The Magus Era

Ji Hao and the others floated aside the gigantic stalactite, staring at those natural formed, complicated, dragon and phoenix alike spell symbols, and couldn’t help but be stunned.

Both the stalagmite and the stalactite were tens of zhang long and a few zhang wide. The stalagmite had grown straight towards the sky, while the stalactite was hanging on the roof, pointing at the ground. The stalagmite was releasing a special kind of power that had a similar sense as an elegant phoenix, flying and dancing gracefully in the air. The power released by the stalagmite sensed like that of a fearless dragon that was powerful enough to tear the entire world apart. The power of the stalactite felt gentle and soft, while the power if the stalagmite felt strong and fierce. Combined, the two of them gave off a magical sense that would make people emotional towards the nature of heaven and earth and was difficult to put into words.

If someone would look closer, he would discover an extremely thin beam of light being released from the tips of both the stalactite and stalagmite, which was silently absorbed by the stone sword that was floating right between both of them.

The length of the sword was eight foot and it was crafted in ancient style. It had a square form with straight lines and angles, without any unnecessarily complicated decorations. The colour of the sword was snow-white, similar to the colour of the streams of natural power. Not even the faintest beam of light was released from the sword, but the sword did seem to contain the brightest and dazzling light of the world that was waiting to be activated and release its glow.

In the Southern Wasteland knowledge regarding naturally-formed, magical and powerful objects was scarce. Ji Hao had learned the classifications of all kinds of treasures of this world only after joining the Magi Palace from out of a few books that he had read in his free time.

Some treasures had existed in the universe even before the creation of this world, called ‘primordial natural treasures’ by people. Those were capable of breaking all kinds of magic and destroying all kinds of evil. Not a single person or thing could withstand its power, which was great enough to break the void and rebuild the primordial universe. Killing with such treasures would not have any retribution of fate. These kind of treasures were the most precious and rare among all the treasures in the world.

Then there were some treasures that had formed naturally at the time the world was being created. These treasures that were born alongside the world had received a part of the power of the newly created world. These kinds of treasures were called the ‘world-accompanying spirit treasures’. These treasures, created alongside the world, had a part of the world in them and were connected to the world. They shared their destiny with the world. Killing with these kinds of treasures would also have no retribution of fate. Out of these treasures, the ones with the highest grade were comparable in power to the ‘primordial natural treasures’.

After the creation of this world the natural laws and power gradually formed from the chaos. As time passed, the primitive natural powers merged with the first batch of crafted objects, becoming the ‘natural-crafted magic treasures’. The set of Black Underworld Water Manipulating Banners of the Water Ape Clan and the Southern Spirit Pot of Zhu Rong Tonggong were ‘natural-crafted magic treasures’. Killing with these kind of treasures would lead to retribution of fate, but because these kind of treasures were very powerful, ordinary retribution would not be able to do any harm or damage to them. Although the power of the ‘natural-crafted magic treasures’ was not as great as that of the ‘primordial natural treasures’ or the ‘world-accompanying spirit treasures’, they still were powerful enough to rule a certain part of the world. Therefore, every powerful clan or organization had such a treasure to solidify their status and overwhelm others.

After the newly-created world had become stable, Yin and Yang energies emerged from this world and the five nature elements had divided. Therefore, following the natural laws of the world, different types of magical objects had formed naturally in special locations, where they had been nourished by the natural power. These magical objects were called ‘natural holy weapons’. Most of these were hidden in underground caves that had gathered an amazing amount of natural power and was difficult to reach for people. These kind of treasures were condensed by pure natural power bit by bit over countless years. If you were able to find a ‘natural holy weapon’ and managed to manipulate it, you would be able to rule a piece of land all on your own, using its power.

All the above mentioned four kinds of treasures were formed and nourished by natural power and were unspeakably powerful. They could cause infinitely great effects.

The magic treasures and tools that were crafted by Maguspriests who used all kinds of precious materials, were ranked below these four kinds of treasures. These crafted magic treasures normally had many limitations and were less powerful by a great margin. They couldn’t be even mentioned in the same breath as those naturally-formed magic treasures.

While Ji Hao was trying to recall all he had read about the different kinds of magic treasures, he raised his voice and told what he knew about naturally-formed magic treasures to his teammates.

“My brothers and sisters, this is without a doubt a ‘natural holy weapon’. With a simple offering ceremony and some practice any of us can freely manipulate this sword. It will be even more convenient than manipulating inherited magic treasures of our own clans. The difference is that this sword will be far more powerful than our own inherited magic treasures. Along with the improvement of our own powers we will be able to release more and more of the power contained in this sword.”

“We can’t leave such a powerful weapon to others. I suggest each of us should take a shot and see which one of us will be chosen by this sword, what do you think?”

Ji Hao looked at the others with a smile and said. Although this ‘natural holy weapon’ was quite alluring, Ji Hao wasn’t confused by its great allure, at all. He remembered clearly from a book he had read in the Magi Palace that indicated that all ‘natural holy weapons’ were spiritual and magical subjects. Even if you could see one, the holy weapon might not be willing to accept you as its owner.

In order to gain a ‘natural holy weapon’ what you needed was not only luck but also the right destiny. If you intended to be rash and rush up to take the holy weapon, you might end up with empty hands, or worse, you might be harmed by its great power.

Man Man looked at the stone sword, hurriedly shook her head and said, “Eh? A sword? Man Man don’t like such kind of light weapons.”

She then clanged her hammers hard against each other and continued proudly, “Man Man’s hammers are great! Man Man loves her hammers!”

Feng Xing was struggling and looked at the stone sword for quite a long while, then he took his roughly-crafted and simple-shaped longbow out, turned around and began complaining, “Why is it not a bow? But...even if it was a bow, I couldn’t bear to abandon this inherited precious treasure. This bow belonged to my ancestor, and is probably not less powerful than that natural-crafted holy weapon...I, I, I’m not going to try it, I have decided!”

Yu Mu was as struggling, same as Feng Xing. He rubbed the layers of fat on his waist, patted his own head, then lowered his head and looked at his, over three meters tall gigantic body, then let out a big sigh helplessly, and turned around.

“Next time, if a natural crafted pot appears right in front of us, none of you should try but me. But a sword...look, look at me! Do I look like a sword person? What should I do with that sword? Cut meat? The edge of this sword is way too straight without even a slight bit of arc, probably less useful than a real knife to me! Well, then I can only use it to chop wood! Forget it, forget it, it’s just not my type.”

Taisi and Shaosi didn’t even take a glance at that stone sword.

Taisi raised his bony little arm, grinned embarrassedly and asked, “Ji Hao, look at me, do you think I am even capable of holding it up?”

Looking at scrawny, poor little Taisi, Ji Hao nodded. Yeah, that was quite true, everyone of this team was capable of manipulating this sword, everyone except Taisi.

As for Shaosi, magical white light gradually appeared in her eyes. She looked seriously at Ji Hao and said, “This is your destiny, Ji Hao, I can see it, clearly. This stone sword has been expecting you, for many, many years...one day, its name will be known by the entire world because of you, this is...”

Before Shaosi had finished her prediction-like speech, her eyeballs suddenly rolled up, showing the whites of her eyes. At the same time she abruptly spurted out a mouthful of blood, for over a distance of seven to eight meters.

Ji Hao glanced at Shaosi in shock. He then nodded, and said frankly, “In that case, this time, I will take this sword. Next time, if we encounter more treasures like this, I will never step in, that should be your destinies.”

Taking a deep breath, Ji Hao moved slowly towards the stone sword. When he was still a hundred zhang away from the sword, he politely and solemnly cupped his hands, and bowed to the stone sword.

The stone sword shook slightly, along with which, a beam of white light darted out from the sword and circled around Ji Hao. After that, the stone sword disappeared suddenly. Inside Ji Hao’s spiritual space, a dimly glowing longsword emerged silently.

The following moment, the stalagmite and stalactite exploded simultaneously, a silhouette of a dragon and a silhouette of a phoenix instantly raised into the air, circling rapidly around Ji Hao and his teammates. Led by the dragon and the phoenix, great streams of natural power began swishing into their bodies.

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Edited by SecondRate

Translated by XianXiaWorld