Chapter 82: The Examination
The Bata tribe’s disappearance was naturally noticed by the ancient undead clan, but Arkas was simply too strong, strong enough to drive the ancient undead to despair.
Over a decade later, the ancient undead clan remained the overlords of the Shia Continent, while Arkas resided in the Law-Destroying Hall, which is now the Law Destroyer Ruins. This was a temple built for Arkas by the Bata tribe. At that time, there were no statues inside; this was the peak period of the Shadow of Law Destruction.
Arkas descended upon the Shia World not to bully the local natives, but to resolve the impending collapse of the elemental system.
Sixteen years later, the Shia World finally adapted to Arkas. At the very least, Arkas could move around freely without causing spatial collapse.
Of course, there were differences in strength among the Law Destroyers. Arkas was definitely in the top ten in terms of power among the Law Destroyers, at least among those alive at the time.
Once he could move freely, Arkas began to address the impending collapse of the elemental system. The cause of this collapse was the necromantic spells used by the ancient undead clan, a type of spell that was a combination of dark element and water element affinity.
Not long after, the necromantic spells of the ancient undead clan were cut off. In other words, this was the fall of a dynasty, a dynasty known as the Shia Dynasty.
After the death of the Shia Emperor, the human race became the rulers of this world. Arkas didn't care who ruled the world; he only needed to balance the elemental system.
After resolving the elemental system issue, Arkas didn't exterminate the ancient undead clan. Instead, he teleported them to a nearby desolate planet. Since their necromantic spells had been severed, whether these undead lived or died was no longer important.
It was at this time that a human stepped forward, risking his life to follow Arkas. This human was named Adelaide Herbert.
After following Arkas for a few days, Adelaide Herbert returned to the human world. Claiming to be an envoy sent by Arkas, he secured substantial financial support and began recruiting soldiers and buying horses. Within a few short years, this opportunist gathered a large group of impoverished people and began overthrowing the tyranny of the five kingdoms.
Clearly, Adelaide Herbert succeeded. When he established the Saint Sordin Kingdom, he set the capital at the original site of the Shia Dynasty and built the royal palace atop the Shia Sanctuary. The ancient undead clan, who were already imprisoned within the Shia Sanctuary, were furious, but they had been stripped of their necromantic spells. Their broken bodies left them unable to live or die, a punishment more cruel than death itself.
Not long after, Arkas left this world, leaving behind a puppet mechanism. This puppet mechanism possessed some of the Law Destroyer's abilities and had its own consciousness, similar to an alchemical creature.
The puppet mechanism remained stationed in the Law-Destroying Hall, unconcerned with the rise and fall of human dynasties. Then, one day many years later, the exiled undead clan accidentally opened a spatial passage and returned to the Shia World, arriving at the Dark Moon Swamp. The term 'undead clan,' in essence, was not named by the Iron Crown King; rather, he was continuing a title from the past.
The history of the Shia Continent that Su Xiao had learned before began with the establishment of the kingdom by the Iron Crown King. History is like the wife of a loser; the victor can manipulate it as he pleases.
The undead clan at this time were the current undead clan. They had a physique similar to humans, intelligence comparable to humans, and even possessed creativity surpassing humans. They had little connection to the ancient undead clan, having evolved over generations on that barren new planet.
The new undead clan knew of the Law Destroyers' existence. Holding onto the idea that only 'magic' could defeat 'magic,' they developed abilities similar to Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. However, what they didn't know was that Cyan Steel Shadow was just one of the Law Destroyer's abilities.
The new undead clan marched triumphantly to the Law-Destroying Hall, where the puppet mechanism inside 'entertained' them. From then on, the Law-Destroying Hall became a forbidden area for the undead clan.
This time, the undead clan was completely terrified of the Law Destroyers. However, what killed them was merely a puppet mechanism casually left behind by Arkas.
Realizing they were no match, the undead clan turned their anger towards humans. If they couldn't defeat the 'Law Destroyers,' could they not defeat humans? After all, these creatures were once just farmers, growing sweet fruits and plump grains for the undead clan.
After a series of skirmishes, the undead clan was astonished to find that they also had some difficulty defeating humans. This was very frustrating. Although humans were no match for them on the main battlefield, their numbers were vast. What shocked the undead clan even more was that humans had actually built a wall, separating their territories. To this day, the undead clan still couldn't figure out how humans had constructed this wall.
The former overlords, the undead clan, were furious, but they had to accept reality. However, they never forgot one thing: their ancestors were imprisoned beneath the human capital. They had to rescue their ancestors and restore their former glory. Therefore, they ceaselessly attacked the Divine Wall, only to rescue those ancestors.
After reading the murals and the text below, Su Xiao fully understood the grievances between the undead and humans. The longsword wielder, Kong, and the battle armor spirit he had encountered in the Shia Sanctuary were all ancient undead, vastly different from the undead clan currently living on the continent.
Su Xiao had previously wondered why the human royal family would build their palace on top of a tomb. Now it seemed that humans were voluntarily guarding the Shia Sanctuary, which was clearly an act of sycophancy.
What was inside the Shia Sanctuary were the original masters of the Shia Continent. They had once established a highly prosperous dynasty, the Shia Dynasty. Relying on the power of necromantic spells, the ancient undead clan dominated the Shia Continent until the arrival of the Shadow of Law Destruction.
The arrival of the Shadow of Law Destruction was a catastrophic disaster for the Shia Dynasty. However, the Shia Dynasty didn't know that if they continued using necromantic spells, the planet they lived on would collapse, wiping out all life on it.
As for the current conflict between humans and the undead clan, it was a mix of racial hatred and old grudges. As for the current Law Destroyer Ruins, part of it was renovated by Arkas. The statues and such were replicas made by the puppet mechanism responsible for guarding the place. It had returned to the void, learned that the era of the Law Destroyers had passed, and then returned to the Shia Continent. After building these statues, it went back to the void to fight the Spellcasters to the death, eventually dissipating.
[Tip: The Hunter has reviewed the lost history of the Shia Continent, gaining 5 World Source.]
…
Obtaining this unexpected gain, Su Xiao stopped paying attention to the murals on the stone door and instead looked at the three stone doors. He took out the Annihilation Stone and the Law Stone. As for the Shadow Stone, it wasn't needed for now.
The Annihilation Stone floated up from Su Xiao's hand, flew straight towards the first stone door, and embedded itself into it.
Crack, crack…
Large cracks appeared on the stone door, which then collapsed. The Annihilation Stone floated among the rubble, and Su Xiao grabbed it.
Behind the shattered stone door was pitch black. All light sources were swallowed by the darkness within the doorway, and a thick sense of malice emanated from inside.
‘Get lost.’
‘Get out!’
‘You are not worthy to enter here!’
Several terrifying consciousnesses seemed to exist within the doorway, rejecting Su Xiao's entry.
From a distance, Mawen Hua'erzi's gaze swept towards the doorway. He had lied to Su Xiao before; there was no danger inside the three stone doors. Or rather, there was no danger for a Law Destroyer entering them.
The three stone doors represented three trials: Courage (Annihilation Door), Wisdom (Law Door), and Potential (Shadow Door). By passing each trial, Su Xiao would receive a gift from the Law Destroyer, Arkas, a gift from a previous generation Shadow of Law Destruction.
Arkas had set these up before leaving, prepared for any Law Destroyer who might arrive here in the future. From this, it could be seen that the relationships among the Law Destroyers were relatively friendly, at least not backstabbing each other, and they were very united internally.
Thinking about it, the Law Destroyers already had a host of mortal enemies. If they weren't united internally, they would have been wiped out long ago, rather than being worn down by a war of attrition.