Longzang

Chapter 937 Those with virtue shall reside there.

A piercing scream echoed from beyond the heavens, instantly reverberating throughout the entire desolate realm. Wei Yuan's heart rate spiked several times over, blood gushed from his ears—he had gone deaf. His eyes swelled to several times their normal size, almost bulging out of their sockets!

Wei Yuan pressed one hand to his eyes, struggling with all his might to suppress the strange sensations in his body. However, many blisters had already formed on his body, and many of them had burst.

Even Wei Yuan's witch body could not withstand it, and many powerful witches were powerless to resist. Their entire bodies suddenly exploded and turned into a pool of blood.

After the piercing screams from beyond the sky finally subsided, Wei Yuan pressed his eyeballs back into their sockets. The blood in his ears congealed and began to grow rapidly, and gradually he was able to hear the sounds, which became clearer and clearer.

He looked around and found that only half of the power sorcerers were still standing. Many of the power sorcerer corpses were reduced to their lower bodies, while their upper bodies, which had internal cavities, had exploded and were covered in blood.

The remaining base of the pillar continuously gushed out a dark red liquid, whether blood or something else, like a waterfall cascading from the sky. It wriggled and withdrew from the heavens, which then began to slowly close, gradually sealing the wound, but a dark red area remained in the air, like a newly healed scar.

The place where the fourth pillar of heaven should have fallen has now become a vast, blackish-red ocean. The dark, bloody mass that permeated the sky is also shrinking, and slowly light returns to the world, and the temperature begins to rise.

The piercing screams from beyond the heavens seemed to inflict more damage on the Flame Demons, causing countless of them to explode and perish. The remaining demons retreated towards the Heavenly Pillars. The three pillars were no longer active. The Flame Demons that had escaped first flew into the holes in the pillars and began constructing outer shells to seal the openings. The Flame Demons that hadn't managed to return gathered outside the pillars, quietly and orderly awaiting their deaths.

Outside each celestial pillar stood over ten million fire demons. They stood silently, motionless, like puppets whose spirit stones had been drained.

The Flame Demon, supporting the heavily injured Nine-Eyed, flew to the Molten Dragon. At this moment, the Molten Dragon's head alone was larger than its two combined magical bodies.

Nine Eyes called out several times before the Molten Dragon finally opened one eye. Its huge amber eye looked at them and finally reacted.

The Balrog immediately said, "Hold on a little longer, I'll go find the Ancestor of Steel right away. With its help, perhaps your life can be saved."

The Molten Dragon remained motionless, and his voice echoed in the consciousness of the Flame Demon and the Nine-Eyed: "It's too late. My mental world has begun to assimilate into the Desolate Realm. It was obtained from the Desolate Realm, and it will eventually have to be repaid."

In truth, both the Flame Demon and Nine Eyes had already discerned that the Molten Dragon's mental world was dissipating into the world, yet they still harbored a sliver of despair. The attack from the Heavenly Pillar not only tore open wounds in the physical body but also simultaneously attacked the soul and consciousness. Once struck, the same number of wounds would appear in the soul as in the physical body, and these wounds would never heal.

The flames on the surface of the molten dragon's body had extinguished, and its flesh and skin gradually turned black, like solidified lava.

The Flame Demon gritted his teeth and said, "Why don't we give it a try?"

The Molten Dragon seemed to smile and said, "I was originally just an ordinary Power Wizard. It was only because the Desolate Realm was in crisis that I was exceptionally granted strength and authority over the world. It was the times that made me who I am, not because I was inherently so outstanding. So there's nothing to regret about my death. There are many Power Wizards like me."

Although the new Heavenly Pillar has been removed, the old one remains. I've merely bought the Desolate Realm some time. Now, it's up to you all. Heaven and Earth are impartial, and I have done my utmost for them, reaping rich rewards. First, I truly comprehended the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, though only for a fleeting moment. But having heard the Dao in the morning, I can die content in the evening. And then there's this position of Heavenly Witch…”

Seeing that the dragon's voice was getting weaker and weaker, Nine Eyes hurriedly asked, "What will happen to the position of the Heavenly Witch after you die?"

The dragon slowly said, "...The virtuous shall reside there..."

The Flame Demon and Nine Eyes exchanged bewildered glances, not understanding what the Molten Dragon was talking about. But at this moment, the Molten Dragon, which had been coiled around the broken pillar of heaven, had transformed into a mountain range stretching across the land, and there was no longer any response.

A sudden gust of wind picked up.

The wind howled in, gently caressing the massive mountain range, as if bidding it a final farewell. Then the wind departed, and the world returned to silence, as the fiery sunlight returned to the earth, licking its newly inflicted wounds.

Suddenly feeling a deep weariness, Jiu Mu said, "Let's go, there's still the cleanup to do. Many of the little ones might still be saved. But there's something I don't understand..."

The Flame Demon said, "If you don't understand, then don't say anything."

"Why don't you speak? The Ancestral Witches can't hear you now!" Nine Eyes sneered, pointing to the three pillars in the distance, and said, "That is the blade, the blade that harvests us! Over thousands of years, countless young powerful witches and geniuses have lost their lives in it, but we can never fill this bottomless pit!"

The territories and treasures we seize from the wars against the Liao and the human races have nothing to do with us. We're stuck here, waging a war we can never win for thousands of years! Why?

"Stop talking." The Flame Demon tried to stop Nine Eyes.

Nine Eyes, however, disregarded everything and said, "It's the Ancestral Witch who's afraid! It's afraid that another Steel Ancestor will emerge among us Power Witches and take away its authority! For millions of years, ever since it merged with the Heavenly Dao, it has not allowed any witch to take away even a little bit of its authority!"
All power belongs to it; it can do whatever it wants, and kill whomever it desires! Is this vast world the domain of the Witch Clan?! No! It belongs solely to the Ancestral Witches; it is theirs alone, and has absolutely nothing to do with us!

"You, you are crazy!"

“I’m not crazy! You know this very well yourself! You know very well where the power we Heavenly Witches wield comes from. It’s not the power of heaven and earth at all, it’s just a scrap of leftovers bestowed by the Ancestral Witches. We now regard the Ancestral Witches as heaven and earth! Do you see the Molten Dragon? This is what Heavenly Witches should truly be like!”

The Flame Demon remained silent for a long time before saying, "I am aware of what you are saying, but this is not without its advantages. The difficulty of becoming a Heavenly Witch has been reduced, and there are many candidates. The Heavenly Tribulation during the Heavenly Witch attainment is controllable, and most candidates can pass through the tribulation without any major incidents. The Heavenly Witch ranks are clear, and the requirements are transparent, so everyone only needs to work hard to meet the requirements."

Nine Eyes said, "So we've become dogs fighting over bones, only caring about fighting each other, forgetting that all the bones originally belonged to all of us."

The Flame Demon shook his head and said, "As I just said, this isn't without its advantages. For example, if it weren't for this mechanism, you would probably have died in the Heavenly Tribulation long ago."

Nine Eyes sighed and said, "I know. If the Ancestral Witch wasn't so determined to exterminate the Power Witch, and if it could even give us a little breathing room and a sliver of hope, I would still be its most loyal dog."

The Flame Demon glared at him and said, "Based on what you just said, you're a born traitor! The most loyal dog? Hmph, no matter how good the Ancestral Witches are to you, you'll find a reason to rebel."

Nine Eyes sighed, "That's really not it. I know my own limitations. As long as I can live peacefully and live a life of ease, I will never have any disloyal intentions."

"And what you just said..."

Nine Eyes tossed a book to the Flame Demon, the cover of which bore the four large characters 'Rebirth from the Abyss'. The Flame Demon opened it and saw that the first sentence read: Heaven and Earth are of utmost importance, witches are next, and ancestral witches are of least importance.

"Let's go, let's think about how to deal with the Ancestral Witch's punishment first." Nine Eyes flew back the way it came, forgetting to retrieve the book.

The Flame Demon's divine sense swept across the entire book, then it tossed the book aside, letting it disappear into the mountain range formed by the Molten Dragon's body, and flew away with Nine Eyes.

The two great celestial sorcerers came from where they came from, and went to where they were going.

……

At the Edge Fortress, Wei Yuan dragged his weary body back to his house. It was a miracle the house hadn't collapsed. Wei Yuan looked around, intending to quickly tidy up and leave. After such a major incident, he could no longer stay at Edge Fortress, but where to go next was still unknown to him.

Looking at the room full of books, Wei Yuan finally knew what he needed to tidy up. So he gathered all the books written by Ronglong together, not even leaving the drafts behind. As for the rest, Wei Yuan planned to burn them all.

Just then, the voice of the Molten Dragon rang out behind him: "Don't burn it!"

Wei Yuan turned around and saw Ronglong standing behind him, just like when they studied mathematics together that day.

Molten Dragon said, "Let's leave these things to the Power Witches so they can find better ways to forge steel and create their own armor, allowing more Power Witches to survive. This is a great act of merit, far more important than leaving them a few immortal artifacts."

"Alright." Wei Yuan extinguished his true fire, looked at the Molten Dragon with a puzzled expression, and asked, "You, weren't you dead? I clearly felt just now that your mental world had already dissipated into the world!"

"But you don't seem sad at all?" Molten Dragon said.

Wei Yuan shrugged: "I have to escape first, survive first, before I have the right to grieve slowly."

"Bullshit!" Ronglong slammed a curse at Wei Yuan's face, then cried out in anguish, "You just don't care! How could I, a hero of my generation, run into such a heartless bastard like you!"

Wei Yuan stared blankly at the molten dragon before him, his eyes gleaming as he tried to figure out what it was.

Molten Dragon said irritably, "Of course it's me. Who can impersonate me? Even if they can impersonate me in appearance and spirit, do they have my methods? Come on, do this question first. I'll give you half an hour to see if you can understand it."

Looking at the simple question in front of him, Wei Yuan's face turned ashen.

Such topics are always more significant the fewer words there are. Now he finally believed that what stood before him was the genuine Molten Dragon.

"Weren't you dead?" Wei Yuan asked again, finding it hard to believe.

"Of course I'm dead." The molten dragon's body suddenly became translucent. Only then did Wei Yuan realize that the molten dragon before him actually possessed a trace of innate intelligence.

Molten Dragon sighed and said, "I don't understand why there has been such a change either. Perhaps it's because of this thing."

As he spoke, a plain-looking longsword appeared in the dragon's hand.

Wei Yuan jumped up, exclaiming, "The Dao Sword! It's been in your hands all along? You, you've become the Sword-Wielding Immortal?!"

Molten Dragon sighed again and said, "It seems that's the case. Now is not the time to talk. We should leave before the Desolate Realm is completely sealed off."

With a flick of his finger, the molten dragon created a teleportation array in front of Wei Yuan.

"Once inside, you can escape the desolate realm and then slowly find your way back to your original realm. It's very close and not hard to find, it just takes some time."

Wei Yuan looked around and suddenly his expression changed. In the far distance, an extremely terrifying and cold will was sweeping over the entire desolate realm!
Without thinking it over, Wei Yuan instinctively knew that being touched by that thought was not a good thing, so he leaped up and rushed into the teleportation portal.

A terrifying intent surged into the room, but gained nothing.

A faint echo still lingered in the air.

"...Are you interested in the Heavenly Witch position that I left behind?"

"I am human. Humans and witches are different. How can I inherit the position of Heavenly Witch?"

"Humans are born of human mothers, and shamans are born of shaman mothers. This is the true meaning of heaven and earth, and this is what we all have in common!"

"...Big brother, be serious! What are the requirements for the position of Heavenly Witch?"

"Those who possess virtue should dwell among the things of heaven and earth."

Wei Yuan remained silent.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about whether to change my name. Hmm... Wei Youde, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)