The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

2441. Return to Mortis (Part )

A withered yellow leaf slowly fell down, and was then caught by a pale hand. With a gentle pinch, the leaf was rubbed into countless powders and scattered in the dry breeze.

Tang Xiao raised his head and looked at the sky filled with dark clouds. Looking around, he saw withered plants and gray rocks everywhere.

The pumice stones that once floated in the air like a fairyland have now all fallen to the ground and shattered into piles of meaningless fragments.

This is Mortis, where the Tai people live, and also their prison.

but now……

"'Father' is near death." A clear voice came from behind, "and Mortis is also on the verge of collapse."

Tang Xiao turned around and saw a huge griffin that had landed behind him at some point and was speaking in human language.

It's 'Daughter', the Light Side of the Force.

Her body swayed slightly, and then she transformed into the image of the young girl with green hair. She looked Tang Xiao up and down and said, "Darkness has once again eroded your heart."

"Take me to see 'father'." Tang Xiao said slowly. He glanced at her inconspicuously and found that Mortis's dagger, the god-killing blade, was still hanging on her waist.

"He won't see you. In fact, even I can't see him now," said the daughter.

"Take me there." Tang Xiao repeated, his tone unquestionable.

The daughter sighed, shook her body, and turned into a beautiful griffin that was completely white except for the light green mane on its neck. She shook her wings and flew up.

Tang Xiao jumped up and grabbed the griffin's claws, but he did not stop. Instead, he used the force to jump again and actually rode directly on the griffin's back!

The daughter was furious and shouted, "How dare you do this, mortal! Get down here!"

"Stop messing around and let's go. We have more important things to deal with." Tang Xiao said coldly.

"What do you want to do?!" the daughter questioned bluntly, but she did not try to throw Tang Xiao off.

"I'll give you a chance." Tang Xiao said.

The daughter was silent for a while, and finally flapped her wings and flew towards the direction of Modis Monastery.

The road was covered with dark clouds, lightning and thunder. Terrible lightning kept falling from the sky. In the countless lightning, the griffin transformed by my daughter seemed like a bird in the storm, struggling hard, but insignificant.

Finally, she flew all the way to the gate of the monastery on the top of the mountain. Tang Xiao jumped off her, and his daughter also turned into a human form and followed his footsteps into the monastery.

However, an invisible force blocked their steps and prevented them from entering the gate.

Tang Xiao raised his hand and tried, and found that the power was still extremely strong, but compared to the desperate power that his "father" had used with hatred when he came to Mortis last time, it had been much weaker.

The daughter was right, her father was dying.

"He doesn't want to see us," said the daughter.

"Is your injury healed?" Tang Xiao asked about other topics.

"No. My son almost condensed his most powerful strength at that time. I was hit head-on and was close to death at one point. Therefore, I need more time to recover." The daughter answered honestly.

"Then, do you still have enough strength to force your way in?" Tang Xiao asked again.

"You can, but it's not necessary. He doesn't want to see me, and I respect his choice." The daughter said. "What kind of existence is your father to you?" Tang Xiao asked.

"He is an elder and also the bond that maintains a balanced relationship between me and my son," said the daughter.

Tang Xiao nodded, stood in front of the door, and said loudly: "Father, do you want the balance of the Force? But you should know that the Force has long lost its balance! The tide of the Force is getting more and more intense, and Darth Sidious is trying to intensify such interference. In the end, he will trigger a Force storm."

There was no response from inside the monastery. It was still dark and no movement could be seen inside.

Tang Xiao continued, "There is only one way to restore the balance of the Force - kill Darth Sidious, and then I will become his 'son'!"

There was another long silence.

Finally, a weak and old voice came from the monastery, "You have no idea what the so-called method you just mentioned means... mortal."

A ferocious smile appeared on Tang Xiao's lips. "The so-called mortals mean infinite possibilities."

"You are playing with fire," said the father.

"You still have enough power to stop me." Tang Xiao said.

There was another long silence in the monastery. After a long time, the father's weak voice continued, "Your power is too weak. The moment you become a son, you will be corrupted by the dark side and become an irrational dark beast."

"So my daughter is by my side, and she also holds the Mortis dagger." Tang Xiao said.

Silence fell again, and this time, it lasted for a full half hour.

Finally, a key that looked like a stone appeared out of thin air and fell in front of Tang Xiao with a click.

Tang Xiao bent down and picked up the key without any hesitation. He only felt that the key was extremely heavy. The small key actually weighed hundreds of kilograms!

As he picked up the key, a helpless sigh came from the monastery, and then it fell into deathly silence again.

Tang Xiao turned around and said to his daughter, "Let's go to our son."

"You want to desecrate his body!" The daughter stared at him with great vigilance.

"I originally thought that for you Taiyi, the body is just a symbol." Tang Xiao said lightly.

"No matter what form it takes, the body is always a symbol of our existence," the daughter said. "You are desecrating your son's body, which is equivalent to desecrating his existence itself."

So you are not gods.

Tang Xiao smiled, shook the key in his hand, and said, "But instead of waiting for the balance of the Force to collapse, waiting for Darth Sidious to set off a Force storm and kill us all, it is better to do something."

"You don't want to restore the balance of the Force at all! You just want to kill Darth Sidious!" the daughter pointed out incisively.

"Again, let's do something." Tang Xiao said, "Besides, you are next to me with the Mortis dagger. If I really lose control, you have enough power to kill me."

"Maybe by then, it won't happen." The daughter shook her head.

But she still turned into a griffin and seemed to have finally agreed.

Tang Xiao didn't hesitate to jump onto the griffin's back and stroke its green mane.

The griffin flapped its wings and flew into the air, heading towards the other side of Mortis, the desolate place of eternal sleep. (End of this chapter)