Purple Clouds' Birth
Purple Clouds' Birth
Under such situations, to gather all the small tribes together for an examination needed lots of manpower and resources.
Although the kingdom had a long history, the number of warrior selections held in the vast wilderness could be counted with one hand.
It was needless to say that being born in the vast wilderness was a tragedy. Not only was there a lack of resources, even a prodigy would not be noticed by others. So it was impossible to get ahead in life.
The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom knew that, but nothing could help the situation. Besides the Cloud Wilderness, even some prodigies from the 108 states might be missed!
Over the years, an unknown number of prodigies born in the wilderness had died in vain. They either died from starvation, illness, falling to their deaths while picking herbs or being eaten by beasts.
Those who could become great men ended up dying as beggars. Even after their deaths, they were not given a proper burial and were simply buried underground. Sometimes there might be a wooden stick erected as a tombstone–just like Yi Yun's. However, these tombstones would decay and collapse after a few years. Once those who remembered the dead died too, their presence in the world was erased.
Born poor and dying without a trace; that was the fate of the people in the wilderness. Lian Chengyu understood it deeply, resulting in his distorted view of life.
The fat elder said, "Our trip here has both something and nothing to do with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom's selection. To put it more concretely, the reason why we are here and the reason for the sudden warrior selection by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom are likely caused by the same incident."
"Oh?" This had evoked the young girl's interest. A pair of slender long eyes gently stirred as her long eyelashes caught the faint sunlight.
"Five months ago, some strange phenomenon had happened in the Cloud Wilderness. It was a day with clear skies, but in a couple of seconds, the entire sky in the Cloud Wilderness, a region of a few hundred thousand kilometers was covered by thick clouds!"
"And the strange thing about it was, the clouds were purple in color!"
"The purple cloud covered the entire Cloud Wilderness. This sort of phenomenon was simply amazing. Even the astronomers of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom declared that night an astronomical phenomenon, and named it: 'Purple Clouds' Birth'!"
"This phenomenon happened again two months ago. It was even more spectacular, covering the celestial bodies and masking the world!"
"This Purple Clouds' Birth had alarmed the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom; but for the commoners in the Cloud Wilderness, they did not know anything. As the phenomenon happened at night, with their normal eyesight, it would be hard for them to distinguish the colors at night. They also didn't know that the purple clouds had covered the entire Cloud Wilderness, nor did they know that the Purple Clouds' Birth had caused a Yuan Qi disorder in the confines of the Cloud Wilderness."
"At that time, even in the deepest parts of the Cloud Wilderness, desolate beasts that lay dormant for hundreds of thousands of years were startled!"
"There are only a few possibilities for such a phenomenon to happen."
"First, it could be the birth of some treasure. However, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had used treasure compasses five months ago to search the Cloud Wilderness. Although the treasure compasses would have been unable to find the exact location of the treasure, they would have been able to confirm the existence of a treasure within a large vicinity."
"But the treasure compasses did not react at all. That meant that there was either no treasure, or that the treasure was so mysterious that the detector could not detect it. If it was the latter, it would be hard to imagine! Such a treasure would be capable of stirring a storm of bloodshed on the lands!"
"The second possibility is a reclusive lord among the human race had made a huge breakthrough. Or it could have been an ancient desolate beast causing chaos. However, such a possibility is extremely unlikely. Although the Cloud Wilderness is extensive, it would be a speck when considered under the backdrop of the entire world. There's nothing special about it, so a reclusive lord or an ancient desolate beast would not likely choose this place."
"As for the third possibility, the odds are slimmer. They are legends purely from hearsay, it's pointless speaking of those. I've brought you here to the Cloud Wilderness, one was for that phenomenon, for who knows if there will be a treasure that will join up your Yin Meridians!"
"Master…" the girl sighed faintly. Although she was touched, she could not bear seeing this fat elder rushing everywhere over even the tiniest possibility of curing her of her terminal illness.
But she knew that her terminal illness was a curse. Although rumors mentioned an ancient Great Empress having managed to join up her meridians through her own powers, it was after all a rumor.
Such rumors proved the difficulty of joining up the meridians of this terminal illness!
The fat elder knew Lin Xintong's thoughts and smiled, "Alright, coming here for such a phenomenon to enrich your experience is a must, even if there are no results from it. This phenomenon that happened within the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has alarmed the Tai Ah royal family. Besides the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, even neighboring kingdoms have sneaked into the Cloud Wilderness to investigate!"
"In the past few months, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has sent out the Dragon Vanguard, looking for the cause of the phenomenon. They were hoping that it was the revelation of some treasure. Since the Dragon Vanguard were in the Cloud Wilderness, they might as well hold a warrior selection."
After the fat elder's monologue, the girl understood immediately. It was no surprise that the Dragon Vanguard had drawn up a detailed map, that included even the thousand-household small tribes for the Cloud Wilderness.
"Alright, let's get going. After passing that mountain, we will pass through the Lian tribal clan, then we will stop by at the Tao tribal clan. That is a big tribe of over a hundred thousand households. We can rest there."
Just as the fat elder finished saying that, his heart skipped a beat and let out a soft exclamation.
"Master, what's the matter?"
"In the waterfall ahead, there's someone there. It seems like a case of drowning. Let's go take a look!" he said as he started moving forward through the dense forest. Although his steps looked slow, each step yielded a large distance, as if the ground under his feet had contracted in length.
Lin Xintong followed as well. They were people who lived at the pinnacle of existence, and they would not interfere with the sufferings of the millions of people in this world. But if they were to actually encounter a situation, they would interfere by saving lives.
…
Yi Yun did not know how long he had been under the plunge basin. From the previous night, after absorbing all of the desolate bone's energy in one go, Yi Yun had jumped into the plunge basin, entering a trance-like state. Till now, Yi Yun was still not fully awake; it was as if he was still in a dream.
The desolate bone's energy had already been digested completely by Yi Yun's body, with not a drop left!
His body had entered starvation mode once again.
In a daze, Yi Yun felt a soft hand grabbing him by the collar, lifting him up…
Yi Yun's body felt light, like he was on a soft grass patch, and the soft hands were pressing on his chest.
"Puah!"
Yi Yun spat out a mouthful of water. The water wasn't clear, but cloudy. It was mixed with Yi Yun's impurities that had resulted from his physical cultivation.
"Eh?"
The girl who had saved Yi Yun did not reveal any expression of aversion, but instead, it was one of surprise. As a Desolate Heaven Master, she knew immediately what it meant by spitting out such water.
After Yi Yun woke up and recovered his vision, he had trouble opening his eyes from the bright sunlight.