It rained heavily for several days in a row. Even after the rain stopped, the sky remained overcast.
Dark clouds swirled overhead, with thunder rumbling and lightning flickering in the distance, rolling across the distant land. It seemed the rainy season had arrived.
On this day, Isanti brought Gellenson back to the territory of the Priscian family.
“Lady Isanti? And… Mr. Gellenson?”
The gatekeeper recognized them and spoke respectfully.
When he looked at Isanti, his heart trembled again.
Because he saw that Isanti’s expression at that moment was even darker than the cloudy sky above.
“Tell the patriarch that I’m back,” Isanti said. “I need to see him, immediately, right now.”
“Yes!” The gatekeeper immediately responded and soon invited them into the family estate.
Before long—
“Father,” Isanti addressed the elderly man seated at the high seat.
The man was her father, the patriarch of the Priscian family.
Gellenson followed suit, but his tone and posture were even more deferential than Isanti’s.
The old man spoke: “Isanti, my daughter, you’ve returned. Since you left so suddenly last time without saying goodbye, your mother and I have been very worried about you. Solaris’s fall is a deeply painful matter for us and for the entire Priscian family. But no matter what, I hope you can look forward…”
That was the truth. Back in the day, Isanti had been an outstanding member of the younger generation in the family.
If not for the problems she developed later while cultivating the God-blood secret technique, which caused some mental issues, she could have gone much further.
Later, the Priscian family and the Liat family formed a marriage alliance. Thus, Isanti married Gellenson.
The old man glanced at Gellenson.
Feeling the gaze, Gellenson lowered his head even more.
Gellenson’s talent was also not bad. But his personality was quite awful.
Cowardice and incompetence seemed to be deeply ingrained in his bones.
Even now, as the head of the Liat family, his core character had not changed much.
The old man looked down on Gellenson. But he cherished his granddaughter, Solaris, very much.
Solaris had truly inherited the strengths of both families in terms of talent.
Since childhood, she had awakened the power of God-blood. In the awakening ceremony, she had overwhelmed her peers, displaying formidable divine power and being designated as a sequence hero early on.
With such talent, as long as she didn’t fall, she would surely achieve great things in the future.
It wasn’t impossible for her to join the ranks of the strongest humans.
The old man had raised Solaris as the future pillar of the family.
Cultivation resources, God-blood secret techniques, even opportunities to enter the family’s secret realm—all were given to Solaris.
But unfortunately—in the end, Solaris still fell. The old man was deeply grieved.
And on the day she received the news, Isanti went mad and directly left the family.
For a long time, the old man couldn’t get in touch with Isanti.
But thankfully, Isanti had now returned and seemed less insane than before.
However, from her expression, it seemed she still hadn’t moved past the shadow of Solaris’s death.
“Isanti, what do you want this time…”
“Father,” Isanti interrupted the old man, raising her head. “I came back this time to enter the family’s forbidden ground and use the clan artifact once.”
“Clan artifact?” The old man was taken aback. “Yes, there are some things I need to clarify. This matter might also have some connection to Solaris’s death,” Isanti continued.
The old man looked at her, finding it hard to determine whether she was still rational or had completely lost her sanity in her quest to find the cause of Solaris’s death. “The family has a rule: under normal circumstances, the clan artifact can only be used once every ten years. And it requires the approval of more than half of the family’s high-ranking members to be activated. Moreover, using the clan artifact comes at a cost,” the old man said. “Isanti, you should know that it’s only been seven years since the last activation. And if you want to ask it a specific question, you are bound to receive no answer. The responses it gives also have limitations. Your request is rather…”
Before he could finish, Isanti suddenly fell to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground. She kowtowed several times before lifting her head again. Blood trickled down her forehead. “I know this request might be too much. But I beg you… Father, please grant it!” She looked at him without averting her gaze. Her eyes held persistence, anger, madness, and a glimmer of last hope.
Isanti and the old man stared at each other for a long time.
Finally, a sigh came from the high seat.
The old man looked away and said: “I understand. I will do my best to handle this matter. But recently, whether or not you get half the approval or the answer you want… I hope you won’t regret it.”
“Yes!”
Since it involved his daughter and granddaughter, the old man did not slack off on this matter.
Over the next few days, he convinced half of the family’s high-ranking members to agree to open the forbidden ground ahead of schedule.
A week later.
In front of the family’s forbidden ground.
Isanti stood before the layers of seals, with Gellenson close behind.
Even standing outside the seals, Gellenson could feel the ancient divine power flowing within.
Indeed, they were God-blood descendants.
Whether in terms of historical heritage or the level of secret realms and ruins they occupied, the Liat family was still a step behind.
Many high-ranking family members were present.
The old man stood in the forefront, presiding over the ceremony.
When the time came, he spoke: “Open it.” The next moment, ripples spread across the layers of seals.
The ripples formed a passage at the center of the seals. Isanti and Gellenson then saw what lay at the end of the seals.
It was an ancient stone door.
As the seals were briefly opened, an immense divine power surged outward.
At that moment, both of them felt as if their fates were being pulled and shaken by that divine power.
“Go in,” the old man urged. “You can stay before the clan artifact for fifteen minutes. And after fifteen minutes, no matter what happens, you must come out.”
Isanti nodded.
She steadied her mind and walked step by step toward the stone door.
After a brief hesitation, Gellenson followed.
“Is this seal… a divine ruin?”
Gellenson said. As they approached the stone door, he felt his own realm dissipating before the divine power.
By the time he stood before the stone door, he had become like an ordinary person, unable to display even the slightest power.
Even though he possessed the power of the Heavenly Guardian.
The two entered the stone door.
The space inside was an ancient hall.
Many parts of the hall had collapsed—giant pillars toppled, walls broken, and divine inscriptions worn away.
Only three ancient divine statues remained intact. They bowed their heads, their gazes converging at the center of the hall.
Just by appearance, those three figures should be the lowest level of gods. But even the lowest gods could not be judged by mortals.
Under the pressure of this divine power, Isanti couldn’t even lift her head to look at those three figures.
It seemed that looking at a god was an extremely presumptuous act.
For a mortal to look at a god was blasphemy.
Bearing the pressure, Isanti walked step by step toward the center of the hall, to the point where the three divine statues’ gazes converged.
Then, she slowly took a blood-red crystal from her spatial ring.
Inside was God-blood extracted from the family’s bloodline.
She crushed the crystal and activated the God-blood secret technique.
At that moment, the God-blood contained in the crystal burst into flames.
Divine fluctuations spread out, intertwining with the diffuse divine power in the hall.
Crack—
The three divine statues all made a sound at the same time.
Their tightly shut eyes opened in unison! Thus, they looked at the burning God-blood fire.
It seemed that some ancient God-blood technique had been activated.
The God-blood was fuel.
And the fire of God-blood expanded and shifted.
Eventually… It formed a mirror!
An ancient, fate-like aura spread out.
That mirror seemed capable of reflecting a person’s fate.
The past, present, and even a glimpse of the future.
“Is this… the fully awakened clan artifact?” Isanti murmured.
Just as she was stunned, the God-blood fire visibly shrank slightly.
“Hurry!”
Isanti realized something and immediately turned to look at Gellenson.
Gellenson understood and stepped forward, taking out another sealed item from his spatial ring and handing it to her.
She unsealed it.
Inside was a broken sword.
This was a weapon once used by Lu Mo, which she had returned to the Holy Sanctuary for disposal after going back.
Gellenson had used some means to retrieve it from the Sanctuary.
The God-blood fire could see part of a person’s fate trajectory.
But it required a medium to activate this ability.
Solaris had died at the Demon King’s Throne, leaving nothing behind, so Isanti couldn’t ask the God-blood fire about Solaris.
But the broken sword still retained residual traces of Lu Mo’s presence.
Though very faint, it was enough for now.
Isanti gripped the sword and unhesitatingly placed it into the God-blood fire.
Soon, the God-blood fire flickered a few times. Was it responding? Isanti thought.
But somehow, she felt that this reaction seemed a bit different from what she had seen before.
She quickly dismissed the thought.
Time was of the essence; she needed to find the answer she sought as soon as possible.
“Junior, Isanti Priscian, using the blood of a God-descendant, I hereby ask, begging the divine statue to grant an oracle—show this person’s fate trajectory in the divine fire!”
Isanti spoke with utmost sincerity.
Soon, the mirror within the divine fire began to change rapidly.
One second.
Three seconds.
Ten seconds.
Dozens of seconds passed, yet the mirror only showed extremely chaotic images.
It never displayed Lu Mo’s fate trajectory.
“What’s going on?”
Isanti was puzzled.
She had entered the forbidden ground with her elders before and seen them request oracles from the clan artifact up close.
The divine fire had quickly given hints.
But now, the mirror in the divine fire seemed to be taking far too long.
The divine fire had already burned away most of its fuel. Finally, the mirror stopped changing.
But it showed nothing. It only reverted to its original state, reflecting the bewildered faces of Isanti and Gellenson.
“…” More fragments fell from the divine statues. At that moment, the statues emitted sounds. Ancient syllables came from their mouths. “You… have no right…” Isanti and Gellenson’s expressions changed drastically.
It was the first time Isanti had heard the divine statues speak.
What shocked her even more was the ancient syllable the statue uttered.
No right?
She had no right to see Lu Mo’s fate trajectory?
Why? Did Lu Mo also have God-blood?
And was it more noble than the Priscian family’s God-blood? How was that possible!
Of course, she didn’t believe that guess.
There were many other possibilities.
For instance, she had asked too many questions, the sacrificed God-blood was insufficient, so the statues refused to answer.
Or she had asked too vaguely, and the statues couldn’t respond accurately.
Now, the God-blood fire was burning rapidly, with less than half remaining.
Isanti certainly didn’t want to waste this opportunity.
This was almost her only chance.
She wouldn’t let it go.
“There’s still a chance, still a chance…” she muttered.
Soon, she changed the way she addressed the divine statues.
“Junior has been presumptuous. Please forgive me, divine lord. Junior wishes to see clearly what lies behind this person. Please grant a response…”
She no longer sought to view Lu Mo’s fate trajectory.
She only wanted to see what was behind Lu Mo.
The root of that terrifying coldness… what exactly was it!
At that moment, the God-blood fire, now only half its original size, blazed up fiercely again. The mirror within the fire gradually began to change. What it showed was still chaotic and blurry, but at least something gradually appeared in the image. The divine statues would answer the questioner with symbolic or suggestive images.
The image gradually manifested.
And then, Isanti, in that blurry image… saw a sun.
But it was a… black sun.
Endless darkness radiated outward from that black sun at the center!
The entire mirror seemed about to turn black!
The chill, even through the mirror and the fire, was sensed by her!
“What is that?”
Isanti’s eyes widened suddenly.
Like a void in the world… A black sun!
Gellenson also saw the blurry image, his pupils contracting. At this moment, the image looked exactly like the Demon King’s Eye!
“Could this be—” Before he could finish, the entire mirror seemed unable to bear the black sun any longer.
The next second, it shattered! Flames scattered, God-blood dripped.
The divine statues also trembled violently. The ritual… was forcibly terminated at that moment!
The divine statues closed their eyes again.
The ruined hall fell back into silence.
A deathly… silence.
Only Isanti and Gellenson were left, staring blankly at where the fire had extinguished.
For a long time, no words were spoken.
A black sun.
What did that represent?
A trace of corruption?
Or did it mean that the girl had obtained the power of the demon?
And what level of demonic power was that?
Duke?
Or even—the Demon King?
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