Chapter 719: My Grand Plan

Chen Yan's true self was still cultivating in the deepest part of the cave; what appeared outside the cave was merely an avatar of his True Martial Power.

Examining Lu Jianxia's current state, Chen Yan understood one thing in his heart.

That was, one must settle internal affairs before dealing with external threats.

The Five Clans were the stumbling block to Chen Yan's grand plan of reshaping the world.

"If the Five Clans are not eliminated, it will be difficult to bring peace to the world."

A murderous glint flashed in Chen Yan's eyes; he had once held fantasies about the Five Clans.

But after experiencing things time and time again, he no longer felt any softness toward them.

Once the conflict with the Five Clans ended, Chen Yan prepared to strike directly at one of them.

Exterminate the high-end combat power of one clan, exterminate all who resisted in that clan!

Exterminate the clan!

A chill swirled in the depths of Chen Yan's heart; the moment this word appeared in his mind, the entire atmosphere changed.

He now possessed seventy powerful Creation Realm experts.

He even held the powerful means of an artificial Eighth-Order Tribulation Light Realm.

This force of his was extremely powerful.

If the Dream-Eating Tapir were resolved, he could take a risky move, strike directly into the Five Clans, and let them realize what true iron-bloodedness was.

That day, when Chen Yan learned the truth of Myriad Aspect Island and the potential hidden dangers within the Five Clans, Xia Qi had decided to keep it hidden first.

Xia Qi believed that even if the Great Xia informed the Five Clans of such secrets, it would not change the future of the Five Clans disrupting the Xia.

In fact, it was indeed so.

Such news that shocked the world was leaked by the Great Xia, only causing the Five Clans to harbor a little suspicion toward each other.

The Five Clans were not ignorant; they had simply embarked on a path of sin from which there was no turning back.

"I have already given the Five Clans a chance, but no one cared, no one was willing to pull back from the brink..."

Chen Yan raised his head and looked at the rugged ceiling of the cave.

"I do not wish to become a butcher, but things have gone against my wishes.

Everything that blocks my grand plan shall be utterly destroyed."

Chen Yan murmured aloud.

He was dissatisfied with the cold-bloodedness of the Blood Xia Lord; by comparison, he indeed identified more with the Lord of Qi and Blood.

But why force him?

Why force him to become an executioner?

Chen Yan communicated with Lu Jianxia through his True Martial Power avatar, his true self also sensing the situation, and he suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He felt a trace of abnormality in Lu Jianxia.

At this moment, outside the cave.

Lu Jianxia gradually emerged from her previous daze, shock, and trembling.

She stared at Chen Yan, only to see the figure shaped by lightning pacing calmly, and he spoke:

"In the past, on Myriad Aspect Island, I used the alias Bing Yi and saw the ten million remnant souls of Myriad Aspect Island who had been maliciously persecuted for a thousand years in the cavern beneath the Myriad Aspect Divine Tree.

I devoured and extinguished them with my own will; this sentence was what I said at that time, and it was accidentally overheard by you."

Lu Jianxia pursed her lips.

In her blurred memories, that back sitting cross-legged in the cavern overlapped with the Chen Yan before her.

This was the only detail she still remembered, and now it matched perfectly.

Her nostrils flared, and there were ten thousand reasons in her heart why she did not want to believe it.

When she lost her memory, she might have reached some kind of cooperation with Chen Yan.

From the very beginning, she was a traitor to the Five Clans.

A sense of shame, endless shame and guilt, swirled in the depths of her heart.

But accompanying the shame was also an inexplicable stirring.

"Between you and me..."

Lu Jianxia stopped mid-sentence.

"We are comrades," Chen Yan said calmly.

"And also enemies.

Everything requires your choice; the Five Clans have already reached the opposite side of the Great Xia, and although you and I have fought side by side, it is possible we may kill each other in the future."

He paused.

"I do not want to lie to you; if you still choose to join the Five Clans, I will..."

"Exterminate me?" Lu Jianxia said bitterly.

"If it were you, you would directly exterminate anyone who shirked battle and fled without regard for sentiment; if I were to become your enemy, there would certainly be no good outcome for me either."

She nodded and stared at Chen Yan, her silver teeth clenched tightly.

"Only those closest to you would know that age is extremely deceptive on you; the world says the Xia Lord is cold-blooded, but who could know that you, Chen Yan, are not a whit behind.

You appear approachable, but if anyone blocks your path, you will eliminate them without hesitation."

Chen Yan frowned; after Lu Jianxia lost her memory, her perception of him was actually this cold.

Even though they had fought side by side, she was still incredibly wary of him.

Now, it could be considered opening her heart and saying it directly.

"I will not exterminate you," Chen Yan shook his head slightly.

"At most, I will imprison you or suppress your combat power; if I were to exterminate even those who have saved me, how would I be any different from a jackal, wolf, tiger, or leopard?"

"The evil in the human heart is even more terrifying than the evil of the world."

Chen Yan's figure was calm; the boundary between cold-bloodedness and the malice within his heart was blurred.

To find the true boundary was even more difficult than difficult.

It is precisely because of this that people struggle, suffer, and yearn for what is called 'correctness.'

The Great Xia Lord is one who has blurred that boundary; when he is cold, he only feels that it is what must be done, that it is right.

He, Chen Yan, is not.

His entire life has been spent resisting malice; how could he ever compromise with it?

Now, he only wants to tell Lu Jianxia that he is not what she thinks he is.

You have misunderstood me.

You cannot misunderstand me.

I executed the deserters because I can see through human emotions, and because the Five Clans and Great Xia were not at peace with each other at the time, harboring mutual suspicion.

I only did it so that everyone would recognize who their true teammates were.

Am I cold-blooded?

Is what I have done not an attempt to seek a win-win outcome?

Have I not repeatedly faced life-and-death threats to prevent the events of Qi Fan from happening again?

Why would you think I am that kind of existence?

You should not be like this.

Lu Jianxia fell silent, almost turning to leave, before she slowly spoke:

"If in the future, you could change the world, how would you treat Luzhou?"

Chen Yan said calmly:

"The world will be in great harmony, the sun and moon will be renewed; the only enemy of the human race is malice, and it is only malice."

Lu Jianxia's expression trembled slightly:

"Is this a promise?"

"Lu Jianxia," Chen Yan's tone deepened:

"This is not a promise; the words you remember are not a promise either!

That is my lifelong aspiration, the value of my existence, the direction of my Martial Dao, and the meaning of my being!

Is it foolish? Is it naive? I live because of it!"

His voice pierced into the heart, resolute and decisive.

"Why would I kill your Young Master Lu Cunyang?

I had already told him about the problems in Chenzhou, but he told me that as long as Great Xia was destroyed, the problems could still be solved.

To destroy the entire Great Xia, to kill hundreds of millions of living beings, just to satisfy the selfishness of one Chen Lord—you tell me, is it ridiculous? Is it foolish?

He told me that when the whole world is wrong, the person who is right will only be wrong."

Chen Yan shouted in a low voice:

"When I was severely injured, I entered the Purple Universe World-Fixing Mirror; they joined forces and almost killed me, missing by only a hair's breadth.

That battle was more perilous than dealing with Chi Xue, more difficult than dealing with Chen Changyuan; it was the most dangerous battle I have ever encountered.

You tell me, how could I not kill? How could I not destroy?!"

"Should I have just sat there and died, waiting for my sister's death, my father's death, and for all my friends and comrades to die under the iron hooves of the Five Clans?"

Chen Yan turned away.

That day, Lu Cunyang and the others almost altered history, almost achieving what even the Chen Lord could not.

He left the choice to Lu Jianxia herself.

She had lost her Young Master, her brother, her memories, and her fellow clansmen and comrades.

Any subsequent choice would only make her suffer more.

For Lu Jianxia, choosing a path that belongs to the human race—a correct path—is painful.

Lu Jianxia gazed at that tall, slender back.

In a trance, she seemed to feel a heat as intense as a cosmic furnace.

A person's ambition could actually be grand to such a degree.

With such a Heavenly God General, Great Xia is fortunate.

With such an enemy, the Five Clans are pathetic.

Perhaps the arrival of Lu Zhiwei and the others will completely change everything that happens in the future.

The only remaining spark of Great Xia might be completely extinguished in the next few short days.

But the human race should not be like this.

What threatens the human race is the awakening of the Ancient God Fanni, and the conspiracy and selfishness of the Chen Lord.

The Five Clans are wrong, so wrong that it is hard to repent.

Chen Yan is perhaps not just the spark of Great Xia, but also the spark of the human race.

Can Chen Yan do it?

What Lu Jianxia has always hoped for is a Lord of Will; only such a magnificent existence can change the fate of the human race today, turn back the monstrous waves, and suppress the boundless malice.

But the Lord of Will does not know when they will arrive.

Can Chen Yan do it?

She pressed her red lips together tightly, and finally, at a certain moment, she spoke:

"You should leave this place; strong individuals are about to arrive."

Chen Yan turned his head and looked at Lu Jianxia.

He could see Lu Jianxia's actions through the martial arts network, but he could not see the content of the other party's sound transmission.

Among Chen He and the others, someone had contacted Lu Jianxia.

Chen Yan narrowed his eyes; just now, his true self deep in the mountain cave had sensed a trace of anomaly on Lu Jianxia.

Could it be that someone had tampered with her?

When others perform Rule Martial Arts, it always brings a trace of anomaly to the person being targeted.

Just as when Chen Yan performed 【Royal Decay - Sacred Condensation Primordial Origin】 on Chen Lanqiu, not only Chen Lanqiu but even Chen He had sensed an anomaly.

This trace of anomaly is sometimes just an extremely slight feeling that one cannot be bothered to care about, but if one does care, it can cause the Rule Martial Arts cast by others upon you to fail.

For instance, previously, both Chen Lanqiu and Chen He had sensed it, but their conversation had unconsciously shifted to the matter of Dao companions.

Once they changed the subject, it meant they had missed the opportunity to discover Chen Yan's methods.

At this moment, deep in the mountain cave, traces of life-and-death Qi emerged within Chen Yan's true self, and he began to perceive Lu Jianxia.

Immediately, Chen Yan's eyes narrowed slightly.

On Lu Jianxia's body, there were indeed traces of life-and-death Qi that were difficult to detect.

Perhaps it was just a Rule Martial Art used for surveillance.

When Lu Jianxia contacted someone among Chen He's group, she had been tampered with.

At the same time, outside the mountain cave.

"You should leave." Lu Jianxia gritted her teeth:

"They know your strength, yet they remain completely unconcerned; this can only mean that you are fundamentally unable to defeat them."

She clenched her fists:

"Remember what you said; you said that was your long-cherished wish, and I will only take that as your promise.

You should leave."

Chen Yan was silent.

"You..." Lu Jianxia trembled:

"Did you not hear what I said?"

She scrutinized Chen Yan:

"Xia Long and the others cannot leave; they might die, but this is already a helpless move.

Since you carry their expectations, they will not blame you."

Chen Yan looked at Lu Jianxia:

"Your choice today is not wrong."

Lu Jianxia lowered her head:

"Then when will you leave?"

"I am not leaving," Chen Yan said.

Lu Jianxia looked up at Chen Yan:

"Do you think what I said was a lie?"

"I can perceive people's thoughts, so naturally, I know that what you said was not a lie."

"Then you..." Lu Jianxia stared at Chen Yan:

"I know you are very confident, and you have repeatedly defeated strong enemies, but this time is different."

Chen Yan was too confident; Chen Yan had never given up.

Lu Jianxia had already guessed beforehand that even if she warned him, Chen Yan would still refuse.

But this was a choice she had made only after experiencing inner torment.

Why would Chen Yan still ignore it?

"I still want to try," Chen Yan said, his figure gradually disappearing:

"Help me tell Shen Yiwei and the others to be prepared to fight at any time."

Chen Yan disappeared, and Lu Jianxia stood dazed on the spot.

"You...!"

She was so angry she almost laughed.

Since Chen Yan was never going to flee, what was the point of the emotions she had been brewing for so long just now?

"You cannot always win narrowly every single time."

Lu Jianxia's voice rose, carrying all the way to the deepest part of the mountain cave.

"If it continues like this, one day you will lose your life."

In the deepest part of the mountain cave, Chen Yan's voice sounded:

"That is exactly how I have walked this path."

Lu Jianxia pursed her lips, speechless.

At the same time.

In the void.

Chen He and the others looked at the light and shadow appearing before them, their expressions varied.

Within the light and shadow, Lu Jianxia's figure appeared.

"This descendant of mine certainly has great ambition," Chen Lanqiu said:

"It's just that she is too confident; even knowing that strong enemies are coming, she is still unafraid."

Chen He's narrow eyes squinted:

"If I had ascended the Dragon Gate at seventeen in the college entrance examination and been appointed a general before the eyes of the world, then become a Heavenly God General at eighteen, I would have slain an eighth-rank ancient divine beast by nineteen.

I could be even more arrogant than him."

He was in a bad mood.

Lu Jianxia had already headed toward Great Xia; she had undoubtedly lost the qualification to be pursued by him.

Lu Zhiwei sighed softly:

"I hope you can spare Jianxia's life; I will take her back to Lu Province to face judgment under the laws of the Five Clans."

Chen He nodded:

"However, it can be considered good news. Zhiwei, you have done well."

Chen He had inadvertently changed how he addressed her.

Chen Lanqiu sneered and said nothing more.

Lu Zhiwei nodded lightly, unbothered:

"Chen Yan is too arrogant. His power of will is indeed the nemesis of ancient divine beasts, but when dealing with the human race, it will not have such terrifying effects.

Moreover, Chen He, you are at the late eighth rank, twenty-fifth on the world's eighth-rank list."

She continued:

"Then what are we waiting for? At this distance, we can arrive in half a day. Killing Chen Yan will be effortless, and there are also Xia Long, Yin Qingshuang, and the others.

Killing them all will undoubtedly break the final hope of Great Xia."

Chen He shook his head slightly:

"Those who achieve great things must be all the more cautious when success is near. Our primary goal remains the killing of Chen Yan."

Chen He narrowed his eyes; too many people had failed on the eve of victory.

Whether it is a one percent chance of success or a ninety-nine percent chance, both are, in fact, failure.

He pushed out with one hand, and the environment surrounding the void suddenly dimmed, with night manifesting in the daylight.

A bright, clear moon hung high behind him; beneath the moon was a boundless sea, its waves shimmering with mottled fragments of moonlight.

This vivid scene rippled constantly, condensing behind Chen He into a massive array disk ten meters in diameter.

A cold, dangerous aura slowly rippled out from the array disk, causing both Chen Lanqiu and Lu Zhiwei to tremble slightly and hurriedly move away from Chen He.

"Nether Sea Great Array," Lu Zhiwei whispered. She knew a little about it; this was a god-level great array.

It required at least two late eighth-rank experts to activate; once the array rose, nations would fall. It was a magnificent array recorded in the Chronicles of Time.

She had not expected that Chen He could activate it with his own power alone.

Chen He was going to directly activate the god-level great array to kill Chen Yan.

Chen He's eyes flickered. Within the great array behind him, ripples suddenly spread across the endless, pitch-black Nether Sea.

A beautiful woman with a human body and a fish tail swam out from the sea and appeared on the surface. Those azure eyes seemed to break through the suppression of dimensions, gazing steadily into the distance.

"Once this array is launched, the mountains and rivers within a radius of one hundred thousand li will be shattered."

Chen He spoke calmly, a look of exhaustion appearing on his face, as if he were a lamp running out of oil, showing a hint of twilight:

"For what follows, we only need to accumulate energy."

"How much time is needed?" Chen Lanqiu's eyes flickered as she asked.

"It can be launched right now, and it can kill mid-eighth-rank experts." Chen He's eyes turned cold:

"I will accumulate energy for two days to raise the power of the Nether Sea Great Array to its absolute peak."

Lu Zhiwei nodded slightly and waved a hand; a cloud platform constructed purely of Qi and blood appeared beneath the three of them.

Immediately after, the cloud platform flew off, carrying the three of them toward Chen Yan's side.

And it was at this moment.

Rumble!!!

A massive mountain range with a diameter of one hundred li suddenly collapsed and broke; the jagged, shattered edges were entirely a deathly, pitch-black color.

"This world is becoming increasingly withered," Chen He sighed:

"What kind of method is this? Lu Xunyang... has become stronger again..."