Chapter 288 - 287: The Great Calamity is Imminent

At Northwest Martial University, meetings were being held one after another. At first, they were to discuss the authorization for Jiang Qiu’s position as honorary dean. But when it was discovered that the connection between the Northern Wilderness Great Secret Realm and Blue Star had been severed, these discussions were halted. The topic shifted back to the border defense against the Kunlun Demon Clan.

Within a week, the Kunlun Demon Clan had truly retreated like a receding tide. They relinquished Tianshan City, which they had occupied, and abandoned Gao Yuan City, withdrawing completely into Kunlun City and the Kunlun Mountain Range.

There were no more surprise attacks from the Kunlun Demon Clan. As long as one did not approach the jurisdiction of Kunlun City or deliberately provoke them, they would not initiate an attack.

And all this happened while Jiang Qiu and the others had yet to return from the Northern Wilderness Great Secret Realm.

It was as if [Chen]’s words had come true: "Jiang Qiu, you have won this battle for Gao Yuan City. I will lead the entire Demon Race to withdraw to Kunlun and will not invade the borders of Xia Country for three years. All Demon Race members stationed in Tianshan City and Gao Yuan City will be evacuated."

Even so, the words of a demon couldn’t be fully trusted. Necessary precautions were essential. Northwest Martial University had been organizing its existing teams of Martial Artists and implementing a policy for graduating university students to defend the borders.

Because of this, Zhai Song, one of the renowned instructors at the Soldier Cultivation Academy, was incredibly busy. His Direct Disciple, An Ling, had also taken on an important task—looking after Ice Lotus.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Carrying a meal container, An Ling stood before Room 18 of the True Inheritance Apartment. He rapped his knuckles twice on the door, his expression complicated.

Ever since word got out that Jiang Qiu was the one who had saved the several million people of Gao Yuan City, the attention he received from the Northwest Province reached its peak. Of course, there were always some rumor-mongers spouting foolishness that the stories couldn’t be trusted, slanderously claiming that Jiang Qiu was actually a Demon Race spy and that everyone had been deceived. Such talk was ultimately in the minority, and any such statements were investigated swiftly, as the topic was incredibly sensitive.

It wasn’t strange for such rumors to exist. An even more absurd one was already circulating: that Jiang Qiu was actually a clone of the Demon Emperor [Chen]. This theory claimed the so-called rescue of Gao Yuan City was just a hoax and that, in reality, the nearly ten million people had been led by Jiang Qiu to a Realm undetectable by Xia Country and slaughtered!

After all, everyone knew there was only one member of the Dragon Race, and that was [Chen]. If Jiang Qiu were a normal human, how could he have transformed into a Human-shaped Dragon Body—a detail taken from a video of the battle for Gao Yuan City, whose source was unknown.

They always had to pull out some "evidence," acting as if they were the few enlightened Awakeners among the masses. And shockingly, some people actually believed them.

Those cynical keyboard warriors, living in Yongjiang City or other cities far from the war, refused to believe that a twenty-year-old Grandmaster could exist. They refused to believe that a young man, possibly not even as old as them, had saved a city of ten million people.

They argued endlessly online, thinking themselves clear-headed for having seen through the Demon Race’s deception.

How utterly ridiculous!

For every single one of those bastards, provincial agencies would pinpoint their IP addresses, arrest them offline, and sentence them!

This was no joke. The war in the east was raging, and while it wasn’t certain whether the war in the Northwest Province had truly paused, millions of people had died in recent months. Who would dare slander a war hero?!

They were courting death!

As these thoughts involuntarily crossed his mind, a hint of killing intent seeped from An Ling’s narrowed eyes. ’If it weren’t for the impact of these rumors, why would Ice Lotus, the girl my Martial Uncle entrusted to my care, be locked in her room, too afraid to go out?’

’Of course, rational people didn’t believe the suspicion that Jiang Qiu was a demon. But how did others see Ice Lotus? Her features were too obvious, making her vulnerable to harm... though mostly psychological harm. After all, she was a Dharma Realm existence; very few people could actually do anything to her.’

That was why his master had told him to take good care of the wolf-eared girl, Ice Lotus—the one his Martial Uncle had brought back—and provide her with some assistance.

CREAK—

The door finally opened. A listless Ice Lotus stood there, head down, hand on the doorknob. The wolf ears on her head drooped just like the wolf tail behind her. Her eyes were vacant, and her dry hair was as messy as a bird’s nest. She was bundled in a cotton jacket, and waves of cold air billowed out from the room.

"Your lunch."

An Ling handed her the meal container, his voice heavy.

He could sense an immense fear coming from Ice Lotus, as if the sky had fallen and she felt she’d be crushed no matter which cave she hid in.

"My master and my martial uncle both told me to take care of you. If you need anything, just ask. If you want to go out, I can take you for a walk, but we’ll need to conceal your demonic features."

Glimpsing the weak and helpless look in Ice Lotus’s eyes, An Ling secretly clenched his fists, a swell of indignation rising in his chest.

Though he hadn’t come to fully trust Ice Lotus over the past week of looking after her, he couldn’t stand seeing a young girl get cyberbullied.

That’s right. Someone online had found information about Ice Lotus and connected her to the rumor about Jiang Qiu being [Chen]’s clone, calling it an infiltration of the Human Race by the Demon Race.

These whispers had even spread throughout the university, but there was no one by Ice Lotus’s side to speak up for her. She was all alone, huddled in this room.

For a moment, An Ling even wanted to personally escort Ice Lotus back to North Border City. At least there, hybrids were treated with a high degree of tolerance, and with Grandmaster Zhu presiding, public opinion was relatively stable.

"I... I want to find Brother Jiang."

Her delicate lips parted, and Ice Lotus’s voice was like the sound of a nearly snapping zither string, a whimpering whisper.

Those who have seen the light always want to cling to it. Even though she had reached the Dharma Realm, she still felt like a weak, despised mutt, desperate to hide behind Jiang Qiu.

On the day Jiang Qiu left to support Gao Yuan City, her heart had throbbed with anxiety, just as it had on the eve of the battle for North Border City and the eve of the battle for Gao Yuan City. It always seemed to be a premonition of a major disaster, a calamity intimately connected to Jiang Qiu.

’But this time is different. The great calamity is related to me, and not just me.’

But after Jiang Qiu led the Gao Yuan City refugees through the portal into the Northern Boundary, a week had passed, and it seemed no major event had occurred in the world.

’Did my premonition get it wrong this time?’

In the past, whenever there was an ominous sign, she would sense it in time, and disaster would soon follow...

Ice Lotus kept her head down. Only she understood that her premonition wasn’t wrong. In fact, it was growing stronger and stronger. One day, a world-ending calamity would descend, affecting everyone.

In the face of such a great calamity, even those in the Dharma Realm would be nothing more than ants, easily crushed to death.

After a brief silence in the hallway, An Ling couldn’t think of any comforting words. The door closed, and he silently departed from the True Inheritance Apartment.

He looked up at the sky. It was another cloudy day, the light dim. Dust swirled and danced in the air, and a chill was setting in.

Suddenly, he recalled a secret his grandmaster had once mentioned to his master. According to a fragmented ancient text, the Celestial Profound Great Realm once had connections to many other Great Realms. This meant that the Great Realms were not isolated from one another; once one’s Cultivation reached a certain Realm, they could traverse between them directly. However, such a Realm was currently unattainable for the Human Race.

It was as unattainable as the legendary True Dragons of the Celestial Profound Great Realm.

’But if that’s true, why haven’t powerful experts from other races come to Blue Star?’

’Or perhaps the Secret Realms have been under some form of control, allowing them to remain safe for so long? Now, the connection to the Northern Wilderness Great Secret Realm has been inexplicably severed, and no information can get out from Martial Uncle Jiang Qiu and the others. Could it be that some unfathomable existence has interfered...’

"It’s already hard enough to find peace facing the threat of the Demon Race. Why am I thinking about things so far-fetched?"

An Ling found his own thoughts laughable.