97: I ate

Pfft—

The sudden slap momentarily caused Chen Qingxuan's mind to go blank.

As a result, the Spirit Medicine he was holding in his mouth sprayed out uncontrollably... and as luck would have it, it landed right on the woman's pretty face.

"Impudent!"

The woman screamed in shock.

As she spoke, she suddenly stood up from the ground, her beautiful eyes glaring at Chen Qingxuan with indignation.

Meanwhile, Chen Qingxuan quickly retreated. "Holy crap... what's going on?"

"Revered Master, why is she awake?"

Ji Qianyou was also so startled that she covered her small mouth.

Before Chen Qingxuan could respond,

the woman glared deathly at Chen Qingxuan and raised a jade-like hand... a chilling pressure instantly permeated the air.

It was exactly the same pressure felt when stepping into the Land of Extreme Cold!

"Wait, wait, wait... it's a misunderstanding, Senior."

Chen Qingxuan didn't have time to think and hurriedly explained, "I'm the one who defrosted you... I just wanted to wake you up... I'm not a bad person!"

Before the explanation, the woman was merely angry.

After hearing it, the cold light in her eyes grew even sharper. "Only ten days left... This King could have fully recovered... You dare ruin my plans... See if I don't refine you!"

Boom—

A terrifying power erupted from within the woman, and countless visible ice particles swirled around her. The cold was bone-chilling, as if a blizzard had descended.

"What the hell?"

Chen Qingxuan was dumbfounded.

Ji Qianyou spoke up, "Don't be afraid, Revered Master. She doesn't seem to have fully recovered... this aura is no match for us."

Whiz—

At that moment, the woman's figure swept forward like a bolt of lightning, moving with incredible speed.

"There's less than two years before the world is destroyed and reshaped, and I just wanted to find an ally... why is it so hard!" Chen Qingxuan felt like crying but had no tears.

Just as he was preparing to resist, the woman, who had been charging forward with unstoppable momentum, suddenly stopped.

"What did you say? How do you know the world will be destroyed in less than two years?"

"Ah?" Chen Qingxuan paused, disbelieving. "You believe me?"

Ji Qianyou chimed in, "Revered Master, from what she's saying... could it be that she knows as well?"

Before Chen Qingxuan could speak, the woman pressed him again, "Answer This King, how do you know of this matter?"

"So it's true..."

Chen Qingxuan's eyes lit up.

Seeing the woman's expression of disbelief, he was instantly certain... she really did know about this.

"To answer Senior," Chen Qingxuan immediately cupped his hands, "this humble one observed the celestial phenomena at night..."

"Observe your head!" the woman interrupted coldly, her voice carrying a heavy pressure. "Tell the truth."

"Uh..."

Chen Qingxuan was momentarily speechless.

Then, a flash of inspiration hit him and he pulled out the myriad things codex. "To answer Senior, I accidentally learned of this from this Magical Artifact. This item is called the myriad things codex, and it knows all the affairs of the Cangyun Continent..."

"The myriad things codex?"

The woman's expression shifted.

The next moment, she stepped forward and snatched the myriad things codex directly from Chen Qingxuan's hand.

Chen Qingxuan didn't mind. Instead, he thoughtfully stepped forward to remind her, "Senior, if you use it like this, you can search for secrets that have occurred within the Cangyun Continent..."

Following Chen Qingxuan's instructions, the woman tried a few times and then asked, "Why can't I find any news regarding the destruction of the world? Didn't you say you learned it from this?"

"Emm... to be honest, I've only seen it once... but for some reason, I couldn't find information on it later... It's as if a mysterious power deliberately erased it." Chen Qingxuan acted mysterious, fabricating a lie on the spot.

It wasn't that he wanted to deceive her, but the truth was impossible to explain.

Fortunately, the woman didn't suspect him... in fact, she actually fell for it.

Closing the myriad things codex, the woman said solemnly, "Although it can no longer be seen on here, you are right... in less than two years, the Cangyun Continent will indeed be destroyed."

"Um..."

Ji Qianyou was about to speak.

But before she could finish, Chen Qingxuan raised his hand to interrupt her, then asked the woman, "I wonder how Senior, being sealed in ice here, came to know of this?"

"Sealed in ice?"

The woman gave a cold laugh and turned to look at Chen Qingxuan. "Who told you This King was sealed in ice? I deliberately froze myself and this region to heal my injuries."

"To heal injuries?"

Chen Qingxuan was stunned.

Faced with his shocked expression, the woman narrowed her phoenix-like eyes. "As for how I knew the world was about to be destroyed, to be precise... I knew much earlier than you... I knew as early as tens of thousands of years ago."

"What? Tens of thousands of years ago?"

Chen Qingxuan was flabbergasted.

Before he could ask further, the woman didn't hide anything and directly revealed the reason she had frozen herself to heal—

A great war!

An unprecedented great war!

And the enemy wasn't any force from the Cangyun Continent... but from the Three Thousand Divine Provinces.

Chen Qingxuan couldn't help but interject, "Senior... what are the Three Thousand Divine Provinces?"

"The Three Thousand Divine Provinces are the true world!" the woman said solemnly. "And the Cangyun Continent where you and I live doesn't even count as one of its provinces. At most, it's an... abandoned low-level plane."

Chen Qingxuan looked horrified. "What? Then why would the people of the Three Thousand Divine Provinces become enemies of the Cangyun Continent?"

"Because of an... Immortal Assessment."

The woman gritted her silver teeth.

As she recalled, she couldn't help but clench her fists. "Every fifty thousand years, the Three Thousand Divine Provinces hold an assessment to hunt prey outside of the Three Thousand Divine Provinces. This prey includes humans... Depending on the strength of the prey hunted, it is decided whether one can join the ranks of the Immortals... only then does one have the chance to serve the ruler of the Three Thousand Divine Provinces, the God King!"

God King?

Hearing this for the first time, Chen Qingxuan was completely stunned.

He just wanted to stop the world's destruction so he could survive... how did it involve the Three Thousand Divine Provinces and some assessment?

And what on earth were these Immortals and God Kings?

"By the way, Senior... aren't you from the Cangyun Continent? How do you know these things?" Chen Qingxuan's eyes darted around as he questioned her.

The woman looked at him calmly. "Because in the last Immortal Assessment, the person who came to the Cangyun Continent to hunt... was killed by me in a joint effort with Cultivators from both the human and demon races... I extracted his memories... that is how I know these secrets."

"Killed... and extracted memories?"

Chen Qingxuan was shocked once again.

Before he could ask more, a hint of sorrow appeared between the woman's brows. "But that battle was still a disaster for the Cangyun Continent. Millions of Cultivators died at his hands, and even I was heavily injured... I had no choice but to freeze myself to repair my Primordial Spirit."

"Um..."

Ji Qianyou wanted to say something.

But before she could finish, she was again interrupted by Chen Qingxuan. "If someone who hadn't even been promoted to an Immortal could wipe out millions of Cultivators on the Cangyun Continent... then what kind of strength would true Immortals and the God King possess?"

Chen Qingxuan's expression was grave.

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

Then, he suddenly thought of something. "May I ask, Senior, after you wiped out the enemy from the Three Thousand Divine Provinces back then... didn't the Three Thousand Divine Provinces come for revenge?"

"According to that person's memories, no one knew he had come to the Cangyun Continent to hunt," the woman explained. "And before freezing myself, I deliberately erased his aura. Unless it was the God King... presumably no one could detect that he died here... and a mere person who hadn't even joined the ranks of the Immortals likely wasn't qualified to disturb the God King."

"However..."

The woman's tone shifted. "Even if no one has discovered that person's death on the Cangyun Continent, the Immortal Assessment that occurs every fifty thousand years is still ongoing. If someone comes to hunt again in two years... they will inevitably discover that someone died here fifty thousand years ago... at that time, the entire Cangyun Continent will face unprecedented retaliation!"

"So the reason for the world's destruction and reshaping... is actually because of an assessment?"

Chen Qingxuan laughed out of pure frustration upon learning the truth.

Dammit... they're using the Cangyun Continent as a hunting ground?

And the prey... includes humans?

If the events from back then were exposed... then in the eyes of the people from the Three Thousand Divine Provinces, it would be no different from the prey killing the hunter.

What kind of retaliation that would provoke... was self-evident!

Chen Qingxuan looked at the woman. "Senior was able to kill the enemy from the Three Thousand Divine Provinces back then, so this time... do you already have a plan?"

"There is indeed one way."

The woman did not hide it.

"After killing that person back then, I found many treasures on him, especially a seed... the place where millions of Cultivators fell on the Cangyun Continent is perfectly suited for that seed's growth... perhaps this is a chance to change the situation."

"Huh?"

Chen Qingxuan was stunned and asked tentatively, "Senior... you wouldn't be talking about the lotus of life, would you?"

"You know of it?"

"I ate it."