Chapter 985: Dramatic Events in the Forbidden Sea!
The phoenix flying over the Forbidden Sea shook all living beings.
On this day, countless species on islands everywhere looked up to see heaven completely obscured! A crimson glow replaced the normal color of the sky. The surging tempest overhead replaced the air. Burning fire took over the power of the waves. And everything was focused in one direction, bursting with killing intent and rage.
“The South Phoenix took to the sea!”
“That’s Flame Phoenix!”
“What happened to make Flame Phoenix so angry??”
Voices full of both astonishment and reverence rose up in islands everywhere. Countless gazes focused on the dome of heaven, and the terrifying figure in the tempest there. Speculations ran wild. But regardless, as of this moment... every species in the Forbidden Sea who saw what was happening were stricken with monumental levels of astonishment.
And without even thinking about it, all of them started looking in the direction that the tempest was heading in.
***
Above what had once been the Forbidden Sea was the mountain-like Vivifiend holy land. The mountain was so majestic that it was hard to see the top of it. And the base covered a massive area. Even from a distance, it was possible to see the mysterious magical symbols flowing just under the surface of the mountain. Occasionally, they would collide with each other, causing loud rumbling sounds to echo out. Some were faint. Some were like chants. Some were violent. Some were thunderous.
The sounds came from the Vivifiend holy land’s grand protective spell formation, which had been put in place years ago by their peak Grand Emperor.
Holy lands were called holy lands because they had Grand Emperors. Back when Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity departed Revered Ancient, the species that qualified to leave with him were naturally those who had Grand Emperors. Unfortunately, as time went by, for a variety of unknown reasons, the Grand Emperors perished.
That was why the terrestrial-level holy lands came to be. When a Grand Emperor carved out a holy land, then perished, and no new Grand Emperor succeeded, then that holy land... was referred to as terrestrial-level.
That was exactly what happened with the Vivifiend holy land. That said, though the Grand Emperor had perished long ago, the grand protective spell formation he put in place had remained there for tens of thousands of years.
Unfortunately, the fact that no Grand Emperor had come along to maintain and repair the formation, meant it had gradually weakened over the years that passed. Right now, it was far from what it had been at the peak of its mightiness. That didn’t mean it was weak, though. The spell formation glittered brightly, and the thousands of kilometers of ice sludge on the surface of the Forbidden Sea trembled in response.
Boats couldn’t enter that area, and sea beasts didn’t dare to go there. As a result, the entire location was like a mountainous island in the middle of the Forbidden Sea.
Couple that with the starry sky aura coming off the mountain, and the incredibly ancient air, and it lent an indescribable grandeur to the place. What was more, its interaction with the environment of Revered Ancient caused swirling mist to billow out from it. As that white mist spread out from the mountain in all directions, it created a strong contrast with the black color of the Forbidden Sea. The end result was that, in the hearts of the many nonhumans on nearby islands, the place was like an immortal paradise.
But today... a devilish wind had picked up outside of that immortal realm, and it echoed with a devilish sound. That wind was made of fire, and it came from the south. When it appeared, the canopy of heaven turned as crimson as fresh blood. It was as if the end of days had come.
Burning black mist on the Forbidden Sea surged, as if innumerable demonic monsters were on the prowl, howling in gruish voices.
That was only part of the devilish sound. The other part was the screaming of the wind. On this day, heaven howled, earth roared, and all living beings wept mournfully. The sound combined into a deafening, heaven-shaking, earth-shattering cry.
The Vivifiend holy land bore the brunt of the sound. The thousands of kilometers of icy sludge melted instantly. The white mist surrounding it ignited, becoming a part of the fire. And the raging wind quickly made the huge mountain clearly visible....
The color red filled the canopy of heaven. Blazing flames covered the Forbidden Sea. The wind howled. And then all of that coalesced into the image of a majestic figure that looked like both a phoenix and an eagle, charging toward the Vivifiend holy land.
The moment he appeared, the figure reached an enormous claw out of the black clouds. Surrounded by lightning, the claw viciously flew toward the mountain! It seemed that the claw was going to rip that mountain off the surface of the sea!
Flame Phoenix’s claw was like the hand of a god. Where it went, the air shattered, rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth, and the Forbidden Sea sank down. Terrifying might was joined by maddened rage, to spread out in all directions. The fiery flames spread out to cover the sea water and fill the sky. And of course, they enveloped the entire mountain. Intense rumbling sounds split the sky and shook the sea.
The Vivifiend’s mountain started trembling violently.
However, that was when a cold snort coldly echoed out from within the mountain. At the same time, all of the mountain’s magical symbols rose up into the air to create a shimmering shield of light. It was the grand protective spell formation.
Light swirled dazzlingly in all directions. Within it were countless symbols, all of them radiating majestic power. In an instant, the defensive barrier formed by the shield of light was at maximum power, and it was fighting back against Flame Phoenix’s claw.
Rumbling sounds echoed out everywhere. Ripples erupted into a large portion of the Forbidden Sea. Enormous waves surged out everywhere.
Flame Phoenix’s claw couldn’t reach the mountain, and instead slammed into the spell formation shield. Within the formation, the Vivifiends were stunned, and looked out in astonishment at Flame Phoenix, who obscured heaven on the other side of the formation.
As they reeled, an old man appeared at the top of the mountain. He was the peak Imperial Sovereign patriarch of the Vivifiend species. He looked through the shield at the outside world. He knew who Flame Phoenix was, and was aware of his status in the continent of South Phoenix. And he was able to instantly assess his strength and current state.
It fell in line with his previous judgment regarding the strength of the phoenix. However, when it came to his current state, he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
He could be considered an extremely rare mutant entity in Revered Ancient, and even the starry sky in general. He has terrifying godsource, and yet, does not have any of Eminent Desolation’s karma.... He is walking the path of gods, and yet... hasn’t ignited any godfire!
He’s contending with our grand protective spell formation with no godfire, only his own godsource. The level of might on display isn’t quite at the level of an Altar God, nor a Grand Emperor. But I’m afraid he’s roughly on par with me....
How did he do this? To get to a level like this with godsource reserves alone, and no godfire? I’ve never even heard of anything like that. And if he did ignite his godfire....
Patriarch Vivifiend looked incomparably serious.
Reserve powers as profound as that could be considered exceptional.... This mutant entity has some extremely high ambitions. Does he want to build up enough reserves to unleash them all at one time, ignite godfire, and become a first-level True God?
Except, I can sense... flaws! He’s stuck! Some unknown entity trapped him in the continent of South Phoenix in this sea, making it impossible for him to go too far away from it. In order to become a first-level True God, he has to break out of that trap?
Having reached this point in his train of thought, Patriarch Vivifiend spoke in a solemn voice that echoed like thunder. “Fellow Daoist Flame Phoenix, you’re clearly angry. But you still need to explain yourself.”
“Hand over Xu Qing!” Flame Phoenix responded in a similarly thunderous voice as his claw pressed down onto the spell formation shield.
“Xu Qing?” Patriarch Vivifiend replied. He had already come up with some speculations as to why Floating Fiend had come out of seclusion. However, Floating Fiend represented the future of the Vivifiend holy land. He was the individual the patriarch had selected to keep the species safe going into the future, and was in fact the only person who could do it. That made him more important than any other individual in their species.
That was especially true considering that the patriarch had a lingering wound, which would never heal. In fact, it was accurate to say that even if all the other Vivifiends died, as long as Floating Fiend survived, the species could continue. Otherwise, if the patriarch lived out his days and Floating Fiend perished, then the Vivifiend holy land... wouldn’t continue on for much longer afterward.
There were quite a few other holy lands which had long been eyeing the Vivifiends. According to the holy lands’ records, over the tens of thousands of years that had passed, all of the other holy lands that lost their Imperial Sovereigns ended up being split up and divided amongst the others.
Isn’t that what happened to the Fardark holy land? [1]
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly at what was obviously a very thorny problem. In fact, it was downright deadly. But he also knew that Floating Fiend wasn’t an idiot, so whatever he had done, he had likely weighed the potential benefits and consequences.
There must be something about Xu Qing that Floating Fiend felt was such a potential asset to our species that he was willing to risk his life over it.
Patriarch Vivifiend frowned and put a surprised look onto his face.
“This Xu Qing you’re talking about. Is he the region lord of the Holytide and Nightspirit Regions?”
As he spoke, he took out a jade slip and pressed down on it gently, causing a host of images to appear above it. They were individuals the Vivifiends had gathered information about recently. One of them was none other than Xu Qing.
“Fellow Daoist Flame Phoenix, is this the human you’re talking about? I’ve never met him before.” He turned to look at his holy land. “Have any of you met him before?”
All of the Vivifiends shook their heads.
“You see, Fellow Daoist Flame Phoenix,” the patriarch said calmly, “you’re actually being a bit of a bully here. Did you ever consider that you might have gone looking in the wrong direction?”
However, the moment the words left his mouth, killing intent flared in Flame Phoenix’s eyes. Flapping his wings, he flew high up into the dome of heaven. After reaching a certain height, he wheeled around and dove down trailing fire like a meteor! The entire process went very smoothly, and he didn’t lose an ounce of momentum. The air shattered, heaven shook and earth trembled, the sea water boiled, and a terrifying aura built up. The surrounding flames went completely wild.
When Patriarch Vivifiend saw that, his heart sank, but his eyes glittered. His immediate plan was to bolster the power of the spell formation and absorb Flame Phoenix’s attack.
Except that was when intense rumbling sounds could be heard as a massive teleportation portal opened up in the middle of the air.
The aura of the Moonrite Region erupted out with wild and violent force. Along with it came a cold voice, like a stream of sword energy that could slice through heaven and earth.
“So what if it’s bullying? We’ll find out if this is the right person or not after we step through!”
Out stepped Ninth Sib from the Moonrite Region, who was also known as Grandpa Ninth. He clearly had a Smoldering God cultivation base, but at the moment, he was pulsing with a ferocity that could threaten Imperial Sovereigns.
Behind him came the Heir Apparent, Princess Brightblossom, Princess Fifth, and Eighth Sib. All of them pulsed with immense energy and raging authority that was vastly beyond what they had been like years ago. Li Zihua’s children had Smoldering God authority that earned them the praise of Dark Serenity back in the day, which was why they had each been considered a chosen. In the past, they had been tormented by Crimson Mother, but after being freed, how could they possibly be considered ordinary!
Here they were! After getting Erniu’s message and learning that something happened to Xu Qing, they had come as quickly as possible. They had also brought the Moonrebel Congregation’s precious treasure with them.
What was even more astonishing was something that Xu Qing or Erniu would have noticed immediately if they were present. They all pulsed with the aura of Li Zihua!
Ling’er hurried after them anxiously, a furious glare on her face as she looked at the holy land.
Seeing that, Flame Phoenix stopped in place.
And that was because the moment the Moonrite contingent appeared, more majestic teleportation portals opened up. Countless cultivators poured out, all of them bursting with killing intent. It was a huge army from the Holytide Region! They were here to rescue their region lord! Among them were countless Nightshade high priests clad in violet robes, with violet moon totems on their foreheads. They... were from the Violet Moon temple, there to fight for the Violet Lord!
What happened next caused the Vivifiend cultivators to reel, and sent Patriarch Vivifiend’s heart racing.
An even more majestic teleportation portal glittered into being above the holy land. A terrifying destiny aura power emerged from the portal, spreading through the area as a massive army of cultivators stormed out, virtually exploding with killing intent. Leading them was King Firecrusher!
And things weren’t even over yet....
That was because the aura of a god began to emerge from time itself!
Dramatic events were unfolding on the Forbidden Sea!
1. The story of the Fardark holy land was told inchapter 919 . ☜