Chapter 969, Okino Island

Translator: Silavin

 

The Earth Tripartite was a Forbidden Area, and not many people in Cherry Blossom Country knew of its existence.

 

However, there were still some Hidden Clans who knew about the Earth Tripartite’s existence, and quite a few Hidden Clans had personally participated in the expedition to the Earth Tripartite, joining the ranks of those searching for the Ancient God.

 

These Clans still placed their hopes on their Clansmen truly being able to find the Ancient Gods, become Ancient God Slaves, be granted Power, and achieve Immortality.

 

In this way, the Clan members could also rise alongside them, following them under the Ancient Gods’ banner and being able to survive in this chaotic world, or even survive into the next era.

 

Therefore, these Clan members actually paid very close attention to the Earth Tripartite.

 

Later, they also observed that shortly after Mikami Saburo and the others led people into the Earth Tripartite, strange phenomena frequently occurred within the Earth Tripartite.

 

All the metal in the Earth Tripartite converged toward a specific zone, ultimately transforming into a giant and battling some kind of creature.

 

The earth-shattering sounds of battle caused the entire Earth Tripartite to shatter into pieces and cease to exist.

 

Such an intense battle left all the Hidden Clans monitoring the Earth Tripartite’s situation to be completely dumbfounded.

 

They believed that if Mikami Saburo and the others found the Ancient Gods, there would only be two possible outcomes.

 

The first was according to their original plan, which was that the Ancient Gods accepted them.

 

This would be the best result. They would just need to wait for Mikami Saburo and the others to emerge carrying new found power, then lead the Clan to work for the Ancient Gods.

 

The worst result would be if the Ancient Gods looked down on Mikami Saburo and the others. In that case, unsurprisingly, everyone would die.

 

It would also be quite normal for sounds of battle to emerge from the Earth Tripartite, so each Hidden Clan could only accept their misfortune and return to prepare funerals for those who had gone to the Earth Tripartite.

 

But now, not only did sounds of battle emerge, they were earth-shatteringly intense!

 

All the Hidden Clans were completely stunned. Could this commotion really be caused by Mikami Saburo and the others?

 

Even if their Skills got increased tenfold in power, they could not possibly create such a huge disturbance!

 

But if it was not them, who else could it be?

 

The Ancient Gods themselves?

 

If the Ancient Gods wanted to kill Mikami Saburo and the others, there would be no need to release such terrifying power!

 

In the blink of an eye, the entire Earth Tripartite collapsed, making all those Hidden Clans realize that something extraordinary had definitely occurred within the Earth Tripartite.

 

However, such a battle was no longer something these ordinary Players could pry into.

 

Many people also wanted to go to the Earth Tripartite to investigate the situation, but when they thought of those earth-shattering sounds from within earlier, few dared to actually enter.

 

Left with no choice, all of them could only observe for the time being.

 

They planned to wait until things settled down, then send people over to see what exactly had happened in the Earth Tripartite, whether there really was an Ancient God inside, and whether Mikami Saburo and the others had truly died.

 

When these Clan members sent people to the centre of the Earth Tripartite, naturally they saw nothing.

 

Lu Fan and the others had long since used Shadow Isle’s Transport Array, bringing Han Ke along, and together rode the Divine Bone Clone toward Okino Island.

 

The Divine Bone Clone’s flight speed was not particularly fast, but it definitely was not slow either. Compared to it, even regular aeroplanes fell short.

 

Therefore, although the distance from the Earth Tripartite to Okino Island spanned more than half of Cherry Blossom Country, under the Divine Bone Clone’s speed, in just one day, Lu Fan and the others had already arrived at Okino Island.

 

This made Lu Fan sigh. Although Cherry Blossom Country had a vastly smaller land area compared to Dragon Country, and in this world could only be considered a small country, because this world was over a hundred times larger than his original Blue Star, Cherry Blossom Country alone was actually an astonishing land mass.

 

If he had known Cherry Blossom Country was this large, he should have spent more time thoroughly removing all dangers back then.

 

Otherwise, Cherry Blossom Country would not have so many Hidden Clans still fantasizing about going to the Earth Tripartite to seek out Ancient Gods and use them to make a comeback.

 

Okino Island was located at the northernmost part of Cherry Blossom Country. It did not border the Cherry Blossom Country but was instead a massive island in the sea.

 

Okino Island was a full five hundred kilometres from Cherry Blossom Country’s coastline. It was the farthest from Cherry Blossom Country’s mainland, but could also be considered Cherry Blossom Country’s greatest sanctuary.

 

Throughout Cherry Blossom Country’s history, there had been multiple wars, but due to geographical reasons, Okino Island had never been drawn into any of them.

 

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Okino Island was a pristine land existing outside of Cherry Blossom Country.

 

At the same time, some scholars claimed to have conducted research confirming that Okino Island was the origin of Cherry Blossom Country.

 

The first people of Cherry Blossom Country seemed to have lived on Okino Island, then sailed across to what was now the Cherry Blossom Country and established their nation.

 

Regardless of whether this theory was correct, what could not be denied was that Okino Island was indeed a peaceful and tranquil place. Not only had the previous crisis of the Cherry Blossom Country’s destruction not affected this place, but the uniqueness of Cherry Blossom Country was also the strongest here, where not even the mainland could compare to.

 

As Lu Fan, Jin Zhan, Han Ke, Jian Ying, Tao Xiaoman, and Qin Qiu walked through the streets, they could see wooden houses everywhere, as well as men and women dressed in traditional clothing.

 

This place was simply the most traditional image of Cherry Blossom Country that everyone could imagine. Everyone still lived the same way as before, maybe the same since centuries ago.

 

As such, this place seemed more like a tourist attraction, making the newly arrived Han Ke and the others very excited.

 

At this time, everyone had changed into local clothing, and Lu Fan and Jin Zhan had even put on their Masks of Deception.

 

With everyone’s strength, as long as they wanted, basically no one could discover anything different about them.

 

This place had a very strong local flavour. Since Han Ke had previously been busy running her Bun Shop and raising Lu Fan, she basically had no opportunity or time to travel abroad.

 

Seeing Han Ke having such a good time here, Lu Fan was not in any rush either, letting Han Ke and the others enjoy themselves on Okino Island for several days.

 

Meanwhile, he and Jin Zhan had no interest in playing here. So, they simply began investigating to see where the Ancient God that Jian Ying had mentioned was hiding on the island.

 

Okino Island was so large that trying to find an Ancient God in hiding was no easy task.

 

It was not just the two of them though. Jin Zhan had even secretly sent over a hundred of his trusted subordinates to Okino Island to assist with the investigation.

 

After a full week of investigation, they actually did obtain some results.