Chapter 244: The Last Battle
Chapter 244: The Last Battle
During her academy years in the Heavenly Realm, Xiang Ling recalled learning about the historical incident of the last battle that took place between the Seven Realms.
Originally, there were seven realms in their world - God Realm, Heavenly Realm, Celestial Realm, Northern Sea Realm, Mortal Realm, Demon Realm, and finally Shadow Realm. The war took place mainly between the God Realm and the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Lord was known as one of the most powerful being to ever exist in the history of the Seven Realms. His mission was to conquer the remaining six realms and turn the entire world into a place of dark powers.
During the last battle, the God Realm received a heavy blow as the Demon Realm and the Northern Sea Realm colluded with the Shadow Realm. Even though the Heavenly Realm and the Celestial Realm came to God Realm’s assistance in the war, it was already too late to reverse the casualties.
In the end, the Gods sealed the Shadow Lord in the depths of the Abyssal Lands with the most powerful seal to ever exist in the history of Seven Realms and it cost them the very last drop of their spiritual essence. The price of casting such a powerful spell and sealing the Shadow Lord was paid by all the Gods as they all lost their primordial spirits and disappeared from the world for eternity.
Since that day, both God Realm and the Shadow Realm vanished forever from the world and the reamaining Five Realms signed a peace treaty and decided to live in harmony. It had been eighty thousand years since then, and the world had been mostly a peaceful place until the recent demonic activities in the Mortal Realm started taking place.
"Why are we suddenly talking about the Shadow Lord?" Xiang Ling found herself asking while her heart pounded loudly in her chest as she feared that whatever Xin Cheng was about to tell her, it was not what she or anyone else in the Five Realms wanted to hear.
Xin Cheng was silent for a moment or two before he finally revealed - "Around two mortal years ago, I received news about some sort of disturbance in the seal of the Abyssal Lands. There were cracks in the seal, appearing in several places all of a sudden. Unfortunately, I was late as by the time I arrived there, the primordial spirit of the Shadow Lord had already escaped the Abyssal Lands through the cracks in the seal."
Xiang Ling almost forgot about breathing and just stared at Xin Cheng with her mouth hanging open in pure shock and terror. Her mind refused to believe the words that her ears just heard. She shook her head as if doing that would change what she just got to know about.
"You are joking, right?"
She refused to believe otherwise. She so desperately wanted the man to say that he was just joking around and that the Shadow Lord was still sealed inside the Abyssal Lands.
However, there was no such thing happening as Xin Cheng gave her a solemn look and spoke, "I will never joke around with something as serious as this. The Shadow Lord is no longer sealed inside the Abyssal Lands. It has been two years since he escaped from there."
Xiang Ling felt the ground literally slipping from under her feet and she found herself losing balance. However, before she could have landed on the hard ground, Xin Cheng’s strong arms surrounded her and stopped her from falling. He pulled her into his arms but remained silent to give her time to accept the news.
"Why... why no one knows about this then?" Xiang Ling finally found her voice after what seemed like forever and pulled away from the Demon Emperor’s arms to ask the question. Once again, her gazed was filled with accusations as she stared at him. "Or is it a secret that is only known about the higher-ups?"
Xin Cheng slowly shook his head, confusing Xiang Ling until his next words made their way out of his mouth. "Only five people have known about this matter so far... and now there are six of us. No one from the Upper Realm have any knowledge about this."
Xiang Ling was left confused. "What do you mean by no one from Upper Realms have any idea about the escape of the Shadow Lord from the Abyssal Lands? It’s such a big matter, undoubtedly the biggest matter possible. How come no one from the Upper Realms noticed that something went wrong with the Abyssal Lands?"
"The Abyssal Lands are located in a desolate part of the Demon Realm, and you might know exactly how much those from the Upper Realms despises entering the Lower Realms. There’s no wonder they all forgot about the Abyssal Lands and are staying in their own realms without any worries. They have been living without any worries because they all believe that the seal of the Abyssal Lands is impenetrable and no power can take it down. It was because of this carelessness and foolishness of theirs that landed us in the current mess."
Xin Cheng’s voice was filled with anger as he talked about the so-called higher-ups of the Upper Realms. He still recalled how he tried to make them understand that they needed to pay close attention to the Abyssal Lands to make assure that the Shadow Lord would never make his way out of that place but those people never listened to him as they were overconfident in the seal that was placed by the Gods themselves.
After trying constantly for a while to reason with them, he too gave up and never brought up the matter again in front of the High Council. Not only that but he was too angry that he also stopped paying attention to the Abyssal Lands as he didn’t want to worry about the safety of all the Realms all alone.
Fortunately, the seal indeed remained impenetrable for eighty thousand years and the world lived in peace. However, it was this negligence of theirs that helped the Shadow Lord in escaping from the Abyssal Lands.
Xiang Ling quickly shook her head, still trying to understand why such a big matter was still unknown to the higher-ups. "Even if they didn’t find out about this on their own, why did you never informed them? Ah Cheng, don’t you know how big of a situation is this? You should have informed the royal families of all the other Realms as soon as you find out about the Shadow Lord’s escape."
The look on Xin Cheng’s face said that he didn’t agree with her words in the least. Shaking his head, he responded, "Don’t you know what would have happened if those from the Upper Realms would have got to know about this matter? They all have been waiting to find a perfect chance to blame the Demon Realm and wipe us out. If they get to know about this matter, they will use it to eradict the Demon Realm more than they will try to locate the Shadow Lord."
Xiang Ling tried to shake her head in denial of his words but the man was immediately there to stop her. He stared into her eyes as he spoke, "Don’t pretend like you are not aware of the true nature of your own people. Don’t pretend like you are not aware of their intentions toward my Realm and people. And most importantly, don’t pretend like those people actually care about the lives of the people in the other four realms."
"Ah Cheng, the Heavenly Realm isn’t as bad as you think. I know that there have been instances where it seemed like they completely despise the Lower Realms, but it mostly came from what happened in the last battle. If you will tell them about Shadow Lord’s escape, they will help you in locating him and sealing him again in the Abyssal Lands. You can’t keep this matter a secret from them. Don’t you know the consequences?"
Xiang Ling tried to make the man understand that his choice of keeping this matter a secret wasn’t the best decision. If he kept the matter a secret to save his people and Realm, then the disclosure of this matter and his betrayal toward the treaty would only bring more trouble to him and his Realm.
"It’s been two years and they haven’t found anything about this matter. They all are living in their closed shells where they think that there are no dangers out there that can threaten their powers. I’m sure that if you will keep this a secret, no one will find out about this in future either." There was an edge in Xin Cheng’s voice as he stared at her with a clear warning in his eyes.
"The reason Dao Ming and I came to Mortal Realm was because we located the presence of the Shadow Lord here. We have been trying to search for him these past two years. I’m sure that we will eventually find him and will take him back to the Abyssal Lands."