The Magus Era

“Brother, come into my homegate. We have boundless, stunning natural scenes, immeasurably broad fertile lands and endless happiness. Once you have joined us, no weapon can ever harm you… even water and fire cannot affect you anymore; poisonous bugs can never come near you, and all your sins will be canceled entirely. Join us, you will attain powerful abilities, incredible magics; you can learn arcane spells, you will have supreme powers. You can live forever, you will never perish, and will be enjoying your life forever and ever… You… will have an eternal life.”

Miao Lian chanted in a soft and peaceful tone, stating all the benefits of becoming his disciple to Ying Yunpeng one after another.

Every time he let out a word, a white lotus would fly out from the tip of his tongue, transform into a clear stream of light, and merge into Ying Yunpeng’s forehead.

Ying Yunpeng’s body had been quivering and struggling intensely, as countless dark blood vessel bulged up from his forehead. His eyes were popped out, even seeming to fly out from his eye sockets, and were now filled with blood streaks that; the whites of his eyes had almost turned purely blood-red.

He didn’t look at Miao Lian. Instead, he glared at the four adopted sons of his. He had cared about them so much as if they were his real sons. Ying Yunpeng ragingly growled out in a hoarse voice, “You don’t want me as your Abba. It’s okay…I’m not your real father after all, and you are only orphans that I adopted…but, you have the blood of Eastern Wasteland people flowing in your veins! How could you betray the Ten Sun Country?! How could you betray the Eastern Wasteland? How could you…”

“We didn’t betray!” Jinpeng took a step forwards, solemnly kowtowed to Ying Yunpeng for three times, then said in a very polite tone, “Abba, we’re saving the Eastern Wasteland! The humankind can’t possibly hold off Yu Dynasty’s power… after all, anyone who dares to resist will eventually become ashes.”

Yinppeng took a few step forwards, kowtowed loudly to Ying Yunpeng for three times as well, then begged, “Abba, please, convert to Master Miao Lian! Master Miao Lian will take you as a disciple on behalf of his Shifu, and thus, you will become his brother! As long as you are converted, billions of our people will be converted too… In the future, Yu Clan people will cease to be our enemies.”

“You!” Blood veins bulged out all over Ying Yunpeng’s body, and cyan light spots began sparkling in countless Magus Acupoints of his. From time to time, a loud and clear metal clanging noise would come from his body. He looked at the four adopted sons of his, and roared harshly, “You’re all dumb! You’re all crazy! My good ancestors’ souls! How could you do something like this?!”

Miao Lian grinningly looked at Ying Yunpeng, and meanwhile, the flowing speed of the light stream surging out from his palm grew a lot faster than before. Within that clear light, many sparkling and little spell symbols were clearly visible when the light stream ceaselessly gushed into Ying Yunpeng’s head.

“Brother Yunpeng, your so-called ancestors’ souls are actually nothing but ghosts…mere traces of souls. You worship and adore your ancestors’ souls, but you don’t get enough to eat, drink, use; you don’t get immortal lives either… Then what do you worship your ancestors’ souls for?

“Come, join us… you will have supreme abilities, you will understand the infinitely great Dao, you can have great powers. By then, in your eyes, your once so-called ancestors’ souls will become as insignificant as a tiny ant. Those are nothing but only spirits of your ancestors, why should you care so much about those?”

“Come join us, join us, join us!” Miao Lian repeated these few words over and over again. Every time he repeated it, a white lotus would spurt out from his tongue tip and flow into Ying Yunpeng’s head. Ying Yunpeng’s face became more and more twisted, and his head was gradually covered up by a clear layer of light.

“I…do not…betray…ancestors!” Ying Yunpeng murmured in a hoarse voice, “I am not a righteous person…I am not a kind one…In my life, I have killed, set fires to the others; bullied the innocent, robbed, looted, seized women… done countless things like these. I am a true villain, a bastard…However, I don’t betray my race, I don’t betray my ancestors!”

He then raised his head with difficulty, looked at Dishi Yanluo, and roared out in a resonant voice.

“I…will not!”

Dishi Yanluo scornfully glanced at Ying Yunpeng, then said in a bland tone, “An ignorant barbarian. Don’t want to betray your ancestors? Sounds worth to be respected, but what a stupid behavior this is…As long as there are enough benefits and profits, for things like ancestors, what is the worst that can happen even if you betray them occasionally?”

The few Yu Clan girls standing near Dishi Yanluo laughed out loud together. That was no bosh at all, after all in the Yu Clan, and amongst Yu Clan noble people, as long as the benefit was great enough, they could even sell their own children just like selling goods. Not to mention ancestors, which could even be entirely imaginary.

“You stubborn, ignorant man!” Dishi Yanluo sat on that tall and giant chair, looking down at Ying Yunpeng, and said in a careless tone, “You backboned, proud, stupid being, don’t you want to revenge for your son and nephew?”

Ying Yunpeng’s eyeballs seemed to pop out from his eye sockets entirely, and even about to flew out, while he screamed himself hoarse.

“The revenge I owe my son and nephew…I will hold my longbow myself, and shoot that few little bastards dead! If I want to kill, not even Si Wen Ming can stop me! My revenge…does not need you…Ah!”

Miao Lian changed his hand motions and once he did that, a deep growl, that sounded light lion’s roars, came out of Miao Lian’s palm. Ying Yunpeng couldn’t let out a single word anymore. Instead, he could only scream in that hoarse voice.

Ying Yunpeng felt as if countless sharp daggers were slicing his soul. His soul, which had been nourished by his strong life-force for so many years, and was hundreds, even thousands of times stronger than souls of ordinary Senior Magi, now seemed to be smashed by those sharp daggers, like a fleshy, mountain-sized piece of meat.

A great pain came from his soul. Ying Yunpeng was screaming in pain. He would rather die than suffer such horrible pain. Almost all human Senior Magi and Magus Kings lacked magics and skills that could protect their souls from soul-targeted magic attacks. When facing soul-targeted attacks, except for a very few Magi who were exceptionally talented on cultivating souls, all the others could only endure the attack with their strong bodies and souls, and try their bests to kill the enemies before the enemies killed them.

However, Ying Yunpeng was now locked on the devil wall, and although Miao Lian was right in front of him, he could not…

“I will not obey!” Along with a furious roar, Ying Yunpeng’s neck suddenly extended to over a zhang long. Followed by a series of bone creaking noise, his neck bones malposed, bulging out from under the skin of that strangely long neck, making him looked extremely ferocious and hideous.

He suddenly opened his mouth widely, like the jaws of poisonous snakes, even to a straight angle, then bit severely on the neck of Miao Lian, squeezing a loud ‘crack’ out of his neck. For this move, Ying Yunpeng had used up all of his remaining power. His life and dignity, the glory he had as one of the Eastern Wasteland’s Ten Sun Country people, and his piousness to his ancestors and his clansmen were all condensed in this move.

‘Crack’! Miao Lian burst out a grave howl. Half of his neck was crushed by Ying Yunpeng’s teeth; his neck bones were broken, and a large, semicircle wound appeared on his neck. While howling and wailing, he stepped quickly back, then fell on the ground, twitching intensely.

Even Dishi Yanluo was frightened pretty badly by this unpredicted move. For a short while, he didn’t even know how to react. He instantly stood up from the seat; that carelessness and relaxation on his face, which usually belonged to winners, had gone completely. He glared at Ying Yunpeng, almost screaming out hysterically.

“Kill…”

“Let me!” Miao Lian’s voice had become extremely weird. As a golden stream of light flashed across his neck, that large wound immediately healed.

Inside Miao Lian’s eyes, two lotuses were clearly visible. Both his voice and movements had changed completely. His voice now sounded intangible, as if it came from far, far away; his moves had become especially natural and pure. A strange, mysterious vibe that could bring people a great fear spread out from his body. Dishi Yanluo immediately paused, subconsciously gripping the hilt of his sword.

“The ocean of bitterness is boundless, you can still mend your way once you realize your error. Silly kid… come, join us.” Miao Lian slightly flicked his finger, then gently pointed his finger at between Ying Yunpeng’s eyebrows.

From the spot in between Ying Yunpeng’s eyebrows, two white lotuses gradually bloomed. He closed his eyes with a smiling face, then slightly sighed. Two lines of hot tears flew out from the corners of his eyes, but the corners of his mouth curved upwards more and more. Deep laugh lines had drawn a pattern on his face, which looked like a devil.