Chapter 626 – A Martial Artist’s Misfortune, the World’s Salvation - Part 2

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

The day of Heaven and Earth’s great upheaval drew ever closer.

At long last, Li Yuan broke through to the fifth stage of the Earth Soul Realm.

He walked into the wilderness.

It was early spring.

Spiritual flowers blanketed the earth in full bloom, vivid, radiant, and wild in color.

Li Yuan knelt and pressed a hand against the soil.

From the ground bloomed a massive, misshapen black lotus.

It unfurled its petals, 12 at first, then 36, then 108...then 324...and it kept growing, blooming endlessly, until the entire region was drowned beneath a sea of black petals.

To the eye, the landscape had transformed into a true ghost domain. Every step one took, they were stepping on the bodies of the dead.

And then, with a thought, Li Yuan retracted it all.

The lotus shrank, folding back into a small black shape that nestled in the center of his palm. But what remained was something far more concentrated, an ominous power that pulsed with bone-deep dread.

The end of the world...it no longer felt distant. It was just there, at the threshold.

And that thought killed any joy he might have felt.

In the time he had left, he needed to learn as much about this world as possible, break through to the fifth stage of the Heaven Soul Realm, then fuse the Three Souls into one, and finally attempt to wield the power of the Life Star Art.

But while Li Yuan couldn’t bring himself to feel optimistic, the mortal world was singing with

good news

.

In the Central Capital, the meat fields were deteriorating rapidly. Where once third and fourth rank meat fields had sprouted everywhere, now only a few shabby sixth rank patches remained.

And strangely enough, that turned out to be a blessing.

With the meat fields gone, martial cultivators were weakened, but the common people’s lives vastly improved.

Farmlands flourished. The soil grew rich again. Each year brought better harvests.

Demonic beasts fled south, swarming toward the Sunset Rainforest as if preparing for a final end-of-days revel.

But with the demonic beasts gone, ordinary folk found peace.

In the great wasteland of the northern wilderness, herders began to appear.

Even the arid and desolate southern region started sprouting orchards.

Outside Sword Mountain Pass, prosperity bloomed thanks to trade between the Central Plains and Nine Flames Tribe.

Ying An’s rise to power, however murky his path to the throne, was being met with praise for his deeds.

He abolished taxes for three years.

He poured resources into helping the people rebuild.

Anything that encouraged population growth and public well-being, he did.

In the imperial palace, the Emperor’s lifestyle hit a record low, so simple it could only be described as humble.

And where the Emperor led, the Eight Pillar Clans followed.

Who had ever heard of an Emperor who took no concubines? Of a princess dressed in coarse linen? Of an empress stitching soles for her shoes? Of a prince dining on nothing more than two dishes and a bowl of soup?

Yet in this era, all of it had come true.

And everyone knew that behind Ying An, there was a woman whose influence could only be described with one word,

greatness

..

The Human Emperor had once brought the martial world to its peak.

But the girl once adored by that same emperor, the Central Capital Princess, was the one who led the people into a golden age.

It was a true turning of the page, a new era built upon the ashes of the old.

Who could have imagined that the spoiled, arrogant little girl who once tried to drive away all the beggars from her sight would one day become

that kind

of woman?

The Central Capital Princess. so loud, so brash, so utterly clueless in her youth.

Yet now she was hailed as the Great Bodhisattva.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The little crow perched on Li Yuan’s shoulder, beaming as she chattered on about it all.

She loved this era of peace. She loved watching the world bloom.

But most of all, she loved her little sister.

From the tone of her voice, Li Yuan could tell that this wasn’t just affection. There was admiration too. Deep and genuine.

Zhen’er now traveled in plain clothes, rode in the simplest of carriages even on long journeys. Yet no matter where she went, she was welcomed with fanfare that rivaled the Human Emperor himself in his prime.

The difference? People had feared the Human Emperor.

But for Zhen’er, the gratitude was heartfelt and sincere because they knew this world had changed because of her.

The little crow had flown at her side, seen the smiles on people’s faces, the joy in their eyes. And as she watched their happiness, she too began to feel it.

Even the cold, eerie gloom of the Deathless Tomb no longer felt so bitter.

She had found another light.

Her little sister...was her second sun.

Li Yuan listened quietly to the little crow’s account. But what he saw in his own travels was something else entirely, a growing restlessness among the cultivators. A rising desperation.

And so he sighed, almost without meaning to.

“Misfortune for the martial artists...but a blessing for the people.”

The little crow nodded. “Yeah. The people are happy. That’s what really matters. Mother... Mother always wanted to see this kind of world. It’s a shame she never got the chance. I still remember when Sixth Mother was pregnant, she said she’d help take care of the baby for a while.

“But before she ever got to, Yin and Yang fused...and she was gone. If she could see Zhen’er now, if she could see what the world’s become...I think she’d be really, really happy.”

Sixth Mother... Xie Yu.

Li Yuan closed his eyes briefly.

He’d heard plenty of news about her in recent years.

That woman, whether out of grief or defiance, no one could say, had taken her sword and set off alone across the land. Wherever she saw injustice, she stepped in. No hesitation. No mercy.

With her name and lineage, trouble was never far behind. She sought out the worst of the worst, plunging straight into the darkest nests of corruption.

And when those villains tried to band together to crush her?

They discovered too late that they hadn’t picked a fight with a blade of straw but with alloyed steel.

And so they fell, one after another.

She wasn’t a sword immortal by title. But the people had given her one anyway, the

Crimson Sword Immortal.

It wasn’t about how strong she was. It was what she

meant

to them. To the common folk, she was nothing less than divine.

The thought passed.

Li Yuan asked, “It’s been five years. Has Ping’an managed to uncover anything from that map?”

Sheng'er shook her head. “It’s too hard. The deeper you go into the Hall of Life, the fewer paths there are. Fewer forks. Fewer places to hide. Fewer ways to conceal your presence. Ping’an keeps risking his life, again and again...but he still hasn’t reached the place marked on the map.”

Li Yuan nodded, then asked, “And what about your cultivation? How’s it coming along?”

With the Immortal Alliance now established, it bore the name of a

coalition

, but in truth, it had become little more than a machine for Li Yuan to gather and redistribute the resources of the Eastern Sea.

And he didn’t even bother pretending otherwise.

He hoarded the resources and funneled them straight to his family without the slightest attempt at fairness.

Naturally, Sheng'er and Ping’an received the lion’s share.

Sheng'er gave her report. “28 of my little crows have broken through to the first or second stage of the Heaven Soul Realm. As for the Tree’ers, they’ve all reached the fourth stage. If all goes well, one of them should hit the fifth stage before the world changes. That way, we’ll at least have someone at their peak when the end comes. But Ping’an...he’s not going to make it. He’s split himself into too many clones. His soul is too fragmented. He’s probably stuck in the first stage...”

Her voice grew quiet.

She would have preferred her little brother to be the way he once was, boastful, full of fire, and always shouting that he was the

greatest swordsman under heaven

, a

genius like no other

.

The boy who had once led them all by a wide, unreachable margin... That brash, arrogant boy who didn’t know a damn thing about the world... He had somehow taken the entire burden of that world onto his own back.

“I really wish it was Ping’an who had reached the fifth stage of the Human Soul Realm.”

The little crow let out a long, heavy sigh.

She and Li Yuan chatted a bit longer. Then, suddenly remembering something, she added, “Oh right, Papa. Zhen’er’s husband came looking for us. He’d been cultivating with another noble clan. When he heard our story and put the pieces together, he realized we were connected. Now...he’s asking to meet with you.”

Li Yuan asked, “And what does he want?”

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“He broke through to fourth rank a while ago,” said the little crow. “Now he’s desperate to get to the third rank. He wants to beg you for permission to enter the Hall of Life.”

Li Yuan’s expression darkened. “What, he doesn’t want to return to the Central Plains and reunite with Zhen’er? At his current level? Even if I let him in, he wouldn’t have time to make a difference. And besides, without reaching third rank first, going into the Hall of Life would be a waste.”

The little crow fell silent.

After a moment, she murmured, “He’s too obsessed with cultivation. If he went back now...”

She sighed.

Li Yuan waved a hand. “I’m not meeting him. But pass along my message. Let him decide for himself. If he wants to return to the Central Plains and be with her, fine. If not...then ask Xinxuan and the others how they feel about bringing along a burden each time they enter the Hall of Life.”

“Got it,” the little crow nodded, and with a beat of her wings, took off into the distance.

Li Yuan raised his hand. A total of lotus blossoms bloomed from his palm, crimson and black, each one vivid and fierce. Only the golden lotus remained absent.

With hands clasped behind his back, he turned and walked away, returning to one of the hidden sanctuaries.

There, mountains of Heavenly Fire Spirit Stones had already been piled high.

He retrieved the secret art stele for the Heaven Soul technique and began what would be his final cultivation.