Contempt! Disdain! Disgust!
There were very few individuals in this world that could provoke these feelings within Wei Wuyin. With an unfettered Heart of Cultivation, one that thoroughly understood the struggles, bleakness, and darkness of the cultivation world, Wei Wuyin hadn't even blinked when he scoured Ying's memories that reeked with desperation and self-hatred. However, toward Han Xei, on an intrinsic level, these emotions surged freely without any qualms.
Divine King Han Xei!
None of these emotions emerged from his usage of an Evil Method that ruthlessly sacrificed others, even his plans to use his own family. After all, cultivation paved a path littered with competition, life-and-death threats, and struggles of the heart. Innocence was the first to perish on this path.
Neither had these emotions existed because of Han Xei's weakness as a cultivator or his failings as a person. Cultivation is difficult-this single phrase was an immortal mantra of the world's cultivators shared in their hearts, resonating with their True Soul on a fundamental level.
Wei Wuyin didn't bother giving Han Xei a single chance to muster hope for a favorable outcome in his heart. With a soft exhale, Wei Wuyin's eyes glistened with spiritual light.
WHOOSH!
"Huh?!" Han Xei's hazy figure instantly froze. From beneath him, around him, and beside him, countless formations of esoteric designs, each larger than a mortal skyscraper, manifested and rotated with tremendous spiritual fluctuations. The entire world was enveloped in these huge and dazzling formations.
The unnamed realm had an inactive array! For the first time in over eighty thousand years, it had been activated! The jade palace glowed a pure jade light that overwhelmed the skies and pervaded the world.
Han Xei was immediately engulfed by these formations. They transformed and gathered in a mystical flourish becoming a spherical cage of illusory, see-through jade. Han Xei was encapsulated within.
With a single move, Han Xei was imprisoned!
"You?! You can control the Skysoul Jade Palace's Array?!" Han Xei was in abject disbelief, his voice cracking as he scanned his spherical cage and used his Spiritual Power to probe.
Bam!
"AHH!"
An explosive backlash of spiritual energy sent him flying across the sphere, smashing against the other end, and his hazy figure writhed. As if he was being electrocuted, he trembled and howled in pain and agony. Faint wisps of jade light invaded his spiritual form, slowly purifying him from the inside. His howls grew monstrous as he exploded with Spiritual Aura, pushing himself away at the fastest possible speed and hurriedly trying to expel those invasive wisps of jade light.
Wei Wuyin lifted his hand and clenched it into a fist. Within a blink of an Ascended's eye, the sphere contracted. It was only five meters in diameter, barely enough to fit Han Xei's entire spiritual form. In fact, the Divine King had to bend forward and make himself smaller out of fear of touching the walls and receiving a devastating spiritual backlash.
Wei Wuyin floated off Bai Lin. Anu grew in size, reaching forty meters, and the Neo-Dawn Alchemic Saint calmly stood on his head, holding onto his single horn. The Azure-Scaled Horned-Firmament Dragon took to the skies with a slow, deliberate movement. Anu's body trembled. His claws crushed the air, his sharp, toothy maw shook with growls originating from the depths of his heart, and his eyes fixated on Han Xei as if he were all that existed.
The two Lin Clan women stayed with Bai Lin. They understood that Wei Wuyin had saved their lives after his words. Moreover, they knew that all the questions they had needed to wait. While Lin Xianxian believed Han Xei to be the most benevolent master, when Wei Wuyin spoke earlier, she doubted none of it.
Perhaps it was because the True Soul of her three-year-old self that haunted her had returned, carrying with it the most traumatic experience a person could ever experience-being killed by the one you trusted the most-that she felt nothing seeing Han Xei squirm and shriek. The idea of pleading for mercy on his behalf had never come across her mind.
"...Wei Wuy-Emperor Wei! This isn't necessary!" Han Xei's hazy figure slowly solidified within the cage as he spoke. The image of a well-built middle-aged man with a long, thick, full beard and a tied top knot revealed himself for the first time with pristine clarity. Han Xei lacked Wu Yu's imperialistic flavor, but he contained a type of natural charm with the heaven and earth as if existing one with the elements was a natural state for him.
While his entire form lacked distinct colors, consisting only of cyan shades, his irises shone with a considerably lighter shade as if intermixed with elemental origin light.
"I-" Han Xei was about to go into a long spiel, perhaps pleading for his life, perhaps trying to negotiate, or perhaps something else entirely; unfortunately, Wei Wuyin simply waved his hand across the air, sealing off all sound and spiritual transmissions.
"I don't need to hear anything you say," Wei Wuyin and Anu arrived by the spherical prison. Han Xei's eyes were clearly pleading as he went along. From his lips' motion, Wei Wuyin made out the gist of his words. Something about serving dutifully, a mention and glance at Lin Xianxian and Lin Xianxei, and then-
A split second of recognition later, Han Xei observed the illusory sphere and proceeded to scowl with anger. The baleful aura within his eyes could quake worlds to death.
Anu's maw opened greedily and murderously.
"All those years ago, you slaughtered the lineage of dragons of the Everlore Starfield. The remnants that remained, you imprisoned for thousands of years as they were drained of their vitality and essence to fuel your trial." Wei Wuyin slowly said each word, using his Spiritual Strength to transmit it directly into Han Xei's soul. He was forced to listen.
"Normally, I wouldn't mind that. The world is cruel and the weak are slaughtered. Before your rise, dragons casually ate humans, elves, and demons without a care. They were not innocent. They played with them. They toyed with their lives at mere whims. They were careless as they, in their battle for territory or pride, crushed entire settlements of thousands.
"It was only when the King of Everlore miraculously rose to prominence that the situation changed. When those of the human, elven, and demon races gave birth to Mystic Ascendant Realm experts, they finally had the right to stand beside them. However, a blood debt is a blood debt. I find no fault with your actions of slaughtering them, even if you ended the lineage to the last. It's simply a matter of life.
Han Xei was taken aback. He gazed at the snarling, near-feral Anu, and then he grew increasingly confused. Why was Wei Wuyin saying all this? He had thought that taking Lin Xianxian and Lin Xianxei, those two gorgeous women of his, was likely the reason for him to intervene and why Han Yuhei was vehemently protecting them.
Was this...something else?
Wei Wuyin continued, "When my clan was hunted down and killed, leaving my cousin and myself as the last living survivors of the Wei Clan, I grew stronger and returned the bloody favor with extreme prejudice. I killed and killed and killed until I was satisfied, and even then, I killed and killed until my family's spirits were satisfied. Everyone has their own story. And many in this cruel world have their own tragedy. And I know of your tragedy."
Han Xei's scowl faded as a reminiscent glow shone in his eyes. The Desolate Dragnet Region was once dominated by the Dragon lineage. They roamed and dominated the world, fought amongst the skies and void, crashing against planets and continental flat earths, eating living things wantonly, sleeping without care for others, and claiming anything they wished on a whim. That period was hell on earth for some.
Few knew that he had a family, far before he met the King of Everlore, far before he and Wu Yu met. Within the blink of an eye, his five-year-old daughter, pregnant wife, uncle-Han Yuhei's father, and the majority of his family were killed. The culprits? Dragons!
Dragons!!
DRAGONS!!!
The reason?!
Teaching a youngling of the dragon race how to hunt!
For that, they sought after cultivators and beasts with some strength and obliterated them all. They raided settlements. They destroyed cities!
He had been there.
He had survived.
Unfortunately, he survived...
Han Xei looked at his arms. For a moment, the memory buried in his heart of a young child with a severed waist, her organs spewing out, hugging the mangled arm once belonging to her mother, clearly unwilling to let go for even a moment. She crawled toward him, still with some breath in her.
He could still remember the echoing of her tears and calling, no, crying out for him. Her last words.
"Da-DADDY!"
His soul shook as he returned to reality, to the present that he wished was different.
He lifted his gaze toward Wei Wuyin. There was not the slightest trace of regret in his eyes. If given the choice, he would slaughter every last one of them again! And he planned to! After regaining his cultivation, he would ensure that all those of the dragon lineage, even those disgusting beastmen mutants, would meet their demise.
He would ensure they go extinct across all of heaven!
For this, his Heart of Cultivation was unbearably firm, willing to sacrifice anything and everything, even family, to achieve his goal. However, if he had a choice, he would rather use Lin Xianxei and Lin Xianxian, two unconnected individuals rather than Han Yuhei and Lin Ming.
Wei Wuyin was not unfamiliar with those types of eyes; he, too, wished for the extinction of every last one of those who put his family to death, judging them unfairly, and treating them as if their lives were irrelevant. To him, they were the most important things!
Who knew how many cultivators throughout this vast world had similar stories? Similar feelings? How many of them were like Han Xei or himself? Fortunate enough to seize their vengeance with their own hands! How many had to struggle and unwillingly die in pursuit of revenge? How many left this world unfulfilled while their enemies lived on with a full and luscious life?
Wei Wuyin was both the recipient of these feelings and a likely cause. This was why the first thing to go in the world of cultivation was innocence. Lives mattered and those lives were always tethered to other lives. However, if one cultivated thinking too much about these things, their Heart of Cultivation would forever stagnate and they would eventually wither away without a shred of themselves left.
"But your tragedy doesn't matter," Wei Wuyin coolly stated. Suddenly, his body began to rapidly change as dragon scales formed on his body, and the Infinite Void Wings sprung forth, clouding the skies with a single flourish.
Han Xei's eyes widened as Wei Wuyin executed his Draconic Transformation! He could distinctly feel that loathsome dragon blood flowing through his veins and he felt his soul tremble! Then, he felt calm.
Only calm.
His face gradually turned neutral and his eyes no longer had any curiosity, only the strongest of hatred within its depths.
Wei Wuyin didn't stop, perhaps he was doing so for himself or perhaps he was doing so for those voices, but he said: "You didn't just kill them. You imprisoned them to a life far worse than death. You entrapped them and had them struggle for life, forced to give themselves to you with no chance of escape. Do you know what happened then?
"Food didn't exist there. Mothers and Fathers allowed themselves to be eaten by their children, and be slowly killed by their children. Those still pregnant gave birth to children who never knew anything but agony and despair. You subjected them to hell. You let them watch as their loved ones waste away without any hope. They couldn't even kill themselves. You made that certain.
"Whether you went too far or not, I can't judge. At the very least, you left a gate of hope for them to escape. And they did. They obtained freedom despite their immense suffering. Perhaps that was a gift. Perhaps that was enough to balance out everything else. Unfortunately, none of that matters. Much the same way as the dragons hadn't pushed humans to extinction yet were still punished or those bastards left me, the last living Wei Clan member of pure-blooded bloodline alive, your fate will be no different."
Wei Wuyin's words resonated with the world, touching upon some truths of the heavens. No matter what, the heavens always left a path of hope for every being and every calamity. This was an absolute law.
Han Xei didn't try to beg for his life after hearing this. He knew that there was no point. Moreover, he could no longer muster the will to beg this dragon-blooded bastard for anything. He much rather die with his spine straight before any dragon than kneel. The thought of his earlier actions left him disgusted to the soul.
As for escape? This array was specifically designed to restrain spiritual energy and its various forces, and he was pure Spiritual Energy. There was no escape for him. Everything has a beginning and everything has an end.
"Do what you must," Han Xei's back was straighter than a pillar that could hold the heavens. Absolutely no fear was in his eyes.
Wei Wuyin gently nodded. He clenched his fist toward Han Xei and the illusory jade sphere shrunk until it entered his body. With the formations within him, Han Xei was no different than an existence without the slightest cultivation.
"It's not me who will," Wei Wuyin said as he looked at Anu who could no longer hold back, continuing with a soft reply: "It's them."
Anu opened his bloody maw wide and with a vicious snap, swallowed Han Xei whole! Within his stomach, Han Xei was sent into his Internal World!
Han Xei found himself in a world with growls and roars. The sound was all too familiar as various dragons of different colors, sizes, genders, and cultivation encircled him for as far as the eye could see.
He could recall many of them at a glance-he could never forget. They were the ones he suppressed in the Four Extreme Continent as one of the formation's energy sources. Anu had escaped solely because he hadn't known the dragon existed. If he had, there was no way he would've let him survive!
As the snarling dragons with rage and hatred eyed him, the Divine King laughed. He laughed and laughed until the world was filled with only his laughter.
Was this how the world was? A cycle?
"Come at me you scaly fuckers!" Even without his cultivation, murderous light flashed in his eyes as he was unwilling to die on his knees. Not to them!
Back in the unnamed realm, Wei Wuyin's eyes were closed as he processed it all.
"Thank you," Anu's grateful voice echoed in his mind.
"Thank you," Wei Wuyin instead replied with the same words. The two dragons knew the feelings of the other, but Anu would never realize the importance of what he gave him. The importance and weight of those two words.
Kratos was family.
Anu helped him regain his family.
