The large ship swiftly departed from Hanyie Island. Amidst the raging winds and towering waves, Li Shimin’s mood grew increasingly agitated.
“Why did you poison her?” Li Shimin asked coldly, looking at the man beside him.
“Jiang Ke’er had to die here. Only anger and regret can truly stir up a storm… You know this better than I do.”
The man was unremarkable in appearance, perhaps four or five years older than Li Shimin.
His eyes held a subtle glint, and he wore plain, ordinary clothes, like a commoner, making him almost completely unnoticeable.
A metal ruler was wrapped around his waist, integrated with his belt and extremely hard to detect.
This was the very poison-coated ruler that had cut Jiang Ke’er.
“But…” Li Shimin still felt great reluctance.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we miss it, we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait. Ten years is manageable, but in a hundred or a thousand years, the demon race might already be erased from the Divine Land.” The man bowed,
“Those who achieve great things should not be constrained by personal feelings… You understand everything I’ve said better than I do. Since you can’t do it, then I will.”
Prolonged despair would numb the demon race, making them lose the will to resist, leading to a slow, chronic death.
Victory, on the other hand, would make the demon race blindly overconfident.
While morale might be briefly boosted, this confidence would be a fleeting illusion, easily shattered.
Only despair after hope could tear apart all illusions and awaken the slumbering demon race.
Only extreme anger and suppression, extreme pain, when pushed to a dead end… would make all demons abandon all luck psychology and ignite the most powerful force within their hearts!
Hatred, he believed, was the best catalyst.
Therefore, in his view, Jiang Ke’er had to die, no matter what, she had to die on this island.
Li Shimin also understood all of this, but he had a soft spot…
After so many years, the demon race had for the first time felt a glimmer of light.
He truly couldn’t bear to destroy it with his own hands, even though he knew that unwillingness harbored the most potent power.
“Alas,” Li Shimin helped the man in front of him up.
He sincerely thanked him for his loyalty, hated him for his ruthlessness, admired his decisiveness, and yet also wanted to kill him.
Various emotions intermingled, but in the end, he could only swallow them, moving on to the next chapter.
“However, what we can think of, the Tribulation Immortal Hall can also think of,” Li Shimin suddenly said,
“So why would the Tribulation Immortal Hall disregard its image and actively kill her?”
The man froze; Li Shimin’s question had stumped him.
He had never understood the Tribulation Immortal Hall’s foolish move at the end.
If he had known the Tribulation Immortal Hall would act, he certainly wouldn’t have risked poisoning Jiang Ke’er himself.
“Perhaps it’s because she possesses something that even the Tribulation Immortal Hall fears,” Li Shimin answered his own question,
“The disappearance of the fox demons was no accident.”
The man’s brows furrowed… This time, he might have truly miscalculated.
“But no matter what secret Jiang Ke’er held, she is already dead,” Li Shimin sighed softly,
“She knew she couldn’t survive for more than a few days under the Tribulation Immortal Hall’s pursuit. Rather than lingering, it’s better to fulfill our goals, to fulfill the demon race’s goals, and die at the most opportune moment…”
Jiang Ke’er had died; her death couldn’t be in vain.
He looked towards Hanye Island, at the rising new sun, its dazzling light gradually eclipsing the brilliance of another sun, hanging alongside it in the sky, like a new king issuing a challenge to the decaying old days.
But one sky cannot hold two suns.
Watching the entire island gradually consumed by fire, Li Shimin suddenly felt excruciating pain. He gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face.
Is this the power of hatred…? In that moment, he truly understood it profoundly.
“Thank you, Elder Brother Changsun.” Li Shimin nodded to the man in front of him and turned to leave.
The plain-clothed man, who was Changsun Wuji, sighed softly and looked in the direction of Hanye Island: “You should thank Jiang Ke’er… She saw through our plan early on but didn’t pursue it, choosing to die nonetheless.”
“I know,” Li Shimin waved his hand wearily.
This was his greatest pain.
Jiang Ke’er used the Spirit Reversion Art, transforming into a small fox and perching on Qiao Xiaoxian’s head.
She activated Spirit Fox Perception, reducing the cast time of her Appraisal technique to 10 seconds and extending its range to 100 meters.
Under the cover of Qiao Xiaoxian’s Netherworld Cauldron, Jiang Ke’er began to search for something.
The surrounding temperature was noticeably rising.
Plants withered visibly, their moisture evaporating, then bursting into flames.
Jiang Ke’er and Qiao Xiaoxian walked through a sea of fire, but thankfully, with the Netherworld Cauldron providing a barrier, they were in another world and thus felt no heat.
Surprisingly, even though the Netherworld Cauldron pulled them into a different dimension, Jiang Ke’er could still use her Appraisal technique.
Unfortunately, the Theft technique was ineffective; otherwise, Jiang Ke’er would have been ready to empty the strongholds of the Tribulation Immortal Hall and the Nine Palaces Merchant Guild.
“Can you tell me your plan?” Qiao Xiaoxian asked.
“With your inferior intellect, telling you would simply be a waste of time,” Jiang Ke’er retorted mercilessly.
Qiao Xiaoxian said no more.
She’d simply keep it in mind and pay Jiang Ke’er back during their next dual cultivation… The strong don’t need to win with words; their actions speak louder.
Jiang Ke’er naturally didn’t want to die in vain.
She wasn’t some pushover fox, well… probably not.
At least, she wouldn’t be a pushover fox anymore! She knew very well that even if she temporarily escaped Hanye Island, she wouldn’t live long without a way to contend with those immortals.
As soon as they got an opportunity to pinpoint her location, it would be a fatal blow.
Next time, the enemy wouldn’t deliberately hold back to try and capture her.
Then, they wouldn’t pierce her right lung, but her heart.
So, when Jiang Ke’er realized the Great Sun Golden Crow’s demon identity, she planned to cling to its powerful coattails.
An enemy’s enemy is a friend.
Perhaps this sun-bird wasn’t fully aware of the current state of affairs, but the Tribulation Immortal Hall certainly wouldn’t allow it to fully recover and become a powerful potential enemy.
Therefore, a conflict between the two sides was highly probable.
Once the Tribulation Immortal Hall and the Golden Crow fought each other to a mutual defeat, she would find a way to escape with it and form an alliance.
The only difficulty was how to snatch it away from the Tribulation Immortal Hall.
Clearly, with her Two-Essence Realm strength and Qiao Xiaoxian’s Three-Talent Realm strength, it would be difficult to do anything significant in a battle of that magnitude.
That’s where her plan came in.
If she wasn’t mistaken… there was still a glimmer of hope!
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—”
An overwhelming barrage of artifacts and spells flying from afar confirmed Jiang Ke’er’s suspicions.
As she expected, the Tribulation Immortal Hall unhesitatingly chose to swiftly kill the Golden Crow, making no attempt to deceive it with words.
Jiang Ke’er was secretly pleased… “Fight, fight, the fiercer the better. The fiercer they fight, the more this Golden Crow will hate the Tribulation Immortal Hall.” At that point, even if Qiao Xiaoxian returned the Netherworld Cauldron to her, she might not take it back to the seal…
It was said that Golden Crows had incredibly fiery tempers; she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she had wiped out the entire Tribulation Immortal Hall!
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.