The Martial Unity

Chapter 2788: Valley of Gods

If not for the Beast Incursion, this event would have garnered a tremendous influx of delegations, representatives, and other Martial Artists seeking to witness the duel between a Martial Sage and a Martial Master.

However, the Beast Incursion mellowed the response down by a lot; nations could not afford to divert much attention towards the duel when they were fighting for their lives. Some of the most pressed nations were those that were yet to be visited by the Dawnbringer. For many of these nations, receiving the Dawnbringerʼs blessings was a matter of life or death. Many of their estimates suggested that without the targeted upgrades that the Dawnbringer was bringing about, they simply stood no chance of long-term survival. The fact that the Heaven Sect was delaying him while also endangering and potentially killing him inspired immense hostility against the Heaven Sect.

Unfortunately, the Heaven Sect was far too arrogant to care.

”This matter has already been decided,” Elder Diana coldly informed them. ”In a few days, we will have completed all the preparations and the duel will commence, with or without the presence of your various delegations.”

BZZT!

She left the call immediately, depriving it of any further meaning.

And thus, geopolitical tensions, which had always remained tense upon the Era of Darkness, had grown even more tense as many nations found themselves at odds with each other over one of the two pillars of salvation.

The Kandrian Empire, resultantly, wasnʼt the only nation that sent delegates. Some of Ruiʼs most potent supporters and allies also sent delegations to spectate the battle. The Virodhabhasa Theocracy sent Sage Nathen and Sage Sariawar as a delegation while the Gen Temple shocked the world by deploying the leader, the Abbot, Bodhisattva Maitreyi herself to the Heaven Sect.

The Nest of Terra deployed the Terrampager and Sage Kyria.

Surprisingly enough, one of the most recent allies of the Kandrian Empire and its old archenemy the Sekigahara Confederate also chose to deploy multiple Sages as a delegation to the Heaven Sect.

Sage Himari and Sage Shinken had been chosen to represent the Sekigahara Confederateʼs interests in the preservation of the Dawnbringerʼs life. The Sekigahara Confederate had managed to extract the promise of annual breakthroughs from the Dawnbringer, with known exceptions and other leeways. In other words, they were among the nations who could not afford to watch the Dawnbringer die even if they had already received his gifts.

Shockingly enough, Blood Lord Vrukshus had chosen to head to the Heaven Sect as a representation of the Blood Cult as well for unknown reasons. This was extremely shocking as the Blood Cult was notorious for being the most isolated of the Sage-level powerhouses. Their sole diplomatic interaction with the world was the Human Summit more than three years ago.

And yet, the fact that the Blood Lord himself felt the need to be there in this match showed just how high the stakes were for all parties involved.

These delegations had been deployed as an implicit form of pressure. With multiple peak Sages ranging from Sage Damian, Sage Shinken, and Bodhisattva Maitreyi, Blood Lord Vrukshus, the Heaven Sect could not afford to treat him too contemptuously. The delegations immediately departed with their fastest means, heading towards the Heaven Sect swiftly. Aside from the Kandrian Empire which had human delegates, that essentially meant Sages traveling at their highest speeds.

Regardless, the worldʼs attention and focus converged upon the Heaven Sect as the day of the duel approached.

In that time, there wasnʼt a single report of Rui being seen.

He had locked himself off, honing his mind and concentrating his focus to bring out his absolute peak. Not even Amare could reach him at this time.

The eventʼs organization grew more hectic as plans were constantly being upscaled due to how much the gravity of the duel upscaled. From a simple initial duel with one proctor, it had already evolved into a grand event that accounted for the presence of many spectators.

Of course, the duel would never have been hosted on the Heaven Sect Cloud. Martial Sages were too destructive to fight near civilization, which meant they always departed far away from home and from human civilization to fight each other.

The Panamic Martial Federation even reserved massive regions that were exclusively reserved for Sage-level combat that spanned thousands of kilometers of radius.

In fact, each Sage-level powerhouse cultivated multiple such regions at a great distance away from the territory just for the sole purpose of hosting Sage-level combat.

Martial Sage were calamities in human form, they could not be contained, they could only be distanced.

For this particular battle and its extraordinary political significance, the Heaven Sect ultimately decided to host the battle in the Valley of Gods, one of the largest Sage-level combat regions in West Panama. Under the joint ownership and supervision of the Heaven Sect and the Gu, this region could host withstand a tremendous amount of punishment. Hedged within the Penitent Mountain Range, this valley was was bordered by mountains armed with esoteric ores that greatly dampened energy flux, containing most of the destruction of Martial Sages within it.

It was reserved for many Martial Sages, or a few peak Sages, to be able to fight without any worry.

To host the duel between Sage Sekiei and Prince Rui was a token of acknowledgment of the gravity of the battle, even if the scale of destruction of the battle didnʼt warrant such an extravagant.

And thus, the days passed as the various delegations arrived at the Heaven Sect one by one.

STEP

”HAH!” the Devil snorted as he arrived atop the Heaven Sect. ”So these are the Heaven Sect bastards!”

”Sage Damian, might I remind you that you are not supposed to utter a word upon entry into the Heaven Sect?” The foreign minister heaved a sigh. ”There is no way Rael will find out when heʼs so far away.” Sage Damian grinned as he cracked his knuckles. The foreign minister heaved a deeper sigh as Emperor Raelʼs prediction came to pass exactly as he had ordained.