Chapter 189 - Divine Battlefield
Zhong Yue sighed as Shui Zian was a man that could not be comprehended easily but at the same time, he admired the old man’s wisdom as well.
After the two battles, the pursuers were either dead or in retreat, giving them a peaceful day with few disturbances.
After all, instead of killing Zhong Yue and Shui Zian, the various celestial races had suffered great losses. The immense death toll among the higher-ups of these celestial races was significant to them and if this happened to a smaller celestial race, it would have taken them at least a few hundred years to regain their power.
An intelligent and wise man’s destructive power is often far more potent than a simply strong individual. This was doubly so if this wise man also possessed great strength of his own. He would be much more terrifying. And Shui Zian was one such individual – a man who possessed great intelligence and strength at the same time.
“Tomorrow, we will be back at the Great Wilderness.”
In the morning of the second day, Shui Zian slowed down his pace unconsciously and as he would occasionally coughed out phlegm and blood, he said, “I have gotten older and I am not as strong as I used to be. After the prolonged hour of traveling and the two battles, my stamina could not keep up with the rate we are progressing now. I could only barely contain my injuries but fortunately, we are almost back to the Great Wilderness and after entering the border of the Great Wilderness, we will be safe and I do not need to worry so much anymore.”
Zhong Yue nodded as although they were still in the area of coverage of the Western Barren, the Great Wilderness was no longer such a distance away from them anymore. All they had to do was pass through a huge swampy area and a mountainous area that marked the border of Western Barren and the Great Wilderness.
After they got past there, then it would be the territory of the Swords Gate.
In these few days, after being escorted by Shui Zian and after Shui Zian single-handedly fended off the pursuers, Zhong Yue felt extremely grateful towards him and he changed his views on Shui Zian completely.
“I wonder if Hall Master Zuo, Elder Feng and the others managed to get so safety from their pursuers?” murmured Zhong Yue.
“Instead of worrying about them, you might as well worry about yourself. As we get closer to leaving the West Barren, the more dangerous the situation would be because the pursuers would always be waiting to intercept you at the point they know you must pass through – waiting for you to enter their ambush.”
Shui Zian looked towards the front and said, “These Qi Practitioners aimed to stall us so more of them could take a detour and head towards our front to set up an ambush. They might not have any extraordinarily strong Qi Practitioners but an interception unit would definitely contain a few that possess some moves that could deliver exceptionally strong damage. Look over here, this place is called as the Divine Battlefield. It was originally the living place for the celestial race and those who settled down here were the ultimately strong celestial races that built their era here.
However, they quickly waned down and this place became nothing more than just ruins and rubbles. This happened because of an interception battle that took place here.”
Zhong Yue listened quickly as Shui Zian continued to say, “This battle was related to us humans. During that year, it was the first headmaster of our Swords Gate that led the few millions of humans to fight their way out of the Western Barren and the path they took was through this place.”
Zhong Yue’s heart moved and as he looked at the swampy area in front, he murmured, “The ancestors of the humans from the Great Wilderness took this path during that year as well? So the reason why this place is called the Divine Battlefield was because of that interception battle?”
“That’s right. That was the story behind the Divine Battlefield. They were pursued to this point and it was right here where they were ambushed. Then, a huge battle between the two parties that could even shake the heaven and earth ensued. The god of our humans wanted to protect his people and lead his people to a land of peace and prosperity while the celestial races in the West Barren wanted to safeguard their pride and honor as they did not allow any betrayal, not to mention the lowly human beings in their eyes.”
Zhong Yue stared at this swampy area and no matter how he looked at it, it looked just like an ordinary swampy area and there were no signs of people living here, let alone the signs of celestial races that once stayed here.
“That battle forged the name of the god of Swords Gate, and inflicted heavy injuries to the god of Swords Gate. After entering the Great Wilderness, he had another battle with Tian Myriad Mother and after killing her, he succumbed to his injuries quickly after forming the Swords Gate.”
Shui Zian sighed and said, “He died at a very young age and it was him that sought for his very own death. He wanted to preserve his soul completely as his soul was still in perfect condition to become a spirit that guarded the entire Great Wilderness. If he did not die, he would have led the humans and conquered the other Barrens with his capabilities.”
Zhong Yue could only feel pity for the fact that the two battles that took place back then was too much, causing the life of the first headmaster of Swords Gate to end too early, and directly halting his ambition to usher in a new era for humanity.
“During that battle, the celestial races initiated their own godly spirit and with the incredible power possessed by these godly spirits, they stirred up chaos all over this place and destroyed pretty much everything here like an apocalypse. Because of that, the majority of the celestial races dwindled and the land where these godly spirits descended were reduced to ruin and rubble. Thus, the Divine Battlefield which is feared by many celestial races in the West Barren was formed.”
“Then, the fallen ancient godly spirits that landed in this swampy area formed into countless mysterious secret realms that spread all across this battlefield. Due to the fact that these secret realms are all the secret realms in the body of these godly spirits, they usually contain an incredible amount of treasures and even the divine weapons used by these godly spirits.”
Shui Zian then said calmly, “This is a land of fortune and wealth, but also a land of death. Very often, the fragments of the souls of these godly spirits remained lingering here, hiding in the swamps awaiting for their chance to devour any unsuspecting passersby every chance they got. Besides, the aftermath of the great battle that took place back then remains up until now. These aftermaths were so strong that even a huge and incredibly strong figure in the celestial races was killed by them. Therefore, the celestial races avoided this place and slowly, it became deserted that inspired fear and terror in all.”
“The only reason why I chose this path was because of the dangers lurking around. The pursuers would not be able to figure out that we would risk it by entering this path. Therefore, there shouldn't be any pursuers in front due to the extreme dangers lying ahead.”
Zhong Yue then asked in confusion, “Well with all that being said, then how are we supposed to get pass safely?”
“I know a safe passage through this place.”
Shui Zian laughed and said, “There was someone among our ancestors that remembered and drew the path out. Dangers filled all over this place after the great battle and the fact that our ancestors walked out alive only meant that the path they took would be a safe path. I’ve seen the map and memorized it in my mind.”
Zhong Yue breathed out a breath of relief and he said, “With that path on the map, we could return to the Swords Gate safely while the pursuers could not intercept us in front because they do not have the map.”
Shui Zian nodded and said, “The celestial races may have people that are far stronger than me but there are not many of them smarter than me. I chose this path because I wanted to shake off every pursuer and potential ambush.”
Zhong Yue couldn't help but praise the old man for his wisdom and intelligence.
The pair of old and the young walked past the swampy area, embarking on a path that was not trodden by most. As they walked, they could see colorful mists around the path and among the mists, there were huge mountains within which were contained huge amounts of energy. These abnormal scenes were one of the remnants left behind by the great battle.
Then, they also saw attractive fiery phoenixes that flew by the path, dragging a long fiery tail as they flew in the air. These phoenixes flew very close to them and Zhong Yue could feel the immensely terrifying power hidden in these phoenixes that could incinerate him into ashes with just a little fire spark!
There were all sorts of powerful spells left behind in the swampy area and the aftermaths were still running wild even after a million years, as if reminding the witnesses of the cruelty and ferocity that fueled this great battle.
Zhong Yue even saw gigantic skeletons lying on the ground like huge mountains, exposing part of the bones in the air while some remained hidden in the swamps. In the deepest part of the swamps, he even saw a ghostly fire floating around and the exact shrieks let out by the godly spirits when they were cut down could be heard from these fires!
In the sky, the sun slowly turned darker as if something was covering it up as Shui Zian and Zhong Yue progressed further. Not long later, the sky grew darker and a thunderous sound could be heard.
Zhong Yue looked up and he felt weird as the sky presented a strange scene. The dark clouds covered the sun and even though it was still during the daytime, the entire surrounding was enveloped in a blanket of darkness.
What was even stranger was the fact that there was a moon in the sky! On top of them, the sky was dark and there was a moon and somewhere far away, the sky was as bright as ever with the sun still hanging high in the sky.
Shui Zian too, noticed this scene and his face changed drastically before he stopped walking completely, causing Zhong Yue to almost run into him.
“How is that possible?”
Shui Zian’s face darkened and he murmured, “But how… The Xiao Mang Celestial Race should not know this path so how is it possible that they managed to get ahead of us to intercept us….”
Yin, Qing, Yuan and Que.
The four guardians of the four celestial temples located at the East, West, South and North of the Xiao Mang Celestial Races, Xiao Yin, Xiao Qing, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Que was standing in front of them right now! Shui Zian fought with Xiao Que once and after a day and a night of hard battle, he managed to injured Xiao Que heavily at the cost of suffering heavy injuries himself.
But now, the abnormal phenomenon could only be created with the presence of the four guardians and with that, the four guardians were already in front of them, waiting for them at the Divine Battlefield as they slowly walked into the ambush!
Zhong Yue also figured it out and his heart sank deeply to the bottom.
“The Xiao Mang Celestial Race will definitely not have the map of the safe path out of the Divine Battlefield so how did Xiao Yin, Xiao Qing, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Que got ahead of us and set up an ambush!”
Shui Zian’s face became pale and he murmured, “Someone among the higher-ups in the Swords Gate must have seen that map and passed it to the Xiao Mang Celestial Race! That’s right! There’s a huge parasite among us … Haha, I’ve lost, I’ve lost this time….”
Zhong Yue remained silent as he too knew that someone in the higher ups of Swords Gate had memorized and redrawn a map of the safe path in the Divine Battlefield before handing it over to the Xiao Mang Celestial Race.
Hence, the four guardians of Xiao Mang Celestial Race had managed to get ahead and set up a trap for them!
“Hahaha, Zhong Yue, this was all a set up to kill me!”
Shui Zian burst out laughing suddenly and his tears came up as he laughed, “It was not only to kill you as there’s no need for the four guardians to kill you, this was a set up to kill me!”
Zhong Yue’s heart moved and he nodded quietly.
He was just an Awakening level Qi Practitioner and he was not even a threat to the entire Xiao Mang Celestial Race if he was still in the infancy of his development. However, with the old headmaster getting older and having only one to two years left to live, the ultimate battle power of the Swords Gate would fade away with his imminent death. With that, the only two pillar figures supporting the Swords Gate would be Feng Shouzhu and Shui Zian.
Among the two, Shui Zian had a huge connection and he could easily garner support from various races if he were to ask for help.
Therefore, after the death of headmaster, Shui Zian would be the first target they would seek to destroy if they wanted to destroy Swords Gate.
The main target of all of this was not Zhong Yue, but Shui Zian. Zhong Yue was nothing more than a bonus and the Xiao Mang Celestial Race was after Shui Zian so that he could not bring in reinforcements from other races when they invade Swords Gate!
The connection and supports Shui Zian could muster can actually easily match up with the combat power of a holy land.
“No wonder Xiao Que did not go after Senior Martial Brother Shouzhu but us. So that’s why.”
Shui Zian stood up straight and he looked at the dark clouds and moon as he said, “This is an inevitable battle, we could only fight until the end! Zhong Yue, do you know why I have been suspecting you but I did not make a move to kill you? You definitely would not think of my reason but now, I am going to tell you why….”