Within the quiet, gloomy depths of Bloodbath Gorge.
Three human figures were descending at high speed landing on the ground.
Linley inspected his surroundings. Bloodbath Gorge was sparsely populated. As he stared straight forward, the only thing he could clearly see was an erect stone monument. As for the other buildings that could vaguely be seen through the mist, there was no way to see them clearly.
“There are so many soldiers of the Four Divine Beasts clan above the gorge, but so few people within Bloodbath Gorge itself. That makes sense. After all, everyone in here is at least a Six Star Fiend.” Linley continued to carefully inspect Bloodbath Gorge. As for Emanuel and Forhan, they strode forward with large steps.
Just as they walked away, Emanuel turned his head to look at Linley. “Linley, you’ve never been here before, right?”
“No, I’ve never been here before.” Linley didn’t have any goodwill towards Emanuel at all.
“Whooooosh.” Suddenly, a cold wind began to howl. Linley felt his body turn cold, and he couldn’t help but be startled. “The wind is actually so icy, here in Bloodbath Gorge.”
Forhan couldn’t help but laugh. “Linley. Bloodbath Gorge is at the heart of the Skyfire Mountains, and is an extremely cold location. The cold wind within the gorge would cause any Demigods who came here to immediately be frozen. However, to you, Linley, this cold wind naturally doesn’t have much impact.”
“Elder Forhan, let’s continue to move forward.”
Linley couldn’t be bothered to chat too much with this father-son pair in front of him. He immediately advanced deeper into the gorge. There were quite a few round stones located within Bloodbath Gorge, as well as some wild grass. However, the center of it was a neatly paved stone road.
In front of Bloodbath Gorge, on one side of the stone road, there was a tall, massive stone monument.
The stone monument was covered with two dark red words that were written in cursive, like flying dragons or dancing phoenixes. The two words were, ‘Blood Bath’. Linley, upon seeing these two words, sensed a bloodthirsty, murderous aura emanate from it, and he couldn’t help but feel his own murderous desires rise in response.
“Forhan, Emanuel, so it’s actually the two of you this time. Haha…” A straightforward, clear laugh rang out. Linley turned to look, and saw an amiable, friendly-looking middle-aged man laugh as he walked over. This man had long sideburns, but they were very neatly trimmed, giving him quite a fresh, sharp appearance.
Linley looked at the newcomers.
“Arhaus [Er’hao’si]!” Forhan laughed and went to greet him, giving the man with the sideburns a big hug. “Long time no see.”
“It really has been quite some time since we’ve met.” This man named ‘Arhaus’ beamed towards Forhan as well, then looked at Linley. Rather puzzled, he said, “I knew that this time, three Elders were coming, but I’ve never met this one before…oh, I know!”
Arhaus had a look of sudden understanding on his face, and he laughed as he said to Linley, “In Bloodbath Valley, I’ve heard that our Azure Dragon clan has a new Elder.”
“I am Arhaus. Elder Linley, right?” Arhaus laughed as he extended his hand.
“Right. Elder Arhaus, greetings.” Linley laughed and extended his hand as well.
Linley had a good impression of Arhaus, but as for Forhan and Emanuel, Linley, from the bottom of his heart, disliked this father-son pair. Both Emanuel and Forhan made him feel as though they were sinister and vicious. Emanuel’s actual actions, in turn, had confirmed Linley’s judgment.
“We warmly welcome the three of you. Come, let’s go meet the Grand Elder.” Arhaus laughed.
“Mother?” Forhan’s eyes couldn’t help but light up.
Linley glanced sideways, seeing the looks on Forhan and Emanuel’s faces. The two clearly were very eager to meet the Grand Elder. The Grand Elder and Patriarch ‘Gislason’ were actual siblings, brother and sister, and in the clan, her power was second only to that of the Patriarch’s.
“Linley, it’s been a long time since our clan has had a new Elder.” Arhaus said warmly. “I’ve heard that you’ve previously sparred with Emanuel, and that you are incredibly strong. In the future, when you do battle for the clan, you definitely have to win some glory for our Azure Dragon clan.”
“Definitely.” Linley laughed and nodded.
Forhan, seeing how Arhaus was continuously chatting with Linley, couldn’t help but interrupt. “Arhaus, what’s the current situation in the struggle between our Four Divine Beasts clan and the eight great clans?”
“How good can it be?” Arhaus shook his head and sighed. “The eight great clans are simply relying on superior numbers to win. All combined, their eight clans have more Seven Star Fiends than we do. If we continue fighting like this…most likely in just ten or twenty thousand years, our entire Four Divine Beasts clan will have less than ten Seven Star Fiends.”
Hearing this, Linley was shocked.
“In ten or twenty thousand years, we’ll lose that many?” Linley couldn’t help but say. “Currently, our Four Divine Beasts clan should have nearly a hundred Seven Star Fiends.”
The Azure Dragon clan alone had thirty six. The four clans, combined, should have more than a hundred Seven Star Fiends. How could it be possible that in as short a period of time as ten or twenty thousand years, only ten would be left?
“Linley, I hear that you just joined the clan recently.” Arhaus said resignedly. “You aren’t too familiar with the situation. However, I trust that at the Conclave of Elders, you should have learned of our losses in the past thousand years.”
Linley nodded.
In the past thousand years, they had killed two enemy Seven Star Fiends, while two of their own Seven Star Fiends had been weakened as well.
“Our Azure Dragon clan alone has lost two Seven Star Fiends in the past thousand years. Of course, Jeffs, when using his original body to fuse with a divine spark, will be able to recover his strength. But still, he’ll have lost any chance to gain in strength in the future.”
Arhaus said, “In a thousand years, our Four Divine Beasts clan, all combined, has lost five. In especially brutal periods, it’s normal to lose as many as ten Elders. You do the math. How many will we lose in ten thousand years?”
Linley did the math, and he was stunned.
In ten thousand years, at least seventy or eighty Elders would be doomed.
“That’s why I said that if this continues, in ten or twenty thousand years, our clan will have lost almost all of our Seven Star Fiends.” Arhaus said bitterly. “Nothing we can do. The eight great clans…even if we exhaust all of our Elders against them, they will most likely still have half of their Seven Star Fiends remaining!”
Linley nodded.