Sovereign of the Three Realms

The blue clad man’s words caught the attention of the others. The last elder was dressed in ragged clothing, with an ancient zither strapped to his back. He looked so frail that it seemed like the merest hint of a breeze might blow him over. But when he opened his eyes, the light that shone from them was the light of a fiery star, filling him with an awe-inspiring dignity.

“We are indeed short one.” The elder’s voice was hoarse and weak, but the Myriad Domain cultivators couldn’t help but tremble at it. They could tell, this elder’s cultivation level was higher than the other three! The other three were second level emperor realm, but the elder was third level emperor realm.

“Why are we missing a sect?” Qitian Sect Head Sing frowned and looked darkly towards the Myriad Domain assembly. “Who amongst you has authority to speak for everyone?”

Everyone naturally looked at Xiang Wentian. His expression, though strained, was collected, “Greetings. I must confess, I haven’t heard of the order of the Divine Abyss Continent collapsing recently, or has it? Bringing your armies into our territory so blatantly, it might seem cause for public censure, no?”

He had to seek the side of righteous justice, no matter how the battle developed. As the most powerful cultivator in the Myriad Domain, Xiang Wentian had enough awareness to see further than this conflict. However, he also knew that even if they managed to stay on the path of righteousness, it would be hard to make it out of today alive.

The blue clad, blue eyebrowed Bamboo Sect Head’s eyes narrowed in a cold glare, as his voice turned to ice, “Cut the bullshit. That year, the Myriad Empire offended my Great Scarlet Mid Region, and more than deserved death for their actions. Even after six hundred years, you ragtag remnants haven’t given up on your past. Every thirty years you put this piddling ceremony together in remembrance of a Myriad Empire that lies crowned in dirt. That alone is a great offense to my Great Scarlet Mid Region! Now, you’ve trotted out some Imperial Jade Seal and Guardian Dragon Seal. The only thing that’s blatantly obvious is your wish to rebuild the empire. You think that’s not deserving of punishment!?”

Just like the Myriad Domain, Great Scarlet also sought the moral high ground. Regardless of their sophistry, they were trespassing, even invading. It was more than most needed to censure them. It was why the Great Scarlet emperor had reminded them multiple times to come up with a righteous reason to justify their actions. Obviously, they had decided to use their feud with the Myriad Empire as their moral foundation.

Xiang Wentian grew irate. “The ones who offended you were the Myriad Empire royalty, and you’ve already completely destroyed them. We’re simply memorializing the glories of the empire. This has no connection with the royalty, so what does it have to do with the events of the past?”

“You’re still trying to argue? If it has nothing to do with the ancient royal family, why did you choose to hold the ceremony in their ancestral hall? Wasn’t the Imperial Jade Seal and Guardian Dragon Seal items left behind by the royal family?” These people had clearly come prepared.

“Why waste words with them, Sect Head Heng?” The black robed Sect Head Xing’s gaze was as provocative as could be. “I think us four sects should each take a corner and charge together. Then that formation wouldn’t prove the slightest trouble.”

The Myriad Domain would be hard pressed to defend themselves from an attack on all four sides. It was a good suggestion. The other three sect heads all looked at the raggedy sect head of the Zither Sect. He was the strongest, so they all wanted to seek his opinion.

He rasped out, “Find out first where that one sect has gone. His Majesty has given orders to wipe them all out, with no stragglers as exceptions. According to our intelligence, there’s another fourth rank sect other than the Tristar Sect that should be here.”

From within the Myriad Domain ranks, Wang Jianyu suddenly cackled, “Another sect? One of the sects has already slipped off, so what can you do to them?”

An unhappy rustle disturbed the Myriad Domain formation after those words rang out. They were obviously extremely dissatisfied with Wang Jianyu’s actions and even extremely contemptuous. The Regal Pill Palace had indeed left, but they’d had the decency to warn everyone to retreat before they’d done so. It was just that no one had believed them. In comparison, Wang Jianyu’s actions were ten thousand times more reprehensible. He’d actually gone to the depths of creating more trouble for this sect during these troubled times.

“Slipped off?” The emperor realm cultivators from the Great Scarlet Mid Region exchanged glances. This was a rather unexpected development. Had the Myriad Domain detected their plans beforehand? But that didn’t seem likely. They’d been particularly careful when setting up their formations to avoid alerting anyone in this region. Even if they had been detected, why hadn’t the others run off as well?

The black clad Qitian sect head spoke, “Fellow daoists, even if one sect has managed to run off, they might not be able to break through our blockade on the outskirts. Besides, even if one or two of them make it out, there are still others to take care of them when they return to their sects.”

The color drained from the faces of the Myriad Domain cultivators. If they heard that man right, their sects were in the same dire situation they were in. These people were incomparably confident in their strategy and didn’t bother speaking out of earshot. It was obvious that they were looking at the Myriad Domain as turtles in a jar, not at all worried about not being able to take them down.

“Daoist Qin, can we start now?”

“Indeed, Daoist Qin, let’s put this matter to bed and start!” The heads of the Qitian and Golden Glyph Sects both spoke up.

“There’s no rush, let’s treat them to one of my performances first.” The elder from the Zither Sect reached behind him to grasp his zither and placed it horizontally on the air. There was nothing beneath the zither, but it floated in the air as if supported by an invisible frame. It was truly wondrous.

The more wondrous it seemed, the more pressure the Myriad Domain cultivators felt. They would be hard pressed to make it out alive if the four emperor realm cultivators made a move in unison, much less considering the thousands strong army that was also present.

Wrinkles creased the face of the old man from the Zither Sect, but the hand that extended out of his robes was as tender and gentle as a lady’s. “Let’s have a song, ‘Beseiged On All Sides’.”

The Zither Sect head’s raspy voice stood in stark contrast to the lightness of his hands as he placed them on the zither. Rays of light started to coalesce around the zither, and the elder’s fingers began to rhythmically strum the instrument. Notes joined and blended to form a melody, and the sound waves began to transform into various shapes in the air. Like an entire army unto themselves, the sound waves began to crash against the Myriad Domain’s defensive formation. The elder’s fingers blurred as he increased his speed, and the various shapes began to move with the momentum of an avalanche, crashing down on the Myriad Domain from all directions.

“What a nice song of ‘Besieged On All Sides’.” Sect Head Leng of the Bamboo Sect applauded as his grin grew cruel.

Rumble, rumble. Once the momentum had been added to the notes, it was quite an intimidating sight. Some of the Myriad Domain folk who were unfortunate enough to be closer to the outer parts of the formation were almost instantly devoured by the shapes formed by the notes. Agonized wails and howls rang out from the clash of weapons as severed limbs flew and churned through the air. The images formed by the notes seemed to slice and cut through the air like innumerable blades with murderous intent.

Wang Jianyu had been standing on the outskirts with the rest of the Sacred Sword Palace, and instantly beat a hasty retreat deeper into the formation when they saw this attack descend. The Great Cathedral, Dark North Sect, and Walkabout Sect had set up their formations, but their preparations were thrown into swift disarray when Wang Jianyu brought his sect randomly charging in. The music notes didn’t hesitate in exploiting a newfound hole in the formation and slashed their way in after them. A dozen or so people instantly perished in their wake. The fifth rank sect members fell like scythed wheat, incapable of putting up the slightest defense. The power of an empire realm cultivator wasn’t something that someone of a fifth rank sect could even hope to defend against

The fifth rank sect groups on the outside also started to push their way deeper, trying to find shelter in the defensive formations set up by the great sects. The Myriad Domain’s formations began to degenerate into chaos under the combined assault of the notes and the mad rush of the fifth rank sects. Another hundred cultivators were gleefully ripped apart by the notes in the ensuring madness.

“Haha, nice, very nice! Daoist Qin is a demon with a zither alright! We don’t even need to take the field after this song!”

“The melody of a zither demon is extraordinary alright!”

The other sect heads were generous with their praise. They were astute enough to see that the Myriad Domain had been hamstrung by the internal chaos, severely limiting their ability to fight back. It even looked like the invaders didn’t even need to get their hands dirty.

“What a bunch of trash. They’re like mud that won’t even stick to a wall.”

“Haha, His Majesty has always been worried about the Myriad Domain. But it looks like he was simply overly anxious.”

“Indeed, just us alone are enough to take out this group of ants. How could they possibly be of any threat to our Great Scarlet Mid Region?”

It was as they said, the Myriad Domain sects were all in a panicked frenzy. Xiang Wentian watched the proceedings with a darkened expression, but there was nothing he could do. The other party was only attacking via sound waves and hadn’t seriously attacked the defensive formations yet. There was nothing they could do even though they wanted to fight the invaders. The enemy was defeating them without even drawing their blades. Emperor realm cultivators were indeed strong.

Xiang Wentian’s eyes turned bloodshot. He knew that he couldn’t possibly look to the Walkabout Sect or Dark North Sect any longer. His only hope was from his Great Cathedral. He sent a silent message to the other three family heads, “Wise younger brothers, I’m afraid that it’s not looking good for us in this fight. The Dark North Sect and Walkabout Sect look like they’ve found their footing, but they won’t be able to withstand an emperor realm attack when push comes to shove. Our Great Cathedral must force a path out, and so we’ll have to utilize the combined power of the totems of our four families.”

“We’ll follow your orders, old brother Xiang!”

“Right! The Myriad Domain has hope as long as our Great Cathedral still remains!” The other three family heads all had great trust in Xiang Wentian.

“Alright, we’ll combine the power of the totems in a moment and break through in a sudden surge of power. No matter what, we must break through!” Xiang Wentian couldn’t spare any thought for the youngsters anymore. The sect elders and heads themselves only had a flicker of a hope to leave themselves, let alone the Myriad Domain youngsters.

It was at this moment that a figure flew in from the east. It was frantic as it screeched to an abrupt halt in front of the emperor realm cultivators, falling into a deep bow. “Four sect heads, things have gone wrong! A group of people have escaped from the southeast and have broken through our perimeter. Our casualties have been high!”

“What?” The four sect heads were all stunned, including the Zither sect head currently playing “Besieged On All Sides”. How is this possible?

Although the outer perimeter wasn’t as strong as the blockade here, it was still formed from the elite elders of their four sects. The southeastern corner was under the jurisdiction of the Bamboo Sect, and all eyes looked towards the blue clad, blue eyebrowed Sect Head Leng.

The sect head frowned, “Elder Shen Huang was in charge of keeping control over the southeastern quadrant. Although he’s not yet in the emperor realm, he’s still ninth level sage realm! He also has a large number of sage realm experts with him, there’s no rational reason that he would let a group of ants break through and escape.”

The others were all taken aback as each tried to make sense of this bewildering piece of information. According to their intel, of the sects in the Myriad Domain, only the Great Cathedral stood above the rest, and only by a bit at that. But one of the sects had managed to detect them, sneak away unnoticed, and then break through the outer perimeter? Just which sect in the Myriad Domain had this level of ability?

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The exact characters for his name are “Zither Demon/Monster/Ghost/Spirit”, and I really couldn’t figure out an English translation that didn’t sound foolish. “Sect Head Zither Monster” sounds extremely cringe, as are other all English option. There was the option of keeping “mo” in pinyin, but “Zithermo”, “Zither Mo”, “Mo Zither” sounded equally dumb lol. Welcome ideas!