Chapter 185: The Clever Xuan Bird Youth, Echoes of Four Millennia Past
Chapter 185 – The Clever Xuan Bird Youth, Echoes of Four Millennia Past
Facing Chen Changsheng’s counter-question, the youth of the Xuan Bird clan did not hesitate. He slammed his forehead against the earth and declared in a ringing voice.
“I, Tian Xuan, swear this oath! The Xuan Bird clan shall ally with humanity for all eternity, fostering a lasting peace between our two races.”
“Should the day come when the human and demon races ignite the flames of war, the Xuan Bird clan will unconditionally stand at humanity’s side.”
Staring at the prostrate youth, Chen Changsheng fell into a profound silence.
He had to admit, this boy possessed a terrifying grasp of the grand board. His calculating nature was the absolute antithesis of Chen Shisan’s.
Wuli had crippled the foundational laws of the Western Continent. With the local demon race severely weakened, a bitter sea of blood feud had permanently pooled between the two factions.
The moment either race gained supremacy, they would inevitably slaughter the other.
Under such absolute enmity, begging him—a human—to save the demon race was the raving of a lunatic.
Yet, from this inescapable dead end, this youth named Tian Xuan had clawed out a microscopic thread of survival.
The demon race was not a monolith. Even if Wuli personally descended, he could not guarantee the extermination of every demon under the heavens.
As long as a single breath remained, the embers of the demon race would endure.
If a bearer of Heaven’s Mandate ever arose from their ranks, humanity would face an apocalyptic reckoning.
Furthermore, Tian Xuan’s oath was a veiled transaction offered directly to Chen Changsheng.
He was willing to shoulder the eternal hatred of his own kind to act as the supreme mediator between the two factions.
As long as he lived, and as long as the Xuan Bird clan remained, a total war between humans and demons would never ignite.
Exhale.
Chen Changsheng slowly let out a breath. “I must admit, you are terrifyingly sharp.”
“Originally, I planned to extract my answers and immediately send you to the afterlife.”
“But your wager has genuinely moved me. Can you uphold today’s oath for all eternity?”
Tian Xuan’s frail body violently shuddered.
He had finally seized the lifeline for the Xuan Bird clan. He had secured a future for the entire demon race.
“So long as the Xuan Bird clan endures, this oath shall never be forsaken!”
“Good. Then I will grant the Xuan Bird clan a chance, and by extension, the demon race.”
“Rise.”
Overwhelmed with sheer ecstasy, Tian Xuan viciously kowtowed three times before Chen Changsheng, only then daring to respectfully stand.
Observing a transaction entirely beyond his comprehension, Chen Shisan finally spoke up from the sidelines.
“Sir, what exactly was the demon race’s grand sin?”
“They committed no inherent sin. They simply backed the wrong horse.”
“Four millennia ago, before the Desolate Heavenly Emperor had inherited Heaven’s Mandate, countless supreme prodigies converged upon the Middle Heavens to fight for ultimate supremacy.”
“However, amidst the chaos, a specific incident transpired.”
“The chosen prodigies of the demon race conspired with the heir of a forbidden land to lay a death trap for a single man.”
“That man was one of the three grand commanders of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor’s vanguard, the very founder of the Huben: Gongsun Huaiyu.”
Hearing that dreaded name, a visceral flicker of terror convulsed through Tian Xuan’s eyes.
The mere title of ‘Huben’ was the ultimate waking nightmare for every demon across the Western Continent.
“That was their fatal error?”
“More or less. But that was merely the catalyst.”
“Once the Desolate Heavenly Emperor fully emerged, he unified the Middle Heavens with apocalyptic momentum. He then cast his gaze beyond its borders.”
“And the Western Continent became his first target.”
“Why?”
Chen Shisan asked instinctively.
“Gongsun Huaiyu had a blood feud with the demon race, but surely that did not warrant turning his wrath upon the entire Western Continent?”
Glancing at the boy’s naive confusion, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue.
“Of course it wasn’t that simple. You are overlooking a fundamental truth.”
“To inherit Heaven’s Mandate and become the supreme sovereign of this world, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor naturally had to force every living being to bow.”
“At the time, although he had violently consolidated the Middle Heavens and his momentum was unstoppable…”
“…the Western Continent, Northern Desert, and Southern Plains merely offered lip service. Their hearts harbored rebellion.”
“A pre-existing grudge, compounded by the absolute necessity to slaughter a chicken to warn the monkeys. All the variables aligned perfectly, marking the Western Continent for execution.”
“You failed to perceive this layer of logic because of your innate disposition.”
“You may grow incredibly powerful in the future, but you will absolutely never sit upon the throne of the world.”
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s ruthless critique, Chen Shisan merely scratched his head.
“I never possessed the ambition to rule the world. I don’t understand how to govern people, let alone the entire realm.”
“As long as my blade grows sharper, I am perfectly content.”
Hearing Shisan’s simple truth, Chen Changsheng offered a faint smile and remained silent.
If Chen Shisan truly desired the sovereign throne, then he would no longer be Chen Shisan.
Having dismissed the boy’s query, Chen Changsheng’s gaze drifted back to the bowing Tian Xuan.
“The Desolate Heavenly Emperor marched upon the Western Continent, igniting an apocalyptic bloodbath against the local demon race.”
“Thanks to the assassination attempt on Gongsun Huaiyu, the demon race was already locked in a death spiral with the Emperor.”
“Refusing to turn back from the abyss, your ancestors covertly colluded with the Sacred Ruins. They mobilized the sheer might of an entire continent to crush the Emperor before he could claim Heaven’s Mandate.”
“Yet, despite exhausting every grand calculation, your elders gravely underestimated the explosive trajectory of his cultivation.”
“Worse still, they never anticipated that after crippling the Kunlun Holy Land, the two supreme empires of the Eastern Wasteland would forge an ironclad alliance with the Violet Palace.”
“Forty-two ancient, living fossils of the demon race, allied with seven primordial horrors that crawled out from the Sacred Ruins.”
“Forty-nine peerless entities in total. Together, they laid down an apocalyptic killing Formation, intending to utterly erase the Desolate Heavenly Emperor.”
“The ensuing battle shattered the heavens. Even a monster like the Desolate Heavenly Emperor was sealed within for three agonizing months.”
“It was the absolute final sliver of mercy the heavens offered your race. Sadly, your ancestors were too incompetent. They failed to execute him within those three months.”
“When the ninety days expired, a single man emerged from the Violet Palace Holy Land, carrying the exact method to dismantle the Formation.”
“With the cage shattered, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor unleashed his divine wrath. Of the forty-two living fossils, thirty-eight perished on the spot.”
“The surviving four managed to flee with shattered foundations. Within half a month of returning to their ancestral grounds, they too perished.”
“As for the seven horrors from the Sacred Ruins? The Desolate Heavenly Emperor hunted them until they had no path to the heavens and no gate to the underworld.”
“In the absolute end, the Sacred Ruins was forced to personally intervene just to salvage a single survivor. The remaining six were ground into dust and scattered to the wind by the Emperor.”
Listening to Chen Changsheng recount the apocalyptic slaughter, a bead of icy sweat rolled down Tian Xuan’s temple.
The Xuan Bird clan was ashes. His Imperial Father had commanded him to seek out the singular existence capable of saving the demon race.
Although his father had never dared to utter the entity’s true name, the fragmentary legends had allowed Tian Xuan to guess his identity.
It was a suffocatingly microscopic sliver of hope, yet the heavens truly seemed unwilling to let the demon bloodline bleed out entirely.
Amidst the boundless sea of mortals, he had actually collided directly with him.
Furthermore, Chen Changsheng’s ruthless recitation of ancient history cemented his theory.
The casual young man standing before him was undeniably the legendary Holy Son of the Violet Palace, the rumored master of the Desolate Heavenly Emperor.
The shadow architect who manipulated the geopolitical tides of the entire world without ever taking a single step out of the “Sea of Learning”: Chen Changsheng!
With this realization solidifying in his mind, Tian Xuan cupped his fists in ultimate reverence. “Senior, the demon race once plunged into the abyss of error. But we have truly repented.”
Chen Changsheng offered a dark chuckle. “Of course you know you were wrong. If you hadn’t realized it by now, the demon race would have long been erased from the annals of history.”
“The absolute apex predators of your race joined hands with a forbidden land to assassinate the Desolate Heavenly Emperor.”
“Such treason naturally provoked profound fury. Foremost among the enraged was the Emperor’s direct disciple: Gongsun Huaiyu.”
“Eight hundred bronze-armored Huben riders descended upon the Western Continent. For the three months your ancestors sealed the Emperor, the Huben systematically slaughtered their way across your continent for three months straight.”