The Withered Flower of Southern Xinjiang

[You pull out some healing pills from your spatial ring. Without caring if they are the right remedy for your specific injuries, you swallow them all in one gulp.]

[Your injuries are rapidly healing, but your whole body still aches with agonizing pain.]

[You struggle to your feet.]

[Amidst the surging demonic flames and the agonizing screams of the heavily injured Martial Saint, you see a scene you will never forget for the rest of your life.]

[Li Lingyue, her phoenix robes torn and her body bathed in blood, falls from the sky like a drifting autumn leaf.]

[You dash forward in a single stride and catch her in your arms, completely forgetting that one of your legs is fractured.]

["It's okay, it's okay. I have a lot of pills here. They are all precious medicines and immortal elixirs refined by the Jiuzhou Cauldron. You'll live if you eat them..."]

[You frantically take out the pills and force them into Li Lingyue's mouth.]

[However, she is no longer able to swallow anything.]

[In the final moments of her life, Li Lingyue tightly grasps your hand, handing you a blood-stained piece of paper, and mumbles a sentence.]

["Master used her last bit of strength... to tell me... gather seven Martial Gods... form the Seven Luminaries Immortal Array... to defeat... the alien race's... invasion..."]

[At this moment, you have no heart to listen to what Li Lingyue is saying; you only want to save her life.]

[But your Photographic Memory helps you remember everything.]

["Lingyue! Lingyue!"]

[Li Lingyue ultimately passes away with a smile, because she saw that you were still alive.]

["Live... on..."]

[You pull the blood-soaked Li Lingyue tightly into your embrace.]

[At this moment, the world loses its color in your heart. Your throat is clearly roaring, yet no sound comes out.]

[The beginning of the story was a scheme, but its end is two true hearts.]

[...Miss, this isn't Heartbreak Grass, it's Passion Flower Grass. Are you sure you want to eat it...]

[...Amazing! Is this the secret art of preserving youth? I feel like I've discovered a whole new world...]

[...Audacious! Who dares to hurt him...]

[Past events flash before your eyes like illusions of flowers in a mirror and the moon on the water.]

[Ultimately, they all shatter, transforming into the Empress's still breathtakingly beautiful but blood-blurred face in the present.]

[Calculated against by the Blood Moon organization and suffering the backlash of her believers, the Southern Border Empress, with only fifty percent of her peak strength, first beheaded the Ten Kings, then suffered a sneak attack by a Martial Saint, losing a massive amount of True Qi, yet still managed to kill one Martial Saint and severely injure another!]

[The Empress's legendary life ultimately came to an end while protecting the benefactor she was grateful to her whole life, and her true love.]

Outside the simulation.

In a small room at Shen Qingshan's house in Baiyun County.

Although Chen Yi was merely looking at these words, his heart was still deeply shaken.

It wasn't that he was being irrational.

At this moment, Chen Yi was like someone reading a novel.

He had become fully engrossed, substituting himself into the character's joys and sorrows.

Especially since this character was, in fact, himself.

It was just him in some possibly existing timeline.

"Don't worry, there is still a chance to salvage everything... The Blood Moon organization!"

Chen Yi's fists clenched tightly.

[Right at this moment.]

[The heavily injured Martial Saint, whom the Myriad Soul Banner had risked everything to fight, unexpectedly stood up again amidst the demonic flames!]

["Bastard!! I am a dignified Martial Saint! A mere Soul Condensation Realm cultivator has actually forced me into such a miserable state! I will kill you!!"]

[At this moment, his body had been invaded and corroded by thousands of ghost fires. Coupled with his countless injuries, his strength had severely plummeted.]

[You gently lay Li Lingyue's body down and tightly grip the purple-gold iron rod in your hand.]

[At this moment, you do not know that the opponent's combat power is not even one-tenth of its peak.]

[Your heart is filled only with anger! Revenge! Who cares about Martial Saints! Even if it's a Martial God, you will fight!]

[Ignoring your own injuries, you charge into the not-yet-fully-dissipated demonic flames.]

[You cannot find a single trace of the Myriad Soul Banner, as if it had never appeared.]

[In your eyes, there is only that heavily injured Martial Saint.]

[You sprint at full speed without saying a word, gathering all the strength in your body to thrust the purple-gold iron rod forward!]

[The iron rod suddenly elongates. Across a distance of a hundred meters, with a squelch, it actually pierces straight through the chest of the Martial Saint's already battered and torn body!]

[You come to a sudden halt, leaving a long trench in the grass. At the same time, the muscles in your right arm bulge as you forcefully hoist the opponent up into the air from over a hundred meters away!]

["Ah!!!"]

[You raise the iron rod high and smash it down with all your might.]

["Bang!!"]

[The earth trembles, and wild grass flies into the air!]

[You raise the rod again and smash it down fiercely!]

[Large craters are smashed into the ground by you one after another.]

[Fissures spread from the grasslands all the way to the southern hills.]

[You do not know how many times you have smashed him down.]

[You only know that the sky has grown dark, you are tired, and you can no longer lift your arm.]

[Yet, this Martial Saint is unexpectedly still not dead.]

[You walk over and see that he is already mutilated beyond recognition, his entire body mashed up like a torn rag.]

[Black blood is bubbling out of his mouth.]

[His one remaining eye glares at you, actually revealing a hint of a sinister smile.]

["Don't... be... smug... In this world... there is no one... that the Blood Moon... cannot kill...

You... orphan of Luoding Village... holder of the Jiuzhou Cauldron...

The Blood Moon... will continuously send people... more... stronger... until they kill you..."]

["Crack!!!"]

[You stomp fiercely on that mangled face, completely crushing it.]

["Is that so!! Then I will destroy the Blood Moon!! I will wipe you all out in one fell swoop!!"]

[Your gaze pierces through endless space and time, as if making eye contact with your self outside the simulation.]

Chen Yi's gaze pierced through the lines of text, as if making eye contact with his simulated self.

"Brother, definitely."

Damn it...

This Blood Moon wanted the Jiuzhou Cauldron and his life, and they were also one of the masterminds behind the massacre at Luoding Village.

Not destroy them?

Keep them around for the New Year?

The priority of every item on the must-do list for the fifth simulation had to be lowered.

Investigating the Blood Moon and annihilating the Blood Moon became the well-deserved Top 1 priority!

Thinking about how the Myriad Soul Banner had been reduced to ashes in the simulation just now to protect him, Chen Yi's heart was touched, and he pulled the Myriad Soul Banner out again.

Fortunately, it was just a simulation. The Myriad Soul Banner in reality was still perfectly fine.

Seeing Chen Yi's strange gaze, the Myriad Soul Banner couldn't help but fold its tattered surface inward a little.

"Buddy, you're acting weird tonight... Let me make it clear right now, I sell my skills, not my body."

Chen Yi gave the Myriad Soul Banner a good beating.

He felt better.

[You take the Demon Refining Pot out of the opponent's spatial ring.]

[Fortunately, there is only a small crack, and an Immortal Artifact is fully capable of self-repair.]

[Seeing the traces of darkness around, the Demon Refining Pot understands everything.]

["Well played, Myriad Soul Banner. Fine, I admit you're not a coward..."]

[Chen Jing rushes back.]

[But it is too late.]

[Seeing the scene of you holding the Empress's corpse, Chen Jing feels a deep empathy, his heart aching as if cut by a knife.]

[He picks up the half mask on the ground and sees the emblem of the Blood Moon on it.]

["Deploy the troops to the Great Wilderness this very day! Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find the Blood Moon!!"]