Dragon Monarch System

808  Chapter 808:- Bonfire Ceremony

A tall, beautiful woman slowly walked toward the center of the floating island. At the center of the floating island was a triangular building. The whole building was coated in a layer of highest quality gold. At the very top of the pyramid, there was a flag with the symbol of the Blue Mystic Clan on it. Behind the beautiful woman, there were ten maids. The maids slowly walked in two rows behind the Shrine Maiden. As they walked toward the pyramid-shaped building known as the Ancestral Shrine, their footprints left impressions on the snow-covered ground.

All the seven clan members had an Ancestral Shrine and a Shrine Maiden. Although the Shrine Maiden had no actual power, all the elders and even the Clan Leader had to take her advice and warnings into serious consideration. The position of the Shrine Maiden (Miko) Is very highly respected within every Clan. The Shrine Maiden is like a Holy being of their clan. The Shrine Maiden is believed to bring luck and prosperity to the clan. The position of the Shrine Maiden can belong to anybody in the clan regardless of the status and rank within the clan. The woman under 20 with the highest qualifications becomes the next Shrine Maiden. Becoming the Shrine Maiden is extremely difficult. The path to Shrine Maiden is even more challenging than becoming the Leader of the Clan. Even if one were to come extremely close to becoming the Next Leader of the Clan and still fails, there is above 90% chance that the candidate will become one of the clan's future Elders. However, there is no consolation prize or position for the candidates competing to become the next Shrine Maiden. All candidates must remain pure until the age of 20. Remaining pure means that candidates cannot have physical contact with any male. The only exceptions to this rule are her father, brother, and grandfather. "You all wait here!!" The current generation's Shrine Maiden is the niece of the Clan Leader. Rose became the Shrine Maiden around nine years back. The position of the Shrine Maiden changes every 20 years. After every 20 years, the Shrine Maiden is required to step down and allow someone from the new generation to take over. Rose's great-grandmother was also a Shrine Maiden.

A few years after retiring, she settled down. She married one of the young Elders. That's right while being the Shrine Maiden, it wasn't permissible to have any kind of relationship with any man. Not even physical contact with another man was allowed. The Shrine Maiden has to stay on this floating island till they retire. Stepping in front of the pyramid-shaped building, Rose told her servants to wait outside as she was going to enter and offer her daily prayers to the ancestors of their clan. The Ancestral Shrine is a place where some kind or some form of remains of every Blue Mystic Clan Leader were left behind. The interior of the building was almost dark, but Rose had no problem with it. The interior was meant to remain in darkness. The interior of the building had hundreds of paintings. These were the paintings of the most notable and powerful Blue Mystic Clan Leaders in the clan's history. The floor of the building was covered with a black carpet. Visitors had to wash their bodies with spring water and change their dirty clothes before entering. At the center, there was a small pyramid. This small pyramid was a in black color. On the tip of the pyramid, there was an eyeball-sized crystal orb. The orb seems to be floating just a few inches from the tip. Around the pyramid, there were a total of nine candles. Each candle represented the life of one Elder. The Blue Mystic Clan had a total of 9 elders. There were also Sub-elders, but their positions weren't that great. The most important was the Leader. The little orb that is floating just a few inches from the tip of the small pyramid represents the life of their Leader. If one of the Elders were to die, then the flame on the candle would burn out. The little orb on top of the pyramid would shatter into countless tiny pieces if their leader were to die. This was something that had never happened in the last 1100 years. Looking around the whole place, Rose let out an exhausted sigh. Before becoming the Shrine Maiden, she had all sorts of expectations. But after becoming the Shrine Maiden, she quickly realized that this position was nothing but a gloried job. All the benefits that came with this job weren't worth the discipline and work that she had to do. 'I still have 11 years of service!!!' 'I can't wait for this hellish period of my time to end.' In the beginning, Rose felt that after becoming the Shrine Maiden, she would be the happiest. She thought every day of her life would be fulfilling and peaceful, but she had never been more wrong. 'Fuck!! All of my friends have found their dream and are already planning to settle down. And here, I am stuck with the most useless job in the entire clan.'

Of course, these words never came out of her thought. No single soul knew what she was going through. Everyone just assumed that she was extremely happy and fulfilled with her current life. 'I don't feel like praying.'

'Why the hell do I have to pray to some people who have been dead for tens of thousands of years?'

Rose was very unwilling to pray today. But she had no choice but to do it. As she sat down in front of the little pyramid, suddenly, she noticed the small orb was violently shaking. "What's happening?"

"Our Leader's life is in danger." Rose's face turned pale. Her whole body was tense. "Someone, go and quickly inform the Elders about this." Her maids, who had been standing outside, heard her words and quickly flew towards other floating islands where the Elders lived. "Where is the Leader?" It wasn't her place to know where their Leader went. Crack..,,,,,!!!

The cracks started taking over the entire orb. Rose widened her eyes in horror as she witnessed the orb shattering into countless tiny fragments. "Our Leader is...…!!"

"Dead…!!"

Just a few minutes later, all 8 of the 9 Elders had gathered in front of the Ancestral Shrine. "Lady Rose, can you tell us what happened?" Even in such conditions, the Elders aren't allowed to step inside the Ancestral Shrine. Rose took a deep breath and then said in a shaky tone. "Our Leader is dead!!!" "What?"

"Is it true?" "But how is this even possible?"

"Our Leader is a Peak 5th-order cultivator. There shouldn't be anyone capable of killing him unless it's one of the other six Leaders." "It's impossible for me to tell you how our leader died." "But I want to remind you all that even in the past, a Peak 4th-order did manage to kill the Clan Leader of the Voidwalker Clan."

Hearing this, everyone's expression became stiff. "It's not her, is it?" One of the Elders asked in a fearful tone. Hearing this, the expression of others also changed. Their hearts tightened in fear. It was like an invisible palm was squeezing their hearts. "Of course not!!" "If she had come to Stardawn, then all Seven clans would have been notified about it." "She is still in the Main Continent." The 'she' that everyone was a figure that came to Stardawn about 5 to 6 years back. At that time, the Clan Leader of the Voidwalker clan was deeply infatuated with her. At some point, he crossed the line, and this is what led to the death of the Voidwalker clan. Nearly half of the clan was destroyed that day. Before this event, the Voidwalker clan was the second-strongest clan in Stardawn. But now the Voidwalker clan is in the bottom position. It all happened because of her. If there was any outsider the seven Clans feared, it was her; even after all that, the remaining clans did not dare to close the exit. No one wanted this monster to be trapped in this pocket dimension with them.

"But except her, who could have the strength to kill our leader?" Another Elder asked. "It can be another figure who is equally strong as her." "No one in this world is as strong as her."

"Maybe!! But that doesn't mean there aren't cultivators stronger than our Leader out there." Hearing this, everyone became silent. This silence showed their agreement with his words. "It's the Dragon Monarch!!!" Hearing this, Rose and a few others rolled their eyes. "Now, that's too much speculation."

"The last I heard, the Dragon Monarch just finished winning yet another war, and now the Emperor is increasing the strength of the Istarin Empire. There is no way that the Dragon Monarch would be interested in our pocket dimension." "If it's not her or the Dragon Monarch, then it must be one of the other 6 Clan leaders?" "If this was the case, then the color of the orb would have changed before it shattered into tiny fragments," Rose replied. "So it was a new powerhouse." Rose nodded her head. All the Elders fell into a deep silence for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, the Supreme Elder, the Elder who was Responsible for handling everything when their leader was absent or was busy with something else, suggested something that others were also thinking. "Let's prepare for the bonfire ceremony." "Agreed!!"

"Yeah!!" Others also nodded, including the Shrine Maiden. "I suppose you have a small body part of our Leader?" Rose quickly nodded her head. It was a half-inch bone from their leader's picky finger. But it was more than enough. "Then let's prepare for the bonfire ceremony. I want to see the face of the man who is responsible for our Leader's death."

"It would still take 4 hours to prepare everything." "We have time. The sooner we act, the sooner we will know the face of the culprit."

"But if it's a powerful entity, then it might sense us looking at it," Rose warned them. "It doesn't matter!! I am prepared to bear the risk."

"Yeah!! I support the Supreme Elder in this." Everyone showed their support to the Supreme Elder. ----------------

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