Divine Emperor of Death

Back in the Fire Phoenix Clan, Great Ancestor Zenflame explained the true course of events that pertained to him, the Emperor of Death, and the fourth inheritor, Shirley.

The unanimous understanding was that the Fourth Inheritor was seduced and kept an obedient slave by the Emperor of Death, causing her to listen to every one of his commands and unable to leave, even declaring love for him in order to protect the Fire Phoenix Clan.

But now, such a narrative was broken, allowing them to see the truth.

"My fellow clan members! Today, we stand with a heavy heart and carry the weight of our collective mistakes. Misguided by the ones who were in positions of power and influence, we walked a path laden with misjudgments and blunders, but with the Emperor of Death having cleared them for us, we were able to avoid internal conflict, which might've resulted in killing ourselves!"

"As your Founder, allow me to take responsibility for these thoughtless actions. We may have faltered and inflicted pain on others, perhaps intentionally, but from today, we're either extending our hands and embracing our true selves, continuing with the atrocities, or we extend our hands in genuine remorse and work tirelessly to right the wrongs we have inflicted upon the others."

"Fellow clan members, let us challenge the path ahead together! Let us look forward in an attempt to make things right and forge a future where we would be able to raise our heads high in front of the inheritance masters who bestowed us with their blood!"

"Yes!!!"

Great Ancestor Zenflame's long speech came to an end, and it was met with an extremely favorable response as the crowd began to roar with delight as well as relief over being spared.

They never imagined that their Fire Phoenix Clan committed so many atrocities.

They didn't know any better, but now that they knew what happened over the course of the past year and the past century millenniums, they were open to dialogue, especially when their forces were decimated, causing them to have no choice but to follow the consensus.

However, some were not convinced. After all, the winners wrote history, so it would be possible for them to rewrite everything that happened before, twisting right and wrong.

Their glorious and righteous clan that had saved so many people and allowed billions to have a good life in their cities was evil? What bullshit!

They held too much faith in the upper echelon that led the Fire Phoenix Clan to this level, so to hear that they were the villains was hard for them to believe and digest. Moreover, the masses were easy to fool or convince when a charismatic leader and a Founder like Great Ancestor Zenflame was involved.

So they were half-hearted, but Great Ancestor Zenflame also said that they could embrace their history and continue to do the vile things they did, which meant they could be hanging on the execution row in a few days or weeks' time.

Their pride was on the line, but as soon as they recalled how the Emperor of Death wiped the floor with their upper echelon, they knew they should be obedient and follow the majority.

However, most people were not like them, and a majority of the population didn't have anything to do with the Fire Phoenix Clan as they were either too distant, normal, or had other bloodlines.

As for the Fire Phoenix Clan's four branches and more than half of the Zenflame Clan, they were fine with this change.

Everything started from Great Ancestor Zenflame, so they were willing to believe that their Fire Phoenix Clan's Zenflame Branch had gone rogue after the slumber of the inheritors and started doing wicked things to keep the clan afloat while hiding them and doing good deeds in the open.

This also explained why only the main branch had held hold of its power from time immemorial, while for the other Phoenix Clans, every branch had a chance to at least rule for a period of time before they got outwitted or outperformed by other branches.

It was a natural progress that fostered competition, but for them, they were repeatedly thrashed and had their lineage suppressed, perhaps even having their noble bloodline taken away.

Who knew how many of their King and Emperor Beasts were killed in secret?

In actuality, every branch other than the Zenflame Branch had declined until the survivors opened a new branch, so the branches were never able to accumulate power, causing them to always be under the Zenflame Branch.

Nonetheless, with Great Ancestor Zenflame himself on the throne of the current Fire Phoenix Clan, they knew they could not take revenge on the Zenflame Branch.

"A storm is near…"

Naturally, Great Ancestor Zenflame could see that internal conflict would be unavoidable since the Zenflame Branch had only two surviving Immortal Emperors. As for the other four Immortal Emperors who survived and were currently standing behind him, they were from two other branches known as Flamewing Branch and Pathfire Branch.

Everything was leveled to an equal standpoint.

However, what he was afraid of wasn't internal conflict but war.

Who knew how many enemies the Fire Phoenix Clan had made with their arrogance?

He thought that they were lucky that the Southern Fire Phoenix Prefecture hadn't already attacked and looted.

There was also the revenge that the Burning Phoenix Clan and the Blue Luan Clan could enact, causing their cities to go up in flames or sealed in ice.

There were so many relationships to mend.

He knew it wasn't going to be easy to come out of this mess safely, but as the one who established the Fire Phoenix Clan, he had the confidence to get through this impasse.

"Great Ancestor-"

"My goodness."

Great Ancestor Zenflame instantly turned around to look at Mistress Zahara, who called him Great Ancestor.

"Please stop calling me that, Mistress Zahara. Your seniority is way higher than me even though I'm many times older than you."

"…" Mistress Zahara appeared hesitant but shook her head, "Enough of seniority. I'm a King-Tier Immortal King Beast Fire Phoenix, so if you need any help in rallying the Fire Phoenix Clan together, please don't hesitate."

"That'd be great."

Great Ancestor Zenflame smiled lightly.

To have a Level Nine King-Tier Immortal King Beast Fire Phoenix was the same as being able to suppress even Mid-Stage Immortal Emperor Fire Phoenixes easily. That was bloodline suppression.

However, he couldn't help but curl his lips as no such entity was left in the Fire Phoenix Clan.

A single Mid Stage Immortal Emperor from outside could decimate half of their cities now if they wanted to. Only the main cities would survive because of the city-wide barriers.

"Also, I won't reject if you want me to be the figurehead ruler of the Fire Phoenix Clan at the moment."

Mistress Zahara spoke with determination as her crimson eyes flashed.

She could tell that Great Ancestor Zenflame was way more fit for the leadership position when she saw him give his speech, but at the same time, she hadn't forgotten her determination. She still wanted to help the innocents of the Fire Phoenix Clan as much as she could.

"No."

"What- why?" Mistress Zahara appeared confused.

Wasn't her offer considerable enough to give him some time to come up with something good? Could it be that she was being suspected of wanting the position of the Matriarch…?

"I-"

"Your beautiful and graceful self had already sacrificed for the betterment of the Fire Phoenix Race."

She was just about to explain herself when Great Ancestor Zenflame shook his head with a solemn expression.

"I won't allow that to happen a second time. If anything, I want Mistress Zahara to live your life as you please and not carry the mess my descendants created."

"You-"

"The whole reason we exist is to repay the gratitude the Auraflame Clan has shown us, so the least I could do is allow you to be able to do as you please. And this is nothing but a request from the founder of the Zenflame Clan. The Candidacy is in Shirley's hands, so please concentrate on helping her practice cultivation instead of looking after the Fire Phoenix Clan."

"I won't!"

"…?"

"I'll do as I please!"

"…"

Great Ancestor Zenflame looked at Mistress Zahara- no, Fourth Inheritance Master, Flamerose Auraflame stand her ground.

He couldn't say anything back, causing him to nod slightly while Hirona and Sierra giggled by his side.

The female phoenixes were always too fiery to handle. It was the same with the Fire Phoenixes they hatched from the inheritance.

Nonetheless, he turned to look at the two Elders who claimed that they had survived the Emperor of Death as he had spared them.

"Levon and Tyler, was it…?"

"Yes."

"Good. The Emperor of Death has once again proved himself to be a reasonable Divergent by sparing the innocents. However, he did claim he would wipe out the Immortal Emperors. If he spared you two after playing with you, then I guess I can place some trust. Relay the words I say to these powers…"

"…"

Levon Zenflame and Tyler Zenflame nodded heavily, but as they listened, their hearts only sank further, and their gaze witnessed the sight of a bleak future.

Turning to look outside the city, they could feel the gazes of preying hawks who were willing to take revenge or simply engage in war in order to loot their riches.