72: Chapter 72 The Remnant Soul of the Medicine Emperor, A Familiar Stranger!

An emerald light pillar erupted from the ground, dyeing the clouds above the entire Yao Emperor Platform a ghostly cyan-green. The illusory figure rising from the fissure was finally fully revealed to everyone—clad in green with white hair, a gaunt face, and hollow eyes that still exuded an inviolable majesty. The Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul, which had slumbered deep within the ley lines of the Wan Yao Mountain Range for thousands of years, had been awakened today at the cost of Yao Dan's life.

The remnant soul slowly raised its right hand and pressed down lightly toward the Hun Clan's camp. The movement was extremely slow and gentle, as if brushing a fallen leaf off a tabletop. Yet, with this light press, an emerald-green Emperor Flame palm print expanded rapidly in the wind, instantly transforming into a size of hundreds of zhang, covering the sky and sun as it descended upon Soul Yuan Tian and Elder Hun Tu. Wherever the palm print passed, the space collapsed inch by inch, and even the air was sucked into a vacuum.

Soul Yuan Tian and Elder Hun Tu changed color simultaneously. The two Eight Star Dou Sheng joined forces to set up a soul barrier in front of them, with the phantom image of the Gate of Dead Silence blocking their path. The emerald palm print collided with the Gate of Dead Silence, and with a loud bang, the gate trembled violently. The ancient runes on the door flashed frantically, and it began to crack after supporting it for only two breaths. Elder Hun Tu was the closest; he was struck squarely in the chest by the remnant power of the palm print, sending him flying backward to smash through the entire cliff wall at the edge of the Yao Emperor Platform. When he landed, he spat out a mouthful of blood that sprayed several zhang away, and at least three of his ribs were broken. Soul Yuan Tian barely managed to steady his figure; the Gate of Dead Silence had blocked most of the impact for him, but the sleeves of his arms were completely shattered, and his withered arms were covered in fine blood veins.

One palm strike, and an Eight Star Dou Sheng was heavily injured. This was the gap between a Dou Di and a Dou Sheng, even if it was just a wisp of a remnant soul, even if it was just a mark left behind thousands of years ago.

Void Swallowing Flame moved. Its black flame main body suddenly expanded in the void, and the pressure of a peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng was released without reservation, colliding head-on with the Emperor prestige of the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul. Two terrifyingly extreme auras crushed against each other in mid-air, and the space above the Yao Emperor Platform was torn into countless pitch-black cracks, with emerald flames and black flames burning simultaneously at the edges of the fissures.

"A mere remnant soul, yet you dare to act presumptuously before this seat." Void Swallowing Flame's voice was low and indifferent. The black flame transformed into nine black fire dragons, lunging toward the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul from nine directions simultaneously. The Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul remained expressionless, forming hand seals, and the emerald flames around its body condensed into nine cyan lotuses to meet the fire dragons. The emerald flames and black flames collided with a boom in mid-air, and the exploding shockwave razed the few remaining buildings on the Yao Emperor Platform to the ground. Void Swallowing Flame took a step back—only one step, but this was the first time he had been forced back since descending upon the Medicine World. A faint trace of gravity flashed in his black flame eyes, and then he surged again, entangling in battle with the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul. Every collision between the two caused the entire Wan Yao Mountain Range to tremble violently; the energy of heaven and earth surged wildly, and even the firmament was torn into hideous gashes.

"Everyone, back away!" Soul Yuan Tian shouted sternly, ordering the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerables to expand the encirclement by hundreds of zhang. The clash between a Nine-Star Dou Sheng and a Dou Di remnant soul was enough to shake an ordinary Dou Sheng to death just from the aftershocks.

Hun Feng stood at the edge of the Yao Emperor Platform, his eyes locked tightly onto the fissure in the ground. Deep within the fissure, emerald flames and black flames intertwined and surged, and one could vaguely see an extremely thin line of black fire swimming in the deepest part of the emerald flames—the Nine Nether Wind Flame. Ranked tenth, it was a black flame born with wild winds, cultivating both wind blades and incineration. After Yao Dan died, it lost its host and was currently lying dormant in the ley lines, waiting for a new controller.

"Are you going down?" Yao Yao stood beside him, a faint trace of worry flashing in her peach-blossom eyes.

"Wait for me up here." Hun Feng raised his hand to pinch her chin, then turned and walked toward the fissure.

"I'm coming with you."

"No need. The depths of the ley lines are full of the emerald flames of the Medicine Emperor's legacy fire, and your blood-attribute Dou Qi will be suppressed." Hun Feng waved his hand without looking back and paused for a moment when he reached the edge of the fissure. "Go help Cai Lin keep an eye on Xiao Yan. If he escapes in the chaos, I will hold you accountable later."

Yao Yao watched him disappear into the depths of the fissure, bit her lower lip, and turned to dash toward Medusa.

At the edge of the Yao Emperor Platform, Medusa and Xiao Yan were still in a stalemate. The xuan heavy ruler and the silvery-white longsword confronted each other from a distance, the atmosphere between the two strained like a string about to snap.

Xiao Yan's gaze bypassed Medusa and landed on the huge fissure in the distance. The Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul, which Yao Dan had died to awaken, was entangling with Void Swallowing Flame. The Hun Clan's encirclement had already been torn open in several places, and the surviving young disciples of the Medicine Clan were taking advantage of the chaos to break through toward the exit. Yao Chen was carrying the White-haired Little Girl at the back of the breakout group; the little girl was lying on Yao Chen's shoulder, her purple eyes gazing in Xiao Yan's direction, her small face filled with worry.

"Move aside." Xiao Yan's voice was hoarse and cold.

"No." Medusa's answer was short and firm, her silvery-white longsword pointing steadily at his throat.

"Cai Lin, you saw it—the Medicine Clan is being slaughtered by the Hun Clan! What crime did those young disciples commit? The elders were merely guarding the Heavenly Flames left by their ancestors, and now they are to be exterminated?" The veins on Xiao Yan's hand gripping the xuan heavy ruler bulged, and the fury in his eyes was about to erupt. "When did you become like this? Back in the Jia Ma Empire, when Yan Luotian of the Golden Goose Sect and the Three Elders of Mu Lan led a great army to besiege the Flame Alliance, you stood alone in front of the Holy City of the Snake-People, not retreating a single step in the face of three Dou Zong experts. Back then, you said that some things are not done because one can do them, but because one must do them. You said those were your people, your city. Now you, standing on the side of the slaughterers, watching innocent people being butchered, do you have no ripples in your heart?"

"Are you done?" Medusa's voice was as cold as the water of the Nine Serene Yellow Springs, with not a ripple of fluctuation in her purple eyes. "You say the Medicine Clan is innocent—when Yao Dan chose to defend the Heavenly Flame to the death, he had already prepared for the entire clan to be buried with him. This is not innocence; it is a choice. Everyone must pay the price for their choices; Yao Dan is, and you—are too!" She paused, and her longsword turned slightly in her palm. "Xiao Yan, I do not want to fight you here. Mu Xiao is still in the Soul Realm waiting for you to visit her; she said she wanted to show you her new painting. If you die here, I have no way to answer to her."

Mu Xiao. This name was like a needle pricking the softest spot in Xiao Yan's heart. His hand gripping the ruler trembled slightly, but soon he tightened his grip again. He raised the xuan heavy ruler, and four types of Heavenly Flames intertwined on the body of the ruler into a brilliant and violent four-colored light blade, illuminating his face in alternating light and shadow.

"Then let me see, all these years by his side, what exactly you have learned."

Medusa did not answer. Her answer was the sword. The silvery-white sword radiance and the four-colored light blade collided once again, and the exploding shockwave sent all the gravel around them flying. This time, Xiao Yan's offensive was fiercer than before, the xuan heavy ruler carrying a fearless determination as he slashed at Medusa's sword again and again, each strike forcing her to retreat half a step. Medusa fought while retreating, her sword momentum seemingly suppressed but actually as steady as a rock, managing to deflect most of the force of the xuan heavy ruler at the critical moment every time.

Yao Yao landed on the ground beside Medusa, her bone whip lashing out a fierce arc in the air, her peach-blossom eyes staring coldly at Xiao Yan. "Brother Lucky, my husband said, you can save the Medicine Clan people if you want, but you cannot leave. If you leave, Sister Cai Lin will have a hard time reporting back. So stand still and don't move. When my husband finishes collecting the Heavenly Flame and comes back, he might even let you say a few words to your teacher."

Xiao Yan stared fixedly at Yao Yao, then glanced at the exit direction. The White-haired Little Girl was lying on Yao Chen's shoulder, looking at him from afar; the reliance and trust in those purple eyes carved into his heart like a knife.

The Medicine World exit. Hun Qinger stood with her hands behind her back, her moon-white robe fluttering gently in the void, her ice-blue eyes looking indifferently at the remnants of the Medicine Clan rushing toward the exit in the distance. From beginning to end, she had not participated in the direct slaughter; the task Hun Feng gave her was only one—guard the exit and do not let any core member of the Medicine Clan escape.

The dozens of surviving young disciples of the Medicine Clan were running frantically toward the exit under the leadership of two elders, with the black shadows of the Hall of Souls Heavenly Venerables chasing behind them. They stopped abruptly when they saw the moon-white figure at the exit. One Three-Star Dou Sheng gritted his teeth and rushed up, only to be frozen into an ice sculpture by a palm strike from Hun Qinger and shattered into powder. Another elder protected the young disciples and fled to the flank, only to have his path blocked by an ice wall casually set up by Hun Qinger. The ice wall was not high, only reaching the chest, but it exuded a chill that could freeze even the soul.

Hun Qinger glanced indifferently at those young disciples, neither killing them nor letting them go. She was just waiting—waiting for Hun Feng to subdue the Heavenly Flame, waiting for Void Swallowing Flame to resolve the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul, and waiting for this one-sided slaughter to come to a complete end.

Deep within the ley lines. Hun Feng stood in a sea of emerald flames, with five types of Heavenly Flames automatically spreading out around him into a five-colored barrier, isolating the emerald flames. Not far in front of him, the Nine Nether Wind Flame floated quietly in the void. It was a flame as black as ink, its main body no larger than a fist, but the black wild winds swirling around it tore countless fine cracks in the space. Beside it, the Turtle Spirit Earth Flame lay prone in the void in the form of a giant turtle, brownish in color, with dense flame patterns flowing on its shell, exuding an extremely thick defensive aura.

Hun Feng slowly stretched out his right hand to grab the Nine Nether Wind Flame. The pitch-black flame seemed to sense the threat, and the wild winds around it suddenly surged, with countless black wind blades slashing toward Hun Feng like a downpour. Hun Feng did not dodge or avoid it; the five Heavenly Flames intertwined into a fire wall in front of him, blocking all the wind blades. The dark gold lightning arcs of the Eight Desolation Destruction Flame struck first, splitting a gap in the black wild winds around the Nine Nether Wind Flame; the deep blue of the Sea Heart Flame followed closely behind, the immense deep-sea pressure holding the gap open and preventing it from closing; the pink halo of the Purification Lotus Demon Flame turned into an extremely thin thread, drilling into the gap and precisely entangling the main body of the Nine Nether Wind Flame.

The Nine Nether Wind Flame struggled frantically, the black flame and pink thread scorching each other, emitting a harsh sizzling sound. Hun Feng remained calm, the Void Devouring Flame Sub-flame surging from between his brows, turning into countless black filaments that followed the trajectory of the pink thread into the core of the Nine Nether Wind Flame, beginning to devour that violent wild wind energy. The Turtle Spirit Earth Flame sensed its companion's crisis from the side, its giant turtle form suddenly expanding and turning into a brown fire wall, crashing toward Hun Feng. But before it could touch the corner of his clothes, the Eight Desolation Destruction Flame turned into a dark gold fire curtain, blocking it in mid-air. The two Heavenly Flames collided, and dark gold and brown intertwined, exploding into a sky full of sparks.

Meanwhile, above the Wan Yao Mountain Range, the figure of the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul was rapidly fading. After clashing head-on with Void Swallowing Flame for dozens of rounds, it was, after all, only a wisp of a remnant soul, without a physical body to support it, and its Dou Qi reserves were far inferior to a true Nine-Star Dou Sheng. Void Swallowing Flame seized an opening, and nine black fire dragons simultaneously entangled the remnant soul's limbs and torso, tightening violently. The body of the Medicine Emperor Remnant Soul began to disintegrate inch by inch from the feet, turning into sky-filling emerald light spots and drifting away. He looked down at his disappearing hands, and a faint luster suddenly flashed in his hollow eyes; his lips moved gently, spitting out a phrase in the ancient Medicine language that no one could understand anymore.

The black flames around Void Swallowing Flame slightly converged, and his aura was also a bit weaker than before, but the cold glint in his eyes remained sharp. He looked down toward the depths of the ley lines, and a faint trace of satisfaction flashed in his black flame eyes—that kid really was subduing the Nine Nether Wind Flame, and the speed was even faster than he had expected.

At the edge of the Yao Emperor Platform, Yao Yao retracted her bone whip, a trace of impatience flashing in her peach-blossom eyes. Xiao Yan had remained motionless while being pointed at by Medusa's sword tip, but his gaze kept drifting toward the exit—Yao Chen, Xuan Yi, and the White-haired Little Girl were already close to the exit, and Hun Qinger was standing there waiting for them. She lowered her voice and said to Medusa, "Sister, you keep an eye on him for now; I'm going to help Aunt Qing clear the field." Medusa nodded slightly. Yao Yao turned and dashed toward the exit, her black dress rustling in the wind.

Medusa stood alone in front of Xiao Yan, her silvery-white longsword still pointing steadily at him. Behind her was the Wan Yao Mountain Range with emerald flames soaring into the sky; in front of her was the old acquaintance covered in wounds yet still refusing to bow his head. Her purple eyes were as calm as stagnant water, but the fingers gripping the sword hilt tightened slightly inside her sleeve.

"Cai Lin," Xiao Yan suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and deep. "Tell me one thing—are you truly willing to be with him?"

Medusa was silent for a few breaths, then slowly raised the sword tip, pressing it against his throat. The force was not heavy, just enough for him to feel the chill of the blade. "This has nothing to do with you." Her voice was flat, as if she were speaking of something completely unrelated to him, but the sword tip did not advance even half an inch. The two people's gazes met on either side of the blade, separated by years of grievances, separated by the thousands of mountains and rivers from the Jia Ma Empire to the Soul Realm.