Chapter 349: I cannot dodge what is mine
The fierce winds howled as the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord looked at the Shepherd Boy from a distance while floating above the vast wilderness.
The City Lord was situated beside the nostrils of the divine turtle. He felt as if the nostrils were two large volcano openings, spewing out hot air.
The middle-aged scholar sighed. He had spent 90% of his life in the Divine Wilderness, yet he did not even know of the existence of such a terrifying behemoth being in the Divine Wilderness. It was quite tragic.
“Human, you seem to have something to say to me?” The Shepherd Boy stood up from the divine turtle’s head, with the piccolo in hand, smiling at the middle-aged scholar. “You are pretty good. Even under the pressure of the Long Gui* True Spirit, you are still able to remain unruffled. For your cultivation level, it is extremely rare!”
At this moment, the middle-aged scholar held his saber as his clothes started fluttering violently in the turbulent winds.
“Long Gui True Spirit…” The middle-aged scholar gently shook his head, “I see. When I traversed the Divine Wilderness, I did hear of people mentioning primordial spirits.”
“Primordial species have a trace of the bloodline of an ancient divine beast, but it is extremely dilute, as such it is only known as a species. As for primordial spirits, the bloodlines they have inherited is much thicker than those of the primordial species. They can even manifest the shapes of the ancient sacred or divine beasts, hence they are called True Spirits.”
“Long Gui True Spirit should be a descendant of Long Gui…”
The legendary Long Gui was a divine beast. It had a dragon’s head and a turtle’s body, and it was one of the nine sons of the True Dragon.
The body of a Long Gui was huge, and its strength was limitless. It could even carry a star!
“Not bad, although you are born in this remote land, your knowledge is not lacking.” The Shepherd Boy was smiling even now.
“You… are not human?” The middle-aged scholar asked as he looked at the Shepherd Boy. He had always suspected so.
The Shepherd Boy gently shook his head. “No, I was born from the Desolate race. My appearance may look no different from a human, but the difference is our sole ability to communicate with desolate beasts.”
Desolate race! Able to communicate with desolate beasts!
Many of the warriors above the city walls had never heard of such a race.
However, the middle-aged scholar knew. This world was not limited only to the human race. There were other races as well. And amongst those races, there were some whose numbers exceeded that of humans!
“The Desolate race… I see. May I ask you why you are annihilating my Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”
“Because I have something to do…” The Shepherd Boy gently shook his head, “I do not truly want to destroy Tai Ah, but unfortunately, the few countries around the Divine Wilderness are hindering me from doing what I want to do. As such, I can only annihilate.”
When the Shepherd Boy said words that played down on the matter, the hearts of the people on the Divine City’s walls jumped. You want to destroy a few countries just to do something!?
One had to know that there were trillions of lives in the countries surrounding the Divine Wilderness! He wanted to kill all of them with just a few simple words!?
“You want to destroy trillions of lives just to do one thing?” The middle-aged scholar’s voice sank as he tightly clenched his saber.
“So what?” The Shepherd Boy stroked his piccolo. “All sorts of natural living things support the survival of humans, yet humans have never reciprocated that to the Heavens. Humans have accepted the gifts from nature, but what they consider is forever their own interests.”
“You have extracted from nature without constraint, and with your trillions of people, you have extracted even more. To survive, are you not killing living beings every second and every moment? And the numbers you kill are far greater in number than the number of humans.
“The world is heartless, it treats everything as lowly beings. In front of a stronger power, humans are no different from pigs and dogs. You can kill other living beings because you are strong. If other living beings kill you, it is because they are stronger. You can say that this is part and parcel of the Heavenly Dao, survival of the fitness.”
“Not only you, even large worlds can collapse… formation, existence and then destruction, it is all a part of the Heavenly Dao.”
When the Shepherd Boy said all this so frankly, the middle-aged scholar felt a chill. Although he did not wish to admit it, he had to agree that what the Shepherd Boy said was reasonable.
With a higher Heavenly Dao in front of them, so what if it were to destroy a trillion lives? When two stars collide, it too would kill trillions of lives!
However, who would say that the stars were cruel?
“If that is the case, then there is nothing for us to negotiate on.” The middle-aged scholar let out a long sigh.
“What should be destroyed will eventually be destroyed.” The Shepherd Boy faintly said, “If you and your kind will leave this place, you may still survive. I appreciate you and you should not be fated to die here.”
“It is impossible for me to leave… I cannot dodge what is mine.” The middle-aged scholar unsheathed his saber. The cold beam of the four-foot long saber seemed to freeze even the sunlight.
On the Divine City’s walls, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner also let out a long sigh as he took out a spear from his interspatial ring.
Everyone could feel the difficulty of the upcoming battle. This was a battle to the death. It was fated that many of them would die here!
“Yi Yun, I’m taking you away!”
At the moment when swords were drawn and bows were strung, Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi transmission entered Yi Yun’s ears.
“What?” Yi Yun was shocked. And at this moment, Cang Yan’s hand had already grabbed Yi Yun’s shoulder. It was not only Yi Yun. Yao Dao, Yang Qian, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Bai, Feng Lin, Qianshui and company all had law-enforcers and Elders prepared to lead them away.
“We… are not fighting?”
Fatty Qianshui trembled as he spoke. His voice clearly shook. He was after all young, how could he have ever experienced a scene such as this?
Against the Shepherd Boy and the humongous Long Gui, it would be a lie if Fatty said that he was not afraid. This level of existence could easily turn him into ash with the mere flick of its hand!
Fatty was now in a dilemma.
On one hand, he did not wish to stay in the Tai Ah Divine City. If he could run away with his foot lubricated, that would be the best.
However, he just found it too shameful to run away in the face of danger. After all, there were still plenty of people left defending the city!
“You are just sending yourselves to your graves by participating in the battle. It is completely meaningless. The City Lord had previously instructed me to send all of you out of here in the event that the Tai Ah Divine City cannot be secured!”
No matter which faction it was, their younger generations were their future. They could not be sacrificed for nothing.
If their countries were to collapse, then their countries might still have a chance to reconstruct in the future when the younger generation grew up.
Yi Yun, Bai and Feng Lin were silent. Everyone was always in a balance between id and super-ego. They did not wish to escape in the face of danger, but they knew that it was meaningless to stay behind and die.
Only Fatty Qianshui seemed to be fearless. He gritted his teeth, “We are warriors! How can we leave our seniors here to fight while we leave!?”
Cang Yan rolled his eyes unhappily at Fatty Qianshui’s righteousness and awe-inspiring speech. He was wise at his age, so how could he not have noticed that Fatty’s face had turned white with fear previously?
“Then you can stay behind while the others leave.”
Cang Yan could not be bothered to speak nonsense with the cowardly Fatty. At this moment, time was of the essence; if not, these elites would never be able to leave.
Fatty Qianshui immediately shut up. His mouth gaped but he could not utter a single word.
Yi Yun’s expression turned solemn. At this moment, he was in no mood to ridicule Qianshui. He said worriedly, “Senior Cang Yan, letting us escape, are all of you already prepared to…”
“Pui! Pui! Pui!” Cang Yan interrupted Yi Yun’s speech midway. “What a foul mouth! If one can live, who the f**k would want to die?”
“In all of these years, the Tai Ah Divine City has accumulated a large numbers of relics and strategic reserves. With the sword and saber tombs’ large array, it can still defend for a while. We Sages and human lords cannot retreat. The Tai Ah Divine City is a stronghold that holds off the beast horde. If this city falls, then the beast horde will enter the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Then there will be nothing to stop the horde as it goes straight ahead.”
“Although I too want to run, I have already lived a long life. So, I still want my face. The Divine Kingdom has allowed me to reach the Sage realm, so repaying them with my remaining few years of lifespan is not a loss on my part! However, all of you are different. Your survival is of the greatest value to the Divine Kingdom!”
When Cang Yan said this, he suddenly let out a hearty laugh, “****. What is yours will always be yours, what is not yours will never be yours no matter how hard you fight for it. Besides, I might not even die!”
As Cang Yan spoke, he found that the words he said sounded like a will. He slapped his mouth, “F**k, why are my words becoming more and more ridiculous. By following the City Lord’s plan, we might even survive! Now, all of you, quickly leave!”
As Cang Yan said this, he and another Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder began preparing to send the young cultivators away.
Now was really not time to be hypocritical. Although the Divine City had a large protective array, who knew if this large array could withstand the attack from the Long Gui True Spirit?
Staying behind could even cause the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord and the Seven Star Pagoda Owner to be distracted. If they had to take time to protect them, then it would not be worth it!
“A short distance teleportation array has been prepared on the first floor of the central divine tower. After you are sent away, there will be an airship waiting for you there!”
Other than Yi Yun, Bai and the other elites, even the other Tai Ah Divine City cultivators were arranged to evacuate. More than 95% of the people like Wen Yu and other first year cultivators had already been evacuated a month ago.
Originally, Yi Yun, Bai and the other elites were left behind in the hope of them being able to behold the scene of a beast horde to gain some experience.
However the developments had far exceeded the original expectations of the Sages from the four large factions. Training in the beast horde was now something deemed impossible.
The teleportation array was right in front of them as the cultivators that were left behind began walking towards it. Luo Huo’er sneaked into the crowd with her maid servant Dong’er, hoping to sneak through the teleportation array with her head lowered.
And at the moment she walked before the teleportation array, she suddenly heard a dry cough.
“Miss Luo, please hold on.”
Eh?
Luo Huo’er jumped with fright as she turned around only to see Cang Yan smiling at her.
“Wh… What?”
Luo Huo’er felt that this old man’s smile was sinister.
“Sorry, the City Lord has especially instructed that Miss Luo is not to leave.”
“Why?” Luo Huo’er was rendered speechless. Everyone could leave except her?
Cang Yan was also helpless. If not as a last resort, would a group of Sages make it so difficult for a young lady?
“Miss Luo, I am also forced to do this. About this… Miss Luo, you should have a way to request help from your family clan, right…?”
Translator’s Note: Long Gui is literally Dragon Turtle. Players of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy might know it.