Chapter 1044: Civil War

Under pressure and temptation from Fang Ning, his cousin, the Fire Lizard — who recently reunited with him — devoted itself and its magical abilities to his cause. It joined the Alliance of Justice and Order and it was also required to develop a set of ubiquitous Dragon Cultivation Techniques for the new era.

“Heh, lots of sins start in the name of justice.” Sir System sneered.

“Just now, you praised me and said that I have 70 percent of your powers and now you boldly reprimand me after everything is done?” Fang Ning came out of the Draconic Arcane Realm and retorted angrily.

“Didn’t you notice the name of the pavilion where you and the Fire Lizard were seated?” Sir System asked him.

“What’s it called?” Fang Ning had an uneasy feeling.

“Feng Bo Pavilion.”

𝔫𝙤ѵ𝑒𝙡.com

“What do you mean? Are you saying that I’m Qin Hui? I should be Wu Mu 1 ; I always have to worry about whether you’ll use me and leave me for dead…” Fang Ning yelled.

“Eh, I’m not. I’m just reminding you not to forget about your hidden enemy.” Sir System replied at once.

“That’s better. Your reminder is true, this world is cruel. Other people won’t be nice to us just because we’re righteous and bear no intention to harm others. As long as we pose a threat to others, they’ll always find ways to suppress us and even kill us.” Fang Ning said coldly.

“Eh, you think too much…” Sir System mused.

“It’s the truth. I have learned all of this through the hard way via ten or so years of online gaming.” Fang Ning remarked heartfeltly.

…

Under the darkling sky, a violent civil war broke out in a deep cave.

“Indeed, the human has no intention of harming the tiger, but the tiger intends to harm the human. Even if we don’t intend to fight with you over this treasure and take it for ourselves, you still want to kill us all.” Qiao Zijiang spoke coldly.

She stood near a rock wall flanked by Qiao Zishan and Long Fan the Stygian Snake.

Ten or so people stood dispersed opposite them. Most of the people wore black outfits and black headgear.

Only three people showed their faces, two men and a woman. They were in their thirties and she knew them.

At that moment, both her brother and the snake were heavily injured. She was the only one who did not suffer a scratch.

Three months ago, after she had completed her cultivation in isolation, she and her brother — together with ten other people — accepted the mission of ascending towards the Divine Gate again.

Ever since that mission in the World of Spirits and Souls, everyone regarded the ascension towards the Divine Gate as a perilous journey.

The activity of ascending the Divine Gate had been held a few times. The participation was lukewarm and very few people joined in the event.

This time, however, the Heavenly Axiom hinted that the risks were low, and the profits were huge. Most importantly, there were no big shots stealing resources.

Hence, numerous people signed up for the event.

Nevertheless, they forgot about one thing. Without suppression by the big shots, internal competition grew even more intense.

This was a small realm that was close to extinction. According to the clues that had been discovered, it was probably a small world that belonged to a Venerable One in the Upper Realm.

A total of 37 people entered. The Heavenly Axiom did not lie. There was no danger unless someone wanted to be funny and went to the border of the world that was about to be destroyed.

Their rewards were fruitful. Best of all, they discovered the location of an herb garden.

The herb garden was dilapidated, but an orchid was still struggling to survive. A flower bud attempted to blossom for one last time.

Corpses of creatures laid around the orchid. They disintegrated into ash at the slightest touch and no one knew how long they had been dead.

After some time, everyone discovered the function of the orchid from some inheritance in this small realm.

Once it bloomed, whoever swallowed it would have his body purified and his cultivation endowment boosted greatly!

This was not a usual level-up. It could upgrade a regular human without any magical ability into somebody with a high cultivation endowment!

They had this opportunity due to the imminent destruction of the Upper Realm and the assistance of the Earth’s Heavenly Axiom.

If not, they did not have the qualifications to enter this small realm, let alone this herb garden.

According to what was recorded in the inheritance, there were still ten days left before the last orchid bloomed.

In ten days, thirty-seven people were split into various teams. What began as teams that looked out for each other ended up as teams that sought to kill each other.

In fact, Qiao Zijiang was not interested in the orchid as she believed that her own endowment was enough for her to cultivate to become a deity.

Still, the rest of the people did not think the same way. First, they ganged up and prepared to finish off the strongest ones from the Truth Department.

Qiao Zijiang naturally defended her people against those enemies. Carnage ensued and she almost slaughtered all of her opponents.

Nevertheless, she never expected that problems would arise from within.

Three of her companions betrayed her right at the moment of victory. They ambushed Qiao Zishan, who was busy defending himself in front and injured him severely.

Following that, ten or so people in black showed up.

These three companions had been trained by the Truth Department. No one had ever expected that they were the spies.

Her mind came up with all sorts of plans and ideas. She fought while running away and ended up in this cave. Alas, she was trapped and had nowhere else to run.

“If my big brother was still here, you three scumbags would never have thought of betraying us!” The heavily injured Long Fan rushed towards the three individuals who showed their faces and roared.

“Hmph, the Supreme Venerable Dragon God is truly powerful. You’re right, if that old man was also in this realm, we wouldn’t have dared to move a muscle. But, he isn’t around, is he? The Heavenly Axiom said that he’s already gone to another higher world.” A man from among the three individuals spoke coldly.

He had average looks and seemed like an honest man. No one knew he was a spy.

“You’re all a bunch of vermin! You bully the weak but fear the strong!” Long Fan yelled furiously.

Qiao Zishan kept quiet and sat still.

Long Fan scolded and rolled his eyes. There were good days ahead and it could not die here!

A few days ago, Mister Long San informed him that the Heavenly Oracle revealed good fortune would one day befall on all Dragon species.

When it followed Qiao Zijiang into this small realm and saw the orchid, it thought that it was time for its good fortune, and it could at least consume one of its petals.

If not for the three traitors, the Truth Department’s team was the strongest. The rest of the people did not stand a chance against Qiao Zishan.

Qiao Zishan was at the peak of the Lake level and cultivated Morality. He was skilled in attacking enemies and defending himself.

Unless his guard was down, other people who were at the same level as him were no match for him.

‘Damn! If only I had my big brother’s vision, I could remind Qiao Zishan and he wouldn’t have been ambushed and gotten hurt.’

Long Fan felt resentful and kept thinking of ways to get out of this unfortunate situation.

To prevent its mistress Qiao Zijiang from getting injured as well, it took a blow for her.

Luckily, it was a demon spirit. As long as Qiao Zijiang was alive, it could be born again and again.

“Alright, No. 3, don’t waste your time talking to them. Since you’ve already taken action, you must now finish everything properly and kill these two fellows. Perhaps you can still remain as spies in the Truth Department.”

Suddenly, a baritone and masculine voice could be heard from among the people in black, but no one knew who the speaker was.

Obviously, he did not want his opponents to identify and tackle him first.

“If you don’t want to talk, bring it on then! I want to see who wants to be the first to die!” Qiao Zijiang taunted.

The ten or so people in black and the three traitors were stunned into silence.

This was precisely why they kept delaying their actions.

Everyone knew that Qiao Zishan could take down at least three people, and whoever made the first move would die.

Qiao Zijiang might be slightly weaker, but she could also slaughter two people.

The others had promised to attack at the same time, but they did not trust each other. They were unsure whether they would purposely slow down for a split second during the attack.

This split second was a matter of life and death.

As the Fire Lizard had remarked, cultivators were selfish. The greater their power, the more self-centered they were.

Not many regulations could truly restrict them. It was no different even if they came from the same mysterious organization.

If they could survive till the end and seize the orchid, their path in cultivating to become a deity would be smooth sailing.

With that sort of background, it was natural that they were reluctant to fail at the last moment.

They could predict that after killing Qiao Zishan and his sister, they would have another fight amongst themselves until the sole victor emerged.