Chapter 2552: Chapter 119: Attending the Feast to Divide the Fat Deer (Part 2)
After that, he bled from all seven orifices and died.
Someone else saw Dan Country’s genius Zhang Xun streaking across the sky above the Valley Plain, and over that land which was already nothing but wasteland, he shouted aloud—"Recklessly refining Human Pills, I deserve to die!"
He turned his hand and killed himself; body and soul were both annihilated.
What was fake? What Human Pill?
Zhang Jing was a piece of trash; how he died didn’t matter. Zhang Xun might have been a genius, but a dead genius is no genius, and he did not matter either. What mattered was that those with intent wanted the message to be conveyed through them, and that it reached those who ought to know.
Some things cannot bear investigation!
If no one doubts, it is still fine; once suspicion arises, drafts are found everywhere.
Almost overnight, news related to the Yuan‑Beginning Pill Assembly, related to Human Pills, and the even more hidden truths behind all this, had already spread throughout the Western Territory and the Southern Territory.
Only then did people come to know—
That the Dan Country True Monarch Patriarch Yan Renxian, known as the "Red Emperor," had already been unheard from for a full eighty‑seven years. At the Yuan‑Beginning Pill Assembly twenty years ago, that magnificent scene of "pill transmission across generations" was simply a carefully fabricated illusion by the people of Dan Country. For that one act of deceiving Heaven and crossing the sea, Dan Country even had a True Man, whose lifespan was already failing for other reasons, sacrifice himself.
Yan Renxian was not in seclusion within the Imperial City at all, nor was he traveling Beyond the Heavens in search of the Dao; he had long since died the death of the Dao, his soul returned to the Source Pool!
The Yuan‑Beginning Pill Assembly in Dan Country had already become an empty shell; Dan Country could no longer refine the Tian Yuan Great Elixir, nor could it refine the Six‑Senses Pill! Dan Country’s refusal to sell elixirs to Jinguo, Qing Country, and Chuguo was not at all out of any so‑called Dan Country integrity or some consideration of external balance, but because they already no longer possessed the ability to refine top‑tier elixirs!
Thus, Zhang Jing, who swallowed the Tian Yuan Great Elixir, remained mediocre in strength.
Thus, Xiao Shu, who stole the Six‑Senses Pill, failed in his attempt to impact God Arrives in Irredeemable City.
For a full eighty‑seven years, Dan Country had no True Monarch in existence, and no new True Monarch had been achieved.
And Dan Country had deceived the people of the world for eighty‑seven years!
One must understand: what kind of country is Dan Country?
To the north it borders a small state like Cheng Country; to the south it faces the Valley Plain, which has already become wasteland; to the east it is near Yanyun Mountain, with Song Country standing opposite across Yanyun Mountain. Not far to the west lies Strong Qin, eyeing the world like a tiger!
Economically, nearly thirty percent of all elixir trade in the Western Territory and Southern Boundary belonged to Dan Country.
Granted, Dan Country needed to pay extremely heavy elixir taxes to Qing Country and Chuguo to obtain the right to move through the Western Territory and Southern Boundary, yet this did not at all change the fact that it was a very wealthy nation.
Both its geographic environment and its level of wealth demanded that Dan Country be a nation with formidable strength.
Otherwise, how could a child hold gold in a bustling market and expect to remain unharmed?
One Yandao True Monarch, three True Men as high‑level combat power, a powerful army forged with vast expenditures, the stable ability to refine top‑tier elixirs, and the intricate web of interests built upon elixirs... these were the supports by which Dan Country stood upon the northern part of the Valley Plain.
Yet that True Monarch had already been gone for eighty‑seven years. The ability to refine top‑tier elixirs had also long since been lost to Dan Country.
The decline of strength was occurring imperceptibly, and this decline was all‑encompassing.
Dan Country’s silence after The gate of all demons, its weakness in international affairs... looking back on the many things that had felt off over these years, it was simply leaking on all sides.
And Dan Country’s True Man and Heavenly Grade Alchemist Luo Zhongmin, in order to refine top‑tier elixirs, under conditions of lacking materials and exhausted inspiration, actually resorted to the taboo method of the Human Pill!
This matter had once been exposed by a victim who narrowly escaped with his life, but it was quickly suppressed by the officialdom of Dan Country. In the end, they grabbed a Dharma King from the Church of Lifeless to take the blame, and conveniently hyped the name of the genius Zhang Xun.
The "Human Pill" incident thus became one of the many evil deeds of the Church of Lifeless. Naturally, all those "insiders" who spread the story back then were also, as a matter of course, killed by the Church of Lifeless.
Now that this incident was publicized at this moment, it immediately detonated the situation.
Jinguo’s Qiu Tie, Wei Country’s Longhutai host Master Dongfang, and Mount Sumeru’s Zen Master Zhaohuai immediately changed course and rushed to Dan Country.
Qing Country’s Yi’an Bo Wei Qiu and Chuguo’s Zhongli Clan Family Head Zhong Lizhaojia set out almost simultaneously, converging on the royal city of Dan Country.
Master of Destiny True Man Fu Zhaofan of the Southern Dipper Palace, Song Country’s State Minister Tu Weijian, and the famous scholar of Longmen Academy, Chen Sui, followed close behind.
Eight True Men of the Age gathered in Dan Country!
And all this, of course, was only the prelude.
These people who arrived ahead of time were all here to first occupy the righteous banner of acting on behalf of Heaven and upholding the Dao.
The nations and powers behind them were their true backing as they squatted here like tigers.
Dan Country, with no True Monarch and no powerful reinforcements, had violated the public justice of the world, gone against the Heavenly Dao and human ethics... it had already lost its cauldron.
At such a moment, with clouds gathering and dragon and tiger contending, it was only natural that it be divided and devoured!
From the Triple Punishment Palace, the head of the Executioner Palace, Yandao True Monarch Gongsun Buhai, also rushed over overnight to seize Heavenly Grade Alchemist Luo Zhongmin and interrogate him for his crimes.
All the various nations and powers did not send True Monarch‑level beings at the very first moment, of course, to give the Triple Punishment Palace some face and let Gongsun Buhai handle matters impartially.
And after the Triple Punishment Palace finished its handling, it would have to give way with tact, open up this great cauldron, and let the gathered heroes, already seated, share the feast.
This was the etiquette of dining, and also the configuration of the world.
As for the Unborn Sect Founder Zhang Linchuan of the Church of Lifeless, he was, for the moment, forgotten by people.
A great power like Dan Country, having lost virtue, lost righteousness, and lost strength, was a fat and tender deer; naturally, the world would vie for it.
As for a mere Heretical Sect Leader at the Furry God level, what is to be gained by killing him? If he is encountered, he can be slain with a flick of the wrist; if he is not, it will not be too late to kill him later!
...
...
Dan Country, after all, was a regional great power; when had the world ever imagined that it would collapse in a single night? In a daze, it seemed only the work of a blink of an eye, and the heavens were overturned, the earth upended.
