I tried to kill the heroines of destiny, but they ended up chasing after me.

Shen Lian is the moon, and Shen Yuan is the sun.

Unfortunately, this power, which is only infinitely close to the real power of the sun and moon, could not possibly defeat Gu Qici, who has obtained a portion of An Ran's power.

Therefore, this powerful force is enough to make Gu Qici the strongest below the Heavenly Lord.

However, this power does not belong to Gu Qici after all, and it has a lot of side effects. Therefore, in order to avoid aggravating the side effects and thus reducing her already limited three years of lifespan, she may never use this power again after this.

But just when the situation seemed settled, the abyss below finally stirred.

In an instant, an aura powerful enough to shake the entire Imperial Demon Domain emerged directly from the bottom of the central abyss, soaring into the sky like an extremely dark pillar of light. The already dim sky turned completely black, and the aura even affected some places outside the Imperial Demon Domain. Some long-lost old monsters also noticed it.

In the endless wasteland, the power distribution in this place has not changed over the years, still consisting of the same four forces. But at this moment, in a dark alley in the eastern part of the wasteland, a man with an extremely ugly appearance slowly revealed his figure in the darkness.

This person was no more than a meter tall, and his tattered black robe fluttered in the cold wind, making him look like an ordinary beggar, very inconspicuous. But in fact, this person was the strongest in the entire Endless Wilderness.

His name is Tianhuang Laoren (Old Man of the Desolate Heaven), and he has lived for 99,990 years. His cultivation has reached the terrifying late stage of the Heavenly Monarch realm. However, this old man is an eccentric. As long as nothing happens in the Endless Wasteland, he will not care about the conflicts between those forces.

So in this respect, he is essentially the absolute god of the Endless Wasteland. With this identity, he is naturally not interested in the affairs of mortals. A few years ago, he also sensed something that might affect the Endless Wasteland, which is why he came here.

Over the years, he had gathered some information, though it was incomplete and only superficial. However, he understood that this information was related to the calamity that occurred once every 150 years in the desolate region. Therefore, he had already made a plan. If this was indeed the case, then for safety's sake, he would have the people of the desolate region leave this place in advance.

"The Endless Wasteland has been desolate for countless years, and I have investigated it for countless years as well. This is the place of origin. Although many locals know this, they are unaware that in recent years, the desolation of this place has accelerated, and now it is even affecting the Sea of ​​the Narrow Sky and the northern ice plains..."

"If this continues, the ice plains will surely melt, and the sea level of the Narrow Sky Sea will rise. In the end, not only this endless wasteland will be affected, but even the Central Plains on the other side of the sea will be affected. Although the Central Plains is under that old man's control and I have no room to interfere, in order to prevent anything from happening to my hometown, I will still go to the Central Plains after investigating for a period of time..."

“If I tell that old man about these things, he might help me. And if we combine our strength, we should be able to find the real reason for the desolation of the Endless Wasteland. However…” At this point, the old man’s eyes flickered, and he couldn’t help but sigh: “Alas. So many years have passed. Of those who sought the truth back then, only I remain. I wonder how much longer I can hold on? Will I truly be able to find the truth? If…”

But just as he was muttering to himself, his expression suddenly changed, and a sense of shock immediately filled his heart.

"The aura of a Heavenly Monarch? A fourth Heavenly Monarch besides me, Sword Emperor Zhang, and that old guy? Unbelievable. But regardless, I should still congratulate this person on being able to use the power of the continent's internal laws. The only question is whether this person who has become a Heavenly Monarch is an enemy or a friend?"

"Hehe." The old man Tianhuang chuckled and continued to mutter to himself, "It doesn't matter. It's too far away from the Zhenghuang Demon Realm, so it's none of my business." After saying that, the old man Tianhuang slowly disappeared from the eastern part of the dark wasteland. However, as he left, his gaze turned to the southern part.

……

The Demon Realm, Demon Island, and the Central Abyss.

Within the black pillar of light, a very cute girl, no more than 1.5 meters tall, with long green hair tied in pigtails and dressed in black, suddenly appeared in front of Gu Qici and Shen Yuan with a touch of playfulness. Perhaps it was her sudden appearance that caused Gu Qici's attention to shift for a moment.

It was this moment that caused her to miss the best opportunity to kill Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan, on the other hand, seized the opportunity perfectly. Although he was also surprised by the woman's appearance, how could such surprise be compared to his life?

However, things were not that simple, because in the next instant, another unexpected event happened that belonged only to Shen Yuan.

A chilling power suddenly erupted from the black-clad girl's delicate body the moment Shen Yuan considered temporarily avoiding its sharp edge. This caused the entire sky to rumble, and it was as if a powerful restrictive force directly covered Shen Yuan, rendering him completely immobile.

Everything in the sky gradually returned to normal. The black sun disappeared, and Gu Qici's illusionary hands vanished without a trace, leaving only the three of them standing there, facing each other in the high sky.

Gu Qici was surprised, not because of the girl's appearance, nor because the girl had done nothing to render Shen Yuan unable to move, but simply because she never expected that the green rat was actually a girl.

Before transforming into human form, the green rat had a rough voice that made people immediately recognize it as a big, burly man. But this girl completely overturned her perception.

"Hey... why are you staring at me like that? It's making me... so uncomfortable." Suddenly, seeing Gu Qici staring at her, the girl in black showed a shyness completely different from her usual persona, as if she had become a different person.

"Huh?" Gu Qici was taken aback, and countless question marks suddenly popped into her mind, which could be described as a deep sense of confusion.

However, unlike Gu Qici, when Shen Yuan calmed down and looked at the girl in black again, his expression changed drastically, and he even broke out in a cold sweat. He then almost subconsciously exclaimed in surprise, "Ancestor... Ancestor?"

"Huh?" Gu Qici was even more confused. She herself hadn't figured out what was going on with that girl, and this so-and-so already understood? This was just too...something...! At that moment, Gu Qici's eyes lit up, as if she had thought of the key point, and she suddenly murmured, "Could it be...this girl?"

Seemingly guessing Gu Qici's thoughts, the girl in black quickly shook her head and said, "No, no, no. You're mistaken. I'm not that old guy. This guy doesn't recognize me either. It's just that the old guy and I are biological sisters. We look very alike, so I think he must have mistaken me for someone else."

"Biological sisters? So, you really are a woman?" Gu Qici asked in surprise.

"Of course I'm a woman. I've never said I was a man, have I? Are you mistaken? Or were you fooled by my disguised voice? Oh ho ho ho." The girl in black laughed triumphantly like a middle-aged woman.

"Me?" Gu Qici was speechless, but what the girl in black said was true; that was indeed what Gu Qici thought.

"Hehehehe. Don't be so surprised. Actually, An Ran knows that I'm a woman, but she just didn't tell you. But there's really nothing to say about this, otherwise she wouldn't have just sealed me away instead of killing me. It's just that it would be so embarrassing to say these things out loud." The girl in black didn't hesitate to reveal a secret about An Ran.

In short, after a while, Huangmo Island finally calmed down. Shen Yuan was no match for the girl in black and was imprisoned by her almost without any suspense. As for the messy things that happened on Huangmo Island afterward, Gu Qici was too lazy to care about them. After all, they were none of his business and he could leave them to the girl in black.

In the Demon Emperor's Domain, there is a prison located within the Demon Emperor's Sect territory. This prison is unique because it only imprisons members of the Demon Emperor's Sect. Therefore, almost all the Demon Emperor's Sect members who refused to obey the girl in black were thrown here by her.

Among them were Shen Yuan, Shen Xuan, and Shen Yue. The bald general of the Demon Emperor Sect was quite sensible; when the girl in black brought Shen Yuan to him, he immediately knelt down. However, the girl in black did not like such opportunists, so she did not pay much attention to him. Since manpower was needed to rebuild the Demon Emperor Island, this person could also play a role.

As expected of another ancestor of the Demon Emperor Sect, he had a clear understanding of the current structure of the Demon Emperor Domain in just about three days. However, she was very disappointed, not expecting that the Demon Emperor lineage had fallen to such a state. But this also made her realize that she would not be idle in the coming days.

As for that prison, it was located about a hundred meters underground, and the interior was extremely dark. There were seventy-two cells in total. On this day, Gu Qici, who had finally recovered from all his injuries, slowly came here. He walked to the outside of cell number thirteen and immediately saw Shen Yuan, whose body was tattered and whose cultivation was completely destroyed, sitting on a pile of straw, looking extremely disheveled.

At the same time, Shen Yuan also saw Gu Qici, which made his eyes flicker with anger and complexity. After a long silence, he feigned surprise and said, "Oh. What a rare guest. You actually came to see me. Heh. You're not here to humiliate me, are you? If so, you'll be disappointed, because whatever you say... I won't care."

"Don't you care? Is it that you don't care, or that there's nothing or no one you care about anymore?" Gu Qici was silent for a while before speaking softly, but there seemed to be some other meaning in his tone.

This made Shen Yuan frown. He must have thought of something important. His eyes narrowed, and he hurriedly and excitedly shouted at Gu Qici, "What do you want to do here? Didn't you want to kill me? Come on then. I'm already a worthless life anyway, so do it."

Seeing Shen Yuan's agitated state, Gu Qici remained calm and said, "Don't worry. I am not a bloodthirsty person. I will definitely take revenge on those who have a grudge against me. And I will never hold a grudge against those who have no grudge against me. The people you care about are living well now, at least better than you, so you should worry about yourself."

At that moment, Shen Yuan seemed to have only heard the latter part of Gu Qici's story, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, then murmured to himself, "It's good that she's alright...it's good that she's alright..." But the next moment, he looked at Gu Qici again, and asked in confusion, "You didn't come here just to tell me she's alright, did you? What's your purpose?"

"Purpose?" Gu Qici murmured, then chuckled and replied, "Hehe. I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I really don't have any purpose, or rather, I don't think there's anything about you right now that would make me think of any purpose?"

"I came here simply to see what has become of the Demon Extermination Sect Master, who was once the sole ruler of the region and a half-step Heavenly Monarch who rivaled the Demon Emperor Sect, now? It seems I have found the answer."

"Huh?" Hearing this, Shen Yuan was puzzled. His brows furrowed even deeper, and he asked again, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, alright. There's nothing more to talk about between us. Goodbye." With that, Gu Qici prepared to leave.

But before he could turn around, Shen Yuan's expression hardened, and he suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute. Tell me, who is that girl in black? Where did you find her? Why does she have such powerful demonic energy? Tell me...

However, Gu Qici did not answer him directly. Instead, she walked forward and said softly, "I think it would be better if you asked her these questions yourself later... wouldn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan was startled, as if he had realized something from Gu Qici's words, which made him freeze on the spot.

As the saying goes, the winner is king and the loser is a bandit. Gu Qici is the winner and he is the loser. So in this respect, his life is in Gu Qici's hands. He has to do whatever Gu Qici wants him to do. But Gu Qici seems to have lost interest in him. Perhaps this is the attitude of the victor.

Soon, Gu Qici disappeared from Shen Yuan's sight, but he did not leave. Instead, he went to cell number twenty-four, which held the top leader of the Demon Emperor Sect, who was also the sect's Grand Elder. His name was Shen Yue.

Unlike Shen Yuan's fierce expression upon seeing Gu Qici, Shen Yue laughed as soon as Gu Qici appeared, "Hahaha. What a rare guest! I didn't expect you to come. Look at my place... it's such a mess... Oh, right. Even if I tidied it up, you wouldn't be able to get in, hahaha. I was overthinking it."

"Hehehe." Seeing Shen Yue's carefree attitude, Gu Qici also smiled and said, "I didn't expect Senior Shen Yue to be so happy. Is there something good? Senior, please don't say that my arrival is a good thing. I don't believe such words."

"No, no. Of course it's not because of you. I'm just happy that the civil war in the Imperial Demon Realm is finally over. After all, I don't really like war; it's so annoying to see them fighting all the time," Shen Yue said with a relaxed expression.

“Yes. So many people have died and been injured over the decades, and the Imperial Demon Realm has been torn apart and collapsed. I really don’t know what they were thinking.” Gu Qici agreed. Although she didn’t know the people of the Imperial Demon Realm, she really found war to be very boring.

After a pause, Gu Qici asked again, "So what are your plans for the future, senior? Do you want me to put in a good word for you? Don't worry. Although that girl looks fierce, she will definitely listen to me."

Gu Qici's words startled Shen Yue, who instinctively took a step back. She knew that the young woman was a Heavenly Lord cultivator. And from the surface, no matter how much the young woman was related to Gu Qici…

"Hmm? Wait a minute. Is there a connection? The girl?" Thinking of this, Shen Yue seemed to have a guess, which made him raise his eyebrows and look at Gu Qici seriously.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Gu Qici asked, somewhat bewildered, noticing Shen Yue's unusual behavior.

"It's nothing. Although it's relatively rare, it's not unacceptable. So what you're doing is still a bit inappropriate... understand?" Shen Yue spoke very indirectly, as if she was deliberately unwilling to make things clear, leaving Gu Qici completely confused.

But before Gu Qici could truly understand, Shen Yue sighed and started talking about other things, directly interrupting Gu Qici's train of thought.

"However, I'm not in a position to criticize you. In short, I'm truly grateful to you for your involvement in this matter. I think if you hadn't gotten involved, the Imperial Demon Domain would probably never have had a peaceful day, and in the end, it might have really been swallowed up by other forces. So... sigh." Shen Yue didn't continue speaking after that, but just sighed again.

Gu Qici seemed to sense some other emotions from this "old man," which caused her to fall into a deep silence.

Chapter 179 Departure

After chatting with Shen Yue, Gu Qici did not leave the prison immediately, but continued walking forward. She still had to see someone, and after seeing this person, she would truly leave this place and leave this Imperial Demon Realm.

But to be honest, this Demon Realm of the Emperor has really given him a lot of experience and taught him a lot of things. Now, looking back, it feels like a dream, a bit too unreal. But at this moment, she has completely digested those things, so her mind has become clearer, and she even has a few of her own conjectures.

"I don't think things are over yet, and it's not as easy as An Ran made it out to be. That hand... hasn't come out yet." Gu Qici frowned slightly as she walked, thinking to herself. After a while, she finally arrived at her final destination.

Cell number thirty-five is where Shen Lian's biological son, Shen Xuan, is imprisoned.

Shen Xuan was not stupid, nor was he the kind of hot-blooded youth who would risk everything for the Huangmo Clan based solely on passion. He was rational and intelligent. When Gu Qici and the girl in black appeared, he already understood that Huangmo Island was about to change its master, and that this master was not his father or Shen Yuan.

In addition, he could accept the black-clad girl becoming the leader of the Imperial Demon Realm. After all, he knew very well how powerful the black-clad girl was. He could feel that the demonic energy was even more orthodox than his so-called orthodox demonic energy very clearly. Therefore, he was exactly the kind of true talent that the black-clad girl wanted.

However, after learning the identity of the woman in black and the fate of his father, he was still somewhat unsettled. Perhaps it was because it was too sudden, or perhaps it was because both Gu Qici and the woman in black were indirectly responsible for his father's death, so he couldn't just help his "enemy" so directly. He needed to calm down and consider things carefully.

The girl in black couldn't allow such a potential danger to roam freely in the area she managed, so after careful consideration, she decided to temporarily lock Shen Xuan up in jail. He could leave whenever he decided to.

As she walked slowly, Gu Qici appeared before Shen Xuan. Unlike Shen Yuan's hatred or Shen Yue's joy, Shen Xuan's expression was extremely calm upon seeing Gu Qici, as if he had known all along that Gu Qici would come.

"Are you here to persuade me? I don't think so. You don't seem to like meddling in other people's business?" Shen Xuan looked at Gu Qici and said softly.

"Of course not. That girl will win you over in her own way. Anyway, you'll be fine in the short term," Gu Qici replied calmly, though his words contained a hidden message.

"In a short time? If that's the case, then my time is running out, huh?" At this moment, Shen Xuan couldn't help but chuckle to himself, then thought to himself, "That's right. Just like emperors who change dynasties in the mortal world, how could they possibly let a minister of the old forces live on forever? If he can't surrender, then the only thing left... is to kill him."

Shen Xuan trembled, a hint of struggle in his eyes. He calmed himself down and shook his head.

Seemingly not wanting to dwell on this issue any longer, Shen Xuan took a deep breath and immediately changed the subject, abruptly asking, "My father is no longer alive. Have you found a way to save my sister? My sister should be alright, right?"

"Don't worry, you don't need to worry about the solution. I've already found one. It's just that she'll have to pay a price," Gu Qici said confidently.

Originally, the only way to save Shen Xin was to know the orthodox method of controlling demonic energy and then use that method to unblock and guide the demonic energy in her body, turning it into her own power. However, Shen Lian, the only one who knew this method, is now dead, which is undoubtedly a very serious matter.

Fortunately, after meeting the black-clad girl who was still in rat form, Gu Qici learned a secret about demonic energy from her. It was this secret that allowed her to quickly return to normal even when facing Shen Lian's death.

"Demonic energy... I don't think it's a good power, so if possible, I really hope that Shen Xin is just an ordinary person, so that she won't have to suffer these hardships." At this moment, Shen Xuan said these truths for some reason, which surprised Gu Qici, and a hint of confusion slowly appeared in her eyes.

But Gu Qici didn't continue. She shook her head and suddenly asked, "By the way, do you want to see your sister?"

"Huh?" Shen Xuan was stunned again. He had thought of this question before, but Gu Qici's question made him feel strange.

"You'd better answer me quickly, because I'm about to leave here," Gu Qici said with a smile.

"Leave here?" Shen Xuan asked doubtfully.

"When are you leaving?"

"today."

"So urgent?"

"Is it urgent? I don't think so. I've already wasted a lot of time in this Demon Realm, do you understand?"

"I see."

"So you only have the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to consider my question."

"Oh? The way you're talking... I feel like you came here just to ask me this question."

"That's right, you guessed correctly, so you still have half a cup of tea's time."

"If I agree, will you bring her here?" Shen Xuan asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You have ten breaths left."