The group followed Shangguan Shuyi to the flat ground at the entrance of the Ox-Horse Factory mine.
"Now, please welcome Lord Phoenix Emperor!"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a pure white Hellfire suddenly ignited in the sky!
Phoenix Emperor, dressed in an extremely luxurious floor-length gown and crystal high heels, descended from the sky.
Her appearance caused everyone to hold their breath, looking up in awe at the ruler of Soul Return Town.
Phoenix Emperor didn't even glance at the other three candidates.
Her gaze remained fixed on that man the entire time.
She walked step by step towards Jiangnan.
No doubt about it.
Phoenix Emperor raised her chin, stopped in front of Jiangnan, her gaze as calm as water, and her red lips parted slightly.
I choose him.
Just three words, amplified by the Heaven-Peering Mirror, instantly ignited the entire Soul Return Town!
"Roar!!"
"We won! He truly is the Big Boss from Jiangnan!!"
The townspeople erupted in thunderous cheers.
This was entirely expected, given the terrifying power of that overwhelming force!
Besides him, who else is worthy of the supreme Phoenix Emperor?
In the corner.
Qin Jiudao, the Heavenblade Dragon King, had red eyes.
He placed his fist on his left chest.
"Dragon God... you can finally reunite with Phoenix Emperor."
He prayed silently in his heart, tears welling in his eyes, "Your subordinate wishes you happiness."
On the other side, Aeria tossed her blonde hair, licked her red lips, and exclaimed in regret.
"Sigh, such a wild and charming young man from the East, and he's already taken."
"It's alright, as soon as Jamie and the others steal the [Mortal Fireworks Painting] and [Mountains and Rivers Brush] from Central Forest Garden, we'll make a run for it."
Zhao Yan breathed a long sigh of relief, a genuine smile of happiness spreading across his face.
"Very good!"
"Jiangnan is Huaxia Person, how could she possibly marry Demigod of Phoenix Emperor's caliber!"
"Those two treasures will surely fall into Jiangnan's hands as part of her dowry! China is destined for prosperity!"
He shouted excitedly in his heart.
Meanwhile, Shangguan Shuyi, standing backstage, was so nervous that she was sweating profusely.
She frantically wiped her forehead with a silk handkerchief, her heart pounding with panic.
"It's over! Lady Phoenix Emperor has finally gotten what she wanted!"
"Thank God, please don't let Phoenix Emperor find out that I was with Dragon God in the hotel..."
"Ugh, there was that indescribable vigorous activity, otherwise I would have been burned to ashes!"
Beside her, Liu Ruyan stood with her arms crossed, coldly watching the scene unfold.
"Pah! You scumbag!"
Center of the field.
Amidst deafening cheers, Phoenix Emperor extended her right hand and presented it to Jiangnan.
Without hesitation, Jiangnan naturally extended her hand and reached out to shake it.
Upon seeing this, the Phoenix Emperor's delicate body trembled violently.
She lowered her head, her eyes slightly red.
"The old you would never have held my hand so gently in front of everyone..."
Phoenix Emperor thought to herself, "But now, you've changed."
"A wait of thousands of years..."
"I finally have this opportunity."
However, just as the Phoenix Emperor was immersed in this emotion and love that spanned a thousand years, thinking that she had finally ushered in a perfect ending.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Aeria and Ingrika had quietly reunited in the shadows behind the platform.
"Did it succeed?"
Aeria lowered her voice, "According to the plan, regardless of whether we got the items or not, we must start making our escape now."
Ingrika glanced around guiltily, then pulled out a bronze mirror from her sleeve that was exactly the same as the [Heaven-Peering Mirror].
But on this mirror, there was a faint, unstable glimmer.
"Don't worry, sister!"
Ingrika suppressed her excitement, "This is a fake I made using Sequence 043 [Copy and Paste], although it's a one-time use item!"
"It can only last for an hour, but during that time I've been the commentator and host, and I've already figured out the underlying logic of this thing!"
She swiftly slid runes across the surface of the bronze mirror.
"I can use it to bypass the Garrison Division's authority and forcibly tear open a spatial passage within the Third Ring Town road!"
"Those wedding processions that left Soul Return Town before did so using this function of the Heaven-Peering Mirror."
"Besides that, we can also teleport directly to any location in Soul Return Town!"
"Well done! Now is the perfect time for the Phoenix Emperor to split into clones, let's begin."
Aeria took a deep breath, glanced back at the brightly lit arena, and shivered for no apparent reason.
"The more normal a place seems, the more eerie it actually is."
We must leave quickly.
"Clear!"
Ingrika nodded emphatically, placing her hands on the replica of the Heaven-Peering Mirror.
"Open the passage!!!"
At the same time.
Ten thousand meters underground, Soul Furnace.
The massive mechanical furnace, which had been operating at a constant speed, suddenly emitted an alarm!
"Buzz buzz buzz!!!"
"What happened?!"
The Bloodblade Guards, stationed beside the furnace, turned his head.
When he saw the rapidly depleting energy bar on the Control Console, he was terrified!
"Damn it! The rate at which [Source] is being consumed is increasing exponentially!"
"The reserved energy is about to run out! Quick! Replenish it!"
He roared at the top of his lungs, but the other ghost messengers around him remained frozen in place, ignoring his commands.
"Are you all deaf?! Get up there now!"
The captain turned around in a rage, about to draw his knife and slash someone.
However, the next second, he froze.
Those usually imposing Bloodblade Guards were now staring at their own hands in terror.
"Team... Captain... we..."
Before the captain's horrified eyes, the hands, bodies, and even the cheeks of these ghost messengers were changing!
It's like Holographic Projection with poor contact.
Their flesh and blood became plump and vibrant in an instant, but the next second they suddenly rotted to the bone and were covered in lividity!
Several maggots even fell out of their rotting eye sockets, and then, in a flash, their eyes returned to normal!
Life and death, flesh and blood, and withered bones are alternating on their bodies!
The captain shivered and looked at his hands.
In the constantly flickering, snowy screen, his once-proud body revealed stark white bones!
"It's... it's all over..."
Ox-Horse Factory, in front of a mine.
"Sizzle!"
Just as Jiangnan reached out, about to grasp Phoenix Emperor's hand...
The whole world seemed to be malfunctioning, as if a black-and-white television had short-circuited!
Immediately afterwards, in front of everyone present, the entire Soul Return Town began to flicker like a snow screen!
Even though the flicker only lasted a few seconds, the truth it revealed...
But it was imprinted on everyone's retinas!
As the sun sets, the World as Prison!
Red lanterns all over the street!
Silk and satin!
A magnificent building with carved beams and painted rafters!
In those few seconds, it was transformed into a desolate ancient ruin!
And those tens of thousands of townspeople, their faces beaming with smiles, were cheering and applauding Jiangnan and Phoenix Emperor...
In that fleeting glimpse of reality, there were countless grotesque, rotting Evil Ghost and monstrous demons!
"Hiss!!!"
A collective gasp filled the air.
Zhao Yan got goosebumps all over his body.
That hellish scene I just witnessed was definitely not an illusion!
This is the true face of Soul Return Town!
In the corner, Qin Jiudao, the Heavenblade Dragon King, stood frozen in place!
"What... what's going on?!"
"Why is Soul Return Town like this... Could it be!"
His experience over the past thousand years came into play at this moment, and he recalled when he first came to Soul Return Town.
He once went to see the Phoenix Emperor, wanting to retrieve the two Spirit Artifact left behind by the Dragon God.
At that time, Phoenix Emperor dodged the question and ultimately only agreed to hand over the [Mountains and Rivers Brush] to him!
Qin Jiudao trembled all over, "No wonder Phoenix Emperor was only willing to give me the Mountains and Rivers Brush..."
So this is the truth?
Central Forest Garden.
In the empty courtyard, Little Sparrow is sweeping the floor.
The moment the static screen flashed, her originally delicate and lovely face instantly turned into a bluish-gray, lifeless skin.
There was even an old talisman stuck to his forehead!
But she herself was completely unaware, showing no surprise whatsoever, and simply continued sweeping the fallen leaves over and over again.
"Rustle..."
On the dimly lit streets leading to the Shen Residence.
The Clown, being escorted, sees a scene where the surrounding environment flickers between ruins and prosperity.
He was stunned for a moment, then burst into a morbid laugh!
Hahahaha! Hahahaha!
"I understand! I understand everything!!!"
The Clown laughed until tears streamed down his face, and the handcuffs rattled as he struggled to break them.
"I never expected it to be like this! This is fantastic!"
"No wonder they brought you here, old woman!"
"I'm getting more and more excited about what's going to happen next!"
After saying that, he looked up at the sky, as if he could already see her return!
In a luxurious, secluded mansion located on the Second Ring Town.
"Click."
The Sage loosened his withered fingers, and a fat corpse fell to the ground.
The wealthy businessman's skin was covered in disgusting tumors, like a toad's, and his death was extremely gruesome.
The Sage did not look at the corpses on the ground, but instead raised his head and looked at the false sunset in the sky, which was gradually returning to normal.
"[The Mortal Fireworks Painting]... is indeed as rumored, possessing the supreme power to reverse life and death, and to deceive the heavens and conceal the truth."
The Sage shook his head with a sigh, "It seems we didn't make a mistake coming here."
"That's right..."
A sinister voice came from behind.
The Muraguchi Nissuu, who should have been dead, or as he should now be called, the [Madman] of the Desolate God Society, stood up.
The head pierced by Jiangnan's spear, and the shattered spine.
At this moment, under the wriggling of the black water, they quickly reconnected and returned to their original state.
The Madman stretched his cracking neck.
"Well then... it's time for us to officially get to work."
"This sudden chaos presents the perfect opportunity, old man."
"Good."
Black Mist welled up in the Sage's empty eye sockets.
"But before that, I need to go to the Shen Residence to reclaim a portion of my power."
"Only in this way... can we better deal with that woman, and that Dragon God who has not yet grown up."
Having said that, the Sage turned to look in the direction of the Shen Residence, a smile playing on his lips.
The inner courtyard of Shen Residence.
Having just suppressed everyone, Shen Yingchun stood quietly in the pool of blood, leaning on one leg with her Azure Dragon Crescent Blade.
In those few fleeting seconds, he looked down at his own body, now nothing but bones.
He was neither alarmed nor surprised.
He simply turned the skull slowly, his eyes filled with two ghostly flames, incredibly deep.
With a sense of desolation, I gazed into the distance toward the Ox-Horse Factory.
"It can't be hidden anymore..."
"Phoenix Emperor..."
The Ox-Horse Factory, on a high platform in front of the mine.
All the noise and cheers were instantly sucked away from the world.
Jiangnan's right hand, which had been naturally extended, froze in mid-air, less than a centimeter away from the other person's hand.
Standing before him now was hardly a stunningly beautiful woman who could topple kingdoms!
Instead, it was a body emanating deathly energy, enveloped by endless resentment and karmic burdens...
Desiccated skeleton!
That face that was originally proud and beautiful.
Now only a skull remains, with faint white flames burning in its empty eye sockets.
And that jade hand that reached out to him, wanting to take his hand.
It was a piece of bone claw that had long since rotted and turned black!
A putrid stench assaulted our senses.
Jiangnan's gaze turned icy cold at that moment.
There was no touching reunion after a long separation, no romantic rekindling of past relationships.
It's nothing but horror and absurdity.
"I see..."
Jiangnan slowly withdrew his hand, looking at the white skeleton draped in red before him, shattering the biggest lie of Soul Return Town.
"The Phoenix Emperor died a thousand years ago..."
"You're not even human right now."
"It's... a ghost!"