Chapter 828: Sister Siwen, You've Lost Weight

At this moment.

Countless people once again felt a sensation they had almost forgotten.

A look of confusion appeared in the eyes of many members of the Five Clans.

The Great Xia, it seemed, was dead but not stiff.

Clearly, the Great Xia should have perished long ago.

Yet, a Lu Xunyang had appeared.

In modern times, heaven-gifted geniuses emerged one after another.

Chen Yu, Chen Min, and Jiang Yuan were all heaven-gifted geniuses unimaginable in the past.

And the appearance of Chen Yan made the Five Clans feel even more despair, a despair more intense than that faced against Lu Xunyang.

With great difficulty, Chen Yan had perished.

Today, however, a Li Zhiyi had appeared.

Would Li Zhiyi become the next Chen Yan?

At this moment, no matter how confident they were in the Five Clans, a trace of exhaustion surfaced in their hearts.

They could not understand why the Great Xia still resisted, why the Great Xia kept producing existences that defied common sense.

Could it be that the destiny of the human race lay with the Great Xia, and not the Five Clans?

Roar!

Between heaven and earth, a golden dragon floated in the air; its scales were gilded and dazzling, weaving through the void, its dragon head held high, its horns piercing the clouds.

Li Zhiyi stood atop the dragon head, his expression calm.

After recovering his memories, he was Chen Yan of the real world, waiting for his true self to return.

Xia Hanzhou stood calmly, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth, and tears actually shimmered in the corners of the old man's eyes.

He had truly managed to carve out a new path in a desperate situation, just as Chen Yan had.

He seemed to see once again that young man who, during the heaven-gifted genius trials, had shouted, "I dare not die, so I struggle to live."

He waved his large hand.

The Sixth-Order, Creation Realm generals standing behind him actually formed two rows, clearing a path for Li Zhiyi.

Xia Yuan's eyes were full of emotion and smiles:

"Today, in the name of the Acting State Leader, I bestow upon Li Zhiyi..."

As he was speaking, Xia Hanzhou glanced at him:

"Shut up."

Xia Yuan was stunned:

"I want to bestow rewards."

Xia Hanzhou waved his hand, not intending to pay attention to Xia Yuan; he could go stay wherever it was cool.

Xia Yuan glanced at the Grand Minister of Ceremonies beside him, then looked at Xia Long and Shen Xin, and spread his hands.

He was the Acting State Leader, after all.

In the past, when military guards performed meritorious service, didn't Xia Qi always reward their achievements?

How did it become like this when it reached him?

Li Zhiyi returned riding the dragon.

"Medical officers!" Xia Hanzhou called out, and soon, dense swarms of medical guards flew over.

When the military guards of the Tiger Dragon Battalion and the Min Battalion saw this scene, tiny yet burning lights erupted in their eyes; only at this moment did they truly feel the sensation of being saved.

Some shed tears, some cheered, and some sighed.

An old man waiting nearby cried out:

"My daughter Mu Zigui is a good one, she is a good one, she didn't lose face for our Mu family, she's back, she's back."

Some military guards rushed over, beginning to search for their older brothers.

"Have you seen my big brother? His name is Li Hu!"

"Old Liu, that's great, you're still alive!"

"It's good to be alive, it's good to be alive!"

The entire Xiaoyang City was in chaos.

Yet Xia Hanzhou, the Director of the Astronomical Bureau, and other high-level officials all looked at Li Zhiyi.

"Let's go, let's go inside to talk."

Xia Hanzhou looked carefully at the young man before him, his expression agitated, and pulled Li Zhiyi away.

"Is it you? Is it!" Xia Hanzhou's voice had already sounded first in Li Zhiyi's mind.

"Yes," Li Zhiyi transmitted his voice:

"But not entirely me."

Xia Hanzhou's body paused, he looked at Li Zhiyi, and remained silent for a long time.

Xia Long, Xia Yuan, and the others followed, but Xia Hanzhou waved his hand at them:

"You all wait here for now."

Zhang Xing stood behind the crowd, squinting as he watched this scene.

"What, jealous?"

A voice rang out, and Zhang Xing turned his head abruptly to see Jiang Yuan standing beside him.

"What do you mean by that? Is my, Zhang Xing's, character that kind of person?!" Zhang Xing shouted coldly.

"It's my fault." Jiang Yuan quickly smiled and admitted his mistake, his eyes flashing as he asked:

"Brother Zhang, that method of yours for controlling malicious crystals, could you teach it to me? It's truly impressive!"

Zhang Xing frowned and waved his hand:

"I am still severely injured right now..."

The black thorns in his body had only just been extracted; although he was not covered in blood, his aura was indeed extremely withered.

"Fair enough, take care, Brother Zhang!" Jiang Yuan waved his hand.

Zhang Xing left without looking back.

Inside the military tent.

Xia Hanzhou performed a secret technique to seal the entire tent.

"Impressive!"

Xia Hanzhou laughed:

"I didn't expect that Dragon Scale Amber Medicine I gave you would actually work!"

Li Zhiyi raised an eyebrow slightly:

"You never gave me one."

Xia Hanzhou frowned:

"Did I remember wrong? It was right before you were appointed as a general, I gave it to you then."

Li Zhiyi waved his hand:

"Stop testing me. My current power of will has far surpassed what it was before; apart from the Master of Will, no one else could achieve this."

Silence.

Endless relief gradually appeared in Xia Hanzhou's eyes, and tears even welled up in them:

"Good, good, good!"

He exclaimed a few times:

"Tomorrow, I will have San Jin come over; you two are already married, after all."

Li Zhiyi shook his head slightly:

"Enough, why keep testing me?

I can even swallow a Blood Brand; who else do you think could do that besides me?

Furthermore, I have never asked you about the fact that you placed a Life Seal on San Jin."

Xia Hanzhou sneered: "Lying."

Li Zhiyi frowned and sensed Xia Hanzhou's emotions.

He sighed inwardly; Xia Hanzhou had been under too much pressure lately, leading him to be suspicious and overly cautious.

"King Xiayue," Li Zhiyi said:

"I'm going to go talk to Old Shen; you should relax for a bit."

Only then did a sense of deep emotion and excitement appear in Xia Hanzhou's eyes.

"What is going on?" Xia Hanzhou asked:

"You said before that you weren't entirely yourself?"

Li Zhiyi shook his head slightly, then explained how he had used his Domain of Will to split into three newborn bodies.

"So, that Zhang Huizhi is also you, just without the awakened memories?"

"Yes," Li Zhiyi nodded.

"Then what about your original body?" Xia Hanzhou asked hurriedly; this was the question he cared about most.

"My original body is in..." Li Zhiyi began, but just as he was about to say the word 'Evil' from the 'Evil Realm'.

Hum!

A strange energy instantly emerged from the void, and a terrifying sense of suppression descended.

"Don't say it!" Xia Hanzhou's face turned pale instantly, as if he had suddenly been stared at by something horrific, and he waved his hands hurriedly:

"This concerns the secrets of the Ninth Rank; even I cannot listen to it directly!"

Xia Hanzhou's body swayed for a good while before he regained his balance.

He looked at Li Zhiyi as if he had seen a ghost:

"Absurd!"

Xia Hanzhou was already at the peak of the Eighth Rank, yet he could not accept any information regarding the status of the Evil Realm River.

But Chen Yan could withstand it, which he found mind-boggling.

But soon, he adapted.

After all, Li Zhiyi had just swallowed a Blood Brand.

"You can't withstand it either?" Li Zhiyi looked surprised.

"You..." Xia Hanzhou pursed his lips:

"It is normal that I cannot withstand it. Those within the Eighth Rank who can directly accept the secrets of the Ninth Rank without incident are likely only the Lords of the few Continents and Lu Xunyang."

As Xia Hanzhou spoke, he continued:

"No, I don't know if the Lords of the few Continents can accept it, but Lu Xunyang should be able to.

I should know the place you are talking about; the Xia Imperial Clan has left behind many clues over the years for us descendants to speculate upon.

I can roughly guess that there is such a place..."

Xia Hanzhou stopped talking and took out an object, which was the Soul of the Life Chapter.

"You found it?" Li Zhiyi raised an eyebrow slightly.

Originally, the Soul of the Life Chapter had been inside the Purple Universe World-Fixing Mirror.

When Chen Yan left, he left Lin Yu and the others to continue searching for the Soul of the Fate Chapter within the Purple Universe World-Fixing Mirror.

"Hmm, Lin Yu did not let you down!" Xia Hanzhou spoke:

"He also found another one-third of the World-Instant fragments; with this, you should have gathered the complete secret technique of the World-Instant."

"Hmm." Li Zhiyi revealed a smile; Chen Yan had not counted on Lin Yu at the time.

He did not expect that Lin Yu would truly succeed.

With this item, another Ninth-Rank will appear in the world.

"With this item, I can attempt to ascend to the Ninth-Rank!" A sharp light erupted in Xia Hanzhou's eyes:

"But if I ascend, Lord Chen will certainly come!"

Li Zhiyi lowered his eyes:

"Wait a while longer; once my strength is strong enough, combined with Master Lu and the Sword of the Summer Lord, I can protect your path."

Xia Hanzhou nodded:

"I have the same thought, it's just that I don't know the strength of this avatar of yours..."

Before Li Zhiyi appeared, it was impossible for Xia Hanzhou to enter the Ninth-Rank.

It was not that he did not want to, but he knew that once he ascended, it would surely be a dead end.

Lord Chen would not let him ascend smoothly.

Lord Chen has already displayed unimaginable strength, to use Lu Xunyang's words.

Lord Chen's strength is even above that of the Lord of Blood Qi back in the day.

Moreover, in that battle, Lord Chen actually still held back.

It is hard to imagine that such an existence would appear among the final generation of the human race.

But now.

Li Zhiyi is the variable.

Xia Hanzhou looked at Li Zhiyi's back, a look of anticipation appearing in his eyes.

He did not know when it happened, but he had habitually felt that Chen Yan was the one in charge.

A sharp light appeared in Li Zhiyi's eyes, and after a long pause, he said:

"Wait a while longer."

Lord Chen is a bit too powerful.

So powerful that even when Lord Chen calls himself the Gatekeeper of the human race, he feels it is extremely fitting.

Lord Chen is so conservative now, on one hand, because he is wary of the Lord of Will, and on the other, because he does not want too many Eighth-Rank humans to perish.

What he wants has always been the long-term survival of the human race, not his own selfish interests.

Chen Yan and he share the same ideal.

But they are walking two completely opposite paths, so opposite that the two of them will surely give their all to annihilate the other.

Xia Hanzhou nodded, looking at Chen Yan's back, only feeling a soreness in his nose.

"It really... has been hard on you, child."

Li Zhiyi looked toward Xia Hanzhou, revealing a smile:

"In this day and age, who isn't having a hard time?

I often think of Xia Qi, and my heart is filled with emotion.

It was already difficult for him to resist the Imperial Calamity and survive for so long, yet in his final years, he entrusted such a great responsibility to me.

Such breadth of mind and spirit, I, Li... Chen Yan, find it truly hard to calm down.

I have a great aspiration in my heart, and he was the same."

He thought of many people, many people who should not have died but did.

These people remained in his memory forever, impossible to forget.

Listening to this, Xia Hanzhou turned around, a bit of moisture first seeping from the corners of his eyes, and turbid teardrops slowly rolled down the gullies of his wrinkles.

This Summer Moon King of the Great Xia, infinitely majestic and infinitely noble, was at this moment shedding tears.

He looked toward the north:

"May our Great Xia ancestors protect us; may the Great Xia not perish, and may the human race not perish!"

…………

"I... know I was wrong."

Inside an office.

Si Wenyi sat behind the desk, head lowered, processing documents, the pen in his hand writing continuously.

Shen Yiwei stood before the window with a complex expression:

"It is my fault; I shouldn't have recommended you to be the Chief of the Martial Suppression Division in Yunmeng City back then. At the beginning, you were merely a..."

Si Wenyi spoke coldly:

"Just a military guard in the Logistics Department."

Shen Yiwei looked at Si Wenyi:

"I... didn't mean it like that."

Si Wenyi kept his head lowered, continuing to open a document:

"I forced Li Zhiyi into the military; I used my position to bully others and became the kind of person Chen Yan hates the most.

If Li Zhiyi wants to kill me, I will just die; you don't need to worry about it."

Shen Yiwei's eyes paused:

"How is that possible?"

"You are my subordinate; I will go and discuss this with Li Zhiyi!"

"I will bear the consequences of your mistake."

Si Wenyi revealed a smile:

"There is no need. I know that I was the one who did wrong, and I often regret it too.

I have been asking myself, if it were Chen Yan, what would he do? He simply... would not decide a person's fate over a piece of clothing."

Si Wenyi lowered her eyes to look at the documents on the table, her nose tip gently brushing against the paper surface, her eyelashes trembling, her lips pressed into a pale line, her eyes filled with unconcealable melancholy.

Shen Yiwei looked at Si Wenyi like this and was unable to speak for a moment:

"I will go find Li Zhiyi—no, I will go find the Xia Yue King."

Shen Yiwei left the room.

Si Wenyi's gaze turned hollow:

"Why bother?"

She parted her vermilion lips slightly, and every moment spent with Chen Yan surfaced in her mind.

She was like a humble bystander, watching him walk further and further away, yet fantasizing that she could get closer and closer to him.

There were countless times she wanted to say something aloud, while he was still by her side.

But she saw San Jin, she saw Lu Jianxia, she saw Ke Qingxuan, and she saw all sorts of women.

She knew that her best choice was simply to watch.

What she possessed was Chen Yan's history.

Even if it was just a piece of clothing, she felt it could not be insulted.

She cautiously protected things that were not important to begin with, but to her, that was enough.

"Actually, I..."

Si Wenyi lifted her head:

"Have long felt that living has no meaning."

Si Wenyi closed her eyes; the memory in the deepest part of her mind was like a gemstone constantly polished until it became clear and crystalline.

Every moment was as brand new as the first.

"Sister Siwen," a voice rang out.

Si Wenyi revealed a smile; it was as if Chen Yan were still alive.

"Sister Siwen, you've lost weight," another voice rang out.

Si Wenyi was stunned; these were not words that should have been in her memory.

She opened her eyes hazily, and before her stood a man with red clothes, red hair, and red eyes.