The Headquarters of the Dark Witch Sect was located inside the Dark Mountain.
Over the last decade, the Dark Witch Sect had hollowed the dormant volcano and created a subterranean base inside the cave.
Dark Witch Sect was well known for its use of Dark Malice Qi: deadly burning energy fused with fire poison that was readily available inside the volcano. Inside the Dark Mountain, there was a flow of magma where the sect members drew their power from.
“Pipa! Pipa!”
The magma flowed slowly in its channel, spitting sparks from time to time. The temperature in the cave was unbearably hot.
A Black-robed elder sat on a seven-meters tall pedestal on the bank of the magma river. He closed his eyes and drew the Dark Malice Qi into his body with every breath he took.
“Hey, what do you think is happening outside the cave? That freak in the dark robe had been in and out many times, and that old Curmudgeon seemed to get angrier by the second.”
Seven men and women were kept in an iron cage in a corner of the cave.
They were of different ages and ethnic backgrounds. The man asked the question was a short and dark-skinned young man of Southeast Asian descent.
“No clue. Hey John, you have been here the longest, what do you think is happening.”
A young girl with a fit body and copper-colored skin replied.
“I have been here for three months now, and that Curmudgeon barely opened his eyes once in a month. However, he has been getting more active ever since that Chinese girl joined us. I heard them talking once, and the old man said he had gathered enough ‘sacrifice for the ceremony.’ No idea what that means, and neither do I want to know.”
John was a man with blond hair. He spoke in English.
“What.. what do you think Curmudgeon is going to do to us?”
A small Korean girl asked, whimpering.
“I don’t know. But I wager it’s some sick sadistic shit, like a heretic or occult rituals. What else could it be.” John shook his head.
His words had taken the wind out of the others’ sails.
The younger ones started to sob quietly.
“Wenjin, aren’t you afraid?”
A young woman with black hair and fashionable, although scrunched outfit looked at another girl sitting at the corner of the cage quietly. She had been kept to herself ever since she arrived. Most people had taken her silence as giving up.
“I was meant to be a human sacrifice the moment I was born. They have kept me alive for sixteen years, waiting for the right moment. If not for him, I would have already been killed by the Young Lord of the Ghost Witch Sect. Such was my fate, I have nothing to fear. But I hope I can see him one more time.”
The girl said under his breath.
She was Yu Wenjin, the girl that had been taken away from the Seu Family.
Her beauty had gained even more icy elegance and aloofness than three years ago. The seven young men and women were all attractive and charming, but they all agreed that Yu Wenjin was the most beautiful.
“Who is he? Is that your boyfriend?”
The black-haired girl asked.
She and Yu Wejin were the only two Chinese people in the group, so they bonded during their captivity.
“He used to be my classmate. But now he has risen to fame and became the paragon of strength and the embodiment of mystery. Unfortunately, he is already taken by another. But I am content to just be around him so that I can see his face every day.”
Yu Wenjin confessed her infatuation.
“Humph! You think so highly of him, and care so much about him, where is he now when you need him?” The other girl grunted.
“My ex had turned tail faster than a jackrabbit the moment those sect members came after me. If I ever make it out of here, I am going to kick his sorry ass.”
The black-haired girl ranted. Then her face bloomed as her fantasy came into her mind.
“Awe.. If a Prince Charming shows up and saves me, a little damsel in distress, I will marry him there and then! It’s SO romantic!”
Yu Wenjin was lighthearted after hearing her friend’s fantasy. She covered her mouth and giggled.
“What if he is Jabba the Hutt instead of Prince Charming?”
The question caught the black-haired girl by surprise. She didn’t seem to register the sarcasm and pondered the question seriously for a while.
“I don’t care what he looks like. If he can get me out of here, I will… I will let him do whatever he wants to with me. It’s not like you can see any faces while the lights are out. But I doubt we will even get lucky with Jabba the Hutt. No one can defeat that Curmudgeon.”
Tears welled in the girl’s eyes as she lost her hope.
Yu Wenjin tugged the girl into her embrace and lamented in her mind.
“Xiao Fan, I don’t think I will ever see you again.”
Even as the captives were grabbed by despair, a booming voice pierced through the mountain.
“I am Chen Beixuan of China. I came to meet the Grand Magus God of the Dark Witch Sect!”
The voice was so loud and disorienting that the listeners felt the cave had come down around their ears.
“It is…”
Everyone inside the cave was stunned by the voice. The black-robed elder finally opened his eyes, revealing two hungry green balls of light.
“Magus God… Chen Beixuan is here!”
A man in black robe fumbled to get into the cave and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I have ears!”
The old man refuted hotly and shot out a pulse of Dark Malice Qi at the man. The Dark Malic Qi turned into a dark palm and grabbed the man by the collar.
“Arrhhhh!”
The man’s skin rotted away upon contact with the Dark Malice Qi. In a blink, he was reduced to a pile of charred bones.
“You stay put, let me deal with Chen Beixuan.”
The old man let out a sinister chuckle, turned into a plume of dark smoke, and then drifted out of the cave.
“Yes..”
The rest of the disciples knelt on the ground and replied with a shaky voice.
The development stupefied the captives in the cage.
“Did anyone come to save us? Am I hallucinating?”
“That voice! It was Chinese. Do you know what it said?” John cast an inquisitive glance at the two Chinese girls.
The black-haired girl furrowed her brows and said.
“It sounded like ‘Chen-Bye-Zeeyan of China come to meet the Grand Maggots God’ To be honest, I don’t really know. My Chinese isn’t very good.”
“No, he said he is Chen Beixuan!”
Wenjin cut the girl short and said firmly. Her eyes lit up with surprise and joy.
“What?”
Everyone looked at her in confusion.
Chen Fan’s announcement could be heard from hundreds of miles away.
All citizens of Naypyitaw had heard his words loud and clear. Although Naypyitaw was the capital of Myanmar, there were a lot of Chinese people living there.
“Who is Chen Beixuan? Why is he so loud? And Who is the Grand Magus God? What is going on?”
A few Chinese journalists were elated by the voice they heard. The promise of some sensational material spurred them to grab their camera and rush to the outside.
Myanmar had long since been forgotten by the international community, so much so that the frequent military coups were mostly ignored by major news outlets. However, the blaring din and the mysterious sound seemingly coming from nowhere suggested that something newsworthy was unfolding.
Meanwhile, Chen Fan had focused his Divine Will to penetrate through layers of earth and rock of the Divine Body. It wasn’t long before Chen Fan had a clear view of the base hidden inside the mountain.
“That’s… Yu Wenjin. She is still alive.”
Chen Fan’s eyes lit up.
However, he soon heard a deep grunt that sounded almost like a growling. With it came a wave of powerful soul energy that clashed into his Divine Will.
“Bang!”
The two pulses of energy collided and exploded, causing an invisible but deadly shock wave.
One loose strand of hair fell onto Chen Fan’s forehead, but Chen Fan’s body remained still. On the other hand, the other combatant was winded and let out a suppressed blench.
Even while Chen Fan was of the Ethereal Enlightenment level, Chen Fan’s Divine Will was already unmatched on this planet. By then, he had already reached Divine Sea Level, and he could easily hold out against four Immortal State Warriors at the same time.
Then the voice from the mountain spoke again.
“Chen Beixuan, you have killed my disciple and barged into my sect’s headquarters. I will make you pay for this!”
Before the voice faded, a plum of Dark Malice Qi billowed up from the bowel of the mountain and then dived toward Chen Fan. A searing heat wave rippled away from the Dark Malice Qi and reached the ground first.
“Oh my gosh!”
One journalist was so shocked by the scene that he put his camera aside and squinted at the dark smoke in order to get a better view.
“Grand Magus God?”
Chen Fan snorted.
Under tens of thousands of Myanmar soldier’s incredulous gaze, Chen Fan’s body glowed azure as Essence Qi started to ripple about him, lifting his body off the ground and into the sky.
Looking from above, he looked like a rising azure star.
“He must be a god!”
Many soldiers kowtowed again after seeing Chen Fan’s miraculous ability.
This was the first time Chen Fan displayed his full power ever since he reached the Divine Sea level. As he unleashed the energy, the light inside of him glowed more intensely, and formed an azure nimbus around him, making him look like an Immortal King.
The azure light flashed against the backdrop of dark energy.
Such was the sight beheld by many citizens of Naypyitaw.
The setting sun and the red cloud suggested that dusk was about to fall. So the extraordinary view of azure lights and pitch dark smoke was more than attention-grabbing. Among the witnesses of the unimaginable sight were the citizens of Naypyitaw as well as many leaders of Myanmar.
“This is definitely newsworthy. No, it’s more than newsworthy! Ever since I was fired by the BBC and came to this godforsaken country, I will finally turn my luck around.”
A blond woman in her thirties industriously snapped photos of the brilliant Azure star and the pitch dark smoke.
The war of the gods was about to start.