Chapter 710: There Will Always be Sacrifices, and There Will Always be Those who Want to Live
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Sky Mist Dao's third Rune rumbled, and those rumbling sounds from Four Sacred Skies continued violently without stop. This Rune might be incredibly powerful and the four great laws of wind, rain, lightning, and thunder might be able to gather up an endless amount of destructive power as they changed, but no matter how limitless that destructive power was, it could not overcome the madness of five hundred thousand people.
Theirs was a reckless battle, and it was a form of counterattack in the mid of their uprising, born from hatred for Immortals.
The Rune lasted for a moment, and that so called infinite amount of destruction did not last too long either. Quite a number of Berserkers died, but they died willingly. They were dying for their own people, for the Berserkers' uprising. They died without regrets.
Su Ming did not stop the Berserkers from getting injured or getting killed as they fought against the Immortals, because this was for their own uprising. If he forcefully called a stop to the Berserkers' attack and attacked Sky Mist Dao's Rune himself, perhaps with his power, he could break open Sky Mist Dao's mountain gate.
But if he did that, then this war would no longer be the Berserkers and the Immortals' battle. Instead… it would be Su Ming against the Immortals. If that came to be the case, then Berserkers would not be able to continue with their uprising. Even if there was any form of rise in power, it would still be Su Ming's uprising, not that of the Berserkers.
A race's uprising required fresh blood, sacrifices, and a will.
Su Ming looked at the madness within his people's red eyes. The only thing he could do was to lead them and break open the Runes with them. Su Ming took a step forward. As his power of Life Matrix circulated in his body, he lifted his foot and took a swift step forward. The world immediately roared, and a huge foot appeared in the sky.
It was the God of Berserkers' Seven Steps. The foot stepped on Sky Mist Dao's Four Sacred Skies Rune seven times in a row. The Rune shuddered, and an endless amount of Berserkers charged forward madly. With their bodies, their flesh, and their power, and everything else within them, they crashed into the Rune.
A loud boom erupted into the sky. As that sound burst into the air, tens of thousands of Berserkers died, but the Four Sacred Skies Rune also shattered.
Once it did, only one last defensive Rune remained between the Immortals and the Berserkers - Four Seasons' Destruction!
This Rune was incredibly terrifying. It did not have any concrete attacks and could not destroy any souls. It only had a power to make spring move towards winter. It could make a person transform in the way the four seasons would and move from life to death… With the same amount of life offered, it could extinguish the flames in a person's life.
"Sky Mist Dao disciples, we are Immortals! Even… if we die, we will die as we kill Berserkers! Only this sort of death will allow our souls to return to our homeland! If we die in humiliation and let these savage barbarians break our Rune, then our deaths will have no value!"
At the instant Four Sacred Skies crumbled, the Sect Master of the Sky Mist Dao branch in the land of Berserkers, a middle-aged man with a sullen face, rose up in midair and looked at all the disciples within the eighteen mountains.
His gaze gradually turned gentle, and a hint of a reluctance to part appeared in his eyes.
"I don't want to die… but if Sky Mist Dao is going to fall, if the Rune crumbles and we will all have to face death without exception, then… I wish that I will die a worthy death. I wish that my death will make these savages in Yin Death Region pay a devastating price.
"I wish that my death will lessen the sacrifices for our army in the land of Immortals when they come here to avenge us… I am not a kindhearted person, but at this moment, I wish that my death would be worth it! Who among you is willing to die a worthy death with me?"
The middle-aged man's voice was rousing. At the instant he said those words, he lifted his head and looked at the final Rune up ahead, then took a step towards Sky Mist Dao's Four Seasons' Destruction.
At the instant he took that step forward, his physical body started rapidly withering away, and at the moment he closed in on the Rune, his body turned into a pile of bones that fell apart. However, all his flesh, blood, and Nascent Divinity gathered together and flew out of that pile of bones, fusing into the Four Seasons' Destruction with a bang.
"Sky Mist Dao's final Rune is called Four Seasons' Destruction because it will be incredibly difficult to destroy as long as there were those who were willing to offer up their lives to take another's. There will only be dead souls in Sky Mist Dao, no survivors in our sect who will be waiting for you!
"I still have four thousand eight hundred something years of life in me, who will come and exchange their lives with me!" The Sect Master's voice reverberated through the air and spread through the entire area inside the Rune as well as the area beyond. Even the Berserkers outside stopped moving.
Su Ming stood right at the front. When he looked over and sensed the determination within the Immortals that would rather descend into madness and die than give up, he had to admit that even though he despised and loathed this race, there were respectable aspects within each race.
"I still have seven hundred something years of life left, who will exchange their lives with me?!" A person flew out from one of the eighteen mountains in Sky Mist Dao and charged towards that Four Seasons' Destruction Rune.
"I still have a hundred something years of life left…"
"I still have two thousand two hundred something years of life…"
"I have four hundred something years of life…"
"I have six hundred something years of life…"
One voice after another rose continuously from the eighteen mountains in Sky Mist Dao, and groups of people charged swiftly towards the Four Seasons' Destruction Rune. In the blink of an eye, those voices became even more frequent and eventually fused together to become Sky Mist Dao's cry.
"I still have five hundred years of life," Wu La whispered softly and fused into the Rune.
In silence, Tian Lan You lifted her head and took a step forward towards the Rune. Tian Lan Meng bit her bottom lip, and just as she was about to move forward in anguish, the departing Tian Lan You suddenly turned her head around, and before Tian Lan Meng could even react to her, Tian Lan You had already lifted her right hand and swung at her sister.
A white layer of fog spread out. Tian Lan Meng gradually closed her eyes in the fog and fell to the side.
"Live a good life…" Tian Lan You whispered softly and turned around to take a step towards the Rune in the sky.
When almost every single person in Sky Mist Dao offered up their lives, a blinding light erupted from the Four Seasons' Destruction Rune. That light came from all directions and concentrated right before the Berserkers.
The low roars and declarations that they would exchange a life for a life symbolized the Immortals' counterattack. It also made the bloodthirsty Berserkers fall silent for a moment.
But it only lasted for a moment before all the Berserkers took a step forward. A presence that suppressed all things swept through the land, and the Berserkers charged into the circle of light that would take their lives in exchange for the Immortals'.
Su Ming did not move back. He took a step into that circle of light together with his people. This was a battle that had no plots, no schemes, and no ploys.
This was a crazed battle of sacrificing a life for a life. If the Immortals could do it, then Berserkers would give the same response. As loud booming sounds rang in the air and both sides fought using their lives, the bodies of all Sky Mist Dao disciples withered away once they gave up all their years. But this was not the end, their Nascent Divinities self-destructed as their bodies collapsed so that they could bring forth even greater destruction with the power contained in their explosions.
The Berserkers were the same. This was a battle that had no right or wrong, no logic or reasoning. This was a crazed battle that sacrificed a life for a life. As more people died, the battle gradually came to an end.
Tens of thousands of Immortals collapsed dead. When the Sect Master disappeared, when Wu La's soul with its anguish scattered into nothingness, when all the Immortals gave up their everything for the sake of killing at least one more Berserker… the battle that sacrificed a life for a life ended.
Once the last Immortal in the Rune died, the light from the Four Seasons' Destruction gradually faded away and disappeared into the world. Su Ming stood in midair at that moment. As of then, nearly seventy thousand Berserkers had died.
Half of them were lost due to this sacrifice of life for a life.
The entire battlefield sank into silence.
"They are warriors. Even if our hatred towards them burns the sky… they were still warriors. They deserve respect," Su Ming said slowly. His voice reverberated through the battlefield, falling into each of the Berserkers' ears.
Sky Mist Dao was destroyed. However, within all races and all sects, if there were those who were courageous enough to sacrifice their own lives, then there would naturally be those who were cowards. At that moment, there were a couple hundred of these people still remaining among the eighteen mountains of Sky Mist Dao. They were the ones who had not given up their lives earlier. Once the Four Seasons' Destruction Rune disappeared and the sky was filled with Berserkers, these hundreds of people walked out while trembling, then prostrated themselves on the ground towards the Berserkers and Su Ming.
"We are willing to change our blood inheritance and worship the God of Berserkers as Berserkers from now on…" These hundreds of people prayed as they trembled, and their words pleading for survival traveled through the air.
Su Ming did not bother about these people. There would naturally be those who would enslave them and make them secondary citizens—slaves in all but name—among the Berserkers. Su Ming's gaze fell on a person lying unconscious on the ground within one of the eighteen mountains.
He walked over silently and arrived next to the unconscious Tian Lan Meng. He looked at her silently, and a hint of nostalgia as well as complicated feelings appeared on his face.
Su Ming closed his eyes. Sometime later, when he opened them, he said flatly, "Chi Lei Tian!"
Immediately, a long arc charged through the sky and landed behind him. It was Chi Lei Tian. His heart was trembling slightly, but he dared not show a single hint of it on his face. Instead, he only showed zealous respect as he knelt down on one knee towards Su Ming.
"I, Chi Lei Tian, am here."
"I took away half of your Lightning Crystal in the past…" Su Ming said slowly. When he uttered these words, Chi Lei Tian's heart let out a thump in his chest, and an awkward look as well as a wry smile appeared on his face.
"Today, I will give Sky Mist Dao's ruins to your tribe. Make it the foundation for your tribe to grow strong." Su Ming turned around and looked towards the man.
Chi Lei Tian was momentarily stunned, then excitement instantly filled him. He bowed towards Su Ming once again.
"Thank you for your gift, God of Berserkers!"
"Stay here for the time being. The rest of you, come with me… and we will wipe out Hidden Dragon Sect!" Su Ming turned around and walked towards the sky. The hundreds of thousands of Berserkers around him roared and turned into a long arc as they charged into the distance with Su Ming at the front.
Chi Lei Tian lifted his head and looked towards the Berserker army that was leaving into the distance. He was also looking at Su Ming as he traveled at the front, while in his ears were the words Su Ming had told to him before he left.
"That woman is an old friend of mine. Let her stay and don't harm her."