【The rolling black smoke was right before my eyes.】 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

【I didn't approach any closer, only followed the edge, tracking the scent of the Supreme Treasure as I moved forward, with Hong Luan close behind.】

【Suddenly, I spotted a familiar figure.】

【It was an old woman, wearing a loose traditional robe of the Southern Borderlands, holding a walking stick in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other.】

【She stood silently on a cliff, staring ahead at the Forbidden Land Riot.】

【Her figure was stooped, devoid of any aura, looking like nothing more than an ordinary old Southern Borderlands woman.】

【"Witch?"】

【I shouldn't call her that anymore.】

【I should call her Hua Wuyan.】

【Even though I hadn't heard her admit it herself, I felt that the current human Guardian could only be her.】

【I was about to step forward and greet her, but Hua Wuyan lightly tapped the ground with her walking stick.】

【In an instant, centered on the point where the walking stick struck, the earth surged up like ocean waves, rippling outward in all directions.】

【When the shockwave reached me, even as a Martial King at this moment, I couldn't withstand it and was flung backward.】

【"Myriad Ghosts Go to Market!"】

【I unleashed the classic old trick, sending the demon souls from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to act as my eyes and ears, approaching Hua Wuyan.】

【With one swing of her walking stick, Hua Wuyan cleared all the surrounding dark energy, and for a thousand li around, everything instantly became clear.】

【But the black smoke in the distance boiled over, seemingly unwilling to accept this, preparing to surge back.】

【"Master, life and death are fated, fortune lies with heaven. Since your lifespan has run its course, why cling so stubbornly to the mortal world?"】

【Hua Wuyan's aged voice carried a note of sincerity, yet seemed to conceal many stories within.】

【Those Dark Evil Spirits shattered, coalescing high in the sky into the fierce, resolute face of a middle-aged man.】

【This enormous face was filled with rage.】

【"Once I step onto the path of immortality, I, not heaven, shall decide my fate! When my demonic art reaches Great Achievement, I'll dye the azure sky with my blood!"】

【These words were very loud, audible even without using the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's techniques.】

【"Master? Demonic art? Could it be that the person who created the Forbidden Land and the Riot is..."】

【From the information I gathered from the Dragon-Man tribe, I knew that the fifth Guardian, Hua Wuyan's master, was the fourth generation.】

【The Great Demon!】

【Hua Wuyan spoke again.】

【"Master, I know your heart is unwilling, but the times have already changed. The path from the Void Realm into the Real Realm is blocked. No matter how great your ambitions and talents, what use is there if heaven and earth refuse to accept you?"】

【"No!! It's not heaven and earth that refuse to accept me!!! There are people sabotaging everything!!! I, here below, possess the ability to open the heavens! They, up above, engage in despicable schemes!!"】

【"Even so, what you are doing now—bringing disaster to the human world and poisoning all living beings—has already gone against your original aspirations."】

【"Don't speak to me of these things! Hypocritical!! If you truly cared for all living beings, why do you always wait until I've absorbed enough vital essence before making a move?!"】

【Hua Wuyan sighed, her expression complicated.】

【"Because I, too, am human."】

【With that, Hua Wuyan tossed the bamboo basket from her hand.】

【The seemingly crude bamboo basket was actually a Spirit Artifact.】

【It flew up into the sky on its own, scattering multicolored radiance like a celestial maiden scattering flowers.】

【The rolling darkness was covered and dispelled by the light.】

【The Forbidden Land Riot, which had been spreading from the Hundred Death Mountains toward the north and south, rapidly retreated.】

【All the darkness converged on the Hundred Death Mountains, making them look like a series of bleak, lonely tombs.】

【In the blink of an eye, Hua Wuyan had vanished.】

【"Truly elusive, appearing and disappearing like a ghost."】

【Hong Luan caught up.】

【"She is your human Guardian. She quelled the Forbidden Land Riot."】

【"You don't seem grateful to her."】

【"No member of the Demon Tribe will thank her. She could always make a move earlier, but she deliberately waits until the one inside the Forbidden Land has eaten its fill before acting. Unless the Forbidden Land loses control to the point of encroaching on areas where humans live, only then will she act early."】

【I said a bit awkwardly.】

【"Probably... because she, too, is human. So if there's any chaos in the Great Wastes, she'll turn a blind eye whenever she can?"】

【Hearing this, Hong Luan looked at me with even more adoration in her eyes.】

【"Only Benefactor is different. Even though we were strangers, you were willing to help our Demon Tribe without expecting anything in return. You are far greater than any Guardian!"】

【"So that's how you see it..."】

【The Forbidden Land Riot was over.】

【The path leading to the Holy Land was open again.】

【I bid farewell to Hong Luan and set off once more.】

【Although Hong Luan was extremely reluctant to part, she was only at the Spirit Condensation realm. Even though she could fly naturally thanks to her wings, there was no way she could keep up with me at full speed.】

【Hong Luan stared at me as I left, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears.】

【"Sigh, this damn charm of mine. Chen Yi, oh Chen Yi, how many people... and demons... have you unknowingly hurt..."】

【I couldn't help but pull out the half Qiankun Mirror to take a look and tidy up my hairstyle.】

【Sixth year, twenty-five years old.】

【Drawing a trait...】

【Trait drawn successfully!】

【「Thank You, Taro!」(White, Common): You suffer from face blindness, especially when thanking someone, you can't tell who actually helped you.】

【Adjust trait?】

【Yes/No】

"Oh? I've drawn this consumed trait again!"

In the fourth simulation, Chen Yi had drawn "Thank You, Taro."

Later, when grabbing the Demon Refining Pot, he used the "Trait Slingshot" to hit the Four-Eyed Spiritual Monkey with it.

That's why it wasn't inherited at the end of the simulation.

He didn't expect to draw it again so soon.

"I hope this simulation's 'me' doesn't use it and brings it out instead. That way, I can use it in every simulation from now on. It's pretty handy."

【I selected "No."】

【The earth was racing backward beneath my feet.】

【The mountains and forests unfurled like a painted scroll before me.】

【This vast continent, thirty thousand years ago, was once covered everywhere with traces of human activity, a holy land that countless Void Realm races had come to visit.】

【Back then, the Void Realm couldn't do without the human world, just as the West couldn't do without Jerusalem.】

【Now, all that remains are desolate jungles, with scattered demon tribes living upon them.】

【When I got tired of flying, I took a rest, stopping to find a few demons to play some steel with.】

【Now that I was deep in the Great Wastes, I didn't easily take out the Nine Provinces Cauldron, afraid that members of the Blood Moon would discover it and put me back in the passive position of being the hunted while the hunter remained hidden.】

【While playing steel along the way, I also asked those demons about the Blood Moon organization.】

【At first, no demons knew anything.】

【The closer I got to the eastern part of the Great Wastes, the more demons knew about the situation, and the more detailed the information became.】

【"What Blood Moon organization? Never heard of it!"】

【"Blood Moon? I've heard a little about it."】

【"Blood Moon? Isn't that a damn assassin organization! As long as you pay them, they'll kill anyone, human or demon! My third grandaunt on my mother's side was killed by them, and they cut off her horns!"】

【"No one knows where the Blood Moon's mountain gate or main headquarters is. They're like a group of shadows, moving mysteriously!"】

【Seventh year, twenty-six years old.】

【This year, I finally arrived at the Mountain and Sea Holy Land, one of the Three Great Holy Lands!】