Chapter 761: The Death of the Sovereign of Ji

【Life Status: 13 percent】

【Life Status: 12 percent】

【Life Status: 13 percent】

【Life Status: 12 percent】

On Ji Chuli's retina, the numbers displayed by the life detector were jumping wildly.

He saw blurrily that the sky and earth there were dark and gloomy, with countless fragments of blood falling and exploding outward.

Someone in ink-colored robes was constantly bombarding downward like a god of slaughter.

Boom!

Heaven and earth wept blood, and an endlessly desolate, cold wind swept across the entire Ji Prefecture.

Xia Yuan brought down a blade, and the seven Marshals of Ji Prefecture fell!

The Third Marshal of Ji Prefecture, Ji Yanqing, was being beaten into a steady retreat; the Sixth Marshal had their physical body shattered and fell just a moment ago, and though still alive, they were already on the verge of death.

"Heaven intends to destroy me..."

Ji Yanqing's eyes turned red, and she cast a glance toward the ground below.

That Chen Yan was still slaughtering the great army.

"Trash, trash, trash!" Ji Yanqing swept aside the blade light slashed by Xia Yuan with her long whip, casting all her hatred onto Ji Chuli alone at this moment.

Leading an army of five hundred thousand, yet they hadn't even managed to put Chen Yan at the slightest disadvantage.

Ji Yanqing's throat choked, and she swung her whip like a snake, forcing back Xia Yuan, who was attacking again.

"Get lost!!!"

She spat blood and roared, then transformed into a stream of light and charged toward Chen Yan.

Even if she had to die, she would kill Chen Yan.

Yet at this very moment.

Hum!

Suddenly, Buddha light covered the world in the sky, and endless Sanskrit sounds resounded through heaven and earth.

Ji Yanqing's pupils constricted, and she looked on in utter disbelief.

She saw ten thousand golden rays surging and flowing around her.

A phantom of a thousand-armed divine Buddha condensed and appeared, its golden body of Buddha light spanning across heaven and earth.

Its palms held Dharma seals, sharp blades, and lotus flowers; as its eyes opened and closed, they illuminated the human world, and its trailing sleeves brushed past the stars, its pressure crushing the eight wildernesses like a vast sea.

And Ji Yanqing's physical body was enveloped by this thousand-armed divine Buddha; the endless Buddha light pressed down from outside to inside, the terrifying pressure causing blood to seep from Ji Yanqing's eyes.

She widened her eyes, filled with astonishment and horror.

This terrifying martial art had been waiting for her, waiting for her to charge at Chen Yan in a fit of rage.

And the moment she crossed this patch of heaven and earth, she walked into this terrifying trap.

Yet, beyond the shock, there was something more complex and incredulous in the depths of Ji Yanqing's eyes.

"Zong Huang, you aren't dead!"

Ji Yanqing roared in a low voice.

Then she saw the void in the sky shatter, and a figure stepped out of the broken space, appearing within the sight of the world.

Zong Huang!

"Zong Huang!"

Xia Yuan was also stunned, followed by a joyful exclamation.

Lu Xunyang had three great deputy generals: Xia Yuan focused on cultivation, Tan Yishi focused on strategy, and Zong Huang focused on combat and holding the line!

The world thought Zong Huang was dead, but no one expected him to appear at this moment.

Zong Huang looked coldly at Ji Yanqing below:

"A bloody battle of the Heavenly God Generals, and you dare to ambush?"

His eyes erupted with brilliant light; seeing Ji Yanqing again, there was no longer any of the affection from their years as husband and wife, only endless anger and hatred.

"In the past, you betrayed the Great Xia and single-handedly incited the chaos in Tie Prefecture, leaving the human world in misery.

Today, you deserve to suffer!"

With her body suppressed by the thousand-armed divine Buddha, Ji Yanqing spat blood and stared at Zong Huang with bloodshot eyes:

"In a war between two nations, where is the betrayal?"

Ji Yanqing roared, her eyes splitting with rage:

"Extinguishing the fortune of the Xia Kingdom to increase the national fortune of my Ji Prefecture—I, Ji Yanqing, a mere woman, am an eternal meritorious official of Ji Prefecture!"

She spread her arms, her golden armor stained with blood:

"I have not failed Ji Prefecture, nor have I failed the Xia Kingdom!"

She gritted her teeth and roared:

"How many living beings in the Xia Kingdom, how many generations of malice—what is wrong with my Five Clans wanting to live?

You not governing is the sin, that is the source of all calamity!"

Her voice was hysterical, like a shrew.

Malice was the root, the Ancient Gods were the root.

A group of humans, after experiencing ten thousand years of tension and wariness due to a terrifying future, began to slaughter one another.

Zong Huang's eyes flashed, and he glanced at Chen Yan, who was still slaughtering in all directions:

"Heaven gives birth to our human Heavenly God Generals, who will surely suppress the source of all evil in the days to come and sweep away all the demons and monsters of the world!"

Ji Yanqing's red lips parted, her expression trembling, and blood-tears flowed from her eyes:

"He is slaughtering my Ji Province, he is slaughtering my Ji Province!!!"

"Don't you see it?!"

She clutched her head:

"He is in a chaotic world, he wants to extinguish the future of my province, he wants to destroy the ten-thousand-year foundation of my Ji Province!"

"Zong Huang, if I am the culprit behind the chaos in Iron Province, then what is he?"

"A crime in the present, but a merit for a thousand autumns?"

"He is destroying a nation!"

"He is a devil!!!"

She actually burst into loud sobs, all her fear and anger roaring out, no longer able to be suppressed at this moment.

At this moment, she was no longer the Marshal of Ji Province, but a woman of Ji Province watching her country fall and her home destroyed.

Zong Huang's eyes flickered, gradually turning somber.

He scanned the entire Ji Province.

Countless people were furious, countless people shed tears of blood, countless people were filled with extreme hatred.

Such hatred, even if it spanned a hundred or a thousand years, could not dissipate.

They would not even hate Lu Xunyang much; what they hated was Chen Yan.

He took a deep breath and looked at Ji Yanqing, the wife he had once loved deeply:

"If there is reincarnation, you may see the next life."

A look of despair appeared in Ji Yanqing's eyes; at this moment, she did not look at the shattered Ji Province, nor did she look at the heartless Zong Huang.

At this moment, she looked toward the direction of Great Xia.

There, her daughter San Jin was.

Even though she had told the Lord of Ji that she only regarded San Jin as a wicked beast, what mother would truly loathe her own child?

If San Jin remained with the Xia Clan, she would be protected by the Xia Moon King; no matter what, it was better than San Jin coming to Ji Province and suffering all the cold shoulders.

She was a formidable Eighth Rank; she had not retreated or fled in this battle, and dying in Ji Province, she had no regrets toward the province.

At this moment, she no longer clung to her identity as Marshal.

Her gaze seemed to cross thousands of mountains and rivers, meeting her daughter's eyes.

The next instant.

Boom!

The Buddha light above the Thousand-Hand True Buddha surged violently, and a thousand Buddha hands descended, slamming into her own body.

In an instant, the Buddha form collapsed, Buddha light flashed, and Ji Yanqing within the Buddha body was struck by the thousand hands, turning into a blood mist.

If one were to say that the Iron Province incident was the beginning of the human race's internal strife.

Then at this moment.

One of the original planners who incited the internal strife, died!

With Ji Yanqing's death, the current strongest in Ji Province had fallen.

The entire Ji Province fell into a silence.

Boom, boom, boom!!!

High above the sky, the omen of weeping blood appeared continuously.

Shen Yiwei, Xia Long, and the others surrounded the fifteen vice-generals, having already slain seven; now, the massive Divine Phoenix Army had fallen into a decline.

Chen Yan brandished his long spear, his strikes like a dragon.

Blood mist filled the sky, corpses piled like mountains!

Chen Yan stood at the peak of the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, viscous blood droplets dripping from the tip of the Ash-Evil Spear, his golden-red will burning like karmic fire around him.

The remnants of the Divine Phoenix Army were routed, the crisp sounds of shattering armor interweaving with wails.

Ji Chuli's eyes were blood-red; from beginning to end, he had not even touched Chen Yan in the slightest.

This was the thing he least wanted, and had never even imagined.

He was like a joke, possessing endless anger and killing intent, yet he could only watch helplessly as the most tragic scene unfolded.

Shameful, hateful.

No matter how this battle ended, he, Ji Chuli, had become a joke in the human world.

Toyed with by Chen Yan, causing the entire Ji Province to be disappointed.

His eyes shed tears of blood; he no longer had the face to see the living people of Ji Province.

The 【Sun-Moon Co-Erosion】 formation in the sky was about to finish its operation, and the power the 【Sun-Moon Co-Erosion】 formation granted him would also gradually vanish.

Chen Yan struck out with one hand, the firmament stained with blood; he was truly in the posture of a God of Slaughter.

"Do you not see the bones on the mountain, frozen and abandoned in the dust and mud?"

A sorrowful old woman's voice rang out.

In a place in the distance, on the ruined earth, an old woman knelt, wailing in grief:

"Do you not see the tears of the common people, wandering and cut off on the traveler's path!"

Her eyes were blood-red, staring fixedly at Chen Yan in the distance.

At this moment, heaven and earth seemed to have quieted down.

Everything revealed an endless decline.

Of the five hundred thousand troops, only forty percent remained; nearly three hundred thousand soldiers had fallen, and now, in the eyes of each of the remaining two hundred thousand, despair and a will to die surged.

Numb!

They already knew their own future of death, already knew they would disappear in the next instant, becoming a wronged soul under the spear of the God of Slaughter.

Tragic.

Desolate.

Throughout the entire Ji Province, there were no longer any sounds of rage; there was only the silence of oppression and the wailing of grief.

Chen Yan's movements slowed, and he looked toward the old woman.

Yet he saw the old woman heave her body up and roar with all the strength in her being:

"Heavenly debts weigh heavy and remain unpaid, how can blood feuds be forgotten!"

The old woman stared fixedly at Chen Yan, pointed a trembling finger at him, and wailed with her final ounce of strength:

"This hatred is endless and knows no term, Phoenix Lady swears this debt must be repaid!"

She stood up, gritted her teeth, pointed fiercely at Chen Yan, and finally spat blood before collapsing onto the ruined earth.

At this moment, Chen Yan's expression shifted slightly; he scanned the entire Ji Province and saw countless eyes filled with hatred.

He looked at the mountain of corpses and sea of blood beneath his feet, seeing pair after pair of eyes that refused to close even in death.

"Do you hate me?"

Chen Yan murmured aloud, looking toward the heavens and earth:

"You all saw me slaughter Ji Province, do you all hate me?!"

He shouted sternly, his voice drowning out the heavens and earth.

"This blood-debt, I, Chen Yan, committed it alone, and I, Chen Yan, shall bear it alone!"

"I, Chen Yan, am the Blood Butcher!"

"I alone planned the strategy to annihilate Ji, declared war on Ji Province under the bright light of day, and tonight, I have extinguished the foundation of all Ji Province's military might!"

"My actions require no righteous cause to disguise them; I am the culprit who caused the fall of Ji Province!"

His voice rang out, carrying a certain unmaskable determination and coldness.

It was like a thorn condensed from the ice of the Nine Netherworlds, piercing into the hearts of the billions of living beings across Ji Province.

He did not want so-called righteousness; he did not want to play the hypocrite.

He had witnessed the ten million wronged souls of Myriad Aspect Island, and he had seen with his own eyes the ten million wails of the Pure True Yang Realm.

At every moment, he saw the desperate faces and the human tragedies on the tips of the veins.

This was the resource for his strength, it was the curse, it was a weight like a mountain.

This was Heaven's Mandate!

If not for Heaven's Mandate, why would the Saint-Breaking Tree seek him out?

If not for Heaven's Mandate, why could he become the Master of Will?

All of this cause and effect seemed to be signaling that he, Chen Yan, would bear everything, and he, Chen Yan, would live forever in hardship and ice.

His physical body could sever the rules of malice, so why would he care about the hatred of a single province?

It was just that, right now.

Cold.

Cold.

Cold!

He had truly admitted it.

At this moment, the heavens and earth were silent.

But the entire Ji Province felt as if it had been pulled taut.

Across the land of Ji Province, billions of living beings looked upon him with hatred.

The old beat their chests and stamped their feet, their gray hair bristling like angry tufts; the strong clenched their fists until they bled, teeth shattering in their mouths as they still growled; young children raised stones, wanting to throw them.

This was the hatred of countless people, which would condense and grow through time, transforming into a long blade to shatter Chen Yan.

Shen Yiwei and Xia Long looked at each other, their faces sinking.

In a distant place.

The Land Master and the Universe Master both watched in silence, unable to express their feelings.

Chen Yan alone was to bear the hatred of an entire province.

He flicked his large sleeves and turned his back.

"Grow up, become strong!

On some future day, bring your hatred to face me!

Use everything you have to reach my side, and then become the broken remains beneath my spear!"

He spoke clearly, not caring about so-called hatred, not caring about so-called curses and cold gloom.

"Chen Yan..."

Ji Master's hoarse voice came from within the protection of the Fire Phoenix.

She supported her broken body as she walked out from the Fire Phoenix; at this moment, the eyes with which she looked at Chen Yan held no anger, but rather a desolate calm.

"Stop... I will control the Sun-Moon Co-Eclipse Array and disperse their cultivation realms... spare them..."

The firmament suddenly fell silent.

Ji Chuli's eyes were blood-red as he knelt in the pool of blood; hearing this, his eyes nearly split, "My Lord, you must not! The Divine Phoenix Army will die before we surrender!"

Ji Master gave a miserable laugh; what she least wanted to see was the event from Chen Qi's prophecy come to pass.

Yet it had already happened.

This made everything she had done a complete failure.

She was the sinner of Ji Province.

At this moment, she was utterly disheveled, possessing none of the demeanor a female emperor should have.

But the next instant, she met Chen Yan's icy gaze.

The Ji Sovereign's breath hitched:

"What more do you want to do?

You won, you won; from this moment on, the foundation of Ji Province's combat power is severed!"

She spoke almost in a plea, her heart having long since accepted death.

All she thought of now was to save as many as she could.

Even if the remaining Divine Phoenix Army still had combat power, what of it?

She stared at Chen Yan, gave a miserable laugh, and formed a seal with her blood-stained, fair hands.

Boom!

Blinding blood-red light suddenly erupted from within the bodies of the remaining Divine Phoenix Army, and the 【Sun-Moon Co-Eclipse】 formation reversed!

The cultivation realms of countless martial artists melted away like snow, their origins disintegrating into glowing white light points that ascended.

"Is it enough?" The Ji Sovereign's aura grew increasingly weak, and the phantom of the Fire Phoenix shattered inch by inch.

"You already knew where my final path of survival lay; you had already calculated everything."

She sighed miserably.

The entire Ji Province fell into a deathly silence.

"I, Ji Ling, have failed Ji Province..."

She spoke slowly, and the next moment she lifted her head as if waiting for death to arrive, only blood and tears flowed from her upturned face.

Chen Yan waved one hand.

Boom!

A pitch-black long spear suddenly descended, instantly piercing through the Ji Sovereign's forehead and pinning her to the earth.

The only one to claim the title of Emperor in this era.

The Ji Sovereign, dead!

Quiet, solemn, no one could speak, as if witnessing the curtain fall on a bloody era.

The master of a province had died just like that.

The air seemed to have stagnated.

Even Xia Yuan let out a sigh, his expression extremely complex.

From this point on, Ji Province would withdraw from the stage of history; a nation without strong combat power is a tragedy in the current era.

The 【Sun-Moon Co-Eclipse】 formation dissipated, and the remaining Divine Phoenix Army fell to the earth one by one.

The great sun that had appeared above the firmament lost its radiance, turning back into an endless dark night.

They looked at each other's blood-smeared faces in a daze, not knowing where to go from here.

Ji Chuli knelt on the earth, already sobbing uncontrollably.

Pair after pair of eyes stared at the young man in the pitch-black robe, the hatred contained within their icy gazes growing ever more intense.

"Pathetic."

A low sigh rang out.

The one who spoke was none other than the young man who had personally killed the Ji Sovereign.

Chen Yan looked toward the night sky, staring intently:

"If the fall of hundreds of thousands is the endless hatred of a province, then what of the ten million living beings on Ten Thousand Phases Island?"

He opened his mouth:

"And what of the Great Xia living beings who suffer from malice day and night?"

The killing intent in the depths of Chen Yan's eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a trace of confusion.

"The Five Clans pushed the Aristocratic Family Alliance, causing how many families to suffer, how many commoners to live in endless pain.

Has anyone ever understood their pain?"

He seemed to be murmuring to himself, his eyes slowly locking, as if seeing an endless future.

"Zhou Lu, Zhou Lu, Zhou Lu..."

He murmured a name, becoming more unfamiliar, yet more familiar.

His low murmurs seemed to be spoken only for himself to hear, as if he were resolving his own doubts.

But, there was simply no way to resolve them.

An inexplicable sense of powerlessness washed over him completely.

"The malice of the world can still be devoured and extinguished, but the malice of the human heart will never dissipate; it will only cycle."

He saw a certain kind of malice that could not be extinguished, a certain kind of terrifying enemy that could not be defeated.

Ancient Gods cannot be defeated.

But can the malice of the human heart be defeated?

He could not see a single glimmer of hope for victory.

"Heavenly God General."

High above in the sky, Xia Yuan spoke, looking at Chen Yan with a complex yet sentimental expression:

"How should we handle the remaining Divine Phoenix Army?"

Chen Yan turned his head to meet Xia Yuan's gaze:

"Why must I be the one to decide these things?

Can you not discuss it amongst yourselves?"

His voice was icy, laced with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Xia Yuan paused, then nodded.

Xia Long and Shen Yi exchanged a glance; they had never seen Chen Yan treat his own people like this.

Chen Yan stood there and let out a long sigh:

"I seem to... be unable to see clearly anymore."

PS: One chapter today, the subsequent plot needs some revisions.