914 Excitemen
The top of the mountain was very quiet and tranquil. There was nothing except flat land. Other than the direction of the flight of white jade stairs behind him, when he looked from any other direction atop this mountain, all he could see was a sea of fire. There were no other roads at all. Moreover, the mountain top was hundreds of meters in radius, and it also had a majestic aura. Other than the flight of white jade stairs, it was as though there were invisible barriers in other directions. There was definitely no way out of this place.
Was this bare mountain top the altar and the imperial mausoleum of the Octopus people? They wors.h.i.+pped the air?
w.a.n.g Zhong looked around again and finally found something in the sky. A huge, phoenix-shaped seemingly void object was suspended in the sky, exuding a dark red light. It was still and looked like a cloud. On second look, it seemed like fog, yet it also seemed like an ent.i.ty that was made up of an indescribable material.
A phoenix’s corpse? Or was it just an illusion or projection?
w.a.n.g Zhong felt that it was a little strange as the suspended material was so huge that it seemed a lot bigger than the entire mountain range. What was even more amazing was that he did not notice this huge, conspicuous thing in the air when he was flying across the flat gra.s.sland before entering the Sacred Mountain.
At this time, he turned back to look at the flight of stairs behind him.
The Sword Saint who first chased after him was only halfway to the top. His speed was obviously slower than that of w.a.n.g Zhong’s, but it was also more stable, and he appeared much more relaxed. It was as though he was expressing his devout att.i.tude.
It was not that the other party was unable to speed up, but that he was not in a hurry at all. He walked with respect and devotion to the Sacred Mountain. The other party obviously knew this mountain better than w.a.n.g Zhong and probably knew that w.a.n.g Zhong would not be able to leave the mountain top and could only await his doom.
Other than this Sword Saint, no other experts chased him up this flight of stairs, but w.a.n.g Zhong could see that there were about seven to eight Sword and Warlock Saints waiting at the foot of the mountain near the white jade stairs. On the other hand, outside the Pilroni Sacred Mountain, a huge flying legion had already gathered together. It should be made up of the Octopus soldiers who received the search command in the nearby fortresses. There were a few dozen people in a fortress, and after the troops from hundreds of fortresses gathered together, they actually amounted to thousands of soldiers. They were all the hidden Octopus elites. Most of them were riding huge two-headed dragons, frost snakes, etc., and they densely surrounded the Pilroni Sacred Mountain. It was a rather spectacular sight.
In order to catch w.a.n.g Zhong, these Octopus people had truly upped the ante. But since the Octopus people had such a huge amount of manpower, why didn’t they deploy them to the battlefield? There were many kinds of creatures that were still unheard of by humans as well. What were they waiting for?
“Lao w.a.n.g, we can’t wait here forever. Think of a way to escape! I think we should be able to go up that thing above our heads!” said Simba.
Now, they had no choice but to go up and take a look.
His Soul Power Circuits instantly spread all over his body, and his body sparkled with golden light. w.a.n.g Zhong wanted to fly up, but he found that no matter how he tried to activate his Soul Power, he couldn’t form any airflow around himself. His Soul Power could only operate within his body and could not be used externally. As such, he couldn’t fly at all. The supreme aura here forbade this kind of behavior as though it was a blasphemous act.
With that, w.a.n.g Zhong tried to jump to reach for it. With the explosive power of his legs, it was a piece of cake to jump tens of meters high, but it was still useless.
“Let me do it! Let me do it!” shouted Simba. He wanted w.a.n.g Zhong to throw him up.
The explosive power of his arms was enough to throw Simba up by a thousand meters, but Simba, who fell from the air, scared nearly to death, didn’t even manage to touch the surface of the thing in the air. According to Simba, it was still very far away from him.
Salamander also came out and tried to extend his infinite black iron chain as high as possible. However, even this supposedly infinitely extending chain could not reach it. It seemed that this was not a matter of distance at all. It was more like it existed in an entirely different s.p.a.ce. Upon closer inspection, it looked near, but it was, in fact, extremely far away.
w.a.n.g Zhong tried all kinds of methods, but he was still unable to reach it. At the same time, the Sword Saint on the white jade stairs had already completed about two-thirds of the journey.
Simba was a little dumbfounded and said, “What’s wrong with this?”
Tatamu, who had been pretending to be non-existent, finally couldn’t hold back. It didn’t matter if this human was trapped here and couldn’t leave. What mattered was that when the Octopus Sword Saint came out and caught sight of itself, a slave, it would be regarded as a blasphemous act and only death would be awaiting itself. “It’s over, it’s over. The most dangerous place is really the most dangerous place. Tatamu already said that we can’t come here. Only the Octopus people can go up the forbidden area. I have never heard of any aliens successfully coming here…” said Tatamu.
w.a.n.g Zhong turned his head to look at it immediately. He had almost forgotten about this guy. “The place above us is the Octopus people’s forbidden area? Have you been here?”
“How could I have been to this kind of place? That’s the remains of the Phoenix G.o.d. Totems shaped like that are everywhere in the Imperial City. Even I got tired of seeing it…” Tatamu sighed as it thought of how it was supposed to be relaxing in the laboratory. Yet, it was taken hostage to this place by a lab rat and was forced to be on the same boat as him. Now, it was stuck in a dilemma. What did it do wrong in its previous life?
w.a.n.g Zhong’s eyes lit up slightly. “Totem? If the thing above is the Octopus people’s forbidden area, how did they get in? You’d better tell the truth. Otherwise, I’ll throw you back and let you experience the journey up the stars.”
Tatamu was already resigned to its fate. This human was constantly threatening it. “Only the royal family has the means to enter, and they will naturally open the seal when it’s time to pay respects. It is said that even Heroic Souls can come up at that time.”
w.a.n.g Zhong frowned. This answer was definitely not good news. “So the way to the forbidden area in the air is only in the hands of the royal family? Is it some kind of mechanism, or is it a spell?”
“Half half…” Tatamu probably thought that it was going to die for sure. As such, it did not really use honorifics anymore. It was rather troubled by the situation.
“What is half half?” Simba interrupted fiercely. “You better be clear! I’m still hungry!”
“Yes, yes!” Tatamu, who was already dejected, shuddered. Although it felt that it was already done for, if it was to choose between being hacked to death by the Sword Saint or being eaten alive by these two devils, it would definitely not choose the latter.
It forcibly gathered up its energy and said, “My Master… No, no, that Octopus Warlock Saint has joined the royal family to pay respects to heaven before, and I heard him talk about it last time. The way to enter the forbidden area is not via breaking a spell or unlocking a mechanism. It can only be done with the blood of the royal family. The forbidden area in the sky has a close link with Octopus royal family, and it acts as a guard for them, so only royal family members with pure royal blood who are recognized by the forbidden area can bring other people inside it. I think they have to drip a few drops of blood on the top of this mountain or something— Ah!”
Tatamu let out a scream before it could finish speaking. w.a.n.g Zhong did not go gentle on it at all. However, considering that this guy had been rather cooperative, he only cut a small part of its leg this time.
“Shut up! Otherwise, we’ll cut off more!” Simba threatened it.
Tatamu really wanted to cry. It actually took the initiative to help these two demons. It was really sabotaging itself. Black liquid could be seen dripping from the part that w.a.n.g Zhong cut off. That was the blood of Polylegs, and it had a b.l.o.o.d.y stench.
w.a.n.g Zhong spilled the blood on various places on the top of the mountain. In some places, there was no response when the blood dripped down, while in other places, the blood quickly soaked into the soil, and a white gas could be seen coming out. When he spilled some blood at the center of the mountain top, there was a relatively strong reaction from the ground. A very simple and unsophisticated ancient array flashed on the ground as though it was attracted to the blood, but unfortunately, the ancient array dimmed after a few seconds. It apparently didn’t take a liking to this black blood.
Sure enough, there was something! At this time, w.a.n.g Zhong really regretted it. When he handed over the body of Heinrich, the Sword Saint, he should have kept an arm or a leg. If he did, he would have been able to use it now, but unfortunately, there was no room for regret anymore.
w.a.n.g Zhong didn’t hesitate, and he instantly used the Nebula Sword to cut his finger.
The blood of the Octopus people and humans was red. Perhaps human blood could pa.s.s off as Octopus blood? Obviously, at this time, he had to try all options. It didn’t matter whether it was going to work. They just had to try.
Simba’s eyes widened in antic.i.p.ation. Tatamu’s eyes widened too, but it was due to speechlessness instead.
This human was literally trying to be a joker! Did he think that all kinds of red blood would work? Not to mention human beings, even for the Octopus people, unless they had royal blood, even someone like Sauron, a Warlock Saint, would not be able to unlock the pa.s.sage to the forbidden area in the air.
However, before Tatamu could carry on thinking about it, something magical happened.
The moment w.a.n.g Zhong’s blood hit the ground, the ancient array on the ground flashed brightly. It was dazzling, and red light shot out from everywhere!
Immediately afterward, the entire ancient array emitted a series of ‘buzzing’ resonant sounds, and it was clear that the rich vitality around the top of the mountain was madly converging toward the center of the array. With that, a huge beam of light was produced from the array, and it soared into the sky!
“Th—this, this?! It turns out that you are not an abominable human being?! Are you a prince…? A mixed-blooded one?” Tatamu was pleasantly surprised and was overwhelmed with happiness. Perhaps this human had a special ident.i.ty? Was it dreaming?
“Your whole family is mixed-blooded!” w.a.n.g Zhong slapped it on the head. If it was not for its useful information, he would really punish it. At this time, he directly grabbed it and threw it into the beam of light. “Lead the way!”
Before Tatamu could react, it was already thrown into the beam of light. Just as it was about to get scared, it felt a peaceful force rising from below, supporting its body and bringing itself, together with the beam of light, up to the area in the sky.
“It’s working. Lao w.a.n.g, hurry up! Let’s go too!” shouted Simba as he returned directly to w.a.n.g Zhong’s Soul Sea.
This was also the reason for bringing Tatamu along. After all, he was in a completely unfamiliar place, and a native would definitely be useful. As w.a.n.g Zhong stepped in and was lifted into the air by the energy in the beam of light, he saw the Sword Saint who had almost reached the top of the stairs. He was clearly dumbfounded.
The Sword Saint Pievrov was also relatively young. He was only 39 years old when he became a Sword Saint. At this time, he still looked rather youthful. He had orders to guard the Defense Moon Fortress, and he was also in charge of guarding the forbidden area this year. When he received news that someone was about to enter the forbidden area, Pievrov was naturally the first to come after the person. What’s more was that the person was a human! He was the first Sword Saint to reach the foot of the Sacred Mountain. Pievrov was a member of the Sword Faction as well. Due to all his responsibilities, he wasn’t able to go after the human who killed his junior brother. He did not expect the other party to come knocking at his door!
Not only would he be able to get credit for this, but he could also take back the divine sword. Just by thinking of it, he felt a wave of excitement rush through his body.