Chapter Forty-One: Powers on All Sides

To the east of the Water-Fire Mountain.

A sky filled with endless auspicious clouds, shimmering with sacred radiance, blanketed the heavens. Nine colossal golden dragons, each with seven thousand feet in length and seven claws, soared through the clouds; their massive golden scales glimmered with boundless light as their majestic forms swept through the sky. These nine seven-clawed golden dragons drew behind them an immense golden palace, parting the clouds as they advanced toward the Water-Fire Mountain.

Beside the dragon palace surged a sacred mountain ablaze with fierce golden light, flying neck and neck—neither yielding to the other. Upon the summit of this divine mountain stood an enormous golden lion, gazing forward with a regal bearing, surveying the world with sovereign disdain.

If the dragons’ golden brilliance embodied majesty, then the lion mountain’s golden glow was the very light of dominance.

“The Dragon Clan and the Lion Clan—both have arrived. Truly, they are mortal enemies,” Nan Luo observed the approaching dragon palace and lion mountain, combining the scene before him with the intelligence he’d gathered.

The Eastern Wilds could be divided into two domains: the Eastern Earth and the Eastern Sea.

The Lion Clan ruled the Eastern Earth, while the Dragon Clan dominated the Eastern Sea.

Now, the Lion Clan was about to unify the Eastern Earth, and the Dragon Clan was poised to pacify the Eastern Sea. The territories of these two great clans were destined to meet and clash, making war for supremacy over the Eastern Wilds inevitable.

Thus, the Lion and Dragon Clans were constantly engaged in both open strife and covert rivalry, laying the groundwork for the great war of domination yet to come.

To the south of the Water-Fire Mountain.

A towering tree, its crown rising straight into the clouds, swayed with fiery red leaves that blotted out the sky and sun as it slowly approached the Water-Fire Mountain. This was the very Wutong Tree where the Phoenixes perched.

Above the Wutong Tree, a fire phoenix soared and danced, its cry resounding across the heavens. Behind the Wutong Tree followed an earthen yellow mountain, seven thousand feet high, moving at a leisurely pace.

“The Phoenix Clan.” Nan Luo glanced briefly at the Wutong Tree, then turned his gaze to the yellow mountain that followed.

With his blue eyes, Nan Luo could clearly see countless invisible yellow chains beneath the earthen mountain.

“The power of the earth? So, it is the Titan Clan,” Nan Luo mused, watching the Titan Mountain.

Those yellow chains beneath the Titan Mountain were formed entirely from the condensed power of the earth.

The Titans were known as the Children of the Earth, born with mastery over terrestrial forces.

Only those of the Titan Clan, born with this innate command of the earth, could so effortlessly forge chains from the earth’s power, linking the Titan Mountain to the ground below.

Though the Titan Mountain flew through the sky, with these chains of earth binding it to the land, it was as if it strode upon the very earth itself.

As the Children of the Earth, the Titans naturally wielded their greatest strength when in contact with the land.

The situation in the Southern Wilds mirrored that of the east—two great clans stood in opposition.

The Phoenixes of the Undying Volcano and the Titans, Children of the Earth, contested the southern hegemony.

To the west of the Water-Fire Mountain.

From the west came not the forces of the Western Wilds, but those of the Central Wilds.

The Qilin Clan, the Central Alliance, and the Puppet City.

Unlike the straightforward dichotomies of the east and south, the Central Wilds’ affairs were far more complex.

There was no simple division into two camps; instead, three great powers vied for dominance, forming shifting alliances and suppressing one another.

The rule was simple: in the Central Wilds, any two factions would ally to counter the strongest third.

Such was the established order of the Central Wilds.

Currently, the Qilin Clan stood as the mightiest power, with the Central Alliance and Puppet City tacitly joining forces to oppose them.

As the preeminent power, the Qilin Clan’s presence was formidable—a Qilin Cliff ablaze with fire, above which an eight-thousand-foot flaming Qilin roared to the heavens, its might peerless.

Trailing behind were the radiant Central Tower of the Alliance and the unremarkable Black City of the Puppet Clan.

In fact, the flying treasures of each major clan were typically fashioned after their iconic edifices: the Dragon Palace for the Dragons, Lion Mountain for the Lions, the Wutong Tree for the Phoenixes, Titan Mountain for the Titans, Qilin Cliff for the Qilins, Central Tower for the Alliance, and Black City for the Puppets.

“But where are the forces from the Western Wilds?” Nan Luo surveyed the horizon, but found no sign of their presence. A sense of foreboding crept into his heart.

He vaguely sensed trouble had befallen the Western Wilds, and that it was somehow connected to himself.

But now was not the time to dwell on that. Nan Luo buried his worry and turned his gaze north, toward the Water-Fire Mountain’s northern side.

To the north of the Water-Fire Mountain.

An enormous island approached, above which floated an eight-thousand-foot Black Tortoise, moving calmly and steadily toward the mountain.

Just like the Black Tortoise itself—immovable as a mountain, tempestuous as the sea.

Behind Black Tortoise Island followed eight Water Palaces, gliding unhurriedly toward the Water-Fire Mountain.

Only the Water Palace of the Dark Serpent Clan was absent.

Unlike the other regions, the Northern Wilds were not contested by merely two or three factions, but by a full ten.

The Black Tortoise Clan stood as the foremost among the ten powers of the north.

Their arch-rival, the Dark Serpent Clan, ranked second.

Therefore, in this campaign led by the Black Tortoise Clan, the Dark Serpent Clan did not participate openly.

In secret, however, the Dark Serpent Clan’s leader, Lord Black Sky, had already sent an avatar to attend.

Nan Luo swept his gaze in all directions, considering the various clans and calculating how best to deal with them.

To battle, or to parley?

While Nan Luo pondered, two unexpected forces quietly followed behind the others, arriving at the Water-Fire Mountain.

The Time Tower, treasure of the Chrono-Demon Ni Gu.

And the twelve Divine Kings of the Pantheon: Miao Yan, God of Fate; Shi, God of Devouring; Bu Xu, God of Earth; Bai Hua, God of Light; Hei An, God of Darkness; Lei Xing, God of Thunder; Fang Yan, God of Literature; Wu Po Tian, God of War; Jehovah, God of Creation; Tian Jun, God of Order; and Huan Hun, God of Dreams.

All twelve kings descended in person within the Time Tower, secretly arriving at the Water-Fire Mountain.

In the vast wilderness, there was an infamous and mysterious organization known as the House of Assassins.

They were once obscure, until they accepted a contract to assassinate a Divine King at the peak of his power—and succeeded. From that moment, their reputation soared and their contracts multiplied, their name becoming a byword for dread.

Yet, ten thousand years ago, the House of Assassins accomplished something truly earth-shattering: they successfully assassinated a Lesser Divine Lord.

In a world where Divine Lords were the very embodiment of power, and where even a Lesser Divine Lord could found a royal dynasty, the House of Assassins’ feat was unfathomable.

One principle, however, had ensured their survival: the House of Assassins never targeted the upper echelons of any major power.

This tenet both instilled fear and earned them grudging tolerance from the great factions—without it, they would have long since been eradicated by a unified alliance of the great powers.

Now, ten Blood-robed Assassins from the House of Assassins lay hidden on a sacred mountain not far from the Water-Fire Mountain, silently watching the unfolding drama.