Chapter 942: The Kirin Horn News

Chapter 942: The News of the Qilin Horn

After leaving the underground palace, Ye Chen saw a graceful figure standing quietly there. Upon closer inspection, it was Hong Chen Xue.

Seeing Ye Chen emerge, she bit her lip but ultimately said nothing and didn't dare meet his eyes directly. She was the one who had leaked the secret, and Ye Chen had already guessed as much.

"Chu Ling Yu turning out to be your *shiniang* was quite a surprise for me." Ye Chen didn't accuse Hong Chen Xue but simply gazed quietly at the ethereal void.

"I... I only found out later."

"So you couldn't bear it and told her." Ye Chen spoke slowly. "You thought you were giving her hope, but little did you know that this hope might lead to even greater disappointment than despair."

"Even the smallest hope has endless possibilities in the face of despair—that's something you once said." Hong Chen Xue pursed her lips. "You're a man of deep affection, so you should understand that pain."

"I understand, I understand it all." Ye Chen smiled.

"Then how long are you going to keep her confined?"

"Don't worry, Hong Chen will come." Ye Chen said leisurely. "I'll make sure you two meet."

"Thank you."

"This is the last time—don't leak secrets carelessly again."

"I understand." Hong Chen Xue replied with a soft smile, knowing Ye Chen wouldn't punish her for this. After spending so much time with him, she had some sense of his character. Back when she and Zhong Jiang had hidden the matter of Heng Yue, he had let it go, so how could he hold this against her now?

Ye Chen handed her a jade token glowing with golden light.

"Tune the troops?" Hong Chen Xue furrowed her brow. "Where to?"

"Pass through Nan Chu Fan Ren Jie and head to Bei Chu Fan Ren Jie." Ye Chen replied calmly.

"Are you planning to attack Bei Chu?" Hong Chen Xue asked tentatively, looking at Ye Chen.

"What else?"

"But earlier you said we should hold off on advancing into Bei Chu?" Hong Chen Xue was full of confusion.

"You're the holy lord of Ren Huang—how could you believe such nonsense?" Ye Chen chuckled, his words laced with deeper meaning. "Nan Chu has spies from Bei Chu, and the Supreme Elders' Council must have them too. We both know that perfectly well."

"Openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing at Chen Cang." Hong Chen Xue smiled. "I get it."

"This matter is just between us." Ye Chen looked at Hong Chen Xue. "Don't make the same mistake again."

"You're becoming more and more like my *shifu*." Hong Chen Xue said with a charming smile.

"Go on, go on—don't mention Hong Chen to me again." Ye Chen waved his hand and rubbed his brow in frustration.

Hong Chen Xue shrugged it off but obediently left. However, she didn't head straight back to the Heavenly Court headquarters; instead, she went to the Heng Yue Zong grand hall.

Her purpose this time wasn't just to confess and check on Chu Ling Yu—it was also for the Tai Gu Xing Tian Tu forged by the Tai Xu Gu Long. That was a tremendous treasure, and with the Xing Tian Tu, Ren Huang would be even more formidable.

After Hong Chen Xue left, Ye Chen continued rubbing his brow. He hadn't gone far when he bumped into Lin Shi Hua descending from the sky.

"Ye *Shixiong*, here's the Qing Luan essence you wanted." Lin Shi Hua landed and handed over a jade bottle.

"Excellent, this is great." Ye Chen quickly took it, his excitement making him forget his usual composure, like a child seeing candy. When he saw the essence in the bottle, swirling with a phoenix-like phantom, his eyes lit up with fervent light. This was an incredible treasure!

"I'm still short of the Qilin horn." Ye Chen said, as if remembering something, and cleared his throat before turning to Lin Shi Hua. "Lin *Shimei*, you can summon a Qing Luan, so I wonder if you could summon a sacred beast like the Qilin. If you can, I'd like to get a bit of its blood too."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Lin Shi Hua shook her head. "The spirit realm is a mysterious domain. Once you form a contract with a spirit beast, you can't summon another of the same level. Besides, the Qilin is even higher level than the Qing Luan, and with my cultivation, I'm far from capable."

"Ah, I guess I was overthinking it." Ye Chen said with an awkward smile.

"But I heard my *shizun* mention a place that might have a Qilin horn."

"Where is it?" Lin Shi Hua's words made Ye Chen's eyes light up again.

"Shi Wan Da Shan."

"Shi Wan Da Shan has a Qilin horn?" Ye Chen was taken aback.

"My *shizun* said it's an ancient battlefield, buried with the remains of countless powerful figures, including experts from the dragon and phoenix clans." Lin Shi Hua explained slowly. "If there are divine beasts like the Qing Long and Phoenix, there's a good chance there are Qilin as well. But my *shizun* only said it might be there—the truth can only be confirmed by going to Shi Wan Da Shan."

"It's that place again." Ye Chen rubbed his brow hard. That spot was like a forbidden zone in Da Chu—a death trap where you'd never want to return after the first visit.

Just thinking about it still gave him chills. The horrors of Shi Wan Da Shan were on par with Da Chu's forbidden grounds. Forget everything else—the evil spirits there were terrifyingly powerful. Even Nan Ming Yu Shu had been driven mad, showing just how eerie it was.

Still, having some news was better than none.

He had promised the descendants of the emperors that he would go to Shi Wan Da Shan, and now with word of the Qilin horn, he wasn't about to pass it up.

Seeing Ye Chen lost in thought, Lin Shi Hua wanted to say more but held back. She turned gently, gave Ye Chen one last look, and stepped into the void.

In the days that followed, Heng Yue Zong saw a steady stream of visitors, mostly Quasi-Tianjing experts from the three sects, nine halls, and eighty gates.

Their purpose was to help move the Tai Gu Xing Tian Tu. The array was enormous and couldn't be shifted by just one or two people; any mistake in the formation could cause it to malfunction.

Qing Yun's *zhangjiao*, Zhou Ao, also arrived. On the surface, he was there for the Tai Gu Xing Tian Tu, but in reality, he was there for Ye Chen.

"Ye Xiong, it's been a while—how have you been?" Zhou Ao said with a warm, spring-like smile, though his words carried hidden implications. "I left the Heavenly Court gathering in such a hurry that I didn't get to ask you about something."

Ye Chen smiled and looked at Zhou Ao's eyes, filled with hopeful light. He could easily guess what Zhou Ao wanted to know.

"Da Chu has its own cycle of reincarnation, so you can go search for your Yue Chi Xun now."

"Is that true, Ye Xiong?" Overwhelmed with emotion, Zhou Ao stepped forward and gripped Ye Chen's shoulders, his deep eyes instantly welling with tears, hoping for confirmation.

"Da Chu has its own cycle of reincarnation, so you can go search for your Yue Chi Xun now." As Zhou Ao wished, Ye Chen repeated it, while subtly freeing himself from Zhou Ao's grasp—the man's grip was too strong.

"I knew it, I knew it." Zhou Ao paced excitedly, trying to calm himself.

"There's something I need to make clear to you." Ye Chen coughed. "After she reincarnates, she might not be a cultivator anymore. She could be an ordinary person, or perhaps... not even human."

"Or perhaps not human?" Zhou Ao's expression turned strange as he looked at Ye Chen tentatively. "What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that—for example, something with four legs, three legs, two legs, or no legs at all. As long as it's alive, it's possible. Is that subtle enough?"

"It's... it's subtle enough." Zhou Ao's face shifted from strange to utterly complex, imagining what he might do if Yue Chi Xun reincarnated as a pig and scared him to tears.

"It's up to fate." Ye Chen patted Zhou Ao's shoulder and walked away. "In the vast sea of people and the endless cycle of life, finding one person is like searching for a needle in the ocean. She might exist, but by her next reincarnation, you still might not have found her. It's all down to your destiny, brother."

"No matter the ends of the earth." Watching Ye Chen's retreating figure, Zhou Ao clenched his fists tightly, his eyes burning with unwavering determination.

Ah!

Walking along the winding paths of the spirit mountains, Ye Chen sighed more than once.

He wasn't entirely sure if Da Chu truly had its own reincarnation cycle, as Tian Xuan Gate hadn't given a definitive answer. Or perhaps he hadn't used the opportunity from Dong Huang Tai Xin to fully clarify it.

As Hong Chen Xue had said earlier, even the smallest hope has endless possibilities in the face of despair. He had given Zhou Ao hope, but he didn't know if it would turn into even crueler despair.

Deep down, he hoped Da Chu did have its own reincarnation, so he could search for the elders and disciples of Heng Yue who had died tragically, and for that woman who played the qin for him, watched over his bed, and smiled foolishly at him—Liu Ru Yan.