Xia Tianze was a member of the ancient Veluriyam Palace and Jiang Chen’s right hand man. The four divine beasts were sharp enough to deduce that the old master must have harbored a tremendous hatred for Forefather Evilshadow since the ancient times. Therefore, they didn’t mind having their spotlight stolen by him.
Unfortunately for the forefather, he was cut down just about when he was ready to break free. His existence had been erased and ambitions cut short just at the moment of flight.
Enlightenment of the situation eluded him even upon death.
Killing Stonefiend and Evilshadow made Jiang Chen more confident. Demons were formidable enemies, but it had been repeatedly proven that they weren’t unbeatable.
Humans had been unable to exterminate demons in the ancient demonic war not because they couldn’t kill their foe. Instead, the human elites simply were too spread out to work together as a team, failing to utilize their strength in numbers.
More importantly, humans didn’t have a p.r.o.nounced edge over demons. Given demon resilience and the fearless way in which they fought, many ancient cultivators would rather seal away the demons rather than fight them to the death.
Fighting to the death meant losing one’s life as well. Not every human cultivator possessed the requisite bravery and conviction to sacrifice themselves. That was where they differed from the demons.
Nevertheless, Jiang Chen didn’t allow his success in killing two demon forefathers get to his head. The two demonic casualties weren’t particularly powerful among the demon forefathers. The main course had yet to be served.
According to Xia Tianze, there were several divine forefathers in each of the ten demonic tribes. The total number of G.o.ds among them was staggering.
Moreover, the demonic army consisted of not only the ten tribes, but also many cultivators of other races such as Mang Qi.
In the ancient war, an absurd number of demons and demonic puppets had invaded the Divine Abyss Continent. They wouldn’t have been able to sweep over almost the entire continent otherwise.
If the human domain hadn’t delayed a large portion of the main demonic forces, the final outcome of the ancient war might have been in greater doubt.
Jiang Chen saw no reason to be optimistic.
Nonetheless, it was undeniable that the human domain was on the right track.
The Great Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinement had been reactivated, and Veluriyam Palace reformed, which laid down a solid foundation for the human domain.
In the near future, even with a demonic outbreak, the human domain would be allowed a grace period. It might last for decades or centuries depending on when the demons invaded, and how the other domains fared in the war.
One thing was for certain: the temporary peace would be invaluable to the human domain.
Their priorities were to locate the respective heritage of the ten leading factions in the ancient times and restore the domain’s spirit veins.
The latter, especially, would be monumental to both Jiang Chen and the domain.
Within Veluriyam Palace, apart from cultivation, Jiang Chen spent his days deciphering the jade slip that Divine Veluriyam had left him, understanding the overall layout of the spirit veins in the domain.
According to the slip, it wouldn’t be difficult to break the seal and restore the system of spirit veins.
There were seven seal nodes in total.
The most important was within Veluriyam Palace, serving as the seal’s center. The other six were scattered in the domain, hidden away, supporting the major node.
As soon as the central node in the palace was lifted, forty percent of the main spirit vein would be restored.
Lifting each of the remaining six nodes would restore the main spirit vein by another ten percent.
Jiang Chen circled and dotted a map of the human domain according to what was written on the jade slip. He identified the general locations of the other six nodes.
Someday later, he summoned the four sacred beasts and the six guardians of the Six Palaces of Heritage. They were his most powerful allies at the moment, stronger than the other divine cultivators such as Lan Tianhao and Yu Gong.
Everyone had been informed about the spirit viens. Jiang Chen didn’t need to waste time on further explanation.
“The demons in the human domain have been weakened. We should restore the ancient spirit viens next.” He cut straight to the point. “Would you all agree it’s time?”
Everyone turned to Xia Tianze for his opinion.
The venerated senior shrugged. “Naturally I support you no matter what. The divine master set up the seals so that the new master of Veluriyam Palace may be in full control. I will support any decision you make.”
“I agree,” Venerated Skysoarer said with a smile.
The others had no objections either.
Honored Master P’eng however, was concerned. “The public knows nothing about the spirit veins. Won’t it be too sudden for us to lift the seal now?”
Jiang Chen had announced to the public the existence of the ten major factions’ heritage, but had kept the spirits veins a secret. Only his confidantes were privy to the truth.
The young lord chuckled. “A pleasant surprise wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I’ve kept it a secret because of the demon forefathers lurking about. Now that we’ve gained a tighter control over the domain, it’s better to restore the spirit viens as soon as possible.”
Time waited for no one. The human domain needed the spirits veins restored in order to progress quickly.
The four sacred beasts were even less likely to object. They’d always wanted to experience the superior cultivation environment of the ancient times.
“Good. Since none of you object, we shall break the central seal node within the Veluriyam palace today.”
The central node had been activated by Divine Veluriyam and the other ancient heavyweights. Jiang Chen couldn’t break it on his own at the moment.
With the addition of the four divine beasts and the guardians from the Six Palaces of Heritage though, they’d be able to do it.
The node was hidden in an obscure corner of the palace, protected by powerful formations. If Jiang Chen hadn’t had full control over the palace, he wouldn’t have been able to enter either.
Spirit energy radiated from the seal node. It’d been two hundred thousand years, yet the node remained mostly intact. The intricate craftsmans.h.i.+p of the seal was on full display.
“See the four energy formations of the seal? We simply have to attack them and disrupt their flow of energy, rendering them useless. Then, the seal node will be obsolete.”
There wasn’t a fancy way to break a seal. In the end, brute force was the way to go.