A gloomy cloud hung over Skyheart City.
The destruction of Wall of North Sea rang across everyone’s ears like a knell. The delusion of having the capability to make their last struggle had been ruthlessly popped like bubbles under the sun.
The path from Avalon of Five Elements to Beyond Avalon was filled with blood and corpses. Before the survivors could rejoice, dangers befell them once again.
Meanwhile, from the fall of Wall of North Sea to the arrival of Blood of God in Beyond Avalon, their path was smooth and level. Who could stop Blood of God’s armies as they advanced like a tsunami?
The only thing that was worth rejoicing over was probably Ye Baiyi’s injury.
North Sea Division’s final retaliation made it clear to everyone in the world that North Sea was raging with anger. However, there was only one North Sea Division. Everyone had witnessed the tragic sacrifice of North Sea Division. The performance of the rest of the divisions was simply pathetic.
During the rise of Blood of God, the Thirteen Divisions were like decayed, dead trees, unable to put up a decent fight. Some surrendered, some had their division leaders killed and some were completely wiped out. Meanwhile, those who survived were trembling with fear and trepidation. They were no longer brave and fervent, but instead resembled elderly men that had passed their primes.
The Thirteen Divisions’ thousand years of glory and prestige were completely lost.
North Sea Division was the last gleam of hope. Even though they did not secure a victory, they had not let everyone down, and they did not betray the glory and prestige of North Sea Division.
An Muda’s footprint of glory stayed silently amid the mountains, growing old day by day.
The sunset’s afterglow was sprinkled over Skyheart City.
Skyheart City used to be an ambitious city as well. It was the core of Beyond Avalon, the city where Elders Guild resided, and the place where the three central divisions were stationed. However, nowadays its lofty ambitions were shattered and everyone in the city was having sleepless nights.
When would the armies from Blood of God arrive? Would Grandmaster Dai come and annex Beyond Avalon in the next few days?
Where could one live a peaceful life?
The streets were unusually desolate, so much so that not a single soul could be spotted. Most of the shops were closed. There were only a few shops that were still open for business. The light from the sun had turned gloomy. After such a harsh and freezing winter, Skyheart City’s economy was in a slump. After the Wall of North Sea had fallen, the situation in Skyheart City worsened significantly. Even heartless individuals did not have the mood to play around now.
Various rich and powerful aristocratic families were packing up their valuables and seeking a way out. Should they go to Jadeite Forest? Or should they join Blood of God? They’d heard that Holy Emperor was tyrannical and cruel. If he was enraged, a river of blood could be created at any moment. What if...
Suddenly, the light screen in the sky lit up.
The people who were on the lookout for invaders bolted upright immediately. That light screen was formed by [Five Peaks]. The [Five Peaks], which were formed by five God-subduing Peaks, guarded Skyheart City from all four directions and overhead. Together, they formed an impregnable defensive light screen.
Usually, only a small component of [Five Peaks] needed to be activated to ensure the safety of the city. But recently, due to the tense situation, every component of [Five Peaks] had been activated.
The glow in the sky disappeared within a short period of time.
The only time a Master would deliver a message personally was when he was delivering a report from the front line!
After a short while, Nian Tingfeng appeared in the mayor’s residence, his face filled with joy. "Where’s the mayor? I have important information for her! Please help me notify her!"
"The mayor is not in the residence. She went to the Lake of Masters one hour ago," the guard standing at the door replied with an apologetic tone.
Nian Tingfeng did not stay there and left the place.
Lake of Masters was the most heavily guarded place in Skyheart City. It was where the Master’s Glory was held. There were more than three Masters guarding that place. Lake of Masters was also the five God-subduing Peaks’ primary focus of protection.
Every month, Madam Ye would make two to three trips to Lake of Masters.
Master’s Glory had been proposed by her. After she gained power, she kept on promoting Master’s Glory and placed all her hope in it. If Master’s Glory failed, it implied a complete failure for her. She would have no chance of overturning the situation if that ever happened.
Lake of Masters was heavily guarded. Even Nian Tingfeng had to give early notice of his arrival and was checked before he could enter the place.
After he was checked by the guards, he entered. Lake of Masters was a natural lake. It contained extremely pure water elemental energy. Reportedly, this lake was the defining factor for why Skyheart City was built in its current location in the first place.
One had to know that Skyheart City was mainly populated by metal elementalists.
Lake of Masters was not really huge. It was three kilometers long and two kilometers wide. Its shape was long and narrow like a crescent moon. When they first discovered it, it was called Crescent Moon Lake. They only changed its name to Lake of Masters after it was selected as the venue for Master’s Glory.
Madam Ye had placed high hopes on Master’s Glory, hoping that it could cultivate more and more masters for Skyheart City.
Nian Tingfeng saw Madam Ye surrounded by many people at the lakeside. She was listening to a report from an ordinary-looking, middle-aged man. Nian Tingfeng walked over silently, not intending to disturb them.
When the middle-aged man saw Nian Tingfeng, he stopped talking and smiled at Nian Tingfeng as a form of greeting, "Division Leader Nian is here."
He had a goatee, his face was meager, and his hair was worn in a bun using a wooden hairpin, making him look somewhat like a sage.
Nian Tingfeng did not dare to hesitate and quickly returned the greeting, "Nice to meet you, Mr Ma."
Ma Shiji was Madam Ye’s most important tactician. He was a pedant that had learned Wang Shouchuan’s theories. He was Madam Ye’s right-hand man. [Five Peaks] had been devised by him. Master’s Glory was also managed by him. As such, Madam Ye trusted him deeply.
Even though Ma Shiji did not hold any official position, Nian Tingfeng knew he was an important figure and did not dare to offend him.
Madam Ye nodded her head at Nian Tingfeng and told Ma Shiji, "Continue."
Nian Tingfeng lowered his head and stood on one side.
Ma Shiji continued, "The training method for fusion elemental energy that Madam obtained from Assembly of Patriarchs is extremely ingenious. I’m enlightened by it. From the look of it, the only way to counter blood spiritual force is to possess all five elements at the same time. The traditional method for obtaining all five elements is to become a Grandmaster. However, fusion elemental energy allows one to skip this step. The creation of fusion elemental energy proves that Assembly of Patriarchs has truly been the arch-enemy of Blood of God for the past hundreds of years."
"I have taken some ideas from God-subduing Peak to create the Circle of Five Elements. I combined the earth elemental energy beneath the lake, the water elemental energy from the lake itself, the fire elemental energy from the sun, and the wood elemental energy from the gigantic lotus seed heads. Then, I fed the lotus seed heads with ores that contained an abundance of metal elemental energy. Initially, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t create a five elemental lotus seed head. It was only until I obtained the training method for fusion elemental energy that I could finally create twenty-five five elemental lotus seed heads. On each five elemental lotus seed head, there are eighteen five elemental lotus pods. That means there are a total of three hundred and sixty elementalists in them now."
A cold shiver went down Nian Tingfeng’s spine. He could not help but take a glance at the lake.
Huge lotus seed heads were gushing with brilliant lights and floated silently on the surface of the lake. Every lotus seed head contained the vague figures of curled up humans.
He knew there was a total of five hundred elementalists who had entered the first round of Master’s Glory. Most of them were talented young men and women from various families.
Subsequently, more and more people joined the program, especially when it was opened to new citizens. They lowered the requirements for Master’s Glory and increased Madam Ye’s prestige significantly.
In total, there were more than one thousand five hundred elementalists who participated in Master’s Glory.
However, there were only three hundred and sixty people left now.
Where had the other one thousand two hundred people gone?
Nian Tingfeng trembled in fear.
Surveillance Division’s selection of new members was already very strict. However, not being selected and dying after being selected were two completely different concepts. Even Nian Tingfeng, who was used to seeing death occur, was terrified when he knew of the astonishing death rate.
Even Ma Shiji’s enthusiastic and excited voice caused his hair to stand on end.
"Right now, there is a total of three hundred and sixty people who have completed Five Elemental Lotus Seedcoat. There are at least two hundred people who are expected to become Masters. As long as they awaken, the current situation will be overturned. These two hundred Masters will possess all five elements. Hahaha, even if Holy Emperor and Dai Gang come here personally, they will not be able to gain anything from us. Furthermore, with a flick of these Masters’ fingers, Ye Baiyi will be reduced to ashes in an instant. This is only the first batch. Now that we have experience, the time taken to cultivate the second batch can be reduced significantly."
Ma Shiji’s eyes were filled with excitement as he continued, "I have made some calculations. As long as we can cultivate more than five hundred Masters, we can take over the world!"
A smile appeared on Madam Ye’s face as she said, "Mr Ma, thank you for your trouble. The day Master’s Glory is completed will be the day that you are honored."
"Madam has devoted yourself wholeheartedly to Beyond Avalon and spared no effort in making it a better place. As compared to your contributions, mine is not worth mentioning. Without Madam’s support, I wouldn’t have fulfilled my dreams," Ma Shiji replied respectfully.
The smile on Madam Ye’s face widened. The world before everyone’s eyes seemed to light up at this moment. Age did not leave any traces on Madam Ye’s face. She was still as beautiful as before.
She withdrew her smile and said with a solemn tone, "Sir, you're being too humble. You’re a peerless tactician. Who else in this world can match up against you? It’s my fortune, the Elders Guild’s fortune, and the world’s fortune to have your assistance!"
Ma Shiji gasped for air as his mind surged with emotions.
He had had a rough life since he was born. He used to be homeless and miserable. He was often viewed by many as an unorthodox individual. He’d possessed many talents but no one appreciated him. It wasn’t until he met Madam Ye that he could have a chance to display his talents.
He was not good at bootlicking. The words he had just said were his limit. At this moment, he was restraining his emotions. Following which, he continued, "Oh, I have yet to congratulate Madam. Among everyone, Xiaobao is the most outstanding one. No one can match up to him. His achievements in the future will be limitless."
Madam Ye sighed as a complicated look appeared in her eyes. After staying silent for a long while she muttered, "Xiaobao, I hope you can understand what Mama has done."
Ma Shiji and Nian Tingfeng looked at each other and remained speechless.
Madam Ye raised her head as clarity returned to her eyes. She shifted her gaze to Nian Tingfeng and asked, "Is there news from the front line?"
"Yes."
Nian Tingfeng did not dare to look at Madam Ye in the eyes. He lowered his head and passed her the report.
When Madam Ye took over the report and read it, her eyes lit up. She exclaimed with joy, "Good, good, good! The drought has finally ended! This great victory has arrived at the right time! Silver Soldier and Heng Kunlun did not let me down! Shi Xueman has done a good job as well. She truly deserves to be Shi Beihai’s daughter. Like father, like daughter!"
A joyful look appeared on everyone’s faces involuntarily.
It was a great victory, a great victory indeed!
"Disseminate this piece of good news, every message village must receive it! Let everyone know that as long as we unite together, even if we don’t have a Grandmaster anymore, we still can emerge victorious! Blood elementalists are like humans, they die as well!"
Madam Ye was so emotional that her voice became slightly shrill. However, no one cared about it as everyone was wild with joy at this moment.
"Yes!" Nian Tingfeng replied loudly.
Without any hesitation, he turned around and left in a hurry.
After a while, the silent and desolate Skyheart City appeared as if it had awakened from a deep slumber. Thunderous cheers erupted throughout the entire city.
When Madam Ye heard the increasingly loud waves of cheers, she became high-spirited.
With terrifying speed, the news spread throughout Beyond Avalon like a hurricane.
Beyond Avalon had been waiting for a victory for too long.
The names of Shi Xueman, Silver Soldier and Heng Kunlun had spread throughout Beyond Avalon like fire.
Whenever a new era arrived like a tsunami, all of a sudden some people would be crushed to smithereens, while some would become legends.