Night Journey

Chapter 14 The Torchbearer

After the long talk about life ended, Nuen began to recount the crisis in White Cliff Town.

"This boundless gray fog is formed by the chaos and source energy overflowing from the spirit world, sandwiched between reality and the spirit world. We call it the Narrow Gray Domain."

Nunn handed the telescope to Cillian, and they began to observe the stars on Earth.

“In the darkness, each point of light represents a city-state.”

Currently, the largest and most dazzling beacon of light in the civilized world is the Second Sun of the Holy City of the Day. This Second Sun shines day and night, and scholars have used its intensity to divide the civilized world into ring-shaped regions.

A corner of the world slowly unfolded before Cillian's eyes.

"The area within the illumination range of the Second Sun's core is called the Flame Core Inner Ring, and no chaotic power will be born in this area."

Its outer ring, known as the Inner Flame Outer Ring, is where the chaotic power of the area is suppressed over a wide area by the Second Sun, and even when it emerges at night, it is greatly weakened.

"Beyond this lies the outer frontier of the Flame, where we are now. On this land, the Second Sun can only serve as a landmark; it has no power to suppress the Chaos."

Nuen gazed at the darkness, his tone pessimistic. "More than a decade ago, at night, I could clearly see the second sun of the Holy City of Daylight. It was like a twinkling star at the edge of the horizon, but in recent years, its light has become increasingly dim."

It's not that the Second Sun of the Holy City of the White Sun has weakened, but rather that the Gray Realm of the Narrow Space is growing stronger, gradually encroaching on the outer frontier of the Flame. Perhaps soon, White Cliff Town will be completely swallowed up by the Gray Realm of the Narrow Space and become an integral part of the Dark World.

“Look there, Cillian, that tiny point of light.”

Nunn pointed in another direction, where a light was almost extinguished.

"The city-state represented by that point of light is the closest to White Cliff Town, and it is called the City of Convergence, Hel."

Nunn spoke of the mission Cillian was to undertake, saying, "Rather than rebuilding the clan, I would prefer that you reach Hel City and bring supplies and support to White Cliff Town."

"This is an era in which city-states are isolated from one another, but only by uniting can we survive."

Hel, the City of Convergence.

Over the past decade, Cillian had repeatedly heard of the name of Hel City. As the city-state closest to White Cliff Town, it had always been the hope for White Cliff Town's continuation.

Because Nuen was the only torchbearer in White Cliff Town, he was too worried about the safety of White Cliff Town to embark on that distant journey alone, so the operation was put on hold.

Until tonight, Cillian truly became a torchbearer.

"Don't be too hasty. You need some time to adapt to your strength and learn more combat skills."

Nunn wore a smile; tonight was the night he had smiled the most in the past few years.

"Many of the Yangkui clan's books and records were lost during that siege, and some disappeared on the way to break out. The rest are all in my mind, and I can only tell you about them with my clumsy mouth."

Nunn said with a guilty tone, "I didn't protect much. Apart from this bottle of blood and the sword in my hand, everything else was kept together."

"Is it that iron box in the armory?"

Cillian recalled the iron chest hidden deep within the armory, with a heavy chain hanging on it, which Nun had almost never opened.

As a child, Tim was curious about what was inside and tried to pry open the lock. When Nunn found out, Tim was scolded so badly that he almost lost half his life.

After that, no one bothered with the iron box anymore, and it remained there peacefully, almost forgotten.

"Yes, that is the clan's only remaining property, and you will inherit it."

Nunn stepped onto the high wall, standing on the edge of danger, seemingly about to fall at any moment.

"Want to try it? Cillian, it's like you've got a new sword and your hands are itching to show off. Don't you want to know the power you now possess?"

Nunn leaped down from the high wall, and the demons, seeing flesh and blood falling, let out hoarse, yearning cries.

Before the demons could even swing their claws at Nuen, they were all beheaded and severed in the back by a crimson sword light.

Nunn held his sword with both hands, burning patterns covering his arms, and even the cross-shaped longsword seemed to be burning red, with a deadly red light emanating from its blade.

With just a single strike upon landing, Nunn cleaved a vacuum in the midst of the demon horde.

If it were a mortal army, their morale would likely collapse, and they would scream and flee from Nun's side. But the demons had no morale and no mind; they simply surged forth like a tide.

Cillian naturally wouldn't refuse Nunn's invitation. He mustered his courage, took a few running steps, and leaped off the high wall.

Normally, if Cillian fell from this height, he would at least suffer a broken bone, but thanks to the strength of his Resilient Body, he only experienced some numbness in his legs.

Unlike the unique Soul Essence trait that belongs exclusively to the Torch-Guiding Path, the Resilient Body trait is a universal trait that manifests on many paths of destiny.

There are many similar universal traits, and numerous destinies intertwine to weave a grand web of ascension to godhood.

Cillian did not deliberately burn the soul essence within his body to temporarily gain greater power. He simply swung his sword and chopped off heads as he had trained.

But this time, Cillian's speed was several times faster, and even his strength had been significantly increased.

A fierce gleam of sword light danced forth.

After the swiftly moving sword blade pierced into the demon's skull, it was no longer stuck by the hard, deformed bones. Instead, it easily sliced ​​it open completely, the cut surface splitting open to both sides, spilling out a pile of still-beating internal organs.

The once terrifying body exploded one after another before Cillian's eyes, limbs and blood flying everywhere, falling to the ground and turning into streams, which would then be burned to ashes at sunrise.

Cillian crushed the head of one demon with one foot and stabbed another demon through the chest with his other hand.

It hissed and grabbed Cillian's blade, only to be met with a heavy straight punch that dented most of its face, sending its body flying backward as the force of the punch knocked the blade out of its chest.

Cirien held his breath, gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, and plunged it into the abdomen of yet another demon.

With a bent knee and a twist, like an over-the-shoulder throw, Cirion swung his sword with all his might, the cold metal cleaving through the demon's abdomen, chest, neck, and even head.

Under the cold, metallic arc of light, the demon's body was cleaved in two, crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces.

“We are not engaging in a meaningless slaughter,” Nunn said, striding forward as he swung his sword. “Demons are just the most basic kind of creatures in chaos. There are many other deadly species that require targeted elimination.”

“Take this one for example!” Nuen found his target among the countless writhing figures. It was a beast-like demon that resembled a jackal and moved extremely fast. Under the cover of darkness and gray fog, it was difficult to discern its shape.

Knuen's gaze remained fixed on it.

Nunn did not pursue, but held his ground, gathering power in his longsword as his body temperature rapidly increased until a flame rose from the tip of the sword.

Stepping, turning, and swinging the sword, a whirlwind of burning dust swept up.

In an instant, the demons were torn apart by the scorching wind. Even the special jackal demon, amidst a howl of resentment, had its skin and scales burned away, and its exposed bones immediately turned gray-black, becoming ashes along with the other demons, swirling in the wind.

The lingering heat created a fire in front of Nunn, the pure white flames leaping and halting the demons' advance.

“The demons will endlessly pour in from the Gray Zone, and the Torchbearers need to clean it up regularly to reduce their numbers.”

Nunn swept away a large number of demons with his sword, like wielding a scythe to harvest wheat.

"Once the number of demons in a certain area reaches a certain threshold, they will devour each other until they form a giant or super-giant chaotic creature. Chaotic creatures of that level will pose a great danger to the city-state."

Cillian recalled the moray eels and tentacles he had encountered in the Sea of ​​Origin; whichever of them appeared near White Cliff Town would bring terrible disaster.

Maybe Nunn will survive, but what about the rest of White Cliff?

"This is the basic job of a torchbearer."

Compared to the followers of other sages or giants, those of us who have embarked on the path of the torch are born with greater resistance to chaos and greater destructive power against chaos.

To put it bluntly, the Torch was born to fight against Chaos.

Cillian had already experienced what it meant to be born from resisting chaos. The gray mist enveloped him, but this time Cillian saw no hallucinations and heard no auditory hallucinations.

The bone-chilling cold was gone, but I felt the evening breeze was a bit strong and my body felt a little cool.

That's it.

Out of habit ingrained from years of training, Cillian lit a torch, its pure white light rising and dispelling the last vestiges of the night's chill.

Holding the torch high, Cillian suddenly recalled that scene.

At the end of the Dark Ages, people saw those who were on a campaign into the dark world, wielding torches and swords as they fought.

People at that time did not know where they came from, so they called them by their most intuitive image.

—The torchbearer.

At this thought, an indescribable feeling welled up in Cillian's chest, completing a kind of blood connection and spiritual resonance.

Before Cillian could fully savor the feeling of resonance, the familiar burning sensation returned to his left palm.

The Ouroboros Seal reappeared once more, still radiating a molten golden light.

Cillian roughly figured out the pattern of the Ouroboros Seal's appearance. Whenever it sensed the presence of chaotic power, it would warn Cillian, sending waves of burning pain and granting Cillian a certain degree of chaos resistance.

Judging from the current situation, even if Cillian advances to become a Torchbearer and possesses Chaos Resistance, the power of the Ouroboros Seal will still be triggered.

Besides its intense hostility towards Chaos, the Ouroboros Seal also has a certain influence on the Sea of ​​Origin, but unlike the burning pain, it is an extremely warm feeling.

Cillian believed that the tattoo must have helped him to surface unharmed after he lost consciousness in the deep sea.

At the end of the Sea of ​​Origin, Cillian even developed a strange illusion that the Sea of ​​Origin was his "mother".

What exactly do you mean?

Ciri stared at his palm, filled with confusion.

"what is that?"

Nunn's voice interrupted, almost making Cillian's heart skip a beat.

This time, Cillian did not hide his secret. Instead, he proactively opened his palm to Nunn, revealing the tattoo in its entirety.

"Teacher, do you know what this ouroboros tattoo represents?"

Cillian told many lies, but he didn't like to lie to Nunn.

"Regarding the Night in the Wilderness, I actually kept some details to myself, as well as my experiences in the Sea of ​​Origin... In short, I was saved at least twice by the power of this tattoo."

Nunn remained silent, his body temperature seemingly rising slightly, waves of heat washing over him as if he were facing a blazing furnace.

"Phew... Is that so?"

Nunn's expression became complicated.

Ciri felt uneasy and blurted out a string of nonsense, "What's wrong? Teacher, the way you look at me is like I'm looking at a patient with many terminal illnesses, but who is actually full of energy because the illnesses complement each other."

Nunn ignored Cillian's varied sentence structure.

“I’m sorry, Cillian, I’ve also kept some things from you… about your background.”

Nunn plunged the cross-shaped sword into the ground, and a burst of intense heat erupted from the earth, spreading outwards in a fan shape, pushing the fire to its maximum extent and clearing a clean area.

“I’ve seen this tattoo design before, right on the iron coffin containing you.”

"An iron coffin?"

Cillian blinked.

"what?"

(End of this chapter)