Chapter 348 - 192: The Venerable from 500 Years Ago

Chapter 348: Chapter 192: The Venerable from 500 Years Ago

The glow from the Jade Pendant suddenly flared, sending out concentric halos of light like ripples from a stone cast into a placid lake.

The halos spread outward, gentle yet firm, gradually enveloping each of the seated figures.

The instant they were enveloped in light was like the flick of a switch, bringing them back to life.

Each of these dozen or so figures exuded an aura as deep as the ocean; even the weakest among them was a top-tier King-level expert.

A few were particularly outstanding, far surpassing their peers. The fluctuations of their auras were already infinitesimally close to the realm of a Venerable.

The one at their head, an old man dressed in gray-white linen, possessed an aura as profound as an abyss. He was on par with the Headmaster—a true Venerable.

As the light completely encompassed everyone, subtle fluctuations of energy began to flow through the silent cavern.

"Hm?"

"This is..."

A series of soft, questioning murmurs arose.

The eyelashes of the seated figures trembled, and eyes that had remained shut for several hundred years slowly fluttered open.

At first, their gazes were filled with the dazed confusion that comes from a long slumber.

But their instincts as top-tier experts allowed that confusion to recede within a few breaths, their eyes once again becoming sharp and lucid.

When their gazes focused on the Headmaster and Xingxuan Venerable at the mouth of the cavern, that sharpness was instantly tinged with complex emotions—the nostalgia of a long-overdue reunion, as well as a sharp inquiry into the current state of affairs.

The linen-robed Venerable, whose aura was a match for the Headmaster’s, fixed his gaze on him. His voice, raspy from the sediment of ages, was nevertheless exceptionally clear when he spoke:

"Junior Brother Ye? What... what time is it now?"

Xingxuan Venerable stepped forward, his expression a mixture of reverence and excitement. "Senior Brother Hu, since you entered the Time Cavern to seal yourselves away, it has become... the year 242 of the Galactic Calendar."

"’Galactic Calendar?’" Senior Brother Hu’s brow furrowed, the system of dating unfamiliar to him.

The Headmaster chimed in to explain, "Senior Brother Hu, time flies in the outside world. More than five hundred years have passed. The Blue Star has moved from the age of Spiritual Energy scarcity that you and I knew into a new era of Spiritual Energy revival."

"Five hundred years... It’s already been five hundred years?"

The linen-robed elder, Senior Brother Hu, repeated in a low voice. An imperceptible flicker crossed his world-weary eyes before his gaze hardened, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"Junior Brother Ye, you’ve awakened all of us. Has our sect encountered a threat of utter annihilation?"

The Headmaster’s expression turned grave. Holding nothing back, he systematically laid out all the critical information from the past two hundred years: the Demon Race’s invasion, the calamities caused by the Shadow Organization, the war at the Stargate, the Human Race’s strategic withdrawal, the revival of the Wujing Demon Saint, and the imminent activation of the highest-level contingency, the "Celestial Fall Plan."

He included the Fire Hall’s current struggle to hold on, the reinforcements from their three Star Alliance allies, and the final, decisive battle that was about to unfold.

As Ye Qin spoke, the cavern fell silent, the only sound the noiseless flow of chaotic temporal energies outside the barrier of light.

The gaze of every awakened King-level expert grew intensely focused and solemn.

Senior Brother Hu listened in silence. When he heard the terms "Wujing Demon Saint," "Celestial Fall Plan," and "final, decisive battle," stars seemed to flare and die within the depths of his eyes.

After Ye Qin finished speaking, a brief silence fell. Then, Senior Brother Hu slowly rose to his feet.

He surveyed the familiar faces around him—all of them aged, yet all burning with an unyielding will to fight. His voice was steady and powerful, ringing with irrefutable determination.

"The world has changed so much in five hundred years. I never imagined our descendants would face such a catastrophe. The Fire Hall has held fast for over two hundred years without ever retreating. Very good. All of you... have endured much.

"Since the Demon Race wishes to topple the very foundation of our Human Race, then it’s time for us old bones to stretch our limbs a little!"

"Fight!"

"Annihilate the Demon Race!"

"Protect the Human Race!"

There were no rousing slogans, only a chorus of low, resolute agreement.

More than a dozen King-level experts rose as one, and a colossal battle intent, dormant for hundreds of years, erupted with a ROAR.

It was like a long-dormant volcano suddenly erupting, instantly scattering the nearly solidified temporal energies within the cavern. Even the chaotic torrent of time outside seemed to freeze for a split second.

Though each of their faces was etched with the deep lines of age, their lifespans nearing the five-hundred-year limit for a King-level expert, the power they radiated now was that of an indestructible force, tempered by ages of trial.

They were the Fire Hall’s true heritage, spanning nearly a thousand years!

They were the prodigies who had risen during the harshest years of the age of Spiritual Energy scarcity.

In a desperate era with no abundant Spiritual Power to support them, they had relied solely on their tenacious will and supreme talent to claw their way to the realms of top-tier and peak King-level experts.

The outside world had long since forgotten them, lost to the river of time, believing they had all died of old age.

Only the highest echelons of the Fire Hall knew the truth: these predecessors were the Human Race’s last, and strongest, trump card.

They were the core reason the Fire Hall still had the confidence to hold the line, even with a Demon Saint revived and the war escalating on all fronts.

Ye Qin gazed at the group before him—his peers and his elders, gray-haired yet with fighting spirit that pierced the heavens—and a storm of emotion churned in his chest.

At this moment, it felt as if he could finally set down a small part of the crushing weight he had borne for over two hundred years, the burden of being the sole backbone of the Human Race.

With the twelve King-level experts from the three allied powers and the more than thirty King-levels the Fire Hall had cultivated over the last two centuries, the total King-level combat strength the Human Race could now muster had reached a staggering fifty!

Among them was a considerable number of peak King-level experts, and even some whose auras approached the threshold of a Venerable.

’With such a terrifying force, one that combines the thousand-year heritage of the Human Race with its recent new blood,’ Ye Qin knew, ’withstanding the Demon Race’s heaven-shattering blow is no longer just empty talk.’