Ye Qingyu let out a sigh of regret.

The sovereign of the Sun clan's legendary and ill.u.s.trious life had finally come to an end.

In fact, if everything that he had been through were to be made public, he would be an even more extraordinary figure but he had always guarded his secrets closely. Although he had only obtained a portion of the Divine Light Emperor's legacy and it could even be said that this legacy had skipped a generation, he had remained fiercely loyal to the Divine Light Emperor. He had waited patiently and guarded his secret up until the moment of his dying breath. Ye Qingyu supposed that the sovereign of the Sun clan must have felt relieved and happy when he pa.s.sed away because he had fulfilled his promise and did whatever he had to do.

Ye Qingyu suddenly felt like he had to carry an additional responsibility.

"Don't worry, my friend. I promise I will protect the Sun clan," Ye Qingyu swore to himself as he bowed solemnly in the direction that the sovereign of the Sun clan had disappeared.

The sovereign of the Sun clan had made some shocking claims and these seemed to match with many things that Ye Qingyu had experienced himself. So as he mulled over those words and tried to connect the dots and decipher certain incidents, he gained some clarity, but he still had many doubts.

A while later, he turned around and left the Sun clan's ancestral temple.

The members of the Sun clan had already reorganized themselves, regained control of their mansion, and attacked the armies of the three major races that had already been defeated by Ye Qingyu. Their leaders, the three fake Emperors, were all ordinary members of their race and had already been subdued by him before he stepped into the ancestral temple. At that moment, they were forced onto their knees along with their soldiers and awaited their sentences as the members of the Sun clan watched over them.

Countless pairs of eyes fell on Ye Qingyu's figure after he emerged from the ancestral temple, especially the members of the Sun clan, whose eyes shone brightly as though they had seen their savior.

The three fake Emperors were the only ones who glared at him with bitter hatred, and their faces twisted sinisterly in spite of their terror.

"Hey country b.u.mpkin, even though you've captured us, you won't be able to escape from the rest of the Great Emperors. Once the rest of them join forces, you'll certainly die. How could you even think of single-handedly changing the power structure within the camp, you're way too naive..." a fake Emperor said bitterly.

Ye Qingyu did not speak but raised his hand to release a ray of sword light. Then, he beheaded all three fake Emperors and transformed their bodies into ice, which scattered away on the spot.

All three fake Emperors were completely dead.

The Sun clan bore bitter hated toward these three fake Emperors since they had killed many of their clan members and destroyed most of the Sun clan's mansion. But when they saw how these three fake Emperors died instantly, they could not help feeling like it seemed strangely unreal. No one could have imagined that these powerful Emperors would be slaughtered like chickens.

What the Sun clan did not know was that these three fake Emperors were the experts of the new generation handpicked by the three major races several weeks ago, and their cultivation had been raised to the fake Emperor level via a mysterious technique employed by the Sky Emperor's camp. Their situation was somewhat similar to the sovereign of the Sky Fox clan, and they were just p.a.w.ns of the Sky Emperor in an attempt to exhaust the lifespan of the sovereign of the Sun clan. Thus, there was no use in keeping them around, and in Ye Qingyu's eyes, these three fake Emperors deserved death.

"The sovereign of the Sun clan has pa.s.sed away. Everyone, I'd like to express my deepest condolences," Ye Qingyu said gravely.

This news did not come as a shock to most members of the Sun clan, especially the higher-ups of the clan who had a clear understanding of their sovereign's condition. However, many younger members of the Sun clan were shocked and could not help bursting into tears. Their ancestor had protected the entire Sun clan for countless years, and to these young members of the Sun clan, he seemed like a G.o.d. How could they not mourn him now that their G.o.d had pa.s.sed away?

"Before he pa.s.sed away, he had appointed Great Commander Sun Yi to lead the Sun clan. Sun Yi will return very soon, so please attend to the sovereign's funeral affairs first. We'll speak of other matters in a few days." Ye Qingyu made arrangements for several matters before he left.

The armies of the three major races were utterly defeated and were no longer a threat. After Sun Yi returned, he would be able to regain control over the Sun clan.

Ye Qingyu headed toward the Sky-reaching clan's residence.

He did not hide his ident.i.ty and barged his way in.

"Who's there? Stop right there," the experts stationed at the Sky-reaching clan's residence immediately attacked and tried to stop him.

Ye Qingyu remained silent, and as his Emperor qi burst forth, he sent the dozens of experts who tried to stop him flying. He was so powerful that despite his injuries, he would still be able to crush these experts beneath him. The Sky-reaching clan might have spent tens and thousands of years fortifying their residence and installed all kinds of Emperor formations, but he effortlessly got rid of them all as though they were made of nothing but ashes.

"It's the new Emperor!"

"He... is back!"

"How could this be?"

All kinds of fl.u.s.tered and panicked screams and shouts rang out all through the residence.

The entire Sky-reaching clan had been extremely hopeful and excited, but now they were thrown into utter panic, especially the higher-ups of the cllan who were privy to the news that their ancestor had divulged information before he left and a.s.sumed that the new Emperor would certainly die there. No one had expected the new Emperor to barge into their residence. So, did this mean that their old ancestor and the others...

Ye Qingyu overcame all the defenses installed by the Sky-reaching clan within their residence and his spirit surged like angry waves or like mercury spilling onto the ground as he examined every part of the Sky-reaching clan's residence. The secret chambers, formations, people, mechanisms, and the rest all appeared in his mind like an unfurled doc.u.ment.

"Just as I thought, all the resources and acc.u.mulated fortune of the Sky-reaching clan have been cleaned out and they are reduced to paper tigers, their resources and wealth have been moved away, and only several artifacts that would be considered as 'treasures' by ordinary men remain... I guess the Sky Emperor has completely turned his back on the Sky-reaching clan."

Ye Qingyu stood up tall in the void and this discovery seemed to match his earlier speculation.

"Please forgive us for not welcoming the arrival of the new Emperor in a proper fas.h.i.+on. May I ask why Your Highness is so enraged and has attacked our mansion..." A person who seemed to be an elder of the Sky-reaching clan, a ninthstep Quasi-emperor who would be considered an expert, bowed respectfully to Ye Qingyu as he tried to maintain order in the residence.

Ye Qingyu glanced at the elderly man.

This man had to be the most authoritative person of the Sky-reaching clan and he was putting on a veneer of calm, so it was clear that he was well aware of the intentions of the Martial Emperor of the Sky-reaching clan, but was still trying to make small talk with him, hoping that the Sky-reaching clan could be spared. This man was a pitiful man since he did not realize that the Martial Emperor of the Sky-reaching clan was already dead and the Sky Emperor had completely turned his back on them.

A ninth step peak Quasi-emperor would definitely wield considerable influence in this world. But the Sky Emperor had still chosen to abandon him because he was already old and had already fulfilled his potential, so there was no way he could further improve.

Ye Qingyu could not be bothered to make small talk with this man and immediately disappeared in a flash.

This peak Quasi-emperor had already prepared a speech but Ye Qingyu left before he could even deliver it. The rest of the Sky-reaching clan let out a sigh of relief when they saw that Ye Qingyu left peacefully. But for some niggling reason, this peak Quasi-emperor suddenly felt uneasy when he remembered the look on the new Emperor's face as he looked at him.

In the next instant, Ye Qingyu arrived at the Dark Feather clan's residence.

He easily overpowered the defenses and formation installed within the Dark Feather clan's residence, and after examining the entire residence, he discovered that just like the Sky-reaching clan, the Dark Feather clan's a.r.s.enal had been cleaned out and those resources and wealth of any real value had been taken away, leaving behind only second-best products.

As the Dark Feather clan looked on in terror, Ye Qingyu did not ma.s.sacre anyone but left immediately.

The next residence he "visited" was the Lofty Mountain clan's residence.

The Lofty Mountain clan's situation was basically no different from that of the Sky-reaching and Dark Feather clans.

Next, he visited the Dark Yellow clan, which was also the mansion where the Martial Emperor resided, and discovered that they were in the same boat as the three other clans.

I guess the sovereign of the Sun clan was correct after all and that the Sky Emperor had truly given up on Royal City and abandoned everything that he had painstakingly built over the years, Ye Qingyu thought.

However, he suddenly realized that he might have been wrong.

"Wait, that's not completely accurate since the Sky Emperor's core strength lies in these Martial Emperors. These are the most powerful support and strength that he had ama.s.sed by drawing on the luck cycle of intellectual lifeforms and the trends of the universe. Royal City, the camp, and the experts from the clans with Emperors were all the by-products of the Martial Emperors that he had created and they were nothing more than ants to the Sky Emperor, so they were completely worthless. Most people might be in awe of these powerful Emperor clans but they all were useless to the Sky Emperor."

This could explain why the Sky Emperor had abandoned all of them without a second thought.

Their families and descendants did not matter to these sovereigns who had been completely corrupted by the Sky Emperor and were all extremely selfish. The reason for them lingering on with their dying breath was likely so that they could follow in the Sky Emperor's footsteps, hoping that they could transcend reincarnation. As long as they continued to live, they would be able to create families and descendants anytime they wished, and so, they abandoned their current families and descendants without a second thought.

Moreover, they were probably acting on the Sky Emperor's orders.

Ye Qingyu suddenly understood why there was no longer any traces of sovereign aura found within Royal City. Royal City was already a worthless city to the Sky Emperor's camp, so they left without any hesitation.

Next, Ye Qingyu continued to pay "visits" to other clans with Martial Emperors.

He found that they were all in the same condition and the higher-ups of these clans were completely unaware that their fortunes and acc.u.mulated resources had been cleaned out and that the sovereign of their clan had already left. They were shocked and terrified of Ye Qingyu's power, but they were not too fl.u.s.tered because they felt that their ancestor would be able to resist the new Emperor. There were even several clan elders who questioned his actions.

Ye Qingyu ignored these pitiful creatures, who were nothing more than abandoned p.a.w.ns.

He continued to "visit" the clans with Emperors around Royal City.

The names of the sovereigns recorded on the sovereign of the Sun clan's divine jade and the sovereigns whose names were not recorded on the divine jade were no longer around. They had left their families, their bloodline, and their descendants behind and had given up on everything to leave with the resources and fortune of their clan that had been acc.u.mulated over generations by their ancestors. And their clan members were kept completely in the dark.

In one night, the Guardians' Royal City became a city without an Emperor.

Ye Qingyu was an exception since he did not belong to this city anyway.

Once this news was made public, the entire Guardians camp would most certainly face destruction in an instant.

This was the end of an era.