Shen Yin Wang Zuo-Chapter 780: Legend of the Eternal Heroes (II)
“In that battle, the demons lost half of their seventy-two demon gods. Many of them had died because our Knight Temple had obtained the Divine Throne of Eternity and Creation. As for us humans, almost a hundred powerhouses of the ninth step died in that battle. With both sides suffering heavy losses and the demons unclear about the origins of the Divine Throne of Eternity and Creation, they ended up retreating. When the dark era began, we finally gained the opportunity to rest and heal.”
“Just when the war had ended, over sixty receovered corpses out of the dead ninth step powerhouses were still rather complete. They were our seniors, or even our ancestors and they had laid their lives down for the survival of humanity. If it were not for the efforts of these ancestors, we would not exist today. Back then, the alliance had only been founded recently and it was nowhere as stable as right now. However, at the same time, there were many pieces of powerful equipment and magic tools that had been passed down since ancient times. Our Knight Temple possesses a scroll that has been passed down since then.”
Upon reaching there, Yang Haohan’s eyes shone with a strange light and he became slightly emotional as well. Everyone listened wit their full attention. They knew that Yang Haohan had reached the crucial part of his narration.
“The scroll is called a Scroll of Spiritual Transformation. It sounds nothing special, but the magic recorded in the scroll is a forbidden spell and under certain circumstances, it can even be regarded as a supra forbidden spell.”
There were just far too few forbidden spell scrolls. Ever since Long Haochen had begun cultivating, he had only seen them two or three times. As for supra forbidden spell scrolls, he had not even heard of them before. He only knew to a certain degree that the difference between a supra forbidden spell and a forbidden spell was like the difference between a supra divine tool and divine tool. A supra forbidden spell could even turn a war around. It could do the impossible. However, what Yang Haohan said next shocked everyone present.
“However, this supra forbidden spell is death magic.”
With that, even Long Haochen had almost cried out. Everyone present was shocked. The several dozen people gathered in the meeting room were all representatives of the Temple Union. They were the strongest group of people. However, when they heard death magic, a chill ran down their spine. Some of them even shivered.
Death magic had left an agonising lesson in the history of humans. It would be strange if they had not reacted like this. This was also the reason why Long Haochen was repulsed when he found out the Tower of Eternity was an inheritance of death magic.
Yang Haohan continued, “You must have all guessed it already. The effects of this death magic supra forbidden spell is to transform the dead into undead. The reason why it is a supra forbidden spell is because when it turns the dead into undead, it can reconstruct the souls of the deceased from twenty-four hours before they had died as souls of powerhouses. At the same time, the would possess the same intelligence as when they were alive. This spell has a range of a hundred square meters.”
Connecting it to the recovered corpses that Yang Haohan had mentioned earlier, everyone understood what he was going to say, but they were still in disbelief. They listened to him quietly.
“I know you can’t understand this. It’s not just you. Back then, the leaders of the six temples also refused to use this scroll. Death magic has left us humans with some agonising memories. It’s possible to say that if it were not great disaster before the dark era, the demons would not be able to force us into considering something like that. Even the Glorious Church was destroyed under the attacks of the demons. From a certain perspective, the Glorious Church is the predecessors of our Knight Temple.”
Long Haochen glanced at Cai’er instinctively. He discovered that his companions of the Bright Glimmer of Hope were looking at her as well. All of their expressions were slightly strange, but there was more firm support for Long Haochen.
Yang Haohan said, “A fierce debate arose in that time. Some people supported the use of this scroll. Although we would turn these powerhouses of the ninth step into undead, they would just be living through a different method at the end of the day! As long as they could live, it would be equivalent to recovering more than half of the strength the temple alliance had lost. Even if the demons attacked us once more, we could stop them with greater ease.”
“Another group of people believed that using the scroll was blasphemy to these deceased seniors, preventing their souls from resting. And, once they became undead, who could be certain enough that their personalities and memories would remain the same? Just in case something happened, wouldn’t it plunge humans into an absolute disaster? They would not even be able to maintain the newly-established Temple Union.”
“There was great conflict between these two opinions. In the end, the final decision was made depending on how far the demons had retreated. Back then, the demons had not retreat completely. Instead, they stopped two hundred and fifty kilometers away from the alliance. After the remaining powerhouses of the seventy-two demon gods had retreated, they left their Demon God Pillars at the boundary, and it seemed like they could return at any time. Under such circumstances and the support of some of the deceased’s families, they used the supra forbidden spell scroll in the end.”
Many people instinctively held their breaths when they reached there. Although they could guess the final outcome, they were still shaken up by the close situation back then.
“The Scroll of Spiritual Transformation succeeded. A total of sixty-three powerhouses of the ninth step became undead and condensed their own souls of powerhouses. Although their bodies were still damaged, their strength did not drop by much through their souls of powerhouses, and they possessed certain powers of undead. They had witnessed the might of the supra forbidden spell. Back then, basically all of the revived powerhouses were unable to accept this matter. They had fallen in battle as humans, a true humans, but now they had become undead. What were they supposed to be now?”
“Fortunately, before the scroll was used, the six temples back then had already reached an agreement and had announced the temples’ recogition of these people, bestowing them the title of Eternal Heroes. And, they had agreed to specially create a place for them to stay and move about in. All they needed to do was assist the alliance when the demons attacked and the alliance was unable to hold them back.”
“Faced with the persuasion of the six temple heads and some of their family, the Eternal Heroes finally began to accept this reality. To their families, being able to hear them speak and see them live as undead was also a form of happiness. As a result, the sixty-three Eternal Heroes were arranged to stay in a secret location, so they could rest. This place is the interior of the Knights’ Sacred Mountain that you all know of.”
The existence of the Eternal Heroes was definitely the greatest secret of the temple alliance. Yang Haohan had brought up this secret clearly because he felt the pressure from the demons was just too great, that they needed to use the power of these Eternal Heroes.
For that moment, the members of the Temple Union looked at each other. Most of them found that their heads were too full to think. Just like the battle back then, borrowing the power of undead was definitely a major matter to the Temple Union. And just like what Yang Haohan had said, if this matter was disclosed to the world, it would cause a huge impact to the union. For example, if ordinary citizens found out that the union actually had such a great undead force, what would they be able to understand? Fear would definitely reign over most of them. In particular, the army would suffer a heavy hit to morale.
“After making arrangements for the sixty-three Eternal Heroes, the six temple heads passed strict order to contain the information. At the same time, they decided that only future temple heads would know about this secret. And, if the alliance was not facing absolute doom, they would be forbidden to use the power of the Eternal Heroes, so they can slumber in the Knights’ Sacred Mountain.
“Soon afterwards, the demon army really did retreat and the Eternal Heroes never appeared on the battlefield ever again. The news of their existence has always been passed down to successive temple heads, until now.”
Yang Haohan finished introducing everyone to the details and returned to his seat. At the same time, he looked at Long Haochen. To his relief, Long Haochen appeared to be extremely composed after hearing everything he said. He was not overly surprised, nor did he show any disgust.
Technically, it was Long Haochen’s turn to speak as the chairman of the union after Yang Haohan had finished talking. However, before he could speak, Long Tianyin cut in first, “I disagree with using the Eternal Heroes.”
As he said that, the divine knight stood up and glanced at Yang Haohan in displeasure. He said, “Let me stress this first. Although Xingyu and I are also heads of the Knight Temple, we didn’t know about this at all.”
Yang Haohan nodded, “Yes. Although our Knight Hall is special in that we can have multiple heads, this secret has only been passed on by word of mouth to a single person each generation.”
Long Tianyin snorted, “Old Yang, how did you become muddle-headed. They’re undead! They’re our seniors and have also made great contributions to mankind. They’ve also sacrificed their lives. It was already a huge problem that they had been turned into undead back then, so how can we borrow their strength now? Have you thought about it? Once they enter the battlefield, our people will definitely find out. You can’t hide the truth. When that happens, what are we supposed to tell our people? Just what kind of sight will it be when a group of powerful undead enters the battlefield? And, after several millennia, can you guarantee that these Eternal Heroes have never changed their minds after such a long time? Once they leave their place of slumber and appear outside, the most terrifying part is that they’re strong, yet beyond our control, even if we don’t factor in how strong they are in combat. They’re our seniors, so why would they listen to the command of us juniors? Before we can even borrow their strength, we’ll have already suffered a backlash. The union faces great danger already, so we can’t take any further risks!”
