A sense of desolation and despair tinged Hong Zhen's voice.
He had struggled too.
He had suffered too.
But what the Qianji Sect cultivated was the art of prophecy.
Fate, indeed, held many possibilities. So, he deduced again and again, and in the end, he didn't hesitate to sacrifice his lifespan.
However.
What he awaited was not hope, but repeated despair.
He wasn't fighting for his own survival.
After so many deductions, he didn't have much time left to live anyway.
He genuinely wanted to find a way out for the Qianji Sect and for everyone else.
His most trusted art of deduction told him that siding with the giant tree was the only way to survive.
He could not betray the results of his own deductions.
Just as he could not betray his own path.
This.
Others couldn't understand.
But the disciples of the Qianji Sect, who were also skilled in divination, felt a deep empathy.
The more skilled one was in deduction, the more images of the future one saw, and the more despair accumulated.
Were they only doing this for themselves?
They were doing it for the survival of the entire Nanlan Continent.
Someone wanted to curse out loud. But he parted his lips, momentarily unsure of what to say.
Against someone like Yan Zhonghe, they could curse without hesitation.
However.
How could they curse someone like Hong Zhen?
Hong Zhen had used his life to deduce; he had indeed cast aside his personal life and death.
He was striving for the survival of the entire Nanlan Continent.
And everyone knew. Hong Zhen was not lying; he truly believed this, truly felt that he was acting for the good of all.
"So," Hong Zhen looked at his millennia-old friend, "Yun Rong, give up. Follow the Venerable One, and all of you, all of the Cangyuan Sect, can be preserved. Otherwise..."
A trace of pain flashed in Hong Zhen's eyes.
He had seen countless scenes of his friend being killed.
He didn't want to see it again in reality.
"Yes, yes, give up," the giant tree cackled. "I said, I only want Li Shuang's life. Everyone else, as long as you surrender, your lives will be spared. If anyone personally kills Li Shuang and then surrenders, they will also receive my gift and achieve the Tribulation Transcendence Realm!"
The giant tree's words were a naked targeting of Li Shuang.
He had considered coaxing Li Shuang over; this would surely be a significant blow to Yu Jin.
But.
With someone like Yu Jin, who knew how many contingencies she might have placed on Li Shuang?
So.
The best way was to completely extinguish this future hope of mankind.
In the future.
The Land of Absolute Despair would have one more Supreme True Demon.
And humanity would lose a potentially future supreme powerhouse.
Wouldn't the gap in power gradually emerge like this?
Therefore.
Everyone else could stay.
Only Li Shuang could not.
As the giant tree's voice fell.
Yu Jin's expression immediately turned grim.
Li Shuang's expression also instantly grew cold.
"Who dares harm my disciple?" Lin Qingling exclaimed in anger and shock, instantly shielding Li Shuang. "Have you considered that if he so desperately wants to kill Li Shuang, there must be something about Li Shuang that he fears! What's the difference between killing Li Shuang and destroying our own hope?"
"Exactly. Don't be misled by this demon." Ancestor Can Shang said slowly, "If we kill Li Shuang, it means we have already admitted defeat in our hearts. If that happens, then there truly will be no hope of winning."
"I, Yan Fan, will never surrender." Yan Fan gritted his teeth and stepped forward, saying slowly, "I once entered the City of Ten Thousand Laws and saw in its scrolls the countless blood debts committed by these foreign races! Five hundred years ago! To grow quickly, foreign races wiped out three medium-sized sects overnight! Four hundred years ago, foreign races secretly placed spies in both the righteous and demonic paths, causing misunderstandings between them, leading to war between the righteous and demonic, with blood flowing like rivers, and that battle killed thousands of human cultivators. Three hundred years ago, foreign races infiltrated recruitment sites, annihilating all human new talents..."
Yan Fan recounted them one by one.
He glanced at Yu Jin's dharma body and said slowly, "And in recent years, these foreign races have been very well-behaved?"
"Why is that?"
"It's not that they suddenly had a change of heart, nor that they changed their methods. It's because a peerless powerhouse emerged from humanity!"
"It's because the City Lord is strong enough to suppress the Land of Absolute Despair for hundreds of years!"
"Being subservient to foreign races won't bring peace, nor will it bring a future."
"Only sufficient strength can suppress everything. The strong survive, the weak perish; this is the eternal truth!"
Yan Fan finished speaking quickly.
Li Shuang couldn't help but look at him with some surprise.
Yan Fan snorted, "I may not be as strong as you, but I too have backbone."
Yu Jin suddenly smiled, "Yan Fan, is it? I'll remember you."
Yan Fan's face suddenly flushed.
After a long time, he said, "Thank you!"
Yu Jin looked at the crestfallen Hong Zhen, and she said slowly, "There is a supreme powerhouse among humans who is also skilled in deducing heavenly secrets. He never deduces the fate of humanity. Because although the Dao of Heaven has a trajectory, the human heart is moved by a single thought. No one can predict the true outcome. Not even heaven can control human hearts."
Hong Zhen became increasingly distraught.
"City Lord Yu, you've said too much," the giant tree sneered. He suddenly stopped holding back, and countless vines rushed towards Yu Jin.
Yu Jin was unhurried. She directly transformed into lightning, rushing to the giant tree, and then detonated her final lightning explosion.
Yu Jin's dharma body slowly disappeared.
However, cracks also appeared on the giant tree.
The next moment.
The tree bark rippled, and a giant bloody demonic shadow broke free from its body.
At this moment, the Sky-Devouring Demon Seed revealed its true demonic form!
It was entirely blood-red, with strange patterns engraved on its body, making anyone who looked at it feel a stinging pain in their eyes.
Everyone felt a slight daze.
Truly... terrifying.
But Yu Jin, at the last moment, used a dharma body to make everyone face true terror.
The Sky-Devouring Demon Seed hidden beneath the tree bark, and its true demonic form now fully exposed, were on completely different levels of oppressive power.
So.
This was the enemy they had to face.
A trace of sorrow flashed in Hong Zhen's eyes: "The future is not so easily rewritten. You cannot imagine how terrifying the Venerable One is."
In the brief silence.
Suddenly.
A sword light abruptly shot towards Li Shuang.
Among the crowd, someone chose to attack Li Shuang!
Lin Qingling reacted in time and quickly blocked the attack.
"How dare you!" Ancestor Can Shang was also furious. He reached out and instantly seized the attacker.
It was... True Master Ling Xu!
"Ling Xu!" Ancestor Can Shang did not hesitate, raising his palm to strike him down.
True Master Ling Xu's face showed a trace of pale desperation.
Had he... bet wrong?
But at this moment, an eerie red light enveloped True Master Ling Xu.
He was instantly pulled before the true demon.
The Sky-Devouring Demon Seed laughed wildly: "Good, good, finally someone has started to make the right choice. Although he couldn't kill Li Shuang, as a reward, after this is over, I will bestow upon him a cultivation level of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm."
A look of ecstasy immediately appeared in True Master Ling Xu's eyes.
He had bet correctly!