Chapter 74: The Orders... Gather
Chapter 74: The Orders... Gather
Chapter 74
The man seated behind the counter paused before finally looking away from the book in his hand, his gaze landing on Tai, whose expression was unusually serious; he studied him in complete silence for a while before finally speaking, his normally nonchalant tone becoming solemn:
"Are you sure about what you’re saying, kid?"
When was the last time a Sacred Grade Spirit Root had ever appeared? One had to know that such a thing only existed in myths and ancient legends, and when they had discovered that specific little girl possessing a Sacred Grade Spirit Root, they had been more than overjoyed at the simple thought that, if everything went well, the world would soon witness another great rise... another tremendous change.. hopefully, one that would be for the better.
After all, everyone knew just how enormous the impact of such an existence would be, and now this kid was telling him there was another one; this time, he came from that family line.
Tai nodded, his face remaining solemn, showing that he wasn’t joking in the slightest, for he was the one most concerned about his son’s safety.
The skinny man wearing large glasses remained rooted to his spot for several minutes, but finally, he rose; his movements were graceful and sharp.
With a single glance, the wooden sign hanging outside the library changed from OPEN to CLOSED, and then the very doors shut on their own; the ordinary-looking library, situated within a small city, suddenly became nonexistent in the eyes of the world. In essence, no mundane human or cultivator would even realize that it was there anymore.
Inside the library, the skinny man picked up the robe hanging at his side and slowly wore it; the moment he did, the aura surrounding him thickened, becoming something far more tangible and profound, and even his features seemed more refined, carrying an indescribable majesty.
"Follow me," he said, swinging his hand in a splitting motion; it was as though he had sliced apart the very air itself. Yet what actually happened was far more astonishing: the very fabric of reality split open.
Beyond the crack was an endless star-filled abyss, where countless white marble steps floated through the void. The skinny-robed man stepped into the dimensional pathway without hesitation, and Tai followed behind him.
The two traveled for a while before the skinny man stopped before a massive pedestal. Resting atop it was a thick, dark-covered book, and beside it floated a glowing white crystal.
He grabbed the crystal before calmly speaking only a few words: "All members of the Order... gather."
The words produced no physical sound, yet they spread across the entire world at an unimaginable speed, traveling through mountains, oceans, kingdoms, sects, forbidden lands, and countless hidden realms.
Their destination was only one: a select group of extraordinary individuals. The moment the message was sent, the skinny-robed man turned toward Tai. "While we wait for their arrival, tell me everything." Tai nodded, his serious expression never changing.
-----------
Meanwhile, far away in another location, two people were quietly playing Weiqi... the ancient Game of Go.
One of them was an elderly man whose mere presence radiated the aura of an absolute peak expert... the kind of pressure that would make countless cultivators feel insignificant, preventing them from even entertaining the thought of offending him... yet the one casually playing against him was merely a little girl.
She had short blue hair and irises that were completely white... not the cloudy white of blindness, but a pair of beautiful snow-white eyes that almost made her appear blind, if not for the fact that anyone looking closely could tell she wasn’t.
She wore simple clothes and radiated absolutely no aura whatsoever, appearing no different from an ordinary mortal, and yet she calmly played the Game of Go against the terrifying old expert before her.
As another white stone landed on the board, the old man finally spoke; although his face remained calm, his tone carried a trace of solemnity: "I heard the Kingdom of White Ash has fallen." He gently placed another white stone, cornering several of the little girl’s pieces.
Her expression never changed; she calmly replied, her voice sounding childish, adorable, and yet strangely mature beyond her years, "The fall of the Five Kingdoms of the Evernight Quadrant is inevitable. In less than a year... the Azure Dragon Kingdom will be the next to fall."
She placed one of her own stones onto the board, and immediately, three of the old man’s stones were captured and removed.
The old man sighed softly: "Is there truly no way to stop the Demonic Plague? If things continue like this... wouldn’t it eventually spread throughout the entire Dawn Continent?"
The little girl remained silent for a moment, gently resting a finger against her chin, seemingly thinking; though, in truth, she had no need to think at all, for she could already see the future.
Her tone remained unchanged as she finally answered: "That will happen... if no remedy is taken. The Five Kingdoms of the Evernight Quadrant were far too arrogant and complacent; their downfall was inevitable. If the remaining quadrants choose to follow the same path... the same fate shall eventually befall the entirety of the Dawn Continent."
Her gaze remained calm, steady, and vibrant as she continued to speak: "If measures were taken, though, the demonic plague can be stopped from spreading."
After saying those words, her bead touched the ground, and in a way that would have stunned anyone else, she had completely finished the mind game, erasing every single white marble from the board. If it had been anyone else, they would have been utterly shocked; however, the old man, of course, knew there was no beating her.
So he wasn’t even the slightest bit moved by his 99,999,999th loss... maybe it had even been longer than that... instead, he was far more concerned about the rapidly spreading demonic plague.
The girl lifted her head and looked toward the vibrant night sky, her gaze remaining calm and composed as she softly said, "It seems the gathering is beginning." The moment those words left her lips, the voice of the skinny man from before reached her.
She wasn’t surprised; after all, she had already predicted that this would happen. She slowly stood up and gave the old man one final piece of advice:
"Instead of worrying about the kingdoms in the Evernight Quadrant, I would urge you to focus on nurturing as many of your talents to the Soul Stage as possible. Nurture as many of them as you can because, trust me... you will need them."
The old man nodded solemnly; he would never doubt her words, for every single one of her prophecies had always come to pass.
As soon as she finished speaking those final words, her figure vanished without leaving behind even the slightest trace. The old man remained silent for a while before establishing a mental connection with one of his subordinates:
"Cut off the support." His voice was calm yet carried unquestionable authority: "The five kingdoms of the Evernight Quadrant are going to fall. No matter what they do, they will eventually fall to the demonic plague. Tell our men to withdraw."
He wasn’t asking; he was commanding. After cutting off the mental connection, he frowned slightly before looking back at the board, only to discover that he had lost yet again for what felt like the 99,999,999th time.
There was simply no beating a powerful seer who stood at the same realm as Little Blue; maybe, just maybe, she would let him win a single game before he finally stopped playing. After all, no one wanted to lose so many times without getting even a single victory.
--------
Meanwhile, far away from where the old man resided, a massive crack suddenly split apart the very fabric of reality itself.
Oozing out from those enormous cracks were myriads of powerful beings, each possessing cultivation that ranged from the peak of the Silver Core Realm all the way into the Soul Condensation Realm.
Every single one of them was incomparably powerful, and there were countless of them; yet, the more they emerged, the more their corpses piled up.
The newly rushing tide of monsters, resembling gigantic humanoid bulls capable of walking on two legs, possessed eyes filled with immense intelligence and ancient knowledge.
However, countless of those monsters abruptly halted in the middle of their charge as they stared at the scene before them with absolute wariness. If one looked carefully into the eyes of those powerful monsters, what they would see wasn’t bloodlust... it was fear; deep, unmistakable fear.
One might naturally become curious and wonder just what kind of existence could strike such terror into the hearts of literal monsters. Such a person shouldn’t exist... well, that was until they witnessed exactly what the beasts were looking at.
Several hundred meters away from the frozen horde stood an enormous mountain... no, not just one mountain; there were hundreds of mountains made entirely from the corpses of those same bull-like monsters.
Their bodies were piled so unbelievably high and so unimaginably vast that the horrifying sight alone was enough to send even a fully-fledged warrior into a panicked breakdown.
Standing proudly at the peak of one of those corpse mountains was the lone warrior responsible for the entire carnage: a single man with an exceptionally huge physique. His body was covered from head to toe in blood, yet not a single drop belonged to him; every stain covering his body belonged to those unfortunate enough to stand on the receiving end of his blades.
His jet-black hair cascaded down the sides of his face, dancing gently with the cold wind, while a single bony earring rested quietly on his right ear, making his already intimidating appearance seem even more mysterious.
Several dark tattoos marked his body in swirling, enchanting patterns. His body was as hard as steel... no, harder.
His body radiated unbridled strength, his gaze filled with immense killing intent, and his desire remained what it had always been over the years: the need to battle, and then battle again, and after that, battle once more.
Seeing the even larger horde emerging from the massive crack, the grin on his face couldn’t help but widen even further as he tightened his grip around the two dark short swords in his hands.
He spoke, his voice not enhanced by Qi in the slightest, yet it traveled effortlessly across the battlefield, reaching every single bull-type monster: "Do you guys want to do this the easy way?" A playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips:
"You know... you can just kill yourselves to make this much faster. And if you don’t want to do that... I’ll just have to crush every single one of you myself. Trust me. The first option is by far the fastest and easiest way out of this."
He shrugged casually before continuing: "Fighting me will only make every single one of you suffer." His gaze swept across the hundreds upon thousands of monsters below with eyes that seemed to silently say:
"You are all still not enough." And in truth, that was simply the reality; several times more monsters than this had already been slaughtered by his hands. If he could massacre armies far greater than this, then what was another horde whose numbers were of an even lower magnitude?
Yet, the monsters didn’t run, nor did they roar in anger; that was because they needed to win, and they knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Heck, many of them had already accepted the possibility of dying here. If sacrificing their own lives could leave even a single wound on that terrifying man... or, better yet, kill him... then every sacrifice would be worth it.
With that resolve in mind, they gripped their weapons tightly as they prepared to fight to the very death. Seeing their unwavering expressions and the overwhelming killing intent rising from every single one of them, the grin on the man’s face became even wider, tinged with unmistakable madness:
"You really chose the hard way. Well... either way works for me. Since you all want to die by my hands... so be it." As those words fell, he slowly raised one of his hands. The space around him shivered ever so slightly.
Then, hundreds upon hundreds... no, thousands upon thousands... of swords: long swords, short swords, greatswords.
Countless blades blanketed the heavens, covering the entire battlefield beneath their immense shadows.
The monster horde instinctively gulped; the wariness in their hearts grew even stronger. At the same time, the man’s body slowly began turning metallic, an iron-like gleam spreading across every inch of his skin.
His crimson eyes ignited like twin blazing suns, and the tattoos covering his body lit up brilliantly. Then, an overwhelming killing intent erupted from him... it was so vast, so powerful, so immense... that the combined killing intent of the enormous monster horde seemed like nothing more than child’s play in comparison.
The terrifying aura poured endlessly from the body of the iron-clad man. The bull monsters became even more wary... no, uneasy... very uneasy. Yet despite that, none of them retreated.
The man’s grin widened into one filled with excitement as he uttered the phrase that always marked the beginning of another massacre: "Let the fun begin."
The next instant, he leaped from the mountain of corpses. Like a falling meteor, he shot straight toward the enormous monster horde.
The thousands upon thousands of swords hanging in the sky followed right behind him like a heavenly tide of destruction. Another slaughter had begun.