Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 146 (2): Long Time No See

The Guardian flying ship was racing through the sky above cloud level at an absurd speed, and only two hours had passed before it began its descent.

The terrain down below was rather strange, consisting of hundreds of mountains protruding out of the sea of clouds below.

What was strange about these mountains was that all of them had lost their peaks, as if they had been snapped down the middle, and every single one of them had been reduced to roughly the same height.

Looking down from above, the cross-sections of these snapped mountains resembled giant Go stones on a board of clouds.

This was a legendary place on the continent reserved for showdowns between top-tier warriors, and it was where all official challenge matches between warriors on the Cloud Weapon Archive took place.

The thirty-two flattened mountains had served as the resting places for countless heroes throughout history.

However, the mountain at the very center, which was also the largest of the lot, was one that was very rarely visited, even though it could comfortably fit hundreds of thousands of people at once.

Everyone knew that that mountain belonged to the number-one warrior under the heavens.

One could explore it as a tourist attraction, but one should think twice, perhaps even thrice, before they tried to do battle on the mountain.

On this day, the owner of that particular mountain peak finally arrived.

He was the only one worthy of fighting on the mountain, and even though he was only here among many others as a spectator, his arrival was a significant occasion, nevertheless.

Many people had already arrived on the vast plaza-like mountain summit, and as the Guardian flying ship began its descent, everyone down below stood up straight at once.

The flying ship quickly settled, and the cabin doors were opened to reveal three deity-like white-robed figures standing at the entrance.

They were like otherworldly beings who belonged on a higher plane of existence, standing heads and shoulders above their peers.

In the instant that the trio appeared, everyone down below extended respectful bows in unison as they collectively greeted, "Welcome, Master Nine!"

Only after that did they also extend respectful greetings to Xue Fuxiao and Bing Qianshan.

***

Dongfang Sansan slowly disembarked from the flying ship with a warm and amicable smile on his face, greeting every acquaintance that he came across.

He was able to accurately call out everyone's names as long as he had met them at least once before.

Many of them were former subordinates of his who had been forced to retire from the Guardians due to injuries and return to their hometowns, and all of them had gathered here for a chance to see Dongfang Sansan again.

Perhaps this would be the final time they got to see him in their lifetimes.

Not only was Dongfang Sansan able to greet every single one of them by name, he even asked about their families and other trivial details that would've been long forgotten by someone else, and all of these former subordinates were moved to the point of tears.

Dongfang Sansan offered gentle words of consolation to them as he patted them on the shoulder one by one.

"Look after yourselves. I told you all to come visit me at the Guardian headquarters, but not a single one of you came!" Dongfang Sansan complained with a look of mock displeasure on his face. "I thought all of you had forgotten all about me, but I'm glad to see that's not the case."

"We didn't want to disturb you, Master Nine," everyone replied with bashful smiles.

As Dongfang Sansan arrived before a tall and imposing old man, a serious look appeared on his face as he asked, "What're you doing here?"

The old man smiled as he replied, "I don't think I'm going to be able to make a recovery, so I've come here to ask you to send me back to the front lines."

"Nonsense!" Dongfang Sansan snapped. "Go back home after this! You still have hundreds of years left to live! How do you know you won't be able to make a recovery?"

"But as opposed to sitting around and waiting to die from natural causes, I may as well go out with a bang on the battlefield!"

"Have you considered how much of a hit your death would be to everyone's morale?" Dongfang Sansan snapped. "Fuxiao, make sure to keep an eye on him and get him back to the headquarters after we're done here. I don't care how you do it, even if you have to abduct him!"

"I'm on it!" Xue Fuxiao replied. "You better not get any funny ideas, Old Man Yu! I'll beat you into submission if I have to!"

The old man gave Xue Fuxiao a disgruntled glare, but ultimately didn't dare to say anything.

He knew that this was not an empty threat from Xue Fuxiao, and if he were to be beaten in public in front of so many people, he would be utterly humiliated, so he had to hold his tongue for now.

Standing beside Fang Che was Feng Xiangdong, and the latter introduced, "That's Senior Yu Tianqi, the wielder of the Soul Reaper Ax and the former number-two warrior on the Cloud Weapon Archive. Legend has it that he once fought Duan Xiyang for three days and three nights, suffering irrecoverable injuries in the process."

A look of respect and veneration appeared in Fang Che's eyes. He had heard a story of Yu Tianqi from a previous war between the Guardians and the Church of the Self-Righteous. At the time, the Guardians had suffered a defeat and was making a retreat, but they were pursued relentlessly by thousands of powerful enemy warriors, led by two of the deputy popes of the main churches.

Right as all seemed lost, Yu Tianqi arrived, intercepting the enemy at a mountain pass.

He was like an impregnable walking fortress, battling two deputy popes on his own, and he was even able to inflict severe injuries upon Xiang Beidou.

That battle dealt a huge blow to Xiang Beidou's reputation, and in order to prove himself, he began challenging his way up the Cloud Weapon Archive, the first and only deputy pope to do so. However, he was only able to climb to the ninth position.

During that battle, Yu Tianqi slew hundreds of enemy warriors, refusing to back down even a single step in spite of his multitude of injuries.

It was only when Xue Fuxiao came to reinforce him did he finally depart, and after that battle, the previously insignificant Black Wind Mountain Pass became a legendary site revered by all of the continent's warriors.

***

"Please forgive me," Dongfang Sansan apologized to the leaders of several of the most powerful reclusive sects under the heavens. "I don't mean to shun all of you, but it's been a very long time since I've last seen these brothers and comrades of mine, so I must catch up with them first before I can attend to all of you."

"That's fine, Master Nine. Don't mind us."

All of the formidable warriors from the reclusive sects were also quite moved by Dongfang Sansan's devotion to his former subordinates.

Dongfang Sansan continued conversing with his former subordinates one by one, making sure to call out each of them by name, and many of them were moved to tears.

They were aware of just how important these reclusive sects were as allies of the Guardians, yet Dongfang Sansan had still chosen to speak to them, a bunch of useless old cripples, ahead of all of the important figures from those sects.

That touching gesture alone was more than enough to justify coming all the way here!

Finally, Dongfang Sansan took a step back, then extended a deep bow to all of his former subordinates.

"Live strong, my brothers," Dongfang Sansan urged. "The continent will never forget all of you! Everyone will forever remember that you are all Guardians! Do not speak lightly of life and death. Live on, even if it's just to keep me company. Think about how lonely I would be if all of you passed."

He knew why all of these people had come to see him. They wanted to return to the front lines while they could still move and give their lives there, rather than live out the rest of their days like a bunch of crippled cowards.

The last thing they wanted was to pass away in the security of their homes on their deathbeds, but that was something that Dongfang Sansan was absolutely not going to allow.

His passionate words had reignited the will to live in everyone, and their voices were trembling with emotion as they collectively promised, "We will live, Master Nine!"

"I'm holding all of you to that promise!" Dongfang Sansan grinned. "Take a seat, everyone. Your successors are the stars of the show today."

"I'm sure the younger generation will be much more capable and formidable than we ever were!"

It was only then that Dongfang Sansan began attending to the high-ranking figures of the top sects, of which there were quite a few more than Fang Che had expected.

"How come there are so many of these sects?" he murmured to himself.

"I'd say this is probably less than half of all of the top reclusive sects on the continent," Feng Xiangdong said. "I've heard that the most powerful sect of all is called the Heavenly Palace, and they never show up on occasions like this because they feel it to be beneath them."

"The Heavenly Palace?"

Fang Che vaguely recalled hearing this name before.