Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1021 Lurking
On the ruins of the Xuanming Spirit Swamp, which was almost completely burned to ashes, the stench of blood and burnt remains.

Zheng Huayan frowned, staring at Fa Zichen's cold corpse and the remains of the Xuanming Divine Turtle, which had been completely stripped of all its essence and was now just an empty shell. His beautiful face was extremely solemn.

"Heavenly Demon, speak! Did you do this?!"

He took out an ancient bronze lamp from his pocket. The lamp contained no oil, but was fueled by wisps of pure, dark demonic energy, and was burning with a dark purple flame.

Within the flames, several phantom images of celestial demons, refined into lamp spirits, were writhing and writhing in agony.

The leader of the demons, its soul scorched by the purple flames, let out a silent shriek. Instinctively, it didn't want to answer, but under the power of the divine weapon, it was forced to reveal part of the truth: "Who knows... anyway, it's not just us."

[Heh heh, you better watch out. Anyway... if I were you, I would never recklessly save someone who might stab you in the back! Hahahaha]

Such is the nature of the Heavenly Demon; even after being reduced to firewood, it still tries its best to sow discord.

"Of course, it's not just you, but also the Blood Sea Demonic Cult... and many more others!"

Zheng Huayan shook his head slightly and put away the lamp.

He knew, of course, that he couldn't completely trust the words of the Heavenly Demon, but the phrase "not just us" had confirmed a certain suspicion in his mind.

Since entering the Zhaolin Realm, Zheng Huayan has spent most of his time rushing to provide assistance.

The Blood Sea Demonic Cult's plans were far more insane than anyone imagined. They reached some kind of agreement with the dragons of another world, only to betray them at the crucial moment. Those Great Wilderness Dragons, who should have been allies, were caught completely off guard and corrupted by the Blood Sea Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Demons, falling into demonic ways.

To be honest, these otherworldly dragons were most likely deceived by the Blood Sea Demonic Cult. They never expected that their partners would completely abandon the previous treaties and interests, and just use them, their allies, as cannon fodder. Therefore, they were unprepared.

These dragons were already physically powerful. Holding the dragon clan's base, and further empowered by the Heavenly Demon and the Blood Sea, they became the most terrifying hunters in the Zhaolin Realm. Even the most outstanding talents from various sects could be besieged and severely injured, or even die on the spot, if they were not careful.

Along his journey, Zheng Huayan, using his divination skills, has saved more than one team similar to Tianji Mountain, who were almost killed by the Blood Sea Demon Sect in conjunction with the Dragon Clan.

Of course, there were also those who fought back, and those people became even more vigilant and better at fighting.

Fa Zichen should have been that kind of person too.

To use a divine treasure to fight against the Seven Luminaries Ancestral Spirit, which had been strengthened to the Manifestation Realm, is a feat rarely seen throughout history. Even with the foundation bestowed by the sect's ancestor, it is enough to prove that the user has already touched the threshold of the Manifestation Realm, but has not yet truly grown up.

Zheng Huayan knew that Fa Zichen's path was different from others.

In life, we often can't distinguish what we like, what we are good at, and what we aspire to become, and we don't even know the answers to these three questions.

If one can answer these three questions, one can be called a true person. If one can integrate them and achieve unity of knowledge and action, one is even more remarkable and can even be called a perfect person.

Fa Zichen's path was to seek the 'Way of the Perfect Man'.

After being taken in by Zhaixing Mountain at the age of six, he spent twenty years immersed in books in the Sutra Repository, searching for the path that best suited him. While his fellow disciples had already established their foundations and were attempting to break through to the Divine Realm, he was still pondering his second extraordinary ability.

At Zhaixing Mountain, he was once a laughing stock, a negative example used by all the elders to warn their younger disciples against being overly ambitious and wasting their time.

However, when Fa Zichen was twenty-seven years old, he finally found all five of his own divine abilities.

Then, he performed miraculous feats daily, achieving the peak of his Martial Vein in three days, breaking through to the Divine Treasury in half a year, directly opening two Divine Treasurys, and reaching the peak of the Divine Treasury within three years. —Of billions of stars, he plucks only one—

This is the essence of Zhaixing Mountain, and also the Dao of Fa Zichen.

He could have manifested his divine power much earlier, like Zhang Junxuan, but in order to seek a more perfect possibility, he came to this Zhaolin Realm, and in the end... he perished here, killed by a sneak attack.

"Who launched the sneak attack?"

Zheng Huayan's expression was extremely solemn.

—Although the Xuanming Divine Turtle was powerful, Fa Zichen was able to kill it, proving that he still had the strength to spare.

—To be able to launch a fatal blow at his weakest and most vulnerable moment after he killed the ancestral spirit…

"They must be his friends, his acquaintances... or, they must be his trusted allies!"

Those who meet this condition, possess the strength to kill Fa Zichen in one blow, and have an intimate knowledge of this secret realm...

According to Zheng Huayan's calculations, a rather absurd possibility surfaced in his mind: "The Four Seasons Dragon Clan?!"

Upon realizing this, Zheng Huayan felt a chill run down his spine: "It's only them!"

—If he really is one of the Dragon Clan members, then my appearance at this moment was probably already part of their plan!

—We must leave immediately!

Without even needing to calculate, Zheng Huayan didn't hesitate and instantly vanished into the void.

Sure enough, the instant he disappeared, the entire Xuanming Spirit Swamp Secret Realm collapsed and turned into a desolate void.

In the void, a huge and ferocious black dragon shadow flashed by. It exhaled a breath of annihilation containing an incomparably terrifying and pure aura of destruction. This jet-black light, which seemed to be able to devour all light, crossed the distance of time and space in the instant it was emitted, and accurately hit Zheng Huayan, who had just escaped into the void and whose figure was not yet stable!
cough!
He coughed up a mouthful of golden blood, and Zheng Huayan staggered out of the void, his face turning deathly pale. A huge, black wound appeared on his back, one that was difficult to heal.

"As expected!" Beyond the void, on a white stone mountain, Zheng Huayan's figure staggered into existence, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth: "He was waiting for me from the very beginning!"

He was already quite lucky. The opponent's attack was clearly a manifestation of divine power, which had not been fully charged or locked on beforehand. Otherwise, it would not have been as simple as just bleeding a little.

"It's a dragon!"

“Not only that…” Zheng Huayan looked back at the collapsing void, his eyes cold: “There are also traitors within the Heavenly Sect!”

Opposite to Taixu.

In the deepest part of the Watery Realm, which had been completely reduced to a giant crater, the dark dragon shadow frowned in displeasure: [Damn it, he escaped!]

Another blurry figure emerged from the shadows, its silhouette seemingly blending into the darkness, its voice calm and even: "The people of Mi Luo Tian are inherently the most difficult targets to deal with."

When they are fully prepared, death will not come upon them.

(End of this chapter)