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Chapter 581: The Hunt Begins
🕑 Added 2025-04-09 00:00:06 +0000 UTCThe only possibility Tianyi could think of was that the Numinous Sword Sect and Buddhists have completely given up the competition in order to fortify their position in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System. He sent the message to the Immortal Court, but to his surprise, they already recorded the Buddhists leaving the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
The Immortal Court didn’t know if the Numinous Sword Sect had left with the Buddhists, but if they did, they should have already arrived as the deadline approached. Of course, they couldn’t discount the fact that something happened along their journey, but that was highly unlikely with the Sūryaḥ Buddha at the helm.
Tianyi didn’t think it was likely, and the time limit was more than enough for divinities to make their way if they got lost. This made him recall the fact that the Sūryaḥ Buddha stayed behind and talked with God King Herakles before leaving Mount Olympus. Was it related to that?
Because of this information, the Immortal Court decided to probe the Numinous Sword Sect. They didn’t take actions themselves, but activated one of their pawns in the Numinous Realm to test the Numinous Sword Sect. Multiple monarchs and a sole emperor were sent out, but the Divinity Yanxu never showed himself.
Despite that, the Immortal Court judged that there was a high likelihood that he had not left the Numinous Realm. While dealing with the undercover agent, the Numinous Sword Sect was a bit careless, allowing a few to escape. Rather than a careless mistake, it made them think that they wanted to use the escapees as bait to destroy all the hidden dangers. Such a plan could only be executed if they had absolute confidence in their power and stability.
So, that meant that the Numinous Sword Sect and Buddhists Pure Lands might be acting separately, and their previous alliance had already crumbled. If the conjecture was all true. The Immortal Court could not expel the idea that this was all a plot against them, but they weren’t worried. Time was on their side, and with Tianyi present, they didn’t need to worry about stretching their forces too thin.
Since the Immortal Court judged so, Tianyi no longer worried about it and enjoyed the banquet.
The banquet was grand, completely different from the usual atmosphere of the Nahui Ollin System. Sitting alongside Tianyi were many of his compatriots, like the Immortal Minister of War Huang Feihong, and Yan Nie. He didn’t miss them. Although he hadn’t seen them yesterday, he had another conduit in the Immortal Court all this time, so technically, he had never left the Primordial Realm.
While talking, Tianyi observed the other guests inside the temple. Unlike the All Pantheon Conference in the Herakles System, the majority of the people present were fighters, not officials. For example, the Herakles System dispatched the Myrmidons. They were recorded as soldiers commanded by Achilles in the Iliad. However, ages have passed since then, and the Myrmidons became a powerful unit of demigod soldiers.
Rather than Greek, they resembled Roman soldiers more, with their chainmail and armor formed of metallic strips. Each was equipped with a long spear, a gladius at their waist, and a tower shield. Of course, the coolest ones were still the knights from the Avalon System in their full plate armor. Their leader was Sir Tristan. They perfectly encompassed his childhood fantasy. In fact, he even thought about creating a knight themed morphers or rider belts.
Each culture had its way of eating. Even if they tried to accept the Nahui Ollin’s way of doing things, they would invariably show this difference through their subconscious actions. Well, not that it mattered much.
The banquet came to an end, and each pantheon prepared to hunt down the devils. The hunting grounds did not have anything to do with the settlements. Although devils would occasionally appear, it was far too slow. No, the location of the hunt was the land where the devil had already corroded. Nahui Ollin named these spots Mictlan after the underworld of the previous eras. There, devils festered and used it as a base to launch attacks on the denizens of Nahui Ollin.
Of course, each pantheon would not target the same Mictlan. Although concentrating their forces would aid in the extermination of devils, they were not collaborators but rivals. Each devil dead meant that someone would earn a point. Simultaneously, another person would lose a point. The competition had no exact deadline, and will only end when half of the pantheons consent to the end.
Theoretically, the competition could end when nearly all devils are exterminated. At least, that’s what the divinities of the Nahui Ollin System hope for. It could also end earlier, but as long as other pantheons think they have a chance, they would try to lengthen the time limit to grasp the last straw.
As for the systems with no divinities, they would attach themselves to a pantheon. Once they did this, their points would be attributed to the pantheon they joined. Of course, it wasn’t free labor and the pantheon they served would give them benefits worthy of their contribution.
Tianyi now sat at the center of a newly constructed fortress city. Thanks to the convenience brought by his cross-universe teleportation, the Immortal Court directly brought over materials to construct this fortification. Not all materials displayed the same properties in different systems, but many of them were still easily done.
The other pantheons needed to bring their own materials through long journeys, so they couldn’t carry much. Even if they used a divine palace like the Parthenon Temple, they still needed to forage for materials. Those materials of the Nahui Ollin needed to be tested before they could be used, slowing down their process.
Although the Immortal Court got a head start, it didn’t matter much to them. They wouldn’t produce an alliance leader candidate anyway because of the agreement, but that didn’t mean contribution points were useless. The more they gained, the more benefits they would receive after the competition.
On a side note, Tianyi helped transport the materials for the Herakles System. It wasn’t for free, and the Herakles System paid a price. The other pantheons naturally saw this, and it further cemented Tianyi’s value. Even though Tianyi stayed within the Immortal Court’s sphere of influence, many forces paid him a visit occasionally. The worst was the Herakles System, which permanently stationed someone there. It just so happened that one of them was a beautiful nymph born of Herakles’ seed.
Tianyi was helpless. He couldn’t drive her away since she was the Herakles System’s ambassador to the Immortal Court. Although the Pantheon Alliance was a collaborative effort between all systems, factions would always appear. Now, the Immortal Court and Herakles System were partners. Whether the relationship would deepen or grow cold depended on the future.
While the various pantheons started their actions, the devils also noticed the changing winds.
***
Leaning against a black-barked tree that lost all its leaves and spewed miasma was a young woman no older than twenty. At least, appearance wise. Her attire was a pink and black dress that bore a great resemblance to the garments of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
The woman had a pure aura exuding off of her, as well as a clean and tidy feature with only a hint of makeup. She gave off the aura of a confident childhood sweetheart, which greatly contrasted with her surroundings, like a pure lotus surrounded by filth.
She opened her eyes, revealing two eyes with bottomless pits. Her abyss-like eyes contrasted with her pure aura, creating a bizarre juxtaposition.
The woman pushed herself from the corroded tree. The moment she stopped, cracks appeared all over the tree, and it fell apart, piece by piece. Not just the tree, but even the gray grass under the woman’s shoes crumbled into darkness.
Her darker-than-ink hair contrasted against her pale skin. It didn’t make her skin glow, but made it a sickly white. With her beauty, it gave the impression of a feeble beauty, but her words were anything but delicate as she stared at the blue skies, untainted by the devilish aura.
“How revolting,” the woman said. Immediately afterward, a terrifying black aura burst from the woman’s body and tainted the sky into a dark blue. The clouds transformed into spirals of pure black, their tendrils flaying about disgustingly.
“Found you, devil!”
The woman glanced toward the source of the voice and saw a group of men in armor. It didn’t resemble the native armor of this land, nor did it resemble the armor of her origin system, the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
“Interesting. Are you outsiders invading or aiding the natives?”
The leader of the group of knights snorted. “I have no duty to answer you! Although you resemble a fair maiden, you are nothing but a disgusting devil. Charge and show these devils the power of Avalon!”
“Avalon?” The woman felt that word tickle her memories, but she couldn’t quite place a finger on it. However, since these armored people dared to attack her, they must prepare to face death.
The knights raised their shield warily as the woman walked slowly towards them. Although the woman seemed harmless, she was definitely a devil. No matter how harmless a devil appeared to be, they would never let their guard down. It was a lesson taught in blood.
Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the female devil and overestimated themselves.
“Howard!” one of the knights said upon turning around. “No, not just Howard, Oliver too!”
The two knights were standing in the back, so when one of them fell, no one noticed. It was only when the second knight died did the others notice.
“Form a circle formation. Don’t let your back be exposed! Watch for any other unseen devil!” the leader ordered. At his command, the knights quickly formed a small circle, their backs facing each other.
“How cute,” the woman lightly said. Her figure blurred, and she was in front of the knight leader.
The knight leader only started to move his shield up as the woman’s delicate fingers reached his neck. She removed her fingers and stepped back. It was so leisurely that it didn’t appear like she was in a life-and-death battle at all.
“Captain?” the other knights called out.
The knight leader didn’t answer. The rising shield stopped, having reached its peak. Just as it started lowering, the knight leader’s body collapsed onto the ground, face first. From below his body, a red puddle pooled out before they were swiftly absorbed by the corrupted grass.
“Captain!” the second-in-command shouted. He didn’t have time to worry because another knight died.
The woman continued to circle around them, leisurely. Sometimes her fingers would graze their necks before retreating, but other times, a knight would fall down for seemingly no reason. Many people say that the greatest fear was death, but now, the knight knew that the greatest fear was knowing that death was coming, but being unable to do anything to prevent it.
“Charge! Kill her. As long as we kill her first, she won’t be able to harm us any longer!” a knight shouted. The remaining knights roared and charged at the woman.
A disappointed expression appeared on the woman’s face. Not because the knights’ plan worked, but because of disappointment. “How boring. I wanted to play with you guys a bit longer, but it seems that you all can’t wait for death.”
Like puppets whose strings had been cut, all the knights collapsed onto the ground, dead. Then, the woman’s shadow grew until it passed all the corpses. The knights’ bodies sank into the shadow as if it was quicksand. The whole process was quick, taking less than a minute.
The woman turned around and disappeared. Moments later, another group of knights appeared. Not only was their armor more ornate, their weapons sharper, but they all exuded a powerful aura far stronger than the swallowed knights.
“Tsk, another group perished, and the devil who caused this disappeared.”
Comments
Zaim İpek
Amazing how this girl is still creating problems even after so much time has past. I think Daoyi needs to extreminate her once and for all. For the sake of the narrative, it has to be Daoyi.
