Chapter 145 - 93: Imperial Physician Xu Ge (Part 2)
Chapter 145: Chapter 93: Imperial Physician Xu Ge (Part 2)
However.
Su Chen had set everything aside to hold a vigil.
He let the world fall to chaos.
Countless conflicts raged.
And his own actions—destroying the Black Abyss and sweeping through the world—had caused a tremendous impact.
"Jie."
’It seems that in these chaotic times, it will be harder than ever for you to break free from your Fetal Confusion.’
But in just half a year,
inside Jie’s coffin,
seven of the Nine-leaf Lotus’s petals had withered.
In this broken, turbulent world, he had died seven times while still a babe in swaddling clothes.
「Tenth Year of Xuanlong, the third month.」
The snow and wind were still falling,
blocking out the sky and sun.
It swept across the entire world: the territories of the Human Race, the Endless Sea, and the Demon Monster Mountain Range.
On this day, Su Chen descended the mountain.
He walked across the frozen surface of the river. The docks were empty, the boats sparse. He saw a few scattered fishermen, their faces etched with worry, breaking the ice to fish.
"Old timer, what’s going on?"
Su Chen gazed out at the world and saw only boundless Demonic Qi and a pervasive aura of blood. Creatures were being slaughtered, and thousands of souls were wailing in anguish.
In just three months, the resentment of the people had grown more than tenfold, gathering in two directions.
North and south were in a standoff: one Great Zhou, one Great Liang, two Demon Shadows.
"What else could it be?"
"The Demon Fiends came down from the mountains, taxes were increased, and then came the Great Zhou rebellion. This world is constantly at war!"
"It’s a bitter life."
"If only His Majesty Xuanlong were still here."
"And the Wind Snow Sword Immortal, too."
"Maybe..."
"the wars wouldn’t have happened."
The old fisherman looked at the catch in his net, and the furrows on his face deepened with sorrow.
He walked away, burdened by sorrow.
Su Chen opened his palm, revealing a single hair from the old fisherman. He performed the Soul Fusion Remembrance.
And just like that,
he saw everything that had happened over the past three months.
...
In the south.
One hundred thousand Demon Fiends had descended from the mountains.
Beasts and fiends alike, they wreaked havoc across a thousand miles, devouring flesh and soul, leaving scorched earth and no survivors in their wake.
Ten major cities and nearly a hundred smaller towns and villages had been reduced to empty husks.
In the north,
the Old Zhou were in rebellion.
Attacked from both north and south, it seemed the very foundation of Great Liang was about to be annihilated!
The fortune of the land had mostly dissipated.
The Human World was devastated.
The resentment of the common people gathered.
The crowd of Ancient Grandmasters who had been waiting for the Immortal Arrival had vanished without a trace, terrified of being tainted by even a speck of this resentment and the Human World’s filth, unwilling to bear the Karma.
’Though the world is now called the Great Zhou, a Great Unified Dynasty, it is still split between Zhou and Liang. It’s falling apart, adrift in these chaotic times...’
Su Chen left the docks and walked, step by step, toward the Imperial City.
Along the way,
he encountered starving refugees, scattered government soldiers, and Jianghu travelers who had turned to banditry.
This was the state of things even here, at the foot of the Imperial City.
One could only imagine how rotten the situation in Great Liang truly was.
A ruined temple.
A thick layer of fallen snow had accumulated.
A carriage was parked by a dilapidated hay-pen.
Su Chen stopped.
Inside the temple, a young woman was intimately entangled with a young man in white robes. As if sensing Su Chen’s gaze, she put on a pitiful expression, began to struggle, and called out to him for help.
"Young Master, save me!"
"This villain saw my beauty and accosted me."
"If you would be so kind as to save me, Young Master, this humble servant is willing to offer herself to you in gratitude and serve by your side..."
To this,
Su Chen was unmoved.
He simply stood there.
The young man in white, who had had his back to Su Chen the whole time, trembled and turned his head. His face was withered and wrinkled, belying his age. He stretched out a trembling hand, his face filled with terror as he warned Su Chen.
"Run!"
"She... is a Demon Fiend..."
Before the ruined temple’s entrance, Su Chen still did not move.
THUD!
The young man in white—no, the old man—collapsed to the ground.
"Young Master, are you scared stiff? To know that I am a Demon Fiend and still not run... tsk tsk. I suppose you know your place."
"It seems you also know you can’t escape."
"Your fleshly husk isn’t as good-looking as his was."
"But this lady isn’t a picky eater."
The woman’s clothes were as thin as gauze, half-revealing her body. She giggled, the sound like silver bells, and beckoned to Su Chen with a finger, her bare feet padding softly as she let out a bewitching cry.
"Come!"
A surge of Demon Qi transformed into a fragrant wind, rushing toward Su Chen’s mouth and nose.
But,
her infallible Demon Technique had no effect.
Before the ruined temple,
Su Chen stood his ground, still at the temple’s entrance.
"Hm?"
The demoness let out a cold sneer.
"It seems I underestimated you. So you’re a young brat with some cultivation."
"It’s a pity, though."
"I am only one step away from becoming a First-Grade Demon Fiend!"
"Come!"
She emphasized her word.
The demonic wind swelled, its fragrance more than ten times stronger as it rushed toward Su Chen’s mouth and nose.
"So, you’re just a minor Demon Fiend."
"Right at the foot of the Imperial City."
"Can a minor Demon Fiend like you act so presumptuously?"
Su Chen stated calmly.
The next instant,
he took a step forward.
BOOM!
An awe-inspiring torrent of Qi and blood, like a Great Sun, erupted before the Butterfly Demoness’s eyes.
"No!"
"You’re a Grandmaster?"
At that moment, the Butterfly Demoness was terrified beyond belief. She stumbled backward again and again, trying to escape the blazing heatwave of the Great Sun.
She cried out repeatedly.
"You’re an Ancient Grandmaster? The Celestial Alliance has an agreement with my Demon Mountain! The Mountain Masters won’t descend, the Demon Generals won’t act, and in return, your side won’t interfere in worldly affairs..."
"Do you dare to break that oath?"
The threat in her words was obvious.
The Demon Mountain Masters.
Every one of them is an Upper-Rank Great Demon Fiend, comparable to the Innate Realm.
As for the Demon Generals,
perhaps they are Great Demon Fiends.
"The Celestial Alliance oath..."
Su Chen mused.
A smile appeared on the Butterfly Demoness’s face, and her smugness returned.
"That’s right."
"If you dare break the agreement, you’ll die without a burial place! When that time comes, even your precious Celestial Alliance won’t tolerate you. They’ll execute you with their own hands!"
The Butterfly Demoness laughed heartily.
The power of Demon Mountain was immense.
It had been this way even back in the time of the Great Yu.
However, the various Mountain Masters were also wary. They were waiting for the Immortal Arrival, for the unseen, true powers of the Human World to appear: the astonishingly brilliant experts of the Innate Realm and the Three Immortals who had reached the peak.
Thus,
this oath existed.
The next instant,
the Butterfly Demoness’s smile froze on her face.