Volcanic Age

Unrest… no, a storm of blood swept across the Central Plains Murim!

Every event of the Great War of Good and Blood, from its beginning to its end, was reported in great detail to almost every corner of the Central Plains.

Then again, the fervent public attention made sense, as the invasion of the Blood Cult was not a common event. The entire murim had watched on with bated breath.

Not too long afterward, a shocking piece of news ferociously slapped the faces of the murim’s denizens.

“The Exalted Sword Immortal and the Blood Demon are dead?!”

“Huh! Did they kill each other or something?”

The news spread like wildfire. No matter where people gathered, it was all they could talk about. It was no surprise, it was earth-shattering news.

Regardless of whether one was from the righteous, evil, or demonic faction, they would all agree that the two dead cultivators were at the highest echelon of cultivation. Anyone not surprised by their deaths would be the strange one.

Now the Ten Empyrean Overlords were reduced to the Eight Empyrean Overlords.

For Mount Hua, the shockwaves from the news were indescribable. The sect’s mood went beyond shock and confusion, plunging straight into chaos.

After all, the head of the sect, the undisputed Sect Master, had unexpectedly passed away.

“What’s the situation like in Mount Hua?”

“This situation might not have been entirely unexpected for them, but still. They must be in an uproar at this unexpected development.”

“Well, of course. The Exalted Sword Immortal was one of the strongest Sect Masters in their history, after all. An Absolute Master! They probably never imagined something like this could happen.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… They are in trouble, I’d say. Their successor, Zheng Huilian, is still a kid who’s not even twenty years old, isn’t he? A boy at his age should be having fun growing up with his master’s guidance and learning the ropes, but now…”

“Worse still, since Mount Hua’s Sect Master is the only one who can impart the mysteries of the Violet Haze Divine Art, how will that boy master his cultivation without his master’s guidance?”

“You’re right. Looks like Mount Hua’s golden era might be coming to an end sooner than we thought…”

If anyone had asked who held the most influence in the murim at that moment, nine out of ten people would have said Mount Hua. That reputation was largely due to You Riwen, but also to Zhou Xuchuan, the unprecedented and arguably number one genius under the heavens!

Not only had Zhou Xuchuan easily surpassed his generation of young heroes, but he had also stepped into the ranks of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven, and topped the list, no less! Hadn't he also saved countless ordinary people as a hero?

The Seven Swords War could have dragged out for much longer, but Zhou Xuchuan ended it in just one day. He later returned the Prajna Divine Art to Shaolin and raided the Nine Forest Gangs to put an end to the banditry of the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest.

All of his feats brought honor and glory to Mount Hua. The sect’s future looked so bright, but it seemed that optimism had been premature.

Even before the Sect Master’s disciple was fully qualified to take over the role, the sect faced an unprecedented crisis of losing its Sect Master.

Although we’ve gained so much, we’ve lost just as much. Zhou Xuchuan mulled, his worries deepening.

The changes to history have made the future uncertain, and it seems Mount Hua hasn’t been spared. If this was inevitable, so be it—but our situation feels worse than in my previous life.

During the Era of War and Chaos, heroes responsible for achieving victory yesterday often ended up as corpses on the following day. As a matter of fact, Sect Masters younger than the age of fifty passing on during battles happened rather often back then, too.

Mount Hua was also not immune to such a crisis, and thanks to the Violet Haze Divine Art’s unique quirk, the sect was forced into teaching its sutras to the elders just in case.

Even then, no Sect Master passed on before their disciples turned twenty.

Sounds like another source of headache, then.

But Mount Hua wasn’t the only topic of discussion in the murim.

“Did you hear? The Crescent Lake Gate Sect Master, You Xiaofeng, wasn’t insane when he went on that rampage! He’d been turned into a living jiangshi!”

“Really? Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. Anyway, did you hear that the First Demon Slaying Sword of Kongtong also died?”

“Yeah. Also, one of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes, Seal Dragon Hao Dechang, has died! Even though he was a genius meant to lead the murim in the future! What a waste, what a waste…”

“Aigoo, aigoo! Wang Gu! And you’ve been so happy about being selected as a warrior for the Martial Alliance, too! What’s the point of it all now that you’re dead?”

“I heard the citizens of Lanzhou are going crazy from the stench of blood…”

War was a tragedy. War was destruction. Sorrow left a permanent mark on the soul, whether one emerged victorious or defeated.

How could the victors truly celebrate when comrades close to them had fallen? For some, such a loss was worse than defeat.

Many people from the Martial Alliance, Nine Sects and One Gang, Five Great Ancient Families, and various medium-to-small sects and clans answered the summons only to lose their lives in this war. Which meant none of them could just blindly celebrate the victory.

It was a bit too early for some people to relax.

“Ah, by the way, not everything is bleak for Mount Hua.”

“What do you mean?”

“Apparently, Mount Hua has some kind of divine luck. How much do you know about the battle between the Exalted Sword Immortal and the Blood Demon?”

“Honestly? Not much, other than they both died...”

“Uh-huh! This fella! It seems you don’t know anything. I also heard this from someone, so take it with a grain of salt, but the one who actually killed the Blood Demon wasn’t the Exalted Sword Immortal. It was the Plum Blossom Order Sword!”

“W-what? Hold on! What are you even talking about?”

Although the war zone back then had been absolute chaos, many were still aware enough to witness the battle of a lifetime—a clash that would decide the fate of both sides.

The shockwaves generated by every clash between the Exalted Sword Immortal and the Blood Demon were so powerful that they forced all nearby warriors to stop fighting. While trying to avoid suffering internal injuries from the shockwaves, these warriors ended up witnessing the incredible battle in vivid detail.

As a result, they spread the story of how Zhou Xuchuan joined the battle that led to the Blood Demon’s death and subsequent revival, and even how You Riwen’s body got taken.

“Huhuhuh! Stop lying! Fella, how can a dead man revive himself?”

However, everyone who heard the story was on disbelief.

Some people burst into laughter, while others even started mocking those who told them the story!

The tale sounded so absurd that, never mind ordinary citizens, even the cultivators of the murim laughed in disbelief.

“Sure, we talk about how amazing the Ten Empyrean Overlords are, but they are still humans like us, not gods, right? How could anyone come back from the dead?”

“Right, right. The witnesses must’ve seen something else.”

“You think so, too? Yes, that’s what I think, too. They were in a war zone, so they must’ve been exhausted and light-headed from blood loss. Their memories must be foggy. If not, maybe they were caught in some kind of sorcery or formation and started seeing things!”

“That’s right! The Sword Immortal probably let his guard down, thinking the Blood Demon was dead. But the Blood Demon wasn’t, and that’s why he managed to take the Sword Immortal by surprise!”

“Rumors in the gangho tend to get exaggerated, and this story fits that perfectly, no?”

“Hmm, if that’s the case… Aha! I figured it out. The Plum Blossom Order Sword must’ve seen his Sect Master killed and charged at the enemy in rage. At the same time, the Blood Demon was probably fatally injured from his earlier fight and couldn’t dodge the attack. That’s how he died!”

The story sounded so unbelievable that no one believed the eyewitness accounts. Instead, people came up with their own explanations that seemed more plausible. Unfortunately, this had the effect of downplaying Zhou Xuchuan’s contributions to the war.

Humans are naturally suspicious, especially of things they had not witnessed themselves. When something defies common sense, people usually reject it outright or avoid confronting the truth altogether.

Zhou Xuchuan had also heard these rumors but didn’t bother correcting anyone or trying to explain the truth.

This is for the best, after all.

No one would believe him even if he told them the truth. Sure, people respected him as a hero, but the idea of a young man in his twenties defeating one of the Ten Empyrean Overlords sounded like a fantasy.

Besides, winning against Blood Demon implied that Zhou Xuchuan had miraculously achieved the Manifestation of One’s Path. In other words, he had stepped into the Coruscant Realm, a realm only the Absolute Masters were permitted to enter! Who would believe such a thing?

The rumors weren’t exactly false, either. The Blood Demon had been injured, although not fatally, during his battle against You Riwen.

Besides… If I can help it, I don’t want Blessed Existence to get a wind of how strong I really am.

Even someone like Blessed Existence would never suspect a young man in his early twenties entering the Coruscant Realm, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Since that man assumed the worst-case scenarios that other people wouldn’t even think of while cooking up his dastardly schemes, Zhou Xuchuan figured being careful wouldn’t hurt.

***

Meanwhile, in Hefei, Anhui province…

“Is the situation in and around Xinjiang still quiet?”

“Yes, sir. The Beggar Gang is keeping a close eye on the region, but there’s no significant movement.”

“Hmmm… Could it be that their advance guard really was their main army?”

The Blood Cult’s army numbered five thousand, despite crossing the Yumen Pass in the blink of an eye.

Since their goal was to invade the Central Plains, the advance guard couldn’t have been all there was to the cult’s army. But no sign of additional troops had been detected, making the situation suspicious.

Worried that this attack might have been a diversion, the Martial Alliance continued monitoring the region, though everything remained rather calm.

“Even so, perhaps we should remain vigilant and keep monitoring the region for now.”

Given the scale of the conflict, the Martial Alliance couldn’t afford to act rashly. For now, they kept their forces stationed in Lanzhou to monitor the situation.

Though they had won, the losses were far from minor. The Martial Alliance had lost several powerful experts, including You Riwen.

“Very well. Issue the order for our troops to remain on standby.”

After the meeting, the executives of the Martial Alliance decided to keep their forces stationed in Lanzhou for a while longer. However, to ensure Lanzhou’s government officials and locals didn’t turn on the cultivators, they participated in various clean-up operations, such as taking care of the dead bodies.

Soon after receiving the order, the Lanzhou branch held a mass funeral, then began a new operation to send the remains of the deceased back home.

Large sects and clans like the Nine Sects, the Beggar Gang, and Five Great Ancient Families had sent their own people to fetch the remains, while the Martial Alliance handled the others.

Due to the sheer number of the deceased, this process took far longer than expected.

“In times like this, we could’ve really used the original jiangshi art to our advantage…” Yun He muttered.

The jiangshi reanimation spell originally belonged to the school of Taoist spells, not evil sorcery.

The origin of this spell could be traced all the way back to the time when Taoism had just been established. The spell was originally meant to guide those who died on a battlefield like this one, or some remote area, to their hometowns so that they could get buried there.

Unfortunately, as people began arguing about how the spell could be used, its original intended purpose gradually got corrupted until it became an evil spell used almost exclusively to insult the memories of the dead or turn the corpses into mindless weapons.

In the end, the spell ended up in the hands of the Demon Cult and Blood Cult. By then, most people had completely forgotten about its intended purpose.

The order to remain in Lanzhou ended up lasting much longer than anyone had anticipated.

Since the Martial Alliance found this peace far too suspicious, they tried to investigate all the rumors and information coming from beyond the borders of the Central Plains to figure out the Blood Cult’s movements.

By the time they learned about the Blood Cult’s crisis—caused by its dwindling number of believers, who had been indiscriminately sacrificed for demonic cultivation techniques and jiangshi spell experiments—the sweltering summer heat had already given way to the first signs of autumn.

With that, the curtains finally closed on the Great War of Good and Blood.

***

POW!

The impact nearly shook Blessed Existence’s internal organs.

However, he kept his mouth firmly shut and remained still in his spot. He didn’t even let out a pained gasp.

Yet, he kept his mouth firmly shut and stayed perfectly still, not even letting out a pained gasp. Or rather, he couldn’t move. Just as his body was about to be flung backward, a mysterious invisible force held him in place.

“Blessed Existence,” the Dark Heavens Association Lord said.

“Please execute this servant!”

Blessed Existence slammed his forehead onto the floor, begging for forgiveness. His trembling voice carried an emotion far stronger than fear.

Blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth. He shut his eyes tightly, his entire body trembling.

“I can’t help but wonder, Blessed Existence… are you failing us on purpose?”

“T-that is unthinkable, my liege! How dare I—!”

Was it his heightened emotions? Blessed Existence couldn’t even finish his sentence. All he could do was tremble pitifully and plead for his innocence.

“If that’s not the case, then how do you explain your continued failures? Aren’t you supposed to be a peerless genius, the likes of which the murim… No, the world has never seen before?”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord spoke as if he was puzzled by this.

“I, and this organization, know full well how capable you are. Not only do you possess a strategic mind that far surpasses even the Zhuge Family, but you also have the humility that prevents you from falling into arrogance and making mistakes. Are you not also meticulous enough to ensure that even the smallest mistakes never occur?”

Blessed Existence kept his head pressed against the floor, waiting for the Association Lord to finish.

“It’s inconceivable for the brain of our Dark Heaven, the man who never accepts anything short of perfection, to fail continuously. So, what other explanation could there be for your failures if not that they were deliberate?”

“No, my liege! I swear on my life, that’s not true!”

Blessed Existence’s face was as pale as a corpse. Blood dripped from his torn forehead, and his disheveled hair only added to his pitiful appearance. But he didn’t care about any of that. All he could do was kowtow desperately, pleading for forgiveness.

“…Fuu-woo.” The Dark Heavens Association Lord sighed in irritation.

Meanwhile, Blessed Existence couldn’t do anything but tremble helplessly. As someone who believed heaven and earth danced in his palm, the Association Lord never once lost his composure. However, for the first time... a hint of negative emotion had crept into his demeanor.

Blessed Existence realized, with growing dread, that he might suffer a fate even worse than death at this rate!