Chapter 671 - 664: Blazing Fire
Zhou Yuanjue was a bit surprised by how direct and decisive Ji's answer was.
"Do you know what that means?"
Zhou Yuanjue asked.
"Of course. But in my current situation, you have to give something to get something. Besides, this relates to my next condition."
Ji said with a nod.
"What condition?"
Zhou Yuanjue asked.
"I can become your follower and serve you, but if you have sufficient power one day, I hope you can help me remove the 'curse' from deep within my True Spirit."
Ji said.
"A curse?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuanjue showed a flicker of surprise.
"Actually, we weren't always like this. You wanted to know about the history of our homeworld and information regarding the Calamity, didn't you? I'll tell you now..."
Ji began to speak, and a flicker of interest appeared in Zhou Yuanjue's eyes.
"In the past, we called our homeworld the 'Holy Star.' It was once an incomparably beautiful place..."
A mixture of pain and reminiscence filled Ji's eyes. A chaotic glint even flashed in their blood-red depths, a sign she was on the verge of losing control, but she ultimately suppressed it.
"The Holy Star was about twice the size of Earth and had stronger gravity. As a result, life on the Holy Star was born with extremely powerful physiques. Due to its vast and diverse lands, along with other planetary differences, the Holy Star boasted an incredibly rich and peculiar variety of landforms and climates. This led to an abundant diversity of species and countless natural creations that could only be described as miracles. Some of them were even more wondrous than what you'd find in the human novels of today."
"There were races that could naturally absorb and control the Power of Nature; fruits that, with a single bite, could subtly adjust one's biological structure and drastically improve physiological functions; cloud-continents that floated in the sky, possessing powerful natural magnetic poles; and supreme ancient trees over ten thousand meters tall, with branches as large as an entire city on Earth..."
"Precisely because the Holy Star possessed a 'Life Force' far greater than Earth's, its path of development was vastly different from that of modern Earth. Since ancient times, individual Cultivation has been the mainstream on the Holy Star. Powerful individuals held extraordinary power, status, and authority, and so, the Holy Star's Life Civilization was extremely advanced."
"In the nearly thirty-thousand-year recorded history of the Holy Star's intelligent life, countless geniuses were born and innumerable schools of Cultivation arose. Ultimately, eleven great schools reached their zenith, and the representatives of those eleven great schools are us, the Twelve Primordial Ancestors."
"The eleven schools existed in various forms—academies, nations, Sects, and so on—spread all across the Holy Star, and its civilization reached its absolute peak. But we, who already stood at the pinnacle of our planet, did not stop advancing. During the long lives granted by the True Spirit System, we slowly and continuously perfected our biological structures, gradually approaching perfection. It was then that we finally made contact with a higher power—the True Realm."
"However, to this day, I'm still not sure whether we triggered some taboo when we touched the True Realm, shattered some kind of inherent planetary self-protection, or if it was just some other coincidence. In any case, while we were focusing all our efforts on researching the power of the True Realm, disaster struck without our knowledge."
"First, a disease of unknown origin began to spread, causing a widespread epidemic at one point, but we eventually cured and contained it. However, the people who recovered from the disease began to exhibit strange behaviors. They secretly formed a malevolent Sect called 'Blazing Fire' and carried out clandestine activities. At first, we paid them little mind, as such incidents involving sects were quite common throughout history, so we simply continued to hunt and suppress these dark forces."
"It was only later that we learned that through their malevolent sacrificial rites, they had unconsciously established 'coordinates' for certain terrifying entities."
Ji said slowly.
"Coordinates?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yuanjue narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Yes. You've also made contact with the True Realm and can perform a True Realm Jump, so you should understand what 'coordinates' are."
"A magnetic field, a stream of information, or a 'feeling' that is profoundly Xuan. The True Realm is filled with raging torrents of Energy, and to lock onto a target's position within these endless torrents, you need these exact coordinates."
"At the time, we had only just made contact with the True Realm and had no idea our star had been targeted. Then, one day, during a ritual of the Blazing Fire Sect, the first enemy used the coordinates to descend upon our planet through a True Realm passage. Afterward, more and more terrifying enemies followed. The first ones to arrive were roughly on par with us Primordial Ancestors, who had also touched upon the power of the True Realm. They were like an advance guard, likely sent by some terrifying entity using immense power to probe for intelligence. After we repelled them, the enemies that followed grew progressively more horrifying."
"'Blazing Fire' was the name of their organization. They were terrifying High level Life forms from the depths of the True Realm. They possessed terrifying power far beyond our own, and their target was our planet and everything on it."
"They seemed able to extract a special Energy from a Life Planet, one used for the 'creation' and 'generation' of life. Wherever they went, the world became Desolate and deathly still, completely inhospitable to life."
"At the time, Mo was ahead of everyone in his research of the True Realm's power. Though his 'Dreams Come True' ability wasn't suited for combat, by using Illusion-Truth Fusion to combine the power of multiple Primordial Ancestors, we temporarily managed to resist the enemy's offensive. But we also realized these enemies were not something we could truly stand against."
"As time passed, even more powerful True Realm Life descended. It became clear that our entire planet and our whole civilization would eventually be annihilated."
"Fortunately, however, our clashes and confrontations with them deepened our understanding of the True Realm. It was then that someone proposed a plan to save our civilization."
"'Since our civilization and planet were doomed to destruction, we should cut our losses to ensure survival. We would select suitable 'Fire Seeds' and preserve their soul structures within the bodies of the Primordial Ancestors. Then, we would sacrifice all remaining life, use the planetary authority we commanded to burn away most of the planet's magnetic field and Power, and use Mo's ability to fuse the Twelve Primordial Ancestors. With that combined Energy as our foundation, we would break free from the planet, enter the vast True Realm, and search for a new home for our civilization...'"