Chapter 690: If you do not abandon me, we shall raise a monument to witness this day; when the task is accomplished in the future, we

Lu Jianxia lowered her eyes as she watched this scene.

She naturally knew that this battle was unavoidable; after all, the reason everyone was still alive today was entirely because Lu Xunyang was still holding off the Shi Meng Mo from the outside.

Lu Xunyang did not know when he would no longer be able to hold on, and when that time came, the only path left for everyone would be death.

"For my brother to be able to send me intelligence, it must have been fraught with danger."

Lu Jianxia felt somewhat lost; although Chen Yan had told her she could think about how to save Lu Wuyi, she was currently at a complete loss.

With the Life Seal in place, Lu Wuyi could not break free from Chen Changyuan, unless Chen Changyuan were willing to lift the Life Seal himself.

Watching the people still in discussion, Lu Jianxia walked toward a cave not far away.

The rock walls of the cave shimmered with a faint luster; it was narrow at first, then gradually opened up.

Just as Lu Jianxia reached a turn, a voice suddenly rang out.

"I will keep an eye on the matter of Lu Wuyi, and if possible, I will control Chen Changyuan to lift the Life Seal."

Chen Yan's voice came through.

Lu Jianxia's expression trembled slightly:

"Thank you, Heavenly God General. I have one more matter: our current stronghold has been discovered by Chen Changyuan, and they will arrive in four days."

Chen Yan was silent for a moment:

"I know."

Lu Jianxia frowned:

"Are we not relocating the stronghold?"

"Relocate where?" Chen Yan's gaze was calm:

"If hiding could solve things that are bound to happen, how would the world have become like this today?"

Ever since Chen Yan learned of Chen Changyuan's preparations, he had never intended to hide.

Even if he could hide, Lu Xunyang would not be able to hold on.

It was not just the Shi Meng Mo fighting Lu Xunyang, but also another extremely powerful eighth-rank ancient divine beast, the Nether Nightmare Tapir.

For one person to hold off two of the world's five great ancient divine beasts, Lu Xunyang's combat power was beyond doubt.

But no matter how strong a person is, they are not meant to be used like this.

The sooner they left this place, the better.

The reason for choosing to come to Yunxin Valley was simply to avoid residential areas, and so that everyone could prepare in advance to fight the invading enemy.

Furthermore, appearing weak to the enemy could lower the guard of Chen Changyuan's side against him.

This was one of the only two external forces Chen Yan could think of to utilize.

However, after Chen Yan said these words, Lu Jianxia fell silent.

She stood dazed on the spot, and only after a long while did she speak:

"Can we win?"

It was also at this moment.

Rays of golden-red light emerged from the deepest part of the cave, like a scorching sun crossing the sky; Chen Yan arrived at Lu Jianxia's side and walked straight toward the outside of the cave.

Outside, many eighth-rankers were still discussing with grave expressions.

The moment they saw Chen Yan arrive, they all fell silent, carrying a trace of respect and worry.

"In four days, the decisive battle will be here."

Chen Yan spoke calmly, and everyone's expression trembled.

Chen Yan looked at the crowd; he felt a series of special emotions—some excited, some worried, some panicked.

"You might think I would say some words of certain victory, but I cannot say them."

Everyone's heart sank.

Chen Yan smiled gently:

"If I were to say certain victory, and we were to collapse during the decisive battle, your psychological pressure would only be greater, and the evil in your hearts would be infinitely magnified; that is when we would truly be utterly defeated."

Chen Yan sat on a hill; it was unknown when his eyes had lost their former callowness, and now they were entirely filled with an indescribable depth.

However short his life was, the breadth of his life was just as wide.

"In my view, the coming battle is a confrontation between the living and the dead. When those people chose to turn toward malice, their inner selves had already been extinguished by the evil in their hearts; they linger on, having become slaves to malice.

The humanity that belonged to their inner selves has long since vanished."

Chen Yan's tone was peaceful; he also did not know what the outcome of that future battle would be.

Excessive speculation about the future would only cause him to neglect the present, which was something he was unwilling to do.

He was speaking calm words now, but within his words was a surge of power, a power that seeped into people's hearts.

Ke Qingxuan looked at him with reverence, watching him calmly, a smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.

"Chen Changyuan and the others have indeed already died. If they rely on malice to grow strong, once they leave the struggle of the Five Clans, they will only ruthlessly slaughter the world and cruelly exterminate their own kin.

They view the human race as pigs and dogs."

Wu Song spoke up, pushing up his glasses:

"Fellow comrades from the outside, you have also seen it; in my Pure True Yang Realm, there are thirteen ascenders in total, and only one has retained their humanity.

The rest, such as Li Li, treat the human race with even more cruelty than the native ancient divine beasts; when she devoured her own child, there was not even a trace of fluctuation in her heart.

Is such a person still human?"

Some hung their heads, while others clenched their fists tightly.

Not for others, but also for themselves—if they did not fight, if they surrendered, would their future selves still be human?

Would their future selves view the human race as pigs and dogs just like Li Li did that day?

That day, everyone saw with their own eyes everything Li Li did and heard everything Li Li said.

Many more, they had already seen in the outside world.

Of those ancient divine beasts that raw-eat the flesh and blood of their own kind, how many were transformed from the human race?

"We must absolutely not shrink back from this battle; there is no future in avoidance, and the speed at which Chen Changyuan grows stronger perhaps even exceeds our imagination."

Xia Long's expression was icy, his eyes seemingly containing endless fury and killing intent:

"Everyone!"

He stood up and cupped his fists toward the crowd: "We all have families, we all have descendants; this battle concerns not only our life and death, but everything we have.

We no longer have any qualification to retreat."

His voice echoed in everyone's ears.

Within the entire Heart-Fall Valley, birds sang and flowers smelled sweet, the spiritual aura fragrant.

The native world martial artists cultivating inside Heart-Fall Valley did not notice the location or conversation of Chen Yan and the others in the slightest.

It was as if Chen Yan and the others were in a world different from theirs.

Above the distant mountains, villagers pushing corpses passed by sporadically; their expressions were numb, looking at the corpses of their loved ones on the carts, saying not a word.

A young child still retaining a trace of innocence spoke to the middle-aged man pushing the cart:

"Daddy, Daddy, why is Mommy not moving on the cart?"

The man, whose face was covered in black spots and who looked at least fifty or sixty years old but was actually only twenty-five, suddenly felt a trace of vitality in his eyes when he looked at the child, and he smiled:

"Mommy is going to a very far place."

He looked at the spiritually vibrant Heart-Fall Valley, saw the innocent Sun Realm martial artists still cultivating, and spoke to his child with extreme sincerity:

"You must, you must cultivate well just like them, this way... this way you can..."

He could not say it; he could not imagine what kind of wonderful life that would be. His expression returned to numbness; he was going to die, and his child was still small.

He did not notice at all that three thousand meters away, Chen Yan and the others were in the middle of a discussion.

Chen Yan looked at Wu Song:

"Are there still a few villages near Heart-Fall Valley?"

Wu Song nodded: "Understood, we will relocate these villages this afternoon."

Chen Yan nodded, looked at the crowd, and said:

"I cannot predict the victory or defeat of this battle, but there are some things that are forever higher than life. I only wish to be of the human race in life, and of the human race in death."

His gaze swept across everyone present; having experienced too many battles, it was difficult for Chen Yan to display too many emotional expressions.

He was used to it.

On his path, there were countless obstacles, countless mountains; the road ahead was long with no end in sight.

It was just that he was still breathing, still moving forward.

He bowed deeply and cupped his fists toward the crowd:

"If you gentlemen do not abandon me, let us set a monument to witness the present!

When the day of success comes, we shall write our names together in immortality!"

As he pointed with one hand, the earth was pulled by an invisible force, and a stone monument rose from the ground.

As Chen Yan's consciousness shifted, stone chips splashed from the monument, and the two characters 'Chen Yan' stood upon it.

Shen Yiwei looked at Chen Yan in a trance, feeling only that time had shifted, and everything seemed to have passed a long time ago.

He bowed his waist deeply:

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

He walked toward the stone monument, waved one hand, and a blood sword condensed, carving his own name onto the monument.

This was a stone monument, but even more, it was a letter of allegiance, and a blood oath to never retreat!

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

Xia Long performed a salute, looked deeply at Chen Yan, and pointed a finger; fresh blood spurted from his fingertip, landing on the stone monument, carving his name in blood-red.

His gaze was complex to the extreme.

All this time, he had been strong and overbearing, but who was truly willing to die?

He still wanted to go back, still wanted to see his eight-year-old daughter who had already become the ruler of the nation and was bearing the Imperial Calamity.

He shook his head slightly, suppressing all distracting thoughts, his gaze becoming firm once again.

Lu Jianxia was silent, looking at Chen Yan in this moment; a feeling of extreme unfamiliarity suddenly surfaced in her mind, but it was quickly suppressed by her.

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

She left her name.

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

"Together we write our names in immortality!"

Sound after sound rang out throughout the entire Heart-Fall Valley.

Time passed slowly; everyone carved their names on the stone monument, and Chen Yan waved his hand, taking the monument into his own personal universe.

Chen Yan looked at this scene silently; was he to lead this group of people to their deaths just like that day?

He looked into the distance, always feeling that something was wrong, as if he had forgotten something.

He looked toward the tips of the veins.

Chen Changyuan had already set off with a group of people.

Chen Mi was still hiding in a mountain cave; this time he did not have the courage to come out to place the image-recording array disk, but he had already confirmed the location of Chen Yan and the others.

Chen Yu was still in the Magnetic Storm Thunder Prison, making array disks day and night.

No abnormalities.

I really hate this feeling.

Chen Yan whispered inwardly.

It was also at this moment that he looked far away toward a mountain peak in the distance.

A disheveled figure flew over at high speed, and the moment they arrived, they spoke directly:

"Greetings, Heavenly Divine General!"

That person was disheveled, and in an instant, they were lifted up by Xia Long:

"Shen Yong, haven't you already defected to Chen Changyuan?"

The man named Shen Yong glared at Xia Long and growled:

"If I don't sign that Life Seal, I will die; does the fact that I don't want to die mean I have already defected to Chen Changyuan?"

Shen Yong's whole body tensed up, letting out a roar like a wild beast:

"Don't insult me!"

Chen Yan sensed the other party's emotions and was slightly surprised; this person was indeed full of goodwill and held no hostility.

Soon, Shen Yong sat down and recounted everything that had happened to him.

Defecting to Chen Changyuan was indeed a moment of helplessness for him; in his understanding, the Great Xia was already beyond saving at the time, so it was better to suffer temporarily and preserve his strength.

Afterwards, this person created a puppet clone identical to himself, deceiving Chen Changyuan.

A few days ago, he learned from Lu Wuyi where Chen Yan and the others were currently located, as well as Chen Changyuan's plan.

Shen Yong immediately decided to risk death to bring intelligence to Chen Yan and the others.