130: The Forbearance of the Holy Mountain, the Awakening of the Ancient Freak

As the Dragon Family’s “Nine Dragons Agarwood Chariot,” resembling a mythical palace, slowly departed from Yan Capital Airport amidst gazes of awe, disappearing into the skyline, the colossal storm that had swept across the entire Golden Generation finally drew to a close.

However, the calming of the storm belonged only to the victors.

For the defeated, this was merely the beginning of reckoning and winter.

【External Line: North America, Headquarters of the “Holy Mountain” Organization】

Inside the magnificent temple built atop the Peak, the atmosphere was as oppressive as ice, as if even the Holy Light had lost its warmth.

The twelve Elders of the Supreme Council sat silently around the round table, like twelve silent stone statues. The smoke from their cigars swirled and flickered between their fingers, yet no one spoke.

Humiliation.

An unprecedented, deep-seated, utterly humiliating disgrace.

Their meticulous arrangements on the African continent were utterly shattered by Lin Tian with the force of a thunderbolt.

Their highly anticipated “Twin Stars” were completely crushed by Lin Tian at The Peak of the Forbidden City in a manner almost akin to “toying” with them, in front of the entire world. Their Dao Heart was damaged, and they were still recuperating in the “Holy Land’s” Spring of Life, repairing their almost collapsing spiritual core.

Furthermore, their secret ally, Elder “Hawkeye” of the “Holy Light Council,” an SSS-Class Demigod who had been famous for nearly a thousand years, was obliterated by an unknown guardian of the Dragon Family with a single finger from half a world away. Even the “Duke” they had placed great hopes on was reduced to the dust of history alongside him.

They lost.

They lost completely, lost all face, lost… without any power to retaliate.

“Cough, cough…”

After a long while, the most senior Grand Elder, whose hair and beard were both snow-white, slowly spoke. His hoarse voice broke the suffocating silence.

“That ‘Number Zero’ of the Dragon Family… has grown up.”

His voice was very calm, yet it felt like a massive boulder pressing heavily on everyone’s heart.

“Whether it’s his own strength or the unfathomable background behind him… both have exceeded our previous estimations. With only the power of our current generation, I’m afraid… we can no longer contend with him.”

This was an incredibly humiliating, yet undeniable and cruel reality.

Another hot-tempered Elder slammed the table, roaring, “Are we just going to let this go?! When has our ‘Holy Mountain’ ever suffered such a great humiliation! I’d rather start a full-scale war than bow down to the Dragon Family!”

“War?” The Grand Elder sneered, a cold rationality flashing in his cloudy old eyes. “With what shall we fight? With our two ‘Twin Stars’ who have already been scared out of their wits? Or should we old bones go face that unfathomable old monster of the Dragon Family who can obliterate an SSS-Class Demigod with a single finger?”

“We… have lost this era.”

These words, like the sharpest blade, pierced the pride of everyone present.

Yes, they had lost. In the competition of the younger generation, they were utterly defeated. In the deterrence of the older generation, they were also at a disadvantage.

Could it be that they truly had no choice but to endure this, watching the Dragon Family, watching that young man named Lin Tian, step by step, ascend to the Peak of the world, completely trampling the thousands of years of glory accumulated by their “Holy Mountain” under his feet?

No!

Absolutely not!

Just as everyone fell into a desperate silence, the Chairman of the Council, who had been sitting at the head of the table and had not uttered a single word from beginning to end, slowly extinguished the cigar in his hand.

On his face, which was like an ancient Greek sculpture, filled with majesty and power, there was no frustration or anger, only a desperate, all-or-nothing… madness and resolve.

“You are right,” his voice, low and full of power, instantly drew everyone’s attention. “We have indeed lost ‘this’ era.”

“But…”

He changed his tone, and in his eyes, as sharp as a hawk’s, burst forth an unprecedented brilliance, like a gambler pushing all his chips onto the table!

“…Who said we must decide the victor with him in ‘this’ era?”

“Since the power of the current generation can no longer contend with him, then…”

He slowly stood up, and with an undeniable tone, filled with supreme authority, issued the final command, which was listed as the organization’s highest taboo and was enough to overturn the entire world order.

— “Activate the ‘Mythical Revival’ plan!”

Boom!

This name, like a forbidden thunderbolt, exploded in the minds of all the Elders!

“Chairman! Are you mad?!” an Elder exclaimed in a lost voice. “‘He’… ‘his’ state is still unstable! And we can’t fully control ‘him’ at all! Waking ‘him’ prematurely is tantamount to making a deal with the devil! Once it gets out of control, let alone the Dragon Family, I’m afraid even we ourselves will be…”

“Enough!”

The Chairman roared, and the terrifying pressure belonging to an SSS-Class Demigod at the Peak descended, fiercely suppressing all dissenting voices!

“We have no retreat!” he said coldly. “Either we are slowly devoured and surpassed by the Dragon Family in humiliation, eventually becoming dust in history.”

“Or, we gamble everything, awaken the ‘Holy Mountain’s’ greatest trump card, the strongest ‘myth’! Use an absolute, unrivaled power that does not belong to this era to crush that so-called ‘new king,’ along with his decaying Family, together!”

“My decision is final!”

…【Antarctic Ice Sheet, ‘Valhalla’ Secret Base, Deepest Part】

With the highest directive from the “Holy Mountain” headquarters arriving via the quantum communication network at this base, buried ten thousand meters beneath the ice sheet, the coldest and most mysterious place on Earth.

The entire base entered the Advanced level of war readiness.

Countless researchers and security personnel in white cold-weather combat suits bustled tensely and swiftly in the huge underground space.

In the core area of the base, a massive ice coffin, carved entirely from an unknown, eerie blue ice that seemed to freeze all energy and time, floated silently in the center of an energy pool filled with runes.

Within the ice coffin, a colossal, vaguely human-shaped silhouette, filled with primitive wildness and destructive aura, was visible.

“’Mythical Revival’ plan, final stage, activate!”

“Energy injection, commence!”

“Life support System, disengage!”

“Soul awakening program, activate!”

Accompanied by the chief scientist’s slightly trembling countdown in the main control room, due to excitement and fear.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

— “Awaken!”

Buzz—!!!

That massive ice coffin, which had been dormant for several eras, at this moment, erupted with a terrifying pressure far exceeding an SSS-Class Demigod, even surpassing the limits of everyone present’s comprehension, filled with the most primitive wildness and the purest destructive aura!

That pressure, like a tangible shockwave, instantly broke through the base’s layers of blockade, tore through the ten-thousand-meter-thick solid ice sheet, penetrated the fragile ozone layer above the Antarctic, shot straight into the heavens, and roared into the endless Universe!

At that instant, the entire globe experienced an anomaly!

On Earth, all active energy monitoring stations, both military and civilian, had their alarm Systems simultaneously emit a hysterical, piercing shriek, signaling the highest level of “world-ending” crisis!

Countless SSS-Class Demigod old monsters belonging to various top forces, who were in secluded cultivation, were forcibly awakened from their deepest meditation at the same time! They all, by prior agreement, cast gazes filled with shock and disbelief towards the distant, frozen… Antarctic continent!

The entire Earth’s energy field experienced violent, tsunami-like energy tide anomalies due to the awakening of that aura! The energy particles between heaven and earth became unprecedentedly turbulent and restless, as if trembling for the return of an ancient, unawakened… mythical overlord!

And within that slowly opening ice coffin.

A dull heartbeat, like the awakening of an ancient Vicious Beast, yet powerful enough to make the entire planet tremble, slowly began to thump.

Thump.