The empty city was destroyed (28)
Zhao Huai Ren was completely baffled. Although he and Duan Yougan had found Zhan Yan in the palace, this imperial advisor was no different from the others in the illusion. The two returned to the inn, but the large room was empty. Even the little girl with a ponytail who used to serve them was nowhere to be seen.
"Hmm, where is he?" Zhao Huai-ren asked in confusion, and set out to search the house.
Duan Yougan stood there, lost in thought. Only after Zhao Huai Ren returned from searching without finding anyone did Duan Yougan speak up, "It seems we made a mistake from the start."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Huai-ren hadn't reacted yet.
"The Zhan Yan we're looking for has been here from the very beginning."
Zhao Huai-ren pondered for a moment, then suddenly froze: "You mean..."
Before the words were even finished, the little girl, who had been nowhere to be seen before, appeared in front of the two of them without them noticing, swinging her long ponytail.
"Were you two looking for me?" She had a kind expression, with a subtle, enigmatic smile playing on her lips. She wasn't surprised that the two seemed wary, and simply asked, "Have you two had a good stay at my inn?"
Duan Yougan's gaze was icy, mercilessly puncturing her hypocritical smile: "Stop pretending, Zhan Yan. You couldn't have gathered us here at this inn just to watch us get played like fools, could you?"
Upon hearing this, Zhan Yan slightly suppressed his smile. He tucked his chin in, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and stared intently at the outsider before him.
Just like now, he adopted the same posture, staring intently at Ye Yingying and the others.
"How did you recognize me?" Zhan Yan still used that clear, girlish voice, but his expression revealed a deepness that didn't match his appearance.
“You gave us four keys, and then said that two of them were spares. But the teeth on those four keys are all different. Isn’t that lie a bit too obvious?” Wu Yue said to him irritably.
Upon hearing this, Zhan Yan curled his lips again, his eyes filled with a hint of mockery: "Not stupid after all."
“However, I was indeed a little confused when I gave you the keys. This cycle started too early, and I didn’t even know how to ‘entertain’ you.” Zhan Yan propped his chin up with one finger, frowned and sighed with feigned annoyance, “It’s all because no one has come here for so long, and my reactions have become sluggish.”
His words were rambling and left Zhao Yuxiao completely bewildered. He couldn't help but ask, "If you are Zhan Yan, then who is the person in the palace?"
“That’s me too, the original me,” Zhan Yan replied with a smile.
Zhao Yuxiao was even more confused: "Then what about you now?"
"This is me now, the reborn me after entering the illusion array."
"An illusion array?" Wu Yue raised an eyebrow and pressed, "So this place really is an array?"
"Yes and no." Zhan Yan shrugged. "At first, I only wanted to build an illusion array so that the entire city could exist forever within the array. But even though my cultivation has reached the late stage of the Returning to Void realm, it is still difficult to build such an array."
Late stage of Returning to the Void... The group was all taken aback. This meant that Zhan Yan was indeed only one step away from ascending to immortality back then.
"I continuously channeled spiritual energy into the formation, but even when the spiritual energy was exhausted, it could only last for three days at most."
At this point, Zhan Yan sighed regretfully. But in an instant, he smiled again: "Fortunately, the spiritual power I dissipated transformed the formation into a secret realm. The souls of 100,000 people in Jincheng can now exist eternally in this secret realm."
"One hundred thousand?" Wu Yue's face paled in horror upon hearing this. "Could it be that you killed everyone in the entire city?!"
Mentioning this, Zhan Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression dejected, his eyes filled with melancholy and helplessness: "No, but I am not entirely uninvolved either."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled a breath of stale air.
When he opened his eyes again, Zhan Yan regained his composure: "Yue Li, since I became the Grand Preceptor, the country has always been peaceful and prosperous."
"Shi Huan was a good ruler. He worked diligently and conscientiously, and brought prosperity to Viet Le."
"His son Shi Yao was also good. Although he was not as wise and powerful as his father, he was still a wise ruler."
Zhan Yan began to recount his past in a soliloquy. He was like a piece of rotten wood abandoned by time, only able to rely on his past glories to sustain his existence.
But as he spoke, the light in his eyes dimmed: "But this Shi Xuan... I don't know what got into him, he worships human sacrifice, restores outdated customs, and appoints treacherous officials to do whatever they want..."
“I was only in seclusion for twenty years, and they dared to use my name to engage in the buying and selling of human animals.”
As Zhan Yan spoke, his tone grew heavier. He lowered his eyes, let out a long sigh, and was filled with resentment.
"Originally, I only wanted to make an example of his favorite minister. But I underestimated him. That kid actually colluded with that group of nobles to try to kill me first."
"I was careless for a moment and fell into the formation. In order to break free, I had no choice but to unlock the Witch Spirit Lock..."
Upon hearing this, Wu Yue understood: "So, you summoned heavenly lightning?"
Zhan Yan paused, even after so much time had passed, the tragic scene was still vivid in his mind: thunder and lightning, raging fire burning the city, and the desperate cries and wails all around him. He could only watch helplessly as his beloved city-state turned into a living hell.
He spoke with deep sorrow: "Heaven is merciless. I came here to rid the world of evil, but it sent down heavenly lightning to destroy everything I had..."
"I am not reconciled and want to save it, but the secret realm formed by this formation is not very stable. Although it does not consume as much energy as the formation, it still needs to be maintained by spiritual power."
"So I spread the word that there was a magical artifact here that could defy fate, so that I could lure cultivators to come and search for the treasure, and then use their spiritual power to further consolidate the secret realm."
"However, there are fewer and fewer things that can attract this place..."
Zhan Yan muttered to himself for a while, then suddenly came to his senses. He looked at Ye Yingying and the others with a calm expression, without any hostility, but rather with some appreciation: "Not many people can find me, so as a reward, I can answer one question for each of you."
Finally, he added, "You can ask me anything you want."
Ask anything? Ye Yingying's heart stirred, and she couldn't help but hesitate. After all, Zhan Yan was a true master who had reached the Void Returning Realm. Perhaps Yun Yanqiu could try the method he used for cultivation and advancement?
She glanced at the other three, who all fell silent without prior agreement.
The offer was incredibly tempting, and Ye Yingying figured she might as well ask. Besides, she didn't think she was going to die here.
Before she could speak, Zhao Yuxiao preemptively asked, "Is fate truly unchangeable?"
He was obviously asking on behalf of Wu Yue. Wu Yue was taken aback when she heard the question. She turned her head to look at Zhao Yuxiao, her eyes filled with turbulent emotions, as if she had a thousand words to say but couldn't find the words.
"A calamity of fate?" Zhan Yan chuckled self-deprecatingly at his question. "A calamity of fate is just something used to scare people."
“I was born into the witch clan and studied divination from a young age. At first, I predicted that I would die at the age of fifty, but that year I was just driven out of the Witch Valley.”
"Later I calculated that I would die in the wilderness at the age of one hundred and twenty, but that year I was saved by the people of Yue Li..."
"Even on my last occasion, I calculated that I would live for another two hundred years. But what happened? When I reached my fortieth year, I exhausted my spiritual power and built this secret realm."
Zhan Yan recounted his experiences and concluded, "It's just those old stubborns of the Wu tribe who believe in these unfounded rules and are stuck in their ways."
After saying that, he glanced at Wu Yue: "Little girl, you're also from the Wu clan, right? Are they still like this now?"
"them……"
Wu Yue was speechless at his question. The divination technique that she was so proud of, which was passed down through the Wu clan, had the highest level of being able to divine one's own fate. In the Wu clan, divining one's own fate was considered the highest taboo.
She firmly believed that as long as she could calculate her own destiny, she would have reached the pinnacle of her lineage. But after hearing Zhan Yan's words, Wu Yue suddenly felt confused. Was what she had always firmly believed really as fragile as he said?
"It seems so." Zhan Yan gleaned the answer from her reaction. He smiled coldly, having long since lost all attachment to the Witch Clan.
Then, he glanced at the others and asked, "Any other questions?"
"Since you're using cultivators' spiritual power to maintain the illusion, why didn't you kill the shopkeeper?"
The person who asked this question was Yun Yanqiu. His gaze was cold and stern as he met Zhan Yan's eyes, his tone carrying a hint of anger.
Zhan Yan was slightly taken aback when he heard this, and then replied, "Because I have a bet with him."
"What did you bet on?"
"We're betting on whether his companions will come back to rescue him."
Yun Yanqiu was taken aback: "His companion?"
“He was a companion who came in with him,” Zhan Yan explained. “He said that if he won the bet, I would have to destroy my own soul, and if he lost the bet, he would willingly submit to my commands.”
"As you all saw, that guy abandoned him and ran away. Poor idiot, he thought until the very end that the man would come back to save him."
Zhan Yan waved his hand, glanced at the sleeping shopkeeper, and sneered twice, as if mocking him.
Then, his gaze fell on Wu Yue and Ye Yingying, who had not yet asked any questions, and he cast questioning glances at them.
"I'm fine," Wu Yue said sullenly, still lost in thought about the topic of her fate.
Seeing this, Zhan Yan didn't say anything more, but smiled and turned his gaze back to Ye Yingying.
Ye Yingying glanced at the shopkeeper, who was slumped over the table, motionless, and felt a sense of unease. The terms of the bet alone didn't seem sufficient to keep Zhan Yan's soul lingering until now…
She looked at Yun Yanqiu, and the other person returned her gaze, clearly having the same thought.
So Ye Yingying took a step forward, cleared her throat, and said loudly, "Then it's my turn to ask. My question is very simple: why are those who are used as sacrifices in the illusion you created not even human?"
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