Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 856 The Key Site Prepared by Tzeentch for His Chosen Primarch—Magnus
Lemuel Gaumont lay prone on a mound in the Argos salt flats, with his two other narrator friends, Camille Sivanni and Callista Ores, lying beside him.

Lemuel gazed at the thousand soldiers standing solemnly on both sides of the avenue amidst the hot, dusty haze.

Their gleaming helmets were inlaid with gold and amethyst, and their crimson armor was magnificent and beautiful.

Reiki reader Lemuel identifies auras, and Hathor Matt's Third Society makes Radiant Feather Chiko shine.

Azek Ahriman's First Academy, the elusive and ever-changing aura of the Black Crow Thousand Sons.

The Second Academy of Fusis Taka, the heavy and thick barrier of the Falcon Thousand Sons.

The Sixth Academy of Calofis, the scorching pillars of fire of the Thousand Fire Phoenixes, Lemuel was unaware of their arrival until today.

The dazzling light emanating from over five thousand Thousand Sons stung Lemuel's eyes.

Lemuel's gaze was focused on the front of the line, where eighty-one Terminator decorations of the Scarab Hermitage stood out vividly.

They wore white helmets adorned with golden crests and jade scarabs on their chests.

Their spiritual radiance surpassed that of the other Thousand Sons, but was completely overshadowed by the four Temple Masters and Anku Enan, the guardian of the Prospero Library, like stars compared to the moon.

Lemuel squinted, not having time to adjust, when a beam of light suddenly pierced his eyes.

The brilliance of the five bright moons was obscured by the sun descending from the sky.

“Lord Ninglu…” Lemuel murmured.

Camille Sivani and Callista Oris followed his gaze and looked up to see a black Skyhawk shuttle slowly descending.

Before the thick dust had even dissipated, Hathor Matt's eyes gleamed as he walked forward.

Ahriman and the other three were stunned for a moment, then followed suit.

"Lord Nimrod." Hathor cannot address others with terms like "You."

The eyes of the Temple Chief of the "Bright Feather School" instantly turned obsidian, conveying a plea for the Black Emperor to forgive his blasphemous act.

“Lord Ninglu…” Ahriman and the other three bowed to the Primarch.

Ninglu smiled and nodded slightly, glancing at the four people before gesturing to Pat, who was following behind on his right.

"I recently acquired a psionic pet, and I happen to have five of them, so I'm giving them to you."

Standing to the left rear, the demonic psionicist Saint Diego Bergkamp and Pat traveled together to a special dimension and discovered a tribe inhabited by hundreds of psionic dragons.

After fulfilling the Order Shadow Contracts of fifty-two individuals and advancing to Sequence 5 "Dream Walkers," there are still one hundred and sixty-three remaining.

Besides the already promoted female captain Diana Pauline, the other needed are Hathor, the "white-scarred" Agu Khan Khan, and the apothecary Narison.

To avoid making people aware of his close relationship with Aguhan and Narisong, Ninglu decided not to promote them before the grand birthday celebration.

Giving it to Hathor separately would be too abrupt, so he simply sent it along with Hathor's.

More importantly, the other four have already established a spiritual connection in the third layer of the "Disordered Kingdom" and "corruption" in the fifth layer. After that connection is established, there may be unexpected gains.

Ahriman, Taka, Carlofis, and Enan saw the psionic creature flapping its wings inside the transparent crystal cage and thanked them in unison.

"Thank you for your generous gift."

After they thanked him, they all looked at Hathor.

Hathor understood and spoke to the Black Emperor.

"Lord Ninglu, the father of gene therapy has gone deep into the mountains and has not returned for a long time."

“We are ordered not to disturb the indigenous people.”

"Could you please go there in person and return with your father?"

Ninglu saw the expectation in the eyes of Aliman and the other three, and nodded with a smile.

"Of course, I will help you find your father."

Sensing the anxiety of the Thousand Sons, Ninglu did not delay and immediately led Saint Diego and Pat, accompanied by Hathor's five men and the Scarab Terminator, toward the mountains.

On the hill, Camille stared blankly as the magnificent, perfect figure left before snapping back to reality. Resentfully, she grabbed her camera.

"I forgot to take a picture."

Kalista, the prophetic psionicist, shuddered as she snapped out of the glimpse she had just witnessed.

“I want to see Lord Ninglu.” Lemuel recalled the glittering light, his eyes shining.

He believed that if the shining giant was willing to lend a helping hand, his Marika would surely return safely.

“Impossible, Lord Ninglu will not see you,” Camille whispered to her friend.

“There must be a way. I will definitely see Lord Ninglu,” Lemuel said resolutely.

As the three were talking, Ninglu's obsidian eyes had already spotted the boulder covered in decaying vines.

The "Chaos Mentor" gazed at the radiant spiritual light and thought to himself.

[As expected, it's a potion ingredient.]

Given that their origin is related to death, they are undoubtedly potion ingredients for the "Death" pathway.

Argos's trip was worthwhile.
Hathor arrived slightly later than the Primarch and, upon seeing the instinctively repulsive, lifeless stone, reported to the Black Emperor to his side.

“My lord, those stones are objects of worship for the Argons.”

“Scholars specializing in geology have secretly examined it and found that the dead rock would not suffer any damage even if submerged in water or burned.”

He continued, gazing at the approaching mountains.

"Before my father entered the mountains, we followed him to meet with Attiri, the chief of the Argolu tribe of the Argolu people at the foot of the mountains. He asked us not to enter the valleys in the mountains."

He said it was the sacred land of the Argos.

"My father therefore forbade us from entering."

Ninglu nodded and stepped forward.

Suddenly, the sound of drums, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, rang out at the entrance of the canyon, and the guards of the Agoru tribe raised their weapons.

Ninglu continued walking, while the Agoru barbarian warriors, dressed in sunset-colored robes and leather breastplates, slowly parted to make way for the towering giant. Saint Diego and Pat followed, while the Thousand Sons stopped at the entrance to the canyon.

San Diego followed the Black Emperor, gazing at the mountains, where endless paths were clearly defined, their curves and lines stretching towards the horizon.

The angles of each cliff and rift valley are exquisitely distributed, and the stone pillars are neatly arranged in equal intervals, strictly adhering to mathematical accuracy.

“Every landform here strictly follows geometric proportions and must not have been formed naturally.”

"Some supernatural force shaped the mountain..." the demonic psionicist exclaimed.

He had never imagined that someone... no, only a god like our Lord could possess such power.

"This place was indeed not formed naturally."

Ninglu looked toward the end of the canyon, where two enormous, elegant structures stood, taller than even a Warlord-class Titan.

Their heads are inlaid with sparkling gems, and their elegant bodies are as pale as bones, perfectly formed by nature.

“Eldar Titans,” San Diego and Patzia said together.

The demonic psionicist stared at the two statue-like constructs. "He has long since died in the erosion of time."

Ninglu remained silent. This was indeed the case under normal circumstances, but if there was external interference, such as the impending corruption of the treacherous forces, they would also come back to life.

He did not act rashly; he did not want to attract Tianqi's attention.

Nimrod came here for the purpose of the Death Stone of Argos and to have the sixteen “Recorders”, including San Diego, mark the three coordinates, complete the last mark, and be promoted to Sequence 5 “Traveler”.

Pat shifted his gaze from the Eldar Titans to their feet.
More than a thousand men and women dressed in robes and wearing reflective masks surrounded a large basalt altar.

They sang softly and struck their large drums.

Pat looked toward the altar, which was decorated with earrings, bracelets, straw dolls, and beaded necklaces.

"Sacrifice?" the chief priest said in Vostorian. "Heretical."

“This mountain range is the land of the dead.” Ninglu stared at the dark cave behind the altar, which resembled the gaping maw of an abyss.

"One billion spirits are buried in dark, lightless caves."

"My lord, shall we go in?" San Diego's eyes were deep as he stared into the dark cave.

The demonic psionicist sensed that the deep entrance led to another dimension, another special space.

“It’s not time yet.” Ninglu shook his head and looked at the crimson giant wearing golden armor that appeared at the cave entrance.

Magnus emerged from the cave, his eyes gleaming gold.

"Ninglu".

“Magnus.” Nimrod walked around the altar toward Magnus.

“I thought you would be in Ulanno right now, I didn’t expect you to come to the remote Argos.”

Nimrod sensed Magnus's subtle probing and said with a smile.

"This place is not simple. Your three-month stay here proves everything."

Seeing that Nimrod did not respond directly, Magnus did not press further and instead introduced the masked tribal chief beside him.

"Atiri, the leader of the Agoru tribe."

"The local myths and legends are very interesting; perhaps you'd be interested in hearing them?"

Ninglu nodded and looked at Attiri.

"Of course, I'm happy to listen."

"In our legends, the first race to emerge from this world was called the Elohem." Atiri spoke standard High Gothic, clearly well-taught by Magnus.

"Eroheim established a vast empire among the stars, ruling the cosmos like a god."

"But they were unrestrained, their long lives filled with desire."

Nimrod knew that Elohim was the Argoths' name for the Eldar, and he listened patiently as Attiri continued his story.

"They were eventually corrupted by debauchery and decay, and the entire race was wiped out overnight. Most of the Elohem died, but that was not the worst of it."

“A small number of survivors were corrupted by the corrupting forces and fell into the form of Dessa.”

"The power of Elohem is on the verge of collapse. They cannot exterminate Dessai, so they can only drive them here and use their last strength to create this mountain to imprison Dessai."

Ninglu nodded slightly; he knew that Dessai was the Argos's name for the Chaos creatures.

The entire mountain range was created by the Spirit Race to seal away chaos, and the Death Stone is a supernatural substance formed from the impact of the deaths of a billion souls—a magical ingredient for the "Death God" pathway.

As he pondered, Attiri continued.

“The Dessais are imprisoned deep within the world, but their thirst for life can never be satisfied. So every time the world completes a cycle, we bring the dead of the tribe here to perform a ritual to ensure they continue to slumber.”

"The demise of Eloheim serves as a warning to resist vanity and narcissism, which is why we wear masks."

Magnus listened to Attiri's story with a smile, his golden eyes shining brightly.

“Ninglu, although this place is a dead zone, I can sense billions of paths extending from here, connecting to the vast starry sky…”

Ninglu watched Magnus recount his tale incessantly; he already knew this was the entrance to the Internet.

He also remembered that it was by relying on the secrets obtained from here that Magnus was able to pass through the Webway and reach the entrance to the Webway beneath Terra—the core of Old Man Huang's great plan—when he sent a message to Old Man Huang not long afterward.

If he hadn't discovered the network, the location where his psionic communication arrived wouldn't have been so coincidental. After all, Old Man Huang only informed a very few people, including Makado, and didn't tell him that he didn't know the location of the laboratory.

Furthermore, the laboratory itself has a psionic shield personally set up by Old Man Huang, making it almost impossible to break through, but it can be breached through the internal network entrance.

Argos is the key place that Treachery prepared for Magnus, the Primarch of Genes He chose.

It was all a conspiracy woven by Tzeentch: He tempted Magnus to explore the mysteries of the Web, and Magnus, in sending messages, used the Web—a means that could deliver information—thus sabotaging the Emperor's Web plan, suffering punishment, and falling into His demonic form.

As Nimrod and Magnus conversed, outside the veil, inside the Impossible Fortress, shifting eyes were fixed on the two Primarchs.

(End of this chapter)