180: Chapter 180 Ye Bufan, you're a fucking madman!

The strong experts of the Fighting Qi Continent began an unprecedented wave of seclusion.

Yao Yao, Medusa, Gu Xun'er, and Xiao Yi Xian were the first to enter the Emperor Realm cultivation chambers specially opened for them by the Hun Clan, with Yun Yun and Cao Ying following closely behind.

Void Swallowing Flame returned to the depths of the main Hall of Souls, Gu Yuan entered deep seclusion at the peak of the Ancient World's holy mountain, and Zi Yan took the inheritance of the Dragon Emperor's bloodline into the oldest dragon tomb on East Dragon Island.

Yan Jin, Lei Ying, Feng Tianyu, and others also set aside clan affairs, pouring all their energy into cultivation to break through to higher realms.

All seven daughters were left in the care of Lin Qingwan.

The old lady was all smiles, spending her days with her seven granddaughters in the side hall, teaching them to read, teaching them etiquette, and telling them embarrassing stories from Hun Feng's childhood.

On a dark and windy night, Hun Muxiao left a letter behind and snuck out of the Soul Realm with the blood abyss sword on her back. The letter contained only a few lines: "Father, Mother, Aunts, Mu Xiao is going out to explore. Do not worry, I will return in three to five years."

After reading the letter, Hun Feng handed it to Medusa and said with a smile, "This girl has the same temper you had back then."

Medusa read the letter without saying a word, simply folding the paper and tucking it into her sleeve, though the slight curve of her lips betrayed her.

With his wives in seclusion, his daughters left with his mother, and even the most troublesome Hun Muxiao having slipped away to gain experience, the vast East Courtyard suddenly became quiet and lonely.

Hun Feng leaned on a rattan chair under the veranda, basking in the sun and boredly flipping through reports from various regions sent by Hun Qian—the Jia Ma Empire was enjoying favorable weather and peace, the Black-Corner Region was in good order, and Jia Nan Academy had recruited several new students with extraordinary talent this year.

He tossed the reports onto the stone table and gazed up at the sky, which had once been torn open by a spatial rift, when he suddenly remembered something.

Xiao Yan. That Child of Destiny whom he had personally struck down from the Emperor Realm was currently living quietly in Wutan City in the Jia Ma Empire.

For the past two years, Xiao Yan had indeed abided by the prohibition, never stepping a foot outside Wutan City, and the entire Xiao Family had been living a peaceful, law-abiding life in the city.

Hun Feng tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the rattan chair as a detail he had read a long time ago surfaced in his mind.

It was the original novel "Battle Through the Heavens" that he had read countless times in his previous life on Earth. The author, Tian Can Tu Dou, had written it clearly in the book: Xiao Yan's soul did not belong to this world; he, too, had transmigrated from Earth.

A faint smile appeared on the corner of Hun Feng's lips. Since he was idle anyway, he might as well go pay a visit.

The dusk in Wutan City was as tranquil as ever.

Pedestrians were becoming scarce on the bluestone-paved long street, and shops on both sides were closing up. A few youths from the collateral branch of the Xiao Family walked back from the direction of the back mountain carrying bamboo baskets filled with freshly picked herbs. There was no sorrow on their faces, only the fatigue and fulfillment of honest labor.

The Xiao Family ancestral home remained the same old structure with green bricks and gray tiles, and the two hundred-year-old locust trees in front of the gate swayed gently in the evening breeze.

There was a loquat tree in the backyard, with a rattan chair placed beneath it, and a person lying on the chair.

Xiao Yan was dressed in a faded green cloth garment, holding a pot of herbal tea, squinting his eyes as he watched the sunset glow on the horizon.

Resting on a small stool beside him was an ancient ruler of exotic flames with a broken body—the six-colored Emperor Flame on the ruler had long since extinguished, the ancient Emperor runes were dim and lusterless, and only those cracks of varying depths silently spoke of the glory it had once experienced.

Tang Huo'er poked her head out of the house, holding freshly washed grapes, just about to call him for dinner, when she suddenly paused.

She sensed an extremely familiar yet terrifying aura coming from the direction of the main gate of the Xiao Family ancestral home.

Xiao Yan sensed it too. The hand holding the teapot paused slightly, and the leisurely expression on his face slowly faded, but he did not get up; he simply placed the teapot on the small stool and looked toward the courtyard gate.

With a creak, the courtyard gate was pushed open.

Hun Feng stood outside the gate, dressed in moon-white robes, his long hair tied casually behind his head, holding two jars of vintage wine he had swiped from the Soul Realm cellar.

His gaze swept across the courtyard—the loquat tree, the rattan chair, the herbal tea, the broken ruler.

Xiao Yan's gaze met his in mid-air. There was no Emperor's prestige, no killing intent, only a subtle, profound silence.

"Why are you here?" Xiao Yan was the first to speak. His voice was as calm as stagnant water, revealing neither joy nor anger, though there was no hint of welcome either.

"Just passing by, thought I'd drop in for a visit." Hun Feng stepped into the courtyard without hesitation and placed the two jars of wine on the stone table under the loquat tree. "I brought wine. Care for a drink?"

Xiao Yan stared at him for several seconds before slowly sitting upright on the rattan chair.

Tang Huo'er walked out of the house and stood beside Xiao Yan, her gaze filled with vigilance and hostility as she looked at Hun Feng.

She tugged on Xiao Yan's sleeve and lowered her voice, telling him not to drink.

Xiao Yan gently patted the back of her hand and said it was fine.

He walked over to the stone table and sat down, watching Hun Feng skillfully break the mud seal of the wine jar and push one of them toward him.

Hun Feng was the first to pick up the wine jar and take a swig. Xiao Yan was silent for a moment before picking up his jar and taking a swig as well.

As the alcohol went down his throat, the spiciness was accompanied by the unique, chilling sensation of the Soul Realm, as if he had poured the entire Nine Serene Yellow Springs into his stomach.

Hun Feng suddenly spoke, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather: "Xiao Yan, let me ask you something—what is the next line for 'Odd changes, even stays the same'?"

The hand Xiao Yan used to hold the wine jar stiffened abruptly.

He raised his head and stared fixedly at Hun Feng, an expression of disbelief churning in those dark eyes that had been tempered by countless battles.

This phrase—it was clearly a mnemonic from a math textbook on Earth; no one on the Fighting Qi Continent would know it.

How could Hun Feng know it? How could he know!

Hun Feng saw his reaction and already knew the answer, but he did not rush to expose it. He simply took another swig of wine and said slowly, "It seems you know. Let me ask another: 'The Heavenly King protects the earth, the tiger'?"

Xiao Yan's fingers gripping the wine jar turned white. His lips moved several times before he finally squeezed out a few words from his throat: "The Pagoda suppresses the river demon. How do you know these things? Who are you?"

"Don't be in such a rush, there is one last one." Hun Feng held up a finger, his tone carrying a touch of mischief. "'Palace Jade Liquid Wine,' what's the next line?"

"...One hundred and eighty a cup." Xiao Yan's voice was trembling, not from fear, but from a complex emotion that had been suppressed for too many years and was suddenly pried open. "Are you also a transmigrator? Where are you from?"

"Earth. Just like you." Hun Feng leaned back against the chair, gazing at the loquat leaves overhead that had been dyed pale gold by the sunset, his tone carrying a sense of nostalgia that only he could understand. "In my previous life, I was called Ye Bufan. I was hit by a car in 2023 and, after dying, my soul transmigrated into Hun Feng. You came a few years before me. By the time I woke up in the Soul Realm, you had already fought your way from the Jia Ma Empire to the Central Plains."

Xiao Yan stared at him blankly, remaining silent for a long time.

He picked up the wine jar and took a huge swig. The strong liquor flowed down his jaw, soaking his faded collar.

He put down the wine jar and suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

There was bitterness, unwillingness, absurdity, and a trace of resignation in that laughter, finally finding release after being repeatedly toyed with by fate.

"So that's how it is. We are both from Earth, both transmigrated to this continent; we should have been fellow countrymen who cherished one another. Instead, you snatched my wife, killed my brothers, destroyed my alliance, shattered my Emperor status, and then came to my house to trade secret codes with me."

He looked down at the wine jar in his hand, suddenly feeling that the grievances of this lifetime had all become a huge joke at this moment. "Hun Feng—no, Ye Bufan, you are truly a madman."

"The feeling is mutual. You weren't exactly normal yourself back when you turned the entire Inner Academy upside down just to snatch an exotic flame at Jia Nan Academy."

Hun Feng raised his wine jar and clinked it against his, producing a crisp sound. "We had no choice before; we were both pushed forward by fate. You were the Child of Destiny, and I was the villainous young master. How could we not fight to the death?"

"Now that everything is over, I just wanted to confirm—I wasn't the only transmigrator on the Fighting Qi Continent. Honestly, for years, I've had a vague feeling that we were written into the same book by the same author. He arranged for us to kill each other, arranged for us to fight over the same women, and arranged for us to become each other's nemesis. But now that the book is finished, we can choose not to live according to the script anymore."

Xiao Yan looked down at the wine jar in his hand, which was now empty, and only after a long while did he speak: "Is that why you came today—to tell me all this?"

"Not entirely. Mostly, I was bored—my wives are all in seclusion, my daughters are all with my mother, and even the most restless Mu Xiao has slipped away to gain experience. I, the dignified Emperor Shitian, have actually ended up with no one to talk to."

Hun Feng stood up and brushed the dust off his robes. "I'm leaving. Next time I come, I'll bring you some local specialties from the Soul Realm to try. By the way, those exotic flames of yours are still with me. When you break through to the Emperor Realm one day, come find me to get them back—I don't need them right now anyway." With that, he turned and walked toward the courtyard gate.

"Ye Bufan." Xiao Yan suddenly called out to him.

Hun Feng paused, without turning back.

Xiao Yan's voice came from behind, calm and solemn, "Thank you for treating Xun'er well. And thank you for treating Cai Lin well. Although you are a jerk, they are indeed happier with you than they would have been with me."

Hun Feng did not turn back; he simply raised his hand and waved casually, then pushed open the courtyard gate and disappeared into the dusk of Wutan City.

Xiao Yan sat alone under the loquat tree, looking at the two empty wine jars, and remained silent for a long time.

Tang Huo'er walked out of the house, sat down beside him, and asked softly what that man had said.

Xiao Yan gently held her hand, looked up at the last trace of the sunset glow on the horizon, and said softly, "He said that we both came from a very far place. We can't go back. But here... it's not bad either."