Chapter 2841 - 90: Magnificent Name

If even the Shenxiao King has died, then the legend has long since been shattered. Does that mean this Shenxiao World still conceals an even greater peril?

Right now Yuan Mengji only wants to go home. Everything he sees feels strange and sinister; even that bronze great cauldron looks like the gaping maw of an evil beast, ready at any moment to devour his flesh and blood.

When all the demons were drawing close to the Heaven Demon Dharma Altar, gazing up at a legend of an age, he alone backed away, quietly retreating to the edge of the platform, with a boundless sea of clouds behind him.

Only then did he notice that She Guyu, who had always drifted beyond the range of his attention, was already standing here with his hands tucked in his sleeves, eyes unfocused, who knows what he was thinking.

So he shuffled a few steps further off in another direction.

Family affairs, state affairs, affairs of the world... what the hell do they have to do with me?

The rust-scarred bronze great cauldron stands upon the long-ruined Heaven Demon Dharma Altar.

The bricks and stones are broken, the offerings long gone hollow.

An ancient breath flows of itself through the currents of time.

Lu Qilang stroked it for a long while, then stopped and said, "I’m not sure this is really so, it’s just a feeling. This great cauldron gives me a sense that it shares the same root and source as this Shenxiao World."

He himself was saying he wasn’t certain, yet all the demons knew how powerful the Inspiration King’s inspiration was. So for a time, they all fell silent.

Yu Xin, known as "Little Yu Zhen," often tells listeners of a dream he had in childhood. In that dream, the Yu Zhen Ancestor watched him and invited him to soar together across the vault of heaven.

When he woke up, he already knew how to use his own Demon Mark, spreading his wings and covering a thousand li at a stroke.

It was precisely this dream, together with his Demon Mark that resembled Yu Zhen’s, that won him the fine reputation of "Little Yu Zhen," making the Yu Family of Touch Cloud place enormous hopes upon him.

Of course, this title is actually nothing rare. "Touch Cloud Little Yu Zhen," "Yunling Sickly Yu Zhen," "Longhuai Matches Yu Zhen"... the Monster Realm is full of them.

As for Yu Zhen, who went away never to return, the broad masses of the Demon clan generally hold an optimistic view.

They generally believe he surely succeeded in crossing the Chaos Sea, that he is out beyond the heavens continuing to write his own legend. They even firmly believe he has already set foot upon the Absolute Summit, becoming part of the Demon clan’s profound bedrock.

Back then, in the struggle for the Demon Emperor’s throne, he lost to Emperor Yuan Xi, but even Emperor Yuan Xi praised him fulsomely.

The Ancient Scripture records that Emperor Yuan Xi once said: "If I count the things I am proudest of in this life, there are but three. First, I have taught my children well, so that sons and daughters devote themselves to the affairs of the realm; second, in the crucial game I had the strength to win, and once bested Yu Zhen by a single hand; third, I can bear the heavy crown and have not failed the world. All else is not worth mentioning."

To Emperor Yuan Xi, the Wuling Blood Battle, which he led and which stands as the greatest victory of the Demon clan since the New World, was merely one incident included under "bearing the heavy crown."

But the one time he defeated Yu Zhen had to be singled out and spoken of on its own.

Yet did such a legend truly take its bow so early?

The enormous bronze cauldron cannot produce a voice. The stories buried beneath history cannot speak for themselves.

Only that single ember deep within the ashes, flickering fitfully, seems like the eyes of that legendary Demon clan figure, crossing untold years of time to gaze upon those who came after.

"I think I understand now why the Shenxiao World can be so great," Mage Yang Yu said in a deep, emotional voice. "The Shenxiao Ancestor is a truly selfless Heavenly Duke. Only by raising up the Heaven Demon Dharma Altar himself did he hold aloft this world’s Infinite Possibilities."

"And there is one more point," Zhu Lanruo said. "Only by this means could he truly let go of this world and grant to all participants the greatest measure of fairness he could possibly give."

"If this bronze cauldron really is the Yu Zhen Ancestor," Xiong Sansi asked the key question, "then at what time did he sit here in transformation and ascend the altar?"

"Yes!" Shujia Lan also reacted. "Back then the Yu Zhen Ancestor went far away to the Chaos Sea; that has reliable history as proof, clearly recorded in writing, beyond falsification. So how could he have returned to the Shenxiao World and built the Heaven Demon Dharma Altar here?"

Lu Qilang said, "He definitely went to the Chaos Sea; that is historical fact. In other words, he also came back from the Chaos Sea. Only an existence like the Yu Zhen Ancestor could come and go freely within the Chaos Sea."

"So then, at what point in time was it? And why did he come back?" Xiong Sansi asked.

The demons looked at one another, all at a loss.

At this moment it was still Zhu Lanruo who spoke: "I think I know when he returned."

Her familiarity with history had long since won the demons’ trust, so they all looked at her, waiting for her answer.

"You all should be familiar with the Wuling Blood Battle," Zhu Lanruo began with this line, then spoke in earnest. "After the Wuling Blood Battle, the situation was entirely in our favor. We launched a massive counteroffensive. For a full ten years, not a day went by without battle, not a day without progress. We destroyed every great city of the Human Race save for Sui Ming... and nearly broke through The gate of all demons, to slaughter our way into the present world!

Yet at the critical moment, while personally inspecting food and fodder, Emperor Yuan Xi was stabbed by Master Daoist Yizhen of the Human Race’s One Truth Path, gravely wounded and on the brink of death, forced to return to the Ancient Imperial City to recuperate. Only then did the Human Race receive a respite, allowing them to rebuild their defenses."

Shujia Lan was born with a vicious look; even when speaking properly he seemed to be brawling with someone. "All this I know. What does it have to do with the Yu Zhen Ancestor?"

Lu Qilang, however, seemed deep in thought.

Zhu Lanruo said, "There is no need to dwell on how terrifying Master Daoist Yizhen was. Emperor Yuan Xi was an existence upon the Absolute Summit, one of the strongest among our Demon clan, and yet he was still successfully assassinated... and assassinated within the rear camps of our Demon clan army!

How Master Daoist Yizhen infiltrated the logistics encampment has always been a historical riddle.

Burdened with military affairs and worn by successive great battles, Emperor Yuan Xi was forced, on short notice, to face yet another challenger from upon the Absolute Summit.