Chapter 68 The Blood that Boils Within
Three days later, Zhong Yue’s appearance started to change, he reverted back to the body of a human but his head remained as a dragon’s, he looked odd yet fantastical.
His body was also huge, but with his height of ten feet, he appeared to be slim and slender; the seventeen feet long Fang Blade behind his back was installed with a three feet long wooden hilt. The collocation of the human and blade lent an elegant and graceful feel to the surroundings, at this moment, he did not strike the figure of a human teenager that walked out of Great Wilderness, but more of a teenager from the Dragon race.
It was winter, snowstorms and blizzards covered over the land outside of the Great Wilderness. Zhong Yue used his psyche and clothed himself in a marten fur muffler and a coat made from animal hides which he had stolen from the Shui Tu Clan. His victim was a rich noble among the Shui Tu Clan, as the marten fur muffler and animal hide coat were well-maintained. Dressing in these clothes made him look like a nobleman himself.
Especially when he was in the form of a dragon-headed human, with the winter-white muffler on his neck, he had the imposing manner of a nobleman.
The only reason that he had not fully reverted himself back to human form was in part due to the excessive beast god essence in his body, while at the same time, the incessant discharge from the beast god essence from the inner core. Since the beast god inner core was in his psyche ocean which happened to be located at his glabella, that region had the greatest concentration of the beast god essence which made it all the more difficult to revert back to human form.
And now, he had come to the buffer zone between Great Wilderness and Xian Kong City, the Savanna Wasteland
This was an endless desolate savanna, a barren wasteland that was devoid of any sign of life. A blanket of innocuous white snow paved over the withered grass, beneath which was the frozen earth crust. Whether it was the humans or the monster race, they all lived in the environments they inhabited; they would hunt from the wild if near the mountains and net for the fishes if near the ocean. As for the savanna, it was a place disdained by the humans and the monster race alike, a wasteland that none would care to claim.
In the eyes of the monster race and humans, the savanna was a wasteland – barren, desolate, and dreary.
However, Zhong Yue had heard some of the Qi Practitioners saying that the Human Sovereign once urged the humans to plant food crops in a large-scale in the savanna. His majesty desired for the expansion of the human territory out from the deep mountains and into the savanna, planting and growing food crops. However, everyone in the Great Wilderness was ignorant of most matters pertaining to food crops, whether it be its appearance or its exact nature.
The Great Wilderness was simply far too remote, some even doubted the veracity of the existence of the Human Sovereign, believing him to be nothing but a mere contrived legend – the truth of his existence had yet to be proven.
For the past three days, Zhong Yue had not met with a single human nor monster race; one could tell how barren and desolate the Savanna Wasteland was.
“Xin Huo, how far till we reach the teleportation portal?” Zhong Yue asked while he strode forward in a casual manner, a simple step and he would be tens of feet away, he seemed to be leisurely strolling but he was actually traveling at great speed.
These three days, he had traveled tens of thousands of miles, the link between Xin Huo and the teleportation portal was getting stronger, he could now vaguely tell how far away it was from them.
“With your current speed, it’d take another four to five days.” Xin Huo answered.
“Four to five days?”
Zhong Yue was relieved, “Just another ten thousand miles of distance. Ey ... what is this?”
The land in front of him was cracked, it was as if a sharp sword had once pierced into the earth from the sky, leaving behind a massive fissure in the earth’s surface. There was snow filling up the fissure but he could still tell that the sides of the fissure were smooth and glossy!
Zhong Yue stood on the edge of the earth fissure, the massive sword mark was at least three miles long, sharp and incisive. It seemed like a sword mark left behind by a giant slashing its sword into the earth!
Not far away from him, there were massive footprints sized like water pools, in it there was already some residual water with the water surface all frozen up, they were clearly footprints left behind by a giant beast.
Moving forward, Zhong Yue could feel his heart palpitating rapidly, the air around was moist with slight surges of electricity lurking in the atmosphere, conducting through the moist air as if thunder totems would form out of thin air at any time. The surroundings were charred black, it looked like a colossal titan that wielded lightning had engaged in combat!
It was winter, the air was supposed to be dry and arid without any humidity, and even if there was some modicum of moisture, they would be precipitated into ice crystals. But that was not quite the case right here as the air around was moist, saturated with water vapor, this wouldn’t occur unless there were thunder totems that had heated up the surrounding air. As the traces left behind by the thunder totems were still yet to disperse after so long, the one who cast them must be a Qi Practitioner with incredibly potent power!
“This … techniques of the Lei Hu Clan Qi Practitioners! Yes, that’s right, the giant footprints must be left behind by the giant turtle, Fu Shan, and as for the massive sword mark, it would be the doing of Fang Jiange!”
Zhong Yue’s heart thumped and he thought to himself, This seems like the place where the four young successors of Swords Gate clashed with the two great island lords of Xian Kong City! Two months have passed, I wonder if they were able to finish off the two monster race magnates?
Zhong Yue was quite curious, Fang Jiange, Feng Wuji, Lei Hong and Jun Sixie, the four young successors were in pursuit of the Sulphur Island Lord Yan Yunsheng and Jinxiu Island Lord Xiutian Chen, this should be a grand event, so why would there be no news reaching back to Swords Gate?
If they have succeeded in exterminating the two lords of Sulphur Island and Jinxiu Island, it would definitely spark a round of commotion in Swords Gate, everyone would surely know about it already. But if they have failed, they would also notify and inform the Swords Gate about. Unless….
Zhong Yue’s eyes brightened, he babbled to himself, The four of them are still in pursuit of the island lords!
Zhong Yue gazed around, the land extended endlessly all the way to the horizon, as far as the eye can see it was still the barren and desolate wasteland, he thought to himself, Xian Kong City is only tens of thousands miles away from here, with my speed I can reach it within a dozen days. The two island lords were peak figures of their factions, with one of them even standing at the same level as Swords Gate’s headmaster. If they could not exit the Savanna Wasteland into the Barren Wild, it would only mean that they are more heavily wounded than expected, leaving them unable to shake off the pursuit of the four young successors of Swords Gate!’
The injuries of the two island lords were closely related to Zhong Yue, if he did not restore the beast god seal back to its flawless state under Xin Huo’s guidance, how would the two island lords be wounded so heavily?
For the next few days, he could see more signs and marks left behind by their engagements, not only from Fang Jiange and Lei Hong, there were also some marks left behind by Jin Sixie and Feng Wuji, the other two young successors.
Zhong Yue even saw thousands of stone pillars planted in the middle of nowhere, each pillar was over sixty feet tall and the array covered a hundred miles of land, on the surface of the stone pillars were engraved complex totem carvings of a dragon and phoenix!
These stone pillars that numbered upwards of a thousand towered incongruously in the middle of the savanna, forming into a slaughtering array with an unearthly prowess. He wondered which of the four young Qi Practitioners cast these stone pillars.
Whoever cast them, the stone pillars array must have trapped and held the island lords for quite some time, the island lords had gone through a bloodbath in order to escape from the stone pillars array. The stone pillars had all broken into halves, some even had the totem carvings wiped off. The stone pillar array was crushed away with no residual power left in it – the surrounding hundred miles of land was turned into a painting of chaos adorned with traces of combat across its landscape.
‘The four young successors of Swords Gate, they are indeed strong!’ Zhong Yue praised in his heart.
Four days later, Zhong Yue had finally met with a tribe of humans, smoke could be seen billowing up into the winds as the tribesmen were preparing their meals. Zhong Yue was very curious, this place was only a distance away from the territory of monster race and yet, there were human tribes living around here.
As the number of human tribes increases, he could see more monsters along the way, there were even a few Qi Practitioners riding the clouds and walking on the winds across the skies;he would often sense a sudden surge of monstrous aura bursts out of some mountains from afar, those would be the abodes of the monster Qi Practitioners. In contrast to the savanna, this place was very much more lively.
I thought they said that humans can’t live out outside of Great Wilderness? Why are there so many human tribes right here?
Zhong Yue walked past one of the human tribes, it was only a small tribe with over two thousand tribesmen. They dressed in ragged clothes and their emaciated bodies strongly were suggestive of malnourishment; they had also raised and kept some livestock in the tribe.
The human tribesmen saw him walking past, their pace suddenly turned meticulous and fear was written crossed their faces in an instant, some of them even hid inside of their tattered and squalid hovels with their eyes gazing at him in terror.
Zhong Yue was baffled by their reactions, seconds later he realized that with his current form of a dragon-headed human, he looked very much akin to one of the dragon race. It was not surprising that they had mistaken him as a monster.
It seemed like the humans here were bullied by the monsters for too long, so long that even his appearance alone petrified them to death.
“Is the master passing by?”
An old man that seemed to be like the chief plodded over in a panic, he stepped forward and asked while forcing a smile on his face, “What kind of food would the master like? Raw or cooked?”
Zhong Yue smiled and answered, “Elder….”
Upon hearing the word, the old man instantly stomped his knees on the ground and said while he stuttered in fear, “I dare not deserve to be called by master in this way!”
Zhong Yue was even more perplexed, and he said, “I’ve traveled far these few days, sleeping in the wild and having meals without a roof, if you could give me some cooked food….”
The old man quickly stood up and faked a smile, “Please wait for a moment, the food will be served just in a bit … men, come over, get the third brother’s daughter from his house over here! Please wait master, please wait … Quick, bring her over and let the master have a look! If the master is happy with her, then we will cook and serve her to the master!”
A middle-aged man with a simple and honest countenance brought over a twelve or thirteen-year old-looking young girl, tears pooled in her eyes until they overflowed down her face as she gazed at Zhong Yue with abject despair.
With the usual forced smile, the old chief asked, “Master, are you satisfied with her? If the master isn’t, we still have some other young girls in the tribe….”
Zhong Yue seemed as if stuck in a trance; his mind went blank and his sights fell onto the shuddering tribesmen. The young and strong teenagers, the powerless ladies and weak younglings; they were all frightened and bewildered, none of them dared to utter a word at all. A few moments later, Zhong Yue heaved a deep breath and said, “The monsters that pass by, do you have to do this to all of them? Offering them food.”
The chief lowered his head, he answered, “These five hundred miles radius of land belong to Master Sun, we are his livestock, Master Sun is a hospitable monster, he has ordered any monsters that pass by to be meticulously attended to. The masters will have to be well served and treated.”
Zhong Yue kept silent, ‘well served and treated’, it meant that the humans would be offered to the passer-by monster Qi Practitioners as food.
Hospitable? Hei-hei….
Endless grief and indignation devoured his heart, he had to take a few moments to regain his composure, he exhaled out a deep breath and said, “Do you all know that, twenty thousand miles away from here to the west, there is a holy land of the human race, a sacred place known as the Swords Gate. Right there, you will be free of the risks that your lives will be devoured by the monsters.”
The old chief’s face immediately changed, he knelt down and kowtow on the ground, he begged, “Master, I dare not run, I will not escape!”
The others followed him and started to kowtow on the ground in fear, the little young girl that was offered as food to Zhong Yue sobbed, “Twenty thousand miles away … who is able to walk all the way there….”
Zhong Yue then realized it all, why did the humans dare not escape from this place? It was all because the Great Wilderness was too distant. To Zhong Yue, twenty thousand miles would only take him seven to eight days to travel, but to the ordinary humans, it would take them years. Moreover, during their endeavor, they would be bereft of the agriculture that they depended on to survive; countless tribesmen would die simply from starvation before they reach their destination, not to mention all the other dangers of trekking through the Great WIlderness!
In addition, the monsters would also not stand idly by and watch as the humans ran away from them. Instead, if the humans ever were to attempt to escape, they would probably not even able to travel a hundred miles before the furious monster Qi Practitioners caught up with them!
“Brat Yue, these humans, there’s nothing you can do to help them.”
In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo sighed, “The once honorable and proud Fuxi god race, descendants of the mighty Heavenly Emperor, and yet, this is how they’ve ended up, as livestock and foods for the monster race, how pathetic this is….”
Zhong Yue’s face was emotionless, he kept silent for a few seconds, his voice was lost as he asks, “Xin Huo, are we humans ... really the descendants of Fuxi?”
“No doubt!”
Our ancestors built the greatest and most glorious civilization in this universe, they were the Heavenly Emperors worshipped by every other race; and in our body, flows the noblest and most majestic blood to have ever existed. So how ... how did the humans sink to become such an abject existence….
The young boy from the Zhong Shan Clan shed tears of sorrow. He slowly closed his eyes and thought gravely, So why, why didn’t anyone try to change any of this? Why isn’t there anyone who could remember our former prosperity, or recall the honor and glory we once held? Why did we sequester our hearts from the outside world and idly cross our arms as we watched our people taken as slaves and livestock? Could it be that the blood in us is frozen?… But why can I still feel it, the warmth in me, as if the blood flowing in my body is still ... hot? So hot that it is scalding my muscles ... so hot that it is on the verge of boiling!’
The tribesmen around him gazed at the ‘master’ who was shedding tears, their hearts filled with terror and their body trembled with fear.
Moments later, Zhong Yue gently opened his eyes, his tone was indifferent as he asked, “Where is this Master Sun?”
…