The dagger was polished until it gleamed, its cold light almost blinding.

Yet, he continued to polish it.

He always wanted to wipe something away, yet he knew better than anyone that some things could not be erased.

But he had to do something, didn’t he?

Otherwise, what would sustain him?

He understood that fellow using the alias “Yu Songhai” better than anyone present.

His name, his origins, even his habits…

He felt no fondness for that fellow, not in the past, not now, and probably never would.

In the past, he resented how that fellow always held his head high, showing no humility even before the three great clans of Mapleleaf City.

He remembered his cousin, when speaking of that fellow, always filled with admiration, tinged with a hint of… jealousy?

Back then, he didn’t understand what there was to be jealous of.

This recent encounter was just a fleeting glimpse.

But that brief image revealed that the fellow remained unchanged.

Still proud, still resolute, still brave, still… maintaining unwavering integrity, drawing his sword for justice.

That “unchanged” quality was truly enviable.

How could he remain unchanged?

When everything else had changed!

Years later, he finally understood what his cousin had been jealous of.

But those years had passed.

He knew too much about that fellow.

The information he possessed, if given to a diviner, could surely expose that fellow completely.

But why had he ultimately said nothing?

Why?

Fang Heling kept his head lowered, constantly polishing the dagger. It seemed as if the dagger could never be truly cleaned.

He had no answer.

Perhaps he simply didn’t want to speak.

After everyone had spoken, the diviner pondered briefly and raised his blood-soaked fingers.

Next to the slightly concave opening on the stone platform was a smooth, blank area, devoid of any纹路. Like a blank sheet of paper.

The diviner dipped his fingers in the blood and, with sweeping strokes, wrote the character “Yun” on that space.

The character exuded an ethereal aura, while the blood-red ink appeared grotesque and bizarre.

As soon as the character was completed, the five bloody wounds on the naked man instantly stopped bleeding, and he ceased breathing, utterly dead.

The diviner stared fixedly at the character, and after a long while, suddenly closed his eyes.

Two trails of blood trickled down from the corners of his eyes.

Appearing utterly terrifying.

“What’s wrong?” Zheng Fei asked.

The diviner remained silent, his eyes closed, and only after a long time did he move his lips: “The karma is too deep, too heavy, even I cannot see clearly for a moment.”

At that moment, the blood character vanished, and the stone platform crumbled, dissolving into the earth.

Zheng Fei grinned again: “Interesting!”

Li Shou was astonished: “Our toy is that powerful?”

The bleeding from the corners of his eyes had stopped, but the diviner still kept his eyes closed, as if trying to restrain himself from seeing something.

“But being unable to calculate it is, in itself, an answer,” he said softly.

Then he began to laugh.

“Hehehehehe, hehehehehehe.”

Under the astonished gazes of the other demons.

He laughed maniacally.

“It’s the Immortal Lord!”

He said emphatically.

After leaving Shunan Prefecture, Jiang Wang didn’t linger. He traveled in disguise, passing through Yonghuai, then Fuchun, and thus left Yong Territory.

He had saved Feng Ming. The rest was his own life.

How he chose, how he progressed, was his own affair.

Jiang Wang also had his own life to live, and no obligation to be responsible for everyone.

With the havoc that the Nine Great Demons had wreaked in Shunan Prefecture, those who entered Yong Territory with ulterior motives, like him, would not have an easy time in the coming days.

Especially since he couldn’t clearly explain his own origins, it was wise to leave Yong Territory as soon as possible.

As for what would become of Feng Ming, as for the Wusheng Sect disciples, who the mysterious man mentioned were recently active in Yong Territory, as for how Fang Heling had become one of the Nine Great Demons…

Compared to his own safety, none of it mattered.

Among all of this, what concerned him the most were the clues regarding Zhang Linchuan. But someone who could fight with a Netherworld deity, and win, was clearly not someone he could deal with right now.

He had decided to stop pursuing Zhang Linchuan for the time being. If the enemy was strong and he was weak, then he would avoid them.

The next time he came to the Western Territory, he would not be the same man he was now, and the current problems might no longer be problems.

East of Yong Kingdom was a small nation called “He,” and east of He Kingdom was the Tianma Plains.

At the same time, the Tianma Plains was also north of Yun Kingdom.

North of the Tianma Plains was a powerful sect called the Renxin Hall, a great medical sect on par with the Eastern King Valley. No one would dare to provoke such a sect.

And north of Jing Kingdom was Jing Kingdom itself. The vast territory of Jing Kingdom and the once-glorious Yong Kingdom were like two giants, one large and one small, semi-enclosing the area around the Tianma Plains.

The fertile Tianma Plains was also a land without an owner, and Jiang Wang had a strange feeling that the existence of He Kingdom was to prevent Yong Kingdom from seizing the Tianma Plains.

As he left Yong Kingdom and entered He Kingdom, Jiang Wang suddenly thought of a question.

He already knew that the Cloud Top Immortal Palace had left the Blood of Balance in the bodies of the Feng and Chi lineages, thus maintaining the long-term balance of the Qingyun Pavilion’s Feng and Chi lineages.

But why did the Cloud Top Immortal Palace do this back then?

What was the significance of maintaining the balance of the Feng and Chi lineages?

If it was only for the continuation of the Qingyun Pavilion’s lineage, it didn’t seem necessary. Lingxiao Pavilion and Lingkong Hall didn’t have this situation, and their lineages hadn’t died out either.

He thought of an extremely dark possibility –

Could it be… that it was for the Blood of Balance itself?

The refining of the Blood of Balance couldn’t simply be achieved by boiling the cultivators of the Feng and Chi lineages together. There must be a unique method and requirements.

Then, where did the means by which the Malevolent Human Demon and the Flesh-Stripping Human Demon refined the Blood of Balance come from?

Could it be… that it was also passed down from the Cloud Top Immortal Palace?

Or, even if that method was lost, as long as they knew that the Blood of Balance could be refined from the cultivators of the Feng and Chi lineages, it would only be a matter of time before they figured out the corresponding method…

The Soaring Clouds Immortal Art he obtained, “Stepping on Auspicious Clouds as if Walking on Flat Ground.” Shifting and transforming, like walking on level ground.

The Auspicious Clouds appeared to be very upright and benevolent. But don’t forget that the Qingyun Pavilion, which inherited some of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace’s inheritance, also had a secret art called Calamitous Clouds. When used by the Qingyun Pavilion’s Sect Master, Chi Dingfang, it was extremely sinister.

The Immortal Art “Soaring Clouds” used Auspicious Clouds as its medium. Was the Blood of Balance… also the medium for some Immortal Art?

Moreover, corresponding to “Soaring Clouds,” shouldn’t there also be an Immortal Art that used Calamitous Clouds as its medium?

The Near Ancient Era concealed too much history. It was a vast blank space, leaving later generations unable to touch it, only able to speculate.

Immersed in his thoughts about the sealed history of the Near Ancient Era, Jiang Wang suddenly felt a huge sense of unease.

It was as if he was being watched by some terrifying beast, but he didn’t know where that gaze came from.

Unable to determine where the feeling came from, he couldn’t respond.

He could only grip his sword tightly and look around warily.

At that moment, the ruins of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace suddenly trembled.

The Cloud Peak Pavilion, the Lingkong Hall, and the Qingyun Pavilion, the three intact buildings, all flowed with clear light, and a strand of ancient and majestic aura briefly appeared in his Fivefold Heavens.

That feeling of unease…

Vanished instantly.