Chapter 1007: He Called Himself Sir Firedark
The holy lands were profoundly meaningful to the species of Revered Ancient. Some people longed for them, while others hated them. In the end, they were the subject of many complicated feelings. Perhaps if time had just continued to pass, the species of Revered Ancient would eventually have stopped thinking so much about the holy lands, and would have ultimately forgotten them. There definitely wasn’t anyone who could have guessed that in the short space of one year... the holy lands would suddenly come back and start waging war.
Thanks to the warfare, suffering spread through Revered Ancient. The confusion, anger, defiance, killing intent, and of course the hatred that had been brewing in Revered Ancient for tens of thousands of years... now began to boil over.
Years ago, the holy lands had left, taking the best and brightest with them. They had taken hope with them. Now they were back, acting high and mighty. And they brought war with them. Thus, the species of Revered Ancient fought back. In the east, west, south and north, the top species issued calls to action, and the response was immediate.
Different actions were taken in different areas. In some places, there was open fighting. Divine abilities were unleashed, and magical techniques raged. In other areas, defenses were erected that contained the scale of the war.
The actions of the east ensured that they controlled the initiative and the rhythm of the war. In fact, at almost the exact same moment as the four celestial-level holy lands descended from heaven wreathed in flames, ninety-nine beams of light shot up from the east. They formed an extremely unique grand spell formation that combined the power of many species, and also tapped into the local mutagen, to cover the east of the mainland, including the continent of South Phoenix and the surrounding inner sea. It prevented the ousted terrestrial-level holy lands from returning, and created a boundary between heaven and earth.
As a result, the four celestial-level holy lands were forced to stop outside the defenses.
At the same time, mutagen became one of the most important tactics used by the east, as it was sent out into the sky to invade the holy lands.
Empress Summer Departure showed up personally, along with the three gods of the Firemoons. By using the Everlasting Dagger-Axe as well as the Dawning Suns humankind had prepared for use in war, thēy were able to engage in battle at a peak level with the holy lands’ Grand Emperors.[1]
The battle lasted for seven days. During that time, the dome of heaven descended into a state like primal-chaos. An abstract painting once again appeared there, filling the sky. Mortals didn’t have any way of understanding what it meant, nor any clue about who had the upper hand or who was losing. But after seven days passed, the three gods returned and went into secluded meditation. Empress Summer Departure appeared to have come out of the fight completely unscathed. It wasn’t possible to determine the state of the four holy lands’ Grand Emperors. And yet, after that battle, the four of them behaved similarly to the three gods. They weren’t seen publicly.
A month passed.With the initiative they had, the Firemoons and the humans launched small-scale counter offensives. At the same time, the holy lands cultivators occasionally used special magics to break into the spell formation and try to destroy the formation nodes. But the species of the east had special forces units assigned to track such invaders down and kill them. One of the special forces cultivators who earned some merit in various missions was Feng Lintao.
Half a month earlier when he reached human territory, he had revealed his identity and asked for an audience with Empress Summer Departure. The empress hadn’t immediately granted his request. Instead, shē assigned him to one of the special forces units, and gave him a mission to hunt down invaders.
It went without saying that Feng Lintao, in the interests of securing asylum, went above and beyond in fulfilling his duty. His efforts alone resulted in dozens of invaders being killed. He didn’t hold anything back, going so far as to kill members of his own species with incomparable ruthlessness. Whenever he killed an enemy, he would take their head and hang it from his waist. In the end, there were so many heads they were like a long skirt that looked absolutely horrendous and ghastly.
After working hard for about half a month, the empress finally summoned him for a meeting.
At the moment, he stood outside a grand hall in the imperial capital, standing there respectfully, his eyes shining with excitement and fervor, but his heart as cold as ice.
I’ve heard a lot about this human empress. Shē converted from being a cultivator to being a god. And not just some low-level god. Shē used the power of the successive human emperors to become an Altar God....
This empress is no simpleton.... That said, the less simple a person is, the more confident they’ll be. And from a certain perspective, someone like that... will be perfect for the plan I’ve prepared to get out of this mess.
Feng Lintao glanced down at the skirt of severed heads. They were a blood tribute that he had prepared specially for this moment. He had put a lot of thought into his decision to defect to the humans. All of his analyses had led him to the conclusion there was only one way for him to get out of his current mess.
I need to make myself valuable. I need to prove my loyalty.
Feng Lintao narrowed his eyes. He was well aware that a god could easily read his thoughts. That... was why he was thinking such things. In fact, even as he mentally pondered such things, a tranquil voice echoed out from within the grand hall.
“Feng Lintao is hereby summoned for an imperial audience.”
Feng Lintao’s expression turned very serious. After clasping hands and bowing in the direction of the hall, he walked into the grand hall. Once inside, he saw over a hundred human cultivators standing in four rows, looking at him. Directly in front of him was a large staircase, with chairs on each level. The chairs closest to the bottom were for heavenly marquises, while those higher up were for heavenly kings.
At the very top, the empress sat expressionlessly on a majestic imperial throne.
Standing to the side of the empress was a person clad in the robe of the crown prince. He was none other than Ningyan. After becoming the crown prince, he always stood in that position, not to learn management skills, but rather, to observe. That was what his mother had asked of him. Right now, he was observing this holy lands cultivator who had defected to humankind.
“Feng Lintao, offer greetings to the human empress, Summer Departure!”
Feng Lintao retracted his gaze and bowed at the waist to the empress. When he straightened, he waved his right hand to toss the severed heads down in front of him.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “this is a blood tribute for you. Among them are scions of some of the great clans from the holy lands. All of them are highly ranked. Of course, I’m well aware that this won’t be enough to prove my loyalty. Therefore, I’ve come prepared to reveal two bits of classified information to you!
“The first bit of information is this: A thousand years ago, the Devilbird holy land was not celestial-class. It was the weakest of the earthly-level holy lands. That was because it didn’t always have one Grand Emperor. Back then, it had two!
“A thousand years ago, Patriarch Devilbird, who was at the peak of Grand Emperor, tried to break out of the Quasi-Immortal level and become a Summer Immortal. The breakthrough failed. The patriarch’s body wasted away, and his soul scattered. After preparing a legacy to leave behind, he entered meditation to die.
“When he perished, the Devilbird holy land was reduced to the celestial level. That said, there are rumors that Patriarch Devilbird might actually be able to recover. Your Majesty, I hope you will take precautions in this regard.”
There were many in the crowd who reacted to Feng Lintao’s words with visible surprise. After he finished with his first bit of classified information, he paused briefly. Then he continued, “The second bit of information relates to the holy lands’ reason for returning....”
The moment the words left his mouth, all eyes became focused solely on him. Seeing that, Feng Lintao settled his energy and cleared his mind.
“They have three reasons.
“First. They’re planning to abandon Revered Ancient forever, and never return. Before doing so, they want to take all the resources away!
“Second. They want to carry out a blood sacrifice, and for that, they need a huge stockpile of resources. That’s why they’ve immediately started waging war.
“Third. They were ordered to come here! And the person who issued the orders was not Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. The truth is that the Ancient Emperor went missing about two thousand years ago. After that, the holy lands had no leader, and devolved into chaos. What’s more, two thousand years ago, one of the ancient Summer Immortals who left Revered Ancient... came back!”
The echoing words provoked an immediate stir among the cultivators in the grand hall.
This news was monumental. That was especially true considering it touched one of the ancient Summer Immortals. Because of that, the initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief.
“Because of my low status, I have no way of knowing this Summer Immortal’s name. The name is taboo, after all. But thanks to the back-channel information I have access to... I heard that this returned individual has a cultivation base at the very peak of the Summer Immortal level. In fact, it might have already surpassed that level, meaning that it exists in a level that can only be described as freakish and unimaginable.
“Some have said that this level is equivalent to that of the Brilliant Heaven god emperor. That’s the level above True God, which is God Lord. In the cultivator system, that level designation is called Immortal Lord.
“Apparently, though, his cultivation base is unstable, which is the reason for his return to the holy lands. He has demanded that the holy lands scour Revered Ancient for something that can stabilize his cultivation base. As for the blood sacrifice, it will be used to summon that item, whatever it is. The more blood used in the sacrifice, the more accurate the summons can be. Unfortunately, I’m not completely sure of what that item is.
“However, there’s one thing I can be certain of. This half-step Immortal Lord found an item that can temporarily bypass the blockade created by the broken face. In other words, it’s a way to leave Revered Ancient. That’s one of the main reasons that the holy lands have dared to come here.”
Feng Lintao’s explanation provoked more than a few gasps from the humans in the grand hall. It wasn’t that their willpower was lacking. Rather, this information was just too monumentally shocking. Even Ningyan was breathing heavily, and couldn’t help but glance a few times at his mother.
Feng Lintao took that all in and felt very pleased. He wasn’t lying in anything he’d said. Every word was true. And he was convinced that his information would prove that he was sincere in defecting to humankind.
However, he also knew that he needed to prove that the choices he had made were logical. In other words, he needed to explain why he had chosen to defect. With that thought in mind, he clasped hands and bowed again in the direction of the empress, who had still not reacted in any way.
“Your Majesty, the reason I’m being so candid, and the reason I’m explaining all of these things, is that the Devilbird holy land has treated me with great insensitivity. I have two archenemies there. One is named Yue Dong, and she’s a vicious and treacherous woman who will stop at nothing to see me dead.
“The other is named Lan Yao, and she has the heart like that of a snake or scorpion. She comes from one of the five great clans of the Devilbird holy land, and her husband is an apprentice of the very same Patriarch Devilbird who went into secluded meditation to die. In the Devilbird holy land, I’m considered to have impure blood, which is why I was always looked down on. Later, I offended them, which is the same as offending half of the entire holy land. Ever since then, they’ve been chasing me nonstop in the hopes of killing me.
“That’s why I defected to humankind! Your Majesty, I don’t expect you to take all of this at face value. My conflict with Lan Yao and Yue Dong was witnessed by two human cultivators. Based on what I could tell, both of them are important people who are most likely famous among you humans!”
Feng Lintao finished speaking and kept his eyes on the empress. Everyone in the grand hall similarly looked at the empress with very serious expressions on their faces.
Looking back at Feng Lintao, the empress calmly said, “What are the names of the two human cultivators who saw all of this?”
Feng Lintao immediately responded, “One of them called himself Sir Firedark, and he was traveling with his Elder Brother. Upon reflection, I’m fairly certain he was using a fake name. As for their true identities... thankfully, I managed to get a bit of information recently.”
With that, he waved his hand, causing two projected images to form. One of them wore a blue robe and stood tall, with eyes glittering like heavenly bodies, and extremely attractive facial features. The other wore a similar blue robe, but had plain facial features and a rather shifty expression.
Feng Lintao clearly didn’t like the second person. He was the one who had pretended to be hovering on the brink of death, all for the purpose of stealing Feng Lintao’s sageheaven god vine.
As soon as the two images appeared, strange expressions appeared on the faces of everyone in the grand hall. In particular, Ningyan’s eyes went wide.
Taking a deep breath, Feng Lintao calmly said, “Therefore, Your Majesty, all you have to do is ask these two, and they’ll confirm the truth of everything I told you.”
***
Out on the Primeval Sea, Erniu sneezed.
“Some lowlife must be talking about me!” he said. Erniu’s eyes had grown back, and he now reclined comfortably on the dharmaboat.
Xu Qing ignored him as he sat cross-legged and meditated, all while assessing the ways he had transformed recently. His godsource was stronger than before he had come out to sea. His godly authority was also a bit more majestic than before. All of it was thanks to those meat skewers he had eaten. The flesh of Timeruins was understandably extraordinary.
The most astonishing improvement was to his soul. His soul was now much tougher than before, by many times over. And the benefit from the nourishment was continuing. His god perception had improved dramatically, and his godly senses were stronger. In addition, the connection between his soul and his fleshly body had improved.
My battle prowess has benefited similarly.
A short time later, he ended the day’s session of meditation, opened his eyes, and looked in the direction of the inner sea.
“We’ll arrive soon,” he murmured.
The two of them had traveled at top speed for a month, pushing the dharmaboat to get back home. Although they had encountered a few dangerous situations, none had posed any challenge. Whether that was because of luck or because of the blessing Yu Liuchen had given them when they parted, it was hard to tell. As of now, they were only about half a day away from the inner sea.
Upon realizing how close they were to the inner sea, Erniu started getting himself back in shape. After all, he was the type of person who liked to look good. Although he couldn’t get rid of his fur, he didn’t think like normal people. In fact, that was one of his talents. As such, he took all of that dark fur and braided it together to form something like a coat of fur armor....
Xu Qing couldn’t help but admire Erniu when he saw that.
Several hours later, they reached the boundary between the outer sea and the inner sea. As black mist roiled, the ship shot across the border. Once they were in the inner sea, a burst of spell formation power swept over them. Almost as quickly, it vanished, allowing them to enter the inner sea smoothly.
The sunlight was dazzling. The sea breeze was warm.
Clouds roiled above as a figure like an eagle or a phoenix appeared, whistling down toward them. Along the way, it turned into Huang Yan, who landed on the surface of the water and glared angrily at Xu Qing.
“So, you’ve finally returned, huh? I promised Elder Sister to take you back safely, only for you to go missing again. Do you know how much face I lost, Xu Qing?”
Hearing that caused Xu Qing to break into a smile.
Huang Yan hurried forward and boarded the dharmaboat. Upon seeing Erniu, a quizzical expression appeared on his face.
“You went out to sea and came back with a fur coat? What is it you call an ox with a bunch of fur? A yak, right?”[2]
Erniu smiled sarcastically. “What the hell do you know, you old bird? Have you ever been to the outer sea? I don’t think so. Let me tell you, this is the most popular fashion among the species there!”
Glaring, Huang Yan waved his hand, causing a tornado to pop into being right on top of Erniu, which then sent him flying several thousand kilometers off into the distance.
Huang Yan grinned. “Finally, we can have some peace and quiet. Alright, Xu Qing, let’s go home! By the way, Elder Sister wanted me to tell you... that quite a few people are awaiting your return.” Huang Yan then cleared his throat. “And they’re women....”
1. The Everlasting Dagger-Axe was previously mentioned in chapters 902 and . ☜
2. Although I think this yak joke is funny in English, it’s slightly funnier in Chinese. As most of you should remember, the niu in Erniu’s name means ox. And in Chinese, the word for yak combines the character for fur with the character for ox. So a yak is a furry ox or a furred ox. ☜
Deathblade's Thoughts
This about 1,000 characters longer than average.