Chapter 872: Hunter and Prey

The outside world.

The border between Shed Continent and Vessel Continent.

On one side is a chaotic world shrouded in malicious black fog, while on the other are green hills, clear waters, and a beautiful human realm.

If one looks closely.

That malicious black fog, originating from the Qilong River in Vessel Continent, is devouring the surrounding world like an ancient, savage beast.

Deep within the mountains.

Camouflaged tents are situated among rock crevices and tree shadows, blending in with the vegetation.

Between the tents, military guards occasionally walk by.

The sound of wind rustling leaves drowns out the light clinking of equipment; the entire mountain forest seems to remain in slumber.

Inside these tents, array patterns flicker, causing the space inside and outside the tents to appear completely different.

Within every tent, blood-Qi and body-tempering energy are filled to a terrifying degree.

Military guards sit cross-legged in silence, absorbing the energy opportunities within the tents.

At the center of the tents, a thin blood vessel continuously spits out rich energy opportunities for people to cultivate.

Operations Department.

Inside a massive tent, a huge blood-red array disc hangs in the air, with a scarlet eye upon it, looking grim and terrifying.

Over a dozen array martial artists simultaneously employ their methods, operating this god-level grand array.

"Not simple, not simple; this Eternal Calamity Reversing Blood Grand Array is truly astonishing. It can actually extract the energy of all things in the world and convert it into blood-Qi and body-tempering energy for people to cultivate."

A white-haired Array Grandmaster exclaims, a sharp glint flashing in their turbid eyes.

"I heard this is a divine array created by Princess Chen Yu."

Someone says in a low voice.

"It is not Chen Yu."

A woman in a red dress speaks, and the other array martial artists all fall silent, looking at her.

At this moment, this woman in the red dress is the main force operating the 【Eternal Calamity Reversing Blood】 grand array.

More people know that this person is actually Princess Chen Yu's long-time master, Ji Yannan.

Ji Yannan, dressed in red, glances at the various array martial artists, her gaze inadvertently falling upon the red-clad young man standing at the tent flap, and she says calmly:

"This grand array was created by the Heavenly God General before his death. The world says my disciple Chen Yu is an unparalleled array genius.

Actually..."

Ji Yannan is silent for a long moment:

"Chen Yan is."

As her voice falls, there is a silence within the tent.

Gradually, the sound of sobbing actually arises.

Li Zhiyi, with red hair and red eyes, stands calmly at the tent flap, looking at the forest scenery outside, quietly listening to Ji Yannan's voice, without any unusual expression.

A nation within a nation has appeared in Great Xia's Vessel Continent.

The Three-Headed Black Dragon has declared itself king, intending to let this kingdom of ancient divine beasts gradually annex Great Xia from the inside out.

And Li Zhiyi has been honored as the Great General of Evil Extermination, leading one hundred thousand Will-path martial artists to come and pacify the nation within a nation.

But ever since the great army arrived at the border of Vessel Continent, Li Zhiyi has remained inactive.

Instead, he has the accompanying array martial artists operate the 【Eternal Calamity Reversing Blood】 array disc, extracting the malice from within the nation within a nation and converting it into energy opportunities for all the military guards to cultivate.

After all, it is a divine array; the energy opportunities provided by 【Eternal Calamity Reversing Blood】 have raised the strength of the entire Evil Extermination Army by a level.

But everyone understands that even if 【Eternal Calamity Reversing Blood】 is heaven-defying.

To talk of draining the malice of the entire nation within a nation is still somewhat of a fantasy.

It is only because Li Zhiyi has sensed a fierce and terrifying existence constantly staring at him from that most dangerous and evil place.

This feeling is too familiar; once, the Underworld Nightmare Beast had hunted Chen Yan in front of the entire world.

It had also suppressed Lu Xunyang together with the Dream-Eating Tapir.

What the Underworld Nightmare Beast was truly fishing for was actually Lu Xunyang.

But if Li Zhiyi were to send troops in just like that, it would only invite too much danger.

It is at this moment that the white-haired Longevity King arrives, and seeing Li Zhiyi, he says in a low voice:

"The Old Master of the Yin family asked me to ask you how much longer it will take."

Li Zhiyi looks toward the Longevity King:

"Half a day will suffice."

Half a day in the outside world is five days in the Evil Realm.

In five days' time, Chen Yan, who is in the Evil Realm, will experience a Great Tide; by then, Chen Yan will be able to obtain more ancient divine aura, and Li Zhiyi will have more certainty on this side.

The Longevity King's eyes show some surprise:

"There is no need to be so anxious; the Old Master of the Yin family is also a reasonable person, it is just that Yin Qingshuang and Yin Youming..."

The Longevity King stops mid-sentence.

Yin Qingshuang and Yin Youming had originally come to Vessel Continent to investigate, but they happened to encounter the Three-Headed Black Dragon announcing the establishment of the nation within a nation to the world, and now their life or death is unknown.

Li Zhiyi's eyes darken slightly.

Yin Youming had once provided him with assistance before he was appointed general.

Yin Qingshuang had followed him during the War of the Five Clans, a comrade-in-arms with whom he had written 'Immortal Together in the Same Book'.

Now, the two of them have likely already perished, and Li Zhiyi feels a sense of distress in his heart.

He looks at the white-haired Longevity King.

Although the Longevity King has a head of white hair, his face is as handsome as a young man's; when he first led his troops to launch a surprise attack on Ji Province, he was truly in high spirits.

But ever since he learned the news of his disciple Qi Fan's death.

Now, there is also a twilight look in the Longevity King's eyes.

Li Zhiyi stood with his hands behind his back, silent for a moment.

"Great General of Evil-Extermination!"

Outside the tent, a low, weathered voice suddenly rang out.

An old man with a hunched body approached; his face was weathered and looked unremarkable, yet a pair of turbid eyes had blood-red light overflowing from them.

The Hidden Clan's old patriarch, Yin Xue.

Yin Qingshuang's father, and also Yin Youming's grandfather.

Li Zhiyi knew even better that this Hidden Clan ancestor was actually an Eighth-Rank powerhouse whom the Great Xia had never publicized to the outside world.

Yin Xue arrived and looked at Li Zhiyi:

"Do you know who this old bag of bones admires and respects most in his life?"

Li Zhiyi said calmly:

"The Patrol Sun Divine General?"

He knew that when it came to reputation, the older generation actually revered Lu Xunyang more.

"No."

Yin Xue slowly shook his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Li Zhiyi:

"The Heavenly Divine General!"

Yin Xue laughed, though there was something sorrowful in this laughter; he stared at Li Zhiyi and said:

"The Great Xia is bullied by the Five Clans precisely because it is too moribund.

Xia Hanzhou is just too weak, so with the state ruler Xia Qi absent, he is like a headless fly, not knowing what to do.

What should be done?

Kill!

Besides killing, what else is there to do?!"

Endless killing intent erupted in the old man's eyes, like an old lion licking blood:

"The Heavenly Divine General possessed a crimson heart, used heavy artifacts to suppress the world, his youthful spirit was like metal and iron; with one breath exhaled, it was a vast future world!

In this chaotic era, even if he were more insane, more cold-blooded, or more violent, this old man would still give him a thumbs up!

It is a pity..."

A desolate look appeared in Yin Xue's eyes:

"It is a pity that he died young.

How many Heavenly Divine Generals can the world have, and how many people can have the spirit of the Heavenly Divine General?

Who in this world can possess the sharpness of the Heavenly Divine General?

The sharpness of the Blood Brand, peerless in the world?

In my view, it cannot even compare to a corner of the Heavenly Divine General's sleeve!

It is a pity that I, this old man, flew to Ji Province that night with everything I had, wishing to live and die with the Heavenly Divine General, to just wipe out the entire Ji Province like that!

But I missed it, I missed it..."

As Yin Xue spoke, he left on his own, shaking his head continuously.

Inside the nearby tents, the high-ranking officials of the Evil-Extermination Army all heard Yin Xue's words and fell into silence.

Anyone could tell that Yin Xue was complaining about Li Zhiyi not advancing the army.

Even if Li Zhiyi had devoured the sharpest Blood Brand in the world, he could not compare to the Heavenly Divine General of the past.

The old man actually just wanted to see the corpses of his daughter and grandson before he died.

He had long since had the heart to die.

But Li Zhiyi led the army here only to remain motionless; one can imagine just how anxious Yin Xue was inside.

He did not utter a single word of abuse.

But every word was saying that Li Zhiyi was inferior to Chen Yan; in front of Chen Yan, Li Zhiyi was as humble as dust.

Even though Li Zhiyi rose in the end times and brought a glimmer of hope to the Great Xia, he was worthless in front of Chen Yan.

He was questioning why Li Zhiyi had not yet advanced the army.

To the side, the Longevity King could only smile bitterly.

The core existences of the Great Xia almost all knew that Li Zhiyi was Chen Yan.

But those like the Hidden Clan had to be kept in the dark.

After all, if the news were to leak, it would only cause greater turmoil.

Li Zhiyi was expressionless.

The next instant, however, he suddenly looked toward a side of the distant sky.

Terrifying gazes spying from afar were sensed by Li Zhiyi.

Within the entire military camp, figures emerged, flew into the high sky, and looked toward that direction.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A storm was coming.

On the calm border of Tui Province, malicious black fog, like a raging sea of fury, suddenly surged over.

A great terror descended.

The thick, ink-black mist surged, swallowing the light of the sky.

Suddenly, jagged beast claws appeared within the mist, and countless Ancient Divine Beasts with green faces and fangs loomed, crossing high mountains and desolate cities, beyond all counting.

Roar!

A low dragon's roar resounded.

Amidst that malicious black mist that blotted out the sky and sun.

A three-headed dragon of heaven-propping size wandered, each twist of its dragon body causing space to tremble, and unknown terror permeated along with the black mist.

Boom, boom, boom!

Above the military camp, hundreds and thousands of figures flew out, staring at the malicious world that had suddenly attacked.

The next moment.

"Damn it!"

Chen Min growled, a ferocious smile already appearing on his face.

The Longevity King, the Blood Sword Saint, and the Old Master of the Yin family stood behind Li Zhiyi, their expressions turning cold one by one.

Yet, they saw.

Before that encroaching malicious black mist.

Figures as thin as kindling stretched for miles; their skin was shriveled and clung to their bones, and dense black spots spread from between their fingers to their necks.

Their bodies were bound by chains, and they were being dragged toward Tui Province by one ferocious Ancient Divine Beast after another.

Their eyes were hollow and lifeless, their lips cracked and oozing blood, yet they did not struggle in the slightest.

Like puppets whose souls had been extracted, an air of hopelessness permeated the deathly silence, and even the wind passing by carried a decaying chill.

Someone raised their head, vaguely seeing Li Zhiyi and the others above Tui Province, opened their mouth, and let out a wailing cry.

"You are courting death!!!"

A military guard saw this scene, his eyes instantly turning red, and a brilliant power of will erupted from his entire body.

"They are all our human kin, they are all our human kin!"

Even the Longevity King, upon seeing this scene, had eyes so red they seemed to bleed, and endless killing intent surged in the depths of his gaze.

Qi Province had fallen, and a large number of Qi Province's inhabitants had left before the Nation-within-a-Nation appeared.

But there were too many people in Great Xia, so inevitably, a small portion had not escaped in time.

No one had expected this.

That there would be so many who hadn't escaped in time, and that they would be captured by the Ancient Divine Beasts to become human shields.

Such an inhumane act had never even been committed by the Five Clans.

But the Ancient Divine Beasts were not human.

In an instant, the fury of the one-hundred-thousand-strong Evil-Subduing Army erupted, and some could no longer suppress their killing intent and wanted to charge forward.

"Good, good, good!"

The Yin family's Old Master, Yin Xue, laughed out loud, his jawline trembling, the rage pent up in his chest no longer suppressible.

Radiance of mental power spilled from his body, gradually manifesting into the phantoms of countless living beings.

The great battle was on the verge of breaking out.

"Great Xia, fall back!"

A low and hoarse hiss resounded.

Within the malicious black mist that occupied the firmament, a dragon head as vast as a mountain peak poked out, its turbid and filthy dragon eyes staring at all the Great Xia powerhouses, finally locking onto Li Zhiyi.

"Fall back, or I will slaughter all these insects!"

In an instant.

The great army shook, and everyone gritted their teeth.

Before the malicious black mist, among the inhabitants bound by chains and already on the verge of death, ten-year-old boys and girls stared blankly at Li Zhiyi and the other sun-like, star-like figures standing in the firmament.

They were terrified, hopeful, and slowly reached out their hands, tears flowing from their eyes.

The longing of their own kin had now become stones in the hearts of the one-hundred-thousand-strong Evil-Subduing Army, pressing down so hard that everyone could not catch their breath.

"Kill all these Ancient Divine Beasts!" Chen Min laughed ferociously, his expression at this moment so terrifying that it was impossible to tell if he was even an Ancient Divine Beast himself.

The Longevity King spoke with sunken eyes:

"I can transform into the Longevity Myriad-Year Cauldron to protect all the captured inhabitants."

The Blood Sword Saint trembled all over, with small blood-colored swords floating beside him.

Yin Xue looked at Li Zhiyi, killing intent flashing in his currently turbid eyes.

Li Zhiyi furrowed his brows, the Martial Dao Destruction Will within his body circulating, his powerful perception piercing through layers of malicious black mist.

Finally, he detected a gaze.

This gaze carried a heavy sense of oppression, like an invisible net wrapping around Li Zhiyi, as if ten thousand fierce beasts were hissing at him.

Ming Yan Ni.