Chapter 507 — The Truth of the Empress's Dynasty

"I will tell you everything I know, and then I ask that you let it end me." The Undying Infernal Phoenix looked at Crimson Pupil and spoke weakly.

"Speak, then." Shi Jin sensed that the history hidden behind all this might be no simple matter, and asked.

The Undying Infernal Phoenix said, "The origin of it all must begin with the Mythic Age..."

"The records of the Phoenix Clan hold that the Mythic Age ended in war, and Blue Star was left shattered. After that, the mighty gods within the Phoenix Clan departed Blue Star one after another."

"Only a small portion of the Phoenix Clan, those who had not yet become gods, remained, and they evolved into the Phoenix Clan of later ages."

"After vast ages passed, the Phoenix Clan gradually forgot the affairs of the Mythic Age; that history was buried in the river of time. But then one day, a demigod of the Phoenix Clan journeyed into the starry sky in hopes of breaking through to godhood."

"Yet on that journey it failed to break through to godhood, and, unable to withstand the environment of the starry sky, it was forced to return."

"By then its time was nearly up, and it wished only to die in its homeland."

"But on the way back, it strayed into a Phoenix Clan ruin adrift in the starry sky."

"It was a secret realm created in the Mythic Age by a Phoenix Clan deity who had left Blue Star. Within it was kept a treasure that deity had brought back from deeper in the starry sky."

"In terms of resource grade, that treasure stood above even the god tier. The Phoenix Clan ancestor who brought it back called it a resource beyond god tier."

"Having obtained the treasure, this Phoenix Clan ancestor was overjoyed at first, believing it to be its hope of breaking through to godhood. But soon it discovered, to its dismay..."

"That beyond-god-tier treasure was sealed within the ruin, and it had no means of taking it away at all."

At the Undying Infernal Phoenix's words, Shi Jin and the others' expressions shifted slightly.

"It brought the ruin back to Blue Star, back to the Phoenix Clan, and then it died."

"Later, through the Phoenix Clan's research, it was discovered that taking the resource would likely require god-tier power."

"Demigod-level strength alone would not be nearly enough."

"But in an age when the rules themselves were broken and incomplete, god-tier power simply could not manifest."

"At the time, the Phoenix Clan had already consumed enormous resources studying the ruin, which left the clan greatly weakened and directly surpassed by the Dragon Clan. After deliberation within the clan, and to keep the Phoenix Clan from pouring in endless resources and declining over this ruin, it was decided to seal the ruin away, leaving ancestral injunctions to wait for the revival of myth before opening it."

"From that time on, the ruin became a forbidden ground of the Phoenix Clan, and its most important place as well."

"Then came our generation, when two demigods were born to the Phoenix Clan—one was me, and the other was my elder sister." The Undying Infernal Phoenix looked at Cen Yu and the others.

"From childhood my sister's talent surpassed mine, and she outshone me in every way. In the end, it was she who became the leader of the Phoenix Clan."

"We both carried the bloodline of the Sun Divine Phoenix, but she was the more outstanding, and she took a step further. She mastered the power of the starry sky and successfully evolved toward the Vermilion Bird of the Four Spirits of Heaven. At the time she was hailed as the Phoenix creature closest to the Vermilion Bird."

"She even founded a vast kingdom and was worshipped as a god, her subjects spanning every race, among which humans were the most numerous."

"I, in those days, was utterly unwilling to accept it. I wanted to surpass her, but there was no way for me to do so."

"Until I had a prophetic dream."

"The prophetic dream told me that humans were the key to opening that starry-sky Phoenix Clan ruin, and that so long as the ruin could be opened, I could become the strongest of the Phoenix Clan, lead it to an even more flourishing peak, and surpass my sister. As if possessed, I believed that prophetic dream."

"No—or rather, this dream merely gave me an excuse. I had harbored such ideas long before."

"In the end, I chose a path that was not permitted."

"The Phoenix Clan pursues purity of bloodline, but to grow stronger I began remodeling my own bloodline. I also saw promise in humanity, and attempted to conduct bodily modification on human beast tamers, remaking them into Phoenix-clan hybrids. I hoped to use these hybrid humans as nourishment, to make myself stronger."

"If I could even use humanity to break through to god-tier, I might lead the Phoenix Clan into a new chapter."

"In the course of my hybridization experiments, tens of thousands of humans died. Some I seized from beyond the borders of the Phoenix Nation, but their talents were mediocre. In the end, I set my sights on those within the Phoenix Nation—humans who had undergone the baptism of the Phoenix Secret Realm and possessed superior bloodline quality. They were all Suzaku faithful, of outstanding talent."

"But fire cannot be wrapped in paper. My sister found out. She was furious, and at once forbade me from further modifying bloodlines and from these reckless acts. She meant to put me on trial; by clan law, I was to be imprisoned for a thousand years to reflect on my crimes. Naturally I refused, and led the clansfolk who followed me into a great war against her."

"During that time, I quietly sent out of the Phoenix Nation, in advance, one of my most prized daughters—the one who carried my bloodline—fearing she might be harmed." The Undying Dark Phoenix looked toward Scarlet Eye.

"The civil strife dragged on for a long time."

"In that war we were crushingly defeated, but my sister, out of old affection, let us escape. We were fortunate enough to get away. I led a portion of the Phoenix clansfolk out of the Phoenix Nation and came to the Eastern Radiance in search of that perfect hybrid."

"To my regret, by then she could no longer be found."

"And since our vitality had been greatly damaged, we opened up a new secret realm, sank into slumber, and rested to recover our strength. That sleep lasted a thousand years."

"When I awoke again, I took up my plan once more and continued creating large numbers of Phoenix-clan hybrids, establishing a new power in the East—the Phoenix Empire."

"Because at that time the East had no totem demigods, we swiftly became the foremost great power."

"A great many Phoenix-clan hybrid beast tamers became the most gifted human beast tamers of the East at that time. Among them, Huang Xi—the one you call the Eastern Radiance Empress—was one."

"At the outset, her talent and potential were in fact not particularly remarkable among the many Phoenix-clan hybrids."

"She was the type who matures late. No one imagined she would in the end become a legendary beast tamer capable of battling demigods."

"In truth, from the moment we awoke and re-established the Phoenix Empire, my sister's side had already taken note of us."

"Seeing that we had not repented and continued to defy the clan laws of the Phoenix Clan, this time she was thoroughly enraged."

"The Phoenix Clan would never permit its bloodline to flow into other races, nor allow its own bloodline to be sullied."

"And so the Phoenix Nation, far away on its overseas island, became the greatest enemy of the Phoenix Empire."

"The two sides once again waged a totem war."

"To reclaim our own homeland, to prove ourselves the orthodox line, and to take away the super-god-tier resources left within the Phoenix Clan by the Xuan Yi Sect—these became the foremost goals of the Phoenix Empire under my command."

"This time, thanks to the hybrid beast tamers, we did not come off the worse."