Chapter 165: Immortal Movement

"Seeing Ange Seeing Ange, don't listen to his nonsense, the Earth Sacred Hammer can't be used for farming." Nai Ge Li Si tugged at Seeing Ange's arm, trying to talk him out of the idea.

Seeing Ange tilted his head: "Can't it crush rocks?"

"It can, of course it can. The Earth Sacred Hammer, infused with holy power, one strike turns everything within a dozen meters into powder." Nai Ge Li Si said.

"Then it can farm." Seeing Ange said, turning and walking forward again.

"No no no, Anthony is tricking us. The Earth Sacred Hammer was never his payment to begin with — it was already in Heishan Duchy. He's just making us go pick it up ourselves, that swindler! Don't fall for it." Nai Ge Li Si tugged at Seeing Ange again.

Seeing Ange tilted his head in confusion.

Nai Ge Li Si began explaining helplessly.

"The Duke of Heishan was a very famous hero among mankind. Back in the holy war resisting the Feng Sect's armed expansion, he played a pivotal role. He had outstanding organizational ability and strategy. Under his command, the allied forces of every nation were practically transformed into a whole different army, beating the Feng Sect's holy war army until they were crying for their fathers and mothers."

"The Feng Sect got beaten until they had no temper left, and had no choice but to accept reality, promising that from then on, they would no longer use force to expand, and that divine authority and imperial authority would not interfere with each other."

"The Feng Sect may preach anywhere the sunlight reaches, but military, political, noble, and royal personnel are excluded — they may not interfere with the operation of secular power, nor meddle in the military or local administrative systems."

"This agreement was signed back then by the Pope and the Duke of Heishan, so it's called the Heishan Agreement."

"To show respect to the Duke of Heishan, the Pope even blessed the weapon the Duke used, calling it the Earth Sacred Hammer. The Duke of Heishan also declared that he and his descendants would wield the Sacred Hammer for generations, upholding the execution of the Heishan Agreement — which nearly made the Pope faint from anger."

"Unfortunately, the Duke of Heishan's descendants haven't been very promising. Over the years, only a few have been able to lift the Earth Sacred Hammer."

"Later everyone realized they'd been tricked. Where was the blessing? It was clearly a restriction. Originally it was just a magic hammer anyone could lift. With the Duke of Heishan's prestige, as long as his descendants could lift the Sacred Hammer, they could easily command the allies who had fought alongside him back then."

"Now look — blessed it was, and ordinary people can't lift it anymore. Nobody knows what one must do to lift it, only that reaching Sword Saint level will definitely let you lift it."

"But there was also one descendant who, without Sword Saint level, somehow lifted it just because he believed in the Light."

"At the time, this descendant was only the eighteenth in line to inherit Heishan Duchy, but just because he lifted the Sacred Hammer, he jumped straight to first and became the King of the Duchy."

"See where the insidiousness of this blessing lies? From then on, any heir who wanted to become King of Heishan Duchy would stop at nothing to take shortcuts and convert to the Feng Sect."

"The hero who once blocked the Feng Sect's armed expansion — now his descendants have degenerated into the most devout believers. From top to bottom, the entire Heishan Duchy worships the Sect."

"So this isn't just a simple hammer, it's a hammer of tremendous symbolic meaning — we can't just take it. Although Heishan Duchy has broken out in a bug plague and everyone in the Heishan royal court is dead, theoretically this Sacred Hammer is now ownerless, but we still shouldn't take it — we'd become a target for all."

Nai Ge Li Si urged with painstaking effort: "Why send grain over? Because Heishan Duchy is now a holy nation of believers from top to bottom. If Anthony can save those people, it would have a huge impact on his personal reputation. But he's also a sly one — using a holy relic that doesn't belong to him as payment. Seeing Ange, don't fall for it."

"Oh." Seeing Ange nodded, indicating he understood.

The teleportation array hadn't closed yet. Hearing Seeing Ange say "oh," Nai Ge Li Si immediately turned and said: "You heard that, we're not going, you swindler — using something that doesn't belong to you as payment!"

A lazy voice came from the teleportation array: "Where would I do that? I only mentioned the Earth Sacred Hammer first, it's not like I'm only giving the hammer. I need to order a thousand tons of grain delivered to Heishan Duchy. Grain plus shipping, ten magic crystals per ton. The hammer is just a bonus. If my lord passes by, take it on the way. I made a fake — take the real one and put the fake back, no one will notice."

After speaking, Anthony sent a teleportation request. Once accepted, a silver-gray hammer and a pouch of magic crystals were teleported over.

"……" Nai Ge Li Si was silent for a while, then said somewhat speechlessly: "Why do I feel like it'd be better if you didn't give the magic crystals — giving them actually feels more like an insult to us?"

Anthony said lazily: "What can I do? Grain prices are just low. Ten magic crystals is already several times the markup, and that's the rush-delivery price. I can't exactly spend over a million magic crystals on this thousand tons of grain, can I? People would think I was embezzling. Although I did skim a little, I can't go too overboard."

"Then what about this hammer? You even made a fake — how long have you been planning this?" Nai Ge Li Si asked.

Anthony was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "Look at the hammer handle."

Nai Ge Li Si looked at the handle in confusion, and what he saw made his soul shrink: "Immortal Movement?!"

"Right, Immortal Movement. The fake was copied from the real one, and the real one has it too. That hammer is very likely a creation of the Immortal Empire. If that's truly the case, then what's on it can't possibly be a blessing — it's a seal. I want to know, once I get the hammer, what kind of seal it is, and what it seals." Anthony said solemnly.

Nai Ge Li Si was silent. Immortal Movement is a short piece of music notation. No one knows who composed it, only that many creations of the Immortal Empire have it — things like guardian gods such as Paitesi, and those self-repairing buildings of the temples.

If the Earth Sacred Hammer truly bears the notation of Immortal Movement, then the only possibility is that it is a creation of the Immortal Empire.

How could the Pope possibly bless a creation of the Immortal Empire? It could only be a seal. Why seal a hammer? Afraid of it? Afraid of a hammer?

Curiosity was piqued. Uh, but he had just persuaded Seeing Ange and talked him out of the idea — and now change his mind?

He couldn't help complaining: "Why didn't you tell me this key information earlier? I just persuaded Seeing Ange."

Anthony snickered: "I had only said half of what I wanted to say when my lord ran off. Also, did you really persuade my lord? Why don't you ask again?"

Nai Ge Li Si immediately had a bad feeling. He had indeed not heard Seeing Ange say "not going."

Turning to Seeing Ange, he asked: "Seeing Ange, are we still going to Heishan Duchy?"

"Going." Seeing Ange said.

"Why!" Nai Ge Li Si was indignant — Anthony actually understood Seeing Ange better than he did?

"Hammer, farming, bugs, fertilize the fields." Seeing Ange said.

Nai Ge Li Si covered his face. He'd been careless — as long as it involved farming or fertilizing fields, Seeing Ange would never give up easily.

……

The bone dragon flew through the air. Fa Le hugged his robe tightly, curled up in the rope net shivering, teeth chattering: "I-i-it's s-s-so c-c-cold up in the s-s-sky."

"Oh, forgot you're still alive. Seeing Ange, warm him up a bit." Nai Ge Li Si said.

Raising body temperature didn't even require magic — just increasing the density and activity of fire elements, and body temperature would rise immediately. Almost instantly, Fa Le felt warm and cozy.

"What's the situation in Heishan Duchy now? You guys just escaped from there — tell us about it." Nai Ge Li Si asked.

Although Seeing Ange had been sweet-talked into going to Heishan Duchy, Anthony hadn't been able to provide any specific information. He only knew that Heishan Duchy had broken out in a bug plague, the bugs had overwhelmed the royal family, the two main cities were still resisting but were short on food, and the grain needed to be delivered into the cities.

Because the royal castle had stored large amounts of grain, once the bugs got into the palace, things spiraled out of control. The entire royal family — the Duke of Heishan's descendants, along with relatives, friends, loyal servants, subordinates, and so on — were all gnawed clean by the bugs.

As for how far the plague had spread and how massive its scale was, Anthony knew nothing at all — Nai Ge Li Si would have to find out himself.

Conveniently, Fa Le and his people had previously been near Heishan Duchy, so their knowledge of the area was definitely greater than theirs.

"Huh? I don't know either. We weren't in Heishan Duchy, just nearby. Now that you ask, I do remember — the bug plague did indeed surge in from the direction of Heishan Duchy. Could it be that they were hit first?"

"Heishan Duchy is very small — just one big Heishan Mountain. The royal court is on the mountain, one city on the northeast side, one on the southwest side, and the rest is farmland."

After a round of questioning, they found Fa Le knew even less than they did, and could only stuff him into the Hall of Repose.

……

The Heishan royal court — once a brightly lit palace — was now pitch black. Apart from the occasional creepy gnawing sounds in the darkness, nothing else could be heard.

The doors, windows, beams, pillars, and everything else inside the palace — anything made of wood — was now riddled with holes, badly damaged. Only one or two black beetles could occasionally be seen appearing on the wood.

Skeleton after skeleton lay on the ground, so clean not a trace of flesh could be seen, only the bare bones remained. Some bones still bore faint gnawing marks.

Some skeletons were frozen in exaggerated poses no normal person could strike — no one knew whether they had been moved after death, or whether they had endured unbearable agony in life, contorting their bodies.

A cloaked figure walked slowly into this environment, and wherever he passed, the bugs scattered with a sudden rustle; some made a turn and gathered again behind the cloaked figure, surging like a tide, then after surging for a while, scattered off on their own.

The cloaked figure walked up to a skeleton, squatted down, and took off the necklace hanging from its neck.

This was a women's-style necklace, with a rather youthful design — clearly it should have been worn around the neck of some beautiful young noble lady, except that the beautiful young noble lady had already turned into a skeleton, not even as eye-catching as a string of necklace.

"Hehehehe…" The cloaked figure let out a creepy laugh, tugged at the necklace a few times, found it wouldn't come off, and simply stomped down on the neck with one foot, stomping the skeleton's neck off, and took the necklace.

The cloaked figure held the necklace up before his eyes, observed it greedily for a while, then tucked away the pouch at his waist. A pouch hung at his waist, already bulging — who knew how many things were stuffed inside.

Feeling the pouch was full, the cloaked figure took it down, tied the opening shut, then gently tapped it with the middle finger of his ringed hand — whoosh — and the bulging pouch vanished.

The cloaked figure took out another pouch and hung it at his waist, saw a ring on a skeleton's hand, and tried to yank it off hard; the middle finger's knuckle was too thick, the ring wouldn't come off, so he stomped down with one foot, crushing the hand to pieces, and took the ring.

Just like that, searching and looting all the way, the cloaked figure arrived at the holy hall of the Heishan Wang Ting.

Originally a resplendent and magnificent palace-style decor, suddenly it took a turn and entered a place that was simple and austere. The cloaked figure immediately knew where he was: "Hehehehe, the Earth Holy Hammer of the Duke of Heishan should be placed here, right? What a pity — even a Holy Hammer blessed by the Pope can't withstand my children. If you'd known, you probably wouldn't have believed in that bullshit Church of Light, and would have converted to our Chaos Temple instead."

After circling the holy hall once, the cloaked figure didn't find the Earth Holy Hammer.

"Eh, where did the Holy Hammer go? Could it have been taken? Never heard of any descendant of this generation's Duke of Heishan being able to lift the Holy Hammer." The cloaked figure muttered to himself: "Could there be a hidden chamber?"

Thinking of this, the cloaked figure whistled, a kind of rustling whistle coming from his mouth; beneath the cloak, a swarm of bugs flowed down like a tide, surging toward every direction.

Very soon, the cloaked figure found the hidden chamber's mechanism; after pressing it, the ground slowly receded, revealing a pit below.

A sculpture of a hand was embedded in the pit, tightly gripping a hammer in its grasp.

"Found it." The cloaked figure's eyes lit up; he couldn't wait to jump into the pit and grip the Earth Holy Hammer.

The Earth Holy Hammer lit up.

The cloaked figure laughed: "Hehe, such pure Holy Light power — pity, I'm not a heretic, this holy power can't hurt me."

He spoke while trying to lift the hammer, but unfortunately, the hammer didn't budge at all.

The cloaked figure wasn't surprised either — if the Earth Holy Hammer were this easy to lift, the Heishan Duchy wouldn't have had succession disputes every few decades.

He flipped his hand over and produced a cloth covered in holy patterns — the Holy Shroud.

He tightly wrapped up the Earth Holy Hammer, along with the hand sculpture gripping it, then took out a bottle of green liquid and dripped it onto the hand sculpture; only the sizzling sound was heard, the hand sculpture kept emitting white smoke, slowly being corroded.

Few people knew that when no one could lift the Earth Holy Hammer, this method was always used to transfer it — as long as it was wrapped in the Holy Shroud, the "blessing" the Pope had left on it would be nullified.

While the cloaked figure was fiddling with these things, on the path he had come from, that skinny skeleton whose neck he had stomped off, as if pulled by some force, struggled up with a lurch, picked up the skull from the ground, and tried to fit it back onto its neck.

But several vertebrae had been crushed, so naturally it couldn't be fitted on; in the end it could only be tucked under the armpit, and limped forward with a lurching gait.

The skeleton whose hand bones had been crushed also got up; the intact hand picked up a blade, and limped forward with a lurching gait.

More skeletons, as if pulled by invisible ropes, climbed up one after another.

Their movement startled those beetles; the beetles crawled out from cracks, from dark corners, and even directly from inside the skulls, their mouthparts biting at the bones.

Crunch crunch — couldn't bite through, they left; the beetles crawled away like a tide.

Eyes fixed on the slowly corroding hand pedestal, the cloaked figure hadn't noticed at all that a pile of skeletons was already standing behind him.