CHAPTER 69: UNTIL THE ROOTS ARE GONE, VENGEANCE WILL PERSIST

Nantian Wan'er let out a soft laugh and asked, "Lu-gege, what shall we do about his corpse?"

Lu Chen stared at the leader's body. "Him? Heh. He may be dead, but things between us are far from over."

He circulated his spirit qi and set the corpse ablaze.

Firelight flickered in his eyes with a chilling glow. "I'll find Grandpa, and I will hunt down the chief he spoke of. I'll wipe them all out."

Having done all of that, Lu Chen turned back to look at Wan'er. Since the end of the trial, he had spent every moment digesting the insights and memories of those two hundred years.

Then, he went on to avenge his village's massacre. It was only now that he finally had a chance to relax and look at Wan'er by his side.

In his mind, the two versions of Nantian Wan'er overlapped and slowly fused into one. He began to understand the meaning of "Mistress," though not fully.

A different feeling welled up in his heart, one he had never known before, a desire to protect Nantian Wan'er for an entire lifetime.

Lu Chen lifted a strand of her hair between his fingers and brushed his hand against her delicate face. Looking into her eyes, he quietly murmured, "Wan'er... after two hundred years, I'm back."

"Lu-gege... you've finally returned."

Overwhelmed by his touch, Nantian Wan'er threw herself into his arms. Tears born of more than a century of longing streamed down her face, soaking his robe.

Being the perceptive men they were, Jun Wudi and the others quietly stepped back to give the two some time alone.

Lu Chen's arms moved stiffly as he embraced her, patting her back awkwardly, yet with genuine tenderness. He remembered doing the same within those memories.

The two hundred years spent within the trial kept flashing through his mind. They were so real, yet unreal; so false, and yet so true.

Just as Nantian Xiu had said, watching the trial from the outside was like watching a film unfold. But for Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er, it had been a complete lifetime where they experienced birth and death, love and hate, partings and reunions.

Whether those who experienced the trial would truly change once they returned to the real world depended on their aptitude.

Just then, Wind Dragon's clone called from afar, breaking the atmosphere of the moment. "Ahem...

you two should wait a bit. I just discovered something."

Nantian Wan'er flushed scarlet and quickly pushed Lu Chen away.

A stab of regret pierced Lu Chen's heart. Why did I keep this dragon clone around? What a nuisance.

He felt a strong urge to curse aloud. He had just begun to grasp what "Wife" meant, yet the dragon's sudden interruption made him forget it all.

He looked up and saw Wind Dragon holding a round stone.

Lu Chen took the stone. "Wind Dragon, what is this? It looks like a Memory Stone."

He tried channeling spirit qi into it, but nothing happened.

Watching him fiddle with it, Wind Dragon said in a low tone, "It doesn't seem to be a Memory Stone, but it's very similar. I think it might be an upgraded version of it."

Nantian Wan'er pointed at the round stone and explained, "Lu-gege, this is a Ten-Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Stone. Judging from its quality, it should transmit across three hundred thousand li."

She opened her storage pouch and drew out a stone of the same size. "Lu-gege, this one here is the Memory Stone you mentioned. In the cultivation world, Memory Stones are usually used to record images."

She then pointed to the Voice Transmission Stone and continued, "This is called a Voice Transmission Stone. It only appeared in recent years and is used specifically for long-distance communication. Developed from the Memory Stone, it has one advantage over ordinary Voice Transmission Talismans, which is that it can also project images of people.

"Because of its unique properties, as long as the Voice Transmission Stone isn't damaged, the voices it stores can be preserved permanently."

Lu Chen turned toward Wind Dragon with suspicion in his eyes. "That's strange. I have lived through two hundred years in the illusion, but I never once saw these things."

The dragon looked embarrassed. "Well... the trial's illusion was constructed from both the casters' and the subject's consciousness. We haven't been outside the secret realm for a very long time, so..."

Hearing this, Lu Chen laughed. "Ah, I see. I thought your illusion was formidable. Turns out it's just an outdated product."

Wind Dragon's face flushed red with anger. He jabbed a claw at Lu Chen. "You... At least it worked! You didn't realize it was an illusion either!"

Nantian Wan'er formed a hand seal and poured spirit qi into the stone. "Lu-gege, look, the Voice Transmission Stone is still usable."

Light flared across its surface, and a blurry image emerged, revealing the back of a young man.

Lu Chen stared at the images captured within the stone, his teeth grinding in fury. "Could this be the leader he spoke of?"

The leader's hidden identity turned out to be that of a minor leader of the World Unbound Sect.

The World Unbound Sect was a shady organization that gathered talents from all sorts of backgrounds.

On the surface, they appeared to the world as noble clans, sects, or wealthy merchant guilds. Within, however, there were commoners, scholars, diviners, and even beggars and gamblers from the lowest of society.

Every member reported to a superior and maintained contact with their own base. However, no one knew where the actual headquarters lay, who the ultimate leader was, or what the sect's final purpose might be.

Yet whenever a secret realm appeared, instinct would compel them to take on the identities of warriors, assassins, and killers, emerging at night under the banner of the World Unbound Sect.

One night, they walked the righteous path—the next, they bathed in slaughter. One night, they hobbled through the Nantian Region—the next, they soared on swords across the Northern skies.

Once the mission was over, they slipped back to their ordinary identities, as though the killers of the night had nothing to do with them at all.

It was this very group that had butchered the villagers of Greenheaven and abducted Blindman Lu, all because they had caught wind of a fragment of the Union Pill's recipe.

Lu Chen's fists clenched tight, his eyes bloodshot as he rapidly flipped through the stored messages.

At last, he found the record concerning Blindman Lu. Every transmission tied his name to the key to the Green Emperor's secret realm.

Lu Chen remembered the letter Blindman Lu had left behind, and finally understood why Feng Tiancheng had said those men would not harm Blindman Lu before obtaining the Green Emperor's identity token.

That token was the sole key to directly activating the portal to the Green Emperor's secret realm. It was always entrusted to the village guardian of each generation.

Analyzing the content within the stone up to this point, Lu Chen was already sure that Blindman Lu was still alive.

As long as he held on to the Green Emperor's identity token, those people would never truly harm Blindman Lu.

Lu Chen had no idea how many members this organization had, but from the information recorded on the Voice Transmission Stone, he could tell that the sect held immense power.

Its influence ran so deep that anyone around him could already be one of its informants.

For Lu Chen, the most critical task remained to strengthen himself as quickly as possible. Only with enough power could he wipe out the entire sect once he tracked down its lair.

As the saying went, "Vengeance would persist until the roots were gone."

Lu Chen now understood this clearly. He put the Voice Transmission Stone away. There was still much content left on it, but he'd have to leave the secret realm first before he could examine it in detail.

Just then, Jun Laoye approached him from behind. "Little Lu, hurry, the portal to leave the secret realm is about to close."

Lu Chen snapped out of his thoughts. "Coming."

He glanced around. The disciples of Heavenly Mandate Hall had already gathered the demonic beasts' bodies along with the treasures in the cave.

The teleportation formation at the cave entrance flickered, as if it might fail at any moment.

Lu Chen rested Wind Dragon atop his head, then took Nantian Wan'er's hand. "Wan'er, let's go."

Together, they joined up with Jun Laoye.

Halfway there, he suddenly turned back and struck with his palm, scattering the ashes of the leader's corpse.

Wind Dragon flicked his tail against Lu Chen's forehead and murmured, "It's already over."

"Yes, it's over. Let's go."

Lu Chen looked once more at the ashes drifting away on the breeze and let out a sigh. With that, he pulled Nantian Wan'er along and left.

When he reached Jun Laoye's side, he saw the disciples of Heavenly Mandate Hall carrying heavy packs, supporting one another as they stepped into the teleportation formation.

As more and more people left the cave, Lu Chen turned to Jun Laoye. "Little Jun, is your mission complete?"

"Yes. Our goal was the Yuanyang Heaven-Union Herb. Now that we've secured it, it's time to leave."

Jun Laoye glanced at Nantian Wan'er, who was still looking around, searching for something. He asked, "Miss Wan'er, what are you looking for? Perhaps I can help."

Lu Chen turned his head and caught the worry written all over her face. "Wan'er, what's wrong?"

She looked at the teleportation formation. Its light was about to go out, and her anxiety was getting stronger. "Lu-gege, Grandpa hasn't joined us yet. Could it be that Lord Flame Demon forgot to release him?"

Lu Chen quickly realized that from the time he passed the trial until he killed the cultivator leader, Nantian Xiu had not shown up. He also grew alarmed, beginning to search the surroundings.

At that moment, Wind Dragon's lazy voice drifted down from above. "No need to look. That old man left of his own accord. Do you think a brute like Flame Demon could capture someone at the Earth Core Realm so easily?"

Lu Chen was stunned at the dragon's words. "Earth Core Realm?"

He had always assumed Nantian Xiu's strength was no more than the Core Breakthrough Realm. He had never expected his cultivation to have long since transcended the mortal realms.

"Heh, and you thought someone who dared accompany you into the very heart of the Fire Region would have such meager strength?"

Lu Chen looked puzzled and questioned Wind Dragon further. "What do you mean?"

"Once you've crossed the Core Breakthrough Realm, unless they immediately kill you, no one can catch you if you put your mind solely on escaping. That's why I say that old man can't possibly have been captured."

Wind Dragon tilted his head, coiled itself up again, and let out a mocking chuckle. "And you didn't even realize that much. No wonder my true body calls you arrogant. Two hundred years of cultivation, and your understanding is still that of a low-level cultivator. You haven't even glimpsed what true cultivators are."

Lu Chen knew he had been reckless before. Not daring to argue back, he said, "You... I... Haven't I already admitted I was wrong? Just tell me, where is Grandpa Xiu now?"

"He must have encountered both Flame Demon and that leader at the same time. That's why he chose to cooperate with Flame Demon and led you into the trial."

Hearing this, Lu Chen finally felt at ease.