Chapter 2030: Guaranteed Death
Zu An was stunned, expressing his confusion and shock. When had someone as ambitious as the Second Prince ever reached such enlightenment?
The Peacock Wise King said with a bitter smile, “At first, our reaction was the same as yours, but later, our investigations showed that this was indeed the case. Ever since the Second Prince launched a suicidal attack and rushed into the sealed land, practically no monsters came back out. That clearly meant the Second Prince’s proactive assault was effective.” He sighed and added, "The Second Prince was wrong in the past, but he is still a good man with a strong will. He has earned the admiration of the rest of us.”
Zu An was a bit confused, wondering, “Can humans enter the sealed land too?” He had thought that the monsters were sealed inside, and that it wasn’t suitable for human life. Now, it seemed highly likely that that wasn’t the case.
“The sealed land is actually very spacious. At first, the sealed land wasn’t that large. This is the result of thousands of years of gradual expansion,” the Peacock Wise King explained.
Kong Nanwu looked at the terrifying crack in the horizon, and couldn't help but shiver.
The Peacock Wise King continued, “Many places inside are actually strongholds and arrangements left behind by ancient seniors. But after tens of thousands of years of fighting, we could no longer hold onto those places and were forced back bit by bit. Eventually, we withdrew to this Primeval Iron City.” He paused for a bit, then said with a complicated expression, “And inside the sealed land, there are actually many places similar to Primeval Iron City.”
Zu An’s expression turned a bit strange. He was able to picture the vast sea of blood and flames that had filled the area from just hearing those few sentences. He sorted out his thoughts and asked gravely, “Then why did the Second Empress enter?”
The Peacock Wise King replied, “When we came here and heard about the Second Prince and his soldiers’ brave actions, people got worked up and demanded that we assist the Second Prince. We couldn't let a heroic figure like the Second Prince vainly sacrifice himself.”
“Even though the Second Empress is a woman and shares a grudge with the Second Prince, she abandoned her former hatred and suggested leading her troops in to offer assistance. The Golden Crow Guards were full of fighting spirit too,” Kong Nanwu said, her voice full of admiration. It was clear that, as she was a woman as well, the Second Empress gave her a lot of inspiration.
Zu An was someone who had experienced all kinds of disasters and grave situations, so the way he looked at things was now completely different. Soon after, he deduced the Second Empress’ attitude at the time. She definitely didn’t want to save the Second Prince, but the Second Prince’s willingness to die for the cause was too inspiring. If she tried to stop them from entering, her prestige could have taken an unrecoverable hit. After all, the Fiend races and the human empire were different. The king court didn’t have as much control over the various races, which were all extremely independent. The new Fiend Emperor was still young, and he and the Second Empress were a child and his mother without a man to protect them, so it would be easy for them to be overthrown.
Of course, the Second Empress wouldn’t randomly agree to command troops to save the Second Prince. If she really did save the Second Prince, his prestige would skyrocket. Furthermore, after going to hell and back together, the elite Golden Crow Guards and the troops of the different races could become more partial to the Second Prince. Everything would really be too late then. That was why she had taken the initiative to head inside to save them, which would immediately eliminate those threats.
Whether she saved the Second Prince or not, she had already created a heroic, fearless, and selfless image for herself. Everyone in the Fiend races would admire and worship her. No matter how outstanding the Second Prince was, he could only serve as a subject under her. There were no issues with her actions, because her choice was indeed extremely dangerous.
When Zu An thought of that, he couldn't help but become a bit worried. He asked, “Then did those people follow the Second Prince into the sealed land?”
“Her highness took the Golden Crow race’s experts and the king court’s elite Golden Crow Guards,” the Peacock Wise King replied. “Apart from that, the Little Golden Peng King took the Tiger and Lion race’s most powerful individuals with them. They are all among the Fiend races’ most outstanding warriors.” Seemingly aware that Zu An's relationship with Yu Yanluo was special, he added, “Right, the Medusa Queen also led the Snake race’s experts and is following at the Second Empress’ side.”
This kid really is unfaithful… but among the Fiend races, this isn’t a flaw, and is instead an extraordinary merit.
Which fiend king doesn’t have a group of wives? Only the strongest individual can have more mates and thus more descendants, leading to a more prosperous tribe.
When he thought of those things, he became more and more satisfied with Zu An.
Upon hearing that Yu Yanluo had also followed them into the sealed land, Zu An became even more worried. He asked, “What about the other main forces, such as the Demon race, the Scorpion King, and the Flying Leopard King’s armies?” The Great Elf King staying behind with the young Fiend Emperor to oversee the king court was something he knew about, but he hadn’t heard anything about the other critical factions.
“Princess Suolun arrived with some of her subordinates. According to what she said, the Demon race’s Yun, Suolun, Rong, and Wu clans’ reinforcements will arrive soon,” Kong Nanwu said, although she frowned slightly and added, “But until now, we still haven’t seen a single soldier from those clans.”
Zu An was stunned. Could it be that the Demon race didn’t wish to participate in this situation at all, and Princess Suolun was being treated as a scapegoat? Or had something happened among the Demon race?
Kong Nanwu then said, “The Scorpion King and the Flying Leopard King should have arrived as well, but we haven’t seen any trace of them yet either.”
Zu An coldly wondered, “Are they trying to hold onto their forces and disobey central orders?”
The Peacock Wise King became quiet. It now seemed that such a thing was indeed a possibility. Whether it was humans or fiends, they had never been completely united. Every faction had their own goals and interests. It was really difficult to get them all to work together for one common purpose.
Zu An suddenly thought of something and quickly said, “Wise King, the humans’ reinforcements will soon arrive in the north. Send some people to coordinate and receive them, to prevent anything bad from happening.”
The Scorpion King and the Flying Leopard King had always fought against the humans, so their territory was close to the place where the humans’ reinforcements were coming from. It was one thing if they didn’t help out, but if they decided to fight the human army, that was definitely not something Tushan Yu could stop on her own.
The Peacock Wise King clearly sensed the danger and quickly ordered, “Kong Qing, go on the trip yourself. At the same time, take my personal token to ask for the Elf King’s help.” He had to stand guard here to receive the Second Empress and couldn't leave. Meanwhile, Kong Qing was his right-hand man and was the most suitable for taking care of such a thing.
“Understood!” Kong Qing replied, knowing that this was an important matter. He cupped his hands and quickly left.
Zu An looked at the rift in the distant sky and said, “I'm going on a trip to the sealed land to see if I can find out any information regarding the Second Empress’ group.”
“You absolutely cannot!” Kong Nanwu quickly warned him, “We already sent several groups of people in, but not a single one of them returned. The best strategy is to stay here in preparation until the other reinforcements arrive, and then we can discuss what to do together!”
Zu An shook his head and said, “We can't be certain when those reinforcements will even arrive. I can't wait that long, and the people inside definitely can't either. You remain here to receive them, while I'll go first to take a look.”
When she saw that he had already made his decision, Kong Nanwu quickly said, “Then I’ll go with you.”
“You’re just causing trouble!” The Peacock Wise King immediately panicked. “Your cultivation will do nothing but slow down the regent. Just stay here obediently! Primeval Iron City is where you can display your abilities more easily.” Even though he did have thoughts of playing matchmaker between the two, the sealed land was too dangerous. Not a single one of those experts had come back out after entering, so how could he have his daughter take the risk?
Zu An smiled and said to Kong Nanwu, “What the Wise King says is indeed the case. It's more suitable for the princess to remain here and plan for our strategy ahead. We don't know what it's like inside, so it will be a bit more convenient for me to go in alone.”
Kong Nanwu couldn't continue to insist when both of them were speaking like this. She could only say sadly, “You have to be careful!”
Zu An nodded. Then, he asked the Peacock Wise King about any intelligence related to the sealed land. After all, at the moment, he knew practically nothing.
The Peacock Wise King said with a serious tone, “The sealed land is surrounded by extremely terrifying chaotic spatial streams that can crush any beings that enter and leave. Not even the late Fiend Emperor was able to enter by relying on his own flesh. But whenever the sun and moon exchange places in the evening, the spatial flow becomes weaker. At that time, you can then enter safely by borrowing the power of formations. For the past few thousand years, whenever morning and evening, sun and moon have intertwined, the area around the sealed land has overflowed with blood. The monsters inside also use that time to leave, so all those stationed here have always been tasked with driving those monsters back.” As he spoke, he took out a jade tile engraved with a complicated rune formation, adding, “If you take this, then to a certain degree, you can avoid the chaotic spatial streams’ corrosion.”
After standing guard here for over ten thousand years, the Fiend races had already researched a lot of knowledge related to the sealed land. This jade tile was none other than one of their developments.
Zu An took the jade tile from him. On its surface was the rune formation used to traverse that chaotic space. Even with his current knowledge in runes, he actually couldn't immediately see through the secrets it contained. He had to admit that in the past, the Fiend races really had produced talented people.
Then, the Peacock Wise King shared some more intelligence related to the sealed land, but it was mostly related to the outer areas. The Fiend races didn’t know much about the deeper areas.
“Thank you, Wise King,” Zu An said, bidding them goodbye and quickly flying toward the sealed land. It just happened to be the time when the sun and moon exchanged places, so he could enter immediately.
He soon arrived in front of the giant crack. Even with Zu An’s powerful cultivation, he was still briefly absentminded. It seemed that the fear of big things really was something innate…. The spatial rift really was just way too huge. Forget about him, before this spatial rift, even a great serpent would be nothing more than an ant.
As he sensed the energy of destruction and death coming from inside, Zu An felt goosebumps. He thought of something and took out an Eight Trigrams Plate to carry out a divination. This was one of the Baopu Sutra’s seven domains of cultivation! Not even he had much confidence in the sealed land, so he decided to use the divination skill to scout out the situation first.
Soon after, the surface of the plate began to shake and spin. Then, finally, sparkling celestial diagrams appeared on its surface. A star in the northeastern direction was the most dazzling, flickering continuously.
Zu An’s expression immediately changed greatly when he saw that, because it was the most dangerous Life Extinction Star! When that sign appeared, it signified death nine out of ten times.
Then, the celestial diagram grew dim, with black fog covering everything. The stars became dark red, as if they had become bloody skulls.
Zu An was speechless. This was a sign that meant death ten out of ten times.
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