The Evil King's Revelation

The mist swirled, now coalescing into a human shape, now rippling like water beside the stone table. The figure before him was unfathomable, his depth impossible to gauge.

His words were too shocking.

"Feel it with your heart," the mysterious man said, his voice carrying a strange power. Xiao Chen withdrew his sharp gaze, slowly releasing his divine consciousness, soaring into the distant vault of heaven.

As he merged with the depths of the sky, his mind shook violently. He saw an incredible tableau—countless figures floating in the void. Were these all the living beings of the world? How could there be so many? But they were all sunk in slumber.

A wind blew, and the vision of sleeping multitudes turned to ash. Heaven and earth were empty and silent. Gradually, Xiao Chen began to see familiar half-ancestors emerging: he saw Jieyin Daoren, Zhunti Daoren, Lord Tongtian, and Primordial striding across the ages. Then he saw the White Tiger Saint Emperor, the Three Infant Grand Matriarch, the Sun Holy God, and others sweeping across heaven and earth.

The sky shook. More figures materialized. Xiao Chen felt a strange sensation—he had never seen these people before, yet he knew their names instantly: Dugu Qiubai, Shi Zhixuan, Li Xunhuan... and many other legendary figures, galloping across the firmament.

Then, several Heavenly Steles flew in. The stars trembled, the sky shed blood, the earth brought forth essence. Half-ancestors roared, gods trembled in fear.

Corpses lay for a thousand li, blood floated like drifting ladles—a scene of desolation and horror unfolded before him.

What did all this portend? Xiao Chen was deeply shaken, but could not fathom the meaning.

He saw many people—even those he had never met before, he instantly knew who they represented. It was too eerie, too strange.

There were many great figures among them, but several were missing: he did not see the Yellow Emperor, did not see the War God Xing Tian, nor did he find Chiyou. Even Laozi and the Buddha flickered in and out before vanishing.

It all felt like a dream. Every shadow gradually faded into nothingness, leaving nothing behind in the empty void. Xiao Chen withdrew his divine consciousness and returned to the real world, his mind clear again.

Amid green peaks and emerald valleys, a stream babbled, mountain birds warbled, and wildflowers sent bursts of fragrance on the breeze. Everything was so vivid, so natural.

Xiao Chen was still seated at the stone table. The mysterious man sat motionless like a stone statue on the other side. The previous events seemed no more than a dream.

Little Keke scratched its head in suspicion—it too had seen many images. It blinked its big eyes in confusion, looking around in bewilderment.

"What does all that mean?" Xiao Chen stared at the mysterious man. He simply could not understand the hidden meaning.

"From beginning to end, I have been speaking of illusion and reality," the mysterious man said, his words startling the listener. "What if I told you that the half-ancestors are an illusion? What if even I—the Undying Evil King Shi Zhixuan—am but a phantom? Would you believe that?"

Xiao Chen was stunned. The man before him was the Undying Evil King? That alone was shocking enough. And his words were beyond absurd—truly hard to believe.

"Since you do not exist, then who stands before me? Where do you come from?"

"Everything can find its opposite. Where there is reality, there is naturally illusion. I come from illusion."

Xiao Chen could not believe it. This was preposterous, utterly absurd. He had reason to think the Evil King had fallen into demonic madness.

"Life itself is a great dream. Even some worlds are but a dream, and many people live within another's dream."

The words of the legendary Undying Evil King grew ever more astonishing, defying comprehension.

These words were truly hard to accept, for they overturned everything Xiao Chen had ever known. But little Keke listened intently, tilting its head in curiosity, as if greatly interested in this discussion.

"Do Primordial, Lord Tongtian, Zhunti, and Jieyin truly exist? Who can find records of them among the traces left by the primordial ages?"

"Ya ya," Keke nodded, urging the Evil King to continue.

Xiao Chen fell into deep thought. He had to admit—the Evil King was truly wicked, his speech earth-shattering.

"Suiren, Youchao, Fuxi, Nuwa—these beings lived in the Honghuang era. Though ages have passed, we can still find evidence that they truly existed. They are true Ancestral Gods. But what are Primordial, Lord Tongtian, Jieyin, Zhunti, and the Sun God? Nothing but illusions—false gods born from dreams."

Xiao Chen and Keke listened quietly, no longer interrupting.

"If we speak of the strongest false god in this world, that would be Hongjun—said to be able to rival a true Ancestral God and fight them to the death."

Xiao Chen was not unfamiliar with the name Hongjun, said to be the master of Primordial and Lord Tongtian. He had never expected the Evil King to 'drag him out and flog him' like this.

"When falsehood becomes truth, truth becomes false. Emptiness is born from existence. Hongjun came from illusion, but has condensed emptiness into substance, making his combat power equal to that of an Ancestral God. This is the ultimate manifestation of illusion. How lamentable that some people do not worship the true Ancestral Gods—Suiren, Fuxi, Nuwa—but instead bow to Hongjun and hail him as the supreme Dao."

If at first Xiao Chen thought the Evil King was raving, now he could only admire his courage. To speak such 'blasphemy' was to risk being drowned in spit and attacked by Hongjun's disciples until his soul was extinguished.

"I wish to shatter illusion and restore the true world. When I saw you, I saw hope."

Xiao Chen was silent for a long time, then asked, "You yourself are an illusion. Why do you do this?"

"Within illusion lies reality; within reality lies illusion. I possess a true human heart."

These words did not shake heaven and earth, but Xiao Chen felt they were truly like a sound of destruction that could annihilate the world.

"I am very worried that the strongest false god, Hongjun, will interfere. If that happens, I fear all your efforts will come to nothing, and you will die in vain."

Hearing this, Xiao Chen revealed a mouthful of snow-white teeth, his smile carrying an unusual brilliance. "I am the one who sends half-ancestors to their graves. If they do not die, my heart cannot find peace. I will not be extinguished—even if the ending is already written."

"Ya ya ya!" The furry little beast sensed something ominous and vehemently objected to such ill-omened words.

"I have said much. Do you understand now? The blood of the sky, the essence of the earth—yin and yang do battle, weeping blood and black."

Xiao Chen nodded. "I understand."

"What about the Ancestral Gods who opened the Heaven-Earth Furnace, like Suiren?" Xiao Chen suddenly asked.

The Undying Evil King sighed for the first time. "In truth, the Ancestral Gods are what worry me most. I suspect that Suiren, Fuxi, and Nuwa died long ago in the Honghuang era. I fear that one day we will dig out their bones."

Xiao Chen's brow furrowed deeply. If that were true, the problem would be extremely grave. If Suiren, Fuxi, and Nuwa had been buried in the Honghuang era, then who were the ones being celebrated now?

Xiao Chen left the picturesque south with Keke. Before departing, he asked the Evil King: if things changed, what would be the most terrible consequence? The Evil King only spoke four words: "The Primordial Celestial Realm."

The answer seemed irrelevant, but Xiao Chen knew those four words—the Primordial Celestial Realm—might be as heavy as the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

On his way back from south to north, Xiao Chen keenly sensed that the spiritual energy of the Nine Provinces was growing stronger, now not much less than that of the World of Immortality.

Just then, violent waves suddenly churned in the Eastern Sea of the Nine Provinces. Half-ancestors were battling there.

When Xiao Chen heard the news, the battle had already subsided. At first, he paid little attention. But then he learned that one of the combatants was from the Pure Land.

Could it be that Old Turtle Xuanwu had fought someone? Qingqing was studying under him—she might well be caught in the crossfire. Upon learning this, Xiao Chen headed for the Eastern Sea with Keke.

Upon reaching the Eastern Sea, he did not see anyone from the Pure Land. Instead, he saw several cultivators hovering above the raging waves.

Ahead, a hazy shadow emerged from the blue sea, drawing cultivators from all directions to observe.

It looked like a vast floating island—immense, stretching beyond sight—but it was indistinct, hard to see clearly.

Xiao Chen's heart tightened. He keenly sensed that this island existed within a self-contained spatial realm, slowly connecting from some distant, unknown location to the mortal world.

Keke suddenly cried out, jumping and shouting on Xiao Chen's shoulder.

Xiao Chen broke out in a cold sweat, for the little beast was saying that it was Dragon Island.

"How could it be Dragon Island?" Xiao Chen found it hard to believe.

Keke nodded earnestly. It truly sensed the aura of its homeland.

Many cultivators turned to glare at the one man and one beast who had cried out. But when they saw who it was, everyone fell silent and quickly cleared a wide space.

The demon star Xiao Chen—if not undefeated among the younger generation, he came close. He overawed the youth, and with the Yellow Clay Altar in hand, even old masters could only swallow their bitterness. He had silenced the world, leaving no one to contend with him.

Just then, Xiao Chen felt the Yellow Clay Altar in his acupoint space begin to tremble. It flew out on its own, carrying him and Keke into the sky, heading straight for Yong Province.

When he returned to the ancient village, Xiao Chen was profoundly shocked. A hazy phantom emerged, and the great city underground seemed about to manifest above the surface.

This was beyond Xiao Chen's imagination. Vaguely, he felt that it was a familiar city.

"Roar—"

An enormous roar came from deep underground, a muffled bellow that shook the earth violently.

Dimly, Xiao Chen seemed to see many colossal figures moving within the great city.

An underground ancient lamp burned eternally, but compared to the majestic ancient city, its flickering light was very dim, making it hard to see anything clearly below.

But Xiao Chen felt a creeping dread. He truly sensed a familiar atmosphere of terror.

Little Keke, too, showed rare tension. Its long lashes blinked constantly as its large, intelligent eyes stared fixedly at the depths beneath the ancient village.

Did everything begin here?

But how could that ancient city possibly appear?

Xiao Chen stayed in the ancient village for seven days. The underground city seemed to be rising each day—slowly, but the upward trend was unceasing.

Finally, he saw it dimly: a massive Heavenly Stele stood at the center of the ancient city. Vaguely, he sensed a familiar deathly aura.

The Dead City!

It was Dragon Island's Dead City!

It had crossed over from another realm!

Why was it about to manifest in the mortal world?

This was utterly beyond Xiao Chen's expectations. He had never imagined that the great city beneath the ancient village of Honghuang was the same terrifying Dead City he had once entered.

Gradually, he understood. The Dead City was not underground—it was in a space of death and stillness, slowly approaching the mortal world.

And the connection point would be the ancient village of Honghuang.