Chapter 817: Alarming Discovery
Upon returning to Flowing Cloud City that very night, Xiao Yun woke up, and his spirits were fairly good, which completely put Xiao Ying and Tianxia Diqi at ease.
Yun Che recounted in detail the entire story of Xiao Yun being taken away, as well as what had happened at the Supreme Sea Palace, including Mo Li, his own identity in the Huan Yao Realm, the fact that Tianxia Diqi's identity had already been exposed at the Supreme Sea Palace, and also how that old fox Feng Hengkong had seized the opportunity to publicly announce that he would hold an engagement banquet for Yun Che and Feng Xue'er...
But he did not mention that he had already discovered who killed Xiao Ying back then.
As night fell, Xiao Lingxi pulled Yun Che aside alone to the courtyard. Lowering her head slightly, she said somewhat nervously, "Xiao Che, there's something I've been keeping from you. Actually... Fen Juechen has been staying here this whole time... for the past two months."
"Hmm?" Yun Che was taken aback.
"Two months ago, someone found him outside the city. He was severely injured, almost at death's door... so I asked Brother Tianxia to bring him back to the Xiao Sect and told them not to tell you." Xiao Lingxi grew even more tense: "Xiao Che, I didn't mean to hide it from you on purpose, but between the two of you... I was afraid that if you met, there would be a big conflict. You are my Xiao Che, and he is my lifesaver. I didn't want to see either of you get hurt, so... so..."
"Oh, I see." Yun Che nodded slightly, comprehension dawning: "No wonder. Every time I came back these past two months, I could faintly sense Fen Juechen's presence."
"During these two months, he... he has been here recovering. Every time he knew you were coming back, he would hide in advance and only return after you left. After he recovered, just like you, he set off to participate in that 'Demon Sword Convention' at Supreme Sea Palace, but he left much earlier than you." Xiao Lingxi looked at Yun Che nervously, but found no anger in him: "Xiao Che, I kept it from you all this time. Don't you blame me?"
"Why would I blame you?" Yun Che asked in return. "My Little Aunt... my Lingxi—who in this world knows you better than I do? If you had come across a severely injured Fen Juechen and not done this, I would have found it strange instead. From childhood to now, you have very rarely deceived me, but every time, it was definitely for my own good. This time is no exception."
"Hehe..." The tension in Xiao Lingxi's heart dissipated, and a smile bloomed on her face: "During his recovery here, I took care of him. I even became sworn siblings with him, acknowledging him as my elder brother. He also promised never to kill you again... Actually, Brother Fen is not a bad person. He's just... too lonely."
"..." Yun Che was silent for a long time before slowly nodding: "No wonder, when I saw him at the Supreme Sea Palace, he had completely lost his killing intent toward me."
"He really is lonely, and because of that, his hatred has always been deeply etched and pure. Especially toward me—you could say it is engraved in his very marrow and soul. To be able to dissolve hatred of that degree... Lingxi, you are the only one in this world who could do it. For someone like him to meet a person who truly cares about him is not only a great warmth and fortune, but also a great redemption."
Yun Che's voice gradually lowered, because he thought of his former self. His past self was so similar to Fen Juechen, but the difference was that... Fen Juechen's heart of hatred was being silently melted. Xiao Lingxi had redeemed him, and he had redeemed himself.
But as for him...
"Wait..." Yun Che suddenly thought of something, jolted, and widened his eyes as he exclaimed, "You... became sworn siblings with him?"
"Yes," Xiao Lingxi was startled by Yun Che's reaction and said nervously, "Xiao Che, do you... disapprove?"
"That's not the point." Yun Che looked troubled: "No way! I absolutely can't call you Little Aunt anymore. From now on, I can only call you Lingxi. Otherwise... otherwise I would be a generation lower than him! How could I tolerate that!"
"Pfft..." Xiao Lingxi covered her mouth and laughed: "It doesn't matter. You see, I am Xiao Yun and Tianxia Diqi's Little Aunt, but I still address Tianxia Diyi as Brother Tianxia..."
"..." Yun Che slapped his forehead, speechless.
"Actually, actually I prefer it when you call me Lingxi." Xiao Lingxi lowered her head slightly, and even under the night sky, the extraordinary blush on her snow-white face was still visible: "But in front of Father, you still have to call me Little Aunt. Otherwise... otherwise..."
She didn't know how to continue.
"As a matter of fact, I have something I've been hiding from you too," Yun Che suddenly said.
"Ah?"
Yun Che said seriously: "I already know who killed Uncle Xiao Ying back then."
"What!?" Xiao Lingxi's head shot up, and she asked urgently, "Who is it!?"
"The force behind that person is extremely powerful. With my current strength, I simply cannot deal with them. If I tell Grandfather now, it will only worry him day and night and keep him from peace, so I haven't told him. But when I am strong enough, I will bring that person back alive for Grandfather to deal with... This hatred has been the biggest knot in Grandfather's heart for so many years. Only by letting him settle it with his own hands can he truly break free from it."
Xiao Lingxi nodded gently: "Yes. It's better not to tell Father now."
"Also, there is another reason." Yun Che smiled slightly, lowering his voice mysteriously: "Grandfather watched us grow up. If I suddenly said I wanted to marry you, he might beat me to death. But if I first untie that knot and leave him without regrets, then tell him, maybe he won't be so angry..."
"Ah..." Xiao Lingxi's breath caught, and then she said huffily: "You have Xia Qingyue, you have the Empress wife, in the Huan Yao Realm you have the Little Demon Empress, and soon... you're going to be engaged to Princess Xue'er... each of them is thousands of times better than me. How could you possibly have any heart left for me? Hmph!"
With a heavy snort, Xiao Lingxi turned and ran, not letting Yun Che see the light in her eyes.
Yun Che smiled as he watched her figure disappear from sight. He looked up at the starry night sky above Flowing Cloud City and murmured to himself, "So fast... it's already been seven years..."
His heart was calm now, because with Mo Li's immense power, he no longer needed to worry about anything, fear anything, or scheme for anything. Nothing could threaten him or the safety of those around him anymore. Even the Four Sacred Grounds now trembled and bowed before him.
Looking back on these seven years, what he owed the most was emotional debts.
Xiao Xiannü, this time, I will definitely find you...
Ling'er, soon I will go to Cang Yun Continent to find you, bring you by my side, and make up for all the wrongs I owed you in this life and the previous one.
Caiyi... you must be worrying about me in the Huan Yao Realm. After the engagement ceremony with Xue'er, I will bring Xue'er, bring Yue'er, bring Lingxi, and return together.
And Qingyue... where did you go...
.............
After that, it was training under Mo Li's guidance to cultivate profound strength until he could personally kill Xuanyuan Wentian and stand up to the Four Sacred Grounds. Although growing strong enough to rival the ten-thousand-year legacy of the Sacred Grounds in just twenty-four years would be a fantasy for anyone else, Yun Che was confident that with his constitution, bloodline, profound veins, and skills—far beyond the ordinary—along with Mo Li's personal instruction, twenty-four years would be more than enough.
He might even be able to do it within ten years!
By then, he would be truly invincible in the Tian Xuan Continent. Once all wishes and grudges were settled, no one would be able to threaten him. Whether the Tian Xuan Continent, the Huan Yao Realm, or even the Cang Yun Continent he would soon visit, he would roam freely. All the people important to him would live under his protection, safe for life...
Wasn't this the goal he had desperately pursued power for?
And in just seven short years, that goal—which he once thought would take a lifetime to achieve—was now almost within reach. You could even say it was already accomplished.
"Mo Li, with you here, I can't possibly be in any danger for the rest of my life. There shouldn't be any more major storms either," Yun Che muttered, feeling an inexplicable melancholy.
"Oh? Do you like ending up at death's door like before?" Mo Li's voice came from the air, sounding annoyed.
"Of course not. It's just... it all feels a bit unreal. And what should I do from now on? Should I continue as the Palace Master of Bing Yun Fairy Palace, or go back to the Huan Yao Realm to be some kind of Demon Lord, or..." Yun Che paused mid-thought, then suddenly changed the subject: "Mo Li, aren't you really going to come out and let Grandfather and the others meet you? They especially want to know what you look like."
"Hmph!" Mo Li snorted coldly and ignored him directly.
Yun Che: "..."
———————————
Yun Che stayed in Flowing Cloud City for three days, then stayed in Cangfeng Imperial City for another three days. After that, to speed up his recovery, he returned to the Ice Extreme Snow Domain. Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue'er went back to Huangji Sacred Domain and Fenghuang God Sect respectively.
When he returned to Bing Yun Fairy Palace, Yun Che discovered that everyone in the sect already knew all about what had happened at the Demon Sword Convention... and not just them—it was likely that the entire Tian Xuan Continent knew by now. Even the news of his engagement banquet with Princess Xue'er had spread across the continent. The momentum of its propagation was unprecedented. This caused the imperial nobles and Xuan cultivating powers of the seven nations—whether invited or not—to be in a flurry of preparation day and night, terrified of any slight negligence.
The shockwaves it sent through Tian Xuan Continent were comparable to the Huan Yao Realm after the Little Demon Empress announced her marriage to Yun Che—and this was just an engagement banquet.
But Yun Che wasn't surprised by this. In a world where power reigned supreme and the Four Sacred Grounds were the ultimate authority, everyone understood what it meant to have an existence that could completely crush the Four Sacred Grounds.
That was the absolute King of this world!
Someone to be ingratiated with at all costs, never to be slighted or offended.
Moreover, the imperial clans and major powers of the six nations, as well as the various sects of the Shenhuang Kingdom itself, had always submitted to the might of the Fenghuang God Sect. This time, there would be no room for negligence.
And the Fenghuang God Sect, which harbored great hidden dangers, would never miss this opportunity. They would spare no effort in promoting this engagement banquet, wishing that everyone in Tian Xuan Continent—men, women, young, and old—would know: with Yun Che (and his master) as their colossal backing that had made even the Four Sacred Grounds tremble in silence, they would no longer have to fear day and night that news of the Phoenix God's death would leak out.
Yun Che checked the profound energy of the Bing Yun disciples one by one. After confirming there were no lingering negative effects from the Overlord Pill, he began to settle his mind and enter a state of recovery.
In the environment of Bing Yun Fairy Palace, his injuries, profound strength, and the recovery of his Phoenix blood and Golden Crow blood were all proceeding quite rapidly. However, Mo Li could tell at a glance that he hadn't fully entered a focused state.
"What are you brooding about in your heart? Are you afraid someone might suddenly fall from the sky to attack you?"
Mo Li suddenly appeared and spoke abruptly.
Yun Che opened his eyes, hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "Mo Li, your power now is far greater than when you were in your spirit form. You should be able to easily find where Xiao Xiannü is, right?"
"..." Mo Li slowly shifted her gaze away from Yun Che, her expression calm as she said indifferently, "I told you, my current power is less than a tenth of my full strength. Chu Yuechan's profound energy aura is too weak, and the number of living beings in Tian Xuan Continent is too vast. In my current state, I still cannot locate her among so many auras... at least not until I recover about fifty percent of my strength."
"...Oh." Yun Che didn't insist further, just replied simply.
Mo Li didn't let Yun Che look into her eyes, and likewise, she didn't see the change in his expression.
Yun Che always remembered that Mo Li had once said that once the demonic poison was purified, she could easily find Chu Yuechan's location... and at that time, she was clearly referring to the power of her spirit form.
But later, after the demonic poison was purified and Mo Li could freely use her spirit form's power, she tried and said she had overestimated herself and couldn't do it—she would need to reconstruct her body first.
Now that she had reconstructed her body, she said she needed to recover about fifty percent of her strength first...
He didn't call her out, and didn't dare to. Instead, with all his will, he forced himself to believe that Mo Li truly couldn't do it yet. If he didn't call her out, he could still hold on to beautiful hope. If he did call her out, even his fantasies might shatter.
As the person who knew Yun Che best, how could Mo Li not perceive what he was thinking? Over the years, Yun Che's greatest desire had always been to find Chu Yuechan. But after she reconstructed her body, seven days had passed, and during those seven days, Yun Che had never once taken the initiative to ask her to use her current power to search for Chu Yuechan... Clearly, he had already sensed something.
Mo Li's heart felt inexplicably heavy, a suffocating sensation that made her somewhat uncomfortable. She steadied her breath, softened her voice, and said, "Although I still can't single out one person from among tens of billions of living beings, I can easily lock onto the location of the Cang Yun Continent."
"Maybe I can even directly find the place you returned to under the residual power of the Evil God's soul last time. If I remember correctly, that place was called Fusu Kingdom on the Cang Yun Continent, specifically the Taisu Mountain in the Jiangdong region of Fusu Kingdom."
"..." Yun Che nodded slightly. Mo Li remembered correctly—the place where he and Xia Qingyue had descended upon the Cang Yun Continent in their "dream" was indeed at the foot of Taisu Mountain in Fusu Kingdom. Su Linger was the daughter of Su Hengshan, the sect master of Taisu Sect.
Mo Li said no more. She closed her eyes, and her immensely powerful divine sense instantly spread outward, enveloping this vast world with an intensity Yun Che couldn't comprehend... hundreds of thousands of li... millions... tens of millions...
She was probing the location of the Cang Yun Continent even now, trying to give Yun Che some "comfort."
Mo Li's consciousness swept across the vast sea and finally touched another continent on this planet beyond the Tian Xuan Continent and Huan Yao Realm.
In terms of territory, the Huan Yao Realm was larger than the Tian Xuan Continent, and this continent was slightly smaller than the Tian Xuan Continent. Its elemental laws, natural laws, and order laws—especially the time discontinuity that had once puzzled her—were exactly the same as what she had detected back then.
The Cang Yun Continent!!
Its distance was far greater than Mo Li had anticipated. No wonder there were almost no records of the Cang Yun Continent in the Tian Xuan Continent.
Having located the Cang Yun Continent, Mo Li did not withdraw her divine sense. Instead, she concentrated it on that continent, because she had just said she would directly find the location of Taisu Mountain in Fusu Kingdom. Yun Che had always longed to go to the Cang Yun Continent, and the only reason was Su Linger, who still lived like a dream.
Time passed in silence. Yun Che couldn't sense any profound energy flowing from Mo Li, but he could tell she was in a state of extreme concentration.
Half a quarter of an hour passed, and Yun Che's eyes were fixed on Mo Li. Then, he suddenly saw her entire body tremble, her eyes snapping open. In her instantly dilated pupils was a look of profound shock...
And terror!!
"What's wrong?" Yun Che asked urgently, alarmed. He hadn't misread—from her open eyes, he clearly saw terror. In this world, what could possibly frighten Mo Li!?
"..." Mo Li was silent for a long time, her slightly raised chest heaving violently. After a while, she took a long, deep breath and said in an unusually low tone, "Yun Che, you once told me that your life in the Cang Yun Continent ended after you jumped off a place called 'Jueyun Cliff'!?"
"Yes." Yun Che nodded woodenly. "Why do you ask?"
"Where exactly is that 'Jueyun Cliff' located on the Cang Yun Continent?" Mo Li's tone remained low. "Is it in the southeast?"