Chapter 26: Journey to the East part 1
Untamed Forested Mountains
“What in the blazes was that!? how could a lightning storm come out from nowhere. After I broke through the Core Formation stage it just struck me!, and that aura from the deeper reaches of the forest… so terrifying, I need to get out of here soon”
Almost as soon as Sera Hawke broke through the Core Formation stage she was immediately attacked by the tribulation lightning amounting to 9 strikes before being legitimately accepted by the natural laws of the world.
This of course was unknown to her since the plundered books from the Eastern Cultivators did not include this ‘obvious’ and natural phenomena in their manuals since all cultivators are expected to know of this on a instinctual level.
Sera Hawke on the other hand being an other worlder could not have expected such phenomenon happening after her breakthrough to the Core Formation stage. Despite already experiencing magic in a near daily basis such things still come to her as a great surprise.
With her increase in strength she can now sense things that she previously could not such as the auras emanating from the deeper parts of the Untamed Forested Mountains things that make her skin crawl. Without knowledge of what just happened she just casually blamed the lightning strike against her coming from the terrifying auras and urged herself to leave this place as quickly as possible.
After her breakthrough her servants lined up in front of her and are about to kneel down in reverence.
“stand, you know I could not stomach things like that” she said indifferently
With a curious tone she then added “ where is Peter and Lydia?”
“They have perished my lady 8 years ago just 2 years after you have entered seclusion, they could not breakthrough the Foundation Establishment stage due to their advanced age” said Bellato in a grieving voice.
Sera was shocked at the sudden information, she opened her mouth and was about to say something but closed it instead. She just came to to a sudden realization that she is over 75 years old and it was not a surprise for mortals like Peter and Lydia who failed to breakthrough the Foundation Establishment stage to perish around 100 years of their natural lifespan.
She just sighed and shook her head and said “ make preparations! We leave this place in 24 hours make it quick!”
With that her servants move about to see their duties. They did not ask questions about why or where they just moved. Ever since the events of Kaladia City they felt very lucky to be even alive the fact that their Lady Sera even shared the cultivation methods to them was a great and unexpected boon.
Sera sat inside her laboratory the nerve center of everything and inspected the Stone City on the surface and the Metal City underground. Seeing that everything is in place she cannot help but feel prideful of her accomplishments from the beginning until now.
With the Stone City inside the Untamed Forested Mountains she was now relieved that she have a somewhat secret location to hide. While she still thinks that the was is still raging on in the Continental Isle.
She planned to move towards the weakest part of the ‘barrier’ that separates the Continental Isle and the Eastern Continent. Even though it was called a ‘barrier’ it was more like a gigantic never ending storm in between the continents that can shred even a peak Spirit Severing Cultivator.
Luckily for Sera Hawke Narud’s library have a map that points towards the general direction of the weakest part of the ‘barrier’ that she may be able to pass through in relative safety.
But before taking liftoff Sera had her final checks on her supplies. It took only a minute to have her servants do the final checks before lifting off the ground as the engines hummed to life, there were no turbulence as the Flying Fortress made its way to the skies.
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Through the monitor she watched over the surrounding forest to sight see one last time before leaving, aside from the vast ocean of trees there were only monster tribes minding their own business there were some who looked up the skies observing at a dot but not knowing anything about it they returned to laze around.
“in just 10 years the monster population return back to normal. During my seclusion the Golem Army basically stopped its activities outside of the Stone City aside from the patrols”
Continental Isle
Eastern Cultivator Alliance Camp
“Faster! Faster! The Dragon Veins would not wait for anyone Squeeze these bodies to their last drop of blood!!”
Thousands of Eastern Cultivators busied themselves as they meticulously squeezed each and every last drop of blood from the former citizens of Lavant. It was such a gruesome with the stench of blood so nauseating those with weak stomachs would empty their bellies of its contents.
As the General in this invasion Yohmu could finally take it easy as he sat there overseeing the work and the lifeblood of their future.
“how long could we finish the blood harvest? So that we could use a teleportation matrix and get these out of our responsibility”
“no worries General, we are almost done. We expect to finish tomorrow before noon”
General Yohmu just sighed “make it quick, the longer it stays it our hands the higher the probability that something would go wrong”
“of course, it will be done General”
The elder just shook his head as he went out the General’s tent and thought “he sure is being too cautious its not like the natives of Continental Isle would take the initiative to attack us”
Those from the Sects that focuses on the body would just chop the corpses into hand size pieces and then use all their strength to squeeze the blood from that part. After repeating the process the piece of flesh would then be stored in the spatial bag for future nefarious rituals.
The blood cultivators had it the easiest of them all not only that but their efficiency is also unparalleled. It would only take a few seconds to siphon all of the blood from the corpse making it look like a mummy from the ancient era all that it would be lacking is bandages around its body.
Likewise the mummified corpse was also stored in the spatial bag for future usage, Especially for the Cultivators who use the dark arts corpses, souls and blood are crucial necessities for their own Cultivation methods.
Tens of millions of corpses that has been harvested since the start of this invasion, it would not be far fetched to say that this war literally created mountains of corpses and oceans of blood. All this death so that others may continue their convenient way of life.
The next day the blood harvest finally came to an official end as General Yohmu and the presiding Elders guarded the teleportation matrix to avoid any accidents.
The teleportation matrix was drawn down in a ‘Immortal’ piece of metal along with other precious ingredients with spirituality. It took the combined might of 5 Spirit Severing Elders to activate the portal from the Continental Isle to the Alliance Hall of the Eastern Continent.
While 5 of the Spirit Severing Elders are preoccupied the rest of the Cultivators are not relaxing either as their bodies are more tense than ever now that they have come to the final stretch of their mission which is delivering the spatial bags that contain massive amounts of blood.
The teleportation matrix hummed as it activated creating a dazzling bright light that could be seen for several kilometers like a beacon of light in the dark. The cultivators are all tensed up with their hands holding to their weapons ready to pounce at a moments notice as they prepare for any eventualities.
When the portal stabilized and opened up the Elders said “quick with the vast distance we can’t have the teleportation matrix open for more that a few seconds hurry and toss the spatial bags in!!!!”
Even without being told General Yohmu already knew what needs to be done he used his strength to throw all of the spatial bags containing the blood towards the teleportation matrix simultaneously just before it started closing.
It wasn’t until the spatial bags entered the portal and closed that the Eastern Cultivators finally gave a heavy sigh of relief. Like a steam locomotive they exhaled almost simultaneously creating a gust of wind and a strange sound.
“unbelievable! We are finally done with the mission! Time to go home!” shouted General Yohmu to the entire invasion force as he raised his fist in the air.
“YEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” shouted by the crowd eager to return home
“finally!!”
“yes!! I can now build a mansion with my loot and that is not even counting my rewards!”
“hah you lack ambition I will create my own sect and fuse our body cultivating methods with their magic knights”
Everybody had different dreams and aspirations as they prepare they return journey back to the Eastern Continent. Even if the Cultivators dubbed themselves Immortals it was only because they could easily outlive most non cultivators but they themselves knew that aside from a little bit of power and longer lifespan they are also mortals non the less… but non of them would openly admit that as it is a sign of weakness.
Continental Isle
Flying Fortress
Sera Hawke is sitting on the laboratory in front of multiple large screens and surrounded by computers she had painstakingly built from scratch with the assistance of her Sentinels. While plotting the Flying Fortress’ course they are flying at the speed of 50 kilometers per hour.
A considerable speed considering the size and weight of the Flying Fortress and its entirety. As it cruises through high above the clouds it is protected by an active transparent barrier that prevent the wind gales to sweep the surface of the Fortress and its surrounding land, garden, houses and small patch of other fruit baring plants.
Aside from the occasional flying monsters that try their luck on attacking the Flying fortress there was nothing noteworthy of the current journey as all attackers were almost instantly disintegrated by the barrage of Rail Guns that made short work of these flying critters.
Sera was about to ask for food to be delivered to her laboratory “Lyd- oh I forgot shes dead”
With a sigh she just asked for Bellato to bring food to her from the kitchen.
“oh life is so fleeting it seemed like yesterday that they were still alive”
Peter and Lydia probably was the closest to grandparents she never had. As they were the only closest people she ever had ever since she got in this world.
Weeks pass by and at last Sera is finally at the ‘shores’ of the Continental Isle. the ‘shores’ are extremely shallow with the height of only around knee level which spanned for several tens of kilometers by rough estimates.
The shallow ‘shores’ is also pocked marked by blast craters of varying sizes. If the history books are to be believed then this is near the coast of the former Central continent rather than the current ‘shores’. there are only a few ‘islands’ or rather previously hills or even mountains.
The current sight grimly depicts the brutality of the war 800 years ago and to think that the Central Continent then wasn’t even the target of the invasion.
To leave and enter the Continental Isle one has to have a flying airship as large boats could not enter its shallow waters. Down below could be observed how nature has taken over the ‘shores’ of the Continental Isle.
Schools of fish are swimming for their lives as a pack of Mulroc creatures wielding short spears and tridents made of corals.
“i suppose I’m lucky that I did not arrive in this world during that era, such calamity I could only imagine how the people back then were clinging to their sanity”
Aside for a few ruins that are sturdy enough to survive not only the catastrophic magical blasts during that war but also the passing of time, there are really nothing much to see in the vast expanse of the former battlefield.
“i could only hope that the future journey is going to be as peaceful and as boring as this one”