Chapter 338: The Struggle for Fortune

With the discovery of the Xuanyuan Token, it was confirmed that the territory Hua Changxi and her four companions had breached was indeed the City Lord's Prefecture of Xuanyang City.

The City Lord's Prefecture of the largest cultivation city on the Central Continent was not as towering and magnificent as everyone had imagined; instead, it resembled a battlefield ruin, desolate and bleak.

Broken walls and ruins visible everywhere, along with corpses littering the ground, indicated that before it was sealed by dust, this place had suffered a tragic and heroic world-destroying great war.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi recalled the appearance of Danyuan Peak, which had been much the same, filled with traces left by battle: "The invasion war before the extinction of ancient spiritual energy must have been unimaginably brutal."

Yan Zhenzhen nodded; the Qisheng Palace was the best example, with hardly a single intact hall remaining.

If even a sacred land suffered destruction-like damage, other places would only be worse.

After passing through a spatial rift, Hua Changxi and her four companions arrived at this square. Once they obtained the Xuanyuan Token and gained freedom of movement, Hua Changxi and Yan Zhenzhen walked around the square together. At the position due south of the square, where a main gate seemed to be located, they saw a plaque that had fallen to the ground, shattered into several segments.

Hua Changxi and Yan Zhenzhen exchanged a glance, then stepped forward to piece the plaque together.

"Xuan~"

Yan Zhenzhen had just finished piecing together the character 'Xuan'. She glanced at it directly, but her vision immediately went black, and she stumbled, collapsing onto the ground.

Hua Changxi was nearly finished piecing together the character 'Yuan' when she was startled by Yan Zhenzhen. She hurriedly rushed over to help her up, only to discover blood flowing from the corners of Yan Zhenzhen's eyes. "How could this happen?"

At this moment, Yan Zhenzhen felt not only a stabbing pain in her eyes but also dizziness and blurred vision. "Do not look at the characters on the plaque; there is something strange about them."

"What is wrong with you two?"

Just then, Jing Le, having also found a Xuanyuan Token, walked over anxiously.

Yan Zhenzhen still dared not open her eyes. Hua Changxi supported her with one hand while pointing at the fragments of the plaque with the other. "We tried to piece the plaque together, but as soon as Zhenzhen looked at the characters on it, blood started flowing from her eyes."

Jing Le approached the plaque. Upon seeing the assembled character 'Xuan', his eyes also felt a stabbing pain, though he could still endure it.

Seeing Jing Le crouch down to continue assembling the plaque, Hua Changxi helped Yan Zhenzhen sit to the side, then went over to assist. "You looked at the characters on the plaque; are you alright?"

Jing Le replied, "It is manageable; I can still bear it."

Hua Changxi did not look directly at the characters on the plaque, scanning them only with her peripheral vision. Even so, she felt a stabbing pain in her eyes. "These are not simple characters, are they?"

Jing Le nodded slightly, quickly assembling the plaque. "I once read a record in an ancient text stating that the central cities of the Five Continents were all named by the hand of the Four Spirit Emperors."

"For the Zhu Que City, Xuanwu City, Qinglong City, and Company Commander City of the East, West, South, and North Continents respectively, their city names and the plaques of their City Lord's Prefectures were undoubtedly personally bestowed by the Four Spirit Emperors."

"I suspect the Central Continent is no exception. The characters on the plaque of the Xuanyang City Lord's Prefecture should also be the work of one of the Emperors."

"Handwritten characters of an Emperor, even after countless years, are not something we Nascent Soul cultivators can look upon directly."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi nodded.

Through the joint efforts of the two, the plaque was assembled—Xuanyang Prefecture!

Having learned from Yan Zhenzhen's lesson, Hua Changxi was very careful not to look directly at the three characters, but Jing Le looked without any scruples; not only did he look, he studied them carefully.

Hua Changxi shouted a warning: "Jing Le, your eyes are bleeding! Stop looking!"

Jing Le's mind was completely occupied by the three characters 'Xuanyang Prefecture'; he could not hear Hua Changxi's voice and remained entirely unaware of the blood constantly flowing from his eyes.

At this moment, what he saw were not three characters at all.

The three characters had transformed into a string of golden runes. The runes twisted and shifted in the air, finally condensing into an earth-yellow qilin.

However, this qilin was in a very poor state. Not only was it in a deep slumber, but it was also withered and shriveled, appearing completely on the verge of dispersing at any moment.

Seeing Jing Le's life-threatening behavior, Hua Changxi could only resort to physical intervention. She struck him with a knife-hand blow, knocking him to the ground and forcibly pulling his gaze away from the plaque.

"Do you not care about your eyes anymore?"

"Hiss~"

Only then did Jing Le realize his eyes were in excruciating pain.

Seeing him rolling around in pain, Hua Changxi found it somewhat amusing yet speechless. She took out three top-grade Tier Three Vitality Pills and gave them to him to consume.

Tier Three pills had very limited effects on Nascent Soul cultivators; one could only take several to slightly alleviate the pain.

"Zhenzhen, Jing Le, what has happened to you two?"

Tong Yao and Hua Liulang had finally obtained their Xuanyuan Tokens. As soon as they arrived, they saw Yan Zhenzhen and Jing Le with blood flowing from their eyes and were greatly startled.

By now, Yan Zhenzhen was able to open her eyes. "I am fine."

Jing Le said nothing; he closed his eyes to rest, alleviating the pain in his eyes.

Hua Changxi explained the matter of the plaque to Tong Yao and Hua Liulang, instructing them not to look directly at the three characters 'Xuanyang Prefecture'.

Only after Jing Le could slightly open his eyes did Tong Yao ask, "What did you see? How did you end up like this?"

Jing Le did not answer directly, instead saying, "In ancient times, when the human race flourished, the central cities of the Five Continents were all controlled by humans. There is a theory that each central city actually bears the fortune of the human race."

Tong Yao nodded. "I have also seen this theory in ancient texts. What of it?"

Jing Le continued, "The Central Continent lies in the midst of the four other continents, representing the virtue of Earth. The 'Virtue Totem' of Earth is the auspicious beast, the qilin."

"I saw the three characters on the plaque transform into the auspicious qilin beast."

"However, the condition of the qilin beast was very poor."

Hua Changxi could understand every sentence Jing Le spoke, but strung together, they left her confused. She couldn't help but look at Tong Yao, waiting for him to provide an explanation.

Tong Yao indeed began to explain: "Xuanyang Prefecture is the center of Xuanyang City, and Xuanyang City is the center of the Central Continent. Guarded by the Five Great Sacred Lands, and because it suppresses the Demon Prison, Xuanyang City bears a very important responsibility in the conflict between the human and demon races."

"The poor condition of the qilin beast..."

"...likely means that after the Great Extinction, the system of virtuous governance founded upon the Human Dao is collapsing and declining!"

Hua Changxi listened in a daze. "What are you two talking about?"

Tong Yao looked at her, his expression grave. "The conflict between humans and demons continues; it did not disappear because of the Great Extinction. Instead, with the resurgence of spiritual energy, the horn of war has sounded once again."

"The resources of a realm are limited; if the human race occupies more, the demon race naturally occupies less."

"In the Four Spirit Realm, either the human race flourishes, or the demon race flourishes."

Hua Changxi frowned. "Cannot a balance be maintained?"

Tong Yao shook his head. "Demons are bloodthirsty; contention and expansion are their nature. They do not know when to stop, and this is something beyond human power to change."

"The conflict between humans and demons, plainly put, is a struggle between the human and demon races for the fortune of the realm."

"The qilin beast borne by Xuanyang Prefecture represents, to a certain extent, the fortune of the human race. The poor condition of the qilin beast signifies that in the Four Spirit Realm following the resurgence of spiritual energy, the tide has not turned in favor of the human race. The future of humanity remains uncertain."