Book 7, Chapter 50: Mobilizing Reinforcements (2)
Book 7, Chapter 50: Mobilizing Reinforcements (2)
Surprisingly, the old face shook its head in disapproval and said, “What does this have to do with me?”
What?
Kucha was stunned.
The old face continued, “I am about to die. From the moment I awakened, my vitality has been declining, and going into battle will only accelerate that process. I still want to live a bit longer, so all I am going to die is sit here until I die.”
Kucha said hurriedly, “But Ancestor, the Beasts are about to be wiped out.”
“What does that have to do with me? I would have already killed if you were the bastard that woke me up,” the old face said calmly. It seemed that it was about to ignore him.
Kucha had never expected that this Ancestor would completely ignore its progeny. Upon further reflection, however, he realized no one had ever made it a rule that Ancestors needed to come to their descendants’ aid.
The Shining Dragon may have been willing to do so, but that didn’t mean that other Origin Beasts would.
Hadn’t the Blood Ancestor delegated the matter to the Barbaric Ancestor?
But what if the Barbaric Ancestor refused as well?
Awakening the Barbaric Ancestor would inevitably lead to its death. If the Barbaric Ancestor was unhappy with that......
Kucha couldn’t help but shiver when he heard the old face’s words.
He didn’t know if the Barbaric Ancestor would deal with the humans, but just as the old face had said, it was a distinct possibility that the Barbaric Ancestor would kill him in a fit of rage if things didn’t go well.
Upon realizing this, Kucha’s desire to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor weakened somewhat.
Even so, he was still a Sovereign, and he was unwilling to sit back and watch the Beasts waltz to their doom. The old face was turning around to leave when Kucha suddenly cried out, “I have the Blood Ancestor’s marrow! Consuming it will increase your lifespan.”
“What? The Blood Ancestor?” The old face refocused on Kucha.
Kucha nodded. “Yes! The Blood Ancestor’s marrow is a peerless medicine in its own right, and will extend your lifespan by three days. The Blood Ancestor asked me to go awaken the Barbaric Ancestor. But since Ancestor is already awake, Kucha offers this marrow and asks Ancestor to move against the humans!”
The old face loomed closer and closer to Kucha. “Are you not afraid that I’ll kill you and take this treasure for myself, then not attack?”
Kucha forged onwards and replied, “If Ancestor wants it, I dare not withhold it. Whether Ancestor is willing to or not, I can only be resigned to my fate.”
The old face gazed at Kucha intently for a long period of time, causing Kucha’s skin to crawl.
Then, the old face chuckled. “Hand over the marrow.”
Kucha obliged.
The old face opened its maw and swallowed the marrow. A contented voice spoke from the clouds, “Not bad, not bad. It truly is a peerless medicine. How rare, how rare!”
Kucha was a bit speechless when he heard this, but the old face was already asking him another question. “How powerful is the Blood Ancestor you speak of, and how much life does he have left in him?”
Kucha was stunned. “Ancestor, you have never heard of the Blood Ancestor’s name before?”
The old face replied, “Do you know the name of every Beast amongst your ranks?”
Of course Kucha did not know every Sovereign amongst the Beasts, but the comparison was somewhat nonsensical. There were far fewer Origin Beasts; if there were as many Origin Beasts as Sovereigns, the Primordial Continent probably would have already been torn asunder.
But Kucha dared not to be flippant, so he could only obediently reply, “Blood Ancestor is the Plundering Bloodbat. It can create tens of thousands of clones of itself and morph shapes easily. Even amongst Ancestors, it is incredibly powerful.”
“Oh. Then what about the Barbaric Ancestor?”
Kucha replied, “The Barbaric Ancestor is......”
Suddenly, his voice caught in his throat, and he stared at the ancient, weathered face in terror.
“Why have you stopped?” the old face growled.
Kucha began to tremble. “You...... You are not an Ancestor!”
He had finally realized the truth..
No Ancestor would possibly fail to recognize both the Blood Ancestor and the Barbaric Ancestor.
He had been tricked!
“Oh? So you saw through me in the end, huh?” The ancient voice began morphing into one much more familiar to his ears.
The old face also began to revert, revealing Su Chen’s smiling face.
“Su Chen!” Kucha yelled in fright.
Upon realizing that Su Chen had both deceived him and cheated him of the marrow, he was both stunned and enraged. “You dare to deceive me? I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do!”
A blackish-green streak of Qi stabbed towards Su Chen.
“Is that so?” Su Chen murmured. “Even though I am not your Ancestor, trust me - I can crush you just as easily as those Ancestors of yours.”
As he spoke, he unleashed a palm strike.
This palm strike immediately dispersed the blackish-green Qi, then bypassed the restrictions of space and grabbed Kucha by the neck.
As soon as the palm gently but firmly gripped him, Kucha felt as if he had been completely drained of energy.
If Kucha was an ant, and Origin Beasts were giant elephants, Su Chen was like a dog. Even if he was far from being able to fight with an Origin Beast, he had no problems crushing an ant like Kucha.
As he hoisted Kucha in the air, Su Chen said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have lied to you - I should have captured you and tortured you until you told me everything I wanted to know. That may have been more effective and direct. Since you don’t seem to like the gentle route, why don’t we go along with your suggestion?”
As he spoke, a violent wave of flames rushed into Kucha’s body. The pain of burning up from the inside caused him to writhe and twist in agony. Most shockingly, his body was actually completely fine. The pain assaulted him in unceasing waves.
Kucha learned a second lesson on this day: when an extremely powerful enemy deceives you, you should feel grateful, not wronged. After all, failing to be deceived would only lead to even greater torment.
Dammit!
He cursed himself in his heart again and again.
His regret was consuming. If he had a choice, he would have definitely preferred to have remained ignorant about this whole situation.
Su Chen’s voice floated towards him seemingly from afar. “Now are you ready to tell me what I want to know?”
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!” Kucha howled. “The Barbaric Ancestor is the Primal Tyrant. He possesses incredible power, and is impulsive and bloodthirsty.”
“How obedient of you,” Su Chen said with a faint smile.
Truthfully speaking, Su Chen had only tried the deception route because it was more interesting and amusing for him.
“So you were on your way to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t the Blood Ancestor go? Wasn’t he awakened?”
“No, the Blood Ancestor is still slumbering.”
“Then how did he tell you to awaken the Barbaric Ancestor and give you his marrow?”
“The Blood Ancestor also has the ability to divide his consciousness in addition to creating numerous clones. While his main body is asleep, he can awaken a small portion of his soul to handle any emergencies that arise. All that dies is a component of his soul. However, he cannot do this for too long; otherwise, his main body will be affected, and he will fully awake. Right now, he is the only Ancestor that can maintain a certain level of contact with us while slumbering.”
“So your actions are decided by him? Was he the one who awakened the Shining Dragon in the past?”
“Yes. In ancient times, the Blood Ancestor was perhaps not the strongest. But during this period of hibernation, he is the only one that has remained truly invincible.” Kucha really was spilling everything he knew to save his own life.
“Oh. So that’s how it is!” Su Chen released his grip and began to stroke his chin in thought.
He left Kucha alone, and Kucha didn’t dare to try and escape. He could only glance at Su Chen occasionally before averting his gaze, trembling. A Sovereign, an emperor amongst the Beasts was shivering like a terrified rabbit before Su Chen.
Unfortunately, this was the harsh reality it had to face.
If he was not strong enough, he could only resign himself to his fate.
Su Chen thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “Do you know how many hibernating Desolate Beasts and Origin Beasts there are?”
Kucha thought for a moment, then replied, “As far as I know, there were around three hundred Ancestors alive during the ancient eras, and around ten thousand Elders. But after so many years, the Ancestors’ numbers have dwindled. There are probably only thirty of them left, and around three hundred Elders.”
“Thirty and three hundred, is it? That’s still quite a few,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
Kucha bolstered his courage and continued, “Yes. Any Ancestor is capable of devastating the human armies. Su Chen, I know you are very powerful, but you are not the Ancestors’ opponent. Even if you kill me today, another Demonic Beast will carry out this duty......”
“So noisy.” Su Chen casually waved his hand, causing Kucha to immediately shut his mouth. “I didn’t ask you that.”
Then, Su Chen said, “You should know where these Ancestors and Elders are sleeping, right?”
Kucha stared at Su Chen in shock.
How could he not understand what Su Chen was saying?
It seemed that he wanted to figure out where the Origin Beasts and Desolate Beasts were hibernating, then prepare ambushes for them.
No matter how strong these Origin Beasts were, they were hibernating, and could not defend themselves against a human ambush. This was also why the Origin Beasts would aid the Demonic Beasts in their times of distress. In some sense, the Demonic Beasts were their guardians on the surface.
Kucha shook his head vehemently. Muffled noises escaped from his mouth as he tried to answer Su Chen’s question.
“You don’t know?” Su Chen waved his hand once more, and Kucha regained the ability to speak.
Kucha said, “The hibernation sites of the Ancestors and Elders is a closely-guarded secret. How would I know?”
Su Chen asked, “Then how do you know where the Blood Ancestor and the Barbaric Ancestor are sleeping?”
Kucha replied, “The Blood Ancestor’s hibernation site is known by all Beasts, and is the only one that is publicly known. Access is completely forbidden because of this. No matter what state the battle reaches, no one is allowed to approach that site. We learn the locations of the other Ancestors and Elders from the Blood Ancestor. In an emergency, we would awaken the Blood Ancestor, who would inform us which Ancestors or Elders to awaken. This is a tradition that has lasted for tens of thousands of years. Of course, I also know where the Tree Ancestor is hibernating, but this is because I accidentally ate his enlightenment. But that is nothing more than a coincidence. And I would never dare to divulge its location to the other Beasts.”
“So that’s how it is. Then what about that golden falcon? How did the Astrals know where it was sleeping and awaken it?”
Kucha replied, “That Elder was most likely not dormant in Beast territory.”
Su Chen understood.
The Beasts had once dominated the entire continent, which was why the Origin Beasts and Desolate Beasts were now slumbering all over the place. All they needed to do was notify the Blood Ancestor of the location they had chosen.
But as the years went by, the Beasts began to lose more and more territory that they could not reclaim, and the Desolate Beasts and Origin Beasts buried there also became inaccessible.
These giant, ancient beasts were buried too deep underground and would not be easily discovered, but as time had gone by and their surrounding terrain had shifted, it was only natural that a few would be revealed. Most of them were killed while in their sleep, but some had managed to survive.
This was the case with the Origin Beast in the Death Region, as well as the Thousand Poisons Toad in the Thousand Poisons Mountain.
The golden falcon likely fell into this category of Beasts. It had lost the protection of the Demonic Beasts a long time ago, and had lain dormant in Astral territory for some time but was never awakened and killed.
“Unless you scour the entire Beast territory, you will not be able to find them all. And even if you do, finding them one by one will be extremely difficult,” Kucha said.
“I know,” Su Chen said with a faint smile. “I wasn’t planning on it anyways. Since the Blood Ancestor seems so clear about all of these things, let’s go pay him a visit.”