Chapter 677: The Trembling Divine Palace
"Senior Uncle Yueli, in these three years, has there been... any news of Yue Chan?" Yun Che asked after hesitating. He knew in his heart that the hope of receiving a positive answer was extremely slim.
No surprise, Chu Yueli shook her head with a gloomy expression.
"It's fine..." Yun Che took a deep breath. "Three years ago, I commissioned the main branch of the Black Moon Merchant Guild to search for news of Yue Chan. Given the capabilities of the Black Moon Merchant Guild, after three full years, there must have been some discovery... Perhaps they have already found her location."
"Mm!" Chu Yueli nodded slightly, a glimmer of hope shining in her beautiful eyes. "Palace Master, when you go to the Black Moon Merchant Guild, remember to inquire about Qingyue's news. Now that the crisis here has been resolved, it's actually more dangerous for her to be outside."
"I will." Yun Che nodded. "I should be staying in Shenhuang Kingdom for some time next. It might be long or short. If any accident occurs, remember to send me a sound transmission immediately. I have my own ways to return at the first opportunity!"
Yun Che temporarily bid farewell to the women of Bing Yun, retrieved the Primordial Mystic Ark, traversed through space, and returned to Cangfeng Imperial City.
Compared to yesterday, today's Cangfeng Imperial City was much calmer. At least the heavy, gloomy, and despairing atmosphere had mostly dissipated. The news of Consort Yun's return and his instantaneous annihilation of hundreds of thousands of troops from the Shenhuang Empire had already spread throughout Shenhuang City and its surroundings, reigniting the hopes that had long been extinguished.
"Husband, how is it over at Sun Moon Divine Palace?"
When Yun Che returned, Cang Yue hurried out to greet him. Her delicate face beneath the phoenix crown was adorned with deep joy and undisguisable exhaustion. Clearly, she had been up all night in worry.
"Empress Sister-in-law, big brother is just too... too... too amazing!" Before Yun Che could answer, Xiao Yun couldn't help but shout excitedly: "The people who came from Sun Moon Divine Palace were all very powerful. Not only did the Young Master come personally, but there were also several Emperor Lords. However, big brother burned one of them to death, and all the others ran away in fright... and scared them so much that they will absolutely never dare to come again. Ah... Seventh Sister, no need to check anymore. I really don't have a single injury. I just stood there for a little while without even fighting anyone. Ah, ouch ouch ouch..."
Xiao Yun's pale words naturally could not fully depict the scene at that time. He was even more unaware that despite everything going so smoothly, Yun Che had felt as if he were walking on a tightrope over a bottomless abyss with every breath.
Cang Yue did not ask further, because seeing Yun Che's confident eyes, she knew that the Bing Yun Fairy Palace had resolved its crisis... even though the opponent was Sun Moon Divine Palace. She smiled and said, "It's good that nothing happened. This time, you should go to Grandfather's side, right?"
"Mm, I'll take Xiao Yun there right now." Thinking of Xiao Lie and Xiao Lingxi's faces, Yun Che's heart naturally surged with warmth. Then, a growing, almost uncontrollable eagerness emerged.
"Xiao Yun, we are going to Liuyun City now... That is the place of your birth. Once there, you can meet your true blood relatives." Yun Che picked up the Primordial Mystic Ark again and said with a smile.
Xiao Yun opened his mouth, paused for a long moment, then nodded vigorously: "Good!"
Finding his blood relatives and meeting and recognizing them—this was his greatest purpose in coming to Tian Xuan Continent with Yun Che!
"I'm coming too!" Tianxia Diqi hopped and grabbed Xiao Yun's arm.
"You are now family with Xiao Yun. How could a family reunion be without you? You have to come!" Yun Che said with a smile. "Yue'er, I'll return soon with Grandfather and Little Aunt. Brother Tianxia, Yuanba, I'll leave the Imperial City to you."
"Brother-in-law, rest assured. No matter how many come, they won't get a single step closer!" Xia Yuanba raised his thick arm, casually clenched his hand, and produced a crackling sound like popping beans from his knuckles.
"Xiao Yun, Seventh Sister, let's go."
"Ah? Just... just go like this? Should we prepare something, like... like..." Xiao Yun was momentarily at a loss. In his more than twenty years in the Huan Yao Realm, he had always carried the label of "Tian Xuan Bastard". At twenty-two years old, he had never met any of his blood relatives.
"We don't need anything. Let's go!!" Yun Che grabbed Xiao Yun. Compared to Xiao Yun's timidity, he was already impatient.
Entering the Primordial Mystic Ark, setting the distance and direction for travel, in just an instant, they arrived above Liuyun City.
Leaving the Primordial Mystic Ark, Yun Che took a deep breath of the air here... Finally back, the place where I grew up...
The air still had the familiar scent, without any smell of gunpowder or smoke.
From a height of a thousand zhang, Yun Che silently looked down at his all-too-familiar hometown. Cang Feng Kingdom was the smallest among the seven kingdoms of Tian Xuan, and Liuyun City was the smallest city in Cang Feng Kingdom. This place had never known the clamor of large cities, and at this moment, Liuyun City was even quieter than Yun Che remembered. Although there were streams of people on the long, narrow streets, they were much sparser than before.
As Cang Yue had said, although the Shenhuang Kingdom had unexpectedly sent a full two hundred thousand troops to Liuyun City, they had not attacked the city. Under Yun Che's sweeping gaze, there seemed to be no traces of battle anywhere in Liuyun City... Not even small-scale ones, let alone large-scale. The streets were flat, buildings were not extensively damaged, and the entire city was not shrouded in an atmosphere of panic. Even... as Yun Che detected, within the entire Liuyun City, only at the location of the City Lord's Mansion was there a stationed unit that should be Shenhuang troops, and their number was only about a hundred.
This result made Yun Che breathe a huge sigh of relief, but at the same time, doubts arose in his heart.
Liuyun City had weak citizens and a small area, barren land, and no places rich in resources around the city. Even the Profound Beasts that existed there were of the lowest grade. It was completely worthless to attack. Moreover, it was located in the easternmost part of Cang Feng Kingdom, a remote area requiring long marches. Even if conquered, it could be considered a loss greater than the gain. Even if they absolutely had to take it, given the combat power of the Shenhuang army, they could easily do it with just a few thousand troops... Yet Shenhuang had sent a full two hundred thousand troops!
And this was before their march on Cangfeng Imperial City!
Moreover, according to Cang Yue, after the two hundred thousand Shenhuang troops arrived here, they had never left.
But now, Liuyun City was in such a state.
Everything exuded an eerie strangeness that could not be explained by common sense.
What on earth was going on?
What did the Shenhuang Empire want to do with Liuyun City?
Boom~~
Boom~~~
Boom!!
A series of dull booming sounds came from the due east, northeast, and southeast directions. Some of these sounds were distant, some relatively close, and they were especially dense. Yun Che quickly turned his head to look east. Where his gaze reached, among the rugged and perpetually barren mountainous area east of Liuyun City, he saw patches of red shadows, some concentrated, some scattered. He furrowed his brows, focused his vision to the extreme, and gradually realized that those red shadows were actually patches of Shenhuang soldiers wearing crimson light armor!
"What is that sound? Is someone fighting there?" Xiao Yun and Tianxia Diqi looked eastward and asked in surprise.
"It's the Shenhuang army!"
"Shenhuang army? Is someone fighting the Shenhuang army?" Xiao Yun quickly asked. His and Tianxia Diqi's vision was far inferior to Yun Che's, who possessed the Desolate God's Power.
"No," Yun Che shook his head, a deep confusion knitting his brows as he spoke. "Their appearance suggests they are rhythmically and uniformly pounding the ground."
"Pounding... the ground?" Xiao Yun's eyes widened. "What are they doing? Could they be training?"
Yun Che pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know. Let's ignore them for now. Let's go down." He raised his finger and pointed to the most familiar place in his life. "That is the Xiao Clan Compound, where I grew up for sixteen years. Grandfather and Little Aunt are there now."
Just as Yun Che's body was about to descend, a low shout from Mo Li suddenly came through his mind: "Wait!"
Yun Che's body abruptly halted. Whenever Mo Li suddenly used this tone, it was absolutely because she had discovered something extraordinary. He quickly focused his mind and asked, "Mo Li, what's wrong?"
"What place is this?" Mo Li had just finished asking when she recognized it herself: "Liuyun City?"
Obviously, Mo Li had just woken up from sleep. Yun Che replied, "I just came back here. What did you discover? Is something wrong here?"
"..." Mo Li was silent for a long while before speaking in an extremely low voice: "Why is there... demonic energy here!"
"Demonic energy?" Yun Che was startled. "What does demonic energy mean?"
"..." Mo Li continued to be silent for a long time, then her tone became even deeper. "It's not an illusion. That is indeed demonic energy without a doubt! Demonic energy... simply put, it is the mutated Profound Energy that results when laws distort after one or more negative emotions reach a certain threshold! The Demonic Profound Power it generates is more powerful than Profound Power of the same level, and also harder to control. And because demonic energy is only generated under extreme negative emotions, those who possess demonic energy... are twisted in spirit and conviction, evil beings that should not exist in the world! Or they can be directly called demon people or demons!"
Yun Che: "..."
"This plane is getting more and more interesting, that it would actually have something like demonic energy!" Mo Li said in a low voice. She had deep disgust and even resentment towards "demons", because the poison she had suffered was the most terrible demon poison!
"This person is in Liuyun City?" Yun Che said in a deep voice.
"That's right, and... within the Xiao Sect that you are about to return to!"
"What?!" Yun Che was shocked.
"Go down and see immediately. I really want to know what kind of person could actually generate demonic energy in such a low-level plane!" Mo Li's tone was exceptionally strange.