Guan Yan revealed to Xiao Fan that Yan Xiao’s power source was resentment. To weaken Yan Xiao, the heads offered must be devoid of ill will.

The deceased needed serenity, indifference. Yet, how could this be easily achieved?

Throughout the ages, only death remained an insurmountable barrier. Greed for life and fear of death were inherent to human nature, thus those who met their demise with fortitude were lauded in song.

Sacrifice, of this nature, was always a rare exception.

But regardless, the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s “head offerings” were precisely the reason for Yan Xiao’s rapid growth. This was because the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s “offerings” were not voluntary self-sacrifice, but rather the “offering of others’ heads.”

Guan Yan, through Xiao Fan, suggested the Sen Hai Saint Clan cease these offerings and instead defend their homeland to the death, using time to weaken Yan Xiao.

This hypothesis was feasible. If the entire Sen Hai Saint Clan retreated to defend the God Yin Land, and only defended without counterattacking should Yan Xiao attack, they would undoubtedly suffer casualties. However, Yan Xiao might not be able to persist indefinitely. And once its power began to wane, the annual loss would decrease. Such a choice would severely wound the Saint Clan, but the outcome was clear – it would lead to a brighter future.

In truth, if the Sen Hai Saint Clan had understood Yan Xiao from the outset, rather than hastily attempting to slay it, perhaps everything would have unfolded differently.

But matters had already reached this point.

With his Mind Through Divinity, Jiang Wang and the others stepped into Guan Yan’s memories, traversing that period in the Sen Hai Source World…

At that time, the Sen Hai Saint Clan still operated under an elder council system. Seven elders comprised the council, deciding all matters great and small within the Saint Clan.

After verifying the truth of Xiao Fan’s message through their own methods, the elders made a choice that completely exceeded Guan Yan’s imagination!

The Sen Hai Saint Clan’s elder council believed that halting the head offerings would likely incite Yan Xiao’s fury, leading to rampant slaughter that the Saint Clan could not withstand. As long as the offerings continued, Yan Xiao could not wantonly kill or injure the Saint Clan due to the ritual’s requirements.

Since Yan Xiao desired to consume resentment to grow, they would ensure the sacrificial victims died unaware. Without awareness, resentment could not manifest.

In any case, those who died were not members of the Sen Hai Saint Clan.

The Sen Hai Saint Clan’s elder council utilized forbidden arts, borrowing the power of the Dragon God. They manufactured the “Night Invasion.”

Su Qi Yun had always sought the truth of the “Night Invasion.” In Guan Yan’s memories, she finally witnessed its root cause.

The process of the “Night Invasion” was complex and difficult to replicate. But its essence was merely a leak in the “world source,” a chaotic invasion.

In the night of the Sen Hai Source World, without the protection of the God Dragon Wood’s divine power, all beings would fall into a deep slumber. Those in this state, if not connected by traction to an awakened individual, would return to chaos.

During the sudden onset of the “Night Invasion,” vast numbers of the human race perished. This was the truth behind the near extinction of the other tribes in the Sen Hai Source World!

The reason for using “nearly” was simply that no one had reached the absolute end of the Sen Hai Source World to definitively confirm complete extinction. The empty houses, the hollowed dwellings, silently spoke of everything.

That desolate scene, even viewed from such a transcendent perspective, allowed Jiang Wang and the others to sense Guan Yan’s trembling at that time…

It was Xiao Fan, venturing out of the clan land and igniting the God Dragon Wood’s core, who allowed Guan Yan to escape the deep sleep.

Having experienced the “Night Invasion,” Guan Yan finally understood.

The dark period of the Sen Hai Source World, on the surface, seemed orchestrated by Yan Xiao. In essence, however, it was due to the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s wicked thoughts.

Looking back at history, the God Yin Land was not exclusively held by the Sen Hai Saint Clan. It was a sacred land shared by many tribes.

In ancient times, the Sen Hai Saint Clan was merely one powerful tribe. Only after expelling all other tribes did they solely occupy the God Yin Land.

Later, they simply used the most ancient God Yin Land as their ancestral territory, proclaiming themselves a Saint Clan. Evidently, they believed themselves to be fundamentally different, innately superior to other tribes.

During the dark period, the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s minds had long been twisted, their hearts fallen into darkness. They worshipped violence and bloodshed, plunder became commonplace, and killing was their nature.

He had held onto a fantasy about this clan group due to Xiao Fan, but Xiao Fan was, in fact, the only exception within the Sen Hai Saint Clan…

The Buddha possesses a compassionate heart, yet the Buddha also has the wrathful eyes of a Vajra.

An enraged Guan Yan burned his Sarira, manifested a Vajra, and achieved divine arrival.

He single-handedly annihilated the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s elder council, and nearly slaughtered the Saint Clan warriors who had been their lackeys at that time.

In his final moments, with his lamp of life flickering, he supported Xiao Fan to become the Saint Clan’s only priest.

He revised the Sen Hai Saint Clan’s history, guiding them to form the tradition of “mutual hunting.” He used over five hundred years to weaken Yan Xiao, and through those five hundred years, he engraved honor and sacrifice deep into the bones of the Sen Hai Saint Clan.

And he himself, his divine arrival body decaying, his lifespan exhausted.

Only a sliver of his true spirit remained. Rejected by chaos, trapped in this world, unable to reincarnate, he could only wander in the world’s crevices.

Emerging from his Mind Through, Jiang Wang and the other two were filled with a myriad of emotions, all deeply shocked.

In Jiang Wang’s view, Guan Yan’s greatest accomplishment was not weakening Yan Xiao and orchestrating its death five hundred years later. It was his education of the Sen Hai Saint Clan.

He transformed the God Yin Land from a place of dark bloodshed into the quiet, peaceful land it was now.

The fact that the Sen Hai Saint Clan could produce individuals like Qing Qi Shu, who dared to take responsibility and bravely sacrifice, was solely the merit of Guan Yan’s teaching.

One could call it immeasurable merit!

Guan Yan, residing within Jiang Wang’s mind through connection, could perceive his thoughts.

“My Buddha is compassionate. Cause and effect have their reckoning. Perhaps this small merit is what allowed my true spirit to endure for five hundred years. I even managed to explore some cultivation methods based on the true spirit.”

A sliver of true spirit could still explore cultivation, and even achieve some real success! Guan Yan seemed completely unaware of how astounding this was, his expression gentle as he looked at Su Qi Yun: “That is why I was able to borrow young friend’s Jade of Spirit Attachment to temporarily manifest a physical form.”

Not only that, but you could also use divine abilities! Wu Qu Ji silently sighed in his heart, but soon realized that in front of Guan Yan, this was no different from speaking aloud. To cover himself, he temporarily and deliberately thought of random things.

Guan Yan glanced at him with a look that was both there and not there, feeling amused and exasperated by his self-sensing thoughts.

Su Qi Yun opened her mouth: “Those records…”

Guan Yan met her gaze very seriously, bowing his head slightly, offering her an apology.

“Those records were compiled by me, deliberately leaving clues to direct later descendents to target Yan Xiao, and to prevent other mishaps. For my presumption, I apologize to you, young lady.”

The records within the Saint Clan library were also part of Guan Yan’s “legacy” plan. That year, he not only “remolded” the Saint Clan’s history but also left behind such arrangements. It was no exaggeration to say he had calculated everything without omission.

Jiang Wang had had some doubts at the time, but he had not thought of this possibility at all. He wondered if Chong Xuan Sheng, had he been here, might have detected something in advance.

At this moment, Su Qi Yun’s emotions were incredibly complex.

To have been led by the nose by Guan Yan’s legacy plan from that year… Of course, there was dissatisfaction, but there was no room for resentment or hatred. The truth of the “Night Invasion” she had sought had appeared, but the target of her vengeance had been erased by Guan Yan over five hundred years ago. To the point that at this moment, she felt a sense of loss and bewilderment.

“To express my apology…” Guan Yan looked at her and said, “I preserved a sliver of your friend’s true spirit in the chaos…”