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In the City Lord’s Mansion, the City Lord of the Lost City of Xianyuan looked at the Pool of Divine Purification in silence. His dark gaze seemed able to penetrate the thick mist and look into the depths of the pool.
Butcher stood just behind him.
After bringing Lu Ye to this place and settling him inside the pool, he never left again. Although Lu Ye’s body had not dissipated at the time, Butcher was still worried.
Presently, a sentry was reporting to them on the outcomes of the battles in various parts of the city.
Most of the insectoids that had invaded the city had been wiped out. Once again, those from the city were declared the winners.
It had always been like this for the past thousands of years.
Unbeknownst to Lu Ye, the apparitions in the city were indestructible. They had left behind their Soul Imprints in the Pool of Divine Purification. Therefore, even if they were killed somewhere else, they would be resurrected through the pool’s power.
That was why Butcher and the others had come back to life.
The Pool of Divine Purification was the foundation of the Lost City of Xianyuan.
The only way for the insectoids to occupy the city was to brutally eliminate the city’s defences, occupy the City Lord’s Mansion, and destroy the pool. Otherwise, regardless of how many insectoids there were or how powerful they were, they could never occupy the city. History repeated itself whenever the insectoids launched an attack on the city.
Initially, those from the city would be at a disadvantage because there were a lot of insectoids, and many of them were formidable. Nonetheless, while the insectoids would be gone for good if they were killed, the cultivators from the city would always be resurrected in the Pool of Divine Purification, which allowed them to join the war again and again.
As the insectoids lost their advantage, they would gradually be eliminated. As a result, those from the city would eventually win the war.
This time, the war had been ongoing for about half a month. Lu Ye had entered the city at a time when the war was most intense.
Now, the war was about to conclude, and the huge crack in the sky had disappeared without anyone noticing it.
After the sentry was done with the report, he turned around and left.
A bored Butcher asked, “Sir, is this brat really the… chosen one?”
He muttered the same thing to Liu Datong and Yu Qing a while ago, but he had heard it from the City Lord.
While looking at the pool, the City Lord replied, “When he came previously, three out of the Four Symbols had gathered. This time, all of them have been assembled. Moreover, he seems to have the inheritance of a powerful Glyphweaver that allows him to use some Glyphs with ease. If he isn’t the chosen one, then it’s hard for me to imagine the strict criteria for such a person.” Suddenly, he let Butcher in on another piece of information. “However, I believe he’s only one of the candidates.”
“Are there other chosen ones?” Butcher frowned.
The City Lord explained, “Not all eggs are placed in the same basket, especially for a being like that. There must have been many chosen ones in the last thousands of years. Since we’ve been living in this city forever, we’re oblivious to the outside world. It’s only natural that we don’t know how the chosen ones have ended up. Judging from the current situation, none of the chosen ones have ever succeeded.”
Butcher nodded in agreement. If anyone had succeeded, they would not have been confined to this city; they would have been freed.
“There will eventually be an outcome, and time is running out.” The City Lord sighed.
He had said the same thing the last time he met Lu Ye, but no one had heard him as he was only muttering to himself.
Butcher asked solemnly, “How much time do you think is left, Sir?”
“Who knows?” The City Lord shook his head. “I’m sure all of you can feel that the number of insectoids has increased in recent years. On the other hand, the power of the Pool of Divine Purification has become weaker year by year. Perhaps decades later, the insectoids will become so powerful that we won’t be able to fend them off anymore. Or perhaps the pool will dry up eventually, and we’ll quit being imperishable. Either way, the Lost City of Xianyuan will fall, and Jiu Zhou will be destroyed!” ɌáℕỒ𐌱ЁṨ
Butcher felt his heart growing heavier.
As the cultivators in this city, they had been standing guard here for thousands of years. Divine Ocean Realm Masters like them knew more secrets than their counterparts in Jiu Zhou.
The safety of the Lost City of Xianyuan did not only affect the city itself but also the entire Jiu Zhou.
Perhaps the cultivators in Jiu Zhou had never known that there existed such a place where the apparitions had been fighting the insectoids for thousands of years to keep Jiu Zhou safe.
Even if someone went to tell them about it, no one would believe such a tale. After all, the story indeed sounded ridiculous.
The City Lord mentioned that the number of insectoids had increased, which meant that the insectoid nest was now able to absorb power from the outside world, which was terrible news. If the connection between the insectoid nest and the outside world became strong enough, the already imperfect defences of the city would crack, and the consequences would be dreadful.
There was also the Pool of Divine Purification.
Although the power in the pool was immense, it had been on the decline as the apparitions of the city were repeatedly resurrected over the past thousands of years. There would come a day when the power in the pool was used up. When that happened, the apparitions in the city would stop being imperishable.
All the signs showed that time was indeed running out. This world needed someone who could turn things around. However, nobody knew if the chosen ones could pass the final trial.
There hadn’t been an outcome for the past thousands of years, so they had no hopes of seeing any miracle.
At that moment, Butcher felt crestfallen.
“That brat has awakened!” the City Lord suddenly said.
“Is he alright?” Butcher hurriedly asked.
“What could go wrong when he has only consumed too much of his Soul Power? As expected, he’s doing something terrible again!” the City Lord said through clenched teeth.
Butcher immediately realised what was going on. “Is he stealing Soul Cleansing Water?”
Soul Cleansing Water was only found in the Pool of Divine Purification throughout Jiu Zhou. When Lu Ye previously produced the bottle of Soul Cleansing Water, Butcher instantly knew that he must have stolen it from the pool.
The City Lord snorted and turned to look at Butcher. “Let’s see what you have to say on this! He’s not from this city, so he supposedly can’t enter the Pool of Divine Purification. I had broken the rule once previously to help all of you out of trouble. This time, I’ve only allowed him to enter the pool to recuperate because you’ve let him join your squad. But now, he’s doing something so shameless again. I’m telling you, I’ll definitely kill him!”
Butcher smiled meekly. “He has indeed helped complete our mission. Moreover, when our squad was wiped out, he continued to fight until he was on his last legs. He totally has the right to be the external member of our squad.”
When Butcher took Lu Ye back to the mansion, the City Lord was astounded, for he did not expect Lu Ye to enter the city at this point.
Then, he learned from Butcher how Lu Ye came to the city, which was why he believed that the man was the chosen one.
If Lu Ye were not the chosen one, he could not have entered the city using that method, and he even happened to arrive when the insectoids attacked the city.
If he had come to the city at another time, the entire place would have been in dead silence as all the apparitions were sound asleep in the Pool of Divine Purification, and Lu Ye would not have gotten any benefits at all.
Nonetheless, due to his timely arrival, he managed to acquire a lot of benefits even though he became on his last legs from fighting for a long time.
Just like what the City Lord had said, since Lu Ye was not a cultivator from the city, he supposedly could not enter the pool. It was Butcher who decided to let Lu Ye join his squad and become an external member. That was why the City Lord broke the rule and let Lu Ye rest in the pool.
Much to Butcher’s surprise, Lu Ye immediately tried to steal Soul Cleansing Water upon regaining consciousness, which was why he was embarrassed.
His lips squirmed for a moment before he said, “Sir, if you’re determined to kill him, just do it!”
The City Lord snorted. “Do you think I won’t kill him?”
Butcher put on a fawning smile. “Since you believe he’s the chosen one, why don’t you give him a chance? Perhaps he’ll make it to the end. That blind man always talks about karma. Perhaps the good deed we’ve done today will end up bearing a fruitful outcome for us.”
He was certain that the City Lord would not kill Lu Ye, and even the City Lord himself knew he would not do that. Otherwise, he would have stopped Lu Ye the moment he noticed the theft instead of talking incessantly to Butcher.
Despite being a Butcher in the city before he became an apparition, he was a sensitive person, which was why he could easily see through the City Lord’s mind.
“Moreover, he’s only one person. Even if we let him steal some Soul Cleansing Water, the heritage of the pool won’t decrease significantly. I’m sure it will be… fine.” The City Lord glanced at the pool as his eyelids twitched. “If you knew what he was capable of doing, you wouldn’t have warned me.”
When an ordinary cultivator entered the pool, even if he was able to condense Soul Cleansing Water, he would only get a limited amount of it. On the other hand, Lu Ye had created a huge funnel, which was able to quickly condense Soul Mist into Soul Cleansing Water.
The City Lord could also see that Lu Ye had placed a bota bag beneath the funnel, seemingly determined to fill the entire bag.
There was no doubt his actions were outrageous.
Even though the City Lord was a Divine Ocean Realm Master who had been living for thousands of years, he was flustered upon seeing that.
If this went on, the heritage of the pool would decrease tremendously. The power of the pool was already scarce in the first place. Once the heritage was reduced, the Soul Mist would disappear altogether soon enough.
After giving it some thought, Butcher said, “Anyway, we can’t let him get Soul Cleansing Water for free. He must have obtained a lot of battle points from killing the insectoids. Why don’t we make him pay for the Soul Cleansing Water with a corresponding amount of battle points?”
The City Lord was still in a dilemma as to whether he should stop Lu Ye when he heard what Butcher said. He nodded and replied, “That’s a good idea.” Then, he asked worriedly, “How many battle points has he acquired this time?”
“I have no idea, but I suppose there should be several tens of thousands of points.”
Since Lu Ye had destroyed so many insectoids, he must have obtained tens of thousands of points.
Unbeknownst to Butcher, Lu Ye had acquired more battle points than that. He had over 300,000 battle points now!
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