Chapter 38: It Was Li Xuan Who Should Resent Him Part 1

The next day, once Zhao Lixuan’s condition had improved somewhat, he took leave from his senior brother, Xia Yunjie.

Lately, spiritual energy had been surging around Crimson Meteor Pass, revealing three sites of the Ancient Divine Traces: the Wind Erosion Divine Hall deep within the Bone Burial Desert, the Suspended Sun Stele Forest at the end of Vast Sky Canyon, and Fairy Lake to the southwest beyond the pass, encircled by slumbering forests.

Zhao Lixuan decided to head to Fairy Lake first.

After all, the only Divine Miracle he had ever entered before was Mirror Moon Lake. That lake had transported him to the Immortal Capital amid a rainy night, allowing him to safeguard the Core Mechanism Grand Array.

Thus, in his heart, he naturally held a subtle fondness for “lakes.”

As he submerged into the cool lake water, a single stray thought lingered in Zhao Lixuan’s mind…

Was it really right to come here with Jiang Chen?

Yesterday, in his feverish haze, he had felt that all past grievances could be wiped clean with a single stroke. But today, under the piercing morning light with his reason restored, it suddenly felt inappropriate.

He was grateful to the Jiang Immortal Lord for staying by his side, helping him search for his brother’s soul.

Yet between them… it was time to sever the entanglements once and for all.

Especially… Jiang Chen’s body temperature had always run low, yet yesterday, the arm wrapped around him had burned astonishingly hot.

That heat startled him. With the past behind them, he truly did not wish to soften his heart in a moment of weakness, giving the other man false hope and letting the Jiang Immortal Lord sink deeper into this hopeless bond.

…

Zhao Lixuan’s subtle struggles and regrets—Jiang Chen sensed them all.

He was far more perceptive now than before. This was a good thing.

Yet also not.

He had only just tasted a hint of sweetness, kindled a flicker of fantasy, and now…

The lake water chilled him; he silently circulated his demon power, forming a warm, gentle barrier around Zhao Lixuan to shield him from the cold.

He had not told him that, early that morning while Zhao Lixuan informed Xia Yunjie of his leave, he had waited outside and run into Shen Fengyu passing by with narrowed phoenix eyes full of malice.

The Immortal Emperor had stood night watch with Yu Rumu last night and must have learned of his condition.

“Since you’re about to die, show some self-awareness. After helping Li Xuan this once, go find some deserted spot to die quietly. Don’t croak in front of him and make a scene, got it?”

“…”

“No need to trouble yourself.”

“Oh, right,” Shen Fengyu sneered lightly, took two steps, then turned back. “Li Xuan said that marriage contract on his hand was an accident with you.”

“But I had the Ministry of Repairs investigate. Weird, huh? Li Xuan’s marriage contract was voided fifteen years ago.”

“The reason,” he drawled, “widowhood.”

As Shen Fengyu spoke, red light flared in his hand, lunging straight for Jiang Chen’s wrist. Jiang Chen’s demon power erupted in an instant, his dark sleeves billowing as he forced Shen Fengyu back several steps.

Shen Fengyu steadied himself, cold light flickering in his eyes: “Heh.”

“Looks like you’ve got plenty still hidden from Li Xuan.”

“Watch yourself.”

“…”

Deep in the lake, Jiang Chen closed his eyes and focused, suppressing the unpleasant memory.

Before them, the glow of the Soul-Gathering Lamp grew ever brighter.

One point, two points… more and more light spots rose from the dark lakebed.

Soul fragments truly responded to the pull, awakening like fireflies and drifting lightly through the rippling waves into the lamp.

Zhao Lixuan held his breath, staring unblinkingly at the sight, joy flooding him.

A thin mist quickly clouded his eyes, only to be blinked back with effort, leaving only a foggy sheen that captured the brilliance—like holding an entire galaxy in his gaze.

Jiang Chen watched his radiant expression quietly, his heart softening completely.

Twenty years had passed, yet he remained the same as back then.

Lost in the moment, he suddenly saw Zhao Lixuan lift his eyes from the lamp. With light points clustering below, he looked toward him. His lips curved up in genuine, heartfelt gratitude—a smile just for him.

Thank you, Jiang Chen.

That smile pierced the clouds like dawn light, instantly illuminating the dim lake depths.

But in the very next instant—

The lake water churned violently!

The once-clear waters were swallowed by inky blackness, light extinguished entirely. An ancient pressure surged from the abyss depths, enveloping them both.

Zhao Lixuan swiftly tucked the Soul-Gathering Lamp into his sleeve for safekeeping. Then an irresistible force seized him, and the scene before his eyes spun wildly.

The massive Soul Suppressing Banner atop Crimson Meteor Pass flashed by, Tu Ji standing beneath it with dense ranks of demon soldiers arrayed behind her.

But the vision did not linger; Fairy Lake’s divine power propelled him straight through the Three Realms, countless unfamiliar lights and shadows streaking past.

When he regained his senses, he had arrived at towering Cloud Cliff Pass, its sky-piercing ancient divine tree at the gate… then Drunk Moon City…

Finally, the power center of the Demon Bright—the Demon Capital.

Zhao Lixuan understood in a flash.

The mechanisms of the Ancient Divine Traces varied. But those of the same “lake” type perhaps shared similar traits.

Just as Mirror Moon Lake had sent him to the Immortal Capital’s battlefield last time, this water-based Divine Miracle, Fairy Lake, was carrying him to another fateful nexus!

When the scene finally stabilized, Zhao Lixuan beheld a massive teleportation array unlike any he had seen.

Countless jade-white stone platforms floated in the air, layered in intricate formations etched with profound runes. At the core, dazzling light coalesced with energy to shake heaven and earth—

Its scale and intricacy far surpassed any teleportation array in the Unstained Immortal Realm.

Even more chilling were the entities standing beyond the grand array.

Row upon row… enormous Rotten Flesh Giant Demons, nearly identical to the one Tu Ji had summoned via the Soul Suppressing Banner that rainy night in the Immortal Capital.

Back then, a single one had pushed Jiang Chen and Zhao Lixuan to their limits, nearly destroying the Core Mechanism Grand Array.

Yet these giant demon soldiers before him were three to five times larger than that one!

They stood motionless like slumbering mountains, their rotting flesh cascading like crumbling cliffs. An ordinary person would barely reach their ankles, mere ants gazing up at towering peaks—enough to chill the blood.

Zhao Lixuan recalled how that fiend’s breath alone had turned countless medicine fields to ash in an instant.

If that was the case then, what heaven-shattering might did these far vaster demon beasts possess?

If one required Immortal Lords of their caliber to fight desperately together, how could the full might of the Unstained Immortal Realm withstand these dense ranks of over a dozen?

Under the cold moonlight, amid the suffocating colossal shadows, two figures stood.

One was a girl in opulent finery and glittering jewels, her features peerlessly beautiful. Zhao Lixuan had never seen her, yet something in her bearing felt uncannily familiar.

The other wore pitch-black heavy armor from which crimson flames leaped and danced—a figure of stern command.

As the moonlight shifted, Zhao Lixuan made out his “face”—not flesh, but a bare skull!

He knew this one.

The war god of the Demon Bright, said to have discarded his flesh for supreme battle prowess: the Azure Flame Commander, Yan Su!

Over a decade ago, when the Demon Bright severed its spiritual veins linking it to the Three Realms and declared independence, it was this Yan Su who, facing obstruction from the Unstained Immortal Realm, swung his sword to shatter mountains and reduce all to dust, carving a blood path that founded their autonomy.

Thus, the girl’s identity was obvious—

She had to be the Demon Bright’s Xue Ying Princess.

Zhao Lixuan could not make out their exact words. But they conversed amiably; as Yan Su turned to leave, the Xue Ying Princess elegantly curtsied, watching him vanish into the night.

No need for words—Zhao Lixuan went cold all over.

This vast, eerie teleportation array, these demons more ferocious than any from the Demon Realm… all clues linked into a bone-chilling truth, his mind pounding.

All along, despite the Unstained Immortal Realm’s string of victories and reclaimed territory, a heavy boulder weighed on every heart.

Azure Cloud Pass’s defenses stood firm, the Immortal Capital utterly inaccessible.

How had the Demon Clan’s main force slipped in undetected!?

Now it all made sense!!!

The Demon Bright had betrayed the Immortal Clan’s righteous path, colluding with the Demon Realm in secret!

Incredible as it seemed, it was the only explanation—the Demon Immortals not only allied with the Demon Clan but conspired to forge these horrific abominations, even handing over the Immortal Realm’s teleportation arrays!

The world thought the Demon Bright had cut its spiritual veins and sealed its borders, transcending the Three Realms.

Few recalled that, even in independence, the Demon Bright remained fundamentally Immortal Realm territory! Letting the Demon Clan set foot there, then building teleportation arrays within, was infinitely easier than ripping open the void from the Demon Realm.

It was not that the Immortal Realm’s people were blind to this.

No… for millennia, Human Immortals and Demon Immortals had clashed endlessly, yet against the Demon Clan, they had always stood united!

Immortals and demons could not coexist—eternal enmity, only annihilation.

No matter the grudges between Immortal races, they would never resort to drinking poison to quench thirst or scheming with tigers!

What were the Demon Sovereign and his ilk thinking?!

Just then, a night breeze brushed his face, and Zhao Lixuan’s form gradually solidified.

Seeing the princess alone under the moonlight, he acted decisively. The Nine Heavens Immortal Sash spilled from his sleeve like flowing moonlight, swiftly binding her lithe figure in layers.

“The Demon Bright colludes with the Demon Clan—what do you intend?”

“Do you not know that once the Demon Clan topples the Unstained Immortal Realm, the Demon Bright falls next? When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold! When they turn their spears, how will you fend for yourselves? Or do you naively believe an alliance pact will make them honor their word and spare you?”

“Or perhaps…”

“You think you control the Demon Realm’s passage, with these abominations at your command, so you can play both Demon and Immortal Realms like fools. Stalking the cicada as the mantis, blind to the oriole behind—waiting for them to wound each other, then reaping the spoils to unify the Three Realms?”

“A mere Demon Bright, territory but a third of the Unstained Immortal Realm’s, forces not a ten-thousandth of the Demon Realm’s—what arrogance lets you dream this mad fantasy?!”