(Imagine not translating the Prelog... how embarrassing is that?)
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Someone once said — — -
When a person is faced with death, they would see their whole life flash before their very eyes.
This saying was correct.
When that drop of blood dripped down, Liu Ping clearly saw his entire life, all the way until the very end — — -
It was the 181st year of Taiping.
The Great Plains.
Spells flew everywhere, swords and blades clashed, and blood flowed like a river.
War cries rang out nonstop.
The decisive battle between humanity and the demons was reaching its climax.
At a certain point.
The demons all let out earth-shattering roars that echoed across the entire battlefield.
The human cultivators all sensed something and couldn't help but turn around — — -
Only to see several groups of demons rushing into humanity's main general's camp.
Straight to the heart of the army!
This happened so suddenly that even the flag of the main general's camp only just started fluttering.
"Hurry and save the main camp — —"
Someone loudly called out.
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
Dong!
The sound of war drums resounded like a thunderstorm, resounding throughout humanity's main camp and the entire battlefield, calling out to all the cultivators for help.
All the cultivators around the camp tried their best to resist, but the situation was already precarious.
All the cultivators' hearts were in their throats.
The moment of victory and defeat for this war had arrived!
The fate of humanity was hanging by a thread!!!
At the same time.
Outside the battlefield. Deep in the sky, above the layers of clouds.
A man with his eyes closed was standing on top of the clouds, a small white flower floating in front of him.
The man reached his hand out and lightly pulled on the flower petal.
"If I don't save him, he'll die"
"If I save him, I'll die"
"If I don't save him, he'll die"
"If I save him, I'll die"
Every time the man muttered something, he would pull off a petal and let it drift away with the wind.
Finally.
The last petal was pulled off by him.
"If I don't save him, I'll let him die — — - seems like this is the will of heavens"
The man held the petal in his hand and sighed in relief.
He casually waved his hand to open a path and was about to enter.
All of a sudden.
The thunderous sound of war drums resounded from the ground, followed by countless shouts and screams:
"The main general is in danger!"
"They've broken into the main general's camp!"
"It's over, we're done for"
"The defense line has collapsed!"
"Hurry, someone come save him!"
"Save the main general!"
The man paused and faced down from high up on the clouds.
The main general's camp was littered with corpses, and the number of cultivators who were still resisting was dwindling.
The human army was defeated like a landslide.
The man watched quietly with an unbearable expression on his face.
"Master …"
By this time the drumming had died down.
The man took out a white jade mask as thin as a cicada's wing and put it on his face.
With a shake of his body, he turned into a spiritual light that was as fast as lightning, passing through layers of clouds and diving down from the sky.
In midair, the layers of fiendish demons immediately sensed something.
They rushed toward the light.
Then, the male cultivator's angry roar came from the light.
"Those who block me shall die!"
In an instant, clouds of black fog appeared around him.
Black fog filled the sky.
One by one, masked cultivators wearing black robes appeared from the fog and welcomed the demons.
Taking advantage of this moment, the wisp of spiritual light quickly penetrated the inescapable net like a swimming dragon and suddenly attacked from afar, landing in the human camp that had just fallen.
Boom!
Countless demons were sent flying.
The light faded away.
The masked cultivator stood in the middle of the camp, didn't do anything and only blew a long whistle.
It seemed to be some sort of signal — — -
The void of space opened.
16 masked cultivators wearing black robes leapt out from behind him and cut a demon who had just taken the human general's flag into pieces.
The 16 of them protected the man in the middle.
The man took a few steps forward and helped an old man who was seriously injured in the camp up.
At this point, the cultivators in the camp had already suffered heavy casualties, no longer able to resist. But the endless horde of demons was still surging forward like a tidal wave.
"Old man, how does it feel to almost die?"
While saying so, the man gestured with his hand.
The void of space behind him moved again.
Several hundred black-robed cultivators appeared one after another, landing in the camp behind him.
These cultivators seemed to have been prepared for this, as soon as they appeared, they charged at the demon army without any regard for their own safety.
It was now that the he helped the old man up, turned around, and tried to break through the encirclement on the other side of the camp.
16 masked cultivators surrounded him to protect him.
But this was a battlefield!
More and more demons were surging forward from every direction — — -
This was a decisive battle, the demon army had been preparing for a long time, they definitely wouldn't give up so easily!
The man scowled and lightly called out:
"Come here!"
Groups of masked cultivators appeared from the void of space, quickly arranged themselves into a formation and formed hand seals to cast their spells.
One breath's worth of time.
All their spells were ready, waiting for a single order.
"Kill"
The man uttered a single word.
All the spells were released at once — —
Heaven and earth were filled with chaotic spiritual light as tens of thousands of spells blasted out in all directions, creating a small gap in the encirclement of the demons.
"Go"
The man carried the heavily wounded old man on his back and retreated like a shooting star.
The 16 masked cultivators surrounded the man to protect him.
On the way, countless demons tried to kill them, but they were all blocked by the masked cultivators, trying their best to open a path of survival.
From afar, the escaping group looked like a black fish swimming up and down in the middle of a stormy sea, almost being crushed on the spot a few times — — -
Finally, they managed to open a path of survival.
The man and the old man landed in another defensive wall of Humanity, which was on high alert.
The warp formation had already been prepared.
As soon as they stepped on it, they disappeared from everyone's sight.
All the cultivators on the battlefield couldn't help but cheer.
— — -someone saved the general and stopped the demons' ambush!
Humanity's morale was greatly boosted and they began their counterattack.
A few thousand miles away.
It was an abandoned city.
Corpses were everywhere.
Silence.
The old man and the male cultivator landed at the same time.
The grey-robed old man barely managed to stand up and evaluated the cultivator in front of him.
He had already taken off his mask.
His eyes were closed, and his one arm was tucked in his sleeve. He was yawning with a bored expression on his face.
Although the armor on his body was broken and there were shocking scratches everywhere, he looked as if he had just woken up.
"Wicked disciple, why did you have to do something so unnecessary?" the old man scowled.
The male cultivator sighed: "Sir Divination Saint, I spent so much effort to save you, can't you remember my good deeds a bit more?"
"If I remember correctly, you had a lot of friends among the demons, you even swore an oath to never join the battlefield" the old man called Divination Saint coldly laughed.
The male cultivator picked out a knee-high demon head from the pile of corpses, placed it on the ground, then sat on it and answered:
"This is such a beautiful world, yet you want to fight and kill, of course I won't participate"
"But you came here today" the old man said.
"I didn't do anything" he replied.
The old man thought for a bit and found that to be the case, so he couldn't help but ask: "The core forces of the sects were all sent to the frontlines, where did you find so many experts?"
"I found the Hidden Assassin Guild and asked for sixteen death warriors. I ordered them to stay close to me and protect me" the male cultivator said casually.
The elder questioned, "The Hidden Assassin Guild is made up of assassins who can't see the light of day. They aren't good at fighting in battle formations …"
"That's why I transferred 300 martial arts cultivators from the Evil Valley Cultivators to fend off the demons' attacks" the male cultivator said.
"The demons are coming from all directions, and some of them even use extremely evil spells and techniques. Martial cultivators alone won't be able to stop them" the old man replied.
"That's why I went to the Northern Sacred Cult and found several hundred Sacred Devil experts who were proficient in spells" the male cultivator said.
The old man asked: "When we retreated, the leaders of the demons were hiding on the road, with just your men — — -"
The male cultivator crossed his legs and spoke triumphantly: "Of course, I also felt that it wasn't enough, so I sent a large number of experts to the Demon Race Imperial Court to save the previous demon King who was deposed and imprisoned. I made an agreement that she would protect me this time, and I would create a chance for her to take revenge — — - when we left just now, she was probably already fighting to the death against the leaders of the demons who deposed him"
The old man went silent for a few moments, then sighed: "Disciple, in the end, you still managed to subdue those evil cultivators and became the Evil Lord"
"No, other than saving you, I don't intend to do anything else" the male cultivator replied.
"Then why are there so many people willing to risk their lives for you?" the old man asked.
"Because I have money" the male cultivator answered.
The old man was surprised.
"I've always had a good reputation, and I'm always quick to pay my bills — — - the payment this time is about three times what they normally pay" the male cultivator gestured with his fingers.
The old man opened his mouth wide, unable to say anything.
The male cultivator lazily spoke: "I've already done a divination. Old man, today is your Death Tribulation, but fortunately, I'm here — — - after this is over, you'll have to treat me to a drink"
"How much did you spend to calculate my Death Tribulation?"
"10 years of lifespan"
"Not worth it at all" the grey-robed old man shook his head: "Damn brat, today is the day of my death, I'm afraid I won't have the chance to treat you to a drink"
"That might not be the case"
The male cultivator reached his hand out and took out a pill from his Inventory Bag.
As soon as the pill appeared, it gave off a 5-colored light that illuminated the void of space around them, creating a beautiful mist.
The grey-robed old man looked at the glowing Divine Pill and spoke with a solemn expression:
"Between heaven and earth … there is only one such pill, it's definitely not something you can buy with money"
"That's right, I personally took it from the seven great sects' forbidden grounds" the male cultivator replied.
"You stole the Divine Pill, so you must have broken through the seven great sects' restrictions — — - after this old man dies, those sects will definitely not let you go" the old man said.
The male cultivator closed his eyes and scoffed: "They won't be able to catch me, not to mention, I've already divined the Mysteries of Heaven, with this pill, your Death Tribulation will be safely passed"
Saying so, he tossed the pill out.
The pill floated in the air, silently landing in front of the grey-robed old man.
The old man's complexion became worse and worse, suddenly coughing up blood.
The male cultivator hurriedly said: "Old man, stop pretending to be an expert, quickly eat the Divine Pill, otherwise you'll really die"
The old man looked at the Divine Pill in his hand and forced a smile.
"This old man won't be able to make it" he said.
The male cultivator finally appeared anxious and shouted: "I've divined the Mysteries of Heaven, with this pill, you'll be able to pass your Death Tribulation"
The grey-robed old man shook his head: "This is fate, even if this old man passes this Tribulation, I won't be able to change anything"
The male cultivator looked at the old man in confusion.
The grey-robed old man sighed:
"There are as many cultivators in this world as there are carps in the river, but only a few know the 6 arts"
"For the past few hundred years …"
"I only have one true disciple, you"
"You must remember — — -"
"We know too many things, not only do the demons want to kill us for joy, even the great sects of humanity treat us with half respect and half suspicion"
The male cultivator stood up and shouted: "Don't say such useless things, quickly eat the Divine Pill!"
The old man chuckled, the wrinkles between his eyebrows slowly smoothed out, but his gaze became sharp.
He seemed to have made some sort of decision.
"… My disciple, listen to me carefully"
"Your talents are unparalleled, but you're also envied by heaven and earth, so you were born blind, with only one arm, with damaged meridians that can't be healed by any techniques"
"Your fate has already been determined, even after so many years, this old man still couldn't change your fate — —"
Saying so, the grey-robed old man suddenly used all his strength to strike the male cultivator's chest.
The male cultivator wasn't on guard, so his meridians were instantly shattered.
Right before he died, he opened his gloomy eyes and looked at the old man in disbelief.
"My … Death Tribulation … so …"
He barely managed to speak.
The old man put the Divine Pill into the male cultivator's mouth, took a few steps back, and clasped his hands together.
Mysterious waves of power exuded from the old man's body, manifested as spirit runes out of thin air, then entered the male cultivator's body.
"My disciple"
"Using the Divine Pill to change your fate, this is the only thing your master can do"
The male cultivator barely managed to take his last breath and asked: "Why …"
"Because this war is only the beginning, the end has already been determined"
The grey-robed old man sighed: "There's a great terror hiding in the void of space, it has already set its eyes on our world. I've been thinking for a long time, but I still can't think of a way to deal with it — — - I can't even see the truth before I'm about to die"
"My disciple, I hope that you can … survive …"
"This is my final wish"