“Why did I back out in the end?” Yan Tianhen spread his hands helplessly. “Who let Dao Zu’s Reincarnation Pill be so enticing? When I thought about how I could still have another life and meet you again after a miserable life, I couldn’t help but be tempted. I dared not destroy this world. After all, if I really did that, then I’m afraid that even if I reincarnated, you still won’t forgive me — but I still want to enjoy a good life with you.”
In the end, he couldn’t completely cut off his escape route.
Youshan Lingyu understood better than anyone that once he truly became a crazed, deranged murderer, then he would never be able to get together with Chang Sheng again.
Compared with an outcome of mutual destruction, he would much rather meet Chang Sheng again in another life after many years. Perhaps at that time, he could tell Chang Sheng “I like you” with a smile.
That alone was enough for him to die without regrets.
Lin Xuanzhi let out a long sigh.
The truth about the desolate era ten thousand years ago was slowly coming to light. When the fog gradually lifted and when the results of a painstaking investigation appeared before his eyes, he discovered that as it turned out, from beginning to end, he was the one who owed Lingyu, and the entire orthodox Dao also owed Lingyu.
Suddenly, a pair of soft hands held his slightly cold fingertips.
Yan Tianhen grinned. “Dage, you can investigate the past anytime. But right now, we probably need to contact Father’s side.”
Lin Xuanzhi paused for a moment and finally suppressed the bitterness he felt in his heart. He slowly nodded. “Okay.”
But at this moment, Yan Zhonghua and You Ming weren’t doing well.
It had only been a few days since they returned from the South Land to the North Land. As soon as they arrived at the North Land’s border, they saw the entire sky collapsing, and the collapse seemed to be spreading south.
The two immediately judged that the situation was bad and quickly flew towards the Longyao clan.
Because the Dragon Emperor was watching over the clan, the Longyao clan didn’t collapse in panic. However, many city residents who had lived there for many years could no longer stand the shaking Heaven’s Wail and the evil creatures who might pop out at any moment, so many people moved their entire families.
When the Dragon Emperor saw the two, he said with a grave expression, “Evil creatures didn’t appear again, but something even more terrifying happened.”
Yan Zhonghua asked, “What?”
The Dragon Emperor looked up at the thick evil Qi that covered the sun and refused to disperse. “This thing actually consumes sparrow spirits! Three days ago, someone reported that one of the Longyao clan’s sparrow spirit mines had become devoid of spiritual energy. I sent someone to find the direction where the mine’s spiritual Qi dispersed to. The magic treasure actually pointed to the direction of this ball of evil Qi!”
The Dragon Emperor was clearly under much pressure and exhausted. He said uneasily, “If it continues spreading at this speed, I’m afraid all of the North Land’s sparrow spirit mines will be destroyed within ten years.”
Sparrow spirit mines were extremely important treasures that contributed to the balance of spiritual Qi in the Nine Lands. If all the sparrow spirit mines in the North Land disappeared, then the North Land would become a barren wasteland. The spiritual Qi between Heaven and Earth required balance in order to maintain stability. If there was no more spiritual Qi on Earth, then no matter how much spiritual Qi was in Heaven, the Pillar of Heaven would directly collapse because it wouldn’t be able to bear the weight of the spiritual Qi in Heaven.
This didn’t only affect the North Land.
The Nine Lands was also a solid entity. If the North Land’s Pillar of Heaven collapsed, then it was bound to cause an imbalance in the entire Nine Lands.
During Spirit Sect’s era ten thousand years ago, the Southeast Land’s Pillar of Heaven collapsed, which almost immediately attracted great attention from the entire cultivation world. It even brought a burst of turmoil and unrest. Countless sects and families sent thousands of elite disciples to cast spells at the same time. Only then were they able to prop up the sky until the next Pillar of Heaven could be refined.
Yan Zhonghua looked up and suddenly felt that the black dragon hovering in the sky was like a bottomless black hole, trying to devour everything in the world.
You Ming narrowed his eyes. “Is there any method to absorb this evil Qi?”
The Dragon Emperor replied, “We’ve exhausted every method. Whether it was a grand seal or a Heaven-defying magic treasure, nothing had any effect.”
You Ming: “I’ll test it out.”
With that, You Ming flew up, surrounded by black flames. He re-entered the thick black cloud of evil Qi and tried to refine this evil Qi with his flames, but there was little effect even after trying for a long time.
When You Ming stopped, the evil Qi around Heaven’s Wail immediately repaired the gap, and the black Qi was still perfectly intact.
You Ming’s expression changed as he landed. “It’s indeed powerful.”
Yan Zhonghua’s expression also became serious. “There’s only one solution now, and that’s to call all the Nine Lands’ sects and families together to discuss how to resolve this matter. Heaven’s Wail is absolutely not a single family’s problem, nor is it a single region’s problem. No one can stay out of it.”
The Dragon Emperor sighed and cupped his hands at Yan Zhonghua. “If we have to summon the Nine Lands’ great powers, then the Royal Heavenly Capital must issue an imperial edict. Otherwise, if we only rely on the power of the North Land’s Longyao family, we definitely won’t be able to gather everyone. Moreover…”
It was hard for the Dragon Emperor to say it, but for the sake of peace in the North Land, he still spoke through gritted teeth, “Earlier, many people were deceived by my lie about choosing a successor and came here, so they’re already dissatisfied with the Longyao family. When they saw the evil creatures, the vast majority of them still didn’t take it seriously and believed that this was merely my North Land’s calamity. It didn’t affect them yet, so they didn’t want to intervene in this matter.”
“How foolish!” You Ming sneered. “In the ancient era ten thousand years ago, Spirit Sect was the most powerful organization, and all the Daoist sects in the world belonged to it. Everyone believed that as long as Spirit Sect didn’t fall, then the Nine Lands would be safe and sound, so they didn’t need to lend their assistance. But in the end, didn’t the situation still escalate to the point where everyone in the Nine Lands had to band together to destroy the evil creatures?”
Yan Zhonghua frowned. “Father Emperor is still in closed-door cultivation and refuses to leave. The power in the court has been divided into several parts. Imperial Consort and Yan Zizhang have now become ants on the same string. He will certainly oppose me.”
At the mention of Yan Zizhang, You Ming felt an impulse to beat someone. He clenched his fist. “Yan Zizhang is a bastard who only knows how to cause internal strife. I want to see just how wild he is. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t beat him while he was down back then, but I still remember how he went and tattled to the Emperor.”
Just then, a feather flew in front of Yan Zhonghua. The feather turned into a small bird, which yelled, “Yan Huaizhen is dead! Return immediately!”
After that, the feather burned itself to ashes.
The sudden news made the three people present freeze a little. After exchanging shocked gazes, they finally confirmed that the news they had just heard wasn’t fake.
The Dragon Emperor muttered, “King Zhen… is dead?”
You Ming gritted his teeth. “It must be that damned evil Qi cultivator. Let’s head to Northern Liang City to investigate!”
Yan Zhonghua also couldn’t wait anymore. He told the Dragon Emperor, “The destruction of the Nine Lands is imminent. I will immediately send someone back to the Royal Heavenly Capital to scout the situation. Now that Yan Huaizhen has met his demise, I’ll have to head to Northern Liang City first.”
The Dragon Emperor felt uneasy. “Okay.”
There were many talented people by Yan Huaizhen’s side, but he still died so easily and so suddenly. This undoubtedly made people even more depressed.
Yan Zhonghua and You Ming immediately rushed to Northern Liang City.
The farther they went towards Northern Liang City, the more alarmed they became.
Black clouds covered the sky, and there was almost no sunlight anymore. The entire Northern Liang City was shrouded in purplish-black evil Qi, which was so dense that it was hard to breathe.
You Ming stood outside Northern Liang City. He looked up and frowned when he saw a ball of evil Qi circling in the air. “Zhonghua, don’t you feel that this ball of evil Qi resembles the evil Qi dragon above the Longyao clan?”
Yan Zhonghua asked, “What’s the purpose of this thing? It doesn’t turn into an evil creature, nor does it attack. Don’t tell me it’s just here to cover the sun?”
You Ming shook his head. “I don’t know. Why don’t we tell Ah Hen about this–”
When he mentioned Yan Tianhen, You Ming asked, “Don’t you feel that Ah Hen seems to know more about evil Qi cultivators than we do?”
After a pause, Yan Zhonghua finally answered, “Perhaps it’s because Ah Hen cultivates evil Qi.”
You Ming naturally also knew what Yan Tianhen had done in the Dragon Land Holy Tomb. Right now, everyone in the Nine Lands probably knew that Yan Tianhen had cultivated evil Qi.
You Ming’s eyes sank. “We have another hard battle to fight.”
Yan Zhonghua said lightly, “I’ll make whoever dares to bully my son regret ever being born into this world.”
There were a lot of baseless rumors in the Nine Lands right now. Some people claimed that Yan Tianhen was in cahoots with those evil Qi cultivators, while even more unreliable rumors said that the disaster in the Dragon Tomb Holy Land had been single-handedly planned by Yan Tianhen.
This infuriated You Ming to no end.
Yan Zhonghua and Reincarnation Palace secretly sent many people to suppress such rumors, but it was extremely hard to stop rumors from spreading. If they didn’t find the source of the rumors, they naturally wouldn’t have much of an effect.
Northern Liang City was much more desolate than before they left. When they first entered, they even thought that they had come to an empty, abandoned city.
The soldiers in the city were still patrolling as usual, but they could no longer see any pedestrians on the road, and not even merchant peddlers could be seen anymore. Every single family kept their doors and windows tightly shut, even in the daytime. If Yan Zhonghua couldn’t sense the aura that belonged to the living, he would’ve thought that they had arrived at a ghost city.
Yan Zhonghua and You Ming threw off the people following them and came to the courtyard belonging to Reincarnation Palace. Feng Jingyu had been living here during this time.
Feng Jingyu was a little relieved when he saw Yan Zhonghua and You Ming. “You’re finally here.”
Yan Zhonghua said, “We’ve only been away for less than a month. What exactly happened to Ah Zhen?”
Feng Jingyu sighed and said with annoyance, “I should’ve paid more attention to him. Yan Huaizhen, that impatient fool, listened to someone’s bad advice and got a Spirit Gathering Pill and decided to injure Tu Feng on his own, but Tu Feng saw through his scheme and killed him. Ling Chigu sent over the news that Tu Feng made Yan Huaizhen into a corpse. Although he looks exactly the same as when he was alive, in reality, he has completely become Tu Feng’s puppet!”
You Ming cursed Yan Huaizhen a few times and frowned. “Serves that bastard right, dying like this! But aren’t all our efforts wasted now?”
Yan Zhonghua still had some friendship with Yan Huaizhen. His face was ashen and unsightly. “Since he’s already dead, it’s meaningless to blame him further. Who exactly deceived Yan Huaizhen? Are there any clues?”
“This person deceived him.” As soon as Yan Zhonghua’s words fell, Ling Chigu jumped down from the wall while dragging a man by the collar with one hand. He jumped down naturally and gracefully, his movements lacking the characteristic stiffness of Yin corpses. He looked no different from a living person.
