This was a secluded and unremarkable mountain valley, hidden in the shadow of towering peaks all around.

At the valley’s edge, flowers of every color bloomed, their fragrance filling the air with a refreshing sweetness of grass and petals.

By the stone face of the valley, there lay a burial mound, and before it stood a black tombstone.

This was the grave of Xu Yang’s mother!

Beside the gravestone, a middle-aged man sat starkly upright.

Zheng Xuan!

At this moment, Zheng Xuan’s face was as pale as paper, his breath nearly undetectable!

His robes were spotless—no trace of blood, not a speck of dust!

His whole figure was almost collapsed onto the ground, giving the impression of someone at death’s door, his oil spent and lamp extinguished.

Rage filled Xu Yang’s eyes.

This place—he had dug it out with his own hands, not a single person from the Beixuan Prince’s estate had helped!

Zheng Xuan had never once come to see it!

Now, Zheng Xuan’s presence here felt to him like a desecration, a sorrowful outrage.

Clearly, that earlier displacement from afar—it had been Zheng Xuan’s trickery!

“What right do you have to come here?”

Zheng Xuan looked at Xu Yang, a look of miserable despair on his face.

“I know you hate me. You and your mother have every reason to hate me!”

“I won’t beg for your forgiveness, for what I’ve done is utterly unworthy of forgiveness!”

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan’s body trembled, and a trickle of blood welled at the corner of his mouth.

He quickly wiped the blood away, as if fearing it might stain this place!

“You indeed do not deserve forgiveness!”

“I will kill you with my own hands!”

Xu Yang’s gaze was icy, the Demon Dragon Saber manifested in his grasp.

The hatred in his heart had never lessened, not even a bit!

“Now, I am already crippled, which is why Song Tianchou and the Barbarian Race cannot detect this place!”

Zheng Xuan spoke rapidly, as if delivering his last words: “I must tell you some things—the truth!”

“After you hear me out, then you can strike!”

Xu Yang furrowed his brows tightly.

What truth?

“Everything today is the result of my collaboration with the Emperor; including abandoning the Northern Territory and Leizhou before!”

“The Barbarian Race has never been taken seriously by Daqian; they are pieces in Song Tianchou’s hand, but likewise, also Daqian’s—meant to lure out Song Tianchou, that is, Can Tianchou!”

“Now, with the exposure of the Qingzhou Governor, and the loss of the three Qian King’s Seals! It’s exactly as the Emperor wishes!”

“What?”

“Are you all insane?”

Xu Yang’s eyes rounded in shock, as if he had heard a wild tale from a dream!

If Song Tianchou used the Barbarians as pawns, he could still understand—but Daqian…

“They have hidden too long, too deeply.”

“I know the Emperor’s true purpose, but I cannot tell you—it’s too vast!”

“Even if I tried, I couldn’t make you understand all at once! All you need to know is this!”

Zheng Xuan raised his head with difficulty, a bitter smile flickering across his face: “In fact, you too are one of the pawns; sending you to the Barbarians was intentional.”

“And you have indeed played a tremendous part, though I never expected you could reach such a stage!”

Xu Yang watched coldly, his heart churned like a stormy sea!

Pfft!

Zheng Xuan spat a stream of blood, unable to suppress his wounds any longer.

He barely managed to lean on the gravestone, murmuring: “In reality, before I ever became King Beixuan, my lifespan was already nearly spent. Only by cultivating a special secret technique was I able to reach the True Lord realm!”

“If not for this time, I would at most have another ten years to live!”

“But after what happened now, all my energy is drained!”

“The world knows me as Zheng Xuan, the King of a different surname, but they do not know…”

Zheng Xuan’s voice broke off. On his ghastly white face, a surge of color suddenly welled as if in a final radiance, his tone growing sonorous and forceful, an innate domineering presence flowing out.

“My real surname is Can!”

These words stunned Xu Yang to the core.

“Can?”

He cried out in shock, utterly dazed, unwilling to believe.

Can—this was the Emperor’s surname!

The Imperial Family of Daqian!

Within Daqian, even most Martial Artists did not know the Emperor’s true name or surname!

The surname Can—hardly ever spoken!

Zheng Xuan was not a king of another house; his surname was Can… What did that signify was self-evident!

“Impossible!”

Xu Yang slowly shook his head.

The shock flooding him was indescribable!

“It’s the truth!”

“I am the current Emperor’s elder brother, but almost no one knows it. From the moment he took the throne, from when the Daqian sects were suppressed, all has been planned!”

“This is the truth I wanted to tell you!”

Zheng Xuan gazed deeply at Xu Yang and spoke in a ghostly tone: “This world is so, so vast. Even the Dan Emperor within you, what he knows is only the tip of the iceberg! The existence of Daqian carries a significance beyond the ordinary!”

“One day soon, you will know these things!”

“Before I die, let me say this: if you wish to truly control your own destiny, you are not yet strong enough!”

“Go, become stronger!”

Having finished, Zheng Xuan coughed weakly, blood pouring from his lips, his skin visibly cracking and splitting.

It was unimaginable how grievous his injuries were!

“Take this!”

“Do not refuse!”

“Song Tianchou’s schemes are vast, and the Barbarian Race cannot withstand his methods either. The forces he showed today are only the tip of the iceberg! Should the Dan Emperor fall into slumber and you face disaster, crush this Spirit Jade, and you can instantly be transported into the Central Continent’s Purple Fire Celestial Prison Forbidden Land!”

“And that Profound Sea Essence Soul—I promised it to the Dan Emperor.”

Zheng Xuan opened his palm, letting a dark gold fragment the size of a palm and a deep blue, shadowy Spirit Jade fall to the ground.

His arm dropped, powerless and trembling.

Zheng Xuan, propping himself up with difficulty, used all his strength to lift his head and stare intently at Xu Yang in this final moment.

The spark in his eyes faded visibly, second by second.

In his last moment, he murmured, “I’m sorry!”

Whoosh!

It was as if a faint breeze stirred; Zheng Xuan’s body crumbled away inch by inch into ash, swirling gently above the grave before settling and merging into the burial mound below.

Only two pieces of jade were left in the valley, as if to prove that Zheng Xuan had once existed!

But in this world, Zheng Xuan was gone—forever!

Xu Yang stood in a daze, gazing at his mother’s grave, confusion and blankness rolling in his eyes.

All of this—far too staggering!

The Purple Fire Celestial Prison, and his teacher—Zheng Xuan had known all along!

He had watched everything from the shadows!

Ever since his journey to the Barbarian Race, he himself had been a pawn—his fate, completely manipulated!

“Utterly laughable!”

Xu Yang roared in fury!

He had once thought himself strong enough, with the Dan Emperor for a master, Dan King Liou Yunfeng, and powerful allies like Meng Ziqiu and Yang Yi, with the aid of the Zhang and Bai families.

But now, all of it seemed a joke!

The current Emperor’s schemes…what did all this count for before him?

The so-called overthrowing of the Beixuan Prince’s household, killing Zheng Xuan—in the end, all part of their plot!

The loss of the Northern Territory and Leizhou—how many innocent people fell?

In today’s Celestial Profound Sunset Battle Chess, how many more perished, how many proud geniuses?

What did any of it matter?

Zheng Xuan’s final, deeply meaningful words—each hinted at an enormous, hidden secret!

All this filled him with rage, but also chilled him to the bone!

Late Stage of Myriad Phenomena, Myriad Manifestations Perfection—both still mere ants!

Xu Yang’s face shifted through a storm of emotions, at last, he took a deep breath, his gaze ineffably resolute and glacial: “Zheng Xuan, all your schemes—what do they have to do with me?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep