Chapter 183 : Chapter 183
Chapter 183. The Secret of the Divine Ruins
Huaxia Headquarters.
Inside a room filled with an antique atmosphere, Mei Xue’er, disguised as a bearded middle-aged man, spoke to Hong Wu, who was admiring a painting.
“Commander, that is basically the full situation regarding the beast tide in the Eastern Great Rift Valley. Based on the strength Jiang Yichen displayed, he is fully qualified to enter the Divine Ruins.”
Hong Wu slowly withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the Divine Battle Division.
“Yes, I already know about Jiang Yichen.”
He walked over to the five of them and asked, “How long until the Guankou Divine Ruins open?”
“One month.” Worry showed in Mei Xue’er’s eyes. “If we wait until Jiang Yichen finishes his recruit assessment and then go through all the cumbersome formalities of making him official, it will be too late.”
Hong Wu nodded. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll have the East China Military District arrange Jiang Yichen and his team’s recruit assessment at Guankou.”
His team?
Mei Xue’er froze for a moment. “Commander, you mean… it won’t be just Jiang Yichen alone?”
Hong Wu gave a quiet hum and clasped his hands behind his back. “Whenever a Divine Ruins opens, it is the moment when the gods choose Divine Contract Holders and return to life!”
“If Huaxia’s Illustrious Sage Lord chooses Jiang Yichen, that would naturally be for the best. But what if he is not chosen?”
“So I plan to send the whole group Jiang Yichen leads. Aside from Jiang Feng, who is a bit mediocre, the others are all quite good.”
In those words, Mei Xue’er understood the commander’s concern.
Whenever the Divine Ruins opened, it was not only Huaxia that sent people. Martial artists from beyond Huaxia’s borders were also watching it covetously.
If they were the ones who became Huaxia’s Divine Contract Holders, then things would become troublesome.
The foreign gods had always wanted to prevent the gods of Huaxia from reviving. Once their chosen martial artists became Divine Contract Holders, they would refuse to complete the resurrection contract, thereby stopping the gods of Huaxia from returning.
“You should all be clear on what your mission is. This beast tide has already shown that the foreign gods are beginning to stir. The Guankou Divine Ruins concern the revival of Huaxia’s gods. Failure is not an option.”
Hong Wu’s gaze sharpened, and his tone turned grave.
The five of them nodded firmly. Their mission was the hardest of all.
They were to protect Jiang Yichen and the others, ensure that they successfully formed divine contracts with the Illustrious Sage Lord, and help Him return to life.
Not only did they have to face the threat of Demonic Beasts within the ruins, they also had to remain constantly on guard against the foreign martial artists sent by the foreign gods.
“Understood!” Mei Xue’er’s usual affected sweet tone was gone, replaced by solemn dignity.
Hong Wu smiled in satisfaction, but in the end his gaze stopped on Sleep God. “Meng Yan, you need to control your sleep from now on. You must not kill people in your dreams and end up helping Hypnos, the God of Sleep, return to life.”
Sleep God, whose eyes were bloodshot and whose whole face was heavy with drowsiness, took a few seconds to react before hurriedly saying, “Yes, Commander. I’ll control it.”
Hong Wu nodded. Among the Divine Contract Holders in the Divine Battle Division, the ones who worried him most were those contracted with foreign gods.
Sleep God was one.
Mei Xue’er was also a Divine Contract Holder of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty from Greek mythology.
Liang Shan, meanwhile, was a Divine Contract Holder of Shiva, one of the three principal gods of India.
If they completed their contract missions, then the foreign gods bound to them would also return to life.
That would be extremely unfavorable for Huaxia.
“Go back and prepare well for the Divine Ruins one month from now. Make sure nothing goes wrong.”
The five of them straightened their bodies and saluted Hong Wu.
“The Divine Battle Division guarantees completion of the mission!”
…
Beyond Huaxia’s borders, on Olympus.
The Underworld!
“Hades, with such a perfect opportunity, you still failed. If Father returns to life, you certainly will not escape punishment!”
In the pitch-black sky of the Underworld, blinding sunlight suddenly burst forth as a sun chariot radiating dazzling brilliance tore through the darkness.
Seated atop the sun chariot was a tall, handsome man.
Upon the throne of the Underworld, Hades, the King of the Underworld, slowly opened his eyes. He held a bident in one hand, and his thick beard made him look even more imposing.
“Apollo, you would question my guilt? If you are so capable, then why don’t you charge straight into Huaxia and kill every last human yourself?”
Apollo slowly stepped down from the chariot and came to the front of the great hall. “You and I both know that the three Heavenly Venerables of Huaxia set up a barrier along the border that forbids gods from entering.”
“And even if there were a way in, the three Heavenly Venerables who survived the Divine War would sense it immediately. Do you want me to go throw my life away?”
Hades let out a cold snort. “Then what guilt do I bear?”
“If you had made proper use of the beast tide on Huaxia’s eastern border, you could certainly have wiped out half the humans there. Do you know how much Power of Faith that would have cost the gods of Huaxia?”
Apollo’s anger flared. “But what about you? You did not kill a single human of Huaxia. Does that not make you guilty?”
At present, not all of the gods of Olympus had yet returned. Most of them were still in the middle of resurrection rituals.
The surviving gods had all witnessed the terrifying power of Huaxia’s gods, so none of them dared to enter Huaxia’s territory.
Their only strategy was to slaughter the humans of Huaxia and strip its gods of the Power of Faith. Once that happened, everything would collapse on its own, and then they could lead the gods into that sealed mysterious ruin—the very place that had sparked the Divine War a century ago.
“Hades, both of us underestimated the humans of Huaxia today. Their strength has reached a level that even I find astonishing.”
Seated on his throne, Hades lightly tapped the ground with his bident, and a wave of deathly aura spread outward.
An image from Cerberus’s perspective appeared before Apollo. On the watchtower stood a delicate-looking human who casually flung out a talisman and single-handedly blocked the advancing beast tide.
The more Apollo watched, the more alarmed he became. He had never expected a beast tide of that scale to be stopped by a single human.
Even more critical was the fact that, in the end, the three humans who were close to demigod level seemed able to unleash abilities without limit, beating Cerberus into total helplessness.
“There is something strange about this human.” Hades pointed at Jiang Yichen on the watchtower.
Apollo had naturally noticed it as well. It now seemed that the failure to make use of this beast tide could not really be blamed on Hades.
After thinking for a while, he said, “Very well. I wronged you.”
Hades’ eyes were cold and utterly devoid of emotion, as though he were a corpse himself. He merely said, “This human cannot be allowed to live. I have already consulted the Three Fates. This person will become an obstacle to our invasion of Huaxia!”
An obstacle!
Apollo froze. Any human whom the Three Fates identified as an obstacle was absolutely not someone to be ignored.
But they could not enter Huaxia, so they could not act personally. That left only one option…
“Good. A Divine Ruins in Huaxia is about to open. I will send down a divine decree and have the humans in the mortal world dispatch people there. While they are at it, they can kill this human as well.”
Beneath the cloud gates of Olympus lay the mortal world.
Under Apollo’s guidance, the Divine Contract Holders had established the Church of Divine Restoration, bearing the mission of reviving the Olympian gods and preventing the gods of Huaxia from returning.
Among them were many humans whom the gods had bestowed Laws upon.
As Apollo looked at Jiang Yichen in the image, his gaze was that of someone looking down on an ant.
“Foolish humans of Huaxia, one day I will wipe every one of you out!”