Chapter 1398 - 225: The High Priest’s Identity
Chapter 1398: Chapter 225: The High Priest’s Identity
In Tianyong City, within the Black Qilin Forbidden Land.
Dugu Xiu and the High Priest arrived before the forbidden area.
The Black Qilin Forbidden Land was an ancient stone tomb.
To enter the stone tomb, one must pass through nine stone gates, each guarded by a special magic restriction.
A single misstep could activate the mechanisms.
Inside the forbidden area, the ancestral tablets of successive Black Qilin Clan Leaders were enshrined. This place was arranged with an ancient magic array. Dugu Xiu had only visited here once before, during the ancestral recognition ceremony, led by Hei Yao.
Upon hearing of Hei Linlin’s death, Hei Yao flew into a rage and led a hundred thousand Black Qilin Army troops to besiege Luochuan City.
Hei Yao initially intended to have Dugu Xiu lead the charge, but Dugu Xiu claimed that Tianyong City was poorly defended at that moment and needed someone to guard it.
Assuming Dugu Xiu was unwilling to harm the woman Yun Sheng, Hei Yao cursed, "Useless thing," and led the army away.
Once Hei Yao departed, the High Priest and Dugu Xiu entered the forbidden land.
Dugu Xiu did not know what the High Priest wanted to do in the forbidden land, but to his surprise, the ancient magic arrays, which even Hei Yao struggled to control, were shut down one by one by the High Priest with ease.
"The last door," the High Priest said as he stood before the stone door, looking at the final gate.
The High Priest deactivated the last magic array, and the stone door emitted a grinding noise as it slowly moved aside.
"Do you know what lies within this last stone door?" the High Priest suddenly asked.
"The Qilin King’s Tomb left by the ancients." Dugu Xiu had heard Hei Yao mention it before.
The Black Qilin Graveyard served to commemorate the empty grave of the Black Qilin King relics who died on the Wuji Continent long ago. The real Black Qilin King’s body remained on the Eight Desolates Continent.
"Oh? Is that so? So that’s what the descendants say," the High Priest let out a strange laugh.
Dugu Xiu looked at the High Priest, puzzled.
"Having followed for so long, you all may as well come out now." Just as the High Priest and Dugu Xiu prepared to enter the stone door, the High Priest suddenly halted.
Yu Shang and the Great Witch Doctor emerged.
Upon seeing them, Dugu Xiu was greatly surprised.
"Who are you really, and why are you trespassing in the Black Qilin King’s forbidden land?" Yu Shang, having met Ye Beiming at the Heavenly Fox Palace, tried every means to find clues that Ye Beiming was the reincarnation of Black Qilin King Ye Xiu.
Finally, she thought perhaps there would be a clue in the Qilin Forbidden Land.
"Hu Yushang, I didn’t expect you to be alive again, and still so foolish," the High Priest snorted coldly.
Yu Shang’s expression grew peculiar.
"It’s you! You are Ye Xiu’s shadow?"
"Shadow? Hahaha, indeed. For all these years, in the eyes of the world, I have been just a shadow, with no name or identity. It’s surprising someone still remembers me," the High Priest laughed sinisterly, unveiling the priest robe he wore.
Seeing what lay beneath the priest robe, both Dugu Xiu and Yu Shang, along with the Great Witch Doctor, couldn’t help but cry out in shock.
There was a man... but his face was riddled with wounds, his appearance destroyed.
"As Ye Xiu’s shadow, why did you survive when he died?" Yu Shang asked, incredulous as she gazed at the High Priest.
The so-called shadow was Ye Xiu’s closest shadow guard, who followed Ye Xiu closely since birth.
In certain circumstances, the shadow would even act as Ye Xiu’s substitute.
With Yu Shang’s prompting, everyone noticed how the High Priest’s physique and voice bore some resemblance to Ye Xiu.
"If not for Hu Yan, how would the Clan Leader have died!" The mention of Hu Yan filled the High Priest with hatred.
The relationship between the High Priest and Ye Xiu was very secretive, even Hu Yan and Hu Yushang were the last to know.
"In the Hei Qilin Tribe, there’s a legend that if twins are born, it heralds misfortune. ’Qi’ is the elder, ’Lin’ the younger. Qi is a mythical creature of fortune, while Lin is a disaster beast. The elder brother brings hope, the younger brother disaster and disease," the High Priest mused, transporting those present to a night thousands of years ago.
On that night, the Clan Leader’s wife gave birth to identical twins.
According to the ancient teachings of the Qilin Clan, the birth of twins would bring calamity to the tribe.
To keep the secret, the Clan Leader’s wife killed the midwife who delivered the babies that night to cover up, even killing her maid on the spot.
The Clan Leader’s wife originally intended to kill the younger twin, but as she prepared to do so, the elder brother, Ye Xiu, cried incessantly. Afraid of others becoming suspicious, the Clan Leader’s wife disfigured the younger twin and abandoned him quietly at the entrance of an unsuspecting couple’s home within the clan.
The Clan Leader’s wife thought that child would disappear forever without a trace.
But she underestimated that the child, like Ye Xiu, carried the bloodline of the Black Qilin King.
No matter how ordinary a family he was raised in, he gradually revealed his talent, except unlike Ye Xiu, his talent in magic was even greater.
But because of his appearance, he lived humbly.
Perhaps it was fate. When the brothers were nine years old, Ye Xiu went hunting and happened to meet his brother, later to be known as the shadow. The two became very good friends.
Ye Xiu did not mind his disfigured face and took in his nameless brother, keeping him as a close guard by his side.
But when Ye Xiu returned with his nameless brother to the Black Qilin Tribe, the Clan Leader’s wife recognized at once that this so-called close guard was the younger twin she had abandoned.
To prevent the secret from being exposed, the Clan Leader’s wife captured him.
It was then that the High Priest learned his true identity.
The Clan Leader’s wife also noticed the High Priest’s magic talent, and since Ye Xiu would not bear to lose a trusted confidant who was like a real brother to him, she was forced to threaten him with the lives of his adoptive parents, forcing him never to reveal this truth to Ye Xiu.
Though the High Priest harbored great resentment towards the Clan Leader’s wife, he held a deep affection for his brother Ye Xiu.
He eventually promised the Clan Leader’s wife that he would never in his life betray Ye Xiu.
The High Priest followed Ye Xiu loyally, and the two grew from youths into heroic men. Watching the incomparable beauty of Ye Xiu rise to become the top expert within the Eight Desolate Beast Clan, the High Priest occasionally felt envy but was mostly happy from the bottom of his heart for his brother.
Together, they conquered land after land, strengthening the Black Qilin Tribe.
"Everything changed with the arrival of Hu Yan. Ye Xiu, he betrayed the bonds of brotherhood we shared and for that woman, he even forgot our original vow to unite the Kirin Tribe." The High Priest, immersed in his memories, suddenly shifted his expression, his eyes filled with bitterness.