Chapter 1125, Three Star Bronze Forest

Translator: Silavin

 

Afterwards, his expression cold and severe, he raised his sword and strode towards Yei Xiu.

 

Ouyang Bai Ge had no objection to this. With a wave of her hand, the Spiritual Tapeworm hovering above Yei Xiu’s head withdrew its bone-like spine limbs from within his body, then came scurrying swiftly back towards her.

 

On the ground, a Space Rift leading to the Void World suddenly appeared. The Spiritual Tapeworm immediately burrowed into it, and the Space Rift was sealed shut.

 

“Let us go off then. We need to make preparations and head to the Sacred Jiang Family.” Ouyang Bai Ge beckoned to Lu Fan, then took the lead and departed.

 

Lu Fan gave a nod as well, falling into step behind Ouyang Bai Ge.

 

As for what became of Yei Xiu, that was now for the Situ Family to decide. It had nothing to do with Lu Fan and the others.

 

Upon returning to their own lodgings, Lu Fan and Ouyang Bai Ge discussed briefly and decided to summon Ye Wuxian and the others, so that they might all set off together for the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

Lu Fan had initially wavered over whether to bring Ye Wuxian and his Aunt along. After all, the enemy this time was no ordinary foe. If they joined, there was a chance they might find themselves in danger.

 

Yet, Ouyang Bai Ge had no such reservations over this. As she saw it, it was true that Ye Wuxian and the others had only just recently become Ancient Gods, and had not yet mastered their Ancient God Powers fully.

 

But did that mean they should be kept from participating in any gruelling battle in the future simply because they were weaker than the two of them?

 

Now that they had become Ancient Gods, they would inevitably have to cross blades with Ancient Gods in the days to come.

 

If they were to be sheltered like flowers in a glasshouse, then bestowing the Divine Seats upon them would be a terrible waste, would it not?

 

It would be far better to give it to someone like Jin Zhan, a battle-tested man, who could at least face his enemies with no restraint and fight to his fullest.

 

On reflection, Lu Fan conceded the point. He had given the Divine Seats to his Aunt and the others partly out of his own selfish desire, wanting them to live forever.

 

But since they had received it, they also bore a genuine responsibility to stand against the Ancient Gods.

 

If every time, a powerful enemy appeared, they were made to retreat to the rear, when would they ever be capable of holding their own, of proving themselves worthy of the Divine Seat they carried?

 

Ouyang Bai Ge, of course, understood perfectly well that Lu Fan’s Aunt and the others held extraordinary significance to Lu Fan. They were people he wished to protect.

 

So, she smiled and said to him. “Actually, you don’t need to worry too much about their safety. Within my Void Insects, there exists a variety known as the Reviving Worm. So long as it is planted inside each of us, even in death, they will merely be revived elsewhere. The Slaughter Ancient God is certainly formidable, but he is not without weakness. For example, he has no counter to Functional Skills like this, so even if we cannot win, we still have a way out.”

 

She paused, then smiled again. “Of course, you do not need to tell Ye Wuxian and the others about this. If they know there is a safety net, then they might start thinking failure would have no lasting consequence. They might fight without restraint, and make risky moves, worse if they get used to it.”

 

“Real growth in strength comes from battles fought at the edge of life and death. Let them believe that death is genuine and final. Then in this battle, they will gain a great deal more from it.”

 

Lu Fan listened, then chuckled and shook his head. “Teacher Ouyang, you really are sharp….”

 

Ouyang Bai Ge smiled. “When one has lived for so very long, our mind inevitably grows a little nimbler. I only want you all to grow up as quickly as you can….”

 

Lu Fan and Ouyang Bai Ge soon took their leave of the Situ Family and made their way back to the Sacred Yei Family’s encampment, where they would invite Ye Wuxian and the others to accompany them to the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

Before departing, Lu Fan learnt that Situ Xiong had slain Yei Xiu.

 

Situ Xiong was, by his nature, a merciful man. He had not allowed Yei Xiu to die in prolonged torment out of sheer revenge. After all, Yei Xiu had, in his own way, been a victim as well. It was the persecution of the Sacred Yei Family that had driven him into the Sacred Jiang Family in the first place.

 

The grudge had to be settled, the man had to die. However, there was no need to torture him to death.

 

Situ Xiong struck a single clean blow with his sword, severing Yei Xiu’s head, and sent him off with as little suffering as he could.

 

Yei Xiu’s severed head was placed directly before Situ Ying’s grave.

 

With that, the debt owed for Situ Ying’s death was considered settled.

 

To say ‘settled,’ however, was perhaps not entirely accurate. After all, the Sacred Jiang Family bore its share of responsibility for Situ Ying’s death as well.

 

But the Sacred Jiang Family was a colossus with which the Situ Family no longer had any direct ties to. The Situ Family simply did not possess the strength to stand against it.

 

One Yei Xiu, dispatched from the Sacred Jiang Family, had very nearly wiped the Situ Family out of existence. For the Situ Family to seek a confrontation with the Sacred Jiang Family would truly be failing to know their own weight.

 

Only Lu Fan could venture to the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

After Lu Fan and Ouyang Bai Ge returned to the Sacred Yei Family’s encampment, they formed a party with Ye Wuxian and the others, then set off for the Coordinates Yei Xiu had previously provided, seeking to locate the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

This party had no fewer than seven Ancient Gods! This was a formation of unprecedented magnificence.

 

And so, even though the Coordinates of the Sacred Jiang Family lay deep within the Western Border, within a territory that even Sixth Profession Players regarded as a Forbidden Zone, it posed no obstacle to them.

 

The seven of them advanced deep into the Western Border, until at last they arrived near the vicinity of the Sacred Jiang Family.

 

This was a Map known as the Three Star Bronze Forest. As far as the eye could see, the landscape was filled with ancient Bronze Trees of varying heights.

 

Some of these trees were as slender as a bowl’s rim; others soared into the clouds, so vast that ten or more people linking arms could not encircle them.

 

Their substance, moreover, was not that of wood. It was a metal that was bronze in colour. Lu Fan had struck them before, and found that the reverberations they gave off were the dull, heavy resonance of metal. They possessed astonishing levels of hardness.

 

And the Monsters that dwelt here were even stranger.

 

Like the Bronze Trees, they too were composed entirely of bronze.

 

To call them mechanical constructs seemed wrong. They needed to feed upon the Bronze Trees, or hunt other Bronze Monsters, to sustain themselves.

 

To call them living Monsters seemed wrong as well, as their bodies seemed to be run on gears.

 

These gears turned ceaselessly, governing all movements of their bodies. It was a truly remarkable phenomenon.

 

The Monsters here had already reached the fearful Level 160, far exceeding Lu Fan and the others.

 

It was no wonder that even members of Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families were powerless to explore this place.

 

Those in their group were all Ancient Gods. Their Combat Power could not be measured by Level alone. So moving through this place gave them no real difficulty.

 

The Asura King was assembled by Jian Ying and the others, and it strode through the Three Star Bronze Forest with ease. Wherever a Monster came close, it was invariably drawn towards the Asura King.

 

Perhaps because the Asura King was also composed of metal, it appeared to the Monsters of this place as some manner of exotic delicacy from another realm.

 

However, the Monsters here clearly did not have enough strength in their bite to gnaw through something so formidably hard.