Myriad Dao Academy.

　　When Yan Tianhen opened his eyes, he subconsciously believed that he was currently in soul form, but unexpectedly, as soon as he raised his hand, he bumped into the side of the bed and couldn’t help gasping.

　　“What did I say before? I already switched out that pill a long time ago. He simply looks dead, but in reality, that pill is harmless. Look, he’s already awake now!”

　　Tianshu Sword Saint gave Yan Tianhen’s forehead a knock. “You really can sleep. You’ve been sleeping for two days. If you didn’t wake up soon, Huarong would’ve killed me to avenge you!”

　　Yan Tianhen stared blankly at Lin Xuanzhi and the East Sovereign, who were hurrying over. Esteemed Lan Yue was also there. Even Wan Liyao, the one who always opposed him every step of the way, was in the room. However, he was sitting a little farther away from Yan Tianhen.

　　When he saw these people, although Yan Tianhen didn’t understand everything yet, he still inferred the gist of their plan.

　　Lin Xuanzhi studied Yan Tianhen and sighed in relief. “Thank goodness you’re alright. You really scared Dage to death.”

　　Yan Tianhen calmed down. “What’s going on? I vaguely remember that Sword Saint Tianshu and Tu Feng were on the same side.”

　　Tianshu Sword Saint smiled. “If I really was on his side, you would actually be dead by now.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “It’s a long story.”

　　Yan Tianhen said, “Then make a long story short. Anyhow, this involved me directly. After being schemed by you all for so long, don’t I at least deserve to know the truth?”

　　The East Sovereign said, “Huarong, you stay here with Ah Hen for the time being. Your dad and I have to deal with other matters.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “We inflicted a major defeat on Tu Feng this time, and he lost a great number of his forces. He’s bound to make other big moves. We should be careful.”

　　“We’ve already caught a lot of the spies he buried all over the Nine Lands. Even if Tu Feng makes another move, he’s unlikely to use trickery or scheme from behind the scenes anymore,” the East Sovereign lightly remarked.

　　Wan Liyao also stood up. “I will also leave with him. We’ll take advantage of the momentum and pursue him.”

　　Yan Tianhen watched Wan Liyao and his party leave. He asked in confusion, “Didn’t he oppose me at every step? How come he was staying here?”

　　Esteemed Lan Yue answered, “Ah Tong refused to let him leave no matter what, so he could only stay until you woke up.”

　　Yan Tianhen glared at Lin Xuanzhi bitterly.

　　Lin Xuanzhi also felt guilty. He rubbed Yan Tianhen’s head. “At first, we noticed that Imperial Concubine Jing Shui had controlled the emperor, so we knew that she must have a complete set of back-up plans. We guessed that she would be most likely to launch her plan during the conference at Myriad Dao Academy. And from the start, Tianshu Sword Saint was a hidden piece we buried by Tu Feng’s side. It’s just that he didn’t know the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes until recently.”

　　“Ever since someone spread rumors that you harbored malicious intentions and were cultivating evil Qi in order to take over the Nine Lands, we’ve noticed that those people want to start with you. Sure enough, there was someone who took the lead to find trouble for you during this anti-evil spirit conference.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi and Sword Saint Tianshu exchanged a glance. “Although we didn’t know what method they’d use to deal with you, we made preparations to pretend to go along with their plan. Another evil Qi cultivator was indeed lying in ambush inside Myriad Dao Academy. While you were being framed, we had already seized that offender.”

　　“The Black and White Crow Guards are loyal to Imperial Concubine Jing Shui. As soon as this happened to you, she made a big move at the Royal Heavenly Capital. So we simply used your death to make them let their guard down and put their plan into action. After you ‘died’, Jing Shui announced that her son will take your place and become the Qianyuan Dynasty’s Crown Prince.”

　　Yan Tianhen suddenly understood, then asked, “How’s the situation at the Royal Heavenly Capital? Are my parents all right?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi reassured, “With the help of Yuan Tianwen and Duan Yuyang, King Ye has already taken control of the overall situation at the Royal Heavenly Capital, but Jing Shui escaped with her son. We failed to catch her. Moreover, the emperor has been seriously injured and has passed away.”

　　Yan Tianhen sighed in relief. “That’s good.”

　　Although the emperor was related to him by blood, in fact, they weren’t close at all. Still, Yan Tianhen felt a little sad.

　　However, his parents were still alright, which was a blessing amidst all this misfortune.

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Sword Saint Tianshu and blinked at him a few times. “I thought you truly wanted to kill me. You really scared me to death.”

　　Tianshu pretended to be sad. “Am I that kind of person in your heart?”

　　Yan Tianhen said, “After all, Tu Feng gave such a tempting offer. If it were me, I also wouldn’t know what to choose.”

　　Tianshu first paused, then gave a small smile. “You’d know what to choose. You were right. Ever since Rong Chi saved me, I already knew what kind of person he was and what kind of person he wanted me to become. He taught me so much. How can I make him restless after death?”

　　He never planned to bring Rong Chi back from the grave; Rong Chi was buried and at peace. His beloved was already sleeping quietly underground.

　　Yan Tianhen admired Sword Saint Tianshu. He once thought that if the two of them really did switch places, he really wouldn’t be able to give up his loved one so calmly.

　　However, it was precisely the existence of virtuous people like Sword Saint Tianshu that enabled Myriad Dao Academy to stand for thousands of years and raise so many amazing talents for the Nine Lands.

　　“The evil Qi cultivators are bound to make another move.” Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen. “Tu Feng lost so quickly this time because he underestimated us and was too confident in himself. According to my guess, I’m afraid he will make a big move in the future.”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded with worry. “What worries me most now is that we don’t know anything about him, but he seems to know everything about us. We can’t even guess at the extent of his strength or his future actions.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “Let’s stabilize the situation first, then see what tricks he can still play. In any case, we will deal with anything he throws at us, but we must not sit around and wait for death — however, we should be able to rest for a while now. From Tu Feng’s actions, he wanted to control the Nine Lands by using the child Jing Shui gave birth to. He was trying to avoid conflict with the entire Nine Lands, so I can infer that his current cultivation hasn’t recovered to his peak strength yet. At least, he can’t compare to Youshan Lingyu in his heyday.”

　　When mentioning Youshan Lingyu, Lin Xuanzhi curled his lips meaningfully at Yan Tianhen, who also smiled. “Of course not. After all, Youshan Lingyu inherited half of Dao Zu’s cultivation back then.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “Some time later, I’ll find a way to enter the evil spirit array. Among the Twelve Evil Spirit Temples, there’s an evil spirit array with the highest rank. Not many people have entered it before, and no one can tell what’s inside it.”

　　They only learned from Xuan Jiuxiao, who had become an infant spirit, that this evil spirit array was most likely connected to the Great Immortal-Demon War of ancient times. It was very likely that he’d be able to find out about the truth regarding what happened ten thousand years ago, so Lin Xuanzhi was bound to enter and take a look at it anyways.

　　In fact, it wasn’t just Lin Xuanzhi, but also Yan Tianhen who was very interested in the past. However, they didn’t know how long it would take; the Nine Lands were in turmoil right now, and evil Qi cultivators might make a comeback soon. The Nine Lands came first.

　　Yan Tianhen said, “When things calm down and we have time to see it, I’ll enter with you.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi said with a smile, “Naturally.”

　　……

　　Northern Liang City, North Land.

　　Northern Liang City, which was originally quite prosperous, had completely turned into an abandoned city. There was blood and scorched earth everywhere, and flames that hadn’t been extinguished yet were still burning in clusters.

　　The residents of the city had left long before the war began. The sky was still dark and gloomy, and the purple evil Qi seemed like it wanted to completely destroy the city.

　　“Which direction did he escape in?” Feng Jingyu couldn’t find Tu Feng anywhere. For a moment, he stamped his feet beside Ling Chigu.

　　Ling Chigu took Feng Jingyu’s hand and looked around. “Take it easy. He has already been hurt by your phoenix fire. Even if he runs away, he’ll still need time to recover.”

　　Feng Jingyu said gravely, “If we let him escape like this, he’ll certainly make a comeback in the future.”

　　Ling Chigu wasn’t as concerned. “His cultivation is quite high. The fact that you and I could actually hurt him was already beyond my expectations. This place is filled with evil Qi, so it’s inevitable that he was able to escape. Moreover, Lin Xuanzhi has long expected that we would be unable to kill him. He only said that we should stabilize the North Land first and worry about other matters later, so we don’t have to blame ourselves too much. There were great differences in strength, so we could only do our best.”

　　Feng Jingyu took a deep breath and looked back at Ling Chigu. His eyes, which were originally burning with flames of anger, softened. “It’s truly fun to fight side by side with you.”

　　Feng Jingyu smiled.

　　Ling Chigu also smiled. “But I don’t actually want to fight side by side with you. I just want to enjoy the flowers and the moon side by side with you.”

　　Feng Jingyu’s eyes brightened. “I thought that the blood of everyone in your Ling family burned with battle spirit, and you’d rather die on the battlefield than let yourself relax even a little.”

　　“The blood of heroes indeed courses through the Ling family’s veins.” Ling Chigu said, “But it’s precisely because of this that the Ling family understands better than anyone else how rare and precious a peaceful life is. When Tu Feng is killed, if you and I are still alive by then, we will retire to the mountains and forests, forget about worldly affairs, and live a peaceful life. How about that?”

　　Feng Jingyu nodded. “Okay. You can follow me back to Wutong Mountain. I’ll marry you as my Empress, and we’ll raise a basket of baby phoenixes for fun. What do you think?”

　　Ling Chigu’s mouth twitched. “Return to Wutong Mountain?”

　　Feng Jingyu blinked, fanned his fan, and replied somewhat guiltily, “It’s not like I can just quit my job in disgust, right? Besides, Wutong Mountain is also a secluded forest. It’s more or less the same ah.”

　　Ling Chigu immediately turned around and started walking away.

　　To be honest, Feng Jingyu’s ability to destroy the atmosphere really made him concede defeat. Feng Jingyu quickly followed him.

　　Just as he wanted to speak, he saw Ling Chigu stop, turn to him, and say, “By the way, your dad and your father emperor have returned.”

　　Feng Jingyu: “???”