Half a minute later, the world-sweeping malevolent energy slowly dissipated, and the screams gradually died down.
Yan Shouyi held the Zhenguo Sword in his hands, carefully feeling the power emanating from it, and could not help but sigh:
"This is not the true Zhenguo Sword."
Long Feicheng was greatly alarmed: "What do you mean? We were tricked by Jiang Wuya!"
"This is the Zhenguo Sword," Yan Shouyi quickly explained.
"Brother Yan, am I hallucinating from the intense battle just now?" Long Feicheng circled Yan Shouyi a few times and said, "I don't understand what you're saying anymore."
Yan Shouyi grinned and sighed:
"The Zhenguo Sword I imagined would be a king's sword that deters the court, the battlefield, and the world. But this Zhenguo Sword is an embodiment of evil, pain, and slaughter. It is completely different from my imagination."
Long Feicheng finally understood Yan Shouyi's meaning.
He recalled some memories from Xie Qingcang's past life and comforted Yan Shouyi: "The sword is in your hands. Whether it is good or evil in the end depends entirely on your decision."
"Oh?" Yan Shouyi was stunned. "If I can hear you say this in my lifetime, I have no regrets even if I die."
Long Feicheng's old face blushed: "Back then, Xie Qingcang seemed to have comforted General Qing Jiang this way."
Yan Shouyi nodded. General Qing Jiang had killed many people with the Zhenguo Sword, but his deepest desire was for peace. Even though he eventually became a notorious god of slaughter.
The Zhenguo Sword only recognized General Qing Jiang, but Yan Shouyi was the reincarnation of General Qing Jiang, which was why he could wield it with ease.
He put the Zhenguo Sword into his satchel and looked back towards the divine tree.
The black malevolent energy blotted out the sky and was rapidly spreading towards them. Yan Shouyi quickly said, "This place is not suitable for staying. Let's leave Daqing Mountain first."
Sanyuan landed on the ground, its wide wings allowing Yan Shouyi to ride it with ease.
Yan Shouyi looked back at Yan Chou and Jiang Qingxue: "Mom, Dad, you come up too."
The two exchanged glances and smiled: "No need, we have our own mounts."
"Hmm?"
As they whistled, two wooden immortal cranes emerged from the forest. Although their size was slightly smaller than Sanyuan, they were much more agile.
The two immortal cranes landed beside Yan Chou and Jiang Qingxue, lowering their heads faithfully to allow them to mount.
Yan Shouyi almost forgot that his parents were also descendants of Lu Ban, and they were very familiar with the Wooden Puppet Transformation technique. It was not surprising that they had their own mounts.
Yan Chou, carrying the unconscious Tong Jingcheng, flew out of Daqing Mountain with the others and headed towards the camp.
Looking back from high above, Yan Shouyi saw the divine tree spewing forth death energy like a volcano.
Wherever the death energy went, it became a forbidden zone for life.
"The death energy is absorbing life force and feeding it back to the divine tree," Yan Shouyi said with a frown.
Jiang Qingxue sighed: "Jiang Wuya prepared for a thousand years, and the divine tree is his greatest trump card. If we don't deal with the divine tree, even if Jiang Wuya is sealed for another thousand years, it will be useless."
Yan Shouyi nodded slightly. He realized that after sealing Jiang Wuya, his troubles had not decreased but rather increased.
First, the biggest hidden danger was the divine tree. If left unchecked, it would soon devour all of Xichuan, and then all the people of Xichuan would die.
But so far, everyone knew nothing about the divine tree. They didn't know what kind of thing it was, nor what it would eventually turn into.
Yan Shouyi decided to send people to investigate the divine tree immediately after returning, even if it meant sifting through all the ancient books to understand its origin.
The immediate priority, however, was to quickly relocate the people of Xichuan.
This was what troubled Yan Shouyi the most.
The Xuanmen, as it had developed, had suffered several heavy blows throughout history and was no longer what it used to be.
And most of the current populace were atheists who only believed in science.
Fortunately, the members of the Xuanmen were also very taciturn and rarely displayed their abilities in front of ordinary people, quietly protecting them from the shadows.
The appearance of the divine tree would force the long-hidden Xuanmen world into the sight of ordinary people. This would bring a huge impact to contemporary society, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it would change the current world order.
With Yu Lumen's life and death uncertain, the heavy responsibility of leading the Xuanmen fell on Yan Shouyi's shoulders. He had to think carefully about how to face the coming flood.
...
Outside Daqing Mountain, in the camp.
The people who escaped from Daqing Mountain had pale faces, their emotions difficult to calm after their brush with death.
Wang Jiwang was leading people in taking a headcount, and the result made his face grim.
Although they had rescued most of the Xuanmen seniors and experts on their second trip into the mountain, and brought back Yu Lumen, they had also lost a lot of their younger strength.
What pained Wang Jiwang the most was that the Yan family of Kunlun Mountain had stayed behind to cover everyone's retreat and had all perished, not a single one returning alive.
The Yan family, which was once considered a second-rate sect, was now left with only the elderly, children, and women, not even a single man who could stand up and take charge.
It could be said that the Yan family's lineage was likely to end in this generation.
Listening to everyone's reports, Wang Jiwang sighed deeply.
"I don't know how Old Yan is doing. If he doesn't return either, this world is finished."
Just as Wang Jiwang was worrying incessantly, bird songs suddenly echoed from the sky.
Immediately after, Yan Shouyi, along with Yan Chou and Jiang Qingxue, suddenly landed in the camp.
Everyone was startled at first, but upon seeing that it was Yan Shouyi, they all showed expressions of joy.
"President Yan, President Yan is back!"
"Thank goodness, President Yan has returned alive, there is still hope for everything!"
"I wonder if the plan was successful? Has Jiang Wuya been sealed?"
Everyone gathered around, bombarding Yan Shouyi with questions about the battle.
Yan Shouyi did not feel much joy, as for him, this was not yet a victory, and with the heavy losses of the Xuanmen, he could not be happy.
However, to boost morale, he forced a smile and shouted, "Jiang Wuya has been sealed by me!"
Wonderful!!
The crowd erupted in cheers instantly, with some even weeping tears of joy.
They knew that this was not the final victory, but the repeated failures before had made them despair of Jiang Wuya's power.
And this was the first time they had gained the upper hand, which meant they saw a glimmer of hope.
How could they not be happy?!
At this moment, everyone was united, more united than ever before!
Yan Shouyi took the opportunity to say, "But it's not over yet! The divine tree is spewing out large amounts of death energy and will soon devour all of Xichuan! We must quickly devise a plan, otherwise Xichuan will suffer greatly!"