Chapter 861: A Secret Kept by Gods

Chapter 861: A Secret Kept by Gods

The bitter voice caused Xu Qing to reel mentally as memories that weren’t his bubbled up within him. They were fragmented and didn’t connect, almost like random puzzle pieces. Many were missing, and as a result, Xu Qing couldn’t really piece them together into a meaningful whole. However, there was one thing that came through very clearly.

Many, many years ago, before the gods came to Revered Ancient, back in the time of Ancient time, the Firemoon Darkheaven people... weren’t called by that name. Their species had a different name. They were... the Darkheaven Archmage people. They were both the subordinates of and among the greatest allies of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. And there was no species that received more support from humankind. They had a very close relationship with humans, and had worked hard to support Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity as he ascended the throne and conquered Revered Ancient.

Back during those times, their leader, who was called the antemage, and Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity were the closest of friends. During the days before they both reached their peak, they were comrades and confidants. Both had saved the other’s life on multiple occasions.[1]

The antemage was shockingly powerful, and was called Dark Serenity’s right-hand man. He had performed great services in the effort to unify Revered Ancient. The antemage’s only son had even been given his name by Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity.

Those memory fragments flashed through Xu Qing’s senses, shaking him to the core. His eyes opened, and they were full of surprise.

“Firemoon Darkheaven people,” he murmured. “Darkheaven Archmage people....”

Xu Qing struggled to control his breathing. Whether it was back in the imperial capital or here in Firemoon Darkheaven territory, he had never seen any mention of history like this. Now that he thought about it, all the historical records he had studied only went back to the time of Emperor Eastglory. There wasn’t anything further back than that. It was almost as if the two species’ interactions in the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity had been erased.

Apparently, nobody had thought about it or had cared enough to look into the matter. Perhaps it made sense that there was no information. But it was still strange.

Understandings were influenced! And what else could influence two entire species over such a long time... other than the power of a god?

Xu Qing suddenly thought about the Firemoon Darkheavens’ three gods.

Finally, he looked down at the skull he’d fished out. The memory fragments he’d just witnessed were difficult to reconcile, but at the very least, they gave him food for thought about the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands.

Whoever spoke those words talked about ‘father-mage.’ The ‘father-mage’ must be that good friend of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, who was the antemage of the time. And the speaker was his son, whose name was Ninedawns.... Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity gave him that name. And this place is called the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands.

Xu Qing’s heart started to race.

Don’t tell me... there actually isn’t any animal called ninedawns! Rather... Ninedawns was the son of the antemage of the Darkheaven Archmage people? In that case, what did he mean when he said that he ‘let down our Darkheaven Archmage people’...? [2]

Xu Qing looked down at the muck and felt like he could almost see all the way down to that sealed cave.

Is that mountain of bone ash all that remains of Ninedawns’ corpse?

For the first time, he was curious to know more about the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands.

After a short time, he cleared his thoughts and checked the violet crystal. Floating within the crystal was a skull that pulsed with mysterious light.

Dealing with the gods had caused a very rare difference of opinion to occur between the two of them. When the Ancient Emperors left, and the broken face of the god arrived, heaven and earth went dark. Everything blurred. In addition to the broken face came a host of other terrifying gods. Almost overnight, the heavenly daos began to weep, and all living beings wailed in grief.

The gods that descended on Revered Ancient did different things. Some chose to protect various species they interacted with. Some went into hiding in the depths of the land. All of them brought catastrophe.

One of the gods that came with the broken face looked like a spider. That god had shocking personhood that surpassed most other gods. In that god’s presence, all other gods bowed their heads.

And hīs goal was clear. It was... the Darkheaven Archmage people. Hē wanted to enslave them and make them believers.

But the Darkheaven Archmages didn’t want to become slaves. And thus, under the leadership of the antemage, they waged a bitter war against the spider god and the other gods who came with hīm. It was a war in which blood rained from the sky and the lands shattered.

The antemage was a close friend of Dark Serenity, and was fearsomely powerful. His species was similarly spectacular. Cultivating mage arts was different from what ordinary cultivators did. They focused on shapeshifting. Some could transform into giant humanoids, others could transform into giant beasts.

The war shook heaven and earth. Countless Darkheaven Archmages died. As for the gods... it was the same with them. Many of them died, and their corpses fell onto the lands below.

In the end, the antemage sacrificed his life to mortally wound the spider god that all the other gods worshiped. That god was transformed into something called the God-Rejecting Mage Formation, which rejected all types of godly power. That formation’s power was sent out to cover the entire species as a protection. Just before dying, the antemage passed his title on to his son. He told him to use the faith of the Darkheaven Archmage people to fight against the gods!

That son's name was Ninedawns.

Ninedawns felt great sorrow. However, that was a time period in which gods filled the world, and he hadn’t just accepted the title of antemage and the faith of his species. He had also accepted a great responsibility. And thus, he led all of the archmages of his species outside of the God-Rejecting Mage Formation and waged war on the gods. He never backed down. He never made the decision to simply go home.

To the Darkheaven Archmage people, there was no more qualified antemage than Ninedawns. As he and the other archmages fought the gods, time passed. Within the lands of the Darkheaven Archmages, inside of the God-Rejecting Mage Formation, their species had time to rest and recover.

A new generation of mage cultivators rose up, and one of them was spectacularly talented, and was a born leader. A new chief.

The antemage waged war for such a long time that he became little more than a legend. And the species began to change. That talented leader made a name for himself, and eventually became the grand steward of the Darkheaven Archmage people.

The antemage was in heaven, the steward of the mandate of heaven. The chief was in the mortal world, the steward of mortal authority. And thus, he came to be called the grand steward.

The memories ended there. Xu Qing opened his eyes, and his expression was complicated. That was because he had just recalled the information about Ninedawns that he had studied back at God Mountain.

“The top beast in the Mountain and Sea Region is called a ninedawns. It had a special place in Firemoon Darkheaven culture. Throughout the entire history of their species, there had only been one instance in which someone tamed a ninedawns. Specifically, it was the very first ancestral chief of the Firemoon Darkheavens, who was also the grand steward who led them to prominence. His mount was a ninedawns.”

1. I’m coining the one-word term antemage using the English prefix ‘ante’ from the Latin ‘before,’ to convey the idea of the ancestor or founder of the mages. There are lots of words in English that use ante as a prefix, such as Antebellum, antecedent, antechamber, or antediluvian. In any case, for a variety of reasons, it helps to have a one-word pithy term for this title, so ‘antemage’ it is. Ante can be pronounced in a variety of ways, including antuh, antay, and antee, depending on your preference. ☜

2. Unlike English, the Chinese written script does not have upper- and lower-case. Because of that, it’s much easier to create intentional vagueness in the language between proper and common nouns. For instance, if you had a character named Giraffe, but also had giraffes in the setting, there would be no difference between the two in Chinese. But in English we do make that distinction. It’s further complicated by the fact that there are no plurals in Chinese. As a result, it’s very easy for the author to create a fantastical animal name that is later revealed to actually be the name of a person. Up to this point, I’ve been rendering ‘ninedawns’ as a lowercase, plural word because it was said to be a type of animal. In reality, we just found out it’s most properly rendered in upper case and in the singular form. Going forward, I will do my best to mix and match the two versions depending on the context. For instance, when it comes to dialogue from people who think that ‘ninedawns’ refers to a type of animal, I’ll use the lower case. But in the case of Xu Qing, who knows it’s the name of a person, I’ll capitalize it. That said, there could be instances in which Xu Qing is referring to the incorrect ‘animal’ version of the word, in which case I’ll render it accordingly. Things are further complicated by the fact that the author often uses that exact same term to refer to the physical location that has been referred to as the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands. Though the Chinese term is the same in all these instances, I will render them in the way that makes sense based on the context. ☜