Chapter 92

After he was finished speaking, Wu Changtian stepped forth to bow. “Greetings to you, Third Prince.”

Cheng Qian coolly observed, finding this strange. What kind of Prince wears dragon robes?

He saw that the features of this ‘Third Prince’ could be described as delicate and pretty, with red lips and pearly teeth. That complicated, oversized robe didn’t look off at all on him. His manner of speech plus bearing had a certain self-humbling courtesy. He looked elegant and smart, yet, at the exact same time, evidently placed no importance on anyone else.

“Oh, you’re exempt from courtesy.” The Third Prince aloofly made a motion to falsely help Wu Changtian up. Upon hearing Yan Zhengming’s rude words, he wasn’t a tiny bit angry, just one hundred percent self-restrained. “Sect Leader Yan?” he asked, with some presence. “Forgive me for being in seclusion too long. I’m not sure which sect your esteemed self is from.”

Yan Zhengming was accustomed to being arrogant. Now, he was meeting a man more arrogant — and even more arrogant-looking, to a high degree — than him. This was practically akin to a big-tailed peacock meeting another of its kind that had an even bigger tail. There was no need to mention how uncomfortable he was on the inside, and adding that onto the fact that he had been trapped in the Ten-Party Array for such a long time, he currently didn’t have a great expression, smiling fakely. “Hmph. I’m but a nameless pawn that doesn’t need to be brought up.”

The Prince’s gaze fell upon the Sect Leader Seal hanging from his neck, and then he let out an ah, as if he had received an epiphany. “So, you’re a descendant of Fuyao. No wonder… as I recall, isn’t this place not too far from Fuyao’s original location? Alas, many people have really been inconvenienced by this, you included.”

Wu Changtian’s expression went grave. “Long ago, you withstood the opinions of the masses to establish the Celestial Divination Bureau, and give us a status that made it easy for us to walk around the human world. Not a one of us is ungrateful, nor are we the type to forget grace and turn against justice. These years, we have been conscientious, never even slightly disobeying the agreement between us and the imperial family. Yet, your actions have been rather unkind, haven’t they, Third Prince?”

Once that was said, neither Yan Zhengming, who had been ignorant since childhood, nor Han Yuan, who had been born a beggar, had any sort of reaction, but Cheng Qian was in the know. When little, he had eavesdropped at the doorway of the old village scholar as he had lectured about history. Upon bringing up the Bureau, the old scholar had only said that the Late Emperor of the time had been unhappy with the citizens thinking solely of immortal cultivation and doing nothing practical the day long. In a moment of rage, he had wanted to ban Daoism, but had ultimately been persuaded by his officials; thus, he had settled for the second best thing by establishing the Bureau, which was specially in charge of managing cultivators.

Cheng Qian had a great memory, and still recalled that the scholar had said that the Late Emperor had come from a military background. Looking at this ‘Third Prince’ before him, though, he felt that he didn’t have the look of one from a martial family. “You’re the Emperor of Wu?” he asked in surprise.

“I’m ashamed to admit it,” the Third Prince smiled, “but that’s my son.”

“…”

That was some seniority!

When he had gone to Fuyao, the grandson of this old thing had been an Emperor of over seventy years of age. Cheng Qian was momentarily unable to add up how old the man was; it was only now that he understood the true meaning of the phrase ‘immortal mountains see no sun or moon’.

“Who are you to care about him?” Han Yuan impatiently asked. “Didn’t you just see, in the Ten-Party Array? This old bag has a huge appetite, and wants to stew us into pills. Heh… tell me this; there was a righteous-pather, a sword cultivator, a gritty stone person, and me, a big devil, that you were so casually trying to cook together in there. Were you not afraid of getting a stomachache?”

At the time, the Ten-Party Array had been completely suppressed and securely sealed by the outer Skeletonizing Array. Even though Cheng Qian had possessed the bell that could control the array, it had been to no effect. The three of them had been constantly watching the outside chaos via Zhe Shi’s ring, as well as simultaneously trying to find a way out of the sealed array like headless flies. Partway through, they had incidentally run into Wu Changtian, and only then had Cheng Qian learned that there was not just that bell within the array — it was unclear what artifact Wu Changtian had used, but he had actually caused the array to ignore him and put out his own candle.

Those circumstances had been unsuitable for internal strife, so the two sides had to form a temporary alliance. Cheng Qian once again released the True Dragon Flag; gathering the power of two dragons’ souls together alongside the demonic dragon’s, he then managed to prop open a tiny slit in the sealed array.

These few, appearing to have arrived like a heavenly army to save the show, were actually in a pretty difficult bind after breaking out.

Wu Changtian placed his hand on his hilt, voice cold. “Third Prince, don’t you feel yourself to have gone into qi deviation?”

The Prince turned to him, the corner of his mouth suddenly upticking. “Changtian, I heard that the Sect Leader has decided on you to be his successor… but is that true? I wonder, has he had the time to tell you about some important things?”

Wu Changtian’s eye slightly twitched. “If he didn’t tell me, how could he possibly tell you?”

The other licked the corner of his lips as he looked at him, his next words full of meaning. “Secrets I want to know are not ones I need to hear from his mouth… alas, your Sect Leader had profound achievements, so it’s a shame that his aptitude was mediocre, and ultimately lacking a layer. Only Tong Ru was once considered the world’s best, and so far, no one else has been able to surpass him in hundreds of years. I’ve long wanted him, but you lot forced him into the Valley of No Sorrow, and I haven’t ever been able to fetch that precious corpse. There was Gu Yanxue, too… but he preferred to be as broken jade and explode himself into pieces, meaning I’ve already missed twice. If I don’t make a move again, I really will age. Every one of you here now is merely passable, but it’s good that there’s so many of you. I’ll just have to take on this difficult task.”

They grasped the implication of those words at the same time. Wu Changtian’s entire body uncontrollably began to tremble.

By the gods, Yan Zhengming thought, there actually is someone in the world that can completely refine other people into pills and eat them?

He swept a look at the Third Prince’s red mouth and white teeth, thinking this to be utterly unbearable. That’s really gross!

“There’s nothing more nefarious than this, right?” Han Yuan asked from the side, straight-faced. “He’s so evil, he puts me to shame.”

The next moment, he suddenly changed face, then coldly critiqued what ‘he’ had just said. “Shut up, moron.”

Wu Changtian abrupt bellowed, then hacked at the Prince’s chest. The latter’s figure was like a ghost’s, floating freely through the air all over the place. “I swallowed all of your Master’s cultivation. Do you think you’re more powerful than he was?”

Wu Changtian’s eyes were crimson red. “Go die—!”

The Prince gently flicked out his sleeve, so gentle, it was like he was only brushing away a flying flower that was in front of him. His form was quick as a startled goose, and he breezily grasped the tip of Wu Changtian’s sword of whirlwind-like power.

“If you want someone to blame, blame all of your predecessors,” the Prince whispered. “They were deceived by Hear the Universe, and signed some stupid Ten-Party Pledge…”

Wu Changtian’s sleeves swelled, and a clapping sound came from his palms. Ebbing wind blew his hems out as he stirred up a vortex of swordwind, then pelted it towards the Prince’s little white face.

Inside of that short sentence, the man had mentioned the two pieces of ‘Hear the Universe’ and ‘Ten-Party Pledge’. Cheng Qian’s heart skipped — he had long been wondering why the forebears of Fuyao had signed for their people to be constrained under the Demon Elimination Seal with the Bureau, and had also linked up a heavy vow with the Sect Leader Seal.

Were those things related to the Pledge?

The array method had been called the Ten-Party Array. The pledge had been called the Ten-Party Pledge. What was the connection between them?

Inside the Array, the demonic cultivator that had been shot with the ‘ear’ from his hand had said ‘Hear the Uni-‘ right before his death. He hadn’t understood at the time, but now that he thought of it, could it be that he had been trying to say ‘Hear the Universe’?

They all quickly shot each other looks, but not a one among them, Li Yun included, appeared to understand the other two’s conversation.

Right then, a loud sound was heard. The two fleshy palms of the Prince, which had been motionless, were seen to rise and chop down — he tore open a hurricane out of thin air, and Wu Changtian’s entire body staggered, nearly pitching him off of his sword.

The Prince came up before him in the blink of an eye. “Changtian, I don’t think you’ve been taught properly.”

While he spoke, his white-jade-esque hands had already reached out for Wu Changtian’s chest, making a seizing motion through the air.

Seeing that he was about to rip Wu Changtian open while he still lived, You Liang shouted and flew forwards. At the same time, Yan Zhengming, who had been busy giving looks towards all his juniors, finally arrived.

The image of a sword — which appeared to want to split open the world, yet was also so dim, in had no light — came down from the sky. The Prince held it up bare-handed once again, the two coming up close together.

At this collision, Yan Zhengming immediately frowned.

The Prince’s hands shook slightly beneath the wooden sword, but the breezy grin on his face was unchanged. “Sword Spirit Realm… good. It’s not the finest, but it’ll do. If you train for another fifty years… ah.”

“…”

This white-faced old monster was taking him for red-braised pork that hadn’t been cooked for long enough yet!

Practically incensed, Yan Zhengming’s escaping sword qi abruptly slanted outwards. Cheng Qian and Han Yuan tacitly knew to come up and flank him from the left and right. Demonic qi, the most honest sword qi in the world, and murderous intent forged in an ice pond all billowed over at the same time, instantly submerging the Third Prince within them.

The latter’s roar reached the sky, and he flung his long, wide sleeves, their shake-out appearing to give rise to a beautiful age of prosperity. Cheng Qian suddenly felt Shuang Ren jolt slightly, giving off the intent to backlash. A current of frigid frost was forced from its tip to its hilt, and his inner sanctum momentarily suffered a huge shock, nearly knocking a mouthful of blood out of him. Laboriously taking in a breath, he brought away his sword and drew back.

The others were not much better off than he was. It was unknown what kind of evil technique the Third Prince had, but he was able to totally swallow everyone’s moves, then backlash them. A tiny strand of Yan Zhengming’s hair had been pared off by his own sword qi, while Han Yuan’s face was ashen, eyes beginning to go red as his blood and qi started to rush.

Right then, somebody mildly said, “Someone’s actually practiced this method to its perfection.”

Li Yun raised his head; it was Tang Zhen that was speaking. It wasn’t clear what artifact he was using, but he was gripping a bunch of spider’s silk in his bone-like hands, trapping Xuan Huang for the time being. The ailed scholar’s face was dark. “There was once someone that said that when cultivators gather up true essence, they are absorbing the substance of the Heavens and the Earth. Only by refining it into self-use can one forge the body, train the spirit, have grand powers, and live longer than a hundred years. Because of this, there was someone else that once thought up the wildest thing: if one could refine these cultivators, who were made from absorbing the world’s essential qi, into pills and eat them, wouldn’t they be able to absorb that person’s skills and cultivation base?”

“What kind of person thought that?” Li Yun asked.

Tang Zhen smiled in mockery. “One that’s insatiable, and full to the point of bursting, of course.”

Before his voice landed, Xuan Huang broke free of the silk all of a sudden, his ji slicing down at Tang Zhen’s crown. “How much nonsense are you going to say?!”

Li Yun’s thoughts turned rapidly; this looked to be a technique similar in fundamentals to the yao race’s passing down of yao cores. “Xiao Qian,” he shouted, “the True Dragon Flag—“

The dragon’s soul in the Flag could amplify the true essence a cultivator poured into it by the thousands. Since it could tear open even the Ten-Party Array, he didn’t have faith that this skinsack could still refine it!

The Third Prince’s face suddenly morphed. He jumped to throw himself at Li Yun.

Shui Keng flapped her wings noisily in a desperate attempt to fly far away. “You know that much, so what do we do if we attract his atten— Ah! How can he fly faster than a bird?! Eldest brother! Eldest brother, help!”

Yan Zhengming: “…”

The fenghuang-descendant was on fire all over, and possessed a luminous grace… given that she never spoke. The instant she spat out words, she was completely unpresentable, and an utter disgrace.

He did not hesitate at all to release hundreds of thousands of true essence-made swords, thus strictly confining the Prince inside them.

“Impudent!” the latter roared.

Yan Zhengming raised a brow. “Yeah, just a little.”

“Senior, don’t be a show-off!” Cheng Qian yelled. “Get out of the way!”

Right before he finished speaking, a dragon soul flew out of the Flag. It was coated in bits of white frost, looking like its body was draped in pieces of metal.

There was no way for the Third Prince to dodge this. He sucked in a deep breath, and then his long sleeves waved; his cuffs were like a black hole, and he actually swallowed up the dragon soul. His sleeves immediately froze through, cold sweat showing up on his face. Concurrently, there was sinking feeling in Cheng Qian’s hand, and the dragon bone cracked as it broke into two chunks.

Everyone was horrified — he had been able to devour the dragon’s soul!

Li Yun snatched the down on Shui Keng’s neck, fiercely tugging it. “Little sis, are you scared? Don’t run, shh— don’t be alarmed, any of you. Even if he’s swallowed the dragon soul, he’d need time to refine it! If you don’t take advantage of this to act, by the time he does finish refining it, none of you will be enough to stuff the space between his teeth with!”

The instant that was said, Cheng Qian was the first to react. He circled through one horizontally-slashing move, waves of expansive qi that resembled a clear, lightly-breezy night pushing past. The Prince was indeed impeded from swallowing that soul, and he dared not take himself to be a sharp edge; right as he went to withdraw, Yan Zhengming’s sword was already pressing down upon him.

In such an instant, Han Yuan’s hand moved before his mind did, seemingly about to perform a move that would become Peng Journeys Thousands of Li. Before his True Essence could be sent out, however, his body abruptly changed ownership.

The heart demon sneered. “Joining in on the fun? You still remember a couple of moves from Fuyao Wooden Sword? Those three-legged-cat arts don’t need to make a public disgrace of themselves.”

Saying so, Han Yuan turned into a demonic dragon that went roaring in rage up to the sky, as if he was pouring out all the hundred years of melancholy in his chest until there was nothing left. The Skeletonizing Array jolted, seemingly also shocked by this dense hostility and resentment.

Torrential demonic qi ended up completely cutting off the Prince’s means of escape, yet the man’s form suddenly vanished. All anyone could hear was an earth-shattering shriek.

Everyone briefly ceased their war amongst themselves, staring at the same spot at the same time.

Only Tang Zhen was furrowing his brow.

Li Yun sighed in relief, at first, then detected something, bounding upwards with a hiss. “Look out!”

Right as he said that, in the span of a spark, the entire eye of the Skeletonizing Array shifted.

The Third Prince appeared to have transformed into a massive eddy, once again inhaling all the sword qi, frost qi, and demonic qi that shrouded him.

His entire being had already become a ball of skin. His flesh looked to have been pumped full of piss from a pig’s bladder, making it bulge until it was shiny. His facial features were now deformed, eyes bulging out, and there appeared to something worm-like crawling beneath his skin — it was terrifying to see.

Great masters could split mountains and part seas using the overbearing force of one blow, but could anyone truly devour a genuine dragon soul in one bite?

The Prince reached up his hands that had been blown up with qi, then calmly pressed his protruding eyeballs back in. “Why… was this a noted use?” he asked in a delicate voice. “It truly lets one’s hopes down…”

A horrible conjecture quickly arose in Li Yun’s heart. “That’s it!” he blurted. “He’s the array’s eye, and its machinations — he is the Skeletonizing Array!”

“Turning a physical body into an array…” Tang Zhen tightened the webs in his hands a little. “He’s worthy of someone that’s been an Emperor, with that courage.”

“Senior Tang, be less sarcastic! You’re knowledgeable! Think of a way to deal with this!”

Before Tang Zhen had the time to answer, this section of sky and ground was seen to begin to close the distance between them — the Third Prince was not staying his hand at all, intending to catch everyone in the array in one go.

The Prince turned to Yan Zhengming with a smile. “Nice swords.”

Yan Zhengming’s hairs stood on end. The array’s weather swiftly changed, and the primordial spirit he had just sent out quickly turned back towards him. The next instant, the wooden sword he held surprisingly moved on its own; using his connection to it, Cheng Qian came before him in the blink of an eye.

“Xiao Qian!”

That matchless swordwill swept up to Cheng Qian, then abruptly morphed into the exact same severe cold as he was. All at once, his entire body was frozen within it, resembling an insect encased in amber. Shuang Ren rolled downwards — Han Yuan was waiting to take it, only for a beam of light to leak from the Third Prince’s sleeve, then sweep up both him and the sword up inside it.

Yan Zhengming was entirely rooted to the spot for a moment.

Then, he noticed that Cheng Qian’s hair seemed to have white light flashing on it, after which he returned to his senses; the other was still wearing his puppet charm.

He spewed out the breath that had been stuck within him, chest right about numb.

The sky and the ground were getting closer and closer together. Everyone that had taken to the air with their swords was forced to land, only a few zhang of height remaining.

Wu Changtian promptly flung away You Liang’s arm that was supporting him, then created a string of hand gestures that were so complicated, they were too much for one to keep up with.

You Liang’s eyes widened, all the color on his face draining away.

Wu Changtian pointed one hand at the sky and one at the ground, then disappeared from where he had been standing. Shortly, a massive human figure appeared behind everyone — Wu Changtian pressed against the continuously-merging land and sky with his hands and feet, and his body was forced to grow cun by cun, also lifting the falling sky up cun by cun.

For but a second, he looked like the deity Pangu from folklore, who had split the sky and earth apart.

He observed the Third Prince, who was distant inside the array’s void. “Your Majesty, you’ve devoured a hundred generations of skilled people. If you devour the sky, the ground, the sun, and the moon, would you be able to become a god?”

The Prince was no longer in a human shape. The wide, embroidered belt of his robes didn’t have an intact corpse left of itself, and his robes had been propped up by his body into becoming a globe that was packed full with the splendor of the human world. Even his voice was not entirely clear.

“If I devour the mighty, I’ll become the mighty. If I devour the world, I’ll become the world.”

Wu Changtian deeply inhaled, then let out a sky-shaking bellow. His body sharply grew by more than a zhang, leaving huge footprints upon the ground, while the Skeletonizing Array issued a sound like it was leaking air.

The Prince screamed, one of his plump arms promptly exploding.

Then, restrained sword qi converged itself from all directions. Yan Zhengming’s wooden sword slashed out Peak with a momentum that couldn’t be stopped. It was like the entire Sword Spirit Realm had been overturned by this strike; inside the hidden realm of inheritance from the Valley of the Heart Demon, the swordwill from their devisor, which he hadn’t been able to look directly at, had been just like this.

“That’s true,” Yan Zhengming called. “If you devour the sun and moon, you’ll be able to ascend and become a heavenly dog, old man!”

Could he swallow any more?

The Third Prince’s face finally betrayed the color of fear.

At the same time, the ball of light Han Yuan had swallowed now had a crack split into it, after which the demonic qi belonging to demonic cultivators, characteristically brimming with the stink of blood, leaked outwards. The light was instantly wrapped inside a ball of black qi, and, following a soft sound, the demonic dragon burst through the wall, then landed as a transformed Han Yuan, who could be described as ‘bedraggled’.

He shook out his panlong robes with no change in expression, smiling coldly. “The Three Lives Mystic Site, huh? Isn’t that for dealing with those upright nobles that can’t let things go? Isn’t using it on me, the number one devil in the land, a waste?!”

With that said, he flung something out of his sleeve. “Catch!”

It was Shuang Ren.

The sword, filled with the demonic dragon’s true essence, went flying straight for Cheng Qian, then hit the thick ice hard. A small crack immediately emerged on the ice’s surface.

The next instant, sword qi belonging to Dried Trees Meet Spring seeped out from someplace undetectable. Like a vine, it accurately hooked its fingers around Shuang Ren.

As long as there was one trace, there had to be life.

Gentle swordwill pulled the vicious sword away. A crisp noise was heard; powerful true essence squeezed the whole way out of the crack, after which the whole ice block instantly transformed into a heap of fine powder.

Cheng Qian’s lashes were covered in a layer of frost. The ribbon on the back of his head froze solid, split apart, and gently floated down.

As soon as Shuang Ren shouldered the snowflakes that blanketed the sky and were floating to the ground, they resembled an ice-cold cage, firmly trapping the Third Prince where he stood.

With a loud sound, Yan Zhengming’s sword came.

Wu Changtian shouted in pain, simultaneously pushing against the sky inside the Skeletonizing Array.

The sky and earth split apart with a bang. The Third Prince’s body made a small bunch of noises like it was bursting apart, quickly after which he shattered into a handful of useless ice.

The world inside the empty array cracked apart.

The Skeletonizing Array crumbled, as well.

Wu Changtian’s immense figure staggered a step. He appeared to lower his head to look at You Liang.

His expression was both sorrowful and joyful. Soon, his entire body vanished into thin air, his physical form turning into mist and going away with the wind.

It blew over the day that seemed to have not been met for a long time.

Apparently, without any of them realizing it, one day and one night had already passed, and dawn was breaking yet again.

After a calamity, life was more precious. Regardless of whether they were of the righteous path, demonic path, or Celestial Divination Bureau, everybody was stunned where they stood, coming to quit their fighting at the same time.

Han Yuan turned back to look at the Mystic Site that had long since disappeared. It was unknown as to what he was remembering, but that face that was forever switching between loss and pain or vicious cruelty now showed something of an almost-tranquil smile.

Cheng Qian’s legs went soft. He used Shuang Ren to prop himself up against the ground, but he lost his grip, stumbling and falling.

His arms had since lost strength. Over a single day, Shuang Ren had nearly slipped from his hand twice. He struggled to grip it, blue veins on the back of his hand jumping out.

Then, somebody caught him.

They were saying something into his ear. A familiar hand opened his mouth and stuffed a pill into it; its bitter taste morphed into a wisp of pure qi, which went from the point of hundred connections at his crown to permeate all of his limbs and bones.

He snapped out of it, tensed body relaxing instantaneously. Oh, he thought, it’s Yan Zhengming.

Thereafter, his hand that was desperately clinging to Shuang Ren loosened, thus allowing it to fall to the ground without any worries.