[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-peace-decree":3,"chapter-the-peace-decree-the-peace-decree-chapter-109":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Peace Decree",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2328284,4553,"Chapter 109: Source-Original Form, Crimson Dragon Soars","the-peace-decree-chapter-109",109,"\u003Cp>The temperature around them rose instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu tried to dodge, but it was already too late—the Qilin, which should have been firmly restrained, had somehow risen and stood behind him, mouth open. Li Guanyi twisted Hou Zhongyu’s wrist with his free hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he leaped backward, drew his knees in, and planted both feet squarely on Hou Zhongyu’s chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He released his grip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His legs snapped out with explosive force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu suddenly realized that even though his spells had temporarily granted him the strength and physique of a high-level martial cultivator, he was still an old man who had spent years seated in study—clumsy in controlling his own power, ignorant of how to deflect, redirect, or absorb force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a three-year-old swinging a great hammer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi’s strike sent him reeling three steps back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the next instant, blazing Qilin fire descended, forming a pillar of flame that engulfed Hou Zhongyu. The heat instantly crystallized the blue stone floor beneath them; Li Guanyi was forced back, arms crossed against the heatwave, his Golden Guard armor nearly melting into an iron furnace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Guanyi soon realized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu was not dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flames spewed as his skin carbonized and rapidly regenerated, his face wrinkled tightly as he endured the Qilin fire, pinned to the ground yet still rolling free. The Qilin remained restrained—able to strike, but unable to pursue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi’s head throbbed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He watched as the sorcerer’s flesh blackened and cracked, revealing skin still steaming beneath, alive—his eye sockets hollowed like skulls, visibly healing before his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A third-tier sorcerer is this hard to kill!?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No—this was no ordinary third-tier sorcerer. Li Guanyi remembered what Xue Lao had told him: some cultivators linger at every level, pursuing the absolute limit of their current stage—not extending their path, but widening it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This state must mean they had perfected the cultivation of [Immortality] and [Vitality].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a Buddhist Vajra who had forged a Vajra Prajna body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi snapped to action, lunging forward, reaching out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He seized the tripod beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swung it up, stomped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the floor shattered beneath his feet, his raised arm brought the massive tripod—large as an embrace—crashing down. With a thunderous crash, the stone tripod shattered; Hou Zhongyu staggered, his skull caved in, yet still healing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi’s Qi-seeing technique revealed an unextinguished core of energy in the old sorcerer’s chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He charged forward, flipped the tripod over, and slammed it into Hou Zhongyu, knocking him down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Hou Zhongyu could use his spells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the blow was devastating, it was like striking armor—the tripod shattered, yet the old sorcerer rose again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Almost instinctively,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi drew his short sword from his waist, gripped the hilt with both hands, and drove it straight into Hou Zhongyu’s heart. The spell that had once deflected blades suddenly failed—there was no resistance at all. His weapon pierced straight into Hou Zhongyu’s chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spell was severed, bones sliced open, as smoothly as rotting earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu’s body froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his mouth, slowly lowered his head, and stared at the short sword in Li Guanyi’s hand. Qi burst forth, shattering the cloth wrapped around the blade, revealing its ancient, simple inscription—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Autumn Water】.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu’s vocal cords were destroyed; he could only rasp:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Autumn Water… without trace…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi withdrew the blade from his vital point. Where the wound had been, only pale flesh remained—not a drop of blood. Three breaths passed before blood finally seeped out. The blade’s surface was clear and tranquil, like a pool of autumn water, utterly free of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi kicked Hou Zhongyu in the chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forcibly unleashed Chen Duke’s ultimate technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Shatter Mountains】!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A shockwave erupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu was thrown back, stumbling to the ground. His newly healed meridians shattered once more. Even this one of the world’s greatest sorcerers now had no capacity to counterattack. In this moment, he finally understood why martial cultivators obsessed over killing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without any means to protect oneself, even the strongest vitality is merely hard to kill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This truly is an age of chaos…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu sighed, watching the young man recede from view.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anger and hatred vanished. He closed his eyes, becoming again the child trembling on the battlefield, watching snow fall—his father, mother, and sister dead, and he did not want to die. Snow drifted down, and someone came with an umbrella, reaching out a hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The great sorcerer, his body nearly drained of blood, whispered softly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master… I’m cold…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He reached out, touching the warm glow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOM!!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qilin fire rained down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Hou Zhongyu had no strength to resist. The third-tier sorcerer, who had pursued the extreme of [Vital Immortality], the orphan rescued from a snow-covered battlefield by his teacher, died in endless flames.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi staggered and sat down, gasping for breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blue stone floor had melted and crystallized. Hou Zhongyu’s remains held together for over a dozen breaths before slowly dissolving. Li Guanyi grimaced—he realized how formidable sorcerers who reached this level truly were.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Truly… hard to kill.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for the palace, if not for the array and the Qilin—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A common third-tier martial cultivator, even a general of a nation’s cavalry, might not have killed this sorcerer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt more strongly than ever that pure cultivation base or realm alone could not determine life or victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi did not pause to recover his Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He retook control of the array, sensing no one approaching. Though puzzled, he fell silent for now. Clearly, beyond the [Four Symbols Sealing Array], there was another array—[Qi-Condensing Array]—hiding the Qilin’s aura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A array originally meant to conceal the noise of extracting the Qilin’s blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now it also masked the brief slaughter in the Qilin Palace. Li Guanyi rose and studied the Qilin, which had just unleashed two attacks. He began attempting to lift another layer of the sealing array. The Qilin had been suppressed for ten years, and previously had given half its accumulated power to Li Guanyi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, after two attacks, it was utterly exhausted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It sat on the ground, watching Li Guanyi unseal the array, and spoke calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Leave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I cannot go with you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi kept working, unsealing part of the array before stopping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin continued: “I have seen that emperor. I have seen many emperors. Each one is the same. If I escaped, anyone who entered this palace within the next month would almost certainly die—some would be interrogated.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The emperors differ in appearance, but their actions are identical. It makes me think they are the same person, reborn endlessly in young heirs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“About the secret hidden within me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Their tyranny has always been: kill them all rather than let one slip away.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I leave, no one can protect you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi said: “I know. I only wanted to ease your suffering…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He withdrew his hand. Li Guanyi understood what the Qilin said: if the Qilin left today, the emperor would kill him—even the Xue family could not save him. Worse still, if the Xue family intervened, it would only deepen the emperor’s suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since ancient times, the words [Immortality] have stirred the emperor’s heart most deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi said: “I will unseal the array to the third level. You will still be bound, but you can breathe and slowly heal. As for taking you away—I’ve thought long and hard. There is only one circumstance where you can leave without implicating me—or those who helped me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Unless, at that time, I am not here at all—I am right under the emperor’s nose, and he can never blame me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And at that time, all eyes across the land and in Chen Guo are fixed elsewhere—even the palace’s top experts will have no attention to spare for this place. No one can stop you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi paused, then said: “The Great Sacrifice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin’s voice grew low: “The Great Sacrifice… yes. It has been ten years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chen Guo’s Great Sacrifice is about to begin again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your parents died during the last Great Sacrifice. They added a rare substance to the ritual wine—non-poisonous, but it disrupted our fortune. We fought desperately, yet could not break free. The royal family’s top experts all came.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your parents died during the great sacrifice ten years ago—they added a rare substance from across the land to the ritual wine, not poisonous, but one that disrupted our fortune. We fought with all our strength, yet could not break free—the imperial family’s top experts all came.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin’s voice faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi reached out, standing where he could touch the Qilin’s horn, and gently tapped it: “I will find a way to take you away, to slip past their notice. But until then, please endure a little longer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only sixteen days remain. Sixteen days from now, I will find a way to open the array.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You must seize that moment and break free.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin bowed its head low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi thought again, then said: “As for this incident, I need you to slightly damage the Qilin Palace—erase all traces of my fight with Hou Zhongyu, and make it seem as if Hou Zhongyu’s death was caused by your breaking the array.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry—I’ll leave several array nodes, just as Hou Zhongyu did.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The emperor’s other sorcerers will come to repair the array, but they won’t notice these seven nodes. This time, I’ll place the seven nodes here—on the surface, they appear sealed by the Four Symbols Sealing Array, but in truth, they are protected.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man gripped the broken sword and traced a modified array pattern on the ground, explaining it to the Qilin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin, a celestial beast of innate wisdom, quickly understood Li Guanyi’s plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi dropped the sword, exhaled, and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, it was the Qilin who broke free. I am merely a Golden Guard who heard the noise and rushed in—only to be driven back by a blast of Qilin fire, my sword shattered, my armor melted. Hou Zhongyu, the sorcerer, died loyal to his country and his sovereign.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heroically.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One sentence from Li Guanyi sealed the fate of the dead great sorcerer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Qilin stays, Hou Zhongyu dies, Li Guanyi gains great merit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Qilin escapes, everyone in the Qilin Palace will die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin suddenly laughed. It gazed at Li Guanyi, and as it laughed, its flames trembled: “Your nature is unlike your father’s, unlike your mother’s. It reminds me of that little girl from the Murong family.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Qilin escapes, everyone in the Qilin Palace, from top to bottom, will die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin suddenly laughed, gazing at Li Guanyi; as it laughed, the flames on its body flickered: “Your character is nothing like your father’s or your mother’s—it’s very much like that little Murong girl.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi’s eyes flickered as he dismantled the array and asked, “Was my mother also of the Murong family?” The Qilin thought a moment, then replied, “In a sense—your mother’s mother was a disciple of the Murong family, so by your mother’s line, she is merely a relative.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But your mother’s maternal grandfather held an exalted status within the Murong family and doted on her deeply.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And your mother had an extraordinary talent for music and chess. The Murong family valued her greatly; back then, that young girl of the Murong family constantly begged your mother to teach her all manner of arts—and yet, she seemed even more gifted than your mother, advancing rapidly in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi said, “My aunt also taught me music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin said, “Really?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That makes sense…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, it didn’t know how to continue. It remembered many, many years ago, when that woman had taught Murong Qiushui music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Later, when Murong Qiushui grew up, she taught Li Guanyi these same things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wind of Jiangnan still blew, the chess manuals remained unchanged, and the sound of fingers brushing the strings was still exactly as it had been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the one who had once guided her hand by hand was gone forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That girl of years past looked at her sister’s child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She spoke the very words she had once used to teach herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then she watched the boy’s similar yet much younger brows furrow, just as she once had, wearing that same look of exasperation. Back then, she had breathed Jiangnan’s breeze, unaware of the emotions stirring within her heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin, as a divine omen, could deeply empathize with human feelings, so all it could do was sigh. Li Guanyi rose and swiftly ransacked Hou Zhongyu’s belongings, finding several jade vials of pills, some cultivation scriptures, and letters and scrolls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi wrapped these items in a waterproof ox-hide cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tied them with rope, wrapped stones around them, and hurled them straight into a well within the Qilin Palace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would retrieve them later, when it was safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hou Zhongyu’s alchemical arts had been difficult to overcome when he killed him—but now he was curious. Such a great sorcerer’s written works must be hidden; and any part involving Qilin blood, Li Guanyi could not allow to remain in the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having finished this, Li Guanyi gripped his sword and said, “Then I’m leaving. Afterward, you may breathe fire freely, as you please.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin rose and spoke slowly, “Come here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The youth hesitated, then stepped to the Qilin’s side. The Qilin gazed at Li Guanyi, then took two steps forward. The patterns on the bronze pillar glowed brightly, chains tightened under strain, and the Qilin lowered its head, gently touching its forehead to Li Guanyi’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without sound or warning, a divine aura flowed and settled upon Li Guanyi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long while, the Qilin lifted its head and said, “In the earliest age, humanity’s ancestors learned cultivation from heaven and earth, and from the primordial hundred spirits, they found divine aura—gaining the breath and recognition of divine beasts, fighting alongside them. This was the original Law Form.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around Li Guanyi, the aura took form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Qilin stood quietly there, its presence thick with potent energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin said, “What you must do is equally dangerous.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I now fulfill the act of our primordial ancestors—I make a pact with you, transforming my divine aura into a blade, entrusting it to your use. This is the original Law Form…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin Law Form let out a low roar and vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi clenched his fist, pressing it to his chest, and whispered, “Rest easy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qilin sank back into slumber. Li Guanyi turned and strode out. After he left, the Qilin’s flames began to flow, burning everything around it. Li Guanyi looked up. More than two hours had passed—the sky had turned dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi pressed his lips together, not telling the Qilin that one problem still troubled him: if he was gone for two full hours, the guards would suspect his movements. If this suspicion reached the Emperor’s ears, he would surely be questioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, suspicion needs no evidence—only interrogation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed a plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pressed his palm to the bronze ding on his chest, thinking how to resolve this. The power left by the Qilin during its first bond still lingered—fiery and warm. At that moment, the bronze ding suddenly hummed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It began accumulating jade fluid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Crimson Dragon Law Form also flared to life. Li Guanyi froze, eyes widening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon breaking into the Second Level, the bronze ding naturally accumulated jade fluid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Crimson Dragon Law Form glowing—that didn’t mean…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brother Yue?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why was he here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Guanyi’s mind suddenly flashed back to the words Hou Zhongyu and the Empress’s maid had spoken—“These days are precisely when the Jinwu Guard rotates…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Jinwu Guard rotation was ideal for secret talks—and for certain covert operations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this was the final rotation before the Great Sacrifice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it coincidence—or was the Emperor luring someone into a trap?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The night was long. A streak of fire exploded across the black sky. The Crimson Dragon Law Form’s master was discovered and had no choice but to act—his Law Form surged wildly, asserting its presence, then crashed down with crushing force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Powerful qi surged, accompanied by screams. A deep, thunderous voice roared:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jinwu Guard?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“GET OUT!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Yue Qianfeng!\u003C\u002Fp>",2716,"2026-06-20T19:20:33.127Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","307610ef6f8a4dc9a46e93a89f1d11955a9fb9a56ca155a88ad98a7820938bff","the-peace-decree-chapter-110","the-peace-decree-chapter-108",593,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-peace-decree-cover.jpg"]