Chapter 1142, The Foundation of a Sacred Land

Translator: Silavin

 

Lu Fan had been ready to have the Little Blade Armour Dragon King absorb the second bronze piece as well, but it shook its head and refused.

 

Through their bond as Master and Pet, Lu Fan understood why. The bronze piece could only be absorbed once. A second absorption would result in the Ancient God Power inside getting too potent, turning against the host.

 

It was precisely this keen instinctive awareness that had allowed the Little Blade Armour Dragon King to recognise the danger. Absorb too much, and it risked becoming like the Bronze Qilin, a slave of the Slaughter Ancient God.

 

Given that risk, there was nothing to be gained by consuming a second piece.

 

The problem, then, was what to do with the remaining bronze piece.

 

It was too valuable to simply set aside. Letting it gather dust at the bottom of his Inventory felt like too much of a waste.

 

As Lu Fan questioned, wondering whether Ye Wuxian’s Ancient God Power might be used to refine the bronze piece and purge the Slaughter Ancient God’s influence from it, Ouyang Bai Ge spoke.

 

She pointed out that the bronze piece could be given to Jian Ying and the others.

 

The bronze piece was, fundamentally, a metallic substance, and Jian Ying’s group could manipulate metallic substances with their Ancient God Power, making it usable for them. Furthermore, while the three of them were far from mastering their Ancient God Power, the three working in concert should have little difficulty suppressing the Slaughter Ancient God Power contained within the bronze piece.

 

Ouyang Bai Ge concluded the bronze piece would be a great enhancement for Jian Ying’s group. There should be no downsides in using it.

 

Lu Fan heard her out and handed it over without a second thought.

 

Jian Ying and the others were uncertain how to refine the Ancient God Power out of the bronze piece, but under Ouyang Bai Ge’s guidance, they worked through it step by step and eventually succeeded in fusing the bronze piece into the Golden Asura King.

 

The transformation was immediate. The Golden Asura King’s pure golden lustre shifted. Its colouration leaned a little toward bronze, carrying with it a quality of a gilded depth that had not been there before.

 

Even from a glance, it was obvious that the Golden Asura King’s Attributes had climbed by more than one tier, with its defensive capability in particular leaping far beyond what it had previously been.

 

The Golden Asura King had always been defined by its absurd Defence. Now, having absorbed the bronze piece, that Defence had reached a level that defied reason. With it, the Combat Power of Jian Ying and the others became something far more formidable.

 

Even so, in terms of raw Combat Power, they still had much ground to cover. At least they should be able to hold their own against an Ancient God for a period of time right now.

 

Feeling the surge in their own strength, Jian Ying and the others were moved. Yet having spent so much time alongside Lu Fan, they were at ease enough with him that none of them made an excessive show of gratitude.

 

Once the Rewards had been distributed, Lu Fan activated the Slaughter Heart.

 

The instant it was activated, the entire Three Star Bronze Forest trembled.

 

Then the Bronze Trees began to shed pieces of themselves, detaching and streaming toward the group’s position, colliding and clicking into place with a sound like *clink clink clink*. Before the stunned eyes of every onlooker, the bronze components assembled themselves into a colossal Transport Array that loomed over like a small mountain.

 

Even Ye Wuxian had never seen a Transport Array of this scale. She could not stop herself from crying out, “Heavens! This is the Transport Array to the Sacred Jiang Family? Truly worthy of a Sacred Land. A Transport Array like this puts even Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families to shame.”

 

“I’ve imagined countless times just how much greater a Sacred Land is compared to a Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Family, but standing in front of the actual foundation of one, I realise I was still underestimating them. The gap between a Sacred Land and a Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Family really is as wide as a chasm…” Hearing Ye Wuxian’s awed murmur, Ouyang Bai Ge gave a quiet smile.

 

“A Sacred Land’s foundation is indeed deep,” she said. “But there is a reason for it. Years ago, I had dealings with people from a Sacred Land. I knew several of those who were there at the very beginning, who built it with their own hands. Before all of that, they were no different from any ordinary Player. A little more gifted than most, perhaps, but nothing remarkable. What they shared, however, was a willingness to push into unknown territories and open up new ground.”

 

“The Western Border was discovered because of people like them. They ventured to the Western Border and accumulated vast resources through sheer Will and effort. Then they used those resources to grow stronger, and slowly widened the distance between themselves and everyone else. This cycle repeated, across a thousand years of accumulation. That is what produced the gulf we see today between a Sacred Land and ordinary people.”

 

“Throughout that time, wave after wave of those who went to explore the Western Border died. The ones who survived needed two things: sufficient strength, and sufficient fortune. Neither alone was enough. Fall short in either one, and they would simply become another set of bones in the harsh Wilderness.”

 

“This is over a thousand years. How many sets of bones have been left in the Western Border? Some who died there had already built powerful Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families. Yet, they still vanished without a trace. In more than a thousand years, those that made their mark in the Western Border numbered no fewer than eighty thousand to a hundred thousand. And yet, in the end, the Sacred Lands that endured could only be counted on one hand. And without exception, every Sacred Land was built across only a few dozen generations of relentless effort before it reached its current scale.”

 

At this, Ouyang Bai Ge paused briefly, then smiled again and addressed the group.

 

“Speaking of which, in all my years teaching at Dragon Capital University, I heard a few of our students complain about the unfairness of being born into a powerful and influential Family. How some people receive abundant resources from birth simply because of the Family they were born into. They said it was unjust. That their own talent was clearly superior, but because they lacked the resources, their strength had fallen behind.”

 

“Whenever I heard that, I found it absurd. The resources those Families accumulated were across generation after generation. If someone were to surpass them with ease, would that not be an injustice?”

 

“The rise of a Sacred Land is never simply the product of luck. Thousands of years of foundation. That is what makes it so formidable.”

 

Every person present nodded.

 

Ye Wuxian in particular felt it more than anyone. As a member of an Ancient Noble Family, she knew better than most the true cost of building one up. Just how much effort, and how many lives, the Ye Family had poured into making itself what it was today.

 

All of that striving, and in the end they were only a Third Tier Ancient Noble Family.

 

Had Lu Fan not intervened, the Ye Family would either still be Third Tier. No, it would have been completely destroyed.

 

To reach just the Supreme Tier from where they stood would require centuries of effort and fortune without a single misstep. There was no shortcut.

 

With that reflection shared, no one dwelt on the matter further. The group walked together into the towering Transport Array.

 

There was a pull, a sensation of being stretched, and then the feeling of sudden lightness, as though weight itself had been released.

 

When their surroundings resolved, they stood inside a vast Map.

 

All around them, the world was verdant and alive. Strange flowers and rare grasses, mountains and winding rivers, all aspects of a wild outdoor Map in every direction.

 

And throughout it, Monsters roamed from Level 1 to Level 100.