Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao-Chapter 1226 - 127: Too Late
Zhou Yan made his request, and Wei Yin agreed without any hesitation.
She had come to the Desolate Domain of Heavenly Sacrifice City precisely because of "Zhou Yan." Now that the truth was revealed, she had no objections.
Because she completely agreed with Zhou Yan’s words.
"Sword Demon King, since you have made your decision, we naturally support you. Of course, before this, we also knew your original intention was to seek the remaining pieces of the Xuanyuan Sword. You just didn’t know that we knew. But we hope you won’t blame us for this, given that you were indeed a presence that concerned the Sky Demons previously."
Wei Yin spoke candidly.
It seemed that, due to Zhou Yan’s straightforwardness, many doubts were thus dispelled.
Zhou Yan knew that what Wei Yin said at this time was true, though it might still contain some probing elements. Thus, he nodded slightly and said, "I can understand all of this. Even though some things are only known to me now, what does it matter? Since I now possess the capability, any remaining issues cease to be problems."
As Zhou Yan spoke, his gaze shifted away from Wei Yin’s beautiful silhouette, and he turned to walk towards the ship’s deck.
Wei Yin also hesitated not a moment, following right behind Zhou Yan.
...
The coldness on the Withered Bone Warship had not changed much.
The chilly air continued to drift across the heavens and the earth.
The biting cold tingled both spirit and body, with sheets of darkness like layers of thick fog pressing upon one’s spirit.
As the warship advanced, this sensation grew stronger, and eventually, even the oil lamps on the warship became dim, as if about to be extinguished, and the Black Water River began to roar, as if a destructive storm was brewing.
The warship rocked amid the giant waves, as if it might sink at any moment.
But the Sky Demons were accustomed to this, without any change in their emotions.
Zhou Yan initially felt a vague sense of unease, but seeing that Wei Yin and the others paid no heed, he calmed down.
Sure enough, after the destructive waves roared, the edge of the Black Water River gradually appeared.
The edge was an expanse of solitary graves, marking the no-go zone of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb. Zhou Yan had some impression of this place but did not expect it to be connected with the edge space node of the Black Water River.
"Sword Demon King, according to what we know, some parts of the Xuanyuan Sword are likely located in the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb and the Abyss of the Sky Demon Race."
Wei Yin transmitted to Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan’s heart stirred, and he nodded, saying, "I am already aware of this; you don’t need to worry."
"Well, since you know this, the other aspect we can address is ensuring that the path into the Sky Demon Domain World remains stable. This Sky Demon Bone allows us to descend and depart, but we cannot stay by your side; doing so would likely alert the enemy. We can only wait for your return at the Netherworld River."
At this moment, Wei Yin clearly stated what they could do to assist Zhou Yan, who had already considered this scenario and was not dissatisfied.
After all, the emergence of Sky Demons was not to be broadcast openly; there would inevitably be many concerns, and the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb would surely have cultivators present. They might be able to hide well on the Netherworld River, but in the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb, it was uncertain.
After a brief exchange with Wei Yin, Zhou Yan bid farewell to this group of Sky Demons and stepped into the space node, descending into the no-go zone of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb.
The Ten Thousand Ghosts Sword Tomb was just as before.
In essence, there was not much difference, giving Zhou Yan a sense of the place remaining the same while people had changed.
He traversed silently among the endless lonely graves, searching for traces of the past.
Finally, in an ancient spot, Zhou Yan found the place of divine significance through the aura of the Dao Trace.
It was a very solitary grave, with traces of past years upon it, marked by mottled auras and heavy runes.
Runes engraved a cultivator’s lifetime, yet consisted of only a brief line.
Zhou Yan opened this solitary grave and saw within it an Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin, inside of which lay a sleeping person.
Or perhaps it was no longer a person, but a dry corpse wrapped in human skin.
However, upon seeing this corpse, Zhou Yan suddenly understood—this body was actually his own.
It was the physical avatar he had left on the Ancient Warship, guarding himself.
His soul had entered the Sword Burial Ancestor Star, leaving his physical body as a guardian.
Now, the physical body appeared in the Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin, in this place.
Zhou Yan sighed softly and used the power of his bloodline to open the Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin, extracting the corpse within.
Then, with unique Purple Flames and power, a unique cultivation technique, Zhou Yan used divine power and bloodline power to resurrect this physical body and began truly aligning it with his spirit.
Refining, merging, aligning.
Since it was his own body, the process was not difficult.
Yet once the alignment was complete, Zhou Yan felt a sense of grounded reality.
It was as if, all of a sudden, his previously serene self had gained flesh, and emotions too.
Perhaps, from this point on, he would no longer take things so lightly.
This itself is a transformation, a change.
The body and soul on the ancient warship, as if returning to their place, Zhou Yan completely completed his awakening on the once Sword Burial Ancestor Star, the transformation of the bloodline within him began, and the Emperor Blood started to transform rapidly.
From the First Transformation to the Ninth Transformation, only then did it barely stop.
This progress is tremendously significant. Now, at the limit of the Divine Spirit Nine Transitions, the Emperor Blood Transformation is opened once again; this is undoubtedly shocking.
Yet all of this seems to be a natural progression, seemingly very reasonable.
Zhou Yan was dazed for a long time, allowing changes within himself without much emotional fluctuation. Instead, within this Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin, he truly sensed the aura of Gu Xi, sensed the aura of Mu Qingyan, sensed the aura of Feng Lingqing, and so on.
Here, he sensed the aura of many people he cared about, and thus, many feelings of longing suddenly emerged in his heart.
"Have I... really returned?"
"Why do I feel a sudden realization of ’realizing the present and dismissing the past’."
Zhou Yan stood by the lonely grave for a long time. Eventually, he subconsciously left a drop of blood in the Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin, a drop of Ancient Demon Dragon Essence Blood infused with Twelve Layers of Xingyi Battle Body, and then he buried the Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin once again with his own hands.
On the crystal coffin, Zhou Yan engraved ancient Emperor Patterns, and the significance of the Emperor Patterns manifested as four words: ’Eternal Life’.
This is the secret technique of the Emperor Patterns, but what is eternal life, what is immortality, Zhou Yan actually couldn’t deeply understand.
It was merely an instinct that he engraved such Emperor Patterns.
The Emperor Burial Crystal Coffin was buried underground once more, the lonely grave submerged.
Zhou Yan followed the space nodes, opened the ancient array restriction underground, entered the restriction, and saw the array of Twelve Magnetic Light Columns.
This is the Primordial Magnetic Ancient Array, a unique Emperor Pattern Ancient Array.
Within the ancient array, unwavering souls were imprisoned.
That was a pile of decayed bones, devoid of life energy, the oscillating aura of the soul manifested the changes of the Twelve Magnetic Light Columns.
"The Twelve Magnetic Light Columns correspond to the inheritance of the Twelve Forms, each having an essence of secret technique inheritance, indeed suitable for the development of Xingyi Supreme Dao."
Zhou Yan murmured to himself, then, with Emperor Patterns, suppressed the Twelve Magnetic Light Columns, unlocked the energy of the Twelve Magnetic Light Columns, to reinforce and transform the Twelve Xingyi Sword Spirits once again, making his Twelve Xingyi more stable and powerful.
Without the Emperor Patterns of the Twelve Magnetic Light Columns, the collapse tendency emerged, which naturally opened the space of Frost Tears, Zhou Yan stepped into Frost Tears and saw the Netherworld Heavenly Road.
The Heavenly Road seemed more like a channel of reincarnation, more like a desolate ruin.
All of these, in his eyes once were so mysterious, in his eyes now, bore layers of sadness and desolation.
Because this was a desolate land, a mournful environment.
Perhaps, back then Lee Ran only hoped there was no sorrow here, but it contained inheritance and hope.
But now, what Zhou Yan saw here were piles of decayed corpses and scattered limbs.
And through the Time Trace Method, Zhou Yan could see snippets of the past.
Among this, Zhou Yan discovered the Silver Snow Sword, with only the sword bone left, possessing undying divinity, yet already decayed and mottled.
Through the power of divinity, Zhou Yan activated the divinity of the Silver Snow Sword, revealing the appearance of Sword Spirit Xiao Shuang.
It was an almost withered visage, difficult to discern the past beauty.
She struggled to open her murky eyes, fixing her gaze on Zhou Yan, with still crystalline tears in her cloudy eyes.
"King... too late..."
The words were difficult, in the language of the Emperor Patterns.
Simple, straightforward.
Zhou Yan understood as well.
But the divine power of the Silver Snow Sword had already shattered, turning to nothingness.
It seems, the truth is often decayed, impossible to eternally exist.
In Zhou Yan’s hand, the Silver Snow Sword turned into fragments.
And between Heaven and Earth, suddenly many Giant Bone Sky Demons appeared, soaring and roaring throughout Heaven and Earth.
But such roaring seemed so desolate.
"Is the Netherworld Heavenly Road... the place where the nether mourn?"
Zhou Yan murmured to himself, sighed in lament.
"Of course not."
An ancient, deep voice sighed in reply.
This voice, familiar, yet unfamiliar.
Zhou Yan looked up, unexpectedly, amidst the endless Giant Bone Sky Demons, an ancient figure abruptly condensed, also a figure quite familiar to Zhou Yan.
