“You speak so lightly. As the Lord of Grand Heaven Mountain, how could it have nothing to do with you?” Qi Hai said.
“I suggest we remove Lin Beisheng from his position and appoint a new Mountain Lord ourselves.”
“Since when did my Grand Heaven Mountain’s position become your business?” Lin Beisheng said with a frown. “The Ancestor will make the final decision.”
“I will report this matter to the main sect. We’ll see what the main sect decides,” Mu Changge said calmly. “But for now, the two of you, father and son, will stay here until judgment is passed.”
Mu Changge and Qin Hansheng stood up together, and the other eight Mountain Lords also released their auras, surrounding Xu Zimo and Lin Beisheng with aggression.
“Qiu’er, it’s your father’s incompetence that I can’t protect you,” Lin Beisheng said with sorrow.
“Dad, do you want to unify the Nine Heavens?” Xu Zimo asked.
“What?” Lin Beisheng was stunned, not yet understanding Xu Zimo’s words.
“Just wait,” Xu Zimo smiled, then turned to the crowd around him.
He spoke calmly, “I’ll give you two choices. First, acknowledge my father as the ruler of the Nine Heavens. Or second, I kill all of you.”
“Outrageous.”
“Arrogant beyond belief.”
“Childish brat who knows nothing of the world.”
Before Xu Zimo even finished speaking, everyone around him erupted in fury.
“You really think that just because you have a bit of strength, you can do whatever you want? The Nine Heavens Sect has been divided for thousands of years. You think one sentence from you can resolve that?”
“Enough talk. Take him down first!” someone roared and charged at Xu Zimo.
“Morons,” Xu Zimo snorted coldly.
Holding the Heaven Demon Bow, Infernal Force surged all around. He drew his bow, channeling endless Infernal Force into the string.
“Eightfold Massacre,” Xu Zimo said softly. With that shot, eight demonic arrows exploded forth simultaneously.
They shot toward the eight Mountain Lords like lightning.
Xu Zimo wanted a swift conclusion and held nothing back. The speed of the arrows was staggering, leaving afterimages across the sky, so fast they became invisible in the end.
“What is this?” Changqing of Divine Heaven Mountain shouted as he was pierced through and pinned to his own peak.
One after another, the other Mountain Lords were also struck down and nailed to their respective mountain peaks.
“You…” The Mountain Lords looked at Xu Zimo in terror, struggling but unable to free themselves from the arrows.
“Kill him!” Qin Hansheng frowned and exchanged a glance with Mu Changge. The two attacked from both sides.
“If the Supreme Void Grand Empyrean himself were here today, I might be interested in a fight,” Xu Zimo said lightly. “But the likes of you? Not worth it.”
He clapped his hands together. Mu Changge felt an overwhelming force bearing down on him. Before he could even resist, he was sent flying.
Qin Hansheng suffered the same fate. As he struggled to his feet, Xu Zimo approached step by step.
With his right hand, he grabbed Qin Hansheng by the throat.
“I hear you have a lot of complaints about our Grand Heaven Mountain?” Xu Zimo asked.
“If you kill me, the main sect won’t let you off,” Qin Hansheng said, struggling. “And without the main sect’s help, your Grand Heaven Sect will eventually decline.”
“Unfortunately, you won’t live to see that day,” Xu Zimo said, then squeezed hard and crushed his neck and skull.
He wiped the blood on Qin Hansheng’s clothes and threw the corpse aside.
Then he turned to Mu Changge and said, “I won’t kill you. Go back and give the main sect a message. From now on, the Nine Heavens Imperial Sect doesn’t need anyone’s help, nor will it be your vassal. If there’s anything to discuss, let the Supreme Void Grand Empyrean come find me.”
“You’ve become a Grand Empyrean? I don’t believe it,” Mu Changge looked at Xu Zimo and shook his head.
A twenty-something becoming a Grand Empyrean, it shattered his worldview. He simply couldn’t believe it.
From what Mu Changge knew, the fastest anyone had ever become a Grand Empyrean on the Eternal Lands took hundreds of years.
The path of martial cultivation, every step is a leap across the heavens, is not just a saying.
“That’s not something you should worry about,” Xu Zimo said calmly. “Even a Grand Empyrean is nothing more than an ant.”
“I will deliver your message word for word to the main sect,” Mu Changge said after a moment of thought.
“From today on, there is no main sect and no branch sect, only the Nine Heavens Sect and the Empyrean Sect,” Xu Zimo said.
Mu Changge gave Xu Zimo a deep look, then said to the woman beside him, “Zi’er, we’re leaving.”
As the two took to the air and flew away, Xu Zimo turned back. Lin Beisheng stood frozen, staring at him.
“Father, what’s wrong?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Are you really Qiu’er?” Lin Beisheng said.
“Why? Don’t I look like him?” Xu Zimo smiled.
“You do, everything about you does. Except your personality, it’s completely different,” Lin Beisheng shook his head and sighed. “You’ve completely offended the main sect this time.”
“Isn’t it a good thing for Father to be the ruler of the Nine Heavens?” Xu Zimo asked.
“How will we explain things to the main sect? And what about the other eight branches? Some of their Ancestors are still alive, they won’t agree,” Lin Beisheng said, shaking his head.
“No rush with the main sect. Let them come to me,” Xu Zimo said. “As for the other Ancestors, I’ll take care of them.”
…
For the disciples of the Nine Heavens Sect, this was an unforgettable day.
It was the end of June, a blazing hot summer day.
Lin Qiu of Grand Heaven Mountain visited all eight mountain peaks. When he left, the heads of the eight branch Ancestors were hanging from the willows in front of each mountain.
Panic spread like wildfire. Many disciples went into seclusion or fled altogether.
A few days later, one afternoon, Lin Beisheng held a sect-wide meeting.
He proposed to reunify the Nine Heavens and rebuild the Nine Heavens Sect.
During the meeting, the room was silent, no one dared to oppose him.
But Lin Beisheng didn’t force anyone to stay. From then on, the Nine Heavens Sect would no longer be divided.
Anyone wishing to stay had to receive the new robes of the unified sect.
Those who wanted to leave were given spirit stones as severance.
Most people still chose to leave.
Having fallen out with the main sect, the Nine Heavens Sect’s future looked bleak. Hard days were ahead.
Given their talent, many could join other sects, there was no need to risk their future.
But some disciples had grown attached to the sect and were unwilling to leave. In the end, they chose to stay.
Reunifying the Nine Heavens was an extremely complicated task, it couldn’t be done in just a few days.
In those few days, Lin Beisheng was so busy he barely returned home.