Chapter 63: The Drought Demon King Falls, a Monument is Erected in the Western Desert

After the three Sealing Nails were reactivated, the Drought Demon King was suppressed.

The heat waves across the hundred-li Red Earth suddenly dropped, and the Han Ba Army's movements became sluggish.

But to completely eliminate the Drought Demon King, someone must enter the abyss and sever its core bone.

The Green Blade Camp requested battle.

The Sword Pavilion requested battle.

Xie Tingxue also prepared to enter the abyss.

Jiang Che finally stepped forward.

Everyone looked at him.

Xiao Cheng'an urged, "Young Master Jiang, we can still fight."

Jiang Che nodded: "I know."

"Then you..."

Jiang Che said: "You have already opened the path."

"I will deliver the final strike."

Xie Tingxue did not stop him.

Because she knew clearly that the Drought Demon King's core bone held the power of the Sky Patrol Edict of Wrath, which no ordinary Sword Cultivator could completely sever.

Jiang Che walked to the edge of the Drought Bone Abyss.

The abyss bottom was a sea of black and red, like a massive, cracked mouth.

The Green Bamboo Sword was drawn from its sheath.

This time, the new green on the blade was deeper than it had been in the Southern Border.

But it was still far from its peak.

The Drought Demon King's voice came from the abyss bottom:

"Jiang Che, you said you could not wield the sword, yet you have come in the end."

Jiang Che said: "They have already won."

"I am merely adding the final stroke."

The Drought Demon King sneered: "Without you, they still could not kill me."

Jiang Che shook his head.

"Without them, I would not even have had the chance to stand here."

He leaped into the abyss.

The heat waves at the bottom were like a furnace.

The walls were embedded with countless withered bones; in the center stood a tall crimson skeleton, its eye sockets burning with Heaven Fire.

The Drought Demon King.

It was originally the remains of an Ancient Drought Demon, awakened by the Sky Patrol Edict of Wrath, and had become a king by borrowing the resentment of the Western Desert.

Seeing Jiang Che, the Drought Demon King raised its hand, and the entire abyss bottom turned into a sea of fire.

Jiang Che did not rush to strike.

He walked step by step through the sea of fire.

The Green Bamboo Sword Intent protected his entire body.

The Drought Demon King mocked: "Do you see? The suffering of this land is not only due to the Upper Realm."

"The Old Dynasty neglected the seals."

"The powerful families seized the water."

"Merchants hoarded grain."

"The common people fought over scraps."

"Your so-called Human Realm is not clean."

Jiang Che said: "I know."

"Then why do you still protect it?"

Jiang Che looked up.

"Because the Human Realm is not clean, it must be governed."

"Not handed over to you to be burned to ash."

The Drought Demon King laughed, and crimson fire in its chest condensed into a golden seal.

That was a fragment of the Sky Patrol Edict of Wrath.

"But they will betray you."

"They will doubt you."

"They will steal grain when hungry, kneel to Heaven when afraid, and forget the dead once at peace."

Jiang Che fell silent for a moment.

"Perhaps."

"Then do you still believe?"

Jiang Che gripped the Green Bamboo Sword tightly.

"I do not believe they will never be wrong."

"I believe that after they are wrong, they can still be questioned."

"They can still change."

"They can still stand up."

The Drought Demon King's eye sockets flared with violently dancing flames.

It suddenly realized that Jiang Che's Sword Intent was different from before.

The Jiang Che of the past struck down whenever there was injustice.

The Jiang Che of now remained sharp, yet possessed a new resilience.

Like bamboo.

Unbreakable.

Unburnable.

Jiang Che drew his sword.

The Green Bamboo Sword pierced the Heavenly Decree talisman seal on the Drought Demon King's chest.

Crimson fire lashed back, burning Jiang Che's sleeve to ash.

His arm skin cracked, yet he did not retreat.

"The Heavenly Patrol sent you to chaos the Human Realm."

"Then take a message back for him."

The Green Bamboo Sword Intent erupted.

"The Human Realm will be in chaos."

"But it is not for you to govern."

The talisman seal shattered.

The Drought Demon King let out a piercing shriek.

Its bones cracked inch by inch.

The sea of fire at the bottom of the Abyss extinguished.

When Jiang Che withdrew his sword, the Drought Demon King was reduced to a wisp of residual fire.

It whispered, "The Heavenly Patrol... will not let you go..."

Jiang Che replied calmly, "Nor do I intend to let him go."

The residual fire died out.

The Drought Bone Abyss fell completely silent.

Outside the Abyss, the rain fell harder.

When Jiang Che walked out of the Drought Bone Abyss, the Western Desert refugees and the disaster relief team stood in the rain watching him.

No one knelt.

They simply bowed their heads and clasped their hands.

Xiao Cheng'an stepped forward, soaked to the skin.

"Young Master, has the debt of the Western Desert been repaid?"

Jiang Che looked at him.

"No."

Xiao Cheng'an's face turned slightly pale.

Jiang Che continued, "A debt cannot be repaid in a single battle."

"In the future, digging wells, dividing water, governing officials, disaster relief, and changing taxes must all be repaid slowly."

Xiao Cheng'an fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I will do it."

On the day the Western Desert erected the stele, the rain stopped.

The stele was inscribed with:

"The Drought Bone Abyss opened, leaving a thousand li of Red Earth."

"The Three Nails of the Human Realm have restarted; the people are no longer sacrificed to Heaven."

"The Crime Clan pays its old debts in blood; the rain of the Western Desert returns to the Human Realm."

Beside the stele, Xiao Cheng'an personally planted a Poplar tree.

Lin Xiaoman asked, "Why plant a tree?"

Xiao Cheng'an replied, "Bamboo is not suitable for the Western Desert."

"The Poplar can survive."

Jiang Che smiled.

Indeed.

Across the Human Realm, different things ought to grow in different places.