Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1750: The Analect

"Great Scholar Zhang, someone outside claiming to be from your family wishes to see you."

"Hmm?" Zhang Ji, who was lost in a scroll on his lap, raised his head to look at the servant. "Someone home? Why didn’t they send a talisman?" The servant lowered his head in embarrassment; how was he supposed to answer such a question?

"Bring them in," Zhang Ji said as he realized his mistake. Soon, a middle-aged man in a blue, dirty robe rushed into the room; he was faster than the servant.

"Zhang Jiu? What’s the meaning of this? Don’t you have any manners?"

"Ancestor, you must rush over and save the clan. They, they, they..."

Zhang Ji frowned. He waved his hand, and a golden light started nourishing Zhang Jiu’s body. His excited nerves immediately calmed down. "Thank you."

"Now, tell me what happened."

"The Pei Clan has surrounded our clan, claiming they would destroy and annihilate every single one of us."

"They dare?" A terrifying aura spread through the room, shaking the hall. An Emperor’s wrath can leave millions of bodies in its wake, but the wrath of a Great Scholar is the wrath of Heaven and Earth itself. Zhang Ji resisted the urge to depart immediately. Instead, he started analyzing the situation.

"The Pei Clan would never do something that would jeopardize their candidate," Zhang Ji uttered with a frown. "So, their purpose is me, or the Great Sage Qi." He glanced at Zhang Jiu. He also understood how someone successfully escaped the entrapment. "What excuse did they use for such a bold claim?"

"They said Zhang Jing stole their clan’s Lord Treasure."

Zhang Ji frowned. "Did he do it?"

"Ancestor, although Zhang Jing has a lot of faults, his loyalty to the clan is unquestionable."

"Thats’ exactly the issue," Zhang Ji sighed. "For the clan, he is willing to do anything. It would be easy for the Pei Clan to exploit such a character flaw."

Zhang Jiu opened his mouth repeatedly before sighing and lowering his head. "What do we do now?" Zhang Ji did not immediately answer.

"How about you disown the clan? Anyway, we can accept disgrace, but we cannot allow our actions to derail your future."

"As always, you oversimplified things," Zhang Ji shook his head. If he did this, his reputation in the Righteous Domain would be completely ruined. From now on, nothing he did would ever receive public support, not to mention that such an action would also affect Great Sage Qi. In the Literary World, a teacher and their students’ fate are intertwined.

"Then?"

"This is not as big a deal as you think," Zhang Ji calmly explained as he slowly stood and stretched his body. "A Lord Treasure is one of the most important foundations of this Lord Lineages — they often used it as their Luck Condensing Artifact. How could anyone else steal such a thing — especially a Great Emperor?"

"The artifact is fake?"

"Probably a very well-made copy; otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to fool my master," Zhang Ji sneered.

"But, what if, I mean, what if it’s the real deal?"

"That would be even better," Zhang Ji smiled. If that thing were real, then he would do everything in his power to keep it for himself, even if it meant losing a bit of reputation.

"Alright, let’s go."

"Sir, shouldn’t you tell the Sage about this?" the servant asked.

"That’s exactly what the enemy wants," Zhang Ji sneered as he took Zhang Jiu and teleported to the nearest Domain Transmission Array. As a Great Sage’s disciple, he has plenty of privileges, so he used them to return home as soon as possible.

Swish!

As soon as Zhang Ji landed at his destination, a potent spatial energy teleported him to an unknown dimension. His complexion turned ugly, but his reaction was swift, instantly activating the protective talisman his master made for him.

"That old man truly loves you. He not only used his precious Soul Blood for the talisman, he even incorporated a bit of his Golden Body of Merit," said a gravelly voice.

"But none of that matters," added an effeminate voice. "You will die today."

Zhang Ji looked at the three people present. "Blood God, Depraved Euneuch, and the Moon Swallowing Wolf."

"Who are you calling a eunuch?" Yang Tianshen roared, but his soft voice only added insult to injury. Boom! Zhang Ji’s golden shield trembled slightly, but still resisted the eunuch’s terrifying sword slash.

"Damn talisman. Let’s work together."

"Guys, there is no need to do this," Zhang Ji uttered as he controlled his breathing. "There must be some kind of misunderstanding." Sadly, no one listened to him; these people’s only goal was that golden shield.

"I know the Evil Path likes to kill other Lord candidates as their selection mission, but why are you guys targeting me? Killing me will not affect my master as you think. He’s a Sage after all; he can perfectly control his emotions.

"And the demon race — we have no animosity, right? Why are you allying with those people?"

"Your philosophy is dangerous to the very existence of our race," the Moon Swallowing Wolf, who resembled a handsome man with wolf ears and fierce eyes.

"I..."

Order Virtue Pavilion:

Great Sage Qi suddenly opened his eyes from his meditation. Something was wrong. His intuition told him something terrible was about to happen. He glanced at his right palm before uttering: "All the secrets of Heaven and Earth are between my palm." A golden light flashed in his hand, and he stared intently at the lines. "Someone has obscured the secrets of Heaven and Earth?"

Great Sage Qi pondered briefly before summoning his disciples. However, after noticing the delay in Zhang Ji’s arrival, the palpitations in his head intensified. Without hesitation, he searched for the latter’s whereabouts and soon found the truth from the servant.

The surrounding space trembled, forcing the servant to kneel. However, as the sage was about to leave, another servant rushed into the room. "Master, master, terrible news. The Young master, the young master, he —"

"Speaks."

"His Soul Lamp has been extinguished."

Before anyone could react, the Great Sage was already gone, which was a great relief for the poor servant kneeling on the floor. Boom! A terrifying dark cloud covered a quarter of the Literary Realm, making many people wonder what catastrophe was about to happen. Only a few could tell that this was the manifestation of a Sage’s wrath.

Great Sage Qi’s hand trembled as he reached out for the soul lamp. "Ji’er," he muttered as tears dripped from his eyes. Then, a switch occurred. Great Sage Qi’s face turned stone cold, without any emotions whatsoever. He followed the causal line of the lamp to his disciple’s last place. What he saw enraged him even more.

After an Eternal Path cultivator has their past self erased and they die, their present body dissipates between Heaven and Earth. However, most cultivators believe in proper burial, so techniques exist to create an artificial body for the process. Whoever killed Zhang Ji was not only audacious enough to kill a Sage’s disciple, but they also built him a body to leave a message by disfiguring him.

Great Sage Qi did not hesitate to teleport to the designated area engraved on Zhang Ji’s face. As expected, there was an ambush. Sage Qi might not be able to detect the hidden arrays in this place, but Emperor Kong could. Unfortunately, the truth did not matter. The plan was designed for Sage Qi’s ability, and things proceeded as they were meant to.

In this legendary battle, Great Sage Qi single-handedly killed three candidates from the other paths. Then, Old Man Asura — who is the person most likely to become the next Evil Lord — tried to intervene and was severely injured and forced to run away. Afterward, Great Sage Qi broke into the Destiny Realm and killed Reverend White Eyes, who was responsible for hiding the secrets of Heaven and Earth to ensure the success of this plan.

In one battle, Emperor Kong successfully reversed Great Sage Qi’s weak and peaceful demeanor, showing he was a strong leader capable of bringing prosperity to the Literary Path. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg. After his killing rampage, Sage Qi wanted to attack the Pei Clan, claiming they were also involved in this.

The Pei Clan denied it, but Great Sage Qi — who had lost his mind due to the loss of his disciple — could not be reasoned with. So, as a last resort, the Pei Clan had no choice but to have the Nine Council intervene. Great Sage Qi backed down, but he also insisted that the council investigate the Pei Clan’s cooperation with the Evil Path.

Every faction — no matter the path — has some sort of secret cooperation with the Evil Path. It’s how they get their dirty dealings accomplished without being associated with it. Anyone with some political sense would know what the council would discover if they investigated the Pei Clan. Unfortunately, this was one of those open schemes that even the council must accept.

So, without much hesitation, the Nine Council discovered the Pei Clan’s dealings with the Evil Path, and as punishment, their candidate was disqualified. Great Sage Qi had eliminated one of the top 5 contenders with just one sacrifice, but that was not the end of things.

Zhang Ji was buried with the highest honor. He received more than 3 Great Sage’s eulogies, and his master guarded his tomb for ten years. Afterward, the Great Sage entered deep seclusion for another thousand years. People thought he had forsaken the selection, but upon his exit, a magnificent vision of a golden scroll that covered the entire world manifested.

"I am Great Sage Qi, inheriting my disciple’s legacy, I have written the [Analect of the Golden Society]. I hereby vow that until the day I take my last breath, I will not stop working until I make his dream a reality."