Chapter 214 : Chapter 214
Chapter 214. Two Chapters in One
“Great Wave Tide!”
Marco raised the Sea God’s Trident high. In the extremely water-starved desert, towering waves thousands of meters high actually surged up.
The sky suddenly darkened like ink, and the fierce wind carried the salty, fishy scent of the ocean.
The towering waves thousands of meters high were like mountains furiously raised by the Sea God’s Trident. Snow-white foam churned at their peaks as they pressed down toward the ground, blotting out the sky and sun.
Chu Ningfeng frowned slightly. His hands formed a sword incantation, and his Sword Qi gale transformed into a dragon, charging toward the towering waves thousands of meters high.
“In the words of you Huaxia people, this is an ant trying to shake a tree!”
Marco waved his trident, and a single wave crushed the Sword Qi wind dragon into fragments.
Chu Ningfeng remained expressionless. He raised his hand and swung his sword without the slightest hesitation.
The incoming wave was cleaved apart by a single sword strike, and water sprayed across the sky.
Then, a swordsman in white stepped across the waves. His longsword carried a biting gale, and the blade shone like flowing lightning beneath the dim heavenly light.
The instant the sword edge fell, a condensed Sword Qi that seemed almost solid tore through the air, as though it intended to cut heaven and earth in half.
When that silver-white sword light slashed horizontally across the giant wave, the thunderous roar of the cleaved water was deafening. The thousand-zhang wave seemed to be torn apart from the center by an invisible hand.
Chu Ningfeng landed and sheathed his sword without looking back.
As the sword light flashed past the thousand-zhang wave, mist and spray scattered like shattered jade. The surging wave collapsed section by section beneath the lingering might of the Sword Qi, and snow-white foam poured down, turning into a curtain of rain across the sky.
Within that curtain of rain, a swordsman in white stood with his sword in hand.
Marco, the Divine Contract Holder of the Sea God, showed a trace of surprise in his eyes. He had not expected the mortal before him to truly be able to contend with the power bestowed upon him by a god.
“I admit that you are now qualified to be my opponent. However, before the Laws of a god, you are still as tiny as an ant.”
White, Threadlike Power of Laws surged around Marco, and the desert beneath his feet began to ripple like a vast ocean.
Chu Ningfeng felt his entire body stiffen. It was as though his legs had been bound, making movement difficult.
“Great Sea God, let this ignorant mortal recognize Your power.”
The words of prayer rang out, and the Sea God’s Trident blossomed with dazzling light.
Chu Ningfeng closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, a towering phantom of the Sea God had appeared behind Marco, looking down at him from above.
Under the gaze of a god, even though it was only a phantom, Chu Ningfeng still felt a sense of oppression.
“So this is the power of a god?”
Chu Ningfeng raised his head with difficulty and faced the divine phantom directly.
Just a single phantom made him feel unprecedented pressure.
If a true god appeared, would anyone in Huaxia be able to deal with it?
His expression became solemn, and he tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
Regardless of whether he could win or not, he had to hold Marco back and prevent them from approaching the Guankou Divine Ruins.
He hoped Jiang Yichen and the others could complete the Divine Contract as soon as possible.
Chu Ningfeng showed no fear. He raised his sword and soared into the air, facing the towering divine phantom with his small mortal body.
On the other side.
Zhou Qingcang, dressed in casual clothes, sat in the barren Gobi and counted on his fingers.
“Half a month, and only fifteen couples have gotten married and formed happy families. According to the data submitted by the Zhou Family, a total of one hundred and fifty-six pairs were successfully matched, so why are there so few?”
“Could it be that they are not happy and fulfilled after forming families?”
Zhou Qingcang could not figure it out no matter how he thought about it. He was still far from completing the resurrection mission for Frigg of Norse mythology.
“No, I need to think about the reason.”
He rubbed his chin and began thinking.
He completely ignored the Level-Nine Preacher who had appeared before him.
“Old uncle, I have been standing here for ages. Are you going to fight or not?”
A pleasant female voice rang out.
When Zhou Qingcang heard it, he slowly raised his head. Seeing the woman before him dressed in golden battle armor, he slapped his forehead. “Sorry, I forgot about you. I am getting old, and my memory is poor. Please forgive me.”
“By the way, little girl, what did you say your name was again? We have no grudges or grievances between us, so why are we fighting?”
“…” The corner of the woman’s mouth twitched. She had already introduced herself three times just now.
How could this old uncle still forget?
She cleared her throat, her red lips parting lightly. “My name is Sophia. I am the Divine Contract Holder of Athena, the ancient Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom.”
“Oh.” Zhou Qingcang came to a sudden realization. “I remember now.”
Sophia nodded proudly and was just about to speak when she heard him say,
“So why are we fighting?”
Sophia: “…”
“Old uncle, are you not a Martial God of Huaxia? Are you not supposed to stop me from entering Huaxia?” She held her head with both hands, feeling somewhat broken by this forgetful old uncle.
“I remember now, I remember now. Look at this memory of mine.”
Zhou Qingcang patted his head, then suddenly asked, “Is your mission to kill the person chosen by fate?”
When Sophia heard this, her expression froze. “How do you know that? Could Huaxia have planted a spy inside the church?!”
The Child of Fate was part of the Goddess of Fate’s oracle. Apart from the church, no outsider should have known about it.
Seeing this, Zhou Qingcang smiled faintly. Frigg’s Law of Fate-Gazing was truly useful.
“You do not need to worry about how I know. You can go and complete your mission now.”
He stepped aside, showing no intention of blocking her at all.
Sophia was slightly stunned. She looked at the old uncle before her with a strange gaze.
“You are not stopping me?”
“Why would I stop you?” Zhou Qingcang said with a smile.
From the moment his son had been sentenced to death, his heart had already died toward Huaxia.
And Jiang Yichen was one of the reasons Xiao Yu had died. He was also the price of Zhou Qingcang’s contract with Frigg.
The Level-Nine Preachers of the God-Restoration Church all possessed Martial God-level strength.
Killing Jiang Yichen, a Seventh-Realm martial artist, would be more than enough.
“Then I am going over.”
Sophia crossed the border line with a face full of confusion. Seeing that the old uncle made no move to stop her at all, she directly turned into a golden stream of light and disappeared.
Zhou Qingcang sat back down on a rock in the Gobi. Suddenly, his face was filled with bewilderment.
“What did I come here to do again?”
He racked his brains for several minutes before finally revealing a look of realization.
“I remember now. I came to stop the Divine Contract Holders of the Ancient Greek God-Restoration Church.”
Zhou Qingcang nodded slightly and sat there, waiting quietly.
It seemed that he had forgotten all about letting Sophia in just now.
…
East China border, Guankou Divine Ruins.
“We are here. This is the Guankou Divine Ruins. There are still ten minutes before the barrier is released.”
The fighter jet stopped beside the ruins, and Mei Xue’er pointed not far ahead as she spoke.
Jiang Yichen and the others looked over.
They saw that, within the desolate borderland, Guankou was distinctly different.
Here, river winds mixed with moisture swept across the surface of the river. The riverbank, carved out by a thousand years of river waves, wound onward in an unbroken line.
Not far away, the ancient sluice-gate ruins emitted a faint golden light. Only half of a grayish-blue earthen wall remained.
Aside from the faint golden glow, it looked no different from a ruin.
Everyone followed Mei Xue’er onto a boat and crossed the mist-shrouded river. The ruined remains gradually grew larger in their field of vision.
Two minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to the ruins.
Gu Yuan and an army dressed in military uniforms had surrounded the ruins layer by layer. All kinds of advanced weapons had been deployed.
This showed just how seriously they regarded the ruins.
When Gu Yuan saw Mei Xue’er and the others arrive, a faint smile appeared on his face.
He lowered his head and glanced at the watch on his wrist, then said in an unfriendly tone, “There are still eight minutes before the ruins open. You arrived quite promptly.”
Lingling pouted and glanced at Jiang Yichen with a roll of her eyes. “Is that not because we have a king of arriving at the last second with us?”
Gu Yuan looked at Jiang Yichen, and helplessness surfaced on his face.
For the past half month, Jiang Yichen had claimed to have come to the Divine Battle Division for training, but there had not been a single day when he had actually trained.
Jiang Yichen’s slacking off had already filled Gu Yuan with despair.
He shook his head. “Forget it, forget it. The ruins are about to open, so I will not criticize you.”
Gu Yuan suddenly became serious. “The Guankou Divine Ruins are the ruins of Erlang Illustrious Sage Lord from Huaxia mythology. He has left an indelible impression in the hearts of the Huaxia people.”
“His resurrection must be controlled by us Huaxia people ourselves. If foreign martial artists seize it, that will be a major loss for Huaxia.”
He took off his military cap, bowed deeply to Jiang Yichen and the other three, and said in a low voice, “I am counting on you!”
Mei Xue’er and the other four were stunned. This was the first time they had seen the Chief Commander offer such a deep bow to others.
Seeing Gu Yuan act like this, Jiang Yichen and the other three felt somewhat embarrassed.
Tang Long hurriedly stepped forward and helped him up. “Please do not, Commander Gu. We are also doing this for the Recruit Assessment. There is no need for this.”
“That is right. We will do everything we can to pass the trial and obtain the Illustrious Sage Lord’s approval,” Chu Xingchen said firmly. “We absolutely will not allow the revival of a Huaxia god to fall into the hands of outsiders!”
When Gu Yuan heard this, he nodded slightly, then turned to look at Jiang Yichen.
The latter was speechless. Why did it feel as though he had been morally bound by the national honor and disgrace Gu Yuan had thrown out?
However, as a Huaxia person, it was indeed inappropriate to hand the revival of one’s own god to outsiders.
“Do not worry. I will be the one who decides whom Erlang Shen contracts with.”
Jiang Yichen smiled faintly.
As soon as he said this, the corners of everyone’s mouths twitched.
Gu Yuan felt somewhat helpless in the face of Jiang Yichen’s arrogance.
You decide whom a god contracts with? Who do you think you are?!
For him to even say such a thing… even Mo Yan, who had contracted with the Jade Emperor, could not order a god to contract with someone.
Gu Yuan rolled his eyes at him. “I hope it is as you say.”
“The surrounding dangers have already been cleared. You will seize the initiative and enter the ruins first. Good luck.”
He gave them a military salute.
Jiang Yichen, however, revealed a strange expression. He opened the mini-map and took a look.
Good grief!
The area around the ruins was densely packed with purple dots. There were one hundred and twenty-three dots in total.
And you are telling me the surrounding dangers have already been cleared?
What was strange, however, was that even the Divine Mind User’s Mental Perception could not sense the foreign martial artists around them.
If not for the mini-map, he would not have discovered them at all.
They had probably used some brilliant concealment method, one capable of evading even the perception of a Supreme-grade Divine Mind User.
Seeing that there was only one minute left before the ruins opened, Jiang Yichen asked tentatively, “Commander Gu, are you certain there is no one around?”
Gu Yuan said with absolute certainty, “There is no one. Before you arrived, the Battle Division already sent several groups to investigate. We did not discover any traces of foreign martial artists.”
“Brother Yichen, do you think there are other people around?” Su Linyu asked curiously.
Jiang Yichen nodded. “They should have used concealment methods that even I cannot perceive, and there are quite a lot of them.”
“Commander Gu, I am afraid this small number of people you brought will not be enough to fight them.”
He pointed at the army, which did not have many soldiers.
The corner of Gu Yuan’s mouth twitched. He looked at the completely still river surface and felt somewhat speechless.
“There cannot possibly be anyone here. You can focus on completing the assessment.”
The Divine Battle Division had used the most advanced detection equipment. They had even dispatched the Divine Contract Holder of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to observe the area with Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, but still had not discovered any hidden foreign martial artists.
If there really was someone here, I will eat my words!
Gu Yuan’s expression was very confident.
“Jiang Yichen, you are being too suspicious. For the past half month, the Battle Division has conducted comprehensive inspections of the ruins every time. It is impossible for any foreign martial artists to be here.”
Mei Xue’er explained.
Mo Yan and the other three also nodded. They had watched this every day, so there could not be any mistakes.
Seeing this, Jiang Yichen stopped saying more. If they did not believe him, what else was there to say?
They would know soon enough.
He chose the slacker’s silence and watched as time passed second by second. When there were only ten seconds left before the barrier around the ruins disappeared, there was still no movement around the ruins.
Gu Yuan sighed in relief inwardly. To be honest, when Jiang Yichen had said that people were hiding nearby, he had still felt a little nervous.
But now, there were only a few seconds left before the ruins opened, and there had not been any movement at all.
Could there really be anyone here?
Sigh. Young people just loved to show off…
Splash, splash—
But just as the countdown reached zero and the faint golden light on the surface of the ruins disappeared, the originally calm river surface suddenly rang with the sound of water being broken.
Under everyone’s astonished gazes, more than a hundred black shadows rushed into the entrance of the ruins at extreme speed. The army did not have time to react at all.
“Damn! There really were people hiding here!” Tang Long was startled.
Everyone also reacted and looked at Jiang Yichen in unison, surprise appearing in their eyes.
Even the Divine Battle Division had not discovered them, so how had Jiang Yichen done it?
But now was not the time to think about that.
Gu Yuan immediately flashed to the entrance of the ruins, and the army also formed up.
“Mei Xue’er, you and Sleep God are the strongest. Escort Jiang Yichen and the others inside. Everyone else, stay at the entrance with me and stop the remaining people from entering.”
With a single order, Mei Xue’er and the others immediately carried it out.
Jiang Yichen shook his head helplessly. Amid Mei Xue’er’s urgent calls, he walked into the entrance of the ruins.
“Mo Yan, make them stop!”
Gu Yuan spoke urgently.
Mo Yan nodded slightly, put away his folding fan, and said, “Stop!”
But it had no effect. The black shadows whose appearances could not be seen clearly continued charging into the entrance of the ruins.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Mo Yan repeated in a panic.
Gu Yuan: “…”
He truly was someone who failed at the most critical moment.
Gu Yuan did not hesitate. He slowly raised his hand, and White, Threadlike Laws coiled around him.
“Dipper Turns, Stars Shift!”
Starlight gathered in Gu Yuan’s palm, moving the constellations, altering the flow of starlight, and using the power of the stars to influence all things.
This was the Divine Contract Holder of the Lord of Myriad Stars, the Purple Star Emperor.
The instant the power of the stars converged, the structure of space-time around them was reversed. All the black shadows that entered the ruins were transferred to other space-time positions.
Those black shadows seemed to realize it as well. They stopped one after another, released their concealment, and revealed European faces.
“It is the Divine Contract Holder of Huaxia’s god, the Purple Star Emperor. Stop them from entering the ruins!”
“Lady Sophia has already entered the ruins. For the sake of completing the great Goddess of Fate’s oracle, fight, warriors!”
More than thirty followers released their martial pressure.
There were six Eighth-Realm Martial Emperors among them. This…
Gu Yuan’s expression became grave. For a single divine ruin, it was impossible for the God-Restoration Church to mobilize such a large force.
Fortunately, they had made preparations in advance.
“Old Gu, the people the God-Restoration Church sent this time are so strong. What should we do?” Lingling sensed their Martial Emperor pressure, her eyes filled with worry.
Liang Shan rubbed Lingling’s little head. “Do not worry. Old Gu had long expected that someone would come to seize the Divine Contract in the ruins. He has already made preparations.”
Lingling looked curiously at Gu Yuan.
The latter smiled faintly and said, “Come out, Master.”
For the sake of these ruins, he had spent a great deal of effort persuading four veteran Divine Contract Holders to come and assist them.
As his words fell, Buddhist light tore through the sky. A monk wearing a kasaya, with six white dots on his head and a staff in his hand, descended from the heavens.
Lingling’s eyes lit up. “It is Master Xuanyi! Long time no see. Have you completed your westward journey to retrieve the scriptures?”
Xuanyi looked at Gu Yuan and said somewhat irritably, “Not yet. Our Westward-Journey F4 still has ten trials left out of the eighty-one trials. It is driving me mad.”
Gu Yuan lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly. Master Xuanyi had contracted with Great Dharma Master Golden Cicada, and his resurrection mission was to journey west to retrieve the scriptures alongside the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Marshal Tianpeng, and Namo Golden-Bodied Arhat, experiencing the Nine-Nine Eighty-One Trials.
“Little Gu, since I am helping you this time, you must properly compensate our Westward-Journey F4. Otherwise, I will call you every day and chant scriptures at you,” Xuanyi said with righteous confidence.
In front of Xuanyi, Gu Yuan was as obedient as a child. “No problem. Master, I can compensate you however you want.”
“Let us deal with these foreigners first.”
He pointed at the thirty-plus foreign martial artists on the river.
Xuanyi nodded in satisfaction. Holding his staff, he took two steps forward and swept his gaze across the followers of the God-Restoration Church.
“Benefactors, this is the ruin of a Huaxia god, not the god you believe in. I hope you will show mercy and leave.”
Xuanyi pressed his palms together and smiled. “If you benefactors refuse to listen, then this poor monk also knows a little hand-to-hand combat.”