Chapter Eighteen: On the Brink of Collapse

Seeing the situation before him, Nightfeather slightly furrowed his brows and turned his gaze toward that gaunt figure.

They had clearly joined forces to defeat Ancient Evil just moments ago, and its health had abruptly dropped to zero. Yet what exactly was happening now?

“Am I the only one who thinks something is terribly wrong here?” Nightfeather asked, looking at the bewildered expressions around him.

A Cup of Wine Traps Heroes came to his side and whispered, “It seems that what we defeated just now wasn’t the real Ancient Evil.”

At that moment, Ancient Evil slowly turned around. A mocking, sinister smile appeared upon its face, and that hideous grin was reflected in everyone’s eyes. Its laughter seemed to pierce straight through their bones.

Ancient Evil said nothing. It merely stamped its foot against the ground, then struck the ceiling with a single palm. The resulting gust was razor-sharp, and the force of the blow punched straight through the ceiling. Light streamed down through the shattered opening.

A moment later, Nightfeather and the others clearly heard Ancient Evil’s unbearable laughter as it leapt into the air and shot through the breach. In the blink of an eye, its figure vanished.

Just then, a gigantic treasure chest appeared not far before them. Resting atop it was a scroll that had to be read before the chest could be opened.

“Why bother worrying about it? This place seems to be some kind of dungeon, and after clearing it, we’ve even been given such generous rewards.”

The enormous chest appeared to contain riches beyond measure. Its rewards seemed even more lavish than those from any dungeon they had cleared before—perhaps the finest they had ever received.

Huang Hong was the first to approach the chest. He took the scroll from its lid and began reading it aloud. But when the first few large words appeared before everyone’s eyes, their expressions immediately turned strange.

“A Gift from Ancient Evil.”

For some reason, Nightfeather felt deeply unsettled. Ancient Evil was obviously no benevolent creature, making this so-called gift seem almost absurd.

“This is a gift to thank you for helping me leave the Mount Tai Ancient Hall, you lowly martial artists.”

After reading that simple sentence, everyone shuddered. At that moment, Qu Zheng raised his brows slightly, walked over to Nightfeather, and asked, “Third Brother, do you think Ancient Evil is a good person?”

A Cup of Wine Traps Heroes heard him and slapped Qu Zheng on the back of the head.

“You idiot. Of course it’s a good person. It gave us so many gifts. Look!”

At some point, he had already opened the chest. When everyone saw the items arranged inside, their eyes lit up.

Nightfeather, however, slowly shook his head. He took the scroll from Huang Hong. Though it contained only that one simple sentence, something about it felt profoundly strange.

Soon afterward, he received a system notification. When he opened the message panel, he clearly saw the words:

“The Matter of the Mount Tai Ancient Hall.”

There was no doubt about it. After clearing the dungeon, they had obtained information concerning the Mount Tai Ancient Hall.

When Nightfeather opened it, lines of text appeared before his eyes. They gave a detailed account of the Mount Tai Ancient Hall’s history, the background of the map, and the origins of the Evil Church they had encountered earlier in the Forbidden Lands of Mount Tai. They explained how the Mount Tai Ancient Hall had used the mist to draw players inside, as well as the most important matter of all—the purpose for which the Mount Tai Ancient Hall had been created.

The Mount Tai Ancient Hall imprisoned a deranged martial-world mass murderer: a prodigy named Ancient Evil who had cultivated an evil demonic art long ago. His martial prowess was unrivaled in the present age. He had also practiced an extraordinarily sinister form of sorcery, using evil formations to control the church’s followers. Through a forbidden ritual, those followers offered up their own lives. After abandoning their physical bodies, they became known as Evil Disciples, beings capable of contending with ancient monsters of terrifying supernatural power.

When he reached this point, Nightfeather’s expression grew even stranger. Beneath that strangeness lay a trace of solemnity.

“So the followers of the Evil Church were actually good people? They chose to sacrifice their bodies so they could fight the ancient monsters we encountered inside the Mount Tai Ancient Hall?”

Huang Hong and Qu Zheng spoke in bewilderment. If that was true, then attacking the Evil Church’s followers earlier had been a grave mistake.

“Don’t jump to conclusions yet. Let’s finish reading before we decide,” Nightfeather said, his brows drawing together.

Only by reading to the end could they determine whether the people they had attacked truly deserved to be called good or evil.

In ancient times, a sage had founded the Mount Tai Ancient Hall. He became its first hall master. Ancient Evil was one of his inner disciples, but he displayed astonishing, almost demonic talent and quickly rose above the rest.

Ancient Evil’s excellence was so overwhelming that everyone regarded him as the next hall master of the Mount Tai Ancient Hall. He continued honing his martial skills, and in order to prove that he possessed the ability to cultivate demonic arts without succumbing to madness, he secretly practiced an exceedingly evil demonic technique.

However, during a confrontation with a number of demonic sects, his frequent use of the demonic art caused him to lose control. His mind and spirit fell completely into the demonic path, filling him with an extreme desire to kill. Under the influence of that murderous impulse, Ancient Evil began slaughtering innocents. Even some of his fellow disciples and senior brothers died by his hand.

Ancient Evil had fallen into the demonic path, and his mind had become warped by evil. Although the Mount Tai Ancient Hall led the righteous forces in repelling the demonic sects during that great battle, Ancient Evil was hunted by the righteous factions for slaughtering innocents and attacking his fellow disciples.

Unfortunately, Ancient Evil’s martial power was so formidable that few experts in the martial world could stand against such a prodigy. The hall master of the Mount Tai Ancient Hall at that time had no choice but to personally defeat him and carry him into the deepest reaches of Mount Tai, where the hall was hidden. There, Ancient Evil was sealed inside a prison at the very heart of the ancient hall.

To prevent Ancient Evil from escaping—and to give him a chance to comprehend the goodness in his heart and awaken once more—the hall master had not killed him. Instead, he established layer upon layer of taboos and captured several ancient monsters, imprisoning them within the Mount Tai Ancient Hall to prevent Ancient Evil from ever returning.

In the end, the entire Mount Tai Ancient Hall was concealed. Using the arts of strategic calculation and mystical geomancy, its surroundings were sealed so thoroughly that even those who entered the Forbidden Lands of Mount Tai could not locate it.

If the formations of the Mount Tai Ancient Hall were completely destroyed, the physical bodies left behind by the righteous followers who had become Evil Disciples would be greatly weakened, perhaps even reduced to useless shells. The hall that imprisoned Ancient Evil would then lose its ability to restrain him.

If the monsters within the Mount Tai Ancient Hall were sealed away, the ancient hall would no longer be a prison capable of trapping Ancient Evil. And if the martial artists destroyed every formation in the chamber where Ancient Evil was confined, his power would indeed be weakened—but the restraints sealing him would fail as well.

Then the true Ancient Evil would be able to break free from the earth and once more sweep across the entire martial world.

Most importantly, Nightfeather and the others had apparently released Ancient Evil.

“Damn it. Weaken its power, and that turns out to be the key to unsealing it?” Qu Zheng said, his expression darkening. “Then…”

Luo Feng took over. “It seems we’ve done something that will affect the entire Xuantian server. We’ve changed the balance of power in its martial world. The old servers never seemed to have any information related to Ancient Evil. In other words…”

“In other words, we’ve opened the chapter concerning Ancient Evil and introduced its story into the Xuantian server.”

Nightfeather’s expression was grave. He continued, “There’s a warning here. Once Ancient Evil returns to the martial world, the entire world will enter the era known as ‘Ancient Evil’s Bloodbath of the Martial World.’ Until Ancient Evil is completely defeated, it will continue affecting the entire martial realm. During conflicts between sects and factions, random events called ‘Ancient Evil’s Battle for City Seizure’ will also appear.

“Certain maps throughout the martial world will gradually be tainted and occupied by Ancient Evil’s forces. Every monster within an occupied map will receive increased attributes, and its level will rise repeatedly by unpredictable amounts. There is no limit to the number of maps Ancient Evil can occupy. This will continue until the entire martial world becomes part of Ancient Evil’s domain.”

Next, Nightfeather and the others saw newly added information regarding dungeons connected to Ancient Evil, along with the designated equipment drops associated with them. These additions would remain until Ancient Evil was defeated, and the influence of Ancient Evil’s Bloodbath of the Martial World would continue unabated.

After reading the basic information concerning Ancient Evil and the Mount Tai Ancient Hall, Nightfeather and the others fell silent. Their brows were already furrowed as tightly as they could be.

After several minutes of silence, Nightfeather’s expression suddenly changed. He tore the scroll to shreds and deleted all the information concerning Ancient Evil. His tightly drawn brows gradually relaxed. Then he took a deep breath and looked at the others.

“Did any of you see what was written just now?”

The first to answer was A Cup of Wine Traps Heroes.

“To be honest, I didn’t fully understand the explanation. It was so chaotic that it felt as though the technicians of Divine Sorrow had hastily sent it to us without organizing it properly.”

His brows were also slightly furrowed, and a trace of displeasure showed in his expression.

Luo Feng glanced expressionlessly at Huang Hong, who was equally expressionless. None of their faces showed much reaction, as though everything they had just experienced had never happened. It was even as if they had never set foot on Mount Tai.

“We’ve been outside for a long time. Shouldn’t we head back? We’re running low on potions and other supplies. If we keep going and someone develops a negative status, that could be troublesome.”

Luo Feng spoke calmly.

Nightfeather glanced at him and could not help admiring the man. It would have been a waste for someone like him not to become an award-winning actor.

But just then, as Nightfeather tore the scroll into scraps, a string of ancient characters appeared across the surface of the enormous chest. Nightfeather immediately walked toward it and stared at the writing. His heart, which had only just settled, leapt into his throat once more.

“The Mount Tai Ancient Hall was originally called the Evil Hall. It was once a supreme power among the righteous factions of the martial world. Because of the matter involving Ancient Evil, the hall was erased from the ranks of the righteous and renamed the Mount Tai Ancient Hall, thereafter hidden within the mountains of the forbidden lands.

“The Evil Hall possesses eight strongholds, each concealed somewhere within a different map. Every Evil Hall is connected to Ancient Evil in some way, and each has a different level of difficulty. Whenever players enter another Evil Hall, they may encounter Ancient Evil arriving at the same time to seize it. If they can wrest control of the Evil Hall from Ancient Evil, they can protect that map from being tainted by Ancient Evil’s forces.

“Otherwise, if the number of Evil Halls occupied by Ancient Evil becomes the highest…”

At this point, Nightfeather and the others swallowed nervously. Shock appeared in their eyes. Clearly, defeating Ancient Evil would require them to conquer the remaining seven Evil Halls—a crucial part of the entire undertaking.

“…the entire martial world will descend into an age of madness. A world of bloodshed and turmoil will ignite the flames of war!

“Furthermore, during the period of Ancient Evil’s Bloodbath of the Martial World, the influence will extend across the entire martial world of the Xuantian server.

“Here is a warning to all martial artists: do not recklessly attack those so-called followers. Although they may appear strange and unsettling, they are, in truth, good people.”

When Nightfeather reached this final line, his expression instantly darkened with rage. The others also gnashed their teeth and cursed furiously.

“What kind of useless warning is that? Why didn’t it tell us any of this before we entered the Mount Tai Ancient Hall? Damn it!”

“We finally unlocked a decent Ancient World and gained an advantage over every other Divine Sorrow server. But before that good fortune had even settled in, a disaster capable of affecting the entire server swept across the world.”

The entire martial world stood on the brink of ruin.

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