Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Celestial Prison

“Correct. Humans and elemental demons in Moyun Mountains are but prisoners,” answered the elder.

“Haha, it’s fine for you to be a prisoner if that’s what floats your boat, but don’t drag humanity in.”

“No, I meant humans in Moyun Mountains are prisoners, not all humans.”

“What do you mean?”

The elder patted the sacred fig tree, giving it a gentle shake and startling Mu Yu back a few steps. The elder elucidated, “It has been ninety-six years. Humans and elemental demons once fought a big war against each other. Mankind won, while we were on the verge of extinction, thereby forcing us to flee from Moyun Mountains.

“The mountain range here is boundless. The cultivators didn’t pursue us because they knew places with lots of trees and mountains gave us the terrain advantage. Accordingly, they erected a formation to barricade Moyun Mountains. We, therefore, couldn’t escape.”

“A formation? Aren’t you the experts in formations? How did humanity trap you?”

Elemental demons proved they were adept at controlling the five elements when they ensnared Mu Yu. Being adept didn’t mean infallible, though.n0ve(l)bi(n.)co/m

The elder shook his head. “All formations come from us. Admittedly, humans are also proficient with formations. Instead of using five elements formations, they caught us with a heaven and earth formation called Celestial Prison. It required the cultivators to use their cultivation as the formation’s core to lock down Moyun Mountains.

“The individual from Third Heaven Palace really is something. They must’ve reached the pinnacle of cultivation to defeat our five spirit lords on their own and sealed the mountain range to stop us from escaping while he competed with humans for Third Heaven Continent.”

“No. I shared the story with you to motivate you to verify it for yourself. I hope you will reconsider whether or not siding with humankind is the right thing to do when you decide to help them once war between our races breaks out.

An Infant Soul Realm cultivator from beyond Moyun Mountains came by not long ago. If you can find him and ask him about it, you will learn what you need to know.”

Mu Yu figured the tree elder referred to the youth in red. He wasn’t going to see the youth, nonetheless, since it could jeopardise his shifu. There was one person he could consult – Tian Ran. He surmised the story was the reason why she was reluctant to explicate her goal.

“You could kill me and remove the risk of me joining either side,” Mu Yu stated.

“It’s a plausible long-term idea; however, our wood demon race is sick of war. While the other elemental demon races still hate humans with a vengeance, we refer peace. You are special to both races. I want to gamble on you. Perhaps you are our wood demon race’s hope.”

“So you’re going to release me? You don’t even believe the legend, yet you are willing to trust me?”

“Though I don’t trust humans, you’re different. You might bring us a pleasant surprise. We don’t like committing murder. Otherwise, we could’ve massacred all of you when you entered instead of setting up formations to send you in circles.”

“Wait, you didn’t kill them?”

The tree elder sincerely responded, “We tried to stop you from entering the forest, but you inadvertently aggravated the water, fire and earth demons. They’re not as tolerant as we are. We had to assist them due to an oath we made when we established an agreement. I know you don’t like violence, either. Trees embody life; we cherish life. Why would we destroy life without rhyme or reason?”

“How are you going to fight humans in the future if you’re struggling for sustenance in this Celestial Prison?”

“Did you forget I mentioned we have found a way to escape? We have spent the years here recuperating and studying the heaven and earth formation.”