Chapter 870: New Memories

Sensing the situation on Li Zhiyi's side, Chen Yan frowned slightly.

At this moment, Li Zhiyi had already led an army composed of Will Warriors toward the border of Qi Province.

Everything was excellent at the start.

But like Chen Yan, after Li Zhiyi entered the Realm-Breaking stage, he also possessed that near-divine sensing ability.

Within the Qilong River, where the malice was most concentrated, Li Zhiyi sensed an incredibly powerful Ancient Divine Beast.

The Nether Nightmare Beast.

In other words, a supreme Ancient Divine Beast was hunting Li Zhiyi within the state-within-a-state.

This was somewhat troublesome.

If it were a sudden encounter with a supreme Ancient Divine Beast, Li Zhiyi could escape by relying on his five paths of Annihilation Will.

But if he were to encounter a supreme Ancient Divine Beast that had been hunting him all along...

Chen Yan shook his head.

The four great Ancient Divine Beasts of the outside world were definitely World-Unifying Boundary-Suppressors, meaning they were among the top fifty powerhouses in the world.

And he, this true self, was only ranked fiftieth, and had just been pushed down.

Thus, Li Zhiyi, a newborn body possessing only one path of Chen Yan's Will, could not possibly be a match for a supreme Ancient Divine Beast.

Therefore, the approaching Great Tide was of vital importance.

Chen Yan's face was devoid of joy or sorrow as he took all the Realm Fruits out from his spatial ring.

Two thousand three hundred of them.

The harvest this time was bountiful, all of it goodwill cast toward Chen Yan by Mu Yun Hai.

But Mu Yun Hai was, after all, the fifth of the Seven Great Dao Children; two thousand three hundred Realm Fruits were not actually much of a matter to him.

One could even say it was too few.

After all, the power of the Yun Hai Dao Fu was so vast that even bringing out hundreds of thousands of Realm Fruits would be nothing.

Chen Yan's eyes were calm; he could roughly guess some of Mu Yun Hai's intentions.

Mu Yun Hai wanted Chen Yan to go to the Yun Hai Dao Fu in person; otherwise, he would only give Chen Yan minor favors.

Chen Yan naturally did not care.

If he were to go to the Yun Hai Dao Fu in person, it would certainly be when Chen Yan's strength absolutely crushed Mu Yun Hai's.

Soon, Chen Yan refined these two thousand three hundred Realm Fruits into medicinal pills and swallowed them.

Hum!

Pure energy flowed like water through Chen Yan's limbs and bones, finally converging toward the one red and one blue status-positions at the center of Chen Yan's brow.

Following that, hazy mist drifted from Chen Yan's body, and brilliant radiance emerged from his entire being, full of divine wonder.

And the two status-position crystals deep within Chen Yan's brow became increasingly solid.

At this moment.

A strange feeling struck again.

When Chen Yan opened his eyes again, he had soul-traversed into that body once more.

"Jilie..."

He choked, trembling as he spoke these two words, watching with his own eyes as the woman he loved most was absorbed completely by the great tree that had grown up before him.

Divine light illuminates the forbidden land, a heaven-covering canopy emerges.

Upon the branches, two fruits radiating brilliant divine light were crystal clear, dispelling the black fog.

He gazed at these two holy fruits, his mouth agape.

He knew Jilie's dream had finally been realized, yet it was difficult for a trace of a smile to appear in his eyes.

He looked at Xiao Fan, who sat in a wheelchair behind him, already listless, and sighed with the weariness of old age and the encroaching gloom:

"I... I have lost Jilie..."

Crack, crack...

Yet, he saw that from the holy tree that had dispersed the malice, branches suddenly extended downward, binding together like stairs to reach his feet.

He stood stunned, choking, unable to step onto them.

He seemed to feel the warmth coming from Jilie.

He had once said that Jilie was worthless compared to his dream.

But when he was in despair over the truth of the world, the only person he could think of was Jilie.

When the two fruits that Jilie had said could change the future were right before his eyes.

What he thought of, in the end, was still only Jilie.

The woman he had once thought worthless and could discard at any time had dealt him a heavy blow upon her death.

He hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he only walked up the branch stairs and took the two holy fruits radiating intense light into his hands.

And the moment he plucked the holy fruits, the entire great tree withered visibly to the naked eye.

Under his disbelieving gaze, it turned into flying ash and dissipated.

There, it was as if no great tree had ever pushed through the soil to grow, and no woman had ever waited for decades as if they were a single day.

There was nothing.

What remained were all illusions.

He held the two fruits in his hands, feeling the warmth lingering upon them, closed his eyes, and clear tears flowed slowly out.

"The beauty nourished it with her flesh; these two fruits are the beauty's flesh and blood. How could I commit the act of devouring flesh and blood?"

His hands trembled, and he dared not consume the fruits in his embrace.

Soon, he pushed Xiao Fan and left this forbidden land once again.

The tears in his eyes did not stop; they flowed and flowed.

He thought of the pile of withered bones remaining in his younger sister's grave.

He thought of his parents, whom he had never seen again, who had withered away and died in the waiting and longing of each passing day, living a life of solitude.

He thought of his own life of military service, having seen many people and lost many people.

He thought of Jilie.

In the past, this woman had once said she would accompany him until the end of his days.

His eyes were blurred with tears; perhaps because he had never shed tears in his entire life, this time it was as if he had to shed all the tears of a lifetime at once.

He was the Lord of Thought-Power, he was the Sovereign of the Bright Kingdom, he was the savior of the human race, the beginning of the future, and the most noble in the human world.

He had nothing.

Until one day.

He looked up at the vast sky, speechless for a long time, and finally murmured bitterly:

"How vast is the heaven and earth, alone I am filled with sorrow... and tears fall..."

He questioned himself for a long time, a very, very long time.

What exactly led to all of this, and what exactly had he done wrong?

He returned to the palace.

Everyone felt that he had changed.

He gazed at the court officials and spoke calmly:

"I am still alive because Heaven will not let me die; Heaven tells me that as long as I live for one day, I must slaughter all the Ancient Divine Beasts in the world!"

Some wanted to speak but hesitated, some offered earnest advice, and some were afraid.

They believed that things were already very good as they were.

Looking at the civil and military officials, he laughed out loud:

"Born as a human, one must realize the mandate of Heaven!

If you have a blade, then slash the Ancient Divine Beasts; if you have nothing, then strike them!

If both arms are broken, your mouth can still be used!

Gnaw their skin with your teeth, lick their blood with your tongue, and eat their flesh with your belly!

Those who advocate for peace with the Ancient Gods shall be executed!"

That night.

There was sorrow throughout the Wang Cheng, and no one knew how many people were killed.

Those who dared not make an enemy of the Ancient Divine Beasts were either killed or imprisoned.

He understood that the human race's fear of the Ancient Divine Beasts would not disappear.

Then he would become an existence even more terrifying than the Ancient Divine Beasts.

He established the Anti-Traitor Guard.

To arrest treacherous sycophants to restore order, and to manage the Imperial Prison to handle special cases.

All who were dissatisfied with him died.

Within the Wang Cheng, heads rolled.

He created the Nurturing Institute.

All those in the world with superior aptitude were required to enter it to bear and raise children.

He needed the most powerful human legion.

He could tolerate his subordinates losing their personality and their ethics.

All he wanted was a heart sworn to exterminate the Ancient Divine Beasts of the world.

He founded various academies to study the secrets of the Ancient Divine Beasts and the mysteries of Thought-Power.

He was at times demonic, at times cold, and at times insane.

Within the Wang Cheng, Ancient Divine Beasts were publicly tortured and screamed every day, the sound of their wailing echoing for hundreds of miles.

People saw Ancient Divine Beasts subjected to iron brushes, their flesh scraped away by executioners bit by bit until the flesh was gone and the bones were exposed, finally drawing their last breath.

They also saw Ancient Divine Beasts subjected to being torn apart by chariots, their flesh and blood splattering, while their malice was suppressed by Thought-Masters.

Every day was like this, every night was like this.

The Sovereign's hatred for the Ancient Gods was extreme and beyond imagination.

All the officials of the world were his tools, and all the common people of the world were his fodder.

He became the most terrifying tyrant in everyone's eyes.

Everyone knew that one day in the future, this tyrant would lead the entire Bright Kingdom to destruction.

Yet no one resisted.

He began to guide and educate, beginning to modify the concepts of the young.

The Bright Kingdom took pride in killing Ancient Divine Beasts and took glory in abusing them.

A person's life, if not ended on the road to exterminating Ancient Divine Beasts, would be the most lowly way to die.

His madness, like a plague, began to spread.

Some royal officials wished for his death, hoping for his demise day and night.

But day after day passed.

He was like the rising sun, never extinguished.

Until seventy years later.

His hair was white, he was frail and old, yet he wore black armor, held a great spear, and rode a horse while looking up at the sky.

Behind him followed Xiao Fan.

Two dying old men, just like in the past, set sail once again.

Looking at the five million valiant and spirited troops behind him, a powerful brilliance erupted in his eyes.

"Set off, exterminate the evil!"