Chapter 163 - 128: Shame of the Ten Calamities

Chapter 163: Chapter 128: Shame of the Ten Calamities

In just over ten seconds, the death row inmates within a radius of several dozen kilometers were decapitated before they even hit the ground.

But that was the limit of what the Red Falcon King could hunt. The vast majority of the death row inmates still managed to land safely all across the Lanyu Kingdom.

...

’The markings on the passenger jet are from the Nulis Federation. These guys falling from the sky must be death row inmates from the surrounding smaller nations!’

’I originally thought they were doing this to disrupt the stability of the Lanyu Kingdom!’

’But the turmoil in the game just now was clearly related to these death row inmates!’

’Strange. Both the aura from these guys and that certain power that erupted within the game just now feel familiar to me.’

Chen Qi stopped in front of a headless corpse and examined it carefully.

This guy was relatively lucky. The Red Falcon King only targeted him after he landed, so his body was preserved.

Chen Qi discovered a strange, scorched brand over the man’s heart.

The acrid smell of burnt flesh even lingered in the air.

Chen Qi had never seen the mark on the brand before, but he felt that the residual power fluctuations within it were somehow familiar.

In an instant, a spark of Spiritual Light flashed through his mind.

Chen Qi finally realized the source of this power.

’This... this is actually the power of the Azure-headed Demon Dragon?’

’To be more precise, it’s the game’s power I felt when the Azure-headed Demon Dragon manifested in the Chaotic City.’

’I get it!’

Chen Qi’s heart pounded violently as an irrepressible excitement suddenly surged through his entire body.

Chen Qi’s reaction was so strong because he had finally figured out what the King’s Game truly was at its core.

No wonder he had felt such a strong sense of familiarity when he first saw the description of the Black Death Prison.

Cleansing Sins, passing Judgment on the wicked—weren’t those the legendary abilities of the Azure-headed Demon Dragon?

That Game Monarch fellow had actually seen through the essence of the game long ago and had even blatantly announced it to everyone.

But the Azure-headed Demon Dragon is one of the legendary [Ten Calamities]. Why would its power appear here?

Naturally, Chen Qi thought of the *Demon Dragon Praise Painting* in Demon Dragon Plaza.

In fact, out of curiosity, Chen Qi had previously investigated the Azure-headed Demon Dragon after his trip to the Chaotic City.

Thanks to his good brother, [Westin Kuta], he was still able to provide him with information from afar, despite the great distance.

There were no records of the [Ten Calamities] at all in the surrounding smaller nations.

The only reason Chen Qi knew about the [Ten Calamities] was because of his father.

But he had always treated them as myths, until he saw the *Demon Dragon Praise Painting*.

According to the public information Westin Kuta had gathered from his trading post in a certain middle-power nation, the Heaven-Reaching Empire had suddenly declined several thousand years ago, its ranking among the great powers dropping directly from No. 1 to its current No. 23.

This was publicly verifiable information.

Although there was no information related to the [Ten Calamities] in it, Chen Qi only needed to connect a few dots to find the answer.

Among the great powers of the human World, the top 100, top 50, top 30, top 10, and top 3 were all completely different tiers of strength.

To fall directly from No. 1 to No. 23, aside from factors like a major civil war, the [Ten Calamities] were the most likely cause.

It was just that information was more restricted in the Inner Ring; this kind of news only circulated in the Inner World.

If he were in the Outer Ring, he could still obtain all sorts of information about the [Ten Calamities], even just through public channels.

’That Game Monarch fellow is incredibly mysterious. He must know more details about that battle back then.’

’But since the Heaven-Reaching Empire only fell in the rankings and wasn’t destroyed, it means it survived the Calamity, albeit with heavy losses!’

’In other words, they must have slain the Azure-headed Demon Dragon; otherwise, the Calamity would not have ended.’

Chen Qi tried hard to recall the specific details of the stories his father had told him back then. Thankfully, he had gone through his Awakening of Spirituality; otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have been able to retrieve such distant memories.

His father hadn’t said much about the origin of the Ten Calamities, only mentioning that They appeared a hundred thousand years ago and have accompanied human civilization ever since.

Actually, the story his father had told back then was the legend of the "Time Child."

He had only occasionally mentioned the Azure-headed Demon Dragon, which ranked ninth.

A young Chen Qi had thought the name sounded incredibly cool, so he remembered it.

But the ranking of the Ten Calamities was based on the number of times humanity had "survived" them.

The number of times the Azure-headed Demon Dragon had been slain by humans was second only to the tenth-ranked "disgrace of the Ten Calamities," the [Ancient Snail].

So, its impressiveness was actually quite limited.

As for the [Time Child], it ranked fifth among the Ten Calamities and could arbitrarily reverse the flow of life’s time.

When Chen Qi was little, he had really envied that kind of ability!

...

’Since the Azure-headed Demon Dragon is dead, what’s appearing here can only be its remains.’

’But legend says the Ten Calamities are ten phenomena, immortal and indestructible. They shouldn’t leave any remains. Strange!’

’All signs indicate that there are two different powers within the game. The Devouring power in the Cards certainly doesn’t come from the Azure-headed Demon Dragon.’

’But since it can rival the power of the Azure-headed Demon Dragon... connecting it to the *Demon Dragon Praise Painting*, could the power of the Cards originate from that terrifying three-headed, six-armed Giant?’

’So the power hidden in the outside world is the Heaven-Reaching Empire? Are they the ones pushing for the game’s evolution?’

As his line of thought became clearer, Chen Qi formed a rough hypothesis about everything happening in the Lanyu Kingdom.

Over 5,000 years ago, the Heaven-Reaching Empire encountered the Azure-headed Demon Dragon, one of the "Ten Calamities."

Incredibly, although they slew the Azure-headed Demon Dragon and survived the Calamity, they suffered such a heavy blow that their ranking plummeted directly to 23rd place.

This was completely inconsistent with the strength of a No. 1 power.

One must remember, the Azure-headed Demon Dragon was nearly on par with the disgrace of the Ten Calamities. If humanity’s number one great power only had that much strength, the human race would have been wiped out by the Ten Calamities long ago.

Although he didn’t know what exactly had happened during that time, a remnant—a mixture of the powers of the Azure-headed Demon Dragon and the three-headed, six-armed Giant—had fallen onto Lanyu Island, crushing the Mountain God to death.

Afterward, these two powers fell dormant until they were awakened by the natives’ long-practiced rituals, transforming into the [Black Death Prison].

Then, Gutaf somehow managed to turn the [Black Death Prison] into the [King’s Game].

The birth of the game, or rather, the fusion of the two powers, alerted the Heaven-Reaching Empire.

They likely had their own agenda and thus began manipulating things from the shadows, altering the game’s model.

Chen Qi felt this was the hidden truth of the Lanyu Kingdom. Proving all of it would be simple.

He just needed to confirm whether or not the Heaven-Reaching Empire was the one backing the Nulis Federation.

He believed he would have his answer soon. Since the death row inmates had already made their appearance, the apprentices of the Inner World would be next.

They would definitely know more!

...

’It’s a shame I still don’t know the true purpose for sending these prisoners in!’

’Could it be just to cause a tremor in the game, making the players lose their Superpowers?’

’But that seems unlikely. King Gutaf definitely wouldn’t just sit by and do nothing!’

Chen Qi could feel the tremors in his Card growing weaker. It was obvious Gutaf had made a move.

By his estimation, everything would calm down in a few minutes at most.

The most directly affected things were just the Cards in the players’ hands. The operation of the game itself had not encountered any problems from beginning to end; it had merely become more agitated.

The massive passenger jet in the sky also showed no signs of attempting a forced landing. So what was all this for?