Chapter 1202: Clash (1)

Chaos was spreading in the Human Realm.

Numerous experts were hiding their identities and biding their time. Most people had their sights on the two carrier treasures and the Culture Tomb. Without the three treasures, the ruin would have caught a lot less attention. Even the fake ruin originally produced by the Xia Family wouldn't be able to attract too many people. In fact, they were banking on the disassembly method to grab more attention. However, that was no longer needed.

Nevertheless, there was no denying that the disassembly method was why some of these myriad race experts had initially entered the Human Realm.

***

15th of November.

After a few days of disappearance, Liu Wenyan had reappeared. At that point, Nanyuan was already surrounded by countless experts. There were humans and non-humans among them.

When someone noticed Liu Wenyan, it didn't take long for news of his reappearance to spread everywhere.

"Liu Wenyan!"

Someone soared into the sky and roared coldly, "Liu Wenyan, back then, you claimed that you couldn't manifest the fifth principal's characters. But now, you're already a peak Mountainsea. You have even given Su Yu some of the fifth principal's characters. What excuse are you going to use now?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the speaker and laughed, "Excuse? What are you talking about? Who are you?"

The man in the sky replied furiously, "Liu Wenyan, why are you pretending to not know me? Back then, my father followed the fifth principal and died in the Allheaven Battlefield. You once said that you were willing to show everyone the fifth principal's characters. But both you and Su Yu had destroyed those characters in battle. Were those characters yours to destroy?"

"..."

Liu Wenyan laughed in amusement. He scanned the crowd. Some were indifferent. Some were sneering. Some were amused. And some were disgusted.

Liu Wenyan said, "I never promised to show those characters to everyone. That was something you imagined. Back then, I told the Zhou Family that the research data of my teacher was missing. Since they lost an Invincible in the course of helping my teacher, I promised to show them the characters once I gained the ability to manifest them. However...the debt between me and the Zhou Family has been cleared.

"Don't say that I'm being unreasonable. I'm a very reasonable person. Your deceased father is deserving of respect for following the fifth principal. He also deserves respect for his sacrifice in the Allheaven Battlefield. However, it is unreasonable for the family of every single soldier who had perished in the Allheaven Battlefield to ask for the belongings of the Invincibles in charge of the deceased soldiers.

"Prefectures like Great Xia and Great Qin had lost countless soldiers in the battlefield. Are the descendants of these soldiers supposed to split the belongings of the Xia and Qin Families as they see fit? How curious. Since when did the characters left behind by my teacher became public properties? Yes, your seniors died in the course of following my teacher. But...they also enjoyed numerous benefits from my teacher when he was still alive.

"Before the dao affirmation, he didn't force anyone to follow him. In fact, he even advised everyone against following him. But your father and the other seniors still followed him due to the sheer respect they felt for him. They volunteered to protect his dao.

"However, that is no reason for all of you to partition the belongings my teacher left behind."

Liu Wenyan's smile vanished as he continued, "Furthermore, my teacher himself had died as well. He only left some characters behind. Back then, I left the academy with nothing but these characters. I took nothing else. It is only fair for me to inherit those characters.

"I even agreed to take on a huge debt toward Great Xia since Great Xia was where my teacher had grown, and Great Xia was the prefecture that had supported him during his growth. The height he reached had nothing to do with any of you."

He looked at the non-humans and humans in the crowd and said, "You have gotten too used to bullying me. You think that my line is the easiest target to bully. Thus, everyone is eager to continue the bullying. Back then, my line left quite a lot of things behind. We paid what we should pay and we gave away what we should give away. We kept almost nothing with us."

"Eventually, even the Zhou Family agreed to settle any remaining grudge with us. I don't understand this. Who are you to demand the characters of my teacher?"

The man in the sky coldly asked, "Are you saying that those who had followed the fifth principal back then had followed him for nothing? Their deaths were worth nothing?"

Liu Wenyan sighed, "I'm very sad that those seniors had died. But...this is not a valid excuse for what you're doing."

He shook his head, "I'm trying to be reasonable here, so I hope all of you will be reasonable as well. When a general leads tens of thousands of soldiers to the battlefield and everyone dies because of some traitor instead of the general, everyone should go after the traitor. It is inappropriate to keep targeting the descendants of the dead general. Even if the traitor is very strong, that is no reason for you to shift the blame on the descendants of the dead general."

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Liu Wenyan continued, "That is very inappropriate. It has been over fifty years. We have never fought back and swallowed all the bullying. Even when our people were killed, we remained silent. Even when our faction was pushed to the brink of destruction, we remained silent. Even when we were being suppressed and targeted, we remained silent. What more do you want? Are you going to be happy only when we decide to fight back and inflict enough damage that both sides will suffer?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the man in the sky and asked, "This isn't the first time, you're doing this, right? Why must you take the lead to further push us? Even if I give you the characters of my teacher, will you be able to make use of it? Will you be able to glean any useful information from it? We should have worked together to hunt that traitor down. But what did you do? You wasted decades targeting us. Was it fun? Or perhaps...someone promised you something to keep doing this?"

The man in the sky spat coldly, "Liu Wenyan, stop with your excuses. My father died because of your faction. Your faction naturally needs to compensate us for it."

"Sigh." Liu Wenyan said, "I tried to be reasonable. So be it. You're forcing me to be straightforward about this. My teacher did not make those people follow him for nothing. They were paid a fair wage for their services. They all received bonus payments for any battles they were involved in. Even the dead were given compensation. Every single one of those people had received the benefits given by my teacher. But when my teacher perished in battle, you started demanding further compensation. That...is out of line."

Liu Wenyan laughed bleakly, "It has been so many years. We have given all we should. We have also done all we should. Not many of my teacher's characters are left. Why must you insist on taking away the few belongings of my teacher that are still around?"

Before the man in the sky could speak, someone else sneered and said, "Liu Wenyan, you mean that since those people are already dead, we should forget about them? Because you paid, their deaths have nothing to do with your faction anymore? Sure enough, the multiple character faction is filled with liars. Your so-called honor and loyalty mean nothing. You have never viewed those people as your comrades."

Liu Wenyan said, "When I try to talk reason, you insist on talking about honor. When I try to talk about honor and loyalty, you demand compensation for those lost lives. In short, anything I do is wrong. You guys are already used to bullying me over the years. Perhaps you believe that I should get used to this as well."

At this time, a devil laughed and said, "Liu Wenyan, why don't you show everyone Ye Batian's characters?"

Liu Wenyan looked at the devil and laughed, "Sure. Do you want to take a look as well?"

The devil was stunned.

Liu Wenyan scanned the crowd and asked, "Are you sure you want to take a look? Are you really sure? In that case, you can look but you can't take it. Do you agree?"

The eyes of the man in the sky flickered with excitement as he exclaimed, "Sure enough, you can already manifest them! Liu Wenyan, take those characters out first. As for the ownership of these characters...that is not something you alone can decide."

"Who can decide, then?" Liu Wenyan asked, "They belonged to my teacher. He did not leave any descendants behind. Sure, he has an aunt, and his other student is my junior brother. His aunt is here. My junior brother is here. Apart from the three of us, is there anyone more qualified to decide on this?"

The pale Ye Hongyan snorted coldly and said, "Why are you wasting your time with them? If it wasn't for the respect I have for those deceased seniors, I would have taught all these people a lesson long ago."

Some of these people were the close relatives of those who had died fighting for Ye Batian. But some were barely related to anyone from Ye Batian's faction. It was also clear that these people were well-prepared to put Liu Wenyan in a difficult position. They must have been waiting for him here all along.

This wasn't the first time they were trying this. Even back during the battle in Great Xia City, Tang Yunfei of Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy had also used a similar reason to create trouble for the multiple character faction.

At this moment, Hong Tan and a few others soared into the sky.

Hong Tan said, "Senior Brother, speaking to them is a waste of time. Greed has taken over their logic. You can't reason with them."

Liu Wenyan raised his hand and laughed, "We need to be reasonable. If reason can't be found, we need to talk it out. Reason is something you can always find through dialogue"

Some people merely sneered at that.

This again. Liu Wenyan had always been a pedantic bookworm.

Reason?

This was not the kind of era where reason mattered.

This wasn't even Liu Wenyan's first time facing something like this. Back then, some people had even visited Nanyuan to demand the characters from him. At the time, he had also opted for dialogue and reason. Ultimately, those people were kicked away by the Xia Family.

Liu Wenyan smiled, "How about this? Anyone who believes that you deserve my teacher's characters may step forth. Let me see how many among the descendants of those people back then believe that they deserve everything my teacher left behind."

Nobody moved.

An old man in the crowd finally lost his temper and said, "Brother Liu, just ignore these shameless dogs. Who among the descendants of the main force behind your teacher has ever demanded anything from you? Our seniors did not follow the fifth principal to split his characters among themselves after his death. Back then, they followed him for an idea, a dream. For humanity.

"But now, the descendants of some rats are shamelessly coming out to demand these things from you. Take this Wang Chong for example. I know his father well. Back then, the fifth principal persuaded everyone to not follow him. But his father insisted on following. Since he was so weak, everyone told him no. But he threw a tantrum crying that everyone looked down on him. In truth, he only wanted to be there to bear witness to the dao affirmation and fawn on the fifth principal. Whose dao did he protect? What nonsense. Did the fifth principal even need the protection of a mere third-stage Mountainsea?"

The man in the sky shouted furiously, "What did you just say?"

Not to be outdone, the other man shouted back, "What did I just say? The truth! I never bothered to waste any time on you normally, but you have been very active in instigating everyone to force the fifth principal's line. Who do you think you are? You're a coward who fears the strong and tramples over the weak. The real killer of your father is right here. Or to be precise, his juniors are here. Why aren't you attacking them? Come on, attack them and avenge the father you love so much. Do you think everyone is blind? Do you think nobody can see the greed you harbor?"

He pointed at Soulcurse's group and raised his voice, "There they are! Kill them! Go ahead! You ignore your real enemies and step forth to force Brother Liu's hand. Are you not ashamed of yourself?"

The man in the sky replied coldly, "That is my personal business. Is it wrong for me to demand what my father deserved from Liu Wenyan? Do the characters of the fifth principal belong to him? No! Those characters belong to everyone!"

This was so ridiculous the other man couldn't help but roar with laughter.

Just as he was about to continue speaking, Liu Wenyan laughed and said, "Forget it, Brother Huang. It's fine. I'm a very reasonable person. Anyone else apart from Wang Chong? Wang Chong, you alone won't be able to get much since so many had perished back then. We have to be fair and let everyone get an even split, right? Also, if there are too many people, we have to talk about the split."

Wang Chong was overjoyed to hear that. He shouted, "Everyone, step forth! The fifth principal's characters do not belong to Liu Wenyan alone! They belong to all of us! We can all get a share!"

Unsurprisingly, a few people stepped forth after hearing his words. After a while, about seven or eight people had gathered around Wang Chong.