Against The Heavens

Because of this, Li Yang could no longer stand sitting with them, as he found their actions annoying. So the last few days of the journey were spent sitting with Mo Jiang, who was professional enough to treat Li Yang as he always had.

Mourners Refuge was located at the top of a large hill that allowed one to get a clear view of the surroundings. At the top of the hill stood a large building that served as a temple to protect the statue that was the foundation of Mourners Refuge.

The building was made by using a type of golden stone that looked very expensive. Jewels of varying sizes and color were inlaid in the building, reflecting the sunlight in a myriad of colors.

Upon seeing some of the colored windows, Li Yang could not help but exclaim slightly. The windows were not created using gla.s.s, but rather by using large Demon Crystals that had been processed and stretched out.

The people of this world had used Demon Crystals as large as these to make windows? Was this not just a ma.s.sive waste of a natural treasure? How much energy was stored inside those Demon Crystals?

At the same time, the corners of his mouth also twitched slightly. Demon Crystals were simply crystallized Qi. If a strong enough attack hit them, they would shatter and rapidly release that Qi, resulting in an explosion. How large would the explosion be if these Demon Crystals shattered?

"The Cursed Realm is located only five days march away from Mourners Refuge, further up north. It seems to have been created around the same time as Mourners Refuge, which is why people think that it might be related to the Four Monarchs. If you plan on checking it out, I highly advice against entering it, no one has ever managed to leave it."

At the bottom of the hill, the caravan stopped and unloaded its pa.s.sengers. There was no need for the caravan to bring all the people up the hill, so it usually just stopped at the bottom and then returned to the city. After unloading all the pa.s.sengers, Mo Jiang explained a bit about the Cursed Realm to Li Yang, as he had asked for a description of its location.

"I see, thank you for the warning, I will make sure to be careful."

Li Yang gave Mo Jiang a smile and thanked him for the warning, before bidding him farewell and heading up the hill. Since spring had just recently arrived, the gra.s.s on the hill was lush and green, a myriad of colorful flowers spread around and released a calming fragrance.

Despite how beautiful it was, the entire area was covered by a solemn feeling. Even Li Yang and Jinwu were affected by this solemn feeling, resulting in them making the walk up to the doors of the large temple in silence.

The doors were just as extravagant as the rest of the temple. They were built using a type of light green jade that was warm to the touch. Touching the handle of the doors filled Li Yang with a calm sensation like everything would end up okay.

He pushed open the doors and entered the temple, which turned out to be surprisingly simple on the inside. There was only a single room inside the temple, a large statue standing at the center of the room. Besides the statue, there were no other decorations or furniture, not even chairs or tables. A few people were sitting around the statue, silently cultivating or offering a silent prayer.

The statue depicted four people, two men, and two women, each one looking incredibly lifelike. One of the men had a tanned and burly body, with features that looked like they had been chiseled. He had flowing silver hair and golden eyes that carried a strong sense of pride. His face held a wide smile that seemed like he was challenging someone.

The woman at his side was delicate and beautiful, with long and silky black hair, clear blue eyes, and smooth white skin. She held a faint smile on her lips and her eyes were locked on the burly man next to her, a gentle light shining from them.

Next to this woman stood another woman. This woman had short hair that was a deep crimson in color, and where the woman next to her was delicate and beautiful, this woman was powerful and imposing. Her body was slim, but it was clearly packed with muscles that could release terrifying power. She had deep black eyes and carried a fearless smile as she looked at the man who was standing next to her, the last person in the statue.

The man standing next to the powerful woman looked incredibly carefree, his posture relaxed and nonchalant. He had long golden hair and a slim and elegant body. Brown eyes that seemed to look at the world with curiosity were looking at the powerful woman next to him with a loving expression.

Li Yang completely ignored the people around the statue, his eyes firmly glued to the large statue at the center of the room. He slowly walked forward and crouched down at the front of the statue, reading the words that were engraved beneath it.

Our failure to aid you can never be forgiven. No matter how long we must fight, we will acquire your revenge.

"You b.l.o.o.d.y fools, If I am already dead, what is the point in throwing away your lives in revenge."

Li Yang gently caressed the carved words as he whispered silently. He was now completely certain that the Four Monarchs were the people he thought they were, people he had considered family in his last life. This also meant that he had not been sent to a different world, but rather sent forward in time.

Li Yang sat down in front of the statue, looking at the four people with a wistful expression. He reached for his bag and took out a small waterskin that was filled with some spicy fruit wine, something he had decided to buy to indulge himself.

"In the past, I died while you lived. Now I live, but you are nowhere to be found. I don"t have any of Old Man Chao"s wine that we used to drink, so this will have to do for a farewell drink. I don"t know if any of you are still alive after all these years, but if you are, I hope we can meet again."

Li Yang took a small sip of the wine, before pouring out the rest of the wine on the ground in front of the statue. His words were quiet and soft, so none of the other people sitting around the statue managed to hear him.

"You want to hear about them?"

Jinwu could sense Li Yang"s melancholy, so he nuzzled up against Li Yang"s neck and let out a few silent caws. Hearing Jinwu"s words, a faint smile appeared on Li Yang"s face. He organized his thoughts and started talking about things that had happened long ago.

"Zhao Feng was the first one I met, I met him before I even met Fang Ying. He was a slave for a large clan, his job was to clean the various training grounds of that clan. As I was traveling around and challenging various people, I arrived at the clan where he was enslaved, the Fang clan."

Li Yang had not had a clan of his own, he had increased his cultivation through repeated battles. He would wander around and challenge everyone he felt was strong, even challenging the prodigies of clans.

"I spotted him while I was in the middle of a duel, and immediately noticed that it would be more fun to fight him than it would be to fight the person I was currently fighting. I quickly finished the battle and then challenged Zhao Feng. After a short battle, I completely thrashed him. He had excellent instincts, but he had never been taught how to utilize them."

Countless battles had honed his reflexes and his judgment. The moment he spotted Zhao Feng, he knew just how terrifying the potential that Zhao Feng had was.

"After that, I started to teach him a bit about cultivation and fighting. The speed at which he learned was truly frightening. After I taught him a bit, he decided to show me the woman who he had a crush on, the most popular girl in the clan. And so he introduced me to Fang Ying. I"m sure he never expected me to be the one to end up with her."

He couldn"t help but chuckle. Zhao Feng had introduced him to the woman he had a crush on, which ended with Li Yang marrying her and eventually dying alongside her.

"After a large commotion broke out because Fang Ying"s poison powers were discovered, I grabbed Fang Ying and Zhao Feng and carved a b.l.o.o.d.y path out of the clan. I slew anyone who tried to stop us. And so we began to travel together."

"The next person we met was the one who would become Zhao Feng"s future wife, Dai Shu. Dai Shu was the same as me, just a wandering cultivator with no home. Well, calling her a robber would probably be better."

"She tried to rob us in the middle of the night, but we managed to repel her before she even got to touch our bags. After this, she started stalking us, convinced that we carried a large number of riches. The number of times she tried to rob us easily surpa.s.sed tens of times."

Dai Shu had truly been relentless back then. They had barely been able to notice her following them, but whenever she truly focused, merely finding her position would become hard. A truly troublesome person.

"Of course, she wasn"t always trying to rob us. Sometimes we shared a meal and some drinks, telling stories about our past. After trying to rob us for some time, we had grown surprisingly close. She would sometimes appear and help us when we were in a tough spot, while sometimes it was us saving her."

One time they had even barged into a ma.s.sive city, rushing towards the center of the city to stop Dai Shu"s execution. It was an incredibly dangerous time, but Li Yang remembered it fondly.

"After this went on for a while, she gave up on trying to rob us and decided to travel alongside us instead. Turns out she had fallen for Zhao Feng over the consecutive battles. And he too had ended up falling for her."

"Bai Yawen and Ye Ning were already together when we met them. We were exploring an ancient ruin when we stumbled upon the two of them being chased by their clans. They were apparently supposed to marry other people in an attempt to forge an alliance."

Back then, despite their group already being exhausted and slightly wounded, Fang Ying and Dai Shu insisted on saving Bai Yawen and Ye Ning. How could Li Yang and Zhao Feng dare disobey the orders of their wives, all they could do was release a sigh and jump into battle.

"But the two of them loved each other, so how could they agree to marry someone else? Ye Ning fled from his clan, grabbed Bai Yawen away from her clan, and then they started running. People like that, how could we just leave them alone? We jumped into the fray and helped them escape from their clans. We continued to explore the ancient ruin as a group, and by the time we managed to leave, we had already become inseparable."

Bai Yawen and Ye Ning wanted to thank them for saving them, so they offered their aid in exploring the ancient ruin. Li Yang and his group readily accepted, but little did they expect that they would end up trapped inside the ruin for several years.

"They were excellent people, every last one of them. Zhao Feng specialized in the laws of the soul. As long as your soul was not destroyed, he could save you and give you another body, he could even extract other peoples souls and keep them safe."

Li Yang had been dubbed the Thunder Monarch when he was alive, and he was a truly fearsome figure. But were his companions not the same? They had all been granted grand t.i.tles and each one possessed truly fearsome power. Had they been at his side during that final battle, there is no way he would have died like that.

"Dai Shu specialized in the laws of time. Last time I saw her before I died, she could slow down and speed up the time of almost whatever she wished. She could age a person millions of years with just a snap of her finger. Another snap could also grant that person a longer lifespan. She could send things into the past and the future as well, but only inorganic thins, so it never really became too useful."

The time laws were rare and incredibly difficult to master. At the height of her power, Dai Shu could send almost everything but organic material back or forth in time. She had tried to send organic material, like plants or people, but found that she had been completely unable to do so.

"Bai Yawen specialized in the spear, and she was truly fearsome. Wherever her Qi and perception could reach, so too could her spears. With a single move of her mind, she could turn the world around her into a world of spears, piercing everything."

The laws of the spear were far more common than the laws of s.p.a.ce or the laws of the soul. But when trained to the peak, each law was absolutely terrifying. Nothing could stand between Bai Yawen"s spear and her target, all that stood in her path would be pierced and obliterated.

"Ye Ning specialized in the sword. Don"t look at his carefree and relaxed att.i.tude. He was just as fearsome as everyone else in the group. He could slice apart nearly everything in existence. A single slash of his sword would separate the earth from the sky, slicing apart the horizon."

Li Yang felt that he could be considered an excellent swordsman, but when he compared himself to Ye Ning, he only felt despair. Ye Ning"s swordplay could already be considered to have transcended mortals. It was like watching a beautiful piece of art, only that this piece of art would end in your death.

Li Yang finished his reminiscing, a faint smile on his face. It had been countless years since back then, so it was likely that these friends of his were already dead. But at least they were still in the same world. Whenever he missed them, he could come here and share a drink with their statue.