Chapter 2188: Intentional Murder

Under the moonlight, Ye Chen coughed dryly and walked towards an old acquaintance.

To be precise, this acquaintance wasn't a person but a peacock – a colorful one, none other than Tian Zhi, the princess of the Seven-Colored Peacock Clan.

At this moment, she was squatting on the ground, head bowed, meticulously searching for something. She was so focused that she didn't notice someone approaching from behind.

Watching her, Ye Chen was quite surprised. Wasn't this woman supposed to be in the black hole?

He walked to her side and also squatted down. "So focused, what are you looking for?"

His words startled Tian Zhi. She instinctively turned her head, and upon seeing Ye Chen's face, she froze, a look of astonishment on her face. Do you not make a sound when you walk? Where did you come from?

"It's been eight years, and you're doing well," Ye Chen smiled.

"It really has been eight years. Young Master Ye has a good memory," Tian Zhi also smiled, but a trace of anger flickered in her beautiful eyes. She had been left in the black hole for eight years, waiting until the flowers wilted, but Ye Chen never came to retrieve her. She strongly suspected he had forgotten about her. Who wouldn't be angry?

Hearing this, Ye Chen's smile became awkward. Heaven and earth can be witnesses, I've always been thinking of you. Unfortunately, my Lun Hui Yan was sealed, so I couldn't enter the black hole. After it was unsealed, I couldn't return to Zhu Tian. Isn't this frustrating?

"Is this the legendary cause and effect?" Tian Zhi rubbed her forehead. Her words weren't groundless. Back then, Ye Chen saved her from the black hole, and during the Tian Mo invasion, he threw her back in. One save and one throw – couldn't this be considered a cycle of cause and effect?

"Don't mind the details," Ye Chen chuckled and sat on the ground. Whenever the atmosphere became awkward like this, he cleverly changed the subject. "How did you get out of the black hole, and how did you end up in Ling Yu?"

"That day, after enduring my heavenly tribulation and waiting for you in vain, I went deeper into the black hole and encountered a black hole storm. When I woke up, I was in Ling Yu," Tian Zhi slowly explained.

"You should thank your lucky stars you didn't end up in the Tian Mo Domain," Ye Chen clicked his tongue.

"Later, I heard about the great war with the Tian Mo from the people of Ling Yu," Tian Zhi said with a light smile. "As the emperor of Da Chu, you truly didn't disappoint Zhu Tian Wan Yu."

"Let's not talk about that for now. Let me ask you, how long have you been in Ling Yu?"

"One year."

"In this past year, has anything strange happened in Ling Yu?"

"Yes," Tian Zhi replied immediately, her tone very certain. "From the moment I arrived in Ling Yu, I wanted to contact Zhu Tian. I went to various clans in Ling Yu to find Tong Ling beasts, hoping to use a Tong Ling contract to return to Zhu Tian, just like you did back then. But those Tong Ling beasts either died violently or were buried one after another. Each death was extremely suspicious. In the end, in all of vast Ling Yu, I couldn't find a single Tong Ling beast that had signed a contract with Zhu Tian."

"What do you make of this?" Ye Chen asked calmly.

"Murder – deliberate murder," Tian Zhi took a deep breath. "There must be some mysterious existence that doesn't want Ling Yu to contact Zhu Tian, so they wiped out those Tong Ling beasts one by one. In this past year, I could clearly sense a pair of eyes watching me."

Ye Chen said nothing, as Tian Zhi's guess perfectly aligned with his own. How could it be such a coincidence that all the Tong Ling beasts were eliminated? The implication was clear: someone wanted to cut off contact between Ling Yu and Zhu Tian. If he was right, it wouldn't be long before a Zhai Xian Tian Di array enveloped Ling Yu, and then the Qing Tian Mo Zhu would manifest, leading to another new Tian Mo invasion.

But at this moment, what Ye Chen was thinking about was something else.

Over the years, he had left his divine sense in many domains. If the Bitian Zi or the female Sheng Ti were looking for him, they couldn't possibly miss it.

This proved that there was also some mysterious existence meddling in the shadows, secretly erasing his divine sense.

He wasn't sure if these two mysterious entities were the same person, but their goals were undoubtedly identical: to cover up the secrets of Ling Yu.

As he pondered, Ye Chen suddenly felt his Lun Hui Yan tremble.

He collected his thoughts and instinctively looked at Tian Zhi. She had squatted down again, head bowed and eyes fixed on the ground, just as before, as if searching for something.

"Kong Que Ming Wang Yan," Ye Chen murmured lightly, looking in surprise at Tian Zhi's eyes, which shimmered with multicolored immortal light, evolving profound Dao principles. He recognized this eye – it was a type of Xian Yan, one that only members of the Seven-Colored Peacock Clan could awaken. The tremble of his Lun Hui Yan was due to her eyes; it was a special resonance between Xian Yan. It wasn't hard to imagine that in these eight years, Tian Zhi had gained quite a few opportunities.

"Hurry, hurry, it's appearing again," Tian Zhi waved her hand frantically.

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer, also bowing his head like her, full of curiosity about what Tian Zhi was staring at. She had been so engrossed earlier.

At a glance, his eyes narrowed slightly. He could see through the earth's surface into the underground void, where a trace of Tian Mo essence seemed to flicker in and out of view. If you didn't look carefully, you would miss it.

"Every few days, there's Tian Mo essence," Tian Zhi said. "Especially lately, it's been more frequent, with shorter intervals."

"Have you gone down to check?" Ye Chen asked.

Tian Zhi nodded lightly. "I once used my divine sense to probe down, but it was dispelled by a mysterious force."

Ye Chen furrowed his brow, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Tian Zhi fell silent as well.

The two of them stayed like that, heads together, staring intently at the ground.

Passersby cultivators glanced at them from afar, their expressions odd. The world is full of all kinds of people. What are they doing squatting there in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?

Some even stopped and looked around the area.

It was right here that the Ling Yu allied forces once fought a bloody battle with the Tian Mo, even summoning a Tian Mo Di Qu, turning the battlefield into a mountain of corpses and a river of blood. In that war, Da Chu's tenth emperor made the Sheng Ti's name renowned, defying the heavens to slaughter that Tian Mo Di Qu.

The people of Ling Yu held this site in great reverence; the peace they enjoyed today was bought with the blood and bones of their ancestors. Every so often, someone would come here to pay their respects, pouring out half a jug of wine to honor the fallen souls.

As for Tian Zhi, ever since arriving in Ling Yu, she had heard about that legend. Out of curiosity for the site, she came to observe it and accidentally discovered the Tian Mo essence.

The night grew deeper.

Most of the passing cultivators had dispersed, leaving only Ye Chen and Tian Zhi still squatting there.

After some time, the two finally looked away. They exchanged a glance, then both turned together, looking in the same direction, as if sensing a pair of eyes watching them.

"It's exactly this feeling," Tian Zhi stood up involuntarily.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ye Chen snorted coldly, his body like a ghost, punching straight through the void.

In the darkness, a muffled groan seemed to echo.

By the time Ye Chen and Tian Zhi arrived, the mysterious figure had already fled, vanishing without a trace.

"Did you see clearly?" Tian Zhi scanned the surroundings before turning to Ye Chen.

"A Tian Mo," Ye Chen said flatly, his eyes flickering with an uncertain light. Though he hadn't seen the figure's true appearance, he was certain it was a Tian Mo – and one that felt oddly familiar, as if he had encountered it before. He could affirm that the Tian Mo's level was at the peak Zhun Di stage.

In the quiet, Ye Chen fell into deep thought.

Over this past year, that Tian Mo must have been watching Tian Zhi constantly. The reason it hadn't attacked was likely because it knew it wasn't her match. As the princess of the Seven-Colored Peacock Clan, a genuine Di Zi level expert with an imperial weapon fused in her body, she could rival the peak Zhun Di of Zhu Tian. As for a Tian Mo peak Zhun Di, it was suppressed in Zhu Tian, so in a direct fight, it would surely lose.

Suddenly, Ye Chen performed Dun Di Shu, diving straight into the ground, with Tian Zhi following closely.

The two descended one after the other, going as deep as possible.

The underground was dark, like Jiu You, cold and desolate.

Ye Chen held a broken Di Jian in one hand and a small fragment of the Mo Zhu in the other, tracking that trace of Tian Mo essence. Tian Zhi was also on alert, with an imperial weapon hovering above her head and her Kong Que Ming Wang Yan shining brightly.

When they reached a certain underground spot, both stopped, having found the Tian Mo essence.

This trace of Tian Mo essence was different from what they had seen before; it could change forms on its own, sometimes turning into a ghostly face, sometimes into a ferocious beast, and it seemed to have some intelligence. Before they could get close, it turned and fled, weaving through the underground.

Ye Chen's divine eyes pierced through it all in an instant.

It wasn't true Tian Mo essence; it was Tian Mo resentment that, over more than a hundred years, had nurtured a bit of Tian Mo essence, resulting in its current form. If given enough time, it would surely transform into an evil spirit – a Tian Mo evil spirit, much like the evil creatures in the Shi Wan Da Shan. The older they get, the more terrifying they become, as anyone who has entered Shi Wan Da Shan knows.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tian Zhi had already struck, sealing off the Tian Mo essence.

Ye Chen was even more domineering, using his Yuan Shen to recite the Du Ren Jing. The Buddhist sound was majestic and solemn, like a great bell, completely purifying the remaining Tian Mo resentment.

After finishing, the two continued downward.

Ye Chen kept scanning around, using his divine sense to probe every inch of the ground.

Along the way, he glanced at the Mo Zhu fragment more than once, hoping for some reaction from it.

However, ever since entering the ground, the Mo Zhu fragment had been as still as if it were asleep, showing no response at all.

Tian Zhi glanced at the Mo Zhu fragment and frowned. "What are you looking for?"

"Qing Tian Mo Zhu," Ye Chen replied.

"Qing Tian Mo Zhu?" Tian Zhi was astonished, completely baffled.

"Tian Mo! There's a Tian Mo!" Just as she spoke, a shout came from the surface.

Hearing it, Ye Chen halted abruptly and shot out of the ground like a divine ray.

"Tian Mo! There's a Tian Mo!" The shouts grew clearer, rising one after another, accompanied by thunderous booms that shook the earth. From the sounds, it seemed like battles were raging everywhere. What should have been a peaceful night had turned into utter chaos.

"Tian Mo invasion?" Tian Zhi's delicate brows furrowed deeply.

"We'll know soon enough," Ye Chen said firmly, using Suo Di Cheng Cun to rush toward the nearest ancient city, with Tian Zhi following like a shadow, her brows furrowed even more. Without seeing the Qing Tian Mo Zhu, yet with Tian Mo invading – this was too strange. Perhaps this land truly hid the Qing Tian Mo Zhu.

Before long, a massive ancient city came into view.

From afar, they could see the city walls collapsing and dark Tian Mo aura surging wildly. Indeed, Tian Mo were causing havoc, with screams, shouts, and roars filling the air, and blood staining the heavens.

Ye Chen stepped across the void in one stride, entering the ancient city and soaring into the nine heavens.

In the next instant, the broken Di Bing hovered in the sky, buzzing and trembling, its ultimate Di Wei cascading down and suppressing all living beings in the city – whether cultivators or Tian Mo.

Only then did he look down, seeing the hideous-faced Tian Mo struggling to break free from the Di Bing's suppression, but lacking the power to do so, they were pinned in place.

Tian Zhi arrived and summoned her imperial weapon, ready to unleash a massacre.

Ye Chen quickly stopped her, because the Tian Mo in the city weren't real Tian Mo; they were like Yan Lao Dao and Bei Sheng – people from Zhu Tian who had transformed into Tian Mo.

"How could this happen so suddenly?" Ye Chen's brows knitted tightly.

Earlier, when he arrived in Ling Yu, he had searched various clans for Tong Ling beasts and had already noticed that many people harbored Tian Mo essence within them, and in large quantities.

But he had been focused on finding the Qing Tian Mo Zhu and hadn't had time to help separate the Tian Mo essence from them. Who would have thought that those with hidden Tian Mo essence, not yet at the critical point of transformation, would suddenly turn into Tian Mo without any warning?

A plot – it had to be a plot.

Ye Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. It must be that Tian Mo Zhun Di using some terrifying secret technique to force the people of Ling Yu to transform early. The purpose was obvious: to create confusion and divert his attention, so he wouldn't have time for anything else and couldn't search for the Qing Tian Mo Zhu.