Chapter 819: The Bloody Truth

The area was covered in rocks and gravel.

The wind whipped up dust, creating whirlwinds. Chu Feng stood rooted to the spot, struggling to accept such a cruel turn of events. This devastating news was too much to bear. Finally, he let out a primal cry, like a wounded beast, and fled, trembling uncontrollably at the cruel finality of it all.

Chu Feng roared, accelerating with such force that a violent gust of wind erupted, sending sand and stones scattering. In an instant, he vanished from the area, reappearing in the outer region.

Chu Feng searched the desolate wilderness. Emotionally, he refused to accept the harsh reality; he needed to understand what had happened. Though sparsely populated, the wasteland held some creatures. Using his keen and powerful divine sense, Chu Feng swiftly pinpointed a four-winged flying rhinoceros in the outer region and instantly lunged towards it.

The golden four-winged flying rhinoceros, highly alert, roared and unfurled its golden wings, swiftly ascending into the sky as it saw a humanoid whirlwind, laden with sand and grit, surging towards it. Despite starting later, Chu Feng intercepted it, blocking its path. With a single hand pressed forward, he subdued it instantly.

"Don't kill me! I'm pitiable. My entire kin were slaughtered; I barely escaped with my life to this place. If I die, our tribe will be extinct," the four-winged flying rhinoceros pleaded, its voice trembling. Though a creature of the "haze-feasting" level, possessing decent strength, it was no match for Chu Feng in his current state.

Chu Feng stared at it, masking his profound grief. "Tell me," he demanded, "is the Martial God still on the Ferocious Beast Plateau?"

"The Martial God? That's a very ancient name. It seems to be a deity who died a long time ago, perhaps hundreds of years ago," the four-winged flying rhinoceros answered timidly, its voice laced with fear.

Upon hearing this, Chu Feng's body swayed violently, and he nearly plummeted from the sky. An inexplicable pain pierced his heart. He had clung to a sliver of hope that the inscriptions on the stone tablet were false, but his quest for truth had met with a brutal confirmation. How desperately he wished the Martial God were still alive, even if as an adversary! If that deity had survived, his previous suspicions could be disproven, and this tragedy might never have occurred. Now, the golden rhinoceros's simple statement had shattered his hope, plunging him into despair and overwhelming grief.

Chu Feng's outstretched hand trembled, no longer suppressing the golden rhinoceros. His soul light flickered. "What era is this?" he asked, his voice strained. "Have you ever heard of Chu Wuhen?"

"It is currently the 121st year of the Demonic God Era. His Majesty the Demonic God has ruled the Ferocious Beast Plateau for over a century," the golden four-winged rhinoceros answered. Trembling with fear, the rhinoceros added, its voice quivering slightly, "Chu Wuhen... he also died over a hundred years ago. He was a god personally slain by the Demonic God. In his later years... he suffered a terrible death!"

In that instant, Chu Feng's eyes flared with divine light. He clenched his fists, unable to stop himself, and roared to the heavens, feeling a pain that ripped through his very being. It was true. Everything was true! Just moments ago, he had desperately told himself that it was all an illusion, all false—that it couldn't be happening, it shouldn't be happening! But reality was cruel, and the truth was brutal. His heart bled, and he felt himself teetering on the edge of madness.

The words "Son Chu Wuhen's final inscription" burned into his vision. His little Daoist priest, his son, had visited him one last time to mourn, leaving behind his last message! "Father, 750 years. This should be the last time I visit you in this life. My existence is drawing to a close..." "Father, farewell, or rather, let us never meet again like this. Your son, Chu Wuhen, leaves his final words!"

Tears welled endlessly in Chu Feng's eyes as he recalled those words, those messages. At that time, Chu Wuhen had already aged, knowing his death was near, that he would be replaced and slain by a new god.

"The Demonic God killed Chu Wuhen?!" Chu Feng's voice was fraught with emotion, his entire body trembling as if he wished to rip the very sky apart. He had read the past etched on the rocks: his son had spoken of strange decay befalling him, of his vital energy withering in old age, intending to end his life in a desolate place. Yet, in the end, Chu Wuhen was still killed—devoured by that Demonic God!

"Yes, the Demonic God targeted the old deity whose power had suddenly waned. Without allowing him to escape, the Demonic God struck like lightning, blasting him before an abyss and instantly refining all his divine particles and Dao Ancestor matter." The flying rhinoceros's scalp tingled. It whispered, unable to meet Chu Feng's gaze, so terrified it was almost paralyzed.

"My little Daoist priest..." Chu Feng murmured, his heart aching profoundly. Despite his son's repeated defiance, he was still his flesh and blood. And from the inscriptions on the rocks, it was clear that Chu Wuhen was deeply loyal, yet he met such a horrific end.

"What kind of god was Chu Wuhen?" Chu Feng asked, his voice strained with suppressed grief.

"He called himself a Heavenly Venerate, not a god. Everyone referred to him as Heavenly Venerate," the golden rhinoceros replied cautiously.

"Demonic God, I will kill you, and I will exterminate your entire clan!" In that moment, Chu Feng seemed almost demonic, his eyes fathomlessly deep, like black holes. His voice wasn't loud, but it was bone-chillingly cold, piercing one's very essence. The pain was overwhelming. His little Daoist priest had suffered an unimaginable death, unable even to choose his own end, targeted by the new god and devoured alive.

"My son!" Chu Feng whispered, then suddenly let out a thunderous roar to the sky, like a demonic overlord. "I will cleanse this world with blood! I will annihilate the entire Ferocious Beast Plateau! All of you gods deserve to die!" This terrifying declaration reverberated, shaking the entire region. Boulders rolled, and the earth's surface cracked.

The four-winged flying rhinoceros trembled violently, falling to its knees in utter terror. "Stop shouting!" it whispered urgently. "If anyone hears you, if His Majesty the Demonic God finds out, we'll all die! We won't survive!"

After an unknown duration, Chu Feng gradually calmed down. He landed with the golden rhinoceros and asked, "Have you heard of a woman named Qin Luoyin?"

"I've heard of her. She was apparently the Heavenly Venerate's mother and died very early."

"And Ying Zhexian?"

"Yes, I've heard of her too. Back then, she and the Heavenly Venerate's mother were known as unparalleled beauties, famous throughout the world."

Chu Feng casually asked, listening to tales of the past and thinking of those people. In what felt like mere days for him, eight hundred years had passed in this world. He was overwhelmed with regret and profound sadness, realizing that everything had changed and those he knew were gone, leaving his heart heavy with sorrow.

Chu Feng released the four-winged flying rhinoceros and swiftly turned, darting towards the stone millstone area. In an instant, he vanished from the wasteland, traversing the hilly terrain, and reappeared in that silent place. Standing before the rocks, gazing at the inscriptions weathered by time, Chu Feng felt his emotions overwhelm him. He was dazed, his heart truly aching.

Just a short while ago, he had rushed from this very spot, still harboring doubts and a sliver of hope, desperate to prove that the events were illusory, false. But reality was brutal, tearing open old wounds to reveal raw, bleeding pain that was even worse than before. Regardless, Chu Feng found it impossible to accept. It was too sudden, too unprepared, and the shock was overwhelming.

Tears blurred his vision. In a haze, the faces and voices of those people once again materialized before his eyes. But they were all gone, all dead, inflicting a sharp pain in Chu Feng's heart, as if a large raptor's sharp talons had ripped through it. He trembled, his soul light flickering erratically, desperate to roar, to let out a primal howl that would shake the very cosmos.

How could this be? Those people, those events, felt as though they had occurred only yesterday. Yet, after a brief separation, he returned to a world utterly transformed, where nothing remained the same and no one was left. Even his son, who had always opposed him, had met a tragic end, his soul extinguished. He would never see them again. A mere separation had stretched into eight hundred years, becoming a final parting, and those individuals had utterly vanished from this world.

Chu Feng growled, then roared loudly, shaking the very heavens and earth. He raised his fist and struck towards the sky, unable to bear it any longer. He yearned to rush to the Ferocious Beast Plateau instantly and kill the Demonic God! He also longed to personally slay the Martial God, but even that enemy had succumbed to the passage of time, forever beyond his reach.

"None of you survived! Why is the vortex leading back to our own universe gone?!" Chu Feng gasped, his breath ragged. If that vortex still existed, even in death, they could have returned, reappearing in their original universe. But now, once dead, they were truly gone forever, never to be seen again in this lifetime.

This pain, this desolate and solitary grief, was inexpressible. Chu Feng wanted to scream, to fight until the world crumbled, to escape the depths of his sorrow. His roars filled the entire world, like a lone wolf howling in grief, baying at the moon. Finally, he returned, trembling, and stood before the rocks bearing the inscriptions.

He ran his hand over the cold stones, carefully tracing the words, as if caressing one vivid face after another. Those individuals reappeared before his eyes. For a long time, he remained silent, soul tears staining his face. Eventually, stone fragments began to fly as he carved words beneath each rock, replying to the messages left so long ago. Each inscription was imbued with his heartfelt emotions, as if, for a moment, he could see his departed friends again, conversing with them.

The serene and ethereal Ying Zhexian; the mischievous and spirited silver-haired little loli; his good brother Ouyang Feng, who always had a knowing, sidelong glance; and Qin Luoyin, who lived a life of unhappiness and, in her final moments, gazed towards the stone millstone...

Chu Feng carved words onto the rocks, engaging in a silent dialogue with them, pouring out his heart and sharing everything. He felt as if he had transcended life and death, bridged the divide between yin and yang, and was reunited with them once more. In that moment, with eyes blurred by tears, Chu Feng was overcome with profound sorrow. He was truly wounded, truly pained, feeling as though the entire world had withered, devoid of joy, smiles, and even the sky had turned a desolate grey.

As stone fragments flew, he responded to each of the messages left there. Finally, upon seeing his little Daoist priest's handwriting and recalling his tragic death, Chu Feng felt a suffocating pang in his chest and let out an involuntary sigh. He continued to carve, the ground now covered in stone dust, as if engaging in a father-son conversation across the chasm of time. He wrote down the details of the cherished family heirloom that his little Daoist priest had never forgotten, revealing its hiding place in the starry sky.

Suddenly, Chu Feng felt an anomaly. He extended his divine sense and detected a patch of cloud floating in the distant sky.

"Son, since you yearned so much for this treasure, merely carving it out for you to see is pointless. You wouldn't be able to sense it in the afterlife. So I'll burn it all for you!"

Then, Chu Feng resolutely ignited them. His soul light pulsed and his Yang energy surged, transforming the large rocks he had just inscribed for his little Daoist priest into molten red lava.