Chapter 1010: Leave Everything to Me, It Will Be Fine

The borders of the Jin, Tui, and Yun Prefectures had long been filled with dense crowds of people.

This was the last pure land in the human world.

Refugees retreating from the borders, and billions of living beings arriving from the Five Clans and the Evil Realm, were crowded into these three small prefectures.

The old, the weak, women, and children huddled under makeshift sheds, their complexions sallow, their eyes filled with lingering terror.

Their breathing carried a burning pain, and their parched lips twitched.

People could not go out.

Outside, there were burning white flames and buildings charred into cinders.

The former Lu, Chi, Chen, and Yu Prefectures had become a purgatory. Pale flames licked the scorched earth, the cracked ground surged with scorching heat waves, and all things turned to fly ash in silence.

The remaining prefectures of Great Xia, their former cities, mountains, and rivers, had all become phantoms; only twisted ashes drifted in the sea of fire, and even wails were swallowed by the high temperature.

The air was permeated with a scorched silence; this was a forbidden zone for humanity where even souls could be incinerated.

A sense of despair, panic, and hardship swept through everyone's heart.

And those countless giant eyeball planets beyond the firmament had rapidly approached the human race in just a few short days.

Now, they occupied the entire sky.

The eyeballs crowded against each other, emitting strange squeaking sounds.

Indifference and a gaze.

This gaze crossed the barriers of dimensions, pierced through the fog of time, and was indifferently watching this group of tiny living beings.

There was no anger or killing intent in their eyes, only a coldness to the extreme, an indifference like looking at ants.

"Everyone, do not be afraid."

In the civilian settlement area, a young girl wearing golden robes walked through the crowded people, a smile on her face as she said:

"I am the Sovereign of Great Xia, Xia Yiyi."

The young girl introduced herself.

In an instant, some people trembled and knelt down.

"Everyone, please rise."

Xia Yiyi was a bit nervous, but she still smiled and said:

"For ten thousand years, the human race has endured bitterness and toil, repeatedly suffering from malicious invasion, with billions of souls sinking into an abyss of despair.

What we are unswervingly committed to is to fight the malice to the very end!"

As the young girl spoke, she looked at the woman in the green dress behind her.

The woman in the green dress nodded with satisfaction; she had already prepared the speech for Xia Yiyi.

But the next moment, Xia Yiyi looked at the terrified people around her and said:

"Actually, everyone is afraid, and I am afraid too.

But this is ultimately something we need to face, isn't it?"

Xia Yiyi looked toward the horizon:

"Brother Xia Qi told me that the Heavenly God will bring about a new spring for the human world.

But I feel he has already done enough..."

Tears welled up in Xia Yiyi's eyes:

"If he fails, everyone, please do not blame him..."

The young girl began to cry.

She had completely deviated from the script, lacking the dignity that a Sovereign should have.

Behind her, the woman in the green dress instantly became flustered.

"It is alright, Your Highness the Sovereign."

An old woman laughed out loud:

"If not for the Heavenly God General, we would have already died on the day Qi Prefecture fell."

Someone waved their hand dismissively:

"Why should the Sovereign worry? Venerable Chen Yan is a god; he could have left at any time, yet he still stayed in the human world. What face do I have to blame him?"

"Exactly, whether our human race lives or dies is fated."

"Hahaha, at worst, we die. Before I die, I will surely roar at the Mother God: I swear I will not be a slave!"

One voice after another rose up.

A smile finally appeared on the face of the girl named Xia Yiyi.

Outside the three prefectures.

There were millions of martial artists.

Standing shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot, they formed a human wall with no end in sight.

Qi and blood erupted from their bodies, and a crimson-gold torrent gathered above their heads, turning into a thick, almost solidified canopy.

Eighth-rank powerhouses sat in command on all sides, continuously injecting their majestic Qi and blood into the barrier.

Their complexions were already as pale as paper, and blood seeped from the corners of their mouths, yet their hands gripping their weapons remained as steady as rock.

The Grand Preceptor, the Director of the Astronomical Bureau, Xia Yuan, and others had sorrowful expressions, but at this moment, they knew that whatever Chen Yan told them to do, they would do.

"King Xiayue..."

Xia Yuan opened his mouth, his eyes full of regret and sadness.

At this moment, he missed Xia Hanzhou, who used to boss him around, more than ever.

Back then, there were many in the upper echelons of Great Xia who were dissatisfied with Xia Hanzhou.

But at this moment, Xia Yuan finally understood the pressure Xia Hanzhou had been under at the time.

Before Chen Yan and Lu Xunyang existed.

The entirety of Great Xia was carried by Xia Hanzhou.

"Princess..."

An Eighth-Rank of Lu Province looked bitterly at Lu Jianxia.

Lu Jianxia's pair of silver eyes were filled with sorrow, and then she shook her head and said:

"We have nothing left to lose."

The mortal world has no path of retreat left.

Lu Jianxia looked far away toward the distant sky.

There, two figures stood quietly, motionless.

No one dared to disturb them.

Whether it was Zhang Huizhi or Li Zhiyi, both were Chen Yan.

Now, that person is the only god of the human race.

This is a power that has already transcended martial arts and royal authority.

Qin Province, Yunmeng.

The ground was burning with pitch-white flames.

Everywhere were burning, desiccated corpses of animals and plants.

Crack, crack, crack...

Two pairs of feet stepped across the withered ground, and the intense high temperature instantly swept up ripples in circles.

"You actually still want to walk through Great Xia."

Ji Ling was wrapped in the radiance of True Martial power, her face deathly pale; at this moment, her beautiful face was full of exhaustion and terror.

At such high temperatures, even the Creation Realm cannot walk.

And that formless, even more lethal malice was even more terrifying to the point of despair.

If not for Zhao Zhugui's protection, she might have been burned into a desiccated corpse before she could even fly to Jin Province.

"You could have followed the main force to Jin Province earlier."

Zhao Zhugui spoke calmly, squatted down, and pressed one hand onto the cracked earth.

In an instant, rays of array-pattern luster emerged, then hid within the earth.

"Are you still preparing?"

Ji Ling sneered:

"What is the point?"

Ji Ling looked at the eyeballs that paved the vault of heaven and said in despair:

"The human race cannot possibly defeat Him..."

As a former supreme expert of martial arts, Ji Ling could not imagine what kind of level it would take to instantly turn an entire human race into this.

To be able to make the great sun bleed, to be able to turn the stars into eyes.

That is no longer a strength the human race can speculate upon.

Before Him, the human race is as tiny as a young sapling beneath a towering ancient tree.

He is unknown and terrifying.

The Xia Lord, Xia Zhiyang, Chen Yuan, and all of Chen Yan's persistence and actions are like jokes before Him.

"And besides..."

Ji Ling spoke tremblingly:

"No matter what you do, He is staring at you..."

She pointed to the eyeballs above the vault of heaven.

Those eyeballs that radiated an unknowable color, impossible to describe in words.

They have been staring at everyone in the mortal world.

Including Li Zhiyi, including Zhang Huizhi.

"He cannot see me."

Zhao Zhugui spoke calmly.

"How is that possible?" Ji Ling looked at Chen Yan mockingly:

"Just lie to yourself."

Zhao Zhugui looked at Ji Ling:

"He devoured me, so He can only see what I let Him see.

He may have no flaws, but the me He devoured has flaws, has fatal flaws."

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhao Zhugui's mouth:

"A flaw I set for myself, even if it is just a tiny one.

Will become the most lethal poison."

Ji Ling narrowed her eyes as she looked at Zhang Huizhi:

"What are you talking about?"

Zhao Zhugui looked at Ji Ling:

"Why do you keep following me? Back then, it was I who personally pierced your head with a long spear."

Ji Ling gritted her silver teeth, staring fixedly at Zhao Zhugui.

"Your soul is constantly trying to convince yourself: I am Zhao Zhugui, not Chen Yan."

I am merely an obscure traveler, a Zhao Zhugui who belongs only to you.

But what I want to tell you is, I am Chen Yan, I am the murderer who extinguished the state mandate of your Jizhou."

As Zhao Zhugui spoke, Ji Ling's expression became extremely unsightly, and the killing intent in the depths of her eyes instantly spilled forth.

"Why pretend?"

Zhao Zhugui's voice was indifferent:

"You can no longer leave me; you have lost Jizhou, lost everything from the past.

You loathe Chen Yan, yet you also loathe yourself for having utilized Zhao Zhugui in the beginning.

The moment you knew your plan had failed, you were even somewhat relieved.

Relieved that you did not have to continue using me.

You know even more clearly that I, Chen Yan, am the human race's greatest pinnacle throughout the ages.

Like everyone else, you hope that I can change something.

Deep down, you might even be glad that you are the only one in the world who knows Chen Yan still has a third avatar.

You are selfish, wanting to keep this avatar all to yourself."

Ji Ling, wrapped in a grey robe, stood silently amidst the surrounding lacquer-white flames, the killing intent in her eyes as cold as a blade.

She stared at Zhao Zhugui just like that, yet her eyes surged with an inseparable confusion.

Finally, she lowered her gaze and slowly hung her head, her sideburns covering half of her pale face.

She could not say a single word.

Even though Zhao Zhugui had truly spoken out everything she thought in her heart.

Zhao Zhugui turned around and came before a courtyard that had already been burned to a state of utter ruin.

The old locust tree in front of the gate had long since turned into a pile of ashes.

His gaze was calm as he walked toward the front.

"You are wrong."

Ji Ling's voice rang out heavily.

"I only want to watch you die before my eyes with my own eyes."

Ji Ling's voice was cold and stubborn:

"To see how you, a person arrogant to the end, will ultimately face your own failure."

Zhao Zhugui smiled:

"Live on, Ji Ling.

Let everyone live on, whether it be through hate or through love.

We should not have that kind of ending."

Ji Ling widened her eyes in an instant, looking at Zhao Zhugui's back.

"Leave everything to me; just leave it to me."