Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 491: A victory?

As Kai endured the attacks from the Phoenix, he had long forgotten about the distress call from the Wilderness.

They were struggling to keep themselves alive under the wrath of the Celestial Phoenix, the disciples of the Immortal Sect wouldn’t care about the survival of those Beastkin.

If anything, they needed more help than the Wilderness. At least their homes weren’t burning to ash.

...

Back at the battlefield near the WIlderness, the two armies kept crushing each other.

After a while, Hakuja received the message from Kai.

His eyes widened with understanding. Ember was bluffing in this war. She had no real advantage here since even the Phoenix was attacking the Sect at this time.

"Clever scheme," he smiled bitterly, but with annoyance and anger.

Glaring at Ember in the distance, he decided to pay her back just the same. With a mental note to the remaining 2 Elders in the Wilderness, they would arrive here quickly.

Unfortunately for him, Ember had thought of everything.

She knew the exact moment that the Phoenix had appeared in the Immortal Sect, and so she also guessed that Hakuja might have realized by now.

Under his regretful eyes, the army of Ember, who was pushing back the Beastkin, began to retreat for no apparent reason.

The Tracendents and the Sages required more effort to retreat as the Elders were dead set on killing them.

Hakuja’s voice had also appeared in their heads. They were ordered to kill as many of them as possible.

However, that plan was bound to achieve little success as Ember appeared on the battlefield, right at the point where her army was retreating.

"Do not break the conventions!" Hakuja shouted, appearing right above her.

"If we’re following conventions, why not follow those of war as well?" Ember taunted, "Why are you trying to hunt the retreating soldiers? Did the conventions change during the time my cultivation was lost?"

Gritting his teeth, Hakuja watched as slowly the Transcendents of her army all retreated behind her.

Rai was the last to return and his appearance was worse than all of them.

The Elders now stood behind Hakuja, glaring at the retreating soldiers of Ember, who stood proudly in front of them like an unmoving mountain.

It felt as if mountains were standing between them and the soldiers. It was a gap they couldn’t hope to narrow.

Salar and Remal carefully guided their men back to Phoenix City while Rai stood beside Ember.

Ozul too chose to stay. His injuries recovered quickly, and he was interested in the old man as there were 2 Beastkin Empyreans.

This was the closest he had been to this old man. Except for when he was hiding in the Phoenix’s feathers as she fought. But at that time, he was more immersed in the Phoenix than anyone else.

’They are somehow the same, but different?’ Ozul felt as if the very essence of what made Ember and Hakuja cultivators were not anything alike.

It was reasonable to assume the reason was that Hakuja was not a Dragon like Ember, but his 6th sense was telling him otherwise.

"So, are you going to recover losses from me, dear master?" Ember taunted again.

However, Hakuja had already regained his composure.

There was nothing to be done at this point. Even if he were to fight her, it would only cause the destruction of this battlefield and nothing more.

It wasn’t as if he could kill her right here.

He was stronger than her, no doubts, but he neither had the heart to kill her nor enough time.

"How long will you be able to keep this up?" He asked her a single question and left without waiting for an answer.

He was disappointed that one thing he couldn’t teach his disciple was to act on the greater good. She was holding onto a revenge that wouldn’t end well.

The Elders followed behind him, not daring to confront Ember without him.

Ember was annoyed by his question, and swore in her heart, "I will keep it up till death, old man."

Rai added, "Do not worry, my lord. I will keep it up even after your death."

"Khu!-"

He was kicked in the stomach and sent flying back.

The Elders, now in the distance, snickered loudly. This little satisfaction was their only consolation in this war.

"As if I would die before you. Watch your mouth," Ember stated, leaving the area.

Her men had already recovered the dead bodies of their comrades while retreating, so most of those lying dead there were Beastkin.

The ground was charred black. There was blood everywhere and destruction rampant.

It felt as if the creator of this world had just thrown some random colors on the canvas and given it to a baby. That was how distorted the battlefield seemed.

. . .

The Phoenix was engaged in what could barely be called a tussle on what previously used to be the Immortal Sect.

Kai was battered very quickly. Even defending himself was becoming increasingly difficult, and looking after the Sect at the same time was many times worse.

He had informed both Hakuja and the Heavenly Virtue of his predicament.

He expected Hakuja not to come, but it was starting to get frustrating that even the Heavenly Virtue was not responding to his call. If that is how it was going to be, what use was aligning the Sect with them?

Before his decision could truly waver, a spatial crack opened in the sky right above the Phoenix.

"What are you doing, damned beast!?" A shout came from the crack followed by the figure of a man.

Kai recognized him immediately as Jidu, the Heavenly Virtue of Humility.

"I am not answerable to you," the Phoenix replied, attacking Jidu as well.

Kai’s heart was finally at rest.

Hundreds of the Sect’s disciples had died, but at least they weren’t completely wiped out. His own life was also in danger as a single slip-up would have been enough for the Celestial Phoenix.

Jidu appeared a little haggard, but he had learned a lot from his previous encounter with the Phoenix.

"If you do not leave now, there will be consequences!" If they were to fight here, the Immortal Sect wouldn’t remain, so he couldn’t engage her.

The Celestial Phoenix, as if smirking, screeched at the sky.

The skies thundered and roared back, but the Phoenix did not initiate an attack.

No, she was only declaring her might before flying away.

. . .

Back in the estate, the injured were treated and the survivors were celebrating.

Rai, especially, was among the most common soldiers and laughing around like he couldn’t just crush them by mistake. He was drunk on the smell of war.

Ryujin oversaw everything, personally taking reports of the casualties and everything.

Meanwhile, Ozul was pestering around Ember, who soon noticed his attempts.

"What is it? I cannot give you any dead Transcendents. They are soldiers!" Ember denied firmly, even before listening to him.

If the cultivators knew that she was ’feeding’ him their dead comrades, then she could only imagine what would happen.

Even the Lord of Shadows wouldn’t allow such an act with his people.

’Or would he?’ She had a counter thought as well. After all, his moniker as the Demonic Emperor surely meant something.

"I just wanted to ask why was that old man different from you?" Ozul ignored her act of staring into empty space.

"Hm? Oh? He is a male. I on the other han-"

"I know what that is, tell me why he is different as a Beastkin."

"Tch, you’re no fun even to tease."

But she still had an answer for him that would actually satisfy him, "It must be because he isn’t a wild Beastkin, unlike me."

"Shouldn’t he be weaker than you?"

Rai had told them what edge the Wild Beastkin had over those who were successive generations.

"He had been an Empyrean for centuries. You learn to pick up a few techniques when you are that old," Ember explained, "It would take me years to catch up to him, however. At that point, his parlor tricks will not work."

In response, Ozul only hummed and went away.

Ember watched his back and almost felt offended. He used her and ignored her the next second.

The entire atmosphere around the estate remained jubilant even though their soldiers too had died.

These men were trained for war and death on the battlefield did not faze them.

It was yet another thing that impressed the others of this Realm.

Zier, Raven, and Blaze were all heavily injured since they were engaging with stronger Transcendents.

But their battle had taught them a lot and even their coordination had improved.

"You look like you have seen a ghost," Raven noticed the eyes of Zier as he stared into empty space.

"I cannot unsee the mutilation on that great a scale..." he replied somberly. There was nothing pretty about war, and he was the only one to admit it here.