Red Heart Patrols the Sky

Bu Lian!

In the ancient times, among the eight great sages who assisted the Human Emperor in supporting the Human Race, this name ranked first!

He held another esteemed title, being the Human Sovereign Master. It was under his guidance that Suirenshi could grow in that dark ancient era to become the first emperor of the Human Race.

Not to mention juniors like Lu Qilang and Lingxihua.

Even a Heavenly Demon like Xuan South Duke, upon suddenly hearing this name, felt incredulous: "Bu Lian?"

Bu Lian had died long ago in the ancient times!

From the ancient, to the early ancient, to the middle ancient, to the near ancient, how many great eras have passed? The Demon clan had long since retreated from this world to the Celestial Prison, how could someone still be claiming to be Bu Lian here?

Bluffing? Or putting on a deceptive act?

Yet this piece of tattered cloth seals the might of Shenxiao, which indeed can’t be faked. What on earth is going on?

Beside that mountain platform, amidst the sea of clouds, there originally stood a tall giant ape Divine Appearance. Externally it appeared as a mountain, internally it was a flesh and blood divine residence. It was already dead, just waiting for time to dissolve it. Amidst the cataclysmic changes in the Shenxiao World, its disintegration was already accelerating... half of its body had collapsed.

But at this moment, on the Heaven Demon Dharma Altar, on that Bronze Cauldron, the words "You substitute for my fate" suddenly flew out and entered this giant ape Divine Appearance.

The giant ape Divine Appearance’s hollow eyes suddenly ignited with two clusters of soul fire!

"Bu Lian... Bu Lian!"

He opened his mouth, whispering, "I have been seeking you bitterly for many years!"

Though the giant ape Divine Appearance’s voice was not loud, it was like thunder resounding in the sky, silencing even true thunder.

Xuan South Duke immediately knelt on one knee, calling out to the great emperor. Lu Qilang and Lingxihua prostrated themselves, unable to rise.

"Oh?" The aged voice from the void asked.

His figure stepped out from the void.

An old man with a stooped back and shriveled hair, with deep wrinkles. Only his eyes were bright as stars, calmly meeting the gaze of the giant ape Divine Appearance.

"Little monster, why do you seek the old man?"

The giant ape Divine Appearance chuckled softly before saying: "When I ascended the throne, I often felt a shadow over the river of fate, but could never discover who it was or by what means. Only today do I know the truth! It was an ancient predecessor! When Master Daoist Yizhen stabbed me back then, was it you, sir, who helped to confuse the heavenly mechanism?"

Xuan South Duke knelt silently, hearing Emperor Yuan Xi’s words, only then dared to confirm that this little old man was indeed Bu Lian.

Bu Lian scratched his tangled beard, smugly saying: "Just a little trick."

Yuan Xi praised: "Sir, your trick was great, it almost cost me a well-laid ambush!"

Bu Lian waved his hand: "Not worth mentioning, better left unspoken."

"Indeed. Compared to those former Demon Emperors, I should not be mentioned either," Yuan Xi self-mockingly added, then asked: "With your incomparable Divine Power, you concealed this divine will in the fate of the Demon clan, manifesting whenever there was a rise in their fortunes... Over the years, how many times have you intervened?"

The hunched little old man just chuckled: "Countless times."

Yuan Xi smiled: "Is it countless or forgotten? Each time you manifested, it should have been in a completely new state, without past traces or cause and effect, so naturally there is no memory of each intervention... That’s how it stayed hidden for so many years, unexposed."

Bu Lian wrinkled his old brow: "Are little monsters so hard to trick?"

"Now that I’ve found you, don’t go back again, alright?" Yuan Xi’s voice was gentle.

Bu Lian’s eyes were distant: "That depends on your abilities."

The giant ape Divine Appearance slowly moved its head, glanced at the ’seal cloth’ on the Shenxiao Gate, then turned back with a thunderous rumble, looking at the little old man with a bent bow: "We are old acquaintances... A hundred years is too long! How about a discount?"

Each wrinkle on Bu Lian’s face was heavy, but his smile always felt light and cheerful.

He laughed: "The way of heaven and earth is constant, bargaining is inevitable, let the old man see your sincerity!"

Yuan Xi said: "Three breaths."

Bu Lian turned around directly.

"Wait! I still have something to tell sir!" Yuan Xi hurriedly said.

Bu Lian turned back.

Yuan Xi, as the body of the giant ape Divine Appearance, said with thundering power: "You are already dead, Mr. Bu Lian... You have been dead for many years!"

Bu Lian jumped up, cursing: "Cursing the old man? Don’t you know the Long River of Fate is my bathing tub!"

He spoke while rolling up his sleeves: "Let the old man spill out the bathwater, then suppress your Demon clan for ten thousand years!"

Yuan Xi’s voice suddenly became grand, with his mountain-like hand pressing on the mountain platform—

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!

The Long River of Time suddenly rose with the sound of angry waves, as a yellow scroll leaped out from its depths, floating heavily in mid-air. Upon it were inscribed Taoist Texts, recording immutable history.

"Behold the history penned like iron, its records etched in green—The Human Emperor slays Bu Lian, it is the Human Emperor slaying the Human Sovereign Master!"

Yuan Xi’s voice pronounced each word steadily, declaring the inflexible standards and outline of heavens and earth.

"Sir, if you hadn’t invested most of your power into the Long River of Fate, to suppress my Demon clan’s fortune... With your cultivation, how could a mere youth have beheaded you?"

The disheveled little old man was suddenly frozen in mid-air. "I... am already dead?"

He realized that the recently concluded game was indeed his last. The remnant thought left by Yuan Xi on the Bronze Cauldron, was indeed for him, to erase the hidden shadows on the Demon clan’s Long River of fate, waiting here for so long.

Indeed, as Emperor Yuan Xi said, he had invested most of his power into the Long River of Fate, further hiding his divine will in the Demon clan’s fate, silently accumulating strength. Whenever the Demon clan was on the rise, his power had accumulated to a certain extent, this divine will would emerge, orchestrating and disrupting.

Each intervention was an entirely new game. Each game was unconnected to the others.

Only then could he escape the pursuit of the Demon clan’s Transcendents.

This divine will was entirely independent from his original self, unaware of the passage of time. Only across the long eons spanning several great eras, time and again acting against the Demon clan... Unbeknownst to the world, a solitary, repeated game.

And he did not know, his original self had long since died.

That was no longer even an affair of this era.

He had been fighting for the Human Race in the long passage of time. But his head had been sacrificed to the battle flags in the ancient times.

This was the cruel answer brought by the Long River of Time.

It was an answer he had always avoided facing, yet ended up being forcibly presented to him by Emperor Yuan Xi, a bloody reality.

The historical scrolls grasped from time could not be faked.

There existed no history book that could deceive Bu Lian.

The little old man burdened by the Human Race’s fate stooped alone, gazing distantly at the heavens.

Watching the young figure already vanished into the starry sky, which belonged to the future of the Human Race, a youth flickering with the Light of Human Dao. The same youth Bu Lian had specially sent into the Shenxiao World, as the "One" piece in order to disrupt the entire Shenxiao game.

He indeed hadn’t anticipated Yu Zhen’s grand plans in advance, but when this cycle of divine will manifested, it naturally instigated awareness, prompting him to be cautious of the Shenxiao World, hence he made a corresponding move.

And who could have thought, that a chess piece from the God Descending Realm could truly stir such turmoil in the situation?

The old man remained silent for a long time.

Perhaps he thought of those hard years of using blood as fuel for fire.

Thoughts of the countless times he calculated, where heavenly destiny always favored the Demons!

Thinking of his most proud student, who eventually killed him.

He thought too much, throughout his life, every Divine Thought had never ceased pondering.

Finally, he simply said—

"I suppose he has his reasons."

As soon as these words fell, his figure disappeared.

Between heaven and earth there was no extra sound.

Only that piece of coarse linen, still stood lonely against the Shenxiao Gate. The wrinkles of the linen were just as deep as his own.

When he realized he was already dead, this divine will finally truly died!

Magnificently for eons, sheltering against storms.

Righteously in the world, for the last century!