Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

When he appeared, two individuals were staring at Yan Zaizen with eyes filled with trepidation. They were the Sectmaster of the Earthly Titan Sect, Yao Wuying, and the previous Xuanwu City Lord. Beside them were Bai Lufeng and Tao, standing guard over their restricted form. Both had silver-blue shackles constructed from soul energy binding their physical bodies and souls.

Yan Zaizen’s eyes were colder than the harshest winter as he looked at these two. The murderous desire within his body was contained very well, but it still caused them to tremble in fear. Directly ignoring these two, Yan Zaizen instructed Bai Lufeng, "Help him refine an Earthly Rejuvenation Pill and clean him up." Yan Zaizen sent Shin Xuanji’s frail body into Bai Lufeng’s arms. Floating atop Shin Xuanji’s head was a small bottle with a single pill inside.

With an Earthly Rejuvenation Pill, even if Shin Xuanji didn’t want to fully recover, he would have no choice. This wouldn’t be able to help him with his castrated genitals, but it would help with his nearly destroyed organs, qi pathways, meridians, and dantian. His cultivation path will be unlocked once more, as for regaining his ability to reproduce, that’ll be something he’ll have to strive for alone.

Bai Lufeng nodded swiftly, taking Shin Xuanji and the pill down beneath the skyship with no hesitation. At this point, Bai Lufeng truly accepted Yan Zaizen as his leader, and wouldn’t question a single decision he made, nor would he even ask why.

As for Tao, his brows lifted upwards, but he remained silent. He simply awaited instructions.

Yan Zaizen didn’t give any, instead, he walked towards the restrained duo on the deck of the ship. "Do you know who I am?" He asked, his voice chilly. This was faintly reminiscent to his interaction with Diyi. However, this time it seemed a little different. He was a lot more composed instead of being filled with intense festering rage.

Yao Wuying shook his head. He was a rather large man, one filled with incredible muscular features, a height that exceeded Yan Zaizen’s, and emitted a brilliant vital energy aura. However, before Yan Zaizen, he was like a tiny child afraid of giving his parents the wrong answer. As for the Xuanwu City Lord, her elderly features were filled with fear.

"Han Zaiji."

"!!!" Both of their eyes narrowed to a pinpoint, and their bodies instinctively struggled. Unfortunately, the bindings only tightened, causing their souls and bodies to suffer further damage. This struggle lasted several seconds before they regained their original calm.

Yan Zaizen sighed softly. In truth, he truly wanted to kill this Sectmaster of the Earthly Titan Sect. However, taking Shin Xuanji’s situation into account, he decided against it. If anyone deserves revenge, then Shin Xuanji should do so himself, with his own power, with his own methods.

That didn’t mean he was going to let him off, however. His hands gripped Yao Wuying’s head tightly, causing panic to suffuse his gaze, and a burst of silver-blue light exploded outwards. It tunneled into his body, ravaging his pathways, lacerating his meridians, pummeling his dantian, collapsing his vital energies, cracking his origin core and damaging his soul form.

However, he didn’t fully cripple him.

Instead, this form of damage will require vast amounts of resources and time to rectify. The sheer pain from the damage inflicted caused Yao Wuying to directly lose consciousness. Yan Zaizen looked towards Tao, and Tao nodded as if understanding. He grabbed Yao Wuying’s body and flew towards the Earthly Titan Sect.

This left the Xuanwu City Lord and Yan Zaizen alone. Seeing him utterly decimate her leader, she felt all hope for her was lost. She wanted to speak but her throat was sealed and her qi was hard to urge under the soul suppression. Even if she wanted to beg for her life, she couldn’t.

Nor would Yan Zaizen let her.

"You sent me to chaotic space to die. I know why." He slowly straightened his back, looked at the sky, and said with a calm tone. "If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve never been enslaved. However, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be who I am today." Karma was a miraculously strange thing in the world beneath the heavens. It elicited and defined the cause and effects of the myriad things in this world, and yet, it was beyond being predictable.

Yan Zaizen wasn’t a fool. If he had gone home, he would’ve been imprisoned by the Water Veil Sect, or even killed by the sectmaster due to his potential. They wanted to keep the Yan Clan down, and his talent would’ve been unacceptable.

Being sent into chaotic space dropped him off in Grux, allowed him to meet Tao, allowed him to advance his laws, allowed him to obtain Pinaka, allowed him to comprehend further on what the Dao truly was, allowed him to amass wealth, subordinates and power quickly. If he had gone home, perhaps none of that would’ve happened. Perhaps, just perhaps, he would’ve been unjustly killed after attempting to take the spot of the Clan Leader.

However, no one could truly know.

The only thing they could know was the present, the here and now, the effects of past actions and the changes to one’s outlook on life. The current him only exist because of that action. If that action never happened, would the current him exist?

The answer was simple: No.

However, that didn’t mean he felt complex or conflicted about his decisions in life or the current path he treads. "I will give you a choice." He looked at the Xuanwu City’s Lord with coldly indifferent eyes. These eyes were remarkably similar to when he looked at Diyi. From this, he decided to offer her a choice. "I can leave you with your cultivation and send you into chaotic space. Or, I can cripple you, then send you into chaotic space."

Her eyes widened at these choices. Weren’t they the same as giving her the death sentence? What was the point of these choices?

Yan Zaizen, however, didn’t think so. She did have an infinitesimally small chance to survive, but so did he. One was an infinitesimally small chance at survival while the other was certain death.

He waved his hand, removing the restriction from her throat. "You have ten seconds to choose."

"Wait! I’m sorry, this...we can work something out! I have wealth! I have secrets, I can tell you these things, I can help you!" She pleaded for her life. As someone who’ve lived for thousands of years, how could she resign herself to death so easily? The point of cultivation is to further one’s lifespan, to advance towards the heavens one step at a time and rival it. To be able to fight for and achieve immortality!

Who would be willing to die?!

Yan Zaizen didn’t respond. Her ten seconds were used up pleading for her life. This was her choice. He tapped her glabella with his index finger, causing a silver-blue light to surge into her body, thoroughly crippling her initial-Origin Core Cultivation.

He brought her to her feet, kept her awake by stimulating her soul, and looked her in the eyes. "In my entire life, the one I hated the most in this world...was you." With that, he placed his palm on her chest, pushing her lightly backwards. The silver-blue restraints vanished into thin air, and her body started merging with the surroundings like entering a soft, hot marshmallow.

POP!

The scene was remarkably similar to the overseer in the Deep Mines. However, this time, Yan Zaizen’s eyes glowed with silver light radiating spatial fluctuations. He could see her within the chaotic space. Her grey hair follicles, her wrinkled skin, her clothes, and blood were being ripped apart in an infinite number of directions. She clawed the surrounding space, screamed violently, and twisted in odd ways.

Her right leg was the first to go, separating from her body, and being torn to nothingness. Then, her skin, her other limbs, her torso, and then finally, her head. Yan Zaizen could see the emotions in her eyes, filled with pain, regret, and unwillingness. The same emotions his eyes must’ve had in this dark emptiness. It wasn’t long before everything from her blood to her soul was dissipated into nothingness.

This was how she wanted him to die. This was the fate she left him to. Now, this was the fate he’d given her.

Several minutes later, Tao returned. He saw Yan Zaizen stand alone on the deck, his eyes filled with a sort of peace and calm that one could get when they have no regrets in life. It gave him a sensation of looking at a sage at the height of his life, radiating serenity and transcendence.

Truly, he was finished.