The Tragedy of a Hundred Years Ago

"Thank you for your help earlier! Hong Marquis very strange; only lightning can restrain him, while my Bright Pure Fire is countered by him."

Wearing a white mask, Nangong stared at the four Battle Corpse Puppet standing beside Li Weiyi, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Li Weiyi was still immersed in the mysterious movement and extraordinary staff techniques she had just used. In just a few dozen moves, she had actually killed Imperial Pattern Bone Marquis. Moreover, Imperial Pattern Bone Marquis had no way to escape.

Beside him, Liu Ye coughed lightly.

Li Weiyi snapped out of her daze, "Let's get out of here first."

Far from the battlefield and having shaken off their pursuers, the three stopped on the Beside the Great River.

Li Weiyi asked Nangong about Tang Wanzhou and the Chang Yujian.

"We broke through separately, but a large number of powerful figures chased after Sheng Si, so her chances of survival are slim. Chang Yujian should have an easier time escaping; he carries a deadly move, and there aren't many pursuers."

Standing on the riverbank, Nangong's radiance was restrained, and the mask on her face was removed, revealing a stunningly beautiful face rarely seen in the world.

Her temperament was neither as dashing as Tang Wanzhou nor as aloof as Qing Ziqin, but rather one of gentle and graceful beauty.

But at this moment, neither Li Weiyi nor Liu Ye were in the mood to appreciate it.

After inquiring about the direction Tang Wanzhou had fled, Li Weiyi prepared to leave. "Xiaowei's martial arts cultivation is unparalleled, I'm entrusting Liu Ye to you!"

Li Weiyi had no intention of kidnapping Nangong to go with him to find Tang Wanzhou, even though the other party had a high level of cultivation.

"Foolish!"

Nangong said, "How could you, Li Weiyi, such a wise person, make such a foolish decision? If Shengsi has already escaped, you won't be able to catch up now, and you might even run into the retreating enemy. If Shengsi hasn't escaped, he must have already died in battle. Going there now would be just as dangerous."

"Your four Battle Corpse Puppet are indeed very strong. But how much magical energy remains in their Longevity Golden Pill cores?"

"You've only just entered the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin, and you're already going to use up this life-saving trump card?"

"Chu Yutian took the Yin Yang Gong, a magical artifact with Myriad-character Artifact, from Imperial Pattern Bone Marquis. Bai Chuan's eight array flags will likely be unable to defend against it. Once he kills Bai Chuan and is free to deal with him, if you run into him, will you have a chance to escape?"

Nangong You sighed, her heart heavy with complex emotions. "I was wrong!"

Li Weiyi and Liu Ye gave each other strange looks, puzzled.

"I shouldn't have agreed to Bai Chuan's plan to join forces to kill Chu Yutian. If I had stood firmly with Sheng Si, the outcome might have been very different." Nangong was filled with guilt and self-reproach.

Li Weiyi asked, "Is it related to the secrets of the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin?"

Whether outside the Fanye Valley or just now, Li Weiyi decisively offered his assistance twice.

Outside the Fanye Valley, it was to help all the Lesser Yang Guard escape.

I was completely helping her just now.

Both times he took action, he did so with considerable risk. In Li Weiyi, Nangong truly felt the camaraderie of brothers who would advance and retreat together, and his inner defenses were lowered.

She nodded gently. "Do you remember the footprint you found when we first entered the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin? My intention to kill Chu Yutian and destroy the Taiyin Sect and the Wraiths was to cover up the secret behind that footprint. There's more I can't tell you!"

Li Weiyi had a guess in her heart, but she didn't ask further. Everyone has their own secrets.

He then bid farewell to the two of them.

"Are you still going?"

Nangong looked at him with an incomprehensible expression.

Li Weiyi said, "Tang Wanzhou and I are comrades-in-arms who have gone through many hardships together. With this kind of friendship, let alone a dangerous journey of thousands or tens of thousands of miles, even if it's a hundred thousand or a million miles, I will definitely go."

Liu Ye's eyes shone with admiration, delighted that she hadn't misjudged him, but she remained silent, all her agreement and emotion expressed in silence.

"By the way! Deputy Commander went to the Tiandu River Nether Domain. She said she only believes the Whistle Secret Message." Li Weiyi told her this, naturally hoping that Nangong would go to pick her up.

Nangong frowned slightly. "Li Weiyi, shall we talk alone?"

Li Weiyi glanced at the Liu Ye beside her, puzzled.

"I'll go keep watch."

The Liu Ye fluttered away into the distance.

Nangong released his magical energy, enveloping the two of them, and said solemnly, "I must apologize to you again."

Li Weiyi said, "Is it because you used me and Qing Ziqin to leave the valley to test whether the enemy had arrived?"

Nangong was surprised that Li Weiyi was so perceptive. "If you knew this, why did you help me before?"

"First of all, I left the valley long ago and have nothing to do with you. Secondly, if I was really used and schemed against by you, then it's my own fault for being foolish. Thirdly, you are at least not a spy for the Taiyin Sect," Li Weiyi said.

Nangong said, "Consider it an obligation I owe you two favors, which I will definitely repay in the future."

Li Weiyi didn't take her promise too seriously and asked, "I can understand scheming against me, after all, we had no prior relationship. But why would you scheme against Qing Ziqin? She trusted you so much."

After much deliberation, Nangong sighed repeatedly and whispered, "I can't explain it! I was very conflicted when making that decision. I tried to convince myself that I was helping her, and that leaving Fanye Valley meant staying away from danger."

But there's another voice inside me.

"What was that sound?" Li Weiyi asked when she remained silent for a long time.

Nangong said, "I have suspicions about her and want to test her with this."

Li Weiyi was extremely surprised, never expecting Nangong to give such a reason.

Nangong's eyes were full of distress. "I must tell you in advance that I don't have any definite reason, but I'm definitely not making excuses for my despicable methods."

"You and she have been spending a lot of time together lately, so you should know something about her background, right?"

"I guess so!" Li Weiyi said.

Nangong said, "Logically speaking, as Immortal Mist Sect Orphan, she should bear the shadow of that mysterious curse. But I am a sorcerer, and I did not see the shadow of the curse on her."

"I wanted to help her break the curse, so I specifically asked a senior member of my clan who held a very high position in the Sentinel Spirit Army about the massacre of the Immortal Mist Sect a hundred years ago."

"I never expected to learn such a terrifying truth."

Li Weiyi said, "Legend has it that the Sentinel Spirit Army was in charge of investigating that curse, but the truth has never been revealed. Only the Deputy Sentinel Lord and the Sentinel Master know what happened."

"If it really is just a simple curse, why not make it public?"

Nangong continued, "The Immortal Mist Sect Master is also the sentry chief of the Dongxu Camp, and the Immortal Mist Sect is a glorious and prosperous sect. Such a horrific and tragic murder case, after the truth is uncovered, should be made public; that is the most reasonable course of action."

Li Weiyi narrowed his eyes, his expression shifting, and asked, "Is there another hidden story?"

"Every history that is glossed over has a truth that cannot be told to the world. The entire Immortal Mist Sect was actually slaughtered by the Sentinel Spirit Army and the Demon Kingdom's Imperial Guard in one night, leaving no one alive. Afterwards, they were all dried into mummies in the Heavenly Fire World to create the illusion of a curse. The destruction of the Sentinel Spirit Sect must give the world a satisfactory answer, otherwise who will join the Sentinel Spirit Army in the future? Those mummies in the back mountain of Yan Jue Mountain are the answer to the world."

Nangong spoke in a low, somber tone, as if he were telling an extremely terrifying story.

A cold wind was blowing along the riverbank.

Li Weiyi felt a chill run down her spine and her scalp tingle; she couldn't accept it. "Why? Why did you do this?"

Nangong said, "According to an elder of my clan, it was the Immortal Mist Sect Master who cultivated an ancient and forbidden curse technique and raised a large number of cursed monsters called Taixu Worm in Yan Jue Mountain."

"As a result, the Immortal Mist Sect Master went astray in his cultivation and was controlled by the cursed monster, turning into a monster himself."

"What's even more terrifying is that all the Taixu Worm raised on Yan Jue Mountain have escaped and entered the bodies of many disciples of the Immortal Mist Sect."

"In order not to alert the Taixu Worm and prevent them from spreading throughout the Chi Ming Realm and then to other surrounding habitats, the Sentinel Spirit Army and the Demon Kingdom's Imperial Guard had no choice but to resort to this indiscriminate method, wielding Heavenly Fire Talismans, and launching an operation overnight to directly incinerate souls and annihilate them all."

"Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

Li Weiyi said in a deep voice, "Is there really no other way but to spend more time verifying them?"

Nangong said, "An elder of my clan said that they were racing against time at the time, as the Taixu Worm reproduced extremely quickly. Not only the Immortal Mist Sect, but also the entire Chi Ming Realm lost at least tens of millions of lives in the following three years due to the missed Taixu Worm."

"A shocking bloody case that has been covered up; all those involved are hiding it, and no one wants to, or dares to, reopen the wounds of a century ago."

"Countless people must have been wrongly killed, and much of the killing could have been avoided, but no one will admit they were wrong, and no one dares to recall it. At most, they will be awakened by nightmares at midnight, tears streaming down their faces."

Li Weiyi said bitterly, "Are you worried that Qing Ziqin will be turned by the Taiyin Sect after learning the truth? What happened to her father? Why was he able to survive, and why did he later... turn into a dried corpse?"

Nangong said, "It is said that everything is related to her mother. Only those involved know the specifics of what happened. I only know that her mother is a sentinel spirit of Dongxu Camp and is still alive."

What else did you discover?

Knowing all this, Li Weiyi would only feel more sympathy for Qing Ziqin and would never doubt her.

Nangong said, "Firstly, don't you think she's too indifferent? She can directly control the thirteen corpses of the Qing Family. What junior would be so disrespectful?"

"You should have been to Qingyi Garden, where she lived alone. When I went there, I saw her arranging thirteen mummies behind the memorial tablets, and I felt a chill run down my spine."

"Can you imagine her living alone in the garden? I feel like she's in a state where she already knows the truth."

"Secondly, why did Tu Miangou disappear just before we set off? There's a very high possibility that a second spy tipped him off."

"Third, have you noticed that no matter how dangerous the situation, she remains very calm and can handle it with great composure? Could you be so calm in the face of danger? A person can only face danger calmly if they are very strong and don't perceive it as danger."

"Furthermore, no one has ever seen the Envoy Luoyinji before, not even today. Chu Yutian and the other Taiyin Envoy have all appeared, so why is she an exception? She must have entered the Ancient Kingdom of the Years Ruin."

Li Weiyi recalled her encounter with Qing Ziqin and gently shook her head, "Impossible... She doesn't seem like a person with deep cunning!"

"I've always believed that a spy can only remain hidden because she's the least likely to be suspected."

Nangong then added, "Of course, it's all just my intuition. I can't produce any evidence, and I even feel guilty for making malicious assumptions. I won't go to the Tiandu River Nether Domain. You should also be careful; there's no need to put yourself in a precarious situation."

"I dare not contact Zhao Tang and Xu Daoqing right now, I'll avoid them if I can. That's all. If you find Saint Si, come to Chun City to find me, use the Whistle Secret Message, I only recognize the two of you."