latelenovela Chapter 91 The Lost City of Time (End)
Chapter 91 The Lost City of Time (End)
The handover ceremony went very smoothly. After all, Mary had been handling most of the city's affairs on behalf of Cheng Jiu. Although the announcement of the handover of the city lord was somewhat abrupt, the people in the city were not unprepared.
As Cheng Jiu placed the city lord's seal in Mary's hands, a few scattered sobs could be heard from below.
But they stopped quickly, knowing that their city lord was about to leave! They didn't belong to this city, and they had their own paths to follow; they couldn't stop him.
Cheng Jiu grasped Mary's hand, raised it high, and announced that the newly reborn Golden Glory City would henceforth be handed over to the next city lord.
The people of Jinyao City knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude: "May the City Lord's path to immortality be everlasting!"
I don't know who shouted those words, but the voice grew louder and louder, each shout higher than the last!
Yingyue and the others felt a mix of bittersweet emotions upon hearing this, their eyes shining brightly. It seemed that their efforts over the past few years had not been in vain.
Those nobles held the "god" in very high regard, even building a tall tower for him! And the place where the god took his wife was this very tower!
The tower has seven floors, each decorated in an extremely luxurious manner. No one is allowed to enter the top floor; only after the gods give the order can people go in to clean.
Now, each floor of this tower is surrounded by formations, as the strength of those who descend are unknown. Regardless, Cheng Jiu and his group don't want to fail; even with the Ghost Emperor as a backup, they should still be cautious.
Cheng Jiu used the Ghost Spirit Tablet in combination with the teleportation array defensive formation. If the opponent's strength was too great for them to handle, they could immediately activate the formation. The defensive formation could buy them time, and they would definitely be able to transfer to the Ghost Realm during this period.
After setting up the formation, the group used shape-shifting talismans to sprinkle concealment powder on their bodies, waiting for the god's arrival on the day the 'god' had foretold.
As they held their breath and waited, the array in the room lit up, and a beam of red light flashed before their eyes, revealing a figure that they recognized very well in the center of the array.
It was Nabu, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, the crimson color like a blazing flame.
"Master, please come out!" Nabu smiled as she looked around.
The group emerged from their hiding place, but they didn't seem surprised.
Nabu touched the shawl on her head: "You don't seem surprised at all that it was me!"
"We had guessed it!" Although they thought Nabu would only appear after the "god" was dealt with.
"As expected of your masters!" Nabu's eyes crinkled into a smile. "You're so clever! Would you like to hear my story?"
"Go ahead," Cheng Jiu nodded, gesturing for her to speak.
Just like everything that has happened along the way. Back then, Nabu was forced into a kidnapping and "voluntarily" chose to marry a god. On the eve of her wedding, Nabu's mother did not reveal that Nabu was not Agana.
After being sent to the tower, the god discovered that his bride had been switched and, in a fit of rage, threw Nabu out of the tower!
The gods punished him, and only then did Nabu's father realize that he had sent the wrong person. But by then, Agana had already escaped and could not be found at all.
In order to appease the gods' anger, a scapegoat must be found, and Nabu, who failed to complete the bride's mission, became a perfect candidate.
The nobles used her as a way to appease the gods, while the ignorant masses believed that she had been defiled by the gods, was now unclean, and had been abandoned by them. Nabu was burned at the stake.
She was taught from a young age to marry a god and contribute to the city, but now her family and the people she wants to protect see her as an enemy!
As the fiery serpent licked the hem of her skirt, resentment, bitterness, and rage burned fiercely within her! She would take revenge on this city! She would make the people of this city pay the price for their actions.
That day, she seemed to see a phoenix rising from the ashes, singing before her eyes.
“The little ginseng spirit you encountered before was originally a ten-thousand-year-old ginseng, a life-saving item left by my mother. But it actually developed sentience after spending so much time with me. It can be said that it grew up with me since childhood.” Nabu took the little ginseng spirit out of her bosom.
The other person nestled obediently in Nabu's hand, looking at Nabu with eyes full of dependence and affection.
"I never expected that it was actually in my arms at the time. This silly little thing actually released its own life force, trying to help me prolong my life! After sensing my thoughts, it gave up its own life force without hesitation!"
"That's why you were able to see that mural. With the help of the little ginseng spirit, I successfully cursed this city!" Nabu said with a gleeful smile. "From that day on, Kamule City was erased from the Xuan Tian Continent, and all those who bullied and betrayed me are trapped in this city, suffering an endless cycle of reincarnation for ten thousand years."
“As for ‘God!’” Nabu said with a melancholy tone, “I cannot destroy him. He has endured ten thousand years of reincarnation and is still alive! If I hadn’t cursed him, his lifespan should have ended by now, but he lives in your era because of my curse!”
"How can I accept this! So, Master." Nabu took two steps back, and a man with a strength of only the Nascent Soul stage appeared in the middle of the formation. He looked extremely disheveled.
The legendary deity had an extremely ordinary appearance, but his clothes were extraordinary, made of extremely valuable materials, and remained as good as new even after so many years. Beneath the clothes were curses and bloodstains; a strange black curse spread from his palms, which, combined with the scars on his body, looked eerie and ominous.
He looked at Nabu with a disdainful smile, his eyes filled with a mixture of hatred and malice: "So what if you trapped me back then? Ten thousand years have passed, and your soul can no longer withstand it!"
"Haha! I never expected you to inherit the Phoenix's bloodline! After this world shatters, I will definitely capture you and refine your body! The Phoenix's bloodline is mine! Once I've mastered my divine skills, I will make you pay a price that will leave you wishing for death!"
He then turned his gaze to Cheng Jiu and the others. "You don't think you can kill me with just these few people, do you? I come from the Upper Realm; in your world's terms, I am a god!"
From a world you could never reach in your lifetime! Don't be naive, you stupid woman! Can't you see through this after ten thousand years?
Nabu said calmly, "So what? I've been very happy every single day for the past ten thousand years, watching you suffer the torture of being skinned and having your bones scraped every moment!"
So what if they were once high and mighty gods? They're still just lingering on like dead dogs in my world!
Yes! I can't destroy you! But as long as I see you suffering every single moment, I feel immense pleasure every single moment!
"You vile woman! I'll kill you!" The god, recalling the torment of ten thousand years, had a flicker of fear and madness in his eyes, his voice shrill and piercing.
"I've changed my mind. I'm going to turn your body into a human puppet and your soul into a slave ghost! I'll make you wish you were dead!"
"Swish, uh," he spat out a mouthful of blood. The ferocious expression on his face turned into a blank look of pain. He turned around incredulously to look at the person behind him.
With a cold expression, Cheng Jiu plunged the Heavenly Wood Sword into his heart, even stirring it vigorously. Who wanted to listen to his nonsense?
"You! You bitch!"
When did she appear there? How dare a mere Golden Core cultivator like her!
After uttering these harsh words, 'God' went limp and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Nabu wasn't surprised at all, and didn't even frown.
"Okay!" Before Cheng Jiu could even finish saying "Is it okay?", an alarm sounded in his mind, and he quickly dodged to the side.
The corpse on the ground had somehow come back to life and struck Cheng Jiu with a palm strike aimed directly at his heart.
Cheng Jiu dodged another sword strike! The opponent neither dodged nor avoided, and warm blood spurted from the opponent's arm, the large gash immediately healing the next moment!
Gong Cheng and Gong Yu, seeing this, also quickly took out their weapons to help assist Cheng Jiu.
Yingyue and the other three did not go up, after all, in terms of martial arts, they really could not compare with these junior brothers and sisters in the Golden Core stage!
Three against one, Gong Yu's arrows were extremely accurate, each arrow tearing out a piece of flesh from the opponent. Gong Cheng, wielding a long spear, was the king of all weapons, assisting Cheng Jiu in the attack. Despite it being three against one, the opponent was not at a disadvantage at all!
Liu Shaoyuan and Yingyue, along with three others, had already begun activating their formation to help harass the area.
With everyone working together, Cheng Jiu finally found an opportunity. He plunged the Heavenly Wood Sword into the opponent's heart. To prevent him from reviving, Cheng Jiu also threw out the Azure Flame Jade Heart Fire.
As soon as the little green fire appeared, although it was disgusted, it still burned his corpse clean.
It seemed like that was the end of it, but the alarm bells in Cheng Jiu's mind kept ringing.
"You bitch, you've angered me!"
Suddenly, a cold sword shot towards Cheng Jiu's location, but missed its target. The sword's owner then revealed himself to be the very person who had just been dead beyond any doubt.
Cheng Jiu landed three meters away from him; what he had just stabbed was merely Cheng Jiu's shadow.
The 'god' stared greedily at the little green flame. "Azure Flame, Jade Heart Flame! I never expected such a treasure to exist in such a small place! Once I kill you, all of this will be mine. Prepare to die!"
"Hmph! Aren't you afraid of overeating your stomach?" Cheng Jiu confronted him, sword in hand.
All that could be seen was the flash of swords and the flying sparks.
"The chosen one! Haha, I never expected to have such good fortune!" An Xunran looked at Cheng Jiu, who was already at the Golden Core stage and fighting him to a standstill:
"I never imagined you would be the chosen one of this place! Once I capture you, I will drain your life force! I never expected to have such a wonderful encounter on my trip down to the mortal realm! Not only have I captured a descendant of the Phoenix, but I have also captured a chosen one at the Golden Core stage!"
He became even more ruthless. Although Cheng Jiu was extremely strong, the difference in their cultivation levels was still too great. He was really fighting desperately, and she was finding it difficult to defend herself.
Fortunately, Gongcheng and Gongyu were there to help.
“Three chosen ones, the Heavenly Dao of your world has gone mad!” An Xunran stared incredulously at the other two, unable to subdue Cheng Jiu.
When did the chosen ones in the mortal realm become as common as cabbages, and he could encounter three of them at once!
"Enough with the nonsense, you dog, prepare to die!" Cheng Jiu didn't know what he was talking about, but why was there so much nonsense during the fight?
While he was talking, Cheng Jiu's mind stirred, and with the Qingxu Sword Technique, his will moved with his mind, he pierced the other's heart once again while the other was rambling on.
The opponent's body had long been burned to ashes by the Azure Flame Heart Fire. With the experience from before, Cheng Jiu took out the Ghost Spirit Tablet. Under the effect of the Ghost Spirit Tablet, the process of the opponent's soul condensing was completely visible.
How could he make the other person's soul coalesce again? Nan Yanzhe took out a feng shui array plate to restrain his soul. He didn't know how heavy the soul was until he touched it! However, he was also a genius disciple of the Tianji Sect. Although it was difficult, he could still trap it for a while.
The others were hacking at his soul, but ordinary weapons were useless against it. Only the weapons that Cheng Jiu and the other two had were somewhat effective.
Cheng Jiu slapped her forehead and took out the Qingxu Sword, which her master had always carried. The Qingxu Sword itself was also an ice-attribute divine weapon.
Previously, it had been sealed away for Cheng Jiu's sake, but it was immediately unsealed upon encountering An Xunran's soul. The indoor temperature dropped sharply, and ice crystals quickly condensed in the air. This kind of power was something that even when facing that female ghost in the Tribulation Transcending stage, it had never been seen before.
An Xunran's soul, which had loosened somewhat due to the attacks from Cheng Jiu and the others, slowly came to a standstill, unable to coalesce in mid-air. An Xunran's soul screamed in agony as it began to freeze.
The soul that the others could not shake was slowly obliterated by the Qingxu Sword with a few strokes, until only a small clump remained. Nan Yanzhe took out his spirit-collecting bag and put the soul inside.
When it comes to matters of the soul, the Heavenly Mystery Sect is the expert. I'll go back to the sect and ask my master how to handle it.
Qingxu Sword saw that the annoying soul had been taken away and turned into an ordinary sword. It looked unremarkable, but no one who had just seen it dared to underestimate it.
Nabu looked at the soul that had tormented her for tens of thousands of years, and felt a sense of disconnect as the story ended so abruptly.
She laughed self-deprecatingly. Wasn't her own life also divided? She had recruited a few people to show them the evil in the city, to make them understand, and then to make a choice: to replace her or watch her die, to stand by and watch or to become an enemy of the entire city.
But unexpectedly, they took a different path. Looking back now, the family she had once struggled with, her relatives, and the people she thought she had protected, she realized she was nothing but a joke.
"It's time! You should all go back now. And I should go too. Goodbye, Master! Meeting you was the only good fortune of my life!"
The tower burst into flames. Nabu placed the little ginseng spirit in Yingyue's hand. The scorching flames devoured the hem of Nabu's clothes, but did not harm Cheng Jiu and his group in the slightest.
"Nabu!" Cheng Jiu and the others felt a little panicked looking at the scene before them.
"Thank you, I really like this city now!" Nabu: "If there is a next life, I hope to live in your era! I cursed this city with my life, tearing it from the river of time. At that moment, the people of this city were already dead."
But now, the phoenix rises from the ashes once more, and the sands of time are once again flowing into the river of time! This city, too, will be reborn from the ashes.
Amidst the bright flames, the crimson teardrops on the jade disc on Nabu's body slowly floated into the air, freezing Cheng Jiu and his group in place, unable to stop them.
In the midst of the sorrow and silence in the room, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Do you think you're enough on your own?" A woman walked into the room stepping on flames.
"Agana! What brings you here?" Nabu looked at Agana in disbelief.
“Don’t forget, I am the chosen descendant of the phoenix!” Agana looked at Nabu.
"So it was...you back then! Thank you..."
"Don't think this is just something you want to do alone..."
The flames took the two away, leaving only these two sentences in the air.
The spacetime underwent a violent fluctuation, and the group suddenly went black and fainted.