Curious about the missing part of the story, Xuanwei activated the Haotian Mirror to search for the lost memories, but she found nothing. There was only one possibility left: Xiao Fan did not possess these memories, which is why the Haotian Mirror could not replay those scenes.
Frowning, Xuanwei realized that these memories must have been deliberately stripped away. This raised several questions: Why were these memories removed? Was it something Xiao Fan was not supposed to recall? And most importantly, was this done voluntarily by Xiao Fan or was it forced upon him?
To uncover the truth, she knew she had to keep watching.
**Within the Haotian Mirror.**
Xiao Fan, filled with confusion, turned his gaze toward the stern-looking middle-aged man standing before him. The man exuded a powerful aura, commanding respect with his very presence. Glancing around, Xiao Fan noticed that the architecture around him was identical to that of the Immortal Court in the Immortal Realm. This realization caused his pupils to contract sharply.
Considering that both the Immortal Court in the Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Court in the lower realms were creations of the Immortal Emperor, it became clear that he was currently in the lower realms' Heavenly Court.
Xiao Fan then turned his attention back to the middle-aged man before him.
"May I ask, are you the Heavenly Emperor?" Xiao Fan inquired.
"I am," the Heavenly Emperor responded in a deep voice.
The Heavenly Emperor continued, "I am aware of everything. I will do my utmost to help you fulfill your mission."
Xiao Fan was taken aback by this response. Everything seemed to be going too smoothly. Given the missing part of his memory, Xiao Fan wondered if he had explained everything to the Heavenly Emperor before losing those memories. But why had those memories been removed in the first place?
Pondering this, Xiao Fan asked, "Heavenly Emperor, could you tell me why my memory is incomplete?"
The Heavenly Emperor maintained his stern demeanor as he replied, "Do not ask about this matter again. I will not answer you."
"Just remember, the decision to strip away those memories was your own."
"My own decision?" Xiao Fan felt a wave of confusion wash over him. He knew himself well enough to understand that, unless the Heavenly Emperor was lying, if he had indeed chosen to remove those memories, there must have been a compelling reason for it.
The Heavenly Emperor's stern and earnest expression didn't suggest deceit, so Xiao Fan chose to believe him, at least for the moment.
Setting the matter aside for now, Xiao Fan turned to more pressing concerns. Since the Heavenly Emperor already knew everything, there was no need for further explanation.
"Your Majesty, it may take thousands of years for the energy from the Immortal Realm to coalesce into a singularity. We must delay the depletion of the lower realms' energy until the moment the Immortal Realm's energy is infused into them!"
"And to delay the depletion of energy in the lower realms, we must find a way to feed energy back into it," Xiao Fan explained, his tone growing heavy.
The reason energy was being depleted was that all living beings, especially cultivators, consumed energy to grow. The higher a cultivator's cultivation, the more energy they accumulated. If this absorbed energy could be extracted, refined, and then returned to the lower realms, it would slow down the depletion of energy.
This process, however, could only be achieved by someone like Xiao Fan, who had been chosen, witnessed the darkness, and understood how to wield the laws of heaven.
When Xiao Fan realized this, he finally understood why the Immortal Emperor had warned him that he might become the most reviled figure in the lower realms—a demon in the eyes of all living beings. This process would appear to others as nothing short of slaughter.
Xiao Fan had never intended to reveal these truths to the world. Not only was the concept itself difficult to believe, but if people knew that sacrifices were necessary for the process, they would be filled with fear and desperation, leading to widespread chaos.
Therefore, Xiao Fan was willing to bear the burden of these sins alone, facing the consequences by himself. Moreover, he had already decided who would have to make the sacrifices. For instance, sects like Qingyun Sect, which he considered vile and unworthy, did not deserve to exist in the new world he was working to create.
Now that the Heavenly Emperor was aware of everything, Xiao Fan saw no reason to hide his plans. If the Heavenly Emperor could assist, the process would go much more smoothly.
After Xiao Fan shared his thoughts, the Heavenly Emperor nodded and said, "Your thoughts are correct. If I hadn't seen your memories through the Haotian Mirror, I might not have believed in the impending destruction of the epoch."
The Heavenly Emperor sighed deeply before continuing, "People are often ignorant, cowardly, and selfish. Knowing the truth would only create chaos and obstacles."
"You viewed my memories?" Xiao Fan was momentarily stunned but quickly reasoned that he must have shared everything with the Heavenly Emperor before losing his memories, prompting the Heavenly Emperor to verify them through the Haotian Mirror.
The Heavenly Emperor then added, "As for sects like Qingyun, their presence is indeed a failure of my responsibility as the Heavenly Emperor, a disgrace to the high hopes the Immortal Emperor had when he established the Heavenly Court."
The Heavenly Emperor's face was full of guilt and remorse.
Xiao Fan felt it was not his place to comment. After all, this was indeed the Heavenly Emperor's responsibility. However, given the task of overseeing the entire multiverse, expecting the Heavenly Emperor to eliminate every trace of darkness was unrealistic. The most important factor was how the Heavenly Emperor would act moving forward.
"I have already drawn up a list. It is time for these people to make their sacrifices!" The Heavenly Emperor's eyes flashed with anger.
Xiao Fan took the list and scanned it. In addition to Qingyun Sect, there were hundreds of other sects, some of which were quite renowned and respected. The list also included several individual names, indicating that these people and sects were just as deserving of death as the Qingyun Sect.
The Heavenly Emperor's expression was filled with rage. The more he investigated, the more horrified he became by how deeply corruption had seeped into the world. As the Heavenly Emperor, he had indeed failed in his duties.
**Outside the Haotian Mirror.**
The onlookers carefully compared the list of sects and names. As expected, they were all among those who had been annihilated by Xiao Fan, the Ghostly Demon Emperor.
The truth was now laid bare: Xiao Fan had not committed senseless slaughter—he had been acting on behalf of divine justice!
However, someone suddenly shouted, "Wait! What about the scholars from the Heavenly Dao Academy that Xiao Fan killed? Why aren't their names on the list?"
"And what about the Sage of Heavenly Secrets from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion? He isn't on the list either!"
As more people spoke up, they pointed out other names missing from the list.
Why weren't those people on the list, yet Xiao Fan still killed them? And why did Xiao Fan later kill the Heavenly Emperor?
From what they had seen so far, the Heavenly Emperor, aside from some negligence, appeared to have done nothing wrong.
With these questions in mind, the crowd once again turned their attention to the Haotian Mirror.
To read the manga version, please click the YouTube link https://youtu.be/GnU613H6xm8