Chapter 11: Nightmarish News

Countless people were stunned beyond words after hearing this news.

A battle between saber and spear had special meaning in this world.

It entailed a clash between the two figures who stood at the pinnacle of this world, with the saber ranked first on the Cloud Weapon Archive and the spear ranked second.

Hence, this was essentially a battle to decide the top spot in the world, and the more concerning undertone was that the saber belonged to the Guardians, while the spear belonged to the Church of the Self-Righteous.

Over countless years, the saber had always reigned supreme against the spear, serving as a guiding beacon for all warriors of justice on the entire continent.

The news of the saber losing was no less devastating than that of the sky falling.

***

The wielder of the number one weapon on the Cloud Weapon Archive, the Passion Severing Saber, was Xue Fuxiao, the one that Fang Che had respected and revered the most in his past life, and also the most powerful member of the guardians.

The wielder of the second-ranked weapon on the Cloud Weapon Archive, the White Bone Dream Shattering Spear, was Duan Xiyang, the one that Fang Che had detested and feared the most in his past life.

***

It was said that Duan Xiyang was the one who had proposed a battle on the summit of Purple Moon Mountain, and initially, Xue Fuxiao had refused.

In order to goad him into accepting his challenge, Duan Xiyang had massacred three border cities in three days, killing over two million people!

"Xue Fuxiao, I will continue to massacre one city per day for as long as you continue to cower!"

In the end, his hand had been forced.

The agreement was that if Duan Xiyang were victorious, then the Church of the Self-Righteous would be able to establish a nation, and the Guardians wouldn't be allowed to interfere.

If Xue Fuxiao came out on top, then the Church of the Self-Righteous would go dormant for five hundred years.

During those five hundred years, they would only be able to act in secret. They wouldn't be able to perform rituals, slaughter civilians, or carry out terrorist attacks.

Xue Fuxiao had no choice but to accept the challenge.

***

The Church of the Self-Righteous had already made countless attempts at founding a nation. It had constantly been infiltrating all of the nations on the continent and had established an army a very long time ago.

However, all of their previous attempts had been foiled by the Guardians.

Xue Fuxiao stood at the top of the world, crushing any and all dissension.

Four hundred years ago, the Church of the Self-Righteous plotted to overthrow the Great Yong Empire, but the Guardians were prepared and completely foiled their plans, taking the opportunity to establish the Great Zhao Empire.

The three nations and nine empires of the continent all belonged to Guardians.

The Church of the Self-Righteous was powerful, but it was the continent's ruling force.

Without a nation to unite them, they continued to be divided and viewed as nothing more than a powerful organization of lawless bandits by the masses.

Hence, the Church of the Self-Righteous desperately desired an official status, and they had been fighting for this objective for many years.

Finally, the opportunity had come.

Xue Fuxiao and Duan Xiyang had fought for a day and a night on the summit of Purple Moon Mountain.

To Xue Fuxiao's astonishment, Duan Xiyang had well and truly surpassed him.

Over the years, Xue Fuxiao could sense that Duan Xiyang had been improving with each passing clash, and that the gap between them was ever dwindling.

Their previous battle had taken place eighty years ago, and he was very fortunate to come out on top then.

That was why she had initially turned down the challenge. As long as he refused to fight, he would still stand at the top of the world, serving as the guiding beacon on the mountain summit.

However, Xue Fuxiao's hand had been forced, and just as he had feared, the battle was destined to conclude in a loss for him.

As the White Bone Dream Shattering Spear pierced through his shoulder, he could only heave a forlorn sigh.

The pain in his heart was far more excruciating than his physical agony because he knew that the sky had fallen.

Duan Xiyang withdrew his spear as he declared, "It is my victory. You spared me during our first battle, so I'll return the favor."

A wry smile appeared on Xue Fuxiao's face as he replied, "I spared you out of certain qualms, not out of kindness, so you don't owe me anything."

"In any case, I am indebted to you," Duan Xiyang insisted as he turned to depart. "Sooner or later, you'll perish to my spear because you'll never be able to bring yourself to do the things that we are capable of!"

"If I fell to your level, I would become the same as you. In that case, I may as well join you rather than fight you," Xue Fuxiao scoffed.

"I suppose that's true," Duan Xiyang chuckled.

***

News of Xue Fuxiao's defeat shook the entire world.

From this day forth, the White Bone Dream Shattering Spear stood at the pinnacle of the Cloud Weapon Archive.

The next day, countless subsidiary organizations under the Church of the Self-Righteous perform rituals of worship to the Heavenly Centipede Deity across the entire continent.

It was July 27th, later dubbed the day of the bloodbath.

Horrific crimes took place in nineteen major cities from different nations and empires were massacred, with the population of each city exceeding ten million.

In each city, a thousand elderly couples, a thousand middle-aged couples, a thousand young couples, and a thousand pairs of male and female children had their lives taken.

They were forced to kneel before a Heavenly Centipede Deity statue in a secret location before having their throats slit.

Their blood culminated into a river that flowed for dozens of kilometers, and all in all, 152,000 lives were lost, and that was only in the major cities.

There were countless similar rituals of far smaller scales simultaneously taking place elsewhere, increasing the number of casualties to the hundreds of thousands.

The Church of the Self-Righteous was worshiping its god, and the entire continent was forced to suffer the consequences.

***

July 29th.

A war suddenly broke out in the Great Xuan Nation, resulting in countless casualties in a single day.

The emperor was decapitated, and all of the officials were forced to kneel outside the city to welcome their new emperor.

Inside the city, countless people took their own lives, choosing to go down with their nation.

All of the border generals had been assassinated one after another. Old General Yang Tiefeng had led the final resistance, only to be surrounded in the imperial tomb. He fought until he was the only one left, then took his own life while kneeling in front of the graves of the past emperors.

The army of Church of the Self-Righteous had stormed into the capital, where the new emperor, Chu Wuji, was inaugurated.

The Great Xuan Nation became the New Chu Nation, and all officials who surrendered were spared, while everyone in the nation was pardoned.

In the wake of this massive change, there was frequent unrest on the borders of the New Chu Nation, but those instances of unrest were quickly quelled by the Church of the Self-Righteous.

War slowly gave way to peace, and the New Chu Nation sent out peace treaties to all of its neighboring empires and nations.

It seemed that all was peaceful and well, but everyone knew that this was now a different world.

The flames of war could engulf the entire continent at any moment, and no one would be spared.

The Church of the Self-Righteous had finally accomplished the objective that it had been fighting for for tens of thousands of years.

All of its forces could finally be unified under a nation, and it had also gained a status of legitimacy.

All followers of the Church of the Self-Righteous were celebrating this momentous occasion, while the rest of the continent shuddered in horror.

Everyone knew that the Church of the Self-Righteous had always wanted to found a nation, and everyone had thought that even if they succeeded, it would only have been a small and remote nation.

Never had anyone imagined that the Great Xuan Nation, one of the three major nations, would fall so easily.

One of the neighboring nations to the New Chu Nation was the Great Zhao Empire, and tensions were extremely high.

***

White Cloud Continent.

At White Cloud Warrior Academy.

August 2nd.

The new student tournament commenced as scheduled.

Tens of thousands of teachers and students were gathered on a field in the academy, while Dean Gao Qingyu delivered a rousing address on an elevated stage.

His voice was calm, yet it was clearly audible to everyone present.

"I'm sure all of you have heard about Master Xue's defeat. The Church of the Self-Righteous has been relegated to the shadows for countless years, yet it has now acquired a nation of its own. I understand that this is tragic news for all of you, and that you're all aware of the pending crisis."

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The looks on the faces of the students present became even more solemn.

All of a sudden, Gao Qingyu raised his voice as he continued, "But none of that has anything to do with us or any of you! What's happened has already happened, and right now, the Guardians and Protectionists are doing everything in their power to ensure the peace and safety of the masses. Hence, all of you are able to stand here.

“Fret not because it will do you no good. Only by attaining more power can you hope to make a difference in the future. In fact, if you were to get distracted now, then you would only be letting down those that are currently protecting you with their lives as we speak!

“As the dean of this academy, I have this to say to all of you: Do not allow the blood of your seniors be shed for nothing! Do not allow yourself to look back someday and lament at your wasted youth! Do not allow this world to become a living hell!"

All of the students collectively rallied at this call.

"Do not allow the blood of your seniors be shed for nothing! Do not allow yourself to look back someday and lament at your wasted youth! Do not allow this world to become a living hell!"

Those words were echoed by tens of thousands of students, shaking the very earth with their collective voices.

After the commotion had died down, Gao Qingyu declared, "The tournament for the top one hundred new students will now commence. Please step onto the stage when I call your name."

"First place, Fang Che with 299 points!"

A small group of people among the second-year students let loose a collective gasp of shock upon hearing this.

They were Fang Qingyun's circle of friends.

Never had they imagined that Fang Che would be the top seed among the students, and their eyes were glowing with excitement and admiration.

Fang Qingyun was completely flabbergasted.

A sense of sorrow welled up in his heart as he recalled his own ranking of 7,476 out of 7,500.

He was suddenly struck by the urge to give his cousin a beating!

How am I supposed to live if you're number one?! My father's going to kill me the next time I go home!

Everyone looked on as Fang Che stepped calmly onto the stage, the very picture of confidence and serenity.

It was as if he were a radiant prince that had descended from the heavens, and his presence left a lasting impression on everyone present.

"Wow..." someone involuntarily exclaimed.

A not-so-handsome student in the crowd clenched his fists as he declared, "I have to go find my parents and ask them why they couldn't have birthed me like this!"

A chorus of raucous laughter rang out around him.

Fang Che had already stepped onto the stage, and he remained as calm as ever even with tens of thousands of pairs of eyes on him at once.

He wasn't wearing his signature gold-embroidered black cloak, but it was hardly the clothes that made the man in his case anyway.

Huang Yifan was also standing on the stage, and he was looking at Fang Che with immense uncertainty in his eyes, wondering exactly which side he was on.