Volume 1: The Hidden Dragon in the Abyss Chapter 126: Traces

The carriage rolled slowly toward them and came to a stop before the gate.

Xu Qing had already come out to receive them. Standing beside the carriage, he said, “Princess, let us speak here. It would be inconvenient elsewhere. But do not worry—there is no one nearby whom we need to guard against.”

“When did you arrive in the Kingdom of Yu?” Xu Wei asked from inside.

“Not long ago. You know how troubled the world outside has become.” Xu Qing looked toward her. “Princess, speak freely. What is it?”

“Do you know where Brother Chuan is?” Xu Wei asked directly. “By now, I have a fairly good idea of what sort of person you are. I am sorry I did not heed your advice back then. Seeing that you are safe today is enough for me.”

“Princess, you need not concern yourself with someone like me. But I will not lie to you—I truly do not know what happened to Wang Chuan.” Xu Qing sighed. “Since the outcome can no longer be changed, if I pry into the secrets of Heaven and he returns one day, he truly will not forgive me.”

“But apart from you, who else could find any trace of him?” Xu Wei asked. “That is why I came to beg you.”

“I heard that you were assassinated the day before yesterday. Is that true? I looked into it once. The assailants were indeed from the Demon Realm, though it is still unclear which faction they belonged to. Even if Wang Chuan’s life or death is unknown and no one knows where he has gone, there are still many people who fear him.” Xu Qing looked at her. “I believe the princess should simply preserve herself. Whatever Wang Chuan does in the future, nothing you do will change the outcome.”

None of it would help.

If Wang Chuan could return, he would return of his own accord.

Until then, it was enough for Xu Wei to avoid being harmed by others.

If he could not return, then nothing she did would have any meaning.

“In your view, can the Kingdom of Yu remain intact until Brother Chuan returns?” Xu Wei asked.

That was what she most wanted to know.

“Impossible.” Xu Qing shook his head without hesitation. “The Kingdom of Jin truly possesses the strength to unify the realm now. Neither Yu nor Wei can stop it. There must be traces of the Demonic Path behind them. As for the barbarians, however, that is harder to say.”

“As for Wang Chuan, he is indeed a variable—someone with the power to turn Heaven and Earth upside down. Unless he truly appears, if you ask whether Yu can survive until his return, I can only say that it cannot. They are not incapable of imagining that Wang Chuan might come back. And if he does return, he will not be someone they can control. They cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away.”

“Those people fear Wang Chuan, but they cannot possibly abandon such an opportunity. That is simply the truth: they possess the strength to unify the realm. If all of you are placing your hopes on Wang Chuan, you had better prepare for the worst. The Lord of Yu surely understands this, even if he is already prepared to face the enemy with all his might.”

“Is Jin truly so powerful now?” Xu Wei’s heart trembled.

“You are mistaken again. Jin has never been truly powerful. Against any other kingdom, it could never have destroyed its enemy so easily.” Xu Qing shook his head. “The truly powerful beings are invisible to you. The people of the realm cannot see them either.”

“If it were you, would you have a way?” Xu Wei asked.

“My cultivation has been declining lately. I cannot do much.” Xu Qing shook his head once more. “In my view, you would do better to find a way to preserve yourselves and hold out until Wang Chuan returns.”

As long as Wang Chuan came back, everything could be resolved.

Xu Qing had never worried about that man. Wang Chuan was simply that powerful; no matter where he went, he could somehow return alive.

So Xu Qing had made the same choice—to preserve himself before the situation deteriorated beyond hope.

“When the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain whole?” Xu Wei sighed.

“Why has the princess begun worrying about the state and its people? These matters are not yours to bear,” Xu Qing said.

“When the barbarian armies invade and the people of the realm starve in the streets, have you never witnessed such a sight?” Xu Wei asked.

“You ask what I feel?” Xu Qing replied. “Even Wang Chuan does not possess that sort of compassion for all living things. What you speak of is too far removed from me. Perhaps you would say that I would understand if I had experienced it myself, but I may never have the chance to do so in this lifetime.”

He shook his head. “We exist on entirely different levels. I cannot care for those unfortunate people as many others do. Wang Chuan would make the same choice as I would. If, on our way home, we happened to see a little girl on the roadside about to starve to death, we would save her without a second thought. But if you asked us to deliberately search for starving little girls along the roadside, that would be absolutely impossible.”

“Even you would be unable to turn the tide?” Xu Wei asked him at last. “When that moment comes, if you oppose the demon race, how much chance of victory will you have?”

“The demon race probably has a way to manifest in the Nine Provinces, but they are still in the process of doing so. They have not yet appeared here.” Xu Qing answered her calmly. “At present, if the martial aura of the realm were divided into ten measures, it is universally acknowledged that Wang Chuan possesses eight. Even the demon race would find it difficult to dispute that. As for me, I possess one. I am not exaggerating. Since Wang Chuan has temporarily departed, there is no one in the world who can rival me.”

“Perhaps someone might ask: if I am truly so powerful, why do I not come forward and drive away the barbarian armies and the demon race? But that is not something I should do. It would be meaningless. No matter how strong I am personally, I am still only one man, facing countless enemies. What meaning would that have? Can I win for a moment and guarantee victory for a lifetime? At present, I indeed have no opponent, but the future is another matter. What happens when the demon race truly descends? What happens when the barbarian armies gather to deal with me? Even if I am this powerful, what use is it? Yes, right now I only want to preserve myself and the people around me. How many people in this world are not selfish?”

“Tianxingzi understood long ago that human nature is evil, and recognized the roots of its depravity. His course was the right one. The realm needs a Human Sovereign now—someone who can lead the entire race through this crisis. Unfortunately, both people at the center of this matter have vanished without a trace. Wang Chuan in particular… The Hua Kingdom has withered and fallen apart, while the remaining kingdoms of Jin and Wei are both here in Yu. Yet all of them are connected to him.”

“Many people are waiting for him.”

…

“That day, I also told you that Buddhist tale. Many things are not merely about pursuing appearances to excess.”

At that moment, Wang Chuan did not even know where he was. Perhaps some people believed that he had fallen in the Northern Frontier.

Not exactly fallen—he had been caught.

If his guess was correct, he was now in the Demon Realm.

They had used such means precisely to sever him from the Human Realm.

They were capable of accomplishing many things. Yet many people were afraid now, filled with dread.

And many others were waiting for him as well.

He no longer knew how many people he had killed. It seemed he could never grow tired.

Only when demonic energy surged around his entire body, so overwhelming that the other demons mistook him for some supreme giant among their kind, did they flee for their lives one after another.

It truly was a world where strength reigned supreme.

Yet there was also a helplessness to it. He had, in a sense, lost all contact with the Human Realm.

Those people seemed determined to imprison him in the Demon Realm.

Was such an enormous price truly worth paying?

Over the past few days, Wang Chuan had wavered. His spirit had fallen into utter despair. Thinking of the ambitions and ideals he had carried throughout his life, thinking that his great path had yet to be fulfilled, he had grown despondent and wished for death—yet, perversely, he could not die.

Within the Demon Realm, he seemed to be walking along the boundary between life and death. Again and again, voices whispered in his ears, urging him to end his life.

Again and again, he unleashed massacres, killing every living thing he encountered. Amid the slaughter, he gradually lost himself.

At last, in a state of mental confusion, he entered a stretch of darkness.

It was boundless darkness, within which there seemed to exist a force capable of devouring everything.

This mysterious region, devoid of any discernible power, even made Wang Chuan feel that certain death awaited him. Yet he was simply too powerful—so powerful that even this place could do nothing to him.

That was not empty boasting. Those familiar with him would never entertain such a thought. If Wang Chuan said he was too powerful, then he was indeed too powerful.

Even the Martial Academy had been unable to set foot in this mysterious region of the Demon Realm.

They, too, wished to explore and infiltrate it, yet their efforts invariably came to nothing.

What sort of scene lay within that dark world?

Even the Martial Academy was bewildered and curious about this forbidden region.

And Wang Chuan saw an incomparably wondrous sight.