Chapter 1687 - That Abandoned Temple
Davis had Pia in his arms while looking at Iesha, who remained dumbfounded for some time before she patted her bosoms as though she survived a calamity.
"Did I just travel in a spatial tunnel I heard about in the legends...?"
Hearing her astonished voice, Davis smiled and threw Pia towards her.
"Ah~"
Pia Noel crashed into Iesha, causing her to flinch before she captured her with her arms.
"Hold my slave for me."
"Davis, you're so mean...."
Davis stretched his hands while Iesha pouted, inclining her head to look at the teary-eyed Pia in her arms. She stared at him before returning her gaze to Pia, wondering why he threw her to her when she was no longer as receptive as before.
"Follow me."
Davis left in a direction while Iesha sighed and piggy-backed Pia as she followed Davis.
The moment they exited the barrier blocking the spatial tunnel, the entire atmosphere began to chill. It was as if Planet Earth was beginning to undergo the process of entering the Ice Age.
Watching it, Davis quickly warned.
"Quick, control your spirit aura."
Iesha did as he said and blinked.
"Why is there no heaven and earth energy here?"
She thought that the omnipresent heaven and earth energy was lacking near the spatial tunnel due to various reasons such as formations sucking it clean but who would've thought that there was nothing present in this vast region, making her head reel in confusion.
Exactly what kind of place was this?
She couldn't help but use her spirit sense to survey, and her pupils instantly dilated as her spirit sense instantly covered the entire Planet Earth in an instant.
"Wha- hu- humans...!? Why- Why are the so many humans, and all of them are mortals?"
She retracted her spirit sense as her expression became confused. Like Davis, she also censored the parts she didn't want to view, so there was no harm done, but she couldn't believe that there wasn't a single magical beast, much fewer cultivators.
All she saw were mortals and beasts that were called domesticated and wild animals.
"Is this the true Renegade Human Shelter?"
"Pfft~"
Davis couldn't help but almost laugh. He looked at her and shook his head.
"Of course not. This is a place where mortals achieved world peace."
Iesha looked at him with suspicion before she stretched her spirit sense again. This time, she was careful and scoured the situation of the world carefully before her brows widened.
"Oh, you're true. There are constructs that fly too. I didn't know mortals could use them without heaven and earth energy."
"Well, they use different kinds of energies."
Davis shrugged to this curious spirit whose expression was as though she had found an ideal world that she imagined.
"This is... wonderful. There is little to no conflict that I can see... I was right... Humans could be caring too..."
Davis raised his brows, feeling that there was a misunderstanding.
"Humans could be both ruthless and caring. Don't be fooled by temporary peace, Iesha. These mortals have achieved world peace alright, but it won't last for long as the history of humans is always one of conflict, destruction, and building a new empire or a nation before repeating the cycle. It won't be long before they kill themselves with weapons that they are not capable of handling, unlike us. After all, if one's own body couldn't withstand one's power, there's no need to talk about handling external power like treasures."
"Oh..."
Iesha appeared understanding but quite saddened.
Davis was quite sure what he was talking about because it was almost a hundred years from the time world peace was achieved. It was doubtful if it would last any longer as resources like water and oxygen were becoming scarce, with pollution rampant in many cities.
Davis then took a step forward and appeared before the fortified temple that paved the way to the Grand Sea Continent. He wanted to come here before to check once again if he could find anything about it but digressed, thinking of coming here after investigating all the level vile vortices.
Now, he was free to explore this fortified temple that was once abandoned and changed his life.
"Iesha, wait here..."
Iesha nodded as she stared at the drones that seemed to zoom in on her with their lenses, making her wonder what these things were in curiosity while Davis entered the temple.
There were no humans here but were outside, watching the two ice spirits with wide eyes from inside a conference hall with a projector. Both parties were dumbfounded at each other's existences and capabilities.
"Old Monk, how come there are two fairies as pale as snow here? Are they even human?"
"How would I know!?"
General Yuan Kong and Old Monk argued, waking up the crowd as they began to form an uproar as if they had found aliens.
On the other hand, Davis roamed the temple and arrived at the place where the spatial formation was built crudely. Clearly, this was a far cry compared to the ones he found in the locations of vile vortices. Moreover, he could sense that the formations built here were one of Spirit Formations, making him widen his eyes. Not because he could decipher the formation, but he suddenly found rows and rows of letters on the wall upon brushing the place with his soul sense.
[That fact that you're reading this means that your soul has reached the Peak-Level of Ninth Stage. I, Tian Cangjie, invaded this hidden world with many others, but that insolent master of this world crippled my cultivation base and trapped me here, causing the great me to die the death of a mortal. Laughable!]
"...!?"
Davis's sapphire pupils dilated as he looked at this sentence written in Chinese, ancient Chinese to be exact. This name actually rang bells in his mind, but he still continued to read.
[Still, I carved a hole out of this world and wanted my descendants to find a way to leave, but I don't know if this spatial tunnel would be of any use as to civilization without cultivation. Not only did the master of the world rob us of our cultivation, but they also took away our spatial rings and sealed our knowledge.]
[Fortunately, I devised a way to enter this spatial tunnel by using Soul Sheltering Stones that I carved from my own devouring soul essence that also helped me keep some of the memories of my life intact. These should at least let my mortal descendants possess a way to enter through the space I carved.]
Reading till this point, Davis became deeply taken aback.
"Cangjie, the legendary, mythical person who claimed to be the official historian of the Yellow Emperor...?"
Davis's lips twitched as he recalled this legendary figure from Ancient China. There was a whole story about how he introduced Chinese characters to Ancient China but to think that he was an invader who entered this place and had his cultivation stripped along with many others.
Davis couldn't help but shudder at this fact.
Was this how many languages came to be born on this planet, including legends of dragons and phoenixes portrayed differently of different folklore? Was this why the Grand Sea Continent had similar architectures to the one found all over Planet Earth?
Moreover, Cangjie himself was said to have four eyes. Was he a fey?
Many questions popped in his head, but he continued to read the last paragraph.
[I hope you're one of my descendants. Otherwise, I am a complete failure who arrived here with the others to compete for this ridiculous treasure that almost every apex power has an eye on, and all that suffering I endured will be in vain. Due to the seal on my soul, I cannot reveal much, but I do hope that you, my descendant, can surpass my level and become a !@#$%^&.]
"Alright, who censored this...?"
Davis's expression looked shocked yet astonished at the same time.
Every apex power was after this ridiculous treasure?
Is it what he thinks it is?
Moreover, this person named Tian Cangjie, his origin...
Should he call this person Ancestor?
No, he was no longer Tian Long anymore, although he doubted if he was even his descendant in the first place as legend has it that his descendants took the surname 'Shi'.
Nevertheless, the doubt that lingered on his mind, how this spatial tunnel connected to the Grand Sea Continent became clear. So it was carved by this powerful entity, and the fact that the last word was incomprehensible to him meant that the so-called master of this world obviously vetted this wall of carving.
However, some of his questions were answered.
He confirmed that someone was overhead, perhaps watching him even now.
"I don't mind being watched, but I hope you're not a man because I would rather have a beauty watch me. You know how I am, right?"
Davis smirked as he loudly spoke with the intent of threat but receiving no answer, he shrugged.
"Why don't you say something? Come on, I've already gone through life and death twice, and if you wanted, you could've taken this so-called treasure away from me, so why don't you show yourself already?"
"..."
Only silence pervaded the atmosphere while Davis narrowed his eyes, receiving no reply again.
"Hmph!"
He harrumphed before looking around, trying to find if he could find anything else, but in truth, his heart was a mess as it was beating rapidly in distress.
Whatever existence this so-called master of the world was, it was probably stronger than the so-called Immortals he heard about. The thing about candidacy and everything else he learned from Isabella and Clara. Everything pointed to this existence having full power over this world he currently lived in.
After a whole minute, Davis received no answer, nor did he face any kind of pressure. He inwardly sighed in relief, wishing that this so-called master of the world was dead at this point before he walked out of the temple without encountering any danger, regrouping with Iesha, who seemed to have found the mortals who were supposedly hiding in a conference hall nearby.