His mind began to reel, and he felt the same thing as last time. His mind went blank. Time passed, and then he opened his eyes.
Blinding sunlight stabbed into his eyes, but he didn’t close them. He stood outside a valley of black clouds, tall, handsome, and the very picture of righteousness and vitality!
However, there was something that pained him in his heart, a feeling that he couldn’t dispel.
The last time he had entered the sovereign’s memories, he had been young, but now, Zhou Chen was middle-aged. Many things had happened since his youth, and he had accomplished much.
He wasn’t alone outside of the valley of black clouds. A few hundred people were at his side, all of them cultivators, and they were flanked by thousands more cultivators. Clearly, they had this area locked down tight!
Even further back were tens of thousands of cultivators, gathered in ranks, causing immense pressure to weigh down on the area. All gazes in the area were fixed on one thing…. Standing in front of Zhou Chen, with his back to the valley of black clouds, was a middle-aged cultivator in a black robe, with long black hair and blood smeared all over his face!
He was also handsome, but in a vicious, evil way. His eyes were violet, and his expression was ice cold. The murderous aura he radiated could shake heaven and earth, and could not even be suppressed by the tens of thousands of cultivators in the area!
Unfortunately, he was injured, with his chest caved in, and his right leg broken. The pain involved must have been intense, but he simply stood there looking out… not at the tens of thousands of cultivators, but at one person!
That person… was Bai Xiaochun, or rather, Zhou Chen!
“Brother…” Bai Xiaochun said, his voice filled with pain. He almost seemed to be pleading, although he didn't realize it. “Come back with me. I can be your guarantor! It’s not your fault you did all those things. I….”
His pain and guilt stemmed from how, years ago, he had pled with his Master to go search for his brother, Zhou Fan. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to find him. At that point, he had sworn to avenge his death, and had gone crazy practicing cultivation. Later on, he had exterminated the entire White Locust Dynasty, which at that time had come to dominate all of the Immortal World’s Lower Three Heavens. Eventually, the world returned to normal, and Zhou Chen felt that he could breathe a sigh of relief. However, he was never able to forget about that older brother of his.
Years later, he came to find that the Immortal World had nine heavens, and that he lived in the Lower Three Heavens. Eventually, he became one of the most well-known figures there, the subject of much adoration. That was when Zhou Fan reappeared. He led the forces of the Black Locust Dynasty, which were far more terrifying than the White Locust Dynasty. As they spread through the Lower Three Heavens, consuming everything in their path, they added the power of their victims to Zhou Fan’s cultivation base.
It was a vile, terrifying technique that caused widespread alarm among the cultivators of the Lower Three Heavens. A bitter war was fought for many years…. It was a difficult, deadly era, that culminated in this event.
“I’ll even give up my shot at reaching the Middle Three Heavens if it will keep you safe….” Bai Xiaochun continued. “Brother, please, come with me….”
Mixed emotions could be seen in the eyes of the black-robed Zhou Fan. However, he shook his head, and his eyes turned as cold as ice.
“From now on, Little Chen… you and I… are not family!” Looking around at the surrounding cultivators, he smiled mockingly, then turned and walked into the valley of black clouds.
No one attempted to stop him. As far as they were concerned, stepping into that valley meant that he was already dead, exterminated!
In apparent confirmation of their assumption, as Zhou Fan walked into the clouds, they began to eat away at his body. He trembled as he walked forward, his flesh rotting off, bones becoming visible…. As he corroded, waves of black locusts erupted from inside of him, shrieking in pain as they tried to escape. Before they could, they were obliterated by the clouds….
Everyone else sighed in relief. But not Bai Xiaochun. Pain gripped his heart as he watched his brother being eaten away by the clouds. Finally, he stepped forward and called out in a loud voice, “Brother, why are you doing this? Tell me? Why?!?!”
Zhou Fan was clearly having a hard time struggling forward. When he heard his brother’s voice, he stopped for a moment, then opened his mouth as if to speak. However, he said nothing. Bowing his head, he continued onward, rotting away. By now, he was little more than bones, making a completely fearsome sight. Only his eyes continued to burn with obsession and focus as he strode deeper into the valley of clouds.
Already, it was possible for him to see something at the end of the valley, in the depths of the black clouds, something enormous. It was… a battleship! Previous Chapter Next Chapter
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Chapter
1241: The Mortal Renegade
As soon as that battleship became visible within the black mists, Bai Xiaochun’s vision ended.
Having regaining lucidity, he found himself in front of the sovereign’s head, being shoved away by the immense pressure. This time, he fared much better than on the previous occasion. He had acquired an additional twenty percent of the qi flow, which was already entering his body.
Bai Xiaochi didn’t ask any questions, but his eyes shone brightly; he knew what was happening. Bai Xiaochun returned to the fan and rested for a few days, then headed back toward the sovereign’s head, his eyes shining with determination.
As his hand touched the skin, and he unleashed his Daoist magics, the blankness once again took over. By now, he was used to it, and simply let it happen.
Time passed, after which, he woke up. Or perhaps it was Zhou Chen who woke up.
This was his third vision of the sovereign’s memories. Much time had passed since the events of the second. Although Zhou Chen still looked middle-aged, he was now more dignified. He hovered in the starry sky, a beautiful woman at his side, who was none other than his Daoist partner, his Immortal Imperatrix!
Arrayed behind them was an army of millions upon millions of cultivators!
Facing them was a black cloud mass filled with devilish specters. Not an ounce of life force was present there, nor could any life force be detected on the black-robed man who stood in front of the clouds, who was none other than Zhou Fan.
His black robe itself seemed capable of consuming everything in its path; it even caused the light in the area to bend toward him.
The black hair which swirled around him did nothing to hide the icy coldness of his eyes as he stared at the leader of the army from the Immortal World, Zhou Chen, as well as… the woman at his side!
Mixed emotions could be seen in Zhou Fan’s eyes as he looked at her, but soon they vanished, and he focused his attention on Zhou Chen.
“Zhou Chen… or rather, I suppose I should call you… the Worldly Daoist!”
As Bai Xiaochun hovered there, he couldn’t prevent the rage and anger from rising up in his heart, as well as… the grief. He thought back to how, after his brother entered the valley of the black clouds, everything went back to normal. Zhou Chen eventually chose to rise to the Middle Three Heavens, and after several years, became a celestial!