borders of the Fire Province that day. The heavens were the backdrop while the ground was the canvas and the Expansion Way could be seen within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The King of Zhenyuan's men had yet to arrive, so it was only the vanguard troops who witnessed this sight," Lin Xuan said.

"A radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers..." Ye Qingyu gasped. "Are you saying that a large portion of the of the Fire Province citizens had also witnessed the Expansion Way of the Universe?"

Marquis Tingtao Lin Xuan nodded and said, "That was indeed the case. The Expansion Way of the Universe covered such a large area that it was shocking. Even if not all the citizens of the Fire Province witnessed this phenomenon, I'm certain that this news was spread all over the Fire Province in recent days."

Ye Qingyu's expression turned grim as he said, "This means that the Fire Province is in trouble."

If he was one of the upper echelons of the Guardians' camp, he would definitely choose to wipe out the Fire Province from the map of the Dark Realm at all costs. Every single living creature that lived in the Fire Province would have to be killed to prevent this information from leaking out, just like how Lin Xuan's men had been killed.

What would happen to [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] and the others then?

The situation was a lot more serious than he had expected.

Furthermore, he realized that his life would be in danger the moment he stepped out of Marquis Tingtao's residence. If he wasn't careful, he might end up being killed.