Chapter 1274: Heroes Gather At East Radiance

East Radiance Mountain was located at Dong Qian. Said to be the location where the East Radiance Monarch had discovered his Dao and become a celestial, it was blessed with beautiful natural conditions and considered a holy site of Taoism in its early years.

East Radiance Mountain used to belong to the East Radiance Monastery, a sect descended from the East Radiance Monarch himself. In fact, East Radiance Monastery used to be so powerful that their status and influence had surpassed even True Martial, Dragon Tiger, and Kunlun. They were the leaders of Taoism.

Alas, the moon waxes and wanes, and the water overflows once it has exceeded its vessel. For whatever reason, a series of terrible tragedies had befallen East Radiance Monastery during its greatest.

First, the head of the East Radiance Monastery suddenly went missing. No one knew if he died or disappeared, only that he was never seen again. Next, the jewel of their monastery, the East Radiance Monarch Sword was stolen. Then, many of their elites suddenly suffered a martial deviation and massacred many of their own disciples.

This series of tragedies caused the East Radiance Monastery to decline rapidly. They went from being revered by all under the heavens to being loathed by everyone.

After the East Radiance Monastery fell into decline, their subordinate sects chose to detach themselves from them, and the heretics and evils they used to suppress took revenge in every way and fashion imaginable. In just the span of a few months, the disciples of the East Radiance Monastery had all fled or perished in battle. In the end, their legacy ended, and the East Radiance Monastery disappeared into the annals of history several thousand years ago.

A mountain was special not because it was tall, but because a celestial lived in it. If the celestial was gone, then the mountain would naturally become nameless once more.

After the East Radiance Monastery was gone, the formerly blessed and popular holy site of Taoism slowly lost its spiritual qi and air of Dao. In the end, it became no different from your ordinary mountain.

After hundreds and thousands of years, no sect existed in the East Radiance Mountain anymore. Today, only a handful of small monasteries lived there. Moreover, the East Radiance Mountain was as tall as it was treacherous, so few people besides seekers of ancient truths and travelers who came to pay homage visited it.

Because of this, East Radiance Mountain was normally extremely peaceful and tranquil. Almost no human traces could be found on its lands.

That was n longer the case. For the past couple days, East Radiance Mountain was absolutely jam-packed with people.

Jianghu

people from all across the world had swarmed to the East Radiance Mountain, shattering its usual desolation and peace with noise and life. At least a small portion of its air of transcendence had been replaced by smoke, fire, and red dust instead.

These

jianghu

people had not gathered at East Radiance Mountain in search of ancient truths or to sightsee of course. They were here for the heroes’ arena—the heroes’ arena held by Ye Qing himself.

The East Radiance Mountain was huge, but there was only one heroes’ arena. It was the Unbounded Platform at the peak.

The Unbounded Platform was built during the greatest days of the East Radiance Monastery. It was named “unbounded” in reference to the Taoist belief that the unbounded possessed no mastery in any one thing, but could perform well in anything.

The Unbounded Platform was used whenever the East Radiance Monastery was holding an important celebration or a ritual. It was big enough to fit tens, even hundreds of thousands of people.

In the “Journal of Tao”, it was stated that during the East Radiance Monastery’s prime, the incense smoke gathered like clouds, and the spectators’ breaths formed wind and thunder. It had been a spectacular and rare sight.

Later, the East Radiance Monastery collapsed, and the Unbounded Platform was forgotten. Naturally, the sight became just another legend in a pile of paper.

That was no longer the case. Today, the banners hung like clouds, the people flowed like streams, the voices rumbled like thunder, and the sounds roared like a flood. Although there was no incense smoke, it almost felt like they were reliving the olden days of East Radiance.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Right now though, few people were wearing a good expression on their face. Urgency, gloominess, irritation, anger. Only a small number of them looked calm and collected.

The reason was simple. The main character of this grand event hadn’t shown up yet.

It was almost noon already, but the main character of the heroes’ arena of East Radiance Mountain, Ye Qing, was still nowhere to be found.

For obvious reasons, this heroes’ arena could not begin until Ye Qing had shown up.

As time passed, more and more people grew uneasy, frustrated, and furious.

The uneasy were uneasy because they worried that Ye Qing would not be showing up.

The frustrated were frustrated because they were eager to get their hands on the Earthly Sovereign Bell as soon as possible.

The dissatisfied were dissatisfied because they thought that Ye Qing was making everyone waiting for him and him alone.

Some people thought that Ye Qing was putting on airs and so felt very disdainful.

Some people thought that Ye Qing had played them like a fiddle and so grew angry at the deception.

Gradually, the short-tempered ones began to swear loudly.

“Look! The sun!”

Suddenly, someone cried out in surprise and pointed a finger at the sun. When the crowd looked, tears immediately streamed down their eyes as they felt a stabbing pain.

When did the sun become so bright? It was to the point where even they could not see it directly.

By the time they adapted slightly to the dazzling light, what happened next shocked them to the core.

It was because the sun was falling from the sky.

The sky kept growing bigger and bigger. Its blazing light illuminated the firmaments, and its golden flames oppressed heaven and earth.

It was like the heavens had descended to demand submission from both the celestials and the demons.

Countless people barring a handful felt as tiny as an ant. It looked like doom was coming for them, and yet they could not even think to resist or escape their fate.

As the temperature grew higher and higher, the weaker ones collapsed to the floor and wore despairing looks on their faces.

“Hmph. No one faults you for making an entrance, but why toy with the weaklings, Mad Lord?”

It was amidst this sea of despair when a warm, gentle voice resounded beside everyone’s ears. Powerful beyond measure yet soothing like the spring wind, it somehow swept clean the heat and pressure, fear and despair they were feeling in an instant.

The next moment, a gigantic tree shot into the air.

The tree trunk was so thick it resembled a mountain, and it was easily thousands and thousands of meters tall. Like a gigantic umbrella, its canopy completely covered up the sky.

The green leaves attached to the branches looked soft, lush, and full of life.

As soon as the tree appeared, the air of the platform instantly became cool and refreshing.

“This tree... it’s the Spring Tree Superior!”

“Thank goodness! We’re saved!”

The despairing folk immediately let out a mad cheer. Spring Tree Superior was a Great Trueman and ranked fifty-third on the Earth Champions Ranking. A Strangerkin with the bloodline of the ancient Spring Radiance Divine Wood in him, he could make any and all plants do his bidding. An expert in pill making, he enjoyed a pretty good reputation in the

jianghu

.

The tree he just summoned was his yang god, the Spring Radiance Divine Tree. It was a sky-blotting tree that protected all life.

Unfortunately, the cheers hadn’t even ended yet when a change overcame the Spring Radiance Divine Tree.

First, the lush, green leaves slowly turned scorched yellow and bright red. Then, the branches grew many flowers.

The flowers were as big as a human’s fist at the beginning. The next moment, they became as big as a millstone.

After the flowers bloomed, the yellowish red leaves slowly regained their color and vitality, and the heat that had once again invaded the Unbounded Platform disappeared once more.

This state of things only lasted a moment though. The millstone-sized flowers abruptly burst into golden flames, and they spread to the entire Spring Radiance Divine Tree in just the blink of an eye.

The tree visibly withered and crumbled into a pile of ash under the golden flames all-consuming heat.

As soon as the Spring Radiance Divine Tree crumbled into ash, Spring Radiance Superior let out a muffled groan and turned as pale as a sheet. It was clear that he had suffered quite the massive blow.

At the same time, golden flames plummeted onto the platform and turned it into a sea of fire.