IRM Chapter 126

During the three years atop Beast God Mountain.

One day, Ji Chi had just completed the training the Beast God had assigned him and collapsed exhausted like a dog in the snow, staring blankly at the space above his head.

Looking up at the sky from within the Beast God’s domain, the blood moon was blocked by a blurry boundary. The eerie blood-red color wasn’t so clear anymore; instead, it resembled a patch of evening glow at the end of summer.

Ji Chi stretched out his finger and released a fireball toward that patch of glow. The bright fireball only appeared for an instant before extinguishing with a poof. The undispersed black smoke was blown by the cold wind and smeared all over Ji Chi’s face, choking him until he sat up coughing repeatedly.

The Beast God watched his foolish operation speechlessly and waved their hand to lower the domain’s restrictions somewhat.

Ji Chi wiped his face and released another fireball. This time the fireball floated steadily toward the bonfire pile beside him, and warm firelight flickered at the mountain peak.

Ji Chi looked at his fingertips. He could clearly feel that the restriction on his magic power had lowered, and asked the Beast God, “Is this the power of the divine authority?”

The Beast God sat on the Wolf King’s body, gazing into the distance at the snowy plains. Hearing this, they glanced at him sideways. “Yes. Have you never tried using it before?”

Ji Chi recalled the legendary equipment he had crafted during the equipment competition and said, “I have. I once used it to enchant equipment.”

The Beast God showed an expression like they had a toothache, as if looking at an idiot who had spent a fortune buying a pile of garbage.

They reconstructed the domain again. This time the domain’s range was much smaller, but the suppression from the divine authority was more obvious. The bonfire that had just been lit also extinguished with a poof, and black smoke smeared Ji Chi’s face again.

Ji Chi glanced resentfully at the Beast God.

The Beast God said, “…I’ve never seen such a useless god. Forget it, I’ll just teach you from the beginning.”

“There are many powers in this world that can construct domains. Mages can construct magical domains—magic arrays are one type. Rogues can also construct domains, hiding themselves in darkness.”

“But the power of divine authorities is very different. The domains they form have two characteristics: one is a wide range, the other is absoluteness.” The Beast God said, “That’s why it’s also called an Absolute Domain.”

Hearing the familiar term, Ji Chi frowned slightly, his eyes filling with contemplation.

The Beast God gave an example, “Just like the Demon King’s Absolute Domain—its range can cover the entire Demon King’s castle. The [Rules] in his divine authority override the continent’s original rules, making day and night reverse in the Demon King’s castle.”

“And this snowy mountain is actually also an Absolute Domain.” The Beast God said indifferently, “It was constructed from the power remaining in my corpse. The power suppresses the use of other energies. To survive here, you can only force yourself to adapt to the domain.”

Ji Chi asked, “Then is there a distinction between strong and weak divine authority powers?”

The Beast God hesitated, then answered reluctantly, “Yes, the most powerful divine authority is naturally [Control]. Its range is sufficient to cover the entire continent and affects all living beings, including divine beings.”

Ji Chi understood. “The God of Light.”

The Beast God nodded, then shook their head again. “The power of [Control] wasn’t originally evil. The God of Light used it to maintain order and reduce unnecessary disasters in this world. Unfortunately, now it has become shackles, binding everyone’s thoughts and actions.”

Ji Chi gave an example. “Like the Divine Taboos.”

The Beast God: “Mm, being able to focus only on a fixed profession for life is truly absurd. But the false god must do this, because each profession trained to its peak can also possess very powerful strength… In other words, what the false god fears most is the appearance of someone like you. You are the person most capable of threatening him.”

“By the way, do you know why we call him the false god?” The Beast God asked Ji Chi.

Ji Chi thought for a moment. “Because he seized the true God of Light’s divine authority?”

“No.” The Beast God shook their head. “Because his divine authority is incomplete. That’s why he can’t detect the regression of time, why while controlling everyone else he himself is also bound, why he’s desperately trying to obtain the remaining divine authorities to help him break free from that control.”

“So…” The Beast God sighed, “You need to familiarize yourself with your divine authority’s power as soon as possible. Although [Creation]’s offensive power isn’t strong, it’s still a divine authority after all, and also has the power to contend with [Control].”

The memory ended there. Ji Chi looked at Akangie, who was so close before him. The [Control] divine authority remaining in his body wasn’t much, but it was enough to make him the continent’s strongest, with power that could even contend with the Demon King.

The world all feared his identity as the continent’s peak, yet no one knew that he should actually stand in an even higher place, protecting an entire world.

“Hold on a little longer, you’ll soon be free, God of Light.”

Akangie’s usually divine and emotionless expression finally cracked. He paid no attention to the severe pain coming from his chest. The familiar yet strange form of address caused his thoughts to fall into confusion for a moment.

“You…” Akangie’s pupils trembled. He recalled something but didn’t continue speaking. He gently closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting to reveal a smile like dawn’s first light. “Good, I’ll wait.”

“Chief Archangel!” Everything happened in an instant. After the Absolute Domain shattered, the angels behind Akangie looked in shock at Akangie with blood staining the corners of his mouth, crying out in disbelief!

Akangie pushed back with his hand, covering the wound on his chest. His health bar had dropped by nearly half. At this moment, his face was pale, and continuously overflowing fresh blood dyed his white clothing and gloves red—shockingly vivid against the sacred white.

He raised his hand to stop the angels from attacking and said softly, “We’re going back.”

The angels looked at him in both shock and anger, not understanding. “Chief Archangel? He injured you, how can we just…”

Akangie glanced at them indifferently. His pristine cloud-white wings flapped once as he retreated a distance first, saying honestly, “I can’t beat him. If you’re confident, you can try.”

The angels were dumbfounded and couldn’t help but glance at Ji Chi.

That person just stopped in mid-air silently watching them, holding a short blade in his hand. The short blade was still dripping blood. Though completely unremarkable, it inexplicably emanated a terrifying aura.

The angels’ reverence for the Chief Archangel was too deep—his every word was truth. The angels hesitated no more and surrounded Akangie as they vanished into mid-air again. The entire process of their appearance and exit was so swift it seemed like an illusion.

“Chief Archangel! Wait—” In this sudden turn of events, the first to react was the Church’s Archbishop.

Originally, relying on Akangie’s identity and strength, he could stand fearlessly among the wolf pack.

But he had never imagined that the noble Chief Archangel would one day be forced to flee in defeat…

The Archbishop watched as the angels’ figures disappeared in the blink of an eye. His expression changed dramatically. Without time to think much, he raised his holy staff and rapidly began chanting. The radiance of a teleportation array gradually gathered at his feet—

“Crack!” An iron boot ruthlessly crushed the teleportation array’s light. Silvia’s eyes had already turned into the ghostly green pupils of a wolf.

“Thinking of running now?” Silvia lifted the corners of her mouth, two sharp wolf fangs appearing and disappearing. “Isn’t it a bit too late?”

The Archbishop was truly afraid now, frantically swallowing saliva while backing up and stubbornly saying, “If you kill us here, the Expeditionary Army’s reputation…”

“That’s not for you to worry about.” The Countess walked forward, her fingertips casually tapping the sword at her waist. “You only need to know one thing… Sometimes, death is also a kind of mercy.”

The Countess smiled with pursed lips, the deeper meaning in her gaze making all the soldiers she had drilled shudder.

“No, no… let me go… you can’t do this… Ahhh!!!”

Screams circled above the military camp for an entire night, provoking the wolf packs in the wilderness to also howl in response. The wolf howls drifted all the way to the night sky, lingering around the moon that had turned bright white again.

The military camp was lively that night—bonfires, good food, cheering and dancing. A group of rough men gathered around the fires in celebration. The sweet fragrance of honey wine drilled into tent after tent, luring out the people inside.

Ji Chi didn’t participate in their victory feast. He sat alone in his tent, arms crossed over his chest as he sat at the table, staring directly at the demon sword placed on top.

He was contemplating a very serious problem—one he had discovered not long after obtaining the demon sword. The demon sword wouldn’t go back into his magic pouch, nor would it go into his backpack.

He could only keep carrying it.

Ji Chi felt this problem was quite serious and tried calling the long-absent artificial intelligence Yuan Yuan: “Yuan Yuan.”

Yuan Yuan only floated out from beside him after quite a while. Its square body now had an additional patch of pale gold, making it look rather strange. [I’m here, what is it?]

Its tone had changed considerably—no longer soft and cute, but increasingly like a real living being.

Ji Chi examined it curiously for a moment, then pointed at the demon sword and asked, “Why won’t this weapon go into the backpack?”

Yuan Yuan moved forward, first observing the demon sword for a long time, then tentatively touched it. Discovering it could actually possess the demon sword, it made a surprised sound. [Isn’t this the final quest item? Why do I sense an aura similar to yours on it?]

As Yuan Yuan spoke, it drilled into the demon sword and out again, going back and forth several times. Its body actually gained an additional layer of hazy red.

The red was too inconspicuous—even with Ji Chi’s current vision exceeding 5.3, it was difficult to detect.

Ji Chi frowned slightly, looking at the demon sword with some difficulty.

The demon sword’s current appearance was truly too ugly. There were several deep cracks on the blade, and it was covered in rust. If he could rename it, “Tetanus Sword” would suit it very well.

Ji Chi couldn’t help but complain. He thought for a moment, then changed his approach and asked Yuan Yuan. “Do you still remember how it differs from the original demon sword?”

Yuan Yuan retrieved the data, then floated beside one of the demon sword’s cracks. [Here. The red in this crack on the original version wasn’t this bright.]

Ji Chi leaned closer to look. There was a red crack in the middle-lower position of the demon sword’s blade. The red was hidden in the rust, only faintly emitting light.

Ji Chi reached out to touch it, and a familiar aura spread from his fingertips to his heart, making him pause slightly.

“Ji Chi, are you resting?” Silvia’s cold, slightly hoarse voice came from outside the tent.

Ji Chi withdrew his fingertip and stood up, walking to the entrance to lift the tent flap. He found quite a few people outside—all familiar companions.

He stepped aside to let them enter the tent.

The military camp’s tent space was limited, with only one chair. Fortunately, no one minded this, finding spots in the tent to either stand or lean.

Tang dragged away the unoccupied chair with his hand and plopped the little black dragon he’d been holding for a long time onto it. The little black dragon had half an eggshell on its head. Its round, big eyes glanced at him, then settled on Ji Chi.

Ji Chi looked amusedly at how it occupied the only throne like this, and said to Tang, “Had enough fun? Can your mercenaries still accept this ‘object of faith’?”

Tang’s smile hadn’t faded all evening. Recalling the mercenaries’ dazed expressions when Nidhogg first transformed into a chubby little dragon, he couldn’t help laughing again. “Our corps no longer has a faith… but we do have one more mascot.”

The chubby little dragon made an adorable chirping sound.

Ji Chi also showed some smile. He temporarily didn’t reclaim this one-third of the health bar, letting the mercenary corps poke and prod the chubby dragon as they pleased.

“Waaah—I almost thought I’d never see you again!” The rabbit-eared youth who had been clinging to Silvia’s side suddenly pounced over, hanging on Ji Chi. He sniffed, muttering with reddened eyes. “I was planning to have you attend my coming-of-age ceremony…”

The six-month-old rabbit had grown to three and a half years old. His personality hadn’t changed much, but his courage had grown considerably—he could even come to the battlefield to fight berserk beasts now.

Ji Chi gave his pleasant-feeling ears a good rub, then looked up at the two generals with some apology, saying, “I’m sorry, your swords…”

The Countess smiled and shook her head. “Don’t think too much about it. That’s not important at all. A warrior’s soul will eventually dissipate on the snowy plains. We haven’t even thanked you yet for keeping it at its most glorious moment.”

After she finished speaking, she solemnly thanked Ji Chi. The group chatted and lingered for a while, then left the tent, leaving space for the person who had remained silent all along.

Ji Chi looked toward Brandon and pushed the chair vacated by the chubby dragon over to him. “Sit.”

The former young master was always delicate. He would normally complain of fatigue after walking for a while, and would absolutely sit if given the option rather than stand.

Brandon lowered his eyes to look at the chair, hesitated, then sat down. He pressed his lips together and said softly, “We were all very worried about you.”

Ji Chi hummed in acknowledgment. “I didn’t expect it would take so long. I thought I could make it back before your midterm training.”

Brandon smiled, moisture appearing at the corners of his eyes. “Then you’re really too slow. We’ve all moved up to the Combat Academy. You’re not going to have to repeat grades, are you?”

Ji Chi looked worried. “Ah… that means I’ll have to repeat for several more years… I hope the Headmaster will spare me.”

Brandon laughed again following his words, then the two fell into wordless silence.

After quite a while, Brandon finally said softly, “Evan has served as Combat Academy president for two consecutive years. Saintess Coralie formally announced her identity as Demon King to the outside world a year ago. Saint Trilley has changed a lot under Louis’s rule. Commoners’ rights are gradually increasing. All the profession academies have opened basic classes for students who are changing professions or studying multiple professions.”

“Go back and take a look,” Brandon raised his head to look at Ji Chi, his eyes full of warm smiles. “This world you’ve changed has been slowly getting better all along.”