Chapter 1109, Madness

Translator: Silavin

 

These individuals had no genuine connection whatsoever to the former Sacred Jiang Family.

 

The one thing they all had in common was this: every single one of them had been betrayed, and every single one of them carried a deep and abiding hatred.

 

Some, like Feng Butong, had their equipment stolen and been left for dead in circumstances that left their fate unclear.

 

Others had suffered because of political marriages within their Families, watching the ones they loved be wed off to others against their will. When they fought back against it, they were secretly destroyed in the process.

 

Such things did not occur with great frequency within the Sacred Lands, but over the course of hundreds of years, the number of those who had vanished under unjust circumstances was far from few.

 

Some of them returned bearing the banner of the Sacred Jiang Family, conducting covert acts of revenge from the shadows, causing no small amount of unease among the other Sacred Lands.

 

The matter of the Sacred Jiang Family gradually became something of a taboo subject among all the Sacred Lands.

 

The Sacred Jiang Family no longer represented that long-destroyed entity of the past. Instead, it had come to represent a collective, a group of people who had vanished under false pretences, whose whereabouts in the shadows were unknown, who might at any moment resurface to strike down their enemies.

 

It was only in the past century or so that those affiliated with the Sacred Jiang Family had gradually ceased to appear, and that name had slowly faded from the awareness of the Sacred Lands.

 

Having come to understand all of this, Lu Fan arrived at an entirely new understanding of the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

He could say with certainty that the long-bearded middle-aged man he had encountered was unquestionably Jiang Baishen, the Patriarch of the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

That he had lived for over a thousand years was undoubtedly connected to the Slaughter Ancient God.

 

The Sacred Jiang Family did indeed exist somewhere within the Western Border. But unlike the other Sacred Lands, it lurked in the shadows. It was unknown to the rest, developing in silence while quietly drawing in new members.

 

Their targets were those who harboured grievances against the other Sacred Lands.

 

Drawing upon the Slaughter Ancient God’s power, these cast-off children of the Sacred Lands, who had already possessed no small degree of Talent to begin with, had spent years in patient concealment, honing themselves in secret until they commanded strength formidable enough to give even the Sacred Lands cause to be wary.

 

Looked at this way, the target of the Sacred Jiang Family appeared to be the other Sacred Lands themselves.

 

Its very purpose for existence was to exact retribution against them…

 

And yet, that was not quite right either.

 

As Lu Fan’s thoughts arrived at this point, a sudden instinct told him that his reasoning had perhaps been too narrow.

 

Because he had once told Jiang Baishen directly that the Slaughter Ancient God was extraordinarily dangerous, that leaving it unchecked would bring ruin and devastation upon every living thing in the entire era.

 

This was not merely a matter of vengeance against the Sacred Lands. It was a catastrophe for the entire world, the entire era.

 

And yet Jiang Baishen had shown not the slightest flicker of surprise. He had simply chosen to continue supporting the Slaughter Ancient God regardless of that fact.

 

There were only two possible explanations for this.

 

The first: Jiang Baishen had placed no faith in Lu Fan’s words. He simply believed that the Slaughter Ancient God, receiving their worship and bestowing upon them the power of an Ancient God, wished only to help them exact their revenge. While for his own part, becoming the sole God venerated by the Sacred Land of the Western Border, enjoying limitless resources.

 

The second possibility was the one Lu Fan feared most.

 

That Jiang Baishen understood everything perfectly, that he knew with full clarity the Slaughter Ancient God was a profoundly dangerous existence. But Jiang Baishen did not care. Because his goal was to see this era utterly and completely destroyed.

 

If this were truly the case, then the only conclusion was that Jiang Baishen, and every last member of the Sacred Jiang Family, had come to harbour nothing but hatred for this world.

 

They were not serving the Slaughter Ancient God for their own benefit. They were acting in pure, undiluted opposition to the entire world itself.

 

Thinking further, every person who had ever joined the Sacred Jiang Family had been a Player who had been brutally wronged by the other Sacred Lands. The more Lu Fan considered it, the more convinced he became that his latter conjecture was likely correct.

 

If that was the case, then what he faced was not only the Slaughter Ancient God, but also every member of the Sacred Jiang Family from top to bottom, madmen who had lost all reason, every last one of them.

 

Any hope of persuading the members of the Sacred Jiang Family to stand alongside Lu Fan against the Slaughter Ancient God was, in all likelihood, futile.

 

To deal with the Slaughter Ancient God, the Sacred Jiang Family would have to be eradicated along with it.

 

Of course, these were still Lu Fan’s own guesses.

 

What the actual situation truly was could only be known by finding the Sacred Jiang Family itself.

 

Situ Qianqian had shared everything she knew with Lu Fan, and had provided every piece of intelligence that could be obtained.

 

And so, it was time for Situ Qianqian to take her leave.

 

Lu Fan’s mind was consumed entirely with thoughts of the Jiang Family’s affairs, so he had one of the Ye Family’s servants see Situ Qianqian out. He did not personally see her off.

 

Only after Situ Qianqian had departed did Lu Fan finally sit down with Ouyang Bai Ge to discuss at length matters regarding the Sacred Jiang Family, sharing his thoughts in full.

 

His analysis earned complete agreement from Ouyang Bai Ge.

 

The Slaughter Ancient God possessed no Ancient God Power capable of controlling the minds of his enemies. He was equally ill-suited to negotiating terms or deceiving the living beings of the current era into working on his behalf.

 

In his eyes, those who were willing to become his Ancient God Slaves were welcome. Those who were not, he would simply kill.

 

To think so many members of the Sacred Jiang Family had all willingly submitted themselves under the Slaughter Ancient God’s command was, in all likelihood, of their own choosing.

 

And there was no reason for the Slaughter Ancient God to deceive them. To promise that after the turning of the era, he would grant them Immortality or some similar reward.

 

From Ouyang Bai Ge’s knowledge of the Slaughter Ancient God, he would plainly declare that after the era ends, he would personally kill them all along with it. After all, keeping them around would serve no purpose.

 

And yet Jiang Baishen remained willing to serve the Slaughter Ancient God. If not because they shared the same goal, then what other reason could there possibly be?

 

“The main problem right now is still the location of the Sacred Jiang Family…” Lu Fan said, rubbing the bridge of his nose slowly.

 

“Once we actually find the Sacred Jiang Family, those people will almost certainly be the first obstacle standing between us and the Slaughter Ancient God.”

 

“These people are consumed with hatred for the world. Calling them deranged madmen is no exaggeration. They cannot be left alive. Only after eliminating them will we be able to get to the Slaughter Ancient God. In other words, we’ll be going to war simultaneously against an Ancient God and a Sacred Land.”

 

“This will be difficult, really difficult…”

 

Ouyang Bai Ge gave a slow nod.

 

Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families were something they could suppress without great difficulty.

 

But a Sacred Land? This was a tier entirely beyond the reach of any Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Family.

 

Yet, even within a Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Family, there were existences or Arrays that could actually kill them if they were not careful enough. This was despite Lu Fan and the others being Ancient Gods. So, breaching into a Sacred Land would be a massive headache.

 

After a long silence, Ouyang Bai Ge finally spoke, her voice measured and unhurried. “Whatever the case, the priority should still be confirming the location of the Slaughter Ancient God. Obtaining the location of the Sacred Jiang Family through conventional means does not seem to be possible. I’ll go back to the Void World first, and see whether I can pinpoint the real-world coordinates of the other passage.”