Chapter 608 - 607: I Am the Great Emperor

Chapter 608: Chapter 607: I Am the Great Emperor

The Celestial Demon Mansion was a top-tier, third-rank faction, and its Overall Strength was certainly impressive. If allowed to develop steadily, it wouldn’t be impossible for it to gain Imperial Influence. However, achieving that status would take several years, or perhaps even decades.

It was impossible to gain Imperial Influence without a powerful Divine Rune Master and a mighty Great Emperor. Therefore, every Empire had a National Preceptor, who was almost always a Divine Rune Master.

An Empire without a grand formation for protection was extremely vulnerable. Thus, having a Divine Rune Master to defend the nation provided a chance to counterattack when invaded. At the very least, they could hold out until reinforcements arrived instead of collapsing immediately.

No matter how powerful a faction was, even a True Dragon had to bow its head before him!

Yi Tianyun recalled that the Celestial Demon Mansion had indeed attended his last banquet. They hadn’t come to support him, however, but to plead for his forgiveness.

Now they were being touted as having a great relationship with him, and the part about that ridiculous Young Master Shi was especially laughable. ’A great relationship with me? Even if that Young Master Shi had ten times the nerve, he still wouldn’t dare speak to me. Does he even have the right?’

Young Master Shi’s father had to speak to him on his knees, to say nothing of the son himself. This deception might work on cultivators with low cultivation levels or on weaker factions, but that was it.

"Who are you!" The sleazy man whipped his head around to look. Someone had walked up to them, and he hadn’t even noticed.

"It’s you!?"

Zhao Yu pointed at Yi Tianyun, covering her mouth in shock. Yu Shiqian was just as astonished. They had both seen his true face long ago, back when the Netherworld Empire had summoned them.

Back then, the Mansion Master of the Celestial Extreme Mansion had perished, and they never expected him to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Although the Celestial Extreme Mansion was later absorbed into the Celestial Cloud Empire, many of the details were covered up, so most people didn’t know the real story. For instance, the fact that Yi Tianyun hadn’t died was unknown to the public.

"Me? I’m the Great Emperor you were just talking about," Yi Tianyun said nonchalantly. "Your Young Master Shi and I have a great relationship? That’s news to me."

"You’re the Great Emperor?" The sleazy man was stunned for a moment before he and his men pointed at Yi Tianyun and burst into laughter. "The audacity! How dare you call yourself the Celestial Cloud Emperor? If word of this gets back to the Celestial Cloud Empire, you won’t even know what hit you! I, Yuan Long, personally accompanied Young Master Shi to meet the Celestial Cloud Emperor. You dare to put on an act in front of me?"

Yuan Long tilted his head back arrogantly, acting as if he had truly met the Celestial Cloud Emperor. In reality, he hadn’t seen him at all; he had merely waited outside the main hall, not even daring to step inside.

His boasts might have held some shred of credibility in front of ordinary people, but bragging before Yi Tianyun himself was simply courting death.

Yi Tianyun was certain he had never met Yuan Long before. The man was a nobody. But his memory was so incredible that he would know with a single glance whether he had met someone.

Meanwhile, Yu Shiqian and her companion were staring blankly at Yi Tianyun. "Weren’t you dead?" Yu Shiqian asked, bewildered. "And weren’t you put forward by the Celestial Extreme Mansion to be their Mansion Master?"

Their attention wasn’t on his claim of being the Great Emperor at all, but rather on whether he was alive or dead.

"I’m not that easy to kill." Yi Tianyun looked them up and down with a faint smile. "You should go. Just leave this to me."

"But... they’re so powerful. If you get involved..." Yu Shiqian frowned and shook her head, rejecting his offer. "I advise you not to bring trouble upon yourself, Sir. They’re from the Celestial Demon Mansion, which is far stronger than the Celestial Extreme Mansion."

’Clearly, their information was out of date,’ Yi Tianyun thought. ’It seemed news was rather siloed here, and the details of the merger hadn’t spread widely. Besides, the two of them didn’t seem like the type to actively gather intelligence, so it was normal for them to be in the dark about most things.’

They did recognize the Celestial Cloud Empire, though. That name was known by everyone, from a three-year-old child to a man on his deathbed.

"The Celestial Demon Mansion?" Yi Tianyun sneered. "Their Young Master Shi isn’t even worthy of carrying my shoes! They’re running scams in my name... It’s generous enough of me not to annihilate them!"

"Are you just ignoring what we said, brat!" Yuan Long lunged, reaching for Yi Tianyun’s head.

Without so much as a glance, Yi Tianyun casually raised a hand. Yuan Long was sent flying, crashing through several trees before finally coming to a stop. With just a flick of his wrist, he had effortlessly defeated a Spirit Pill Stage expert!

The onlookers were left dumbfounded. How could a boy who looked so young be this powerful?

Yu Shiqian and her companion’s eyes widened in disbelief. It was incredible. ’He can defeat them just by lifting a hand?’

"You... you dare to injure me... I... I won’t let you get away with this! I’ll have Young Master Shi punish you!" Yuan Long wasn’t dead, but most of the bones in his body were broken, leaving him immobilized.

"Punish?" Yi Tianyun sneered. "I’m sparing your pathetic life for one reason: crawl back and tell the Mansion Master of your Celestial Demon Mansion to come to White Lotus Prefecture in person! I must ask him myself just what gave him the audacity to let his people commit evil in my name!"

’He was genuinely furious now. He didn’t mind being challenged directly, but people using his name was another matter entirely. If he didn’t make an example of them, other factions might start doing the same, and his reputation would be ruined. It wasn’t so much the ruined reputation that bothered him; what truly infuriated him was being implicated in deeds he had no part in.’

A Great Emperor’s majesty was inviolable!

"You... you’re a dead man... Still daring to impersonate the Great Emperor! Get him!" Yuan Long roared, ordering his men to seize Yi Tianyun.

The other Cultivators’ eyes hardened as they swiftly produced a fine net. This was no ordinary net, but one that had been specially crafted. An average cultivator would have no hope of breaking it. No wonder they had threatened to use force; they must have planned to use this very net to capture Yu Shiqian and her companion.

Now, however, it was being used on him instead. It would be impossible to break through without the strength of a high-level Spirit Pill Stage cultivator.

They knew Yi Tianyun was powerful, so they didn’t dare get close. Instead, they quickly surrounded him from a distance and threw the Golden Silk Net, intending to envelop him within it.

"Get lost!"

Yi Tianyun waved his hand, and a gust of wind swept out. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The surrounding Cultivators were all sent flying. After crashing through several large trees, they moved no more.

*Ding! Successfully killed a Spirit Pill Stage...*

This time, he showed no mercy. He would kill as many of these bastards as they sent; he only needed to leave one or two alive to crawl back and report what happened.

"S-So strong..."

Yu Shiqian and her companion’s eyes were wide, utterly stunned by his power. The weakest of the men who had surrounded them were at the Core Formation Stage, yet they died with a mere wave of his hand. ’Doesn’t that mean his cultivation has already reached the Core Transformation Stage?’

In their eyes, the Core Transformation Stage was a god-like level of power—at least that of a Mansion Master.