161: Chapter 161 The Remnant Soul of the Emperor, His Last Words After Ten Thousand Years

The gray mist slowly parted in front of the group, as if some will were guiding them.

Lin Fan walked at the very front, each step steady. He could feel the calling growing stronger—it wasn't coming from the outside, but from the crystal of loyal bones within his body, from the depths of the Eternal Annihilation Body's Origin.

Su Zhiqing suddenly spoke, "There is a very strong Sword Intent ahead."

As a Sword Cultivator, her perception of swords was the most acute.

"How strong?" Xia Qingyue asked.

Su Zhiqing remained silent for a moment. "Stronger than my Revered Master."

Xia Qingyue's pupils constricted slightly.

Su Zhiqing's Revered Master was the Domain Lord of the Glazed Immortal Domain, one of the giants of the Immortal Realm, with unfathomable cultivation. To be stronger than her Revered Master— "It is the remnant Sword Intent from when the Monarch was alive," Lin Fan said. "It hasn't dissipated for ten thousand years; one can see how deep his obsession was."

The group continued forward.

The gray mist gradually thinned, and the scene ahead became clear.

It was a massive mausoleum built against the mountain, grand and imposing. Ninety-nine stone pillars stood at the front of the mausoleum, each carved with dense characters—the names of all the fallen members of the Eternal Battle Group.

Lin Pojun trembled when he saw the name on the first stone pillar.

"Qin Yue, Commander of the Seventh Guard, Qin Yue, died in battle in the year 9721 of the Annihilation Era."

He continued looking down, the second pillar, the third... Every pillar bore names he was familiar with—people he had seen in the illusions, people he had read about on the stone tablets, the warriors who had followed the Monarch to the very end ten thousand years ago.

Three thousand names were carved across the ninety-nine stone pillars.

The three hundred War Guards walked past these pillars in silence. Some reached out to gently touch the carvings, some knelt and kowtowed, and some closed their eyes in silent mourning.

Lin Fan stopped before the final stone pillar.

This pillar had no names, only two lines of text:

"Eternal Battle Group, three thousand and one people."

"The Commander is nameless; the Monarch has no tomb."

Su Zhiqing whispered, "The Monarch didn't leave a name?"

"He didn't want future generations to remember him," Lin Fan said. "He only wanted them to remember why they fought."

He stepped toward the main gate of the mausoleum.

The gate was wide open.

Or rather, it had never been closed in ten thousand years.

Lin Fan stepped into the mausoleum.

The interior was simpler than imagined—no gold, silver, or jewels, no lavish decorations, only a single stone chamber. In the center of the chamber stood a stone table with an oil lamp on it.

The oil lamp was still burning.

Unextinguished for ten thousand years.

A figure sat by the lamp.

He was a middle-aged man with a refined face and graying temples, wearing a faded green robe. He was looking down at something, but when he heard footsteps, he slowly raised his head.

Lin Fan saw his own eyes.

No, not his own—it was the light in those eyes, identical to the gray light in his own eyes.

Eternity and Annihilation coexisted.

"You have come," the middle-aged man spoke, his voice as gentle as a spring breeze. "I have waited for you for ten thousand years."

Lin Fan sat down across from him.

"Are you the Monarch?"

"Yes," the middle-aged man smiled. "And also you."

"Me?"

"Inheritors of the Eternal Annihilation Body are all fellow travelers on the same path," the Monarch said. "I simply walked a bit further and died a bit sooner. You have simply started a bit later and lived a bit longer."

He paused. "In a sense, you are me from ten thousand years ago, and I am you ten thousand years from now."

Lin Fan was silent.

"Confusing?" The Monarch laughed. "Don't think too much about it. I called you here just to see with my own eyes—that path, someone is finally continuing to walk it."

He raised his hand and pointed at the oil lamp.

"This lamp was lit with my life. Before I died, I sealed my last wisp of Divine Soul within it so it could burn for ten thousand years. I told myself, if no one came after ten thousand years, it was heaven's will."

"If someone came—"

He looked at Lin Fan, a flash of gratification in his eyes. "Then it means fate is not yet exhausted."

Lin Fan asked, "How did you die back then?"

The Monarch was silent for a moment.

"Killed by the Great Emperor of Annihilation." Lin Fan's pupils constricted slightly.

"Don't be nervous," the Monarch laughed. "I'm not asking you to avenge me. Quite the opposite, I want you to thank him for me."

"Thank him?"

"Yes." The Monarch leaned back against his chair, his gaze distant. "Back then, the Great Emperor of Annihilation and I debated the Dao for three thousand years. Finally, we made a bet. I bet that Eternity could encompass Annihilation, and he bet that Annihilation could swallow Eternity. The stakes were each other's lives."

"In the end, he won?"

"No," the Monarch shook his head. "We both lost, and we both won."

He raised his hand, and a ball of light appeared in his palm. Half was golden, half was black, entangling, resisting, and blending with each other, finally turning into a Chaos-like gray.

"After that battle, I understood that Eternity and Annihilation are two sides of the same coin. Without Eternity, Annihilation is meaningless; without Annihilation, Eternity becomes a shackle."

"The Great Emperor of Annihilation understood as well."

"So before he died, he said: 'I spent my life seeking transcendence, only to realize at the end that transcendence is not on the other shore, but behind me.'"

The Monarch looked at Lin Fan. "You should have heard this sentence in the Legacy."

Lin Fan nodded.

"That's good," the Monarch smiled. "It shows he didn't keep any secrets."

He stood up, walked to Lin Fan, and looked down at him.

"My time is running out. This wisp of Divine Soul has burned for ten thousand years; it's time for it to dissipate. Before parting, I have three sentences for you."

Lin Fan stood up and bowed solemnly. "Please speak."

"The first sentence—" the Monarch said. "The Eternal Annihilation Body is not the end, but the starting point. True transcendence lies in whether you can use this path to walk your own Dao."

"The second sentence—" He paused. "Beware of those who call themselves 'Nirvana Believers'. They have misinterpreted the Great Emperor of Annihilation's Dao, believing that destruction is everything. If they hadn't interfered back then, the battle between the Great Emperor of Annihilation and me wouldn't have had to end in life or death."

Lin Fan felt a chill in his heart.

Nirvana Believers... He had never heard this name in the Nirvana Divine Palace.

"The third sentence—" The Monarch looked at him, a complex look flashing in his eyes. "If you encounter a woman named 'Ethereal Moon'—"

He suddenly stopped.

After a long while, he shook his head. "Forget it, it's too early to say these things. You will naturally know when you should."

Lin Fan wanted to ask something, but the Monarch had already turned and walked toward the oil lamp.

"The gift I'm giving you is already inside your body," he said with his back to Lin Fan. "That crystal of loyal bones carries my final Eternal Mark. It will help you survive a certain-death calamity."

"As for the rest—"

He reached out and gently brushed over the oil lamp.

The flame flickered, casting his shadow in alternating light and dark.

"Are those people outside here with you?"

"Yes."

"Not bad," the Monarch smiled. "Stronger than I was back then. I walked this path alone."

He turned and gave Lin Fan one last look:

"Return alive."

"Live well on behalf of us." As his voice fell, his figure began to dissipate.

From feet to head, bit by bit, he turned into points of light.

Lin Fan stood in place, watching silently.

At the final moment of the Monarch's dissipation, his lips moved, silently saying a few words.

Lin Fan understood the lip-reading: "Tell Qin Yue that I don't blame him."

The points of light scattered, floating toward the ninety-nine stone pillars, toward the three thousand names, toward this land where the Eternal Battle Group was buried.

Lin Fan closed his eyes and bowed deeply.

After a long time, he opened his eyes, turned, and walked out of the mausoleum.

Outside the gate, the three hundred War Guards waited quietly.

Seeing his expression, Xia Qingyue asked softly, "You saw him?"

"I saw him."

"What did he say?"

Lin Fan looked into the distance, where the gray mist surged, yet could no longer hide the light on this land.

"He said, let us return alive."

"Live well on behalf of them."

The three hundred War Guards were silent.

Su Zhiqing's hand gripping her sword tightened slightly.

She vaguely felt that from this moment on, something more had been added to Lin Fan—not power, not Legacy, but responsibility.

For those who had already died, and for those who were still waiting.

He was no longer fighting only for himself.

Outside the valley entrance, Xue Sha licked his lips.

"They're out."

Behind him, a blood-colored figure slowly emerged. It was a thin, withered old man, his face as shriveled as a skeleton, his eyes blood-red like an abyss.

Blood Kill Envoy of the Shadow Kill Tower, Blood Butcher.

"What's in the mausoleum?" he asked.

"I don't know," Xue Sha said. "But after that kid came out, his Aura changed."

Blood Butcher narrowed his eyes.

He had lived for eight thousand years and seen too many geniuses. Some would become arrogant after obtaining an Opportunity, some would be cautious, and some would hide.

But he couldn't see through someone like Lin Fan.

"It doesn't matter," Blood Butcher said indifferently. "No matter how strong he is, he's only a Late-stage World Lord. With this seat personally taking action, he won't escape."

He raised his hand, and a blood-colored talisman appeared in his palm.

"Pass down the order: seal off all exits of Burial King Valley."

"Today, not even a fly is allowed to fly out."

The blood-colored talisman burned, turning into countless blood threads that drifted in all directions.

And in the further sky, a third demonic eye slowly opened.

A cold smile curled at the corners of the Three-Eyed Demon Lord's mouth:

"That old fellow Blood Butcher came too... interesting."

"But that's fine, let them make the first move."

"This seat will strike last and sweep them all up."

He licked his lips, the vertical line between his brows twitching slightly.

The wind in Burial King Valley stopped.

The gray mist solidified like stagnant water.

Lin Fan looked up at the sky, gray light swirling in his eyes.

"They've finally all arrived."

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly; it was a smile, but one as cold as ice. "Then let's begin."