People started waking up one by one, and one by one they walked out to what was happening.
Two figures floated in the sky, the Empress and a young man whose identity they could not ascertain.
"Empress, are you alright?"
"Mother!"
"What going on?"
People started shouting one after another. The Empress looked around at her people and her children. However, she couldn't be happy to see them, for she knew that she was just a moment away from being revealed for who she was on the inside.
"Everyone go back inside, it's dangerous out here," the Empress said. However, the people found it hard to just leave.
Marcus felt awkward as well. He did not want to be seen like this. He did not want his people and his own children to see him kill his wife, which was why he had put up the formation in the first place.
However, now that the formation was gone, he didn't have any choice at all.
"Gordon, take the kids away," he said to one of the men that was down below.
The old man looked confused when he heard Marcus. "How do you know my name?" the old man asked.
"Of course, I know your name," Marcus said. "I was there when you were born after all. I'm glad to see you are still using the sword I gave you on your 14th birthday."
The old man's eyes went wide. "No way…!"
"Bran, it might be late, but congratulations on breaking through to the Immortal King realm. I see that suggestion of going to the Immortal woods paid off for you. You always did have a strong wood constitution," Marcus said.
"How? No one but…," Bran's shocked face was everything that was needed to convey his current emotion.
"Mellisa, Mercil, you two have grown up better than I had expected, even when you had a bitch for a mother," Marcus said.
"Hey! Who are you to dare call our mother a bitch? I will cut you," Mercil shouted all of a sudden. However, Gordon stepped forward to stop him.
"Is… is that really you, lord?" he asked.
Marcus couldn't help but sigh. "Yes, it is me," he said. "I have returned, and I've come for vengeance."
He pointed in front of him. "I don't know what you heard but it was that bitch who killed me. She betrayed me, and by association, she betrayed you all as well. Today, I will kill her, so please take away the children."
Mellisa and Mercil looked up in shock.
"Father?"
"That's our father?"
"Seems like it," Gordon said.
"But… even if he is our father, he can't just kill mother," Mercil said. "Uncle Gordon, you must save her."
Gordon put on a dark face, but he couldn't help her here. "No," he said. "If what the lord says is true, I will not help her."
"But she's our mother," Mellisa said.
"I'm sorry, but I owe too much to your father to stop him from taking his revenge here," Gordon said.
"No, if you won't stop him then we will," Mellisa said and tried to fly out, but Gordon stopped her. His cultivation base was stronger than Mellisa, so he could deny her of any action.
However, Mercil was there as well, and he fought back. Gordon was strong, but he had limitations. It was pretty much impossible for him to fight an Immortal Saint and another Immortal King with his cultivation base, while absolutely not harming them.
In the end, Mercil slipped past him and went into the sky.
"Stop, father! Please don't kill mother," he said with wide open arms.
"Step aside, Mercil. I have to do this," Marcus said.
"You are probably wrong. Mother didn't kill you. You died because of Qi deviation," Mercil said.
"Heh, and where is Vanessa? Did she die because of Qi deviation as well?" Marcus asked.
"Stepmother? No… she… she took her own life," Mercil said. "She was saddened by your death and not long after, she took her own life."
"Hah, and you believe that? You believe someone like Vanessa could kill herself?" Marcus asked. "Isn't it too convenient that I died, and then Vanessa did too? You all must be idiots to not see the truth."
The few people that were there started looking around as they questioned everything they knew. Was it true? Did the Empress kill the emperor and then her sister? They looked at the Empress with accusatory eyes and the Empress could feel it.
"I did not kill Vanessa," she said. "She took her own life."
"Hah, I will believe nothing that comes out of your mouth, you little bitch," Marcus exclaimed.
"Then, believe me, father," another voice spoke as a new person appeared in the air.
The Emperor's son who could not cultivate was in them, held up by Halios who he had requested to bring him there.
The young man felt fear at such a height, but he stopped himself from being afraid for the moment. "Father…" he spoke. It felt weird to call someone that looked younger than him 'father', but he could tell this man was.
"It is true. Mother took her own life," he said.
"Varsil, you believe her too?" Marcus asked with a disappointed look on his face. He shook his head as he said, "she has you all wrapped around his wrinkly fingers. If you truly believe that Vanessa could kill herself just because she loved me so much, and leave you behind, you are truly an idiot."
"Mother did kill herself," Varsil said. "Whether you believe it or not, that's the truth. However, she did not do it because she loved you and she was saddened by your death."
Marcus was surprised. "What do you mean? Why else would she kill herself then?" he asked.
"Because she felt guilty," Varsil said.
Marcus' heart sank when he heard that. "Gu-guilty… of what?" he asked, but he already knew the answer even beforehand.
"She felt guilty that she was involved in the plot to kill you as well."
