1828 Staying Behind

Yan Yating stared in awe at the tumultuous aura that fell from heaven, directly onto the Dragon Emperor. He watched as the Dragon Emperor pulled himself out of the rubble and sat down to cultivate in the aura.

"Did he… did he do it?" he asked, somewhat unsure about the current situation. He had never seen or read about any Immortal breakthroughs, so he was unclear on a few of its aspects.

"He did it," one of Alex's elders who were standing next to him said.

Yan Yating turned around to see that it was Ren Guanting who had spoken. "Is this it then?" he asked. "Is he an Immortal now?"

"Pretty much," she said. "He has entered the Immortal realm. All he has to do now is cultivate for a few more minutes to gain back all the Qi he expended while breaking through."

Her words were a grim reminder of the truth of the situation for anyone who hoped it to be something else.

"We have to go then," Yan Yating said. "If he did breakthrough, then we are doomed. We must go and hide. He certainly can't stay in this world for long."

He started to move and looked toward the people that were part of the Oathbreakers. He was about to order them to leave along with him when he noticed that the elders had not budged at all.

"What are you doing?" he asked Alex's elders. All 5 of the elders held a grim expression on their faces, clear that they were more scared than they would care to admit. And even so, they didn't move at all.

For a moment, Yan Yating even wondered if they were all so scared that they couldn't move.

Qiu Jianhong finally turned around and looked toward Graham. He flew up to him and used his aura to take Zhou Linfan from his arms.

"We will look after him, your Highness," he said. "You should leave now. This battlefield is not something you can handle with your cultivation base."

Graham's eyes widened slightly. He looked at the elders and then down below where his son, his sister, and his niece were.

"I… I can't leave," Graham said. "Not while they all stay."

"I'm sorry, but you are not as Strong as they are. You are not as strong as we are," Qiu Jianhong said. "If we are only comparing regular Qi, then maybe you could contend with us, but with Immortal Qi in play, there is no way for you to remain here any longer."

Qiu Jianhong then looked toward the Dragon Emperor. "And things have become worse than that for you. We have an Immortal to worry about now."

Graham frowned for a moment and was about to say something when Liang Shufen spoke up.

"Your Highness, His Majesty won't be able to do anything here if he has to worry about you. I don't know what he is planning, but any plan he does have will become useless if you or anyone is taken hostage by the Emperor."

"We cannot speak for the others, but you certainly must protect yourself here. You must go," she said.

Graham took a deep breath in and then sighed. He understood what they were saying and the importance of those words. He could see that they were right, and yet the thought of leaving part of his family right here did not sit right with him.

However, what could he do here? Nothing. There was absolutely nothing he could do.

"Please take care of my family," Graham said. "Take care of yourselves too."

"We will do our best," Qiu Jianhong said and sent Graham away.

Graham activated his boots and flew away from them as fast as he could. Within moments, he was far away, becoming nothing more than a flicker of light in the distance.

Yan Yating watched the entire exchange between the elders and Graham and said, "You guys are equally as weak in front of an Immortal. Why do you guys stay?"

"Because our King still fights," Ren Guanting said. "As long as his Majesty is on the battlefield, we will remain here to help him."

"But that is a suicide," Yan Yating said. "You know that right?"

"We will happily throw away our lives if it means that His Majesty will be okay," Qiu Jianhong said.

Yan Yating watched all 5 of them hold the same expression, the same desire, the same intent. He couldn't help but be reminded of the days when he had such unwavering loyalty too.

There was a time when he would die to protect the Dragon Emperor. When he would just into the jaws of a beast because his emperor ordered him to.

Those days were gone after the incident, and he had turned into a cynical man who would only do the right thing when it served his purpose. If not, he wouldn't mind kidnapping a King from another country too.

Seeing these people, he started wondering when it was that he had changed. How come he didn't even realize that he had changed?

He turned around. "Things here will get very serious from this moment. Every other step will be death even when you're not the one walking. If you wish to, you can leave now," he gave an order to the Oathbreakers behind him.

The Oathbreakers were not the only ones there, there were other beasts, and many of the ancestors and elders from the many sects were present as well, not to mention the soldiers that had defected from the armies to join Alex's army in this battle.

They too listened to Yan Yating.

A few of them began leaving, flying away in haste as they understood the severity of the situation. Quite a few still remained, especially the Oathbreakers.

They had joined the Oathbreakers because they wanted to go against the Dragon Emperor. They couldn't go against their own beliefs at this moment.

They would stand and fight.

Yan Yating was surprised by the amount of people that had decided to stay behind. There were nearly 300 Oathbreakers and 600 soldiers from the previous tens of thousands who had chosen to remain behind to see it all to the end.

Yan Yating felt pride in all of them, seeing them be ready to face death if it meant sticking to their morals and their beliefs.

His eyes moved toward the beasts. Of them, only the weaker ones had left, and even those were only gone because they were ordered to. The rest remained behind, ready to give their life in this battle if the situation called for it.

He saw them stand around Pearl in a half circle, ready to follow his command or protect him.

Yan Yating remembered the day he was forced to attack the Azure Dragon's realm. He remembered it vividly. And in those memories was an infant white cat who had been wronged so badly.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of relief seeing that infant white cat become a massive White Tiger who would continue his father's legacy.

Then, Yan Yating felt an eruption of aura coming from behind him as the skies cleared away to give way to sunlight. And gleaming in the sun flew the only person to become an Immortal in tens of thousands of years.

The Dragon Emperor was ready to fight back.