Chapter 421: National Ruins, Mountains and Rivers Remain

He Lingchuan looked at him deeply. "Your injury isn't healed yet, is it?" His earlier judgment had been correct; this fellow was truly an opportunist.

"It's nothing," Fu Shanyue replied.

He Lingchuan didn't object. He stood up and said, "Let's go."

He was indeed very curious about Thousand Stars City. It had been destroyed thirty or forty years before Panlong City, by equally formidable and despair-inducing adversaries. He casually touched the stone house and quietly released the eyeball spider. Uncle Da was directly opposite, so he couldn't afford to be careless. The eyeball spider looked at the owl opposite, then immediately retreated into a crack in the stone.

The two walked together into the phantom city. Before turning, He Lingchuan glanced at the campfire opposite and saw six or seven Chiyan people also stand up, chatting and laughing as they walked towards the phantom city. However, Uncle Da remained at the spot with a few subordinates, guarding the carriage.

He Lingchuan frowned inwardly. It was understandable for the caravan's porters to go sightseeing, but these Chiyan people had recently been engaged in a "battle royale" game with Fu Shanyue, and there was a noble on the carriage. How could they dare to be so careless and wander off? So unprofessional, and Uncle Da tacitly allowed it?

After walking several dozen feet, He Lingchuan finally asked Fu Shanyue, "Have you seen this illusion before?"

"No. I've taken this path at least three or four times, and this is the first time I've seen it," Fu Shanyue replied. (He had removed his splint that afternoon, and with his arm hidden in his cloak, no one could tell he was injured.) "But I've heard of these illusions, and they even have a special term: the 'afterglow' of Thousand Stars City.

"Spirit Void City didn't like these illusions," Fu Shanyue continued, looking around as they walked. "They tried to eliminate them by setting fires and performing rituals here several times. Ha, it was useless. Later, they discovered it only triggered under specific conditions—perhaps a unique scenario like today's, with a thunderstorm and strong winds followed by a bright moon. So, Spirit Void City eventually gave up. I've heard from people who witnessed other phantom cities that they also only saw these sights after very bad weather phenomena. Some even came specifically to wait for them, but always left empty-handed."

He Lingchuan had heard of such phenomena in his original world—sound and light images occasionally left behind by nature, with a purely random occurrence. As for here…

"This is a scene from before Thousand Stars City fell, isn't it?" People were bustling everywhere, delivering weapons and medicine, transporting the wounded, putting out fires, and teams were blocking enemies jumping down from the city walls. Even women and the elderly were pressed into service, yet manpower was still severely lacking. There were flames and explosions everywhere, and earth-shattering cries echoed throughout.

Countless human figures made of mist—old or young, demon or human, robust or frail—passed through He Lingchuan and Fu Shanyue's bodies, rushing towards their deaths. Although time had passed and the people were long gone, He Lingchuan still felt a pang of sorrow seeing this scene. He understood that, many years later, such a swan song of doom would also play out in Panlong City.

"It seems so," Fu Shanyue said as they walked towards the palace in the rear. "The Yuan Kingdom repelled the grand army assembled by Spirit Void City three times in total, which is rare in history. Even after King Yuan's death and the fall of Thousand Stars City, the Twilight Plain, upholding King Yuan's dying wish, still rebelled three more times, killing many officials and soldiers and causing massive turmoil in the central region."

He Lingchuan was slightly surprised. "They rebelled three more times?"

"Yes, it shows how fierce and resolute the people of Yuan Kingdom were then," Fu Shanyue said faintly. "Otherwise, why would it provoke such thunderous wrath, with the Great Emperor personally ordering the army to massacre for thirty consecutive days in the Twilight Plain? Do you know how many people died then?"

He Lingchuan shook his head.

"When Thousand Stars City fell, none of King Yuan Shao Yuqing's entire clan of 230 people were spared. Even ten-year-old children were dragged out and subjected to slow slicing, dying after a day of wailing. In comparison, King Yuan and his sons dying on the battlefield was a quick death. Afterward, the army, following orders, conducted a massive search-and-kill operation and massacre across the Twilight Plain, without distinguishing between good and bad, male and female, or cause and effect. Nine out of ten households in the entire Yuan Kingdom were empty. At that time, rivers and streams across the plain ran with blood, open-air graveyards were everywhere, and eagles and crows circled in the sky all day long."

He Lingchuan hissed softly.

"After the thirty-day period finally ended, the army withdrew. But too many people had died, and an epidemic immediately followed." Fu Shanyue scratched his head. "Two hundred years have passed, and Twilight Plain still hasn't recovered its vitality; it looks just as you see it now. After that, the tributes offered by the various demon kings to Spirit Void City became even richer."

A feeling of shared sorrow.

"Here, whenever a demon king rebels, does Spirit Void City massacre millions of commoners?"

The residents of Twilight Plain were also citizens of the Beijia Kingdom, Beijians themselves. Even if someone led them to resist the Demon Emperor and the gods, the primary fault still lay with King Yuan. Generally, for a major crime like rebellion, it would be enough to execute the leader. How could there be such a widespread, indiscriminate slaughter? For example, if Nian Zanli had led Yuzhou to join Beijia, even if Yuan Kingdom defeated him, at most they would execute his entire clan. How could they possibly slaughter all the people of Wuzhou? What ruler would undermine their own foundation like that?

If the Demon Emperor were temperamental and often hysterical, He Lingchuan could understand. As the saying goes, "When the emperor is enraged, a million corpses lie slain, and blood flows like rivers." Emperors also have tempers, and times when they are so furious that they must kill to vent their rage. Yet He Lingchuan had clearly heard that this Demon Emperor was calm, astute, and ambitious—a rare sage among demons.

Fu Shanyue shook his head. "More than ten demon kings have rebelled before. Only this time was the punishment unprecedentedly severe. The Emperor's 'reverse scale' must have been touched."

However, He Lingchuan couldn't shake the feeling that Spirit Void City's actions seemed somewhat familiar.

At that moment, dozens of people and horses suddenly appeared ahead, all rushing towards the city gate. Two golden-armored divine generals accompanied them, each stride covering twenty feet, their huge feet pounding the ground and making it tremble. He Lingchuan almost drooled watching the two golden-armored divine generals. He had put so much effort into making just one golden-armored bronze man, and alone in a foreign land, he lacked the financial means to upgrade it further; the materials required were prohibitively expensive. Yet here were two upgraded versions running freely.

A large fireball, at least seven feet in diameter, flew in from high above. It was a boulder projected by a trebuchet outside the city, its surface coated with oil and ignited, doubling its destructive power upon impact. A significant portion of the fires breaking out throughout Thousand Stars City was due to these projectiles. Seeing it plummeting directly towards this team, a golden-armored divine general lunged forward, leaped, and punched, sending the fireball flying fifty feet away. Like a home run. The movements of this golden-armored divine general were incredibly fluid and powerful, many times stronger than his own. He Lingchuan was once again envious.

The team maintained its speed and arrived before them in a blink. At this moment, over ten people, seemingly ministers by their attire, suddenly rushed out from an angle. Without regard for the risk of being trampled by hooves, they immediately knelt in the middle of the road and said in unison:

"My King! Thousand Stars City cannot be held; please evacuate immediately!"

"Nonsense!" The knights hurriedly reined in their horses. A man stepped forward from the group, around forty years old, with long eyebrows, a pale face, and a dignified demeanor. "A king dies with his nation! I will live and die with Thousand Stars City! You may all leave first; I will send men to escort you out of the city."

The minister cried out amidst the sound of cannon fire, "If you are here, the Yuan Kingdom still exists!"

"My kingdom is deep within Beijia territory, surrounded by enemies," King Yuan said coldly. "Even if we wanted to retreat or escape, where would there be a way out? It's despicable that the Xuluo Kingdom betrayed us and defected at the crucial moment. I overestimated King Xuluo and acted recklessly! My mistakes are unforgivable, even with a hundred deaths, and I caused hundreds of thousands to lose their lives. How can I have the face to leave Thousand Stars City alive?"

Another old minister said, "You must preserve a spark for our Great Yuan, lest the kingdom perish forever!"

"A spark?" King Yuan suddenly smiled. "The spark has already flowed out of Thousand Stars City; our legacy will surely be inherited by someone!"

The ministers exchanged glances, and all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. The old minister then asked, "What about your sons? Have they safely left the city?" Compared to demons, humans valued the continuation of their lineage more.

"Yunhe died heroically fighting on the city walls," King Yuan choked, unable to continue. "But Yunhai is only eleven years old..." He pressed one hand to the hilt of the sword at his waist. The effect of the mist illusion was so vivid that He Lingchuan could even see the veins bulging on the back of the king's hand, indicating how hard he was pressing.

Even Fu Shanyue was somewhat moved. "He personally killed his own son? What a hero!"

He Lingchuan glanced sideways. Did this guy misunderstand the meaning of "hero"? He, however, understood that King Yuan did not want his young son to suffer humiliation after his own death. To lay hands on one's own flesh and blood truly showed a heart of iron and stone.

The ministers were all stunned. King Yuan's eyes were red, yet he said, "No matter where they flee, they cannot escape the grasp of gods and demons. No matter how vast this world is, there's no place for them. Haha, I would rather my children die with clarity than live as cowards, like common folk!"

"My King is wise and sagacious," the foremost old minister said, his eyes welling with tears. "Since that is the case, this old minister will go first." With that, he drew the sword from his waist and calmly slit his own throat. The other ministers followed suit. After a series of thuds, only a few ministers in the back row were left trembling all over, their legs shaking. The city was about to fall; did they have any other choice?

The knights bowed their heads in salute to the ministers who had committed suicide. King Yuan closed his eyes for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Good. After I kill a few more enemies, I will join you all in the underworld!" He didn't even look at the few crestfallen ministers by the side. With a command, the knights galloped towards the city walls.

After that, scene after scene of bloody horror unfolded. Seeing the entire Thousand Stars City transform into a fiery inferno, even the usually carefree Fu Shanyue let out a long breath. This was the final moment of a powerful demon kingdom, frozen in history. As the eldest prince of the Chiyan Kingdom, he should have had many feelings about it.

"At this time, there was no Chiyan yet," He Lingchuan heard him mumble, and couldn't help but ask, "What? Less than two hundred years ago, the Chiyan Kingdom hadn't been born yet? Is your father the founding monarch?"

"Yes," Fu Shanyue said. "The Chiyan Kingdom has only existed for a little over 150 years. It is the youngest and most vibrant demon kingdom in all of Beijia."

Just then, a short, sharp scream came from the front left. Human screams were everywhere in the illusion, but Fu Shanyue frowned. "No," he said, "that's the smell of blood!"