Chapter 542: Thrill

Jiangzhou City.

Meng Chuan was walking alone in the city, observing the festive Jiangzhou City.

The war had been won, and the entire world was celebrating for a month. Festivities could be seen not only in Jiangzhou City but also in every major city and many villages across the land.

"Good!""Beautiful!""One more!"

People happily watched juggling and other performances. For these ordinary folk, the feeling of victory in war wasn't particularly strong. This was because, in recent decades, the demon race had even given up invading through the unstable world entrances. Common people hadn't encountered a demon threat for a long time; instead, the many celebratory performances across the land made them happier.

Meng Chuan, with his long white hair, walked alone through the crowd. Ordinary mortals couldn't see him at all, nor did they realize that the strongest being in the human world was passing by.

"The war has been won, but my state of mind, influenced by years of the 'Chaos Hole,' makes it hard to feel joy."

"However, my current state is still different from my past 'Nirvana' mindset."

"I..."

Meng Chuan felt a little perplexed.

This primordial spirit avatar of his walked within the city and then out into the countryside.

He saw entire villages celebrating, but even as they celebrated, some villagers were still engaged in farm work.

He saw rivers and lakes where fishermen were still fishing. Even with a month of celebration, ordinary people couldn't spend the entire time in leisure; they still had to work to support their families.

He saw merchant caravans still heading to various cities, transporting large quantities of materials needed for the celebrations.

"What is my current state of mind? It's not nirvana, not happiness, not excitement." Even at his level, Meng Chuan found it difficult to clearly define.

He only felt a sense of lightness, a feeling akin to being slightly tipsy, but more so, a tremor in his primordial spirit.

A tremor of excitement, as it were.

This feeling filled Meng Chuan's heart, compelling him to wander through various places across the land, observing the world intently.

In a grand hall within a grotto-heaven on Yuanchu Mountain.

Three Godfiend disciples were meticulously arranging a vast number of scrolls. Meng Chuan walked in at this moment.

"Master," the three Godfiend disciples respectfully greeted him.

"Are all the scrolls here?" Meng Chuan asked.

"The scrolls from Two World Island and Black Sand Grotto-Heaven have all been delivered," the leading Godfiend disciple respectfully replied. "There are over 230,000 Godfiend scrolls, and even more mortal scrolls. Since the war began, billions of mortals participated, so most of them are just names on a roster. Only those who made significant contributions have dedicated scrolls."

"Mm, continue your work," Meng Chuan nodded slightly.

This was a joint decision by the three major sects, presided over by him.

All scrolls, both Godfiend and mortal, from the beginning of the war until now, were to be collected and kept together, with each of the three major sects holding a copy. Regardless of anything else, future generations needed to know.

Meng Chuan casually picked up a scroll.

"Master, these are the Godfiend scrolls here; the mortal scrolls are further back," a Godfiend disciple quietly reminded him.

Meng Chuan nodded slightly and began to read.

This particular scroll belonged to a powerful Godfiend from when the war began, over nine hundred years ago.

Marquis Donglie, Zhang Xing.

When the demon world and the human world gradually drew closer, and unstable world entrances first appeared in Cangyuan Realm, Marquis Donglie, Zhang Xing, then a Great Sun Godfiend, witnessed the scene of a slaughtered city. Not a single living soul remained in that county town; the sight was like an infernal hell...

From then on, Marquis Donglie, Zhang Xing, dedicated his days to hunting down demons. However, the sudden appearance of unstable world entrances continually led to slaughtered cities and villages among humanity, marking the earliest nightmares of the human race.

Later, when 'stable world entrances' appeared, Marquis Donglie, Zhang Xing, began to guard the city passes.

Still later, he became a Marquis Godfiend.

Throughout his life, he fought against the demon race. He personally witnessed the increasing number of city passes and unstable world entrances. As a Marquis Godfiend, he was relatively safe in the early stages of the war, but too many mortals died.

Marquis Donglie died in his hometown, but he fought his entire life, and his contributions were immense.

After finishing Marquis Donglie, Zhang Xing's scroll, Meng Chuan continued to walk forward and picked up another scroll.

This was a scroll belonging to an outer sect disciple.

Outer sect disciples, similar to 'Aunt Meng Xian,' were those who had not cultivated on Yuanchu Mountain for extended periods.

This outer sect disciple was named An Tong, born over eight hundred years ago.

At nineteen, An Tong had reached the 'Core Condensation' level of the Seamless Realm, considered top-tier among mortals. At that time, military service for guarding city passes wasn't yet widespread because the human race's defensive pressure wasn't too great; it was more of a 'voluntary enlistment' type.

So, at nineteen, An Tong bid farewell to his parents and, full of youthful vigor, set off for the city pass to become a soldier and fight against the demon race.

He fought against the demon race for six years, earning many great merits. During this time, the city pass was breached once, and most of the soldiers guarding it were killed or wounded. Only after rescue Godfiends arrived could the remaining soldiers survive, and An Tong was fortunate to be among them. This was the greatest life-or-death trial he faced before becoming a Godfiend.

At the age of twenty-five, having accumulated enough merits, he earned the chance to attempt the 'Life-and-Death Trial' and successfully became a Godfiend.

Following his parents' wishes, he returned home for three years, married, and had children.

Three years later, he rejoined the military. At that time, not every outer sect Godfiend was forced to participate in the war, but An Tong continued to fight.

Thus... he continued to guard the city pass for sixty-five years, until a full-scale assault planned by the demon race, during which An Tong ultimately died fighting to obstruct the demons at the city pass.

"An Tong," Meng Chuan murmured softly.

An outer sect disciple who ultimately only reached the Indestructible Godfiend realm. Outer sect disciples did not cultivate on Yuanchu Mountain for long periods, but in reality, they were far more numerous.

The human race couldn't provide them with enough resources; even the resources for attempting the Life-and-Death Trial were acquired through merits! Afterwards, they were largely left to fend for themselves. Yet, these outer sect disciples... in fact, made immense contributions in the war against the demon race. The number of them who died in battle far exceeded the Godfiends from the three major sects. Their importance was enormous.

The Earth Net Godfiends, for instance, required a large number of ordinary Godfiends.

Many city passes, besides the sect Godfiends, also needed the assistance of numerous ordinary Godfiends.

Meng Chuan continued to read scroll after scroll, moving further back as he did.

He finally reached the back.

Meng Chuan picked up a scroll.

"Wang Fu, Wang Changyu, Wang Ergou, Wang Sanmao..."

A dense list of names. Meng Chuan's heart suddenly trembled as he flipped through page after page.

It was all names, page after page of densely packed names.

Only a few sentences appeared towards the end of this particular scroll.

"On the ninth day of the fourth month of Great Xia, Tian'an nineteen, Quyang Pass was breached. All 19,302 mortal soldiers within the city perished; not a single one survived."

Meng Chuan's hand trembled slightly as he closed this scroll and picked up another.

Again, a dense list of names...

Scroll after scroll.

Pile after pile.

Numbering in the billions.

Almost all of them were names. As Meng Chuan looked at the countless names, he felt as if countless eyes were staring at him. All these people were looking at him.

Meng Chuan moved to the very back, where finally, instead of names, there were many items left behind from battlefields.

"Dad, Mom, I'm at Qinyang Pass."

"Don't worry, my blade skills are excellent, those demons can't threaten me at all. I promise you, I'll definitely come back..." This was a letter, only half of the paper remained, likely from a soldier who hadn't had time to send it home.

Many items were placed on shelves, and the shelves were inscribed with text: "Great Xia, Chunping Year Three, Qinyang Pass breached, remnants."

Many of these remnants had unknown owners and couldn't be sent back. The Earth Net collected them all, categorized them, and stored them properly on Yuanchu Mountain.

Meng Chuan silently observed the countless remnants, then turned his gaze to the countless scrolls, as if transcending time and space, looking at billions of people.

They were smiling at Meng Chuan, nodding with smiles, all of them laughing.

At this moment, Meng Chuan finally understood why he had been trembling and what he had been thinking about since the war's victory.

He sat down cross-legged, right there.

As if surrounded by billions of people watching, Meng Chuan waved his hand, and a long scroll unfurled before him. He picked up his brush, already dipped in ink, and began to paint. At this moment, the powerful force that made his primordial spirit and his very life tremble compelled him to express himself, a feeling that even his 'Nirvana' state of mind could not suppress.