Above The Sky
Chapter 428 - 428 398 It's Just Pathetic 23

428: Chapter 398: It’s Just Pathetic (2/3) 428: Chapter 398: It’s Just Pathetic (2/3) “Oh?”

A prophecy that concerned him, yet did not originate from him.

It sounded convoluted, but it was not difficult to comprehend.

Ian knew that a Prophet could not predict another Prophet, but this ‘inability’ differed—He was unable to see the signs of impact caused by another Prophet on himself, yet the other could not influence him to predict the impact others would have on him.

In other words, predictions from other prophets concerning him were not completely ineffective, but rather, they took place as if ‘he did not exist’ or as though ‘his presence in the prophecy was ignored.’

At this moment, the spirit voice of the child’s soul had begun to weaken, and now Linda was leading: “Big brother, with the power of the skull, I saw chaos erupt in Nauman City, all the mysterious men in black converged on that city, and ultimately through cooperation with another group, they succeeded in obtaining something very important.”

“We don’t know what that thing is.

It’s very ordinary but extraordinarily precious, which is way too contradictory.

The world is so vast, there’s so much we don’t know…

But it’s connected to a religious sect…

What’s a sect?”

“Anyhow, it was after seeing this scene that we decided to expedite our plans with dad—but then you came, Big Brother, and so all prophecies were broken, all fates have embarked on a different trajectory.”

“Because of your arrival, the men in black appeared, and we will step towards failure…

But since our fate has changed, then in Nauman City, the one who gets the important thing will change too…

Even everything might change, maybe no one will get it?”

Linda clearly had no interest in any of this, or rather, she hadn’t seriously looked at the prophecies.

She was an artificial human created to carry the ‘Skull of Momentary Insignificance,’ and Spirit Energy was ‘activated’; on a normal day, she’d use activated Spirit Energy to assist the Skull in making predictions, thus she was somewhat resistant to it.

However, like her brothers, she harbored quite a naive malice towards the Spirit Insight Institute.

That was, hoping for the failure of the Spirit Insight Institute no matter what.

It would be best if they all died.

“A sect?

One of the Four Great Orthodox Churches?

Or a cult?

The Prophecy of the Skull of Momentary Insignificance, indeed, has such power.”

Ian’s brow furrowed slightly; he was beginning to understand.

With this, the actions of Baron Leyan and the children could be explained—the inevitable loss of control over the plans of the Spirit Insight Institute because they had actually succeeded in cultivating a Spirit Energy User who could wield the Prophet’s Power.

Although it was only indirect, the mere existence of the Prophet’s Power meant ‘unconditionally obtaining a certain volume of information about the future’…

Opposing such a Spirit Energy User, even children could find ways to slip out of their control.

As for why they were telling him this prophecy…

“Do you hope that I will stop the Spirit Insight Institute from succeeding?

Even if it’s something that has nothing to do with you?”

After a silence, Ian smiled frankly, “Although I’d like to say no, this I cannot refuse.”

At this point, he paused for a moment and spoke earnestly, “Remember, though.”

“This is not for you; it’s simply because I want to do it.”

“It’s all the same, Big Brother, only you care about these trivial things; only those who want to live need excuses,” came a rather unfamiliar and most mature voice to Ian’s ears—it was the voice of Baron Leyan’s own child, the one child who had a possibility of being revived last.

His death marked the beginning of all the craziness and sin that would follow the Baron.

But perhaps he was the most innocent of all the dead present.

At least, apart from having frightened Steward Moda into fainting, there was no evidence of his wrongdoings.

He was simply…

a Chosen One.

And a victim.

Unlike the other three children’s souls, who could clearly sense abnormalities and madness, Ian could feel that the soul of the baron’s own child, though still carrying a hint of the vengeful spirit’s essence, ultimately returned to normal cognition with the help of the baron and his younger siblings.

Could this be the power of the Chosen One?

Or the support of Spirit Energy from the three siblings?

Or maybe, when he had met with the old steward Moda, he had already regained some of his senses?

None of this mattered anymore.

“If this is your choice.”

Ian replied softly, “Then go.”

“Farewell then, passing Prophet, Big Brother,”

“Farewell, pitiful children,” responded Ian.

In the pitch-dark night storm, Ian turned away, his back to the bodies and the orb of light.

The torrential rain melted the ice and washed away the mud and stones, erasing all traces of the fight, while the thunder roared, drowning out all other sounds.

The Frost Butterfly flew in from afar; the youth lifted his finger, allowing the Little Fairy to joyfully cling to the tip of his index finger.

The laughter of the Frost Butterfly overlapped with the cheerful laughter behind him, accompanied by the strange squelching noise of flesh and blood being twisted.

In the cultivation chamber, all the bodies of the children, even those being cultivated to carry the vengeful spirits’ revival, began to spontaneously decompose, collapse, and melt into pools of bizarre orange-red liquid.

This was the effect of Moqiu’s Spirit Energy, as he was activating his power to completely erase all remaining traces of himself and his brothers and sisters in this world.

Even the radiance of the ‘Skull of Momentary Insignificance’ atop Linda’s head was dimming—the Spirit Energy Heritage Artifact, already depleted of much of its power, was now nearly exhausted, reverting to an ordinary Aether Crystal Skull.

Without the interference of this other Prophet’s Inheritance artifact, the many mists in the young man’s Foresight View once again appeared clearly.

But Ian didn’t look back.

He didn’t need to.

Because the young man had long known that these lives, which had never experienced the slightest sense of purpose on this land, ultimately found the final meaning of their existence.

That was to eradicate their own presence from this world, so that no one could find them, harm them, or use them to repeat another dreadful plan.

Even with the possibility of revival, life still chose to reject being born into this world once more.

After dozens of seconds, all the squirming sounds of flesh and blood stopped completely, and the children’s laughter also dissipated, as the fluctuations of Spirit Energy began to weaken.

Ian stopped in his tracks, for a full ten seconds, he did not hear any sound.

They had all dissipated.

The great storm along the coast of South Ridge six years ago, intertwined with the malevolence of a group of people, turned into an avalanche that destroyed a family; and an avalanche created by a mad noble led hundreds, even thousands, of ordinary families to ruin.

The war between the Fiery Flame Land and The Empire, seemingly unrelated to this incident, was actually closely connected—the Duke of Solin could not sustain the defense line alone, the people within his territory became displaced, and The Empire, either to weaken the duke’s power or truly shift its strategic focus, turned a blind eye to the continual migration of Western Border Refugees to other provinces.

In the future, the Duke of Solin would choose to betray completely—or perhaps decide the fate of his own nation independently.

A mere decision led to the death of hundreds of thousands, and with that decision, organizations like the Spirit Wisdom Institute rose to use this rich ‘resource’ to carry out their various plans.

If this were to be recorded in history books, all of this would perhaps be nothing more than a flippant phrase, ‘The Setar Empire and the Fiery Flame Land had a six-year-long strategic standoff, with their covert war and biological warfare causing the Western Plains to become un-farmable, and famine and frequent diseases led to a mass exodus of people to other provinces, with one in ten survivors’.

Just this one sentence, which might be overlooked by scholars and readers of future generations, when it falls on the heads of ordinary people…

no, even on the heads of Sublimators, it’s like an avalanche.

The world is never ugly.

It’s just tragic.

“Damn it.”

In the pouring rain, the white-haired young man cursed softly in Chinese and then put on his helmet.

Gather all the fragments of the broken sword and pieces of Alchemy Armored Clothing, leaving no clue behind.

Then, Ian turned his head to look back at the scene of the previous battle.

The body of Baron Leyan was far different from his appearance during the fight; not only had the sword wound in his throat disappeared, but his face also turned purple as if poisoned.

As for the body of the Deputy Director of the Spirit Insight Institute, although his head being crushed was irreversible, it looked not as if it was smashed by someone’s foot, but more like it was shattered by Baron Leyan with a piercing awl.

At a glance, it appeared as if these two had dueled, each unleashing deadly moves, and thus perished together.

“…

That’s a little too skilled.”

For a moment, even Ian himself couldn’t find any flaws.

But he knew that these actions could only deceive those uninformed, such as inspector officers of the Empire’s Judicial Court and executors of the Huai Guang Church.

But the Spirit Wisdom Institute surely knew that Moqiu possessed the Spirit Energy to warp and control flesh and blood.

Given this, they would certainly not be misled by the condition of the corpses, but rather attempt to search for more clues.

But that was enough—it was enough to leave them bewildered for a time, never able to trace his own tracks again.

“I still owe Radiant Nun a thank you…

I should go back and get my luggage first.”

Ian reflected.

From the beginning to the end, only Radiant Nun and the old steward Moda knew he was involved in this matter, and it was only Radiant Nun who knew he went after Baron Leyan—this would create a gap in timing, as the whole fight, including the time to crush the Spirit Insight Institute’s man in black, didn’t exceed fifteen minutes.

If he hurried back, no one could possibly guess it was he who killed Baron Leyan and the Deputy Director of the Spirit Insight Institute.

Not catching up was the norm; catching up would actually be suspicious.

“Speaking of which, did I just kill another old friend of a Viscount?”

Thinking of this, Ian paused for a moment, then shook his head vigorously, casting off the bizarre thought, “This can’t be blamed on me, can it?

The feng shui of South Ridge really isn’t all that great.”

“Maybe all of Terra isn’t that great.”

With a mix of complex emotions, the young man left the area, quickening his pace toward the Leyan Territory.

Although there were hardly a few people who would suspect him, a former friend of Baron Leyan, under Viscount Grant’s command, having witnesses was always better than none.

After a long while,

the rain clouds dissipated, and dawn arrived.

Two glowing figures came to this valley.