If injustice exists, our clan shall reign supreme!!!
When the line of characters on the back of the second plaque was fully revealed before everyone, they were all stunned.
They had never imagined there were words on the back of the second plaque!
For a moment, not only the people inside the hall but even the thousands of members of the Su Imperial Clan outside silently recited the words.
Then their silent recitation turned into speech, until at last they roared the words aloud!
"If injustice exists, our clan shall reign supreme!!!"
"If injustice exists, our clan shall reign supreme!!!"
"If injustice exists, our clan shall reign supreme!!!"
"Hahahahaha! So that's how it is! That's how it is!"
"The ancestor never told us to cling to old rules and suppress the Devil Race generation after generation! We can do our part to suppress the Devil Race, but it is by no means our clan's responsibility!"
"So... the ancestor saw through those imperial clans' disgusting faces long ago. That's why he left these words behind, but we never noticed them!"
"That's right! Why should they spend every day seeking pleasure in the central region while our Su Imperial Clan has to fight the Devil Race? How many of our sons has the Su Imperial Clan lost over the years?"
"Exactly! The Liu Imperial Clan is the foremost imperial clan and claims to be the master of the Great Qian Imperial Dynasty. In an imperial system, they're the royal family, plain and simple. They sit on the throne, yet they've never fulfilled the responsibilities that come with it! I refuse to accept it!"
"And the other imperial clans! It's bad enough that they don't help, but they kick us while we're down too. Disgusting!"
"You think it's just those imperial clans? Look at the image stones the great elder brought out. I'm afraid the people of the Black-Yellow Realm all see our Su Imperial Clan that way now!
"Our poor Su Imperial Clan has done so much, yet in their eyes it's all worthless. They even belittle us like this!"
"Fuck them! Whoever wants to stand guard against the Devil Race can go do it themselves. I'm done!"
"I'm done too! Didn't they say the Devil Race was being suppressed by the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array? Without our Su Imperial Clan's Great Emperors reinforcing it all these years, that seal would have broken long ago. Now I want to see if they can still laugh when the seal breaks and the Devil Race comes knocking on their door!"
"Those pieces of trash should get a proper taste of it! Didn't they say our Su Imperial Clan just goes on patrol every day and that it's a simple job? If they're so capable, why don't they come patrol themselves?"
"Pah! A bunch of wretches! If that day really comes, they'll be the first to fall to their knees!"
Outside the hall, the entire clan was furious. One after another, they vented all the anger they had bottled up over the injustices of the past years.
Inside the hall, Su Chen looked at the people before him and slowly asked, "Did you all hear that?"
The hall doors were not closed, and even if they were, Great Emperors and Quasi-Emperors like them could easily sense what was happening outside.
The only thing to be said was that these people had suffered injustice for far too long!
Among them were even people whose husbands, wives, and brothers had died fighting the Devil Race.
If the other imperial clans had come to help...
No!
Why call it help?
If the other imperial clans had joined them in standing guard against the Devil Race, even if the Su Imperial Clan could not have avoided casualties altogether, it could at least have kept them to a minimum!
"I see it! It was my fault. I failed in my duty as clan leader!"
At that moment, the man who stood tall between heaven and earth in the Su Clan slowly lowered his eyes, consumed by self-reproach.
The plaque was passed down to each successive Su Clan leader, and he, Su Ting, was the current leader.
If only he had discovered it sooner, perhaps...
"Clan leader, this isn't your fault. Since heaven's will decreed that we discover it now, we can still cut our losses in time!"
Su Ya and all the other Quasi-Emperors present, who had never seen Su Ting like this, hurried to comfort him.
They might all have been reprimanded by Su Ting as clan leader, but whenever they entered the Realm Sea to suppress the Devil Race, was he not always the one standing at the very front?
And the most important reason Su Ting had been gravely injured this time, aside from being ambushed and attacked by a group, was that he had been protecting another clan member.
That clan member had not even reached the Quasi-Emperor realm, yet Su Ting had been willing to risk grievous injury to save him. What right did they have to blame Su Ting?
For that matter, had the clan leaders before Su Ting not also failed to notice the words on the back of the plaque?
And Su Chen had been the previous leader of the Su Imperial Clan!
Of course, they did not mean to blame Su Chen either.
They could only say that this move by the first ancestor had indeed landed the Su Clan in a miserable predicament!
"Then what do you think we should do?"
After they had finished speaking, Su Chen spoke again.
He also wanted to see what their attitude was.
His lifespan was now actually tied to the entire Su Imperial Clan.
What was done before was done, but now that they knew of the first ancestor's other intention, if anyone still wanted to play the saint, he would not mind removing the cancer within their ranks himself first!
If the Liu Imperial Clan could reign supreme, why could his Su Imperial Clan not do the same?
Hearing this, Su Ting pondered briefly before saying in a grave voice, "Father, Brother Yun, Emperor Hao, Emperor Yi, and Sister Shuang should all still be trapped in the Realm Sea.
"Actually, the Devil Race previously showed interest in making a deal with us. As long as the Su Clan didn't stop them from leaving the Realm Sea, they would swear a Heavenly Dao Blood Oath not to attack anyone from the Su Imperial Clan!"
Su Ya and the others were no strangers to this proposal.
Whenever the Su Imperial Clan fought, its members acted as though they had no regard for their lives. The Devil Race feared death too!
As for the Devil Race attacking the other imperial clans or ordinary clans, factions, and sects of the Black-Yellow Realm after coming out, the Su Clan was not to interfere!
Su Ting had rejected them on the spot before. After all, had the Su Imperial Clan not moved here from its ancestral lands precisely to continue suppressing the Devil Race?
But things were different now. Their own compatriots had utterly chilled their hearts!
In all these years, not a single person had even come to the Realm Sea to help the Su Clan.
The only time anyone had come, they had brought an imperial decree from the Liu Imperial Clan, intending to put the Su Imperial Clan on trial. Who could endure that?
Su Chen said, "Go on!"
"Under normal circumstances, with no other outside interference, our clan can hold out for another hundred years." Su Ting paused, then said with a resolute look, "But if all the Su Clan's Great Emperors in the Realm Sea withdraw, the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array will surely fall within three days!"
"Once that happens, a million members of the Devil Race will emerge, and the entire Black-Yellow Realm will once again be plunged into a calamity like the one a hundred thousand years ago!"
At those words, everyone present felt a sudden tremor in their hearts.
If it really came to that, untold suffering and devastation would surely await the Black-Yellow Realm!
Nearly a hundred Great Emperors had died to suppress the Devil Race in the Realm Sea back then. And aside from the Devil Race having lost quite a few of its Devil Emperors, the greatest reason the Su Imperial Clan could suppress the Devil Race was the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array.
Truth be told, without the Nine Heavens Devil-Suppressing Mystic Firmament Grand Array, the Su Imperial Clan could never have held out this long.
Once the Devil Race emerged in full, even the Su Imperial Clan might not be able to withstand it, let alone any one of the other imperial clans on its own.
Su Chen smiled. "And then?"
Su Ting said solemnly, "If the Devil Race really swears a Heavenly Dao Blood Oath, I want to bring all our Su Clan members back. Our clan has lost too many people over tens of thousands of years. Our clan alone should not have to keep footing the bill!"
There was nothing wrong with protecting the people, but they also had to consider whether those people were worth protecting.
Besides, he was first the leader of the Su Imperial Clan, and only then a human Great Emperor of the Black-Yellow Realm.
After speaking, Su Ting stole a glance at Su Chen, worried that his father might not agree to it.
After all, if they really did this, blood would surely flow like a river in the Black-Yellow Realm!
"Now, you are the leader of the Su Imperial Clan. It's your decision!" After a long while, Su Chen sat up straight, a very satisfied smile on his face. "Go ahead and do it without worry. I'll be behind you to back you up!"
Su Ting was surprised to hear this, and his face lit up with wild joy immediately afterward.
His father had already lived a second life, and Su Ting had personally experienced Su Chen's power.
Never mind that the Devil Emperor of All Living Beings would swear a Heavenly Dao Blood Oath when the time came; even without one, his father could probably suppress the Devil Emperor of All Living Beings.
With that thought, Su Ting turned to face the Quasi-Emperors below and roared, "All clan members at the Quasi-Emperor realm and above, come with me to the Realm Sea and welcome our Su Clan's Great Emperors home!!!"