Cloud Mountain Settled

Zhang Yang glanced at the slumped-over Eunuch Hong, then looked at Li Shiqing and said calmly, "I don't like fickle emperors, so you're definitely going to be replaced."

I'm giving you half a month. Either you arrange a suitable successor to come and report to the Azure Cloud Sect, or you mobilize the entire Cloud Mountain Empire and choose to resist.

"If I don't see the new emperor of the Cloud Mountain Empire appear at the Azure Cloud Sect in half a month, I will lead my men to wipe out the entire Cloud Mountain Imperial House."

The reason he didn't kill Li Shiqing on the spot wasn't because he was soft-hearted.

Killing Li Shiqing at this time would plunge the Cloud Mountain Empire into internal strife over the throne.

The infighting among the major factions will likely take a considerable amount of time to resolve.

If Li Shiqing is left alive, Cloud Mountain chooses to resist, they will surely gather all of Li Shiqing's forces and wipe them out in one battle; if Li Shiqing does not resist, that's fine too, as there's no need to shake Cloud Mountain's system, and Cloud Mountain can be put back on track for development in the shortest time.

After giving Li Shiqing his instructions, Zhang Yang turned to look at Eunuch Hong and said, "It's not easy for you to cultivate to the Primordial Spirit Realm in the Cloud Mountain Empire."

With you in charge of the Cloud Mountain Empire, you've preserved a portion of the Azure Cloud Continent's power.

I'm giving you a choice: pledge allegiance to me and continue ruling the Cloud Mountain Empire, or die!

After a moment of silence, Eunuch Hong looked up at Zhang Yang and said, "This old servant awaits your orders, Master!"

He chose to give in.

Zhang Yang nodded slightly and instructed, "You will be responsible for overseeing the change of emperor in the Cloud Mountain Empire, but you will only observe and not interfere. Come to see me at the Azure Cloud Sect in half a month."

He tossed a pill to heal Eunuch Hong's injuries, then stepped out of the palace and returned to the Azure Cloud Sect.

He did not go to see the Third Prince because this was the most important time for the Cloud Mountain Empire.

If the Third Prince is capable enough, now is the time for him to ascend to the Third Prince.

If someone still can't take power in the face of this situation, then it means the Cloud Mountain Empire really needs a change of leadership.

Li Shiqing sat on the ground, his hair disheveled and his gaze unfocused.

It wasn't until long after Zhang Yang left that he got up, chuckled, but there was no smile on his face.

Deep down, he was filled with regret.

Two years ago, the relationship between the Cloud Mountain Empire and the Azure Cloud Sect was actually quite good.

However, the power of the Cloud Mountain Empire has been increasing rapidly in the past two years.

Apart from the Heavenly Profound Sect, all the sects within the Cloud Mountain Empire either surrendered to the Cloud Mountain Empire or were wiped out.

In this way, the Cloud Mountain Empire accumulated a large amount of Cultivation Resources.

With Cultivation Resources, the Flying Dragon Army expanded to five thousand people, and even produced quite a few Golden Core Realm.

Most importantly, this old eunuch, Eunuch Hong, actually broke through to the Primordial Spirit Realm!

This greatly boosted Li Shiqing's confidence.

In his view, the Azure Cloud Sect was nothing more than a few Primordial Spirit Realm, relying solely on its large numbers.

Now I too have reached the Primordial Spirit Realm, possess five thousand Flying Dragon Army, and control territory dozens of times larger than the Azure Cloud Sect... What is the Azure Cloud Sect compared to that?

It was precisely this confidence that made him arrogant!

Then it exploded!

After taking the elixir, Eunuch Hong ignored Li Shiqing and quietly recovered.

As a cultivator of the Cloud Mountain Empire, he was stationed in the imperial palace and had witnessed the reigns of countless emperors.

If we're just talking about age, he could be Li Shiqing's great-great-grandfather!

Now that he has chosen to side with Zhang Yang, he naturally has to obey Zhang Yang's orders and has chosen to silently observe the Cloud Mountain Empire's reaction.

His mission was to go to the Azure Cloud Sect in half a month, either with the new emperor or with top-secret information from the Cloud Mountain Empire, to prepare the Azure Cloud Sect for war.

Li Shiqing ignored Eunuch Hong; he was actually quite worried that the old eunuch might harm him!

To resist or to submit?

He didn't rush to make a decision, after all, he had half a month.

While Zhang Yang was dealing with the Cloud Mountain Empire, Heavenly Profound Daoist also arrived in the northern part of the Azure Cloud Continent and, in the name of the Sect Alliance, summoned all the sects together.

All 45 sects and their leaders from the entire Sect Alliance were present.

Of these forty-five sect leaders, only Heavenly Profound Daoist was at the Dao Integration Realm, but eight were at the Nascent Primordial Spirit Realm.

The rest were mostly at the Nascent Soul Realm, with only a few at the Golden Core Realm.

In the North, where sects are mixed, to establish a sect, one either needs to be powerful enough or choose to attach oneself to a powerful sect.

Several Golden Core Realm can only take the path of dependence.

Heavenly Profound Daoist glanced at everyone present and said solemnly, "Since the formation of the Sect Alliance, there has been no action. I'm sure you've all been a little surprised, haven't you?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Indeed, when Heavenly Profound Daoist came to establish the Sect Alliance, everyone thought that with a Dao Integration Realm backing them up, they all agreed.

However, two years have passed since the establishment of the Sect Alliance, and Heavenly Profound Daoist has made no move whatsoever...

Some cultivators at the Primordial Spirit Realm even went to the Heavenly Profound Sect to visit Heavenly Profound Daoist, but Heavenly Profound Daoist made no other response.

This behavior struck everyone in the Sect Alliance as very strange.

Does this mean there's been some action now?

Heavenly Profound Daoist Tianxuan got straight to the point, saying directly, "In fact, the establishment of the Sect Alliance was due to the Azure Cloud Sect."

The Azure Cloud Sect felt that the sects across the Azure Cloud Continent were fighting amongst themselves and were in disarray, which was not conducive to everyone's development.

Therefore, I will take the lead in forming Sect Alliance."

Everyone's expression changed; was the Azure Cloud Sect involved?

The expressions of the several Primordial Spirit Realm sect leaders, in particular, became even more unnatural.

Two years ago, they offended the Azure Cloud Sect.

There was even a Primordial Spirit Realm among them who was nearly driven to the brink of collapse by the Illusion Demon.

What exactly does the Azure Cloud Sect want by forming Sect Alliance?

Heavenly Profound Daoist slowly said, "After discussions between me and the Azure Cloud Sect, the Azure Cloud Sect has acknowledged the existence of sects like ours."

In other words, we can now openly establish our own sect on the Azure Cloud Continent and pass on our legacy."

A Primordial Spirit Realm scoffed, "Do we need the Azure Cloud Sect's approval to establish our own sect?"

"It is indeed necessary!" Heavenly Profound Daoist smiled wryly. "This Azure Cloud Continent was the territory of the Azure Cloud Sect a thousand years ago!"

They have a large formation that has always enveloped the Azure Cloud Continent.

In other words, we're all inside that great formation!

The expressions of all the sect leaders changed.

This was the first time they had heard this news. Had they really been operating under someone else's nose all along?

Heavenly Profound Daoist waved his hand and said, "Now everyone doesn't need to worry. The Azure Cloud Sect has already declared that they will permanently occupy the current territory, which is the territory within a radius of three hundred miles of the Azure Cloud Sect."

You can believe that.

Therefore, we can now truly say that we have established ourselves on the Azure Cloud Continent!

He was actually quite disappointed, because as long as the Azure Cloud Sect didn't utter those words, their sect's establishment would be illegitimate.

After all, everyone is within the same large formation, and it's impossible to predict when someone will make a move.

The other sects, however, felt no sense of relief, only a sense of bewilderment.

They haven't quite grasped the concept: how can they need someone else's permission to create a sect?

Heavenly Profound Daoist continued, "Although we can establish a sect, the Azure Cloud Sect also has conditions."

The Azure Cloud Continent is currently facing immense trouble, and there is a risk of total annihilation if it is not handled carefully. Therefore, the Azure Cloud Sect has declared that our entire Sect Alliance must obey the Azure Cloud Sect's plan.

This is for the safety of each of us, and also for the development of our business, so I agreed to their demands."

"What?"

The forty-five sect leaders immediately objected.

"Submit to the plans of the Azure Cloud Sect? Wouldn't that make us Azure Cloud Sect lackeys?"

"The Azure Cloud Sect has quite the scheme; they're trying to become our supreme sect, aren't they?"

"So it turns out the Sect Alliance is just serving the Azure Cloud Sect. In that case, I choose to withdraw from the Sect Alliance. Let whoever wants to be my lackey have it!"

Some sect leaders reacted very strongly.

In particular, the sect leaders at the Primordial Spirit Realm resisted fiercely, and several of them left on the spot.