Chapter 111: Purple Mansion Confrontation
The mother unit was the lotus ptform, with the six lotus seeds inside it serving as the child units.
Apart from having retively good endurance, the Six Qi Lotus Ptform had only middling—or even somewhat subpar—performance in terms of operational precision and control range. However, its mother unit could act as a rey, enabling the child units to fly farther and explore multiple directions. The mother unit could also recharge the child units, allowing for long-duration patrols. Thus, it had its own unique advantages.
At the entrances linking the second, third, and fourth levels, An Jing positioned five child units on either side of his immediate surroundings. The primary mother unit was stationed on the second level, monitoring the surrounding video feeds.
Meanwhile, the final child unit hugged the ground, silently making its way toward the entrance to the topmost level.
The searing heat waves continued to churn the blood?tinged mist, coalescing into a patch of crimson cloud on the ground. Subtly camoufged in green like a lotus seed, the child unit slid noiselessly up the corpse-littered stairway.
From the drone’s viewpoint, the stairway appeared as imposing as a towering mountain, while the path snaked around like a serpent or a dragon. Amid all of this, it resembled a mere speck of dust drifting with the currents, drawing not the slightest bit of attention.
The small child unit, under his control, moved like a sliver of drifting light and shadow, weaving through the blood?soaked heaps of corpses.
Before long, he spotted a slightly ajar gate—the entrance to the bck market, which was rumored to be twelve yers thick, on par with the reinforced doors of a bank vault.
It had already been twisted and forcibly wrenched open, allowing gusts of wind to blow through the gap.
An Jing piloted the child unit through the doorway.
It was calm.
The entire bck market pza was eerily still.
No bodies, no bloodstains, no watchful patrol officers, no grim and terrifying Fengdu Guards—absolutely nothing.
The streets and the pza were completely deserted, devoid of any sign of life—not even an insect crawled across the ground.
An Jing paused in astonishment, but in the very next moment, realization dawned on him.
He swallowed hard, then slowly tilted the drone’s camera upward.
The viewpoint started to sway, and the image blurred.
All color and detail merged into a single indistinguishable mass, and he could only faintly make out two figures standing in midair!
It was as though a crimson sunset abruptly glowed in a world of silver frost and white snow, or a patch of sky?blue lightning suddenly fshed from an iron?gray canopy of clouds.
High above the pza, without a sound, the heavens had already transformed. Layers upon yers of clouds churned like whirlpools, while streaks of lightning snaked outward, resembling the boundary between yin and yang in a Taiji diagram. They visibly split the sky into two starkly distinct domains.
In the white quadrant, a crimson hue emerged—this signified that lesser yin coexisted with an ancient, enduring yang. In the dark quadrant, a green radiance glowed—this symbolized the celestial chariot roaming the far reaches of the Mystic Heavens.
—It was clear as day that the Fengdu Guards and the bck market’s backers—Luofu Group and Xuandu Group—had made their move!
As successive peals of dull thunder rumbled from the depths of those heavy clouds, frosty snow and driving rain cascaded like a celestial river crashing down onto the mortal world. The harsh chill of an icy sun merged with the sweeping finality of the lightning, howling in all directions and shattering the windows of nearby tall buildings.
Boom!
A visible, ring-shaped wave of spiritual energy spread in all directions. The formless, intangible shockwave rapidly pulsed outward, pounding the earth and sweeping across everything in its path. The child unit piloted by An Jing disintegrated in an instant.
Even An Jing, who was on the third subterranean level, felt a faint tremor. Startled and helpless, he lowered the drone goggles.
The Purple Mansion True Persons had begun their battle. Leaving now would be tantamount to courting death.
He could only wait.
An Jing still had “a little over a day” left in the Tianyuan Realm—soon it would be exactly one day. He pnned to find a pce to hide; he figured he could endure that single day without much trouble.
Because he could return at any time, An Jing felt little mental burden. With the weaponry he currently possessed, even if he couldn’t kill the sinborn demon, he could still wound it severely.
Nonetheless, he had to think about what would come next.
Given the bck market’s current state, there was no way it could be restored. In the future, it would almost certainly be sealed off by the major Groups for a prolonged period.
Although the Sword Spirit could let him cross five hundred meters to choose a nding spot, those five hundred meters would undoubtedly still lie within the quarantined zone.
If discovered, even if he managed to escape, An Jing would almost certainly end up on those major Groups’ wanted lists—not to mention how difficult that escape would be.
In order to safely return to Xuanye City in the Tianyuan Realm ter, An Jing decided to wait for a while and see how events unfolded.
After all, as the saying went—“the cunning rabbit keeps three burrows.” It was impossible for the bck market to have only a single main gate leading outside; there had to be other supply entrances, rge ventition shafts, or perhaps underground tunnels.
An Jing mused, “Let me first see if there are any other emergency escape routes.”
“But those routes might already be under Luofu Group’s guard. The moment I get out, I’ll be caught right away… though at that point, I could look for an opportunity to jump back to the Huaixu Realm. It wouldn’t be too te then.”
“This realm seems civilized and orderly on the surface, with its thriving artifacts and technology, but in truth, it’s no less bloody or savage than Huaixu.”
Meanwhile, the Sword Spirit, witnessing this carnage through An Jing’s eyes, spoke solemnly: “Those two who have attained Purple Mansion are acting without any reserve, openly attacking for the sake of worldly possessions—and these Fengdu Guards, who should be the bde of public authority, have turned that bde against their own people. Such vicious brutality—so merciless!”
As he spoke, the Sword Spirit’s voice carried a faint sword-like resonance, tinged with anger: “If this were back in the era when the Grand Dao of Huaixu flourished, the immortal realm and mortal world would have been kept apart. Cultivators might roam the Nine Heavens and Ten Continents, yet never disturb ordinary folk. Even if they descended into the mortal realm to temper their hearts, they would have faced moral merit constraints, human-realm scrutiny, Heaven’s Will corrections, and the gods’ patrols. Such reckless savagery would never have been possible!”
When An Jing heard this, he couldn’t help feeling stunned. “Huaixu back then… was it truly that orderly?”
He pressed on instinct, “So, in that Huaixu era, there was no such cruel sughter, and there wouldn’t… wouldn’t… no one would eat people?”
Fuxie remained silent for a while.
After some time, he spoke slowly, “Perhaps there would have been some.”
“Even in the Huaixu of old, it wasn’t all crity and peace. The rules were simply strict: the Heavenly Dao enforced constraints, and the moral deities kept watch day and night, so it seemed far more tranquil overall. Yet in certain squalid corners, there was still plenty of bloody cruelty beyond their reach.”
“But that was still far better than it is now!” An Jing remained unfazed, his eyes alight. “I’m not asking to eliminate every evil before it occurs, but at least…”
He continued softly, “At the very least, let there be retribution!”
The Sword Spirit let out a bitter ugh. “An Jing, I know what you want to ask: you’re wondering if the old Huaixu’s order can be reestablished in the present day. And not just Huaixu—you’ve also set your sights on the Tianyuan Realm. Indeed, you harbor a grand aspiration to swallow all under Heaven.”
“But Heaven and Earth have changed. Huaixu can no longer cultivate immortality through qi refining, and Tianyuan has all but become a wastend. The rules and the Dao have shifted.”
“The innumerable stars that once filled the sky, the day-wandering and night-wandering gods, the thunder deities—all have vanished. Past experience is now essentially meaningless; it might even hinder you.”
“An Jing, expining all of that to you now would be pointless, or worse, might lead you astray. You need to discover a path for yourself, one that fits the Huaixu of today and the present Tianyuan.”
“When that time arrives, I’ll tell you everything about the old days. Only then can you truly find your own ‘Dao.’”
(End of Chapter)
