The strong defensive screen gradually opened. Ji Hao’s Taiji creation cauldron emitted a soft light as the Pan Jia sun slowly drifted in. The light of Pan Jia sun dimmed, as warm and golden sunshine poured down through the dark clouds in the sky, leaving golden light spots on Pan Gu world.
Human beings who took shelter in Pu Ban City looked at the sky, stunned. Someone burst with the first happy shout, and all of a sudden, everyone began shouting and cheering, throwing tools, weapons, and their ragged clothes into the sky.
Some impatient Magus Kings and Divine Magi flew straight up into the sky and spread their hands, showering under the golden sunshine.
The sunshine was warm, and might even make one’s skin a little bit itchy. The warmth of the sunlight could drill straight into one’s bones. The Pan Jia sun had been keeping Pu Ban City warm for the past few years, but in comparison, the light of the Pan Gu sun made these people feel more comfortable!
People shouted in happiness. Their voices spread in all directions. From houses, caves, and tree holes, countless human beings rushed out excitedly. They raised their heads and looked at the golden sunshine hiding behind the dark clouds in the sky, thinking about the storm that ceased suddenly. They were all stunned.
The rain stopped, and the sun came out. The dark clouds hadn’t disappeared yet, but the sun already illuminated the world, and the heart of every survivor.
"Here is the sun!"
This was such a normal word to say, but after years of fighting against the flood, this sounded so precious. Many people shed tears. With tears flowing down their faces, they laughed out loud, then began crying heartbreakingly.
The homes of so many people were destroyed by the flood. Many clans had lost countless people. The ones who luckily survived in Pu Ban City thought about their families and friends, who were already gone.
The cries and laughter mixed together. Suddenly, Pu Ban City turned so noisy.
In the core area of Pu Ban City, surrounded by beautiful mountains, a magnificent hall stood on the ground. Around the hall, countless heavily armored warriors were on patrol. Important areas were guarded by large numbers of Maguspreists, and in some other areas, well-trained spirit beasts quietly lied on the ground. Under the eaves, amidst the flowers, highly sensitive Gu bugs were hiding.
In the sky, under the ground, this place was heavily guarded like an unbreakable city. It seemed that not even a fly could easily break in.
Inside the hall was a temple hall, entirely cast from bronze, thickly embossed with countless spell symbols. Under this temple hall, nine-hundred-meters underground was another secret temple hall, cast from red bronze, gold-plating, and inlaid with countless magic crystals, coiling in thunderbolts. A dark mist had been rising from this secret hall, as over ten hazy figures were silently sitting in the mist.
Every one of them had a wine pot placed beside them, and a wine bowl held in their hands. They poured the wine for themselves, emptied their bowls, then poured again.
The strong aroma of wine suffused the secret hall, which meant they had been sitting like this for a long time.
After a long while, an old yet especially strong voice burst like a thunder, "A bunch of useless things! That was such a small thing, yet they failed. Every generation is worse than the older one, worse than the older one! If I knew all this, I should have better…strangled them and fed them to the wolves once they were born."
Another old and dry, but softer voice sneered weakly and said, "At this point in time, what can you do to help by talking like this? Strangling your newborns and feeding to wolves? Do you have such a tradition in your family? We’ve been friends for so many years, but I truly didn’t know about this…How many of your children and grandchildren have you strangled?"
"You!" The first voice burst up, and the dark mist in the secret hall quaked instantly.
"Enough!" A strong voice snuffed the potential conflict between those two and said, "Don’t waste my cauldron-full of ‘dark sweat aroma’, that can nourish your hearts and minds. And don’t just drink. If you want to drink, go back to your wine cellars. You can drink as much as you like there. Use your brains and think about solutions!"
People in the secret hall fell into stillness. A long while later, a hoarse, deep voice started talking, "Marquis Yao Ji Hao, that kid…Hasn’t Emperor Shun said something? He killed so many of our elders. Does Emperor Shun think that he can protect that kid?"
That strong voice sneered and responded coldly, "Emperor Shun surely knows that he can’t protect Ji Hao. How can he? Ji Hao killed so many of our elders. He is the emperor, indeed, but is the human emperor a big deal? Without our support, what can he do as an emperor?"
"Emperor Shun hasn’t said anything yet because he clearly knows that he can’t protect Ji Hao this time…Therefore, Ji Hao has to die!"
"The only problem now is that the flood-control mission is accomplished, but we have no credit for that!"
After another while of silence, the group of people began blaming the others.
Someone complained loudly and said that people should have listened to him in the beginning of the flood-control mission, and more or less, each one of these powerful human families and clans should have sent out some elites. If they did that, they could always earn some credits.
Some other people shouted loudly that before the Kui Gate battle, people should have listened to them to violently imprison Ji Hao and Si Wen Ming. Thus, the credit of breaking the nine water gates would naturally belong to them.
One man yelled that even though Si Wen Ming had earned the highest credit for the flood-control mission, as for whether he could ascend to the throne or not would still depend on these powerful families and clans! Indeed, Si Wen Ming had the reputation. He made his contribution to the flood-control mission, and all people in the world appreciated him. But, what was so important about that? Without the support of these powerful human families and clans, all of this was nothing!
"We cannot let Si Wen Ming become the next human emperor!" said the strong voice abruptly, interrupting all the others, "He is not like Emperor Shun. Emperor Shun is kind and generous…But Si Wen Ming, hm, you have all seen how difficult the Magi Palace has become in his hands. Clearly, Si Wen Ming is not easy to deal with! Not to mention the fact that he was friends with so many princes…His hands have been reaching far."
Silence reigned again. Later, this strong voice continued, "We can’t let Si Wen Ming return to Pu Ban City. The world knows that Si Wen Ming beat the flood. Once he returns, he would certainly become the new emperor!"
"No one can stop him, not even us. It’s useless, all useless. He has made a major contribution this time, which brought him a great reputation. So…We can’t let him return!"
"The hero who beat the flood died of illness on his way back home… This will be the best end! What do you all think?"
Once again, the secret hall fell into an embarrassed silence. A while later, an old voice carried the conversation on, "After all, Si Wen Ming is a descendant of Emperor Xuanyuan…"
Hearing a cold laughter, another old voice responded harshly, "A half of us are descendants of Emperor Xuanyuan. What’s so special about Si Wen Ming?"
"But, Si Wen Ming is a Divine Magus. Dying of illness…What kind of a disease can kill him?" said another voice with hesitation. Divine Magi could not be killed by any poison, and could regrow their bodies from drops of blood. Died of illness? No such disease existed in the world!
"As long as he dies... As for what kind of disease caused his death, we can take out time to find that out!" said the strong voice, "Now, let’s discuss on how to make Si Wen Ming die as soon as possible! And, this can never have anything to do with us!"