“Hehe, so there really is a mastermind behind the scenes...”

The Left Historian Immortal’s shoulders shook as he let out broken bursts of laughter, tilting his head back to let the rain wash over his face.

In the nearly forty thousand years since becoming an immortal, he had always regarded the Four Ancient Immortals as his imaginary enemies. When the Ember Legacy Dynasty fell, he had even felt an ineffable satisfaction. They wanted to establish the Ember Legacy Dynasty and produce an Everlasting Dao Fruit through faith power, yet ended up creating a monster like the Silent Annihilation Immortal, causing the Epoch Immortal to perish and the other three to flee in panic. Retribution, indeed.

Hence, when he divined that the Silent Annihilation Immortal would appear in the future, he didn’t inform the Four Ancient Immortals. Instead, he waited to watch a good show unfold.

Although he was on the hit list, just the thought of the four immortals sharing the same fate as him lifted his spirits considerably.

Who would have thought that from the very beginning, the mastermind had shown me a false past, making me suspicious of everyone and trusting no one.

“As expected of the mastermind behind the scenes...”

If I had shared my divination results with the Four Ancient Immortals back then, would things have turned out differently?

What have I gained after all my scheming?

“Are you finished?” Hui Doudou asked icily, not giving anyone time to react.

A gray flame symbolizing deathly silence and withering appeared in her palm. As it burned, space began to collapse.

The gray flame instantly engulfed the Left Historian Immortal. Smoke emitted from his seven orifices as he screamed in agony.

“Stop!” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy shouted, but it was too late. The gray flame burned the Left Historian Immortal to ash, just like the Heaven Mandate Corpse back then.

“What are you doing?!”

Hui Doudou looked at her other self coldly. “Severing karmic ties, drawing closer to Transcendence, and facing the mastermind behind the scenes. Isn’t this why the Heaven Mandate Immortal and the others resurrected me?

“I alone am enough to deal with the mastermind. Your existence is superfluous.”

“And you destroyed the entire Ember Legacy Dynasty just for that?” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy demanded, trembling with rage, unable to contain her fury.

“That was a necessary price.”

“That was an unnecessary price!” Tears welled in the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s eyes. A dynasty was destroyed, history became fragmented, and a hundred thousand years of history were forcibly erased. Just how many people had to die to accomplish something like this?

All of this happened because of me. I don’t want to be revived or seek revenge anymore. Would that do? I’m not that important!

“Oh, right, the Heaven Mandate Immortal and the others resurrected me, hoping I would become you.” Hui Doudou shook her head with a self-mocking smile, ridiculing the absurdity of her own origin.

“You are not me.”

“Exactly. You have it so good. With the Everlasting Dao Fruit, you fear no danger and live without worries. You even have so many people who like you, care about you, and go to great lengths to resurrect you. I’m just someone without even a name. How could I possibly become you?

“But if I don’t become you, why do I exist in this world? How can I get Little He to truly accept me?” Hui Doudou’s expression hardened.

She stared at her true self, no longer hiding her murderous intent. She spat through gritted teeth. “If I don’t kill you, how can I become you?!

“I told you—I will kill you and prove that I am the real you!”

“No, don’t...” Qing He rushed forward anxiously to stop them, but Hui Doudou casually immobilized her with a restriction.

Hui Doudou gave Qing He a meaningful look, no longer hiding her aura. Her blood boiled, and she radiated an ominous light from head to toe. With a mighty leap, she dispersed the rainclouds.

The torrential rain that the two of them had brought forth was scattered.

Had it not been for the Left Historian Immortal’s interference, Hui Doudou would have already issued a challenge after pouring out her heart to the Everlasting Immortal Fairy on the street.

I must fight to the death with Everlasting today!

“Everlasting Immortal, let us battle in the sky above!”

“Bring it on!”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy also developed a killing intent toward her. Her soul glowed, as if radiating an eternal, inextinguishable light.

~~~

“Has the battle of the three immortals ended?” Zhu Tian asked, his voice quivering. He wasn’t really seeking an answer, but talking to himself out of fear, hoping that it would ease his fear.

Boom!

A dull crash sounded. The entire Demon City shook, and the immortal-tier array encasing it shattered into pieces instantly.

This commotion reminded Zhu Tian of the sparring matches among the Four Ancient Immortals in ancient times. Meteorites poured down like rain, and the stars across the sky shattered. No, the commotion far exceeds that of those sparring matches.

Zhu Tian was terrified. This can almost rival the ultimate battle between the Four Ancient Immortals and that unknown existence!

What exactly is happening? That battle had been the highest-level battle in all of history!

Zhu Tian stepped out of the immortal palace and looked up at the sky. Two graceful figures with identical faces but completely different auras clashed, each collision sending the earth shaking.

The sheer scale of this fight far surpasses the earlier battle of the three immortals!

Zhu Tian’s mouth twitched. It’s one thing for the Battle of the Great Era to have started because of me, but can it not take place on my territory?

I really can’t do anything about this.

“Uncle Zhu Tian, what’s happening?”

Jin Caiwei flew over in a rush from the Qiongqi Tribe. She had been in slumber and was jolted awake by the commotion.

Zhu Tian was of the same generation as the Old Qiongqi, so by seniority, Jin Caiwei called him uncle.

“Look at the sky.”

When Jin Caiwei saw the two “Everlasting Immortal Fairies,” she was equally flabbergasted. What happened while I was unconscious?

“This won’t do. Demon City is in danger!” Jin Caiwei and Zhu Tian made the same judgment simultaneously.

Neither the Everlasting Immortal Fairy nor Hui Doudou intended to harm innocents, so they flew as high as possible. But in a combat of this level, even a stray attack could reduce Demon City to ruins, and no array could stop it.

Zhu Tian was helpless. This is a world-ending calamity.

“I have a way,” Jin Caiwei shouted as she flew low.

The battle above was far from her, yet the spatial tremors it caused were so strong that she could sense them, even affecting her flight.

“Compress!”

She activated her Planarity Incipient Dao Fruit, compressing the entire Demon City into a plane. She then adjusted its size, making both its length and width into a single inch. The vast city now lay in the palm of Jin Caiwei.

“Uncle Zhu Tian, you pacify the civilians. I’ll go see what’s happening!”

Zhu Tian’s Law of the Jungle Incipient Dao Fruit could maintain order among the Demon City’s inhabitants, preventing unrest that might lead to casualties and property damage.

When Jin Caiwei flattened the city, a few people were unaffected.

Lu Yang and the others were easy to find. A massive square pit remained where Demon City had stood, with only three people in it.

“Greetings, Senior Jin.”

“Young Creed Leader, what’s happening here?” As expected, the Young Creed Leader is unaffected.

“It’s a long story.” Lu Yang sighed. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Sister Qing He, why are you here too?” Jin Caiwei was especially surprised to see Qing He. The latter had looked after her a great deal during her childhood.

Qing He looked up at the sky, remaining silent.

“Second-in-Command, hurry up and call Little Zhi!” Yun Mengmeng anxiously urged. In truth, she still didn’t know what was happening or how the fight had started.

What is the Ember Legacy Dynasty? And why are there two First-in-Commands?

Lu Yang shook his head. “The Immortal Fairy just transmitted an auditory message to me, saying that since this matter began with her, it must end with her. She doesn’t want anyone to interfere.”