Chapter 814: Accepting the Challenge!

The Demon Domain was not a single domain.

The Divine Domain comprised over a thousand domains, and the Demon Domain accounted for roughly one-fifth of them.

The remaining four-fifths were areas of human activity.

Of course, there were also many powerful demon beings in the areas of human activity. But for races like the Dragon Clan and the White Tiger Clan, they were essentially unseen in human regions.

Ye Yuan guessed that Bai Guang might have awakened some inherited memories and had unavoidable reasons for leaving without saying goodbye.

Learning of Bai Guang's departure, Ye Yuan couldn't help feeling a sense of loss.

After this parting, he had no idea how many years it would be before they met again.

Ye Yuan was also somewhat worried for Bai Guang; after all, he was only at the sixth rank, and venturing into the Divine Domain was still too dangerous.

From Baiwu Domain to the Demon Domain, one had to cross many major domains, and the trials along the way went without saying.

But since Bai Guang had already left, even if Ye Yuan tried to find him, it would be impossible.

The Divine Domain was too vast!

Moreover, the demon race was quite hostile toward humans, and with Ye Yuan's current strength, he wouldn't even be enough to fill their teeth.

The White Tiger Domain had many Divine King-level experts.

While announcing Ye Yuan as the young master, Tu You also grandly declared that he would enter a death-seclusion to break through to the second level of Daoxuan!

Of course, all this was just to throw others off the scent.

In Tu You's current state, let alone breaking through to the second level of Daoxuan, he would be grateful if he could delay his passing by a single day.

And Tu You's intention was already to completely hand over the Red Cloud Sacred Land to Ye Yuan.

Unsurprisingly, the first time Ye Yuan convened a council of elders to discuss matters, he faced strong opposition.

The council of elders consisted of temple elders and ordinary elders, all of whom were without exception at the Formless Realm.

There were three temple elders and ten ordinary elders, representing the ten major families of the sacred land.

"Grand Elder, according to the sacred land's rules, before appointing a young master, the sacred lord must obtain the approval of the council of elders before it can be implemented. This time, after issuing the decree, the sacred lord went directly into seclusion without us even seeing him! Is the sacred lord planning to kick all ten families out of the sacred land?" said an ordinary elder.

"Even if Ye Yuan won first place in the quasi-saint competition, isn't it too hasty to let him directly inherit the position of young master?"

"Ye Yuan is only at the Immeasurable Realm; his strength is far inferior to that of the seven saints. What qualifies him to be the young master?" This time, it was Elder Wu Siyuan of the Wu family who spoke.

The strength of these ten families was formidable; they could be said to hold half of the sacred land.

Moreover, probably more than half of the temple disciples came from these ten families, so they held a very high status in the sacred land.

Of course, no matter how high their status, if these families couldn't produce a Daoxuan realm expert, it was all in vain.

The difference between the Daoxuan Realm and the Formless Realm was like the difference between clouds and mud. Without entering Daoxuan, no matter how great their power, they were just paper tigers.

If the sacred lord wanted to destroy these families, it would be as easy as turning his hand.

Thus, in a ninth-grade sacred land, the sacred lord was the supreme deity.

The Grand Elder snorted coldly and said, "Every one of you, are you trying to rebel? The council of elders of the sacred land must follow the sacred lord's will in everything! Since the sacred lord has made a decision, do you dare to disobey?"

Wu Siyuan, however, said, "Grand Elder, that's not right. Naturally, we dare not oppose the sacred lord's will, but is Ye Yuan inheriting the position of young master truly the sacred lord's intention? Count for yourselves, how many years has it been since we ten old fellows last saw the sacred lord?"

Ever since Tu You's lifespan was greatly diminished, he spent most of his time in seclusion to reduce life-force consumption.

The only one who could see him was the Grand Elder.

Even the other two temple elders rarely saw him.

Over the years, the ten elders had long harbored suspicions about whether Tu You was still alive.

Although this decree was issued with great fanfare, the ten families doubted its authenticity.

In particular, the Wu family was at odds with Ye Yuan; once Ye Yuan became the young master, it would be highly disadvantageous for the Wu family.

Thus, Wu Siyuan's opposition to Ye Yuan was only natural.

Moreover, over the years, the ten families had been secretly vying for influence, all for the sake of the next sacred lord's succession.

If a disciple from one's own family became the young master, it would be a case of 'one person attaining the Dao, and his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven,' bringing glory to the entire family.

Thus, the competition among the saints for the spots to enter the Red Cloud Valley was fierce, with Nalan Hong, Yang Xiao, and Pei Kun ultimately gaining a slight edge.

The strength gap among the seven saints was not large, most being around the fourth or fifth level of Tianqi. These three, however, were clearly superior.

Speaking of which, although the Wu family was powerful, none of the seven saints were from the Wu family.

Originally, Wu Jiantong had the best chance to catch up from behind, but who could have expected that in this quasi-saint competition, he would be utterly defeated.

"Wu Siyuan, are you implying that I, Shen, am using the sacred lord as a puppet? Do you realize the consequences of saying such things?" Shen Qin sneered.

Wu Siyuan's expression changed, but he still insisted, "Grand Elder, I never said anything of the sort; you are slandering me! Our ten families are loyal to the sacred land, but the sacred lord hasn't seen us for so many years, which inevitably makes us wonder! And this decree was issued without any clear reason. I simply cannot understand how a mere Spirit Wanderer realm cultivator qualifies to be the young master!"

"Just because Ye Yuan entered the seventh layer of the Desolate Ancient Purification Pool! Is that reason not enough?" Shen Qin snorted.

At this point, Elder Nalan Xin of the Nalan family also spoke: "Grand Elder, everyone knows that my Nalan family is loyal to the sacred lord. However, we are all very worried about the sacred lord's current condition. To say he is in seclusion to break through to the second level of Daoxuan, this seclusion has been far too long. In principle, we should not question Ye Yuan inheriting the young master position, but I heard from Hong'er that when they came out, Ye Yuan was only in the sixth layer. Whether he actually entered the seventh layer is unknown to us."

At Nalan Xin's words, the Grand Elder's face darkened like water.

It seemed that with the sacred lord not showing himself for decades, the Red Cloud Sacred Land was already in a state of unrest.

No one would question Nalan Xin's words, because his family was indeed loyal to the sacred land. The Nalan family had lost over a dozen Formless Realm clansmen in service to the sacred land.

It appeared that these ten elders had long harbored suspicions about him.

This time, with Ye Yuan inheriting the young master position, the ten elders had finally erupted.

Just then, Ye Yuan, who had been silent all along, finally spoke: "Honored elders, your doubts about me are simply that I lack sufficient strength to inherit the young master position. In that case, I am willing to accept a challenge from any of the seven saints! If I lose, I will gladly give up the position of young master!"