July Town.
Jin Li turned around and saw a young girl dressed in green.
The girl did not appear very old, having the look of a maiden in her early teens. Her glossy black hair was tied at the crown, gathered into high coifs on both sides with golden hairpins, resembling a soaring immortal's topknot.
She was not particularly tall either; even with the soaring immortal coifs atop her head, she barely reached five-foot-three.
The green-clad girl looked at Jin Li and spoke unhurriedly: "I am July, a Sacrificer of the Moon Sovereign Country."
Jin Li was somewhat surprised.
She had come here keeping a low profile, not expecting to still be discovered.
"Greetings, Sacrificer July," Jin Li said.
Yet in the next second, what the youthful Sacrificer said made her heart skip a beat.
"Qingluo is my younger sister."
A look of disbelief flitted through Jin Li's heart.
Because Qingluo was none other than her mother empress's name.
Was the Qingluo this loli girl spoke of the very person she had in mind?
"She is your mother empress, and also the Saintess of our Moon Sovereign Country."
Hearing this, Jin Li looked toward Aunt Qin.
Aunt Qin said nothing, seeming to tacitly confirm it.
"I see." Jin Li showed no great reaction on the surface.
"Would Your Majesty care to accompany me to the ancestral lands of the Moon Sovereign Clan for a talk?" Sacrificer July extended an invitation.
"My apologies, but I do not have the time." Jin Li refused outright. She looked at the lake water, an inexplicable feeling of unease welling up in her heart.
She could no longer contact Qi Yuan.
Nor had she managed to wait until his arrival.
"Is Your Majesty waiting for someone?" Sacrificer July asked with a calm expression.
Jin Li said nothing, taking it as tacit agreement.
"The person Your Majesty is waiting for hasn't come."
A flicker of emotion crossed Jin Li's eyes before vanishing instantly. She said coldly, "You know something?"
"I do not." Sacrificer July shook her head. She looked up at the towering Ancient Qi Toon Tree. "In this world, there are too many unknowns, and too many doubts that cannot be unraveled.
"Some are buried by history and washed away by time; others simply lack an audience, an act of solitary self-admiration.
"However, when the Ancient Qi Toon Tree extends to the moon, all the mysteries will be unveiled."
After speaking, she did not lower her head, still looking up at Jin Li. "Rumor has it that the very first Bridal Gown Imperial Princess waited at this lake for the Heavenly God, but waited in vain; there was also a Faceless Sword God who waited here for someone, yet the beloved never arrived; and there was a guest from heaven who lingered here for a long time before finally vanishing.
"Everything in the world has karma, predestined by fate, which no one can shatter. Why must Your Majesty remain obsessed for a fleeting moment?"
Hearing this, a stubborn look appeared on Jin Li's cool and aloof face. "I do not believe in karma, nor do I believe in destiny. If ten years aren't enough, then a hundred years; if a hundred years aren't enough, then a thousand, or ten thousand!"
Her gaze was resolute.
It was merely a temporary loss of contact, that was all. One day, they would meet.
"'Like beholding you'... alas." July sighed. "If Your Majesty truly cannot wait for that person to arrive, you might as well visit the temple of the Faceless Sword God and take a look."
Having said this, July walked away gracefully.
Jin Li's heart gave a sudden thud, inexplicably recalling some of the contents from the second message Qi Yuan had conveyed to her through the bridal red armor.
She murmured, "'Without beholding you'... 'Without beholding you'..."
Suddenly, she turned to Aunt Qin and asked, "Aunt Qin, do you know of a second dead land besides Tianjue?"
Aunt Qin shook her head. "This old woman does not know."
"Is that so?" Jin Li inexplicably recalled that half a month ago, the Qilin Guards she had dispatched to the Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground had returned.
The Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground had been just as usual, inhabited only by bridal gown monsters.
In its depths, there were no other robe monsters, nor were there any traces of battle.
She stood before the lakeside, looking at the shimmering water, her expression cool and aloof as the moon.
...
Beneath the Ancient Qi Toon Tree.
Qi Yuan looked at the young woman in an elegant long gown, his expression complicated. "Did you find Jin Li?"
The gowned young woman shook her head. "I did not."
Qi Yuan looked at the young woman, hesitated for a moment, and moved his lips, his voice slightly raspy. "Do you know of Southern Qian?"
"I have never heard of it." Sacrificer July shook her head.
Qi Yuan paused, then asked again, "What about Southern Feng?"
"Then... what about the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect?"
The Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect, the most powerful sect of the human race.
Qi Yuan hadn't originally wanted to ask this.
"I do not know of it either." Sacrificer July still shook her head.
"Mm... I see." The irritable mood on Qi Yuan's face dissipated, replaced by an extraordinary calm—or rather, an excessive composure.
"The person Your Excellency is searching for, our Moon Sovereign Clan will certainly do everything in our power to find!" A look of apology showed on Sacrificer July's face.
"Mm." Qi Yuan did not pursue the topic further. Instead, he looked up at the Ancient Qi Toon Tree, staring at the eerie corpses hanging from it. "What is going on with this?"
"According to the Hundred Cities Alliance, the people hung up there are all those who showed no filial piety, as well as those who obstructed the promulgation of the filial piety decree," July said coldly, fury clearly visible in her eyes. "The Hundred Cities Alliance wants to absorb our Moon Sovereign Clan as well. Any mistake, and one will be hung from the Ancient Qi Toon Tree!"
Qi Yuan fell silent. "Such actions go against the natural order; it is like taking away the firewood from under the pot."
Generally speaking, the next generation was the future of a nation, of a race.
Acting like this, it probably wouldn't be long before the human race on the Wangyue Continent gradually withered away.
"The Hundred Cities Alliance's promulgation of the filial piety decree aroused the resentment of various countries, leading to widespread opposition. Even within the Hundred Cities Alliance itself, there is much discontent.
"Countless experts rebelled, and rivers of blood flowed."
The Moon Sovereign Clan's Sacrificer July spoke in a cold voice.
"In such a situation, the Hundred Cities Alliance's mansion should have collapsed.
"However..."
Having said this, a grim expression settled on Sacrificer July's face.
"The Black-Robed Guards!"
At the mention of this term, Sacrificer July was visibly agitated. Her body trembled slightly, as if filled with utter dread.
Qi Yuan heard this term once again.
The last time had been outside Kunwu City.
"Are they very strong?" Qi Yuan asked.
"They... are monsters! They are wraiths!" Sacrificer July seemed to recall something horrifying, terror surfacing in both eyes.
"There aren't many of them. Every single one is draped in a black robe, with faces completely hidden from view.
"They do not eat or drink; they do not speak. They seem to possess no emotions, only slaughter!
"Their strength... is too formidable.
"No one is their match at all. Even the most powerful martial artists are butchered before them as fragilely as baby chicks.
"They appear and vanish unpredictably. Wherever they show up, rivers of blood are bound to flow!
"Once, the Dajing Empire proclaimed they would march their army against the Hundred Cities Alliance!
"Yet on the very next day, Dajing's imperial city... was empty.
"Seven hundred thousand people... all hung right here!"
"They don't care at all about greater righteousness, nor do they care about the future.
"With the Black-Robed Guards, they are completely unscrupulous."
Qi Yuan remained silent.
He thought of the extraterrestrial demons.
Were the Black-Robed Guards the handiwork of the extraterrestrial demons?
Just how strong were the extraterrestrial demons?
Why did they ravage the mortal realm like this?
He did not know.
"However, no matter how strong the Black-Robed Guards are, our Moon Sovereign Clan will never yield!
"This world cannot be left to the whims of these demonic monstrosities!
"This is the Wangyue Continent, the place of origin and the foundation of our Moon Sovereign Clan!" July's gaze regained its confidence. "This world was originally called the Bairi Continent; now it is called the Wangyue Continent!"
"Bairi?" Hearing this, Qi Yuan's heart gave a jolt.
This was the first time he had heard of this.
Even in the memories of those Divine Domain experts in the Four Great Forbidden Grounds, there had been no mention of such information.
And the word *Bairi* triggered certain associations in his mind.
He recalled the Ascension Platform, and the words spoken by that Golden-Armored Divine General... *the sun and moon reversed.*
"Your Excellency should be a Supreme Sovereign, correct?" Sacrificer July asked, looking at Qi Yuan with anticipation.
Originally, upon hearing her disciple say an unfamiliar Supreme Sovereign had arrived in the clan, she had planned to meet him.
However, after hearing that person's story and seeing the corpses of the Hundred Cities Alliance's people, she had changed her mind.
She had come out directly to seek him.
The other party was a Supreme Sovereign, and not an ordinary one at that.
She hoped her guess was not mistaken.
Facing Sacrificer July's question, Qi Yuan did not answer.
In the mortal realm, he could not unleash power exceeding the Heavenly Domain; doing so would immediately bring him face-to-face with the extraterrestrial demons.
He still had many things left unclear, and he did not want to go to Dijue right away.
Therefore, at present, he could only display the strength of a Supreme Sovereign.
Yet... having spent hundreds of years killing nonstop on the Ascension Platform, even if he only unleashed the strength of a Supreme Sovereign, it was still terrifyingly formidable.
"Could Your Excellency do our Moon Sovereign Clan a favor?" July looked at Qi Yuan, stating the purpose of her coming here.
Qi Yuan stood in place and closed his eyes.
He did not reply immediately.
He was recalling everything that had occurred since leaving Tianjue.
Every event surged into his mind, scene after scene.
He had seen a living hell on earth, and he had seen the horrific sight of ten thousand corpses hung from the Ancient Qi Toon Tree.
His emotions had undergone quite a few twists and turns, rising and falling.
After all, he was still a normal human being.
He had just finished slaughtering away for hundreds of years.
Suddenly taking in so much information left his mind temporarily chaotic.
He had gotten a bit neurotic.
Now, closing his eyes and opening them again, his gaze grew somewhat clearer.
The grogginess also cleared away by quite a bit.
He adjusted very quickly.
He became himself once more—that normal version of himself.
*I'm just playing a game. How could I let the game play me?* The emotions previously on Qi Yuan's face vanished as he muttered internally.
Even the gruesome corpses above his head no longer felt so horrifying.
"Speak." Qi Yuan looked at the gowned woman. Was this story NPC about to give him a quest?
"Presently, the Hundred Cities Alliance comes with menacing momentum, threatening to annihilate our Moon Sovereign Clan.
"I hope Your Excellency can protect our clan's Saintess!" Sacrificer July voiced her objective.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan was amused.
Was he transforming into the ultimate bodyguard, protecting a cool, aloof school beauty in white thigh-highs?
"How old is your Saintess? Is she fair-skinned and pretty? Does she have long legs? Is she an art student?" Qi Yuan asked off the cuff.
Sacrificer July was dumbfounded.
A blank look flashed across her face.
She strongly suspected the person behind the mask had been swapped out.
Where was that peerless swordsman temperament from earlier, the aura of solitary brooding under the moon?
However, she quickly regained her wits and forced herself to say, "The Saintess just turned seven this year."
"Ah?" Qi Yuan blanked out for a split second. "Protecting a little kid, no problem.
"However..."
"Whatever requirements Your Excellency has, please feel free to state them.
"Our Moon Sovereign Clan is willing to open our treasury for Your Excellency to choose at will.
"Even, if Your Excellency is so inclined, the unmarried maidens of our Moon Sovereign Clan are yours for the taking."
"Totally unnecessary. Having the Saintess is enough," Qi Yuan said casually.
July's eyes widened in shock.
Qi Yuan hurriedly added, "Don't get the wrong idea. I have no interest in material possessions."
Only then did July calm down, realizing she had misunderstood.
"I hope..." Qi Yuan hesitated for a moment. He looked at the star-studded sky, then glanced at the Ancient Qi Toon Tree. "That you establish a country, to be named the Moon Dynasty.
"I hope that near July Lake, there will be a town named July Town. How about it?"
Sacrificer July was a bit baffled.
She didn't know what Qi Yuan meant.
Even so, she said sincerely, "If we survive this calamity, even if only a single village of people remains, our Moon Sovereign Clan will still establish the Moon Dynasty as Your Excellency has requested!"
Hearing this, Qi Yuan smiled at once.
A single village declaring itself an empire—why did that feel so familiar?
"I have some other requests later on; we can talk about them when I leave.
"By the way, I will only protect your Saintess for twenty-six days."
"Very well," Sacrificer July agreed. Thinking of something, she gritted her teeth and said, "If the Black-Robed Guards appear, Your Excellency may leave directly, without needing to care about us or the Saintess."
Qi Yuan gave Sacrificer July a surprised glance. "Acceptable."
The next day, beside July Lake, a crude bamboo cottage was erected.
As usual, Qi Yuan sat upon a bluestone by the lakeside.
No one knew what he was thinking, or what he was doing.
Sacrificer July arrived once more, holding a little girl by the hand.
"Your Excellency, she is our clan's Saintess. I entrust her to you."
Sacrificer July released her hand. The short little girl behind her peeked out, stealing a glance at Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan looked at the little girl as well.
The girl looked very timid and shy. What drew the most attention were her eyes—her eyelashes were very long, fluttering like fans, and within her pupils seemed to reside a crescent moon.
"What is her name?"
"Your Excellency may simply address her as Yue Nü."
"Yue Nü?" Qi Yuan pondered.
Sacrificer July handed the Saintess over to Qi Yuan.
She said, "Your Excellency, during this coming period, I must undertake a long journey. I shall trouble Your Excellency."
As July spoke, she took a round piece of jade from her bosom.
"This item is called Exquisite Jade Tide, born as a pair. Ordinary mortals can communicate through this treasure.
"I give this piece to Your Excellency, while the other remains with me.
"If there is an urgent matter, Your Excellency can contact me via the Exquisite Jade Tide."
Qi Yuan took the warm Exquisite Jade Tide.
He found it rather similar to communication jade slips in the Canglan Realm.
Holding the Exquisite Jade Tide, he sent a tentative message: "U there?"
Seeing the message transmitted through the Exquisite Jade Tide, July looked at Qi Yuan and said, "Yes, just like that."
Having said this, she squatted down and told the Saintess, "Yue Nü, remember to stay with this senior during this time. He will protect you. Be obedient."
Yue Nü stole another glance at Qi Yuan and nodded.
"I entrust her to Your Excellency." July offered a bow.
Right at this moment, Qi Yuan suddenly asked, "Why do you trust me so much?"
A pious look appeared on July's face. "Everything is guided by destiny."
"Spouting superstitious nonsense," Qi Yuan muttered under his breath.
He disliked interacting with charlatans; they were always so cryptic and mystical.
Sacrificer July bid Qi Yuan farewell and departed from July Lake.
By the emerald lakeside, only Qi Yuan and the Moon Sovereign Clan's Saintess remained.
He glanced at Yue Nü. "Go play in the mud over there. Just don't leave my sight."
The little girl did not respond, merely sitting down beside Qi Yuan, gazing blankly at the lake water alongside him.
One large, one small, forming quite a picturesque scene.
After who knew how long, a gust of chilly wind blew past.
Qi Yuan looked up at the sky and saw tiny specks.
"It's snowing."
"Looks like I'll be 'fishing alone in the cold river snow.'"
He glanced aside at the Saintess, who was clutching tightly to his sleeve. "If it's cold, go back inside the cottage."
The little girl's hands were somewhat red from the cold. She looked at Qi Yuan, then obediently took her leave.
*My warmth still isn't warm enough; I ended up freezing the little girl,* Qi Yuan thought to himself.
He sat alone by the lake. The world was vast, and he was the sole figure within it.
After who knew how long, snow had piled up on Qi Yuan's shoulders.
Snow had gathered on the branches beside the lake as well; whenever the wind blew, flakes drifted down in flurries.
Upon the lake's surface, a thin sheet of ice seemed to form.
He sighed with feeling. "It really is better to sit in the cold wind; I feel my head is much clearer."
Having slaughtered continuously before, the killing intent in his heart had dissipated quite a bit along with the falling snow.
Just then, a creaking sound rang out. Little Yue Nü opened the wooden door, carrying a large bowl steadily as she walked toward Qi Yuan.
The bowl was huge, giving off steaming aroma, brimming to the brim with fish soup.
The little girl presented the fish soup before Qi Yuan, her starlike eyes gazing at him.
"For me?" Qi Yuan sniffed the fish soup. "To think that after coming here, I didn't get to eat crispy sweet roast duck, but ended up drinking a bowl of fish soup instead. Worth it."
The little girl stood aside in silence, seemingly committing Qi Yuan's words to memory.
Qi Yuan lifted the fish soup, preparing to drink it in one gulp.
Suddenly, he furrowed his brows and looked ahead. "The NPCs in this game are really impolite. Don't they know players shouldn't be disturbed while eating?"
Not far away, seven figures walked slowly toward Qi Yuan.
They wore bamboo hats, their feet leaving not a single track upon the snow.
Upon a distant pavilion terrace, the young maiden Leng Yue saw this scene, her pupils constricting.
"Seven Sovereigns!"
It was seven Sovereigns arriving together, and judging by their strength, they were no ordinary Sovereigns either.
At this moment, she felt somewhat anxious, worrying for the faceless man.
Right now, the experts of the Moon Sovereign Clan were all deployed elsewhere, not in the clan.
Could that faceless man hold off those seven Sovereigns?
Meanwhile, the seven Sovereigns were nearly within a hundred meters of Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan spoke again: "The speed at which the smell of blood spreads through the air is fifty centimeters per second. For me to finish drinking this bowl of soup requires two hundred seconds.
"You are currently a hundred meters from me. Dying right there couldn't be more appropriate."
Qi Yuan was talking complete nonsense.
Hearing this, a murderous glint appeared in the seven people's eyes.
"Your Excellency is being far too arrogant!"
"I am Iron Fist Zhou Kang of the Hundred Cities Alliance. Your Excellency is a Supreme Sovereign and should be over fifty years of age.
"Joining our Hundred Cities Alliance would happen to allow you to enjoy your golden years in peace.
"Choosing to oppose our Hundred Cities Alliance is truly unwise."
As Zhou Kang spoke, a thick, surging aura radiated from his body.
The snowflakes falling from the sky melted the instant they touched him.
The seven of them stepped forward in unison, advancing toward Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan cast a sidelong glance at them. "You've crossed the line."
If they were ninety-nine meters from him and died there, the smell of blood would drift over, and his fish soup wouldn't taste good anymore.
"I'm going to step forward right now. Let's see what the hell you can do!" someone roared.
Seeing that an NPC dared to defy him, a glint of coldness flashed through Qi Yuan's eyes.
"Why are you guys such trash? Can't you even provide me with some EXP when you die?"
The moment his voice fell, the sword in Qi Yuan's hand suddenly flew out, shooting straight toward the seven people.
Beneath the moonlight, upon the desolate snowy night, a beam of sword light slashed across.
The seven people froze right where they stood, eyes wide, completely motionless.
Snowflakes fell upon their shoulders, and as if the snow were too heavy, the seven of them collapsed in unison.
Chapter 75