The figure of the Ninth Imperial Prince Tai Yao in his wide-sleeved long robes appeared in the various deities’ field of vision. In his hands, he held a completely transparent jade box—precisely the Tian Di’s handwritten decree.
Gouchen Dadi’s brow furrowed. The Ninth Imperial Prince had once been Baize Dijun’s disciple and naturally walked the same path as his teacher. Him holding a Tian Di decree and coming here definitely meant nothing good. He immediately said loudly: “Ninth Imperial Prince, look at the current situation yourself. It’s already been fought to this extent. The Tian Di surely won’t tell us to stop at this moment, will he?”
Tai Yao secretly sighed. He naturally also knew that the Zhuyin Clan’s reputation in the divine realm had never been good. At this moment, seizing the opportunity to deal with them to death, they definitely wouldn’t be let off.
Being on the Tian Di’s side, mediating among the various divine powers was truly difficult. That Xuan Yi had fallen into demon nature was a fact. That fallen celestial deities would absolutely not be spared was also a fact. More than half of the one hundred and twenty war department chief commanders had petitioned, demanding the extermination order be issued. With this momentum, the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released.
If it were some minor deity, resolving it in one go would be fine. But it just had to be the Zhuyin Clan, the Supreme of Ten Thousand Dragons. If they killed their princess, how could Dijun and Xiaolong Jun let it go? Did they still want to live peaceful days in the future? Or were they saying they really wanted to completely exterminate the Zhuyin Clan? Now the Huaxu Clan was also involved. There were only so many clans with rare and noble bloodlines—exterminate one and there was one less. If they exterminated them all and later a formidable Demon Lord Dajun appeared, were they to rely on second-rate goods like Gouchen and Qingyuan?
Tai Yao looked at the corpses of those war generals on the sea of clouds who hadn’t yet had time to transform into clear qi. Finding it extremely tragic, he didn’t dare look more. Turning his head, he said again: “Gouchen Your Majesty, when the chief commanders petitioned, they didn’t say they would use the Houyi Arrows. So many innocent war generals have perished—I’m afraid it’s not merely the disaster of a fallen celestial deity?”
He knew this thing would be brought up to make a point. Gouchen Dadi shook his head: “That was Qingyuan Dadi acting willfully on his own. It has nothing to do with exterminating the fallen celestial deity.”
Tai Yao smiled and opened the jade box, saying loudly: “The Tian Di decrees: immediately retrieve the Houyi Arrows and capture the fallen celestial deity alive. She must not be harmed.”
Why was the Tian Di’s family also so fickle? Gouchen Dadi barked sternly: “After fighting so hard halfway through, the Tian Di runs over to tell us to stop! Ninth Imperial Prince, let me inform you—Zhongshan Dijun probably cannot survive. It would be better to eliminate the root of the problem!”
Tai Yao furrowed his brow tightly, then relaxed it again, saying in a low voice: “Zhuyin Longshen’s breath is long and continuous. He won’t perish in an instant. After sending him back to the upper realm, there may be hope of saving him.”
He bowed his head in salutation and said no more. Just as he was about to descend to the cliff’s edge, another Dijun at the side deliberated: “Ninth Imperial Prince, this fallen celestial deity absorbed the turbid qi from the Sea of Departed Regrets to reach this state. Now she looks like a walking Sea of Departed Regrets. Rashly bringing her back to the upper realm—isn’t that rather inappropriate?”
Tai Yao said gently: “Since the Sea of Departed Regrets was created by the upper realm, it must ultimately return to the upper realm to be dealt with.”
He descended from the clouds and landed at the cliff’s edge. He looked up at that massive sword qi transforming into deity, then his gaze fell on the white-robed Shenjun beneath the Emperor’s Mulberry. Fucang sat leaning against the tree, his complexion and lip color both like snow.
Tai Yao said softly: “Junior Brother Fucang, Teacher is waiting in the upper realm.”
The sword qi transforming into deity receded like a tide. That snow-colored slender figure whose half body had been soaked in blood was blown by the clear breeze and slowly fell. Suddenly, she transformed into a dark wind and rushed toward Zhongshan Dijun and Xiaolong Jun.
The various war generals vigilantly retreated somewhat, staring fixedly as the princess squatted beside her father and brother, using the relatively clean part of her sleeve to wipe the frozen blood stains on their bodies.
How good it would have been to stay in Zhongshan. If they hadn’t come, they wouldn’t have been injured, wouldn’t have bled, and even more so wouldn’t have risked their lives. Actually, she didn’t love seeing anyone risk their lives for her sake at all. Having Mother alone was already enough.
Xuan Yi silently looked at the hole in Father’s chest. After Mother perished, he shut himself in Changsheng Palace every day and wouldn’t come out. Qing Yan had also been driven away by his anger. She really couldn’t speak of having any deep father-daughter affection for him. Running off to the Sea of Departed Regrets alone by herself had mostly been for Qing Yan’s sake.
But she also didn’t want him to perish. Just living like this, continuing to have romantic but restrained relationships with goddesses, causing trouble and adding vexation to his children—all of it was fine. Who told her and Qing Yan they were unlucky enough to have such a chaotic mess of a father?
But his breath still gradually weakened. No matter what, she couldn’t wipe those blood stains clean. Earlier she had hoped Shao Yi would take back his heart feather. Now she hoped instead that he actually hadn’t taken it back—don’t let her father perish. She truly deeply detested and abhorred the scene before her eyes.
Tai Yao walked behind her, trying to make his voice as gentle as possible: “Junior Sister, return to the upper realm. We all know what happened. We definitely won’t let you come to harm.”
She wasn’t afraid of herself coming to harm. What she feared was already before her eyes.
Clusters of thick and crazy turbid qi rose like wisps of smoke and clouds from the penetrating wound on her back, making the various deities frown. Tai Yao also couldn’t help but retreat several steps. Just as he was about to speak again, he suddenly felt techniques thundering across the sky. Unexpectedly, several war department chief commanders disregarded the superior command and forcibly made their move at this moment.
Pitch-black ice walls silently erected themselves at the cliff’s edge. The techniques and divine weapons unexpectedly couldn’t shatter them. That snow-colored figure that had originally been squatting suddenly stood up. In an instant, heaven and earth darkened. The various war generals only felt a massive blizzard like nightfall sweep toward them. Immediately, one by one, they were frozen like statues.
Pitch-black snowflakes as big as bushel baskets fell like torrential rain, covering half the sky, while the bright sun was still on the other side.
Still not enough—she wanted to make the entire universe be swallowed by the wind and snow.
What was celestial order? What were celestial deity responsibilities? She truly had never cared. She was just this selfish, only valuing what she wanted to value. The war generals before her eyes had touched her reverse scale and must taste Zhuyin Longshen’s fury.
The range of the pitch-black blizzard grew wider and wider, finally covering even that half of the sun. Heaven and earth darkened. This was very good.
One hundred and eight massive black crystal-like ice dragons surrounded the entire cliff’s edge. In the deadly darkness, the various deities only saw Gouchen Dadi and Qingyuan Dadi, who was still unconscious in the distance, entangled and strangled by the dragon horde. In almost an instant, they were crushed to pieces, not even able to cry out. The next moment, the dragon horde pounced toward those several chief commanders who had just made a move against her. Blood filled the universe.
In the mournful whistling of the blizzard and ice dragons, only Tai Yao was busy shouting: “Junior Sister! Junior Sister! Don’t be like this! Quickly stop!”
Yes, she truly couldn’t continue either. Just like in the Sea of Departed Regrets, all her strength was completely exhausted. If only she were three hundred thousand years old right now—no one here would be able to leave.
The crazy wind and snow and ice dragons receded clean away in a flash. Xuan Yi’s body swayed slightly and fell down under the horrified gazes of the various deities.
Beneath the Emperor’s Mulberry, golden light flashed. The golden dragon transformed from Chun Jun swayed over, opened its great mouth, and once again swallowed that blood-stained body into its belly in one gulp. The azure Heavenly Treasure Sword fell back into Fucang’s palm, still humming and trembling for quite a while before finally returning to tranquility.
Qing Di suddenly raised his hand and swept up the slowly collapsing Fucang. Then he gently stroked Chun Jun, his gaze seemingly full of emotion, seemingly shocked, yet instead carrying some meaning of praise.
This Heavenly Treasure Sword had recognized its master. From now on, it would only heed its master’s commands, dying ten thousand deaths without refusal, even if it meant being stained with the blood of all the deities.
Breaking through the sword path recklessly again and again—was it also for that princess in the sword?
His child—it seemed destined to be entangled with the Zhuyin Clan’s princess to the end. His stubborn and resolute temperament was exactly the same as his mother’s.
Little Nine, who had been hiding in the distance for a long time, timidly ran to the cliff’s edge, whimpering as it supported Fucang onto its back. Qing Di patted its largest head, also placed Zhongshan Dijun and Xiaolong Jun’s bodies on it, mounted the lion’s back himself, and turned his head to say gently to Tai Yao: “I must trouble the Ninth Imperial Prince to lead the way.”
…This chaotic mess of an expedition to exterminate a fallen celestial deity had started abruptly and ended abruptly. The one who killed countless war generals was actually that Houyi Arrow—it could truly be called lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s own foot. This time, the drop was too painful. If Qingyuan Dadi were still alive, looking back on it later, he would probably die of shame and indignation.
The war generals were stunned for a long time. A Dingmao Department war general spoke timidly: “Brother Chang Qin, what should we do next…”
Crown Prince Chang Qin rose on the wind, frowning: “All of you go back! What else do you want to do?”
If there hadn’t been those Houyi Arrows… thinking of this, Crown Prince Chang Qin felt somewhat horrified. If there hadn’t been those Houyi Arrows, it was really hard to say what the current situation would be, and even harder to say whether he could return alive.
*
Fucang dreamed that he was walking again on that wasteland. In the distance beneath the Emperor’s Mulberry, there was no longer that lonely slender figure.
He slowly walked over, quietly listening to the rustling sound of the leaves, only feeling boundlessly empty and desolate.
A pair of soft arms quietly embraced him from behind. Zhuyin Longshen’s cold breath coiled around him thread by thread.
Fucang suddenly turned around, but then abruptly woke up. What met his eyes was an extremely unfamiliar light yellowish canopy. He lay in bedding scented with Nine Harmony Incense. Probably the moon window hadn’t been closed—the wind blew the gauze curtain, making it sway endlessly.
He yanked open the gauze curtain and got out of bed. Outside the moon window, daylight was brilliant. Green glazed bridges, black crystal pillars—it was actually the scene of the Celestial Palace.
The room door was suddenly pushed open. Footsteps approached, but what came in was an unfamiliar divine official. Seeing he was awake, that divine official hurriedly bowed in salutation: “Fucang Shenjun, this humble one was impolite.”
Fucang nodded in return salute: “May I ask how many days I’ve been asleep?”
“Since Shenjun was sent into the Celestial Palace by Baize Dijun, you’ve been asleep for five days.”
The divine official bowed and said again: “Baize Dijun has instructed that if Shenjun awakens, please bring Shenjun’s sword Chun Jun and proceed to Yanhe Palace for an audience.”
His hand respectfully pointed toward the small table under the window. Indeed, clean war general garments and Chun Jun were placed on top.
After the divine official left, Fucang immediately changed clothes. Just as he grasped Chun Jun, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He immediately chanted a truth-invocation. The next moment, that slender body with half its body stained red softly fell into his embrace, not moving at all.
She still hadn’t woken?
Fucang lifted the black veil covering Xuan Yi’s eyes, carefully examining her complexion. She was no different from usual—red lips, white teeth, long continuous breath. He undid the blood-stained clothes, used dew to wash clean the blood stains on her body. There were no wounds at all—the penetrating injury from Gouchen Dadi’s crossbow bolt had completely healed.
But even when he gently shook her body, she showed no sign of wanting to wake up.
Fucang’s brow furrowed tightly. He folded and fastened her blood-stained clothes, pushed open the room door, and quickly walked out.