lcionline Chapter 167 The Twilight Willow Clan
Chapter 167 The Twilight Willow Clan
"Hey, everyone's here!" Keslan finally got to Fan Qingyin's side. Seeing him still lying half-dead on the bed, he rolled his eyes helplessly and had no choice but to greet everyone present in a familiar way.
"Hmm, could this be the legendary Pope and Saintess? It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. It's quite an eye-opener."
"..." Fan Qingyu frowned under her veil. Where did this lunatic come from? She must have been isolated for too long to have no idea what kind of person this was.
"Chief Keslan, what brings you here?" Jiang Ren stood up and asked in a deep voice, a glimmer of hope rising in his heart.
"Of course I came to see if the Divine Envoy Fan Qingyin is feeling better, and if her hair color has returned!" Keslan said regretfully, "I wonder if that woman Jiang Yu can like red hair. With her dull personality, she probably wouldn't be able to accept it. Poor Divine Envoy, even if she recovers, she'll probably fall out of favor."
Dressed in all black, Keslan is a habitual chatterbox who uses his superior combat power to do whatever he wants without considering the occasion or the feelings of others.
While everyone was silent, the head of the Fan family coughed and broke the deadlock: "This gentleman said that he already knows where Lord Jiang Yu is now. It should be the location that General Lin Yi managed to determine."
"Really? Where is Xiaoyu now?" Jiang Ren walked up to Keslan and asked excitedly.
"Hmm, so you didn't know that~" Keslan said with a smile, "That's right, how could anyone be faster than Arthur and me? It seems that General Lin Yi sent someone to deliver the message to me not only to ask me to send someone, but also to ask me to get the message to you faster!"
"The one who kidnapped Jiang Yu was a sea monster named Molinbia. Have you all heard of it? It's a really hard name to pronounce, isn't it?" Keslan shrugged and continued without waiting for anyone's reaction.
"This monster kidnapped Jiang Yu and hid him in its territory, the Forbidden Sea. What's more troublesome is that it also has a way to seal off the Forbidden Sea, as if it were omnipresent in its domain."
"Is there no way for our people to enter the forbidden sea? How can we rescue Xiaoyu?" If he had just heard great news with hope, it had now turned into despair, and Jiang Ren's face was full of bitterness.
"Morinbia?" Even as a saintess from the Aurora Empire, Fan Qingyu had never heard of the legends of the Ocean Empire. But this name... She turned to look in the direction of the Pope.
As if sensing Fan Qingyu's gaze, the Pope said, "This name does indeed come from divine oracle, and its connection with our Aurora Empire is far deeper than with the Ocean Empire."
"Oh? Tell me more." Keslan was clearly very interested and immediately sat down, looking like he was all ears, almost as if he was about to pull out a handful of sunflower seeds.
"Our Aurora God symbolizes rebirth and prayers for the afterlife; it is the coldest and most distant love of God, detached from the present world. The power of God's sacrifice and the sacrificial array also fall into this category. The name Morinbia comes from a divine oracle concerning sacrifice. But how could it be the name of a sea monster from the Ocean Empire?" The Pope explained clearly, while also expressing his own doubts.
"Sacrifice?" Keslan muttered softly. "Why are sacrifices happening so frequently lately? Is it really that easy to perform a sacrifice?"
“That matches up.” Keslan hadn’t originally intended to bring this up, but since the topic had come up, he might as well say everything he knew.
"The reason this sea monster abducted Jiang Yu was because a pearl diver named Wilman sacrificed his life, saying that he had heard Jiang Yu had been kidnapped by pirates and wanted to rescue her. As a result, the sea monster took advantage of the situation and took Jiang Yu to the forbidden sea."
"Aren't you kidding me? What gives these ants the confidence to think they can protect noble lords of several ranks and above?" Keslan said disdainfully.
"Then the sea monster can perform sacrifices?" Before Fan Qingyu could even marvel at Keslan's barbarity and lack of manners, what astonished her most was the fact that the sea monster could perform sacrifices. Even in their Fan family, which had a family tradition, it wasn't something that just anyone could activate a sacrifice array. How could a sea monster from a great ocean empire actually perform a sacrifice array?
“That is no ordinary monster.” The Pope’s tone was serious. Then, as if he had thought of something, he frowned and looked at Keslan: “Chief, have you seen that monster with your own eyes? Could you describe its appearance?”
"I've not only seen it with my own eyes, I've also fought it." Keslan gritted his teeth inwardly. That damned monster had been toying with him like a mouse. He would make it suffer a terrible death one day.
"It had many transparent tentacles, or perhaps arms, like amethyst crystals, with fins growing on them. As for its main body, I didn't see it; it was always hidden underwater," Keslan recalled. Although he was filled with hatred, he had to admit the beauty of the monster's tentacles.
He quickly recalled another very important feature, and he said, word by word, "It can become invisible."
Upon hearing Keslan's description, the Pope almost instantly confirmed in his heart that such a powerful and beautiful shadow, a being that could both become invisible and activate sacrificial arrays, could only be the companion of the gods in their past.
However, the divine companions—the Muliu clan—had long since vanished with the departure of the gods. Without the support of divine power, they simply could not survive.
According to records, the entire Muliu clan perished just a few years after the gods left. Could it be that some of the remaining bloodline ended up at the bottom of the ocean empire and were mistaken for sea monsters?
"I think I know what it is." The Pope's wise eyes swept over everyone present.
Even the Pope only guessed its identity. No one knew that the entire Muliu clan had used all their strength to preserve this sole bloodline, which had escaped calamity before it even became conscious, and had not been punished or weakened by the laws of the world due to the departure of the god.
Knowing that their last hope lay in the ocean, the Twilight Willows sent their only descendant to hide in the sea. It wasn't until Morinbia overcame her dormancy period, gained her own consciousness, and entered infancy that Triton found her.
From a young age, it was fed all sorts of rare treasures by Triton, which somewhat compensated for its lack of divine power. Later, as it grew up, it awakened the power of sacrifice, and Triton sacrificed thousands of living beings to win the war. Until Triton went completely mad and sacrificed the entire royal family in the vain attempt to bring back the gods, which provoked a divine oracle to descend to earth. In the end, it ate Triton and ended it all.
A thousand years later, due to the weakening effect of divine punishment, Morinbia gradually degenerated and lost the glory and strength of its ancestors, becoming a sea monster trapped in a small sea area.
"A divine companion?" Jiang Ren said with a wry smile, "How could we mere mortals possibly deal with a divine companion, even if it is now weakened?"
“It’s not weakening, it’s incredibly strong.” Keslan gritted his teeth, realizing for the first time how difficult the situation was.