That Eerie Smile

The uneventful days passed one by one, and the Dou Qi Continent became slightly quieter.

But the calm before the storm is always so peaceful.

On this day, Xiao Yan suddenly arrived in Lingxiao City. His purpose was obvious: he was there to find Ye Qianqian.

Ye Qianqian was both troubled and regretful. She shouldn't have fooled Xiao Yan and deceived his feelings. Now she had gotten herself into such a mess. What was she going to do?

"Arale, shall we go for a walk?" Xiao Yan said to Ye Qianqian with a smile.

The two strolled leisurely above the clouds, sometimes roaming the four seas, sometimes traversing the nine provinces, exploring all the fun places on the Dou Qi Continent, and tasting all the delicious food. Before they knew it, six or seven days had passed.

Sitting atop a high mountain, Xiao Yan gazed at the beautiful sunset, a hint of reluctance in his expression, and said, "The sunset is infinitely beautiful, but it's only a fleeting moment!"

Ye Qianqian, "There's no need for you to be reluctant. Today's sunset has passed, but tomorrow's sunset will still come."

She didn't understand why Xiao Yan had become so wistful.

"This sunset belongs to today, but tomorrow's sunset will be different," Xiao Yan said with a faint, somewhat melancholic smile. "You're from Earth, aren't you?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Qianqian's heart tightened suddenly. Why would Xiao Yan suddenly ask such a question?

"Xiao Yan, what are you saying? I don't understand."

Xiao Yan felt a pang of sadness at Xiao Yan's feigned ignorance.

Xiao Yan said, "Since I advanced to the Dou Di, I've discovered that my memories from my past life have gradually returned. I've realized that Dragon Ball, Digimon, and the extraterrestrial powerhouse Enel are all things from anime in my past life, including your name, Arale."

Ye Qianqian's mind went blank for a moment; Xiao Yan had actually regained his memories.

"At that moment, I suddenly felt like I'd been fooled by someone, and I started to have doubts," Xiao Yan looked at Ye Qianqian and said, "Do you really like me, or are you deliberately deceiving me for some purpose?"

Ye Qianqian remained silent for a moment before slowly saying, "The world is vast and full of wonders. It's normal that so many strange and unusual things have appeared, isn't it?"

"Ye Qianqian, how long are you going to keep lying to me?" Xiao Yan stood up and shouted, "I don't care what you say or how you try to explain yourself. I just want to know one thing: were the feelings you had for me back in the Jia Nan Academy real or fake?"

Xiao Yan and his friends are very stubborn. Even though they know they have been deceived, they still want to verify it because they don't want their hearts to be entangled by this relationship.

He either has it or he doesn't; all he wants to hear now is a single truth from Ye Qianqian.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment. The two remained silent for a long time. A gentle breeze blew across the wild grass on the mountaintop, and the afterglow of the setting sun gradually disappeared, replaced by darkness, until the two could no longer see each other's faces.

"No"

Two cold, detached words echoed from the dark night sky.

Xiao Yan laughed heartily, but under the cover of darkness, tears welled up in his eyes.

He knew it would be like this; it's laughable that he foolishly asked such an unnecessary question.

"You seem to know me very well, and you know a lot about the entire Dou Qi Continent. I'm very curious, what would my fate have been like if you hadn't come into my life?"

Ye Qianqian said, "You are the protagonist of the Dou Qi Continent, a powerful figure who uses cheat codes and spends a lot of money, the son-in-law of the Ancient Clan, the future Dou Di, the king of the Endless Fire Domain in the Great Thousand World, Xiao Yi Xian and Yun Yun are all your confidantes, and you, by marrying Medusa and Gu Xun Er, have achieved unparalleled glory."

"To achieve unparalleled glory, you still managed to manipulate me completely!" Xiao Yan roared, then uttered his farewell words, saying, "Now that my doubts have been resolved, I should depart. From this day forward, there will be no further contact between us, Your Majesty Misty Cloud Great Emperor."

Xiao Yan left just like that, leaving Ye Qianqian alone on the mountaintop.

Since coming into this world, she has deceived and fooled many people, but today she finally understands that the only thing she can never deceive is her feelings.

Although she never truly loved Xiao Yan and was always using him, why did her heart suddenly ache so much?

Just then, a jade slip in her Storage Ring suddenly shattered into powder, causing her pupils to shrink. "Something's happened in Lingxiao City!"

Dozens of massive warships appeared in the sky above Lingxiao City, their immense size blotting out the sun. They descended from the vast night sky onto the Dou Qi Continent, radiating overwhelming divine might and intimidating countless living beings.

Yun Shan and the others had never seen such a scene before, and they were all somewhat at a loss.

"When will our ancestor return? Something terrible has happened here!"

Watching the massive starship plummet downwards sent chills down everyone's spines.

"According to the detector, the descendant of the Xuanyuan Clan is here." On the starship, a man in blood-red clothes had a blood-red glint in his eyes as he put a compass into his body.

"Lord Blood Sacrifice, we have completed the teleportation array. Shall we find those remnants of the Xuanyuan clan now and eliminate them completely?" A soldier at the Dou Emperor Realm stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

The man in blood-stained clothes shook his head. No rush. It would be too boring to come to this low-level plane and only complete the task of eliminating the remnants of the Xuanyuan clan. The creatures on this Dou Qi Continent look quite interesting. Their blood essence can provide us with a good meal.

"What does Your Excellency mean?"

"Activate the Blood Transformation Array on all warships, and extract all the blood essence from the inhabitants of the building below."

At a command, dozens of warships unleashed endless crimson light, enveloping the entire sky above Lingxiao City. An evil force began to tyrannically drain the blood from the city's inhabitants.

In an instant, some people of lower cultivation levels had large amounts of blood drawn out by that crimson power, their bodies turning into dried corpses—a truly cruel sight.

This incident also attracted the attention of other Ancient Families. Some family forces stationed near Lingxiao City picked up Den Den Mushi) and began to contact their headquarters.

"Something's happened in Lingxiao City! I have to go and see what's going on!" Upon hearing this news, Xiao Xuan from the Soul Clan suddenly sat up in bed.

On his bed lay two beautiful women, Hun Tiandi and Gu Yuan. The three of them had been drinking together last night, and Hun Tiandi and Gu Yuan had even had a drinking contest. Xiao Xuan could only obediently join them and drink as well. In the end, they all got drunk and shamelessly started sleeping together under the same quilt. Xiao Xuan quickly put on his underwear and then pushed Hun Tiandi and Gu Yuan on the bed with both hands, urging them to put their clothes on as well.

Gu Yuan pouted, put on his underwear, and then started plotting again, saying, "If something happens in Lingxiao City, Misty Cloud Great Emperor will handle it. Those extraterrestrial experts are terrifyingly powerful; there's no use in us going. We'll only get ourselves into trouble, and it won't be worth it."

The Hun Tiandi rubbed his throbbing head, weighed the pros and cons, and silently agreed with Gu Yuan's point of view.

Xiao Xuan shook his head. "You should understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold.' Although Emperor Misty Cloud Great Emperor is powerful, those extraterrestrial experts are also mysterious and unpredictable. Therefore, we must send our strongest forces to Lingxiao City. If Misty Cloud Great Emperor is defeated, we will not escape our fate. If an ant bites you, do you choose to find the ant or to stomp on the entire anthill?"

Adhering to the principle that "when the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken," the major families immediately gathered their strongest members and headed towards the Black Corner Region.

"Activate the city's defensive formations immediately!"

Medusa gave a sharp cry, waking everyone from their fear.

The 108 array pillars within Lingxiao City suddenly activated, forming a transparent spatial barrier that blocked the evil light.

"Um?"

On the warship, Blood Sacrifice Ji frowned. He hadn't expected that there would be a defensive formation on this Heavenly City. However, while this formation could block the attacks of Dou Di, it was utterly insignificant against their starship.

"Activate the starship's energy cannons and blast this barrier apart!"

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble!"

The energy cannons on three warships roared and slammed into the defensive barrier with earth-shattering force, causing the entire city to shake violently.

The power of those starship cannons was so great that each time a shot was fired, the barrier above the city would weaken.

Seeing that this was not a solution, Medusa immediately ordered her men to activate the power array of Lingxiao City and begin to fly away into the distance.

"Trying to run?"

Blood Sacrifice smirked slightly, drew his long sword, and commanded his subordinates to give chase on the flying city.

Dozens of warships relentlessly pursued the flying Lingxiao City in the sky, continuously firing their cannons. Soon, the defensive barrier of Lingxiao City was shattered with a crack.

The powerful figures on one of the warships frantically jumped off the deck and flew towards Lingxiao City. This single warship alone had one Dou Di, ten Dou Sheng, and a hundred Dou Zun. Meanwhile, the extraterrestrial powerhouses on the other warships were also continuously landing in the city.

"To meet the challenge"

Seeing that this battle was unavoidable, Medusa gritted her teeth and commanded the city's strongest warriors to fight against it.

The moment the two sides made contact, a fierce battle ensued, with people frequently groaning in pain from serious injuries.

The situation became tense. These extraterrestrial enemies were countless, forming an impenetrable encirclement, gradually pulling in a net-like approach to encircle everyone in Lingxiao City.

Just then, a large number of powerful figures suddenly flew in from the distant horizon. These people were from the forces of Ancient Families.

After consolidating their forces, they rushed here. With this support, the pressure on the people in Lingxiao City was instantly reduced.

"How could there be so many Dou Di and Dou Sheng on the Dou Qi Continent?" Blood Sacrifice's eyes flashed with astonishment. It was truly unbelievable that a mere low-level earth dog plane could possess such formidable strength.

The other Blood Spirit Clan were also somewhat flustered, unsure of what to do.

Xiao Xuan devised a battle plan, saying, "The people of Lingxiao City are surrounded by these extraterrestrials. We'll surround them in turn. As long as Medusa and the others hold out, we can launch a pincer attack and annihilate these extraterrestrials."

The situation began to reverse; the extraterrestrial powerhouses who were originally the hunters had now become the prey.

"That guy, isn't he the leader of these people?" Xiao Yi Xian and Yun Yun saw the Blood Sacrifice on the warship constantly directing his subordinates and had an idea to quickly end the battle. As long as they captured this person, these extraterrestrial powerhouses would be leaderless, and the battle would end.

To catch the thief, first catch the king; the two of them rushed towards the Blood Sacrifice without prior arrangement, intending to capture him.

"Snort"

Blood Sacrifice sneered, completely disregarding Yun Yun and the other two. With a wave of his long sword, the entire world changed color, and a vast crimson power erupted, causing the blood within everyone to surge wildly. Instantly, many people's bodies exploded into a rain of blood. Yun Yun and Xiao Yi Xian were also deeply affected, their bodies flying backward and spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

"He is the Immortal Emperor"

Medusa exclaimed in surprise. This man's realm was actually above that of Dou Di, and he was a hundred times more terrifying than Leng Bingyan and An Mingzi.

The Ancient Families's legion formation was easily shattered by the Blood Sacrifice, and their previous advantage of counter-encirclement was completely lost.

The two groups stood in the sky, forming opposing sides. However, the powerful figures on the Dou Qi Continent were now completely lacking in confidence, because among these powerful figures from beyond the heavens was an Immortal Emperor.

"Excellent, truly excellent! So many people have gathered here. This time, I will absorb all the essence of your blood."

Blood Sacrifice's eyes were filled with greed and fanaticism; the blood of so many powerful individuals was enough for him to have a delicious feast.

Xiao Xuan said, "What brings you to the Dou Qi Continent? It seems a bit unreasonable to want to devastate the beings of this plane without any reason. Although your strength is far superior to ours, you will not gain anything if we fight to the death."

Awakened from his madness by Xiao Xuan's words, Blood Sacrifice pondered for a moment before saying, "I am here on the orders of my lord to exterminate the remnants of the Xuanyuan Dou Qi Continent. I advise you to obediently hand over the person, otherwise, the power of the Blood Spirit God Clan is beyond your ability to withstand."

Everyone was puzzled. Who exactly were these remnants of the Xuanyuan clan that the other party mentioned, that they could attract the attention of powerful beings from beyond the heavens?

The Blood Sacrifice summoned a detection compass, a special tool used specifically for detecting bloodlines.

The compass needle began to spin, then suddenly emitted a beam of blood-red light that shone directly on Mo Youyou and her mother in the distance.

Blood Sacrifice said with satisfaction, "These two are descendants of the Xuanyuan remnants who escaped from Ziwei Star. My orders were to exterminate them, so this matter has nothing to do with you. As long as you hand them over, we will leave this place immediately."

The idea of Blood Sacrifice caused some unease among the people of the Dou Qi Continent. If they could just hand over the mother and daughter, this battle could be avoided.

For a moment, everyone had their own thoughts. It seemed a bit unworthy to fight to the death with those powerful beings from beyond the heavens for the sake of these two people!

Mo Youyou strode forward without a trace of fear, and said, "If you want to kill, kill me. Don't kill my mother, and don't harm the people of the Dou Qi Continent."

"No!" Qing Lin hurriedly pulled Mo Youyou back and shouted at the Blood Sacrifice, "Youyou is our family! If you want to kill her, then step over my dead body!"

The residents of Lingxiao City were also filled with righteous indignation; they could not bear to sacrifice others to save their own lives.

"Are you all idiots? Everyone knows how strong these extraterrestrials are, so why are you throwing your lives away for nothing!" Mo Youyou burst into tears.

But the people Lingxiao City still tightly protected Mo Youyou behind them, without any fear.

"Then you all shall die now!"

Blood Sacrifice had long lost patience, and with a sudden slash, he swung his longsword.

"Slaying Heaven and Earth with a Blade"

With the Blood Sacrifice's furious roar, the energy between heaven and earth instantly surged violently, the space was compressed and distorted beyond recognition, and the blade's light descended from the sky with a destructive and overwhelming force, attacking the people in Lingxiao City.

Medusa and the others were terrified and hurriedly used all their strength to resist the impact of this force.

"Rumble, rumble..."

The sky trembled violently as the energy released by the crowd and the Blood Sacrifice shattered everything around them.

In an instant, the world changed color, the seven realms wailed, and the thousands of residual storms that rose up all around were enough to destroy a Dou Zun expert.

However, after the energy dissipated, the Blood Sacrifice technique did not kill anyone, because a woman suddenly appeared in front of everyone. This person was Ye Qianqian, who had rushed over.

"Great! Our ancestor is back! We're saved!"

Cheers erupted Lingxiao City.

Seeing Ye Qianqian's retreating figure, Mo Youyou clutched her heart with both hands, her eyes filled with tears, but a strange smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. This smile was so fleeting that no one noticed it at all.