Chapter 198: Chapter 196: Farewell, Xuanyu Blessed Land
In the underground chamber.
The candlelight flickered, casting the indistinct figures of Zhang Ye and Zhang Le onto the walls, where their shadows danced wildly like falling leaves.
Meanwhile, inside Zhang Le’s sea of consciousness, the Demonic Thought of Zhang Chi stood with his hands behind his back. He smiled faintly and thought to himself:
’You foolish boy, you truly possess seven-tenths of my flair. No matter what schemes I concocted, I struggled to find an opening.’
’But now, I’ve still come out one step ahead!’
’Heh, you are probably unaware that Fang Yang far surpasses his ancestor, Fang Nian. Therefore, let me be the one to carry on the struggle between the Fang and Zhang clans.’
The Demonic Thought of Zhang Chi believed he had victory in his grasp, that everything was under his control.
But he had forgotten that over time, the roles of hunter and prey can be reversed.
A luminous pearl bloomed with pure white light, illuminating the dark chamber.
Zhang Ye glanced sideways at his cousin Zhang Le’s delicate face. He sighed internally, a faint sense of pity mixed in.
He had designed today’s trap by taking advantage of the situation.
Whether it succeeded or not, he was afraid his cousin was doomed to perish.
Before long, a sinister wind suddenly gusted through the room. Zhang Le’s eyes instantly snapped shut, and he fell into a deep sleep on the stone bed.
This sinister wind had appeared from thin air, rushing straight for Zhang Ye’s body.
Zhang Ye’s body trembled violently, and he too fell into a deep sleep. A faint smile, however, graced the corners of his lips.
「Two hours later.」
Zhang Ye slowly opened his eyes, a clear light shining within them.
’Old Ancestor?’
Zhang Ye’s expression was blank as he thought, ’The dead should stay thoroughly dead.’
It turned out that the Demonic Thought of Zhang Chi had appeared, intending to seize Zhang Ye’s body.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Ye had long been prepared. He used the situation to his advantage, successfully defeating and devouring the Demonic Thought of Zhang Chi.
He soared to new heights in a single step, learning many profound secrets. It was as if a saint had been reborn; he could truly be called a young saint.
At that moment, Zhang Ye rose to his feet and looked over at his cousin, Zhang Le, only to find that his cousin’s life force had already dissipated. He had been killed by their so-called "Old Ancestor."
A moment later, a ball of Fierce Flame ignited in his hand. Guided by his will, it shot forward and blazed intensely.
In the light of the fire, his face appeared resolute and cold.
’The struggle between the Fang and Zhang clans is not over!’
...
「Three days later.」
In the night sky above the Xuan-Yu Blessed Land, a brilliant silver glow, like gauze or mist, scattered across the vast ground below.
And now, the ground was filled with people.
Among them was Fang Yang.
The end of the Saint Ascension Conference also meant that the journey to the Xuan-Yu Blessed Land was about to conclude.
In other words, the Xuan-Yu War would also draw to a definitive close, and the scions of the great Golden Clans could return to their clan lands!
At this moment, Fang Yang raised his head and gazed at the vast night sky.
There, an ethereal crane’s silhouette appeared in the heavens.
WHOOSH... The crane flapped its wings, and in an instant, a boundless divine light erupted, seeming to compress heaven and earth.
Such was its power that the bright moon over the Blessed Land seemed to tremble precariously, as if it were about to fall, a truly shocking sight to behold.
Finally, the boundless divine light interlinked, forming a colossal rainbow bridge that connected to the outside world.
"What terrifying, world-shaking power this is."
"Saints are truly extraordinary, transcendent, with vast Divine Techniques. After we part today, I wonder if I’ll ever see the Sovereign again."
"Farewell, Xuan-Yu Blessed Land. Farewell, Xuan-Yu War. For the rest of my life, I will never forget this experience..."
Some trembled, some were heavy-hearted, and some wore expressions of sorrow.
At this very moment, a full spectrum of human emotions played out among the army.
Chen Yingying’s pretty, pale face was mostly dazed.
Lin Tianxue’s gaze was dim, filled with resentment.
Dongfang Moran looked up, his heart surging with emotion.
As for Chen Kui, Jiang Venerable Sword, Dongfang Mobai, and the other cultivators who had ascended to sainthood, their expressions were all solemn as they witnessed Sen Yue’s heaven-defying feat.
Unlike the Mortal Cultivators who only knew that Sen Yue was powerful, they understood just *how* powerful he was.
"If you do not cultivate, seeing me is like a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky. If you do cultivate, seeing me is like an ant looking up at the vast blue heavens."
The night wind rustled, and the starlight was brilliant.
Urged on by shouts, group after group of people stepped onto the colossal rainbow bridge, leaving the Xuan-Yu Blessed Land and heading for the real world.
Fang Yang retracted his gaze, no longer looking at the pure white crane Dharma Aspect.
He stood on an ancient bronze war chariot, following the crowd and leaving with them.
CRASH! It was like shattering a water mirror, leaving one feeling dazed.
When Fang Yang came to his senses, he found himself beneath a massive downpour of lightning.
This lightning rain fell violently, each drop brimming with a dense electric current.
If a Mortal Cultivator were to be touched by it, they would surely be pulverized into dust and utterly annihilated.
Fortunately, Chen Kui, Jiang Venerable Sword, Dongfang Mobai, and the other new saints all unleashed their Divine Techniques, shielding their respective areas and protecting the crowd.
"Sir, please proceed to the southeast." Just as Fang Yang was taking stock of his surroundings, the acolyte Mingxin appeared.
Just as before, the acolyte Mingxin guided Fang Yang to the very core of the army.
And Fang Yang was surprised to discover that the great seat once occupied by Sen Yue was now taken by Sen Wei.
Sen Wei’s smooth, dark hair was bound high by a crown. She held a Water Blue Seal in her hand, the Cyan Prosperity Divine Sword hung at her waist, and her bearing was peerless as she looked down upon the heroes.
Dressed in a Dragon Robe, her gaze was soul-shaking. It was as if she shouldered a great destiny, possessing the very air of an emperor.
Compared to her previous cold and detached temperament, she now had an added air of dominance.
Seeing her like this, Fang Yang was inwardly astonished and immediately recalled the scene from the Enlightenment Ceremony.
’The brother accomplishes, the sister inherits. So you really were in line to inherit the throne.’
’Gathering the power of an entire domain into yourself... no wonder you make your peers feel such despair.’
Fang Yang lowered his eyes, his thoughts racing.
He vaguely noticed a stream of Purple Gold Profound Qi gathering around Sen Wei.
Whenever Sen Wei gave a command and led the crowd forward, the gathered Purple Gold Profound Qi would grow even denser.
He had a flash of insight, suspecting this was the main reason Sen Wei was so far ahead of her peers.
Gradually, he reined in his thoughts and stopped looking at Sen Wei.
However, he was reminded of his own White Feathered Eagle Bronze Tribe.
’If Sen Yue could gift me a manifestation of destiny, then he must have been able to gift his own sister, Sen Wei, far more!’
’In other words, if I were to just stay in the Xuan Domain and cultivate step-by-step, I’m afraid I would never be able to surpass Sen Wei in this lifetime.’
’And cultivating step-by-step would make it even more impossible to surpass Sen Yue.’
"Ah Yang."
Sen Hui smiled sweetly. "What are you thinking about?"
Hearing this, Fang Yang smiled. "I was just thinking, if we go back to our clan, can we still see each other every day?"
"Ah?" Sen Hui’s pretty face paled, and she wrung her small hands together, looking conflicted.
The Changkong clan’s lands were vast, and the territories of the various surnames and lineages were separated by great distances.
If it weren’t for the Xuan-Yu War, Fang Yang feared he might never have met Sen Hui, Sen Wei, and the others.
At least, in his first fifteen years of academy experience, he had rarely encountered anyone with the Sen surname.
To put it simply, the academy alone had four major divisions—A, B, C, and D—and each division had different sections.
One can only imagine what an enormous population that was.
However, members of the Golden Clans typically did not leave their clan lands.
This was because the cultivation environment in the outside world was far inferior to that of their homelands.
"Don’t worry. Once I’ve taken care of some miscellaneous matters, I’ll come find you immediately." Fang Yang gently squeezed Sen Hui’s soft hand, making a promise.
In an instant, a smile bloomed on Sen Hui’s face like a flower. "Mm-hmm."
Of course Fang Yang would go find Sen Hui.
He had been looking forward to the Sen lineage’s unique Scripture Pavilion for a long time.
The Sen lineage could truly be called the main and greatest branch of the Changkong clan.
The Daoist texts, True Scriptures, and other collections in the Sen Scripture Pavilion were far beyond what the academy’s Scripture Pavilion or the Fang Scripture Pavilion could compare to.
Even if he couldn’t delve too deeply, it would still be a fine opportunity, especially for a cultivator like him who possessed the [Mysterious Realm]!
Before long, Fang Yang let go of her hand, picked up various jade slips, and began to study them intently.
He was using his free time to read Chang Ruhui’s collection of insights on the Way of Enslavement.
He could feel that, thanks to the enhancement of his Soul Foundation, he had a much stronger grasp on sorting various types of Primordial Qi and harmonizing with the power of heaven and earth.
In other words, he had become even more of a genius in the way of Arrays.
And now, he could sense that he was about to fully comprehend the Tier One Arrays described in the texts, meaning he was on the verge of becoming a Tier One Array Master.
