900 Pries
Hearing this aged voice, Duan Tianhao relaxed his brows, and a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes.
However, thinking of the scenes of the Four Seasons Villa's destruction, of his numerous close friends and family members lying in blood, and of Tyrant's face, an intense expression of hate covered Duan Tianhao's eyes. Then he walked in without a second thought.
Duan Tianhao's younger sister, Duan Ziyan, asked worriedly, "Brother, where is this place? Who was the person who spoke earlier?"
Duan Tianhao replied coldly, "It's someone who can help us kill Tyrant and Fang Xingjian, as well as help us seek vengeance for our Four Seasons Villa."
"Brother, can you not be like this?" Duan Ziyan cried out. Then she said, "That Fang Xingjian is now at the peak of his powers and has dominated the entire south. He is unstoppable.
"If you die, our Duan Clan will be without any offspring. How will we be able to face our parents after we die?"
"No one is invincible. The Pope and the Mage Kings all have instances when they fail, let alone a mere Fang Xingjian." After saying this, Duan Tianhao stepped into the valley without turning back. At the sight of this, Duan Ziyan let out a mournful sigh and followed her brother.
The moment the two of them entered the valley, they saw an idyllic scene with twittering birds and fragrant flower filling up the place. Streams flowed, the sky was blue, and the clouds were white. There were even cows and sheep running about. It was like a paradise in the human world.
The two of them strolled about in this valley, and a nice fragrance reached their noses. Their initially nervous and enraged emotions became a lot more relaxed.
When Duan Tianhao reached the bottom of the valley, he saw a thatched cottage had been built there with a few mus of fields surrounding it. There were a few chickens being reared, and the place presented a scene of a countryside lifestyle.
Simultaneously, an old priest sat at a stone table in the small courtyard. He was looking wordlessly at the chessboard on the table.
This was an elderly man with a fat head and big years. His entire body was filled with fats, and his pale and tender fatty flesh would occasionally shake with his moments. It looked as if oil would flow out with just a casual poke.
The elderly man wore white priest robes and had his hair tied up into a bun. He gave off a strange feeling.
At the sight of the duo's appearance, the fat old man grinned, and the fatty flesh on his face started shaking. He looked at Duan Tianhao and said, "Hehehehe, you're right. There's no one in this world who is invincible."
As he said this, he stood up and looked at Duan Tianhao and Duan Ziyan. Hints of strange gleams kept flowing out from the fat old man's eyes, causing Duan Ziyan to feel greatly uneasy.
The fat priest smiled, stopped his making observations, and asked, "Are the Tyrant and Fang Xingjian that the two of you mentioned earlier your enemies?"
"That's right. I want to take revenge," Duan Tianhao said as he looked straight at the fat priest. "You said it before. As long as I'm willing to, you'll give me the strongest power in the world that will allow me to kill anyone I wish."
The fat priest broke into a strange smile, and he said softly, "Of course."
However, Duan Ziyan, who was standing at the side, increasingly felt that something was not right. It was as if there was a faint stench reaching her nose.
She shouted loudly, "Brother, don't listen to his lies. Fang Xingjian is able to defeat experts who are at tier five of the Divine level. He killed over ten Divine level experts single-handedly, and even the tier six Divine level corpse that the Heavenly Lion King controlled was defeated by him.
"The Church of Universal Truth's Guardian Kings and Saints, as well as some of the Mage Association's Mage Kings, are probably the only ones in this world who are able to defeat Fang Xingjian.
"This fatty is not a well-known figure, so how can he possibly help you to seek revenge? Brother, don't fall for his lies."
Duan Tianhao did not say anything. He just continued staring at the fat priest. The fat priest chuckled and said, "It's just a tier five Divine level expert. Although he's a towering existence in your world, he would be nothing in other places.
"People below tier six of the Divine level are merely insignificant ants. If I were to recover all of my cultivation, it'd be an easy feat for me to kill that Fang Xingjian."
Duan Ziyan laughed, "Then may I ask what realm Senior is at?"
The fat priest let out a soft sigh and said, "I was originally a priest who dwelled in the wilderness of the mountains in the Western Land. 1,000 years ago, I was sealed here. Before I was sealed, my cultivation was about at tier six of the Divine level."
Hearing the words 'Western Land', Duan Ziyan frowned. This mysterious land had always been in the Empire's records, and it was said that many people and clans in the current Empire, like their Duan Clan, had all previously migrated over from the Western Land.
However, their current generation had almost no understanding of the Western Land. Most of the immigrants from the Western Land did not even know much about their ancestors and their homeland.
They were like the Eastern Sand Region's Wang Clan. Although they knew that they had come from the Mountainous Sea Dynast and knew of some of the royal family's cultivation methods, they knew very little about the history of the immigration.
In fact, the Western Land was a lot more mysterious than what everyone else imagined it to be. In the past, there had been Divine level experts who crossed the endless stretch of ocean in an attempt to search for this mysterious land. However, they did not succeed in the end. It was as if this land did not exist in this world at all.
However, Duan Ziyan responded soon after, ridiculing the priest, "It's only possible for a person to achieve beyond tier one of the Divine level after the world's metamorphosis has occurred and the Nine-Tiered Heavens has formed.
"You were a tier six Divine level expert previously? Does this mean that you've been alive since the previous onslaught? Based on what I know, the sixth onslaught was 1,000 years ago, wasn't it? Have you lived for that long?"
Seeing that Duan Tianhao also had a puzzled gaze, the fat priest chuckled as he said, "What difficulty is there in prolonging one's life? In your land, it's possible that Divine level experts die within 200 to 300 years, no matter how strong they are. Even tier nine Divine level experts may only have a lifespan of 300 years.
"However, in the Western Land, the technique to convert strength to lifespan was created a long time ago. A person can keep on depleting their strength to sustain their lifespans. If their strength has yet to be used up, their lifespans won't come to an end.
"In the Western Land, ordinary people would still be ordinary people no matter how they cultivated. No matter how strong their strength was, their lifespans would still be limited. They move to and fro between dynasties, but would still be unable to reach the threshold of us immortals."
Saying this, the fat priest smiled.
Hearing the fat priest's reply, it was as if a history where immortals and humans stood on opposing sides, where a group of Divine level experts were constantly standing high above others, looking down on the mortal world. A hint of anxiety and doubt flashed on her face. It was clear that she did not really believe the other party's reply.
Duan Ziyan said, "How can there possibly be such a thing? If there's really a way to allow for conversions between lifespan and strength... With the martial arts legacies in this land spanning over 10,000 years and there being great talents like the Divine Sun Emperor, the Mystic Abyss Heavenly Emperor, and Saint Adam... How could these people not have discovered this method?"
When the fat priest heard this, he smiled. This caused Duan Ziyan to feel uneasy, and even her body started to tense up.
"How do you know that they didn't discover it?" The fat priest let out a cold snort and said, "I also found it weird at first, but as time passed, I understood.
"The Western Land began when a group of people discovered this longevity technique. These people called themselves immortals and founded an immortal sect, forbidding immortals and humans from becoming acquaintances as well as strictly controlling the number of immortals. There were a few ancient sovereigns with the power to bring great prosperity to their countries. Wanting to cultivate this path to extend their lifespans, they wanted to get their hands on this method which could allow conversions between their strength and lifespans. However, in the end, their countries perished.
"There might have been someone in this land who managed to achieve this. This person could have been hiding in secret while using history as a cover and then killing everyone who coveted for longevity."