After this battle, only about twenty percent of the Great Qian Dynasty's population of hundreds of millions remained. A nation that had been prosperous and powerful just two days ago was now reduced to dead ashes.
Dragging his heavily injured and dying body, Huangfu Cheng walked slowly across the ruins, supported by several princes, his eyes filled with profound sorrow.
The ground was covered in white bones and drenched in blood.
The wishes of his ancestors, the blood and sweat of his ancestors...
All of it was gone.
His brother, Tang Yan, and his most esteemed prince, Huangfu Bin, had both fallen in this battle.
“Your Majesty...”
The surviving humans looked at his hunched figure. It was as if they had seen salvation while falling into an abyss, and they reached out to grasp that faint ray of light.
The Lord of Yunzhou, the faith of the people.
Such halos were like mocking blades, stabbing deeply into Huangfu Cheng's heart.
“I am sorry... I was powerless to protect you all.”
Huangfu Cheng bowed his head. For a generation's Human Emperor to beg his people for forgiveness was something unprecedented in all of history.
“Your Majesty, please do not blame yourself. You have already done everything you could. We are but mere mortals, powerless to help ease your burden. If anyone should feel blame, it is us,” someone spoke up.
The reason Yunzhou had been so prosperous was also because successive Human Emperors had been determined to build it into a peaceful realm where mortals and cultivators could coexist.
Their ancestors of the past, and they of the present—they had been under the protection of the Great Qian Dynasty at all times. Yet, in this moment of crisis, they had been unable to help, which filled them with shame.
“Your Majesty, may we follow you once more?” someone among the people knelt and asked.
Immediately after, voice after voice rang out.
“Your Majesty, we are willing to build a peaceful home once more. Please lead us to prosperity again!”
“Your Majesty, we may be unable to share your burden, but we can contribute our strength to rebuilding our home. We are willing to retrace the path our ancestors walked!”
A long-cherished wish, a heart of sincerity.
Wisps of Imperial Qi of Humanity drifted from their bodies, silently flowing into Huangfu Cheng's dried-up physical frame, carrying the prayers of the common people.
This was the true Human Sovereign Qi, the true power of faith.
Huangfu Cheng wiped away his tears and roared in a hoarse voice, “Very well! We shall tread the path of our ancestors together and rebuild our former home!”
Destruction was not terrifying; what was terrifying was losing the will to fight.
If they wanted to survive in this cruel cultivation world, they had to struggle, adapt, and then grow.
...
An unknown region.
In a primeval forest, the surrounding trees towered hundreds of feet high, each one bursting with majestic life force. A dense, swirling mist made the forest appear incredibly mysterious.
Gurgle!
The black passage manifested once more, spitting out a glowing Wang Xuanyi. He crashed to the ground with a thud before the passage shattered and dissolved.
Night fell, and a thick fog gradually rose, blanketing the primeval forest. Countless fluorescent blades of grass emitted a starlike glow, illuminating the pitch-black woods.
A young girl, carrying a lantern, gingerly set foot into this place known as a forbidden zone. Her eyes remained constantly alert to her dark surroundings.
“Xiao Tian, is there really someone here who can save Father and Mother?”
The girl swallowed hard. Fear surged from the soles of her feet throughout her entire body, making her hair stand on end.
“Yes. My Heavenly Dao perception has deduced that there is a cultivator here who can save your village,” replied a chubby, golden bird that materialized on the girl's shoulder.
The chubby golden bird glowed with a bright golden luster. Its wings were short and stubby, its neck was practically nonexistent, and its feet were even more bizarre—looking like abstract little claws hastily sketched on a canvas when the artist was running out of ink.
“Alright, I'll keep looking.”
The girl's name was Yun Qianhan. She was about seven or eight years old, with a tender and fair appearance like a blooming white lotus, radiating pure innocence.
The chubby golden bird on her shoulder was a strange creature that had suddenly appeared by her side two years ago. No one could see it except for her.
It claimed to be some incarnation of the Heavenly Dao.
Yun Qianhan did not understand what that meant and simply treated it as a pet.
The reason she had ventured into this ancient forest this time was also out of sheer desperation.
Over the past month, a sudden plague had broken out in her village, claiming many lives. Even her parents had been infected and had been bedridden for a long time, their bodies covered in oozing pus that emitted an extremely sickening stench.
The ancient forest was a forbidden zone for their village. According to rumors, it harbored man-eating demons and ferocious beasts that feasted on flesh, and entry was strictly forbidden to everyone.
If not for her desperate circumstances, she would never have come.
Caw...
A sudden commotion of crows erupted in the quiet forest. Like a startled little white rabbit, Yun Qianhan immediately threw herself to the ground and played dead, only slowly picking herself up once the surrounding area fell silent again.
“That scared me to death.”
“There's no need for that. I've already scanned this area; there's no danger,” the chubby golden bird said, standing on Yun Qianhan's right shoulder with an expression of utter speechlessness written all over its bird face.
This child's courage was too small, and her cultivation was too weak. She lived a simple life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, with no grand ambitions to speak of.
In two years, she had barely reached the first layer of the Qi Refining Realm.
Let alone competing with the other Dao disputers, even a slightly stronger wild beast could scare her to death.
“If the other peers saw this, they would definitely laugh themselves to death,” the chubby golden bird grumbled helplessly.
“Xiao Tian, there really is someone!”
At that moment, Yun Qianhan parted a patch of grass and spotted Wang Xuanyi lying on the ground.
At this moment, he resembled a piece of glowing, unpolished jade, yet his entire body was covered in cracks, looking as if he were on the verge of shattering completely.
“See, I told you! I said there was someone here, and he can definitely save your parents,” the chubby golden bird named Xiao Tian muttered.
As an incarnation of a fragment of the Heavenly Dao, it could perceive everything within a radius of hundreds of miles. Finding a person was a walk in the park.
However, this kid was also quite peculiar. He had appeared out of thin air, his body suffering from the backlash of the power of laws, and his life force was draining rapidly. He had only a single breath of life left.
Yun Qianhan approached Wang Xuanyi's side. Instinctively, she picked up a twig and poked him, her eyes sparkling as she said, “Wow, Xiao Tian, his whole body is glowing! And his cheeks are so bouncy!”
“Of course he's glowing! He suffered from law backlash and was heavily wounded by the Great Dao. It's a miracle he's even alive, and you're worrying about whether he glows or not?”
“Oh. Then how do we save him?” Yun Qianhan asked.
In her mind, Xiao Tian knew a great deal. It knew many things she didn't, even which patch of soil had issues, and it had helped her quite a lot.
“Carry him back. I'll figure something out.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yun Qianhan was entirely obedient. However, because the seven-or-eight-year-old girl had not eaten meat for a long time, she was malnourished. As she tried to carry Wang Xuanyi on her back, her little face turned completely red from the exertion.
This person is so heavy, even heavier than Father.
Rate on N.U.
