Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1928: Forbidden Knowledge

"Sage, what do you mean by that?" someone asked. By now, no one dared to reject Wu Hong's title as Sage after the miracle she had just accomplished. For countless years, the Borderworlds had accepted the fact that their array — their only protection from the Red Cloud — was slowly being destroyed. Everyone understood that it was only a matter of time before the last line of defense was breached, signaling the end of the Borderworld.

But now, the Rune Sage has changed everything. She single-handedly reversed the downward trend of the Destiny Hope Array and of the Borderworld. It's not too much to say she altered their entire fate.

"Repairing the array is not enough. We must improve on it," Wu Hong calmly declared.

"Is that possible?"

"Maybe not for you, but for the Rune Sage? Nothing is impossible."

"Sage, I don't want to doubt you, but this is an Innate Array created by Grand Dao itself. Can it really be improved?"

"Direct improvement is impossible," Wu Hong replied, not telling the complete truth. Direct improvement was possible, but the time, effort, skills, and resources required were even more intense than trying to fix the Three Path Array in the Source Qi Space.

"However, we can add supplementary innovation," Wu Hong replied before flicking her hand to manifest a blueprint. "What is the essence — the power source — of the Destiny Hope Array?"

"The people's hope," Nie Rouxin replied. Over the past few years, she had learned a lot of Rune Dao from Wu Hong, even becoming the second-in-command of the entire group. Of course, Wu Hong understood this was Long Aojing's attempt at power control, but she didn't care; she saw Nie Rouxin's talent and decided to nurture it a little.

"That's right," Wu Hong nodded. "However, hope doesn't have to mean staying in a safe area and wishing that everything is fine — wishing that others will protect them."

"Fellow Daoist, what exactly do you mean?" Long Aojing frowned.

"Sister Wu, are you suggesting mortals can be more involved in the war or that they can provide more power of hope?"

"Both," Wu Hong replied. "Mortals — while weak — have always had one absolute advantage: their number. Taking that into account, I've designed a supplementary system to the Destiny Hope Array called the Battle Spirit System. By connecting to the souls of all the Borderworld's citizens — both mortals and low-level cultivators – I can gather a small amount of soul energy from every individual, which will then be used to create these Battle Spirits."

Wu Hong manipulated the projection she had created to show them her design. "These Battle Spirits are powerful, numerous, and more importantly, immortal. As long as the soul reserves are maintained, they can continue to revive and fight against the Destructo Beast.

"Of course, that's not the main point. By allowing the people to participate in this battle, by allowing them to take control of their fate, the power of hope generated will exponentially increase. By then, we will not only be able to defend against the Red Cloud, but we may also even be able to fight back, regaining some lost territory."

The room was silent, almost eerily so as countless eyes locked on the projection in front of them.

"I know some of you might be skeptical about my words, but I've done the calculation," Wu Hong continued. " Once the power of hope reaches a certain threshold, we will have an excess amount, which we can use to combine with the Battle Spirits, raising their capabilities. After that, fighting back against the Red Cloud will not be just a dream."

"Is this really possible?" one of the leaders uttered. "Please, tell me this is not just a dream."

"I've been pinching myself for a while now, and it doesn't appear to be a dream."

"So, there is hope for the world after all?"

"And that's not the end," Wu Hong continued.

"We've tried this method before," Nie Rouxin explained. "Unfortunately, we cannot properly recreate Heavenly Dao to maintain the operations of the rules. Of course, that wasn't much of a problem since we just needed to task someone to do the job. Unfortunately, most of these people would betray us or be assassinated by the central area. Plus, the Red Cloud would suddenly attack the few worlds that survived. In the end, we had to shelve this plan since it was draining too many resources."

"You don't have to worry about Heavenly Dao," Wu Hong nodded. "As for the Red Cloud? Well, we'll deal with whatever they throw at us."

After that announcement, the celebration jumped from joy to jubilation. Everybody focused on Wu Hong's plan, analyzing and preparing to execute it. The party soon ended, and Long Aojing sat quietly in his study, lost in thought. Nie Rouxin walked in a few seconds later.

"Husband, is something on your mind?" She sat on his lap and caressed his hair.

"Do you think there is absolute goodness in this world?"

"Is this about Sister Wu?"

"Don't you find it suspicious?" Long Aojing asked. "Everybody has their wants and desires, but so far, we haven't even figured out her objective at all. And that's not mentioning her identity. I've tried every method, but I cannot find a single sign of her existence before she appeared on the battlefield."

Nie Rouxin was quiet. No cultivator can reach such a level without being ambitious and driven, so she agreed that Wu Hong must have her own goal. "I'll try my best to get some information."

"Xin'er, I know I can count on you." Long Aojing talked with her for a few minutes before heading back to the main military base. Nie Rouxin looked at his departing back and sighed deeply. Ever since the Fifth Madam's betrayal, the commander has never spent the night with any of her sisters. In fact, even their family dinners — which used to be one of his priorities — rarely occurred.

The next day, Nie Rouxin resumed her work as Wu Hong's second in command. The team began working together to establish the Battle Spirit System. Meanwhile, Nie Rouxin increased her effort to become closer to Wu Hong, trying to gather more information. The Red Cloud suddenly became eerily quiet, which was good news for everybody.

"Sage, Sage, Sage —"

"Calm down," Wu Hong frowned as she finished engraving a set of runes. She turned to look at the intruder. "Zhou Li, right? What happened?"

"T-T-They're dead — everybody is dead."

"What are you talking about?"

"All of them, dead," Zhou Li said, his body trembling. Wu Hong suddenly had a foreboding feeling; she summoned one of the group leaders to replace her for a moment before immediately rushing back to the Earth Sovereign World with Nie Rouxin following behind. As soon as they arrived, Wu Hong's expression turned grave.

Everybody was dead. Everybody involved in producing the Hope Steel was dead. And the worst part was that their deaths were all the same. The workers all lay on the floor, some with expressions of joy, lust, and contentment, with a mark that resembled a red claw.

Wu Hong frowned as he observed the body. On the surface, it appeared as if the souls of all those people were dead, but she knew it wasn't that simple. Those people were truly dead — including the Emperor Path Cultivators. For a moment, Wu Hong thought it was the result of a [Existence Hierarchy], but after directly observing their [Existence], she saw no sign of that. In fact, their [Existence] appeared extremely normal.

"Time Backtrack," Wu Hong chanted, trying to peer into the past. However, the result was disappointing. She only saw a mark suddenly appear on their forehead, and these people's expressions changed before they collapsed on the floor.

"Sage, Sage, bad news," someone came rushing in. Wu Hong's expression changed as she immediately rushed back to the border to check on the bases, which was fine, but the same could not be said for the workers.

"Same method of killing, same mark," Wu Hong thought as she observed the corpse. A sudden realization dawned on her, and she contacted Long Aojing and a few others. Her deduction was correct.

"They are all dead, aren't they?" Nie Rouxin said with a trembling body. "All the people who were at your sermon. No, it should be everybody who knows about the Symbol Array Master's inheritance."

"What do you know?" Wu Hong asked with squinted eyes.

"It's the Curse of Forbidden Knowledge."

"What's that?"

"I thought it was a legend, but it seems to be true," Nie Rouxin continued, trying to control herself. "There is some knowledge once known that will result in death. I've heard about it because it once happened to the three holy lands, resulting in the loss of most of their ancient heritage."