Wei Yuan did not look away until the setting sun sank behind the distant mountains, leaving only a lingering streak of red across the evening sky.
The matter had ended like this. The unraveling of one mystery had only raised more questions, and Wei Yuan instinctively felt that it was far from over.
After everything that had happened, Wei Yuan found that he could not understand Hongye at all. This Hongye was practically a different person from the one who had commanded troops on the battlefield. Wei Yuan could not even say for certain whether the Hongye he had seen today was a human or a Shaman.
To think he could go this far for a woman and a child...
Wei Yuan suddenly realized that Hongye had never revealed which two were his woman and child. He immediately shifted his spiritual sense to the Dao Foundation warrior in the dungeon, only to discover that the captives held in the cells on both sides had all turned from Shamans into humans.
Furthermore, there was a brief blank in the Dao Foundation warrior's memory, after which the Shamans locked in the cells had all become humans, their positions shuffled so thoroughly that it was impossible to match them to their original places. In other words, Wei Yuan could no longer identify the child who had seen through his nature as an old fiend with a single glance.
Yet this was not enough to stump Wei Yuan. Coming up with an idea, he suddenly shouted, "The old fiend is here!"
A commotion instantly erupted in the cells. Women and children cried out in terror and scrambled for cover, their reactions identical across the board.
Wei Yuan had not expected Hongye's mind to be so meticulous, leaving behind not the slightest flaw. It must have been the moment he popped that bubble—he had transformed all the women and children into humans and scrambled their memories in the same breath.
As for which was his woman and which was his child, the truth might never come to light.
Wei Yuan pondered for a long time. He had originally intended to scatter these women and children across the various cities of Qingming, or even send them into the human realms, allowing them to lead ordinary lives from then on—like drops of water merging into the vast sea, never to be disturbed again.
Yet on second thought, the human heart was fickle. If these single women lived among ordinary mortals, what if their feelings changed? Hongye still had a dozen years left to live!
What if, on a dying whim, the man decided to take one last look at his woman, only to find her living happily with a stranger? A man who not only slept with his woman and spent his money, but beat his kid too.
Wei Yuan felt that, under such circumstances, Hongye might very well be capable of destroying the world.
Therefore, that path was utterly out of the question. Wei Yuan had never believed in eternal promises; any oath unaccompanied by heavenly lightning and a blood curse was a fraud. Whenever one tested the human heart, things were bound to go off the rails.
Wei Yuan dared not gamble on whether so many women could endure over a decade of loneliness. Naturally, the best solution was to keep them far away from any temptation.
Thus, Wei Yuan decided to settle them in New City, where they would live until Hongye passed away.
In New City, there was no one besides Xu family youths and sacrificial offerings. The Xu family boys were only interested in Xu family girls, while the high-grade offerings were partially stripped of emotions and remained placid and stable, knowing nothing of love and romance; procreation was entirely assigned through orders from above.
Wei Yuan then took his thinking a step further. A different approach—an entirely opposite one—had to be taken for Hongye's children.
Those children would have to undergo countless trials: the allure of men, the allure of women, and all shades in between. The goal was to train every one of them before adulthood into slippery scoundrels who would turn their faces the moment they got out of bed. That way, at least none of them would fall prey to a tribulation of the heart like Hongye had.
Wei Yuan felt thoroughly pleased with this arrangement. He figured that if Hongye were to see it, he would surely smile in the underworld, and might even contribute some karmic luck or the like before his death.
Of course, Wei Yuan would never admit that he was simply afraid of a dying, desperate opponent whose lifespan was running out and whose Shaman magic reached the heavens.
Having sorted out these loose ends, Wei Yuan finally had the time to check on his own condition. At this moment, Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was in complete shambles, an absolute scene of survival in the wake of disaster.
The central city looked as though an invisible giant hand had wiped across it; the upper levels of every slightly tall building above the second floor had vanished entirely. The young Jianmu tree had returned to its small island, its branches and leaves almost entirely scorched black, resembling a charred log from a distance.
The Bingli Divine Wood had returned to its original place, its trunk snapped in two, with branches scattered all around the half-trunk on the ground. Langya and the Red Lotus Bodhi were also stripped nearly bare, and both were now falling into slumber.
A great split ran down the middle of the celestial laurel tree's trunk, cleaving it almost entirely in half. Yet when she looked at the Bingli Divine Wood and saw her old rival at death's door, her spirits soared immediately. Adopting a haughty posture, she flicked three drops of tree sap over. The Bingli Divine Wood's severed break sealed over, no longer leaking immortal spiritual qi.
The celestial laurel tree had forgotten that Bingli had already advanced. Even if reduced to a stump, its immortal spiritual qi was still far greater than hers.
The immortal orchids were all languid and dispirited. After withstanding the heavenly water tribulation, they had been dragged out by Wei Yuan; two were planted by the entrance to the Hall of Heroic Spirits, while one was placed inside as a potted display.
When Hongye arrived, he had naturally recognized the essence of the three orchid immortal plants at a single glance, so his attention had been entirely drawn to them. He had never expected that Wei Yuan's true killing blow would be the Bingli Divine Wood disguised as a roadside wild tree.
Although the Yang Bullet possessed an unavoidable property, many immortals inherently had the ability to evade disaster, so whether it could land depended on the hierarchy of their standings.
Facing Hongye, who was capable of contending with Long Zhe, Wei Yuan had lacked confidence in that regard, which was why he had meticulously orchestrated an ambush. The main factor was that no one would ever expect a wild tree to fire a gun.
Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World had weathered two heavenly tribulations. The lightning tribulation had been borne almost entirely by the young Jianmu sprout. Worthy of being the descendant of the primeval number-one divine tree, even inheriting a mere trace of Jianmu qi gave it a terrifyingly lofty essence.
Yet the water tribulation had not been so easily overcome. The sea grass had sacrificed nearly ninety percent of its dharma body just to shave ten percent off the water tribulation's power. In an instant, Maiden Yin-Yang had calculated that even if all the immortal plants joined forces, they could not disperse the water tribulation; they could only diminish its force as much as possible.
Thus, the countermeasure had been to construct rows of low walls, under ten feet tall, along the coastline. As the crest of the flood swept past, it would be progressively weakened, and then the walls and buildings of the central city would absorb another wave. The rest could only be left to fate.
The mortals had each clutched a hollow square cauldron. When the great flood washed through, many mortals had been carried away, relying on these cauldrons to survive amid the tsunami.
Fortunately, the water tribulation consisted of only a single massive wave. Even so, after the wave passed, the central city was almost completely destroyed. Tens of thousands of mortals had been swept out to sea, and nearly ten thousand had lost their lives.
Dying in a heavenly tribulation meant their souls were truly shattered into nothingness, leaving not even karma behind.
At this moment, floating mortals dotted the sea everywhere, the farthest having been swept hundreds of li away.
Large fish appeared in the water, pulling mortals toward the shore. These great fish were companion creatures of the sea grass; as the only aquatic immortal plant, the sea grass bore the unshirkable duty of rescuing them.
In the Battle Saint Hall, because all the disciples possessed cultivation, not many had been washed away, though most of those left behind were covered in wounds. Han Li and Long Wushuang were busy beyond measure, splitting up to tend to the wounded.
Just then, one of the injured disciples suddenly sat up from the ground. His entire body began to emanate a distinct jade-colored glow, and the essence of his aura rose continuously!
Looking at his hands, where the skin was becoming lustrous and warm at a pace visible to the naked eye, he felt both shock and delight. "I... having survived the heavenly tribulation, have I finally awakened my hidden bloodline? Gold will always shine! I, Dugu Cangqiong, am truly not destined to remain beneath others! Ahahahahaha!"
Examining his body, he muttered to himself in a voice loud enough for the entire hall to hear, "Wh-what kind of sacred physique do I possess? Primordial, Desolate, Undying, Overbearing, Astral, Sky-Cleaving, World-Ending, Chaotic? Or perhaps Innate Sage, or the Ultimate Fiend Ancestor Physique?"
Wei Yuan turned his attention there as well. This was the third fellow to awaken a name of his own, though this name was even more embarrassing than Long Wushuang's.
Wei Yuan was in no hurry to burst his bubble. Once the spirituality of Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World grew further, more people with their own names emerged, and they began to understand the outside world, Wei Yuan felt both of these fellows would want to find a hole to bury themselves in.
Han Li and Long Wushuang exchanged a covert glance. This was the very fellow who had once debated the Dao with his mouth, out-shouting Long Wushuang, only to be taken down by Han Li's underhanded tricks.
Both men shared the exact same thought at this moment: *If even a fellow like this can awaken a hidden bloodline, the Creation Immortal Venerable must truly be blind.*
Chapter 593