Chapter 937: Huang Shifu
Chapter 938: Calamity Descent
“Who else could it be?”
Huang Shifu tilted his faceless head, his gentle voice seeming to emanate from his throat or his abdomen.
“Given the current situation of the empire, only the Burning Heaven Sacred Hall could cause such a large commotion. The Fifth Great Area is the territory of the Golden Sparrow Flower. However, Hua Shen is being held back by the Burning Heaven Holy Lord, so she likely can’t manage it and had to ask the Sin Legion for help.”
“Knock, knock—” As he was speaking, a knock sounded at the door.
The officer who brought Huang Zhaoyue there stood outside, his voice respectful and deep, “Lord Shifu, the fleet has successfully passed through the space gate and arrived at the Eternal Flow Sea, which borders the Fifth and Sixth Great Areas. According to reports from the front lines, Burning Heaven has indeed launched a war against the Fifth Great Area, but there was an unexpected incident. The Sin Legion’s fleet dared not advance further.”
“Oh? An incident?”
“Calamity Demon,” General Xue Ying lowered his head and said in a deep voice, “Calamity Demon divine power has sealed off the entire Fifth Great Area!”
“Hmm?” The white-robed faceless man, who had been looking up motionlessly, now stood up and turned to look at the officer.
Huang Zhaoyue also turned in surprise, looking towards the door. Calamity Demon, a Great Calamity of the Nine-eyed God! A being second only to the Void Emperor. Logically, such a being should not be able to breach the space barrier and enter the Real World. If Calamity Demon could freely enter the empire, it wouldn’t be long before the three realms’ divine war reignited.
General Xue Ying continued in a deep voice, “According to the scans, it’s not the main body of Calamity Demon that has descended, but merely a thread of divine power. Therefore, although it has sealed the Fifth Great Area, the Calamity Realm’s rules do not fully cover the entire area, only one planet within the Fifth Great Area.”
The empire’s fifty-one great areas, each great area is a Cosmic Plane. The earlier an area is, the more Habitable planets are developed. For example, the Top Ten Great Areas generally have at least 10 Habitable planets. As for the last ten great areas, they each have only 1 Habitable planet. One planet is already the entire population and territory of its Great Area. The Fifth Great Area has 13 Habitable planets, encompassing three Star systems. Sparrow King Star, due to Sparrow God Mountain being located on this planet, is the center of power for the Fifth Great Area. According to General Xue Ying, Calamity Demon’s thread of divine power only covers this planet. However, even this is enough to cause the greatest turmoil in the Fifth Great Area since the empire was established.
“What exactly does Burning Heaven want to do?” Xia Black Cat, perched on Huang Zhaoyue’s shoulder, wondered. Could it be that the Burning Heaven Holy Lord had also collaborated with Calamity Demon?
“The Fifth Great Area is protected by the Boundless Realm. If the Boundless Realm is not extensively damaged, how could Calamity Demon’s divine power affect the Fifth Great Area?” Huang Zhaoyue asked in confusion. “Is the Fifth Great Area, like District 51, also infiltrated by an inside agent who hollowed out the Boundless Realm from within?”
Upon hearing this, General Xue Ying quickly stepped forward and handed two documents to Huang Zhaoyue and Huang Shifu. The covers of the documents were marked “Confidential.” Huang Zhaoyue opened the document, and Xia Black Cat glanced down with its vertical pupils, quickly scanning it, and couldn’t help but gasp.
Of course, it wasn’t like in District 51, where someone damaged the Boundless Realm for personal gain and dug up Boundless Stones. Instead, it was the Saint Path Ritual! Burning Heaven’s collaboration with the Saint Star Court’s Lord Zhou Yin for a Saint Path Ritual targeting the Demon God had a third purpose. Zhou Yin’s goal was to deal with the Demon God, but he failed due to Xia Mu. The Burning Heaven Holy Lord’s goal was to open the Gate of Calamity Demon and release Sky Pivot Five, and he succeeded. However, unexpectedly, although Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong successfully destroyed the Saint Path Rituals in the Real World and the Gray Realm, preventing Zhou Yin’s plan, the Saint Path Ritual in the Astral Realm remained intact, so the Saint Star Strike was not completely destroyed. It only lost its ability to track and kill the Demon God. The Burning Heaven Holy Lord used the unformed Saint Star Strike to forcefully blast a gap in the Boundless Realm of the Fifth Great Area, allowing Calamity Demon’s divine power to enter. Calamity Demon descended upon Sparrow King Star in the Fifth Great Area. It seemed this was the Burning Heaven Holy Lord’s true purpose. Zhou Yin, that foolish Lord of the Saint Star Court, was thoroughly used by Burning Heaven.
Thinking of this, Xia Feng still had some doubts and asked mentally, “Although Calamity Demon is a Nine-eyed God, comparable to Huang Ye, it’s not its main body descending, just a wisp of its divine power. The Sin Legion and the Golden Sparrow Flower working together should not find it difficult to deal with, right?”
Huang Zhaoyue shook her head. “Calamity Demon’s divine power alone is indeed not difficult to handle, but if you add Burning Heaven’s Heavenly Gift Great Calamity… for any planet or any great area, it would be an apocalyptic disaster.”
Hearing this, Xia Feng became even more confused. He knew the effects of Heavenly Gift Great Calamity. Any Spirit Master infected with ‘Artifact Calamity Poison’ who possessed a spirit artifact would find the spirit artifact developing self-awareness and becoming a living being, potentially backlashing against its owner. As for Calamity Demon, this top-tier being of Calamity Nightmare, what were its Calamity Realm rules? Could just a wisp of its divine power make the Sin Legion afraid to approach?
“Calamity Demon’s Calamity Realm is called ‘Fate World.’ It can ‘gamify’ any area. To put it more simply, it turns it into a game.” Huang Zhaoyue saw Xia Feng’s confusion and explained mentally. “The difficulty of the Fate World constructed depends on the amount of divine power, but no matter the difficulty, the core rule remains the same: the more heads you take, and the closer the relationship between you and the people you kill, the better and rarer the settlement rewards will be when the Calamity Realm concludes, meaning when the game ends. Moreover, even if you only kill one person, the rarity of the reward would be beyond imagination.”
“Because of this, before the empire was established, any place where Calamity Demon’s Calamity Realm descended was a place of annihilated life, with only a few, or even just one person, surviving to the end and emerging from the Calamity Realm.”
After listening to Huang Zhaoyue’s brief introduction to Calamity Demon’s Calamity Realm, Xia Feng’s cat-like pupils contracted. What kind of massive battle royale was this? The more heads taken, and the closer the relationship with those killed, the better the rewards at the settlement stage. The core rule was indeed simple and brutal, but also the most challenging to human nature.
“However, why is the Sin Legion afraid of Calamity Demon?” Xia Feng wondered. “Shouldn’t everyone be afraid?”
“It is because of the Heavenly Gift.” Huang Zhaoyue’s fox-like eyes seemed to flicker with a hint of mockery. “The Tree of Sin is indeed a divine object that can develop a legion’s strength. But unfortunately, this divine object is suppressed by Heavenly Gift Great Calamity.”
“Huh?” Xia Feng was slightly surprised. “You mean, the Heavenly Gift’s Artifact Calamity Poison will also infect Sin Shadow and Sin Leaf? Causing self-awareness? But don’t Sin Shadows already have self-awareness?”
“That’s incorrect,” Huang Zhaoyue shook her head. “The ability of the Heavenly Gifted Calamity Poison is to create self-awareness with a rebellious will. The principle of Sin Shadow’s birth is similar to that of spirit artifacts, so they are equally unavoidable.”
“If it were normal rebellious awareness, it would be fine; the Shadow Master could simply dispel the Sin Shadow. But if it’s within a Fate World, these self-aware entities will be given ‘game identities’ by Calamity Demon’s rules, forming independent individuals that cannot be dispelled or scattered. In such a situation, the owner of the Sin Shadow is in danger because these owners are the closest, and indeed the only, ‘family’ to the Sin Shadows. Killing such ‘family’ would undoubtedly yield the most top-tier and generous rewards, such as becoming a true independent individual after the game ends.”
