Chapter 455: Atavism
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The power of faith of millions of natives on the Wizard Li Island had not been harvested for a year.
The newly conquered 17 islands, on the other hand, had only converted for a short period, but he has a significant number of believers. When both of these combined, through the burning 18 Wizard Li’s totem poles, the ma.s.sive amount of the power of faith was mysteriously channeled and gathered in the ancestral tribal land. This then merged into Zhang Lisheng’s soul, forming a vivid world in a primeval state of chaos in his mind.
Standing in the chaotic primeval state of the world, Zhang Lisheng absent-mindedly transformed into a giant ape covered with golden hair with three heads and six arms. After running for a long time, he suddenly turned into a giant eye. The giant eye became enraged and released an endless stream of invisible force, tearing the vast land in the darkness in vain.
When that horrifying, egg-like, giant eye that suspended in the air became exhausted, it suddenly erupted. A human-headed snake monster that had tattered facial features, withered skin, and a full head of dry black hair was born out of it.
When the monster appeared, it roamed around for a while in the primeval state of chaos. At this moment, countless of star-like dazzling light l.u.s.ters fell from the dark sky while the snake was swallowing it.
n.o.body knew how long it took, but the human-headed snake monster swallowed a lot of meteor cl.u.s.ters. As the fallen ‘stars’ from the sky gradually decreased, Zhang Lisheng could hear the chanting sound of the millions of the Wizard Li tribesmen again. As his vision became blurred, everything returned to normal once he opened his eyes.
“The monkey and eye are the souls of the animals I have absorbed, so it’s not surprising that they appeared in my mind’s fictional world. What exactly is that human-headed snake monster that looks exactly like me then? It also appeared when I made a breakthrough in the Witchcraft’s Gate of Death, and now it appeared again when I’m cultivating the Gate of Sacrifice!” The young man stood for a while absent-mindedly before finally returning to his senses. While he recalled the situation when he was harvesting the power of faith earlier, he frowned and muttered, “Don’t tell me that it’s atavism… No, no! Even if it’s atavism, I’m a man, so I should be retracted back to First Ancestor Fu Xi’s bloodline instead and transform into a human-headed dragon. Why did it change into the image of a human-headed snake instead… Ah, that’s right. The Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice’s cultivation method that Su Deli gave me is a true orthodox method. Don’t tell me that I can communicate with ancestral wizards and ancient G.o.ds without making a breakthrough to Rank-6 Wizard. Then I can obtain a more profound, omniscient power from the ancestors and G.o.d to store my energy for the sake of trans.m.u.tation! This must be the case then! It must be it. There are also such records in ancient books, so this is the only plausible explanation. That human-headed snake spirit must be an ancient G.o.d or an ancestral wizard of some sort. The reason why we have the same face is that I can’t fully communicate with the G.o.ds yet, for I have not made a breakthrough to the Rank-6 Wizard of the Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice. Thus, I’ve subconsciously conjured my own face on it. Then again, speaking of it, the progress of this Gate of Sacrifice is really more difficult than the Gate of Death. I have the help of nearly ten million believers, but I still can’t make a breakthrough to Rank-6 Wizard in one go…”
After muttering and speculating a reasonable explanation, Zhang Lisheng savored the wizard power in his soul and noticed that he had already made a breakthrough from Rank-4 Wizard to Rank-5 Wizard. Even so, he still shook his head in dissatisfaction.
After bending over to pick up the Wizard Li’s tribal book of history that had dropped onto the ground, the young man opened the book again. He found that it could no longer resonate with the totem pole. He knew that the power of faith acc.u.mulated in the Wizard Li for a long time. He had already absorbed it, so he returned the book to the colossal bark house and placed it back onto the altar.
Walking out of the bark house once again, Zhang Lisheng suddenly felt that his body and mind were very relaxed. Looking around the Wizard Li’s ancestral ground that was home to over 400,000 h.e.l.lfire tribesmen that one could already consider as a medium-sized city if it was on Earth. He contemplated for a while and summoned the chief ch.o.r.esman standing beside him, “Ask Tugra to see me.”
“Yes, Great Conqueror!” The fat chief ch.o.r.esman, a trait uncommon among the keen Wizard Li tribesmen, crouched on the ground and answered before agilely climbing up from the ground at a speed that completely contradicted his size. He rapidly retreated, and not long after, he brought the Wizard Li’s headman in front of the young man.
“Great Conqueror, you’re the eternal faith of the Wizard Li. You’re the bright future of h.e.l.lfire…” Tugra respectfully kneeled in front of the tribal’s Conqueror and kissed Zhang Lisheng’s instep as he shouted loudly.
“That’s enough, Tugra. Two sentences of sincere praises are already enough. I want to ask you something. When you went to see Aruba yesterday, did he say how long it will take to prepare for the expedition?”
“Chief Aruba said that the Red Mountain Furnace has been built on five out of the nine Wizard Li’s islands that have volcanoes. Not only that, but in just thirty days, the furnace on the remaining four islands will also be completed. 1000 wars.h.i.+ps will be ready by the summer of next year at the latest.”
“In the summer next year? That’s earlier than I expected.” Zhang Lisheng felt the cold weather and nodded, “In the meantime, send s.h.i.+ps to explore the route first. Find the safest route even if you have to sacrifice hundreds of s.h.i.+ps.”
“Yes, Great Conqueror!” The Wizard Li’s headman bowed and answered respectfully, “Do the two mainland navigators still need to go sailing?”
“No. Wizard Li already has enough power to explore the routes now. I have some other uses for the two navigators,” Zhang Lisheng shook his head, “I’ve thought about it. Hanoo regards his son as someone far more important than his own life. As long as we detain his son on Wizard Li Island, we can freely allow him to run the business I left in the Venis City. Charlot, on the other hand, is well versed in Wizard Li’s culture. Choose 30 strongest and brightest children from the tribe and send them to learn the mainland language from him.”
“Yes, Great Conqueror!” The Wizard Li’s headman remained stunned as he answered with a tone of slight disapproval.
“Tugra, don’t look down on the mainlanders’ culture. It is a fact that they have regarded the h.e.l.lfire people as lowly barbarians and have suppressed the h.e.l.lfire tribes forcefully. Belittling them will just be the same as depreciating ourselves.” Gazing at the Wizard Li’s headman, Zhang Lisheng enlightened him. “There are two things that you must know if you want to have a successful conquest—one, understanding; two, a sufficient preparation. Recall Wizard Li’s miraculous conquest on the other h.e.l.lfire tribes. How much effort have we made to ‘understand’ and ‘prepare’ the quest? In the end, what kind of harvest have we received?”
“I understand now, Great Conqueror!” Tugra’s body that was kneeling on the ground trembled. After pondering for a while, he answered convincingly, “I believe that if there’s an opportunity, Wizard Li should kidnap more scholars from the mainland…”
“It’s not easy to get such prisoners. It’s easier for us to use gold and choose among the slaves. Don’t forget, we have an endless flowing golden river. Sometimes, wealth is more useful than a knife,” Zhang Lisheng interrupted Wizard Li’s headman and smiled as he said.
“Understood, Great Conqueror!” Tugra was. .h.i.t with a pang of realization.
“I’m glad you understood, Tugra. Make sure you initiate all the things I’ve said and patiently wait for my return.” While the young man was speaking, he transformed his body using the wyrmdragon’s transformation power and acc.u.mulated clouds at his feet. He rose to the sky and flew towards the world’s gate in the distant.
Over an hour later, Zhang Lisheng, who had crossed the barrier between the ‘worlds,’ came to the sky above New York’s suburbs. Looking down from the air, it surprised him to find that the entire New York City seemed to be covered in a layer of gray smoke.
New York’s climate was a typical maritime climate with a humid atmosphere and four distinct seasons. There were few polluting industries for hundreds of years ago when the city was constructed, the air was always fresh and clear when the sky was bright. There were very few clouds of dust, let alone such dirty smoke that enveloped the entire city.
With confusion in his heart, the young man flew into the LS slaughterhouse. After he had landed, he changed his transformation power from wyrmdragon into lizard with the help of the cover from the smoke. He nihilated his body to sneak into his own office.
This time, Zhang Lisheng, who had an ominous feeling, did not take a hot bath and change into a set of new clothes as how he would usually do. Instead, he directly pulled out a sweater and a pair of trousers from the closet to wear and hastily sat in front of the office desk to open his computer.
He clicked open the browser, and a black topic t.i.tle hanging above the search engine immediately appeared before his eyes, without the need for him to search at all.
“The ancient prophecy have realized today. 1000 worlds appeared on Earth, so where shall the human go? The ancient prophecy has realized today…” The young man’s body stiffened as he mumbled the t.i.tle repeatedly. Silently, he relaxed his back and leaned back on the chair.
After staring into nothingness for a moment, he suddenly sighed profoundly and muttered, “It has only been half a year, and the situation has already deteriorated to such a stage? The Colossal world’s era has come without us noticing…”
When the young man was muttering, the office was suddenly pushed open. An intelligent-looking beautiful modern girl wearing a professional Chanel suit with an in-season bright color entered the office.
“Maddie, what’s wrong with this world?” Zhang Lisheng stared at the girl absent-mindedly and beat her to it as he asked.
“What did you say, Lisheng?” The girl was pleasantly surprised. She walked up to the young man and asked in confusion.
“It’s nothing,” Zhang Lisheng grew silent for a while before answering with a shrug. “I just suddenly feel deep emotion in my heart, so I was just randomly asking you a question. Long-time no see. How are you, Maddie?”
“Not bad. As the secretary of the LS board of directors, I have a lot of work to do every day, so my life is very fulfilling,” Maddie smiled and said.
“Ha, are you trying to make me feel guilty?” Looking at the girl’s beautiful face that was pretending to be relaxed, Zhang Lisheng sighed and said, “But I don’t have the mood to think about these things now.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Lisheng.”
“Don’t make me angry, Maddie. I’m really in a bad mood now. I originally thought that I have everything in control, but it turned out that I’m still a step too late. This sudden powerlessness doesn’t make me feel good at all.”
“You’ve given yourself too much pressure. n.o.body asked you to be an omnipotent G.o.d. You have done enough,” Maddie became silent for a while before crouching down. She gently stroked the back of Zhang Lisheng’s hand and looked into his eyes before consoling him softly, “You have really done enough…”