18 A Strange Ceasefire

Dark Spectres were creatures that thrived on Death and Yin energy, as such they were natural predators and enemies of the living. On this matter Dragons and Humans had an uncanny agreement, and they rarely agreed on anything. Dragons were proud creatures, and naturally endowed with great strength. With a God backing them their arrogance was through the roof as a race. On the other hand humans were the weakest of the weak, born mortal. Even amongst mortal creatures they were relatively weaklings. This alone made it that a human and a dragon would never see eye to eye, even if the human had a higher level cultivation. After all, humans rarely cultivated their bodies, their strength came from Qi Cultivation. Dragons however rarely cultivated Qi, and instead strengthened their bloodlines. They couldn't be further apart in culture, and conflicts regularly arose. Not that humans were any better, their quick reproduction was only surpassed by their skill in killing each other. Dragons were solitary creatures and would typically pick a mountain and live alone, only coming out to find a spouse. Humans however were always forming clans, nations and sects, and waging war after war amongst themselves. It was a wonder they were a powerful race after all that. The Starry Sky was home to countless other races, but these three were the only ones with significant territory and power. The Draconic clans lived in the northern areas and worlds of the Starry Sky, the Humans occupied the west, south and east, and right in the middle was the dark patch that was Spectre territory. Recently the dragons had taken an interest in conquering the eastern Starry Sky from the humans, and a war was currently under way. The spectres had taken advantage of the chaos and joined the fray, after all a place of death was suitable for them. Many races picked sides amongst the three and that entire portion of the starry sky was a no go zone. It was in this environment that Mithamo the Human Formation God chose to build a super formation and descend amongst mortals. Judging by the star pattern in the sky, he was in the most remote corner of the Southern Starry Sky. Even though he had lost his strength, he still had his memories and experience. That included knowledge of an exhaustive map of the Starry Sky, which he had drawn himself using several tens of years. Even as a God the Starry Sky was still expansive. This was human territory through and through, and mostly mortal as well because of it. The stronger humans did not dwell in such remote worlds. This was good and bad at the same time. It was good because he could recover his strength away from the Eastern War and away from prying eyes. It was bad because cultivation resources were scarce amongst mortals. After all, there was no demand for such things. This was why he recruited the Nyasanga Clan. With the clan seeking the resources for him, there would be no problem in regards to his recovery of his might. There were also other reasons for recruiting them, but for now this was their biggest use.

In a small village in a grass plain two armies approached from different directions. Surprisingly, they both arrived only to find a deserted village with the wooden gates wide open. Strangely, there was an ominous fog lingering in one end of the village,and signs that the villagers had left in a hurry. The two armies stayed a healthy distance from each other and sent out emissaries to meet in the middle to discuss terms. An ageing hunchbacked man and a tall handsome general met in the little village and shook hands. " I don't have to tell you that the Queen wants this treasure, and she always gets her way." Jack the hunchbacked man opened the discussions. "I don't have to tell you the Emperor would love the smallest excuse to start a massacre." the general replied sombrely. "Why are our jobs so hard Simeon?" Jack asked exasperatedly. This was not the first time these two empires were going to a fight just because their sovereigns wanted something for themselves. The Queen was young and impulsive and the Emperor was bloodthirsty and short tempered. It was no surprise the two never saw eye to eye on anything. As such these two trusted right hand men always ended up discussing with each other their leader's hard-line stances before any battle knowing full well nothing will come of it. "You could always suggest we don't fight until after we figure out this fog though." General Simeon suggested. "you don't understand it too? Interesting, that could actually work." Jack went into thought. "Right, lets go with that." he finally decided before turning around and slowly walking back to his camp. Simeon chuckled at the leaving hunchback's back and shook his head before heading back himself. Thus a strange ceasefire was reached as the magicians and astronomers of both armies were jointly called forward to study the fog. Once the fog was dealt with and the treasure exposed then all bets would be off. Only the whole day and night passed and still they were none the wiser. At this point even the magicians and astronomers in the two capitals had been fetched, along with their equipment. They were already on their way. This fog was simply too strange. Anything that came into contact with it was wiped out of existence no matter how durable. The highest scholars in the land were all dumbfounded. They had actually accompanied the sovereigns to appraise the treasure but instead ended up not even being able to approach it! The blood emperor was already cursing them and calling them useless and the ominous chill coming from the ice queen's tent was not a good sign either. At this rate they might very well die without corpses if they did not come up with something. The request for reinforcements and tools was as much to save their necks and delay their deaths as it was for further research. Meanwhile a distance away a caravan of villagers protected by adventurers arrived at a mountain. They had travelled a whole day and night to reach it. Philip couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as if he had noticed something. "Send a scout to the Han Mountain Clan" he calmly instructed to his father.