Chapter 977: The Legend Of The Twin Ancestors

“Teacher Qin, huh? What did she say?” asked Lin Beichen.

Li Xiaofei replied, “Priestess Qin asked me to tell you: she did it.”

The message Priestess Qin had entrusted to Li Xiaofei consisted of just four simple words, 'I did it.'

It was very simple but the meaning behind them was something only Lin Beichen could understand.

A subtle change came over Lin Beichen’s expression as he suddenly fell silent. His gaze drifted toward the distant, pitch-black void. Those four plain words seemed to stir something within him, casting a faint shadow over his mood.

Li Xiaofei grew intensely curious. What kind of message lay behind those words, that even the mighty Sword Immortal of the human race would be struck speechless? But Lin Beichen’s silence lasted only for a dozen seconds or so.

Soon, he recovered his usual spirited demeanor and said, “That’s good news. I’m surprised you all found me so quickly, but I only have bad news to offer in return.”

He looked directly at Li Xiaofei and said, “I can’t leave this place.”

It truly was bad news. All the things Li Xiaofei had wanted to say were suddenly stuck in his throat. If Zhu Zhixun and the others had been here, they would have been gravely disappointed.

They had risked their lives, overcoming countless dangers to enter the Holy Ruins, just to find Lin Beichen, the Sword Immortal of the human race, and free him from whatever formation imprisoned him. They hoped he could return and, with a single sword strike, break through the darkness that had shrouded the Ancestor Court star system for millennia, and restore light to the human race. In the end, they had found him, but he couldn’t return.

Li Xiaofei said, “I brought the Time Jade. No matter what kind of formation...”

Lin Beichen interrupted him. “It’s not a formation that prevents me from leaving. Tell me, what kind of formation in this world could possibly imprison me?”

Though he was known as the Sword Immortal, one of the twenty-four branches of his dao lineage was the Heaven Array. It allowed him to use the stars themselves as formation cores, crafting arrays that spanned across the cosmos. So, there was virtually no formation in this world capable of holding him.

Not to mention that the Ancestor of Wisdom was, after all, a member of the Reaper race. Bound by his race’s inherent limitations, he could not cultivate the human martial path. Even if he could arrange formations, how could he possibly construct one strong enough to confine Lin Beichen?

“Then why can’t you leave this place, Senior?” Li Xiaofei asked, bewildered.

Lin Beichen replied, “To suppress a monster.”

“Suppress a monster?” Li Xiaofei grew more curious. “What kind of monster would be worth you trapping yourself here to keep it sealed?”

Lin Beichen smiled and said, “You saw the Ancestor of Wisdom today, so you should know that the Reapers have two Ancestors.”

Li Xiaofei nodded. Then, all at once, realization struck him.

“You mean the one being suppressed here is the Ancestor of Strength, one of the Reapers’ twin Ancestors?” he exclaimed.

Lin Beichen nodded and said, “It’s him, the supreme abomination who wields the power of annihilation.”

Li Xiaofei asked, “If that’s the case, then why did the Ancestor of Wisdom earlier seem so unconcerned? Does he not know what lies sealed here?”

Lin Beichen suddenly grinned and said, “Tell me, why do you think the Ancestor of Strength ended up sealed here in the first place?”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Li Xiaofei guessed, “Wasn’t it because of your peerless might, that you alone defeated and sealed him here?”

“Uh... what you said is technically true,” Lin Beichen muttered, rubbing the space between his brows with his middle finger. “I do have peerless might, but unlike that sly bastard, the Ancestor of Wisdom, the Ancestor of Strength is far more terrifying in terms of combat strength. Even if I had fought him one-on-one, I wouldn’t have been able to win.”

The Reapers had two Ancestors. The Ancestor of Wisdom and the Ancestor of Strength. Both had emerged from the deepest reaches of the Holy Ruins, the Land of Annihilation. They were the progenitors who had created and shaped the Reaper race.

For a long time, the two Ancestors had been equal in status. Even within the Reaper faction, the prevailing belief was that both Ancestors were evenly matched, indistinguishable in power. But the truth was quite different.

The Ancestor of Strength’s strength far surpassed that of the Ancestor of Wisdom. Back then, the Ancestor of Wisdom had fought a great battle against Lin Beichen, the Sword Immortal, and had been defeated and driven into the Holy Ruins.

He had then attempted to use the power of the Holy Ruins to strike back at Lin Beichen but he was defeated once again. In terms of pure one-on-one strength, the Ancestor of Wisdom was not a match for any of the Five Human Emperors.

But the Ancestor of Strength was different. His strength was not inferior to any of the Five Emperors. In fact, he could even overpower them. This was one of the key reasons why the Reaper race had been able to survive and endure for so long.

Unfortunately, despite being blood brothers, the Ancestor of Strength and the Ancestor of Wisdom did not share a harmonious relationship. What began as occasional friction eventually escalated into open hostility. In time, the two became as incompatible as fire and water.

“One represents wisdom and reason, and the other embodies destruction and savagery. Though born of the same source, they were opposites by nature. How could they possibly coexist peacefully?” Lin Beichen said. “And to be honest, I’m also quite curious about one thing, what kind of ‘mother’ could give birth to a pair of brothers like that?”

Li Xiaofei responded, “If you put it that way, I actually have another question that makes me even more curious.”

Lin Beichen turned to look at him.

Li Xiaofei said, “How exactly did the Ancestor of Wisdom and the Ancestor of Strength reproduce and create the Reaper race? Don’t tell me they...”

Lin Beichen gasped and stared at Li Xiaofei with an expression like he was witnessing a genius of depravity. “I used to think I was shameless and lewd enough in my younger days. I never thought you, kid, could match me. That astonishing theory of yours... it really has the flavor of my youthful indecency.”

Li Xiaofei was speechless. But Lin Beichen had to admit that the question Li Xiaofei raised was actually quite meaningful. The Reapers were studying humans, but humans were also studying the Reapers. The origin of a species was crucial to every race, since it contained the secrets of evolution and potentially, its fatal flaws.

Lin Beichen had pondered this question long ago. According to theories proposed by Reaper historians, very much like the human myth of Nüwa creating mankind, the Ancestor of Wisdom and the Ancestor of Strength used organic matter from the interstellar void to create the diverse Reaper race. But he didn’t really buy that theory.

What Lin Beichen was far more curious about was, how exactly had the Ancestor of Wisdom and the Ancestor of Strength come into being from the Land of Annihilation? Why had they left it? And why, after leaving, could they never return?

The Land of Annihilation was a land of death. Lin Beichen had visited it once but only managed to explore its outer fringes. He had harvested strands of deathly aura and brought them back to the Burial Sea. So he had some understanding of that place.

It was a realm of pure death and destruction; no life should have ever emerged from it. So how could the Ancestor of Wisdom and the Ancestor of Strength have been born there? This mystery had troubled Lin Beichen for a long time. Even now, he was still searching for answers.

“Though the Ancestor of Wisdom lacks strength, he’s got a mind like a nest of a million scheming spiders,” Lin Beichen said. “He used me to help seal the Ancestor of Strength here.”

“After witnessing the Ancestor of Strength’s terrifying power with my own eyes, I had no choice but to remain here and maintain the seal. If he ever escapes, the Primal Faction Reapers will rise to dominance, and they will launch an all-out assault without hesitation. It would be a catastrophe too great to bear for humanity.”