Chapter Index

    “Stupid.”

    The black shadow commented after hearing Huai Ningjun’s words.

    As if finding it utterly unbelievable, after a slight pause, the black shadow in the Great Wilderness added:

    “Truly stupid.”

    Huai Ningjun tilted his wine cup. Blood flowed from the eye sockets of the Netherworld City’s whale skull, and in the blood-red light, the evenly falling drops of wine were like raindrops, falling into the darkness and vanishing with a faint gleam. He recounted the past of the white-robed Divine Lord in a lightly mocking tone, but his own expression remained consistently faint.

    “Have you seen the original Kongsang?”

    Huai Ningjun suddenly asked.

    “No.”

    The black shadow did not understand what he meant by this incongruous question.

    “He saw it, we all saw it…” Huai Ningjun gazed at his wine cup. “The original Kongsang was a very beautiful place. At that time, the four poles of heaven and earth had not yet been established, and the Fusang Tree was the center of the mortal realm. Heavenly gods, earthly demons, and mortals had not yet started killing each other. The Heaven-Herding Rope was not called the Heaven-Herding Rope; it was just a Path of Return Guide woven to prevent the Golden Crow and the Mysterious Rabbit from losing their way in the miasma and being swallowed by the gloom…”

    His gaze became very distant, very empty.

    It was as if he were traveling upstream in the long river of time, all the way back to when the long journey had just begun, when gods, demons, and humans still loved one another.

    The black shadow’s form flickered, sometimes coalescing, sometimes dispersing.

    Huai Ningjun seemed not to notice its scrutiny and vigilance, continuing on his own, sketching out a group of figures trekking through the darkness in a few words. Many of these events were also familiar to the black shadow; it too was a witness to certain ancient histories, and even remembered some things more clearly than its former adversary.

    …Even it had to admit that there had been certain moments when it truly believed that the one in white, the Divine Lord, would sweep away the Great Wilderness and put an end to the darkness.

    Although in the end, the curtain fell on a drama that was unexpectedly absurd, unexpectedly comical, that sense of dread had never faded.

    Otherwise, there would not be a ghost city built around a remnant soul in the Great Wilderness.

    “…Later, Cloud City became Heaven Beyond Heavens, the Kongsang shamans became the Kongsang Hundred Clans, and the conflict between humans and demons has continued to this day. Everyone eventually saw it clearly: those who are heavenly gods should return to the high and lofty clouds, those who are great demons should bare their fangs and reveal their claws, and those who are mortals should struggle with all their might by any means necessary… In the end, Kongsang was just a phantom dream.”

    “But he was unwilling to give up.”

    Huai Ningjun poured himself another cup of wine.

    “He wasn’t stupid,” Huai Ningjun said. “He was just trapped.”

    Kongsang was just a dream. In the end, everyone saw it clearly, so they all left. Those who should kill, killed; those who should contend, contended. Only the most sincere and most persistent one was left behind, where everything he did was wrong.

    “You care too much about him.”

    The black shadow spoke up out of the blue.

    The wine cup paused in mid-air.

    The black shadow’s form grew even more bizarre, flickering like a ghost.

    “When Pi Mu was killed, letting Red Emperor Gu Yu descend upon Ru City would have been the more advantageous move. As long as he died in Ru City, the operation to extinguish Zhunan would not have gone wrong. Yet you insisted on going yourself. Not only did you fail, but you also alerted the enemy, allowing Zuo Liangshi of the Mountain Sea Pavilion to prepare in advance…” The black shadow’s tone had become somewhat cold. “You overstepped.”

    “It’s not that I care, it’s that I’ve been watching for too long and find it ironic.”

    Huai Ningjun drained the wine in one gulp.

    Suddenly, he and the black shadow turned their heads at the same time, looking towards a certain direction in the mortal realm. At the same time, in the Whalebone Ghost City deep within the Great Wilderness, all the busy Desolate Attendants stopped their actions simultaneously. Even they could feel the abnormality occurring in the mortal realm… an abnormality as if the qi of heaven and earth was boiling in chaos!

    “…As expected.”

    The black shadow murmured.

    Huai Ningjun tossed his wine cup down from the whale bone and was about to head into the city.

    The black shadow suddenly vanished, then just as suddenly changed its mind, hovering faintly above the whale’s skull.

    “What is it?” Huai Ningjun stopped. “You suspect me?”

    “You go to the Undying City at the Southern Chen Pole,” the black shadow said indifferently. “You have a past with him, and you’ve failed twice. I don’t trust you.”

    “Fine.”

    Huai Ningjun did not argue with it, turning to head south.

    Before leaving, he glanced back at the center of the Whalebone City and saw that wisp of divine fire, which had become exceptionally dim, its faint light flickering as if it would be extinguished at any moment. At this time, the Ghost Valley Master, who had entered the miasma, was still a full three thousand li away from this city. Before this, it had taken him a good half a year just to walk ten thousand li.

    In the end, he wouldn’t make it in time.

    Huai Ningjun no longer lingered and went straight away.

    Within the Great Wilderness, the twenty-seventh remnant soul was about to run out of oil.

    If the lamp went out, how much longer could the person gasp for breath?

    A short life, in the end.

    ***

    Within a thousand-li radius of Yong Continent, the wind ceased and the water stilled.

    The people from the various sects had different expressions: some were surprised and disbelieving, some were somber and silent, some were ashamed and chagrined, and some were scheming and calculating. For a time, it was deathly silent.

    In the dead silence, lightning suddenly flashed and thunder roared.

    In the high-altitude clouds, one after another, extremely dazzling rays of light appeared, like sharp blades from beyond the heavens.

    “Fuck!”

    Monk Budu suddenly cursed.

    He, Lu Jing, and Half-Diviner all felt their pupils constrict at the same time. The scene before them gave them an extremely familiar feeling. How could it not be familiar?! Just a few months ago, they had seen a similar scene in Zhunan, when Red Emperor Gu Yu had torn open the firmament and descended with an arm.

    Heaven Beyond Heavens!

    The faces of the others present also changed.

    Kacha.

    Kacha.

    Faint cracking sounds came from the sky, tens of thousands of meters high. One after another, slightly tilted rays of light shot down from the dome of the sky. They looked extremely fine when they were high up, but as they descended, they came with the roar of thunder, as massive as solitary islands. They were not islands, nor were they meteorites, but one after another, majestic and solemn statues of heavenly gods.

    The ground boomed as the divine statues landed.

    A red-faced, leopard-headed heavenly god sat guarding the west, a gold-armored, giant-hammer-wielding heavenly god sat guarding the east, a silver-armored, silver-spear-wielding heavenly god sat guarding the north… As one after another, heavenly god statues continued to enter the formation and descend, the thousand-li army-slaying grand array, which had been shaking in the killing intent of heaven and earth, instantly stabilized.

    The gods landed like drumbeats, heavy and deafening.

    “You!” Mo Lingyu of Wind Flower Valley raised her willow-like eyebrows, her gaze immediately sweeping over the remaining clan heads of the Hundred Clans. “What is your Kongsang trying to do?!”

    “Heaven covers and earth supports, this is the constant way of the Great Dao! Kongsang merely carries out the duty of herding the heavens, and asks the Great Dao to return to formlessness!”

    The remaining clan heads of Kongsang’s Hundred Clans spoke with stern voices and expressions, some holding sun wheels, others bearing moon shadows. They separated to the eight extremes, landing around Shi Wuluo, and together with the divine statues, they surrounded him. As descendants of the ancient gods, they could use their own bloodlines to request the ancient gods of Heaven Beyond Heavens to descend as avatars into the mortal realm!

    —To invite the gods from beyond the heavens to suppress a part of heaven and earth.

    This was originally Kongsang’s ultimate technique prepared for Chou Bodeng, and also the source of the confidence that Heaven Beyond Heavens had given them to come south to Yong Continent.

    To completely suppress a former Divine Lord… even if he was later exiled from Cloud City, only a gathering of gods could achieve it! The battle of Zhunan had truly terrified Kongsang, not because of Zuo Liangshi who had hidden his strength for six hundred years, but because of Chou Bodeng who had faced Yue Mu and severed the heavenly rope with his sword.

    Ten thousand swords unsheathed, as if a monarch had descended.

    A single sword that spanned three thousand li.

    This was enough to make Kongsang’s Hundred Clans go all out.

    Due to certain reservations, they were actually unwilling to use this move directly.

    But Shi Wuluo’s killing of the Taiyu Clan Head, Daoist Priest Meng Chen, the Taiyuan Manor disciples, and his severe injury to Zen Master Wuding left them unable to delay any longer. If it weren’t for the fact that events had developed beyond everyone’s expectations, and they had been caught off guard by Shi Wuluo’s true identity, leading to the premature death of the Taiyu Clan Head, they would have been able to summon one more Taiyin divine statue at this moment.

    Drip.

    Blood dripped down the blade of the scarlet saber into the vast Xianyi River, splashing up a small flower of water.

    Shi Wuluo stood as solitary as a bamboo, allowing one after another of the divine statues to land, so calm it was as if he himself had turned into a hard statue. He looked around, treating the Hundred Clan heads who landed with them as if they were nothing, just counting the descending heavenly god statues one by one.

    “Everyone! How can there be a Heavenly Dao in this world that slaughters the innocent?” The Bei Ge Clan Head shouted at the frowning Lu Chenchuan, Mo Lingyu, and the others. “Elder Meng Chen merely misspoke a few words and was killed. Zen Master Wuding showed compassion and repented, yet was still met with a vicious attack. When the rabbit dies, even the fox feels sorrow. Do you all not feel the chill of knowing that if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold?”

    “Fuck your grandpa’s bullshit!” Lu Jing nearly choked on a mouthful of blood. “Shameless!!! Worse than pigs and dogs… Ptooey, comparing you to pigs and dogs is an insult to pigs and dogs!”

    With that, Lu Jing spat heavily.

    Given the status of Kongsang’s Hundred Clans, this was probably the first time in his life that the Bei Ge Clan Head had been pointed at and cursed at by a junior, and his face instantly turned ashen.

    “Young Master Lu!” The Bei Ge Clan Head shot a cold glance at Lu Jing, then turned to look at Lu Chenchuan, who was subtly shielding Lu Jing behind him. “Your younger brother is young, but surely Third Young Master Lu understands the stakes?”

    “I’ll stake you…”

    Lu Jing was about to curse again when a sudden pain in his shoulder made him unable to catch his breath, and the rest of his words got stuck in his throat.

    “My young brother is reckless. I hope the Bei Ge Clan Head will forgive him.”

    Lu Chenchuan placed a hand on Lu Jing’s shoulder, coincidentally pressing right on his wound.

    “Brother!”

    Lu Jing roared.

    Lu Chenchuan turned his head.

    “Brother, the stakes aren’t like that,” Lu Jing said hoarsely. “Our Medicine Valley’s creed of saving the dying and healing the wounded, of practicing medicine to help the world, is not done like this!”

    Lu Chenchuan met the gaze of his brother, who had grown up at some unknown point. He didn’t speak. Lu Jing was on the verge of tears, but he still stubbornly held his neck straight. He couldn’t bow his head, couldn’t retreat. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Wasn’t that what mother had taught them?

    “Third Young Master Lu!”

    The Bei Ge Clan Head frowned.

    Slap.

    Lu Chenchuan slapped Lu Jing on the head. Before he could speak, he grabbed him by the back of his collar and threw him with all his might away from the formation gate.

    “Brother!”

    “Brother what?! You’re a grown man, get lost!”

    Lu Chenchuan didn’t look back. His longsword unsheathed with a clang, the Nine Dragons Cauldron rang out, and nine horned dragons soared into the sky.

    Third Master Lu of the Lu family, in a green robe, landed opposite the Bei Ge Clan Head, then bowed deeply in the direction of the Taiyi Sect. “Lu Chenchuan of the Medicine Valley, today, I have come to atone.”

    Lu Jing’s eyes widened.

    A second sound of rustling clothes was heard.

    A Medicine Valley disciple followed closely behind, then a second, a third, a fourth… The green robes symbolizing the Medicine Valley continued to land, and the cultivators of the Medicine Valley, both old and young, stood in a fan-shaped formation behind Lu Chenchuan.

    In the end, only about twenty Medicine Valley cultivators remained in their original positions.

    More than half had come to atone.

    “…Wuding of the Buddhist Sect, today, I have also come to atone.”

    On the other side, in the direction of the Buddhist Sect, Zen Master Wuding stood up, supported by two monks in red kasayas, his face pale. Among the seventy monks in red kasayas, fifteen turned and walked towards the Kongsang Hundred Clans, about ten remained in their original positions, and the rest gathered around Zen Master Wuding, taking a stand opposite another Kongsang Heaven-Herder.

    A total of thirty-two monks came to atone.

    Monk Budu, at some point, had walked among the monks in red kasayas. He gently lifted Zen Master Wuding with one hand and tossed him in the direction of Lu Jing.

    “Budu of the Buddhist Sect, today, I have come to atone.”

    A total of thirty-three monks.

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