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Bam!

The Heavenly Sovereign kicked the door open and stormed inside where his little brother meditated. The latter noticed who it was and spoke, “Why have you barged into my cultivation chambers?”

“Didn’t your emotion center recover?” The Heavenly Sovereign squinted.

The man in white said, “You’re the Heavenly Sovereign, elder brother. You know very well it’s a grueling task to restore an emotion center.”

“True.”

The Heavenly Sovereign didn’t drop it, “Did you leak my plan?”

The man in white gave a taunting look, “It’s not my problem what you do. Now if that’s all, leave! I want to meditate.”

The younger brother closed his eyes.

“Heavenly Sovereign, your brother cares nothing about anything. It couldn’t be him meddling.” Sword Heart spoke as he watched the man in white.

The Heavenly Sovereign nodded after a pause, but his doubts never left.

[Hardly anyone knew about this. If he didn’t leak it, then who did? Is it…]

The Heavenly Sovereign squinted at Sword Heart, “Sword Heart, you’re my most trusted aide. You’ve worked hard these decades to get the five powers. I also heard you’re close to Sea Ao.”

“Heavenly Sovereign, what are you implying? You can’t be doubting me…”

“Ha-ha-ha, of course not. I could never suspect you. The leak must’ve come from Kunpeng, the most conniving of the beasts. As king of spiritual beasts, he must have a few loose tongues working under him.”

The Heavenly Sovereign patted his shoulder with a grin, but his eyes were cold, “It’s nothing much either way, just a few beasts and some human Sovereigns. Only, there’s one beast I’m wary of and I want you to bring me his head, just in case.”

Sword Heart’s heart shook, “Who?”

“Heaven Sealing Sea Ao!”

“What, why him?”

“He did seal my Divine Eye of the Void once. If that happens while I’m at odds with the other experts, it will lead to serious consequences…”

Sword Heart rushed to explain, “Heavenly Sovereign, you’re too modest. That was a thousand years ago, when you were a half Sovereign. Now that you’re aware of the Sovereign Stage. He’s nothing…”

“Sword Heart, just in case!”

The Heavenly Sovereign glanced at him, his tone firm, “The Heavenly Daos’ sanctity is at stake. It can never fall in the hands of those human fools. You’ve never questioned my orders. So why now? Is that hesitation, or unwillingness?”

Sword Heart’s brow shook and he nodded in the end, “I’ll go.”

The Heavenly Sovereign grinned and the man in white sighed, “Sword Heart has been by your side for so long, why must you be hard on him?”

“I’m not, just making him break all ties with the beasts. On the eve of war, I won’t stand for any unknowns on my side. It’s hard to hide from a sneak attack, especially those sly human Sovereigns. Heaven knows what they might pull.”

“Yeah, elder brother is strong, but you can’t take on everyone. With enough numbers and a good plan, even you might lose. Ha-ha-ha…”

“So you’ll help me?”

“No, I don’t care about anything happening beyond these doors, including what happens to you.” The man in white closed his eyes, “In the off chance that the Heavenly Daos do decay, the void path will be lost. Not that it matters, since Heavenly Dao cultivators like us don’t care about our weakling relatives.”

The Heavenly Sovereign squinted as he left, “Yeah, a weakling younger brother with no emotion center is not reliable at all. But I do not need to rely on anyone, for I am the Heavenly Sovereign!”

The Heavenly Sovereign huffed and vanished, leaving the man in white with an eerie grin…

A month later, Sword Heart was back, bloodied and missing his left arm. The spiritual beasts spread news that Heaven Sealing Sea Ao’s left eye was wounded by Sword Heart.

This only worked to further the animosity between the Heavenly Sovereign and the spiritual beasts.

“Heavenly Sovereign, I couldn’t kill him, only ruin an eye. His sealing can’t recover and won’t be a threat to you.”

Sword Heart panted hard, looking pale.

The Heavenly Sovereign beamed, “Ha-ha-ha, well done. Though it didn’t matter if you couldn’t either, for he can’t do anything to me.”

“Get better, for in three months, we go to war!” The Heavenly Sovereign patted his shoulder and felt like he was on top of the world.

Zhuo Fan sighed, “Sword Heart is so loyal, knowing it was only the Heavenly Sovereign’s test yet still fought until he lost an arm. I finally know why Sea Ao lost his eye, all because of the Heavenly Sovereign’s suspicion of Sword Heart.”

“Sword Heart has the sword path. The sword is the king of weapons, in the hands of rulers, who value loyalty above all.” The old man explained, “Of humanity’s three bonds, loyalty, filial piety and siblinghood, Sword Heart’s sword path holds them at the highest regard.”

Zhuo Fan nodded, “So he’s human?”

“Half…”

“Why half?”

“Because the sword path is part of humanity, while a sword is not. It was the only reason the Heavenly Sovereign accepted him and trusted him.” The old man pointed at the lake, “Keep watching.”

Zhuo Fan turned to the lake and saw the Heavenly Sovereign and Sword Heart go to war three months later. They didn’t get far, hearing explosions behind, with his clan’s grounds leveled as his kin perished.

He turned back to find no one remaining, not even his younger brother. Even the Imparting Stone in his room was gone.

The Heavenly Sovereign gnashed his teeth, “Damn bastard, he knew I had a secret Imparting Stone and fled with it when I wasn’t around.”

“Heavenly Sovereign, what happened?” Sword Sovereign asked.

The Heavenly Sovereign’s lip shook, his eyes red, “The records for Divine Eye of the Void and Purple Lightning Gold Eye I left behind in case of my fall so that someone would pick up the work of Heavenly Daos are gone. To think…”

“Heavenly Sovereign, why did you think you’d lose? Aren’t you confident in this war? It’s not like you.”

“It’s because…”

The Heavenly Sovereign was about to answer when he exclaimed, “I was played! That damn brat should have no emotions, no loyalty, and couldn’t care less of the world, so why did he scheme against me?”

“Heavenly Sovereign, you mean your younger brother?”

“Yes, he started spouting crap that day and I got fooled into leaving an exit. He did it on purpose…”

The Heavenly Sovereign squinted and gnashed his teeth, “Did his emotional Heavenly Daos recover, and does he want me to fail in destroying the world?”

“What do we do now?”

“We can’t let them get their hands on the Imparting Stone. They will learn my ultimate skill and make winning impossible.”

The Heavenly Sovereign clenched his fists, his eyes glowing golden. A huge eye appeared in the sky, scouring the earth.

Three fleeing sacred beasts entered its vision.

[Found you!]

The Heavenly Sovereign pulled Sword Heart and crossed thousands of miles in an instant, reaching Qilin and blocking him, “Damn beast, where do you think you’re running?”

“Void path’s Blink?”

Qilin gasped and fled in another direction, just as Sword Heart waved and sent a scarlet sword wave.

Feeling terror, Qilin shouted, “What sword is this?”

“Soaring Sword!” Sword Heart’s eyes glinted, “It’s the sword made with your power against it. You can’t take it!”

Whoosh~

“Ah!”

Blood flowed as Qilin’s hard hide couldn’t block the sharp sword wave, cutting off his leg and making him stagger to the ground.

The Heavenly Sovereign smirked, using the Divine Eye of the Void and Purple Lightning Gold Eye. A purple cover fell and boomed as it covered the land for thousands of miles and made it vanish.

“Humph, hand over the Imparting Stone or die here.”

The Heavenly Sovereign pulled Sword Heart and vanished to block the dragon ancestor this time.

Dragon ancestor unleashed his Decimating Golden Flame but the Decimating Sword sucked the flames and dragon ancestor fell wounded.

With another purple flash, another part of the land was carved.

When the Heavenly Sovereign went after Kunpeng, “Where is that fool? Where’s he hiding?”

“Heavenly Sovereign, that oversized bird is too fast and we lost him.”

“No one can escape my Heavenly Daos’ eye!”

The Heavenly Sovereign’s right eye shone in twelve golden halos, “Vaulting Kunpeng, you can run but you can’t hide! You can’t escape my Heavenly Eye. Divine Eye of the Void 12th stage, True World!”

Hum~

A huge golden eye shone in the sky and glinted as it sent powerful fluctuations in every direction for miles, thousands of miles, billions in fact. With one final push, a large chunk of the Sacred Domain up and vanished.

With the fall of the barrier, the mortal domain was born. Vaulting Kunpeng, hiding in Allbeast Mountain Range, felt the pressure above and sighed, “This is the Heavenly Sovereign’s power. His younger brother knew him best. There was no chance of us beating him, even together…”