Chapter 1557: Second Pillar Reaching the Sky

On the battlefield, Jiang Fan refined all the collected materials into two types of spiritual pills. He kept ten for himself and distributed the rest. The Heavenly Garment Divine Water was scarce, far from enough to heal everyone, so priority was given to the severely wounded.

"Grand Wine Sacrificer, what should we do with their remains?" someone asked.

Jiang Fan looked over, realizing that while he was refining pills, strong cultivators from various sects had gathered all the human remains from the battlefield. For sects that still existed, their disciples would take care of their own. But the remains of the annihilated small and medium sects had no one to attend to them.

Jiang Fan walked over, his face solemn with grief. "I'll perform a deliverance ritual for them first."

He took out the 'Prison-Suppressing Soul-Pacifying Scripture' and silently chanted its obscure and profound verses. Streaks of black Sanskrit characters flew out from the scripture. From countless corpses, wisps of fragmented soul-specks drifted out. Guided by the Sanskrit, they flew into the vast void, entering an unknown realm.

After the last soul-speck vanished, Jiang Fan closed the scripture. He pressed his palms together and murmured, "Thank you for defending Tai Cang's mountains and rivers with your lives. May you be free from disaster and pain in your next lives, and may you find eternal peace."

Finally, he looked at the countless remains and said to the Grand Wine Sacrificer, "Leave some people here to build a mausoleum. They deserve to be honored by future generations for ten thousand ages."

The Grand Wine Sacrificer nodded gently. "Six Paths, Bai Xin, select some wounded individuals from each sect who can no longer fight, and have them stay. Establish the Tai Cang Mausoleum."

Daoist Six Paths and Bai Xin had also sustained serious injuries, but thankfully, with the aid of the Heavenly Garment Divine Water, their wounds had already healed. The two bowed and immediately set about assembling the workforce.

Jiang Fan then looked up at the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar, hesitated for a moment, and took out the Moon Mirror. Before providing assistance to Hunyuan Prefecture, he needed to confirm one last thing: the battle status between King Black Sun and Hongxiu. If Hongxiu was at a disadvantage and couldn't continue to delay him, then they would have to deal with King Black Sun themselves.

He immediately wrote on the Moon Mirror:

"Good Name: Hongxiu, what's the battle situation?"

If Hongxiu and King Black Sun were engaged in a fierce battle, she likely wouldn't have time to reply quickly. Conversely, if Hongxiu had killed King Black Sun, she would be able to respond swiftly.

The Moon Mirror immediately showed a reply.

"Glasses: You Tai Cang Grand Prefecture won? Incredible!"

Being as intelligent as she was, Hongxiu immediately understood that since Jiang Fan had time to inquire about the battle situation in the Heavenly Realm, it meant the battle in Tai Cang Grand Prefecture was completely stable, perhaps even a great victory.

"Huh? Hongxiu replied so quickly?" Jiang Fan's heart pounded, and he instinctively grew excited. Could it be that Hongxiu had killed King Black Sun? But on second thought, if Hongxiu had successfully killed him, she would have already notified him through the Moon Mirror.

"Good Name: What's the situation with you and King Black Sun?" he asked, feeling a bit perplexed.

King Black Sun hadn't descended, clearly implying he was being delayed. But since Hongxiu hadn't killed him, they should still be in fierce combat. Why then did she have the leisure to reply? He couldn't figure out the state of their battle.

"Glasses: I haven't fought him."

Jiang Fan's heart suddenly stopped. His eyes gradually widened. He wrote in disbelief:

"Good Name: You didn't keep your promise?"

"Glasses: I'm at the Black Sun Royal Court, but the Five-Star Giant King isn't there."

"What?" Jiang Fan was horrified! The Five-Star Giant King hadn't descended, and it wasn't because Hongxiu was delaying him? Then where was he? A massive sense of foreboding enveloped his heart, making him feel cold all over. Such a terrifying existence, left unrestrained for so long?

He quickly looked towards the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar, decisively taking out the Sky-Monitoring Treasure Mirror to investigate. However, even with the detection range expanded to its limit, there was still no trace of the Five-Star Giant King on the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar.

Jiang Fan's face showed anxiety. Had King Black Sun secretly descended to the continent? Where was he then? On the continent? Or in Mount Qingli? Or had he gone to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to seize the prefecture-level teleportation array?

His mind was in turmoil, and he had to take several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. "That shouldn't be right. If King Black Sun had descended, why would he stand by and watch his Giant King and giants be completely annihilated? Or is it that he fears the Grand Wine Sacrificer, and descended to Tai Cang Grand Prefecture from an unknown location? But the only connection between Tai Cang Grand Prefecture and the Black Sun Royal Court is this Sky-Connecting Black Pillar..."

Upon this thought, Jiang Fan's face suddenly stiffened. A huge question that had long existed in his mind resurfaced. That was... how did the Two-Star Giant King, who could freely shrink and enlarge, descend to Tai Cang Grand Prefecture? At that time, the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar was located inside Black Cloud Fortress. According to the rules of the Heavenly Realm, he couldn't enter, much less descend through the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar!

Unless! There was another Sky-Connecting Black Pillar connected to Tai Cang Grand Prefecture!

Thinking of this, his heart pounded, and cold sweat trickled down his back. If this were true, wouldn't it mean there was another giant landing site? At that location, ancient giants could descend at any moment... or perhaps, had already descended?

He dared not voice his thoughts. Without another word, he took out Revered Sinister Mind's small black bottle. The remnant soul of the Hellish Wasteland Beast struggled painfully inside. Jiang Fan seized it and pulled it out, his eyes chilling as he said, "Answer one question, and I'll give you a quick end!"

Having endured endless torment, the Hellish Wasteland Beast longed for death. It glared venomously at Jiang Fan, its voice hoarse: "Speak!"

Jiang Fan said coldly, "I want to know, if you hadn't been released from the Tiger Demon Emperor's cave, would there have been no Sky-Connecting Black Pillar in Tai Cang Grand Prefecture?"

It was only at this moment that he realized he had overlooked a critical issue. The Hellish Wasteland Beast was originally imprisoned in the Tiger Demon Emperor's cave. His, Fairy Yunshang's, and Yan Daoan's intrusion had accidentally released the Hellish Wasteland Beast. It then released the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar. But if the Hellish Wasteland Beast hadn't been released back then, would the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar not have existed?

Throughout ten thousand years of history, every descent of ancient giants into Tai Cang Grand Prefecture had occurred as scheduled. There was only one instance of absence in between. How did the ancient giants ensure that the Hellish Wasteland Beasts they sent to the lower realm could release the Sky-Connecting Black Pillars on schedule? Like the Hellish Wasteland Beast before him, it had once been suppressed. Under normal circumstances, it would be unable to release the Sky-Connecting Black Pillar.

"Hehehe... hahaha!" The Hellish Wasteland Beast laughed, throwing its head back in a loud, rough laugh, as if mocking him.

Jiang Fan said coldly, "You don't want to be tortured anymore, do you?"

The Hellish Wasteland Beast stopped laughing, a look of derision on its face as it drawled: "Who told you that there's only one Hellish Wasteland Beast in Tai Cang Grand Prefecture?"

"What?" Jiang Fan's pupils constricted violently.

All this time, everyone had taken it for granted that there was only this one Hellish Wasteland Beast! But now, from the Hellish Wasteland Beast's own mouth, he learned otherwise. Did this not mean that there were other Hellish Wasteland Beasts capable of releasing Sky-Connecting Black Pillars? And the Two-Star Giant King, who could shrink and enlarge freely, had descended without issue. This suggested that a second Sky-Connecting Black Pillar had already been released!