Chapter 737 – Wasted Effort

　　Yin Chongyue was cunning and resourceful. Xuan Lou would probably be obedient in the coming days and not dare to quarrel or make trouble at all. He might even become more restrained in the future.

　　Yan Tianhen secretly shed some tears of sympathy for Xuan Lou in his heart, but at the same time, he felt very happy. After all, this little ancestor was truly too overbearing. He was so proud just because there was someone to spoil him.

　　A moment later, Yin Chongyue spoke up, “I’ll borrow the Illuminating Sky Cauldron from him tomorrow. You should refine the medicinal pill as soon as possible after you get the cauldron. Xuan Lou also knows about evil Qi cultivators. I heard from him that by the time people notice evil Qi cultivators, it would already be too late. Before long, evil creatures will spread all over the Nine Lands.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi asked, “There shouldn’t have been any traces of evil Qi cultivators during Xuan Lou’s era, right?”

　　Evil Qi cultivators were already very secret existences, to begin with. If it wasn’t for that fact that evil Qi cultivators reappeared, then even the current heads of many Divine Clans probably wouldn’t know much about them either.

　　Yin Chongyue shook his head. “I didn’t ask about the specifics, but Xuan Lou definitely knows more than he lets on.”

　　Yan Tianhen and Lin Xuanzhi exchanged a glance.

　　“It looks like we’ll need to talk to the little ancestor.”

　　Yin Chongyue said, “He has a bad temper. You should be more tolerant towards him.”

　　Yan Tianhen responded, “Of course. After all, he’s an esteemed ancestor ah.”

　　Yin Chongyue glanced at Yan Tianhen. “You think I can’t guess what you’re planning? You guys were going to beat him up if you couldn’t get the cauldron.”

　　Yan Tianhen: “…”

　　Yin Chongyue sighed. “Ah Hen, it’s one thing for you to do that, but Xuanzhi, you’re destroying your own ancestor ah.”

　　The corners of Lin Xuanzhi’s lips twitched, and he replied expressionlessly, “My Xuan clan doesn’t have this kind of ancestor who lost both his beloved and his country, ending up empty-handed.”

　　Yin Chongyue: “…” I actually can’t refute this.

　　Yin Chongyue didn’t stand by the lake for long and soon returned to the cave. A while later, Yin Nian came to invite Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen inside, informing them that the little ancestor had called for them. When Yan Tianhen entered the cave, he immediately saw the little ancestor pouting while wearing an extremely reluctant expression on his face.

　　With his mouth flattened into a line, the little ancestor pushed the Illuminating Sky Cauldron — currently ranked number one in the Nine Lands — forward. He said reluctantly, “The only reason I’m doing this is to make Ah Yue happy. Otherwise, I’d never lend out my bed to you guys. Take it and return it to me as soon as possible.”

　　Yan Tianhen quickly accepted the cauldron and put it away. He thanked with a smile, “Thank you, little ancestor.”

　　The little ancestor gave a Hmph and turned his head, refusing to look at Yan Tianhen.

　　The little ancestor said, “You disdain me because I’m small!”

　　Yin Chongyue suddenly smiled and narrowed his eyes. “That’s right. I do disdain you for being small.”

　　The little ancestor: “…” How come you suddenly changed?

　　Yin Chongyue flicked the tip of the little ancestor’s nose. “So if you want me to hug you when I’m sleeping, grow up quickly.”

　　The little ancestor blushed and whispered, “I’ll grow up very soon. I won’t make you wait too long.”

　　Yin Nian looked like he had nothing left to live for. He rolled his eyes towards the cave’s ceiling. Damn it, why do I have to eat dog food with Adoptive Father? If I knew this was going to happen, I would’ve attacked evil Qi cultivators instead!

　　The little ancestor and Yin Chongyue showered affection on each other for a while, acting like nobody else was present.

　　Finally, the little ancestor probably grew tired of displaying affection and remembered that there were still several unpleasant people here, so he had Yin Chongyue put him back down and sat cross-legged on the futon as he studied Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen. “Do you two know about evil Qi cultivators?”

　　Yan Tianhen rubbed his nose and said modestly, “I know some general information about them.”

　　The little ancestor waved his hand. “If you only know some general information, then you guys are no match for the evil Qi cultivators. You must know yourself and your enemy to emerge unscathed through a hundred battles.”

　　Yan Tianhen blinked. “But where can we go to learn about evil Qi cultivators? I’m afraid it’ll be difficult to find people who have dealt with evil Qi cultivators before.”

　　It was clear that Yan Tianhen wanted to fish for information from the little ancestor.

　　The little ancestor sat up steadily. “The South Sovereign’s family has always had great attainments in the array path. A former friend of mine from the Shuiyun family obtained a diagram of an evil spirit array by chance. Inside that evil spirit array, he vaguely saw a few scenes from the Great Immortal-Demon War ten thousand years ago and even witnessed the scene of evil Qi cultivators spreading throughout the Nine Lands. It was very shocking. Later, he restored the evil spirit array to its original condition to the best of his ability, but he couldn’t enter the evil spirit array again.”

　　Yan Tianhen’s heart jumped, and he thought, That agrees with what we already know.

　　When they were still in Myriad Dao Academy, they had already heard that the evil spirit arrays had some connection to the Great Immortal-Demon World, but it’s just that no one had ever entered such an array. Nobody knew the exact identity of the powerhouse who created the evil spirit array, but since that person knew Xuan Lou, it would save them the trouble of going around to look for information.

　　Lin Xuanzhi also paid special attention to the evil Qi arrays. “What are the conditions for entering the evil spirit array?”

　　The little ancestor said, “It’s probably possible to go in. But you’d either have to be a powerhouse with extremely high cultivation who can completely overwhelm the evil spirit array through brute force, or you’d have to be predestined for that evil spirit array. Back then, I was also quite interested in the evil spirit array and tried to enter, but all I saw were some scenes about the overwhelming number of evil creatures during Spirit Sect’s era. I didn’t have time to see more before I was kicked out of the array, and I couldn’t enter it anymore.”

　　The evil spirit array also had a temper. Perhaps it was waiting for a predestined person. Otherwise, not even someone with extremely high cultivation would be able to enter.

　　In any case, Yan Tianhen finally borrowed the Illuminating Sky Cauldron. Next, he just needed to ask people to find the materials needed for the Spirit Gathering Pill, then refine it himself.

　　After the little ancestor lent out the Illuminating Sky Cauldron, he drove them away unhappily.

　　Before Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen left, the little ancestor especially warned them with a displeased expression, “Don’t disturb our peaceful days unless it’s truly urgent. Although you’re my great-great-great-grandson, your father is still alive, so it’s naturally not my place to teach you a lesson.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi: “…”

　　Yin Chongyue felt speechless.

　　Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen didn’t stay for too long. They left together early the next morning.

　　When they left this valley and reached the top of the cliff, a fiery paper crane rushed towards Lin Xuanzhi fiercely. Lin Xuanzhi caught the crane, and a message sounded in his ears. Immediately after hearing that, Lin Xuanzhi’s expression suddenly changed.

　　Yan Tianhen looked up. “What happened?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s expression looked ugly. “We’re a step late.”

　　“What?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi took a deep breath and answered, “Yan Huaizhen is dead.”

　　Yan Tianhen: “…”

　　Although Yan Tianhen had already warned Yan Huaizhen not to act rashly, he still didn’t expect for Yan Huaizhen to be so impatient, to actually find a Spirit Gathering Pill whose rank was nowhere near high enough to severely wound Tu Feng instead of waiting for them to refine the pill.

　　Now that Yan Huaizhen had acted on his own, not only did Tu Feng not suffer any serious injuries, but he even saw through Yan Huaizhen’s intentions and killed him. Tu Feng polluted all the spiritual Qi inside Yan Huaizhen and turned it into evil Qi, then absorbed it into his own body. He then turned Yan Huaizhen into a corpse, brazenly manipulating the son of the Emperor to give out commands and control the entire Northern Liang City.

　　Northern Liang City was an extremely important strategic battleground. It was located at the junction of the human world and the demon world. Its terrain was treacherous, and the region was easy to guard but difficult to attack. It could be regarded as the gateway to the human world. In the past, the Ling family defended this location, and they didn’t make any mistakes for thousands of years, but now, it had actually been handed over to an evil Qi cultivator…

　　The news came from Feng Jingyu. As the person closest to Yan Huaizhen, Ling Chigu was the one who first discovered that Yan Huaizhen had already become a corpse. However, he didn’t expose the deception. He just kept pretending to be ignorant of the fact that Yan Huaizhen was already dead while staying undercover in Northern Liang Palace.

　　Yan Tianhen’s expression remained extremely ugly for the entire day.

　　He and Lin Xuanzhi ran from north to south, then from south to east, all to give Tu Feng an unexpected attack and heavily wound him, but because of Yan Huaizhen’s selfish actions, not only did Yan Huaizhen lose his own life, but he also completely ruined their excellent opportunity.

　　Tu Feng was very smart and cautious. He would never fall for the same trap twice.

　　Yan Tianhen let out a deep breath and said to Lin Xuanzhi with a heavy heart, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to stop him anymore.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi also had an ominous premonition, but it wasn’t as strong as Yan Tianhen’s. “What will happen?”

　　Yan Tianhen pursed his lips lightly. After a while, he finally asked, “Dage, do you know why evil Qi cultivators are so powerful?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised an eyebrow slightly. “Why?”

　　Yan Tianhen gazed up at the blue sky and answered, “Because a characteristic of evil Qi cultivators is that as long as there’s evil Qi between Heaven and Earth, they would have inexhaustible power. We need to convert the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth into Qi that our body can use to increase our cultivation and strengthen our combat effectiveness, but evil Qi cultivators can directly use evil Qi without needing to convert it. Therefore, an evil Qi cultivator would always be more powerful than spiritual Qi cultivators in the same realm.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen. “So the former Chang Sheng wasn’t a match for Lingyu, even at the end — if Lingyu didn’t intend to die, he’d never have been able to kill Lingyu, right?”

　　Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi and nodded after a long time. “There’s no denying it.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s lips trembled. “Idiot.”

　　Yan Tianhen smiled with some relief. “Only evil Qi cultivators can kill evil Qi cultivators. That’s what Dao Zu told me back then. After an evil Qi cultivator devours other evil Qi cultivators, gathers all the evil Qi of Heaven and Earth into one body, and then dies, all the evil Qi in the world will naturally be sealed and destroyed.”

　　After saying that, Yan Tianhen said with some surprise, “Although Dao Zu made me vow not to mention the past deal between us, he didn’t stop me from revealing the method to kill evil Qi cultivators. I only realized this today.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi suddenly realized and felt extreme pain pierce his heart. How could he still not understand?

　　Although he didn’t know the twists and details, Lin Xuanzhi had already outlined a general picture of why Lingyu killed his master, betrayed his sect, made enemies of the entire Nine Lands’ Daoist cultivators, and then killed numerous evil Qi cultivators and demon subordinates.

　　Looking at Lin Xuanzhi’s shocked eyes that held pain and heartache, Yan Tianhen rubbed his nose awkwardly. He cleared his throat and said, “Anyhow, I’m not that selfless. I was forced to do this. There was a time when I especially hated Dao Zu and Heaven — there were so many people in the world, but why was I chosen for this? I also cursed fate for being unfair and treating me poorly. There was even a time when I thought about simply destroying this world…”

　　“Why did you listen to Dao Zu’s words in the end?” Lin Xuanzhi asked softly.