Chapter 486: Eastern Wilderness

"Go to her and learn more about Fairy Luoxia!"

Hongyu Pill Venerable said, enunciating each word.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of avenging Ye Chen?"

Li Jianyin's brow furrowed. "I advise you to give up on that idea."

"Why?" Hongyu Pill Venerable narrowed her eyes.

"It's not realistic!" Li Jianyin said gravely. "As my realm has advanced, my perspective has broadened. I've realized we shouldn't confine our sights to just this one nation."

"The truth is, there's a much wider Cultivation Realm out there. The true Great Powers there can burn mountains, boil seas, pluck stars, and seize the moon. To them... annihilating a nation like this would be nothing!"

"What are you trying to say?" Hongyu Pill Venerable asked.

"I'm saying that Fairy Luoxia's background is too powerful! She most likely comes from a top-tier faction in the Eastern Wilderness!"

"Trying to shake a behemoth like that... how is that any different from a death wish?"

Li Jianyin said in a low voice.

The Eastern Wilderness!

That was the name of the region they were in!

According to ancient texts, this world was vast and boundless, but it could be roughly divided into four regions.

The Eastern Wilderness, the Western Regions, Nanling, and the Northern Border!

The Great Hong Dynasty was just one of the dynasties within the Eastern Wilderness.

Although the territory of the Great Hong Dynasty was already vast, it was just an insignificant little place compared to the entire Eastern Wilderness.

Any Cultivator who had reached the Void Realm and mastered the ability to tear through space could traverse the entire Great Hong Dynasty in less than half a day.

After all, traveling by tearing through space was far faster than normal travel.

But some regions in the outside world were so immense that even Void Realm Cultivators couldn't cross them completely. They even had to rely on teleportation arrays for regular travel, a scale that was simply unimaginable!

Hearing this, Hongyu Pill Venerable couldn't help but calm down.

But she still said, "I never said I was dead set on avenging Young Master Ye!"

"If it's truly impossible, I won't recklessly throw my life away. However, it's still necessary to gather some information on Fairy Luoxia!"

"You really are a stubborn one."

Li Jianyin shook his head.

He and Ye Chen were not family, after all. And while he greatly admired the man and sympathized with his fate, he wasn't about to risk his neck for him.

'Of course, there's Chiming,' he thought. 'As Ye Chen's subordinate, his cultivation and talent are also outstanding. It might be worth trying to bring him to the Central Province.'

'That way, at least his talent wouldn't go to waste.'

「In the room where Chiming was recuperating.」

When Chiming heard that Li Jianyin planned to take him to the Central Province, he agreed on the spot without the slightest hesitation.

This surprised Li Jianyin. "You're not even going to think about it?"

"There's nothing to think about."

Chiming's aura was still faint, and his injuries were severe.

But after a period of quiet recuperation and the effects of a Healing Elixir, much of his vitality had returned.

"I need to become stronger!"

"To avenge my master, I must grasp even greater power!"

Chiming said, each word deliberate.

At his words, Li Jianyin fell silent.

He admired Chiming's indifference in the face of Fairy Luoxia, as well as his exceptional cultivation aptitude.

Li Jianyin had even thought that, with Ye Chen gone, he might be able to take Chiming under his wing and cultivate him as one of his own.

But it was clear now that Chiming was still devoted to Ye Chen, unable to let go of this matter in his heart.

For this, Li Jianyin's admiration for him only grew.

...

"Do you need a ride on my tower ship back to the Central Province?"

Beneath the night sky, the cool moonlight draped down like a veil of light gauze. Princess Changyue, her figure graceful and elegant, stood before Mo Tianyun and the others.

Her hands were clasped behind her back, and her every glance radiated a heroic and dashing aura.

"That won't be necessary."

Mo Tianyun replied coolly.

The elder at his side also spoke up, "We won't trouble Your Highness any further. Please, head back, Your Highness."

Seeing this group of Cultivators from the Demon Exorcism Institute acting so cold and aloof, Princess Changyue was slightly taken aback.

But she quickly seemed to realize something and smiled calmly. "It seems you all harbor some resentment toward me."

"How would we dare! You overthink things, Your Highness," Mo Tianyun said, shaking his head, though his tone remained cold.

"I know what you're all thinking."

Princess Changyue glanced around at them and said nonchalantly, "According to the intelligence I gathered today, that Ye Chen once fought alongside you on the summit of Kunlun Mountain, slaying demons and heretics."

"You share the camaraderie of having faced life and death together. I can understand that."

"But if you blame me for Ye Chen's death, then you are sorely mistaken."

"In fact, I never made a move against Ye Chen. I even cleaned house because one of my subordinates acted on their own to target him..."

"But never mind. I won't insist. You should think it through for yourselves."

Princess Changyue turned and departed gracefully. Bathed in the moonlight, her figure receded into the distance until she vanished from sight.

Mo Tianyun and the others stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.

"Senior Sister, you have to pull yourself together!"

Jiang Yuzhe looked at Luo Rou with a worried expression.

At that moment, Luo Rou's long hair hung down, obscuring her cheeks and hiding her face completely.

Ever since Ye Chen was swept into the spatial turbulence and vanished without a trace, she had been in this state—her aura listless, not uttering a single word.

Mo Tianyun glanced at Luo Rou and sighed heavily, at a loss for what to say.

"We should be heading back as well."

After an unknown amount of time, the elder suddenly spoke.

"Let's go."

Mo Tianyun started moving first, and the group departed from Dongxuan City one after another.

A sudden night breeze swept by, stirring the young woman's long hair.

Faintly, the glint of a crystal-clear tear could be seen.

'She finally understood now why Ye Chen had left without a word back on the Cloud Mist Tower Ship.'

'He must have foreseen the danger he would face here in Dongxuan City. That's why he didn't want to get involved with us, to avoid dragging us down with him!'

Every time she thought of this, the young woman's heart clenched.

The memory of Ye Chen saving her from the Netherworld Emissary was still vivid in her mind.

But that familiar figure of the young man... she would never see him again.

...

That night, various factions began to leave Dongxuan City one after another.

After the day's turmoil, no one was willing to linger any longer.

Even though Li Yu had announced that the Peach Blossom Banquet would be restarted in a few days, no one had the heart to care anymore.

The upheaval today had been too great. Everyone was profoundly shaken, and the feeling still lingered, impossible to dispel.

Who could have imagined that the young man who had reached the pinnacle of the dynasty's eastern region in today's battle would have his enviable future cut short, perishing before everyone's eyes?