Chapter 619
The Secrets of the War Alliance!
Zhan Jiuxiao broke the heavy silence with a deep voice, carrying an undeniable certainty; it was not a question, but a statement.
"But it doesn't matter."
Jiang Shu slowly straightened up, raised her eyes, and met Zhan Jiuxiao's sharp eyes, which seemed to pierce through people's hearts, without flinching.
He took a deep breath, and the warm air, full of the breath of creation, now felt slightly astringent, carrying an urgent sense of needing to dispel the fog.
"Uncle Zhan, I do have a question I want to ask."
The Star Ruins Realm is extremely important to Jiang Shu.
He needed to ascertain the specific situation of the Star Ruins Realm to facilitate his actions in the Demon Realm.
If the Star Ruins Realm is too dangerous, then he must be extremely careful in all his actions in the Demon Realm.
Jiang Shu's voice was calm, yet each word was clear, striking the silent hall and causing Zhan Yun, who was healing nearby, to slightly open his eyes.
"Strictly speaking, I am not a member of the War Alliance, so there are many things I have no right to ask and no right to know."
"However, the War Soul Ancient Path Secret Realm has been polluted, and even the entire secret realm world has fallen into depravity. Even the heroic souls of my human ancestors have been tainted by the filth. Along with many matters before the secret realm opened, I believe that this matter is definitely not an isolated accident, but rather someone is secretly sabotaging it."
"As early as when I entered the War Alliance, I embarked on the Nine Battle Ancient Path, and the laws within it read my battle memories with the Mechanical Mother. That very night, the War God Catalogue in my room underwent a strange change. The images of the War Gods on it began to exude a chilling aura, and those images of the War Gods even transformed into the appearance of the Mechanical Mother."
"I was deeply involved, barely escaping with my life. In the deepest part of the nascent world, I saw a sinister altar. The aura emanating from it seemed completely different from that in the War God's Record at first glance, but upon closer examination, I realized that the two were actually from the same source."
"Zhan Feng came to see me before and told me that the reason why the War Alliance was under martial law was because some minor problems had occurred in the War Alliance's ancestral land."
“Zhan Feng is my brother, so I naturally believe what he says. But I don’t understand. That’s the ancestral land of the War Alliance, and in some ways, it’s the ancestral land of our human race. There are even several Supreme Elders suppressing it there. Under such circumstances, the War Alliance still went into martial law, and even Zi Ling disappeared. As a result, the War Soul Ancient Road was polluted.”
“There must be a connection between the two. I even suspect that it was because of the problems in the War Alliance’s ancestral land that these things happened on the War Soul Ancient Road.”
"Uncle Zhan, things have come to this point, and I should know the truth about these things now."
Every question raised is like a stone thrown into a deep pool, creating silent ripples.
The other logistics elders in the hall were busy settling the unconscious Zhan Feng and the others, but their movements visibly froze for a moment. Then they pretended not to hear and continued with their own business. However, everyone knew that they were just as curious about the truth of the matter.
Even the five Supreme Elders, who stood silently like an unfathomable ocean, seemed to freeze for a moment amidst the hazy mist surrounding them.
Zhan Jiuxiao's gaze suddenly became incredibly deep, sharp as a hawk's, fixed on Jiang Shu's face.
He did not answer immediately, but the invisible pressure seemed to thicken, and the air became viscous.
As one of the most powerful forces in the universe, the sudden and unannounced martial law in the core area of the War Alliance is a sign of impending doom for the entire universe, with a huge impact. However, until now, no decent news has come from within the War Alliance.
This is so abnormal.
Jiang Shu felt the seeds of creation deep within his mind tremble slightly due to the sudden increase in pressure.
Zhan Jiuxiao's emotions were not anger at having his core secrets touched by outsiders, but rather a kind of contemplation and a hint of helplessness at having his core secrets touched.
After a full five breaths of silence, Zhan Jiuxiao finally spoke, his voice deep and resonant like a thousand-year-old iceberg, each word seeming to strike the heart:
"What Zhan Feng said is correct."
With that one word, he acknowledged the most fundamental point.
There is indeed a problem with the ancestral land!
"The ancestral land of the War Alliance was forged by our human ancestors with their blood, flesh, and soul. It is a sacred place that connects with the primordial laws of the star sea and inherits the undying fighting spirit. It is also the energy source that maintains the foundation of the War Alliance's grand formation and protects the core star field. Countless raging trolls were also suppressed within it."
"Slept for ten thousand years, eternally stable."
Zhan Jiuxiao's gaze swept across the void, as if recalling the grandeur and sacredness of the past.
"However, just a month ago, the star chart warned that the core forbidden area where the Primordial War Soul Stele was sealed deep in the ancestral land was experiencing abnormally violent fluctuations in spiritual energy. The protective restrictions failed one after another, and an extremely yin and evil aura was mysteriously seeping out. Although it was extremely subtle, even someone of my level could not see it without careful investigation."
"This maggot clings to the bone, carrying unprecedented malice, wants to pollute the ancestral spiritual veins and corrupt the fighting spirit of my human ancestors!"
His tone carried an almost imperceptible heaviness.
"At first, we thought it was just a normal fluctuation over the long years, or that the ancestral land had a slight oversight in sealing those great demons, so we sent a Venerable Elder with an ancient array plate to investigate and repair it."
Jiang Shu held his breath, his eyes gleaming.
He knew this was the crucial point.
"But the Venerable Elder who went deep into the ancestral land was like a clay ox sinking into the sea. Not only did he fail to stabilize the situation, but his life soul jade slip shattered completely without warning a few days later!"
Zhan Jiuxiao's voice was resolute and carried a chilling killing intent.
"The moment the jade slip shattered, the recording bead transmitted back the last fragments that this Venerable Elder had seen."
"Within the core forbidden area, it is no longer a place where divine holy light permeates."
"As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but resentment and evil spirits. A black tide surges, and countless filthy, viscous, distorted shadowy monsters, existing between reality and illusion, are constantly emerging from the cracks in the War Soul Monument!"
"They gnaw at the restrictive runes, pollute the star's source veins, and even attempt to erode the ancient heroic spirits and undying fighting spirit sealed deep within the monument!"
"The core of that sacred space has been corroded, leaving a wound overflowing with foul blood!"
Upon hearing Zhan Jiuxiao's words, even with Jiang Shu's composure, he couldn't help but shrink his pupils and gasp.
"what?!"
Eroding the remains of heroic souls and their undying fighting spirit?!
This is no longer a simple case of energy instability, but a complete desecration and pollution.
How similar this is to the altar he saw at the core of the Ancient Path of War Souls, which was eroding the original creative power of the ancient path.
"Don't even mention you, even I was shocked when I saw the scene in the ancestral land. After investigation by myself and a senior elder, we discovered that this was not an invasion by external enemies, but rather a disease originating from the core of the ancestral land!"
Zhan Jiuxiao's eyes flashed with a cold light, like the sharpest blade. "The source of its contamination, just as you said, is the same as the mutation of the War God's Record, the power of the altar seen in the core of the ancient path, and even the theft of the memories of the ancient bronze path!"
Jiang Shu was deeply shaken, finally confirming his deepest doubts.
All the seemingly independent bizarre events are indeed connected by the same vicious black thread!
This black line directly connects to the ancestral land of the War Alliance, linking the entire core area of the War Alliance and even the Ancient War Soul Road. Fortunately, nothing too serious happened.
Zhan Jiuxiao's voice grew increasingly deep, containing the calm before the storm.
"The situation has developed to such a point that it is no longer something that a Venerable Realm expert can properly resolve. Therefore, I have requested that a Saint personally take action to use the power of the protective array to forcefully cross the barrier of the star sea and approach the ancestral land to repair the space!"
The true form of a saint has descended!
Jiang Shu felt a chill run down his spine again.
Saints are the strongest beings in the Star Ruins Realm, and their every move attracts everyone's attention. They are not allowed to leave the core star field unless their lives are in danger. The fact that they have sent their true bodies to the ancestral land shows that the situation is far more critical than Jiang Shu had imagined.
"However, the filth entrenched at the core is far more cunning and treacherous than expected."
"It is no longer a simple energy dissipation or alien invasion, but more like a thing with a will, with an extreme hatred for all order and vitality."
"This is not much different from the malice of the world that you felt in the embryonic world of the ancient battlefield. In fact, the essence is exactly the same. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the two are from the same source."
Zhan Jiuxiao opened his right palm, and in the center of his palm, a tiny, almost invisible black crystal flake floated quietly. It had no aura of its own, but it exuded a terrifying evil aura that made living beings instinctively disgusted and their souls tremble. It was as if looking at it for too long would pollute one's eyes.
"This is the residue left after a major pollution point was forcibly cleaned up."
"Even something as insignificant as this contains enough evil intent to drive cultivators below the tenth realm into madness and demonic possession in an instant!"
Jiang Shu stared intently at the black crystal fragment, and the bone rust curse patterns hidden beneath his flesh seemed to stir slightly.
He had personally experienced the corrupting power of that filth on the very source of creation, and knew how terrible it was.
Zhan Jiuxiao closed his hand, crushed the crystal shards, and the last wisp of black smoke that slightly distorted the space escaped from between his fingers. His face was as cold and hard as iron.
"That battle was extremely dangerous; it was no longer a simple contest of magic."
"At the core of the ancestral land, the rules of space have been distorted into a quagmire full of vicious traps. We must proceed with caution, resisting the endless stream of dark creatures that exist between reality and illusion and are fearless in the face of death, which are formed directly from filth and resentment. We must also constantly fight against the invisible evil thoughts that reside at the source of pollution and erode our souls."
"What's even more critical is that we need to consider the stability of our ancestral land itself!"
"That entrenched core filth is like a malignant tumor rooted in the ancestral land. If it is violently and completely eradicated, it will surely endanger the origin of the ancestral land and may even trigger an unpredictable chain of collapses!"
"Given this disparity in strength, even if a sage were to appear in his true form, with all of us present, it would still be a difficult and arduous battle!"
Jiang Shu could imagine that scene.
A supreme saint who traversed the starry sea, along with several other powerful beings at the peak of the Venerable realm, fought against unseen evil thoughts and endless streams of dark creatures on the filthy battlefield that was the embodiment of the sacred ancestral land. They faced obstacles at every turn and struggled at every step.
That was a brutal war of attrition at the level of the soul and will, far exceeding ordinary physical combat.
No wonder Zhan Jiuxiao disappeared for several days; this can be described as a secret battle that mobilized the highest combat power of the Zhan Alliance!
"In the end, we used a secret method to draw upon the power of the remaining battle spirits of our ancestral land, set up the Ancient Purification Furnace Formation, concentrated our mighty holy power, and forcibly refined 99% of the original body of that polluted node at the cost of sacrificing the stability of a core area of our ancestral land."
"After this battle, although the core foundation of the ancestral land was damaged, its spiritual light was rekindled, and it will only take a hundred years to return to its original state."
"Unfortunately, the main brain at the source of the pollution and nearly half of the filthy essence were like slippery eels. At the last moment before the Divine Furnace Array was fully formed, they escaped into a deeper level of the ancestral land, into the void gap where they overlapped with the origin of the star sea!"
Zhan Jiuxiao's voice was filled with icy anger and a hint of barely perceptible frustration.
He wasn't just speaking to Jiang Shu, but also to Zhan Feng and Zhan Yun, who were eavesdropping.
As his successors, they were bound to find out about this sooner or later. Now that the situation was basically stable, Zhan Jiuxiao wasn't worried that they would panic after hearing about it, so he blurted it all out.
"They escaped!"
"Although it was severely damaged and its origin was scattered by us, turning into countless fragmented and flowing polluted liquids, its evil intentions have not been extinguished. Like the source of a plague, it still lurks and hides in the gaps of nothingness, waiting for an opportunity to absorb the scattered embers of battle souls and the negative energy of the star sea to recover."
"What's even more terrifying is that these escaped fragments are highly infectious. Once they successfully escape into other energy nodes or possess living beings, the consequences are unimaginable."
Jiang Shu instantly understood why the core area of the War Alliance was under extreme security, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Even saints could not eradicate it in one fell swoop; its remains escaped, like seeds containing a destructive virus scattered in all directions.
No wonder the Star Token was temporarily disabled; it was to completely isolate any possible information leaks and energy fluctuations, preventing those escaped contaminants from exploiting these vulnerabilities.
No wonder even the elders who hold high positions in the War Alliance, as mentioned by other geniuses in the War Alliance, were unaware of this matter.
Such top secrets, concerning the very survival of our ancestral land and potentially threatening the safety of the entire star system, cannot be easily revealed.
Any force can have far-reaching consequences if it moves even slightly.
For a powerful force like the War Alliance, which has existed for millennia, its vassal states are deeply entrenched and intertwined.
If the information is leaked, countless related forces in the outside world will be affected.
This is something the War Alliance cannot accept.
"Now the outer entrance to the ancestral land has been completely sealed off. Two sages left some of their forces to guard it together, monitor the fluctuations in the gaps, and prevent it from counterattacking or escaping more."
Zhan Jiuxiao paused, his gaze fixed on the distance, as if piercing through the many barriers of the forbidden area.
"At the same time, Zi Ling is also leading people to clean up the debris that has escaped, and the responsibility to ensure the peace of Xinghai has not been relaxed."
"This matter is dangerous and treacherous, requiring extremely keen stealth tracking and a sharp sense of foul odors. Only those with strong minds and unique methods can accomplish it."
Purple Feather? (End of Chapter)