He... Has Returned!

"It means exactly what you think it means." The Thorn Blood staff member typed out this line of text. At that moment, he felt thoroughly pleased with himself, waiting to relish the shock of Cleaver and Ji Wuyun. As a Voidwalker from the Void Paradise, descending into this world was more like a player entering a video game. It was only natural for a player to harbor a sense of superiority over the natives, wasn't it? "I! DON'T! UNDERSTAND!" Ji Wuyun seemed to have realized something, her head spinning in a muddle. Seeing this, the Thorn Blood staff member felt even smugger. "Brother Cleaver, what do you think?" He wanted to see Brother Cleaver's shocked, incredulous reaction most of all. After all, in their previous exchanges, Cleaver had always remained unflappable, consistently holding the upper hand. This time, he was confident he could rattle Cleaver. Telling a native that the future of the world they lived in had actually already been written, that everything proceeded along a predetermined path... Most people who thought highly of themselves would find that impossible to stomach. "So, could you let me read the Book of Qingshan? I'd like to check the strategy guide." "..." The Thorn Blood staff member fell silent. Wasn't this Cleaver a little too calm? That was hardly the reaction of a normal person. "Your fate is already sealed. Aren't you... even curious?" "How is it sealed? Didn't I just change a special event and increase my Mandate of Heaven?" Qi Yuan replied casually. He accepted this kind of situation with absolute ease. Wasn't this just like playing an ordinary video game? "Hurry up and tell me, what special event did I change?" Qi Yuan asked curiously. The Thorn Blood staff member fell into another silence. Just how massive was this Cleaver's nerve? If someone told him that everything he had ever experienced was actually predetermined, he would have had a terribly hard time accepting it. "Where are you right now?" the Thorn Blood staff member asked. "Dingbo Province." "According to the records of the Book of Qingshan, there are two recent special events in Dingbo Province. Both are only just beginning and have yet to actually occur. Divulging the contents of the Book of Qingshan is tantamount to leaking heavenly secrets, but this is a Divine Wood Token, so whatever we say here won't matter. By the way, do not repeat what I say here to the outside world, or else... you will face divine retribution," the Thorn Blood staff member warned helpfully. He had only come to this world to complete a mission, after all, and bore no genuine malice toward Cleaver or the other woman. Hearing this, Ji Wuyun grew tense. "The first is called the Daliang Mutiny, set to occur in about three months. Liu Wen, foster son to Director Liu—one of the four Blood Hand Directors—suppresses the Wind and Thunder General, Li Zhao, ultimately driving Li Zhao to lead a mutiny." "The second is known as the Anze Popular Uprising. A laborer named Wang Kong is humiliated and abused by the head steward of a wealthy merchant; in a rage, he commits murder, which eventually draws in the authorities. Used to running rampant, the officials not only execute Wang Kong, but also wash the docks in blood. This enrages the common folk at the bottom. Chi Changle rallies laborers from all around to surround the yamen and demand an explanation, which ends up alarming the commandery governor." The Thorn Blood staff member stopped abruptly here. "What happened in the end with the Anze Popular Uprising?" Ji Wuyun asked. She cared far more about a popular uprising than a military mutiny. She felt the fault lay entirely with those petty clerks; as long as the court punished them, it would be a prime opportunity to win over the people's hearts. If she were the commandery governor, she would certainly have seized the chance to gather popular support. "The outcome? Naturally, the ringleaders of the uprising were publicly beheaded, while the petty clerks who bathed the docks in blood remained completely unharmed," the Thorn Blood staff member chuckled lightly. "How could that be?" Ji Wuyun said in disbelief. "The common people were clearly in the right!" It was so obviously a perfect chance to win over the populace. "If they catered to the desires of the lower rabble today, wouldn't that encourage the notion of 'the bottom resisting the top' and using it to coerce their magistrates? If you punish petty clerks today, you'll be punishing county magistrates tomorrow, commandery governors the day after, and three days from now... are you going to punish the Emperor?" A mocking look appeared in the Thorn Blood staff member's eyes. He had visited many worlds to complete missions and was all too familiar with those who wore official caps. "So what you're saying is, I did something that changed these special events, and that's why... my Mandate of Heaven increased?" Qi Yuan asked. It seemed his covert act of tossing the wealthy merchant's steward into the water to drown had been treated as an accident. The authorities hadn't sent anyone to trouble Wang Kong, so naturally there had been no slaughter at the docks, and the Anze Popular Uprising never came to pass. "There are many special events in this world. If you already possess the Mandate of Heaven and alter the trajectories of these special events, your Mandate of Heaven will only grow denser and stronger," the Thorn Blood staff member reminded him. Having more Mandate of Heaven was not necessarily a good thing. "So... our destinies are predetermined... pushed along set tracks? Even if I were to bite myself right now, or even... commit suicide, would that also be fated?" Ji Wuyun felt on the verge of a breakdown. It felt as though a pair of giant hands lurked behind the scenes manipulating her destiny, turning her into nothing more than a marionette on strings. Perhaps even her current reaction was already fated. "Am I mentioned in the Book of Qingshan?" She was desperate to flip through the book herself. She was determined not to follow whatever was written in it. "Everything is already determined. Aside from a few individuals with exceptional destinies who can slightly alter the established situation, the rest... are no different from puppets. By the way, the Book of Qingshan doesn't just record any random nobody. You probably... aren't qualified to be in it... haha..." The Thorn Blood staff member could not help laughing. Ji Wuyun fell silent. "If you want to leave a trace of your existence behind... why not come to the Divine Wood Abyss? I can't put your name in the Book of Qingshan, but in another book, I'm confident I can get your names added," the Thorn Blood staff member coaxed. Ji Wuyun remained silent. "What's the point of being recorded in a book? Hey, if you give me a hundred thousand taels, I'll remember you for the rest of my life," Qi Yuan said at that moment. "That's way more useful than having your name in a book." The Thorn Blood staff member chuckled. "Even after countless ages and epochs, the Book of Qingshan will still endure. Brother Cleaver, even if you are a cleaver, you'll have rusted away to dust by then." Ji Wuyun also felt Qi Yuan was talking nonsense. What was the use... of being remembered by one person? ... "So... the background lore and even the ending of this game have already been written?" Withdrawing his consciousness from the Divine Wood Token, Qi Yuan's thoughts churned. Suddenly, something struck him. "The Sixth Heaven of the Immortal Realm had no future, because its future was severed by a single sword strike. Then... what if the Immortal Realm's future had never been severed?" A terrifying thought and conjecture surged into Qi Yuan's mind. Could a future you could see at a single glance... still be called a future? "Forget it, thinking about it any more will only give me a headache. "Ninety percent of the world's troubles come from overthinking. "I'm just playing a game. "This is nothing more than a game." Having rationalized it, Qi Yuan stopped indulging in wild thoughts. Lying back on his reclining chair, he earnestly studied and practiced the forging arts left behind by that God-rank weapon wielder. He had to elevate his level as an implement master before his eyes went blind. Once he lost his sight, making progress would become far more difficult. After an unknown amount of time, Qi Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of delight showing deep within them. "The Blood Cloud Bandits... their headquarters... I've finally found its exact location." Not only that, his drone mosquitoes had also scouted out the positions of their other outposts. "Looks like it's time to pay them a visit." ... An hour later, inside Trial's stronghold. Liu Chudong wore an anxious expression. "Where is Big Brother Qi?" Chen Kangbao kept his head down, munching on a steamed bun. "The young master said he had some personal business to handle outside. He'll be back in a day at the earliest, three days at the latest." "He left?" Hearing this, Liu Chudong felt a wave of disappointment. "Why did he have to leave right now?" "Is there an urgent matter?" Chen Kangbao asked curiously. "An elder from the Council of Judgment is passing through here. I was thinking of taking him along to broaden his horizons. What a pity..." Liu Chudong trailed off, thoroughly deflated. It wasn't merely about broadening his horizons; that elder had brought the latest intelligence. Intelligence regarding Divine Descent! According to the elder, although Divine Descent had been destroyed, fragments still remained. Far away in the State of Ning, Divine Descent had once left behind a miracle. Big Brother Qi had come from Ning, so he might know something. She had intended to introduce Qi Yuan to that council elder. "Can we contact him?" Liu Chudong asked hopefully. That elder would probably only stay for about half a day and depart by tomorrow morning. Chen Kangbao shook his head. "No." The disappointment in Liu Chudong's eyes deepened. "If Big Brother Qi returns, tell him to come see me right away." With that, Liu Chudong left in disappointment. Night fell, cloaking the mountains in ink. Looking into the distance, everything was a wall of black, save for the sparse, twinkling stars scattered across the heavens that generously spilled a bit of starlight. Even so, one could scarcely see one's fingers in front of one's face across the mountain range. Outside Blood Cloud Stockade, torches burned, spewing thick smoke. Various wild plants were bound to the torches, emitting a foul, pungent stench alongside black smoke as they burned to drive away mosquitoes and insects. Even so, the pests swarmed in excessive numbers. Inside the stockade, sounds of drinking, raucous laughter, and women weeping drifted out, sounding particularly chilling. The bandits standing guard at the gates listened to those provocative sounds, their eyes filled with greed. "Damn it all, a fresh batch of two-legged sheep just came in today, and we're the ones stuck guarding the gate," one bandit spat under his breath. "Heh, this batch is no good anyway. Heard they're camp followers from the army—those soldier grunts already wore them out. Nothing interesting," another bandit said. "Haha, I like the ones who've been ridden by thousands! Their skills are... wait..." Suddenly, the squint-eyed bandit narrowed his eyes and perked his ears. "Did you hear that?" "You must be starving for a woman, you're hearing things!" the other teased. "No!" The squint-eyed bandit's heart hammered wildly. *Thump!* *Thump!* *Thump!* The sound drew nearer and nearer, like the footsteps of a colossal entity. The guards at the gate felt the earth tremble as if the mountains themselves were shaking. Suddenly, the squint-eyed bandit snapped his head toward the sky. "Aah!" Terror struck him so hard that he collapsed onto his backside. "Ghost!" "A monster!" Overwhelmed with fright, he scrambled frantically backward. The other bandits looked up into the heavens at that moment, their faces draining of all color. "A monster!" Every bandit who cast his eyes upward felt his soul shake with terror. There in the sky, illuminated faintly by starlight, the outline of a colossal behemoth became visible. It wore blood-red armor tiled with crystalline plates, emitting a dangerous, ominous gleam. Barbed crystalline spikes jutted outward, razor-sharp, catching the sparse starlight. The blood armor covered every inch of its form, concealing all within. The only features exposed to the outside were a pair of eyes—chillingly indifferent and drenched in bloodlust. That coldness did not belong to human eyes! It was a colossal dragon, a deity. The terrifying behemoth cast its gaze down upon Blood Cloud Stockade. Every bandit who met those eyes felt his spirit shatter. "Monster!" "A monster!" None of the bandits dared to put up a fight. Wailing for their mothers, they fled toward the depths of the stockade. The hundred-meter-tall behemoth stood quietly outside the gates, silent and motionless, gazing down upon everything. The entrance fell into utter chaos, and the panic quickly rippled inward. Dropped torches scattered across the ground, igniting several thatched huts. After a few dozen breaths, a barrage of curses rang out from the heart of the stockade. "Useless trash!" "What kind of monster could possibly attack us?!" "Even if a Heaven-rank guiling showed up, it would die right here!" Three Heaven-rank weapon wielders emerged, wielding broadswords and spears. The leader carried a mountain-splitting saber over his shoulder. Standing two meters tall, his muscles were stacked like little mounds of earth; planted where he stood, he was like a fortress wall that ten thousand soldiers could not topple. "Silence!" The burly brute slashed out, splitting a panicked bandit in two. Only then did the bandits fleeing backward calm down slightly. "Chief..." This burly man was none other than the chief of the Blood Cloud Bandits, a Heaven-rank weapon wielder. A Heaven-rank weapon wielder was an existence qualified to be granted the title of Earl in Rakshasa Country. Yet here in Blood Cloud Stockade, there were three such Heaven-rank weapon wielders! "Hmph!" The chief gave a cold snort, the broadsword perched on his shoulder, radiating sheer arrogance. "Frightened half to death by a mere enemy?" Displeasure was written all over his face. Bandits were bandits: crude and worthless. Were it not for the prince's grand design, why would he ever deign to play bandit chieftain? "Where is the enemy?" The chief scanned his surroundings, but saw no one. The other two Heaven-rank weapon wielders sneered with matching contempt. Bandits really were useless. "It's... in the sky!" A bandit swallowed hard, not daring to look up again, let alone meet those eyes. "In the sky? It can fly? An Earth-rank?" The chief let out a mocking laugh and raised his head. "Watch me cut it down with one—" The smile froze on his face. His entire body locked up tight. The expressions on the other two Heaven-rank weapon wielders froze just as instantly. A giant... a hundred meters tall? A Heaven-rank weapon wielder could draw upon the power of heaven and earth, but only within a radius of a few dozen meters. A single slash could cleave a multistory building apart. Yet... that was a building, an inanimate object. What stood before them was... a terrifying living being! High above, that towering figure remained motionless, like a god of death stepping out from the depths of hell. Anyone who laid eyes upon it felt their knees turn to jelly. And then, that terrifying figure moved. A cold, unfeeling voice boomed between heaven and earth. "Ten Slaughters Tyrant Fist!" The god of death from hell thrust forward with a mighty punch. A tremendous shockwave swept through heaven and earth. This power was not merely the power of heaven and earth—it surpassed it! An invincible force rolled out, utterly unblockable! "No!" The three Heaven-rank weapon wielders unleashed panicked howls. Yet their screams served no purpose, becoming merely the final proof of their existence in this world. *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* Beneath a god, all living beings were equal. The fist never physically touched anyone, yet its devastating force permeated through every single body. Explosive pops rang out, only to be extinguished into silence a moment later. A full third of the living souls in the sprawling Blood Cloud Stockade perished under that single strike. The terrifying infernal fiendgod's gaze remained utterly detached. He fixed his eyes upon the remaining bandits. "One Slaughter Tyrant Fist!" Another punch was unleashed. Heaven and earth fell quiet, leaving only a sound like the rolling thrum of war drums. Over ninety percent of the Blood Cloud Bandits were wiped out. The Ten Slaughters Tyrant Fist was an art Qi Yuan had created back on Arch Star to obliterate the Battle God Sect. Over these past days, he had utilized his eyes to adapt this fist technique to fit this world. In fact, just moments ago, he had revised it into the One Slaughter Tyrant Fist. Anyone who had tortured and slaughtered ordinary mortals found no sanctuary under this strike. With two punches, thousands of bandits were slain, leaving only the ordinary folk who had been kidnapped and the army camp followers alive. At this moment, the commoners lay prostrate on the ground, trembling from head to toe, their hearts caught between sheer relief and overwhelming dread. That towering entity in the sky looked too much like a god of death walking out of hell, capable of reaping everything in this world. They had no idea whether this colossal horror was a guiling, a fiendgod, or something else entirely. Right then, the lips of that towering form moved, and a majestic, divine voice resonated across heaven and earth. "Where the world has no light, behold Divine Descent!" "Bearing the light, dispelling the night!" "If there be injustice, summon Divine Descent!" Some of the prostrate commoners looked utterly baffled, while others had ears that buzzed continuously from the shock. They had no inkling of what those words truly meant. Just then, an old man in his eighties suddenly raised his head. Looking up at the towering figure in the heavens, his body quivered violently. "He... has returned!" In that instant, more and more of the commoners seemed to recall something, their faces lighting up with boundless, ecstatic joy. "He... has returned!"