When Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue saw Yan Jin, they were both shocked.
Yan Jin’s aura was cold, one that kept others from approaching him. Compared to when Meng Chuan left the mountain three years ago, Yan Jin’s aura was much colder. Even Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue found it somewhat uncomfortable.
“You came. Come on in,” said Yan Jin.
The two entered and entered a hall. The three of them sat down.
“Yan Jin, look at you. You look like an ice block,” said Meng Chuan with a smile. “Don’t go astray with your cultivation.”
Yan Jin looked at Meng Chuan without saying a word.
“Hahaha.” Meng Chuan immediately changed the topic after being stared at. “Right, Qiyue and I are already married. It happened about a year ago.”
“Congratulations.” Yan Jin looked at the two of them.
“It’s a pity you haven’t left the mountain.” Meng Chuan sighed.
“Quickly, have a child,” Yan Jin said.
Meng Chuan was taken aback, but Liu Qiyue smiled brightly and said, “I’ve discussed it with Ah Chuan. When we settle down in a safer environment, the two of us will have a child.”
“Teach your children well after you give birth,” said Yan Jin.
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach him well.” Meng Chuan reassured Yan Jin. I’ll teach him saber arts personally.” He then asked, “Yan Jin, why are you so terse now?”
Yan Jin ignored his question. He had already tried his best to say as much as he could.
“Yan Jin, after we have a child, why don’t you be our child’s godfather,” Liu Qiyue said with a smile.
“Alright.” Yan Jin nodded, his eyes turning gentler. He had recalled the past.
“How’s your cultivation?” asked Meng Chuan. Yan Jin was too obstinate in his cultivation. In reality, Yan Jin was very talented. Despite having an Essence Soul and high cultivation efficiency, Yan Jin was not slower than him before they came to Archean Mountain. In fact, Yan Jin was a few months younger than him.
“It will take months to a few years before I can leave the mountain,” said Yan Jin.
“Are you aware of what happened off the mountain in the past year?” asked Meng Chuan.
“I know.” Yan Jin nodded. “It’s a pity that I can’t go down the mountain to kill demons.” Since he had mastered a transcendent-grade Godfiend Body and a Black Metal Sutra, his Nine Mystical Caves test was naturally much harder.
...
Meng Chuan and Yan Jin chatted with each other. Although Yan Jin had become a man of few words, he tried his best to speak more. He hadn’t said as much in the past three years than what he said to the couple today.
After chatting for about two hours, Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue left.
Yan Jin sent them out the door.
As the couple departed amidst the snow, Yan Jin watched silently for a long time before returning to his cave abode.
That night, another person came to visit Yan Jin.
“Seventh Brother, Seventh Brother.” Xue Feng wanted to hug Yan Jin excitedly, but Yan Jin took a step back.
“What is it?”
“I kept having missions and was unable to return.” Xue Feng smiled as he looked at Yan Jin. “Only after so many Godfiends were sent back could I finally come back to visit you. Why have you become so silent? Your cultivation has made you turn cold. Back then, I told you not to cultivate the Icefire Seven Absolutes. The creator of this Black Metal Sutra was emotionless.”
“I’m doing good,” Yan Jin said.
“Alright then, there is quite a number in history that managed to cultivate the Icefire Seven Absolutes to a certain level of profundity. Furthermore, this Black Metal Sutra mentions that although one is to be emotionless, one needs to have extreme emotion...” Xue Feng said.
Yan Jin listened to his fifth brother’s chatter silently. Only his fifth brother treated him well when he was young.
“Fifth Brother, how have you been all these years?” Yan Jin finally asked.
“Same old? Killing demons and cultivating,” said Xue Feng with a smile. “What I’m most vexed about is the Essence Soul. I haven’t been able to condense an Essence Soul. If I can condense an Essence Soul, I will be conferred the title of marquis! Many powerful Regis Godfiends in history were conferred the title of marquis in their thirties. I’m already 37.”
Yan Jin stared at him. In terms of cultivation progress, Yan Jin was much slower than him.
Xue Feng smiled awkwardly and immediately said, “Right, I brought you some gifts.” With that said, he took out a gift from his bag.
Yan Jin watched silently from the side. He could sense Xue Feng’s care and concern for him. If Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue were friends that had fought in life-and-death battles together, then Xue Feng was the elder brother who cared and was concerned about him.
Yan Jin silently enjoyed this feeling. After mastering Icefire Seven Absolutes’ basic Iceheart, he nearly became emotionless. This made his yearning for emotion grow stronger.
...
The next day, Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue headed to Blood Red Cliff.
Over 10,000 Godfiend projections appeared beside Blood Red Cliff. Many Godfiends came, and everyone watched quietly.
“What?” Meng Chuan suddenly saw a certain projection and couldn’t help but be shocked. “Junior Brother Ning?”
“Junior Brother Ning Yibo died in battle?” Liu Qiyue was also shocked. The two of them had chatted with a lot of people yesterday at Dao Exchange Peak, but they didn’t hear news of him dying in battle.
They scanned the many projections carefully. Most disciples knew each other. Out of their batch of disciples, only Ning Yibo had died in battle.
Ning Yibo—the chivalrous young man—was amiable and well-liked among his cohort. To see his projection suddenly appear, Meng Chuan couldn’t believe it.
In the projection, Ning Yibo was dressed in a silver robe and carried a sword on his back. His smile was radiant, filled with confidence for the future.
“Junior Brother Ning.” Meng Chuan’s heart ached. He looked at the projections of his fellow disciples who had died in battle and felt even more grief. The number of Godfiends who died in battle seemed like a statistic, but when it happened to a fellow disciple who shared alcohol and music with him, the grief they felt was much stronger.
“Let’s go in and take a look,” Liu Qiyue said softly.
Meng Chuan nodded.
The couple entered Blood Red Cliff’s cave. Gems were embedded into the cave walls, and the gems’ faint glow illuminated the stone walls that were carved with names.
The two walked all the way to the end. They saw the latest names and the words “Ning Yibo.”
“Our Great Zhou Dynasty lost a total of 325 Godfiends during the Great Relocation. Among them, 51 were Archean Mountain inner sect disciples.” A Godfiend spoke in a low voice. “This is equivalent to the combined losses of the past two to three years.”
Meng Chuan sighed inwardly.
It was for the sake of the people that had lived in the small and medium-sized city passes. Across the world, the total casualties numbered nearly ten million. Over 800 Godfiends had died in battle. Over a hundred inner sect disciples from the three major sects had died in battle! How many disciples were recruited every year? The losses were indeed painful.
Someone even wondered—was it worth it?
However, the human race’s upper echelons were determined to carry out this plan.
“Too many Godfiends have been lost this year. If this continues for years, Archean Mountain won’t be able to take the loss.”
“It’s only this year. In the future, it will be much better. At the very least, the number of new Godfiends needs to be more than the Godfiends that die in battle. This will allow us to continue fighting the demons for a long time.” Disciples whispered to each other.
After mourning for a long period of time, Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue quietly left.
...
It was rare for a large number of Godfiends to return to Archean Mountain. They would immediately leave the mountain once they received their deployment orders. Meng Chuan and Liu Qiyue came back rather late, so they had yet to receive their orders.
Meng Chuan had plenty of credit. He first went to exchange for the treasures he needed and accepted the intent legacy of the Lightning Devastator Fiend Body’s second volume.
To accept an intent legacy, one had to condense an Essence Soul. Condensing an Essence Soul at the age of 32? Although it would be considered outstanding, it was no longer eye-catching. After all, many Godfiends had become Marquis Godfiends in their thirties.
Now, I’m at the peak of the Saber Soul realm. If I improve further, I’ll achieve Saber Dao. Receiving a complete legacy will give me a greater chance of breaking through to the Darkstar realm. Meng Chuan handed the Lightning Devastator Fiend Body book to Elder Yi.
“Meng Chuan, you’ve received more than five million credits now. What title do you want the Imperial Court to give you?” asked Elder Yi with a smile. When Meng Chuan took the initiative to show his Essence Soul, his attitude became even better. It meant that Meng Chuan had already met one of the major requirements for becoming a Marquis Godfiend. After all, the sword genius, Xue Feng, was only an Essence Soul short of becoming a Marquis Godfiend.
“Title?” Meng Chuan hesitated.
“Usually, unless you have a special request, most marquis and king conferments will be the same as your earl title,” said Elder Yi. “Of course, if you can become a Creation Supremacy, the Imperial Court won’t have the right to confer you a title.”
Meng Chuan nodded slightly. “I’ll use my hometown’s name—Eastcalm.”
His father had always wanted him to be the pride of his family and the pride of his hometown!
Eastcalm Prefecture was considered an ordinary prefecture in Wu State. In this generation, he was considered the strongest in Eastcalm Prefecture.
“Earl Eastcalm? Marquis Eastcalm?” Elder Yi nodded slightly. “That sounds good.”