Over a hundred and sixty years ago, when the Military Faction held overwhelming power throughout the court, Daoist Tiantong, who had reached the highest rank a subject could attain, stood atop Martial Hero Hall and looked down at Cloud Sea, who knelt beneath the ancient tree, weeping bitterly. His eyes held only cold indifference. Back then, he needed only to flick his wrist to take revenge on Cloud Sea in the cruelest, most soul-crushing way.
Unwilling to bear the bone-deep agony of losing a son alone, he had used Yang Qi, turning years of friendship and absolute trust into a blade to stab Cloud Sea viciously in the back when he was utterly unprepared.
That stab shattered Cloud Sea's lifelong faith and understanding, and utterly destroyed the newborn Great Dao he had only just comprehended.
For an ordinary cultivator, a collapse of conviction and destruction of Dao Qi would inevitably ruin a lifetime of cultivation, leaving no possibility of further progress and reducing them to a complete cripple.
But Cloud Sea had endured it. Perhaps he had learned to adapt and rebuilt his Dao Heart, or perhaps his four sworn brothers and sisters, who had shared life and death with him, had stayed by his side, leading him out of confusion and cutting a path through his darkened life. In any event, not only had he risen again, he had become one of the five seats of Myriad Spirits Garden. His current standing and cultivation were no less than those of any faction leader.
He was in his prime, with tens of thousands of disciples under him. How could he repeat his past mistakes, swallowing his anger and slinking away like a beaten dog?
Cloud Sea knew perfectly well that the Military Faction's actions tonight must have had the tacit