Chapter 920 - Secret
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
Sorrow enveloped the entire camp.
The Mechanical Puppets rumbled on forward, according to their conclusive experiences, they should be hiding, they should be building defensive lines, they should be protecting their flanks and preparing for the assault. They were already able to face the surging bronze tide.
But no one moved, as though they did not hear anything.
The soldiers surrounded Mu Zhi Xia, some of them sobbing spasmodically while some of them wiped their tears. Their tears had mixed with the sand, and covered their faces. All of them had vacant looks in their eyes, as though their souls had been drawn out, they had lost their spirits, and were just walking corpses.
When the Commander and Old Tang arrived, they looked at each other.
They did not encounter any resistance, so much as a look. Commander and Old Tang became serious, they were unable to believe that the soldiers in front of them that looked like soldiers were the army of elites that fought intensely with them, that brought them injuries and pain.
~What's going on?~
The two of them became serious without any smiles. For many times, they had unknowingly praised Mu Zhi Xia for his tenacity and brains, and praised Mu Zhi Xia's army countless of times for being tenacious despite their predicament. From the start, they were able to easily strike the Mu Zhi Xia Army, but very quickly, Mu Zhi Xia's army became more and more difficult to fight, causing them more and more injuries.
They were an army with steel like determination, tight and powerful discipline, tenacious fighting spirit, were adept at war formation and tactics, the only army with a 100% synchronization, and worthy of being the number one army under the Heavens.
Mu Zhi Xia was a worthy and respectable opponent, and the soldiers were worthy and respectable soldiers.
And when they saw their worthy and respectable opponents on the ground, the two did not have any joy in it.
It was not the victory they wanted.
They carefully walked pass the grieving soldiers, and saw Mu Zhi Xia, laid out on the ground, with blood stained eyes that smeared all over his jade like body, and were shocked. They finally knew why the soldiers had lost all their resistance, Mu Zhi Xia was the spirit of the army, once something happened to him, the army was no longer the number
one army.
Old Tang knelt down, and with a serious expression, he checked on Mu Zhi Xia.
Both parties had fought for so long, and appreciated one another. The reason why Mu Zhi Xia was completely suppressed by the Southern Cross Army was not because of his standard. On one hand, he was but one army in enemy's territory, not only did they have to face against the Southern Cross Army, they had to be cautious of the Savage Continent tribes. On the other hand, experience. Mu Zhi Xia had taken command over a few decades, but had not experienced a proper large scale war, to fight with the old Commander who had fought his entire life and was a monster that had gone through the baptism of large scale wars, how could he ever compete?
But Mu Zhi Xia tenaciously withstood their attacks and struggled and grew, even causing the Old Commander to feel pressure.
"Thank you." Mu Zhi Xia's voice was as weak as a mosquito, but his expression was calm: "Please do not waste anymore time on me."
Mu Zhi Xia's body looked extremely strange, his hair was snow white like silver, the originally hardened hands had turned jade white and smooth. A faint white light leaked out of his body, causing his skin and flesh to look refined. His entire body looked as though it was releasing a white light.
Old Tang revealed a look of shock, the life force within Mu Zhi Xia's body was not declining, but instead becoming even more vigorous, to the point that it resembled flames that could light up the night. What caused the devastating change in Mu Zhi Xia's body was this vigorous life force. It was constantly burning and corroding Mu Zhi Xia's body.
Even with Old Tang's well verse experiences, he had never seen such a bizarre thing.
"This, is Holy Flames." Mu Zhi Xia said weakly.
The soldiers around him were stunned, they raised their heads, their faces covered with shock and disbelief. Holy Flames, the most familiar thing to them, the technique they had to cultivate daily. How could such a terrifying scene be induced by the Holy Flames? In their hearts, the Holy Flames bestowed them power and courage, and could heal their injuries and strengthen them, and was the mark of their loyalty.
~How can it be the Holy Flames?~
Suddenly, the soldiers thought about the Pillars of Punishment in Temple, ~Could it
it be that Temple thinks that Master is not loyal? Or is it that they think Master has done something disadvantageous to them that they had punished him?~ The soldiers became worked up, they had followed the Master to the enemy's territory and fought with their lives on the line, ~Why is Temple punishing the Master so unfairly?~
Holy Flames? Old Tang and the Old Commander looked at each other, both of them able to see the shock in each other's eyes.
The blood stains had covered Mu Zhi Xia's eyes, but he could still sense the uproar from the soldiers around him, he sighed: "The Saint Continent is most probably Hell now. We surrender, I will tell you guys everything. Please do not hurt my soldiers, please!"
Everyone was stunned by Mu Zhi Xia's words, even the originally emotional soldiers were all stunned. They did not understand why the master suddenly spoke of the completely unrelated Saint Continent. Furthermore, the Saint Continent was a land that belonged to Temple, there were many armies there and it was the most heavily guarded place in the Honorable Martial Continent, how could it be Hell?
Old Tang and the Old Commander did not understand.
They knew of Holy Flames and the Saint Continent, but they had never placed the two together.
"Rest easy, we do not kill indiscriminately." Old Tang spoke up.
"Temple always had a plan." Mu Zhi Xia's voice was extremely weak, as though his voice could be covered by the wind, and with emotions, he continued: "This plan, stemmed from Temple's research on spirits."
Everyone held onto their breaths, they had a feeling that Mu Zhi Xia's words were going to be about a heaven shocking secret. It was no secret that Temple researched on spirits, even a ten year old child would know, and Temple represented Sacred Saint Galaxy's highest standard in terms of spirit research.
"This plan initially started out with the desire to create Spirit Generals. It did not go smoothly, but after overcoming the difficulties, they succeeded. They created the first powerful Spirit General, the Commander of Honorable Martial Banner of Knights, Sophie."
The soldiers were shocked, ~So the rumors of Commander Sophie were actually true!~
The Honorable Martial Banner of Knights and the Commander, Sophie were revered and held high positions in everybody's hearts. The feeling in their hearts grew stronger, it was a secret, it regarded someone so important, how could it be any
be any ordinary secret?
"After Sophie was produced, she performed outstandingly. Her ability to learn, and her growth, everything was in order. Right at this time, another discovery was made. Temple discovered that the Holy Flame had a unique feature, and that is to be absorbed by Spirit Generals. This method, in a short time frame, could increase the strength of the Spirit General."
"The plan was flawless." Mu Zhi Xia continued: "In a short time, Sophie's strength exponentially increased by ten times, and with one step, became the strongest martial artist of Temple. But then, problems came. Sophie's growth reached a bottleneck, and absorbing the Holy Flames no longer became as effective. Temple researched further, and realized that Sophie's strength had already reached her peak, and to break through, the amount of Holy Flames she would have to absorb was an astronomical amount."
Everyone was completely absorbed into the story.
Mu Zhi Xia felt the Holy Flame flowing within his body, and said: "Thus, Temple started a large scale promotion of Holy Flame. All of you should remember that time, Temple started a series of plans."
The place fell into silence, the words struck them like lightning, and a terrifying guess surfaced in their minds, ~No way…..no way! How can Temple do that!~
As though he could hear their fears, Mu Zhi Xia shattered the last thread of hope in their minds: "That's right, it is as you have guessed."
"Impossible! Since when was Temple like that?"
"T-t-that's too inhumane…."
"Is Temple crazy?"
The silence erupted into an uproar.
Many soldiers hugged their heads, their faces filled with disbelief. Temple had always been their faith, and their god. If these words were not spoken by Mu Zhi Xia, the man they all believed in wholeheartedly, they would had destroyed the man who spoke such blasphemy.
They waited for the uproar to quiet down. Everyone's gaze turned back to Mu Zhi Xia. At that time, no one were emotional any longer, their entire bodies were cold, completely ice cold. The only one who could give them the answer was one man, their Master.
The Master's blood stricken face was filled with a bizarre holy aura, his face had become slightly translucent, and they could even see the flowing white Holy Flames beneath his skin.
Mu Zhi Xia suddenly recalled the first day he entered Temple, and guessed that he was not more than twelve years old, when the Great Clan Elder was not Elder was not the current Great Clan Elder. Those were the days where the sun shone brightly, and the Clan Elder had a warm smile to his face.
The pain from his eyes forced him back to reality, the harsh and brutal darkness and the flowing Holy Flames in his body, even the familiar holy aura had pierced into his bones.
"Temple did not do it for Sophie."
Mu Zhi Xia sighed: "After a long time of persevering, and adding that news from Heaven's Road Temple kept coming in, Temple's research on spirits finally found a huge breakthrough. And one of the most important results was that they found the method of overcoming the energy corrosion. That meant that Spirit Generals could have a long life, almost as if they had an undying body."
When he heard to this point, the Old Commander already got the gist of it.
His gaze became complicated, ~That's right, Spirit Generals do have a long lifespan. But this long lifespan is a torment, there is no end, how many people can understand that pain? To watch your own friends grow old and die in front of you, the loneliness that lasts for so long, is even more painful that any energy corrosion. The long time that even makes you forget your loved ones, that destroys your best memories, and even your conviction and dreams rot and die, while you remain alone in this world, how sad and painful is that.~
~Eternal life, heh…..~
He laughed bitterly in his heart, that had brought the bitterness and loneliness of time.
"By transforming a human into a Spirit General, it is some sort of eternal life. Although Sophie was successful, but she did not have her memories. The new question was, how to transform a spirit general and preserve the memories. This question did not baffle Temple, who quickly completed it. But, as it goes against the natural order of the world, it possessed enormous risks. The success of transforming into a Spirit General is very low. The first who attempted it was a man who possessed great ambitions and willpower. He decisively gave his life to Temple. He firmly believed that given enough time, he could build a new Temple, a clean and flawless Temple. For this dream, he was willing to take on the risk, even if he have to sacrifice lives. Be it his or others."
"He is, our Great Clan Elder."
Silence ensued.