Chapter 84 - The Three Great Legacies Unified

Chapter 84: Chapter 82: The Three Great Legacies Unified"No, no! Why is my power receding?" After a short while, the Lord of Iron let out a resentful roar, and the colorful divine light in the sky also retreated, gradually disappearing into the endless void.

"No! No! Come back! Divine light, come back to me!" The Lord of Iron’s eyes were bloodshot, wanting to chase the divine light but he was unable to fly; he could only watch helplessly as it receded further and further away.

"We have failed," said the War Lord, his human face appearing on his right arm, expressionless.

"Yes, you have failed," Audron began to explain, "Just now, in my eyes, you were blindly attacking the sky, but I knew you must have seen something approaching you."

"Did you not see that giant finger capable of destroying an entire plane?" the Lord of Iron asked in shock.

"So you saw a finger," Audron now understood. "That is your heart demon."

"Heart demon?" Bodo also emerged, laughing coldly, "What a joke, when have we ever feared a finger?"

"It depends on whose finger it is," Audron said gravely. "Think carefully about the thing you fear most deep down."

Hearing Audron’s words, all three Lords fell silent.

Yes, they remembered, that finger was identical to the one from those years ago.

"War God," the War Lord spoke first, his words filled with gritted anger, "It must have been his finger!"

"Yes, just like back then, with just a finger he defeated all three of us," the Lord of Iron also recalled the past.

Back then, when the War God swept through Divine Grace and the Human Race was at its peak, they, as the top three warriors, had wanted to challenge the War God together, only to be suppressed by a single finger from him.

Then they joined the ranks of the War God, becoming Lords. Yet they could never touch divinity and wrongly believed that only one person per profession could reach godhood; the War God, who was proficient in three Skills, must have taken all three divine positions of the warrior profession in one go to have such great power.

They requested the War God to relinquish the divine position, but he did not agree.

Afterwards, just as the abyss invaded, although they held resentment, they could not disregard the greater good of the Human Race and had to follow the War God to defend their people.

"Why does he refuse to let us go even in death!" Bodo roared with hate, his resentment for the War God stronger than before.

"Do you still not understand!" Audron rebuked, "The War God once warned you, only when you face your inner fears can you hope to become a god!"

"So what? Aren’t those fears planted by his own hands? In the end, it’s still him who killed our hope of becoming gods."

"Bodo!" Audron stared intensely at Bodo’s distorted face, "Do you still not understand why the War God wanted to destroy your confidence back then?"

"You three, self-assured in your Third Transition stage, fancied challenging a Heavenly God. Without a profound lesson, you would’ve likely met your demise due to your arrogant pride long ago! If not for the War God’s love for talent, why would he entrust you with the cores of the three grand inheritances?"

Bodo stubbornly blamed everything on the War God, "What does it matter? Look at us now, in this neither human nor ghostly state; if possible, it would’ve been better to have died early!"

"Bodo, Audron is right," the War Lord had a moment of clarity, "Remember the plan we once set? Back then, we truly were arrogant and conceited."

"Yes, we had agreed that if we could withstand dozens of moves from the War God, we would go and slay a weaker Heavenly God. If not for the War God’s single-finger might showing us the gap between gods and mortals, we would’ve likely been long dead," the Lord of Iron joined the effort to persuade, as past experiences surfaced in his mind.

"The Lord of Iron is right, the War God may have planted fear in us but he also told us to confront our fears. It’s us who were too obsessed with our hatred, overlooking the War God’s warning."

"No! It’s all the War God’s fault, why couldn’t he tell us directly instead of making us guess in such a roundabout way?" Bodo, now wavering inside, still clung firmly to his stance, "Then why did he cast that Stele to seal this place just before he died? If it weren’t for the Stele he threw down, how could we possibly have been trapped alive in this place without light or hope?"

"This..." Bodo was right, even Audron was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Let me tell you," just as they all lapsed into silence, Lu Hong stepped forward and said, "Actually, the way out of here is simple."

"What way?" the War Lord asked.

"Hold the Holy Sword and open the path to the pilgrimage."

"Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!" Hearing about the path to the pilgrimage, Bodo laughed crazily, "So, even in his death, he still wants us to worship him, how ridiculous, how ridiculous!"

Compared to Bodo’s madness, the Lords of Iron and War seemed extremely calm. Ever since this world was sundered from the void, they had cast aside their reverence for the War God, not even considering a pilgrimage to him from the outset.

"We have lost our way, forsaken our faith," War and Iron sighed, their words heavy with regret.

"Faith? To believe in a god who cuts off our hope of Divine Enthronement? A god who drives us to the brink of death, demanding we bow to him before he lets us go?" Bodo mocked. "If that is the case, then I would rather choose death."

"You could try embarking on the pilgrimage," Lu Hong didn’t want to explain too much; he had opened the pilgrim’s path before and knew well what would appear.

"I hold great respect for you three Lords, so I hope you can initiate a pilgrimage. Perhaps it will give you a satisfactory answer."

"Heh," Bodo sneered, completely ignoring the suggestion.

Meanwhile, War and Iron were somewhat moved: "Will opening the pilgrim’s path give us an answer?"

"Yes." Upon receiving Lu Hong’s affirmative response, the Lord of Iron, still in control of his own body, prepared to undertake the pilgrimage.

"Very well, let me try." He summoned the Steel Holy Sword, murmuring a prayer under his breath as if to implore the War God.

Soon after, amid the prayers, the Stele began to shake violently. A streak of light cut through the air, opening a gate to an otherworldly dimension.

Clearly visible beyond the gate was a grand altar. At the center of the altar lay the teleportation circle to leave this place, and on the path leading to the summit of the altar, countless scenes of the Lord of Iron’s lifelong battles emerged, composing a moving epic.

"This..." The Lord of Iron knelt, realizing then that all he had sacrificed for the Human Race and the warrior vocation had been witnessed by the War God.

Lu Hong spoke solemnly, "The pilgrimage is not to worship the Heavenly God, but yourselves. If only you had retained a shred of faith in the War God from the beginning and prayed to him, then you, along with your warriors, would have ascended the altar. Even should the War God fall, you, as Lords, would become the new leaders of the warrior lineage!"

"Lord warrior," the Lord of Iron turned to Lu Hong, acknowledging his title for the first time: "Although you haven’t undergone the trials of the Iron Temple, as its Lord, I too have the authority to choose the next successor."

"Ah..." Lu Hong hesitated before saying, "I’m probably not particularly suited for the Steel Holy Sword, am I?"

"Lord warrior, if you truly wish to succeed the position of the War God, you must master the three branches of the warrior vocation. That is how the War God was! So please, you must accept it!" The Lord of Iron said, splitting from the union of their three souls, his own now becoming transparent, apparently reaching the end of his tether.

"Lord warrior, please receive the Holy Sword!" The Lord of Iron held out the Holy Sword to Lu Hong, who no longer demurred, kneeling on one knee reverently to take the sword and shield from the Lord’s hands.

"I, the Lord of Iron, now seek to place it with Lord Lu Hong. Let the Holy Sword grant the supreme legacy!" The Lord of Iron roared, channeling his Fighting Spirit continuously into the Holy Sword.

As the Fighting Spirit stimulated the sword, it mysteriously resonated, emitting a burst of black light that enveloped Lu Hong.

The Lord of Iron’s supreme skill, Iron Fortress, was instantly imprinted into Lu Hong’s mind, and thereafter, the Holy Sword transformed into a sphere of light and entered Lu Hong’s body.

"Lord warrior, the warrior lineage depends on you now!" With those words, the Lord of Iron stepped onto the path leading to the altar.

His steps grew slower, listening intently to the chant that seemed to come from nowhere, as if praising the deeds of his life.

"Great War God, your humble servant has failed you!" The Lord of Iron’s face was streaked with tears, and before he could reach the altar, his soul completely vanished from the world.

Watching the Lord of Iron’s final departure, both the Lords of War and Blood fell silent. They each split their own souls, with two Holy Swords appearing before Lu Hong, bestowing the successor ritual.

"Lord warrior, the Lord of Iron is right, the warrior lineage depends on you. We have failed the War God, severing the legacy of the warrior for nearly a million years. Now all rest upon you to continue, and the burden is heavy. I hope you won’t blame us," Bodo now fully regretted his past, realizing that the War God had actually paved a path to the heavens for them.

"Lords, you have not yet embarked on the pilgrim’s path." Lu Hong did not take the Holy Swords but earnestly reminded them: "Perhaps you should see what the War God has truly left for you."

"No need," the Lord of War shook his head: "Now, what face do Blood and I have to accept the War God’s bounty?"

"We implore you, Lord warrior, to accept the Holy Swords!"

Moments later, both the War Holy Sword and the Blood Holy Sword similarly entered Lu Hong’s body.

The Lord of War’s supreme skill, War Rhythm.

The Lord of Blood’s supreme skill, Blood’s Origin.

Not only that, after Lu Hong had accepted the three supreme legacies, the Stele, once deeply despised by the Lords, trembled faintly, and a streak of light shot into Lu Hong’s mind—the warrior’s first skill, Descend of the Heavenly God!