Chapter 384: The Hell Flower Blossoms (2/2)

“Human, why did you save me?!” it demanded in its hoarse voice.

“I am a divine.” Sword energy surrounded the silhouette from head to toe.

Scarlet Ape’s head snapped up as it stared intensely at the figure with burning eyes. “A lowly divine?” Frostiness curved the ape’s lips.

“Lowly? A thing of the past. We overturned human rule and pulverized their immortal dao with our divine dao. We built a golden era of unsurpassed glory and reduced the humans to slaves. We are the favored children of the heavens, the most noble existences in the universe,” the figure responded leisurely. “Many, too many things have happened after you were sealed away.”

“You know who I am?” Scarlet Ape started.

“I do.”

……

The seaside fortress had been destroyed, along with the defensive barriers protecting several great provinces in northern Nephrite Major.

By the time the floodwaters retreated, Dusk Province had become a land of scarlet. Scarlet for the color of blood spilled by the hundreds of millions of living beings who’d died in its lands. It was a scene of utter devastation and loss.

Lu Yun stood atop Dusk City’s walls as information about the deceased floated up one after another in his Spectral Eye.

“This isn’t what I wanted.” His shoulders were hunched and his voice dejected.

“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.” Standing by his side, Qing Han looked at his friend’s desolate figure, uncertain how to comfort him.

“No, I’m the one who freed the big monkey and also the reason why it came here….” Lu Yun himself had trouble sorting through his emotions.

Despite assimilating to a great degree after his transmigration, he still came from Earth at the end of the day. Even though he ruled over hell now, and controlled the power of life and death, it was impossible for him to make peace with everything that’d happened.

Hundreds of millions of lives had been lost, all because of him.

He’d known Scarlet Ape would come, but hadn’t expected it to come so fast. He hadn’t had time to complete any of his preparations before the ape’s sudden arrival.

Dusk Province…. Most of its denizens were ordinary people or run-of-the-mill cultivators. They weren’t even immortals! When the waters of the North Sea had come crashing upon the province, there hadn’t been any chance for them to fight back.

It hadn’t been long since he’d returned the power of the land to the province and brought back hope for these ordinary people, these ordinary cultivators. But in the end, the ape had destroyed it all.

“I’m going to kill that monkey and obliterate Beigong Xuan. Revenge will be had!” He suddenly clenched his fists tight.

Nothing drove home the need for strength more firmly than recent events. He was in a very real world of immortals, where ‘dog eat dog world’ wasn’t just an empty platitude. Without domineering strength, one would always run the risk of being crushed underfoot like a bug.

“Revenge!” Qing Han agreed with a furious nod.

Hum...

All of a sudden, a scarlet flower blossomed in Dusk Tomb at the center of the province. The blood drenching the earth and flesh littering the ground transformed into nutrients for it, and soon enough, the flower’s radiance spread from one end of the province to the other and bathed the land in the light of blood.

This light then took root in the earth, from which grew tiny scarlet copies of itself: Flowers of the Dead.

In next to no time, these clusters of flowers breathed new life into all of the souls on the verge of forever vanishing from this world, and all of those who’d lost their lives in the disaster were transformed into new soul entities.

Su Xiaoxiao and Xingzi came into view and hummed many a pleasant, yet melancholic tune as they guided the souls along the path paved by the Hell Flowers, slowly ushering them through the ethereal Gates of the Abyss.