Chapter 1009: Sweet and Clear

Time passed slowly.

The phantom above the firmament dissipated.

The fourth day arrived at nightfall.

The phantom above the sky vanished.

The entire outside world.

But a strange event arrived.

This night, the sun did not set.

That enormous eyeball shedding blood and tears remained hung high in the firmament, staring at the human world while shedding blood and tears.

Above the firmament, the stars transformed into individual eyeballs, flickering with an eerie light.

A blood-red color, mixed with various colors that could not be described by human language, shot down upon the entire earth.

The world once again welcomed an unknown terror.

People dared not gaze at the firmament, yet the primal throbbing in their hearts forced them to raise their heads and look toward the firmament.

"What... is the Heavenly Divine General doing..."

Someone asked for Chen Yan's name.

Today, the high-level officials of Great Xia all came out to exterminate those mutated plants and animals.

But Li Zhiyi and Zhang Huizhi did not appear.

Yet clearly, the process of Chen Yan creating the Will Path and establishing its realm had been staged above the firmament.

People were shocked and moved.

But now, endless terror had descended, and people's hot blood was occupied by an endless chill.

This gave them an indescribable sense of tearing.

Someone knelt on the ground, whispering Chen Yan's name in their mouth.

Someone was praying full of faith.

Praying that the god in their heart could resolve all of this.

This was an unsettling night.

Waiting until the early morning of the fifth day.

Waves of scorching heat struck; it was a kind of scorching heat that could burn the heart and spirit.

The temperature clearly had not increased, but that sensation of burning spread within the heart of every person among the human race.

"So hot, so hot..."

Some took off their clothes and drank ice water frantically, yet still felt the scorching heat.

Some locked themselves in a freezer, but while their physical bodies suffered frostbite, the sensation of scorching heat in their hearts grew even more intense.

This phenomenon appeared not only in the outside world but also in the Evil Realm.

Li Zhiyi stood above the void, gazing into the distance on the other side of the horizon.

The ocean had actually begun to dry up.

Within the Evil Realm.

The vast sea of malice had also begun to dry up.

The Tainted Blood human race could clearly feel the pure land beneath their feet rapidly lowering.

Zhang Huizhi narrowed his eyes.

He looked toward where the Evil Realm's Saint-Breaking Tree was located.

And saw.

That enormous ancient tree that towered into the sky had actually begun to wither, its leaves falling with a rustle.

"Everyone prepare, enter the outside world!"

Zhang Huizhi immediately gave the order.

With a wave of his large hand, he slashed open the membrane between the Evil Realm and the outside world.

And so.

The billions of living beings from the Evil Realm began the greatest migration in history.

It was extremely hurried, so hurried that it did not even give them any time to prepare their belongings.

One by one, the Eighth-Rank experts struck together, using the power of their Qi and blood to form a massive space, allowing an entire Cloud Sea Dao Mansion to appear within Great Xia.

The Tainted Blood human race saw the outside world for the first time, and before they could even exclaim in wonder.

They saw those eyeballs filling the sky.

At this moment, they felt that the Evil Realm was far better than the outside world.

Waves of terrifying scorching heat transmitted into people's hearts.

"Who is disturbing my human world..."

"It is Him, a true ancient god..."

"A war is about to begin..."

Amidst fear and bewilderment, people seemed to see a hazy figure in a white dress.

That was the source of all the tragedy here.

It was the end of all the disasters in the human world.

Mother God!

"Our human race is going to be exterminated..."

"Don't rush, there is still the Heavenly Divine General..."

"Why have the Heavenly God Generals not yet made their move..."

Voices rang out across the entire Great Xia.

Until...

The afternoon of the fifth day.

A scene that shocked the human world occurred.

The great ocean dried up completely.

The cracked seabed exposed hideous gullies, and the once-surging waves turned into billions of tons of scorched earth.

Pale white flames rose from the ground without warning, licking at the deathly silent firmament.

The air twisted into flowing molten gold, and gravel turned to ash in an instant.

Everything on the seabed, in the extreme high temperature, turned to nothingness before they could even let out a wail.

The four great provinces of Lu Province, Chi Province, Chen Province, and Yu Province disappeared completely on this day.

It was a terrifying kind of flame.

At first, it ignited people's hearts, and then it began to burn the world.

Moreover, it was rapidly rushing toward Great Xia.

"All Will Martial Artists and those at the Creation Realm or above, heed my command!"

A massive golden-red Dharma Form appeared before the eyes of the world.

It was the Dharma Form of Li Zhiyi.

People saw him, and as if they had found their backbone in an instant, they looked at that Dharma Form with unprecedented longing.

Li Zhiyi gazed at the entire human world.

"Resist this evil fire!"

Li Zhiyi's voice fell.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Voices rang out one after another.

All experts at the Creation Realm or above turned into streams of light and entered every part of Great Xia.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Streams of light rose along the borders of Great Xia, forming a massive, high wall that stretched across the entire Great Xia.

Li Zhiyi and Zhang Huizhi struck simultaneously, imbuing the giant wall with rules using supreme martial Dao rules.

That pitch-white evil fire was blocked outside of the human race.

People were just about to cheer.

But the earth beneath their feet began to crack, and the invisible, parching heat still entered the territory of Great Xia.

High temperatures flowed out from beneath the earth.

The temperature within the human world rose rapidly.

In an instant.

Every single Eighth-Rank Martial Artist turned deathly pale.

Lu Jianxia stood with several experts from Lu Province, feeling somewhat helpless.

At this moment, they could only look toward Li Zhiyi in the distance.

Within the human world, sounds of wailing began to ring out.

People could clearly feel the rise in temperature.

Mortals had to be under the protection of a martial artist's life-blood to survive.

"Brother..."

Chen Yu flew to Li Zhiyi's side, her small face pale:

"Brother, do we still have hope?"

She asked this question with difficulty.

The group of human leaders all looked at Li Zhiyi, their expressions extremely ugly.

The appearance of the Mother God had already been made known to the human leaders by Li Zhiyi.

Li Zhiyi did not speak.

"Chen Yan."

Lu Jianxia gazed at Li Zhiyi with a pair of silver eyes:

"You have already done your best."

Li Zhiyi was stunned for a moment, then looked at the people behind him.

Ke Qingxuan, Shen Yiwei, Zhang Ting, Jiang Yuan, Chen Min...

These people who had walked this path with him were still standing behind him at this moment.

Just as they had in the past.

"Arrange for the border residents to enter the Gold, Transformation, and Cloud provinces."

Li Zhiyi gave the order once more.

Jiang Yuan pursed his lips, wanting to speak.

"Yes!"

Shen Yiwei bowed, then turned into a stream of light and flew away.

"Yes!"

Ke Qingxuan left.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

One voice after another rang out.

Lu Jianxia gazed at Chen Yan, then turned and left.

Only Chen Yu remained behind Li Zhiyi.

Li Zhiyi looked at Chen Yu, opened his mouth, and recalled the words the phantom Chen Yan had spoken to him:

"Xiaoyu..."

Chen Yu was stunned for a moment.

"If one day I become an Ancient God, you must strike to kill me."

As Li Zhiyi's voice fell, tears instantly flowed from Chen Yu's eyes.

"Brother, what are you saying? 'When the heart has no dead end, the world has no dead end'—have you forgotten?"

Li Zhiyi nodded calmly:

"I have not forgotten for a single moment."

"Brother, I'm going now. Dad has made dinner; it's been a long time since our whole family ate together."

Chen Yu said, wiping away her tears.

"Alright."

Li Zhiyi nodded, watching as Chen Yu flew away just like that.

"Xiaoyu..."

Li Zhiyi murmured aloud.

"You are wrong, the world is wrong."

His voice was calm:

"Since I, Chen Yan, entered the Dao, I initially only cared for the small plot of land before my eyes.

Later on, my eyes were still fixed on that small plot of land.

It is just that my small plot of land has always been my Dao.

I am not the Heavenly God General of the world.

I am the Chen Yan of Chen Yan.

Once a person becomes determined to the extreme, they are selfless, and yet also selfish.

In their eyes, there is only their own Dao; in their heart, there remains only their own Dao.

'When the heart has no dead end, the world has no dead end.'

This is because I, Chen Yan, am on the path of seeking the Dao, whether I am alive or dead."

He looked toward the distant horizon, toward the dilapidated world:

"I, Chen Yan, have never resented the world; it has made me... perfect.

My, Chen Yan's, path of seeking the Dao has no end.

No matter where it stops, it is perfect."

He murmured.

Below, however, someone was watching him from afar.

"The Heavenly God General must be tired."

It was a little girl who spoke.

"Here, have this."

The girl tremblingly took out a candy and held it up high.

Li Zhiyi waved one hand, and the candy entered his mouth.

Sweetness.

He did not know how long it had been since he had tasted sweetness.

Perhaps he did not feel the same excitement and emotion as Bai E had back then.

Yet, in these not-so-long years of his.

He was actually brought to a momentary pause by this trace of delicate sweetness.

He sat down cross-legged.

In the distance.

Zhang Huizhi flew over.

He stood side by side with him.

The two of them stood there without moving.

Soon.

Day after day.

The two waited for something like unyielding battle standards.

In the end, he did not return home to see his father.

Until.

The eighth day.

Above the firmament, a phantom image appeared once more.

PS: I'm actually suffering from writer's block at the finale, I'm truly sorry.

I sat at the desk thinking for a long time, feeling that no matter how I write it, it won't be perfect, nor will it be any better.

The ending of a book should be the greatest point of satisfaction, right?

It should be the best story, right?

Perhaps.

But I can't do it; I even thought about stopping updates.

But by the afternoon, I realized one thing, and that is that it's time to end.

No matter what, it has to end.

The ending of a book, no matter what, can never be perfect.

It's impossible.

The Dao is boundless; being timid, hesitant, and dragging things out won't accomplish anything.

(I wrote a lot of words and deleted them, because it looked like I was just complaining.)

It'll probably be these next two or three days, then it's finished.

Thank you all for your company.

I'll change accounts for the next book and start one that's more satisfying; if the results are good, I'll come find you all to take a look.

As for other things, I really haven't thought them through.

I originally set up a reader group, but I didn't have the heart to manage it myself.

Then why did I even set it up?

As for fans and such, I never considered myself to have fans; I really don't deserve them.

What I have are book friends—friends I've never met who like reading my books.

I'm no longer a novice, but my philosophy has never changed.

That is, only a better story can attract more readers; other matters are not important, and I am not willing to do them.

This is also the reason why I didn't recommend this book in my previous one, but instead recommended the previous one in this one.

I really am not willing.

In my previous books, I would still beg for gifts, but for this book, I'm too lazy to even beg for gifts.

Let alone how to increase engagement with readers and such.

I used to delete negative reviews (no, it was reporting them).

Now, I really don't care; I haven't bothered with them.

I am just someone who writes books, regardless of what the pen name is, regardless of who I am.

As long as there are people reading the books I write and they think they're good, that's enough.

But, thank you so much for the company, brothers.

There are quite a few of you who have been following the updates, and I feel embarrassed.

I think to myself, stop following, wait until it's finished to read it.

What virtue or ability do I, trashy Dongzi, have to possess such readers?

In the vast sea of books on Tomato, you are actually reading mine.

It's incredible; I haven't cooked up a better dish, and I am simply ashamed before you all.

Damn it, forget it, let me tell the truth.

I actually think I write quite well; at the very least, my level hasn't declined, and my basic understanding and theories have been greatly improved in this book.

The book's poor performance doesn't mean I've become trash.

Hahaha.

The above is purely a delusion; it was my younger brother who typed those words.

I failed to write a better story, and I am ashamed before you all.

I should think more about the subject matter and consider the reader's reading experience more.

The early stages were so oppressive, and there was the Martial Dao...

Eight Martial Daos, why the hell did I design so many?

And all the various world-building settings, what the hell for?

I don't regret it. (That's a lie; things are like this now, what else can I say?)

And...

You all have elevated me!

Praise the readers!