The Silver Priest of the Eternal Sky Cult fell in battle in Persia, the Manichaean Sect's main sanctuary was nearly overrun, and the Heaven's Limit Monument appeared—each event enough to shake the world. The war is over, but the aftershocks have only just begun. Countless tangled issues are surging in, enough to make anyone dizzy.
Let's start with the small stuff—
The Will of the Sacred Flame took off with Jill Young—so what happens to the Manichaean Sect now? We agreed to split the loot, but the goods ended up in someone's pocket, and Faye Bright got nothing—so what about her? Someone bragged their way into becoming the Bright Sect leader, and now all the underlings are looking up expectantly—what's next?
The Diamond Patriarch rallied his troops hoping for a cut, even risking a fallout with his old Mongolian boss—how do we deal with that? Dalba and the kid monk are waiting for their master to return to the mountain—what about them? The United Front back in China is full of nosy busybodies; my Jia Tengying persona hasn't had enough fun yet—has my cover been blown or not?
And then there’s that old pit we dug but never filled in: where on earth did the Nine Yang Divine Skill go? Azhi, Amu, and the rest of the crew chasing after the skill are back, but where did the skill itself end up?
Okay, all of the above are just minor issues.
Now, let's talk about the big stuff—
This time, the Mongols sent troops—not too many, not too few. Any junior Mongol khan could muster this number, so really, it counts as the Silver Priest’s private military operation. But let’s be honest, these elite soldiers aren’t just the Eternal Sky Cult’s personal army—Kublai Khan must’ve approved and backed them.
Now that the Mongol elite have met their end in the Persian desert, how will Kublai respond? What will the rival Chagatai Khanate think? And what about the Persian lords and tribes, who both fear, hate, and obey the Mongols—what’s on their minds?
Whatever happens, whichever way you look at it, whether Persia and the Mongols team up for another siege or not, the Manichaean Sect can’t stay at their main sanctuary anymore. But for the faithful, wherever the Sacred Flame is, that’s home base. The Sacred Flame’s run off for a private getaway, so let it go—the Manichaean Sect was always a bunch of fugitives anyway. If you want to comfort yourself, just remember: we came from exile, and we’re heading back to exile. There’s a certain romantic charm to being wanderers, right?
Also, let’s talk about packing up and leaving. The Manichaean Sect’s sanctuary doesn’t really have anything irreplaceable—the most valuable things are definitely the Heaven’s Limit Monument and the Will of the Sacred Flame.
Heaven’s Limit Monument is kind of like the Earth’s Limit Monument, but also not. Both have that mysterious tendency to appear suddenly and then vanish, but Heaven’s Limit Monument is pure spiritual power—no physical object involved. This time, Jill Young got its blessing, and it disappeared on its own. Who knows when it’ll show up again? You can’t find a trace of it anywhere in the Promised Land.
As for the Will of the Sacred Flame, besides the Sacred Flame Core and the Sacred Flame Token turning into the Heavenly Fire Wheel, the rock wall covered in mysterious symbols is worth something too. Supposedly, King Solomon brought this wall from somewhere, and it’s rumored to be full of treasure. So the crew took hammers to it and, surprise, actually knocked out a big pile of worthless diamonds.
Huh? That last sentence sounded a bit too casual, didn’t it? But you read it right—it really was a huge pile of thin-skinned, stuffed, eighteen-faceted diamonds, each one ridiculously big, about the size of a kid’s fist. No clue what King Solomon was thinking, embedding them all inside the mountain wall as rune carriers or whatever. Stack a hundred or so of those together and, wow, it’s so blinding it makes your head spin.
But Jill Young just glanced at them, yawned, and walked off, totally uninterested. Diamonds? In a world where gold is king, the mountains of gold under Misty Peak’s great rift are what’s valuable—diamonds are just shiny rocks. Not saying they’re worthless, but they’re not going to make you rich. On Earth, sure, diamonds are worth something, but does sis really need to sell diamonds? Next time, you think Forbes won’t have her on the list?
If Forbes even still exists...
So, little stuff like diamonds—don’t bother sis with that. Just pack them up and haul them away. All those big and small issues? None of them really matter to us. Right now, there’s only one thing that’s truly important: the feast!
Let’s party!
Sing! Dance! Eat! Drink! Laugh! Go wild!
Let’s party—for victory, for life, for all the beauty of today, and for all the friends and brothers gathered together!