Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 418: Necessity of war.

The news of the king’s death spread quickly, but it still took over half a day to reach the ears of the Imperial Prince.

Those involved in the incident celebrated and pushed more fiercely from all sides, expanding their territories before others could.

On the other side, the allies of the Blue Lion Kingdom quickly retrieved their forces from all the battlefields, not wanting to suffer any more losses.

The Imperial Prince had yet to reach the capital of the Steel Mountain Kingdom and thus chose to retreat to the Blue Lion Kingdom. Much to his dismay, the path to his retreat was cut short by multiple powerhouses trying to corner him.

This resulted in the Prince abandoning any ideas to secure his own kingdom. In the end, he barely managed to escape to gods-know-where with a few of his most loyal subordinates.

A few hours after the trumpets signaling the end of war rang, the blood-sunken streets and battlefields were met with an eerie quiet. Decaying corpses and severed limbs decayed and the air permeated this macabre horror to all survivors.

Some wept joyously that the war had ended, others mourned their deceased comrades, but those strong enough were quick to notice a change in the air.

It wasn’t the thin taste of iron that ground at everyone’s nerves; no, it was something else entirely. The Spiritual Essence was becoming thinner in some places and thicker in others. Something was taking place, but they didn’t know what.

In a certain cave whose entrance was hidden behind a thick tree trunk and a boulder, Kumaou rested in a lotus position in front of what seemed to be a swirling whirlpool being sucked into itself.

He too managed to escape the moment they received the news of the king’s death.

"The gate is forming, it won’t be long before everyone realizes..." he muttered while wincing at the thought.

At the same time, such whirlpools of Spiritual Essence began to take form in conspicuous places all over the lower region of the continent.

As the higher authorities began to notice these strange happenings, they shifted their focus from the war’s aftermath to these circling concentrations of Spiritual Essence.

Meanwhile, inside the Beastkin’s estate, Ember looked ecstatically at the reports she received.

Ozul with the rest of the group was inside her office as well when she began to explain,

"The gates have begun to open..."

"Wasn’t it a gate?" Zier inquired, recalling that Ozul mentioned a single gate.

"That was the assumption," nodding, Ember answered in a soft tone, "Let me explain...

These gates should be the entrance to an ancestor’s tomb. Since it was never hidden from you from the start, these gates were the only reason I fueled this war."

Ozul didn’t comment on it, prompting Ember to continue,

"From time immemorial, the old monsters who want to pass their legacy to future generations do so in a way that amuses their old bones. Some choose to leave everything in a simple-looking grave, others hide it away in places, and some get a little creative with their legacy..."

They weren’t unfamiliar with the concept. Even in their old realm, the senior cultivators amused themselves with such antics.

"So, these gates lead us to the legacy of some old cultivator?" Raven questioned.

Shaking her head, Ember answered, "It isn’t just ’some’ old cultivator. The cultivator who left this legacy was once one of the strongest people in the realm of Abezan. He had reached the realm I couldn’t."

"There needed to be a war for this legacy to appear?" Raven wanted to know if so much bloodshed was really necessary.

"Not exactly, but yes." Ember sighed, "This region of the continent needed to absorb enough blood of cultivators in a short period to activate these gates. Such a condition couldn’t have been met if not for a large-scale war such as this.

The senior who left behind this legacy wanted a successor forged by the flames of war, so he purposely set those conditions."

In the end, Ember spoke with her eyebrows creased in tension, "I assumed there would be a single entrance, which would have been easy to hide... But as the situation stands now, many will attempt to inherit the legacy."

Ozul sighed as he straightened his back. He had just escaped from a losing war and now he would have to compete for some legacy with who knows how many people.

"Look, I will be honest. I don’t know what kind of trials there would be inside on the other side of those gates, but I am sure you would be able to take care of them all," she assured him after noticing the signs of irritation from his body language.

"What gives you the confidence?"

"Because of the age limit which is set to a maximum of 100 years and the cultivation realm limit which restricts anyone above the initial stages of the Origin Realm... Don’t ask me how; I have my means."

Ozul stared at her for a few seconds with his thoughts unknown. But then he thought about his age, ’Am I under a hundred years? How much time has it been?’

If he were to admit honestly, he wasn’t sure if he even met the condition or not. Along his journey, he had stopped counting the years as they passed by him.

Looking at his eyes lost in thought, somehow Ember could guess what might be his concern as she waved away her hand.

"Do not worry about your age. All methods of measuring one’s age revolved around Spiritual Essence and most of the Dragon Hatchlings have once again an advantage here. Your age, no matter what it really is, would only be detected as if you were born on the day you were brought into this Realm."

"So... to this world, we’re toddlers?" Zier muttered to which Ember gave a firm nod,

"Essentially, yes."

"You just want the inheritance, yes?" Ozul questioned, knowing full well that everything Ember had done until now was because of this.

However, to his curiosity, Ember shook her head, "Not really. As a reward, you can keep whatever you get your hands on. I just need you to search for that old man’s corpse and get me his Mind’s Eye."

"Mind’s Eye?"

"You will have to cut open that man’s forehead, and aligned perfectly between his two eyes, there will be a bead the size of a thumbnail. You just have to bring me that..." As she finished explaining, Ember eyed Ozul with bated breath.

This was her only chance at recovering her peak strength.

She had everything else prepared but required the Mind’s Eye since hers was destroyed when her powers were sealed.

Before her now sat the person she had placed her hopes of bringing her the final piece.

"This is important to me."

Seeing the dead-serious look in her eyes, Ozul stood up with a tired sigh. He had promised her this one favor anyway. And from what he could make out of the situation, he wasn’t losing anything.

"The gates will form soon, yes? Call me then, I will be taking a nap..."

However, Ember poured cold water on his hopes, "Actually, I have already secured one of the gates in an inconspicuous location. We are going straight there since even I don’t know how long it might take for them to disappear after they activate."

Her words seemingly echoed in the room, each word slicing his hopes of a peaceful nap and leaving nothing in its wake but an uncomfortable silence, and now a pang of realization finally settled in his nonexistent heart that reality didn’t always conform to his wishes.

*Sigh...*

"Let’s go then..."

. . .

Meanwhile, in lands far beyond the lower region of the continent, several notable individuals felt the pulses released from the tomb.

One such man appeared to be relatively old but had a face full of vigor. He stood atop a mountain’s peak with another man who looked much younger than he.

Stroking his beard and looking off the edge of the cliff, the old man mused, "That brat sure is enjoying himself, huh?"

If Ozul was here, he would have instantly recognized him as the man himself, the enigma he had yet to understand, Old Gu. And the younger man standing in servitude was none other than the man who introduced himself as Minho and almost killed him if not for Jinx.

"His little group is most likely backed by Ember... the Sage who lost her cultivation. Though I doubt others have realized her involvement yet," Minho spoke his mind to Old Gu.

"That little girl huh? Heh, that was predictable. She never seemed the type to resign herself to fate and give up."

Nodding, Minho asked a question that had been on his mind for a while now,

"Master, if I may step out of line... What do you really see in that young man? At most, he is just a little more talented than other Hatchlings."

Hearing his genuine inquiry, Old Gu couldn’t help but chuckle.

"What do I see in him? Nothing!"

"Nothing?"

"Yes, nothing! That’s the point! *Hahaha...*

That brat is more interesting than that arrogant Son of the ’Heavens’. Keep that in mind."

*Cough!*

Minho gave a few fake coughs and spoke wryly, "Master, only you would call ’that’ man arrogant so openly..."

"Hmph! Being the sole descendant of ’Him’ has gotten to his head. Does he think he can establish his legitimacy after stirring up all the Realms? Let him dream.

As for the brat named Ozul... well do you want to hear a story?" Old Gu asked while chuckling to himself.