The mountain was bare, and beneath it could be seen a body of water. It wasn’t extremely large, more a large lake than a sea.
The mountain stuck up out of the middle of the huge lake. At its peaks, a large group of huts had been erected to provide protection against the rainwater. This was the location of the Crow Divinity Tribes. It was now a full five months since Meng Hao had left.
Of the two thousand Tribe members, there were only a bit more than a thousand left. Several hundred Tribe members had died in the past five months, their life forces exterminated. They had been buried in the mountain, accompanied by weeping, and the funeral dirges of their fellow Clan members. Everyone knew that it wouldn’t be long before the entire mountain… existed at the bottom of the sea.
Every day, a Tribe member was sent down the mountain with the specific task of measuring how much the water had risen. This way, they could calculate roughly how much time was left.
“The water has risen less than a meter since yesterday,” said the Crow Gloom Tribe Grand Elder. He sat in a hut next to the Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather.
The Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather’s hair was gray, his face sallow, and his body emaciated. He sat there silently, looking out at the seemingly endless violet rain. When he spoke, his voice was bitter but low, in order to prevent many people from hearing his words. “Five months. Perhaps the exalted Sacred Ancient has already left us. The power of the Thorn Rampart vine is fading…. If he left, that’s fine. However, he promised he would return to us with hope.” The man’s voice was hoarse, and his expression blank.
“Hope….” said the Crow Gloom Tribe Grand Elder. He looked around at the other Tribe members in the huts. They were silent and gloomy. Their eyes were open, but didn’t seem to look very different than if they were closed. Many of them had bodies as thin as firewood.
None of them had any hope at all.
As the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth faded, as the violet rain fell harder, life was exterminated. This made it difficult for the ordinary Tribe members to survive. Even the Cultivators felt their Cultivation bases withering, making it difficult to maintain their place in their current stage.
“He’ll come back,” said the Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather softly. He didn’t speak very loudly, but his voice was filled with passion. He believed what Meng Hao said, and he trusted that Meng Hao would definitely return.
The Crow Gloom Tribe Grand Elder let out a soft sigh and was about to say something more when suddenly his expression flickered. He looked up into the air. At almost the exact same moment, the Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather suddenly lifted his head up. Within his withered body, his Cultivation base once again began to rotate. His dismal eyes suddenly began to shine with an aggressive glow.
It wasn’t just these two. Behind them were two other Tribe members whose Cultivation bases exploded out threateningly as they looked up into the sky.
During these five months, they were always on guard, always filled with extreme vigilance. Three groups of people had come to attack them, and two had been repelled by the Thorn Rampart vine. As time passed, though, the Thorn Rampart vine began to weaken. In the end, it was submerged by the lake and disappeared.
By the time the third group came, the Crow Divinity Tribes were forced to fight. During the battle, the Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather wasted much of his Cultivation base to kill an opponent of the early Nascent Soul stage. His action had ended the conflict.
After all, in this Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth, mutual loss, and death were equivalent.
In the blink of an eye it seemed, a fourth group had come against them. This time, it was only one person; however, in the current circumstances, one person was even more dangerous!
This one person approached in a beam of light, emanating a shocking aura. Booming sounds echoed out which carried the power of the peak of the mid Nascent Soul stage. Obviously, this person was just a hair away from the late Nascent Soul stage.