Chapter 424 – When the Map Runs Out, the Dagger Shows; Third Rank Revealed, Tigers and Wolves Swallow the Exotic Beasts - Part 1

The fusion of the Exotic Beast Park and Apparel Atelier hinged on two conditions.

First, a flood of wandering dead had to crash through the ancient ghost street until the place

overloaded

.

Second, the black lotus had to sink into the Jade Pool, and Peng Mingyi had to bite into the Immortal peach, turning the Exotic Beast Park’s ghost item against Apparel Atelier, and Apparel Atelier’s ghost item back on the Exotic Beast Park.

In that cross-fire, each left its original ground and surged toward the other. Both the black lotus and the peaches carried far more than a single strike, which meant the Exotic Beast Park and Apparel Atelier could trade blow for blow, over and over.

It was the same principle as before, when Li Yuan used the rouge compact on Sheng’er and ended up drawing a the rouge peddler’s attack; or when Yan Yu deliberately turned the items of lesser ghosts on herself, forcing those weak ghosts to fuse with her.

Because both sides could keep striking, their combined force was enough to ram open the bronze gate at the heart of ancient ghost street.

By then, the ancient ghost street could no longer stop them.

But Lu Xuanxian smashed the foundation of the whole scheme with a single move.

Every step of this was painfully precise.

Zhao Gutong’s incense and Peng Mingyi’s peach-eating were both indispensable to the merging.

The moment the incense guttered out, the most immediate consequence was simple. The stream of souls broke.

The people of the Jade Capital dying outside were now truly dead. Their spirits drifted off, no longer being funneled into the ancient ghost street to become fresh ghosts battering its far end.

On the other side, the instant Peng Mingyi leapt into the Jade Pool, he fell into a kind of stasis. He was basically frozen, no longer able to gnaw on the peaches.

Without that gnawing, Apparel Atelier’s power to attack the Exotic Beast Park dwindled, and what little strength remained soon couldn’t keep the gate propped open.

Once the bronze gate swung shut again, Apparel Atelier would withdraw behind it, and the Exotic Beast Park, on its own, would never pry it open.

In short, it meant the fusion would be forcibly cut off, and all of it would dissolve into nothing.

A complicated operation was like a precision machine. Jab it at the right moment and the whole thing would come apart.

The trick was to be the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

That was why Li Yuan could cut down the Son of Heaven with relative ease.

This was also why Lu Xuanxian could wreck the plan to fuse Apparel Atelier with the Exotic Beast Park.

As for Li Yuan’s pact with the Dragon Vein, the crucial part wasn’t here on the battlefield. It was after.

Put plainly, the Dragon Vein wanted Li Yuan to serve as a bridge, a bridge to carry the world from the brink of collapse back into balance.

Only someone with Li Yuan’s iron hand could manage that interregnum.

Afterward, when Li Yuan yielded his place to the child in Xie Wei’s womb, he would go to the Imperial Mausoleum to become a mighty loyal soul. Then everything would return to its track. The world would step into a new order, and history would turn a fresh page.

Li Yuan didn’t even step out of the palanquin. He merely lifted the curtain and watched the battle with a cool gaze, turning over the hidden logic and moving parts in his mind.

Lu Xuanxian went straight for the throat. The Flying Bear Army and Ocean Province Armored Cavalry were slicing the scattered ghost cavalry to pieces.

Ghost servants, likely dispatched by the Dragon Vein, were tangling with Zhao Gutong’s undying husks.

Farther off, more figures were closing in. Li Yuan could feel them. They were the martial artists in the Jade Capital who hadn’t died, drawn by the clarity and fury of steel on steel, racing this way.

It looked, very much, like the board was set and the game decided.

So then...how should he deal with the Dragon Vein from here on out?

Since the situation didn’t need his hand, he had no intention of showing off.

Even so, the Dragon Vein would never be able to comprehend why he was undying.

Unless he found a true path to break into the third rank, then when the time came, the Dragon Vein would probably

dissect

him just to learn how he’d cheated death.

If Lu Xuanxian was right, the Dragon Vein was

righteous

in broad strokes, while the likes of Apparel Atelier were

evil

.

But whether righteous or evil, both were perilous to Li Yuan.

Before, the threat came from Apparel Atelier and their ilk.

After this victory, it would be the Dragon Vein’s turn.

Nine times out of ten, the Dragon Vein would seize the reins of the entire board.

Li Yuan and Yan Yu had no choice left but to submit, like vassal kings who surrendered in the old days, gripped in an iron fist, without a shred of justice to it.

In other words, it was no different from servitude.

Staring at the lopsided battle unfolding before him, Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

Apparel Atelier and company were losing badly, yes—but he hadn’t won either.

He had lost.

The outcome he’d hoped for never arrived. The preparations he’d made never found their moment.

Even though Yan Yu had secretly sent her undying husks ahead to the Hidden River Province, it had all been for nothing.

Regret aside, Li Yuan smoothed out his mood and accepted reality. Then he began to think about the road ahead. How should he wear the mantle of Son of Heaven—and, centuries from now, how should he shed his skin like a golden cicada?

Seconds ticked by.

At the far end of Ghost Street, the massive bronze gate began to close, slowly. The funeral robe ghost, the human-head lantern, the water-seeping corpse, and the python, boar, and exotic beasts were all caught in the doorway, three sides locked in a grim test of strength.

Little by little, the fusion came apart.

The dust was about to settle for good.

Li Yuan propped his chin on his hand, a dim light flickering in his eyes.

The great battle outside might as well have had nothing to do with him. He was thinking about how to be this Son of Heaven—and how, centuries hence, to slip free of his shell.

Just then, at the edge of his perception, a clot of energy bloomed.

His contemplative look shifted to puzzlement. He snapped his head up, pupils narrowing to pinpricks, a heavy solemnity flooding his gaze.

It was a surge of Yin and Yang energy so immense it beggared belief.

And yet this energy was unlike anything in the world. It was perfectly balanced, full and abundant, natural and flawless. It gathered into the outline of a human form, currents circling in silence without the slightest hitch.

Li Yuan had almost never seen Yin and Yang in such harmony because it simply shouldn’t exist in anyone who cultivated the shadow blood system.

He frowned, eyes widening, a flicker of doubt and awe. Then, suddenly, it clicked.

Li Yuan had always believed that fortune and misfortune leaned on each other. In blessing hid the seed of disaster; in disaster, the foothold of blessing.

A strange light flashed through his eyes and vanished. The corner of his mouth lifted into a feral grin.

Unexpected as this was, wasn’t it exactly the opening he’d been waiting for?

If it hadn’t come, he would’ve obediently served as the Dragon Vein’s chosen emperor. But since it had, it was time to act.

Moments later, a soft tapping of a cane carried across the battlefield.

A man appeared, leaning on a verdant wood cane. His long hair was neatly combed, and a wreath woven from rare, exotic blossoms circled his brow.

He looked barely past twenty. His figure was well-proportioned, his expression gentle; when he smiled, it felt like warm spring wind.

The cane beneath his palm still wore green leaves, and with each step the leaves changed. Flowers opened, fruit swelled, the fruit vanished, the greenery yellowed, withered to a bare stick. Then fresh buds sprouted, and the cane bloomed again. As if someone had jammed the world’s fast-forward button, the tree’s four seasons whirled by in time with his steps.

Look closer and you’d see the gentleness in his eyes wasn’t for people at all, but for plants. He only wore that expression when his gaze fell on the flowers and grasses by the road.

Where had he come from? No one knew. Why was he here? No one knew. Perhaps he had once watched, in silence, the growth of a prodigy boy. But the boy had yet to grow up.

At last, the plain-clothed man arrived.

He lifted his head to the battlefield of ruins, stopped, and his face went cold.

His very presence demanded respect. Lu Xuanxian swept forward, halberd in hand, and asked evenly, “Who are you?”

The plain-clothed man said, “The Revival Tree God.”

“The Revival Tree God?” Lu Xuanxian’s brow creased.

Calmly, the man replied, “I’m here only to ask the general to stop obstructing their fusion. This world needs the Grand Union of Yin and Yang. It needs to return to its prime. Only then will beings strong enough be born to meet the calamities ahead.”