Chapter 639: The Blackfiend Army and Return to the Eastern Xuan Region
Southern reaches of the Eastern Xuan Region.
The sky here was a quiet, endless blue. From time to time, flocks of birds swept past, their clear cries ringing far into the distance.
Buzz.
That long peace, however, was suddenly broken. The flocks scattered in panic as the azure dome of heaven began to twist.
Crack!
As the distortion reached its limit, space itself split open. A gigantic spatial rift was slowly torn into being.
From the depths of the tear surged a towering wave of murderous aura, sweeping across the land.
As the baleful qi spread, the air grew steadily colder.
The space rift pulsed once, and a tall, slender figure stepped calmly out.
It was Lin Langtian.
"The Eastern Xuan Region… finally back."
He spread his arms, taking a deep breath of the cool air of this world, murmuring to himself.
Behind him, the rift churned again as several more figures emerged. Then the killing intent spiked sharply.
Countless silhouettes shrouded in baleful qi poured out like a tide, gathering behind him in tight ranks, a terrifyingly elite army.
Lin Langtian glanced at the murderous host and nodded inwardly. This was the clan‑leader's personal guard of the Seven‑Slaughter Black Golden Crow clan—the Blackfiend Army. Only the clan leader and elders had the right to command them.
When Lin Langtian set out for the Eastern Xuan Region, Jin Wu had insisted on following. The Seven‑Slaughter Black Golden Crow clan had therefore dispatched this ten‑thousand‑strong Blackfiend Army to protect Jin Wu and assist Lin Langtian.
"So this is the Eastern Xuan Region…"
At the head of the Blackfiend Army stood a burly middle‑aged man with a long scar on his face and a dense aura of killing intent.
This was Jin Sha, the Blackfiend Army's commander and a Reincarnation Stage expert. He scanned the land before them, muttering under his breath.
"Big Brother, where are we?" Jin Wu asked, looking around.
The Eastern Xuan Region was vast beyond measure; no one could say where exactly they had emerged.
"We'll find out once we move."
Lin Langtian waved a hand and shot forward. The others, including the ten thousand Blackfiend soldiers, immediately followed.
Their speed was immense. In just over ten minutes, they had crossed several thousand li. The earlier tranquility was gone now.
Everywhere they looked lay scars and devastation, the clear aftermath of brutal warfare.
"Seems Yuan Gate's war has engulfed the entire Eastern Xuan Region." Jin Wu said, frowning.
Lin Langtian nodded slightly. Along the way, they had seen many fleeing groups—mostly mortals.
The occasional stronger presence they sensed still lay within the Three Creation Stages at most, not even strong enough to notice Lin Langtian and his forces passing overhead.
"There's a sizable force ahead, headed this way. Some of them are at least worth a glance." Jin Sha said, eyes fixed forward.
Lin Langtian swept his Mental Energy over the distance and quickly found them—a crowd of more than ten thousand people, far stronger overall than those they'd seen before.
One individual among them possessed the aura of a minor Death Profound expert, a level that would earn an elder's position in a super sect.
But the entire group was clearly in disarray, eyes full of fear and desperation. Broken soldiers, fleeing from defeat—though from whose banner was yet unclear.
"Big Brother?" Jin Wu turned to him for instruction.
"Don't waste time." Lin Langtian shook his head. "In this chaos, most of the fighting is between the kingdoms under Yuan Gate and the other super sects.
"Our priority is Yuan Gate. Once it falls, the rest will settle on its own."
Jin Wu nodded and was just about to give the order when he saw Lin Langtian's expression suddenly still.
"Wait."
Lin Langtian narrowed his eyes, staring into the distance.
"What is it?" Jin Wu asked, peering ahead.
"Looks like… someone I know."
Lin Langtian's smile softened slightly, tinged with nostalgia. How many years had it been?
Boom, boom!
A ragged flood of people thundered down the road, glancing nervously backward with every step.
At their head, a middle‑aged woman rode a galloping horse, her face deathly pale.
Clearly gravely wounded, she coughed repeatedly, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth as her body struggled to endure.
"Martial Aunt Mo, are you all right?"
A startled cry came from beside her. A young woman urged her horse closer.
She wore a blue dress, her beautiful features framed by willow‑slender brows. Her figure was graceful as a reed at the lakeside, but her face was creased with worry.
"Lan Ying, I'm fine. If they catch up, I'll hold them off. You take everyone back to the Nine Heavens Taixuan Palace. Only there will you be safe." the middle‑aged woman said, shaking her head.
"But, Martial Aunt…"
"No more arguing. The royal bloodline of the Immortal Kingdom has already been reduced to this. Are you planning to let your entire clan die here?" the woman snapped, eyes sharp.
Lan Ying bit her lip until blood seeped from it, saying nothing more.
The woman known as Martial Aunt Mo sighed in despair, about to speak again when her expression suddenly changed.
"Stop!" she shouted, jerking her head up.
The column lurched to a halt, turning to look ahead. Faces blanched as several thousand spear‑bearing guards rushed forward to form a defensive wall.
Hovering in the air before them was a vast formation of black‑clad soldiers in perfect, motionless ranks. The baleful aura rolling off them seemed to freeze the very air.
Martial Aunt Mo stared at them, dread twisting in her gut.
This alone was enough to make her chest tighten.
And yet what truly rattled her heart was not the army, but the few figures standing at its head.
Each of those silhouettes made her Spiritual Energy tremble.
"Martial Aunt, they don't look like Yuan Gate's people." Lan Ying said cautiously, having sensed no hostility from the newcomers.
Her words snapped Martial Aunt Mo from her daze. Pushing past her fear, she swung down from her horse and bowed deeply.
"May this junior ask which seniors stand before us? I am Mo Yun, an elder of the Nine Heavens Taixuan Palace. If we have offended in any way, I beg your pardon."
The others were stunned. They knew Mo Yun's strength and pride well—yet here she was, bowing like a junior.
"Off your horses, all of you. Do not be rude. Those seniors may well be no weaker than our Palace Master." Mo Yun urged urgently.
"No weaker than the Palace Master?"
Lan Ying and the others paled. They scrambled to dismount and bow respectfully.
As they stopped, the black host in the sky descended slowly.
The closer they came, the more suffocating the baleful qi became. Lan Ying and her group could barely breathe.
What sort of force was this? Not even the Nine Heavens Taixuan Palace could field such a terrifying army.
As they bowed, a few figures dropped down from the foremost ranks and drifted toward them.
"Miss Lan Ying, it has been years. You are well, I hope."
Mo Yun, who was just about to bow again, froze at the gentle voice. These seniors… knew Lan Ying?
Lan Ying, too, blinked in confusion and slowly lifted her gaze.
Several figures stood before her. At their head was a handsome young man in a green robe.
He looked no older than she was. His youthful features stirred a deep sense of familiarity within her.
"Senior, you know Lan Ying?" Mo Yun asked carefully.
She did not dare relax just because this man looked young. The pressure radiating from him had already frozen her Yuan Power in her veins.
"You… you're Lin Langtian?!"
Before he could answer, Lan Ying suddenly cried out, recognition lighting her face. Shock warred with disbelief in her eyes.
"Which Lin Langtian? You mean the Yuan Gate trai—no, the Lord of the Heavenly Palace, Lin Langtian?"
Mo Yun caught herself just in time, swallowing the word "traitor" and replacing it with his current title.
A wave of fright washed over her. She stared at him again in stunned awe.
"Hehe, it seems you still remember me, Miss Lan Ying." Lin Langtian smiled faintly.
Looking at the familiar lines of her face, his mind drifted back.
So many years had passed. The Hundred Empires War… it must have been nearly ten years ago now.
"We haven't heard from you in so long. Junior Sister Su Rou still mentions you often. And Senior Sister Qingzhu… she, too, speaks of you." Lan Ying said quickly, her cheeks flushing with excitement.
"Su Rou…"
Lin Langtian chuckled softly at the thought of the once‑shy girl. Then another image rose in his heart—a cold, ethereal woman.
Ling Qingzhu.
The woman as aloof as an immortal descending to the mortal realm. Whatever the passage of time, he knew there was no longer any separating their fates—not after what had passed between them.
"Ahem."
Mo Yun cleared her throat, glancing nervously at Lan Ying's flushed, animated face.
Lin Langtian was now Lord of the Heavenly Palace, and from the formation behind him, it was obvious this terrifying force stood under his command. The scale of his power was beyond anything she had imagined.
Lan Ying snapped back to herself, quickly stepping back with a flustered expression.
Lin Langtian smiled and was about to speak when his eyes hardened, turning toward the distance.
A huge host was advancing from behind Mo Yun's group, powerful auras flaring in the air above them.
Mo Yun and Lan Ying sensed it too. Alarm flickered across their faces.
"Young Master Lin, Young Clan Leader."
Jin Sha glanced at Lin Langtian and Jin Wu.
"Yuan Gate forces." Jin Wu said coolly, a hard edge flashing in his gaze.
"Kill them all." Lin Langtian said, his tone light.
"Understood."
Jin Sha did not blink. He waved a hand, and a Blackfiend strike squad vanished from sight.
A few breaths later, screams tore through the air behind Mo Yun and Lan Ying.
They spun around just in time to see the Yuan Gate elites—the same ones even Mo Yun could not withstand—fall one by one, cut down before they could retaliate.
Swish!
In less than a minute, the Blackfiend squad reappeared behind Jin Sha.
Their armor dripped fresh blood. The suffocating aura of slaughter around them made everyone behind Lan Ying clamp their mouths shut in terror.
Mo Yun and Lan Ying swallowed hard. They knew all too well that three minor Death Profound experts had led those Yuan Gate forces.
Compared to them, these Blackfiend soldiers were butchers of gods and demons.
"Thank you, Lord Lin, for saving us."
Lan Ying clenched her fists, her face flushed with mingled fear and relief.
Lin Langtian shook his head with a smile. "No need for such formality, Miss Lan Ying. Just call me by name.
"Tell me—where in the Eastern Xuan Region are we?"
"This is the southern region, where the Immortal Kingdom's lands once bordered the Northern Mountain Kingdom." Lan Ying said sadly. "But now… the Immortal Kingdom no longer exists."
Lin Langtian's eyes dimmed. He nodded slowly.
"How fares the Nine Heavens Taixuan Palace?" he asked after a pause.
"We don't know."
Lan Ying shook her head. "We've been on the run from Yuan Gate for some time and have had no contact with the palace.
"But with the Palace Master there, I… I believe they should still be holding."
"Oh, right—"
Her eyes suddenly widened. "Lord Lin, you're from the Lin clan of the Great Yan Empire, aren't you?"
"Then you should go back at once. The Great Yan Empire has been besieged by several kingdoms loyal to Yuan Gate for three months.
"They've lost again and again and are now pushed back to the capital itself. All the major clans have gathered there.
"If the capital falls, they'll all be slaughtered!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Lan Ying felt the entire world go cold.
Lin Langtian's expression turned as frigid as ice.
(END CHAPTER)
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