Chapter 84: Farewell

Yuan Wujie could not help but marvel at the heritage of the ancient clans; the technique Fire Li had just used to escape was not a common cloud-riding art, but a special rune designed for fleeing, known as the Divine Escape Rune.

The Divine Escape Rune was a single-use artifact, capable of traversing a hundred thousand li in an instant. It wasn’t that Yuan Wujie didn’t want to capture Fire Li, but rather that it was simply impossible to do so.

By the time Yuan Wujie realized what had happened, Fire Li had already fled far beyond reach.

But why flee? The situation was obviously in his favor; even the aura emanating from Tiger Baisheng’s hundred demon pills posed no mortal threat. Given the profound resources of the ancient Fire Ape clan, Fire Li should have had even stronger means at his disposal, with no real reason to escape.

Tiger Baisheng, too, found it baffling. He thought his best bet was merely to survive Fire Li’s onslaught until Yuan Wujie intervened, but matters had unfolded quite differently.

Yuan Wujie had indeed planned to act, yet Fire Li’s inexplicable retreat forced Yuan Wujie to reconsider, suspecting there were other factors at play.

“Enough. Go and clear these out,” Yuan Wujie instructed, pointing at the demon soldiers burned to death by Fire Li, assigning Tiger Baisheng to clean up the aftermath.

With his orders given, Yuan Wujie returned to the Five Camphor Cave.

At present, King Yu Rong had yet to return; according to his schedule, it would be at least another month before he came back. There was not a single trusted confidant on Five Camphor Mountain. It was better to wait for King Yu Rong’s return, give proper instructions, and then head back to Heaven. If he left now, who knew how long it would be before he could see King Yu Rong again?

Fire Li, having escaped thanks to the Divine Escape Rune, did not immediately depart from Five Camphor Mountain but paused at its edge.

“I’ve only fled thirty thousand li; even if I forcefully interrupted the rune, I could still escape another forty thousand,” Fire Li muttered as he gazed at the cracked rune in his hand.

While battling Tiger Baisheng, Fire Li had vaguely sensed a powerful aura nearby—especially when Tiger Baisheng unleashed soul-level intimidation, which had thoroughly unsettled Fire Li.

Yet Fire Li was unwilling to leave Five Camphor Mountain so easily; he needed at least some gain. His greatest asset at the moment was the cracked Divine Escape Rune in his hand.

Suppressing his own aura to its lowest, Fire Li began to fly towards another part of Five Camphor Mountain. By chance, he headed directly for the former realm of cultivation.

Once, tens of thousands of souls had been slaughtered there. To this day, the ground remained blood-red, the stain never fading in the slightest.

“So, this is the place where the Divine Ape King massacred the living? Why is it so eerie?” Fear crept across Fire Li’s face, confirming his suspicions.

Normally, a slaughter ground should be thick with vengeful spirits, wails, and howls. Yet this place was strangely silent, nothing but a scarlet field—no other presence. That was what inspired terror.

If something bizarre had happened when Fire Li entered the area, he might have felt it was normal. But nothing at all occurred; the redness was horrifying, the silence was suffocating, even the scent of blood in the air seemed unnervingly fresh.

Fire Li pressed on, venturing deeper and deeper, confronted by endless sameness—no change, nothing to break the monotony. That was the most frightening thing of all.

“It’s… it’s exactly as I thought,” Fire Li’s voice trembled with fear.

Aside from certain sects, who else could commit such a heinous deed? A slaughter ground should never lack vengeful souls and furious ghosts, perhaps even strange beings; unless it had been cleansed by a cultivator of great power. But if it had been purified, the land should have returned to its original state, not remained as it was.

Thus, Fire Li concluded, it must have been the work of those sects.

His suspicions seemed to be confirmed step by step; Fire Li no longer had the courage to stay and investigate. All he wanted was to leave Five Camphor Mountain, this place of calamity.

He had visited Five Camphor Mountain many times before, but for the first time, he found it truly terrifying.

Crushing the cracked Divine Escape Rune in his hand, Fire Li transformed into a beam of light and departed the blood-red land. What he failed to notice was that, just behind his departure point, a shadow identical to himself squirmed ceaselessly.

...

“Big brother, I’ve returned,” King Yu Rong’s rough voice sounded outside the Five Camphor Cave.

He had only gone to assess the nearby powers; for a demon king like King Yu Rong, it was a trivial task. Yet with so many factions, it inevitably took a fair bit of time.

“Brother, was your journey smooth?”

“It went well. The strongest nearby force is only comparable to me in cultivation; they’re no match for me,” King Yu Rong replied as he sat below Yuan Wujie.

When Yuan Wujie had first given him the order, King Yu Rong assumed the goal was to expand their influence, so he carried out his duties with unusual diligence.

“Big brother, when should we attack and conquer them?”

“When did I ever say we would attack them?” Yuan Wujie looked at King Yu Rong with a bemused expression. He’d sent King Yu Rong to scout, not for conquest, but for other purposes.

“Then why investigate if not to expand our influence?”

“Of course not. Tell me—did you notice any unusual forces, or perhaps strange powers?”

The Northern Ju Luzhou could never be ruled solely by demon kings. With the Journey to the West about to begin, those of the Great Luo realm avoided entangling themselves in karma, each retreating into seclusion. But they would never relinquish control over Northern Ju Luzhou—they must have many hidden agents in play.

Yuan Wujie’s real purpose in sending King Yu Rong to scout was precisely this; with King Yu Rong’s current cultivation, he should have been able to uncover something.

“They’re all local lords indulging in food and drink. I didn’t find anything suspicious,” King Yu Rong replied after pondering a moment.

His month of investigation had yielded little; everyone seemed much the same. It was possible that those behind King Yu Rong had eliminated any unfavorable presences.

“Let’s not dwell on that for now. Brother, let’s have a talk.”

“What would you like to discuss, big brother? I’m at your service,” King Yu Rong said, pounding his chest.

Yuan Wujie rarely spoke to King Yu Rong about his own affairs, but now he felt compelled to share something, an act of trust between brothers.

“Brother, I hail from Heaven,” Yuan Wujie took a deep breath, pointing skyward as he spoke to King Yu Rong.

“This time, I’ve received orders to return to Heaven. I don’t know when we’ll meet again.”

“If… I can… come back… I will… see you,” Yuan Wujie finished, speaking two words at a time, for he feared he wouldn’t be able to go on if he tried to utter them all at once.

He even felt repulsed by the words he was saying.

King Yu Rong said nothing throughout, quietly listening to Yuan Wujie. He knew Yuan Wujie must have his reasons—otherwise, he wouldn’t speak like this. But he also trusted Yuan Wujie.

“Big brother, go ahead without worry,” King Yu Rong said, opening his mouth wide in a broad grin as if he was pleased. But whether he truly was happy, who could say?