Mystical Journey
chapter-458

"Good going, Angel." Garen finally spoke. "To finish a Form Four fighter within five breaths, your reputation does not deceive."

"You are too kind, Palace Master." The Angel laughed lightly. The three of them were the elders Garen had spent a fortune to invite here, if they didn't show off some of their power, how could they earn everyone's obedience.

In an area with so many powerful fighters such as the Central Region, both sides survived side-by-side, fighting for benefits. They showed their power, which was also the Black Swamp Palace's power. To shock everyone present.

Garen understood that too, so he purposely asked the new arrivals to show their power.

His own battle achievements were right there, so the large man here to challenge him definitely wasn't here to kill him, probably only planning to retreat in one piece, and that would be enough to make his reputation. After all, Garen was currently one of Kovitan's four heads, his position was not to be underestimated.

This man had definitely investigated everything beforehand, and had prepared defenses specifically to protect against Garen's powers before he came for this battle.

But he didn't think he would meet the Angel of the Night who had mysterious powers. It was extremely rare for totems from the Northern Region to show up in the Central Region, and whilst both sides were unaware of each other, his Totem Light was destroyed as soon as they met, and his heart dug out.

As expected, the expressions of all the guests and witnesses below changed drastically.

Before this, they never had a clear impression of Garen's power, but now after seeing the Angel of the Night kill a Form Four fighter of the same level with her bare hands, and still be so respectful to Garen, they finally understood how terrifying Garen was.

"Come! Bring out the Elder Ring!"

Garen ordered directly.

Three young girls came up timidly, and presented the three Tower Lords with their Elder Rings, black with a bit of silver in the center.

Just as the three of them were about to pick up the rings.

"Wait!"

Another voice spoke up,

The one who spoke was none other than Ivycius, who sat alone on the right side.

Seeing the three of them opposite him glaring at him, Ivycius' expression remained unchanged.

"I just happened to have invited two of my best friends here. I myself am also interested in becoming a Black Swamp Palace elder, which also makes three of us, so may I know if Palace Master Garen is willing to accept us? Then all of us can be elders at the same time, wouldn't that be better?"

Garen smiled slightly. This was the process they had planned way in advance, so he wasn't surprised in the slightest.

"If the Silver Palace Master is willing to join, with our relationship, is there anything else that needs to be said?"

Ivycius nodded. His right hand gripped the sword hilt lightly.

Clang!!

Amidst gasps of surprise.

A rush of pure snow white shot out of nowhere, forming a white bridge of light as it flew out of the hall, shooting into the sky.

From the door of the Black Swamp Palace's main hall, a white bridge of light several meters wide shot straight into the sky. Forming a straight road several thousand meters long.

Whoosh-whoosh!!

Two flashes of black lightning descended, falling onto the surface of the shadow, instantly becoming two black-robed figures, a man and a woman.

The two of them steadied their footing slightly, and walked down the white sword-light bridge, but strangely, each of the steps the two of them took could cover more than ten meters of distance at once.

"Island Master Wukang, Island Master Skyharp(1), it's been a while." Ivycius stood, his usually ice-cold face actually smiling with some warmth.

The two on the sword bridge entered the palace hall quickly, and only then could everyone see their faces.

The man was clean-shaven, with one of his ears unnaturally large and fart, wearing a huge circlet of pearls that had more than ten large white pearls through it. His figure-fitting black silk robes did nothing to hide his firm and supple muscles.

Hearing Ivycius' voice, he chuckled.

"Little Vivi, after all these years, you still look so girly."

The crowd had just woken up from the awe from the moment, and upon hearing those words, some people nearly laughed out loud, hurriedly clapping their hands to their mouths out of fright.

Ivycius' expression didn't change, as though he hadn't heard that at all.

The other woman had plain features and dark skin, staring at Ivycius resentfully as soon as she got off the bridge.

"Vivi, for all these years, how could you be so cruel as to not visit me at all?" Her voice was unnaturally melodious, like the song of a kingfisher, clear and sweet, completely untainted.

A woman with a face like that made a huge contrast with Ivycius' handsome features, but to everyone's surprise, a hint of guilt flashed past Ivycius' eyes.

"I have let you down."

"The two of you, please sit." Garen hurriedly spoke up, so that the two old lovers wouldn't ruin the whole atmosphere with their exchange of gazes.

The two island masters bowed towards Garen slightly.

"Well met, Palace Master Garen."

Led by the maidservant, they walked to the seats beneath Ivycius and prepared to sit.

"Wait!"

This was the third interruption today.

But this time, nobody was surprised.

The one who had spoken was the Second Lord of Seven Night Tower, Blizzard, dissatisfaction flashing in his eyes.

"If it was the Silver Palace Master, the White Rose Sword Sage becoming an honorary elder, we have no opinion. The White Rose Sword Sage's abilities were trained through true battle since many years ago, we have heard of him even far away in the Northern Region." His Kovitan language was unnaturally fluent, "But has anyone heard of the two so-called island masters?"

The female disciple behind him instantly laughed lightly on cue.

"Teacher, I heard that the East Sea's Seventy-two Islands were more or less destroyed by the destructive battle back then, and most of those islands are now deserted. These two island masters… aren't the only people on their respective islands, are they?"

"How could you say that? No matter what, they're still your seniors, you have no right to speak here. When we get back, go into the Tundra Cave for three days and repent!" Blizzard scolded her, but his expression didn't look unhappy in the slightest.

"Yes, that is my mistake." The female disciple acted upset, lowering her head and apologizing.

The man with the large ear chuckled coldly, and turned around to look at Blizzard.

"The Northern Region's Seven Night Tower? You guys aren't showing off in the Northern Region, and came instead to the Central Region, don't slip up and get knocked off now, that would be bad." He laughed again coldly, "As for the situation on my Wukang Island, it's not up to you to worry. No matter how rundown, I can still call out a couple hundred Sea Dragoons."(2)

As soon as he said that, the contempt of Blizzard's face receded somewhat. Other people might not know what Sea Dragoons are, but they had interacted with the East Sea before, so they knew perfectly well.

On the seas, Sea Dragoons were a title only Spiritualized totem users could ascend to. They had true top-level power. Unlike their home in the extreme cold, the East Sea islands had ample produce, the supplies from the sea allowing those on the islands to live in relative surety. Perhaps due to the geography there, the place produced many totem users, but their flaw was that they had too few peak-level fighters, and Form Fout was their highest. Form Five required the steadiness of both heart and body, and was a level that was extremely hard to reach without a background of deep history and culture.

"Looks like they were limited to Form Four and couldn't advance as well, so they ran here to the Central Region looking for a chance." The Angel of the Night communicated quietly with the Spellmaster Anjiad.

"I have never really heard of Wukang Island, but Skyharp Island is one of the large islands among the seventy-two, with decent overall power, but I didn't think they would have such a young island master." Spellmaster nodded.

"Do you want to go or shall I?" Angel of the Night asked directly.

Spellmaster chuckled, and didn't continue, just giving the Second Tower Lord's direction a glance.

Angel of the Night harrumphed, didn't say anything more.

"Whether you're strong or not isn't something you just say. Palace Master Garen's honorary elders are not a position just anyone can take." Blizzard said word by word, his gaze on Wukang growing sharper.

"I seem to know you." Next to him, Skyharp suddenly turned her head, staring at Blizzard hard. "More than thirty years ago, in the battle to obtain the Heart of the Snow Demon, weren't you the Blizzard that my father grievously injured with one palm hit?"

Blizzard immediately looked unhappy, that battle was the deepest scar of his life, and he still had that clear red palm print on the center of his chest right now, he couldn't dispel it no matter what he tried.

He had that old wound reopened to his face, and he was never a generous person to start with.

The killing intent flashed in his eyes, and countless pitch-black spots appeared on his skin, crowded and dense like that of a leopard's spots, instantly covering his entire body.

The left side of his face abruptly began to fade, while half a white owl's head appeared instead.

Boom!!

Blizzard shot out a palm, a pillar of black air spinning as it rushed towards Skyharp opposite him.

As expected, he was at the peak of Form Four, where he was about to merge with his totem. This sort of power could only be controlled by a totem user at the borderline, just like Garen right now, every move carrying the power of nearly one dragon, without him needing to waste totem power to activate the totem. Such terrifying power was completely his own, as long as he had enough stamina, he could use it for several days and nights without any problem.

The black pillar spun and shot, morphing into a black disc that spun and sliced in mid-air, whooshing as it flew towards Skyharp.

Island Master Skyharp's expression grew serious.

She waved her right hand, and a beam of blue light shot out of her sleeves, meeting the black disc head-on.

In an instant, the blue light came into direct contact with the black disc.

Wooo!!!

A piercing vibrating sound rose in the large hall.

The black disc and the blue light froze in mid-air, neither giving way as they were suspended in mid-air.

The black air and the blue light that had been shot out sprayed everywhere, and then returned back to the black disc and blue light, without harming their surroundings in any way.

The whole hall was dyed black and blue.

After a short while of tug-of-war, the black disc began to press the blue light down slowly.

Psst!

Just then, a white thread shot through between the two of them, piercing right through the center of the black disc and the blue light, cutting them apart like a knife.

The white thread nailed itself into the palace wall with a thud, and was revealed to be a clean white rose. There were even some drops of crystal dew dripping off of it.

"Hmph!" Blizzard snorted coldly, and called back the black disc. He glanced at Ivycius.

Skyharp also called the blue light back into her sleeve. There was a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, however, proving that just now hadn't been easy for her.

"Both of you are my esteemed guests, so please don't mention the previous generation's conflicts, for my sake, from now on we're all part of the same camp, so we should support and help each other." Garen finally spoke.

Both sides were powerful fighters that his Black Swamp Palace used their funds to support, so naturally he wouldn't want them to fight each other before he even had a chance to use them.

"You're right, Palace Master." Blizzard nodded, and used that excuse to end the conflict. Ivycius' power was obviously slightly over Form Four, he didn't say anything, but inside he was growing more and more wary of him.

Skyharp also smiled at Garen apologetically.

"Bring out the Elder Rings!"

Garen sat on the master seat, watching a few girls come up and give away three similar silver-dotted rings.

The six peak-level fighters all put them on.

In that moment, everyone underneath the large hall hurriedly clapped to support them, their applause thundering.

While Veska was grievously hurt and healing, Garen's power was boosted by this and continued growing.

The immense value of the Royal Treasury was enough to sponsor these fighters for a hundred years.

And that was setting aside the underground hall in the Royal District, and there were still some hidden department secrets. Garen himself wasn't the type to spend without earning.

With the help of these six fighters at the same level as him, right now, even if God Cloud came again, Garen was confident he could make sure God Cloud wouldn't able to leave!

Right now he was buying time, to merge the totem himself and achieve a new level of power, he needed time. In this period of time, he must not have any weaknesses, must not get injured, and his emotions cannot get too extreme. Until this period was over, and he had utterly merged with the Nine-Headed Dragon. Meanwhile, he naturally needed enough power to protect himself.

Translator's notes:

空琴岛主, the 空 could mean 'sky' or 'empty'.

海龙师, lit. Sea Dragon Master / User, see what I did there?