After overcoming the Heart Demon Tribulation, Xu Xian left the subterranean world and returned to the Wendao Sword Sect.
A hundred years had passed, yet the mountains remained unchanged. The Wendao Sword Sect was still at the height of its power, but it was said that in recent years, disasters had frequently struck the mortal realm outside the mountains.
The East Desolation,
The Central Plains,
The Demon Abyss,
The Northern Borders,
None were an exception.
Spirit qi was gradually thinning. Ordinary disciples did not feel it, but those Pavilion Elders who had reached the eighth or ninth stage could clearly perceive it.
Cultivation was becoming increasingly difficult.
However,
No one cared.
The laws of heaven and earth were ever-changing.
In all things, how could there be a possibility of remaining constant?
Perhaps,
It was because the world was at peace and conflict had ended.
The North Sea had gone quiet, the Demon Abyss was huddled in a corner, the East Desolation had vanished from sight, and the Central Plains were minding their own business...
The Northern Borders,
Were content and at ease.
Xu Xian stayed in the mountains for a few days. Just like any other time he emerged from seclusion, he had a brief chat with old friends before departing the sect without pause.
He went to search,
To search for the location of the Twilight Emperor.
Fanzhou was immense, and the world was vast. Xu Xian did not know where He was, and Li Taibai had not mentioned it...
Therefore,
He had to look.
Fortunately, after overcoming the Heart Demon Tribulation, the Little Book Spirit's Pupil of Insight had reached a higher level, capable of surveying extreme depths underground.
Of course, the cage sealing the Twilight Emperor was the work of three Immortal Emperors from the Li family during the Era of Ancient Immortals. The current Little Book Spirit naturally could not see through it.
However, being unable to see through it was also a form of information.
As long as he surveyed Fanzhou once, any place he could not see through would be worth a visit. The answer would eventually surface.
First, he traveled through the Northern Borders,
Then he stepped into the Central Plains.
Ten years passed in a flash, the years flowing by.
Then he returned to the Demon Abyss,
To relive the years of old.
In five hundred years, the Demon Abyss had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Huang Xiao was still at the same level.
Chi Ji had accumulated much and broken through; she had actually entered the eighth rank?
A cause for celebration.
Jin Qing's reforms had begun to show results, and the torrent of history surged forward.
He felt gratified for them.
None of it was easy.
Xu Xian did not disturb anyone. He simply walked through once, and that was all.
He found nothing.
So he went to the East Desolation, where the beast gods were restless and panicked.
At that time,
Bai Ze gave the order to yield.
Xu Xian did not take action or stir up trouble. He entered the East Desolation as if entering an uninhabited land.
He could not see through the depths of the Divine Moon Pool.
So he entered it,
And saw the original body of the water Qilin from before, suppressed within a small world similar to the one where Grandpa Tortoise resided.
Cold chains filled the sky,
Beside a massive stone stele.
Xu Xian had seen a total of three such massive steles. One suppressed Grandpa Tortoise and was now kept within the Divine Sword Pool.
One was in the Central Plains, also beneath a lake, where an old snake was suppressed.
It was called the Demon Flood Dragon!
The Nether Tortoise,
The Qilin,
The Demon Flood Dragon,
The three of them, in Grandpa Tortoise's account, were all under the command of the Eternal Emperor.
They were the three most powerful Immortal Kings.
Grandpa Tortoise also said there should be one more.
Nightmare.
Formed from yin malice qi.
Xu Xian did not linger and left the East Desolation.
He entered the far north,
And finally stepped into the North Sea, following Li Taibai's example by venturing deep into its heart.
Eventually,
In the deepest reaches of the North Sea, he discovered a Sky Abyss beneath the surface. Inside the Sky Abyss, a human-shaped ferocious beast was locked in chains.
Nightmare.
He was also the Lord of the North Sea.
The Phantom Emperor.
He seemed to have expected Xu Xian to come looking for him.
Thus, he said to Xu Xian, “You have finally come.”
Xu Xian asked curiously, “You knew I would come?”
The Phantom Emperor shook his head. “That is not important.”
Xu Xian did not waste words and went straight to the point. “Since you knew I would come, then you should also know why I am here, right?”
He said, “For the Emperor.”
Xu Xian: “Do you know where He is?”
He replied, “I do.”
Xu Xian was half-skeptical and pressed further, “What will it take for you to tell me?”
The Phantom Emperor smiled and said, “You are indeed a clever man.”
“I didn't come here to listen to your flattery,” Xu Xian said.
The Phantom Emperor did not keep him in suspense.
He said he could tell Xu Xian where the array node of the cage sealing the Emperor's main body was, but Xu Xian had to promise him one thing.
Xu Xian asked what it was.
He said,
On the day Xu Xian dealt with the Emperor, he requested that Xu Xian lift the North Sea's restriction and allow those demon immortals to leave this desolate land.
Xu Xian did not agree immediately, only asking for a reason.
Not for himself,
But for the North Sea?
Was the person before him truly so noble?
Nightmare spoke candidly.
Years ago,
When they and the Emperor were first sealed, he had used his divine ability to manipulate the dreams of Fanzhou's first generation of beings, making them wage war against heaven for the Emperor.
They had tried to break the seal.
Later, they failed.
These demon immortals of the North Sea were then locked away here.
Everything began because of him,
So it should naturally end because of him.
He said,
This was what he owed them, and what he owed this mortal realm.
Since it was a debt,
It always had to be repaid.
Xu Xian was somewhat surprised. Was this a sudden realization or self-deception?
If that were truly the case,
Had he known this from the start,
Why would things have come to this?
As for what he said, Xu Xian both believed and disbelieved it. Nightmare tried to explain, and in fact, he explained a great deal.
It was nothing more than hidden difficulties, things hard to explain, being unable to help himself, and regretting his past actions.
Xu Xian did not care.
Xu Xian agreed.
He told Xu Xian the location of the Twilight Emperor, betraying his former master.
In exchange, Xu Xian promised to lift the restriction on the North Sea in the near future.
If,
Xu Xian was still alive then, and if Fanzhou still existed.
Taking his leave from Nightmare,
He headed straight for the Emperor's location.
By this time,
Exactly twenty years had passed since Xu Xian overcame his Heart Demon Tribulation.
As Fanzhou's fortune continued to be devoured by the Twilight Emperor and the Five-Element Great Formation sealing the Sky Gate,
The fortune of the mortal realm,
Was nearly exhausted.
The original three hundred years remaining had likely dwindled to less than a hundred.
Therefore,
He had no more time.
He had no time to question right and wrong, no time to speculate on motives; he only wanted to achieve his goal,
Even if the process was filled with errors.
Perhaps,
What he said was true.
Or,
Perhaps he really was a prodigal son returning home.
Or perhaps,
It was just as Grandpa Tortoise had said.
What was there for him to fear? Even if Xu Xian found the Emperor, he could not kill Him.
In the entire Cangming Realm, no one could kill Him.
As long as He did not die,
They would not die.
There was no need to be afraid.
At most,
The Emperor would be just like him, suppressed by Xu Xian atop the Divine Sword Pool. That wouldn't be so bad either...
Since He could not lead them to freedom, they were happy to see their former king meet with misfortune...
Following the Nightmare's guidance, Xu Xian returned to the far north.
The Pupil of Insight was activated.
Silently,
There was no movement.
They had been here before and searched, with the same result. The Little Book Spirit suspected they had been fooled by that fellow.
With the mindset of treating a dead horse as if it could be revived, Xu Xian broke through the ice, his long sword clearing the way.
He dove deep underground.
A hundred miles,
A thousand miles,
Ten thousand miles,
Until later, Xu Xian himself did not remember how long he had been descending.
He only knew,
The ice layer turned into soil, the soil turned into rock, and the rock eventually became viscous lava.
The temperature,
Continued to soar,
At one point surpassing the location where the Sky Gate was sealed.
Xu Xian continued to descend.
At the very moment he was certain he had been fooled, his body suddenly became very light.
He passed through a boundary wall and seemed to fall into an entirely new world.
A boundless, dark, and gloomy abyss.
Within the abyss,
A beast as massive as a star was imprisoned.
Thick stone pillars stood like a forest.
Cold iron chains were densely packed everywhere.
He kept His eyes tightly shut, continuously devouring Fanzhou's fortune.
The familiar aura, the familiar scent, the familiar pattern...
Xu Xian knew,
This was Him.
There was no excitement of finally finding what he sought, only loathing and a bone-chilling cold.
Xu Xian said somberly, “I have finally found you,”
“…Sovereign!”
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