Divine Artifact

Western Sunset Mountain Range.

Prequet carried Fang Yun, and it took them half a year to reach this place. If they had flown at full speed, they could have crossed the entire Yulan Continent in less than a day. But they weren't simply trying to get somewhere; they spent most of their time exploring the Sunset Mountain Range, which was why the journey took so long.

Along the way, aside from visiting a few "dangerous places," they had also sparred with quite a few Saint-level peak powerhouses from the Sunset Mountain Range.

By now, the name Fang Yun of the South Sea had spread among the peak powerhouses of the Sunset Mountain Range.

"Master, that towering peak up ahead is Sunset Peak."

Prequet carried Fang Yun into the air and spoke respectfully. After accompanying Fang Yun through the Sunset Mountain Range, it had come to revere him even more.

All the Saint-level peak Magical Beasts in the Sunset Mountain Range were practically powerless before Fang Yun.

"Many people on the Yulan Continent have always believed that the place where Sunset Peak stands is where the sun sets."

Prequet added.

Fang Yun raised his head and looked into the distance. A peak stood ahead like a sword, extremely steep. The highest of the surrounding peaks reached only halfway up Sunset Peak.

Clouds swirled around the area near its summit, and the sky glowed orange-red, creating a breathtaking sight.

Sunset Peak wasn't the tallest mountain in the Sunset Mountain Range, but no peak within a hundred miles could rival it.

Moreover, Sunset Peak was one of the steepest mountains in the entire range. Even low-level warriors would find climbing it dangerous.

"Let's go up."

Fang Yun said.

In his memories from his previous life, he had seen sunsets too. But those had been nothing like this.

Sunset Peak's scenery was famous across the continent, but it stood at the westernmost end of the Sunset Mountain Range, near the edge of the Yulan Continent. It was already a remote place, and with high-level Magical Beasts roaming around—including even Level Nine Magical Beasts—few people came here.

Even those who came to train generally didn't choose this place.

Almost everyone who came here, like Fang Yun, was simply traveling across the continent to admire its beautiful scenery.

"Whoosh~"

At Fang Yun's words, Prequet soared toward Sunset Peak.

From afar, a dark figure seated on the back of a giant dragon headed toward the horizon.

Prequet landed steadily on a small ledge jutting out from the side of Sunset Peak. A powerhouse had once carved it out specifically because it offered the best view of the sunset.

"Master, there are Magical Beasts fighting below."

Prequet spoke up at once.

While they had been flying over, the sounds of battle had risen from below. Such scenes were commonplace throughout the Sunset Mountain Range.

Sometimes they fought over territory; other times, they killed for any number of reasons.

Though Sunset Peak wasn't in the deepest part of the Sunset Mountain Range, it was a place where the elemental energy of heaven and earth was especially dense. Advancing in such a place was easier, so it was only natural that Magical Beasts would fight over it.

Fang Yun nodded. He had noticed the battle below too: a Black Dragon was fighting a Pangolin Mouse.

Black Dragons were Level Nine members of the Dragon Race, an exceptionally powerful species. Pangolin Mice, on the other hand, were rodent Magical Beasts known for their defense. The strongest among them could also reach Level Nine.

The Black Dragon could fly, and it circled through the air, continuously spewing dragonflame down at its opponent.

The Level Nine Pangolin Mouse had nearly invincible defenses. Even dragonflame capable of melting boulders had little effect on it. It casually swung its tail, sending countless boulders hurtling toward the Black Dragon in the air.

Most importantly, there wasn't just one Pangolin Mouse. Besides the two leading Level Nine Pangolin Mice, there were three Level Eight ones, over a dozen Level Seven ones, and practically countless lower-level Pangolin Mice. They formed a vast, densely packed horde.

For a time, small instant-cast spells and countless boulders flew toward the Black Dragon in the air.

The Pangolin Mice might have outnumbered it, but they couldn't fly. Against the Black Dragon, they had no effective way to attack beyond the simplest methods.

That was the advantage of flying Magical Beasts.

Of course, facing so many Pangolin Mice, especially two Level Nine ones who were no weaker than itself, the Black Dragon wasn't foolish enough to land and fight them directly.

Besides, those damned rats were infuriating. The two Level Nine Pangolin Mice and three Level Eight ones worked together to rain down boulders, constantly forcing it to move. It couldn't focus on casting Level Nine spells, which it wasn't capable of instant-casting.

To fend off the boulders, it could only keep countering with the simplest attack it had: dragonflame.

And that was how things had ended up like this.

"That Black Dragon has disgraced the Dragon Race."

Watching the scene, Prequet couldn't help snorting a puff of white smoke from its nostrils.

The Dragon Race was proud. Losing a battle wasn't shameful, but turning one into a farce like this was.

Fang Yun, by contrast, watched with great interest.

Before reaching the Saint-level, no matter how powerful Magical Beasts were, their fighting styles were all rather simple.

The Pangolin Mice were using teamwork to offset much of the Black Dragon's aerial advantage. They might not win, but they were unlikely to lose either.

The Pangolin Mice kept hurling boulders. Before long, the cliff face below Sunset Peak and the ground around it were pocked with uneven holes.

"Hm?"

Fang Yun had been enjoying the show when he suddenly noticed something. He sat up straight and focused on a hole dug by one of the Pangolin Mice.

A moment later, his eyes brightened. "Interesting."

As he spoke, Fang Yun patted Prequet and said, "Come on, let's go down and break this up."

"Yes."

Prequet had long since had enough of the fight.

It flew down at once, giving a roar in midair.

At the roar of a Saint-level Dragon, both the Black Dragon and the Pangolin Mice were startled, and the battle stopped almost instantly.

Prequet carried Fang Yun to the foot of Sunset Peak. Its enormous eyes swept over the Black Dragon and the Pangolin Mice, and white smoke poured from its nostrils. Its voice brimmed with draconic authority. "The fight's over. Now get lost!"

If the Black Dragon had won, Prequet might have felt a little better. But now it was in a foul mood. The Black Dragon and the Tyrannosaurus Rex weren't the same species, but they were both members of the Dragon Race.

At Prequet's command, neither the Black Dragon nor the Level Nine Pangolin Mice dared object. They all fled in different directions.

Level Nine Magical Beasts were powerful, but they were utterly incapable of resisting a Saint-level Dragon.

Prequet watched the Magical Beasts flee and snorted disdainfully.

Fang Yun chuckled, hopped lightly off Prequet's back, and walked over to a slanted hole he had noticed earlier.

The hole lay just beneath a sheer face of the mountain. One of the Pangolin Mice had just dug it at the foot of the peak.

Prequet's attention followed Fang Yun to the hole. Somewhat puzzled, it asked, "Master, what is this?"

At that moment, several unusual stones, clearly different in color from the surrounding rock, were visible in the hole. They were exceptionally smooth and flat, and it seemed that many more remained buried in the mountain.

Anyone who didn't recognize this kind of stone might think it was merely some unusual rock. Prequet, for instance, had never noticed it before, despite being a Saint-level peak powerhouse.

Fang Yun casually broke off some of the surrounding stones, exposing more of the surface. This time, several unusual patterns, like engraved marks, were visible as well. The pieces Fang Yun broke off were no more substantial in his hands than crumbs.

"There might be some treasure here," Fang Yun said casually.

But he was certain that it was a Magic Array.

Since Beirut might be keeping an eye on this place, Fang Yun naturally said nothing more. Even if Beirut weren't watching, he had no reason to explain.

"A treasure?"

Prequet's eyes lit up. It stepped forward and carefully brushed the other pieces of rubble aside.

Before long, Prequet had excavated a space at the foot of the mountain, like the interior of an enormous cavern.

The floor of the cavernous space was a huge circular platform, unmistakably an immense and complicated Magic Array.

At its center, embedded in the stone, was a curved, pale-green longbow. Though it had been buried for who knew how many years, it was completely unharmed.

The grip had a distinctively shaped handle, and both ends were shaped like curling vines. The bowstring was made of some unknown material and was crystal clear.

All the engraved patterns around it converged on the longbow.

At a glance, Fang Yun recognized it as a Magic Array meant to seal something.

The sealing Magic Arrays on the Yulan Continent were generally placed over weak points in the space between the Gebada Plane Prison and the Yulan Continent.

The original story had clearly stated that there were very few such weak points, though a few existed. Linley had found one in the Magical Beast Mountain Range and pulled out the Violet Blood Soft Sword, allowing several people from the Gebada Plane Prison to escape by sheer luck.

He hadn't expected to come across a sealing point himself.

"Master, this..."

Looking at the complexity of the Magic Array, Prequet felt a storm of shock welling within it.

Magic Arrays weren't rare on the Yulan Continent. Even as a Magical Beast, Prequet had seen plenty. But it had never heard of, let alone seen, a Magic Array as complex as this one.

The source of the dense elemental energy in the area was this black circular platform. And upon closer inspection, the longbow itself held an extremely restrained aura of Wind elemental energy.

It was definitely a Wind-type divine artifact.

As a Saint-level peak powerhouse from the Sunset Mountain Range, Prequet had entered the Necropolis of the Gods before. It hadn't gone very far, but it still knew a thing or two.

Divine artifacts were exceptionally precious!

Most of the divine artifacts on the Yulan Continent came from Divine Planes or the Necropolis of the Gods.

And this Magic Array actually used a divine artifact as its core!

Unlike Prequet, who was stunned, Fang Yun was in a good mood. Like the Violet Blood Soft Sword, this divine artifact had been used to seal a weak point in space, and it was unlikely to be much worse than the Violet Blood Soft Sword.

The Violet Blood Soft Sword was an extremely powerful Highgod Artifact.

The gods who had descended upon the Yulan Continent back then had all been exceptionally powerful. It was only natural that some of them would have been no weaker than the wielder of Purple Blood.

Fang Yun had the power, but he was short on weapons. He truly deserved to be called the poorest Sovereign. Though he could forge Sovereign Artifacts, it would take at least several thousand or even tens of thousands of years.

So he still didn't have a Sovereign Artifact.

Though the longbow was only a divine artifact, it would do for his main body for now.

"Step back a little."

Fang Yun said to Prequet.

"Yes."

Prequet didn't know what Fang Yun intended to do, but it didn't dare linger here. A Magic Array with a divine artifact embedded in it—whoever had set it up had to be at least a god.

Fang Yun walked up to the Magic Array and forced out a drop of ordinary blood from his finger, letting it fall onto the longbow.

"Vmmm~~~"

As Fang Yun's blood touched it, the longbow trembled as if with delight. A pale-green glow spread across it, and the entire bow seemed like a living plant. It was truly wondrous.

After a moment, the glow slowly faded.

Though the blood Fang Yun had forced out was only ordinary blood, he was still a Sovereign. The energy contained in the blood of his main body was naturally different. The longbow's recognition of him through the blood also enhanced the bow itself.

If it followed Fang Yun for ten thousand years and was nourished by his Sovereign's Might, the longbow could eventually become an extremely powerful Sovereign Artifact.

Fang Yun reached out, and the longbow flew straight out of the Magic Array and settled securely in his hand.

"So it really is made from a plant."

Holding the longbow, Fang Yun could easily identify some of its materials.

It seemed to be made from the branch of some unknown plant.

But then Fang Yun turned his attention to the Magic Array before him. With the longbow gone, the Magic Array had naturally been damaged.

The patterns on the Magic Array slowly began to glow.

"Boom!"

A deep rumble sounded, and the mysterious Magic Array grew brighter and brighter.

Fang Yun didn't stay. He retreated to where Prequet was waiting in the distance.

Even though he wasn't afraid of the force released when the Magic Array broke, there was no need to take the full brunt of it.

Then the rumbling grew louder and more urgent!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The sounds went on like a steady beat of drums, and the Magic Array trembled with every boom.

"Crack—"

Amid the sound of breaking stone, several cracks suddenly appeared in the glowing Magic Array.

As cracks spread across it, the light began flickering, and the rumbling grew more and more urgent.

"Bang!"

Finally, after a rapid series of booms, the increasingly fractured Magic Array shattered in an instant.

Waves of spatial ripples spread into the distance.

The entire Sunset Peak collapsed under their force, and the area within several miles was affected.

The energy fluctuation could be felt a hundred miles away. Countless powerhouses in the Sunset Mountain Range were roused, and one by one they looked toward Sunset Peak with solemn expressions.

The energy released when the Magic Array broke was even more terrifying than that of a forbidden spell.

Prequet's expression was solemn too. "Master, the Magic Array is broken."

It wasn't worried about the energy. At this distance, it wasn't powerful enough to affect a Saint-level peak powerhouse. It was worried that breaking the Magic Array might bring out the person who had set it up.

The thought of someone capable of using a divine artifact to set up a Magic Array was terrifying.

Fang Yun nodded without a word.

At the site of the Magic Array, space itself was visibly unstable. Unstable energies of various kinds occasionally spread through the area.

"Let's go. We should leave."

Seeing that the Magic Array had only damaged the surrounding area and no powerhouses had emerged from the Gebada Plane Prison, Fang Yun lost interest.

When Linley had pulled out the Violet Blood Soft Sword, Dylan had happened to be at the weak point in space, so he had come straight out.

But when Fang Yun took the longbow, it seemed no one on the other side, in the Gebada Plane Prison, had noticed. That made sense; Dylan being there at the time had been sheer luck. The others might not be so fortunate.

Still, someone might make it out in the future.

"Yes."

Hearing this, Prequet couldn't wait to leave.

Dark Forest,

inside the Metal Castle.

Beirut stroked his little mustache, a smile on his face. "That little fellow's luck really is something. Well, it might as well give those people some hope."

Of the powerhouses who had descended from Blue Star, only two or three were truly interesting. Fang Yun was one of them.

If a few more people came out of the Gebada Plane Prison, the Yulan Continent would become even more interesting.

During the time Fang Yun had traveled through the Sunset Mountain Range, the powerhouses of the Yulan Continent had also noticed that several unfamiliar faces had appeared on the continent. Still, they hadn't caused much of a stir.

Yulan Empire.

Inside the Temple of Life,

this was the most sacred place in the Yulan Empire. One of the most powerful people on the continent, the High Priest Catherine, lived here.

At that moment, a fair-faced female mage looked at the High Priest in confusion. Her voice was respectful as she asked, "Teacher, Kawent's talent isn't especially strong. His power is ordinary too. At most, he's only just reached the Saint-level peak, so why did you..."

"You want to know why I took him as my disciple?"

The High Priest had long silver hair and wore a distinctive mask. Her voice was so neutral that it was hard to tell whether she was a man or a woman.

"Please enlighten me, Teacher."

The female mage bowed slightly.

"Hasya, do you know what has been happening on the Yulan Continent over the past six months?"

The High Priest's voice betrayed no emotion as she asked the question calmly.

Hasya didn't know what the High Priest meant, but she nodded gently all the same. "I do, Teacher. Over the past six months, a number of powerful figures have emerged, both among the magical beasts and the humans."

After the powerful figures from Blue Star arrived, there was naturally no way they could do so without causing a stir. After all, they were at least eighth- or ninth-rank, and many were even Saint-level. They were all figures capable of making a name for themselves across the continent. Anyone paying attention could easily spot the signs. The magical beasts in particular had a strong sense of territory, and whenever an unfamiliar powerful figure entered their lands, conflict was inevitable.

With so many clashes, the powerful figures' names naturally began to spread. Their unfamiliarity, in particular, drew people's attention.

"Do you know where these powerful figures came from?"

The High Priest continued.

"I don't, Teacher."

Hasya answered honestly.

She was already among the strongest people below the Saint-level limit. Though others considered them powerful, they weren't powerful by her standards.

So she knew about these figures, but hadn't fully learned where they came from.

"These unfamiliar Saint-level powerhouses all came from the South Sea."

The High Priest stated this outright.

"The South Sea?"

Hasya was bewildered.

The South Sea was seemingly boundless, incredibly vast. There were indeed many powerful figures hidden away there in seclusion, but most of them were magical beasts. Where had all these human powerhouses come from?

Even if such powerful figures were there, why had they all suddenly appeared? She couldn't understand.

The High Priest didn't explain. She merely looked outside, her voice as calm as before. "Just remember this: from now on, pay close attention to powerful figures from the South Sea. Unless absolutely necessary, don't get involved with them."

As a God-level powerhouse, she had naturally sensed the fluctuations when the South Sea Magic Teleportation Array was established.

Later, as more and more powerful figures from the South Sea appeared, it was easy for her to guess that something might have changed there. Could something have happened in the Necropolis of the Gods?

The Necropolis of the Gods was the only place in the South Sea with so many powerful figures.

However, it wasn't long before she received a message from Lord Beirut, and naturally she didn't dare pry any further. Perhaps Lord Beirut had released some of the powerful figures from the Necropolis of the Gods. For now, they were all Saint-level, but no one could say whether God-level powerhouses would appear in the future.

She didn't know why Lord Beirut had done this.

Though Hasya didn't understand, she still nodded. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she asked, "Could this Kawent be from the South Sea?"

The High Priest nodded.

That was why she had taken Kawent as her disciple.

Being "noticed" by Lord Beirut might prove helpful to her in the future, just as it had when Lord Beirut had previously sent word about "a little black mouse."

She took both matters very seriously.

Of course, the High Priest wasn't the only one who took these matters seriously. The War God O'Brien had received a message, too.

Naturally, O'Brien was quite concerned about this as well. He recruited a powerful figure from the South Sea. Though this powerhouse was only eighth-rank, O'Brien still personally came forward and took him in. It caused quite a stir in the O'Brien Empire, since the War God hadn't personally taken on a disciple in a very long time.