Every time the stone trembled, you could feel an extremely pure surge of magical energy radiate into the air. You could feel your magic energy replenish rapidly just by being in its vicinity.
“A Gem of Power? ! And a Gem of Power that has almost turned into a World Stone!” Arms had always loved wondrous treasures and artifacts. His eyes immediately turned into gleaming gems as he leaned forward with his nose to take a big sniff.
The next moment, Arms stood on his hind legs and shouted out loud< “Master, I want this stone.”
Greem, who was slowly drifting down from the Versailles, let out an unamused grunt.
“That’s Mary’s loot! You can talk to her if you want it. Don’t bother me while I’m appraising this castle!”
Arms’ gaze turned toward Mary, and the pretty woman laid out her conditions in the sweetest, most innocent of voices.
“Two thousand five hundred kilograms of dragon blood.”
Arms’ face turned dark, and he replied with a middle finger!
Greem ignored Arms and Mary’s banter and focused power to his eyes. Intense blue light shone out of his eyes, slowly scanning the interior of Kerslin Castle.
He was initially shocked but quickly shook his head and sighed. A cold and sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
“Teacher, is Freed inside? What do you think? Should we break in forcibly?” Meryl beat her red wings, slowly approaching in her half-dragon form as she asked in a soft voice.
Everything that had happened on the Fourth Grade battlefield was simply beyond her imagination!
She had no clue what was happening, how the fight started, how it had gone, and how it ended. All she knew was that the greatest enemy of their excursion this time might be hiding in this strange castle.
The problem was that her teacher’s expressions were too unusual and cryptic!
Had they won yet? Was the battle over already?
Greem shook his head again and sighed.
“That foolish Freed. He let this alchemical lifeform learn of too much knowledge that it should not have learned, and allowed it to obtain too much power that it should not have had. Hmph! It serves him right to suffer from this backlash!
“There’s no need to worry about Freed any longer. We should be preparing a coffin for him! Er…if there’s still a corpse left by the end of this, that is.”
Chapter 1322 - Commotion in the Central Lands
When news of the Entom Clan’s decimation got out, the entirety of Zhentarim was shocked!
The organizations that had allied with Freed to suppress the Crimson Clan now lived in perpetual fear. They were terrified of the day they would wake up to find the Crimson Fleet appearing before them.
Then, something happened that struck even more despair into their hearts. On the second day after the Entom Clan’s destruction, the Fabres Clan announced their acceptance of the Crimson Clan as a sovereign force. They willingly submitted as a subordinate organization and sent out many of their clan adepts to join the Horton Magic Academy.
These adepts undid their servitude contracts with the Fabres Clan and joined Horton Magic Academy as free adepts. These actions thoroughly explained the thoughts of Fourth Grade Body-Refining Adept Fabres.
Following the Fabres Clan’s announcement, Adept Kerala of the Dener Clan also made a similar announcement and sent Dener Clan adepts to join Horton Magic Academy as free adepts.
That wasn’t the end of it either!
Soon, a third force surfaced and declared their stance.
This third organization was the well-known Molten Fire City.
Over the years, Molten Fire City had maintained good relations with the Crimson Clan. The trade agreement between the two organizations had benefited both parties greatly. The Crimson Clan obtained the irreplaceable Queyras alloy, while Molten Fire City gained a steady supply of dragon materials.
Both parties needed each other and formed a strong relationship. Even when Freed promised all sorts of benefits to Alfred, Lord of Molten Fire City, he was still unable to sway him to his side.
Now that the Crimson Clan’s unification of the Central Lands seemed like an inevitability, Lord Alfred knew what choice he had to make. He had been observing from the sidelines for a long time, after all.
While many clans were still hesitating, Molten Fire City became the third auxiliary organization to submit to the Crimson Clan.
A revolution was coming!
In the past, only the smarter and sharper high-grade adepts could vaguely sense this powerful, rising force that threatened to change the Central Lands. Now, almost any adept that wasn’t an idiot could feel the ferocious storm brewing on the horizon.
Three large adept clans had submitted to the Crimson Clan in succession. It was the clearest sign of all that pointed to the future of the Central Lands.
The Crimson Clan. Horton Magic Academy.
These two names became the most hotly discussed topics among adepts of the Central Lands!
As long as it was a place where adepts gathered, you would find them talking long and hard about these two entities. They represented mystery and power, as well as the future of the Central Lands.
However, in the thirty-three regions of the Central Lands, there were over a dozen Fourth Grade organizations and more than a thousand organizations and clans of smaller scales. To unify such a chaotic land and establish a singular, gigantic, and effective organization was no easy task.
Setting aside everything, even the numerous intermediate and small adept clans were often backed by tremendously powerful individuals. It was very easy to make enemies out of ancient adepts that had lived for several thousands of years and who now resided beyond the realms.
The Sarubo Clan was one such example.
The Sarubo Clan’s headquarters was located in Feidnan City. They possessed no more than one to two hundred square kilometers of worldly territory and less than a hundred clan adepts. There were many such intermediate clans all over the Central Lands, with seemingly nothing special about them.
However, if the Crimson Clan were to wipe out the Sarubo Clan, they would inevitably make an enemy out of the Sixth Grade Great Adept Sarubo, who remained alive in space.
Sarubo might be beyond the realms and unable to return to the World of Adepts.
However, should he fly into a rage, he could easily cause trouble for Greem by ravaging all of the Crimson Clan’s assets in space. Even if Greem could reign supreme in the Central Lands, he would bear the risk of losing everything he owned in space.
Moreover, given the rate at which Greem was improving, it was only a matter of time until he advanced past Fourth Grade and stepped beyond the realms. If Greem were to wipe out all of these clans indiscriminately, the moment he passed into space, he would be swarmed by countless Great Adepts looking to settle their grudges!
Even Greem felt his heart beat nervously at the thought of being surrounded by an army of Great Adepts in space.
This forceful invasion method was untenable, so Greem had no choice but to pursue a roundabout alternative. He was using Horton Magic Academy as a gentle means of obtaining control and authority over the Central Lands.
He wouldn’t devour the clans employing force. No. Everyone would compete fairly, and he would draw away all the talent of the Central Lands with a superior learning environment, more bountiful adept resources, and excellent mentors.
Horton Magic Academy would grow stronger and more influential through this fashion.
Meanwhile, the other clans would fall into stagnation due to the lack of fresh blood and the inability to grow or develop. In doing so, the Great Adepts could not assign any blame to Greem.
In summary, the Great Adepts’ bloodline descendants could be wiped out, but it would not be at the hands of the Crimson Clan.
It was out of such consideration that Greem gave up on the development of the Crimson Clan and instead focused on promoting Horton Magic Academy!
Greem had no other option. He didn’t
want to become a scurrying rat forced to flee everywhere from vengeful Great Adepts.
In all honesty, if it weren’t out of fear of the Sixth Grade Great Adept Sarubo, Greem would have already ripped up the Sarubo Clan by its roots. There was plenty of bad blood between them.
Everything was related!
These clans backed by Great Adepts might look like roadblocks in the Crimson Clan’s path to unification. They were like nasty hedgehogs that Greem would rather not touch. However, conversely, they were also a sort of network resource for Greem.
If the Great Adepts in space were willing to make an ally out of Greem, Greem didn’t mind helping their bloodline descendants. However, if they were unreasonable, Greem could simply wipe out their bloodline and cut off their last connection with the World of Adepts.
As for why the bloodline descendants of Great Adepts would often go into decline? That was one of the unsolved mysteries of the World of Adepts since time immemorial!
For one, giving birth was extremely difficult.
Those who could rise beyond Fourth Grade and become a Great Adept could no longer be called humans. They might retain humanoid forms, but you would find no genetic sequences or even organs that bore any resemblance to humans if one were to dissect them.
Ultra-Grade adepts had already walked too far down the path of modification and transformation; the very life essence of these individuals had changed. What human female could possibly give birth to a true human child with these Great Adepts?
Ordinary women and low-grade adepts would not be able to endure a Great Adept’s overwhelming life essence. If such life essence was implanted in their bodies, they would die not much later.
Meanwhile, if a Great Adept couple was to procreate, the odds of giving birth to an ordinary human baby were incredibly slim!
That was why the descendants of Great Adepts in the World of Adepts were mostly descendants that had been left behind while they were still weak. After several thousand years and numerous generations, the bloodline similarity between the Great Adepts and their descendants was practically gone.
Moreover, the more powerful an individual was, the weaker their children would be if born as ordinary humans!
That was why even those descendants that bore the name of Great Adeptswere, in fact, frequently in decline over generations. It was even possible that the Great Adept that left behind this bloodline would refuse to acknowledge these people as their descendants.
Secondly, it was incredibly difficult to pass down bloodline legacies.
Anyone that could become a Great Adept was once a proud prodigy. The path they took to success was often unique and irreplicable.
It was the main reason why the appearance of a Great Adept did not necessarily mean a continuous stream of successors that would rise after them!
It wasn’t that these Great Adepts didn’t want such a thing to happen. They were unable to realize such ambitions.
The Great Adepts often used incredibly rare resources and unique treasures to cross the threshold that they had. Where were their descendants supposed to find these same resources to walk down the same path?
The appearance of every Great Adept gave a sample and reference for their descendants to study. However, they could only serve as references, after all. They were very few successors who had managed to become Great Adepts by following precisely the same path as their ancestors had taken.
The main reason behind this was that all Great Adepts kept their abilities and means of advancement a secret. They would never let the world know of such secrets.
Their enemies would be able to counter their abilities with such information. That was why all Great Adepts went to great lengths to hide the secrets in their development path. Without these details, the information that Great Adepts provided to the outside world was often incomplete and misleading.
Anyone that tried to advance to Fifth Grade through the methods they revealed was destined to suffer, fail, and even die.
Take Greem, for instance. If he did indeed manage to advance to Fifth Grade in the future, the Orb of the Fire God would almost certainly play a central role. However, where would he go to find a second Orb of the Fire God for his disciple or successor to use?!
Thus, upon reaching Fourth Grade, there would only be a vague direction left for you. There would no longer be a fixed path that you could always count on as a reference!
With the fall of the Entom Clan, the Central Lands seemed to have been enveloped in mist and clouds. A storm was brewing.
It was now time for everyone to choose sides!
Either join the resistance and unite to push back against the Crimson Clan, or lower your heads and acknowledge the Crimson Clan’s rule over Zhentarim. To the many clans of the Central Lands, neither of these options was desirable.
Thus, even while the Crimson Fleet was still hovering above the ruins of the Entom Clan, messengers from various Zhentarim clans had already hurried over. They couldn’t wait to discuss the matter of cooperation with the ruler of the Crimson Clan.
Naturally, all of them got to witness the devastation inflicted on the Entom Clan in person.
Chapter 1323 - Forbidden Life
Chapter 1323 Forbidden Life
The flames burning on the ground had yet to extinguish.
Plumes of black smoke lingered above the battlefield.
There were no remnants of human architecture within fifty kilometers of Kerslin Castle. Even the once green fields had been reduced to scorched earth. Patches of black marks designated what was once the land of the Entom Clan.
However, Kerslin Castle remained standing upon this lifeless plain. In fact, this castle didn’t seem to show any sign of damage at all.
An old castle could remain in the center of such a ravaged and devastated battlefield? Moreover, everyone knew that his Kerslin Castle had animated into a raging stone giant and fought a ferocious war against the Crimson Clan.
Even though it was obvious that Kerslin Castle had its secrets, what happened next was truly mysterious. After the battle concluded, not a single core adept of the Entom Clan managed to escape from the castle. They had vanished without a trace. It utterly confused and terrified all the observers. They could feel a genuine chill in their hearts.
Had the Crimson Clan reached such heights of power that they could wipe out every last member of the Entom Clan without leaving a single survivor? These conjectures struck even more fear into the hearts of Mirva and the others. Consequently, the voices calling for resistance against the Crimson Clan grew softer still.
At this point, even the few organizations that had been firm in their hostile stance against the Crimson Clan had fallen silent. It seemed like they wanted to stay low for the moment and avoid being made the second example by the Crimson Clan!
The reason they had opposed the Crimson Clan was to avoid losing the authority and power they possessed. However, if the result of a violent opposition was death and extermination, it was a completely different story. With their thousands of years of lifespan, it was too high of a price for a Fourth Grade adept to pay.
Freedom was indeed important, but if the price were their own life, then no Fourth Grade adept would ever agree to such an exchange!
Compared to losing their lives, submitting to Greem and becoming subordinates of the Crimson Clan no longer seemed as unacceptable.
They had been far too used to being the sovereigns of the Central Lands, which resulted in a bias of their understanding of the world. They had never witnessed the terror of an ultra-grade powerhouse and believed that they could force Greem to submit just by uniting their forces.
The battle at Stoneshard Valley and the battle at Kerslin Castle had completely shattered their false pride and peace. It also allowed them to truly understand the might of an ultra-grade powerhouse. Ultra-grade powerhouses were no longer the same species as Fourth Grade adepts. They existed on two ends of the food chain. One was a predator, and the other was no more than pathetic prey
.
This understanding upended the worldview they had formed over the past few centuries. It also allowed them to recognize their folly and childishness. The reason Zhentarim had managed to exist for tens of thousands of years wasn’t because they–the Fourth Grade adepts–had intimidated the three major organizations. No, it was because the three major powers maintained a fine and delicate balance between themselves.
Now that the balance had been broken, the future path of Zhentarim had become an important question in the minds of all Central adepts!
Would they choose Greem, or would they choose one of the three major organizations? Or perhaps they would remain as fence-sitters, letting the Central Lands become a bloody battlefield where all three major powers fought for control?
All the Fourth Grade adepts that had appeared in the past had instinctually rejected the very idea of unifying the Central Lands. They had always preferred the calm and tranquility of the status quo. Now, even they had no option but to consider this question seriously.
If they weren’t willing to make a decision, someone would come along to make it for them. When that happened, those adepts wouldn’t have many options left.
Just like that, the question of whether the Central Lands would be unified had become an artifact of the past. Now, people were discussing how unification would happen!
Whether Greem would be a tyrant, whether the Crimson Clan would assimilate every single clan, or what kind of position would adept clans have in the Central Lands in the future. These questions burned furiously in the back of the minds of the leaders of the many clans. They wanted the answers to them desperately.
Of course, the only one who had the answers was the Crimson Clan!
On the eleventh day since the Entom Clan’s extermination, and the second day since Molten Fire City announced its subordination to the Crimson Clan, countless anonymous messengers swarmed to Kerslin Castle. They all wanted to meet the victorious Greem and obtain practical promises from him.
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