Chapter 799: Eye of the Nether River
"Has the outside world been taken over by humans?" the burly Jiuli Tribesman asked, his gaze steady as he studied the young man before him.
The young man stood straight and unwavering, carrying himself with effortless grace. He was none other than Xu Ziyang of the Mount Shu Sect.
Just moments ago, the Supreme Harbinger of Doom had unleashed a fearsome burst of energy, flinging all three of them into the sky. After landing, Xu Ziyang took a moment to catch his breath. When he finally looked up, he noticed something unusual. There was a massive chunk of bronze in the middle of the scorched land with a mysterious figure sitting on top.
That was the burly Jiuli Tribesman speaking to Xu Ziyang.
Sensing no hostility from the man, Xu Ziyang responded, "That’s right."
"So it really did happen," the burly Jiuli Tribesman said with a sigh. "The High God once said that this world originally belonged to humans, and after him, it would return to them once more."
After a brief pause, he continued, "I will offer you a treasure of the mortal world. In exchange, I ask for a small favor. Will you help me?"
Xu Ziyang looked at him curiously. "What favor?"
The burly Jiuli Tribesman gazed into the distant sky, his tone laced with melancholy. "In the East Sea, there was once a small island. It had no name then, and by now, it has likely vanished completely. I was once a blacksmith of the Jiuli Tribe, tasked with forging the Bronze City for the High God. My wife and I traveled across the world in search of materials. On that small island in the East Sea, we finally discovered a rare material that could serve as the core of the city’s formation. But during the excavation, my wife lost her life there.
"She was trapped beneath the collapsing mountain. I couldn't save her... All I could do was leave her there, never to see her again.
"I vowed that after my death, I would rest beside her. But when the formation’s core was forged, an artifact spirit was needed. The High God sacrificed all three hundred of us blacksmiths to complete it. I was lucky to have become the only one to retain my consciousness... and so, I became the artifact spirit of the Bronze City."