Volcanic Age

Finally, something surfaced from his hazy memory.

The one who had ruined the Seven Swords War, which had started when the Blood Monk's secret technique had been found in the Tomb of the Ominous Demon.

The one who had destroyed the Stockade Boss of the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest and their subordinate force, the Green Dragon Stockade, catching Blessed Existence by the back of the neck.

And not just that, hadn't he also interfered in all sorts of ways, such as handing over a Divine Art to the Shaolin Temple and destroying the secretly prepared branch?

"Zhou Xuchuan? You mean that Plum Blossom Order Sword?"

Even the Divine Physician, who had no interest in anything other than medicine, reacted as though he had heard Zhou Xuchuan's name before.

"Who are you?"

The man couldn't focus. He didn't care about the Divine Pill, the Divine Art, or anything else right now. Names that shouldn't be known, names that should never have been revealed, had just been mentioned twice—no, three times.

The Dark Heavens Association.

The Slaughter Register.[1]

Even if he was a member of the Association, these were things he wouldn't know if he wasn't a high-ranking member.

The Divine Pill was important, but the existence of Zhou Xuchuan, who knew about the Association's secrets, was a problem.

"It's Zhou Xuchuan of the Mount Hua Sect."

"Don't kill him. We're taking him to the Association. Cutting off his limbs is fine. The Divine Physician is here, so he'll handle things as long as he doesn't die immediately."

Zhou Xuchuan might have been on the Slaughter Register, but this was different. They couldn't kill him here, they had to take him to investigate his source.

Woosh!

About thirty of his subordinates leapt toward Zhou Xuchuan to capture him. However, they weren't able to get far before they froze.

Squelch, squelch!

There was a chewing sound. It wasn't just one sound either, but thousands, making goosebumps appear on the onlookers' skin.

"Wait…"

There was only one person in the Southern Jungles and the Land of Ten Thousand Poisons who could make this sort of sound happen—the king of insects.

His strange feeling soon became a reality. The man had something that seemed like a dark cloud creeping up, not from the front but from behind him.

Inside the dark cloud stood a young man with pale skin and bugs pouring steadily from his sleeves.

"What brings you all the way here, Insect King…"

The man was surprised. The Insect King should have been fighting fiercely against the Allied Forces right now.

"He… hehe…"

The young man, the Insect King, let out a sinister laugh.

"I had a suspicion, but to think it was true. You've fooled me, no, the entire major tribes. You won't be able to leave here alive."

While the young man may have been smiling, the smile didn't reach his eyes. Far from being happy, his eyes were burning with anger and bloodlust.

"Is this what you can call a desperate situation?" the Divine Physician, who didn't lose his composure even in the midst of the crisis, muttered while quietly stroking his beard.

"Hmph!"

The man, too, didn't panic in the midst of the crisis but instead snorted and relaxed, glancing around.

In addition to Zhou Xuchuan and the Insect King, there were a few others who caught his eye.

"The Seventh Young Master of Diancang and the Poison Phoenix?"

He had heard a few things while investigating the death of the High Priest of the Southern Jungles.

He knew about the Diancang Sect and the Tang Family. However, he hadn't heard anything about Zhou Xuchuan. Still, while it was a pity, it didn't matter now.

"We'll kill them all anyway."

"What great confidence. As expected of someone who claims to hold the Central Plains in their palm. Even though you're running off with your pants wet, terrified that someone would steal the Divine Pill from you after refining it in secret, of course. Still, I commend your courage."

Tang Hui remarked with her usual sarcasm.

"Bitch, if you don't want to experience that pretty mouth of yours getting torn off, you'd better keep it shut," the nameless man growled.

"How the weak gather together and bare their fangs. Things have already gotten to this point, fine, I'll kill you all."

Boom!

The birds on the branches flew away. The squirrels eating nuts in the trees fled for their lives. Even the brightly blooming flower buds withered instantly.

A fierce aura that scared away the plants and animals swept in like a storm.

"..."

Tang Hui shut her mouth tightly. This wasn't the time to spit out her usual harsh retorts.

She could feel the very air trembling just from the enemy before releasing the qi inside her body.

"Ha!"

Duan Hecheng also raised his guard to its limit. He, too, could feel the pressure around them that made it hard to breathe.

The nameless man wasn't being so relaxed in front of so many people for no reason. His stance hadn't changed at all, even after the Insect King appeared.

There was a reason for his confidence.

The cultivation of the man in front of them, whose name and identity they didn't know, clearly wasn't ordinary.

Warped Valor…?

A profound aura that was so intense that it was physically visible. If the remnants of his cultivation aura were so strong that they made the very air tremble, there was no way that his realm was low.

Even at a glance, it was easy to tell that he was at the Harmony Realm. Maybe even higher. There were few people in The Seven Stars Division with this level of power.

Zhou Xuchuan thought that the man might be the new Warped Valor, the right-hand man of the Dark Heavens Association Leader and the Association's symbol of power.

No, wait a moment.

He paused for a moment. Suddenly, something else came to mind.

Manages collection of elixirs, works to refine the Divine Pill.

There was only one organization in the Dark Heavens Association that managed and collected elixirs.

"The Archive?"

"…!"

His guess was right.

The eyebrows of the man, or rather, the leader of the Archive, trembled. While it was a fleeting moment, there was no way that Zhou Xuchuan would miss it.

It was a confirmation.

"So, I was right?"

A deep smile spread across Zhou Xuchuan's lips.

It was an easy conclusion as long as one thought about it for a moment. There was only one person within the upper echelon of the Dark Heavens Association who would come all the way down to the Southern Jungles for the sake of collecting a supreme elixir.

This person wasn't one of the Seven Stars, but was still a head that could match them in status.

The head of the research and collection agency focused on elixirs and cultivation resources.

"Head Archivist of the Archive."

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

It happened in an instant, so quickly that most onlookers didn't even register what was happening.

However, Zhou Xuchuan, who was facing the Head Archivist directly, was different. As soon as he called out the Archivist, he saw the man make his move.

There was a noise loud enough to rupture one's eardrums. The ground the Head Archivist was standing on caved in, then erupted violently, sending chunks of earth and debris flying into the air.

The boulders and rubble packed tightly in the earth scattered as the Head Archivist dashed forward.

He vanished, only to reappear in an instant, as if folding space around himself. It wasn't just incredible speed; it was as if time itself slowed.

In that suspended moment, the Head Archivist pulled his arm back and swung a fist at Zhou Xuchuan as he closed the distance.

The moment the fist was about to hit him in the face, Zhou Xuchuan didn't even flinch before he raised his sword to block.

BOOM!

The sound that followed was impossible for a mere punch.

Thunder ripped through the clear skies of the Southern Jungles. It wasn't just a sound, it was accompanied by a physical explosion.

The moment the sword and fist collided, the shockwaves rippled outward like waves on water, only to explode moments later like a firecracker.

"AGH!"

The first to be hit were the martial artists standing guard near Zhou Xuchuan. They were blown away by the raging storm.

Even the experts among them weren't spared. While they weren't violently blown away, they were still pushed back.

They closed their eyes tightly to keep the dust out and braced themselves with their thighs. Deep footprints were left in their wake as they were pushed back.

"I'm changing the orders."

As the thick clouds of dust cleared, the epicenter came into view. There were two monsters clashing, sword and fist.

"Kill everyone except for Zhou Xuchuan and the Divine Physician. I won't tolerate letting any of them go."

The Head Archivist gave the order as the light in his eyes changed.

"We've received your order!"

The thirty subordinates, members of The Archive, flew forward.

"Thunder God Fist."

Crackle, crack!

An invisible electricity flowed around his fists. A ray of blue light flashed and crackled around Tai'e's body.

The Thunder God Fist.

When listing the names of legendary masters throughout history, the Thunder Emperor was one that couldn't be missed. This was his unique technique. However, he had existed so long ago that this technique was thought to have vanished forever. And yet, here it was, displayed before their very eyes.

While it's incredibly fast, its power is also extraordinary. It's not called the Thunder Emperor's representative technique for nothing. My arms are tingling.

It had the properties of both extreme speed and extreme strength. Moreover, the two concepts didn't clash but blended exceptionally well together to form a true power.

Zhou Xuchuan didn't know much about the Head Archivist of the Archive. Because he secretly managed a collection of elixirs, medicinal herbs, poisons, and cultivation resources before the fall of the Dark Heavens Association, he hadn't come to the forefront like Blessed Existence.

He had heard that the Archive had remained until the very end before being destroyed. However, there was almost no information regarding it as the murim had been afraid that if the knowledge it contained had become known, conflict would arise due to excessive greed. Thus, not much about the division had been recorded. No one was privy to the information except those directly involved.

As an elder of the Mount Hua Sect, he had been given a high clearance to the information. However, that didn't mean he actually knew everything. Unless he had been reading forever, there were parts that he wouldn't have been able to read even with the access.

"I'll praise you for being able to block the sudden attack."

Is that too ridiculous?

A person on the level of the Head Archivist normally would be arrogant and say things like, "Try this on for size," or, "See if you can block this!"However, as if trying to prove that he was from the Dark Heavens Association, the Head Archivist tried to ambush him the second Zhou Xuchuan had said a top secret name.

Zhou Xuchuan had been keeping his eyes focused on the Head Archivist without looking anywhere else, but if he had been looking somewhere else, he knew he would definitely have taken a loss.

"Still, that's all that is!"

The Head Archivist raised his voice and widened his eyes.

Zhou Xuchuan tightened his grip on his sword and adjusted his stance to guard his torso.

Swish!

A Leg Technique?

However, the attack came from below, not above.

Bang!

The Head Archivist swung his leg like a whip. Just like the Thunder God Fist, a flash of electricity flickered.

Zhou Xuchuan hesitated for a brief moment, considering whether to move the sword guarding his torso to block. But instead of risking a feint, he chose to retreat, betting on the possibility that it was a diversion.

Swish!

"Hmph."

Zhou Xuchuan made a face of disgust. The tips of his hair, blown by the wind, were cut off as if sliced cleanly by a sword.

The Head Archivist's leg, or rather, the electricity surrounding that leg, became as sharp as a blade, and cut with just a slight touch.

So he's followed the Thunder Emperor's arts perfectly!

Thunderclap Chopping Sever Kick.

Most techniques focused on striking, but the Thunderclap Lightning Severing Kick was different. As its name suggested, it chopped and severed.

It was a unique technique that used an edge instead of force.

"You dodged it?"

The Head Archivist was equally surprised. His expression showed that he had never imagined that Zhou Xuchuan would dodge so perfectly.

Still, his surprise only lasted for a moment. As expected of an executive of the Dark Heavens Association, he continued his attacks without any openings and poured out with fists.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Crackle, crack!

Every time he swung his fist, electricity would flash in a dazzling light, making it even more troublesome as it was not only incredibly fast but also obscured his vision.

The most annoying thing was the sheer intensity of the attacks. The qi contained in each punch or kick wasn't ordinary.

It was overwhelming, even for someone like Zhou Xuchuan.

"I mean, did you bathe in Pure Stalactite Milk or something… hah, whatever."

Next to the Dark Heavens Association Leader, the Head Archivist had the highest authority in the allotment of elixirs and cultivation resources. It was only natural that he would have such a high qi reserve.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

While the Diancang Sect's Sunshooting Sword Art was famous for its speed as a quicksword technique, it wasn't as fast as this. This was impossibly fast, truly like a bolt of lightning.

Zhou Xuchuan displayed the footwork technique he had so diligently practiced and dodged as much as he could. However, he couldn't dodge them all.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every time the sword and fist collided, there was an explosion. The ground caved in and rocks bounced like beans in a fire.

Zhou Xuchuan and the Head Archivist.

Neither allowed themselves to lose even the slightest ground as they exchanged moves with qi reserves as vast as the ocean.

Something flashed through Zhou Xuchuan's mind. He decided that if things really continued on like this, no one knew when it would end.

"Come to think of it, I ate well before."

A sinister smile spread across Zhou Xuchuan's lips.

"…?"

"The Millennia Fire Carp. It was a bit hard to catch, but it was incredibly rich and flavorful because someone raised it really well."

The Head Archivist froze, momentarily dazed.

Zhou Xuchuan kept his sword pressed against the Head Archivist's fist and whispered shyly into the man's ear, as if he were a maiden confessing to a knight.

"That. I was the one who ate it."

1. This was translated as a phrase earlier, not a noun. The 殺戒簿 is more literally translated as "Register of People Prohibited to be Killed," referencing Shajie, the Buddhist philosophy of being prohibited to kill, but is used as a way of saying "these people need to be taken out." Will fix it in previous chapters (162.) ☜