Chapter Eighty-Eight: Fighting Side by Side

A radiance that seemed to have crossed a thousand years filled the room.

Countless ghostly figures rose from the ancient relics—traces of lingering souls left behind upon them by the forebears of old.

"Cultivate the self, regulate the household, govern the state, bring peace to the world..."

A voice sounded, and the scholar’s brush in Mo Buzhi’s hand trembled violently. Rust fell away, and light blazed without end.

A figure appeared upon the brush, sword at his waist, a scroll in his hands, nine feet tall.

"This disciple pays respects to Master Confucius!"

Mo Buzhi’s face lit up with excitement. Holding the proper rites of a disciple, he performed a deep, reverent bow.

As dust lifted from a brocade monk’s robe and a nine-ringed staff, light pierced heaven and earth. A lean monk with a steadfast face slowly walked forward.

"Only to seek the Mahayana scriptures, and deliver the countless common people of Great Xia."

"This humble monk pays respects to Master Xuanzang!" The compassionate elder’s expression turned fervent, and he joined his palms devoutly.

At the same time, all the ancient relics shed their rust, and figures emerged from them.

There were fierce generals roaring.

There were monks chanting softly.

There were scholars reciting poetry.

From the waist of Lin Fan, the saber erupted with icy light, and a blue dragon let out a long cry.

A mounted warrior, blade cold as frost, emerged from an army of thousands, stopping before Lin Fan and lowering his head to gaze at him.

"This one, Lin Fan, greets General Guan!" Lin Fan bowed respectfully.

The Martial Saint, Guan Yu!

It was a strand of the Martial Saint’s lingering soul preserved within that saber!

Though only a manifested remnant soul, that overwhelming aura—if Lin Fan, now a demigod among mortals, faced it personally, he could only feel unimaginable pressure and dread!

Such power.

If fully awakened, even a high-tier deity of the fifteenth rank might be cleaved in two with a single strike!

The entire room was filled with such remnant souls from ancient relics.

They were souls that had crossed the ages—some were famous generals who once shook an era, some were eminent monks whose names endured through the centuries, some were legendary founders of the Daoist path, and some were renowned assassins spoken of in countless tales!

At that moment,

they said nothing.

They merely watched quietly as these descendants, bearing the same blood, as if waiting for an answer.

Then, suddenly, Lin Fan shouted loudly:

"Ancestors, please lend us your strength. With your weapons, we shall protect Great Xia!"

Everyone in the room from the Godslayer Army cried out together, "Ancestors, please lend us your strength. With your weapons, we shall protect Great Xia!"

Silence.

Then, all at once, countless voices rang out.

"Great Xia..."

"Hahaha, protect Great Xia, is it..."

"We are already dead. Must we still protect Great Xia..."

"Of course we must!"

A thousand sighs turned into thunderous roars.

"You shall use our vessels to bear our power and protect Great Xia!"

The ancient weapons trembled. At that instant, everyone felt as though the relics had come alive, as though they were in perfect accord with their hearts and minds!

This was the acknowledgment of their ancestors!

A legacy spanning a thousand years!

And within these ancient weapons, there now surged wave upon wave of formidable, awakened power.

It was the strength left behind by the forebears.

And now, that power moved at their will, fought at their will!

It fought for the protection of Great Xia!

"Thank you, ancestors!" Lin Fan shouted respectfully.

At the same time, the many members of the Godslayer Army who felt the gift of their ancestors were filled with gratitude and cried out loudly, "Thank you, ancestors!"

Countless sighs sounded one after another.

"Protect our Great Xia..."

"The faith of countless generations has kept us within Great Xia."

"But now, we still slumber and cannot fight at your side... Hold on. When we awaken, we shall stand with you and fight together!"

"We can sense it. Those fellows are coming again."

"Hold on..."

Lin Fan looked at those remnant souls as they gradually dispersed.

He understood what their words meant.

Gods possess power because of the faith of their believers.

And these forebears of Great Xia, through the faith of countless generations, had likewise become the guardians of Great Xia.

Only—

in the last invasion by the gods, they paid a terrible price to drive them out.

No one knew this, but the ancestors had been silently guarding Great Xia and Blue Star in this way all along.

It was only that they were now fallen into slumber.

In truth, Lin Fan could go to the locations he remembered and find the tombs of these ancestors to obtain their complete inheritance.

But doing so would forcibly awaken them. If they were awakened by force, the mildest outcome would be that they could never recover and would remain weak; the worst would be that the sleeping ancestors would vanish completely into nothingness.

Lin Fan tightened his grip on the razor-sharp blue dragon saber and said in a low voice, "Rest assured. We will wait, and when the time comes, we will fight at your side."

"We will wait, and when the time comes, we will fight at your side!"

All the members of the Godslayer Army roared in unison!

The blood of Great Xia grew hot and fervent in that moment!

The next instant, Lin Fan turned around and looked at the members of the Godslayer Army before him.

Aside from the first squad and Red Sparrow, the others were all people he was seeing for the first time.

Most were boys and girls, and by their appearance, they still seemed to be in high school. This was no coincidence, because the genes of youth were the most active; so when the era of divine descent began, ability users mostly emerged from among them.

Through those pairs of youthful, clear eyes, Lin Fan saw one story after another.

Great Xia had no compulsory conscription, no mandatory physical examinations, and no forced enlistment of ability users.

They could have concealed their identities, hidden in the schools, sheltered beneath the protection of their parents—but instead, they had chosen to fight for Great Xia of their own accord!

More than a hundred people, more than a hundred stories.

Each was different, yet in their eyes Lin Fan saw the same light.

The resolve and courage to fight for Great Xia!

The people of Great Xia had never lacked the courage to fight to the death!

Lin Fan shouted, "Everyone."

"We are meeting for the first time."

"I know there may be fear in your hearts, and nervousness."

"I know that at our age, we should not really have to bear so much. We ought to be studying in school, protected by our parents, accompanied by our classmates."

"I am afraid too. I am frightened too. After all, those are gods!"

"And I have seen the power of gods with my own eyes. I have also witnessed countless tragedies with my own eyes!"

"I am more afraid than you are!" Lin Fan’s voice trembled.

He was afraid!

He truly was afraid!

Ever since he returned through time, Lin Fan had not slept a single good night. Even though the world now seemed calm on the surface, the instant he closed his eyes, mountains of corpses and seas of blood crashed before him!

The descent of the gods was imminent, and that fact weighed on him like a mountain.

Sometimes, waiting for something dreadful to happen is more painful than living in ignorance.

It was precisely this pain, this fear, that drove Lin Fan to do everything he could to protect Great Xia.

"But what we fear is not the gods. It is loss!"

"This fear will not stop us. It will only drive us to become stronger!" Lin Fan shouted. "Everyone, thank you—for being willing to fight for Great Xia!"

"Remember the fear in your hearts, and use it to make yourselves stronger! Do not fail the trust of our ancestors. I thank you all—for standing with me, and with our ancestors, on the battlefield!"

Whoosh!

Lin Fan bowed deeply at ninety degrees, a perfect gesture of respect!

After a brief silence, the entire Godslayer Army bowed together and shouted, "Fight together! Fight for Great Xia!"