Phil's Adventures

Phil, surprised, asked, “You know of the Scarlet Army!?” Du Chen, following the clues from Wolf’s Great Prophecy, had deduced that the Scarlet Army’s trail emerged after his separation from his Eldest Brother. This implied Phil couldn’t possibly know anything that transpired beyond the City of Penance. After a moment of thought, Phil apologized, “Esteemed Requiem Death Knight, my son and I have private matters to discuss. If you would…”

Charlemagne tactfully withdrew, though his expression remained quite displeased. Phil’s blunt honesty was simply too abrasive; no one could have heard it without their countenance souring.

Only Phil and Du Chen remained in the cavern, yet neither of them continued the topic of the Scarlet Army.

Phil eyed Du Chen oddly. “Truly my son! Just now, you already knew my identity, yet you still deliberately attacked Merlinta, didn’t you? You did that… to silence her! Don’t deny it. While you were berating Merlinta, you were exceptionally courteous to me, your ‘accomplice.’ That alone was enough to see through your little scheme!”

Du Chen rubbed his nose. “Truly my mother! Just now, you deliberately used harsh words to provoke the Requiem Death Knights, and then intentionally let them know that the murderer of the Divine Emperor was on Battle God Isle, didn’t you? You did that… was it a goading tactic? Don’t deny it. The intelligence I possess far exceeds your wildest imagination. These clues are more than sufficient for me to discern your true intentions!”

After speaking, Du Chen looked at Phil, and Phil looked back at Du Chen. The two exchanged a knowing smile.

It was an unspoken understanding, one that only clever minds shared.

Compared to Arges, Du Chen found Phil… quite agreeable.

Phil’s expression turned serious. “Speak, tell me what you know!” After Du Chen, not hiding much, briefly recounted the clues he possessed, Phil’s brows furrowed slightly. “I didn’t expect you to know this much already… Then, to what extent have you cultivated your Art of Artifact Annihilation!?”

Phil quickly added, “Answer me earnestly! Because the realm of your Art of Artifact Annihilation will determine how much information you can glean from me. How about this: here are four sacred artifacts, ranging from Eleventh-Tier to Fourteenth-rank. Demonstrate your Art of Artifact Annihilation prowess for me. If you can identify and decipher the Fourteenth-rank sacred artifact within thirty minutes, I will tell you everything!”

Phil arrayed four metallic primordial sacred artifact ‘eggs’ before Du Chen, almost identical. With a gentle gesture, she signaled Du Chen to begin. However, she did not tell her son what form these four sacred artifacts took, nor what tier each corresponded to. This naturally increased the difficulty for Du Chen to decipher them, making it an exceptionally challenging trial.

Du Chen didn’t even glance at the four sacred artifacts. He suddenly raised his head, admiring the view of the cavern ceiling.

Phil, following Du Chen’s gaze, also raised her head in bewilderment. Was there anything unusual up there? Nothing at all! Phil glanced up, then lowered her head, only for her face to suddenly drain of color. She stared blankly at the scene before her, utterly speechless.

A dagger, a pair of water-splitting daggers, and two star-shaped thorn chakrams. The four sacred artifacts lay honestly on the ground, docilely revealing their true forms!

Phil felt her heart seize up, almost ceasing to beat. How long had he looked up? One second? Perhaps two? Yet in that fleeting instant, Francis had actually deciphered all four sacred artifacts!

Heavens, since the Art of Artifact Annihilation came into being, had anyone ever reached such a realm!?

A person with such ability… was simply…

Phil didn’t know it yet, but this was still slow for him! According to Du Chen’s theory of sacred artifact research, sacred artifacts below Tenth-rank possessed a single-tumbler lock structure, while those above Tenth-rank had multi-tumbler designs. For instance, Xue Ji’s Thirteenth-rank Water’s Embrace Sword featured a “four-core lock,” making its structure incredibly intricate, and Fourteenth-rank sacred artifacts reached a complexity of five tumblers! Yet for Du Chen, who now possessed wind-and-thunder speed, and who had reached the “Thirty-Six Cores” realm in his previous life… was it truly difficult to open a few sacred artifacts in the blink of an eye?!

Du Chen said with a smirk, “It seems I can know everything now!”

Phil nodded distractedly. “Yes, there is no one in this world more qualified than you to know of that matter!”

Phil’s experiences could be broadly divided into three periods. The first period was her faking her death and escaping to Celestial Capital. Du Chen already knew these details. The only noteworthy point was that during this time, Phil was merely an Eleventh-level Battle God, only slightly stronger than Flaying. Thus, her elaborate setup of riddles and feigned death was truly to evade Margaret’s pursuit, while also solely focusing on finding her father!

However, after Phil had endured countless hardships and finally arrived at Celestial Capital, everything diverged from her expectations…

Phil recounted, “There had always been a legend about Celestial Capital: that it housed the Secret Technique that brought the Divine Emperor close to the culmination of the Battle God’s Path! Yet when I arrived there, I discovered Celestial Capital was merely an ordinary Life Tree node. Aside from the Holy Alliance ruins that had already become rubble, there was utterly nothing! At the time… I was so disappointed, and about to leave, when an old man suddenly emerged from a shifting tunnel within the Labyrinth of Life. This old man was dressed in the garb of the Scarlet Army—though I didn’t know what the Scarlet Army was then, so I only felt caution, not hostility. The old man kindly asked me, ‘Are you here to seek the end of the Battle God’s Path, to pursue eternal life?’ I lied and said yes. And so, the old man told me he was a guide to the path of immortality, and if I followed him, I would attain eternal life…”

Du Chen pursed his lips. “Did that old fool take you for an imbecile? Only a child would fall for such nonsense!”

Phil glared fiercely at Du Chen. “But your old mother *then* believed him, and obediently followed him!”

“What!?” Du Chen was stunned. Phil didn’t seem like one to be so foolish!

Phil gave a bitter smile. “Sigh, it was only later that I discovered that old man had actually ensorcelled me with an incredibly terrifying Spiritual Power Secret Technique. Otherwise, how could your old mother have been so easily tricked!?”

Du Chen nodded slightly; that made more sense. “What happened next?”

“What happened next, you absolutely won’t believe! That old rogue led me through an exceedingly complex labyrinth until my mind was utterly muddled, unable to even recall the path. He then suddenly turned around, sneering, ‘Lord Leiming, your humble servant—Batuoke Number One—has brought you yet another prime energy source!’ At this point, I was utterly controlled by the old man, Batuoke Number One, through his Spiritual Power. Though I knew in my heart I’d been tricked, I was utterly powerless to resist! Following that, the Labyrinth of Life suddenly brightened and opened up. The surrounding scenery transformed into a colossal Divine Temple, and within that temple… they were all Batuokes! Identical, even their habitual movements were indistinguishable Batuokes… In your words, these people were clones of the former Thunder God Batuk—your old mother was captured and thrown into the Scarlet Army’s cloning base! Sigh, many more perilous events unfolded afterward. Through these experiences, your old mother gradually came to understand the Scarlet Army’s situation—they are mutated Mystic Artifacts, a completely new life form! And the most crucial part is that for these Mystic Artifacts to survive, they require energy! And the energy they demand is… Battle Gods!”

Phil, delighted by Du Chen’s shocked expression, raised three fingers. “Specifically, the energy the Scarlet Army requires is divided into three tiers: Godslayer Marshals and other top-tier Battle Gods are the best; next are the corpses of these Marshals and Generals. If those aren’t available… ordinary Battle Gods will suffice, but as Leiming of the Scarlet Army put it, ‘Eating common Battle Gods offers taste and nutrition no different from humans consuming excrement!’ Heh, now do you understand why the Scarlet Army so frantically plunders the corpses of gods!?”

Du Chen nodded gravely.

Phil continued, “Now that you know the Scarlet Army needs energy and that energy is tiered, there’s one more thing you must understand: top-tier Battle Gods are exceedingly rare. Even if all the top-tier Battle God corpses in the world were given to them, it wouldn’t be enough for the Scarlet Army’s great figures to consume! Francis, my son, knowing this, what can you infer?”

Du Chen replied, “The Scarlet Army possesses two most terrifying technologies: Battle Qi Inheritance and cloning! Therefore, to provide sufficient energy for the Scarlet Army, Leiming must clone countless replicas from the stolen corpses—although only one of these clones can fully inherit the original’s power, the others still possess the original’s talent, allowing them to cultivate high-level battle qi in a very short time, serving as energy for the Scarlet Army! Damn it, the Scarlet Army cultivates cloned Battle Gods using the principles of human agriculture, thereby sustaining themselves!”

Phil nodded. “Precisely! Batuoke Number One, who captured me, is one of the slaves cloned by the Scarlet Army from Marshal Batuoke. Such slaves can both serve the Scarlet Army, and then, when the Scarlet Army needs to replenish its energy, they can provide them with ‘food’…”

Du Chen mused, *Thus, Wolf’s Great Prophecy was now perfectly clear. The Scarlet Army, facing an energy deficit, would undoubtedly reach for the Life Tree, which was far more potent than any top-tier Battle God. If the Life Tree were destroyed, the Three Continents would cease to exist… In a single sentence, the world-ending crisis was triggered by the Scarlet Army’s energy crisis!*

Du Chen asked, “Then how did you escape later?”

Phil shrugged. “I have Philip, that bastard, to thank for that!”

“Philip? Isn’t he a traitor to the Holy Yessar Church, and now allied with the Fiendkind? Could he also be connected to the Scarlet Army!?”

“It’s not as you imagine! Do you recall? Philip planted his invented ‘Spirit Seed’ within both of us, mother and son! And the Spirit Seed itself was developed by Philip using the Life Tree… Therefore, both of us essentially possess the Life Tree’s intrinsic aura!”

A glint flashed in Du Chen’s eyes. “The Scarlet Army must have coveted your Spirit Seed constitution, which is why they gave you the opportunity to escape!”

“Precisely! Leiming said my constitution was one in a millennium, and if I could achieve the power of the nine Fallen God Marshals, I would be the most perfect energy source imaginable—so the Scarlet Army spared no expense, bestowing upon me the Battle Qi Inheritance of the former Holy Alliance Grand Marshal of the Navy, Sea God Bohg, making me a Fourteenth-rank Battle God!” Phil chuckled proudly at this point, looking quite mischievous. “However, Battle Qi Inheritance requires a period of digestion. So the Scarlet Army imprisoned me in a place you couldn’t possibly imagine even in your wildest dreams. And there, I met individuals you could never have conceived of!”

Du Chen inwardly gave a bitter smile. *My mother’s temperament truly is… quite mischievous!* Following Phil’s lead, he asked, “What kind of place?”

“It was the Battle God Prison where the Scarlet Army held captives, and within it were the true forms of their clones—that is, the genuine bodies of the Fallen God heroes!”

“Does that mean… the ancestors of the Five Families of Fallen Gods are all still alive, and imprisoned within the Battle God Prison!?”

“Exactly! Not only were the five Grand Marshals imprisoned there, but also countless Generals, High Generals, Councilors… I roughly estimate at least ten thousand individuals! In other words, many of the human and Fiendkind Generals ‘killed in action’ during the War of Fallen Gods had not truly died, but were captured by the Scarlet Army to serve as specimens for their cloning efforts!”

Du Chen shivered involuntarily.

The Scarlet Army controlled over ten thousand gods!

*Damn it,* if the Scarlet Army were to wield such power against the Life Tree, they absolutely possessed the potential for ‘world annihilation’!

Phil said, “That day, I was shackled and confined within the Battle God Prison. But the Scarlet Army was unaware of a monumental secret—your old mother knew the Art of Artifact Annihilation! Haha, the Art of Artifact Annihilation is based on battle qi; when cultivated to its highest realm, the greater one’s battle qi, the higher the tier of sacred artifacts one can decipher! The Scarlet Army bestowed upon me the Fourteenth-rank power of the Sea God, so they only placed Fourteenth-rank sacred artifact shackles on me. The result… once your old mother had fully integrated the Sea God’s power, the next time they brought me out of the prison for study, I suddenly broke my shackles and escaped to freedom along a pre-scouted path!”

Du Chen felt relieved for Phil, but then questioned, “Since you possessed such power, why didn’t you rescue the heroes in that prison? That’s over ten thousand Fallen God heroes! If you had…”

Phil shook her head. “Impossible! That Battle God Prison was the ultimate sacred artifact prison, developed by Leiming using the Wisdom of the Divine Emperor, combining the Primordial Military Branch and alchemy-based ‘Weapons Clandestine Circles.’ With my Fourteenth-rank power alone, I couldn’t open it. I could only launch a sudden attack when they took me out; otherwise, I would never have escaped while still inside the prison!”

Du Chen’s fingertips trembled slightly; it was a professional reflex. He then asked, “After you escaped, how did you encounter Merlinta?”

“That story also begins with the Battle God Prison. While imprisoned, I befriended five Fallen God Marshals. When they learned I had mastered the highest realm of the Art of Artifact Annihilation, they told me that many years ago, during their first experimental capture by the Scarlet Army, each of them used a Secret Technique to conceal certain truths and portions of their power within a clone of Lynch Baton. Among them, Marshal Batuoke, who excelled in Spiritual Power, even placed a Spiritual Curse on that clone, causing the cloned Lynch to later betray the Scarlet Army and escape its base…”

Du Chen thought, *It all connects! This must be why the Five Families of Fallen Gods obtained treasures like the Emerald Seal!*

“However, the Marshals didn’t know if that clone would successfully transmit the message, so they entrusted me, asking that if I ever had a chance to escape, I should tell the truth to their descendants—heh, at the time, I extended my hand and asked them, ‘What benefit would I gain if I helped you!?’”

Du Chen chuckled inwardly…

The Marshals, as the highest echelon of the Holy Alliance, immediately divulged a secret known only to a select few: during the War of Fallen Gods, the Imperial Divine Beasts were the hidden supporters of humanity, and Merlinta, among them, owed a favor to several Lynch Batons! Thus, Phil followed the path revealed by the Marshals, directly locating Merlinta’s lair, and awakening the slumbering Marine Divine Beast, demanding that the favor be repaid to herself!

Subsequently, with Merlinta’s assistance, Phil endured tribulations and finally found her father, Grand Pontiff Byron-Gale, within the Labyrinth of Life! But what was Byron-Gale doing at that time!?

“Years ago, my old man escaped from Bonis, losing The Weeping Tear! But his venerable body still concealed the Essence of Earth left by Ancestor Wolf. With the help of the Essence of Earth… my old man found the Foremost of the Five Great Primeval Forces: the Sacred Artifact Furnace! And he had been hiding within the Labyrinth of Life, diligently researching the Sacred Artifact Furnace’s secrets!”

*The Sacred Artifact Furnace?* Du Chen lightly touched his nose, a subtle stir in his heart.

The rest was quite simple. Coincidentally or not, Merlinta’s only son had died during the War of Fallen Gods at the hands of the Fiendkind’s hidden supporter—the Sacred Artifact Furnace! Byron-Gale subduing the Sacred Artifact Furnace thus avenged Merlinta’s deep-seated grudge. Consequently, the Old Matron, operating with a ‘classical’ noble mindset, cast aside matters of age and seniority and swore an oath of sworn siblingship with Byron-Gale. In the days that followed, Byron-Gale, Phil, and Merlinta together followed Wolf’s last wishes, resisting the Scarlet Army, until recently, when they discovered the nine Venerables of the Scarlet Army had mobilized en masse. Byron-Gale, using his Sixth Stage Astrology, calculated their target to be Battle God Isle…

Having finished this last segment of her tale, Phil shrugged helplessly. “Alas, when I infiltrated the Scarlet Army base again, I discovered they had already relocated with the Life Tree’s aid, and the Life Tree had even shielded them from astrological detection… Sigh, it’s truly goddamn tough!”

Du Chen smiled. Having heard Phil’s last few sentences, the subtle stir in his heart grew stronger. He asked, “There’s a rumor that all sacred artifacts in the world originate from the Sacred Artifact Furnace… Is that true?”

Phil shook her head blandly. “At any rate, your Maternal Grandfather never figured out how to use that furnace to forge sacred artifacts!”

Phil’s attitude turned somewhat peculiar. She seemed reluctant to dwell on the Sacred Artifact Furnace, having been vague and succinct when recounting Byron-Gale’s experience of obtaining it. When Du Chen inquired further about the Sacred Artifact Furnace, she brushed it off with a single phrase, merely stating, “That’s my old man’s treasure; I’m not clear on it myself.” Then she smiled. “Alright, I’ve told you everything! Business is pressing. Our family matters can wait for another day. First, call in that Requiem Death Knight, then return to Battle God Isle and wait for me. In three days, our mother-son duo, along with the Requiem Death Knight, will convene to strategize against the nine Venerables of the Scarlet Army!”

Du Chen shot a glance at Phil. “You know when the Scarlet Army will launch its attack, and you have a method to defeat them?”

Phil offered a mysterious smile. “I’ll tell you in three days!”

Du Chen walked to the cavern entrance, waving a dismissive hand behind Phil’s back, and scoffed, “What’s with the theatrics? The Scarlet Army will undoubtedly launch their plan on the day of the Pontiff’s ascension, which is seven days from now. And the method to defeat them… isn’t the Art of Artifact Annihilation at its core!?”

Du Chen, too, played at being profound! Heh, the latter half of that conclusion was actually so simple it required no explanation. And the Scarlet Army’s launch time…

Even simpler! Hadn’t old Bovin made a calculation? Pontiff Sama had a grand destiny spanning two decades, but he would suffer a devastating fall at the peak of his life! That meant, on the day of his ascension, Pontiff Sama would meet a most ignoble end. Didn’t that essentially lay out the Scarlet Army’s timeline on a silver platter?

Perhaps, this was also the Fifth Stage of Astrology—a form of Indirect Inquiry!?

Du Chen smiled, told Charlemagne to go back inside and continue enduring the goading tactic, then turned to find Xue Ji. Some matters needed to be discussed openly and honestly with her…

Not long after, Phil and Charlemagne also departed from the cavern. Merlinta, who had been waiting outside, huffily followed Phil away! The previously tranquil cavern once again returned to its empty state. However… drip, drop, a few drops of liquid fell from above, rapidly solidifying into the shape of a human body!

This precise spot was where Du Chen had deliberately gazed to divert Phil’s attention before deciphering the sacred artifacts. Yet neither of them had noticed that someone was actually hidden here, and he could even transform into water, much like Margaret and Brockman!

Black-armored and iron-masked, with a long halberd inverted on his back, Dud—who had been flung to a safe zone by Andy just before the recent skirmish, and who should have returned to Battle God Academy by now—gazed at Phil’s receding back outside the cave, and lightly touched his mask!

“I’ve recalled something else,” he murmured. “It turns out that years ago, Margaret and I privately exchanged Secret Techniques, and I learned her world-renowned Art of Concealment and Escape—Verdant Peak, Water’s Embrace!”

Listening intently to the echoes within the cavern, Dud slowly closed his eyes, recalling everything he had just overheard. He suddenly roared, “He’s alive! Haha, he’s alive! Phil, thank you for telling me he’s still imprisoned in the Battle God Prison, still alive… Wait for me. Though I feel no affection for you, you are, after all, my Eldest Brother. I… will rescue you!”