Dragon-Marked War God

“Lord Turtle, since you know about the Shihai Ice Palace, I have a question for you. Do you know who the master of this tomb really is? You must know, right? And how did he die?”

Yuan Hua looked at the old turtle expectantly.

The old turtle sighed and shook his head.

“Since you were able to come out of the Shihai Ice Palace, it means you must already know some things. Then why keep searching so hard? Some things can never be changed. No matter how strong you become, you can’t change the facts. That is fate.”

The old turtle’s words made Jiang Chen frown deeply.

“Lord Turtle, I can’t agree with what you said. What is fate? Is fate just believing in what destiny arranges and letting destiny have its way with you? Everyone has the right to change their own fate. To fight heaven, there is endless joy. To fight earth, there is endless joy. To fight men, there is endless joy as well. Believing in fate is only the result of not daring to fight back. If everyone believed in fate and just went along with whatever happened, the great wheel of destiny would have ground everything away long ago, wouldn’t it? It is precisely those who refuse to be ordinary and refuse to sink who go and fight against fate. If everything just followed the rules, how could there be so much injustice in this world? If believing in fate could change all this, how could there be people who ignore fate? Believing in fate is the same as settling for being ordinary. If everyone were like you and believed in fate, how would this Shihai Ice Palace have come to exist? And how would that supreme expert who killed Yuan Hua’s ancestor have come to exist?”

Jiang Chen’s eyes blazed as he stared at the old turtle. The old turtle smiled bitterly. Every one of Jiang Chen’s words stung, because he was talking about him. He went along with whatever came, content with things as they were, never fighting fate. The result was what he was now: mediocre, never changing, never stirring. Living was just living. What he lived for and how he lived had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

“Yes, the person you’re talking about is me. I believe in what fate arranges, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You may even despise me, but that’s just how I am. I simply don’t want to be dragged into the strife of chaotic times. As for the death of the Ancient Emperor of the Yuan Clan, all I can tell you is: don’t try to take revenge, and even less try to trace them. The moment you learn who they are will be the moment you fall. Sometimes you still have to believe in fate. Man conquering heaven is only a legend, nothing more than a legend. Hehehe.”

Jiang Chen and Yuan Hua exchanged a glance. Both of them were extremely anxious, but the old turtle did not want to say any more.

“Just what was the background of the Ancient Emperor of the Yuan Clan? He probably wasn’t the ruler of the Shichahai Sea, was he? Being killed in the Shihai Ice Palace in the end could be called dying in a fitting place. But do you think the Shihai Ice Palace can stay hidden from us? Even if I don’t go searching, Yuan Hua will definitely never give up. He is one of your undersea race, and I believe the Ancient Emperor of the Yuan Clan also had deep ties to your people. Otherwise, why would he have made his tomb in the Shichahai Sea?”

Jiang Chen was still full of curiosity as he and the old turtle looked at each other.

The old turtle raised his head and glanced at the empty sea above, where lay the barrier they could never break through.

“The Ancient Emperor of the Yuan Clan, through a whole age of changes, was peerless in the world. He was originally an ancient great power, and was drawn into it only because a great upheaval of heaven and earth happened. That’s all I can tell you. Some things should never have existed in this world. Some people should never have fought against heaven. What you think you know is only your own presumption. This world is not as simple as you imagine, and these ages are not as short as you imagine. Even I, in that era, was only a speck of plankton in the sea. In that era there were no strong ones. Only those who survived could be called strong. You shouldn’t ask, and I can’t say. Heaven is watching what people do. If you fight heaven, you can’t win. Believe in destiny, believe in fate. Otherwise, no matter how strong you become, you can’t escape the judgment of the wheel of fate. The world has never lacked strong people, and the strong, in that turbulent era, fell completely long ago. The people you want to know about and the things you want to know about no longer exist. Forget it. Only by forgetting hatred can you become strong. The benevolent have no enemies.”

“If you want to search for the Yuan Clan, then leave this place. With that giant axe in your hands, leaving this undersea world won’t be hard for you. Leave this place, this place of sorrow. The Shichahai Sea shouldn’t have been like this. It shouldn’t have been like this.”

Lord Turtle said in a low voice, his eyes full of desolation. He seemed unwilling to bring up what had happened back then. Yet he also seemed to place great hope in Yuan Hua.

Jiang Chen sighed. He knew this old turtle had no intention of talking. No matter how many times he and Yuan Hua coaxed and pestered him, he stayed unmoved as a rock and tight-lipped. Let the winds come from all eight directions, he simply would not say.

“Then what is this? Does Lord Turtle know?”

Jiang Chen reached out, and the blue Heavenly Lightning Decree appeared in his hand.

The old turtle’s pupils contracted. He was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice:

“This thing is an ill-omened object, an ill-omened object. This is that person’s Five Thunders Decree. How did it end up in your hands? That person did indeed come here, but how could he have left the Five Thunders Decree behind? This is a divine weapon that surpasses Primal Origin Treasures.”

The old turtle’s voice was clearly somewhat agitated, and he looked at the Five Thunders Decree in Jiang Chen’s hand with obvious fear. Clearly this thing had an extraordinary origin. Jiang Chen had guessed right. This Five Thunders Decree was definitely no ordinary object!

Wude also sighed softly, his eyes never leaving the Five Thunders Decree in Jiang Chen’s hand. But his heart was willing while his strength was not. If he wanted to snatch the Five Thunders Decree from Jiang Chen, he would need the guts to do it first.

After hearing the old turtle’s words, Jiang Chen felt more certain. As for who that person was, Jiang Chen knew the old turtle would not say. Even if he did, Jiang Chen probably would not know him, but he must be a great power of ancient times. Jiang Chen knew that even if he learned about those things now, there would be nothing he could do. How could he take part in the great wars of ancient times? Even the Ancient Emperor of the Yuan Clan, sealed away in the Shihai Ice Palace, had been mercilessly wiped out. One could imagine how terrifying the great wars of ancient times had been.

“Then do you recognize this?”

Jiang Chen took out the bronze throne again. At that moment, the old turtle took one hard look, and his whole head began shaking frantically like a rattle drum.

“Don’t recognize it, don’t recognize it. Lord Turtle is going to sleep now.”

The old turtle pulled his head straight back in. This time Jiang Chen smiled bitterly too. He finally understood what “a turtle hiding in its shell” meant. There was just a whole turtle shell drifting back and forth on the seabed.

“Lord Turtle, wait—”

Yuan Hua still had many questions he wanted to ask the old turtle. But the moment the old turtle saw the bronze throne, he quickly pulled his head in. Whether he recognized the bronze throne or not, they did not know, but he should at least have given some kind of answer, right? Without even saying a word, he had pulled straight in, leaving Jiang Chen not knowing whether to laugh or cry. They did not even get a second chance to speak. He had simply shut the door in their faces.