HSSB201: Remains from before the Great CalamityGenerally speaking, this freedom to act was the highest privilege available only to Broad Creed Mountain"s First Seat Elders.
Strictly speaking, some First Seat Elders didn"t even have such a privilege, or rather only possessed it in some domains or some specific places.
For example, in the East Heaven Region, the East Elder possessed such a privilege, but outside of the East Heaven Region, he longer possessed it.
In Broad Creed Mountain"s history, there had yet to appear a First Seat Elder who was still a Martial Scholar. Therefore, there naturally hadn"t been a Martial Scholar who had obtained such a privilege.
Yan Zhaoge could be considered unprecedented in this area.
This was his reward for having successfully broken the Devilish Domain Grand Formation, preventing the Nine Underworlds from descending.
From a certain perspective, this reward was not because Yan Zhaoge was a younger generation disciple, nor was it because of his outstanding talent in the martial dao.
This reward was actually an affirmation of Yan Zhaoge"s abilities, an affirmation of his handling of various major incidents that had cropped up.
In some regards, this reward was also from Yan Zhaoge"s accomplishments in the war of the Eastern Tang, the Giant Spirit Magnet.i.te Vein at Cloud Portent Mountain and many other things, all the way to this time"s battle of Clear Concealed Lake. It was an acc.u.mulation of Yan Zhaoge"s great performances that led to the clan"s trust in his abilities to rise to a whole new level, therefore resulting in this unprecedented reward.
Following the battle of Clear Concealed Lake, Yan Zhaoge"s fame had truly shaken the world, not as the son of Broad Creed Mountain"s First Seat Elder Yan Wudi, not as a talented younger generation disciple, but as a person who, while young, was already able to influence this world"s global situation.
Broad Creed Mountain"s internal division had already adjusted their view towards Yan Zhaoge before this, and this time, Broad Creed Mountain"s bigwigs had raised their evaluation of Yan Zhaoge a step further.
Giving him greater authority and freedom meant that they trusted more in his abilities, but also meant that he would hold greater responsibilities in the future.
Yan Zhaoge was already mentally prepared for this.
While he had the power to make decisions on the clan"s behalf on the spot, this didn"t mean that he would be completely free of blame. If he performed a heinous crime, he would still have to pay for it.
Just like the East Elder, Elder Qin, before. By principle, he should have authority in everything that happened in the East Heaven Region.
And in actual fact, this was indeed true for most things.
However, in the matter of whether or not to accept Feng Yunsheng, while Elder Qin could have directly made the decision on his own, if it had turned out to be a big mistake, he would have had to take full responsibility for it.
Yan Zhaoge was alright with this. After all, while enjoying privilege, it was only natural to bear responsibility.
“I am young and inexperienced, and fear that I might not be able to bear this burden. However, since the clan believes in me, granting me such a power, I will work to the best of my abilities,” Yan Zhaoge bowed solemnly towards Yuan Zhengfeng.
Yuan Zhengfeng smiled, “Zhaoge being so serious-how long has it been since I last saw it?”
“Relax, this is a reward for you, and not adding weight to your shoulders. Currently, your most pressing matter is still cultivating diligently.”
Yuan Zhengfeng sighed in praise, “Although there were many coincidences and fortunate incidences involved, your current cultivation speed indeed leaves people staring in wonder. You spent too much time on various miscellaneous studies in the past; looking at it now, having thrown them away, your martial cultivation speed has also been raised up.”
Yan Zhaoge"s expression didn"t change, “I found a bit of a balance, just that in terms of those miscellaneous studies, there were many a times when I was actually pushing on with all I had.”
Fang Zhun laughed from the side, “You could say that all this is the crystallisation of your lengthy acc.u.mulation.”
They all laughed.
Yuan Zhengfeng thought of something, “Speaking of miscellaneous studies, Zhaoge has some knowledge on ancient texts, and is extremely interested in the remains left behind from the before the Great Calamity. As this old man knows, you also personally unearthed many remains?”
Yan Zhaoge nodded, “Yes, Grand Master.”
He looked at Yuan Zhengfeng. Since he was asking like this, there was most likely a continuation to it.
Could it be that the clan had unearthed remains of before the Great Calamity that had never been discovered before? If it was like that, Yan Zhaoge was really a little interested.
Yuan Zhengfeng said, “In the great desert of the Wind Domain, someone of the clan discovered a piece of remains, very likely being something that existed before the Great Calamity, left behind after the Great Calamity occurred.”
“However, the text on the remains is extremely strange, and it is very hard to decipher and understand the meaning within.”
The Wind Domain, at the west of the Heaven Domain, also bordering the Mountain and Fire Domains, had thousands of miles of yellow sand, with tall mountains and long rivers; its environment was rather terrible, to the point that even Martial Grandmasters found it hard to bear.
In the vast expanse of the great desert, when trapped within, it was very possible for one to lose their sense of direction, finally dying in the sea of sand, forever losing their lives.
However, although the conditions there were extremely terrible, the heavens birthed numerous objects to nourish its citizens. The broad, boundless Wind Domain, its danger and natural disasters aside, also possessed many rare treasures and resources.
After the Wind Domain"s Sacred Ground, Black Nightmare Mountain, had been destroyed one year, Broad Creed Mountain, the Sacred Sun Clan and Infinite Boundless Mountain had all sent their troops in, each taking hold of a piece of its territory.
Broad Creed Mountain had originally held the greatest advantage, almost possessing all of it themselves, but following that incident with the Fire Devils that year, Broad Creed Mountain had deteriorated from its peak, losing most of its territory in the Wind Domain, especially being continually pushed back in those conservative years when they had maintained a low profile.
While the Sacred Sun Clan, rising to become the number one Sacred Ground as it was now, had grabbed control of the Wind Domain"s territory on a large scale.
Currently, more than half the territory of the Wind Domain was under the Sacred Sun Clan"s control.
Broad Creed Mountain and Infinite Boundless Mountain had both pushed in a foot in the Wind Domain, conflicts having been incessant where the three Sacred Grounds met.
In the battle of the Eastern Tang earlier, Broad Creed Mountain had won greatly, and other than counterattacking the lands of the Fire Domain, it also expanded its territory in the Wind Domain, its speaking power and domain of control greatly increasing.
Hearing that it was indeed remains left behind from before the Great Calamity, Yan Zhaoge got even more interested.
Looking at the Grand Elder seated below him, an old woman of the same generation as him, Yuan Zhengfeng said, “Junior apprentice-sister He, let Zhaoge peruse it a bit, seeing if he can have any gains from it.”
The old woman, Elder He, nodded, retrieving a crystal and handing it out.
Yan Zhaoge took the crystal, infusing his aurqi within. As his aurqi shook, light instantly shot out from the crystal"s exterior.
The light formed a projection in mid-air, forming an illusory scene.
An all-encompa.s.sing black tempest swept along the ocean of sand beneath it. The natural conditions of many places in the Wind Domain were still unfriendly as before.
In the surface of the desert up ahead, something that resembled a stone pillar could vaguely be seen.
The stone pillar was partially revealed outside of the yellow sand, looking incomplete as it had signs of being damaged.
And inscribed on the surface of the stone pillar were patterns that whilst carrying a heavy air, were also profound and complicated.
Looking at those patterns, it could vaguely be felt how remarkable they were, yet it was hard to understand their purpose and what they meant.
Everyone here other than Yan Zhaoge had already seen it before, and not just once, but looking at it again now, they were still drawn in by it.
Seeing the stone pillar within the illusory scene, Yan Zhaoge"s pupils instantly dilated.
Your mother!
A vulgarity very nearly left Yan Zhaoge"s mouth.
“This is a pillar of the previous Divine Palace ah!” Yan Zhaoge sucked in a deep breath.