সাতাশ অধ্যায়: বাঁক বদল

competition only lasted two days, and as teams were gradually eliminated, the frequency of the fengshen battle group's matches increased.

as the competition progressed, many teams realized the gap in strength, saw no hope of victory, and disbanded on their own.

some teams even had more than half of their members wounded and sent to the dark ward for treatment, so they simply gave up.

most of the established and powerful teams chose to seize the time during the hunting season for actual combat training. since there weren't many participating teams to begin with, and with teams continuously forfeiting, the tournament progressed faster and faster.

on the first day, a total of six matches were played. quite luckily, they actually had two bye rounds. after fighting through four matches, jiang shang's fengshen battle group successfully advanced to the final four.

however, the organizers' goal had already been achieved. the arena felt like a graduate recruitment fair; people were constantly poaching, signing contracts, and leaving teams. many freshmen, relying on their outstanding potential, suddenly became members of senior battle groups.

meanwhile, jiang shang and siluer, due to their outstanding performance and rare abilities, caught the eye of senior battle groups.

had he not already declared that he would form his own team and stated that he was already a core team leader, the poachers probably would have been endless.

victory is the most tangible report card. not only jiang shang and siluer, but zhao xiaosong, whose performance was mediocre, also received quite a few invitations.

after entering the final four, tomorrow morning, a match against another freshman team would decide who would be the freshman representative.

then, the winner would duel against the winner from the sophomore side to determine the champion of this freshman-senior exchange tournament.

"sun hongling and qirier still haven't rushed back. tomorrow might be a hard battle."

jiang shang had also watched the other team's match; their overall strength was good, and his side still only had three people, giving him a bit of a headache.

on the second day, jiang shang was surprised to find that the runner-up team had actually disbanded and forfeited after a big argument because their team leader, defender, and main output were poached by three different battle groups.

thus, after watching the exhibition match of the sophomore finals, the two teams arrived at the stage ahead of schedule.

at this point, if one still didn't know that the graceful figure with long flowing hair was his nominal fiancée guixianiang, one would have to be too foolish.

"this... nice to meet you. well, not the first time we've met, you didn't say anything before either....... well, i don't even know what to say, i am jiang shang."

jiang shang's flustered and contradictory opening remarks, however, caused the usually composed and cold girl to blush completely. with her imagination turning into reality, at this moment, guixianiang didn't know how to face him.

at this moment, as the participating team of the grand finals, and at the warm-up event temporarily organized by the sponsor flying shoe intelligence agency, the members of the two teams were looking at each other in blank dismay, but the two team leaders were clearly not in the right state of mind.

"your heart... is in turmoil, for the very first time."

in the young girl's voice, there was some concern, some bewilderment, some relief, and some gratification.

meanwhile, jiang shang could only scratch his head and smile foolishly.

"hello. i am tsuchimikado noye, the vice-captain and strategist of the yuexi battle group. we will definitely win. whether it is here... or on the other battlefield."

suddenly, a hand thrust between the fifteen-year-old engaged couple, and that black-haired night chanter girl stared fiercely at jiang shang, her dark pupils full of sparks.

"the other battlefield? tsuchimikado?"

this rare surname instantly reminded jiang shang of his future enemy, daji's star soul envoy tsuchimikado sanae. it was said that tsuchimikado was a very famous onmyouji family with immense influence in east asia, and anyone who could bear the surname tsuchimikado was definitely a backbone member of the family.

"is this a declaration of war? i won't lose, on whichever battlefield."

facing the "enemy's" provocation, he suddenly calmed down instead. taking noye's outstretched hand, his dual pupils were filled with fighting spirit, and his handshake was gentle yet firm.

the two looked at each other, their faces full of their own desire and confidence for victory, but the team members on the sidelines were whispering among themselves.

"i always feel that the battlefield they are talking about is not the same thing."

"keep it down, noye is like a powder keg right now, ready to explode at the touch of a spark."

"a subtle misunderstanding, that pretty much sums up the scene right before us, doesn't it?"

nearby, as the host introduced the participating personnel one by one, and with the victory declarations of the two team leaders, the audience's atmosphere had been thoroughly stirred up.

"woo woo woo!"

just as the two teams were preparing to enter the simulated battlefield, overwhelming alarm sirens resounded throughout all of penglai, followed by that familiar and urgent island-wide broadcast.

"emergency notice, fortress shura has been breached. according to rule three of the mobile fortress regulations, starting from now, penglai academy enters an emergency combat state. we will arrive above shura in half an hour to provide support and emergency rescue for that regional battlefield."

then, the originally soft broadcast voice was replaced by a deep, gruff voice.

"i am li yunxiao, your principal. i'll cut to the chase: in another half hour, all of penglai will break into the combat zone. all teachers and students above four stars, get yourselves ready for battle. immediately, it will be a real war."

upon hearing this, jiang shang was heavily startled. shura? isn't this where sun hongling and the others are located?

suddenly, a shock surging from the bottom of his heart made jiang shang's back instantly drenched in cold sweat.

"that is the fear transmitted through the soul contract! what could possibly make qirier and sun hongling feel terror and shock at the same time!"

---------

in the new era, gods are no longer illusory existences. their descent made humanity experience, for the first time, that pure sense of powerlessness in front of high-dimensional creatures.

yes, high-dimensional otherworldly creatures was the definition given to them by the nightwatchers association.

although all called gods, and perhaps similar in strength in their own worlds, on earth, existences like evil gods and true gods had a fundamental difference.

rules. those true gods who left marks beneath the foundations of the world seemed to be the true masters of this world; they made the world revise and replace itself around their needs.

the twelve peaks of the god seats and the kings of gods acted together, revising the cornerstone of the world, transforming this material-based materialistic world into a spiritual and cognitive-centric idealistic world.

and these formulators of the new world rules thus obtained the administrative permissions of the world. the true gods of the twelve divine pantheons consequently gained control over the world's rules, which they called divine authority.

the divine realm is inviolable; the divine power is irresistible. in plain terms, it means my place, my rules, and i can play with you and kill you however i please. therefore, when facing mortal opponents, true gods were naturally invincible.

but gaining power also requires bearing corresponding obligations; massive slaughter of indigenous residents would incur the rejection of the world. therefore, most true gods were relatively friendly toward this world and its indigenous humans.

as for old gods, due to the demise of the god kings and ancestral gods of their pantheons, they lost most of their world administration permissions. however, they still retained some divine authority, making them extremely difficult existences to deal with.

the eight pantheons of true gods even had their own worlds and continents, followed by kin and semi-kin. but old gods had to fight humans for territory.

that god-favored continent rising from the sea was originally a part of their former world. and the fall of the god king also severed their connection with their homeland, while subjecting them to the world's rejection.

consequently, they built their own earthly kingdoms of god, re-revised the rules, and made residents praise their names. within their kingdoms, they still retained unsurpassable combat power and partial divine authority.

but to maintain that inevitably thinning divine authority, they had to pay a heavy price: either long-term slumber to accumulate divine power, regular sacrifices, or the sacrifice of the divine power of their peers.

and when they lost all their territories and followers, one day, they would also weaken into evil gods.

contrasting with the evil gods from other worlds are the ancient gods, the children of the primeval sea. since most of them are beast-shaped, they are also called ancient divine beasts.

they are very free, not necessarily friends of humans, but definitely enemies of evil gods. driven by the primeval sea, they instinctively attack all evil gods lacking world rules.

however, having lost in the twilight war at the boundary line between the new and old eras, the victorious evil gods ascended to become true gods, while the defeated ancient divine beasts mostly fell into long-term slumber.

perhaps this is a good thing; after all, toward humans who destroy the environment and exterminate quite a few races, most ancient divine beasts held no favorable impression. ones like kunpeng were absolute exceptions.

as for the so-called evil gods, they had no fundamental difference from true gods. in their own worlds, they might also have world rules and be unsurpassable existences, but here, they were merely slightly stronger otherworldly creatures.

the result was that, although their strength ranked true gods > old gods > evil gods, their danger level was highest for the unscrupulous evil gods, while some true gods were even extremely friendly to humans.

for example, east asia's dragon god pantheons and south america's spirits of all things pantheons even opened their divine realms to humans. the dragon gods had the largest number of semi-kin, and the spirits of all things pantheons even taught humans much knowledge and power of the new era, allowing a large number of mortals to settle in their divine realms.

since true gods were friendly to humans, the kin they sheltered were often relatively kind to humans, with the five friendly kin represented by half-dragons being quite easy-to-get-along-with neighbors.

consequently, humans were actually quite conflicted about the battles among the gods: they hoped they would all kill each other off in a brawl, but if a god king of a true god pantheon died in battle, and his self-sufficient true god lineage sank to become old gods or evil gods, it would instead pose a huge threat.

the doomsday pantheon was the most obvious example.

before the death of their master god, the gravedigger, this not very populous pantheon entirely degenerated into old gods, becoming a major headache for the western european nightwatchers headquarters.

beneath the gravedigger were four master gods: war, pestilence, death, and famine. their names represented their divine authorities, and to maintain their power and divine authority, they would ruthlessly spread their formidable reputations.

triggered by them, the more calamities such as war, pestilence, death, and famine occurred, the more indigenous residents died as a result, and the more people hated and despaired because of it, the deeper the integration of their divine authority concepts with the world became, making them all the more powerful.

war, most of all, loved to instigate wars, gaining pleasure and power from them.

the apocalyptic knight of war had long become a public enemy of humanity. as long as he dared to leave the divine realm of himself and his brothers, the nightwatchers association would hunt him down at all costs.

as for the other three apocalyptic knights, one could only say their methods were rather sophisticated, leaving no handles for people to catch. but judging from that slowly expanding earthly kingdom of god and the undiminished divine authority, these three were up to no good either.

humans and the gods maintained a relative balance, but that fragile balance, as the balance of power tilted once again, was constantly losing equilibrium and would eventually be broken.

as former true gods who mastered the world's rules, the three apocalyptic knights used divine authority and blessings close to a creator's to leave a small gift in the hindustan islands.

warrior nameless. a lucky guy who wanted to live more like a human, after defecting to the old gods, received the blessings of three deities.

"i, the lord of war, bestow upon you the blessing of war. the blessing of victory shall constantly accompany you; war shall arise because of you, the flames of war shall kindle because of you, and the fruits of war shall serve as your honor and reward."

from then on, a body of steel enveloped him, and mortal swords and spears could no longer touch his already rock-hard flesh.

"i, the lord of pestilence, bestow upon you the blessing of pestilence. the newborn plague of the rat-fiend from the pestilence family shall accompany you, and until your soul is released, the undead shall be your most loyal servants."

from then on, the poison of the black pestilence accompanied him; lives killed or injured by him would become the kin of the rat-fiends—mad undead, and these half-alive, half-dead beings would continue to spread pestilence and death for him.

"i, the lord of famine, bestow upon you the blessing of famine. wherever you reach, grain shall rot and mold, food and water shall putrefy and spoil, and life shall wither away."

from then on, a gray putrid halo surrounded him; the battlefield where he stayed would become a paradise of disaster and famine, and wherever he walked, not a blade of grass would grow.

of course, what is gained must be lost. according to the principle of equivalence, while gaining power, nameless also had to pay a price.

"...as the price of the war blessing, your pupils shall forever be filled with the craving for war, and your thirst for the blood of your own kind shall remain eternal."

thus, nameless went mad; his memories and ideals had been cleansed away, and the instinct driving his actions left only a thirst for war and blood.

"...as the price of the pestilence blessing, your flesh shall be immortal, and your soul shall dwell with your people."

immortality? it sounds great, but in reality, only the dead can truly achieve immortality. thus, the very moment he received the blessing, nameless existed between death and life; his flesh would rapidly decay, but as long as he stuffed it with the fresh meat of other lives before complete weathering, he would evolve once again—endlessly evolving.

soul dwelling with the people? it sounds great, but in reality, it meant his soul was split into countless small entities, trapped within countless undead specters. until they could all be completely annihilated, he could never truly enter eternal slumber.

"...as the price of the famine blessing, you shall forever remain in a state of starvation, using your own kind to satisfy the craving of your soul."

the most evil fallen ones were thus born; monsters that devoured souls and flesh were thus created.

this was the doomsday pantheon's most famous doomsday blessing. if coupled with the final blessing of death, an existence receiving the complete doomsday blessing would become the harbinger of doom bringing about the apocalypse, and the monsters thus produced would be a disaster shared by both men and gods.

of course, without the supreme god the gravedigger, the doomsday pantheon could not bear the consumption brought by the descent of the harbinger of apocalypse, but now, merely three disaster blessings were already enough.

from the moment the gray-robed nameless swordsman appeared at the edge of the battlefield, disaster was destined to descend.

"war, famine, pestilence... let the apocalypse descend right now."