Lord Qing Zhu felt a little disgusted. He did not want to hear Yin Yu's name come out of Xia Jingyu's mouth again.
"There's no need," Lord Qing Zhu calmly said. "The latest news is that the North Continent's Alliance and the Yue clan have been extinguished!"
Xia Jingyu raised her brows. "Huh? Who did it?"
"The Black Snow Demon King! He massacred everyone in a million miles. One person with one bow killed everyone—from the Snow Listening Tower in the far north to the southernmost Hundred Territories Alliance. He bathed those million miles in blood. Any powerhouse that was related to the North Continent's Alliance has been eradicated."
Xia Jingyu stared in shock. "One person with a bow? What powerful sustenance does this person have to be able to continue fighting for so long?"
"It is the Gui clan," Lord Qing Zhu said, letting out a sigh of admiration.
The Gui clan? Xia Jingyu thought back to Yin Yu. Lord Shen Ying's hand had been destroyed by Yin Yu's Evil Ghost Energy. Lord Qing Zhu seemed to read her mind.
"You need not guess," he said. "The Black Snow Demon King is not Yin Yu. I have compared the two of them. They are two different people."
Xia Jingyu felt unwarranted disappointment, yet also a strange feeling of anticipation. How could Lord Qing Zhu be certain?
******
Forest of Darkness, the Yue clan.
The Ninth Saint Master observed the castle, dead silent. There was no one there, only thick, black snow.
An hour later, although he was clearly still at the Forest of Darkness, his figure appeared in the decimated Snow Listening Tower. Another hour later, his figure appeared at the Phoenix Cabinet and the Hundred Territories Alliance.
"They are all destroyed…"
There was a cold glow in the Ninth Saint Master's eyes as he lifted his head and let out a sigh. This sigh caused mountains to crumbled and the clouds to shift as if the heavens were demonstrating their wrath.
"Black Snow Demon King!" he said. "You… must… die!"
Creak—
With a flicker, the Ninth Saint Master vanished into thin air.
******
At the same time, legends of the Black Snow Demon King spread across the Zhenlong Continent! A legendary god of death had swept across a million miles of land. The newly founded North Continent's Alliance had wiped out the Phoenix Cabinet but had, in turn, been wiped out by someone else during the great wedding.
This news shocked people even more than the founding of the North Continent's Alliance! In the blink of an eye, the Black Snow Demon King had risen from obscurity to a horrible legend everybody knew of.
The Phoenix Cabinet and the North Territories Alliance had been completely destroyed. The Cabinet Master, dressed in colorful robes, looked at the faraway sky, her eyes filled with suspicion and doubt.
"The Black Snow Demon King," she muttered. "Could it be him?"
"It's him," a calm voice floated in the air.
Feng Xian stood in front of the house, kneeling as she adjusted her robes.
"Why did you come back?" the Cabinet Master asked, looking peacefully at her.
Feng Xian kowtowed. "To face the past as well as the future."
The Cabinet Master was silent for a long while. "Who changed you…? You are no longer a virgin."
"It was him," said Feng Xian. Feng Xian gave a relaxed laugh. For the first smile in her life, she was speaking from the heart. "It was Yin Yu… Teacher, your chaste body is also gone. You also gave it to him, didn't you?"
To think that she and her teacher had both had the same man.
The Cabinet Master turned red, looking at Feng Xian with a bitter sigh. "The two of us, teacher and student… Neither escaped his touch. This is fate… Go. Yu Ling and the rest are buried at the back mountain."
Feng Xian rose. "I have sinned greatly and will spend the rest of my life defending their tombs. I do not ask for their forgiveness, nor for my sins to be washed away. I only wish to be a clean woman, so as not to be killed by Yin Yu or to find fault in his eyes for the rest of my life." With that, Feng Xian began walking toward the back mountain.
The Cabinet Master's heart was moved by Feng Xian's words. "I also only gave you this chance because of Yin Yu's reputation," she said.
Feng Xian smiled as she turned back. "I know, for he is in your heart."
The Cabinet Master looked at the clouds and the Phoenix Cabinet being rebuilt, her heart laced with a shred of bitterness. "Thank you, Yin Yu…" she said.
I was born many years before him, she thought. I was already old when he was born.
It was the loneliest feeling she had ever experienced.
******
At the boundless ocean.
In a cave on a desolate island, Su Yu took out the 10,000 Soldier Liquid and released the Gray Dragon Coffin.
The Gray Dragon Coffin was a broken divine artifact, its spiritual qualities greatly diminished and thus did not need very much 10,000 Soldier Liquid. Pouring in a drop, the traces of the previous owner were completely erased and refined by Su Yu. With a thought, he gathered energy from the surroundings into the Gray Dragon Coffin.
The resulting energy continually nourished Ling Xiaotian, who lay inside the coffin. His withered body began recovering at a visible pace, regaining the handsome face he once had.
"Excellent," Su Yu said.
He let out a long sigh of relief, his self-blame and guilt subsiding greatly.
But as Su Yu watched, his pleased expression faltered. After the energy vanished, Ling Xiaotian's body reverted back into its withered state!
Su Yu was baffled. "What is going on? Why would it do that?"
Suddenly, Yun Yazi's voice spoke up from his robes.
"He voluntarily gave up on his flesh to heal you," said Yun Yazi. "How can you reverse that? Did you think it would it be so easy?"
Su Yu felt as though a saving grace had descended. "Teacher!" he said eagerly. "You have finally woken up! Please, teach me a way to save this man. He saved my life, and I will never rest easy if he dies."
Yun Yazi let out a light sigh. "I was worried to help because I understand your character. There is only one way to save him, to absorb otherworldly power! But there is no otherworldly power on the Zhenlong Continent!"
Su Yu had one last shred of hope. "Then where can I find that otherworldly power?"
"An otherworldly power would naturally descend when you break through to the Fairy Realm! That is your only chance."
The last shred of hope extinguished in Su Yu's eyes. From Immortal Realm to Fairy Realm? The Fairy Realm lay at the end of the Immortal Realm—the legendary realm of the gods.
Su Yu had already been faced with much difficulty in his attempt to break through to Heaven Master, much less the Fairy Realm. More importantly, Ling Xiaotian only had three months to live. One month had already passed. Only two were left! How was it possible to break through to the Fairy Realm in just two months?
"You need not be disheartened," said Yun Yazi. "The Zhenlong Continent appears to be facing a huge change. A great disturbance might bring about a great opportunity, you might have a chance to break through to the Fairy Realm."
Hearing this, Su Yu's excitement grew. Yun Yazi had always been pragmatic, never once speaking nonsense. If he said there was a chance…
"I'll definitely use my life to break through to the Fairy Realm and repay the debt I owe Ling Xiaotian!" said Su Yu.
Collecting himself, he looked at the other treasures. He thought for a long moment, looking at the fragment of the fire-based legendary level technique. With a thought, he summoned the Second Grade Clone. He had specialized in ice-based techniques and was not suited to learn a fire-based one. But his clone had not had a suitable technique to cultivate. This fragment of a legendary technique was most suited for it!
Next was the Wan clan's Short Distance Wings. This was the treasured item of the Wan clan. It was a top-notch medium-level divine artifact! To be able to teleport 10,000 miles meant it would only take a few hours to cross the entire northern continent! Su Yu began to refine the artifact with enthusiasm.
After that was the Death Horn. It was able to summon the dead spirits of this world, suitable for someone possessing deadly energy. What shocked Su Yu was that this was a high-grade divine artifact! There were not more than five high-grade divine artifacts on the continent!
Su Yu could not imagine its power! Unfortunately, it was not suitable for him to use it, but Xianer might be suited for it! She had the constitution of the Phoenix of Death. Was there an item more suited for Xianer in this world?
The last was the token of the Dragon Abyss of the Nine Underworlds—a chance at breaking through to Heaven Master!
Su Yu clutched the Dragon Abyss Token, his eyes filled with a determined glow.
"Heaven Master," he said. "I, Su Yu, am coming!"
Whoosh—
Su Yu turned into an afterimage, charging to the deep ends of the vast ocean. Meanwhile, from another direction, Qin Xianer and Xia Jingyu were also shooting for the same location. Would they be reunited at the Dragon Abyss of the Nine Underworlds after being separated for so long?