Chapter 380: Banished Immortal

“SCREEE!”

Beneath the vast blue sky, amidst the white, drifting clouds, a Purple Feathered Crane circled with a clear cry.

On its back, Fang Rui stood straight and tall, his green robes fluttering. He was surrounded by no aura of light or shadow, yet he possessed a grand, back-to-basics temperament that set him apart from ordinary people at a single glance.

“The Three States of the Southwest—Yuan, Liang, and Rao. So, we’ve arrived!”

He gazed out.

He saw:

The setting sun was a hazy orb in the vast expanse between the high sky and the distant earth. A great drought had withered the ground, turning it a parched yellow, like a desert stretching for thousands of miles. A pillar of yellow smoke billowed straight up into the sky.

‘A plume of smoke rises straight from the great desert; over the long river, the setting sun is round. Compared to the fiery passion of the Three Southern States or the splendor of Wuzhou and Shangluo, the impression the Three States of the Southwest give is one of raw, imposing grandeur.’

‘But, just as “the water that capsizes the boat is the tears of the common people,” behind this magnificent and vast spectacle lies a tribulation for all living beings!’

A faint Spiritual Light flickered in Fang Rui’s eyes, allowing him to see clearly that the so-called pillar of yellow smoke was actually a cloud of locusts!

‘These locusts may be a disaster for the people of Yuan, Liang, and Rao, but every creature has its predator. To my Tribulation Demon Black Eagles, they are a feast.’

“SCREE! SCREE!”

Behind him, the five thousand-some Tribulation Demon Black Eagles that remained after the battle at Wuzhou Prefecture came whistling through the air, arriving like a dense, dark cloud.

After becoming Tribulation Demons, these Black Eagles had astonishingly large appetites. They had eaten their way here, and wherever they landed to rest, not even a snake or rat would be left alive.

And even so, they were still not full. Although they didn’t protest, they would often look at Fang Rui pitifully, their eyes shining at the sight of anything and everything.

It was as if… Fang Rui had been abusing them!

‘Generally, eagles don’t eat insects like locusts.’

‘But my Tribulation Demon Black Eagles have a very varied diet. They’ll eat any meat. Or perhaps they’re just starving?’

‘Their digestive systems and poison resistance are also incredibly strong. They aren’t afraid of things like locusts becoming toxic after swarming.’

Fang Rui had personally seen these Tribulation Demon Black Eagles devour all sorts of highly venomous insects without any issue whatsoever.

“Scree? Scree?”

A group of Tribulation Demon Black Eagles cried out, as if asking for permission to forage. Clearly, they dared not act on their own without an order.

“Go! Go on! Go eat your fill!”

As soon as Fang Rui spoke, the Tribulation Demon Black Eagles let out joyous cries and broke formation, scattering in all directions like a disintegrating dark cloud. They began to catch locusts and feast to their hearts’ content.

‘My Tribulation Demon Black Eagles may have huge appetites, but compared to the locusts of the Three States, they are but a drop of water in a sea of fire.’

‘It’s to be expected. A plot involving several Innate Supreme Treasures has compressed decades of the Great Yu’s variables and Tribulation Qi into these Three States. How could it be eliminated so easily?’

Fang Rui murmured to himself and activated his Divine Technique, ‘Emperor’s Gaze’, to observe the world.

In an instant, his vision transformed.

Beyond the mountains and rivers, the paths of Earth Veins and Water Veins were clearly intertwined. Golden streams of Qi Fortune, representing the rise of ambitious heroes, were tangled together in a chaotic mess.

Higher in the sky, endless, smog-like gray Tribulation Qi covered the world of the Three States like a dome.

Besides all this, wisps and strands of black qi, filled with a dark, gloomy, and ominous feeling, were slowly rising from the earth.

‘Earth Veins, Water Veins, Qi Fortune, Tribulation Qi… all that is one thing. But this final black qi, is that the “eerie aura” Yu Qian spoke of?’

‘No!’

Fang Rui observed it closely, shaking his head slightly. ‘The Great Yu Court overthought it. This so-called “eerie aura” is actually just the world’s negative energy—the darkness of the world. By itself, it’s not a big deal. The world has a powerful self-purification ability that can cleanse this negative energy.’

‘The problem is that the world will of the Hongyu Realm was severely wounded and has fallen into a deep slumber. Relying only on instinct, its purification ability is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the Spiritual Qi of the world was contaminated during the ancient celestial cataclysm by the conceptualization of the Great Black Heaven, leaving behind a backdoor, so to speak.’

‘Therefore, when the negative energy in the world continuously accumulates and breaks past a certain high threshold, it will allow the Great Black Heaven to “open the door”?’

As Fang Rui clearly perceived the state of the world, a realization dawned in his heart.

‘The crisis of the Great Black Heaven’s invasion can only be fundamentally resolved by forbidding the use of Spiritual Qi and pioneering a new transcendent path.’

‘Saint Emperor Yu used the Innate Supreme Treasure, the Map of Mountains and Rivers, to define Qi Fortune and create the paths of Martial Arts and the Imperial Spirit Master. I can do the same.’

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Fang Rui had already begun preparations for this long ago.

First, he was accumulating knowledge from all fields to lay the foundation for pioneering a new path in the future.

——Such as looting the Zhen Family Scripture Pavilion.

Second, he was accumulating Tribulation Points to raise his Realm in the paths of Martial Arts and Spirit Master. After all, only by standing on a higher peak can one see farther.

——This task was constantly in progress.

Third, he was plotting to acquire an Innate Supreme Treasure, borrowing its external power.

——He would build a road when he met a mountain and a bridge when he met a river. Fang Rui had no intention of relying solely on himself. If he could scheme for one or two Innate Supreme Treasures, he would be more than happy to do so… It was just that, for the moment, he didn’t have any solid plans.

‘Of course, pioneering a new path is a long-term goal. As for my short-term goals in this chess game of the Three States of the Southwest?’

‘One: accumulate Tribulation Points and break through to the Profound Domain on the Spirit Master path. Two: prepare a new path for after I open my Martial Arts Primordial Sea. Three: make as much of a change as I can, reduce the generation of negative energy in the world, and delay the arrival of the Great Black Heaven.’

‘I can’t stop the Great Yu Royal Family and the Noble Families from cultivating Spirit Medicines and Divine Medicines right now. But in this tribulation of the Three States, it should be possible to avoid a prolonged back-and-forth struggle where more than half the population is killed or injured, thereby reducing the generation of negative energy.’

‘The world is the chessboard, and all living beings are the pieces!’

Fang Rui was eager to get started. He felt that the Three States of the Southwest were like a delicate young maiden, waiting for him to come and have his way with her…