Chapter 50: Chen Changsheng Gets Spit On, The Whereabouts of the Bronze Ancient Hall
Chapter 50 – Chen Changsheng Gets Spit On, The Whereabouts of the Bronze Ancient Hall
The subtle, venomous antagonism between the White Wu and the Black Wu left Chen Changsheng momentarily perplexed.
Seeking to untangle this karmic knot, Chen Changsheng immediately ordered the Great Priest and the Black Wu Clan chieftain to lay bare the truth.
Once the bloody history was exposed, Chen Changsheng finally spoke.
“The Black Wu and White Wu were once born of the same blood. It was only when the weight of survival grew too heavy that you severed the weak and cast them out.”
“It is so. The ancestors of the Wu Clan left behind an ironbound edict.”
“Whenever the Wu Clan faces an encroaching doom, the bloodline must cleave into two halves—one strong, one weak. Their life and death are thereafter severed from one another.”
Hearing the cold logic of the Black Wu Clan chieftain, Chen Changsheng fell into a heavy silence.
To preserve the dying embers of a bloodline, such a ruthless severing was undeniably effective.
Yet, it was a path utterly devoid of mortal warmth.
To stand by and watch one’s own kin wither and turn to dust was the cruelest torture beneath the Heavens.
Weighing this grim reality, Chen Changsheng’s gaze grew distant. “Judging by the scent of this feud, the severing happened not long ago.”
“What encroaching doom forced your hand into making such a choice?”
The chieftain of the Black Wu Clan hesitated, his throat tight, before he answered.
“The Hundred Thousand Mountains are unforgiving, but our Wu Clan could always wrest survival from the jaws of the wild.”
“Yet, three winters ago, a Thunder Beast descended upon our ancestral domain. Its presence became a crushing weight, suffocating our hunting grounds.”
“Had the specter of total annihilation not loomed over us, how could we have ever cast our own flesh and blood to the wolves?”
“A Thunder Beast?”
Hearing this title, Chen Changsheng immediately swept through the ancient archives within his mind.
He swiftly extracted the buried lore concerning the Thunder Beast.
The Thunder Beast stood as a sovereign entity within the Beast Clan. The Beast Clan and the Demon Clan shared a superficial resonance, yet their fundamental Dao were entirely distinct.
The Demon Clan arose from ordinary beasts comprehending the Heavens and shedding their forms, whereas the Beast Clan was a primordial lineage, surviving unbroken from antiquity to the present age.
Their bloodlines flowed with a terrifying density far exceeding the Demon Clan, and from the moment of their birth, they commanded unfathomable innate Dao arts.
Furthermore, unlike the Demon Clan, who sought harmony with the human form, the Beast Clan harbored a deep, ancestral hatred for humanity, viewing the Demon Clan as a vile disgrace to their feral origins.
In their eyes, the primal beast was the supreme vessel beneath the Heavens; shedding it for a human shell was the ultimate betrayal of their blood.
Having sifted through this heavy lore, Chen Changsheng spoke.
“The raw might of the Beast Clan is an undeniable law. Given the frailty of the Wu Clan, standing against such a force is an impossibility.”
“Let us strike a bargain. I shall carve out a new domain for your people to take root, and in exchange, you will lend your strength to my cause.”
“We offer boundless gratitude to the God Messenger.”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s proposal, the Great Priest beamed with desperate joy.
Under the crushing weight of the present reality, the White Wu Clan was destined for the grave. Offered a sudden reprieve from death, the old man could barely contain his elation.
Yet, the shadow on the Black Wu Clan chieftain’s face did not lift.
“God Messenger, the true horror of the Hundred Thousand Mountains may be obscured to you.”
“Miasma chokes the air, and venomous horrors claim every shadow. Securing a pure haven here is a task more arduous than Ascending the Heavens.”
“The Dao yields to the one who walks it. We shall sweep the wilderness first, and leave the lamenting for later.”
“If the earth truly offers no sanctuary, you may simply return to the cold logic of your ancestral decree.”
Driven into a corner by this immutable logic, the Black Wu Clan chieftain could only lower his head in quiet assent.
Ultimately, the thought of watching the White Wu Clan march into the earth still caused his blood to ache.
“May I ask, God Messenger, what unfulfilled karma must you resolve?”
“Our Wu Clan will bleed to see it done.”
“It is a simple matter. I am searching for a heavy artifact—an Bronze Ancient Hall. Your people must have laid eyes upon it.”
The moment those words hung in the air, the faces of the Wu Clan turned the color of ash.
Noticing the sudden stench of fear, Chen Changsheng tilted his head. “Does this Bronze Ancient Hall bear a cursed weight?”
“God Messenger, the Bronze Ancient Hall you seek is known to us. It was the ancestral altar of our Wu Clan.”
“But three winters ago, the Thunder Beast laid claim to it. We are merely flesh and blood; we are no match for such a creature.”
Reading the despair etched into the chieftain’s features, Chen Changsheng instantly comprehended their terror.
They believed he was ordering them to march into the Thunder Beast’s jaws to reclaim the bronze.
A dry, humorless smile touched Chen Changsheng’s lips. “I only require its location. The burden of reclaiming it falls entirely upon my shoulders.”
“Who among you knows where this Thunder Beast slumbers?”
“I intend to engage it in discourse. Even beasts of ancient lineage are not entirely deaf to logic.”
“I know where the Thunder Beast makes its lair! I will guide you!”
Before Chen Changsheng’s words could settle, a youth with broad shoulders and an earnest face stepped from the ranks.
Seeing the boy break formation, the Black Wu Clan chieftain erupted in fury.
“A’Li, get back in line!”
“When your elders speak of life and death, you do not open your mouth!”
Despite the chieftain’s crushing reprimand, the boy stood his ground, his voice ringing with defiance.
“Father, I have seen sixteen winters. I passed the blood rites last month; I am no longer a child.”
“I must bleed for the Wu Clan. I refuse to sit by while the high priest and our kin are buried.”
“I alone have charted the hidden paths around the Water-Moon Cave. There is no better guide than me.”
Hearing A’Li’s resolve, the chieftain’s lips trembled, yet the heavy words of denial caught in his throat.
To march into the Thunder Beast’s domain was to court death itself.
He was a father, but he was also the patriarch of the Wu Clan. The blood of his son could not be valued above the survival of the tribe.
Swallowing the bitter taste of fear, the chieftain ground his teeth. “Since your path is chosen, you shall lead the God Messenger to the Water-Moon Cave.”
“But burn this into your marrow: the God Messenger does not know the treacherous breath of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. You must act as his shield.”
“Rest your heart, Father. I will not let a single shadow touch the God Messenger.”
With his vow made, A’Li rushed before Chen Changsheng, his eyes burning with naive zeal.
“God Messenger, my blood is ready. When do we step onto the path?”
“In this very breath.”
With a casual sweep of his hand, Chen Changsheng seized A’Li’s shoulder, and the two vanished into the void.
…
“God Messenger, we must not tread too high upon the clouds, lest we draw the hunger of the aerial terrors.”
A’Li navigated the sprawling expanse, warning Chen Changsheng of the invisible, lethal boundaries below.
In truth, the boy’s counsel was steeped in bloody survival.
As they pierced the sky, Chen Changsheng’s Divine Sense brushed against numerous dormant horrors—entities whose sheer presence would have required a troublesome expenditure of Qi to suppress.
As the jungle blurred beneath them, A’Li looked upon Chen Changsheng’s effortless manipulation of the void with pure, unadulterated awe.
“God Messenger, you truly possess the power to pull the Wu Clan from this abyss, do you not?”
Chen Changsheng let out a faint, dusty sigh. “I can lend a hand to balance the scales. Whether you pull yourselves from the abyss rests entirely upon your own marrow.”
“Beneath the Heavens, the strength of others is a fleeting illusion. Only the Dao forged by your own hands remains.”
“To your people, I am merely a passing shadow. I will not linger in these mountains. When the sun rises on a new era, your clan will only have themselves to rely upon.”
As the words settled, Chen Changsheng ceased his flight, descending before the gaping, jagged maw of a colossal cavern.
Smoothing out the creases in his robes with ritualistic precision, Chen Changsheng cupped his hands in a formal martial greeting. “Human cultivator Chen Changsheng requests an audience!”
Swish!
Splat!
The moment the echo of his voice died, a massive orb of viscous, putrid liquid struck Chen Changsheng, drenching him from crown to heel in a bone-chilling slime.
A heartbeat later, a monstrous, primordial skull breached the darkness of the cave.
Staring down at the foul-smelling essence dripping from his immaculate robes, a rare, profound stillness gripped Chen Changsheng.
Unless the Dao itself had fractured, he had just been drowned in a mouthful of spit.
“Filthy human insect, roll out of my sight!”
Splat!
A second thunderous volley of saliva erupted from the cavern, painting Chen Changsheng in yet another layer of chilling humiliation.
Allowing one full breath to pass in absolute silence, Chen Changsheng expressionlessly wiped the viscous filth from his eyes, seized A’Li, and immediately turned back the way they came.
Glancing at Chen Changsheng’s dead, emotionless visage, A’Li swallowed hard. “God Messenger… is your body unharmed?”
“My flesh is unharmed. However, there is a shift in my karma I must convey: my departure from this place has been indefinitely delayed.”
“I shall step out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains only when I have personally presided over the funeral of this Thunder Beast.”
…