AGM 202 - Unsettled Waves

Now that Qin Wentian had truly entered the depths of the Dark Forest, only now did he comprehend that the Dark Forest was much more mysterious and terrifying than what was previously imagined.

The Dark Forest that enveloped Chu, has an even longer history compared to the country itself. No one knows exactly how long the Dark Forest has existed. No one in Chu had ever uncovered all its secrets.

Perhaps before this, not many had ever stepped foot into the forest’s deepest depths, and even if they had, such a character would definitely not have remained in Chu. Thus, there has been no recorded history of any information regarding the innermost areas of the Dark Forest.

Qin Wentian stood on the back of the Blackwind Condor and witnessed a countless myriad of demonic beasts galloping at high speeds, following them from behind. Together, they passed through many mysterious places, ancient tunnels and pathways, trees and foliage in the Dark Forest. Eventually the scene before Qin Wentian filled his heart with shock. There were numerous razor-sharp mountain peaks that were mysteriously connected together, forming a massive barrier that blotted out the entire sky.

The multitudinous demonic beasts dashed ahead, entering the space beneath the barrier. Unable to penetrate fully through the barrier of mountain peaks, the sun’s rays were weaker in intensity. The space ahead was no longer a location within the Dark Forest but rather, a vast expanse of plains.

Finally, the Blackwind Condor reduced its speed, as it lowered its altitude. The speed of the other demonic beasts slowed down as well, as they advanced forwards. Not only that, there were several demonic beasts that had their heads bowed as they advanced. The attitude of these beasts shocked Qin Wentian immensely.

Their actions caused a notion to be born in his head – were these beasts on a pilgrimage?

Hundreds of thousands of incomparably savage demonic beasts arrived at this region, yet their attitudes appeared exceedingly pious and devout, like they were about to worship the Sovereign of all demonic beasts.

And at this moment, Qin Wentian’s eyes glowed with a brilliant light. In front of him, there were two incomprehensibly large statues. One of them was in the form of a terrifying giant that reached over hundreds of meters in height, while the other statue was of a fearsome demonic beast, crouching by his side.

“This en masse movement of demonic beasts, are they really on a pilgrimage?” Qin Wentian felt truly astounded by the scene before him. As they flew nearer and nearer to the two statues, even the Blackwind Condor had landed onto the ground and adopted a similar attitude as the others. It, too, prostrated itself on the ground before the two statues, as though they were all worshipping their king.

All demonic beasts had a certain level of intelligence; although they were many times more cruel and tyrannical compared to humans, their personality traits were more loyal and as a whole they were more honest about their emotions.

All of a sudden, Qin Wentian felt his body turn cold, and an instant later, he discovered the ice cold eyes of a few extremely powerful demonic beasts turning their gazes in the direction of Little Rascal, who he currently held in his arms.

Qin Wentian froze, it seemed that these powerful demonic beasts were unhappy to see both of them failing to prostrate themselves and worship the statues. Columns and columns of fearsome demonic Qi gushed forth, gushing towards Qin Wentian, as low growls sounded out from their throats. It appeared that they were communicating with the Blackwind Condor.

It seemed as though Little Rascal could sense their malicious intentions. Leaping out of Qin Wentian’s arms, it transformed into its battleform. The golden fur on its forehead shone with resplendent light, as the demonic scale armor formed, enveloping its sharp claws. Little Rascal stood there, coldly surveying the powerful demonic beasts while an air of grandeur and nobility emanated from it.

“ROAR!” A low rumbling sound echoed. Little Rascal was growling at them all. Abruptly, it transformed into a stream of light as it explosively dashed ahead.

Little Rascal’s speed was exceptionally fast, it took only an instant before it reached the head of the nearby beast statue. Within moments, all the demonic beasts erupted in a frenzy, forming a cacophony of howls and shrieks. They wanted nothing more than to devour Little Rascal, but they didn’t dare to approach the statues.

“Wooooof!” Little Rascal howled, a hint of respect could be heard within, his howl resounding throughout the dark forest. Turning its head skywards, its demeanor was filled with pride.

The few powerful demonic beasts couldn’t bear the provocation of Little Rascal any longer. Anger clouded their features as they dashed forwards, yet as they neared the statue, they couldn’t advance further, as though there was an energy barrier blocking them from advancing. Rumbling sounds rang out, as their bodies were bounced back by a counter force. However, they didn’t give up but continued rushing towards Little Rascal repeatedly, which eventually caused them to spit out blood, evidently injured by the impact from the counter force.

Such a scene caused Qin Wentian to be thunderstruck; these demonic beasts were truly determined. But what was even more surprising was that these powerful beasts were unmistakably blocked by a mysterious energy, and yet why was it that Little Rascal could break through that same barrier and even stand on top of the head of that beast statue?

Low-volume growls of provocation issued relentlessly from Little Rascal, causing Qin Wentian to feel extremely tickled. To think that this puppy of his actually had such an arrogant side as well.

“Yiyiyaya.” Little Rascal’s attempt at speech rang out in his mind. An expression of bewilderment flashed in his eyes as he saw Little Rascal staring at him, before pointing its paws to the giant statue beside it, while gesturing for him to come forward.

Qin Wentian moved, only to see a group of demonic beasts blocking his path. Only when the Blackwind Condor beside him loomed threateningly over them, issuing a series of sharp shrieks, did they open up a path for Qin Wentian. However in spite of this, their eyes were filled with venom as they glared at Qin Wentian. If looks could kill, Qin Wentian would already be dead.

As he neared the statues, Qin Wentian gradually sensed an overwhelming pressure bearing down on him.

Rumble~ That pressure blasted against Qin Wentian’s body, forcing him backwards. The impact causing his internal organs to tremble, and he wiped a trace of blood away from the corners of his lips. Qin Wentian’s eyes widened in shock; at the instant when that pressure blasted upon him, it was as though he could sense the statues were alive, and the overbearing pressure must have been formed from their power of will.

“Are these the statues of supreme powerhouses that died?” A ludicrous notion surfaced in Qin Wentian’s mind. This time round, the blood in his body seethed, as a monstrous demonic Qi emanated forth from him. With a protective layer of Astral Light shrouding his body, he walked forwards step by step, towards the statues.

This time round, the power of will felt even more obvious, as the pressure it created intensified, causing Qin Wentian’s blood vessels to constrict and his heart to pound. This pressure was too terrifying.

Qin Wentian arduously made his way forward. However, as a thunderous sound echoed, the pressure akin to a thousand jin hammer blows pounded on his chest. Once again, his body was hurled backwards by the impact, as he spat out fresh blood.

As the blood spat out by Qin Wentian sprinkled in the air, abruptly, a mysterious surge of energy caused the blood to coagulate in the shape of a thread, before it drifted over and entered the statue of the giant.

All of a sudden, tremors rocked the earth as an overwhelming aura emanated from the statue, resembling an ancient heavenly god, so powerful that the demonic beasts weren’t even able to draw breath.

Bzz! Clouds of dust were shed from the statue as a divine glow shone in its eyes. As the earth rumbled, the surrounding mountain peaks trembled unceasingly as well. Boundless amounts of starlight cascaded downwards from the now-present gaps in the mountain peak barrier, landing onto the statue before radiating outwards, permeating the vast expanse of the plains.

An instant later, a projection that encompassed everything was formed from the starlight.

“Heavenly Constellation Manifestation.” Qin Wentian’s heart shook, back then in one of the memory fragments he unlocked, outside the Heavenly Qin Divine Sect, that old fogey - his father, was duelling a bunch of monstrously powerful freaks that could manifest the heavenly constellations.

At the instant the mysterious projection manifested, Qin Wentian and the rest of the demonic beasts felt as though the pressure of a huge mountain was on their backs.

At the same time, he also sensed mysterious waves of energy enter his body, aiding him to resist that overbearing pressure.

Qin Wentian continued walking forwards, advancing to the side of that ancient statue, as he tried to contemplate the mysteries within.

“Woof!” Little Rascal wagged its tail, as it barked happily, excitement flashing in its eyes.

The demonic beasts were all thunderstruck when they saw this. At this moment they were wondering, that young human as well as the little puppy, what kind of existences were they exactly.

……………………..

In a place far away from Chu, within the Grand Xia Empire, on a stargazing platform in the Venerate Heavens Sect of the Ginkou Continent, a white-haired old man had his hands clasped behind his back as he stared up to the heavens. His eyes glimmered with Astral Light and appeared as though he was capable of seeing through the past and present.

With a wave of his hands, a map instantly appeared before him, floating in the air. That map was incomparably huge, with numerous territories carefully outlined on it. This could be considered a perfect map of the Grand Xia Empire where all landmarks and the transcendent powers of the various continents were defined.

Flicking his finger, a mote of star light zoomed in towards an extremely small dot on the map. An instant later, the words ‘Chu Country’, gleamed.

The old man furrowed his brows. Chu Country, how was it possible for such a phenomenon to appear in such a small country? If this was really true, the location of that should be within those ancient historical sites of Chu.

“The Demonic Star descended in Chu, quickly send men to investigate this.” The voice of the old man abruptly resounded throughout the Venerate Heavens Sect, causing the countless experts within to be shocked as they stared in the direction of Chu.

“Chu Country.” For the first time, the name of this country caused huge ripples of commotion within the Venerate Heavens Sect.

Not only that, a short while later, the voice of the old man rang out within the Ginkou Continent, and eventually to the various continents in the Grand Xia Empire.

However, no one in Chu knew of what had just transpired.

………………..

At this moment, the ‘controller’ of Chu, 3rd Prince Chu Tianjiao, felt extreme unease in his heart. This was the first time he ever felt waves of such magnitude that his normally resolute disposition wavered. Before him stood a figure with his head bowed. The reason for the waves in his heart was none other than the news brought by this messenger.

“Are you certain?” Chu Tianjiao asked for the third time, as he stared at the bowed messenger.

“Your subordinate is extremely sure. It’s definitely Xiao Lan, he died in the outskirts of the Royal Capital.” Under the heavy atmosphere, the messenger replied in a low voice.

“What about his corpse?” Chu Tianjiao asked again.

“We are temporarily holding it in our possession,” the messenger replied.

“Deal with it cleanly, you should understand what to do,” Chu Tianjiao coldly commanded, as an icy light flashed in his eyes. That messenger nodded and retreated. He naturally understood what he should do, those that knew of this matter had all been killed, with him as the only one remaining. He definitely had to plan for contingencies in case Chu Tianjiao decided to remove him as well.

After the messenger departed, Chu Tianjiao shuddered as he drew in a deep breath. Naturally, he wasn’t the one that orchestrated Xiao Lan’s death.

Xiao Lan was the representative of the Xiao Faction in the Nine Mystical Palace. So long as he died because of matters of the Chu Country, their Royal Clan would definitely be implicated.

The deed would also surely not be orchestrated by those from Diyi’s side. Since Diyi spared Xiao Lan, there was no way he would assassinate him and risk truly infuriating the Nine Mystical Palace.

In that case, who exactly was it?

And furthermore, what gave chills to Chu Tianjiao’s heart was that news of this matter was quickly spread to the entirety of Chu. Panicking, he quickly thought of countermeasures and decisively sent people to inform the Nine Mystical Palace of this incident!

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