Chapter 648: The Calamity of a Fallen Nation
"New Moon City..." He softly murmured the name of the place where he was born and raised, a name that should have been the most familiar in his life, but Sikong Du's voice was filled with sorrow and desolation: "There is no New Moon City anymore... New Moon City is long finished... The entire Cang Feng Kingdom is about to be finished too!!"
"..."
Yun Che's breathing suddenly became heavy. He forced himself to stay calm, crouched down, and grabbed Sikong Du's shoulder. "What exactly is going on? In the three years I've been away... what exactly happened to the Cang Feng Kingdom!"
"It's the Shenhuang Empire!!" The young man on Sikong Du's right ground his teeth in hatred. "Three years ago, the Shenhuang Empire suddenly marched their army to our borders. They breached Southern Sky City in a single night, and in less than half a month, they had occupied the entire Southern Heaven Domain... No declaration of war, no warning, and no explanation or reason whatsoever! The envoys we sent were all directly executed... After that, the Shenhuang army kept increasing endlessly, numbering in the millions... Like a pack of mad dogs, they invaded and trampled our Cang Feng lands... New Moon City had already fallen over a year ago..."
Calming down, he said in a deep voice: "Why did the Shenhuang Empire suddenly invade? Three years ago... that was basically around the time I left. The Shenhuang imperial family should have been perfectly clear that my disappearance in the Primordial Mystic Ark was to save the Snow Princess of their Fenghuang God Sect! The Snow Princess is not just a princess in the Shenhuang Empire—she is an existence that transcends everything. And I am the consort of the Cang Feng imperial family... Just based on this, even if they weren't grateful enough to repay the Cang Feng imperial family with heavy rewards, on what grounds did they invade!!"
Sikong Du let out a bitter laugh: "The fact that you 'perished' in the Primordial Mystic Ark while saving the Snow Princess of the Shenhuang Empire spread throughout the world shortly after your accident. Anyone with a shred of conscience should remember this life-saving debt... But the Shenhuang Empire... they don't even possess the most basic humanity! Gratitude? What a huge joke! Not only did they occupy our Cang Feng lands, they also destroyed our cities and slaughtered our people... They are nothing but a pack of mad dogs, a group of demons!!"
The grief and hatred in Sikong Du's voice was so piercing that merely hearing it felt like a knife stabbing into one's heart. The sixteen young men around him also had eyes filled with resentment, gnashing their teeth. Yun Che suppressed his emotions and said in a low, somber voice: "Wars on the Tian Xuan Continent... have always had the premise of not harming civilians! This is the most basic humanity! The Shenhuang Empire, after all, is the number one nation on Tian Xuan, inheriting the power of the Phoenix... How could they do something like this!"
"I can't figure it out either... can't figure it out!" Sikong Du's voice sounded like a wail. He extended a trembling hand, pointing ahead: "Yun Che... look, use your own eyes to look! This place was once the two-hundred-mile New Moon Forest, where the New Moon Mystic Palace often held assessments. But now... what New Moon Forest is left? In order to break through the defensive line as quickly as possible, they used Phoenix Flame to burn this entire two-hundred-mile New Moon Forest to ashes... Not a single blade of grass remains!"
Yun Che: "..."
"And... our New Moon City." Sikong Du pointed to the west, tears already filling his eyes: "They breached the city gates and entered the city... In order to take New Moon City as quickly as possible, they didn't even hesitate to set the city on fire... And what they used to burn it... was the Phoenix Flame of their Shenhuang Empire! Forty percent of New Moon City was burned to ashes... A full forty percent! Over a million citizens of New Moon City died under that Phoenix Flame! The number of those who fell to their blades is incalculable... Those who resisted died, those who didn't kneel died, those with profound energy on them died... In these less than three short years, tens of millions of our Cang Feng people have perished under the feet of those Shenhuang dogs... Tens of millions!!"
Sikong Du's voice grew more shrill with each word, every syllable filled with a hatred that pierced the soul. Under his mournful cries, the sixteen young men around him were also already drenched in tears. The young man on the left spoke slowly: "We are all disciples of the New Moon Mystic Palace... But now, New Moon City is destroyed, and the New Moon Mystic Palace is no more. Instructor Situ's father... Instructor Sikong Han, to buy us time to escape, he... he... We haven't even been able to find his remains."
"We have all lost our homes, lost our loved ones... The only purpose left for us to live is to follow Instructor Sikong and kill every last Shenhuang dog!" The youth who spoke appeared to be only seventeen or eighteen, but his eyes held a determination and hatred that belied his age.
"The Shenhuang army is too powerful, and our cultivation is too weak for a direct confrontation. We can only roam around New Moon City, ambushing isolated Shenhuang soldiers... Kill one if we can, kill as many as we can... Earlier, from a distance, I vaguely saw golden flame patterns on your body and thought you were a Shenhuang soldier, which is why we attacked."
Yun Che slowly released his grip on Sikong Du's shoulders, his gaze dazed. He looked at the people around Sikong Du... The oldest among them was just over twenty, the youngest only sixteen or seventeen. Their clothes were tattered and covered in bloodstains, and their bodies were riddled with wounds. One person had nearly a third of his body wrapped in blood-stained bandages.
During his time in the Huan Yao Realm, although he was eager to return, subconsciously he hadn't worried too much about the safety of those he cared about. Because in the Cang Feng Kingdom, the imperial family would protect them. Even if something did happen, he was still a disciple of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, and Xia Qingyue wouldn't ignore their marital bond; the Bing Yun Fairy Palace would surely extend its protection.
The Fenghuang God Sect, which had a grudge with him, should have no enmity left after he risked his life to save Feng Xue'er, only gratitude. And that Ye Xinghan, whom he had thoroughly offended—Yun Che's death was the outcome he most desired; it was unlikely he would take out his anger on those close to Yun Che after his death.
But he had never dreamed that upon returning to the Cang Feng Kingdom, which he had yearned for day and night with boundless joy, he would see such an apocalyptic scene.
Burned cities... destruction... massacre... tens of millions of Cang Feng people dead...
Every word, every number, seemed freshly pulled from the bloody pool of purgatory, writhing with crimson blood.
Why... Why did the Shenhuang Empire do this? It shouldn't be... This shouldn't have happened!
His heart pounded violently. Even back in the Jinwu Thunder Flame Valley, when Ming Wang cornered him into a desperate situation, his mind had never been this chaotic. He took several deep breaths and said in as calm a voice as possible: "Senior Brother Sikong... What is the current situation of the Cang Feng Kingdom? Is the Cangfeng Imperial City safe?"
Sikong Du coughed violently for a while, then said painfully: "The invasion of those Shenhuang mad dogs is horrifying. In order to swallow the Cang Feng Kingdom in the shortest time, they not only deployed enormous military force, but also used unscrupulous means... If not for the Empress's wise and decisive leadership, setting up seven ingenious defensive lines and holding them off for so long with forces several times weaker, the Cang Feng Kingdom would have already..."
"The Empress? What do you mean by 'the Empress'?!" Yun Che's mind trembled violently, his pupils constricting for an instant. He grabbed Sikong Du's collar and growled, "What about my father... Why is it the Empress?"
"The late Emperor..." Sikong Du smiled bitterly: "The late Emperor was assassinated two months after the Shenhuang dogs invaded."
"~!@#$%^..." Yun Che's hand went limp, his eyes hollow. His body swayed, and he stumbled backward.
"Big Brother!"
"Brother Yun!"
Xiao Yun and Tianxia Diqi quickly stepped forward to steady him. The moment they touched him, they could feel that Yun Che's entire body was icy cold. They knew little about the Tian Xuan Continent and had even less emotional attachment to it, but just from Sikong Du's account, they were deeply shaken. In their eyes, Yun Che had always been the most reliable and seemingly capable of anything, never changing his expression even if the sky fell... This showed just how much these events had impacted him.
"I... I'm fine." Yun Che gently broke free from Xiao Yun and Tianxia Diqi's hands. He raised his head and took a deep breath. But his clenched fists continued to tremble violently, unable to stop.
"Empress Cang Yue is truly remarkable!" The young man on Sikong Du's right couldn't help but speak, his eyes filled with deep respect and admiration: "When the late Emperor was assassinated back then, those useless princes didn't want to be the monarchs of a fallen nation, and they were even more afraid of being assassinated like the late Emperor. None dared to inherit the throne. It was Empress Cang Yue who voluntarily shouldered that heavy burden. At first, we thought that making a princess the emperor would only hasten the fall of the Cang Feng Kingdom. But Empress Cang Yue is truly more remarkable than the late Emperor. Though she was in the imperial city, she seemed to know everything about every region of Cang Feng. She always used the advantages of terrain and geography to form the most perfect defensive lines... And she was completely free of the indecisiveness typical of women; she would decisively abandon some areas to concentrate defenses. Especially that battle at the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range—the Empress had people prepare large quantities of beast-attracting incense long in advance, drawing countless profound beasts from the range to attack the Shenhuang dogs... That defensive line held them back for several months!"
"...Yue'er." Yun Che's eyes were hazy as he whispered softly. Before he had met Cang Yue, she had already traveled to many Mystic Palaces and many major cities, setting foot in many regions of the Cang Feng Kingdom. When she stopped at New Moon City, she met him. So, she was indeed well-versed in the terrain and geographical advantages of these areas. And the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range... that was where they had faced hardship together and confessed their feelings. It was filled with countless profound beasts, and they had encountered a ruthless bandit group there... The reason that bandit group could enter the heart of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range was because they used a very unique beast-repelling incense. She must have drawn inspiration from that, thinking of beast-attracting incense...
But... my Yue'er, with your frail shoulders, under the heavy oppression and brutality of the Shenhuang Empire... you have sustained the entire Cang Feng Kingdom for three whole years...
How much suffering have you endured these three years, how much exhaustion, how many heartbreaks, how many tears...
Yun Che's heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife. He closed his eyes tightly and asked in a low voice: "Why was my father... assassinated? Wasn't there the Tian Jian Villa? According to the ancestral oath, even if the Tian Jian Villa didn't send their entire force to help, at least they should have fully protected my father's life. The Tian Jian Villa, after all, has the Tian Wei Sword Domain as their backing. With them guarding him, the Shenhuang Empire's people shouldn't have been able to take my father's life so easily!"
"Tian Jian Villa?" Sikong Du gave a faint, contemptuous laugh: "That was a place I once yearned for deeply. But... during this Shenhuang invasion, they not only trampled our land but also committed heinous sins that outrage both gods and men. At a time when the nation was on the verge of collapse, the Tian Jian Villa not only failed to lead the Cang Feng profound world in resistance, but locked themselves up in their villa, completely indifferent!!"
"Rumor has it that the imperial family sent nine pleas for help to the Tian Jian Villa, but each time, the villa turned a blind eye. To this day, it remains the same! Hah, that's right! The Tian Jian Villa has great strength and background; the Shenhuang mad dogs never even approached the Tian Jian Mountain Range. But have they forgotten that they are people of the Cang Feng Kingdom, standing on Cang Feng soil, with Cang Feng blood flowing in their veins? The number one force of the Cang Feng Kingdom, an existence that once could only be looked up to... It turns out they are nothing but a bunch of cowardly, faithless weaklings! They are not even worthy of being compared to us!"
"Geh..." Yun Che's teeth clenched so tightly they felt like they might shatter.
"The imperial family also sought help from the other five kingdoms, but all five kingdoms gave no response... Later, we heard that before the Shenhuang dogs invaded our Cang Feng Kingdom, they had signed long-term non-aggression pacts with each of the five kingdoms." A young man with a severely injured right arm said through gritted teeth.
"Now, the Cangfeng Imperial City is probably about to fall as well. I just hope... that the Empress can escape safely."
"What did you say!?" Yun Che's body flickered, and in an instant, he appeared before that person: "Cangfeng Imperial City... fallen?"
Yun Che's expression at that moment was terrifying, and his aura, suddenly out of control, startled the young man, who stumbled back in suffocating fear. He said with a panicked expression: "We got news this morning... that yesterday, around this same time, seven hundred thousand Shenhuang troops had already arrived at the imperial city. Moreover, Shenhuang forces from other regions were all rapidly gathering toward the imperial city... A whole day has passed. I'm afraid the imperial city has already..."
As if something exploded in Yun Che's mind, he clenched his teeth tightly, forcing himself to calm down: Calm down... calm down... I must calm down!!
Yun Che reached into the Heavenly Poison Pearl and took out over a dozen light green pills, placing them in Sikong Du's hand: "Senior Brother Sikong, take these pills, one for each of you. They can quickly heal your injuries and also raise your profound strength by at least one major realm."
The emerald-green pills were small, but the moment their scent reached Sikong Du and the others, they suddenly felt a clarity throughout their bodies, as if their souls had been purified in an instant. Even the bottlenecks they had long been unable to break through seemed to show signs of loosening... Just the scent alone was so potent. In their shock, they instantly believed that the miraculous nature of these pills far surpassed any they had ever seen, even exceeding their understanding.
Sikong Du received them, somewhat dazed. He was about to say something when he found that Yun Che had vanished before his eyes... And a violent gust of wind was rapidly receding into the distance.
"Big Brother!"
"Let's go!" Tianxia Diyi simultaneously grabbed Xiao Yun and Tianxia Diqi, his profound energy surging as he pursued Yun Che.
After quickly traveling ten miles, Yun Che slowed slightly, summoned the Primordial Mystic Ark, and brought Tianxia Diyi and the others inside. He calculated the approximate direction and distance to the Cangfeng Imperial City. With a violent tremor of space, the Primordial Mystic Ark tore through dimensions and vanished into the cracks of space.