"So the weight of the divine weapon can still decrease."
Sitting cross-legged on the back of a 100,000-year Demonic Spirit Great White Shark, Chen Junting listened to Wang Dong'er's account and nodded in understanding.
He knew it. To use the Golden Trident, how could it weigh ten thousand and eight hundred catties when held by the Sea God's successor? If that were truly the case, even swinging it would become a difficult task.
"That's right. As long as I can master the first three strikes the Sea God imparted, the Golden Trident's weight in my hands will drop to one hundred and eight catties, though its actual weight will remain one hundred and eight thousand catties. That way, even if I just lift it and smash it down..."
"Hehe—"
A trace of slyness flashed through Wang Dong'er's eyes.
"I'd like to see who can withstand that."
Indeed.
Everyone nodded one after another, thoroughly agreeing in their hearts.
One had to know that a weight of one hundred and eight thousand catties, even with Brother Junting's physical strength, could only be lifted. If an ordinary person tried to forcefully block it... just think about it. With that kind of force, wouldn't they be smashed into meat paste?
Amidst everyone's conversation, aside from his initial words, Chen Junting had maintained his silence. But in reality, he had devoted the vast majority of his attention to the Four Zhu Xian Swords and the Zhu Xian Formation Diagram currently placed within his Heavenly Eye for nourishment.
A super divine weapon...
When he became a god, perhaps the Zhu Xian Sword Array combined as a whole could reach the level of a super divine weapon. But what he cared about more was his Seven Kill Sword that would be stripped out in the future.
Because speaking in the terms of cultivation novels from his previous life, the materialized and stripped-out martial soul would be his natal spiritual treasure, similar to the first generation Sea God Poseidon's Golden Trident, or the first generation Asura God's Asura Demon Sword. Only this kind of divine weapon was the most compatible for a deity. And it was absolutely not like Tang San, who after becoming a god, virtually abandoned his own martial soul and only focused on the super divine weapons passed down from two first-generation gods. Of course, Tang San probably noticed this point later on as well.
For example: the Eight Spider Lances.
"Brother Junting, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing."
After withdrawing his attention, Huo Yuhao's voice came moments later. Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Chen Junting shifted his gaze to Xiao Bai beneath Wang Dong'er.
Seemingly noticing the gaze, Xiao Bai turned her head slightly.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"I wanted to ask, does the route pass through the Sun Moon Continent?"
"The Sun Moon Continent?"
As soon as this question was asked, it was as if a question mark rose above Xiao Bai's head. Clearly, having long resided in the sea, she didn't know what the so-called Sun Moon Continent was.
Seeing this, Chen Junting changed his phrasing.
"It's the continent that crashed into Sea God Island back then."
Put that way, Xiao Bai immediately understood.
As the "true culprit" that caused their former homeland "Sea God Island" to disappear, forcing them to relocate to another new continent, causing the traces of the first generation Sea God Lord Poseidon to completely vanish, the King of the Demonic Spirit Great White Sharks who witnessed the passage of history naturally had a fresh memory of it.
"If it's that continent, we will indeed pass by it."
"Then please dock there for me."
"Ah?"
Before Xiao Bai could react, Huo Yuhao and the group were the first to be puzzled. Why not return directly to the sect?
Xiao Bai, seeing that everyone had puzzled expressions, followed up with a question, "Is everyone going to dock at that continent?"
"No, just me."
Chen Junting shook his head, then said to Huo Yuhao and the others, "You all let Xiao Bai and the others continue carrying you to dock at the Douluo Continent, then return to the sect or the academy. I'm heading to the Sun Moon Continent just to see Xiao Tian first."
"See Xiao Tian?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Feng immediately got excited.
"Then I want to go too."
"Hell no."
For this girl's plea, Chen Junting flatly refused.
"It's been so many years. Your grandfather misses you too. So go back and see him first. Besides, there's no rush to see Xiao Tian. If she's done, you'll be able to see her later. If she's not done, then it's useless for you to come with me."
With things put this way, Wu Feng didn't mess around anymore.
(Wu Feng: Hey! Sword jerk! Is this what kind of image I have in your eyes!? —Chen Junting: Isn't it?)
Moreover, from Chen Junting's words, combined with what was said before they departed, Wu Feng more or less guessed what Ning Tian was doing right now, and a sense of urgency couldn't help but rise in her heart.
This kind of mindset was extremely consistent with Gu Tianchen.
If Chen Junting knew, he would probably sigh in his heart: This is true love, their hearts are connected.
But right now, Chen Junting wasn't paying attention to Wu Feng. Instead, he thanked Xiao Bai, who was currently speeding along.
"It's nothing, just a lift of a hand."
So next, after a day and a half of rapid travel under the blowing sea breeze, from afar, a black horizon appeared in everyone's line of sight. This scene lifted everyone's spirits. After all, the desolation of the sea still made one feel dull.
On this point, no matter how strong one's cultivation, there were no exceptions. After all, while one could endure it, who wouldn't want to see something nice.
Soon, Chen Junting set foot on the continent again. But after he confirmed his current location using the sea chart, he discovered that although he was on the Sun Moon Continent, this region had long since become the Star Luo Empire's territory after the great war ended.
So generally speaking, they were already within the borders.
"So, are we going down?"
Everyone looked at each other. In the end, they bid farewell to Xiao Bai and the group of Demonic Spirit Great White Sharks. After all, the remaining distance wasn't too far, and with their cultivation, traveling was an easy task.
Most importantly, they wouldn't have to face the boundless and desolate sea anymore.
However, before Xiao Bai left, she told Wang Dong'er that when she wanted to return to the Sea God Clan for the final inheritance, she only needed to release the light of the Sea God's Trident at the shore, and she would be able to sense it. Within three days, she would definitely come to pick her up.
So, after looking back three times in the sea, Xiao Bai led her clansmen and accelerated away, gradually disappearing where the water and sky met.
Setting foot on their homeland again undoubtedly excited everyone, but Xiao Bai's departure also brought them a sense of loss. After all, they had lived on Sea God Island for nearly four years, which was already quite long. After all, for ordinary people, how many four years were there in a lifetime?
"In that case, let's part ways here."
The group prepared to head north, with only Chen Junting heading south.
No one felt sad about this kind of parting. In the end, after Chen Junting agreed with Gu Tianchen and the others to meet at the sect, he didn't linger any longer. He rose into the air and headed south.
After Gu Tianchen watched Chen Junting leave, he waved his broad hand, and a Door of Void appeared. "Then let's go too."
...
"Eh? What's that?"
Arriving above a city, Chen Junting's sharp eyes caught sight of the Sun Moon Empire's flag erected on the city walls.
So, amidst his puzzlement, he compared it with the map.
This city, among the northern cities of the Sun Moon Continent, was already considered a main city tier. Although its scale wasn't large, in terms of strategic significance, it had already exceeded that of an ordinary main city.
But this city had clearly been ceded to the Star Luo Empire by the Sun Moon Empire after the war back then.
Yet now, how has it been taken back?
One had to know that after the Sun Moon Empire's defeat, given the current situation, the Sun Moon Empire absolutely wouldn't launch an offensive on its own initiative.
In that case, how could it...
Strange, truly strange.
It couldn't be that the Star Luo Empire voluntarily returned it to the Sun Moon, could it?
Along with the curiosity rising in his heart, Chen Junting used formations to avoid the high-altitude detection soul tools above the city, then landed. At the city gate, about twenty soldiers were inspecting passing pedestrians. From the looks of it, the inspections were very thorough. The soldiers were all brimming with killing intent, with strict military discipline.
At one glance, one could tell they were elites retired from the battlefield.
But this wasn't surprising.
After all, if this city was truly taken back by the Sun Moon Empire, it naturally became an important stronghold for the Sun Moon Empire in the northern territory.
So elite garrison soldiers were to be expected.
After entering the city, Chen Junting quickly headed to the Six Treasure Pavilion stationed here, and then inquired about the news he wanted to know. It was just that after learning this news, he couldn't help but marvel at how great and how fast the changes in the situation were.
It hadn't even been two years since he left.
It turned out that not long after Chen Junting left back then, a coup d'état changing the dynasty had occurred in the Star Luo Empire. Led by the White Tiger Duke Dai Hao, they directly raised the banner of reviving Star Luo's glory, marching out from the southern territory with their military forces pointing straight at Star Luo City.
As for the reason why...
One could only say that because Star Luo City was attacked by evil soul masters back then, not only was the entire city reduced to ruins, but the ministers of the Star Luo court all perished. Even though the surviving Xu Jiujiu sought help from Shrek Academy, the entire Star Luo Empire still fell into a state of temporary standstill, becoming a scene of chaos. There was no shortage of ambitious individuals who carved out cities for themselves, forming a situation similar to the one within the empires' territories ten thousand years ago, with kingdoms and duchies standing in great numbers. But since they nominally still submitted to the Star Luo Empire, when Chen Junting emerged from closed-door cultivation at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he didn't hear much news about it.
This kind of stalemate, and the contradictions accumulated amidst the balance, didn't completely erupt until Dai Hao marched out!
At that time, anyone smart could see that Dai Hao was preparing to seize the throne and restore the White Tiger clan to the Star Luo imperial seat.
But in the eyes of the vast majority of the Star Luo Empire's people, the banner Dai Hao raised represented righteousness. Coupled with his usual loyal image and the glory he bore as the Star Luo Empire's marshal, the hearts of the people submitted wherever he passed.
Even some cities in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire surrendered upon receiving his proclamation. Even if some cities put up a desperate resistance, they were completely no match for the grand army led by Dai Hao, and the cities fell one by one.
Almost all the way smooth, they arrived at the capital, Star Luo City. This speed caught everyone in the world off guard for a time.
But this "rebellion" of his undoubtedly enraged Xu Jiujiu. However, facing her pleas, both Shrek Academy and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect maintained silence.
Because the two great forces had already made it clear beforehand that as long as it was the three great empires—or more precisely, internal power struggles within the Douluo Continent—as long as it didn't harm the common people, they absolutely would not intervene.
But even so, Xu Jiujiu still used the Star Luo imperial family's residual power and prestige accumulated over thousands of years to proclaim across the entire Star Luo Empire's territory, declaring Dai Hao and his followers as rebels. At the same time, she ordered the remaining several grand legions that had been holding their troops to march on Star Luo City and thoroughly annihilate Dai Hao and his rebels.
All at once, the entire Star Luo Empire's public opinion was in an uproar.
Even within the several grand legions, they split apart for a time. After all, as a marshal, Dai Hao's prestige was too great!
Even Xu Jiawei when he was alive had once threatened the imperial authority. Even someone as wise as he was could ultimately only choose to call Dai Hao a brother, using so-called camaraderie to bind the fierce tiger.
Thus, the lands of Star Luo fell into the flames of war.
In order to gain a massive military equipment advantage to sweep away the grand army attacking them, Dai Hao actually chose to cooperate with the Sun Moon Empire. Because although the Sun Moon Empire had been defeated in the war back then, with even the Ming De Hall and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy being swept clean by the various major forces, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. Plus, with Kong Deming, a tenth-rank soul engineer, still around, the Sun Moon Empire still held a partial advantage in the field of soul tools, leading the original three great Douluo empires.
For Dai Hao's request, the Sun Moon Empire didn't want money or food, only land. And this land was the former important northern strongholds of the Sun Moon Empire, the several cities later ceded to the Star Luo Empire.
The city Chen Junting currently stood on was one of them.
And this demand was agreed to by Dai Hao's side, who was in a critical situation. Perhaps in their view, as long as the Ming Dou Mountain Range and the several cities further south were in their hands, plus the soul tool data obtained from the Sun Moon Empire, once they developed, the Sun Moon Empire absolutely wouldn't dare to act rashly. So returning a few comparatively less important cities was harmless.
Under this situation, because part of the Star Luo Empire's border troops were deployed domestically, the Dou Ling Empire saw an opportunity and unhesitatingly launched an attack on the northern part of the Star Luo Empire.
Under the massive disparity in troop strength, the garrison legions of the Star Luo Empire's northern territory could only choose to tighten their defensive lines step by step.
They even retreated again and again.
The Tian Hun Empire, seeing this, also followed the Dou Ling Empire's example, launching a war against the Star Luo Empire's northwest. But who would have thought that the Dou Ling Empire would instantly shift its target and attack the Tian Hun Empire, catching them completely off guard.
For a time, the flames of war reignited across the Douluo Continent.
But afterward, for reasons unknown, while the three sides were fighting fiercely, the Dou Ling Empire and the Tian Hun Empire chose to cease hostilities.
Along with this, Xu Jiujiu abdicated the throne.
Just like that, the war ended with a tiger's head and a snake's tail—blazing start, fizzle end.
At this moment, inside the Six Treasure Pavilion room, after organizing the general information, Chen Junting fell into deep thought. After all, as a Six Treasure Pavilion, the news recorded here wasn't that complete.
Like why they ceased hostilities, why the abdication...
These were inside information!
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)