Chapter 812 Masters of Firmament City
The other members of the Winged Serpent Race also took advantage of Kael’s authority, punching and kicking the badly injured Shadow cultivators.
In the void above, Elowen watched her people in silence, torn between shame and regret.
“Lady Tuo.”
After several spatial shifts, Kael appeared before her.
“Don’t call me that. The Shadow Race has been reduced to slaves. I no longer deserve such a title.”
Elowen struggled to contain her emotions.
She had originally believed that bringing Kael to the Northguard Galaxy would strengthen an already favorable situation. Instead, she had brought about her own race’s downfall.
Even her great-grandfather had died beneath Kael’s spirit sword.
“I never expected matters to come to this either,” Kael said, clasping his hands behind his back. “You must blame me for what happened.”
When the fate of humanity was at stake, he couldn’t satisfy everyone.
It was true that he had a favorable impression of Elowen and Everett, but the Shadow Race’s exploitation of humanity had been far too brutal. What else could he have done?
“What use is there in discussing that now?” Elowen’s eyes reddened. “If you have nothing else to say, I should go prepare for the move to Bloodstock City.”
“All right.”
Kael gestured for her to leave.
Elowen gave him one long look before flying toward Firmament City.
Relocating the Shadow Race and humanity was an enormous undertaking.
Kael waited seven days before the last Shadow cultivator finally withdrew from Firmament City.
Only humans and members of the Winged Serpent Race remained.
“Lord Lin, this way.”
The Winged Serpent Patriarch personally led Kael through the city, staring excitedly at surroundings even he had rarely seen before.
Firmament City had been built with breathtaking extravagance. A single hall occupied more space than half a typical human plaza. Every surface was spotless, and the entire structure had been constructed from polished jade.
Several humans in ragged clothing wandered across the jade floors.
They seemed to find the surface too smooth. After grumbling about it for a while, one of them spat a thick wad of phlegm onto the floor.
Kael hesitated, then opened his Inner Cosmos.
Arthur and the others entered Firmament City one after another. Until now, they had no idea what had happened outside.
“Father, unless I’m mistaken, this is Firmament City, the sacred city of the Shadow Race.” Arthur looked at the humans moving through the surrounding halls. “Did the Shadow Race allow humanity to enter?”
“You must be Lord Lin’s foster son,” the Winged Serpent Patriarch said. “Allow me to explain what happened.”
He proceeded to give Arthur and the humans from the Inner Cosmos a complete account of Kael’s battle with Malachar.
For several seconds after he finished, no one reacted.
Then Firmament City erupted.
The humans’ cheers shook the entire city, dispersing even the clouds overhead.
Bloodstock City below presented the opposite scene.
Misery hung over its streets. Shadow cultivators who had once considered themselves noble now wandered aimlessly through the mud and filth, forced to listen as humanity’s cheers drifted down from Firmament City.
“How did this happen?” Lucan murmured. “What terrible sin did the Shadow Race commit to fall so far?”
A tear slid from the corner of his eye.
Even now, he hadn’t reflected on what his race had done.
...
Inside Firmament City, humans who had never seen such wealth rushed eagerly toward the inner city.
“Hahaha! This must be where the Lord of Northguard City used to meditate.”
“You mean the former Lord of Northguard City. Lord Lin rules the city now.”
“Right, right. I forgot again. Malachar is dead. Lord Lin killed him.”
“Come on! Let’s see whether the former City Lord left any supreme treasures in his cultivation chamber.”
“That’s right!”
A crowd of low-ranking cultivators surged into Malachar’s former cultivation chamber and began looting everything they could find.
The Winged Serpent cultivators were far more restrained under their Patriarch’s supervision. They only dared pick up the treasures the humans had discarded or overlooked.
Even those scraps, however, were enough to benefit them immensely.
Kael watched the ill-mannered humans with mounting embarrassment.
They were behaving like bandits storming a city—eating whatever they found, looting everything of value, and damaging whatever remained.
One day later, Kael occupied the seat of honor in Northguard City’s Shadow Martial Plaza.
The plaza was enormous and could accommodate vast numbers of cultivators. Even so, the humans and Winged Serpent cultivators filled it completely.
Arthur and the other human leaders sat below Kael on one side. The Winged Serpent Patriarch and his race’s senior figures occupied the other.
“Arthur, do you have anything to say?”
“All right. I’ll say a few words.”
Arthur rose and looked out across the densely packed humans and Winged Serpents.
“From this day forward, humanity and the Winged Serpent Race will reside permanently in Firmament City. Here, you are the masters. If any Shadow cultivator dares resist, kill them without mercy.
“If another race attempts to avenge the Shadow Race, contact my father through the Astral Compass. He will deal with them personally.”
Arthur’s voice carried throughout the plaza.
Kael then turned toward the Winged Serpent Patriarch, who occupied the seat of honor to his right.
“Do you have anything to say?”
“Yes.”
The Patriarch bowed to Kael before rising and facing the assembled cultivators.
“From this day forward, humanity will lead the Northguard Galaxy, and the Winged Serpent Race will support them. Together, we will maintain order throughout the galaxy.
“If any treasure is discovered within our territory, it must first be surrendered to humanity. Humanity will receive the largest share. As for how much the Winged Serpent Race receives, that will depend entirely on Lord Lin’s wishes.
None of you may demand more. Everyone knows that we Winged Serpents are a peaceful and undemanding people.
We neither compete nor fight over such things. ”
The Winged Serpent Patriarch spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
He was an intelligent cultivator. He understood that his race owed its place in Firmament City entirely to Kael, so he readily directed every advantage toward humanity.
“Lord Lin, would you like to address everyone?”
“I have nothing more to add. For now, settle yourselves here,” Kael said. “The Winged Serpent Race should contact the races willing to submit and form an alliance with them. Do not make enemies of everyone without reason.”
Kael had concerns of his own.
Humanity had gained sovereignty within the Northguard Galaxy, but throughout the Blood Jade Galaxy as a whole, it still remained at the very bottom.
Kael also had other matters to handle.
“As you command.”
The Winged Serpent Patriarch bowed.
The gathering soon ended. Afterward, the Patriarch decided to visit Bloodstock City and put its more rebellious Shadow cultivators in their place.
As soon as he landed on the city wall, he saw two Shadow cultivators fighting over a bottle of pills.
Without access to Firmament City’s resources, even a single pill was enough to make the once-proud Shadow cultivators attack each other.
“Stop.”
The Winged Serpent Patriarch landed before them and snatched away the bottle.
“I refined those pills,” one of the Shadow cultivators protested.
“What do you mean, you refined them?” The Patriarch scoffed. “From today onward, everything in the Northguard Galaxy belongs to the Winged Serpent Race. We live by the law of the wolf: what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine as well.”
With that, he slipped the bottle into his spatial ring.