Chapter One Hundred Sixteen: The Journey to Sacred Mountain

  Yesterday, someone said I was padding the word count. Alas, it's really unjust! Although these were introduced before, they were all incomplete, just a few words here and there, from several people. What's presented here is to give everyone a complete account, and to supplement some missing links. Otherwise, when you read it, it would be like trying to grasp a handful of smoke! Also, this plot is very useful, it's an important setup, and later on, everyone will understand!

  The next day, at breakfast time, the king launched a verbal attack on me and my father with a resentful face. What a nag! What a grievance! That poor thing really increased my appetite! Last night, the king attended a top-notch gathering where he met the Emperor of Megelane and was thoroughly humiliated by him. Because his subordinates couldn't hold their own, he could only swallow his anger! No choice, who made them find another Sword Saint?

  Known as the Earth Sword Saint, Mahel, is not someone to be trifled with! Among the top ten sword saints on the continent, he has the highest seniority and specializes in defense and counterattack. Under his sharp gaze, my poor king ran back early... or should I say, escaped?

  "Roar to the heavens, when will you be well?" The king said gloomily: "Yesterday I was almost scolded in the face, but I didn't even dare fart. You must find an opportunity to teach them a lesson for me!"

  "Ah! I'm afraid there's no chance this time!" Father said with embarrassment: "At least three months later can recover, besides, even if it is my best state, plus this armor, I'm afraid not necessarily win Mahe!"

  "Huh? You're so lacking in confidence for the first time?" The king asked curiously: "Why are you afraid of him this time?"

  "It was my father who told me that I have strong explosive power and excel at quick battles. When facing an opponent who is good at defense, if I can't win quickly, I will definitely lose. He also specifically pointed out that among the top ten sword saints on the mainland, Mahe is one of the few people who can withstand my attack, and told me to be careful when encountering him."

  "What's to be done?" the king exclaimed: "There is still a month left before it ends, am I supposed to keep hiding from the Megurine Empire?"

  "Haha!" I couldn't help but burst out laughing!

  "Are you still smiling?" The king scolded angrily: "It's all your fault, and now you're gloating!"

  "Your Majesty, I'm afraid he has a way to deal with it!" Ishihara Kuma spoke up: "Why not ask him for an idea?"

  "Oh! What can I do?" The poor Taoist flatly refused!

  "I'll send you to the Megurine Empire if I can't think of anything! Let them vent their anger!" The king's words were just a joke, but they still made me tremble with fear! Who knows what this madman, driven to desperation, might do? And then there's that despicable Ishihara Kōji blowing wind from the side!

  "Alas, it's probably impossible now!" said Poor Way.

  "Nonsense!" said the king. "Is a group fight all right? When a swordsman appears, he can almost take care of these 1,000 people! Unless..."

  "Don't get any ideas about taking down my Crazy Dragon Riders, I only have a few thousand men, and losing one of them would pain me. They call him the Sword Saint, but I'm not going to bother. Even if we won, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, a stupid move that wouldn't be worth it."

  "What shall we do?" asked the king!

  "I'll go ask my grandmother about it." The poor Taoist smiled and said: "She will definitely help, just wait for my news!"

  "Good!" The king thought for a moment and said, "With the seven three-headed wolf cubs you gave her, she should help you! I'll wait for your news then!"

  Wow! I was shocked. How did he know about the young beast? That's a secret within my family! Is there a traitor at home?

  After finishing the meal, a group of knights arrived after a while. The leader was a female knight who looked like she was only in her 20s, but of course that wasn't true! Her skin was as white as snow, with golden hair and emerald eyes, and her tall figure was very eye-catching. She wore a shining suit of armor on her body, truly looking heroic and majestic!

  "Hello!" she warmly greeted her father! But I always felt that her expression was not normal, as if there was a hint of resentment in her tone!

  "Hello Sasha!" But Father looked even more embarrassed!

  "Is this your little son?" she said to me, quickly regaining her composure.

  "Yes!" Father hastily said to me: "This is your Aunt Sasha! He is the commander of your grandmother's personal bodyguards!"

  "Hello Aunt Sasha!" The poor Tao said cleverly.

  "Hello little guy!" She patted my head and said with emotion: "You really look like your mom!"

  "Yes! You're just as mischievous!" his father complained.

  "Aren't you the one who loves being mischievous? Even someone as honest as me can't find anyone!" She said resentfully to her father.

  The poor Taoist's playful eyes swept back and forth across his father's face!

  Haha! He indeed couldn't take it, his face turned red in an instant, and he hastily coughed twice, saying: "Cough cough! Sasha, shall we be off?"

  "Oh! Yes! Time to go! Follow me!" She was startled awake by her father's cough, realizing she had lost her composure, and quickly turned around to leave. My father and I followed suit, and outside we all mounted our horses. I didn't bring Xianya and Gai Zhi with us.

  The poor Tao whispered close to his father: "Running into an old friend in a foreign land! Old dad, you won't have an affair, will you?"

  "What nonsense are you spouting, you little brat? You're just a kid, what do you know about extramarital affairs?" Although Father was furious, he still only dared to scold me in a low voice, afraid of being overheard!

  "Hey! I'm already thirteen, isn't that good enough? Even Ishihara Sanul and I knew about the mistresses at this age!" Poor Dao retorted.

  "I told you that you wouldn't understand and you really don't! Don't forget, I won the bet against you, now it's my turn to educate you!" The father said with great satisfaction.

  "Isn't it? I obviously won? Are you going to welch on the deal?" The poor Daoist argued!

  "Ah!" His father was anxious as soon as he heard it, his hands were shaking with anger. He tried to calm down and asked: "When I beat them down, didn't you have one more who hadn't climbed down?"

  "Yes!" The poor Tao said without hesitation!

  "That's it, you've already admitted I'm right, are you still trying to be stubborn?" Father said with a sigh of relief.

  "But aren't we competing over who can defeat their opponent faster?" Poor Way asked.

  "Yes!" his father said strangely.

  "Doesn't 'fast' mean a short time?" I'm slowly taking off my armor!

  "Really!" Father had not yet realized, but his tone had already softened, as if he felt something was wrong!

  "This is it!" The poor Taoist smiled and said, "You see, you've been fighting with them for half a day, I just made my move, and after you finished, I almost immediately finished too! Isn't that right?"

  "Is it?" Father asked, "What's this about?"

  "This means I took less time than you! In other words, I'm faster than you!" The poor guy held back his smile and said: "In other words, I won!"

  "You! This!" Father scratched his head, suddenly, and said with a big mistake: "No, what I meant was to see who would eliminate them first, not the length of time, but the order of time, so I won!"

  "You should have said 'who can pick up the trash first', but you said 'let's compete to see who can pick up the trash the fastest'. Isn't that right?" The poor guy then said: "So it was your mistake, I should be the one winning! Who told you to say something wrong? Otherwise, let's go find a fair person to judge!"

  "How hateful!" Father realized that he was to blame for this matter, and no one could argue with me. He had no choice but to admit his bad luck, occasionally slapping his own ears lightly while muttering: "Serves you right for making a mistake, serves you right for making a mistake!"

  Our destination is Holy Mountain, which is located on the outskirts of Holy City and is completely occupied by the church. It is said that because there is a gate to the divine realm on the top platform, it is usually invisible and can only be opened when major events require the descent of the gods. Otherwise, you can only wait for the selection of the Holy Maiden, and the angel will open it when he hears the call of the Holy Maiden!

  The platform is something I've never seen before, but when I arrived at the foot of the mountain and looked up, that magnificent scene still made me feel greatly astonished. The entire mountain was filled with all sorts of massive buildings, and as far as the eye could see, the lush green mountainside was dotted with majestic temples. This is the result of thousands of years of continuous construction by the church! How much manpower and resources were spent on this?! What a waste of labor and wealth! What corruption! I couldn't help but exclaim from the bottom of my heart! Is it worth it for those boring bird-like people to believe in such things?!

  The entire large building complex is very regularly distributed, and the top one is naturally the 'Holy Platform' that no one dares to profane! Below the Holy Platform is the Palace of the Holy Maiden, where generations of Holy Maidens have lived. Then, almost level with it is the Pope's Palace. However, the Pope's Palace is still slightly lower than the Palace of the Holy Maiden, showing that in the church, the status of the Holy Maiden is slightly higher than that of the Pope! But the Pope's Palace is much larger than the Palace of the Holy Maiden, and from the outside, it seems to have many more decorations. This shows that the Pope holds real power in the church!

  Below these two palaces are the Golden Twelve Palaces, where twelve cardinals live! However, the Golden Twelve Palaces only occupy the front mountain. The back mountain is the most secretive and darkest place in the church - the Heresy Tribunal! The Heresy Tribunal is notorious, and the people inside specialize in dealing with 'heretics' and traitors of the church, their methods are cruel to the extreme! People within the church usually tremble at the mention of this place.

  These buildings are already magnificent, the lowest ones have been several miles away from the mountain top, but they only occupy less than one-fifth of the sacred mountain! The vast area below is built into five huge building groups, which are the headquarters of the Five Great Legions of Holy Light. Here, the elite troops of each great legion are stationed for a long time, with a total number of more than 4 million! It can be said that this is the real holy capital!