Chapter 136: The Other

Inside and outside the pavilion, silence fell like night; the wind and the chime vanished at the same time.

Li Luo stared at Mentor Xi Chan with a somewhat solemn expression. The latter's usual composure was clearly shaken, and the disturbance in the ambient world energy around her had sealed off every sound.

Clearly, the words "Marquis Battlefield" had struck even someone of her caliber—a Marquis Realm powerhouse—with an immense impact.

Meanwhile, Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng at the side glanced sidelong at Li Luo. The question this fellow had asked seemed to be beyond the syllabus, directly stunning even the mentor into silence.

They had heard the name "Marquis Battlefield" in passing as well, but they understood nothing about it either, because such a thing was simply too far removed from them.

A suffocating stillness lingered in the pavilion for a long while.

In the end, Mentor Xi Chan's voice broke the silence: "Is it because of your parents?"

Li Luo Chen Zhong nodded heavily.

Mentor Xi Chan paused for a moment, then said slowly, "Actually, the question you asked is already at the core of some information I was about to share."

"About the truth of this world."

The hearts of Li Luo and the other two trembled slightly: "The truth of the world?"

"First, I need to give you a primer on this world... You know the Great Xia, and you know there are other nations beyond Great Xia, but what about further out?" Mentor Xi Chan said lightly.

Li Luo and the other two looked somewhat lost. In their eyes, the Great Xia was already immensely vast—so vast it defied measurement—so information about what lay beyond Great Xia was genuinely hard for them to come by.

"The land where Great Xia resides is called the Eastern Region Outer Shenzhou. Within it, forces are as numerous as the stars. The Great Xia counts as one of the top powers, but it cannot be called invincible, because on this land there are three nations whose strength is in no way inferior to Great Xia: the Golden Lion Imperial Court, the Red Sand Empire, and the Divine Sun Dynasty."

"Beyond the Eastern Region Outer Shenzhou, there are nine more Outer Shenzhou, collectively called the Ten Outer Shenzhou. This is the root and foundation of the human race."

Listening to Mentor Xi Chan's calm voice, Li Luo and the other two were somewhat awestruck, as a grand and boundless picture of the world slowly unfolded in their minds.

So it turned out that the Great Xia, which they had regarded as vast, was so very small in the face of this world.

"Among those three great nations of the Eastern Region Outer Shenzhou, there also exist Holy Academies whose strength is in no way inferior to the Sacred Mystic Star Academy."

Mentor Xi Chan's gaze rested on the three of them as she said, "Do you know the purpose of these academies' existence? Why do they stand, and why were they founded?"

The three shook their heads blankly.

"Because of the existence of the Academy Alliance." Even as she spoke those four words, a measure of reverence and admiration surfaced in Xi Chan's eyes.

"Academy Alliance?"

Mentor Xi Chan nodded and said, "The Academy Alliance can be said to be one of the most powerful forces in this world, and its members are the various top academies spread across the Ten Outer Shenzhou. The Sacred Mystic Star Academy is one of them."

Li Luo and the other two drew in a sharp breath. Such a terrifying force actually existed in this world? In their eyes, the Sacred Mystic Star Academy was already unfathomable, standing in Great Xia like a colossal beast. Yet now Mentor Xi Chan was saying that even this immensely powerful Sacred Mystic Star Academy was merely one member of the so-called Academy Alliance?

Just how terrifying must this Academy Alliance be?

It was truly beyond imagination.

Yet Li Luo was thinking: what is the purpose of a force at this level? To rule over the Ten Outer Shenzhou?

"You might ask why the Academy Alliance exists in the first place."

As if she knew what was on their minds, Mentor Xi Chan was silent for several breaths before slowly saying, "The Academy Alliance exists because of the 'Other.'"

On the two words "Other," Mentor Xi Chan bit down hard; in her eyes there even flickered a kind of revulsion and fear.

Li Luo and the other two also felt an inexplicable chill in their hearts. Although they did not know what it was, instinctively they sensed a kind of dread.

"What is it?" In the end, Li Luo spoke up to ask.

"Legend has it that countless years ago, human civilization reached a golden age. In that era, countless great powers rose to the fore, and humanity grew strong beyond all reckoning. Yet precisely because of humanity's flourishing, it was as if a shift in the rules of heaven and earth was triggered, and an astonishing change occurred: our world produced a reflection."

"That reflected face of the world is called the Dark World."

Li Luo was shaken beyond measure. He could not imagine such a scene—humanity so strong that it altered the rules of heaven and earth, and thereby caused the world to produce a reflected face?

Was that another world?

How strong must they have been? In those days, was every human a Marquis?

"Actually, the appearance of the world's reflected face in itself was not such a huge problem. But no one expected that the reflected face could gather humanity's evil thoughts, and in the end, from those evil thoughts, the Other was born, drawing upon humanity's strength and growing rapidly."

"The Other is unknowable, untouchable—an extremely sinister existence, hard to eradicate, and possessing a corrupting power that eats away at the heart. These Others are like plague and virus: once they appear in the world, they cause tremendous destruction, triggering endless slaughter and chaos."

"The Other was born from humanity's evil thoughts, yet brought about the collapse of humanity's glory."

"After countless years of battle and cleansing, certain great powers of the human race finally exerted themselves to sever the connection between the two worlds, cutting off the pollution from the reflected world. But this was not a complete severance. Those so-called Marquis Battlefields are actually the connection points between our world and the reflected world."

"The slaughter has never stopped."

"And the Academy Alliance exists to contain and eliminate the Other. Its purpose of existence is solely for the Other."

"It can be said that the Academy Alliance was built for the long survival of the human race."

Li Luo's heart jolted violently. So this was the purpose behind the Academy Alliance's existence.

His mouth was dry and his tongue parched as he said, "So the many Marquis-level powerhouses who enter the Marquis Battlefield—are they doing it to resist those Others, to prevent them from entering our world?"

Xi Chan was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "The cruelty of the Marquis Battlefield far exceeds your imagination. And as its name suggests, only powerhouses of the Marquis level can enter it and possess any chance of survival."

"And of every batch of Marquis Realm powerhouses who enter the Marquis Battlefield, in the end fewer than one in ten walk out alive."

A chill surged from the soles of Li Luo's feet straight up to the crown of his head. His face went much paler. He could not imagine that the place his parents had gone to was dangerous to such a degree.

"Why did they have to go there?" Li Luo asked, trembling.

"Because if Marquis-level powerhouses do not enter the Marquis Battlefield, then the Other will enter our world, and the destruction and slaughter it would cause then would far exceed your imagination."

"Then why did it have to be my parents?" Li Luo murmured.

The Marquis Battlefield was so cruel that even Marquis-level powerhouses could not wholly protect themselves. So why did Li Taixuan and Dantai Lan abandon him and Jiang Jiang Qinge and go to such a place? Other Marquis-level powerhouses feared it like a tiger—yet they were rushing in?

"You're right. Not every Marquis-level powerhouse has the courage to enter the Marquis Battlefield, because the death rate there is too high."

"The various forces of the human race once tried not entering the Marquis Battlefield, but in the end they discovered that if they did not send Marquis-level powerhouses in, the Other would erupt and even madly invade the Ten Outer Shenzhou. The destruction and devastation that would cause is beyond imagination."

"What's more, it was later discovered that once, in the various Marquis Battlefields, the number of surviving Marquis-level powerhouses of the human race drops to a certain threshold, the Other will also erupt. At that point, there is no choice but to send in a fresh batch of Marquis-level powerhouses—mainly Marquis-level ones..." Xi Chan said softly.

Li Luo and the other two were chilled to the bone. Listening to this, didn't the Other sound as if it was forcing the human race to keep sending Marquis-level powerhouses into the Marquis Battlefield as cannon fodder, to be endlessly consumed?

"Because the Marquis Battlefield is too dangerous, in the end all sides adopted a lottery method to choose the next batch of Marquis-level powerhouses who would enter the Marquis Battlefield."

"This lot is called the Life-and-Death Lot. The lots are divided into black and white: the white lot means life, the black lot means death."

"And the black lot means entering the Marquis Battlefield."

Xi Chan stared at Li Luo and said, "Last time, your parents both drew the black lot, so they went to the Wang Hou battlefield."

"It wasn't that they wanted to leave you — they had no choice."

"Under the Life-and-Death Lot, no one may defy it. Those who do..."

Xi Chan's expression grew solemn.

"Within the ten Outer Shenzhou, there will be no place for them to stand."

(This plot point is pretty important, so I'm writing slowly — just one chapter today.)