Transcending the Nine Heavens

[There’s no such a person ah!]

[He wouldn’t have developed such deep-rooted feelings of love at the age of 8 or 9, would he? That would be a joke... but... then it seems that such a person hasn’t appeared in his life yet!]

[But Chu Yang’s demeanor, and the look in his eyes, clearly reveals that he has a lonely heart; a heart that longs for his beloved!]

[This is strange!]

Tie Bu Tian was also thinking about this issue.

A strange look appeared on his face after he had thought about it for a while. He smiled and said, "You say... can it be that he likes..."

"What?" Wu Qian Qian turned her head around, and asked.

" ...a man?" Tie Bu Tian knitted his eyebrows as he said with a chuckle.

"You must like men!!" Wu Qian Qian’s reaction was very intense. She had refuted the Emperor of a nation. It was equivalent to cursing at normal people...

Yet, Tie Bu Tian wasn’t one bit angry. He just laughed as his shoulders shrugged.

Wu Qian Qian was worried. [I scolded him, but he didn’t take offense. It seems like he really... fancies me! How should I deal with this?! What should I do...]

In fact, Wu Qian Qian was so worried that she couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, they saw everything turning bright before their eyes.

[It is already late at night; then how can it be so bright?] They looked up towards the sky in bewilderment. And they saw a marvelous spectacle that appeared once in ages.

Lightning flashes and thunders were rolling in the sky. However, it was extremely strange since there were no clouds in the sky for hundreds of kilometers. The stars appeared to be jittering and shivering... as if the universe was no longer the same...

Tie Bu Tian was gazing at the sky; he appeared to be in trance. He continued to gaze at the sky until its color returned to normal. He then remained motionless for some time; his was lowered. Then a sharp radiance flashed in his eyes as he murmured, "Changing... sky..."

Wu Qian Qian didn’t understand what just happened. She turned around to ask, but Tie Bu Tian had already turned back to walk towards his tent. Afterwards, an order was issued: Set out immediately! Be sure to travel at double speed in this starry night. We must reach Commander Tie Long Cheng’s barracks in the shortest possible time!

A military command must be strictly obeyed!

These people were elites among the elites. They immediately set out as soon as the order was issued. They billowed towards the southern border. Tie Bu Tian’s facial expression looked very strange along the way. It was a mix of excitement, fear, and doubt...

The major clans were collaborating to encircle and annihilate the enemy in the Middle Three Heavens for quite some time. In fact, it had been like a plentiful harvest for them.

The seal had loosened-up after the birth of Nine Tribulations Sword; thereby releasing more and more spirit beasts. However, their grade wasn’t very high. Even the strength of the occasionally-emerging members of Three Stars Divine Clan wasn’t outstanding; unlike the way it was described in the legends.

Therefore, the big clans were somewhat surprised.

This was supposed to a war for survival. However, it had somehow turned into a place to compete over the spoils of war.

These major clans were in urgent need of items like fur, bones and the inner cores of spirit beasts. The younger generation of these clans would grow faster with the help of these items.

These items would ultimately point them towards purple jade.

Purple jade was a treasure that appeared in the Upper Three Heavens on occasions. However, the clans in the Middle Three Heavens would suffer untold hardships to obtain elixirs, rare stone and several other valuable items. They would then save them. Then, they would send an expert to the Upper Three Heavens to exchange these items for purple jades.

Every piece of purple jade was extremely valuable.

They wouldn’t have to bear with so many difficulties if they could get their hands on several spirit beast cores. Moreover, the strength of their clan juniors would also develop by relying on the spiritual power contained in those cores; then why wouldn’t they go for it?

Therefore, they basically started competing-over killing the spirit beasts.

The so-called major clans had fought shoulder to shoulder in the beginning. However, even they had started to compete with each other a time progressed. The conflict broke out among them; no less than hundreds of times.

Most experts died not because they were killed by spirit beasts — they died after getting ambushed by their companions!

One would have to agree that this was a tragedy.

They had already driven the spirit beasts into the deeper regions of the Cang Lan Battlefront. However, the situation between the major clans had become increasingly unstable. Then suddenly, that strange and chaotic event took place one night.

The seal in the Cang Lan Battlefront suddenly erupted into intense rays of light after such tremendous changes had occurred; bursts of glares appeared at more than one place.

Everyone was amazed by this inexplicable occurrence.

The members of the big clans suddenly found themselves running into more and more formidable enemies after the disappearance of that blinding glare... these enemies were far more difficult to deal with. Moreover, the experts of Three Stars Divine Clan re-emerged. These new ones were significantly stronger than the ones that had appeared before.

The members of major clans didn’t get enough time to adjust their mentality as the counterattack of the spirit beasts started.

The living environment of these spirit beasts, i.e. the Cang Lan Battlefront, was a wild and uninhabited desolate place; how could they allow it be occupied by mankind?

Less than one-tenth of it had fallen into the hands of human experts at present. However, it had given rise to a huge turmoil.

The human-side had suddenly fallen into a disadvantageous situation along with the counterattack of spirit beasts as well as the re-emergence of far-more-tyrannical experts of Three Stars Divine Clan. The casualties had also increased big-time.

The major clans had to once again form an alliance after they failed to hold their own individually.

The battle was no longer as chaotic as after the formation of the alliance. However... the quality of the cores improved as the strength of the spirit beasts enhanced.

Therefore, everyone again got caught-up in a tangled warfare to obtain these resources for themselves...

Yet, there were a few clans which were behaving rather strangely in this regard.

These were Gu Clan, Ji Clan, Luo Clan, Dong Clan... and so on.

Of course, the strangest-of-all was the Mo Clan. The Mo Clan would sometimes turn against other clans and would start to fight with them. And sometimes, it would get intimate with some clans and would start to coordinate with them...

This stunned everyone!

Whether the Gu Clan would surround one or several spirit beasts — the Luo Clan always stood by on the sidelines. Not to mention that most of these spirit beasts were of the rarer kind. Considering the extent of harmony between the Gu Clan and the Luo Clan — everyone guessed that the Luo Clan would soon plunder the Gu Clan’s loots. Yet to everyone’s surprise, the Luo Clan just stood guard on the sidelines and alerted the Gu Clan whenever necessary.

The people of the Luo Clan would only leave the scene once the Gu Clan’s people were done collecting the spoils of war. The Luo Clan would immediately join hands with the Gu Clan if other clans tried to rob the Gu Clan. Then, they would invade the territory of the perpetrators together, and would give them a taste of their own medicine.

The people of the Ji Clan and the Dong Clan would never negotiate over fighting the spirit beasts whenever they discovered a group at the same time. Both clans would voluntary withdraw. If the spirit beast was extremely tyrannical and one clan had to engage it... then, the other clan would lend a helping hand; free of charge...

This phenomenon was rarely seen in the Cang Lan Battlefront.

As for the Mo Clan... there was nothing good to say. Mo Tian Yun was leading one team, while Mo Tian Ji was leading another. Unlucky people would run into Mo Tian Yun. That was because he would rob anything he discovered. [Killing spirit beasts is one hell of a laborious job; might as well wait on the sidelines and plunder from the others].

One time — Mo Tian Yun found the Luo Clan’s team. They had just beheaded a spirit beast. So, he ordered his men to plunder. However, his team was soon swarmed by the troops of the Gu Clan and the Dong Clan. Moreover, the Luo Clan immediately counterattacked as well. Mo Tian Yun had to suffer a huge loss in the end.

Mo Tian Yun was fuming with rage as he gritted his teeth.

[There used to be so much friction among these guys in the past. How come they’ve become so friendly? How are they acting in collusion after returning from the Lower Three Heavens?]

[In addition... I heard that these people went to visit little sister. This shows that they don’t hold any malicious intentions toward the Mo Clan. Then why are they acting like this towards me?]

[What is going on? Did Mo Tian Ji take the opportunity, and won these guys over in the Lower Three Heavens? But at present... he shouldn’t have such a reputation, right?]

However, he was unable speak-out his grievances in this Cang Lan Battlefront of the Middle Three Heavens. He could only bite the bullet and swallow his pride.

While the Middle Three Heavens was in chaos — the Upper Three Heavens was bearing the brunt!

Moreover, there was no buffer point like the Cang Lan Battlefront in the Upper Three Heavens; there was nothing to keep the enemies away from common masses. Therefore, the so-called nine super clans of the Upper Three Heavens were forced to move into action.

They understood the meaning behind such mysterious changes in the world.

The Nine Tribulations Sword’s third fragment had taken birth.

Moreover, the commotion was extraordinary this time. The nine super clans had turned very vigilant. They weren’t worried by the attack of the Three Stars Divine Clan or the riot of the spirit beasts. They were instead worried about the Nine Tribulations Sword.

According to records — The Nine Tribulations Sword had taken birth several times in the past. Its fragments appeared once in several years. There could even be a gap of three decades between the births of two subsequent fragments.

However, it had happened after half-a-year this time around.

This was very unusual.

The first fragment had taken birth during last year’s summer. The wind and cloud became turbulent as a result. The second fragment took birth in the winter, and the weather changed again. The nine super clans had thought that the situation wasn’t yet alarming then. After all, they would have a buffer period of at least two or three decades before the appearance of the next fragment...

Anything could happen during this period of twenty to thirty years.

The Nine Tribulations Sword’s master would purge the Nine Heavens — this was a fact. He would also purge the nine super clans — this was a fact as well. However... the nine super clans had managed to be on good terms with the Nine Tribulations Sword’s master several times in the past. Thus, they had managed to retain themselves.

There was no way these nine super clans wouldn’t be able to retain themselves like their predecessors had.

Therefore, they weren’t in any hurry. However, the sudden birth of the third fragment left them panicking.

The universe turned upside down, the heaven and earth overturned, the stars were out of order, and the sky dyed blood-red. These signs indicated that the current Master of Nine Tribulations Sword was a ‘calamity star’ (1)!

The nine super clans would inevitably meet their doom if he was allowed to grow.

The Nine Tribulations Sword’s current master had managed to obtain three fragments in merely a year’s time. Such a growth rate was simply unimaginable.

[If he were to move at this speed... wouldn’t he obtain the nine fragments within three years, and then dominate the Nine Heavens?]

Therefore, the nine super clans immediately reacted.

Not just them — The Upper Three Heavens was a vast territory. It was home to countless middle-sized and small clans besides the nine supers. There were several smart people among them who knew what was going on.

These people felt that this strange event was an opportunity... for their own clans to leap forward like a dragon, and jump-up the ranks in one fell swoop.

Everyone was excited since this was a chance that appeared only once in ten thousand years.

The Lower Three Heavens was in turmoil since the war for the ‘unification of land’ could break out any time. The Middle Three Heavens was in chaos since everyone was involved in battle... and a storm was brewing in the Upper Three Heavens. In short — the entire Nine Heavens Continent was in a state of complete chaos...

Notes:

Calamity Star: A star that brings calamity. (A concept from Astrology)