Those time travelers that year

The six sword techniques—Seabreaker, Mountain Collapse, Storm, Hailstorm, Blazing Fire, and Earth Destroyer—were combined into one. Xia Er could directly feel Chi You's primordial spirit and mind expanding unprecedentedly at this moment, penetrating deep into the planet below. It forcibly caused the planet to revert to the beginning of time, when natural disasters were incessant, and the seemingly endless, terrifying power of those events!

However, this wasn't enough. He retraced the natural disasters that occurred when the world was first created, causing these calamities to manifest themselves realistically in the real world, as if a forbidden curse had been cast over it. Even this wasn't enough for Chi You. Simply because this power was still insufficient to complete the Devouring Heaven strike.

Then, Charles felt death, the death of this planet…

Everything orderly is shattered, and everything that is alive and exists is headed for its end.

Chi You used his killing intent to force the planet to feel the arrival of the end times, guiding the rules of this part of the world toward great destruction and the end of the world.

"This is truly outrageous!" Riding on the phoenix's back, Xia Er gazed at the apocalyptic scene of the world in disarray, and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. This strike was indeed capable of obliterating him to dust. Facing Chi You's Devouring Heaven technique head-on, Xia Er was certain that he wouldn't even be able to resist before being reduced to ashes in a single blow. Even if he managed to survive, he would have to pay a tremendous price.

Anyway, that's what Charles thought, and the guys in the middle of the battle were even more terrified. From the hidden trap on the male host, Charles could easily sense the despair emanating from their hearts.

Then Charles sat down abruptly, pulled out a bottle of wine from somewhere, and started drinking it by himself.

What's coming next is just third-rate romance; anyway, Chi You's blade won't be able to cut it down. Sure enough, Wen Tian and the others fought desperately, clinging to life in dire straits, and were just a hair's breadth away from survival, but ultimately failed. However, just as Chi You was about to bring down the Tiger Soul Blade, the Flower Goddess rushed forward and placed her neck against the edge of the blade.

Power or love...?

Faced with this ridiculous dilemma, Chi You decisively chose the Flower Goddess, discarding the Tiger Soul Blade and embracing her as a wisp of light that entered the Xuanwang, serving as its core to stabilize the Xuanwang in the absence of the Ten Directions Annihilation.

"What a terrible, third-rate plot..." Charles casually tossed the bottle aside, watching this dramatic scene. He felt that this world was truly bizarre, and the way the boss was whitewashed was absolutely brilliant.

The 388, 389, and 390 three-in-one formula is really bad!

Regardless, redeeming the boss is the core value of the Divine Weapon series. The resurrected Chi You was the first to redeem himself, followed by the resurrected Xuan Tian Xie Di, and then the demon-possessed Nangong Taiping. And then, in the Divine Weapon Gaiden era, when Wentian set off to other pantheons, he witnessed a whole host of gods and demons redeeming themselves along the way.

That's enough.

It seems this world is utterly maliceful! All for the sake of whitewashing the boss, forcibly creating a chaotic plot, it doesn't matter how many ordinary unlucky guys die, as long as those with enough fighting power can be whitewashed—it's ruthless.

Shaking his head, Xia Er simply sent the phoenix away. After all, Wen Tian and the others wouldn't die; at worst, they'd just be drowned. Then, Xia Er remembered that it was from this point that the Divine Weapon series began its storyline of the emergence of demonic weapons, signifying that the time for the descent of the Primordial Heavenly Demon was drawing near. Especially after the resurrection of the Xuan Tian Evil Emperor, the Demon Pearl began creating demonic weapons, unleashing otherworldly demons that wreaked havoc on the world. Ultimately, the unfortunate Cowherd became the body to guide the Primordial Heavenly Demon's descent.

This is definitely a good thing for Xia Er, who is spying on the Primordial Demon. In a sense, Xia Er needs the plot to proceed as in the original story; otherwise, he won't be able to deal with the Primordial Demon with this clone alone. At the very least, Xia Er needs to tamper with the Demon Orb so that at the very end, he can self-destruct with the Perfect Celestial Crystal and the power supplied by the other celestial weapons, destroying the Primordial Demon. Then, he can transfer the Primordial Demon's spirit and soul out of this world and guide them back to its original form in the main world.

In any case, having lost all its demonic energy and suffering severe damage, the Primordial Heavenly Demon could never defeat its own true form.

Therefore, the core of this series of plans boils down to two things. One is to have the demon possess the malevolent spirit and collect demonic soldiers. The other is the most special demonic orb, and the marshal within it, which has always been hidden in the shadows.

It was the combined efforts of the Otherworldly Demon and the Demon Pearl Marshal that ultimately led to the birth of the Ten Perfected Demon Soldiers, breaking through the Heavenly Net. Coincidentally, the Demon Pearl Marshal is the core of all the Demon Pearls. Ever since the Primordial Heavenly Demon was sealed away, forced to disintegrate his body into Demon Pearls, the most unique Demon Pearl, the Demon Pearl Marshal, or simply the Demon General, had been secretly waiting for his opportunity. When the Demon Soldiers emerged one after another, this Demon General, who had orchestrated events for countless ages, finally revealed his fangs.

And now, this thing should still be lurking underground, as the most special one. It is the eye of the Heavenly Demon, the commander of all demonic beads. Even before it took shape, it possessed complete consciousness and intelligence, as well as the ability to act independently. Therefore, it did not become a demonic soldier by absorbing negative emotions and metallic materials, but instead grew into a wooden demon, calling itself "Commander Kui". Over the years, Commander Kui has been entrenched deep in the earth, constantly growing into a gigantic tree tens of thousands of feet tall, like a coiled dragon lurking underground, spreading its roots to every corner of the Central Plains, constantly observing the movements of all sides, preparing for the resurrection of the Heavenly Demon.

As for his exact location, even Xia Er couldn't say for sure. This guy was incredibly good at hiding; even during the time when gods and demons interfered with this world most frequently, they didn't discover his whereabouts.

However, it's alright. Through two consecutive battles with Chi You, Xia Er has finally broken free from the suppression of the rules. Now, he can be said to be able to unleash his full power. In this world, the full power of this clone is a genuine god-demon level.

Now, many methods that were previously restricted can be used.

With a thought, Xia Er had the phoenix carry him away, without any intention of caring about the consequences of the vast ocean of water and falling rocks that the Devouring Heaven would bring after Chi You entered the Xuanwang.

——————————Divider Line——————————

Although this is a world where martial arts reign supreme, where everyone—gods, demons, and humans—competes based on their martial arts prowess and the divine weapons they wield, the path of magic and sorcery is not particularly flourishing, with only a handful of practitioners. While magic and sorcery may not be particularly lethal, their ability to divination is unparalleled. A skilled diviner in this art is practically a legendary prophet.

It can be said that this world severely suppresses other forms of magic, but it has virtually no restrictions on divination. Even the Divine Calculator, despite the backlash, was able to deduce where the Tiger Soul was buried, so Xia Er naturally possesses the same ability. Especially now, with the restrictions lifted, he can be considered a true god or demon who has passed through the gates of the divine realm.

Whether in terms of power or status, Charles has the ability to make calculations.

Especially after learning of the existence of the Demon Commander first, Ciel began to trace back the timeline of this world in this direction.

However, retracing the timeline of this world also poses a certain degree of danger for Xia Er. This world is teeming with gods and demons, including those from outer space and those native to the land. In a sense, Xia Er's retracing of the timeline is like spying on the privacy of these beings, and one wrong move could lead to karmic retribution and being hunted down by them.

Therefore, this process must be done carefully and patiently.

The flames of dusk burned in his dark golden eyes, and countless scenes began to be reflected in Ciel's eyes, replaying the process and experiences of this world little by little.

Soon, Ciel encountered an obstacle: the timeline from about a hundred years ago was blurred and indistinct, as some great force began to interfere with things at that point in time. So much so that when Ciel traveled back in time, he experienced that period but could not see anything clearly.

Over a hundred years ago, the timeline should relate to the Evil Emperor who would soon be resurrected. Born from a breath of demonic energy exhaled by the Heavenly Demon, the Xuan Tian Evil Emperor would definitely have the power of the Primordial Heavenly Demon protecting him at that time. However, when Xia Er travels back to this point, things become unclear, clearly due to the influence of the Primordial Heavenly Demon's power.

However, Charles ignored this and bypassed that period, continuing his journey back in time. Soon, Charles noticed something amiss. Every short segment of time he retraced encountered this blurry situation, with various forces—some righteous, some malevolent—obscuring that part of the timeline. It made the entire past timeline appear as if it had been blurred out—a truly frustrating and unsettling sight.

'These gods and demons are really something!' Xia Er was speechless at the situation. Without even thinking, he could guess that the obscured timelines were undoubtedly the experiences of those who inherited the martial arts of the gods and demons, or the past masters of the Heavenly Weapons. 'Your blatant censorship of past history would have wiped out any Xianxia world from the chaos of war long ago!'

However, despite feeling helpless about this situation, Charles ultimately had to compromise and spend time, bit by bit, dealing with the censored historical timelines.

......

This is located in a mountainous area, in a very remote location. How remote? So remote that the entire area within a hundred miles is desolate wilderness. In fact, the nearest official road requires crossing several mountain peaks to reach it.

As for what's here, any normal person who knows anything about it would probably not want to live here permanently. The perpetual darkness goes without saying; according to feng shui principles, this place is a "Six Elements Converging Yin Formation," a place where yin energy and filth from all directions converge. Burying someone here would almost certainly lead to their descendants' ruin and extinction. And if any wild animals lived here, they would all transform into demons and ferocious beasts.

But unusually, it was eerily quiet. Yes, quiet. There were no birdsong, no trace of wild animals, not even insects; it was as if all living life here had been extinguished.

But this was perfectly normal in Xia Er's eyes. It wasn't that there weren't demons and monsters here; in fact, there used to be many. But there was one even more outrageous one that had long since devoured all of them. And that even more outrageous creature lurked underground. In fact, you could say that the entire underground of this mountainous region was covered with the tentacles of that even more outrageous demon.

That even more outrageous demon was called the Demon Commander.

This is a cunning and treacherous fellow. For many years, he has been lying low, never revealing his presence. Even when the gods and demons of this world were interfering with this world most frequently, they never imagined that a demonic pearl would develop intelligence and consciously conceal its identity and location.

Possessing the extraordinary abilities to bewitch minds and have limitless vision, encompassing everything within his field of vision, the Demon Commander silently observed the world's movements. When the era of frequent interference from gods and demons in the mortal realm passed, the Demon Commander remained inactive; in an era of constant war and rampant evil, the Demon Commander also remained inactive. Until this era, with the birth of the Heavenly Crystal successor, the emergence of various Heavenly Gods and Weapon Masters, the stirring of the remaining Demon Orbs, and the imminent resurrection of the Xuan Tian Evil Emperor from his seal.

The Demon General has finally made a move.

However, the time for it to make its move has not yet come, because the Demon Commander knows very well that he only has one chance. While most of the gods and demons who have descended to this world fear the might of the Primordial Heavenly Demon and dare not confront him directly, it doesn't mean they wouldn't dare attack a Demon Commander who is merely a demon. If his whereabouts are exposed, he could very well face the direct wrath of the celestial gods.

It's important to understand that there are many people in this world who don't believe in evil. Similarly, there are quite a few gods who don't believe in evil either. Many gods fear the Primordial Demon, but that doesn't mean all gods think this way. At least Chi You would never be afraid of the Primordial Demon, and neither would the great gods of Chi You's time.

Moreover, Chi You was genuinely resurrected not long ago. Even the Demon Commander, far away, could clearly see Chi You about to unleash the Heaven-Swallowing Blade thanks to his special abilities. That was a power that the Demon Commander absolutely could not resist…

Therefore, the Demon General felt that he should remain cautious for a while longer before making any decisions.

Unfortunately, it wanted to stay timid for a while longer, but the trouble that came knocking on its door—Sherlock—would not let it remain timid in peace.

After spending a considerable amount of time unraveling the timeline of this world's history, enduring numerous periods of obfuscation and censorship, and expending a great deal of effort—even the resurrected Xuan Tian Xie Di, who was using his divine sword skills to teach the overpowered Wen Tian a lesson in morality, remained unnoticed—this process of playing hide-and-seek with the gods and demons on the world's timeline was a constant battle of one side blurring and the other decoding.

During this time, there were even some powerful gods and demons who were good at calculating the secrets of heaven. While constantly blurring the time points in the past, they actually tracked back in reverse, going against the flow of time, trying to trace Xia Er's whereabouts.

Especially that guy named Fuxi. Anyway, when Xia Er traced back to this guy's historical timeline in the Xuanwang, this guy truly lived up to his reputation as the ancestor of all divination and fortune-telling in this world. He concealed his own timeline while intercepting Xia Er's continued tracing back, and even reversed the process to deduce Xia Er's location.

You have to understand, this guy dared to predict even the Primordial Heavenly Demon, let alone Xia Er, who is currently traveling backwards from the future timeline.

After a series of tedious battles, Xia Er realized that his current timeline was the future for Fuxi in the past, and even the ancestor of the charlatan world could not so easily glimpse the future. Moreover, Xia Er was now in an era of chaos, where Chi You had just been reborn and the Primordial Demon was about to descend.

In short, playing hide-and-seek with Fuxi from the past timeline is indeed a mentally taxing activity. But no matter what, Fuxi was destined to create the Xuanwang (Mysterious Net), and he didn't have much time to maneuver around Xia Er across timelines. In the end, Xia Er finally managed to get rid of Fuxi. And then, Xia Er was finally able to cross over from the timeline in which Fuxi was active, and travel back to an even more distant era.

An era in which alien gods and demons had just descended upon this world, an era in which Nuwa had just created the Celestial Crystal, but was immediately forced to perish together with the alien demons.

Then they finally located the exact spot where the Demon General had landed.

Then, he went to great lengths to travel a long distance, allowing Charles to personally handle both the timeline reversal and the problem-solving. It's fair to say that the Demon Commander has already made a huge profit in his entire life. Not everyone deserves Charles's respect, to the point of personally taking action.

That's just how it is.

When the phoenix carried Xia Er to this place, Xia Er looked down from the sky and couldn't find any trace of the Demon Commander. Neither telepathy nor mental scanning could detect the Demon Commander's whereabouts. If it weren't for the timeline rewind that directly pinpointed the Demon Commander's location, Xia Er would have thought that what lay below was just a desolate, barren place.

Although this place is basically a godforsaken place.

"Hiding here, this Demon General really knows how to play the game!"

"However, no matter how skillful it is, it's still just a split soul. No, not even a soul, merely an inferior consciousness. Otherwise, its will wouldn't have been so easily erased by the Otherworldly Demon." With outstretched arms, accompanied by the burning twilight fire, a dark shadow appeared in Xia's hands. Soon, in the firelight, the dark shadow transformed into a raven, a raven shrouded in black smoke, appearing utterly eerie. "Go! Find that Demon Commander, then lurk in its shadow, slowly eroding its essence..."

puff!puff!

With flapping its wings, the crow took flight, flying away from the Shire and heading down into the desolate wilderness below.

"I was hoping to use the Demon Commander to infect the Primordial Heavenly Demon..."

The raven conjured from Charles's hand flapped its wings and descended from the sky. Soon, the raven landed on the barren ground, tapping its beak incessantly, as if searching for insects. And indeed—it was searching for insects.

Soon, the crow that had been constantly tapping the ground and changing positions finally stopped. It hopped around on the ground, and then its whole body suddenly dispersed into a black, smoky gas, disappearing into the soil and rocks with a whoosh.

Or rather, it was absorbed into the profound yin energy of this land.

The Demon General's choice of this land as his home was not without reason. As a place considered extremely inauspicious in terms of feng shui, the earth's veins here are undoubtedly inclined towards darkness or negative energy. In fact, it could be said that it was precisely because of this dark energy that the Demon General was able to evade the search of the celestial gods unscathed, and it also served as the energy that fueled his growth.

Before the Demon Commander officially emerges, lurking here is the best thing for him. The more Xuan Yin Qi he absorbs, the more his roots can spread throughout the Central Plains, and the more puppet soldiers he can continuously create.

So on this day, the Demon Commander controlled the roots of the tree tower he had created to absorb the profound Yin energy, while simultaneously using his own supernatural abilities to observe the current state of the world. When he saw the Xuan Tian Evil Emperor resurrected, though he had lost his emotions and was undergoing a coming-of-age ceremony, this process also gave birth to a new demonic weapon—the Star Constellation Calamity. Coupled with the birth of God's Hatred and the reappearance of the Otherworldly Demons, the Demon Commander felt that perhaps now was the time.

Before that, however, it's necessary to confirm something. After all, compared to over a hundred years ago, the current Xuan Tian Evil Emperor doesn't seem very willing to release the Heavenly Demon. Moreover, there's the Other Demon, who, having lost his body and only possessing a soul, is currently at his weakest. He's even reached the point where, without a suitable body, he can't exert any power whatsoever. This teammate, seemingly on the same side, looks utterly unreliable.

However, the Demon General was unaware that while it was absorbing the Xuan Yin Qi and spying on this world, a wisp of 'Xuan Yin Qi' that looked very similar to the energy it was absorbing, but was much darker in color, was absorbed into its body.

Soon, even the Demon Commander himself was unaware that a twilight-colored flame flashed in its eye, within that demonic pearl—a very faint, extremely faint flame that vanished in an instant.

At this moment, Charles, carried by the phoenix, opened his eyes, which had been closed, and looked down from the sky with a smile. "It's done!" After feeling a portion of his original power being absorbed by the Yin energy in the earth's veins, and even unexpectedly successfully contacting and parasitizing the hidden Demon General, Charles finally smiled.

"Let's go! Next stop, the Dragon Palace!"

——————————Divider Line——————————

Among the demonic orbs that split off from the Primordial Demon, the Demon Commander formed a separate entity, lurking in the shadows. Similarly, not every other demonic orb has the potential to be forged into a demonic weapon.

However, each magic orb possesses its own independent consciousness. While not as vividly alive as the Demon General, each magic orb actively seeks to transform into a demonic weapon. One of the magic orbs, upon its arrival, sensed the presence of the Breath of Earth.

In this world, the so-called "breath soil" is a strange metal discovered during the time of Yu the Great's flood control efforts. It has the property of hardening upon contact with water, and can not only be used to build dams strong enough to withstand shattering, but also, when used to forge weapons, it completely surpasses earth-divine weapons and possesses power approaching that of heaven-divine weapons.

To prevent the people from misusing the Breath Soil, Yu the Great collected it and entrusted it to the Dragon King of the East Sea to be stored and guarded in the Dragon Palace. However, because of this, a demonic pearl intended to return the Breath Soil to the human world and thus cause chaos. It lurked inside a giant dragon, providing its demonic energy to mutate the dragon into a demonic dragon, and then drove it to directly attack the Dragon Palace of the East Sea.

To be honest, Xia Er was very puzzled. How could a demonic dragon possessed by a demonic pearl be able to storm into the East Sea Dragon Palace, even wreaking havoc and becoming a god, ultimately killing the East Sea Dragon King as well? The East Sea Dragon Palace in this world was far too weak! Even with the power provided by the demonic pearl, it shouldn't be this incompetent! After all, the East Sea Dragon King was a righteous god appointed by the Heavenly Court; even if he couldn't defeat the demon, he could have easily summoned plenty of helpers.

But the fact is that the East Sea Dragon Palace was wiped out, and wiped out cleanly and decisively. In retrospect, there must have been some unknown factors involved. Otherwise, a demonic dragon parasitized by a demonic pearl wouldn't have been able to destroy the East Sea Dragon Palace.

Coincidentally, Yu the Great, who entrusted the Breath of Earth to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea to preserve it, not only left behind the Breath of Earth but also another item—the Yu the Great Dragon Boat. The key to activating the Yu the Great Dragon Boat was none other than the Phoenix Axe, and part of the essence of the phoenix that Xia Er currently rides comes from the phoenix fire summoned by the Phoenix Axe. Through this causal connection, Xia Er directly traveled back in time to the location of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea.

After resolving the issue with the Demon Commander, Xia Er rode his phoenix and flew towards the East Sea Dragon Palace. Soon he arrived at an ocean, then leaped into the water and began to dive deeper.

They passed by some giant squid-like sea creatures, but Xia Er concealed his form, and these abnormally large squids did not discover Xia Er's whereabouts, allowing Xia Er to successfully arrive at the location of the East Sea Dragon Palace.

In the unseen depths of the ocean, a massive light barrier appeared before Xia Er. The bronze-colored barrier was enormous, and strange structures could be vaguely seen within it.

Standing before the bronze light barrier, Xia Er tapped it; it seemed to be made of metal. This barrier was actually formed from the Breath of Earth. Despite its seemingly thin appearance, allowing one to vaguely see what lay within, it was incredibly sturdy. Xia Er knew that divine weapons had been shattered, but the Breath of Earth seemed to surpass them in hardness. In the story, the Evil Emperor was sealed within the Breath of Earth, and even the Sect Master, wielding the Soul Devourer and possessing power approaching the twenty-seventh limit, couldn't break through it.

"It hardens when it comes into contact with water!" Stroking the bronze light shield, Xia Er's five fingers gripped it. "However, as long as the moisture can be extracted, the formation of the Breath Soil can be freely controlled."

Controlling elements is difficult for martial artists in this world, but for Charles, it's the easiest method. Although he's more skilled at controlling fire, he can also manipulate water molecules with his current power.

The next moment, the soil that Ciel touched began to melt, creating a gap, which Ciel then stepped into.

Because someone complained that the author was padding the story, I got really angry, and it looks like the consequences will be serious! Well, I feel like no matter how I write, it'll be padding anyway, so what am I supposed to do? I have no idea what your definition of "not padding" is! So how am I supposed to write it? Okay, okay! Let's put it this way! From now on, whenever I encounter anything about setting, background, or plot progression, I'll just compress it all into one post! I'll pad it all out in one go, then no one will complain about the background being padding anymore, right? But I guess even if I do that, some people will still say it's padding.....

By the way, regarding the claim that my book actually had a chance to make the top 20, I just want to say, even after getting rid of Mo Da Xian's hype, it only came in at number 22. How could my book possibly make the top 20?! I don't think my book is any better than Mo Da Xian's!