AGM 334 – Divine Stele
Although Qin Wentian had no idea what had happened to cause the Ancient Kingdom to splinter apart, he’d heard rumors that a long time ago, Grand Xia wasn’t initially split into the nine continents, and there weren’t so many transcendent powers.
The Ancient Kingdom of Grand Xia conquered everything, and countless experts existed within the vast territory. It was so unfathomably strong that no other enemies could resist it.
It was only later that Grand Xia was splintered into nine, where transcendent powers rose up one after another, and the Ancient Kingdom was then divided.As for the Ancient Kingdom today, it was no longer the same as what it had been previously. Many years ago when Grand Xia was divided in power, it had already spelt the Ancient Kingdom’s doom. As of now, it was rumored that only a single bloodline remained. But as to whether this was true or false, no one knew.
Hence when Qin Wentian stared at the scene unfolding in front of him, his heart couldn’t help but tremble.
“This Heavenly Stele, what treasure was this? Why would it have records of the end of the Ancient Kingdom of Grand Xia? Does that mean that this Heavenly Stele is a remnant from that time?” Qin Wentian mused.
When had the Heavenly Stele Platform existed within the Azure Continent?
Many suspicions and speculations floated up in his heart. Qin Wentian pushed them aside as he concentrated on the scene before him. A frightening, towering aura gushed out from her body, so powerful that it shot up to the Heavens, while a true dragon seemingly coiled around her longsword.
“Princess Tianyu, do you want the bloodline of Grand Xia to be totally annihilated?”
An extremely cold voice echoed, causing despair to be reflected in Princess Tianyu’s eyes. That man walked in front of her, a smile of lust painted over his face. “Princess, did you know that I’ve been in love with you since a long time ago?”
Princess Tianyu’s countenance turned pale-white as she bit her lips tightly, with an extremely frigid expression on her face.
“If you are willing to bear the seeds of all nine of us, our sons shall then inherit our positions. They who possess your bloodline, will be the future of your Grand Xia.” The middle-aged man smiled at Princess Tianyu. Her countenance turned even paler as her hand that wielded the sword, trembled involuntarily.
Did she want her bloodline to continue?
These people all wanted to taint her.
“If you agree, throw away the sword in your hand,” the man calmly continued. Princess Tianyu was shuddering, feeling incomparable agony. Her heart felt as though it were experiencing the hellish torment of the underworld.
She wasn’t willing to give up, if the traitors didn’t die, she couldn’t die before them.
A light sound rang out as the sword in her hand fell to the ground.
A sinister smile of satisfaction appeared on the face of the middle-aged man. He slowly walked up as both his hands greedily caressed Princess Tianyu’s skin. He was finally going to obtain this world-ravishing beauty that everyone in Grand Xia was so enamored with.
With a wave of his hands, the armies they led all departed, leaving only the nine of them.
The middle-aged man sliced apart Princess Tianyu’s clothing and gradually, her flawless and exquisitely sculpted, jade-white body appeared in full view before the nine of them.
“Xia Tianyu, you are truly everything I’ve dreamed about.” The fires of his nefarious lust stirred within his eyes. He moved forward abruptly, he couldn’t restrain his eagerness any longer. His hands were everywhere, roaming every inch of her body. As he felt her up for all she was worth, he was at times gentle, and other times rough. Princess Tianyu’s tears dripped silently down her face at the horror she was experiencing, yet her heart had never been this resolute before.
She vowed, even if a thousand years passed, even if ten thousand years passed, she would have her revenge.
“Break the Divine Stele into nine pieces. From now on, each of us shall own a portion.” That man commanded in a husky voice after he had finished his insulting examination of her body, his lust temporarily sated for now. The eight men behind him turned and gazed at the Divine Stele outside the palace of the Ancient Grand Xia.
“From now onwards, the mastery of Grand Xia’s nine ultimate arts shall belong to our nine bloodlines respectively. Although the Divine Stele can never be destroyed, it can still be broken up into pieces. The nine of us shall each take a piece and never meet again, we must not allow the Divine Stele to restore itself.” That person licked his lips as he turned his attention onto Princess Tianyu’s perfect frame once more, as though he couldn’t wait to taste her fully, before he too, walked out of the palace. After which, the nine of them unleashed their most powerful attacks, intending to break the Divine Stele.
The significance of this final scene hit Qin Wentian in full force.
He had already formed some conjectures in his mind.
Firstly, the scene before his eyes was the last scenario recorded by the Divine Stele. This meant that the three-sided Stele in front of him was one of the nine remnant pieces that formed the Divine Stele. But right now, only one remained here.
Secondly, he knew with certainty that the origin of the nine continents of Grand Xia had been birthed from what he’d seen.
That pitiful Princess Tianyu, forced to endure humiliation to such a degree. As for what happened to her later on, no one knew…
According to the middle-aged man’s command, the Divine Stele which contained nine of Grand Xia’s ultimate arts, was then broken into nine remnants and given to the nine of them to govern. They would then ensure that the nine broken remnants of the Divine Stele would never be united and restored again.
“Hu…” Qin Wentian’s will withdrew from the Heavenly Stele as he took a deep breath. A sudden thought struck him as Qin Wentian sent out the Yellow Springs Monument from his interspatial ring, allowing it to float in the air. A terrifying blood might emanated forth from it.
“Can your body, made from flesh and blood, withstand this power?”
Qin Wentian remembered the words of the Ancient Will. Power, the test during the first segment of nine steps, was to withstand power attacks. After which, the second segment tested them with will attacks.
And as for the Yellow Springs Monument, it was an attack that used blood might. Because the Monument was now under his control, the power it could unleash wasn’t that great.
“The Azure Emperor eventually obtained the Yellow Springs Monument. Was it part of the nine broken remnants? Afterwards, this monument was given to Fairy Qingmei who used it to set up the path of the Yellow Springs in the Celestial Lake’s Refinement Grounds. Similarly, it was used to test one’s talent and will. My conjecture…” Qin Wentian’s heart trembled, he knew he was right. Back then the Azure Emperor must have acquired one of the nine broken remnants of the Divine Stele.
Yet, the truth wasn’t complete yet, it was still covered by a haze of doubt and suspicion.
Those nine bloodlines from back then, did they still exist? And as for the the Heavenly Stele, how did it appear here and why didn’t anyone come to snatch it away? Who was the owner of this three-sided Stele?
And after the Divine Stele was broken up into nine pieces, cultivators could clearly control them to unleash their power just like how he was controlling the Yellow Springs Monument. Did the Ancient Will that emanated from the Heavenly Stele truly belong to the Stele itself? Or was there someone controlling it?
Lastly, and most importantly. What did this all have to do with him?
He wasn’t even twenty, and that damn old fogey of a father must have definitely fallen after he was born. His father couldn’t be someone from a few thousands years ago right?
But still, he arrived here, either by the workings of chance or the machinations of fate. Was all of this truly nothing but coincidence?
This was impossible…
Because the woman his damn old fogey brought away, looked exactly like Yun Mengyi!“Forget it, I should take this chance to properly cultivate. Otherwise, it would be too much of a waste.” Qin Wentian had no way to resolve the suspicions in his heart. He could only cast the distracting thoughts aside as he calmed his heart down and cultivated.
Luckily, the Ancient Wills had already weakened, and wouldn’t affect him too immensely. This factor confirmed his suspicions. The three-sided Stele had definitely been under the control of someone earlier. If not, there was no way it would be able to unleash that much power.
After a few moments, Qin Wentian had totally cast aside all distractions and was immersed in his cultivation. After washing out the impurities of his will and heart, the state of his heart improved yet again. This was the best time for him to rush through to the next level. Situ Po also broke through under similar conditions, he could do the same as well.
“The Ancient Will has weakened,” Fan Le and the rest below commented in surprise.
“Mhm, what’s going on exactly?” Puzzlement flashed through Ouyang Kuangsheng’s face, he didn’t understand anything at all.
Situ Po didn’t as well. He decided to ignore it for now and concentrate on his recovery.
However at this moment, a light flashed in Yun Mengyi’s eyes. She couldn’t help but sigh in her heart as she stared at the silhouette standing before the Heavenly Stele.
“You have lost.” A voice suddenly sounded on in her mind. Nobody could hear this, except for her alone.
Yun Mengyi nodded her head lightly, she knew that she’d lost.She came here today with the same purpose as Situ Po, to compete against Qin Wentian. Yet, she had lost. She failed to step upon the last step, and couldn’t acquire the Heavenly Stele that should have belonged to her.
“Since you’ve lost, from now onwards, you should give your loyalty to him. For this upcoming trip to the Grand Xia’s Ancient Kingdom, go accompany him. After all, you are many times much more familiar with that place compared to him.” The voice resounded in her mind again. Yun Mengyi glanced at Qin Wentian, maybe… this was her destiny.
……..
Qin Wentian’s cultivation proceeded smoothly, he used only a month’s time to break through the shackles of the sixth level, stepping into the seventh level of Yuanfu.
And not just him, those who took the test of the Heavenly Stele Steps all made remarkable improvements, especially for those that made it up to the eighteenth step. Their wills of Mandates all experienced growth as their spirits and hearts grew stronger. Evidently, their strength went up another level.
Currently, Chu Mang had already stepped into the eighth level while Fan Le and Ouyang Kuangsheng both broke through to the seventh level. As of now, Ouyang Kuangsheng was even preparing his breakthrough to the eighth level. Their wills of Mandates had also significantly improved as well.
Yun Mengyi progress couldn’t be neglected as well. Her Mandates were all already at the Perfection Boundary prior to joining the test. As of now, she had managed to step into the ninth level of Yuanfu.Naturally, the ones who improved the most, were undoubtedly Situ Po and Qin Wentian.
Situ Po, ninth level of Yuanfu, three Mandates at the Perfection Boundary.
Qin Wentian, seventh level of Yuanfu, three Mandates at the Perfection Boundary, gained a strengthened will, and an incomparably unwavering heart.
Those who had left the vicinity earlier were all extremely depressed when they heard of what had happened. They actually missed out seeing the three absolute geniuses of the Unmatched Realm contending against each other on the 26th step. Qin Wentian actually became the first person to conquer the Heavenly Stele Steps, defeating Situ Po.
However, it was regretful that Qin Wentian’s cultivation base was still too low. There wasn’t much time before the end of the year, and therefore it should be impossible for him to contend for the positions of one of the top rankers in the Heavenly Fate Rankings.
Naturally, Qin Wentian didn’t think of it this way. Right now he had already paused his cultivation. A confident smile appeared on his face as he stood up.
Without the tempering this time around from the Heavenly Steles, he couldn’t have improved so much in a short few months. The eccentrics of the Unmatched Realm, and his dispute with Situ Po, did indeed gave him a very good opportunity to raise his strength.
“Many thanks to Senior.” Qin Wentian clasped his hands to the old figure sweeping the platform as he politely stated.
“You are the one that succeeded on your own, why are you thanking me?” The old man casually replied.
Qin Wentian smiled, he knew in his heart that this old man was someone remarkable.
“Junior bids his farewell then.” Qin Wentian bowed respectfully as he prepared to depart.
“The Heavenly Stele is yours. Take it.” The old man waved his hands, his words causing a light to flash in Qin Wentian’s eyes.
This Heavenly Stele was part of the Divine Stele. This old man wanted to give it to him?
“Back then my Master once commanded me, the Heavenly Stele belongs to whoever conquers the 27th step. And so it has been done. This is yours, take it and go,” the old man impatiently added.
Qin Wentian didn’t act courteous any longer. He collected the Heavenly Stele, placing it inside his interspatial ring together with his Yellow Springs Monument. His heart was still in an enigma, he wanted to solve the mystery, but sadly, he didn’t have enough information as of now.
Turning, Qin Wentian walked down the steps. That old man continued sweeping, turning his gaze on to the horizon. A gentle warmth flickered in his eyes, as though he were lost in fond reminiscence.
…………
A long time ago… the Venerate Heavens Sect was one of the governors of certain regions of Ancient Grand Xia. They predicted the forthcoming of future events by studying the movements of the constellations.
At this moment, within the Venerate Heavens Sect, an old man was studying the stars. A bright light flickered in his eyes, piercing through the void into the Nine Heavenly Layers. The Constellation that represented Grand Xia could be found over there.
“The Demonic Constellation is glowing brighter and brighter, overshadowing that of the Grand Xia Constellation. A bloody storm will soon come about as the wind and clouds changes in Grand Xia. Each resplendent star represented a power, yet there will be one faction among them that will dominate and unite the rest.” The old man’s heart pounded with great feeling—a foretelling of this magnitude was rarely seen, not even once in a thousand years!
Hey guys, I’ve started a patreon page for Ancient Godly Monarch.
If you would like to support my translations, you are welcome to make a pledge: Patreon!
Do note that the patreons goals will only kick into effect during the 1 March 2017, after I cleared my towering debt
