Mr. Nian looked as if he was recalling his oldest memories.

"There's no need to think too much. Between the five disciple-leaders, one would be chosen to take over the position of Mr. Nian. The four others would also live with honor and glory, enjoying positions of power — there would not be much conflict or dispute regarding this, for this has always been the tradition of the Four Seasons Tower. Back then, my master was almost three-thousand years old. He was at the end of his time, and would very likely pa.s.s on at any moment. We were to complete a task given by him, and those who managed to achieve it would be the Tower's next successor; the other four who did not succeed will be Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter respectively — the four Seasons and a Year that make up the highest level of hierarchy in the organizational structure of the Four Seasons Tower."

"Well, you may have already made the connection by now. Every leader of the Four Seasons Tower all had the last name Nian, or to put it in another way — all of them are called Mr. Nian1," Mr. Nian stated nonchalantly. "My real name is… Feng Xiange — yes, that is my original name!"

"The task given by my master wasn't unfamiliar. It was the Four Seasons Tower's existing and unchanging end goal — the location of G.o.d's Gates!"

"I believe that Lord Supreme Cloud would've heard parts of the incident regarding G.o.d's Bones from the three Venerable Lords. However, G.o.d's Grave had a great secret — it would relocate itself every three hundred and sixty-five years, which brings us back to the task itself — the objective of the task was to find and confirm its new location!"

"For that mission, I was the first one to find the grave, so I took on the role as the new Mr. Nian. Furthermore, as I was searching for G.o.d's Gates, I coincidentally came across the realignment of the stars. I jammed the Stargates with a weapon, accidentally causing G.o.d's Grave to be permanently positioned, never to relocate itself again! I accomplished a great deed within the ranks of the Four Seasons Tower, and there was no hesitation in making me the kingpin of the Tower."

"However, from that time onwards, I understood the Four Seasons Tower's true mission — or perhaps, the key to the survival of Four Seasons Tower, so to speak."

"G.o.d's Bones certainly have miraculous abilities — its power is unprecedentedly vast. However, once it is obtained, it cannot be stopped, or else, those who use it would suffer ramifications by the spiritual forces governing G.o.d's Bones. Also, there are certain limitations in obtaining G.o.d's Bones — it would not always be there when one requires it… numerous elders of the Four Seasons Tower have always failed at this stage."

"After the permanent relocation of G.o.d's Bones, I procured the final will of the founders and studied them over and over again, focusing on one particular phrase, 'When nine stars grace the skies, one shall either ascend the Nine Heavens or sink into everlasting nothingness!"

Mr. Nian's eyes were unreadable when he glanced at Yun Yang. "...When nine stars grace the skies… the Residence of Nine Supremes appeared in Tianxuan. From that moment, the feud between the Four Seasons Tower and your side...had thus been established!"

"To protect the Four Seasons Tower from sinking into everlasting nothingness, we had to stop the Nine Supremes from ascending to the Nine Heavens!"

Yun Yang could not help sighing to himself; this was really quite an unexpected disaster.

The first-generation master of the Four Seasons Tower was really quite astounding… pa.s.sing down a prophecy like this since a thousand years ago.

"If there was a choice, who wouldn't want to just enjoy life, focusing on their path and practice? Yet, when the nine stars aligned, the Residence of Nine Supremes had really graced the world with its presence. Is this destiny, or fate?" Mr. Nian's voice was full of heavy sighs.

"Since the prophecy on the alignment of nine stars came true as predicted, then the two outcomes of 'ascending Nine Heavens' or 'sinking into nothingness' could not be avoided," Mr. Nian continued nonchalantly. "However, there must be some sort of reason behind the existence of such a prophecy. Where there's an effect, there must be a cause, vice versa — this is just how the universe operates. Therefore, I tried to search for that cause, thinking that if I could find the reason behind this, or if I could find a key variable that could affect or disrupt this fated outcome, it would be advantageous to our side."

"The events developed and rolled out with that as the starting point. The first foreseeable event was undoubtedly the alignment of the nine stars, whose effect could be a threat to the Four Seasons Tower, or perhaps, an opportunity. As long as we managed to seize this opportunity, we could avoid peris.h.i.+ng into nothingness. Lord Supreme Cloud, from your point of view, does my understanding make any sense?" Mr. Nian questioned.

Yun Yang heaved another breath. "There's not an ounce of wrongness in this. If it was me, I'll see it that way too."

Danger accompanied by opportunity — everybody should understand what it meant.

Yet, in face of a critical moment, not many people truly understood how to react to the problem.

Clearly, the Four Seasons Tower and Mr. Nian chose the most efficient method to go about it, which brought about the battle at Tianxuan Cliff, followed by the tragedy of the Nine Supremes!

"When the Residence of Nine Supremes emerged as nine stars graced the skies, I didn't make any move, for I was unsure about the second half of the prophecy back then. Blindly making a move would only result in a waste of effort. It was followed by the arrival of the Nine Supremes in the world, who promptly began to establish their presences. As the Nine Supremes made their presence even more established, the providence of the Four Seasons Tower acc.u.mulated over a period of time, even as it gradually showed traces of decline and disintegration. With such evidence, there was no need to hesitate any further."

"Moving on, although the situation had escalated to this point, I did not have the slightest intent to vanquish the Nine Supremes. I had not discovered the root of the problem and I still didn't understand the premise behind this prophecy. Even if I went on with it forcefully by finis.h.i.+ng off the Nine Supremes, I would only appear to be a puppet governed by prophecy, dutifully following it through and fulfilling it."

"Following countless a.n.a.lysis and research, I finally confirmed that the providence of the Four Seasons Tower is intertwined with G.o.d's Grave — we are one. However, the providence of G.o.d's Grave and the destiny of the Residence of Nine Supremes are inversely proportional to each other — in other words, if the Residence of Nine Supremes thrives, G.o.d's Grave will decline, vice versa. After confirming this fact, we tried different sorts of ways, like attempting to drain away the providence of the Nine Supremes using different methods, or taking it away forcefully. The matter that frustrates us most — and rendered us utterly helpless — was that the Residence's providence cannot be siphoned away at all. As one blooms, the other one falters — no external force will be able to change this!"

"With no other choice, we could only use the most extreme of ways… destroy the Residence of the Nine Supremes!"

"Since then, I started sending my men to attack the Residence of Nine Supremes, employing the most direct of methods."

Yun Yang gave a long sigh. "So that's how it is. This is the truth."

When the Residence of Nine Supremes first appeared, and when the Nine Supremes were newly formed, the Residence had suffered wave after wave of attacks — someone out there wanted to remove the Residence from this world.

The level of these attacks was no joking matter.

However, all of them suffered the backlash produced by the Residence itself. Anyone who came forth to attack the Residence would die from it, regardless of their levels or delegation — their lives were taken away all the same!

Hence, that was why Yun Yang and the rest never got to find out the ranks of these incoming a.s.sailants — they were all dead anyway, there was no point in arguing about it.

Moreover, there was no room to even argue about it even if they wanted to, for what was left of the people who suffered the rebound effects was only a pile of ash and crushed bones — there was nothing left of them to identify.

So, those men back then were from the Four Seasons Tower.

The fight between the Nine Supremes and the Four Seasons Tower had already commenced much earlier — one party was just not aware of it.

"After three rounds of probing, everyone was dead from the backlash. These men who partic.i.p.ated in these three round of raids were men tenderly handpicked by myself. The first raid was conducted by scholars, the second raid consisted of the Five Venerable Lords, and the third raid consisted of only two men — men who were pinnacle experts of their time with levels only slightly lower than mine."

"Not only did the forces from the three raids fail to destroy the Residence of Nine Supremes, but they were also all killed by the ensuing backlash. This only further proved that the Residence of Nine Supremes truly could not be destroyed."

"Since the Residence of the Nine Supremes could not be destroyed, the only way to secure a happy ending for the Four Seasons Tower was to eliminate the Nine Supremes themselves."

"However, credit needs to be given where it is due — the Nine Supreme's duty of keeping this a secret is truly impressive — totally foolproof," Mr. Nian sighed. "Even I, who tried my best, could not discover the profiles and details of the Nine Supremes — I could not even obtain the basic movements and intelligence on the Nine Supremes."

"The Nine Supremes — heroes who contributed greatly to Yutang's cause and who had shown themselves countless times on Yutang's battlefields — were not restricted by an imperial power, nor forces of the military, Board of Civil Appointments or any department of Yutang at all. It's funny how an extraordinary thing like this could happen."

"Running out of options, I started to direct the Tower's men to infiltrate Yutang — an infiltration which was a step more in-depth and holistic than what was ever done before."

"However, in this entire process, our providence experienced a new development— a change which was strange to the core. A change like this had never happened in the entire term of the Four Seasons Tower's existence!"

Translator Note:

1Mr.Nian (年先生nián xiān shēng): As stated in earlier chapters, Nian means year. A year consists of four seasons, thus the name Four Seasons Tower and its leader's t.i.tle as Mr. Nian.