Edited by: Molly
The place was a mess. Ice shards and broken rocks were all over the place, and a few people in the Lianying family had already gone crazy. They shouted inconsiderably and mumbled incoherently. Many slaves and managers who were mining in the other mining areas had all stopped their work and were looking at this side in shock and bewilderment.
It was hard to not be noticed when there was so much noise.
Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes suddenly captured the direction with the densest evil Qi. “A creature of evil Qi broke out of an array, I will take a look.” Then he walked towards the cave where Fu Zhu was originally sealed.
Cold sweat gathered on Manager Mo’s forehead. He just stood there blankly, his pair of hands trembling uncontrollably. Lian Hua pressed the spot between Manager Mo’s eyebrows, causing him to calm down.
“Mo Yin, what happened here? Quickly recount it!” Lian Hua shouted coldly.
Mo Yin’s reason came back. When he saw Lian Hua Venerable, he felt like he was saved. He immediately knelt down and answered in a trembling voice, “Lian Hua Venerable, just now there was a youth who cultivated evil Qi. He released a Youshan evil spirit that was held here. He killed my young master, and now he ran away in an unknown direction!”
Lian Hua’s face changed, and his heart sank to the bottom. He pulled Mo Yin up. “What kind of person can actually cultivate evil Qi? How would you describe that Youshan evil spirit?”
Mo Yin struggled to move his throat, “That boy is named Yan Tianhen. He said… he said he will definitely come back to find you.”
Lian Hua’s eyes were full of turbulent wind and clouds, and his face was livid.
He just knew that the youth was Youshan Lingyu — the monster who could stir up the entire cultivation world into chaos tens of thousands of years ago and take several powerhouses down with him at death. He was a monster who cultivated both demonic Qi and evil Qi.
…To think that just because of my own selfishness — originally, I merely wanted to let Yan Tianhen feel what it was like to be trapped in a corner, unable to escape, and never able to see the sun — but somehow, this led him to cultivating evil Qi again!
Lian Hua took a deep breath and barely calmed his mind. “Which evil spirit did Youshan Lingyu–no, Yan Tianhen, release?”
Fear flashed through Mo Yin’s eyes. “That evil spirit has four antlers on its head and looks like a deer. It’s as white as snow and has a pair of wings behind it. It can fly.”
Lian Hua’s pupils shrank sharply. “Fu Zhu!”
Mo Yin’s legs became soft, and he nearly fell onto the ground in shock.
—Fu Zhu, that’s Fu Zhu ah!
In ancient times, there was no one who didn’t know what Fu Zhu represented. It was Demon Venerable Youshan Lingyu’s mount; it could be said to be the most convenient hunting dog under Youshan Lingyu! As soon as Fu Zhu appeared, there would be constant floods in the world, and Fu Zhu was able to naturally master both water and ice magic. It had a tenacious vitality and powerful evil Qi. It brought the Daoists endless trouble during the Great Immortal-Demon War.
Mo Yin said with a trembling voice, “Didn’t Fu Zhu die long before Youshan Lingyu was killed?”
“If it’s already dead, then who killed it?!” Lian Hua clenched his fist bitterly, extremely remorseful. He was too careless and truly believed that just like the rumors, Fu Zhu had already been killed by the Sword Venerable before Youshan Lingyu’s death, but who would have thought that Fu Zhu had only been sealed!
Moreover, since Fu Zhu was unsealed by Youshan Lingyu, then Youshan Lingyu must have personally sealed it back then.
So that’s it. No wonder something doesn’t seem right.
Back then, Youshan Lingyu had already made preparations for his defeat, but he wanted to leave a hidden card and a path of retreat for himself. Thus, he personally sealed Fu Zhu in Youshan. Then, he would only have to wait for tens of thousands of years of reincarnation to make a comeback and release his most trusted subordinate from the abyss.
To think that Youshan Lingyu was actually laying out his chess pieces on such a grand scale!
However, he was a pure Divine Devil, and half of his cultivation was even through evil Qi. According to reason, he should have fallen just like the other demons did — unable to ever enter the cycle of reincarnation. Then how did he know that he would still be able to reincarnate and return after tens of thousands of years, and how did he know that he would still be able to retain the fate of being a dual cultivator of demonic Qi and evil Qi?
Lian Hua bit his lower lip harshly and slowly raised his head. He gazed in the direction with the densest evil Qi.
Lin Xuanzhi soon came to a conclusion.
“Youshan Lingyu has returned.”
Lian Hua looked at Lin Xuanzhi blankly. “How can you be sure that person is Youshan Lingyu?”
Lin Xuanzhi said with heavy eyes, “I can tell from his residual aura, as well as the seal pattern after I restored it. You should know that Youshan Lingyu’s seal can only be broken by himself, because in this world, he is the only person who cultivated demonic Qi and evil Qi at the same time. For those of us who cultivate spiritual Qi, as soon as evil Qi enters our bodies, the spiritual Qi and evil Qi will collide, and our bodies will explode, resulting in death.”
After Lin Xuanzhi said it, he raised his eyes to ask Mo Yin, “Did you witness all of this?”
Manager Mo looked at Lin Xuanzhi’s familiar face and suddenly widened his eyes, crying out in disbelief, “Sword Venerable?”
Lin Xuanzhi frowned slightly. “Can you describe the person’s appearance?”
Manager Mo came back to his senses only after shaking his head a few times and being reprimanded by Lian Hua. Mo Yin quickly crawled on the ground and made an extremely submissive posture. He said, “The person’s black hair is mixed with some purple, and there is a pulsing purple flame mark on his forehead. His lips are extremely red, his skin is extremely white, and he wears a skeleton bracelet on his wrist. I don’t know his name. After he killed Young Master, he ran away.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded faintly, then turned to Lian Hua. “It should be Youshan Lingyu.”
Lian Hua also nodded and told Manager Mo, “You should return and inform the Lianying family head first, but you must clearly weigh what you should and shouldn’t say!”
Mo Yin nodded repeatedly and quickly retreated, for fear that Lian Hua would kill him on second thought to eliminate all witnesses. Mo Yin didn’t wipe the cold sweat on his forehead until he was over a hundred miles away. He thought, I didn’t expect Yan Tianhen to be Youshan Lingyu. Although his appearance is not similar to Youshan Lingyu and his temperament is also quite different, the only person who can make Fu Zhu submit is Youshan Lingyu!
Moreover, Yan Tianhen was brought back and imprisoned by Lian Hua! Lian Hua’s warning from back then echoed in Mo Yin’s mind — “From now on, you must never mention this person called Yan Tianhen. Order everyone in the prison to keep their silence. Any violators will be killed without fail.”
Mo Yin looked back in the direction of the sparrow spirit mine.
Sword Venerable Chang Sheng had also reappeared in the world.
Could it be that the hellish landscape from tens of thousands of years ago will reappear?
Within a day, news of Youshan Lingyu’s appearance spread throughout the entire Youshan Capital. On this day, the citizens who heard the news gathered toward Youshan Palace on their own and knelt down outside it in turns, prostrating and singing the sacred ancient ancestral prayer songs, hoping that Jianmu and the Spirit Emperor could protect them once again through the difficulties ahead.
Lian Hua sat on the trunk of the old tree in the middle of the palace, still in the same robe, holding a storage bag in his hand. His dark green eyes flickered with light and his lips showed a mocking smile.
These people had done the same, even tens of thousands of years ago. Just like today, they forced their way into the palace and begged Spirit Emperor Cang Rong and Xi He, the sacred Jianmu tree, to sacrifice themselves for the sake of these people’s safety. They begged the two to engage in a final battle against Youshan Lingyu.
But tens of thousands of years later, is there anyone to protect them again?
Lian Hua chuckled aloud, feeling incomparable sorrow.
The fall of the Spirit Emperor was not entirely caused by the external invaders and the Demon Venerable — half of the reason was due to the internal pressure from their Daoist sect.
He didn’t know what the current orthodox Dao sects of the outside world were like, but he could imagine that without the obstruction of these powerhouses who didn’t care for imperial power and only wished for everyone in the Nine Lands to be able to cultivate in peace, the orthodox Dao had likely already been unified, and imperial rule would also be passed down from generation to generation, gradually reaching its peak.
Suddenly, a burst of fine ice and snow drifted from the window lattice to the palace. Lian Hua looked up at the door and saw a barefoot boy with loose black hair. He wore a simple Daoist robe and led a white deer with four antlers, walking towards him against the light. “I’m here to take back my belongings.” Yan Tianhen’s clear and innocent voice sounded out.
Lian Hua stared at Yan Tianhen, and his dark green eyes contained a mixture of extremely complex emotions — sorrow, joy, and also some regret.
Yan Tianhen walked up to him and tilted his head. “Speaking of which, I have to thank you. After all, if it weren’t for your hostility towards me, crippling my cultivation and throwing me into the place with the most concentrated evil Qi, I wouldn’t have taken back my cultivation so smoothly.”
Lian Hua sneered while his posture remained unchanged. “Do you believe you’re a match for me right now?”
Yan Tianhen laughed lightly. “Indeed, I’m no match for you. After all, I’ve only cultivated for a hundred years, and your current cultivation has reached a level that not even Chang Sheng from back then could match.”
Lian Hua narrowed his eyes slightly, then raised his chin and looked at Yan Tianhen. “Since you understand this, you should know that if I move my finger right now, I can completely kill you!”
“You won’t dare.” Yan Tianhen smiled again, and the left side of his face, which originally had a ghastly scar, had already healed completely. Not even a tiny blemish could be seen.
He said, “I am Huarong Sword Immortal’s Dao companion. I’ve already been with him for many years.” Yan Tianhen’s smile was innocent and bright, the complete opposite of the ferocity he displayed when he cruelly killed Lianying Qi back then.
“If you want to leave this sealed place called the Youshan Capital, and if you want your Spirit Emperor to wake up, you must never let him find out that you’ve personally imprisoned me and harmed me, and even prevented me from looking for him or seeing him.” Yan Tianhen said leisurely. Looking at Lian Hua’s expression becoming more and more ugly, his heart also became much happier.
“What Chang Sheng hates the most are lies and deception. You are his best friend’s Dao companion. If he finds out that you’ve done such cruel things to me — his most beloved person — do you think Chang Sheng will still be willing to help you resurrect the Spirit Emperor and resolve the seal on this Youshan Capital for you?”
Lian Hua stood up and glared at Yan Tianhen coldly. “What method did you use to deceive Chang Sheng’s feelings? He was a person who had no desires, but after reincarnating, he fell in love with a despicable and shameless person like you.”
Yan Tianhen curled his lips. “Maybe I’m pleasing to his eyes, or maybe……Heh, he actually loved me in his past life, but you just couldn’t see it.”
“Shameless boasting!” Lian Hua roared, unable to bear it any longer.
Yan Tianhen dug a finger into his ear and frowned. “Don’t shout so loudly. It’s not like I’m old and deaf.”
Lian Hua was so angry that he dearly wished to slap this bastard to death.
