Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

—

Mo Fan left Lingling and Zhao Manyan at Beijiang. He paid a visit to the Ancient Capital alone.

Mo Fan went to the Clock Tower Magic Association the very same night and found Han Ji. The old man was doing some research on incidents that had happened in the past. He was quite surprised to see Mo Fan.

Speaking of which, Mo Fan had not gone to the Ancient Capital since the calamity. The city had been rebuilding since then, trying to recover its past glory. The people were very strong here. They chose to stay, but it still felt like something was missing. They needed a long time to forget about the past.

“Did something happen?” Han Ji asked.

“I believe you guys are constantly calculating the location of the Dark Abyss, right?” Mo Fan asked.

Since Han Ji had learned that the Dark Abyss was the entrance to the Ancient King’s imperial tomb, he had allocated some of his men to keep an eye on the Dark Abyss. Han Ji did not want such events to happen again!

“Mm, we are,” Han Ji nodded.

“Where is it now?” Mo Fan asked sternly.

“Give me a second.”

Han Ji left briefly and came back with a thick book. He was accompanied by a scholar who seemed to be an expert of the Space Element. Han Ji carefully listened to what the scholar was telling him.

“The Dark Abyss will actually relocate when the sun sets tomorrow, it will relocate to here…” Han Ji pointed to the map.

Han Ji was the only person who had access to the coordinates of the Dark Abyss. He would not allow anyone to know the pattern of the Dark Abyss’ movements, but he did not hesitate to share the information with Mo Fan.

“I’m paying it a visit,” Mo Fan said.

“Paying it a visit? You mean you’re going to the Dark Abyss? What for?” Han Ji asked quickly.

“There’s something I must ask them in person. I’ll be going. Mm, it’s pretty close to Ganxi City. I can take a plane there, it won’t take long,” Mo Fan said.

——

Mo Fan did not stay in the Ancient Capital for too long, taking a plane to Ganxi City. The next opening of the Dark Abyss would be around two hundred kilometers from the city.

When Mo Fan arrived at the desolated yellow land the next day, the Dark Abyss was already there. The dark aura from it was like an ill omen that a demon king was about to appear. Anyone in their right mind would not dare to set foot in the Dark Abyss.

There was no sign of undead around the Dark Abyss. It was unlikely to see undead in living human territories. Mo Fan’s tiny figure slowly disappeared into the entrance of the pitch-black furnace of the underworld, as he entered the mysterious and terrifying world!

Mo Fan stood on the edge of the Dark Abyss and took a deep breath. He looked down into the abyss and saw the faces filled with hatred, hunger, and rage that he had expected. The faces were blended into one as the Dark Abyss slowly spun around, like a vast ocean with endless pain.

Mo Fan had jumped into the Dark Abyss once. He knew the Little Loach Pendant’s light would help him reach the bottom of the abyss safely. However, he really did not want to experience that fear a second time.

Mo Fan closed his eyes. The dark aura was strong as usual.

Mo Fan jumped into the abyss and disappeared into the sea of undead…

—

After landing in the dark space, Mo Fan followed the path and ventured deeper. As usual, countless undead were wriggling like slow-moving clouds above him. Corpses were falling onto the ground like rain, but those that landed close to Mo Fan turned into puddles of bloody mud.

Mo Fan continued forward, and reached the white tomb. The imperial tomb that had existed for more than a few thousand years was exactly the same as before. It still gave Mo Fan a chill when he saw it

The watching evil eyes were still there!

Mo Fan reached the corridor. There was no resistance. He successfully walked to the end.

The Eternal Wicked Lotus was no longer there. Mo Fan had no trouble entering the next hall, since the door was no longer there.

Mo Fan simply picked one of the bridges among the Nine Bridges of Death and One Bridge of Life. The bridge did not lead him to the Space of Death. It led Mo Fan straight to the Blood Altar, to the Blood Throne…

Mo Fan had not been to the Blood Altar last time, so this was his first time seeing it. The floor was black, and smooth enough that he could see his own reflection. His surroundings were as pitch-black as the cold, void, eternal galaxy…

The Blood Altar floated in the emptiness, spinning slowly. However, people standing on it were unaware of the spin. It was impossible to tell directions.

A suit of black armor was seated on the Blood Throne. It was empty inside, yet it remained in a certain posture, as if there was a person in deep thought or slumbering like a statue inside it. However, it emitted an overwhelming presence!

“Chief Military Instructor,” Mo Fan said, his emotions stirring when he saw the black armor.

“You are not my descendant,” Zhan Kong’s voice replied, even though there was nothing inside the armor. However, the eyes inside the armor lit up.

“I might not be a pure descendant of Bo City, but I’m your student!” Mo Fan answered.

The Ancient King did not respond.

Mo Fan knew the ‘person’ inside the black armor was not completely the savage and magnificent king of the undead. It still possessed the soul and memory of the Chief Military Instructor that had sworn to protect Bo City to the death.

He had gone to Tianshan Mountain to save Qin Yu’Er. That alone had proven that he was still the Zhan Kong he knew!

Besides, the Nine Bridges of Death and One Bridge of Life did not lead Mo Fan to the Space of Death, indicating that the Ancient King was being merciful to him.

“A town in Beijiang was wiped out by undead. Everyone in the town died and was turned into undead… are your underlings responsible for that?” Mo Fan asked.

The ‘person’ before Mo Fan was the ruler of the Kingdom of Undead. Even Han Ji would not expect Mo Fan to go into the Dark Abyss to ask if he was responsible for it!

The fate of a little town seemed insignificant when compared to some of the calamities that happened, but to Mo Fan, it was more serious than any of the calamities…

If the undead at the Ancient Capital were responsible for it, it meant the current peace would be broken once again. The undead would no longer stay in their tombs, and would start to invade human territories again. It also meant that the Ancient King had declared war against humans as the ruler of the Undead, and intended to drag the living into the abyss of death!

It was definitely something that Mo Fan did not want to see!

He was afraid that the Ancient King’s response would be “Yes!”.

It would mean Mo Fan would be declaring war against the Ancient King, even though there was still a part of the person he respected the most in the entity before him. As a living human, Mo Fan would have to fight the ruler of the Undead to death!

“No,” the Ancient King replied.

Mo Fan finally recovered his usual expression. He let out a relieved sigh.

He was afraid of hearing the Ancient King say “yes”, but he still had to ask. He would have no choice but to demonize. The truth was, even Mo Fan was not confident he would stand a chance against the Ancient King, even with the power of the Demon Element!

“She wants to see you, no matter what you’ve become,” Mo Fan told him.

Qin Yu’Er had returned to her own life, but she was waiting alone for him. Mu Ningxue would visit her and talk to her occasionally, and she could easily tell that…

The Ancient King’s face slowly appeared under the hollow helmet. It was Zhan Kong’s face, but his skin was gray, and transparent enough to see the intertwining veins underneath.

However, his face soon disappeared once mroe, leaving just a pair of cold eyes again.

The eyes eventually disappeared too, leaving just the black armor in a sitting posture on the Blood Throne. There was no sign of life, yet its presence was as overwhelming as a mountain!

“Chief Military Instructor…” Mo Fan said. His emotions were a little unstable.

There was no response. The only sound echoing at the Blood Altar was Mo Fan’s own voice.

“Thank you for teaching me many things,” Mo Fan took a step back. He saluted the black armor the same way he did when he was training at Snowy Peak Mountain. “I told Zhang Xiaohou that everyone has someone that serves as a spiritual pillar in their heart. Even if we are facing the most difficult situation, we won’t panic as long as that spiritual pillar is with us, as that person will support us even if the sky was to fall… Zhang Xiaohou told me that I’m a person like that to him. He asked me if I have anyone like that, but I said no…”

The black armor remained stationary. It was like Mo Fan was talking to himself…

After everything fell silent, Mo Fan continued with a self-mocking laugh, “I actually lied to him. Many times, I’m the one that is trembling in fear because of how useless I am.”