The Innkeeper

Chapter 2349: State of universal affairs

Aegis’ body crashed into the ground, covered in blood, his mind crawling at a snail’s pace as he suffered from the repercussions of the attack he suffered. Even so, even in his wounded, mentally compromised state, he wondered only one thing: why could he still not beat his father?

He was a genius by any measure. He learned faster than anyone else in the nation, his adaptability was unreal and his application of laws was flawless. Yet no matter how much he improved, it seemed like he was no closer to defeating his father.

He wanted to give up. Honestly, there came a point where he just wanted to give up. He really wanted to give up. But he couldn’t, because the enemies he’d be facing in the future weren’t his father. They would not spare him, and give him a chance to come back stronger.

Aegis finally managed to recover, and looked up to see that he wasn’t the only one who had been defeated, everyone else had been as well. Beside him was Pvarti, and further away a little was his half sister Cwenhild. There were dozens of others as well, and despite the upgrades they received from coming to the Primordial Garden, they were still unable to face their king even when they joined hands.

"That’s enough," said Cornelius from the floating throne as he looked down at the so-called best his empire had to offer, all defeated by his hand. "We cannot delay any longer. I’ve given you all as much time as I could. From here on out, we depart. Of course, you all still have the option of staying back in the Primordial Garden as well. But in that case, just know that you will be giving up the opportunity that comes once an age."

King Cornelius II looked down at his vassals, and then turned around. The Ventura academy had access to the garden as well, and through his contacts with them, he had managed to attain a valuable opportunity.

He would be joining the battlefield at Tyranum realm, and would personally seek out opportunities for humanity to flourish. His cultivation was a little low - he was in the middle stages of the Heaven Immortal realm, but that was only because he’d been slowing down his ascension. Rising in cultivation too quickly would be detrimental to his future.

He clenched his fists. This came too quickly, but plans could not keep up with reality. He might not be able to bring a change in humanity from bottom up in time, so for now he would need to temporarily try to redeem it from the top.

Cornelius arrived at the Ventura checkpost, and left the Primordial Garden without hesitation. He arrived in Ventura Gold, one of the leading Ventura academies, and passed through without attracting too much attention. He kept his senses honed for just by walking through the different departments of Ventura, he could hear a lot of the latest news from across the universe.

While it seemed like a lot of attention was on the human race, in truth almost all races were facing an unprecedented crisis. The Dragons and Phoenixes were fighting like... well, they were fighting like Dragons and Phoenixes. The Angels were defending Eden with all they had, but had already suffered the death of dozens of Dao Lords.

In retaliation, the Celestials held nothing back and did not bother feigning civility. Not only did they help the Angels defend, finally getting the Humanoid Alliance directly involved in the fight, they also counter invaded the allies of the Laoer race.

As if that was not enough, they went ahead and killed a Laoer Dao Lord! So much for a Minor Dao of Eternity.

Tensions were at an all time high, but with the Alliance now moving with full momentum, they were unleashing their fangs which had stayed hidden for too long. None could have anticipated just how strong the Humanoid Alliance had actually become.

Meanwhile, many of the Sage races had appeared on various battlefields. Since many Dao Lords were stuck either in the Dream realm chasing treasure, or were stuck within the Gilded Hollow, the fighting force of many organisations dropped rapidly, and many Major realms had already changed hands.

It had been a few years since the destruction of the Major realm, and the universe was still reeling from its effects. Specifically, the Void Dwellers became a lot more active and chaotic, and began invading realms with a new vigor.

At the same time, news had spread that the HOA was using the backdrop of war to begin spreading various faiths across countless realms. With the aid of the Divine ore, they need not be restricted to their originating realm, which is why they began to accumulate strength rapidly. Other, independent Deities were doing the same but they couldn’t pose as great a threat as the HOA.

"Have you heard about Lord Wu Kong?" one of the passing students said, speaking to another student. "I hear he’s been fighting Lord Erland for over a decade now. While the two of them haven’t been able to defeat each other, I heard another Dao Lord got killed while trying to interfere."

The other student shook his head.

"There have been more deaths in the past few decades than this entire year. I fear if this continues, the name of this Age will be the Age of Death."

Cornelius shook his head. He didn’t bother paying attention to the matters of the Dao Lords - they were too far removed from him, and he could not influence them at all. Instead, he listened for news relating to humans.

"I heard that the Humanoid Alliance is trying to get humans to make a comeback," someone said. "There are a couple of humans whose names have appeared on the Dao Affirmation list. Apparently, one of them is called the Grand Conqueror or something like that, and the other has appeared on the list but with their name hidden. Only their race is visible, which is human!"

Another person chuckled.

"I heard the human with their name hidden is from a human subrace called mermaid. I’m not sure what the big deal is, but I heard that the Sages are going crazy in search of that mermaid. Even Dao Lords have gotten involved."

The other students looked over in confusion.

"What’s the big deal with mermaids? I’ve never heard of them before."

The first student chuckled knowingly.

"There’s a rumor that there’s a special place in the universe that can only be accessed by mermaids, or maybe a certain kind of mermaid. I’m not sure what the truth is, but the Sage races are crazy about them!"

Cornelius shook his head, and stopped listening to everything else. He reported in the relevant department, many of the Immortals from his kingdom lined up behind him, and began the procedure for their departure to the Tyranum realm.

He also received a briefing about the status of the realm. It was controlled by the Tyranis race, the sworn enemy of humanity, making it quite ironic that it held so many of humanity’s legacies.

Oddly enough, the Humanoid Alliance wasn’t the one leading the charge on the battlefields for humans in this realm, it was the Henali.

Cornelius looked from the information package, and at the quest list issued by Ventura for the Tyranum realm. Completing those quests would allow them to be rewarded by Ventura, and was a far more reliable system than most other races.

Just as he was about to accept a few quests, he was hit by a sudden yet overwhelming sorrow the likes of which penetrated into his core. That overwhelming sorrow was accompanied by another, albeit muted, emotion: horror!

Corneilius had felt this before, and quite recently, so he knew what this was. It was the death of a Major realm! How could such a thing happen?

As if that was not enough, the sorrow this time seemed to last much, much longer, as if a truly ancient Major realm had died this time!

What Cornelius didn’t know was that his guess was entirely off the mark. It wasn’t that a very old Major realm had died or been destroyed. Instead, more than one Major realm had been destroyed at the same time! The response from the universe was even more drastic, and the dropped strain even greater!

Almost instant, word reached Ventura. Not one, and not two, but three Major realms had been destroyed at the same time! This was no coincidence, for the timing of the destruction had been carefully orchestrated to cause the greater response from the universe itself!

This change was felt nowhere as greatly as inside Arch-Heaven, which began to develop at an astonishingly rapid pace!

Mango, the goldfish, looked around in a confused manner as he felt his limiter increase from 39% to 41% for no reason. Did he do something that warranted such an abrupt change? He could not remember.