The Grand Revelation

“Even you wouldn't have seen it if Nineteen hadn't reached out to me, let alone your Fifth Brother! And in this world today, besides the Tyran Beasts, I doubt anyone could detect Nineteen's presence. Otherwise, how could it live up to the name I gave it… ‘Veiled Windwing’?!”

Veiled Windwing? Du Chen’s heart stirred. Just by its name, he deduced Nineteen’s two primary functions: first, an even greater speed boost atop Green Cloud, and second, the most crucial… invisibility. Not the kind Fourth Bro used for himself, but an invisibility designed to shroud Du Chen!

Damn! Seventeen is Green Cloud, Eighteenth is Wind Source—Green Cloud’s engine, the very power core of the Fifth Trigram! And Nineteen is an invisibility cloak… Du Chen’s fingers trembled with irrepressible joy. This Fifth Trigram, it was a collection of supreme Arcane Artifacts for escape and stealth!

He just wondered what they would become when combined…

Harboring profound anticipation, Du Chen grinned mischievously, “So, that’s why you were so eager for me to check on Annie, eh? Dus, you’re itching to test the Fifth Trigram’s power against the Batuk family’s defenses, aren’t you!?”

Fifth Brother chuckled, “Each of the Godslayer Five Families holds a grand secret. Don't you want to uncover them?”

Before his words even faded, the two vanished into thin air!

Mysteriously, only voices echoed in the room, the speakers unseen. Du Chen’s voice came, “Indeed, a truly magnificent artifact! But a word of caution: be careful when using the Veiled Windwing in the future. I encountered the Lionheart King on Bog Island. Alonso certainly lives up to his reputation as one of the Skylands’ Twin Prodigies; his mastery over the three elemental attributes allows him to manipulate weather phenomena and even discern my Precious Lotus Scripture from air currents!”

“The Lionheart King? So… it’s possible that individuals from the Wind God Claywell’s family might also detect us. We’ll need to be wary of those skilled in wind manipulation from now on!” Dus conveyed through Divine Sense.

“Precisely. But regrettably, the Batuk family are descendants of the Thunder God… Heh heh, let’s go!”

The two entered the Precious Lotus Scripture, shrinking it to its minimal size. Then, using Nineteenth’s invisibility, they stealthily flew out of the guest room, circling deliberately right before the still-pouting Liana’s eyes outside. Heh heh, in the past, though Du Chen’s lotus was small, it still possessed volume, forcing him to exercise caution against High-level Battle Gods, just as he wouldn't dare enter the Dragon Lairs of the Three Sisters during his travels back then!

But now… as long as there were no masters of wind, they could fly freely, steal everywhere, and even swagger into women’s bathhouses without a problem!

Du Chen even entertained the malicious thought: could Master Grape’s true intention behind forbidding him from women be fear that he’d use the Fifth Trigram for truly shameless deeds?

After the initial surge of delight, Du Chen began searching for Annie. But the Exquisite Pagoda was truly enormous; finding someone within a hundred-meter-tall, seventy-to-eighty-story tower was extraordinarily difficult. Just as the two considered eavesdropping on servants to pinpoint her location…

“Hahahah-gakka, heh-gakka, gakka…”

Betty’s distinctive laughter echoed. No need to say more; following that sound would undoubtedly lead them right.

When Du Chen entered the study, Annie was trailing behind her grandfather, a look of astonishment on her face. Old Man Yonker, by a bookshelf in the study, pressed a mechanism on a book… *Gaozhi-zhi*, a secret door appeared behind the desk, and the two walked inside.

Du Chen paused, bewildered. Did the Batuk family really punish offenders in a secret chamber? But seeing Betty’s joyous demeanor just now, Annie shouldn’t be in any danger. So… could he be lucky enough to have stumbled upon a Batuk family secret!?

Dus also said, “Francis, it seems we picked the right time to visit! Come on, let’s follow!”

The two clung to the embellishments of Annie’s long skirt, following her into the secret passage.

The intricate mechanisms and secret passages along the way needed no elaborate description. Yonker led Annie into a narrow, underground secret chamber. Du Chen surveyed his surroundings: the chamber’s four walls were cast from an unknown metal, sealed extremely tightly, without even a ventilation shaft. One could only hold their breath using battle qi. Under the crystal lamp overhead, the room contained only a low mahogany table, a dark green meditation cushion, and resting on the table, a palm-sized, jade-green casket!

Annie, bewildered, asked, “Grandfather, why have you brought me here?”

Yonker sternly commanded, “Kneel before the casket!” After Annie knelt, the old man also knelt before the jade-green casket—at this moment, Dus impudently flew onto the small box, posing as an ancestor, calmly accepting their “worship.”

Yonker gazed solemnly at the casket, muttering ancient prayers to his ancestors for a long while, then instructed Annie, “It is time. Open the casket first!”

Dus rolled his eyes and quickly flew away. Annie stepped forward and gently opened the casket. A verdant green light instantly illuminated the entire secret chamber. The intense brilliance stung Annie’s eyes, and it took her a while to adjust before she could clearly see that inside the casket was… a die crafted from emeralds and Diamonds!

Yonker slowly spoke, “Annie, we, the Godslayer Five Families, share a common origin. Our deepest core secrets are, respectively, the Beast Emperor’s Seal, Saan’s Heart, the Wind-Fate Stone, the Star River Diagram, and our family’s Emerald Seal!”

“Jackpot!” Du Chen cheered in his mind. The Beast Emperor’s Seal went without saying. Was Saan's Heart the critical item Frinda used during the forced marriage years ago? And the names Wind-Fate Stone and Star River Diagram gave Du Chen enough clues: one must belong to the descendants of the Wind God, and the other to the descendants of the Starry Sky Battle God!

At this moment, Annie, holding the casket, marveled, “Grandfather, is this the ancestral supreme treasure, the Emerald Seal? How come…” She didn’t have the heart to finish. It was Dus who questioned through Divine Sense, “Why is it a die? Was the Thunder God also a Gambler!?”

Yonker smiled, “Allow me to explain… After the Godslayer, the great Divine Scion families withered and fell, yet only our Godslayer Five Families continued to flourish. The most crucial reason lies in these five artifacts! Because… they contain the power of our ancestors, capable of transmitting it to their descendants! I believe you now understand why I’ve brought you here, don’t you?”

Du Chen suddenly recalled: after the seductive vixen Susanna committed the grave sin of desecrating ancestral graves, not only did she survive, but she even became the matriarch of the Saint Baton Clan. It seemed to be because her blood could match the Beast Emperor’s Seal and draw power from it… Annie had already answered, so he quickly reined in his thoughts and listened.

“Grandfather, I understand! Annie remembers when Frinda was forcing Francis into marriage, she was also pressuring him, while Galas from the Starry Sky Battle God’s family was being forced to marry Frinda… Heh heh, the reason was Frinda’s ability to match Saan’s Light and draw power from it. So, Grandfather, today you want me to attempt to match the Emerald Seal!?”

Yonker, for once, revealed a grandfather’s tender affection, “Exactly. But you don’t need to ‘attempt’; you can simply inherit it directly!”

Gazing lovingly at the bewildered Annie, he explained, “The methods of inheritance for the five treasures vary, but all are incredibly demanding! The Beast Emperor’s Seal’s inheritance depends on bloodline; Frinda could match Saan’s Light through her physique… However, our Batuk ancestor’s Secret Technique originated from gambling prowess, and the Emerald Seal contains Spiritual Power. Therefore, to inherit our ancestor’s power, one must possess exceptional gambling prowess and a profound mental state! Annie, you have already proven yourself worthy of our ancestor’s conditions, and you will surely succeed in matching the Emerald Seal!”

Annie offered a faint smile, betraying no excessive surprise—unperturbed by favor or disgrace, such was the mindset of a God of Gamblers!

Yonker continued, “Before you inherit this power, Grandfather has a few more words to impart to you: concerning the origins of these five artifacts, and your true mission once you inherit the position of Family Head!”

Under Du Chen’s shocked gaze at the mention of “future Family Head,” Annie solemnly knelt, “Grandfather, please speak!”

“First, forget all the rumors you’ve heard about our ancestors. Remember what I am about to tell you, and bury it in your heart forever! The Fallen Gods Five Families originated from the five Marshals of the Fallen Gods! These five Marshals had glorious military achievements in their lifetimes, revered by millions! But they died… an inexplicable death!”

Yonker sighed, “Take my ancestor, Marshal Batuoke, as an example. He survived until the very end of the War of Fallen Gods, where countless gods perished, and established Emerald City… Yet, precisely ten years after the war concluded, his body suddenly grew incredibly weak, and even his battle qi began to recede! Until one day… he went mad, shouting the same phrase day in and day out—‘The Great Catastrophe has arrived! The Great Catastrophe you foretold has finally come!’ After an entire day, our ancestor suddenly cried out, ‘Since you have failed, I shall go myself!’”

At this point, Yonker turned to Annie with a helpless smile, “You don’t understand, do you? I don’t either. For the sake of the family, just commit it to memory!”

They didn’t understand, but Du Chen’s blood surged with excitement, and he fully comprehended!

Wolf’s prophecy, in essence, was simple: a Great Catastrophe was coming. To escape, one must take the Art of Artifact Annihilation to Mount Wanliu…

Comparing the intelligence before and after, a clear timeline formed in Du Chen’s mind: Wolf traveled south to the Skylands, obtained a complete prophecy after being ambushed by the Sea Clan on Bog Island, and then proceeded to Mount Wanliu—this much he already knew! But Yonker had just revealed the subsequent events—Wolf failed at Mount Wanliu. Judging by the Heroic Era and the “ten years later” timeframe, it meant that seventeen years after Wolf headed south, the Great Catastrophe still descended. Simultaneously, Thunder God Batuk also went to confront this Great Catastrophe!

Yonker continued, “After our ancestor declared ‘I shall go myself,’ he wildly plunged into the sea, departing from the North Cliff where the incident occurred a few days prior! Family members attempted to pursue him, but even with his battle qi in decline, our ancestor was still a Grand Marshal of the Fallen Gods! The pursuers were shaken off after half a day and could only follow faint clues to find his whereabouts… Later, they risked their lives tracking him into the Labyrinth of Life, where they encountered several friends!”

Annie urgently asked, “Could they have been search teams from the other four Fallen Gods families!?”

A hint of surprise flashed in Yonker’s eyes. “You are correct. Around that time, among the six Marshals who survived the War of Fallen Gods, all but Margaret experienced the same fate as our ancestor—they went mad, howling about the impending Great Catastrophe, and then entered the Labyrinth of Life… Since their predicaments were identical, they united their search efforts. After enduring countless hardships and dangers, they finally encountered the ancestor of the Saint Baton Clan—the Undying Death God, Lynch Baton!