"You have eyes," Liu Fengying blinked.

"Then that means… " Mu Chen recalled the pitch-black dagger which had attacked Long Xueyi. "Zhou Mei is also here?"

"Yes," Liu Fengying said. "Now stay back and let us take care of this bitch."

Mu Chen's face twitched. How could he not tell that Liu Fengying was just looking for an opportunity to fight Long Xueyi?

"Listen," Mu Chen hurried t o say. "We don't have time to waste on her—something big might happen soon."

"Something big?" Liu Fengying paused. She wanted to ask more, but at this time, Long Xueyi moved.

After Zhou Mei almost got her, Long Xueyi hadn't moved. She was trying to locate Zhou Mei's position, but she had hidden well. Long Xueyi knew Zhou Mei was waiting for her to lose her guard, but defending passively wasn't her style.

Long Xueyi swept her sword horizontally. The golden sword buzzed and a wide arc of sharp golden qi swept over—the target was Liu Fengying and Mu Chen.

Seeing the incoming arc of golden qi, Liu Fengying swiped with her hairpin, while Mu Chen slashed his sword. With the two of them attacking, the golden arc didn't even last a breath.

At the same time Long Xueyi attacked, a pitch-black dagger stabbed her nape. Just when it looked as if it was about to pierce through, a golden scale the size of a fingernail flashed and blocked the penetrating tip with a sharp shrill.

Golden ripples propagated from the point of contact and a vague feminine shadow holding the dagger was caught between them.

The golden scale shook lightly and Zhou Mei's figure was forced out of thin air.

Zhou Mei staggered and fell. She tried to stand up, but Long Xueyi had already turned her sword toward her. The golden broadsword in her hand shimmered with golden qi—this was a deadly strike.

"She is after Mei'er," Mu Chen cried out and rushed forward. Unfortunately, he was too far.

Liu Fengying was also flustered, but not without any options. She flicked her phoenix hairpin and launched it at Long Xueyi.

Boom!

The phoenix hairpin broke the sound barrier and arrived in front of Long Xueyi in the blink of an eye.

Long Xueyi, who was about to cut Zhou Mei, paused. She twisted her sword and blocked the phoenix hairpin with the flat of the blade.

Clang!

The hairpin carried with it incredible momentum. Long Xueyi's sword blocked its sharp point, but she had to bear the brunt of the force. Her physique was tyrannical, but she could do little as she was swept off her feet and crashed into the tree behind.

A large pine tree broke in half, showering them in twigs and needles while Long Xueyi disappeared under the trunk with a puff of leaves and mud.

Mu Chen arrived next to Zhou Mei and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Mmm," Zhou Mei swiped a trickle of blood from her mouth and looked with cold eyes where Long Xueyi had crashed.

Mu Chen also looked over. His anger boiled and he wanted to rush over and chop Long Xueyi to pieces.

Liu Fengying also came over. After confirming that Zhou Mei's life wasn't in danger, she breathed a sigh of relief. But she was also angry.

The dust settled.

Mu Chen was fuming, Liu Fengying was pissed, Zhou Mei just wanted to get back—the three were ready to storm at Long Xueyi.

However, Long Xueyi—she was gone.

The three of them searched around but didn't find any trace of Long Xueyi.

"Damn," Mu Chen cursed and punched through a tree, almost splitting it in half. The object of his detestation disappeared, he could only stifle his anger.

"Hmph! She ran away," Liu Fengying scowled. She was about to say more, but paused, then looked around. "It looks like our fight has attracted other people's attention. Let's change places."

Mu Chen didn't have any objection. However, Zhou Mei needed treatment, so the three found a secluded spot far away from the scene. Liu Fengying set up a formation to avoid detection.

While Zhou Mei was healing, Liu Fengying and Mu Chen chatted.

"Why was she after you?" Liu Fengying asked, looking at Mu Chen with narrowed eyes. "Did you do something?"

Zhou Mei, who had been meditating, opened her eyes to look at Mu Chen.

"No idea," Mu Chen said. Seeing the two glare at him, his face twitched. "She attacked me out of the blue. Anyway, that's not important. Listen, we have to leave this realm as soon as possible…"

Liu Fengying and Zhou Mei were unconvinced but listened to Mu Chen without interrupting.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Mu Chen narrated his encounter with the barbarians and the fire spirit. Liu Fengying was excited when he talked about finding a fire spirit, but when she realized the spirit had disappeared she could only sigh in disappointment.

Mu Chen told them about his transaction with An Zhi and how he learned to cultivate internal qi using a mysterious black scroll while glossing over some unimportant details.

The two were glad Mu Chen found a way to increase his strength.

When Mu Chen brought up the possibility of a guardian god appearing through An Zhi's sacrifice, Liu Fengying's face lost color.

"Mu Chen, are you sure it says god? Did you make a mistake?" Liu Fengying spoke for the first time.

"I believe so," Mu Chen said.

"Mu Chen, you have to be sure," Liu Fengying said with a rare tone of anxiousness in her voice.

"I-I…" When Liu Fengying put it like that, Mu Chen hesitated. He was not a language expert. Although the archaic text on the scroll had similarities with the standard text he knew, they weren't the same. Some nuances may be lost when translating and it could change the whole meaning.

"Why don't you see it yourself?" Mu Chen took out the black scroll.

Liu Fengying looked at the scroll curiously and reached out with her hand.

"Eeek!" When Liu Fengying touched the scroll, her body trembled. She shrieked and dropped the scroll as if she had received an electric shock. The scroll fell and rolled over to Zhou Mei, who picked it up.

"Sister Fengying? Here."

"N-no!" Liu Fengying shook her head and scurried several feet away.

"What's wrong?" Mu Chen asked.

"T-that… that," Liu Fengying gasped as she pointed a trembling finger at the scroll. Her chest heaved as she clutched her bosom with the other hand. Her face had turned pale as if all the blood had been drained. Mu Chen had never seen her lose her composure like this.

Mu Chen looked at Zhou Mei. She stared at the scroll in her hand and shrugged, "I didn't feel anything."

Mu Chen was puzzled. There seemed nothing wrong with the scroll, but Liu Fengying's reaction wasn't fake. Mu Chen put away the scroll.

The two consoled Liu Fengying. After a few minutes, Liu Fengying calmed down.

"What happened?" Mu Chen asked. "Is something wrong with the scroll?"

"T-that scroll has some extraordinary origin," Liu Fengying said. "It's just that the two of us are not compatible."

"Do you still want to confirm the reading?"

"N-no need. I believe you," Liu Fengying hurried to say. The shock the scroll gave her wasn't small, but it also made a few things clear to her. "Mu Chen, this situation is bad, really bad."

"Bad? How bad are we talking about?"

"Mu Chen," Liu Fengying said in a voice that was almost a whisper, "we are talking about Gods. Gods!"

Mu Chen and Zhou Mei were puzzled. The two didn't understand at first why Liu Fengying was so spooked. It took some time for them to piece it together. When they did, the two had an incredulous looks on their faces.

"You mean gods are real? They exist?"

"Sister Fengying, you must be joking."

Liu Fengying looked at Mu Chen and Zhou Mei's skeptical expressions and sighed, "You two, have you never wondered why the Ming Dynasty is so kind to mortals?"

"Is it because they are scared of the gods?" Mu Chen tentatively asked.

"Otherwise?" Liu Fengying rolled her eyes. "The Ming Dynasty not only built cities for mortals to dwell in but also protected them. There are hundreds of such cities. To maintain them all, the resources and manpower the Ming Dynasty has to spend each year is astronomical. You think the Ming Dynasty does it out of goodwill?"

Mu Chen and Zhou Mei gawked in silence.

Mu Chen had to admit, he had never thought about it from this perspective. On the surface, it looked like the Ming Dynasty established cities to better manage and control the Southern Continent. But the rules and regulations aligned with the needs and capabilities of the mortals. For instance, it was forbidden to use magic spells and other arts in the city. One could see this as an implicit form of protection to prevent cultivators from killing mortals.

There were places where mortals might still be oppressed, but overall, their situation was much better than in the past. Under Ming Dynasty's rule, the mortal populace had thrived and flourished.

"If the number of mortals falls too low, the gods will be angry and deliver judgment." In a few words, Liu Fengying revealed a shocking secret.

"Judgment?" Zhou Mei pouted. "Will a lightning bolt strike from the sky?"

"Worse," Liu Fengying shook her head. "Have you heard of the Blood Marshes?"

"The forbidden region in the Central Continent?" Mu Chen raised his brow.

"Yes," Liu Fengying nodded. "Do you know how it was formed?"

Zhou Mei shook her head.

"I heard it was because of a war?" Mu Chen said.

"There was indeed a war, but it was not what led to the formation of the blood marshes like the stories would have you believe," Liu Fengying sighed. "You may not know this, but the five continents used to be one… "

"What?" Mu Chen and Zhou Mei jumped in surprise, but Liu Fengying had already begun talking, so they listened intently.

Thousands of years ago, a large-scale war broke out. The war was so brutal, it swept through the entire continent. Young or old, beast or human, cultivator or mortal, willing or unwilling, they became embroiled in the war.

The war lasted several years and the casualties were innumerable. The losses of cultivators were still under control, however, the mortals suffered heavily and were almost wiped out.

When there were no signs of the war stopping, some beings became restless and angry. Finally, one of them descended and lowered his spear of judgment.

"That strike shocked the world," Liu Fengying sighed. "All the powerful cultivators gathered to face it together." She looked at Mu Chen and Zhou Mei. "Can you guess the result?"

"The cultivators lost?"

"Lost?" Liu Fengying chuckled dryly. "They were massacred! Thousands of experts joined hands, but they couldn't even put up a shred of resistance. That strike didn't just kill them, it also divided the continent into pieces."

Mu Chen was awed, while Zhou Mei's face turned pale. A strike killed all the experts and divided the land. Just how powerful was the god?

"That place where the judgment spear hit, left behind an abyss so deep even light didn't dare enter—it was pooled to brim with the blood of fallen cultivators. Their blood still dyes that place. That's what the blood marshes are, a place of blood and death."

This level of bloodshed, Mu Chen couldn't even imagine. It wasn't that he hadn't seen a scene of large killing—the beast tide came to his mind. But comparing the two was like comparing an ocean with a glass of water.

"The god gathered the surviving cultivators on the central land and set up the dividing sea so that they couldn't touch the mortals."

"So the Central Continent—"

"It's a prison," Liu Fengying sneered. "A prison to keep cultivators from interfering in the ordinary lives of the mortals."

For a while, Mu Chen and Zhou Mei digested what they had learned in silence. They finally understood why Liu Fengying would panic when she talked about gods. Gods were so powerful they could make any cultivator despair.

"Why?" Mu Chen blurted. "Why do these gods care about mortals so much?"

Zhou Mei also looked expectantly. If Mu Chen knew the reason she was so eager to learn more about gods was to find out how to kill them, he may have facepalmed.

Liu Fengying, however, shook her head. "We don't know much about the gods' origin, but we do know that they get their strength from mortals."

"How come?" Mu Chen was stunned. Mortals were so weak, how could they be the source of such powerful beings?

"Faith," Liu Fengying said. "The gods can harness the faith of their believers."

"Is faith so powerful?" Mu Chen was stunned. He recalled the barbarians' customs and traditions. Didn't barbarians worship the fire spirit? "Could it be An Zhi's sacrifice… "

"It might be a way to summon a god."